I survived...
...Though barely. My bankroll, however, did not.
I've been home for a little over a week now, still trying to sort out exactly what went wrong in my twenty days in Las Vegas through June & July. For the time being, let's just call it a bad experience, on the whole.
As I wrote in the
last post from Vegas (wow, it's really been two weeks? Yikes...) I never would have booked the second trip had I known the truth about the freeroll tournament at the Harrah's casino. I'm still pissed about that one. So chalk it all up to bad information, I guess.
For now, I'm focusing on a couple of blogging projects back here at home, and nursing the bankroll back to health with small money cash games and cheap tournaments at Foxwoods.
As for what's going on over here, well I'm planning to write up my yearly NFL Preview Post sometime in the next 3-5 weeks, before the official beginning of training camp. Expect many jokes at Brett Favre's expense, and the expense of whichever team is stupid enough to allow him onto their 53-man roster. And as in the past, there will be a weekly NFL Picks post coming every Friday. This year, though, it's going to be a little different.
Those of you that found my site as an off-shoot from the
danshanoff.com blog have probably already found your way over to the new ds.com commenters page, hosted at
Sparty & Friends. Well, the good men who moderate that site - Sparty, Trey & Marco - have graciously given me a forum for the weekly NFL Picks post. So on this site, I'll post a small teaser (or maybe just a quick 2-line post with an introduction), followed by a link over to the Sparty & Friends blog. Here's hoping it's a win-win for everyone. Also, here' hoping I don't screw up the use of the "royal we" that they have so artfully adopted over there.
Back again soon with a baseball post or two before kicking off the NFL season.
Lata.
Labels: Gambling, Las Vegas, NFL, NFL Picks, poker, Sparty and Friends
2008 WSoP Post 8 - My head hurts...
My head hurts. The room is spinning. Nothing is working the way it’s supposed to, and I really don’t know what to do about it.
Since last I typed, I’ve seen nothing but continuous stretches of terrible luck, terrible players, and my money going the wrong way. Aside from a 48 minute run of time last night, I have not had a winning hour in three days.
Two weeks ago after returning home from the first Vegas excursion this month, I wrote a post about coolers and bad luck. The day I was speaking about then cost me more in terms of actual monetary loss (though not by much – my bankroll is now at 1/8 of its original size from three weeks ago), but this run just plain old hurts. Literally. I found three bruises on my legs that I can't remember doing anything to get; my whole body aches, and I can’t even figure out why.
I started my day yesterday after Monday Night’s tournament bubble by heading to Caesar’s for the Mega-Stack Championship Event. I had a great feeling about this tournament; even though I hadn’t cashed in the Sunday event when I first got into town, nor had I cashed in the tournament at Harrah’s on Monday, I had been playing quite well and just not getting any traction. I decided to change my style of play a little for this tournament, opting to become an absolute blank slate – never removing my headphones, never making eye contact unless I was trying to read someone else, just becoming an absolute rock.
And it worked ridiculously well for the first three hours. With the low-limit blind structure and 25,000 chips to start with, there were plenty of hands to play and plenty of pots to pick up. I finally grabbed a monster when I turned the nut flush against someone who was over-playing a bluff and tried to represent exactly the hand I was holding. After taking almost 10,000 chips from him, I was up to almost 50k and well on my way to rolling through Day One.
On the second hand after the second break, I was in the big blind and found pocket aces. There was a raise from 400 to 1600 and a call. I came over the top for about 5000, and the initial raiser just called me. The other player thought for a second, then declared “Well, maybe I’m racing both of you. I’m all-in.” He had about 29k when the hand started, and was already invested for 1600. The initial raiser was in for 5k, but had another 40k behind him. I didn’t want to take any chances, so after a couple seconds, I pushed all-in as well. The initial raiser folded and showed his A-K off-suit.
The other guy announced “Wow, I think he just folded two of your outs!” And he was completely serious. I showed my Aces, and his jaw dropped. The flop came out J-9-4 with two clubs, and without even looking at the other guy I said “Damnit, I just got fucked. You have pocket Jacks, right?” He just nodded and flipped up his hand. I didn’t get the last ace in the deck, and was suddenly dropped to about 10,000 chips with blinds at 200/400. Still not horrible, but nowhere near as solid as I would have been if I’d held up – 85,000ish in chips at that point in the tourney would have been pretty close to the top of the list.
I kept plugging away, eventually dropping down to about 7000 before doubling up when I got lucky against an overpair of Queens with Ace-Ten and flopped a set of 10’s, rivering quads. I picked up three straight sets of blinds with big raises pre-flop, never with a hand worse than K-Q suited. Then I got put in the big blind at 300/600, and looked at Pocket Aces again. I had about 16,000 chips, and was already thinking about how I wanted to play this.
Luckily (or maybe unluckily), it played itself out. There was a raise to 1900, and a re-raise (from the same guy who had the Jacks earlier) to 4500. When the action came to me, I simply pushed all 16,000 into the pot and went into “rock” mode. The initial raiser (new to the table) thought forever before folding – later saying he had Pocket Jacks. Thank God somebody knows how to fold those. The other guy looked at me and said “I think you’re making a play here, and you just stole three straight blinds. I call.”
I flipped over Aces again and he disgustedly showed K-J offsuit. After the flop came down with a 10-high rainbow board, I started feeling a little better about my situation. Then the turn brought a 9 and I got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. When the Queen hit the river to send me packing and hand him 16,000 more undeserved chips, I trudged back to my hotel to sit and think.
A couple hours later, I went to the poker room here to play in the 8pm Deep Stack tournament again. I was running quite well to begin, picking up over 3500 chips to add to the 10k we started with in under 35 minutes. Of course, all that went away very quickly.
I picked up A-J in late position and raised to 525 from the 100 big blind after there had been two callers. The big blind thought for awhile before raising me to 1300. It folded around to me, and I just called.
The flop hit A-2-J, and the big blind curled his nose at the board, then bet out 2000. I looked right at him and said “That’s a terrible flop for your Pocket Queens… I’m all-in.” He thought for about 30 seconds, then called and showed… Pocket Queens. After I flipped up my hand, he stood up and started collecting his things. Of course, the Queen on the turn gave him the hand and knocked me down to about 1200 chips. I lasted four more hands, eventually running into the same guy and his Pocket Queens again, this time with Pocket 10’s of my own. We both flopped a set, just to make it a little more ugly, before I went to the rail.
I crossed the street to the Mirage and found a $2/$5 “Must Move” cash game. For those that don’t know, a must move game is exactly that – a staging game where players can play, but when a seat opens at the “Main Game”, the person who has been at the must move for the longest is required to move to the open seat. Then the next person on the waiting list for the game is put onto the must move.
This was my only good run, and it lasted exactly 48 minutes. I rolled over the must move game for the time I was there, more than doubling my original buy-in on the table and feeling a little better about the day. I made two disgustingly good calls with underpairs to the board, and was right both times (much to the shock and unhappiness of the players I called). I planned to play through my blinds and button, then pick up for the night, when I was called to the main game.
The problem with a “must move” is that most places will not allow you to leave the game is you’ve been called to the main game. So although I didn’t feel like playing much more, and although I was up more than enough to call it a night, I was required to move to the main game and play at least one hand. And since all of the players that I had been steamrolling for 48 minutes were already there, I figured I’d go for one revolution around the table, then pick up and go to bed.
Nine hours later, I closed down the table for good. In my “only” revolution around the table, I lost $700 from the stack I had built. Once on a poor read by me (I had AQ and couldn’t put my opponent on A-K when both an Ace and King hit the board. I had raised and he had taken forever just to call… thought he had A-J), and once on bad luck when I rivered a set of queens, only to find out someone had been chasing a gut-shot straight draw on a board of 10-J-5-2-Q with his Ace-King. That one cost almost $500. I stayed on the table and rebuilt most of the stack, ended the night up about ½ of what I had been up when I left the must move. I got back to the hotel at about 7:30am and went to bed until 2 this afternoon.
After a comped meal at the Mirage, I headed back to the poker room for another $2/5 game. I couldn’t get a seat, so I took up space at a $1/2 game instead. As I’ve said for the past five years, I hate $1/2. The game is slow, the money isn’t enough to get excited about, and the quality of player is usually terrible. I dumped $400 today in two buy-ins playing against housewives and college kids trying to learn the game, people who didn’t understand that a straight draw or third pair on the board is not something you want to call all the way to the river with. I got caught on the river five times, and finally picked up when a new $2/5 must move opened up.
Unfortunately, I only spent 10 minutes in the game, choosing to pick up and go to the Bellagio with two other guys from the room who I had been playing with for two days. Both were terrible players, and both had money to burn. I wanted to be as close to them as possible.
At the Bellagio, the $2/5 list had over 80 names on it, so we all jumped on the $5/10 must move table. I was the last to move, and after making some quick money in the initial table, I moved to the main game… and promptly got crushed. Three times. And only once did my money go in when I was not ahead (though I was almost even mathematically, about 55% - 45%).
The final beat was so stupid it was almost comical. On a board of 6c-5d-Kd-Jd, I re-raised all-in from a bet of $200 to my final $735, into a pot of about $550. I had K-J, but obviously without a diamond. The other player thought for awhile, then looked at me and asked “Is two pair any good here? I’ve got two pairs, and I feel like they’re good.”
I looked at him and said “Well, either you’ve got the same King / Jack in your hand that I do, or you’ve got 5-6. But I’m pretty certain I’ve got you beat.” He thought for another 30 seconds, then called and showed 5-6. I flipped over my King Jack, and he was actually pissed at me for catching the Jack.
Of course, there was no reaction from him when he caught another six on the river, sending me storming out of the poker room and back towards my hotel.
Unfortunately, instead of coming straight back here, I went to the Mirage for one more crack at the $2/5 game. I was hoping to see some of the same people from last night, and luckily for me, they were there. Even better, there were two huge stacks on the table, and one of them was very, very drunk.
Less than 30 minutes after sitting down, I was walking back to my hotel with another disgusted look on my face. I flopped a set of Queen on a board of Qc-Ac-4h. I bet out $100 into the $190 pot and got a raise to $350 from the drunk guy (seriously, this kid was spilling his chips all over the place, and when he tried to stand up he threw the chair ten feet behind him, almost knocking over a cocktail waitress).
I instantly went all-in, and he didn’t hesitate to call. I announced that I had a set of Queens, flipping over my hand. He picked up his cards and said “I have the nut flush”.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I was giddy with this development. He had mis-read both his hand and the board and apparently thought he had flopped four clubs, as he turned over his Kc-7d. The dealer informed him that he didn’t not have a flush, but rather had a hand of King-High with both the nut flush and straight draws. He responded “it’s ok, I’ll have a flush in a second”. He then proceeded to run out consecutive clubs without pairing the board, and began screaming “See, I told you! I win them all. Give me all your chips. Ship it all over here. Give me everything. I win, I win them. You have nothing.”
I still have no idea how I didn’t knock out his teeth. Thankfully, the floorperson immediately came over and informed him that it was time for him to leave. I gave serious consideration to waiting for him outside the front door to give him a lesson in poker etiquette, but I prefer not to get arrested on this trip. Besides – I don’t think I’d have enough left for bail.
And finally, the coup de’grace. On the way back to my hotel room to write this and vent for awhile, I stopped into the Harrah’s Poker Room to get some information on the Freeroll Tournament I’m playing in on Sunday Morning. I was looking for a player list to make sure my name is there, but unfortunately it isn’t available until Friday. However, the floor supervisor informed me that whoever told me about the tournament on the day I won my seat was misinformed.
You see, I planned this entire secondary trip around the premise that on Sunday, I’d be playing in a $100,000 freeroll with at least $12,000 going to first place (depending on the number of actual players), and about 150 players competing for the prize pool. This was the information the floor supervisor gave me when I won the seat, and it sounded like it was worth my time to come back out here for 10 more days and try to hit a big win.
Tonight, I learned that “Oh, he must have misspoke when he told you that. The prize pool is $12,000 total, with somewhere around $4,500 going to first place and nine places getting paid. Some of our new floor people have been getting information wrong – we’re holding a series of classes after the WSoP is over to emphasize the importance of getting things right and being consistent.”
I almost threw up on the spot. $4,500 won’t even break me even for today, let alone help rebuild the bankroll. If I had been told that was the freeroll situation, I wouldn’t have even come back out here for this trip – it isn’t worth the time and expense just for flights, hotel fare and meals for me to come here for 10 days, not to mention the cold streak I’m on right now.
So, basically, I’m stuck waiting for Sunday to roll around so I can hope to win a useless tournament and get the hell out of here for awhile. I plan on spending the rest of this week either laying around my hotel room or playing very, very low-limit cash games and small buy-in tournaments and sit-n-go’s around the city. Not good times right now. Maybe I should go play some slots.
Lata.
Labels: Bad Luck, Gambling, Las Vegas, poker, Tournament, World Series, WSOP
2008 WSoP Post 7 - Gotta Love the Symbolism...
I’m back in Vegas, mostly because I just didn’t feel good about the way the last trip ended. I won the freeroll entries two weeks ago and I didn’t want to miss the chance to cash in on a good thing if I had the opportunity, so here I am, up at 2am blogging away.
Of course, the more things change…
I got into town just at 9am local yesterday, immediately checked my bags at my hotel and made my way to Caesar’s for their second-to-last Mega Stack tournament (I’m also playing in the Championship Event on Tuesday). After treading water for about six hours, I hit a mammoth flop – top pair, top kicker, and four to the nut flush draw – and ran up against bottom set. That ended the day for me, which was good because I was exhausted and probably wouldn’t have lasted through the entire tournament without falling asleep in my chair at least once. I retreated to my hotel room and spent the night watching the Sox/Yanks and reading a book. Jet set life, I tell ya…
Today, I just wanted to play low limit cash games in my hotel, nothing too extreme before tomorrow’s tournament. After doubling my buy-in on a $1/$2 game, I noticed there was a big crowd for the evening $150 “Deep Stack” (10,000 chips) tournament. I figured I’d give it a shot, since first place was about $5k. I was the last person to register…
And I bubbled. Like I said – gotta love the symbolism. Last to register, last to bust without getting paid. Finished 10th out of 99, with 9 spots getting paid. I actually tried to convince people that a 10-way chop with $12,000 in the prize pool would be pretty fair, but no one agreed. I lost a race (badly) and was crippled to one and a half big blinds. I shoved blind the next hand under the gun and was actually ahead about 55/45 (Q-2 offsuit against 4-9 offsuit from the big blind – neither of us looked.) Naturally, he flopped two fours.
Also, one more thing to pass along, since it probably will never happen again, and my timing was just AWFUL.
I mentioned last week about the Bad Beat Jackpot I missed out on because Caesar’s poker room doesn’t play well with others. When my Quad Jacks busted another guys’ Quad nines, I thought I was getting paid about $25,000.
Today, in the Harrah’s poker room (which does honor the multi-room bad beat jackpot), I thought I was getting paid. Again.
I flopped a set of 9’s on a rainbow board of Q-4-9. With no betting, the turn brought another Queen, and I led out with my boat to see if anyone had the Queen. I got one caller.
On the river, I hit a miracle – the case 9. Quad nines, with a board of Q-Q-9-9-4. Now I was certain I was at least winning the pot, maybe picking up a huge payout if someone had a Queen’s Full House. I bet about the size of the pot, and the other guy thought for a minute before shoving in for about four times what I had bet.
I insta-called (duh), announcing “I have quad nines”.
He flipped over pocket Queens. Quad Queens. Bad Beat jackpot time baby! It was “only” $85,000, meaning my Quad nines were about to net me almost $30,000 (30%)!
Only they weren’t. Because the jackpot hadn’t gotten high enough yet, it required Quad 10’s or better to pay out.
So instead of my mammoth payout (I was actually shaking at the table I was so pissed off… took a 20-minute walk around the casino to cool down), I ended up losing about $150 on the hand, and the other guy got $110 for a high-hand.
At least I got to meet Scotty Nguyen again tonight, although he cost me a big pot in the tournament. Bastard. :)
That’s it. I’m in the tourney on Tuesday, so I should probably get some sleep.
Lata.
Labels: Gambling, Las Vegas, poker, Tournament, World Series, WSOP
2008 WSoP Post 6 - On coolers and plain old bad luck
First things first – sorry for the lack of updates after Saturday. I changed hotels and was out of range for the wireless service I had been using, and was not about to pay $24.99 a day to use the hotel’s network. As a result, this post is going to be abnormally long.
Now, into a little “Catch-Up”. After my great run at the Wynn on Friday night and into Saturday, I checked out of one hotel Early Saturday morning and killed time in the Harrah’s Poker Room for about five hours until I could check into the second hotel. I had a good run at a $1/$2 table (I really hate playing $1/$2, because there simply isn’t enough money on the table), picking up about $300 in the time there. Unfortunately, I had to cab it back to hotel #2 where I had stored my bags, check in, and then cab it back to the Strip.
Sadly, for this entire trip, I probably managed to spend $300 on cabs and monorail rides alone. Every cab trip was between $12 and $15, and the monorail is $5 each way but doesn’t run 24/7.
Anyway, for the rest of Saturday night I played various $2/$5 games at the Wynn. That’s where the definition of “cooler” comes in…
I picked up a bunch of big hands throughout the course of the night, occasionally getting paid and occasionally dropping chips to someone else. The biggest hand that missed at my first table was pretty ugly.
I made the mistake of pushing someone all-in when they had a monster and I had a monster…draw. I flopped an open-ended straight flush draw to the 7 of spades against a strong player who had top set of jacks. I had 17 outs, missed them all. Sure, I was a slight underdog, but with 17 outs and two cards to come I was really expecting to catch.
Wouldn’t be the last time that would happen on the trip.
Later in the night, on the third table after everything started breaking, I hit the first cooler of the weekend.
I left a table to run to the bathroom just as the dealers were changing. As I came back, the new dealer was just starting to shuffle, leading me to yell out “I’m in! Deal me in!” Standard play – poker players hate to miss a hand, just in case they pick up a monster.
I did. Unfortunately.
I looked down to find Pocket Kings in the Big Blind. After there was a raise to $25 and three callers, I re-raised to $110. I only got one caller – the initial raiser.
On a rainbow flop of K-3-A, I thought I was made. I still had about $1300 in front of me, about $25 more than the other guy did. I bet out about $125, trying to see just how big his Ace was.
He raised to $300. Oh man – his Ace must be huge with that type of value bet! Maybe even A-K! I’m about to get paid huge, and walk off the table at 7am after another great night at the Wynn!
I go in the tank, thinking forever about whether or not he’ll call an all-in bet. I finally decided he wouldn’t, and just called.
The turn was a blank (a six, I think, without matching a suit on board), so I checked to him. He bet out $450ish, leaving about $500 behind. I looked over and said “OK, let’s just get it all in there now”.
He beat me into the pot… and showed Aces. Definition of a “cooler” right there, both of us flopping three of a kind. Left with only $25, I shoved all-in blind on the next hand and got 3 callers, somehow hitting two pairs with J-4 offsuit and staying alive… I survived for about another 15 minutes at the table before busting out and going back to my hotel to sleep it off.
After getting about 6 hours of sleep, I decided to head over to Caesar’s on Sunday night/Monday morning. I had planned to play in another Mega Stack tournament that afternoon, but since I didn’t get to sleep until 9am and the tourney began at noon, it wasn’t really an option.
Since I hadn’t played a cash game there yet, playing only in the Mega Stack tournament a few nights earlier, I was pretty eager to see how people were playing.
I ran into some of the people I had played in the tournament with, but overall it was mostly new people. I also ran into one of the luckiest players I’ve ever seen, and one of the best cash game players I’ve ever played against. The result was the same for both – I lost.
Finally, after about eight hours our table broke down and I moved to a new seat at a new table. I was moving with about $1400 in chips and bills, just slightly down from my second $1500 buy-in for the night. (I limit myself to two buy-ins for a night - whatever those buy-ins might be – when I’m playing cash games. Tournaments are a different story.)
Less than half an hour into the move, I got the biggest monster I’ve ever had, and it turned out to be one of the biggest coolers I’ve ever given out to someone else.
On the button, I found Jacks. We were only playing 7-handed (plus it was about 4am), so any pair was pretty much gold. However, I’d gotten in trouble three times at the first table re-raising with Jacks and Tens even when I was in position, so I decided to simply call any raise, or if I was the first raiser I would make a small push that I could get away from if someone came over the top.
There was a raise to $25, and I just called. The flop came up 4-9-J with 2 clubs, and I knew I was made. We both checked the flop, and when the turn brought the fourth Jack I actually thought I had gotten screwed. Now, any bet from me into someone with Aces, Kings or Queens would signal at least one Jack in my hand. Somehow, my opponent led out with a $60 bet. I just called.
The river landed with another 9, and I was nearly certain there was no way I could get paid. I mean… who’s going to bet into someone who basically just declared that they were holding at least one Jack to have a full house?
Yet somehow, he bet to me. $175. I went into the tank… then I raised to $425, figuring he’d go away unless he thought I was bluffing and wanted to come over the top. He went into the tank... then said out loud “Maybe we’re chopping it?” Trying to play off like he thought we both had a Jacks over 9’s full house. Uh, no. I have four Jacks. I doubt you have one as well.
Then he went all-in for another $800 on top of my bet. I immediately called, announcing “I have quads”.
His response? “So do I…. oh shit.” He flipped over 9-9 to my J-J.
Now, here’s where it gets really sick. Caesar’s Palace is part of the Harrah’s family of casinos. Harrah’s has a bad beat jackpot, which at the time of this hand required you to have quad 9’s or better beaten with a pair of 9’s in the hole. The bad beat jackpot stood at around $130,000; 30% of that goes to the person that loses the hand, 20% goes to the winner of the hand, and the remaining 50% is distributed throughout the Harrah’s family of poker rooms to anyone on a cash game table. Meaning this hand was about to net the quad 9’s about $40k, and I would not only win the $2300 in the pot (plus a high-hand jackpot), but another $25k from the jackpot. I was, needless to say, a little excited.
Only problem? Caesar’s isn’t part of the bad beat jackpot. They never signed on to the idea with the other Harrah’s casinos, because they didn’t want to take another $1 out of every hand from the players. Meaning the loser got nothing for his troubles, and although I won the hand and got $100 for the “High Hand”, the other $25k was not to be.
If the hand had happened across the street at Harrah’s (or the Imperial Palace, where it actually was hit about three hours later), we would have gotten paid. In Caesar’s, we both got an “Atta Boy”, and play continued.
I left the table about two hours later, down about $200 total for the night. Not bad considering how the night started.
Finally, Monday night into Tuesday morning. Um… ouch.
After I woke up Monday afternoon (my sleep schedule was so screwed up it’s not even funny. And now back on East Coast time, its even worse. I’m blogging at 2AM because I didn’t get out of bed until 3 yesterday afternoon), I headed back to Harrah’s to catch the 3:30 afternoon tournament – a $60 buy-in with a $40 rebuy. Basically, just a good way to kill time and maybe make a couple hundred bucks. I ended up as the third alternate and had to wait until the third blind level to get a seat. When I finally got in, I had 4500 chips with blinds at 100/200, so I was reduced to either stealing a lot of blinds or just shoving all-in and praying.
I chose the former, stealing three blinds in the first revolution alone with aggressive over bets on small pots. I even managed to steal a couple of calls, since my table was extremely tight except for one hyper-aggressive kid.
Naturally, it was him that I ran into to end my day.
I finally limped into a pot, under the gun with pocket 9’s. The aggressive kid was in the small blind and only called the extra hundred to complete the blind, leading us to a 6-handed flop.
After the board hit 8-3-3 with three different suits, the blinds checked to me. Hoping nobody had a three in the hole (or worse yet, pocket 8’s), I bet out 1300 chips into a 1200 chip pot. Since the aggressive kid hadn’t taken a stab to try and represent a hand from the blind, I thought I might have been safe.
Everyone folded to him, and he pushed all-in. The big blind folded, and I had a decision to make. I didn’t believe he hit the three, and if he though I was stealing with big cards he might only have an eight, meaning my pocket 9’s were good. I thought for awhile, and then finally called.
He turned over 8-3 off suit (Whoops!) and I was done. I should have stopped there, or just killed time for three hours until the 8pm tournament at Harrah’s.
Instead, I returned to Caesar’s $2/$5 game trying to pick up the $1400 I was down for the trip, or at least make a dent in the losses. I did pretty well at the table, winning a big pot on only my second hand when I turned two pairs over my opponent’s flopped top two (Kings and 3’s over 7’s and 8’s), picking up about $300 in the process. Then our table broke and I moved to a new table. After floundering in place with a cold run of cards, a new $5/$10 table opened up directly next to me with three people I’d already been playing with, people I had good reads on. I decided to move.
For the first two hours, it was a great idea. With higher stakes I bought in for a higher amount to keep up with some of the massive stacks at the table; one guy bought in for $5000, another for $4500. I figured $2500 would be strong enough.
I caught another cooler when I flopped a set of Queens against a guy I knew to be a huge bluffer. I check called him all the way to the river, when he bet out $350 into a $300 pot with a rainbow board of 6-Q-4-3-2. I took awhile, then finally called as he flipped over 8-5 off-suit for a rivered straight, and nothing else. After a smirk, I flipped over my hand and paid him off.
Three hands later, down about $500, I picked up A-8 of diamonds in the small blind. There was a raise to $40 and I called along with three other players (putting $200 in the pot preflop. God I love $5/$10). Before the dealer turned over the first three cards, I actually thought to myself “this would be a great time to flop a monster”.
How about a flop of 7d-10d-9d, giving me the nut flush and an open-ended straight flush draw? That qualifies as a monster.
I checked. The big blind fired out $200 and got one caller (yikes!) I immediately put one of them on either Kd-10x or J-Q of diamonds, so I just called. Let’s face it – if I lost to a better flush – a straight flush – then it just wasn’t going to be my day.
The turn was the King of clubs (phew!), and again I checked. The big blind fired out $700 into a $600 pot. The other player folded, obviously chasing something or maybe thinking A-10 wasn’t going to be any good. The action came around to me, and I went into the tank. I wasn’t sure what the guy had, but I was pretty certain he had also flopped a flush, maybe even with the JQ of diamonds for his own straight flush draw. But I couldn’t be certain he didn’t have a set of 9’s or 10’s leaving him with a handful of outs on a full house.
I chose to end the action right there, re-raising him all-in for my last $1900-ish and immediately went into “freeze” mode; I put the iPod in on high volume, and picked a certain chip in the pot to lock a stare on. After about thirty seconds, the other guy started counting out his bills – I couldn’t believe he was really going to pay me off! I was pretty certain he didn’t have a flush at this point, otherwise he would have called immediately. Now I had him on either three of a kind – probably Kings on the turn with the King of diamonds – or else he had hit something like 8-9 or 9-10 on the flop or maybe the Kd-10x I had thought of earlier, and just couldn’t get away from it.
He waited for another thirty seconds or so – at this point, I was almost biting my lower lip trying to act calm – then finally he looked at me and said “I hope you’re not stealing this pot from me… I’ve got a huge hand, but I think you’ve got me beat.” He flipped over 9-10 for top two pair on the flop, and folded without paying me. I didn’t show.
I wasn’t unhappy to rake in a huge pot - $1050 not counting the $250 I’d invested myself – but I wish he would have made the call. Of course, with the way my luck turned later, he probably would have made the full house on the river.
After getting fairly lucky later in the night to double myself up to about $3400 in chips (I caught a 5-outter after I made a semi-bluff against a player I didn’t believe had anything – he actually had the second nut straight, and I was left to my draw. Luckily, I hit), I went on a run of coolers to end all coolers.
The “big bluffer” – the 8-5 that cracked a set of Queens – got involved with me and a third guy on another huge pot.
I picked up A-6 off suit out of position and limped. There was a small raise from the button to $30, and both the bluffer (in the big blind) and I called.
The flop hit Jh-6c-Ah (another jackpot… sort of) and the bluffer and I checked to the initial raiser on the button. He fired out $110 into the $95 pot trying to take it down right there. The bluffer came over the top for $400. It came to me, and I immediately assumed he was on a draw, maybe a straight with the big cards or a flush with the 6 so he had a reason to stay in the pot.
In any case, I wasn’t looking for any more action. $600 in the pot was enough for me, so I re-raised to $950. The button insta-folded, and the bluffer went into the tank. Now I was certain he had absolutely nothing, and was deciding how much of his money he wanted to risk. He had about $1700 when the hand started, and had already committed $500 to the pot.
Finally, after about two minutes, he announced “call” but pushed his remaining $1200 in chips into the pot. I checked with the dealer to see which move would be counted – the verbal call or the action of the $300+ raise (which I would have called instantly). Since both actions happened together, the dealer said the verbal bet was the binding one (the correct call, by the way), and we went to the turn.
There was a blank card (2 of spades, I think) and the bluffer checked (?!?). I immediately went all-in. He thought for a second, and then called. I flipped over my Aces up, announcing to the table that if my hand held up I would be leaving immediately (the bluffer had done exactly the same thing a few hours earlier, hitting a monster hand then immediately leaving to play in a tournament. He returned only after he busted out). The bluffer flipped over 8-3 of hearts (?!?!?!) for only an 8-high flush draw I would have expected to see at least some kind of straight draw to go with it. Half the table either gasped or started laughing… until a third heart hit the river. Cooler #1.
The very next hand, as the bluffer was trying to explain how he had made a couple of great calls with his 8-high draw, I picked up Jh-10d. I’ve mentioned here before how J-10 is one of my favorite hands, because there are so many way to make a hand with it.
There was no raise from anyone until the bluffer in the small blind. He bumped the pot to $50, and there were three callers including me. The flop came up Jd-8d-9d, giving me top pair with another open-ended straight flush draw. As long as nobody had already flopped a set or a flush or straight higher than the one I could make, I should have been a huge favorite.
The action checked to me, and I fired out $175 into the $200 pot. The bluffer pulled his usual move, check-raising to $400 and chasing out the other two players. I immediately went all-in, trying to show the strength of my hand, for my remaining $1100-ish. The bluffer actually thought for a couple seconds, then called the bet and showed a set of 8’s. First time he didn’t call all-in on nothing but a draw of some sort.
Essentially, I had 17 cards to make a straight or flush on either the turn or the river, plus the hand could have theoretically run out with the 2 remaining Jacks, or two of the three remaining 10’s or 9’s, or any combination of those. He had to dodge a ridiculous number of cards – in fact, he was only about a 53% - 45% favorite with about a 2% chance of a tie.
Of course, I missed all of them, with the board running out with a couple of small black cards that completely missed my hand, and I was suddenly forced to re-buy onto the table. Cooler #2.
On the very next hand, I picked up pocket Kings. Naturally. I made a big raise ($10 to $70) pre-flop and got only one caller – the bluffer. Yup. The flop hit with three small cards - two clubs – and I fired out $180 to him on the button. He called. Of course he did. The turn brought the Ace of clubs, and now I went on the defensive. I checked to him, since I was fairly certain he had hit either the flush or the Ace. He bet $400 and I insta-mucked. He just grinned and showed 3-5 of clubs for the flush. Nice call pre-flop. Cooler #3.
At this point, I needed a break and went for a half hour walk. I e-mailed my buddy Jay – the guest of honor of the last Vegas trip – and tried to cool myself off. Finally, I returned to the table to find I’d missed a blind. I posted the required $15 and got a hand.
Pocket Aces. Yup. No lie, I almost mucked them pre-flop rather than risk my luck getting in the way again.
Instead, I re-raised from a $60 bet to $230 and went into freeze mode. The bluffer looked at me and asked “How much did you buy back in for?” I took out the iPod and responded “Same as before – twenty-five”. Now I was pretty certain he had a real hand this time, maybe even Kings but didn’t want to put the pressure on pre-flop for that much money, since he probably thought I would have instantly shoved all-in (which I would have). He just called my bet, and so did the initial raiser.
The flop came out Kh-4c-Ah – Bingo! – and the initial raiser checked to me. I bet out $550 into the $700 pot. The bluffer took a minute, then shoved all-in (putting me all-in for about $2250 with the stone cold nuts at the time – top set). The first raiser went away, and I insta-called thinking he had Kings or A-K.
I showed my AAA, he showed Jh-10h for a gut-shot royal flush draw, although any heart or Queen would have made his hand.
After the 7h fell on the turn (guh), I was left calling for a board pair that never fell. Cooler #4.
Four consecutive hands, four consecutive ridiculously bad beats. One idiot getting rich off of my cold run.
I walked away shaking my head, trying to figure out how the hell I could possibly run that cold for that long. In the end, I just returned to my hotel room to pack up for the morning flight on Tuesday.
I actually thought about it for awhile – I’ve been on the wrong end of five consecutive suckouts in pots of over $3500 when I’ve put my money in with the best of it going back to the last week in May, not counting the one-outer in the WSOP tournament last Monday. I have only gotten lucky myself once on a large pot, the $3400 straight I hit on the semi-bluff Monday night before the cooler run began.
I’m not actually sure what all this means. Maybe I’m just running unlucky, since I am getting my money in when I’m ahead in the hand. Or maybe it’s a sign that I need to be more aggressive earlier on in hands to try to end the action before it is profitable enough for other players to chase their draws.
Either way, I’m back from Vegas for a little while. I haven’t decided if I’m going to return for a weekend in about 13 days – winning the Harrah’s tournament also got me entry into a freeroll there with about $100k going to the top-10 winners and only 100-150 players expected to compete. Probably worth my time. Otherwise, I’ll continue grinding it out at Foxwoods for the next few months until October, when Caesar’s is running another tournament series.
Besides, I really shouldn’t be in Boston if the Sox are in the series. Boston teams only seem to win titles when I’m out of town.
Lata.Labels: Bad Luck, Gambling, Las Vegas, poker, Tournament, World Series, WSOP
2008 WSoP Post 5 - Thank God for consistency
There are certain things that you can count on for every trip to Las Vegas. You’re going to be hot. You’re going to be dehydrated. You’re probably going to drink. You’re probably going to gamble. And when it’s all said and done, barring catastrophe you’ll probably be sad to leave.
For poker players, there are a few other things to bank on. For example – you’re going to give and take a handful of bad beats. You’re probably going to play against a ton of local pros who can see you coming before you even walk in the building.
And if you’re in town for a weekend, you can absolutely count on finding a ton of rich European kids dumping money at the Wynn poker room.
Sometimes, it’s nice to know these things in advance.
After killing a couple hours laying around the hotel room today, taking a shower and watching some Euro Cup soccer on ESPN (no, seriously. Mid-day TV sucks), I headed out to the monorail and back to center strip. Just like Thursday, I walked through the Harrah’s poker room on my way to the Mirage room just looking for a decent $2/$5 cash game or a reasonable tournament. After finding absolutely nothing (it’s ridiculous how bad the cash games are in this city right now. There are three rooms – TOTAL – that I’ve found with more than one consistent $2/$5 table running; Bellagio, Caesar’s, Wynn. That’s it) I grabbed a cab ride to the Wynn and hoped to catch people busting out of their 2pm tournament and looking to hit a cash game.
I had no idea.
It might have taken an hour and a half to finally get a seat, but it was worth it. I walked into one of the biggest action, biggest chip moving tables I’ve ever sat on. And sitting across from me were co-table captains – both from Croatia and still recovering from the soccer match with Turkey earlier in the day – and both with stacks of over $3000.
Important note: The Wynn is one of a handful of poker rooms that does not cap the buy-ins for no-limit cash games. Most rooms would have capped me at $500 max buy-in on a $2/$5 game, meaning I would have been at a distinct disadvantage against deep, hyper-aggressive stacks. But with my ability to put down $500 in chips and another ten bills behind my stack, I was not to be trifled with unless the hand was really worth it.
Less than an hour into the table, I had taken more than half of one of the big stacks away (once with a bluff, once with a monster that got paid) and was beginning to chip into the second captain’s remaining stack. The first kid eventually went on meg-tilt and dumped off the rest of his stack on a draw against someone that had turned a full house…oops.
I finally did the rest of my damage against captain #2 with a ridiculously good call, if I do say so myself. On a board of Qs-4s-As-Kc-8h, I called a $300 bet (into an $800 pot) on the river with A7 of diamonds. He disgustedly flipped over Ks-7h and immediately started berating me for making the call. I just smiled and stacked his chips.
So tonight is an early night – turning in at 10pm so I can be up and ready to check out of one hotel and into the other tomorrow morning. Three more days to keep adding to the bankroll.
Lata.Labels: Gambling, Las Vegas, poker, Tournament, World Series, WSOP
2008 WSoP Post 4 - Another tournament, another cash…
Weird couple of days out here. I actually was having so much fun playing cards that I forgot to eat, anything, from Tuesday at 8pm through Thursday at about 6pm. That's saying something.
I had planned to enter today’s WSoP Event #36 over at the Rio, and even moreso after a fairly successful day of cash games at the Wynn for about 12 hours yesterday. But when I got up today, I just wasn’t in the mood to struggle through a lousy blinds structure and a field of probably about 1500+ people (it actually ended up at 2,447, although only 187 survived the day… yikes)
Instead, I trekked over to the Center Strip stop on the Vegas Monorail; (quick aside – the map saying that the Wynn is at the “Convention Center” stop on the monorail – that’s a blatant lie. The Wynn, and everything else on the Strip near the Wynn is a solid 20-25 minute walk from the monorail stop. Something to be noted, as I made the walk yesterday at noon… in 106 degree weather. Warrants mentioning) and walked into the Harrah’s poker room trying to catch the 11am tourney signup. Missed the last signup by 10 minutes. Figures.
Rather than killing time at the only cash game in the room – a four-handed $1/$2, guh – I walked across the street to the Mirage to see if they had anything spread. Nope. Almost completely dead.
I was contemplating the $10 cab ride to the Wynn for more cash games, when I remembered I was next to Caesar’s and their fantastic poker room. Worth the 10-minute walk.
As I got into the poker room, I saw a sign for the Caesar’s Mega-Stack Tournament Series. I had about 12 minutes left to register, so I jumped on it. 368 players, top 36 paid. Ridiculously top-heavy payouts (first place takes $22k tonight, or just over 30% of the pool).
I was a card rack for the first eight hours of the tournament, running out to over 60k in chips when the average stack was around 32k. And I was still in third place at my table. I eliminated three players, chasing down Queens with my AQ, then picking up overpairs to players who had already shoved all-in twice.
Interestingly enough, I wasn’t playing like normal. I tried something completely different in this tourney, and it was working beautifully until I went completely card dead. Really novel concept for a tournament player. Ready for it?
I was patient.
Not just like, wait for a couple suited cards, or a couple big cards, or any ace. I was patient like “I’m not playing anything less than A-10 unless I’m stealing the blinds”.
Damned if it didn’t work. Of course, it helped that for about an hour I was averaging 2 pairs and a big ace every 10-15 hands, meaning I could scoop plenty of pots and blinds.
I also completely altered my betting strategy, opening pots with very big raises – often almost uncallable without a huge hand – choosing to take down almost every pot preflop if possible. In fact, I only got action four times when I raised preflop – three all-ins and two people who didn’t believe me when I raised from 800 to 4800 from middle position (I had Pocket Kings and took the pot after the flop).
Of course, we know all about hot cards, and how fast they can cool off. After breaking from my table, I walked into my first hand (in the big blind) at a new table and picked up pocket Aces. There was a raise from 1600k to 6k and a call to me before I had even taken my chips out of their racks. I re-raised to 24,000 and got no callers. It was the last hand I saw in a very long time.
I eventually got blinded down to about 20,000 chips from my high point of 76k, then caught a lucky double-up when I cracked Queens with Q-10 offsuit, catching a river flush after flopping an open-ended straight draw. But my night came to an end an hour later when I picked up pocket Jacks, shoved all-in from 8k to my final 41k and got an insta-re-raise all-in from a pretty tight player. AK suited. I didn’t bother watching the board, I figured the table would tell me what happened.
He flopped an Ace, and I busted out in 22nd place, earning a total of $175 profit for 11 hours of playing. Chalk it up as a wasted day.
Guess I’ll spend tomorrow in cash games over at the Wynn again, since I can’t find a steady $2/$5 no-limit game anywhere else.
Lata.
Labels: Gambling, Las Vegas, poker, Tournament, World Series, WSOP
2008 WSoP Post 3 - My first Las Vegas tournament win!
No, I don’t have any new bracelets to show off when I get back home. Yet. But I did finally take down a tournament in Las Vegas – in fact, this is the first time I’ve ever cashed in a tournament in this city.
Sadly, it was only a $60 tournament with rebuys at the Harrah’s Casino. The payout was nice, recovering some of the losses from yesterday. And even more sadly, it took three tournament entries today to earn the win, meaning I more or less broke even for the day.
At least the tournament win comes with an entry into a freeroll tournament in early July here. Guess now I have to win enough in a big tourney to enter the WSoP Main Event.
Other thoughts for the day:
n Obviously, story #1 is the Celtics’ return to the top of the mountain. As it was happening, I found myself thinking that it was almost too easy – there was never a doubt in my mind that the C’s would win Game 6. But by 40 points? Really?
n About 10 minutes before tip-off I was in the Harrah’s poker room and thought about running to the sports book to get a parlay on the money line, point spread and the over. I decided against it, but the guy sitting next to me thought it was a good bet and dropped $50 on it. I’m sure he’s thanking me right about now.
n How good was this Celtics team? Just look at all the records they set this postseason: Biggest win in a Finals clincher. Biggest comeback in a Finals game. Most home wins in a single postseason. Most steals in a Finals game. Most three pointers in a Finals game (Ray Allen tied the record). Most road losses in a postseason (that one’s not so good, but consider they set that record and still won the title. First team to win a title while playing 25 or more playoff games. I mean… wow.
n The fact that Bartolo Colon was injured swinging a bat tells me that, no matter how good he’s been pitching, he’s just not durable enough at his current build to be a reliable pitcher. I wish the Red Sox had put weight clauses into his contract, a la Curt Schilling.
n Kid at my table earlier tonight – “I fucking hate Boston… you guys just don’t lose anymore. It’s no fun for the rest of us.” That kept a smile on my face for awhile, until someone else reminded me about 17-14.
n By far, the worst part about the manner in which I busted out of yesterday’s tournament… There were 1012 total entrants in the tournament – when I busted out after only 4 hours, there were about 475 left and an average chip stack of around 6000. By the end of the day, there were only 73 players left (top 108 got paid) with an average stack of about 70000. And at the end of today’s action, with the final table set for tomorrow, it only took 183,000 chips to still be alive. Had my hand held up, I would have had about 32,000 chips already. Can you say “Dominant tournament chip leader”? Guh… I need to move past this. It really hurts my head.
n I’m still up in the air about playing in Event #36 on Thursday or Event #39 on Saturday. I’m actually enjoying playing low limit cash games and daily tourneys at other casinos. Maybe I’ll stick with that for awhile. Gonna be awful hard to earn the $10k I need for the Main Event in two weeks that way though…
n And finally, I’m still keeping myself off of the blackjack and craps tables – my only foray into non-poker gaming is a promotional slot play I have here in my hotel. Probably use that tomorrow morning. Can’t wait to get to my next hotel on Saturday, where they’re giving me like $300 in cash and free table play. I like that idea.
Back again at some point tomorrow (whatever day tomorrow happens to be).
Lata.Labels: Gambling, Las Vegas, poker, Tournament, World Series, WSOP
2008 WSoP Post 2 - One-outters and other nonsense...
Sometimes, you can’t make this shit up.
I’m not going to lead with my bad beat story. I’m instead going to acknowledge the fact that I put two bad beats on two good players early on in my turn at today’s 6-Handed No Limit tournament at the WSOP. With starting stacks of 5000, I took about 3800 off of a player only five hands in when I turned a set of 9’s to bust his A-10 after a 10 hit the flop. He busted out shortly after, steaming from the loss and choosing the wrong time to push all in with K-Q suited (he was up against pocket kings, not mine. Sadly.)
Later, I went runner-runner two-pair and runner-runner lousy straight on one player in back to back hands, who decided that he would no longer play hands that I was betting out, whether or not he thought I had anything.
Then, it happened.
Late in level 4 (100-200 blinds, 25 antes), I was in the small blind. I had about 14,000 chips in front of me, covering everyone else at the table and well above the tournament average of about 6500. There’s a raise from the first position to 950. A fold, then an all-in shove for about 3800. And another all-in shove from the button for just over 13,000. I looked down to find two red Aces.
Jackpot.
I was already counting the chips in play, figuring that if I held up I would have around 32,000 chips, more than enough to have the tournament chip lead. I shoved all-in.
The big blind folded and the initial raiser flipped over his hand – KQ suited in clubs, announcing that he couldn’t possibly be good. He was right.
The first all-in (for 3800) had pocket red Queens. The second (for 13000+) had pocket red Kings. And I had them both drawing dead to the king or queen of spades, or running straight cards since I had their flushes covered. Keep in mind – this is a six-handed tournament! Two pairs on one hand is rare. Three – the top three – is obscene, even moreso considering the other hand in play. And what happened next… well, there isn’t really even a word for it in my vocabulary.
The flop fell 4h-Ks-4c rainbow, and I was suddenly looking at being crippled to about 800 chips. Talk about penthouse to outhouse. His Kings held up, and I was left to shove on the next hand and pray. It went unanswered as I actually flopped top 2 pair only to be behind to a flopped set.
Somehow, I staggered away from the tournament area and found my way to the cash games. After many, many hours of plugging away and trying to gain some traction, the table loosened up and I started picking up hands.
We had an implied straddle bet for seven of the eight players on the table – the eighth didn’t believe in it. My standard straddle raise at this table was from $10 to either $45 or $55, depending how many callers were already involved. I had done this on three consecutive hands, each time with nothing worse than AQ (and showing each hand at showdown).
On the button, I looked at Q-J suited in hearts. There were two straddle callers, so I bumped the pot to $55. And got 5 callers. Hmmmm…
On a flop of 4-J-Q all spades, There was a bet of $125 and a call. I immediately shoved all-in for over $500… and got two callers. 3-5 suited spades, 6-8 suited spades. Impressive.
After limping away from that table, I decided to call it a night. I had originally planned to play in tomorrow’s tournament (Event #32), but I’m not feeling up to it. I’ll probably play in an event on Thursday instead and try to recover some of my losses.
Back tomorrow or Wednesday.
Lata.
Labels: Gambling, Las Vegas, Lucky Bastard, poker, World Series
