Las Vegas Trip Conclusion -- July 11-15, 2021: Did I Misplay JJ As Badly as Possible?
Since Tuesday night was a late night for me, I had no plans to wake up early on Wednesday, my last full day in Las Vegas. I was guessing that being out late several nights was taking a toll on me. I was just really bushed. I waited until the afternoon to head to Ellis Island. I had seen notice of its prime rib special and decided that would be my meal for the day. It was pretty spectacular. And no ... this was not the "old" steak special. That still exists. This one was $18.99.
I was not able to finish my potato and my green beans, and there was a significant amount of fat to trim, but the prime rib certainly was delicious.
I went back to my room to relax, maybe even sleep. I seemed abnormally tired this trip. After a couple of hours, I decided to play some $1/3 at Bally's while waiting for Tony Bigcharles to wake up. I had decided that I would try out the new Resorts International poker room. I had only played a few orbits when Tony called. I had added $100 to my opening stack when I outflopped Aces, so I decided to just take the small profit and run. I picked up Tony (u see, the hotel location must remain SECRET, of course) and headed to Resorts World. I was quickly seated, and Tony followed shortly thereafter. He did notice that Mrs. Lederer was right behind us playing Omaha.
The play that got my shorts in a knot began when I looked down to see JJ. Although some people hate to play JJ, I don't mind it. I was relatively new to the table and had no idea how any of the other players played. I had about $350 in front of me. About six other players at the had me covered and were more around $600-700. TBC had less than $100. Someone raised to $40 and there was at least one caller - maybe two. I considered monkey shoving, but most people were raising with less pre-flop -- as low as $7 and as high as $25. I decided to call and evaluate after the flop. Tony, short-stacker that he is, surprisingly called the $40. The cards on the flop were all below 10 with two clubs. Everyone checked ahead of me and I pushed out a stack of $100. Tony, who had a lesser amount (maybe $35-50?), called. Everyone else folded. I turned over my pocket Jacks and Tony turned over QcJc. The turn was a blank. And the river? What else: a club! I was pissed. As I looked over at Tony, he started jabbering about the hand (those who have played with him before know what I am talking about). Of course, when you get sucked out on, the last thing you want is to hear the person that did it talking about the hand. I said, "Shut up Tony," but he kept jabbering on. I then very loudly said, "Shut up, Tony," and the people at the table were all looking at me. The guy on my left had played with him before and understood why I was upset. It was bad enough losing the hand, but then I had to hear his suck-out jabbering. I then announced that a ride from me would cost $60, then $80. He left the table shortly after to play Omaha as I muttered "friggin' short-stacking #$@#@#." A short time later he texted me "And I've never seen anyone misplay JJ so awful (sic)."
Now, a few things. I will admit to having what is sometimes referred to as an "Irish temper." It's just part of me. However, in 2021, I have been sucked out on so many times that I just exploded. My odds calculator tells me that I was a 62% favorite over his hand preflop and a 54% favorite after the flop. Later on, I asked Tony why he was even in the hand for $40 when he was short stacked with Q-J sooted. He said that he was getting about 5-1 odds, so he did it despite it leaving him with about $35-50 after the flop. Frankly, I though it was a moronic play for him to be in the hand with a short stack. Mine was around $350 and most other players had me covered.
So ... please comment on the hand. Was Tony right -- that I really played my JJ hand terribly? Buts as a short-stacker, should he even have been in the hand with his hole cards?
Now, what didn't help the situation any was that I was starting to feel bad. Aside from some fatigue, I had begun to suffer from some severe gastro-intestinal issues. You don't want to hear details.
An orbit or two later, I got AA in early position and raised to $15. I got called by several people. The flop was 7-7-K. One guy stayed in the hand with me. I was putting him on K-something. I was wrong. He called with some crap hand of 7-rag. Boom - I was felted and pissed. I left the table to find a restroom and then play some slots.
I hung around for several hours. I did give Tony a ride. We went through a fast food drive through and then I dropped him off at his hotel. I went back to Bally's in some pretty horrible abdominal pain. Let's leave it at that.
Thursday morning I woke up around 8:30. I didn't know if I could make the drive home. It takes about 4 1/2 hours, and there are long stretches with no off-highway services. I considered staying an extra day and just staying in bed, but after sleeping a couple more hours, I felt a little better and decided to just head home.
About halfway between the Hoover Dam and Phoenix is a little stop called Wikieup. I had seen that a restaurant there advertised Chicago-style food -- Dazzo's Desert Oasis Chicago Eatery & RV Park --, so of course, I had to stop in ... wearing a Chicago Blackhawks t-shirt and a Chicago White Sox cap! I ordered a great special: a fully-dressed Chicago hot dog, fries, and a Bud Light.
The Chicago hot dog was spot-on with everything EXACTLY like you would get in a superior Chicago-area hot dog joint. Next time I'll try an Italian beef sandwich.
I ran into some heavy rain in the final two hours back home. Nothing I hadn't seen a million times before in Illinois. Nothing else was notable.
How would I evaluate my trip? Meeting new friends and seeing some old ones was excellent! I was not able to see/meet a few friends I wanted to see/meet, but sometimes that just happens when in Las Vegas.
As for the poker and gambling? I am sorry to say that this trip will not be put in the winning column. I did not play as much poker as I planned, but there are always other trips to be made in the future, plus there are three great poker rooms within a 25-50 minute drive from my house whenever I feel the urge.
A final thanks to Dan Kuester for assisting me with getting my room at Bally's. Also, thanks to both the new and old friends I saw this trip. The poker might not have been great, but the company was awesome!
Thanks for reading!
posted by lightning36 at 6:54 PM
7 Comments:
what i meant was that if he goes over the top of the $41 bet and is all in preflop with his JJ, or at least reraises enough to isolate, i fold preflop and he wins. i can never fold a short stack on the flop with 4 clubs once im so deeply committed.
I understand that you can't fold after the flop. I put my reasoning for not re-raising in my post. Should I have re-raised?
Despite getting great odds, does it even make sense for a short stack to get into a hand for $40 with a hand like yours that is so easily dominated? Seems to me that you played the hand as just a pure degenerate gamble, not poker. Am I wrong?
I'm interested in seeing what other poker players think.
With that hand I think the answer is “it depends”. Without knowing positions, stack sizes and player types it’s certainly harder to answer. I’m assuming an early position raise (to 40 at a 1/3 game!!) then a caller, you’re in late position and Tony is either on the button or in the blinds?
A 3 bet preflop is in the damned if you do, damned if you don’t bracket - you’ve probably got to make it $150 or even more. This then only achieves one thing (apart from getting Tony to fold) - getting reraised by a better hand or AK / AQ sooted. It’s unlikely that you’re getting a call from anything that you beat. Once you’ve 3 bet nearly half your stack you’re probably not folding to a shove from anyone unless it’s the tightest OMC who is likely only ever doing this with Aces. So you need to ask yourself one question “do I feel lucky?”
If you’re willing to get your entire stack in preflop then a monkey shove is probably the better play to avoid actually having a decision to make if the original raiser 4 bets you - at a deeper stacked game (once the original raise is 10-15% of your stack it’s now effectively a short stacked hand) I’d take a 3 bet then potentially fold to a reraise approach. So I don’t hate the way you played it - I just don’t love it either! But we all know there’s no good way to play pocket jacks don’t we?
But the way it was played by TBC is pure gamble - that’s the danger of playing against a shortstack though. He hasn’t got enough to squeeze preflop so will justify getting it in bad with any 2 cards if his odds are good enough but that’s the mentality of playing shortstacked.
Nice TR though - good to see you got some better looking food after that monstrosity that you showed in the last post. British cuisine gets a pretty bad press but I’m not sure we’d eat that - I felt ill just looking at it so it’s not hard to pinpoint the culprit of you feeling unwell!
Tony played it horribly. If he’s getting those odds he should go all in. His hand is totally face up.
Tony's incessant victory jabbering, when he should not even have been in the hand, is the reason why other people can't stand to be at the table with him. It is also the reason why dealers and the floor hate him, because he riles up the other players so much, it doesn't make for a good game.
JJ should be in your 3-bet range. Don't play if you are afraid of running into QQ-AA.
If you don't 3 bet against this many players it is hard to navigate after the flop.
Catching up on your trip report posts, funny read. Losing only $80ish with J-J isn’t that bad. Tony probably gambles with his first two $100 buy-ins and tightens up after that. My question to you is: if Tony called in front of you and you were last to act, do you still only call?
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