Hands from Las Vegas for advice

ballboy

Using this thread I am going to put a few of my hands from my holiday trip in Las Vegas, where I have just got back from.

Some I win; some I lose.

Please assess my play and say where you think I can do better.

These are all cash games at $1 and $2 with effective 100 big blind stacks.


Hand 1: Monte Carlo casino day 1 in Vegas in the evening. I had just arrived at table about 15 minutes ago and had been sat down for a dozen or so hands. There was a highly aggressive player (but spewy player) to my left who raised and called a 3bet with A4 out of position. He then check called several streets on ace high board when he was clearly beat. Another player was a super TAG player, but he wasn't important here. The rest seemed like basic regulars, but I was very much in the dark when this hand came up.

I picked up QQs after two limpers and raised to $9. One of the blinds called and then the second limper makes it $50. Whats my best play from here?


Hand 2: Excalibur casino several days after hand 1 (not that it affects my play at all). I had been sat at this table a short while as well with very few to any reads on the players.

Again I pick up QQs and raise to $10 under the gun. I wouldn't normally raise to this in a normal cash game, but from my experience people will happily call this much with relative junk that I can get value from in later streets.

I get 1 caller from the big blind. The flop is 9-6-x all diamonds. Neither of my Queens are a diamond. He checks. I cbet around 2/3s pot and he calls. The turn is an Ace. He checks again and after a short think I check behind. The river is a low card and he bets close to pot on the river around $45. Whats my best play here? What sort of range would people put the villain on? and how often do we think our Queens are still good here.


Hand 3: Monte Carlo casino about a week after our first visit in hand number 1. There was a little context to this hand. I had sat down a few orbits earlier playing reasonably tight aggressive. I called a few hands on the flop as semi floats (with weak showdown value) and bet the turn as a semi bluff to take down a few pots without showdown. This possibly is important later if villains believe from this I will always bet when I am checked to.

I pick up 88 in second position. The under the gun raises to about $10 and I call. We are heads up to a flop which is 4-4-5 with a flush draw. He cbets around half pot and I flat call. The turn is a 10 which completes the flush. He then checks. How do I best proceed? I will reveal the rest of this hand later on


Hand 4: Planet Hollywood the day after hand number 1. I had just sat down at the table maybe a dozen or so hands previously after busting out of the tournament not long before. A oriental player who I knew very little about except that I believed he was likely to be very aggressive made it around $12 and I woke up with 10s in the big blind. I elected to call here rather than 3bet pre to around $30 (15bb) and be in a horrible spot if he 4bets. The flop was 9-8-5. I check call a cbet of around $20. The turn is a 6 and he bets $60.

What is my best play here? I believe that it is either ALL IN or FOLD with the stack size.

Pascello

Hand 1: Since he limped then raised 5x you can presume he has a very strong pocket pair (unlikely to have done this with AK in a cash game). Now, with your queens do you really want to see a flop by calling $50? Which flops are you going to like? If he does have aces or kings then a low dry board you will be helpless. If it comes Axx or kxx you can get away. In my opinion, maybe give him some talk or try and get a read, then decide to make a huge fold or 4bet all in. 

Hand 2: How likely are your queens good here? Not too often. He more than likely called the raise with an ace. After calling on the flop i'm guessing he has a diamond in his hand, something like A10 either of them a diamond. For me it's a fold.

Hand 3: I might just check back here. What is he calling with on the flop that he has raised with pre? Flush draw or a better pocket pair? AK? You could bet for information depending on whether you had the same suit 8 in your hand that completed the flush? 

Hand 4: Since you knew very little about the player you can't give him a raising range. Of course he could have a 7 but also a better pocket pair. Personally I probably would have shoved here. 

What happened with all these hands then? What did you do?

- Pascello