Montana Poker

Last week my job sent me to Bozeman, Montana.  In Montana, certain gambling is legal.  It is somewhat strange as much of the area is depressed but everywhere you go there are “casinos”.  At least they are advertised as casinos.  They say something like “JJs Casino” and then smaller underneath it says “and liquor store”.  What’s funny is that almost everything there is a “casino” and its hardly worth saying it.  Every liquor store, every bar, every gas station, every small restaurant, some tractor dealerships, the local church…  And “casino” means they have video poker and keno.  They can’t have slot machines, those are illegal, but video poker and keno are a-ok.

The cool part is live poker is also legal, so I was able to play that.  And I played 3 nights I was there at the live tables.  I’ll start by saying that my live game and my cash game both need work.  Internet poker has given me some bad habits at the table and made me very impatient.  Besides that, I almost only play tournaments online and had no idea how to really adjust to the cash game.  The game they play there is almost always $1/$2 blinds.  They play Hold ‘Em, Omaha High and sometimes Tahoe (a game I’d never played that is the middle-ground between Hold ‘Em and Omaha in that you get 3 cards but, unlike Omaha, you don’t need to play any).  Some nights the table is no limit and some nights they play what they call 2/8 which is a $2 big blind and $8 raising limit (some play 2/6 instead).  All that to say that two nights I played limit, above my familiar stakes at a live table in a cash game, which I’m not really ready for.

I lost.  2 of 3 games.  The good news is that I didn’t lose that much or that fast.  I played about 12 hours of poker and lost only $150.  I learned a lot (another expensive poker lesson) and had a very very good time.  I don’t really feel like I lost.

I have a hand that was interesting and I’m not sure how I feel about how I played it.

No Limit Hold ‘Em Cash Game

I’ve got a fair stack, practically even for the night.  I’m in middle position and I look down to find Jh Js.  UTG raises to $8, a standard size raise for him (a co-worker who is a good player).  I decide its time to put in a good raise and make sure I’m not too behind.  I raise to $20.  There are a couple of loose players at the table who might call that with anything.  The button calls  He is a good player who is having a tough night playing tight all night and losing with good hands, he might be on tilt, but I doubt it.  He must have a good hand, probably pocket tens or up.  I think I’m in trouble.  SB and BB fold and UTG does something unexpected, he raises to $40.  He definitely has the rockets.  Now what?  There’s $83 in the pot and it costs me $20 to call with a very good hand.  I reason that these guys both think they have awesome hands, if a J comes on the board I stand to triple up for sure.  I call and so does the button.  OK, so now I feel like I’ve got the worst hand.  I’m pretty sure I’m up against aces and kings or at least aces and big slick.  Now here’s where it gets interesting.  The flop comes down:

9s Tc Qs

Now I have a good pair and an open ended straight draw and a backdoor flush draw.  At worst, one of these guys has pocket queens.  My outs are very likely all in play: any J, any 8, any K or any 2 spades.  UTG bets $40 and I’ve got $45 in front of me.  I know I don’t have the pot odds now.  It costs me $40 into a $123 pot.  That’s about 30% of the pot and my chances of hitting appear to be around 30% to me (I figure on about 8 outs discounting the flush and on the turn, according to the rule of 4, that makes my chances about 32%).  Plus, I think the button still thinks his hand is good, so there’s probably another $40ish going in behind me.  So I go all in for $45, the button calls for his last $38 or so and so does UTG.  We all flip our cards, UTG has AA and the button has KK and neither has a spade.

Unfortunately the turn and the river are both blanks (although one of them might have been a spade).  I’ve lost $85 in a single hand.  I’m disappointed and unsure of my decisions.  I think I did the right thing, but I’m not sure.

Thoughts?