$1,000 Cap $2/$3/$5 No Limit at The California Grand Casino

Black Chips are sadly not $100s in California

I made my way to The California Grand in Pacheco last week for the 3rd time in my life and the first time in 7 or 8 years. Once again I was too lazy to take a picture, but not too lazy to find some on the internet.

The outside

The inside

I have never seen anyone APPLAUD their opponents

Over or under 2.5 of those drinks getting knocked over

While it was not as lively as the promo photos, all ~15 tables were full with six or seven $2/$2/$3 NL games, two $2/$3/$5 NL games and some limit hold'em games as big as $15/$30.

The games were 10 handed which is a material change from the 8 handed Bay 101 games and more materially I had a few players that were somewhere between competent and solid at my table. A huge benefit of Bay 101 (and Matrix also) is the fact that there are always 6 or 7 or sometimes 8 $2/$3/$5 games going and I pretty much always change tables if I'm up against more than 1 decent player. At the Grand one game was a must move and the other was the main game so I was stuck with a tougher than normal lineup. 

With that said, looking back at my notes from 5 hours of play I think there was only one hand worth noting. About 20 minutes before the hand in question I observed a hand where 5 people limped in for $5, the big blind made it $50 and not surprisingly everyone folded. It got me thinking that in that spot you could almost certainly show a profit making it $50 with any two. If you go to $25 you're sure to get called by everyone and if you make it $100 your risk reward might be off, but going to $50 you're risking $45 to pick up $30 neglecting any post flop equity.

Inspired by this hand and this thinking, I made it $40 over two limps with A9 off on the button. Both blinds called and the under the gun limper went all in for $206! So much for everyone folding! If it wasn't for the two bozos behind me I'd be getting a great price only needing to call $166 to win $325 (factoring in the $5 limp folder and the $6 rake). I figured Mr. $206 probably had a big pair, but getting about 2 to 1 if there was any chance he had a hand like 77 or 88 or spazzed out with JT suited I was getting the right odds. I didn't think these particular bozos were trapping with AA or KK so I shoved for about $900 and blew them out. My opponent turned over KK. Gross! But I flopped two aces and won the pot! Hooray!

Looking back after the fact if his range is any pair, I'm 37% which is more than the ~34% equity I need to make this a profitable move (assuming the bozos never call).

Behold! Poker Cruncher!

In the end I lost $110 which is not a bad result for having weak cards in a slightly tougher than average game in a session where I was losing the entire time. I'm $1087 ahead after 50 hours which is kind of OK, but after a slow start I'm feeling good about it.