Daniel Moravec

If you’re gonna do damage playing poker, you gotta do it right. I’m talking $10,000 to $20,000 a day if at all possible. Today I almost broke that record, but it was for the downside.

I started off the day by waking up in my condo at about 11:45 am and getting to the tournament one round late. I was assigned to table 56 and when I asked which table it was I was directed to a table with a bunch of high stakes pros at it. Fortunately, I was actually placed at the table right next to it with a few players who appeared to be fish. My starting stack was 3925 because I lost a few blinds while I was out.

As usual, I was playing my tight game, looking for anything that I could get that was worth a raise. I don’t see any point in playing a pot early on in a tournament unless it’s either late position with enough limpers or something I am willing to raise or call a raise with. I made a few calls with hands like Q10s and J9s, only to miss completely. I also caught a double gutshot straight draw and flush draw with a hand that I saw a free flop from the big blind, but I missed.

After about a half of an hour, I picked up AQo in middle position. The blinds were still 25/50 and I raised to 250. The typical raise for the table was between 125 and 200, which seemed pretty passive compared to tougher tables. I got three callers and the flop came K98 and I bet out after two of my opponents checked to me. One opponent raised, and both me and my other opponents folded. After that hand I was reasonably short stacked, enough to change my play to a tigher, more aggressive style. I waited for my next big hand.

A half of an hour later I picked up AKo under the gun. With 1600 chips and an average stack at the table of about 5000, I felt like my stack was shorter than average. I limped in for 50, hoping for a raise. Baaaam! Like clockwork, the next player raised to 225 and four other players called. I made it appear as if I was trying to take down the pot by contemplating my move and looking around the table. I shoved my entire stack of 1600 and all four of the players called. The flop was J86 and there was a small bet that pushed all but 2 players out. The turn was a 5 and the river was a 2, both streets were checked down. Pocket 10′s took down the pot and that ended Event #5 for me.

I walked from the Fontana Lounge over to the poker room and put my name on the list for $10/$20nl. I started out by trying out with a couple short stacks. My first buy-in was for $800, which I lost in a coin flip match. I’m lucky that I didn’t have more though, because I had AKs and lost with a pair of Kings to a set. My second buy-in was for $1,000, which I successfully brought up to $2000. Unfortunately, I lost this to a solid player on my right who hit a better hand on the flop.

I had enough, so I put over $20,000 on the table and played by usual deep stack game. Before I knew it, I was down $10,000.

I do commend one of my opponents specifically though. He made a famous Phil Ivey play on me, which I couldn’t call even though I knew for sure that he was bluffing. The hand went as follows:

Preflop: I’m on the big blind in seat 2. Seat 3 raised to $100 and there were several callers. I called because there was so much money in the pot with Q10 offsuit.

Flop 334 rainbow: I check, seat 3 bets, everybody else folds, I call to setup a turn bluff because I’m in the big blind and any good player could put me on a pair or even a possible 3.

Turn 4: I check, seat 3 bets $600, I raise to $1800. Seat 3 contemplates for awhile, then raises all-in. I told him that I knew he was making a perfect bet and that I couldn’t call. He showed A9s, a hand that was close to what I expected to see.

My Hand: KJs

My position: Big Blind

Preflop: 6 players, which includes me, limp in. I check on the big blind to see a flop.

Flop Qs Qd Jc: I bet $40 into a $60 pot, an early position player calls, everybody else folds.

Turn 5s: I bet $60, my opponent calls.

River As: I bet $100, my opponent raises to $300. I reraise another $400 (all-in) and my opponent calls

Showtime: I have KJs, nut flush. My opponent shows QJo, full house on the flop.

During this whole hand, I was trying to find out where I was by making raiseable bets along the way. When I bet the flop so weak and got a call there were several possibilities that I put my opponent on. K10, 910, AJ, J10, or a Q with any kicker above a 9. My bet on the turn was supposed to induce a raise to $180 if my opponent had a Queen, which I would have called because I still had a draw and a fair amount of cash behind me. After catching my flush on the river the only two hands I was worried about were QJ and AQ, but I felt that the likeliness of him holding AQ was low because there he didn’t raise from an early position preflop. QJ was much more possible, but was also the only hand that worried me even the slightest.

Did I make a mistake in this hand? Should I have just called on the river? Was there any extra value in reraising another $400? If my opponent had 910 of spades, would he have called for another $400? Would he have called with a KQ, Q10, or Q9? I think that he would have, so I believe that I still made the correct play and I would repeat the hand just as I played it.

My Hand: 10 10

My position: Button

There comes a time in a hand when you need to ask yourself, “just what would my opponent playing here?” This hand that I played in a $5-$10nl game at Bellagio was no exception.

I was sitting on the button with pocket tens. All players folded to my opponent who was 2 seats off the button in seat 6. He was a new player, who I had just seen sitting at the $10-$20nl game around the corner. Usually, when I see somebody coming from that game, I assume that they are an above average player in a lower game such as $5-$10nl. This opponent raised the pot to $100, way overbetting the pot. I decided that this type of play must have been from a bad beat over at $10-$20nl or just a bad adjustment to new stakes, so I made the call. Everybody else folded their hands.

The flop was 776 rainbow. My opponent fires $200 right at me, showing almost no fear. I thought for a second, wondering if he had an overpair, but his aggressiveness looked more like weakness and that he was trying to get me to fold, so I made the call. The turn card came an 8 and my opponent bet two stacks, $400. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to go any farther in the hand, but after a minute or two of thinking, I made a crying call, hoping that he would check a bluff on the river rather than bet it.

The river was the worst possible card that could have come, a 5. My opponent puts me all-in for another $380 and I feel like I paid off a bigger hand than I had anticipated. Any other card would have been better because now any pocket pair except 22, 33, and 1010 would beat my hand. The only hand that I could possibly be ahead of would be a total bluff by something such as AK or AQ, but why would my opponent be betting such a hand all the way like this?

I folded my tens, and my opponent peaked at his hole cards, flipping over the top card which was a 6. Later on, when I was about to leave, I asked him what he had and he told me that he had J6, his favorite hand, and that he thought I was calling him with over cards. What he told me somewhat made sense though. I’ve found that the majority of the time that a player makes an overbet before the flop, they have a weaker than normal hand. I’ve seen a player raise a $90 bet to $500 and shown 94 offsuit proclaiming “If you make it $90 before the flop with $10 blinds, I’m going to raise you to $500 every time… keep the game friendly!”

Although I doubt his story was true, I’m sure I’ll find out how sincere he was about his hand by playing with him more and revealing what his favorite hands are.

I woke up very late this afternoon after having a night out on Las Vegas. I was supposed to get up early for Event #1 of the Bellagio WPT Five Diamond Classic Tournament, but I’ve been running so bad that it didn’t bother me missing a tournament. Nothing has seemed to be going right for me over the past month or two and I’m down about $30,000 since I peaked my bankroll. I’ve been losing with flushes to full houses, three of a kind being out-kicked a few times, and opponents calling with draws that hit just about every single time. Today wasn’t crazy, but is the first day in awhile that I’ve made a 4 digit win in a single session.

I began my session at Bellagio in the evening at about 6:00. I brought $16,500 with me just in case there would be a good $25/$50 game going on. I walked upstairs to the high stakes section and saw that David Williams and Roy Winston were both sitting at the $25/$50 with a few other pretty solid players with maybe a bleeder or two spread amongst them. For the most part, these guys are really good players so I stayed away from the game and sat down at $10/$20 with $6500.

After about 45 minutes the game started getting really juicy. Just about anybody could spot these guys coming, with one guy arguing that a new player could not post in between the SB and the button, and another posting his BB in early position. You could tell that these guys just wanted to gamble.

Unfortunately, the table I was on was a must move table, and the floor moved me to the “next” must move table. As rediculous as the Bellagio’s rules are, it wasn’t such a bad move. A player, who introduced himself as Joe, didn’t seem to care about money, and he even went as far as laying his American Express black card on the table. He made some big bets, had a few arguments with the dealers and Jimmy Tran, but all in all he was a very nice guy.

The table also had an action player at it named Brandon. Brandon likes to take down a lot of pots by making oversized raises and bets, enabling him to get some good action when he gets a hand. I played a couple hands with him throughout the night, but mainly stayed away from his heavy-hitting action.

There was a pot that I butted heads with Brandon in. I know most pros don’t forget much about hands that they play in, but I completely forgot my cards and the board, but I do remember the betting. Somebody straddled the pot preflop to $40, there were a few callers, and Brandon made it $300 more to go. I’m in early position with something like 910 suited or J10 suited and I decide to play a pot with him. The flop dropped and Brandon bet $440, which I called with a fairly weak position. The turn card came, and he bet $600. I thought about what he would be betting with and made a min-raise to $1200. Brandon folded and the dealer shoved me the pot.

Fifteen minutes after that, I picked up my chips and left about $2,000 ahead, a rare win for the streak that I’ve been going through.

Later, my friends and I decided to go to MGM to get free drinks and play $1-$2NL and swim with the guppies. I was feeling like it was my lucky day, so I tossed $100 onto the zero on the roulette wheel. Although I lost, I moved on to the poker table and had a blast, ordering one White Russian after the other. The whole table of players thought that I was so drunk, just tossing money around pot after pot! What they didn’t know is that this player was a pro simply controlling his image with the help of a little bit of alcohol. I ended up making about $550 by the end of the night, not including a $100 “last longer” bet I made with my friend JW in a $60 sit-n-go tournament.

I can’t wait to see what kind of luck my next session is going to bring me.

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