A little surprised that you didn’t recognize him, but then again, it has been 15-20 years since the poker boom.
Good run. Wish I could have railed or played. I am still not on the WPT site, though. Just practicing on PokerStars.
how it started:
how it’s going:
About the only thing that hasn’t changed is the glasses, I think the majority of people who know who he was would be lucky to recognize him.
I’ve set myself a goal to win a 1,000+ entrant multi-day tournament. I’m already in the record books (Stephan Mathys: Hendon Mob Poker Database)
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YouTube suggested this video (https://youtu.be/9FhmpOyajvg?si=n_kjC2TdWNVnMQFl&t=15) so I watched it. Right away I thought, “that guy looks familiar”.
Looked up “Dan Smith” here: (Dan Smith: Hendon Mob Poker Database). Yup, that’s the guy who seemed strongest at that second table. Oh, he’s #4 in the US in this list? Won over $50M? Yeah, no wonder he could figure me out. I bet he soul-read every single one of my bluffs, and the one or two he let get through were actually four-dimensional chess traps setting up to pay off three orbits later.
Yeah, you probably need to work on what you’re putting out there. It’s possible they don’t even know how they do it. Something feels off, so they add that to their decision-making.
These days it’s mostly bet-sizing that puts up red flags.
Went to Hustler Casino while on an LAX pickup. was there for about 40 minutes on a $1/$3 table, max buy-in of $100. Did not win a single pot. Highest pair was 99. Final hand I was dealt 6-2 in the SB. Early player raised to $10, nearly everyone calls. I call BB bumps it to $20. Everyone calls again. I call to close the action. I’ve got about $40 left. 665 on the board, so I just ship it all. One caller who has 5-7. Turn is a 4, river is an 8, and GG me.
Son texts to tell me he’s landed, so I left.
Need to play with people who are more scared of losing money and who think more logically. I might have won in the long-run here, but had no time to do it.
ugh, no way would I sit down at an existing cash game with 33 BB
All the right moves so far.
Oof. He shouldn’t have called, needing runner-runner to win.
Sounds about right.
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SoCal rooms are all like this, as low buy-ins create more action, I think.
Did I mention the $7 rake post-flop? Yup, same everywhere in SoCal. Even the tourneys are poorly structured with a shitty rake.
It is why I prefer Vegas, though I don’t get the opportunity to go often enough.
For $100, it was entertainment not an investment, though it could always turn out to be a good return. Was it entertaining? A little. Guy two to my left was down to half a rack, left with three racks after missing a flush but hitting trips on one hand, and hit a few other suck-outs later.
Good perspective, and this is why I generally prefer tournaments, 'cause I know how much my few hours of entertainment is going to cost me at most. With cash games I see so many people just keep adding on, and I don’t want to get into that death spiral. When I bust out of a tournament I’m cool to walk away.
Strong disagree about calling $9, and then $10 more with 6-2 in worst possible position. Torching money with that play in the long run.
I think it was suited!
First call I thought I the BB would also call and I was getting 7:1 implied odds.
The second time I knew I was closing the action on about 14:1 implied odds.
Yes, if I were playing for four or five hours, I wouldn’t have bothered. I also would have found a higher blind table. I took that seat merely because the others had a whole table’s worth of waiting, and I knew I didn’t have a lot of time.
Hands like that (even suited) have really bad reverse implied odds though, so the 7:1 / 14:1 calcs aren’t really accurate. Even though you were a huge favorite in this scenario, there will be many times where you’re a huge dog on that kind of flop where the villain has a better kicker, or worse, a flopped full house. Or you flop the flush and you’re already drawing dead.
Not ragging (pun intended) on your decision as I’ll often make similar plays - it’s all about the entertainment value as you mentioned. And your stack was short… But felt like I needed to mention it.
Thank you. I understand how questionable it is. Especially when one considers that every hand in this deal was nearly ATC.
The utility functions of every player at the table were truly skewed. I saw exactly one deal ( I saw about 18 hands) where a raiser picked up the blinds.
At this moment, I was going to leave, either with $40 or with $140, or more if anyone calls.
Played last night. Put myself on the online wait list for 1/3 NL and 1/2 PLO as per usual, since the list is always super long by the time I get there. 1/3 was called first and sat with 300. Only played a couple hands in the first 30 minutes or so until they called me for PLO. Normally I would stay put but the NLHE table was super nitty and pretty boring so I made the jump.
I was at about 320.for the move, and didn’t get ANY decent hands at PLO for the first 2 hours probably. I called a few 15-20 bets preflop and didn’t flop anything. Bled down to about 150 and finally made a move with A-Q-J-9 (suited ace) when flop came A-K-Q. Guy of course had T-J and I got no help. Bought in for another 200, which was my limit for the day.
Down to about 150 again. Noticed two guys on my immediate right were pretty much playing AFC, and one of them (more on this guy later) 3-bet so I pushed with Q-Q-T-8. Flop came A-K-x, with K on the turn. I was pretty sure I was sunk, but J hit the river and my straight held up. The one guy won the side-pot with just Jacks so my read was right and I was basically locked up on the turn. This put me at about 410, so still a little down but room to breathe.
Few hands later I 3-bet A-T-8-7 with hearts and flop came Q-J-9 with two hearts. Ok, flopped straight, broadway and Royal re-draw was as good as I’d seen all night and pretty much have to get it in here 3-way. Turn is a heart and river is clean so I scoop with the nuts. Needed the help as one of the guys had K-J. Whew! Up to about 900 now. Played a few more and hovered around the 650-900 range. Final hand (I had a time limit also), I have 6-6-5-3 and call a raise, but most active guy raises to 100. I contemplate taking a flyer knowing this is not the best hand, but fold. Flop was Q-6-4 and active guy bets pot - so I’m getting it in here if I had called the bet, for better or for worse. No regrets, leave with 750 and happy with my 250 profit for the night after being stuck for about 350 at one point.
So the one guy who was playing trash was absolute mega-whale. He mentioned winning 7k at blackjack and one of the guys on my left whispered that he regularly plays wild and donates a ton. He absolutely lives up to this - playing literally anything for a raise or 3-bet, calling pots and all-ins with weak draws, if anything. I saw him dust off probably 6 buyins for 500 each just while I was there. Sadly I didn’t benefit at all but the guy that whispered to me went from about 2k in chips to 8k by the time the whale left. Wild!