Dec 22nd Trip to the Horseshoe-Bossier City

I took a day off from work Friday to extend my holiday weekend and to give me some time to play cards and finish up my Christmas shopping. Well, finish up really isn’t the correct word there; I had to do my Christmas shopping. After doing my shopping and errands, BJJIII and I hit the road around 11:30 headed to our favorite card room, the Horseshoe-Bossier City! The Shoe was busy and almost full, but they quickly had us seated at the same table. Within an hour we’re splitting a huge club sandwich, compliments of the $1/hr comp rate that we’ve accumulated that the Shoe offers its poker players.

Sputtering Start…

I’ve been on a bit of a downswing lately, so I really didn’t expect to come out smoking like I did on my last trip. In fact, I started the day off by flopping on my face multiple times. I check-raised a flush draw vs. some lady who was running uber hot. She, of course, called, then proceeded to win the hand as my draw didn’t get there. I guess that I thought that she might be capable of a fold. What was I thinking? I had top pair turn into trips on the turn, which got scorched by some-young guys full house. This is not the way that I like to start sessions!

Table Change Please!!

At BJJIII and my table were a couple of decent players, a grouchy old rock and an old lady who couldn’t fold due to the fact that everything was going her way. She was $1,200+ deep at a $1/3 game and had obvious flaws in her strategy that we were looking to exploit. When she announced that it was time for her to head home, we begged her to stay since her leaving would cripple the table and probably leave it on a course to be broken up. We kept her around for 30 minutes despite her saying that each hand was her last hand, but I think she came out to the positive in this time period, so it might have been better if we would have just let her leave. A call to her husband 1 hour away sealed the deal and she stacked up 2 racks of red birds and headed out the door.

BJJII got hit in the face w/ the deck when his 10-7o flopped the nut str8 and he doubled through an old man w/ the idiot end of it. He had a day that we all dream of card wise. A really good reg sat down in the 2 seat to BJ’s left and the game seemed to get much tougher. I was down about a buyin at this point and felt it was time to make a move to a softer seat. When I talked to Joe (the night floor manager) he pointed me to the back of the room where the table seemed loose and jolly! Ahhhh! That’s more like it, limp, limp, call my raise, fold to my Cbet. That’s right!

A snake in the weeds

When I sat down in the 8 seat, I noticed a tough spot in the line up that I hadn’t noticed on my first glance through. Two seats to my right sat a man who goes by the nickname of Ace. Well, he used to, but he goes by a different name now since ever dealer in the room used to announce his presence when he walked through. He’ll always be Ace to me and he is a pleasure to talk to for the long hours of a live poker session. He’s the man who set over set me in my last session at the HSBC, which is linked at the top of the page.

Don’t call it a comeback!

Soon enough I started making my money back. I’ve gotten really good at recognizing orphan pots and I’m able to pick them up like they were quarters on the sidewalk. My top pair hands were good for a few wins then I got dealt the mother of all starting hands, Pocket Aces!

Dealt to Hero: A A
3 folds
Hero ($400+) raises to $12
CO folds
Button calls $12
SB ($222) calls $11
BB folds

Flop - J 6 4
Pot - $39
SB cks, Hero bets $30, Button folds, SB calls $30

Turn - 6
Pot - $99
SB cks, Hero bets $100, SB calls

River - 10
Pot - $299
SB cks, Hero bets $80, SB calls $80 and is All In

Villain shows Q-Jo for One Pair- Jacks
Hero shows A-A for One Pair- Aces

The SB was an older man and had seemed very straight-forward since I had been watching him. He said that he played online at UB. He seemed uncomfortable throughout the hand and mostly squirmed in his chair. I thought that he was on a draw and was floored when he called the $100 turn bet. He looked very resigned when I put him in on the river, in fact, he held his chips out after he checked in a manner that hinted at surrender. As if he had no choice but to put them in. Thanks for the crying call. He reloaded instantly for a full buy-in and a short while later I’d tie into him again.

I had moved to the 3 seat across the table to get a better view of the whole table. (I always try to stay in the 2,3,7 or 8 seats because they offer the best view of my opponents.)

Playing small flushes

I played 5 4 and made a small flush, only to lose to the 6 3 for a bigger flush. This didn’t really bother me that bad since it wasn’t that big of a pot. The table was loose passive and I felt that I had solid reads on everyone. I don’t limp much at all out of position in these games, but for some reason I caught a wild hair and decided to play a very unorthodox hand.

Dealt to Hero – 6 4

Hero ($500) calls $3
1 fold
MP1 calls $3
MP2 ($300) (SB from hand above) calls $3
3 folds
SB calls $2
BB checks

Flop – A 9 8
Pot - $18
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $15, MP1 folds, MP2 calls $15, SB folds, BB folds

Turn – K
Pot - $48
Hero bets $25, MP2 calls $25

River – Q
Pot - $98
Hero checks, MP2 bets $75, Hero….

This put me into a tight-spot. The old man played his hand like he had a draw and any FD almost had to be bigger than mine. I planned to check-call the river to snap off a bluff, but this was a rather large bet for a straight-forward player when a FD gets there on the river. That 5 4 hand kept running through my mind and I kept asking myself if flush over flush could happen again in such a short period of time. I studied the old man and found that he was quite rigid and was pushed back into his chair. Not in a super confident “I have you kind of way,” but in a “I hope that snake doesn’t bite me” kind of way. I counted his breathing to see if he was excited or scared, but I didn’t get much from that. Finally, based on the fact that I did have a flush and that the villain was quite rigid, I dumped $75 into the pot prepared to be behind. He tapped the table and said “Good call.” I showed him my flush and he mucked his hand. Later, he admitted that he had TP.

BJJIII had gotten up from his table to come over for a visit and watched the hand progress. He said that he would have snap called the river, I don’t think the hand was that simple. My estimate of the villain being a straight-forward player, coupled w/ how he played the hand made it a much harder call, IMO. Also, losing to a flush over flush just before this didn’t make things any easier.

One More Round

An hour or two later, I’m still hovering at about even (+/-$30) when BJJIII comes over to tell me that he’s ready to go and that we’ll play one more round. Some new guy had joined my table, he looked a little buzzed and wore his feelings on his sleeve. I think he was the type that liked to play blackjack and thought that he’d give poker a try. Earlier, I stated that I’ve gotten good at picking up orphaned pots. This isn’t really anything that I can put my finger on most of the time, it’s kind of a gut feeling based on the flop texture and the reactions of the other players. It also helps when you’re checked to in position. Two such hands came up as we were preparing to leave. One I took down uncontested and the other I got called by the man mentioned above. He seemed so uncomfortable and couldn’t remember his cards for anything. I guess that he may have been trying to reassure himself that his middle pair was good. Based on this read, I fired 3 streets into the guy w/ bottom pair before I convinced him to fold w/ my river bet. The very next hand I picked up K Q and raised it preflop and, of course, the new guy calls. I flopped a king and bet the flop and turn before he finally gave up again. Next thing that I knew, BJJIII handed me 2 empty racks and I headed for the cage. I cashed out a $120 winner that I scraped together on my “One Last Round.”

I love live poker!!!

Just wanted to wish everyone a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! with this Christmas card.

BJJIII and I made a trip to the Horseshoe-Bossier City this weekend, I hope to have that report up soon. I netted a $120 profit while BJJIII took home the chedda w/ a $700+ win.

PokerStars has been good to me in December and I have all of my money off of Bodog. I'm only 170 points away from Silver Star, which I don't feel is bad since it's my first month there and I'm still learning to multi-table well. I hope to earn the rest of the FPPs by this weekend so that I don't have to cram just to make SS. I've played up to 12 tables comfortably at 25NL and hope to move up to 50NL very soon where my FPP earn rate will double. My 10k hand estimate appears to be on target for my moving up plans. I'll move up to 50NL short for a while, but plan on staying there until I'm fully rolled for 100NL.

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and remembered that the reason we celebrate this holiday is for the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

So, I decided to open a PokerStars account. I've never had one before, so I took advantage of a promotion from Pokersourceonline.com to get an annual subscription to StoxPoker. I'm really trying to get better and feel that playing tougher competition and joining a site like Stox will greatly benefit me.

I need 250 FPPs to complete the bonus and I picked up 47 in 2 hours tonight. I was able to get in 390 hands in 2 hours on PS, where I usually get in 300 in the same time frame on Bodog. I really like the software and I can definitely see where people can play so many tables at once on this site. I think I'll keep some money on Stars even after I finish the bonus.

I was actually doing really well tonight and was up 3 buyins at 25NL when this hand came up.

POKERSTARS GAME #13717389690: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($0.10/$0.25) - 2025/12/07 - 22:05:12 (ET)
Universal pokerstars Poker HH Converter Tool from TwoRags.com

Hero (UTG) ($90.15 in chips)
hollonusar ($23 in chips)
GrandJury23 ($39.10 in chips)
vinny mcgraw ($31.55 in chips)
KHSPoker21 ($27.55 in chips)
black dallas ($47.60 in chips)
spunkmonk:
KHSPoker21: posts small blind $0.10, black dallas: posts big blind $0.25
kapsell: sits out

PRE-FLOP:
Dealt to Hero [8 8]
Hero: raises $0.75 to $1, hollonusar: calls $1, GrandJury23: folds, vinny mcgraw: calls $1
spunkmonk leaves the table
KHSPoker21: calls $0.90, black dallas: calls $0.75

FLOP: [8 3 T]
KHSPoker21: bets $2.50, black dallas: calls $2.50, Hero: raises $10 to $12.50, hollonusar: folds, vinny mcgraw: folds, KHSPoker21: folds, black dallas: raises $34.10 to $46.60 and is all-in, Hero: calls $34.10

TURN: [8 3 T] [T]

RIVER: [8 3 T T] [T]

SHOWDOWN:
black dallas: shows [K K] (a full house, Tens full of Kings), Hero: mucks hand, black dallas collected $97.70 from pot

RESULTS:
Total pot $100.70 | Rake $3
Board [8 3 T T T]
Hero mucked [8 8], black dallas (big blind) showed [K K] and won ($97.70) with a full house, Tens full of Kings


If bad players couldn't suck out, then eventually there'd only be a bunch of sharks swimming around trying to take each other's rolls. I was in the process of exiting tables, so I just took my 1 buyin win and checked out for the night. I'll definitely be back!

NEW BEST MONTH EVER!!!

October may have been meh, but November was ROCKIN’! With one hot handed trip to the Horseshoe-Bossier City I posted my biggest single session win ever. This trip propelled me into my biggest month ever. I also had my best month ever at online Full Ring games, I won $1,013, mostly at 100NL on Bodog.



I definitely earned it this month, I played a lot more hours than I usually do. My typical month is around 20 to 30 hours, but I got in 53 hours this month online. I was about 500 hands short of 10k hands with a 6.2 BB/100 Hands win rate. I got in more hours due to my wife being gone for a play that she was dancing in. This caused me to miss Monday night volleyball also, which just added to the time that I could play cards online after my son went to bed.

200NL online was a real challenge this month. I took 3 shots at that game, the first one went really bad. I dropped a full buyin and made a really bone-headed play here:

Bodog No-Limit Hold'em, $2.00 BB (8 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com

saw flop|saw showdown

MP1 ($125.50)
Landlord79 ($266.00)
CO ($302.50)
Button ($414.50)
SB ($284.50)
BB ($46.50)
UTG (CompleteRock) ($200.00)
UTG+1 ($287.00)

Preflop: Landlord79 is MP2 with A, A.
UTG (CompleteRock) calls $2, 1 fold, MP1 raises to $8, Landlord79 calls $8, 1 fold, Button calls $8, 1 fold, BB calls $6, UTG (CompleteRock) calls $6.

Flop: ($41) 8, 7, 4 (5 players)
BB checks, CompleteRock bets $23, MP1 folds, Landlord79 raises to $64, Button folds, BB folds, CompleteRock bets $192 (All-In), Landlord79 calls $128.

Turn: ($425) 8 (2 players, 1 all-in)
.

River: ($425) 9 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $425

Results below:
CompleteRock has 4 4 (full house, fours full of eights).
Landlord79 has A A (two pair, aces and eights).
Outcome: CompleteRock wins $425.




The second run at it I found a table with a total donk who stacked off really easily. I got into a big hand w/ him here:

Bodog No-Limit Hold'em, $2.00 BB (9 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com

saw flop|saw showdown

Landlord79 ($212.50)
SB ($331.00)
BB ($200.00)
UTG ($200.00)
UTG+1 ($103.00)
MP1 ($588.00)
MP2 ($319.50)
MP3 ($183.00)
CO (theMark) ($515.50)

Preflop: Landlord79 is Button with 5, 7.
UTG calls $2, UTG+1 calls $2, 1 fold, MP2 calls $2, 1 fold, CO (theMark) calls $2, Landlord79 calls $2, 1 fold, BB checks.

Flop: ($13) 8, Q, 2 (6 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, UTG+1 checks, MP2 checks, theMark bets $5, Landlord79 calls $5, BB folds, UTG calls $5, UTG+1 calls $5, MP2 folds.

Turn: ($33) 7 (4 players)
UTG checks, UTG+1 checks, theMark bets $5, Landlord79 raises to $25, UTG folds, UTG+1 folds, theMark calls $20.

River: ($83) 2 (2 players)
theMark bets $8, Landlord79 raises to $91, theMark raises to $174, Landlord79 bets $180.5 (All-In), theMark calls $6.50.

Final Pot: $444

Results below:
theMark has J K (flush, king high).
Landlord79 has 5 7 (flush, queen high).
Outcome: theMark wins $444.



Upon further review by the 2+2 Forums, this river was better played as a raise of $60 followed by a fold to any reraise. I really have to work on these spots.

On my final shot at 200NL for the month, things finally went right. I played about 30 minutes single tabling and caught Aces, Kings and 7s for some good wins. I didn’t win a buyin back, but I did win 2/3s of one back. I think the table was just a little softer and obviously my card distribution was really excellent for that session.

I practiced a lot more table selection at the end of this month than I have in the past. It’s amazing how many players you actually recognize when you’re not overwhelmed by the volume of the micro stakes games. Most of my table selection was based on who was sitting at a table rather than by the stats of the table. It’s the same principle as playing the player and not their stats. I’m finding weak players before I’m focusing on playing loose games.

I’m happy with how my game is growing, I’m still reading Professional No-Limit (going on the 3rd month now,) and I just bought my 1st Cardrunners video. (Sorry Adanthar, it wasn’t one of yours.) I really don’t play a lot of tournaments; so I felt like a Full Ring video would be better suited to my needs. Daut’s video was at 600NL, so some of the techniques that he taught aren’t really relevant for 100NL, but I have to start learning them sometime. He also ran bad card distribution wise, which puts me into a poor mind frame going into a session, so I probably won’t be watching it that often. I’ve also made a few great contacts w/ some players that are making real money at Full Ring games. I think these contacts will really propel my game forward.

My goals for December are to enjoy the holidays and only play about 5k hands. I’d also like to visit the Horseshoe-Bossier City one more time before the year ends, preferably during the Christmas or New Years weekends. I’d also like to run in the black for 200NL this month.