Live from Vancouver

It's been a while, but the blogging hiatus is back off, again.

I have been very busy the last week or so... I flew out of Tucson to pick up a car I bought in Seattle, then drove up to Vancouver where I am staying temporarily.

Vancouver holds about 6 casinos, which means there is a lot of live poker action. I have been playing live the past couple of nights at River Rock and Cascades...

River Rock casino is the biggest poker room in Canada. They had a lot of tables, and I decided to start off at 2/5NL. I flopped a set early to double up, then bled some money to some old guy who I didn't put on a hand. I decided to leave 2/5 and play the newly-forming 5/10NL table. This game was not that good, there was a decent lag who was just getting hi over the head with the deck and winning most of the pots. The rest of the table consisted of nits, a couple good aggressive players, and two passive bleeders. I played one big hand... T6sp in the SB with a straddle. Two callers and I complete, bb calls, and straddler checks. Flop is Q23 two spades and I lead for about the pot. I get one call from a straight-forward, weak player. The turn is a Kh, and I check. He bets $150, and I shove for about $600. He calls and I win. The game was playing very slow, and I didn't like the vibe, so I left after about an hour.

At Cascades in Langley they had the best poker game I have ever played in. It was 10/20NL with a bunch of friendly, drunk ATM machines. I sat with $1,000 which was kind of bad because there were some huge stacks, and each hand had a straddle with other blind preflop actions. It played more like 25/50nl. I didn't have much cash on me, and was bored, so I decided to buy in, try to pick up a hand, and take it from there. Right when I sit down, everyone's hollering and calling me Phil Ivey... Then someone said "no, he's Phil's little brother, Steve Ivey". If they only knew my 'stars name, lol...

So I sit with $1,000 and fold about 10 hands, then pick of ladies (QQ) and raise to $120, which was pretty standard because there was a straddle, I mean, there was a stroodle. They call it a stroodle. Two callers, then the maniacal SB makes it $400. I have about $550 left and decide to just get it in... He calls with 88, ship it. I bluffed a couple smallish pots, won a $2500 pot with JJ, where I flopped a set in a 3-way pot. I was running good, having fun, and winning key pots... It was a good session. Here were some things I observed during the game:

1. Some guy wins a $2000 pot with 7 high.
2. Apparently shoving $500 in preflop with K6h is standard, because another person almost beat him into the pot with KJo (for $500 at 10/20nl).
3. 5-way pot... $320 each preflop. Here are the hands: QQ, 84hh, J4cc, ATo, AQo. The flop is J92 two hearts, and ATo open shoves $2300. J4cc calls (has $2300 covered). 84hh Calls (has about $750). QQ calls for $1500. yeah...... Then you have to show your cards when you are all in, so the guy slams down ATo and says "all I need is an ace!".

I am definitely coming back to this game.