Went back to Planet Hollywood last night. I do like the place(as evidenced by my quick second trip back), but I don't think I'd put it in my top tier of places for the simple fact that they just don't get as many players as the bigger rooms. It was prime time(11PM Friday night) and they only had 2 or 3 $1/2 NL games going, a 2 table tourney, and a few tables of limit. No $2/5 at all. Perhaps it will get more popular in the future though, I dunno. Also it seems to be a bit of an older crowd, at least compared to a place like MGM. Both of these card rooms are out in the open right in the middle of the casino, but PH has a piano bar next to it while MGM has a bar playing hip hop or rock music. Not that I don't like the piano bar(the performer last night was actually playing a bunch of older pop songs that I loved), but its obviously just a bit of a different crowd age wise.
Was having a good session, and I racked up my chips. Looked at one last hand, saw pocket 4s, decided to call the $8 preflop raise, hit a set, and he hit a higher set(AA vs 44 on a A46 board with 2 diamonds). There was another player in the hand, and that fact coupled with flush and straight draws made it nearly impossible for me to do anything but get it all in. Nevertheless, I still won $24 on the night despite this hand, but it sucked to have happened on the last hand of the night.
Anyway, there were 3 semi-interesting hands from the night, coincidentally all against the same villian. Villian was a typical $1/2 fish I'd say. Plays too many hands, overvalues them too much. I didn't have any real read on his aggression or ability to bluff though before these hands. I list them in cronological order, so any read you pick up from one hand may be applied to the next. And my view of him which I gave above is stricly my thoughts on him before the first hand. Also note that these hands all happened pretty much within 30 minutes of each other, so they were fresh in both of our minds. Before these hands, I had been very quiet and tight for about 90 minutes, so if anyone had bothered to put a read on me they would definitely label me as tight.
Hand #1
I have 78os in BB. A few limpers, including villian on button. Flop comes 467 with 2 clubs. I bet $8. MP calls and button calls. Turn is a 2 non-club. I bet $20. MP folds, button calls. River is a ten non-club. I check. He bets $50. Your move.
What I did
I called. He showed 46 for 2 pair and won.
What I think I should've done
This is tough. 89 hit a straight, but nearly every other draw missed. And since I had an 8 that made 89 a bit more unlikely. I was getting just about 2.5-1 on the call. Most $1/2 fish don't bluff much, but this seemed strange to me. Looking back, I can't believe he played that hand so passively with all of the draws out there and then so aggressively on the river....just strange. I dunno, I'm ok with my call I think.
Hand #2
I have about $185, villian has me covered. Villians limps from EP, I raise to $15 with AQos- usually a hand I won't play so aggressively, but nothing much was happening on the night so far and I needed some action. Only villian calls. Flop comes A26 rainbow. He checks, I bet $25, he calls. Turn is a 3, bringing a flush draw. He checks, I bet $55, he calls. River is a 4. He checks, you have about $90 left. Your move.
What I did
I pushed, he called, I showed, he mucked.
What I think I should've done
I like the play and think its the least interesting of the 3 hands. Some may check behind, but I think thats weak poker. He called $15 preflop, so the odds of him having a hand like A2, A3, A4, A5, or A6 is less than a better ace imo. With a better hand like a set, I can't imagine him checking it on every single street.
Hand #3
Villian in BB, I limp in EP with 9J of diamonds. A few other limpers. Flop comes TQK all clubs. Villian bets $10, I raise to $35, everyone folds to villian, he calls. Turn is a king(obviously non-club). He checks, I bet $50, he calls. River is a 3 non club. He checks. Your move.
What I did
I thought for a while and checked. I showed, he mucked.
What I think I should've done
Ugh...tough call. Obviously it turns out that I should've bet. I think he would've paid me off with any king. At the same time, I think the first hand showed that he was passive enough to check call down with AJ(and honestly I don't think thats that bad really with that board)...hell, he maybe even could've been check/calling down with a real low flush, although I doubt it. Maybe I chickened out here. I think this is a very close decision. If I had to make a decision now, I think I should bet $100, although obviously I didn't make that decision at the table and it could be clouding my judgment now by being results oriented.
ros:Clean, nice looking, and spacious roomsolid cocktail service with fairly attractive waitressesWas very soft tonight(obviously not sure about always)Nice and friendly floor who bought us all sandwiches and donutsCons:Max of $200 buy in on $1/2Not as many games running as the bigger roomsNo comp cardIf you've been following my blog, you'll remember that I said the softest game I ever sat in was my first night ever at the MGM....well this rivaled that. I sat down and it was only 5 handed. But the game quickly grew and there were just some horrible players at the table.Two big hands that I had early on in the session:7 handed, I have AKs in the BB. MP fish raises to $10. Total maniac on the button min raises to $20....he could literally(and I mean literally) have 27os here and it wouldn't surprise me. I pop it to $100 and I have about $80 behind. I GET 3 CALLERS! Flop comes AK9 with 2 diamonds. I briefly contemplate a slowplay, then I realize how utterly stupid that would be with a pot so big. I push for $80 more and they all fold.Very next hand I get QQ. A ton of limpers, I raise to $17 and get 4 callers. Flop comes J82 with 2 clubs. MP fish bets $50, maniac calls. I raise to $250. SB basically lets the entire table know that he has the flush draw by his talk and folds after thinking for 2 or 3 minutes. MP fish and maniac call me, MP fish is now all in. Turn is a 9. Maniac checks, I put him all in for about $200 more, he calls. River is a ten of clubs....pretty good card for me, giving me the straight now. I show my QQ. MP fish shows J7os and mucks it. Maniac shows JQ and we split the pot. Oh well, not horrible but still sucked to split.Table talk was ridiculous. Through small talk I revealed to a few people that I was a pro. The dealer imparts some great advice: "You'll never make it as a pro playing No Limit...too many swings. Stick to limit." Ummmmmm....ok. Maniac then tells me that hes thinking about going pro. He then asks me "How do you do it?" regarding downswings. I tell him that if you're properly bankrolled its not a big deal. He repeats "Yeah, but how do you do it?" about 5 times as I look at him quizically. Guy to my immediate right tells me that hes down $2300 on his trip just from buying in $100 at a time. He then asks me "If you wanted to make $2300 back in one session, what would you play? Should I shortstack a huge game at the Bellagio?" I mean, I never want to turn a fish into a decent player, but I felt pretty bad for the guy. That was nothing though.....he then says "Yeah I'm down about $70,000 overall playing poker.....if I wanted to take a shot to win that all back in one session, what stakes do you think I should play?" I really didn't even know what to say.Anyway, ended up winning $545 in less than 5 hours....not bad at all. Probably will check Planet Hollywood out again, although I do think the no comp card thing kinda sucks, as unless you get a good floorperson who is willing to hook you up you're going to miss out on comps(and even when he does hook you up, I then usually feel obligated to throw him $5).
I've had a few conversations on this board with guys like BostonFred, Dodds, and others who go out of their way to create some sort of image or to influence guys to play badly. And I just don't think its necessary. I'll be the first to admit that there are a lot of guys who win more money in tough games than me. However in $1/2 live I think that my hourly rate is as good as anyone I've ever met.(according to Barry Greenstein's ranking system, I'd give myself a 5 in tough games and a 10 in soft games). I once played a few sessions with my uncle right before I left for Vegas in Atlantic City and his remarks to me were "You play very well, but you come across as a good player....I always like to 'play dumb' and fumble my chips, forget to post my blinds, etc."I dunno, it just doesn't seem to matter to me. And I think that fish are a lot less likely to change their ways due to what we do than we think. I think the whole "don't tap the glass" mantra is overrated. And I don't care if I scare one fish away, someone else will replace him and I'll take his money. $1/2 live is just so utterly soft that I don't worry too much about stuff like that, and in my experience(probably around 500 hours of live play in 2007) it really doesn't matter much.
guy, I'd be wary of that dude shooting an angle. The sob story about being way down for his career and looking to make it up in one session could be a ploy to rope a player into a bigger game than he should be, and then the dude brings his "real" game when the stakes are higher and goes icy pots on everyone, like out of a bad episode of Tilt.
This is why I friggen love this place. I almost feel like I know some of you guys better than some of my family.
Yes strangely spot on...hmmm 
Quality stuff man.C. You mentioned doing some 'icy pots' artwork earlier and selling it to me....still up for this?
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