1/2 NL at the taj mahal - small trip report
 

So i went down to the taj just to mess around i planned on playing a short stack at a 1/2NL table. So i sit down with 120$, most people had between 150-300. First hand i get is AJo UTG, so i raise 7$ total, get 2 callers. flop is 4 8 9 rainbow, i bet 20, middle guy folds, 1 call now heads up. J on the turn, i bet 40, he calls. So now im like crap this guy probably has pocket queens-kings or something. next card is a blank, i notice the guy only has 20 left so i bet he calls, i flip over AJ and he mucks. LOL ok what was he calling with, so i get a quick almost double up on my first hand.

very next hand, AJ spades. i raise 12$ get one caller, A 3 7 2 spades. i bet out 15, he calls. turn - 7, so im like crap thats not good, but i gotta bet so i bet 35 he calls. river is J. he has like 45 left so i bet 45 he calls, mucks. so basicly in 2 hands i almost triple up haha, gotta love the taj donks. (seriously wtf was he calling with?? AQ AK?? i doubt it more like A5 or something)

so me and my friend are waiting around to play the midnight tournament, its a crazy 12 minute blind 12k in chips for 50$ thing. So we get in , i fold about 10 hands and get TT middle position, raise it up to 350, blinds at 50-100. get 5 callers , wtf?? so flop is all low cards, i bet 1k. 1 call 1 reraise to 2k, so i call other guy calls. turn is a 10, i lead out 4k, middle guy folds, other reraises all in for another 6k i call. he flips over aces, river... an ace. blah

so i was down to like nothing in chips went all in on a A5 or something stupid and lost to a QJ. so anyway the tournament sucked. So then i was walkin around waiting for my friend to bust out and i stick 20$ in a video poker, hit 4 kings on like my 5th hand, so that was like 50$. then i put 20$ in a penny machine play for like 10 minutes im down to like 2$ and i hit a bonus game on 3x bet, you can choose to get 10 spins at 1X bonus or 1 spin at 10X, so i pick 1 spin. it spins and hits the highest value on the wheel and i win 150$, woot!

So all in all i end up leaving up about 350ish, yay for taj donks and random luck on slots hehe

Re: 1/2 NL at the taj mahal - small trip report
 

stay in the cash games forget the tourney lol

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why are you raising utg with AJ? Limp at most-good players dump this hand in early position.

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1. The 3.5x bb thing is usually the live equivalent of limping, standard raises are $10 or more at 1/2NL.

2. They games play extremely loose and calling the river with 4th pair is not uncommon

3. LOL at limping AJ to open, you going to limp in EP with this hand and play it OOP? Raise or fold, forget limping.

Re: 1/2 NL at the taj mahal - small trip report
 

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so basicly in 2 hands i almost triple up haha, gotta love the taj donks. (seriously wtf was he calling with?? AQ AK?? i doubt it more like A5 or something)


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probably the nuts and he mucked cuz he felt bad taking your money...keep limping AJo UTG at a 1/2 table please

Re: 1/2 NL at the taj mahal - small trip report
 

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so basicly in 2 hands i almost triple up haha, gotta love the taj donks. (seriously wtf was he calling with?? AQ AK?? i doubt it more like A5 or something)


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probably the nuts and he mucked cuz he felt bad taking your money...keep limping AJo UTG at a 1/2 table please

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what are you talkin about, the best thing you couldve had on that board was a set, he either had a spade draw which i had the ace of spades or 2 low pairs, or just ace-x. i dont see why this is a bad play

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Then fold it otg-even in loose 1-2 games.Unless you hit 2 pair or better on the flop, you very well may end up outkicked or outranked. Save your money for better hands in better position.
I play 2-5 or 5-10(very rarely).Maybe 1-2 just plays differently,but I'd still be hesitent to get involved with that hand early.

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Limping UTG is pretty gross at a full table.

I would say a general opening raise is to $10 in Atlantic City and then to add $2 for every limper. Opening to $6 or $8 is cause for the whole table to call your raise. I might even start at $12.

Oh, and yes to be shocked with some of the hands they call you with.

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I say stay with the cash as well. Or at least brush up on your strategy and play a 300plus30 or sumthin'... 50dollar 40mans are not worth having to stave off 90% of the field for the prize money. play tourneys that are for thousands, play cash games for hundreds.

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yeah i think im going to work on my cash game more, mainly cause it has less variance than tourneys and my limited bankroll will benefit from cash quicker than playing tourneys

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update - over the past week or so ive been to the taj 2 times, everytime a winning session. on sunday i went around 9pm, there was a pretty good amount of tables playing. I had to wait about 5 minutes, sit down with 180$. the table has your average spread of players, i observe them all because i get no cards for about 25 hands worth playing. 2 guys that are friends, seem to be on vacation both have about 450 in chips in front of them so they must be doin good taj only allows 300 max buy in. 3 young kids, 2 of them mostly limping into almost every flop and folding to any agression unless they hit it , and by hit it i mean mid or low pair is ok to call. and then you have 2 girls that look like they just turned 21, raising almost every hand and basicly look like total amateurs just gambling for fun.

So it was pretty uneventful for a while, i steal a few pots with well timed raises although it was very hard and i knew which players i could do it on cause some would call with ace rag all the way down. My first big hand i pick up KK on the button. I get some nice action on the hand someone else doing the raising for me for 12$ so i call along with 2 others. flop a king, theres some betting on the flop i reraise 25$ to 50. 2 callers. basicly just end up leading this guy along the whole way, he hits his ace rag on the river pushes his last 50 on me and i end up doubling up basicly.

so im sitting with about 400 now, card dead.. for an hour and a half. i got a couple small pocket pairs, i limped or called a small raise to see a flop no sets for me, folded out. end up losing like 80 in chips just from blinds/limping. pick up ATs on the button, theres a 7$ raise, i call with 3 others. flop is 10 Q Q, so im thinkin this is pretty nice theres a 25$ raise, folds to me, i reraise to 60, guy calls. next card Q, now im sitting on a nice boat, guy bets 50, i call. next card is a king... so earlier in the hand in my mind for some reason i had a strong read on this guy for either AK or AQ since he rarely plays and when he has bet strong he either had that or a nice PP. now on this board TT isnt good, AK would be making a better full house, and AQ would have quads. so im sitting there with the lowest fullhouse, this guy bets 150.... i think for a good 2 minutes. i ask him, you gonna show me a king ? he goes i swear to god i dont have a king, the way he said this kind of put me off he seemed excited.. i just had a real bad feeling and i folded showing my AT

he flipped over AQ, quads

the table went nuts, guy next to me was like omg i wouldve pushed and had no stack left. i felt good only losing what i did on the hand, i feel most inexperienced players including myself about a month or 2 ago wouldve pushed there. i cant explain why i felt it wasnt good it was just one of those poker hunches you have to trust


so anyway that night i ended up being up only 100$ but up is up. i went last night around 8pm to the taj again, end up starting a new 1/2 table. the play is super tight early on cause everyone was like shy starting a new table i dont know it was weird. it was also weird that everyone at the table seemed to be under 25 except for like 2 people (im 22 btw). there were a few guys talking about "yeah im tight agressive" blah blah throwing some poker terms around in their chit chat but they seemed oblivious to reading anyones hand or how to properly play their own. i thank TV poker for this influx of young noobs lol. oh and also i found amusing a young "gangsta wannabe" lookin kid with a sideways hat, bought in with 100$ in white chips.. 5 stacks.. wtf?? anytime he called a raise it was basicly a whole stack haha the dealer just took his whites into her tray when he entered a pot and added reds thank god, who wants 50 white chips in front of them getting in the way?

so anyway the table is super tight for like 20 min then chips start shuffling around, the table gradually gets looser, i stole a few small pots with continuation bets. hit a KQ 2 pair on a button made like 50$ off it. no major action

Big Hand!! - i pickup QQ and for some reason i cant remember my position i think i was 1 off the button. anyway someone raises 10$, i call BB calls, 3 way pot. flop is 8h 9h 2s, UTG raise to 25$, call, i reraise to 100$ total. he thinks for a long time and calls, other guy insta calls. now im thinking to myself [censored] im [censored] beat, these guys are calling with aces, kings, 2 pair maybe? turn is a 5s, checks to me, i push my last 70$ i wasnt letting anyone get a free card and i was commited anyway lets do it. BB instacalls, other guy thinks and calls. now im ready to walk away from the table clearly thinking im beat here. turn is a 4d, blank card woo, they both check. i flip over QQ first, kind of unenthusiastic, guy to my left mucks... im thinking WTF??? then the asian guy sees my queens and goes , nice hand you got me.. im like is this real life? he flips over ace 9. im like floored i cant help but say out loud "are you [censored] kidding me i won??? hahaha i thought i was getting called by kings and aces" so ecstaticly i rake in this monster pot of over 600$ it takes me a full hand to finish stacking my monstrous stack. i stick around for another 15 or so hands but i felt it was a good time to leave and my gf was buggin me wanted me to stop there on the way home so i cash out up about 450$ for the night.

I just want to say thank you to the poker gods and to all the donks out there contributing money to my poker fund.

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i like how you always put villains on AA/KK

god i wish this was a gimic/level

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he flipped over AQ, quads
the table went nuts, guy next to me was like omg i wouldve pushed and had no stack left. i felt good only losing what i did on the hand, i feel most inexperienced players including myself about a month or 2 ago wouldve pushed there. i cant explain why i felt it wasnt good it was just one of those poker hunches you have to trust


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I wouldn't call this a hunch, more of an easy fold.

You can only beat AJ and 99, not sure what hand he raised with preflop that he is still betting that you can beat.

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Much congrats on your recent success, but I don't think you're as good as you think you are.

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I just want to say thank you to the poker gods and to all the donks out there contributing money to my poker fund.

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quit thanking us until you actually learn the game

- the poker gods

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well i am aware i got lucky, i recently got unlucky though so i guess it evened out. both times i had a hand i raised preflop, got called by rags, and the rags of course had small stacks since they were playing rags and pushed on me on the flop, i had TpTk both times, and they outdrew me on the river 2 times in a row making 2 pair with Q5 and A2...

also i had to dip into my poker BR for real life happenings thus crippling my BR combined with my bad beats im back down to 200$ which is basicly 1 buy in. Hopefully i do good next time i go down or im waiting to save up a couple months for a real BR...

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Much congrats on your recent success, but I don't think you're as good as you think you are.

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yeah i mean i know im better than the average player by far, i definately have some leaks in my game but i feel my main disadvantage is my limited bankroll. I would love to meet someone around the area who is grinding 1/2nl to mentor me but im better than my friends theyre all just casual players, and i dont trust anyone i actually meet IN the poker room.

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Congrats on your success so far. As you have noticed the brick and mortar 1/2 games are ridiculously easy compared to online, but it sounds like you have a lot to learn still. The AT hand is a pretty standard laydown on the turn. You eventually got away, so thats good at least.
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2 guys that are friends, seem to be on vacation both have about 450 in chips in front of them so they must be doin good taj only allows 300 max buy in.

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It's funny that when people come to the table and see $450 in chips at a $300 max game, they assume that person is doing real well. If you see me with $450, you should assume I am up $150 at most, and if you see me with $300, then I am even at best. But don't tell the fishies out there that fear the bigger stack.
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i went last night around 8pm to the taj again, end up starting a new 1/2 table. the play is super tight early on

[/ QUOTE ] This is normal for a new game. It sometimes takes a real long time for it to loosen up.
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oh and also i found amusing a young "gangsta wannabe" lookin kid with a sideways hat, bought in with 100$ in white chips..

[/ QUOTE ] If in the first half hour of a 1/2 game you don't spot the guy who bought in for 100 or less with all white chips, then keep looking for the sucker....Okay that line doesn't flow so well, but these people are generally the fish of the table.

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Dude, you should play at Caesar's instead of Taj. Cleaner, nicer room, better atmosphere, and even worse players, if you can imagine. I'll be there all weekend if you drop in, feel free to say hi. I should be in the 1/2 or 2/5 game. Young, red-headed kid wearing a black Georgetown hat.

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Hey guys, let him have some fun, reality will come crashing down soon enough.

Keep up the trip reports and don't let the haters get you down.

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You played that ATs hand pretty awful, especially the flop raise. I think you should be reading NLTAP or some such and reviewing it after each 1/2 session to try to improve your game.