GC 1/4 Hand History: $3/6

I filled 8 pages of my notebook on Friday night, about a third of that spent in 3/6, and the rest spent in 6/12. I'll record my hand histories here, along with my other notes and comments that I remember now. To aid in reading, I'll color code as much as I can. If no notes after a hand, assume I folded.

Thuan took a look at the hands before I gave him the results, so I've also noted where his actions would differ from mine, in purple.

So, here we go:

3/6, Garden City, Friday night, from 7 pm to 8:30 pm
52 hands total, +$24

7:00 pm, buy in for $100

• A3o (SB, bought button), checked after 5 limpers. [6 SB] Flop A25 two hearts. I lead into it (I'm being aggressive, right?) and get raised from the button, I call with chop outs and a straight draw, 3 players to the turn, a blank [6 BB]. Check, check, bet, call (me) fold. I thought about dropping out here, but the straight draw kept me in. I didn't think I was in the lead. Check-call river (can't fold for one bet here), and get shown 43s. -$25
  
• 22 (But) Limp after 3 limpers, blinds in. Checks all the way to the river and I win with a pair of 2s :) +$10
  
• ATs (CO) Limp after a bunch of players, miss flop, fold. [Raise. I agree.]
  
• AKo (MP) Raise, 6 players call, flop something like J84 two spades. I check after the field. Turn another 8, I bet it after everyone checks. Two callers, I check river, can't remember what took it down, but it wasn't my hand :( -$12
• 39o
  
• A3o
  
• A3o
  
• KJo (UTG) Limp, fold when I missed flop. [Fold. I somewhat agree but this is a close one. I also know you would have played it :) ]
  
• K6s (BB) Check, miss flop, fold to bet.
  
• J7o (SB) Call, check flop, fold to turn bet. This was too loose, although Thuan says call with 5+.
  
• 55 (But) Limp, fold when I missed flop.
  
• K6o (CO) Fold.
  

Notes say I had $61 at this point.

• A5o
  
• K8o
  
• J6o (BB) (raised to me, approx 2 players in) Fold.
  
• J4o (SB)
• A3s (But) Two bets to me with four players in, I cold called. Flop is TTT. Everyone, including the pre-flop raiser, checks. I'm ready to fold to any bet. Turn is an ace, and suddenly I'm interested again. Checks to me, I bet, two players call. I expect I'm chopping, but assume I have the best hand. River K, checks to me, I bet, one fold, pfr raises (which gets him all-in), I call expecting a chop. He flips over his cards, I see an ace (I'm most afraid of a T), and I flip over my ace, but the dealer doesn't chop the pot. Instead, he points to the other guy's hand again and everybody starts to explain why aces full beats tens full. Oh yeah, he's got a second ace under the first. Nice. I don't dislike his play from the turn on (he was nearly all-in and he wanted to make sure he got another bet in) but I hate his check on the flop. A lot of 3/6 players will take a card off with any two overs on a board like that, and if he loses to a ten, oh well. Not sure about my play though -- a very thin value bet once the ace comes out, since most players know that they'll be drawing dead.
  
• Q7s (CO) Fold. [Call with 5+. The table was tight at this point though. Calling in EP with Kxs and Qxs seems loose to me, but I think it probably is correct in a 3/6 game.]

It is about this time that I realize I'm not even on the 6/12 list any more. Since I'm in the tournament area way to the back, I can't hear the announcements very well and it looks like I missed my call. Which is strange, because usually they repeat the names enough until they're annoying. Given the fact that the 3/6 and 6/12 were 50+ names long though, I understand if they go a little faster.

So, I tracked down the floor man and got put back on the list. From this point I'm, I'm looking at the list every chance I get, but with the note taking, playing, and looking at the list over my left shoulder at the limits of my slightly declining vision, I'm pretty distracted. Not a good thing for poker, but at least it is 3/6.

Also, around this time about 3 players get up and walk, leaving us pretty short-handed and the table really tightens up.

• J9o
  
• 76o
• 98s (UTG) Limp but nobody else limps behind me, leaving me alone with the big blind, an older guy. Hell, what am I saying, other than the AA guy, the whole table seems to have one foot in the grave. To be nice, I offer to check it down to the river with him, since after the drop, there's $4 left in the pot. We show our hands, and he has 84o. Flop comes 567 with two of my suit! Really regret checking it down, although in general I don't think it reduces EV that much in this situation, other than my positional advantage. In this case, I'm pretty positive I would have gotten at least four big bets out of him. Oops.
  
• 23o (BB) No notes, I think I missed the flop and folded.
  
• K5o (SB) Fold.
  
• Q9o (But) Fold. [Call if 6+. Probably true, since position helps. This is probably a place where I can play more hands in a favorable situation (position).]
  
• J3o
• K3o
• 92s Fold. It is now 7:45pm.
  
• 95o
• 25o
• A4o
• 56o (BB) (raised, 5 players in, raiser is all-in). Since the raiser is all-in and I'm getting 11:1, I call it. Of course, I flop nothing, and fold to a bet at some point.
  
• KQo (SB) I just call, with maybe three other players in. I generally think I should raise here, but it is close. Suited I definitely raise. Unsuited, it may be helpful to have a smaller pot so I can actually (maybe) give bad odds on the flop. In this case, I flopped nothing, no draws, and let it go on the flop. [Thuan says raise with <3>
  

At this point I rebuy, since I've been playing the last couple of circuits with about $35 in front of me. I've been steadily moving up the 6/12 and I'm 4th on the list. I add on $40 though because I'm getting below 5 big bets, and I want to be able to exploit any edge I have.

• A8s (But) Limp, fold to bet on flop when I miss everything. [Raise. I think this is out of SSHE too, and probably where I'm missing some EV.]
  
• A5o
• K6o
• T5s
• 45o
• 44 (UTG) Limp, call a raise behind me. Flop is 358, I check, middle-aged Asian guy bets in middle position. A few callers, I let it go. I take a look at the 6/12 list, and when I look back to the table, the river was a 4. That sucks. Even worse: the raiser on the flop had 42s, and takes the pot down with a pair of 4s. Thanks poker, just stick the knife in and twist it. As if hitting the case ace earlier wasn't enough :) Admittedly, when you make a note of every hand, you see a lot more times where you'd win when you'd usually just forget your cards.
  
• A2o (BB) Check, fold flop.
  
• Q7s (SB, raised in LP, 5 players in) With the raise and so many players in, I decide to take a chance and am glad I did. Flop comes 569 with two diamonds (my suit) and I like it. I lead, raise in late position, I call because it really won't help me to force anyone out and I've got great equity against over callers. I believe we get two more players for five total. Turn is a 4 putting two hearts on the board and it checks through. I'm not wild about it, but I don't have a hand yet. River comes 3 putting three hearts on the board, and I start thinking about whether a value bet is worth it. Of course, meanwhile the rest of the players ignore me because I never called time, and it checks around. I don't protest, and take down the pot. Nobody had a 2 as far as I can tell, although I probably missed a bet in that spot. Not sure about betting the turn, I was kind of hoping LP would bet it again for me and I didn't want to pay two bets for my draw against one player. In hindsight, I think I should have bet the turn and river. [Thuan said fold.]
  
• K2s (But) Fold. I've got $112 now.
  
• A5o
  
• J9o [He would open raise at 6/12. Wow, that seems loose to me -- although he thought it was the CO because I mistyped...]
  
• AKo (MP) Raise, K64 flop, I lead the whole way and am called down by one of the calling stations. He shows a K8 when he mucks. This puts me up to $150.
  
• 23s
• T4o Fold.
  

It is now 8:15 pm and I'm still 4th on the 6/12 list. It literally hasn't moved in 30 minutes. Then I had a brilliant thought, or at least it appeared brilliant to me at the time. At busy times with a long waiting list, the 6/12 tables probably get harder, not easier! Two words: natural selection. Assuming similar numbers of bad players and good players showing up at any given time, it stands to reason that the good players won't bust nearly as fast as the bad players, since they play better and tend to re-buy if they get cracked. On the other hand, the bad players will run through what they brought with them faster, and get replaced faster. The end result is that more good, tight players will be left at the tables, resulting in less turn over. Survival of the fittest, Darwin in action!

And me being stuck in the same place on the list for half and hour.

Well, it seemed to be an amazing revelation at the time at least.

Also notable is that no one has mentioned my notebook, even though I write in it after every hand. I guess they're way more tolerant, unobservant, or uncaring than I thought. Maybe I should pull out shrunken head and polish it between hands the next time I go.

• 69s (UTG) Fold. Then, four players call, five players see the flop, and I would have flopped an openender with a backdoor flush draw with plenty of action. On the turn I make the nuts. Curse of the notebook, I tell you!
  
• 52s (BB) (raised, 4 players) Called a raise, flopped nothing, fold.
  
• K8s (SB) No notes... Maybe I folded? Unlikely if it wasn't raised. I probably called and then folded the flop.
  
• T9o (But) Four players, I limped behind. Yeah, a little loose. Flop came T54, LP bets, I raise, two callers. The turn is a Q, checks to me, I bet, and original bettor calls. River K, and I check behind him -- he'd only call if he had me beat. Of course, he shows 22, so I take those tasty chips. What the hell was he doing calling me down? [Thuan says call, so I guess it wasn't too loose.]
  
• T5s Limp, fold on a missed flop. And my name comes up on 6/12, so I have them lock it up for me. [Fold. Yeah, I should have.]
  
• T2s Chips are in the rack, so I let this big hand go...

At this point, I moved to 6/12 with $164 off of a $140 buy-in. It was 7:30 pm and the interesting stuff hadn't even happened yet. But you'll have to wait until tomorrow to read that!

By my take, I made a two big mistakes and (maybe) a few small ones.

• Minor Possibly the first hand, A3o, I think I should have let it go on the turn. Really, at best I'm drawing to 7 outs, and could be much worse. It is very unlikely they don't have me beat or drawing only to the open-ender. I'm not sure, but I think there was a flush draw on the board too.
• Major ATs in the CO. Should have raised, textbook Ed Miller, and he calls it a major mistake. I was a little off after the previous two hands.
  
• Minor J7o hand early on. Should call there. Still, very minor.
• ?? Really undecided about the A3o vs AA hand. While I can't be scared of the ten or pocket aces (or even pocket kings), my bets on the turn and river are very unlikely to be called by a hand that doesn't beat me or tie me. But I also feel like I can't check there after the whole field checks. I think the turn bet is good, I'm not sure of the river. Obviously, though, once he check-raises, I gotta call.
• Minor 98s hand UTG. I've got a decent advantage with position in that spot, and a hand that is about average against a random hand. In many cases it will check down anyway. But in those cases where we both hit something, my position is profitable. I think it is enough of an edge that I shouldn't offer to check it down to make me look like a nice person. If he asks, I probably should though.
• Minor KQo in the SB. Probably giving up a little EV to not raise there, but it depends on who and how many are in.
• Major Q7s in the SB. The pre-flop call is a tiny bit loose, methinks. No big deal though. I think my flop play is fine, but it is close between raising for value and calling to let more players in. The turn I should lead out on, since I've got a solid 14 card draw giving me 2:1, and I only need two players to call to make it about break-even, and three players to make a profit. On the river, I think I need to bet and not be scared of the flush. Two pair, bottom straight, even one pair might pay me off. Oh, and I need to call time when I'm thinking!