...winner, no chicken dinner.

...Winner (3/4)

My second session this week went as well or I guess even better than the first session.

I get to Hollywood Park, the floorman gives me the first open seat and three or four of the players at the table were at my table the night before.

I like this because their style of play and tendencies are fresh in my mind. Two of them like to build pots all the time with weak raises. The other one plays super tight and stays out of hands with me due to some mutual respect type of thing. He's a good player so I don't mind staying out of his pots either, especially because I raise much more often than he does so I'm pretty sure it benefits me more than it does him.

Anyways, I quickly developed a good feel for this table and it was a good combination: two loose raisers and the rest were super-tight players. This meant anytime I was playing a pot in position, I could easily (for the most part) steal the pot if I senses weakness.

Example: Loose player raises to $15, guy after him calls, I call in late position, tight chick on button folds, big blind calls. Flop comes 7-7-4. Everyone checks to me, I fire $50, everyone folds. This happened a lot.

Another thing the weak player did was raise his button every single hand, then continuation bet it if everyone checked to him. I check-raised him once with nothing when he did this and he folded but for the most part I didn't risk it and wasn't catching hands but this guy was easy money. Somehow he wisely left with about $500.

Our table conversation was interesting as the co-star of the "Joe Schmoe" show was at the table (he's a HP regular) and a couple of the players were big fans. He's actually an SC alum and the guy that doesn't mix it up with me. He wrote the show and it was hilarious because they were asking him what he was working on and he said he has a script deal with Paramount and some guy yells out "My girlfriend is a GREAT actress!" as if the guy was gonna give her a part right there based on the endorsement.

I lost a stack or two when some new players sat down. One guy is a good player and pretty aggressive. The first hand he raised and I called him with nothing much from the big blind (he raised 3x the blind). There were three of us in the pot. The flop comes out K-7-x. I check and the raiser bets $35, which looked weak to me. The button folds and I call. The turn is a second seven. I check and he checks. The river is another king and I bet out $50. He fake thinks and shoves on me and I fold.

Then this other dude, who based on his appearance I thought might be decent, played nine out of every ten hands. I get A-7 in the big blind, everyone limps. Flop comes A-T-5. New loose dude bets $30 and gets one caller. I don't really think I'm good here but I'm looking to spike a 7 on the turn. The turn is another ten and here's my opportunity. I fire out $45. Loosey calls me and the other player folds. I'm pretty sure Loosey has a good ace here. River is a second 5 and now I know I can bluff him out so I bet $75. He thinks for a minute and finally calls with... A-6. Guess I wasn't bluffing after all.

A new guy sits at our table and I'm in the small blind. I haven't looked yet. The new guy raises to $30 from UTG and I'm reading strength on his part. Another player goes all-in for $49 and Loosey calls the $49. I look down at kings. Typically I should re-raise here but with one player all-in, I'm guessing if I push everyone out, I'll lose the pot if an ace hits anyways so I'd rather call the $49 and see what flops, then go after Loosey, who's on the button. So I call the $49 and then the new player thinks for a while and pushes all in. He obviously doesn't have aces the way he was thinking. Loosey thinks for a while and I'm praying for him to call so I can get a huge pot but he folds. I call and my kings hold against AK and the $49 hand.

End of session.

...No Chicken Dinner. (3/5)

Went last night while I was waiting for someone to pick up from the airport. Ended up losing $48 in an hour.