hand from vegas (sort of long, line check-ish)

[KRANTZ]

Sat down at the 2/5 game at the Palms with one of my buddies on the way back from Rain. This was my first trip to Vegas, and I'm honestly bewildered by the absurd disparity between the day/night games. It doesn't even make sense to play during the day! Post 2AM, it's like everyone is wasted and trying to MOVE ALL-IN like those guys on the TV. Pretty amazing.

Anyway, so I run my stack up to about 3900 in about an hour and I'm sobering up. The only reason we didn't head back to my hotel was that this rich guy at the end of the table had no idea what he was doing, but still managed to have about 10k in front of him (all in red chips, this was a $500 max buy-in game). Basically running hot like hell. Game is about 7-handed and he's straddling every time he can, then raising his straddle to anywhere from 60-100 based on how many chips he can grab and toss in between sips of his rum and coke. He has a general disregard for money, but he can fold (although he never folded top pair even when he thought he was beat). He's not an idiot (meaning he sees draws/has basic hand-reading skills), but is drunk and an altogether awful player.

One hand vs him, I raised his straddle to $30 with 910c as a blocking bet, because I didn't want to call his large straddle reraise.

Another time, I limped on the button with AA because I knew he would raise his straddle. He raised to 70, I made it 350, he thought for a bit, called, and check/folded a rag flop.

Another hand on my way up to 3900 I called his raise with AJc, flopped a flush draw with overs, and overpushed (he bet 120, I pushed for 700). He called after some debate with top pair no kicker and I hit an ace to double up.

My image is solid, although I'm still half-pretending to be drunk (and I don't think anyone at the table is paying any attention to me anyway, they're so smashed).

So he's in the straddle, I call with 8c9c, some others call he makes it 100 straight. I'm the only caller of the raise.

Flop ($240): 3d6s7h

He nonchalantly tosses out $150 and I call quickly.

Turn ($540): Ad

He hesitates, tosses out $400, I think for a long while and call (mainly hoping to hit a nice offsuit card for my straight and stack him). I hadn't seen him fire two barrels that often on a bluff, so I narrow his range down here to either an ace, or a pocket pair. Maybe two pair or a set, but I think he'd try to slowplay them. I'm not thinking about his range too hard though, because I figure I'll check/fold the river to 3 barrels if he bets.

River: Jc ($1340):
He thinks for a bit, taps the table and checks. Very interesting. Since he checked, I know he doesn't have an ace or better anymore (well not know, but I'm pretty sure). He could have a busted draw, but he probably has some sort of pair. I bet $1000.

He says he'll pay me $50 to see one of my cards.

A. Evaluate my turn/river action.
B. Since I bet, what the hell do I do when he asks to see a card?
C. For anyone who advocates putting in a raise somewhere, remember that this is a $500 max buy-in game so if I get stacked I can't rebuy to a big stack again. I did think about a raise on the turn to try to push him off a lower pair, but decided that the value I would get if I hit my hand on the river and he has a big hand was better than putting in a semi-bluff. Plus, he easily could have had a big ace.

vegas is such a sh*tshow