Greektown 2/5 game

After the exciting Tigers game on Saturday night, we headed to Greektown Casino for some live NL action. I bought in at the 2/5 NL game for $500, and was immediately seated at a table with only 4 other players (they had 2 games going, and both were short). Most live players get very frantic when the table has less than 10 players at it, but I tend to love it, as that is what I am accustomed to playing online, and you can play way more hands. Anyways, to the key hands of the night.

Hand 1: 6 handed, villian has about 450, I cover. 2 limps to me and I limp KT in the SB. Flop comes QTT(rainbow). I lead 20, folds to button right next to me who makes it 40. The villain has already raised pre-flop a few times, so I am not concerned about AT here, and I don't believe he would raise with a full house, so I call as I don't want to push out a hand like QJ just yet. Turn is a 6 (putting 2 to a heart flush on the board). I check and he leads 200 (pot of 100), with 210 or so more behind. The overbet of the pot was surprising to me, as that is not a move I see live often (however when seen online, it typically is a huge hand). After debating for a while, I couldn't see him doing this with any hand that was ahead of me, so I moved in on him. He called his last 210 off, and showed Th5h, for trips with a lower kicker and a flush draw. I faded his 10 or so outs, and was quickly up 500.

Hand 2: I have been moved to the main game, and it is one of my first hands. After a handful of limpers, I limp Tc8c from the button. Flop comes KT8 (with two hearts). Checked to me and I lead 40 into a pot of about 40. BB calls (he has 300 left and I cover) and the rest fold. At this point I am weary of a lot of turn cards, since there are a lot of potential draws (QJ, J9, heart draw) and a lot of potential two pair outs I have to dodge since I have bottom two. The turn is an A (QJ just got there). He checks and I check behind, not sure if I plan on betting, folding, calling or raising the river (depending on the card and his action). The river is a small heart (heart draw just got there). He checks, and I do a safety check and win the pot over his KJ, and feel like a bit of a pussy afterwards. By the same token, I would have felt like a dildo had I bet the river and he raised.

Hand 3: I raise UTG with KQ to 20...guy 2 after me re-raises to 40 (he seems very loose, and has shown both aggressive and passive play to this point). 3 people call the 40, so I quickly call the 20 when it is back to me. The flop comes gin for me...QQQ. I check, re-raiser bets 60....guy to the right of me calls, and I call. Turn is a K (apparently I have the entire deck this hand). I check, re-raiser bets 105, guy to the right of me now folds...and I decide I have to get more money in the pot now, and raise to 300...hoping that he has AK, KK, or AA and will feel he has to call me down. Unfortunately he folded, saying "I had a lower full house." People at the table were excited, thinking the hand was a prospect for the bad beat jackpot, but alas it wasn't to be.

Hand 4: 10 handed, I had AK and KK the previous 2 hands, so people might have been suspicious....but I hadn't shown down anything out of line. I raise KK for the 2nd hand in a row, and after a raise to 20 sees 2 callers. Flop comes 976r, I lead 45, get raised by the same player from hand 3 to 100 and I call (he has 650 and I cover). Turn is a 3, and I check and he bets 150. My read on this player is that he could have called my pre-flop raise with any suited relatively connected card...so hands like T8, 97, and 76 are in his range. But also hands like A9 (thinking he was raising for value), and A8 (open ended draw) are possible as well. I decide to call the 150 to see how he plays the river. The river is a 2 (an absolute blank). I check and he goes all-in for about 450...I debate and fold. I think this was a good fold, as I just don't think he can 3 barrel bluff me in this spot. In retrospect though, I probably should have just folded the turn. When I called the turn, I thought that he might be one of those live donkey's that fires the same river bet as the turn bet, and I might be able to call the river for like 150 or so. But he at least played it right with a healthy river bet.

Hand 5: Nothing too interesting here....UTG opens for 25, MP calls, I repop to 100 with AK. UTG moves in for 255, MP folds, I call. He has QQ, I have AKs. Door card is an A....flop A66, turn T, river Q....kick in the gut in a $500+ pot.

All in all a good trip though, I walked away about 650 to the good for about 3 hours of work.