In episode #4 of my live poker journey, I head down to the Seminole Hard Rock Tampa. While the original goal was to play $1/$2 for the poker VLOG, I was told that recording at the table was a no-no. So I jumped over to $2/$5 and put in a short session that didn’t go too well.
Push play and let’s review the key hands together.
I open-raise with Q♠9♠ from the CO and promptly get 3-bet by the SB to $40. The BB pretty quickly calls and I call closing action.
The flop is a beautiful Q♥9♥3♦ and there is a $75 bet and raise to $200 in front of me.
My main options are between calling and just shoving over the top, and I opt to jam it for my remaining $510. I didn’t think the BB would be pure bluffing very often, so many marginal/drawing hands that he would raise with would feel obligated to call the remaining $310 more.
And the SB, while I hate to give them a reason to consider folding AA, KK, or AQ-type hands, I think they would look at the big pot brewing and feel committed to seeing it through.
Both players call, and unfortunately, the pot does NOT get shipped our way.
EP2 open-limps, which seemed to be his way of entering a lot of pots given how loose and fishy this game was and how he did NOT want to get involved in bloated pots with marginal starting hands.
Given that, I still raise to $25 with ATo from the CO and just EP2 calls.
The flop is T♠8♦3♣ and they check/call my $20 c-bet.
On the 5♠ turn, EP2 opts to take the lead and fires $55 into me and I quickly call. We check this against the GTO+ solver, and not shockingly, the solver NEVER donks in this spot. So -6 points to EP2!
But instead, he quickly mucks and onward we go to the next hand.
EP2 open-limps and the CO raises to $25 total. EP2 is a fishy player who has been making this game very good, and the CO is a comfortable middle-aged guy.
I wake up with pocket Aces in the SB and 3-bet to $80 total. This gives the fishy player a better opportunity to get involved preflop (even though it’s not the most likely happening), but alas, EP2 folds and the CO quickly calls.
The flop is 5♦3♦2♠ and I opt to check. The solver much prefers betting here, even without the A♦ in our hand, but it does have a small 1.1% checking frequency, so….let’s just claim that I’m mixing here?
The CO fires for $100 and I check-raise to $215 total. Any check-raise here looks inherently strong, but given the 3.5SPR, this is the only size that could give enough room to a bluff 3-bet on the flop. It also allows worse overpairs, like 77 and 99, to feel more comfortable compared to just going all-in.
Unfortunately, the CO shoves, I call, and he shows me 55. The runout doesn’t help and I’m heading home with a hole in my pocket.
Better luck to us next time!
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