Vegas - Cash Bounce
Played a 4 hour cash session waiting for Shazbo’s flight to arrive and had a mini recovery. After a pep talk from the guys I went down with the idea of value betting and not doing anything adventurous.
I promptly lost $200 in the first 5 minutes representing a flush when the other guy had…errr..a flush. I then switched to power-raising in position which lost me a fair bit more. For example 5 limps, I make it $25 on the button with 55 and get 4 callers :( The first to act then bets $150 into £100 pot on a 229 board so I fold.
The next strategy adjustment was to just limp anything remotely speculative in any position as you get to see a flop about 80% of the time without seeing a raise. This worked fairly well, as I was able to hit a couple of flushes and get paid off by top pair for at least $100 a pop.
I also raised any premiums hard and value bet them all the way. In four hours I only saw KK once and AQ twice in terms of strong hands which was pretty disappointing, but on two occasions they were paid off handsomely. With the KK I managed to get $300 in on a low board by potting all the way and opponent mucked. I also held AQ on a Queen high board and stacked somebody again just firing all the way.
The session finished up $300 from a low point of $350 in the hole, so a welcome mini recovery. I guess this is the way to play the 1/2 in Vegas, but I’m not sure it is much fun, particularly if you are not hitting much.
An example hand to show the huge strategy adjustment: 6 limpers and I call in the cutoff.
BB makes it $6 which I call along with about 4 others and have position as the button is out.
Flop is 3s4s5c giving me top pair + strong flush draw. Now against Baron or Devski for example, I’d look to play a big pot here most of the time trying to ensure I get a large bet in with fold equity for a decent pot (and then flip if I have to). Here though it is not worth it. In this hand it was checked around to me, so I bet $10 to fluff the pot a little bit and the BB (original raiser) min raises me to $20. This is likely a big hand, so I just take my card for $10. She then bets $20 into $70 so I just call the turn to see if I can crack the big hand. River blanks and it goes check/check and I’m against pocket Aces and lose. The beauty is though if I hit the flush, trips or two pair I can normally get a $150 bet called on the end.