The Bat Cave

Checking out Harrah’s in New Orleans and immediately slip into a 1/3 no limit hold’em cash game.

I have some other things to report but before I publish I’ve already played a significant pot.

Hijack opens to $10 and I have KTdd in the cutoff. I think raising could be okay here but he’s pretty shallow. I have some decent stacks behind so isolating someone with < $100 holding king high seems bad and getting it in here for 30+ bigs seems real bad. I flat and so do the button and both blinds.

Flop is QJ5 all diamonds. It checks to me and I bet $30 into $50. Everyone folds except the PFR and he tanks before jamming for $86. I snap.

The turn is the 4d and I lose to AdJx.

Nice start!

2:06 PM: Eminem finally responded to MGK. Check out his response “KILLSHOT” here:

Eminem – KILLSHOT (MGK Response)

2:15 PM: We landed in New Orleans around 5:30 PM local time.

Our first meal was at The Gumbo Shop somewhere in the French Quarter:

We got to our AirBnB around 8 PM and stayed in for the rest of the night, but we are staying so close to the Mississippi River that I had to go check it out:

But as I was standing in the grass in the pitch black I started thinking about how I had just read that the Mississippi is inhabited by alligators, copperhead snakes and a slew of rattlesnakes and I started to feel a bit uneasy.

Everything was much more visible this morning:

Breakfast this AM at the famous Cafe du Monde:

River views from the other side:

I thought we would be exploring the city today but it is 90 degrees and extremely humid. It feels like we are walking around in a steam room. So now we are in an air conditioned casino.

Here’s the poker room:

2:59 PM: Not sure how long I’ll be playing in this game. I paid for nine hours of parking but The Leak isn’t even playing poker. She’s roaming around the casino.

Notable hand:

New younger woman makes it $20 after one limper and a white man in his early 40s calls. I have AKo in the small and decide I want to 3-bet and possibly play for stacks. I make it $65 to go. She folds but he calls and has less than $200 behind. 🤦🏻‍♂️. Unless it’s a trap it’s already wacky.

Flop is J43 with two diamonds and one heart. I do have one diamond in my hand and I go ahead and lead for $75, imagining I’m not folding ever. If he wants to play for stacks here we are going to see all five board cards. Fortunately he just folds and I win this decent pot without a fight.

3:30 PM: There are multiple limpers and someone makes it $15. I call with 75cc from the big, expecting it to go multiway to the flop, but the first limper makes it $53 to go. The other limpers clear out, but the initial raiser calls and… I call? We all have at least $400 behind. Not sure if this is a good spot to speculate but I’m in there.

Flop is 655 with two hearts. I check and UTG bets $125. Other guy folds. No need to be coy here – he’s never folding. I jam and he stacks off immediately. The turn pairs the 6 and I send him out into the sultry Louisiana air.

4:05 PM: The Saints line up in punt formation and the visiting Dark Knights await the kick by raising a cutoff straddle of $6 to $16 with the AThh. It folds to the Saints in the hijack and they boot the rest of their $71 stack downfield. The straddler folds and I’m waiting for the ball, licking my lips to run this shit back for a touchdown.

JJ8. I’m waiting patiently, no defenders in sight.

JJ8-9. I’m reaching for the ball…

JJ8-9-T. “I have a straight.” He turns over the Q9.

Oh my God! The ball is loose. The punters recover!

Sigh.

4:52 PM: Oh boy. One limper, I make it $15 from cut with KQdd, button calls and small blind makes it $55. The limper calls and this is an ultra weird spot, as both the 3-bettor and the limper both have less than $200 behind. Obviously a jam isn’t going to get through here but my hand feels too good to fold. I guess the plan is to call and get it in on favorable flops? Shrug. Button folds.

Flop is KT6 with two hearts and one diamond. The blind jams for like $180 or whatever he has left. Other dude folds and I snap call.

He has AJ. I don’t win.

Very next hand, I raise a series of limpers to $25 with the J6dd (steaming?) and get three callers.

Flop is Q98, all diamonds. Well, hello there! The big blind immediately reaches for chips and looks like he wants to put the rest of his small stack in, but ends up checking instead. I bet $80 into $100 hoping to play a big pot and deny equity to the bigger one card flush draws. The big blind ends up jamming for $5 more and everyone else is a folder.

He has KTdd. I don’t win.

I raise one limper to $13 with the KTss and multiple players call. The limper ends up jamming for $134 and he’s the same dude that jammed on me with the Q9 so I’m not folding. No one else looks strong so I just jam to make sure I isolate and the others clear out.

He announces, “pocket queens” and I nod, letting him know that’s good.

The flop comes out ace high and everyone else is already like, “not anymore” but they are wrong.

The turn and river are both kings though and now they are right.

He thinks I have AK and when I table my hand he’s like, “king ten?!?!” I decide not to bring up his Q9 jam earlier and roll with my current maniacal image.

I’m not done yet. On my big blind a competent and experienced player makes it $20 to go and gets way too many callers. I feel completely justified defending with the K4 of spades.

Flop is KJX with two hearts and one spade and UTG checks and so do a few people downstream. That’s when the player after UTG says, “I didn’t do anything” and winds up betting $75. Everyone folds to me and I’m definitely not worried about UTG here. Considering all the variables – UTG check in 7-way pot and this dude betting weakish into a big field with people checking behind him out of turn – I am not folding. I call $75.

The turn is the ten of spades. I have top pair and a flush draw now. I check and he bets $100 into what is now a $300 pot on a very wet board. He only has a few hundred behind and I’m not convinced he is strong. I jam. He starts tanking and I already love it. I also discovered a way to handle the all in stare down/tanking situation: just start updating my blog. You go ahead and think about this and try to get a read. I’m going to be productive.

He folds.

I just cashed out of the NL game +$517 and I am now sitting in a 15/30 limit Omaha game.

High only.

I have very little experience at limit Omaha High, but I have tons of experience at limit poker and I think I am adept at PLO, so I should be very comfortable in this game.

5:36 PM: I haven’t been here very long but this game is super loose. It is 10-handed and I’m the only player that folded in the current hand.

🤤

6:10 PM: Approaching the one hour mark in Omaha and I have won zero pots. I think I’ve played three hands and I’m playing too loose. Seriously. I think you really have to nit it up in this game – especially with everyone playing so loose – and make sure all four of your cards are working together to make nut type hands. I’m sitting here thinking about a hand like 8876 double suited and how rarely your flushes will be good against a field and how often your sets and straights get outdrawn.

The Leak is in the game now too. Hopefully she can make the proper adjustments as well. We are waiting for the next dealer to push so we can take a 75-minute dinner break.

6:22 PM: Middle position straddles (which you can do from anywhere), cutoff calls, button 3-bets, I 4-bet AAK6 doubled suited, there are two more callers, straddle calls, and the button makes it 5-bets. So six of us end up with $75 in the middle.

Flop is J84 rainbow with one of each of my suits. Betting seems bad. Check-raising the button has appeal but it is probably overly optimistic. I likely just end up bloating the pot even more with a marginal hand and rarely limit the field. It checks around.

Turn is the queen of clubs. We have two nut draws! Leading out here probably isn’t great. I’m looking to show down a winner and that’s it. I check-call the hijack and four of us see the river.

5 of clubs! The nuts! I bet and get two callers for my first Omaha High pot in the state of Louisiana.

6:53 PM: Limpers. I raise AQT3 double suited. Lots of callers.

Flop is KT5 with two spades and a club. I have a pair, a gutter, nut flush draw, and a backdoor club draw. I’m happy to put lots of bets in here but they only oblige me with one.

Still multiway to a red 9 on the turn. That’s not good. I’m not going to barrel this card but someone leads into me anyway. Five of us to the river.

8 of spades! The nuts again! The turn bettor leads again and I’m torn. I have two players behind me and they might call one bet. Raising will probably only net me one more big bet. I think I should probably call but I end up raising and everyone folds, even the river bettor! Whoops.

7:21 PM: Dinner break.

7:35 PM: Not sure how great a choice jambalaya was for a diabetic. I’ll be aggressively bolusing to keep my BG under 200. We’ve been to three places so far and I have to say I haven’t been floored yet.

8:00 PM: Just heard the dealer say, “put a lid on it” to announce the betting has been capped. First time I’ve ever heard that. Dealers that read my blog, feel free to use.

8:46 PM: Under the gun raises and there is lots of cold-calling, including me on the button with A3ccKQ.

Seven of us see the KT3 with one club flop. The PFR bets and there are some calls and I’m hoping a raise on the button will let me take control of the pot, but the PFR 3-bets and there are still at least five to the turn.

5 of clubs and we all call again.

The river is an offsuit 2 and now a player that has been calling all along bets after the PFR clearly waves the white flag. I’m perplexed, so I call and everyone else folds.

He announces, “I can’t win” so I table my K3 and this dickbag shows a set of tens and then says, “I guess I can win.”

Wow. One of my biggest pet peeves in poker. Losing huge pots when someone makes their hand on the river is part of the game. Losing a big pot after showdown because someone tells you that you won and then… turns over a better hand makes me Hulk angry. It’s not like he was even purposefully slow-rolling me; he’s just a dumb ass that doesn’t know what’s going on.

“I thought you had a set of kings.”

After I just call flop and just call turn on KT35.

🤬🤬🤬

9:38 PM: Now I’m just flustered. I have AAK5 double suited and get it capped like six or seven ways.

Flop is pretty good: 432 rainbow with one of each of my suit. The slow roller from the last hand donks, I raise and two players cold call. The slow roller also just flats.

The turn is the 9 of clubs, putting two clubs out (not my suits). It checks to me and I let this dweeb check-raise me. I should just fold here. This player simply doesn’t have the balls to raise me with less than 65 here.

Not only do I call the turn but I call the river when the board pairs the 2. He shows me the 65 and I slow fold while thinking about how I wish I had a full house and still hadn’t shown my cards yet.

Calm.

Down.

10:08 PM: Cold call with A2hhQJ.

Flop KT9 rainbow. All the bets. Five players.

6 of hearts, still rainbow. All the bets. One guy put in two bets but we end up heads up.

River 8. He also has AQJx.

Well shit.

10:33 PM: Raise some limpers with the QT98 double suited. Not sure if that’s good or not, but hand seems pretty solid against ranges that are rarely folding pre.

Flop is QJT rainbow and only one of my flush cards. I think it’s probably marginal to bet here, but I do have a straight, two pair and a backdoor flush draw. I can stand a raise here but I just get some cools.

That’s encouraging enough that I fire another barrel on a turn card that bricks but gives me the flush draw. This time the player on my left does raise, a splashy bad player calls cold and I call also.

River pairs the ten and I just donk out. He calls me and shows the AK but my full house is good.

12:39 AM: Very card dead the last several hours. We are calling it a night.

Final Score: +$723

Total Score: +$1240