I was in Vegas for a couple of days this week for my family’s annual holiday trip there, and of course I happened to play some poker. The second night, I was a 2/5 table that didn’t break until the wee hours of the morning, so I sat there for almost ten hours. I didn’t feel that tired, actually. But I managed to only end up $104 ahead, even with a couple of rich Asian men to my right who seemed to play every pot and had at least $2000 in front of each of them.
So as usual, I wasn’t too creative, and I probably played too passively, which cost me a bit. But an odd coincidence happened the only time I had to rebuy, when I was dealt QQ when I was UTG+1. The guy to my right limped, I raised to $20 with about $210 in front of me, and a loose aggressive guy in middle position called, and the limper called. The flop was 962 with two spades, the guy on my right checked, and I bet $40. The aggressive guy raised to $125, the guy on my right folded, and I went all-in for about $65 more, and of course the raiser called. The turn was a spade, and he had AsJs, so that was the end of my first buy-in. The very next hand, I had rebought for $200, and I was dealt QQ under the gun. I raised to $15, got a caller to my immediate left, and then a guy three to my left minraised to $25. The big blind called, and I reraised to $90. The guy on my immediate left folded, the minraiser thought for a while and raised $200 more. The big blind folded, and I made the easy call. The board ran out J high with 4 spades, and he had AK but luckily no spade, so I doubled up. Good thing I did, or else I would’ve just given up for the night. Or maybe that would’ve been better, because I would’ve gotten a lot more sleep.
But besides that, I just couldn’t get very much going. On one hand I opened for $15 from the button with AA, and both blinds called. The flop was KJ7 rainbow, and they both checked. I bet $30, the small blind called, and the big blind, who was kind of tilting from losing a couple of medium pots immediately before this hand, raised all-in to $152. I was pretty sure he had KJ or some hand like that, but I had to call $122 more, and the small blind folded. Sure enough, he flipped over KJ, and the turn was another K, and I never hit a 2-outer so the river was a blank. Oh well. Not much I could’ve done with that one, I think.
And then there were a bunch of regretful folds and some missed 3-betting opportunities. There was one time I 3-bet a middle position raiser who raised to $20 to $60 from the small blind with AcKc, and he 4-bet to $180. I had started the hand with only $320, but I folded just because I think he had the impression that I was pretty tight (which I was), so I didn’t think he would do that with, say, AQ or TT or something like that. Could’ve been a bluff, but who knows. I probably should’ve 5-bet shoved, but… there will always be regrets. And there will always be a next time.