Prime Poker Trip Report

One of the things that attracts people to poker as a vocation is the freedom it offers. Quit work, sleep until noon, and play poker, as the infamous John Fox book suggests.

And there is a lot of truth to that. You can find amazing games (and terrible, nitty ones) at any hour of the day. But as a pro, you are pretty much negligent if you don't show up at the card room Friday and Saturday evening, especially around midnight. That is prime time for poker. So when 10 pm Saturday rolled around, having enjoyed some random napping throughout the day, I hadn't been planning on playing poker, but out the door I went.

One of the many great thing about playing poker in the Philippines is the cost of transportation. According to google, a four mile cab ride in Chicago will cost you $13.25. That same ride in the Philippines, using Grab or InDrive (which are like the Asian Uber or Lyft) costs me the equivalent of $3. For a low limit grinder this equation is important, especially because I am playing 25/50 pesos, which is roughly equivalent to $0.5/$1.00.  If I started $25 to $30 each session the hole, it would be pretty tough to earn a reasonable profit unless I was going to play a marathon session.

After a walk to the 7/11 to load up on funds, I took a ride share to Prime Poker Club and arrived around 10:30 and got seated in 25/50 right away. There was also a 50/100 that looked tempting. I really prefer the 50/100 over the 100/100, because the minimum buy for 50/100 is only 5000 vs 10,000 for the 100/100. And the 50/100 doesn't have insurance, while the 100/100 does. Insurance is terrible for the game, mostly because of how long the insurance process can take. First they have to determine the pot size, then they need to determine the maximum insurance wager. But the fun has only begun, because next the player has to decide their insurance wager, and some of these guys go into the tank like their life is on the line. It also takes a lot of money off the table. 

Anyway, back to the game. The action was good. In fact, after a series of straddles and double straddles, I decided to put the straddle on my self. I picked up 9c7c and faced a minraise and a call, so I defended. It seemed like a pretty good spot, getting 5.5:1 with a hand that does well three way. Both of my opponents in the hand were what I would consider "loose-reasonable". That is, they routinely give more action than they should, but they don't generally make any horrendous plays. So they might limp in with a suited connector upfront, a play which is marginally loosing, or call a small raise with KJo. But they're not limp calling 29o or routinely stacking off with air or anything like that. Just generally pretty good opponents to have at the table. And not really in the sense that I am going to profit huge off them, but that they make the game good in the same way that I make the game good. Most of the time unless they have a big decision to make, they act quickly and in turn. They have a few rebuys on them and they give a reasonable amount of action. Conversely there was another player who sat down later on, who was clearly an inexperienced and a weak player, but he was constantly talking to his entourage or looking at his phone and so would cause a delay every time it was his turn. That sort of player is bad for the game, even if they are profitable to play against. 

Continuing on. The flop (650) came Kc9h6c, giving me a pair and a flush draw or a 'combo draw'. This is a pretty big hand. I checked, the preflop raiser fired out a 375 into the 650 pot and the third player in the hand called. The situation seemed ripe for a big check raise. With a player behind, this is going to put a lot of pressure on the preflop raiser, who could have hand that is just bet folding like AQ or JJ, and even a hand as strong as AA might prefer to fold rather than stack off for > 100 bb in a single raised pot. We both had a little over 6000 in our stacks going to the flop.

Mostly, when I make this play I will have a set or K9. So I like to balance that somewhat by doing the same thing with powerful draws. As my opponent went into the tank, I decided to plan my play for various turns. With an SPR of 1, I decided to just shove regardless of what turn card comes out. While my opponent probably shouldn't just call the flop with AK or AA and then fold the turn, that seemed like a possibility. And with so much out there, and such a strong draw, it isn't like I could check fold the turn. If I have 14 outs, then I have around 30% equity on the turn, almost enough to check call off for stacks. That means a shove has to succeed only a small % of the time to show a profit - unless check check is an option, which it probably isn't.

"He could be on a flush draw" my opponent said to himself, while pondered the situation.

After a long deliberation he called. The turn, the nine of diamonds, was an interesting card, giving me three of a kind. I continued with my plan and shoved, now hoping my opponent did put me on a draw. After all, if I had K9 or KK it wouldn't make sense to jam the turn with a boat that is extremely unlikely to lose on the river. It would make sense to jam with a draw, hoping my opponent folded his one pair hand. This time my opponent called pretty quick.

"You were right, I am on a flush draw" I said sardonically, showing my opponent the bad news. "Three nines."

My opponent nodded meaningfully, then exposed his cards. Pocket sixes. A full house. I still had hope, if a king, nine, or seven came on the river, but unfortunately it was not to be and I started my session 7000 PHP in the hole.

"Chips!" I yelled, and rebought for the max.

The game was still good. There was a chill middle aged Japanese guy with blond highlights in his hair and a sparse but stringy beard who was playing every hand and running like God. He got into a hand against one of the Filipino regs, a nit who had bought in for the max (10k). On the river, the Japanese guy jammed all in for a fat stack of 500 chips, about 8k in total. His Filipino opponent asked if he had a full house, to which he responded in pigeon English "no, no full house-y". This in turn prompted a snap call from the Filipino, who turned over the nut flush. He wasn't too impressed when the Japanese guy turned over quads.

I had the opportunity to play a pot with both the nitty Filipino reg and the Japanese guy later. The straddle was on, and the nit opened from EP to 400 while the Japanese guy called. I decided to just flat with JJ. Against a liberal opening range this is a slam dunk three bet, and I'm definitely not afraid of the Japanese players call, but I'm not sure I want to be playing for stacks here either, even with the straddle in play. If JJ is the best hand pre, there is a good chance that will become evident post flop even if I don't three bet. 

The flop came down KJ3 with two spades. Hello! Unfortunately, after both of my opponents checked, they folded to my 2/3rds bet. Still I won some chips, and it was a straddled pot at least.

Also at the table a diabetic guy from New Zealand drinking Jack and diet Coke in a can (which is a thing in the Philippines apparently), and was not shy about seeing a flop. On his way to the game the insulin-insufficient Kiwi had gotten robbed by an armed moto-bandit and they made off with his phone and most of his cash. There were actually two players from New Zealand in the game, the other was significantly younger and a much better player, although he routinely committed the mortal sin of criticizing his opponents play, in particular when they won a hand against him. In one pot, where stacked off post with a flush draw running into a set and top pair top kicker, he was incensed about his opponent calling 400 pre with pocket twos. While I am a big fan of analyzing poker errors away from the table, it is taboo to express condemnation of any else's play while the game is ongoing. The whole point of playing poker is to profit from other people's mistakes. 

My chips arrived, and the game continued. Right away I picked up KK and made it 350 in a straddled pot. I got two callers.

The flop (1075) came 555.

Woah, a trips flop. You don't see those every day. Even if the board is just paired, like T33, you consider the flop to be 'static' or 'dry' (terms which are synonymous as far as I can tell). A trips flop is ultra static. The most dramatic change is if the case 5 comes out, meaning quads would no longer be possible, pairs become high cards, and any ace becomes the nuts. High card turns like an ace, king, or queen would be the second most important change. Finally, any card x above the five presents the possibility of a new class of full house, x's over fives.

Given the ultra static nature of the board, I decided a small wager was appropriate, and bet 300, getting two callers. The turn was a 9, I bet 400 and took it down. Back on the board.

In another hand, I opened QsJs, and got called by the Filipino guy who stacked me earlier, and the Japanese guy. The flop came AJ6 with two hearts and a spade. Pretty marginal, but I decided to c-bet, only to face a minraise from my nemesis. The other player folded, and so did I. The odds to continue were tempting, and I have no idea what my opponents flop minraise range looks like, but with so few direct outs and concerns about reverse implied odds I decided to pass.

In between hands, I had a lot of time to observe my opponents. I noticed that the glucose intolerant robbery victim had a habit of opening very large with a very narrow range. The younger Kiwi did this as well, but to a lesser degree, opening 250 with a slightly wider but still pretty selective band of hands. The rest of us would open 150, as is the standard in Manila, adding +50 for each additional limper. The problem with opening for such a large amount is that it is pretty transparent. The final hand of the night went  like this.

Elder New Zealander opens to 375. There was no straddle, just the typical 25/50 blinds. A new player to the table, a sporty looking Filipino flat calls, and the younger New Zealander three bets to 1500. It folds back around and the first Kiwi who was the original raiser four bet jams. The Filipino flat caller tank folds his 88, which is just like what are you even thinking about bud, and the younger Kiwi stacks off quickly.

So the problem for the older Kiwi guy is that he is playing so face up when he makes this massive 7.5x open. He's going to have at least JJ+, AK. So against that range, if your opponent knows how you are playing, they are going to three bet probably just AA and KK. Three betting even QQ wouldn't be good, because probably your opponent will just fold the bottom of his range, the one hand you can beat, and jam the rest. Or maybe he will call JJ and potentially even AK and KK, and jam AA. With KK at least you are beating JJ, QQ and AK, which is 20 combos (6 each for JJ and QQ, and 8 for AK with two dead kings). Although even KK becomes a marginal three bet, since the open raiser should probably fold both AK and JJ, since those hands constitute the bottom of his range. However since our opponent is both transparent and loose, it is probably a fair assumption he's not folding any of the range he opened, making the KK three bet profitable.  

Now all of this is resting heavily on the assumptions that have been made about the elder Kiwi's range. And these are based on some limited observations over the course of a few hours. Specifically, he very seldom raised. And often after he raised, he either showed a hand like AA, or he gave some non-verbal indication that he was disappointed he didn't get action.

For example, one hand I played, I called with As4s on the button after the CO (the bad for the game easily distracted Filipino from much earlier) open limped. I don't frequently even bother playing suited aces, but on the button for a single bet it seems like a pretty good spot. This hand wants to be as deep as possible, because most of your value is going to come from those rare times you make a flush (although we can make some money with top pair, or two pair, or a flush draw). The elder Kiwi, sitting on left, raised to 400, everyone folds, and he showed AA.

Anyway, the elder Kiwi showed QQ, and the younger one KK. They ran it twice but KK scooped, and the game broke shortly after. At this point, I was still stuck although I had made some of it back, and was tired and a little bored having been playing for about five hours. Rather than continue and hop in the 50/100, I decided to head home and start fresh another day.