Merlotgirl and I flew off to Vegas for Thanksgiving week. We left Saturday morning and flew back Thanksgiving morning. We had a great trip as usual. We left town a little lighter in the wallet this time then the last time, but there were still numerous highlights. I’ll try and recall them here.
Stayed at the Golden Nugget again and played cash games at the following casinos:
Golden Nugget
Binions (new room…very, very nice)
Planet Hollywood
Bellagio
Merlotgirl Chopped a Deep Stack Tournament at Binions. $125 buy in, start with t8,000, 30 minute blinds. It got down to 3 handed with one player having Merlotgirl and the other player covered 3 times over. Merlotgirl and the other short stack agreed to chop 2nd and 3rd place, but still play on to try and beat the big stack. She ended up with a $600 + cash, as her AT was beat by the big stacks A3, when he spiked a 3 on the turn.
Golden Nugget – “The Grand Fall Poker Classic Ladies Event”
Merlotgirl enters this event. $200 + $30 buy-in. It’s a LIPS event, and has a number of well known lady players. As it turns out she sits at a table with 2007 WSOP Ladies Event winner, Sally Boyer. When Merlotgirl points her out to me, I tell her I was playing a $1/$2 NL cash game at the Nugget and was sitting directly to her right. She was a very good player. Sally was a very quiet, almost shy woman, but very gracious. She had put a bounty on her own head, offering to pay the buy-in for the person who beat her. After playing with Ms. Boyer for several hours Sally tells Merlotgirl she’s a very good player and should play in bigger events. Not a bad compliment coming from a bracelet winner.
Sometime after “The First Lady of Poker” Linda Johnson busts out, tables are rebalanced and “Ms. Poker”, Susie Isaacs sits at Merlotgirls table. So there is my wife playing at the same table with the 2007 WSOP Ladies Event Champion ($262,000 plus prize), and Ms. Poker, 2 time bracelet winner of the WSOP Ladies Event (1996 & 1997) and 10th place finisher in the 1998 WSOP Main Event. Merlotgirl beat Susie in a hand and Susie wanted to see Merlotgirls hand. Merlotgirl politely declined and mucked her hand. Susie did not like that. Score one for Merlotgirl. While Merlotgirl eventually busted out after playing great poker for the day, it was a tremendous boost to her confidence to play with such fine players for 6 hours or so. She can play with these players.
“Super Tuesday” – Well Tuesday was going to be a great day for us. We start by ordering room service, which is fantastic. Then we take a cab to Caesars where Merlotgirl has a day at the spa planned, before we go to see Bette Midler Tuesday night. I drop her off and stop by Bellagio for a quick session of $4 / $8 limit. Win a little bit and wander over to Planet Hollywood for a tournament. It would be a lot easier for Merlotgirl to recount her day at the spa then for me to lay it out here, but I’ll try. She got there early and spent an hour or so in the mineral baths. She didn’t think she’d be able to last too long in the really hot one, but her attendant said it would be ok. So she sits in the corner, and the attendant turns a knob and cooling rain falls on Merlotgirls head. Nice. I also know there was some room with heated marble seating that was very cold and had snow falling on her head. Then she had a 75 massage with a Hawaiian Masseuse named Gina. Highly recommended by Merlotgirl. Let’s not forget about the “Tea Sommelier” who made her a couple of cups of nice tea. Upon completion of the massage came the shower, in one of those shower rooms where multiple shower heads hit you form various angles. Merlotgirl enjoyed this day at the spa immensely.
She then wandered over to Planet Hollywood, where I was at the final table of the tournament. When we got down to 4 players we agreed to chop it 4 ways. $413 each for an $80 buy in tournament.
We now have just enough time to head to Todd English’s “Olives” a lovely restaurant with a patio overlooking the Bellagio Fountains. We dined out there and watched the show. It was fantastic!!!!!
On to the Colosseum at Caesar’s to see Bette. She put on an incredible performance. Her rendition of “When a Man Loves a Woman” brought the house down. We highly recommend seeing her show. Simply fabulous.
We capped the night off by heading over to Bellagio to play $4 / $8 Limit for a few hours. We didn’t see anyone playing in Bobby’s Room. I suppose the big game has moved on to the Venetian. As we were leaving we took a look over in the higher stakes area and there was a table playing $150 / $300 No Limit. I didn’t recognize anyone.
We played well and bubbled out of several other tournaments. As usual we had a terrific time, and can’t wait until our next venture back to “sin city”.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Monday, November 10, 2008
I had just come back Thursday, from a weeklong business trip, where I put in a lot of overtime. The Monthly Deep Stack Tournament at Choctaw Casino was Saturday morning at 11:00 am so Merlotgirl and I decided we should give it another shot. We really loved the structure the last time we played it, and while we didn’t cash last time (she got close, and she probably would have won it this time if not for a couple coolers she ran into), thought that we’d be back to play it as often as we could. So we arrive at the casino a half hour before start time and pay our $300 + $30 each. For us that’s the largest buy-in tournament we’ve ever bought into, but we love the format so much, we think it’s worth it.
You start with t8,000. Blinds go up every 30 minutes (going to 40 minute blinds at Final Table), there are no antes and the structure is as follows:
25 / 25
25 / 50
50 / 100
75 / 150
(10 Minute Break and race off t25’s)
100 / 200
200 / 400
300 / 600
400 / 800
(10 Minute Break and race off t100’s)
500 / 1,000
1,000 / 2,000
1,500 / 3,000
2,000 / 4,000
10 minute Break and Race off t500’s)
3,000 / 6,000
42 players started for a total prize pool of $12,600. Paying out 5 players. 1st - Approx. $5,000 down to Approx. $1,000 for 5th.
Merlotgirl and I are both well rested and feeling good about how we’ve been playing lately. We wish each other good luck and take our seats at different tables. I really like my seat at the first table I’m at. Seat 7. The 2 most aggressive players at my table are in seats 4 and 5. Solid player in Seat 8. Rock in Seat 9.
Ten minutes into the game we have our first big hand. I’m SB with AhKh. UTG+1 (seat 1) makes it t150. Seat 4 calls. I debate re-raising, and decide to just see a flop. 5 6 8 rainbow (1 heart). I check. Seat 1 makes it t200. Seat 4 makes it t700. I fold. Seat 1 calls. Turn brings another heart, the T. Seat 1 bets out again, and Seat 4 pushes all in…Seat 1 calls. They table their cards. Seat 1 had flopped a set of 6’s. Seat 4 had flopped the nut str8 with a 7 and 9. The board did not pair on the river, (although there was a heart which would have given me the nuts, but there was no way I could have stayed in the hand.) “Seat open Table 14”
Next hand of note is when I wake up with JJ in early position. Blinds are 25 / 50 I raise to t200. Get called by Seat 8 and Seat 1. Flop comes A Q 7. What to do? I c bet here about 80% of the time, (and should have this time), but decide to just check it. When seat 8 and Seat 1 both check behind I have no idea where I am, and am pretty much lost. I should have bet. Although if they both call, which they may have, I still don’t know where I am. Tough spot. I feel like I played this hand poorly. Turn brings a blank. I check again. (Second mistake on this hand). Seat 8 bets t350. Seat 1 and I fold. At this point I figure, even if I'm ahead, which is 50/50 at best, I still have plenty of chips left and can get them in when I'm more certain. Seat 8 shows pocket 9’s. I was outplayed this hand. Luckily I go card dead for about 40 minutes. Not finding a hand I’d like to play. Allowing me to fold, and recover from my poor play. But watching the action at the table. Big stack in Seat 4 gets in another big hand. He and Seat 7 get all Seat 7’s chips in preflop on 4 bet action. Seat 4 has KK. Seat 7 AA. I Mucked K9. Seat 4 hits his 1-outer on the river to send Seat 7 out of the tournament (not very happily)
I’m down to about t4,000 in chips about halfway through the 3rd blind level when this hand occurs. I’ve got 7h8h in my BB. Seat 2 makes it t300. I’m the only caller. Flop comes up 5h6hTc. I flop an open ended str8 flush draw. Check the flop. He bets t450. I call. Turn is 2h. I check again. He bets t600…and I raise to t1500. He thinks for a bit and mucks his AA face up. Whew. I finally win a hand. I’m being very patient as Seat 4 or 5 is raising on my blinds (and whenever it’s limped to them in MP) almost every orbit. I know if I catch the right opportunity I’ll get all those blinds back. About 10 minutes before the first break I have QQ in the BB. Seat 4 raises to t450. I reraise to t1200. He calls. Ragged flop, no Broadway cards. I bet out t2,000 he folds.
I’m at t9,300 at the first break. I’m feeling pretty good that I’ve recovered from my poor play on the JJ hand, and have more chips than I started with. I’m probably right around average stack at this point. Seat 4 and 5 are still aggressively stealing blinds, and I’ve had the opportunity to watch them clash a couple times and neither of them has had particularly great hands. I will continue to wait for that opportunity to trap with a monster. This happens about 15 minutes into the t100 / t200 blind level. I’ve got 55 in my BB. Seat 4 makes it t500. I think for a bit, and call. The door card on the flop is a 5….wwooohoooooo. followed by a 4 and a 3. Top set for me. I check. Seat 4 overbets the pot betting t1,600. I’ve got about t8,000 left and don’t want to chase him out, but get max value on this one. So I raise enough that I think he has to call. I make it t4,000. He asks how much more I have behind and I show him t4,000. He re-raises to put me all in. I insta call. And he flips over A4. With a 9 on the turn he’s drawing dead to a deuce…and misses on the river. Cha ching!!!!!!! Double up. I’ve got about t18,000 now and well above average chip stack.
Now I start to steal a blind here and there. Not abusing it like Seat 4 and 5 had been doing. Sometimes raising in the hijack, cutoff or on the button. Sometimes limping in late middle position, with everyone folding behind me and then betting out on a board that’s checked to me with an A, K or Q on it, regardless of what I have. My image to this point had been that I was a rock. I don’t believe I’d lost a showdown yet. I took another chunk out of Seat 4’s stack when he raised my BB when I had AA. I re-raised. He called. I bet out on the flop. He called again. When I bet on the turn he folded and I showed my AA. Hoping that my advertising would let him know that when I play back at you…I’ve got it. That put a stop to his indiscriminate blind stealing as I was now the big stack at the table.
Then the worst thing that could possibly happen to me, happens. Someone busts out of a neighboring table and we have to rebalance. I get moved. I had worked pretty hard to build my table image to where it was and now I’m gone. Oh well. We’re down to 21 players. 3 tables of 7 each. I’ve got about t25,000 and am well above the average stack of t16,000. Although I’m certainly not the biggest stack at my new table. I am now in Seat 5. Bigger stacks then I are in Seat 3, Seat 7, Seat 8 and Seat 9. Some of these players I know form playing with in the past. Seat 3 is a good, aggressive player with a lot of gamble in him. Seat 8 I had played with many times at AHL venues around town. Good, solid player. Biggest stack at the table. Seat 7 was an older gentleman I had not seen before, and Seat 9 was an older woman I had not seen before.
As luck would have it I go card dead again at the new table. This allows me to fold a lot and watch the table. What I find out in the next 15 minutes is that Seat 7 has a whole lot of gamble in him. He calls a players all in of an additional t4,000 with 4c7c. Pot odds certainly didn’t dictate a call here. But he hits a 7 and wins the hand as AK is no good. Seat open Table 15. Seat 3 (who’s play I respect) gets damaged by Seat 9, who I now have a pretty good read on (and I’ll use it to great advantage a couple of times later on). I have Ks Js in my BB and Seat 3 makes a standard raise. Flop comes J 6 4. I check he bets it, I call, and player in Seat 7 calls. K on the turn. I check my 2 pair. Seat 3 bets it again. I Raise it 3 times his bet. Seat 7 folds. Seat 3 calls me. Blank on the river. I bet. Seat 3 folds. He missed his flush draw. I’ve watched Seat 9 (the older woman) raise in early position with any 2 Broadway cards. KT – Raise. KJ – Raise. QT – Raise. She lost a big hand and then pushed all in UTG with KT, hitting 2 tens and quadrupling up. She wasn’t tricky. If she raised, she would throw out a continuation bet. If she missed the flop it was the same bet as her PF bet. If she hit it, it was a little less than pot sized. I’m in the BB with 22. She raises, everyone else folds. I call. Flop comes 3 8 7. She throws out a bet the same size as her preflop bet. I call. 3 on the turn. She throws out the same bet. I raise her 2 and a half times her bet. She folds.
Seat 3 busts out. Seat 7 busts out. Seat 2 busts out. We are on the bubble for final table. 10 players left when the following hand happens. Seat 8 who was chip leader when I sat down at the table raises PF, Seat 1 calls. Flop comes 2 5 9. Seat 8 pushes. Seat 1 thinks for a bit and tells him, “I think I have you. I put you on AK, AQ, AJ…something like that. And he calls with 77. Seat 8 says nice call as he turns over A5. For a pair of 5’s. Blank on the turn. Miracle 5 on the river. Seat 1 had him covered by a bit, but someone busts out at the other table and we are at the Final Table.
At final table now. We ask how much if we chop it 9 ways. It’s $1,400 each if we chop it evenly. This was right about what 4th place would get. 8 of the 9 players said they’d chop. One gentleman wanted to play it out. Grrrrrr. We did manage to convince him that we should take $1,600 out of the prize pool and pay 6th through 9th $400 each. So we play on.
Final table. Seat 1 is good young player who had lost the previous hand with his 77. He’s short stacked. Seat 2 older woman, who I have a good read on and is 2nd largest stack. Seat 3 is the player who just beat the 77’s. He is now biggest stack again. Seat 4 is the 2nd shortest stack. Seat 5 another relatively short stack. Seat 6 another good AHL player who is relatively short stacked. Seat 7 is the older gentleman who did not want to chop (I hope we bust him out early). He’s got a healthy stack. Seat 8 is an average stacked, good player. Seat 9 is me with about an average stack of t35,000.
I tighten up and hope the short stacks bust out. We lose the 2 shortest stacks pretty quickly. 7 left I’ve still got my t35,000 and am about the 4th biggest stack at the table. Then the biggest hand of the tournament for me occurs. Blinds are 2,000 – 4,000 and I’ve got Ad 4d in the BB. Seat 2 (older woman I have a read on) raises to 11,000 preflop. Everyone folds to me and I call. Flop comes 4 Q 7 rainbow. I check. She checks. Hmmmmm. She always c-bets. She’s afraid I hit the Q. I decide I’m calling this hand down with bottom pair, unless a K, J or T appears on the board. Turn is a blank. She fires t15,000 at it. At this point Merlotgirl who had gone to play 1 /2 No Limit and won her tournament Buy-In back, had cashed in and sat at a 4/8 limit table. She looked over at the Final Table, with me sitting there pondering my move, as I am taking my time and rethinking things. (She later told me …”you had that …I just don’t believe you…it just doesn’t make sense…I’ve got you beat look”.) She came over to watch the hand play out. This is roughly half my remaining stack. I decide it’s more likely that she has AJ, AT, KJ, KT than anything else. I’m almost certain bottom pair is ahead right now. River comes another blank. And she fires another T15,000 at it. I have t16,000 left and call her extremely light with bottom pair. She announces K high and turns over KJ. I show my A4 with bottom pair. Merlotgirl couldn’t believe I called her down as light as I did, and went to cash out at the 4/8 table knowing I was playing my A game.
Now I’m very healthy. Probably the 2nd largest stack with t86,000. 6th place busts out shortly after that hand, so we’re all in the money. Payout looks something like this (give or take a few $$$ on 3rd – 5th):
1st $4,540
2nd $2,640
3rd $1,700
4th $1,200
5th $ 900
Now would be a great time to go on a rush…and I do. A new dealer sits in the box, Kiki, and proceeds to tell me she had just been dealing to my wife, and had been pretty good to her. She told Merlotgirl she’d be nice to me too. And she was. I win the first three hands she deals as I have Q9 in my BB and see a flop of 9 9 J. Big stack bets. I Call. T on the Turn. He bets…I raise 3 times his bet. He calls. Blank on the river. I bet…he folds his Top pair, with a flush draw. Then I turn 2 pair with 84 in my SB. Followed by winning with a standard raise PF with AA. After the second hand I announce “I’m on a rush” Dealer says “rushing here”. After the AA hand I say…”still on a rush” Dealer says…”still rushing here”. T-5 offsuit on the next hand allows me to announce "rush over". Which the dealer also announces.
After our earlier discussion of chopping at final table when the older gent didn’t want to, there was no talk of chopping. I would have been fine chopping it at any point. Although I did want justice to be served and have the guy who didn’t want to chop, get less than the amount he would have gotten had we chopped. And he did. He busted out in 4th and got $200 less than if we had chopped. Big stack had taken out the 4th and 5th place finishers and now had a huge stack. He took out the player to my right to bring it to heads up. He had me in chips roughly 4 to 1. We asked what the prizes were and he offered a chop of $4,200 for him and $3,000 for me, which was generous looking at the stacks. At that point I just figured for the sake of $400 more lets just play it out to the end. Heads up play lasted about 10 or 12 hands and he got rid of me pretty quickly as I went card dead again. He played a great game, and after 6 hours of play I was happy to cash in for $2,640 in my best tournament result ever, I leave a $240 tip for the dealers.
It was particularly gratifying after coming back from my terribly misplayed JJ hand very early on, to play as well as I’ve ever played.. I felt like I played pretty solid poker after that. The Deep Stack format allows you to make a mistake or two along the way, and still be able to recover. It is such a different pace from AHL games that must be finished in 3 hours that you really need to consciously make an adjustment, and become much more patient. After 6 + hours of play we were only at t3,000 – 6,000 blinds. It’s a great experience and we’ll be sure to play again.
If memory serves me AHL Players took 1st, snd and 5th in this tournament. A pretty good advertisement for the league.
You start with t8,000. Blinds go up every 30 minutes (going to 40 minute blinds at Final Table), there are no antes and the structure is as follows:
25 / 25
25 / 50
50 / 100
75 / 150
(10 Minute Break and race off t25’s)
100 / 200
200 / 400
300 / 600
400 / 800
(10 Minute Break and race off t100’s)
500 / 1,000
1,000 / 2,000
1,500 / 3,000
2,000 / 4,000
10 minute Break and Race off t500’s)
3,000 / 6,000
42 players started for a total prize pool of $12,600. Paying out 5 players. 1st - Approx. $5,000 down to Approx. $1,000 for 5th.
Merlotgirl and I are both well rested and feeling good about how we’ve been playing lately. We wish each other good luck and take our seats at different tables. I really like my seat at the first table I’m at. Seat 7. The 2 most aggressive players at my table are in seats 4 and 5. Solid player in Seat 8. Rock in Seat 9.
Ten minutes into the game we have our first big hand. I’m SB with AhKh. UTG+1 (seat 1) makes it t150. Seat 4 calls. I debate re-raising, and decide to just see a flop. 5 6 8 rainbow (1 heart). I check. Seat 1 makes it t200. Seat 4 makes it t700. I fold. Seat 1 calls. Turn brings another heart, the T. Seat 1 bets out again, and Seat 4 pushes all in…Seat 1 calls. They table their cards. Seat 1 had flopped a set of 6’s. Seat 4 had flopped the nut str8 with a 7 and 9. The board did not pair on the river, (although there was a heart which would have given me the nuts, but there was no way I could have stayed in the hand.) “Seat open Table 14”
Next hand of note is when I wake up with JJ in early position. Blinds are 25 / 50 I raise to t200. Get called by Seat 8 and Seat 1. Flop comes A Q 7. What to do? I c bet here about 80% of the time, (and should have this time), but decide to just check it. When seat 8 and Seat 1 both check behind I have no idea where I am, and am pretty much lost. I should have bet. Although if they both call, which they may have, I still don’t know where I am. Tough spot. I feel like I played this hand poorly. Turn brings a blank. I check again. (Second mistake on this hand). Seat 8 bets t350. Seat 1 and I fold. At this point I figure, even if I'm ahead, which is 50/50 at best, I still have plenty of chips left and can get them in when I'm more certain. Seat 8 shows pocket 9’s. I was outplayed this hand. Luckily I go card dead for about 40 minutes. Not finding a hand I’d like to play. Allowing me to fold, and recover from my poor play. But watching the action at the table. Big stack in Seat 4 gets in another big hand. He and Seat 7 get all Seat 7’s chips in preflop on 4 bet action. Seat 4 has KK. Seat 7 AA. I Mucked K9. Seat 4 hits his 1-outer on the river to send Seat 7 out of the tournament (not very happily)
I’m down to about t4,000 in chips about halfway through the 3rd blind level when this hand occurs. I’ve got 7h8h in my BB. Seat 2 makes it t300. I’m the only caller. Flop comes up 5h6hTc. I flop an open ended str8 flush draw. Check the flop. He bets t450. I call. Turn is 2h. I check again. He bets t600…and I raise to t1500. He thinks for a bit and mucks his AA face up. Whew. I finally win a hand. I’m being very patient as Seat 4 or 5 is raising on my blinds (and whenever it’s limped to them in MP) almost every orbit. I know if I catch the right opportunity I’ll get all those blinds back. About 10 minutes before the first break I have QQ in the BB. Seat 4 raises to t450. I reraise to t1200. He calls. Ragged flop, no Broadway cards. I bet out t2,000 he folds.
I’m at t9,300 at the first break. I’m feeling pretty good that I’ve recovered from my poor play on the JJ hand, and have more chips than I started with. I’m probably right around average stack at this point. Seat 4 and 5 are still aggressively stealing blinds, and I’ve had the opportunity to watch them clash a couple times and neither of them has had particularly great hands. I will continue to wait for that opportunity to trap with a monster. This happens about 15 minutes into the t100 / t200 blind level. I’ve got 55 in my BB. Seat 4 makes it t500. I think for a bit, and call. The door card on the flop is a 5….wwooohoooooo. followed by a 4 and a 3. Top set for me. I check. Seat 4 overbets the pot betting t1,600. I’ve got about t8,000 left and don’t want to chase him out, but get max value on this one. So I raise enough that I think he has to call. I make it t4,000. He asks how much more I have behind and I show him t4,000. He re-raises to put me all in. I insta call. And he flips over A4. With a 9 on the turn he’s drawing dead to a deuce…and misses on the river. Cha ching!!!!!!! Double up. I’ve got about t18,000 now and well above average chip stack.
Now I start to steal a blind here and there. Not abusing it like Seat 4 and 5 had been doing. Sometimes raising in the hijack, cutoff or on the button. Sometimes limping in late middle position, with everyone folding behind me and then betting out on a board that’s checked to me with an A, K or Q on it, regardless of what I have. My image to this point had been that I was a rock. I don’t believe I’d lost a showdown yet. I took another chunk out of Seat 4’s stack when he raised my BB when I had AA. I re-raised. He called. I bet out on the flop. He called again. When I bet on the turn he folded and I showed my AA. Hoping that my advertising would let him know that when I play back at you…I’ve got it. That put a stop to his indiscriminate blind stealing as I was now the big stack at the table.
Then the worst thing that could possibly happen to me, happens. Someone busts out of a neighboring table and we have to rebalance. I get moved. I had worked pretty hard to build my table image to where it was and now I’m gone. Oh well. We’re down to 21 players. 3 tables of 7 each. I’ve got about t25,000 and am well above the average stack of t16,000. Although I’m certainly not the biggest stack at my new table. I am now in Seat 5. Bigger stacks then I are in Seat 3, Seat 7, Seat 8 and Seat 9. Some of these players I know form playing with in the past. Seat 3 is a good, aggressive player with a lot of gamble in him. Seat 8 I had played with many times at AHL venues around town. Good, solid player. Biggest stack at the table. Seat 7 was an older gentleman I had not seen before, and Seat 9 was an older woman I had not seen before.
As luck would have it I go card dead again at the new table. This allows me to fold a lot and watch the table. What I find out in the next 15 minutes is that Seat 7 has a whole lot of gamble in him. He calls a players all in of an additional t4,000 with 4c7c. Pot odds certainly didn’t dictate a call here. But he hits a 7 and wins the hand as AK is no good. Seat open Table 15. Seat 3 (who’s play I respect) gets damaged by Seat 9, who I now have a pretty good read on (and I’ll use it to great advantage a couple of times later on). I have Ks Js in my BB and Seat 3 makes a standard raise. Flop comes J 6 4. I check he bets it, I call, and player in Seat 7 calls. K on the turn. I check my 2 pair. Seat 3 bets it again. I Raise it 3 times his bet. Seat 7 folds. Seat 3 calls me. Blank on the river. I bet. Seat 3 folds. He missed his flush draw. I’ve watched Seat 9 (the older woman) raise in early position with any 2 Broadway cards. KT – Raise. KJ – Raise. QT – Raise. She lost a big hand and then pushed all in UTG with KT, hitting 2 tens and quadrupling up. She wasn’t tricky. If she raised, she would throw out a continuation bet. If she missed the flop it was the same bet as her PF bet. If she hit it, it was a little less than pot sized. I’m in the BB with 22. She raises, everyone else folds. I call. Flop comes 3 8 7. She throws out a bet the same size as her preflop bet. I call. 3 on the turn. She throws out the same bet. I raise her 2 and a half times her bet. She folds.
Seat 3 busts out. Seat 7 busts out. Seat 2 busts out. We are on the bubble for final table. 10 players left when the following hand happens. Seat 8 who was chip leader when I sat down at the table raises PF, Seat 1 calls. Flop comes 2 5 9. Seat 8 pushes. Seat 1 thinks for a bit and tells him, “I think I have you. I put you on AK, AQ, AJ…something like that. And he calls with 77. Seat 8 says nice call as he turns over A5. For a pair of 5’s. Blank on the turn. Miracle 5 on the river. Seat 1 had him covered by a bit, but someone busts out at the other table and we are at the Final Table.
At final table now. We ask how much if we chop it 9 ways. It’s $1,400 each if we chop it evenly. This was right about what 4th place would get. 8 of the 9 players said they’d chop. One gentleman wanted to play it out. Grrrrrr. We did manage to convince him that we should take $1,600 out of the prize pool and pay 6th through 9th $400 each. So we play on.
Final table. Seat 1 is good young player who had lost the previous hand with his 77. He’s short stacked. Seat 2 older woman, who I have a good read on and is 2nd largest stack. Seat 3 is the player who just beat the 77’s. He is now biggest stack again. Seat 4 is the 2nd shortest stack. Seat 5 another relatively short stack. Seat 6 another good AHL player who is relatively short stacked. Seat 7 is the older gentleman who did not want to chop (I hope we bust him out early). He’s got a healthy stack. Seat 8 is an average stacked, good player. Seat 9 is me with about an average stack of t35,000.
I tighten up and hope the short stacks bust out. We lose the 2 shortest stacks pretty quickly. 7 left I’ve still got my t35,000 and am about the 4th biggest stack at the table. Then the biggest hand of the tournament for me occurs. Blinds are 2,000 – 4,000 and I’ve got Ad 4d in the BB. Seat 2 (older woman I have a read on) raises to 11,000 preflop. Everyone folds to me and I call. Flop comes 4 Q 7 rainbow. I check. She checks. Hmmmmm. She always c-bets. She’s afraid I hit the Q. I decide I’m calling this hand down with bottom pair, unless a K, J or T appears on the board. Turn is a blank. She fires t15,000 at it. At this point Merlotgirl who had gone to play 1 /2 No Limit and won her tournament Buy-In back, had cashed in and sat at a 4/8 limit table. She looked over at the Final Table, with me sitting there pondering my move, as I am taking my time and rethinking things. (She later told me …”you had that …I just don’t believe you…it just doesn’t make sense…I’ve got you beat look”.) She came over to watch the hand play out. This is roughly half my remaining stack. I decide it’s more likely that she has AJ, AT, KJ, KT than anything else. I’m almost certain bottom pair is ahead right now. River comes another blank. And she fires another T15,000 at it. I have t16,000 left and call her extremely light with bottom pair. She announces K high and turns over KJ. I show my A4 with bottom pair. Merlotgirl couldn’t believe I called her down as light as I did, and went to cash out at the 4/8 table knowing I was playing my A game.
Now I’m very healthy. Probably the 2nd largest stack with t86,000. 6th place busts out shortly after that hand, so we’re all in the money. Payout looks something like this (give or take a few $$$ on 3rd – 5th):
1st $4,540
2nd $2,640
3rd $1,700
4th $1,200
5th $ 900
Now would be a great time to go on a rush…and I do. A new dealer sits in the box, Kiki, and proceeds to tell me she had just been dealing to my wife, and had been pretty good to her. She told Merlotgirl she’d be nice to me too. And she was. I win the first three hands she deals as I have Q9 in my BB and see a flop of 9 9 J. Big stack bets. I Call. T on the Turn. He bets…I raise 3 times his bet. He calls. Blank on the river. I bet…he folds his Top pair, with a flush draw. Then I turn 2 pair with 84 in my SB. Followed by winning with a standard raise PF with AA. After the second hand I announce “I’m on a rush” Dealer says “rushing here”. After the AA hand I say…”still on a rush” Dealer says…”still rushing here”. T-5 offsuit on the next hand allows me to announce "rush over". Which the dealer also announces.
After our earlier discussion of chopping at final table when the older gent didn’t want to, there was no talk of chopping. I would have been fine chopping it at any point. Although I did want justice to be served and have the guy who didn’t want to chop, get less than the amount he would have gotten had we chopped. And he did. He busted out in 4th and got $200 less than if we had chopped. Big stack had taken out the 4th and 5th place finishers and now had a huge stack. He took out the player to my right to bring it to heads up. He had me in chips roughly 4 to 1. We asked what the prizes were and he offered a chop of $4,200 for him and $3,000 for me, which was generous looking at the stacks. At that point I just figured for the sake of $400 more lets just play it out to the end. Heads up play lasted about 10 or 12 hands and he got rid of me pretty quickly as I went card dead again. He played a great game, and after 6 hours of play I was happy to cash in for $2,640 in my best tournament result ever, I leave a $240 tip for the dealers.
It was particularly gratifying after coming back from my terribly misplayed JJ hand very early on, to play as well as I’ve ever played.. I felt like I played pretty solid poker after that. The Deep Stack format allows you to make a mistake or two along the way, and still be able to recover. It is such a different pace from AHL games that must be finished in 3 hours that you really need to consciously make an adjustment, and become much more patient. After 6 + hours of play we were only at t3,000 – 6,000 blinds. It’s a great experience and we’ll be sure to play again.
If memory serves me AHL Players took 1st, snd and 5th in this tournament. A pretty good advertisement for the league.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Choctaw Tournament Weekend
Bounty Tournament
Good friends of ours, Counting Girl and One Outer (Buck Nekkid) have been playing in Choctaw Casinos TGIF Bounty Tournament on Friday nights, and doing quite well. We went up last week, and while we didn't fare too well, Counting Girl was in a 3 way chop and took home $710. We had a great time and decided to give it another try this past Friday.
We got there around 5 o'clock and sat down in a 1/2 No LImit game. You get additional chips for playing cash games before the tournament. 3 hours = 600, 2 hours = 300 and 1 hour = 100. Since we were playing 2 hours before the tournament we got the 300 chip bonus. I was a card rack in the cash game. The table was extremely passive. I doubled up early through a player who I would continue to beat up in every pot we were in together. I flopped 4 to the nut flush in clubs, and bet $10. He called. On the turn I hit the flush, he checked, I bet $20. He made it $40....I called. On the river he bet $20...I pushed all in for $62...he called and his K high flush paid me off. Later on he raised preflop with AK...against my QQ. Flop came blanks...he checked...I bet $10. He called. Blank on the turn...I bet $20 and he folded. Later still in late position I found 2c4c and decided to see if this baby suited connector would hit. Limped in on the button. Flop is 2 4 K. I bet $5. A couple of callers. Flush draw is out there. 2 on the turn. I bet $15...he calls. Blank that completes the flush draw on the river. I bet $20 and he calls with a flush, and pays off my boat. He was second best hand to me for 2 hours. This was nice. I won my buy-in to the tournament and then some.
I sit down with my t2,800 and hope to not get involved in any hands early until I see how the table is. 71 runners, it pays top 7. Shuffle up and deal. Unfortunately I get KQ suited the second hand and on a flop of AK4 end up losing a couple hundred when I call down a player min betting A6. I raise preflop with JJ. C bet the Q high flop and get raised...fold my hand. Not the start I had holped for.
After the first 3 20 minute levels we take a break and I've got t2,100. We come back from break and it's 100/200. I limp into a hand on the button with KJ. Flop comes AK7. BB Short stack goes all in for 600. I figure he's pushing if he hit any part of that board. It folds to me and I call. He shows AJ...and I'm drawing to 2 outs. K on the turn. I suck out and get his bounty. (For every player you knock out you get a card, that you cash in when you bust out. Each one is worth $20).A little later I'm on the button with 3 limpers, and I've got AQ. I push with t2,200. It folds to the big stack who calls me with 33. Door card is an ace, and I double up. Now I'm a bit below average stack at the table. A while later I double up the player who doubled me up when I call his all in. I've got TT to his 77. He rivers a str8. I steal a few blinds...lose a few blinds.
We get back from the second break. Down to 3 tables. Blinds are t500 - 1,000. I'm BB. One limper to the player I doubled up. He's on the button and raises to 4,000. I look down at KK, and push all in over the top for a total of 9,000. Everyone folds. Now I've got t14,500 and in good shape at my table.About this time I win 3 BB in a row. I had terrible hands, but no one raised and I hit the flop hard. Flopped a wheel with 23o. Flopped 2 pair with 74. And flopped top pair with Q6. These hands kept me at average stack or a bit above.Short stacks are busting out.
2 tables now. In position I'm stealing blinds. Folding otherwise. I'm not getting involved in any hands.
Somehow I manage to steal and fold my way to the final table.9 players. I'm about the 5th biggest stack. I continue the same game plan. Fold to me in late position I push...otherwise I'm not involved. It's folded to me in the hijack seat and I think about pushing with Ac6c...but I reconsider and think I'll have a better chance later. Good thing. Guy to my left raises, 2 short stacks go all in for less. Big stack to my left has AK, first caller has AJ...other caller has AT. K on the flop. 2 knocked out. In the money.That worked out quite well.
Several hands later the 2 stacks shorter than me mix it up. AQ vs. QQ. Ace on the flop. QQ is gone. Now I'm the short stack with about t16,000. Second shortest stack busts out next hand. And we're down to 5. I'm BB for 4,000. it folds to SB who raises to 10,000. I look at AJo and push all in. He has to call and tables AT. He says "damn...you have me by a notch." I double up and now there isn't really a short stack.
In talking to the player to my left he tells me he has 12 bounty cards. Player across form me has 11. I have 1. How the heck did I get here with 1. So I say..."I'd like to thank you guys for knocking everyone out...apparently I haven't been holding up my end of the bargain." Since the chip leader had about 50,000...I had 32,000 and everyone else had between 25,000 and 40,000, it seemed like now was a good time to chop. Any hand could change things dramatically.
We asked the TD how much it would be to chop...he said $895. The big stack said lets chop. The player with the second biggest stack (who was a card rack for the final two tables getting AA 3 times) had no idea what we were talking about...so we explained it to him. The winner and second place also got entries into the monthly freeroll, so that was still at stake. When 2 of the players said they already had their entries, I suggested the 3 remaining players just high card for it. We agreed. First player pulled a J, next player pulled a 4, and I pulled a 10. $895...plus bounties...mine plus the player I took out for $40 and entry to the October Freeroll. Tipped the dealers $40. Not a bad night at all. So we call it a night and head for home.
On the ride home we talk about our plans for Saturday. We were supposed to go to a wine festival in Grapevine, but rationalized that with the weather from Ike hitting us, it would be a quagmire. That and the fact that Choctaw's monthly deep stack tournament was Saturdcay at 11 am, kind of led us to the decision to try and parlay the bounty tournament chop into a much bigger win. After all we would be basically in the $300 + $30 on a freeroll.
So we get a good nights sleep and then off too Choctaw in the morning.
Deep Stack Tournament
What a great tournament the Deep Stack Tournament is at Choctaw. $300 + $30. Starting Stack of t8,000. 30 minute blinds. 41 players. And the following blind structure:
25/25
25/50
50/100
75/150
100/200
150/300
200/400
300/600
400/800
500/1000etc.
This was by far the best live tournament structure I had ever played in. Add in that each table had an automatic shuffler, and you were going to get a lot of play for your buy-in.
I'm totally card dead. Early on I get JJ. Raise PF. 2 callers. Flop of 9 5 4. BB donk bets 200...I should have raised, but just call...letting the player with position on me call. K on the turn. BB checks. I check. LP player bets 1,000. BB dumps her hand. I have to dump mine. As things would play out, I'm not sure if that was a good fold or not. LP player was running the table over early, not showing down any hands. Reraising, after a bet and a raise, and getting folded to. He gets caught a couple times on bluffs. Gets somewhat short stacked and ends up going all in with Q6 on a board of AKQT2 with 4 clubs. Third pair. No kicker, on a str8 and flush board with 2 overcards. Oh well.
I manage to hang in till about 2:30 which was 3 and a half hours into the tournament. At that point I had AK on the button. Player who had been very erratic, and overraising with less than premium hands (he was short stack...then big stack...back and forth all day)raised to 2,000. I went all in for 4,700. UTG limper (who was one of the big stacks at the table) Called. Raiser then went all in for 700 more and UTG called him. Raiser had TT. UTG had Kc9C (which had everyone a the table scratching their heads). I caught a K on the river, but it was no match for the T on the flop and another on the turn for Quad T's. To the rail in 24th place.
Merlotgirl had doubled up 2 hands in a row. She got away from her AA hand when she checked behind on a str8 board on the river. Her read was right that he had a 6 for the str8. Well played. Lost the minimum.
Her table was wild. Early on in the 25/25 blind level a dealer from Winstar doubled up when his flopped set beat another players flopped set. Set over set is so sick. Another player at her table doubled up early as well. First 2 players out of the thournament were off her table. Now the clash of the big stacks. Not sure about the early details of the hand other than it was raised preflop. Winstar dealer flops top set...older player bets...gets raised...and pushes all in. Winstar dealer asks him " are you worried if I tell you I flopped top set?" I could hear this at the neighboring table. Older player had flopped AsKs and their were 2 spades on the flop. No spade was to follow. We have a chip leader. At the first break (after 2 hours) he had t35,000 and an enormous mountain of chips.
Merlotgirl played great. Got to the final 2 tables. She got coolered when she pushed all in with JJ in late position, to see the short stack UTG limper call and turn over AA. Nice hand sir. That didn't knock her out but crippled her. With 7s8s in her small blind she completed the bet. Flop came 7Qx, she pushed and got called by the BB who had a Q. Busted in 15th.
We later found out that they chopped when it got to 7 players. They gave the 2 chip leaders $2,000 and the other 5 players got $1,895. One of the players we play with all the time was in on the chop.
It was a great weekend. We learned that Choctaw throws great tournaments. I think it's pretty rare you see a casino tournament where you only pay 10% in juice. That's online type juice. We learned that we're good enough players to play in that level of tournament. And we plan on playing in them in the future.
Good friends of ours, Counting Girl and One Outer (Buck Nekkid) have been playing in Choctaw Casinos TGIF Bounty Tournament on Friday nights, and doing quite well. We went up last week, and while we didn't fare too well, Counting Girl was in a 3 way chop and took home $710. We had a great time and decided to give it another try this past Friday.
We got there around 5 o'clock and sat down in a 1/2 No LImit game. You get additional chips for playing cash games before the tournament. 3 hours = 600, 2 hours = 300 and 1 hour = 100. Since we were playing 2 hours before the tournament we got the 300 chip bonus. I was a card rack in the cash game. The table was extremely passive. I doubled up early through a player who I would continue to beat up in every pot we were in together. I flopped 4 to the nut flush in clubs, and bet $10. He called. On the turn I hit the flush, he checked, I bet $20. He made it $40....I called. On the river he bet $20...I pushed all in for $62...he called and his K high flush paid me off. Later on he raised preflop with AK...against my QQ. Flop came blanks...he checked...I bet $10. He called. Blank on the turn...I bet $20 and he folded. Later still in late position I found 2c4c and decided to see if this baby suited connector would hit. Limped in on the button. Flop is 2 4 K. I bet $5. A couple of callers. Flush draw is out there. 2 on the turn. I bet $15...he calls. Blank that completes the flush draw on the river. I bet $20 and he calls with a flush, and pays off my boat. He was second best hand to me for 2 hours. This was nice. I won my buy-in to the tournament and then some.
I sit down with my t2,800 and hope to not get involved in any hands early until I see how the table is. 71 runners, it pays top 7. Shuffle up and deal. Unfortunately I get KQ suited the second hand and on a flop of AK4 end up losing a couple hundred when I call down a player min betting A6. I raise preflop with JJ. C bet the Q high flop and get raised...fold my hand. Not the start I had holped for.
After the first 3 20 minute levels we take a break and I've got t2,100. We come back from break and it's 100/200. I limp into a hand on the button with KJ. Flop comes AK7. BB Short stack goes all in for 600. I figure he's pushing if he hit any part of that board. It folds to me and I call. He shows AJ...and I'm drawing to 2 outs. K on the turn. I suck out and get his bounty. (For every player you knock out you get a card, that you cash in when you bust out. Each one is worth $20).A little later I'm on the button with 3 limpers, and I've got AQ. I push with t2,200. It folds to the big stack who calls me with 33. Door card is an ace, and I double up. Now I'm a bit below average stack at the table. A while later I double up the player who doubled me up when I call his all in. I've got TT to his 77. He rivers a str8. I steal a few blinds...lose a few blinds.
We get back from the second break. Down to 3 tables. Blinds are t500 - 1,000. I'm BB. One limper to the player I doubled up. He's on the button and raises to 4,000. I look down at KK, and push all in over the top for a total of 9,000. Everyone folds. Now I've got t14,500 and in good shape at my table.About this time I win 3 BB in a row. I had terrible hands, but no one raised and I hit the flop hard. Flopped a wheel with 23o. Flopped 2 pair with 74. And flopped top pair with Q6. These hands kept me at average stack or a bit above.Short stacks are busting out.
2 tables now. In position I'm stealing blinds. Folding otherwise. I'm not getting involved in any hands.
Somehow I manage to steal and fold my way to the final table.9 players. I'm about the 5th biggest stack. I continue the same game plan. Fold to me in late position I push...otherwise I'm not involved. It's folded to me in the hijack seat and I think about pushing with Ac6c...but I reconsider and think I'll have a better chance later. Good thing. Guy to my left raises, 2 short stacks go all in for less. Big stack to my left has AK, first caller has AJ...other caller has AT. K on the flop. 2 knocked out. In the money.That worked out quite well.
Several hands later the 2 stacks shorter than me mix it up. AQ vs. QQ. Ace on the flop. QQ is gone. Now I'm the short stack with about t16,000. Second shortest stack busts out next hand. And we're down to 5. I'm BB for 4,000. it folds to SB who raises to 10,000. I look at AJo and push all in. He has to call and tables AT. He says "damn...you have me by a notch." I double up and now there isn't really a short stack.
In talking to the player to my left he tells me he has 12 bounty cards. Player across form me has 11. I have 1. How the heck did I get here with 1. So I say..."I'd like to thank you guys for knocking everyone out...apparently I haven't been holding up my end of the bargain." Since the chip leader had about 50,000...I had 32,000 and everyone else had between 25,000 and 40,000, it seemed like now was a good time to chop. Any hand could change things dramatically.
We asked the TD how much it would be to chop...he said $895. The big stack said lets chop. The player with the second biggest stack (who was a card rack for the final two tables getting AA 3 times) had no idea what we were talking about...so we explained it to him. The winner and second place also got entries into the monthly freeroll, so that was still at stake. When 2 of the players said they already had their entries, I suggested the 3 remaining players just high card for it. We agreed. First player pulled a J, next player pulled a 4, and I pulled a 10. $895...plus bounties...mine plus the player I took out for $40 and entry to the October Freeroll. Tipped the dealers $40. Not a bad night at all. So we call it a night and head for home.
On the ride home we talk about our plans for Saturday. We were supposed to go to a wine festival in Grapevine, but rationalized that with the weather from Ike hitting us, it would be a quagmire. That and the fact that Choctaw's monthly deep stack tournament was Saturdcay at 11 am, kind of led us to the decision to try and parlay the bounty tournament chop into a much bigger win. After all we would be basically in the $300 + $30 on a freeroll.
So we get a good nights sleep and then off too Choctaw in the morning.
Deep Stack Tournament
What a great tournament the Deep Stack Tournament is at Choctaw. $300 + $30. Starting Stack of t8,000. 30 minute blinds. 41 players. And the following blind structure:
25/25
25/50
50/100
75/150
100/200
150/300
200/400
300/600
400/800
500/1000etc.
This was by far the best live tournament structure I had ever played in. Add in that each table had an automatic shuffler, and you were going to get a lot of play for your buy-in.
I'm totally card dead. Early on I get JJ. Raise PF. 2 callers. Flop of 9 5 4. BB donk bets 200...I should have raised, but just call...letting the player with position on me call. K on the turn. BB checks. I check. LP player bets 1,000. BB dumps her hand. I have to dump mine. As things would play out, I'm not sure if that was a good fold or not. LP player was running the table over early, not showing down any hands. Reraising, after a bet and a raise, and getting folded to. He gets caught a couple times on bluffs. Gets somewhat short stacked and ends up going all in with Q6 on a board of AKQT2 with 4 clubs. Third pair. No kicker, on a str8 and flush board with 2 overcards. Oh well.
I manage to hang in till about 2:30 which was 3 and a half hours into the tournament. At that point I had AK on the button. Player who had been very erratic, and overraising with less than premium hands (he was short stack...then big stack...back and forth all day)raised to 2,000. I went all in for 4,700. UTG limper (who was one of the big stacks at the table) Called. Raiser then went all in for 700 more and UTG called him. Raiser had TT. UTG had Kc9C (which had everyone a the table scratching their heads). I caught a K on the river, but it was no match for the T on the flop and another on the turn for Quad T's. To the rail in 24th place.
Merlotgirl had doubled up 2 hands in a row. She got away from her AA hand when she checked behind on a str8 board on the river. Her read was right that he had a 6 for the str8. Well played. Lost the minimum.
Her table was wild. Early on in the 25/25 blind level a dealer from Winstar doubled up when his flopped set beat another players flopped set. Set over set is so sick. Another player at her table doubled up early as well. First 2 players out of the thournament were off her table. Now the clash of the big stacks. Not sure about the early details of the hand other than it was raised preflop. Winstar dealer flops top set...older player bets...gets raised...and pushes all in. Winstar dealer asks him " are you worried if I tell you I flopped top set?" I could hear this at the neighboring table. Older player had flopped AsKs and their were 2 spades on the flop. No spade was to follow. We have a chip leader. At the first break (after 2 hours) he had t35,000 and an enormous mountain of chips.
Merlotgirl played great. Got to the final 2 tables. She got coolered when she pushed all in with JJ in late position, to see the short stack UTG limper call and turn over AA. Nice hand sir. That didn't knock her out but crippled her. With 7s8s in her small blind she completed the bet. Flop came 7Qx, she pushed and got called by the BB who had a Q. Busted in 15th.
We later found out that they chopped when it got to 7 players. They gave the 2 chip leaders $2,000 and the other 5 players got $1,895. One of the players we play with all the time was in on the chop.
It was a great weekend. We learned that Choctaw throws great tournaments. I think it's pretty rare you see a casino tournament where you only pay 10% in juice. That's online type juice. We learned that we're good enough players to play in that level of tournament. And we plan on playing in them in the future.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Viva Las Vegas (Part III)
Vic & Anthony’s
Wednesday, September 3rd was our anniversary. We had planned on going out to a nice dinner, and we were undecided between going to Hugo’s Cellar at the Four Queens, and Vic & Anthony’s at the Golden Nugget. Since we had been treated so well all week at the Nugget, we decided to try Vic & Anthony’s. It was not a mistake. We started with a Martini for me and a Cosmo for Merlotgirl, and they were excellent.
The ambiance was quite nice with rich, dark woods, candlelight, Black & White photos of old Vegas, and Frank Sinatra music playing in the background. It was very much what we had been hoping for. I ordered the Wedge salad, which turned out to be a half head of lettuce, and Merlotgirl had the Pear & Saga Blue Cheese Salad. Both were outstanding. We then opted for a Main Course of Filet Mignon, with a side of Au Gratin Potatoes. The steaks were unbelievable. While they gave us steak knives, you didn’t need them. I proved a point by actually cutting my filet with a fork. It was fantastic. The side order of Au Gratin Potatoes was enough to feed at least four people. It was huge, and also very good. The waiter, (Harold) who knew it was our anniversary then bought out a dessert for us that was incredible as well. It was a no flour chocolate cake. That and a couple of coffees and we had topped off a great anniversary meal.
One older couple stopped by to congratulate us as they were leaving the Restaurant. It seems they had also celebrated their anniversary that night at Vic & Anthony’s. They had a little bit of a head start on us. It was their 54th. It turns out they live only a few miles from us, and have been coming to the Golden Nugget for their anniversary for a very long time. Seems like a good plan to me.
Binion’s Tournament
That night we had planned on playing in the 11:00pm tournament at Binion’s. It was a $75 buy-in freeze out. 20 min. blinds and t5,000 stacks. So we played a bit at the Nugget and wandered over there about 10:45. I’m not sure how many players eventually started the tournament. It seems like we started at four tables, but within a couple 20 minute blind levels were down to 2 tables. Top 3 players got paid.
Merlotgirl was at a different table then me, and she got off to a fast start. She was big stack at her table until her AK flopped top 2 pair, and a young player who had been quite aggressive went all in over the top of her bluff inducing turn bet, to then draw out a flush on the river. He got pretty lucky and he knew it at that point. His game from then on out got quite a bit more passive. While that hit didn’t put Merlotgirl out, it crippled her quite a bit and she lasted a bit longer. I was muddling along at my table, folding everything and stealing blinds when the opportunity presented itself. It seemed like I would always get marginal hands (AJo, ATs, KJs, etc.) in early position, and be glad I mucked them rather than having to call a raise and play them out of position. That made my raises in position seem totally believable, I suppose. The ones I particularly remember were with 87s, 9Ts, and 55.
When we get down to 12 players I’m moved from the table I started at to the other table. I’m somewhere just below average stack at this point from what I can tell. Blinds are now t500 and t1000, and I’ve got about t9,000. For me this is push/fold time. I’ve got enough fold equity that speculative hands shouldn’t be calling my all-ins. Big stacks don’t want to get damaged, and short stacks don’t want to risk their tournament. For the last hour and a half of the tournament my decisions were very easy. Push or Fold.
Each table is 6 handed. My first hand at the new table I am UTG+1 and wake up with AQs. UTG raises to t4,000. He has me covered by about t5,000. I reraise and go all-in for my t9,000. It folds around to him He calls me with KJo. Neither of us improves. I’m now up to t19,500 and in very good position. I’m probably second biggest stack at the table, and third in the tournament now. I gave some back to my caller on the hand when blinds were 1,000 and 2,000 and I was BB. I Called his all in for another 2,000 when I had A9 and his JT hit a J on the Turn.
Shortly we’re down to the Final Table. There are a couple big stacks, a couple short stacks and me and a couple others at around t15,000. I continued to play push/fold and managed to scoop the blinds each time it was folded to me and I pushed. I only got called one time, by the BB who was short stacked. I pushed with 22, he called with K4 and neither of us improved. 22 held up.
We’re down to 6 players and the best hand of the night played out. I wasn’t a part of it, but it was a great hand and I remember it distinctly. The Big Stack is SB and blinds are 1,000 – 2,000. Player to my right, who is UTG. Min raises to 4,000. I fold. Button Folds. SB calls. BB folds. Flop comes up T 4 7 all hearts. SB checks. UTG bets 6,000 (leaving about 8,000 behind). SB snap pushes all in over the top. UTG goes in the tank. Analyzing out loud. “I think I have you beat”, “we might have the same hand”, “did you flop a set?” “or a flush?” “I think I have to call”, What if it’s the same hand?”, “will you show me if I fold?” To which the woman says, “Yes I’ll show you”. He thinks for a while longer….”I can’t believe I played this so bad”. He then folds his hand face up, KT. Top pair, good kicker…no heart. As she rakes the chips, the now huge chip leader tables her cards…a black K and a black T. Same hand.
To make matters worse for the player to my right, we now go on a 10 minute break. He’s steaming the whole time. “I should have called”, “What a terrible mistake”. At the end of the break when we were sitting there I asked him why he was leaving 8,000 behind instead of pushing all in. He said he thought that was a big enough bet to take it down right there. To which I said, but if you push all in for 14,000 you now put all the decisions and doubt on her. “Did you flop a set, or a flush?” The only mistake I see is a) playing that hand in the first place UTG, or b) not pushing and putting the tough decision on her. He busted out shortly after that. I was glad, because while he was a nice guy, I thought he was one of the better players at the table.
We went from 5 handed to 3 handed pretty quickly. One of the key hands for me was when I pushed for t15,000 with AQ and got called by the kid who crippled Merlotgirl earlier. His 66 didn’t improve, and the door card on the flop was an Ace. Now I’m the big stack. When it was final three, and we were all in the money, we moved chips around the table for a bit. A big hand for me was when I was SB and UTG folded, I pushed all in with 74o. Kid thought for a second and folded his hand face up 84o. To which I turned my hand over and showed. This seemed to change his attitude a bit. He seemed to become a little friendlier.
We started talking about chopping, but it seemed more like lets see where we are when we get down to 2 players. I was short stack at this time, but that didn’t last too long. 2 hands later, we were at final 2 players and the kid had me covered by 4,000. Pretty close. In addition to the cash payout Binion’s gives a ticket to a monthly freeroll tournament, and a t-shirt that says “I won a tournament at Binion’s” on it. We had already agreed to give the woman the t-shirt, regardless who won. When I busted her out, me and the kid decided to chop the cash prize, and since he was a local, he could have the seat to the freeroll. So we each got $410, and Merlotgirl and I went back over to the Nugget to play another session of cash.
"Bright light city gonna set my soul Gonna set my soul on fire........
Vic & Anthony’s
Wednesday, September 3rd was our anniversary. We had planned on going out to a nice dinner, and we were undecided between going to Hugo’s Cellar at the Four Queens, and Vic & Anthony’s at the Golden Nugget. Since we had been treated so well all week at the Nugget, we decided to try Vic & Anthony’s. It was not a mistake. We started with a Martini for me and a Cosmo for Merlotgirl, and they were excellent.
The ambiance was quite nice with rich, dark woods, candlelight, Black & White photos of old Vegas, and Frank Sinatra music playing in the background. It was very much what we had been hoping for. I ordered the Wedge salad, which turned out to be a half head of lettuce, and Merlotgirl had the Pear & Saga Blue Cheese Salad. Both were outstanding. We then opted for a Main Course of Filet Mignon, with a side of Au Gratin Potatoes. The steaks were unbelievable. While they gave us steak knives, you didn’t need them. I proved a point by actually cutting my filet with a fork. It was fantastic. The side order of Au Gratin Potatoes was enough to feed at least four people. It was huge, and also very good. The waiter, (Harold) who knew it was our anniversary then bought out a dessert for us that was incredible as well. It was a no flour chocolate cake. That and a couple of coffees and we had topped off a great anniversary meal.
One older couple stopped by to congratulate us as they were leaving the Restaurant. It seems they had also celebrated their anniversary that night at Vic & Anthony’s. They had a little bit of a head start on us. It was their 54th. It turns out they live only a few miles from us, and have been coming to the Golden Nugget for their anniversary for a very long time. Seems like a good plan to me.
Binion’s Tournament
That night we had planned on playing in the 11:00pm tournament at Binion’s. It was a $75 buy-in freeze out. 20 min. blinds and t5,000 stacks. So we played a bit at the Nugget and wandered over there about 10:45. I’m not sure how many players eventually started the tournament. It seems like we started at four tables, but within a couple 20 minute blind levels were down to 2 tables. Top 3 players got paid.
Merlotgirl was at a different table then me, and she got off to a fast start. She was big stack at her table until her AK flopped top 2 pair, and a young player who had been quite aggressive went all in over the top of her bluff inducing turn bet, to then draw out a flush on the river. He got pretty lucky and he knew it at that point. His game from then on out got quite a bit more passive. While that hit didn’t put Merlotgirl out, it crippled her quite a bit and she lasted a bit longer. I was muddling along at my table, folding everything and stealing blinds when the opportunity presented itself. It seemed like I would always get marginal hands (AJo, ATs, KJs, etc.) in early position, and be glad I mucked them rather than having to call a raise and play them out of position. That made my raises in position seem totally believable, I suppose. The ones I particularly remember were with 87s, 9Ts, and 55.
When we get down to 12 players I’m moved from the table I started at to the other table. I’m somewhere just below average stack at this point from what I can tell. Blinds are now t500 and t1000, and I’ve got about t9,000. For me this is push/fold time. I’ve got enough fold equity that speculative hands shouldn’t be calling my all-ins. Big stacks don’t want to get damaged, and short stacks don’t want to risk their tournament. For the last hour and a half of the tournament my decisions were very easy. Push or Fold.
Each table is 6 handed. My first hand at the new table I am UTG+1 and wake up with AQs. UTG raises to t4,000. He has me covered by about t5,000. I reraise and go all-in for my t9,000. It folds around to him He calls me with KJo. Neither of us improves. I’m now up to t19,500 and in very good position. I’m probably second biggest stack at the table, and third in the tournament now. I gave some back to my caller on the hand when blinds were 1,000 and 2,000 and I was BB. I Called his all in for another 2,000 when I had A9 and his JT hit a J on the Turn.
Shortly we’re down to the Final Table. There are a couple big stacks, a couple short stacks and me and a couple others at around t15,000. I continued to play push/fold and managed to scoop the blinds each time it was folded to me and I pushed. I only got called one time, by the BB who was short stacked. I pushed with 22, he called with K4 and neither of us improved. 22 held up.
We’re down to 6 players and the best hand of the night played out. I wasn’t a part of it, but it was a great hand and I remember it distinctly. The Big Stack is SB and blinds are 1,000 – 2,000. Player to my right, who is UTG. Min raises to 4,000. I fold. Button Folds. SB calls. BB folds. Flop comes up T 4 7 all hearts. SB checks. UTG bets 6,000 (leaving about 8,000 behind). SB snap pushes all in over the top. UTG goes in the tank. Analyzing out loud. “I think I have you beat”, “we might have the same hand”, “did you flop a set?” “or a flush?” “I think I have to call”, What if it’s the same hand?”, “will you show me if I fold?” To which the woman says, “Yes I’ll show you”. He thinks for a while longer….”I can’t believe I played this so bad”. He then folds his hand face up, KT. Top pair, good kicker…no heart. As she rakes the chips, the now huge chip leader tables her cards…a black K and a black T. Same hand.
To make matters worse for the player to my right, we now go on a 10 minute break. He’s steaming the whole time. “I should have called”, “What a terrible mistake”. At the end of the break when we were sitting there I asked him why he was leaving 8,000 behind instead of pushing all in. He said he thought that was a big enough bet to take it down right there. To which I said, but if you push all in for 14,000 you now put all the decisions and doubt on her. “Did you flop a set, or a flush?” The only mistake I see is a) playing that hand in the first place UTG, or b) not pushing and putting the tough decision on her. He busted out shortly after that. I was glad, because while he was a nice guy, I thought he was one of the better players at the table.
We went from 5 handed to 3 handed pretty quickly. One of the key hands for me was when I pushed for t15,000 with AQ and got called by the kid who crippled Merlotgirl earlier. His 66 didn’t improve, and the door card on the flop was an Ace. Now I’m the big stack. When it was final three, and we were all in the money, we moved chips around the table for a bit. A big hand for me was when I was SB and UTG folded, I pushed all in with 74o. Kid thought for a second and folded his hand face up 84o. To which I turned my hand over and showed. This seemed to change his attitude a bit. He seemed to become a little friendlier.
We started talking about chopping, but it seemed more like lets see where we are when we get down to 2 players. I was short stack at this time, but that didn’t last too long. 2 hands later, we were at final 2 players and the kid had me covered by 4,000. Pretty close. In addition to the cash payout Binion’s gives a ticket to a monthly freeroll tournament, and a t-shirt that says “I won a tournament at Binion’s” on it. We had already agreed to give the woman the t-shirt, regardless who won. When I busted her out, me and the kid decided to chop the cash prize, and since he was a local, he could have the seat to the freeroll. So we each got $410, and Merlotgirl and I went back over to the Nugget to play another session of cash.
"Bright light city gonna set my soul Gonna set my soul on fire........
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Viva Las Vegas (Part II)
Oklahoma Johnny Hale
We played in a tournament at Binion’s again. Merlotgirl was at the table next to mine. There is an older gentleman at her table who has a bit of bling on. Gold medallion on a necklace, rings and bracelet. And he’s wearing a blue windbreaker with a map of Oklahoma on the back and the name “Oklahoma Johnny Hale” next to it. I knew the name. Knew he was an old time poker pro who was a contemporary of Doyle Brunson’s. Well, it turns out that it really is Oklahoma Johnny Hale playing in a small tournament at Binion’s. Merlotgirl told me the following stories about her table. With t250 in the pot Johnny bet t1,500 at it. It folded around to the last player, who as he’s folding, asked “Why so much Johnny?” To which Mr. Hale responded…”Why send a boy to do a man’s work?” (I filed that line away for use at a later time). When he busted out later he said “Don’t worry about me, I have plenty of money at home.”
Now, while my wife and I had both heard of Oklahoma Johnny Hale, we didn’t really know anything about him. So when we got home we did a little research and found out the following:
He was responsible for the Seniors event being included in the WSOP starting in 2001.
He was voted the Best All Around Poker player at the 11th WSOP in 1980. As a point of reference Chip Reese was voted Best All Around in 1981.
He regularly sponsors tournaments at the Cherokee Casino in Tulsa.
He was the host of the Senior Event at this years WSOP.
He’s a frequent writer in Poker Player Newspaper.
He assisted in founding the WSOP.
He was the Founder of the Senior World Poker Championship.
As my wife will attest it was a distinct pleasure to play with one of the greats of the game. A man who was a true gentleman, and was truly an ambassador for the game.
(To Be Continued)
Oklahoma Johnny Hale
We played in a tournament at Binion’s again. Merlotgirl was at the table next to mine. There is an older gentleman at her table who has a bit of bling on. Gold medallion on a necklace, rings and bracelet. And he’s wearing a blue windbreaker with a map of Oklahoma on the back and the name “Oklahoma Johnny Hale” next to it. I knew the name. Knew he was an old time poker pro who was a contemporary of Doyle Brunson’s. Well, it turns out that it really is Oklahoma Johnny Hale playing in a small tournament at Binion’s. Merlotgirl told me the following stories about her table. With t250 in the pot Johnny bet t1,500 at it. It folded around to the last player, who as he’s folding, asked “Why so much Johnny?” To which Mr. Hale responded…”Why send a boy to do a man’s work?” (I filed that line away for use at a later time). When he busted out later he said “Don’t worry about me, I have plenty of money at home.”
Now, while my wife and I had both heard of Oklahoma Johnny Hale, we didn’t really know anything about him. So when we got home we did a little research and found out the following:
He was responsible for the Seniors event being included in the WSOP starting in 2001.
He was voted the Best All Around Poker player at the 11th WSOP in 1980. As a point of reference Chip Reese was voted Best All Around in 1981.
He regularly sponsors tournaments at the Cherokee Casino in Tulsa.
He was the host of the Senior Event at this years WSOP.
He’s a frequent writer in Poker Player Newspaper.
He assisted in founding the WSOP.
He was the Founder of the Senior World Poker Championship.
As my wife will attest it was a distinct pleasure to play with one of the greats of the game. A man who was a true gentleman, and was truly an ambassador for the game.
(To Be Continued)
Monday, September 8, 2008
Viva Las Vegas (Part 1)
Viva Las Vegas
Merlotgirl and I have returned from our Annual (at least) pilgrimage to Las Vegas. We were married there last Labor Day and plan on going back for our anniversary every year. This post will be quite long, and possibly broken up into several parts (we’ll see how much I can get done at a sitting). Hopefully it won’t bore the 2 or 3 people who read these things. If it does…oh well…sorry you wasted your time.
I’ll try and make it interesting, but I will be leaving out the XXX stuff. Nuff said.
FIRST CLASS
Our itinerary was as follows:
• Depart DFW at 7:30 AM on Sunday August 31st
• Check into the Golden Nugget
• Depart McCarron Airport at 1:30 PM Thursday, September 4th
That’s it. No other plans.
The trip got off to a rousing start when my lovely wife discovered that for the paltry sum of $100 each, we could upgrade to First Class for the flight to Vegas. Since I had just finished a project where I worked 91 hours in a 7 day period, the luxury of First Class was well worth it. We sat down, ordered a cocktail, loaded “The Grand” into the laptop and had a wonderful flight on US Airways.
For those who don’t already know, “The Grand” is a poker movie which went directly to DVD. I won’t say it’s good. But it is pretty hilarious. Phil Laak, Antonio Esfandiari, Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negraneau, Phil Hellmuth and others have cameo appearances. Woody Harrelson (as a self destructive gambler playing to save his casino), Dennis Farina , Cheryl Hines (as an Annie Duke type), David Cross (as the trash talking brother of Cheryl Hines), Richard Kind (as the Amateur Internet player) and Chris Parnell (as the math wizard), Gabe Kaplan (as the father of Cheryl Hines and David Cross) make this entourage poker comedy quite enjoyable. Phil Gordon and his sidekick are the analysts for “The Grand Poker Championship” of the National Indoor Poker League. It is interesting to note that each actor was given direction concerning their character, and then left to improvise each scene. Supposedly the poker matches were played by the actors as it was being filmed. The ending was determined by how the game turned out on the set. If you’re looking for a great poker movie, watch Rounders. If you’re looking for a poker related laugh…I can recommend this movie.
$20 Trick
We arrive at McCarron and take a cab to the Nugget, where we check our bags with the bellman and head off to the Champagne Brunch. We sat overlooking the Nuggets newly renovated pool (with the Shark Tank in the middle of it) and had a fantastic Brunch while sipping Poinsettias. We’re off to a great start.
When we finish with Brunch it’s still prior to check in time, but we go to the Registration Desk anyway. I slip a $20 between my Drivers License and Credit Card, and ask if there are any Complimentary Upgrades available for us. Lo and behold Derek was able to find a newly renovated North Tower room for us. This room is normally $60 / night more than what we paid…so the $20 was well worth it. The $20 trick works again!!!
We arrive at the room and find a very nice, smoke free room with a new big screen plasma TV. Very nice. Unpack and off to the poker room.
The Golden Nuggets Poker Room is not very big. Only 10 tables…but it is very nicely appointed and very comfortable. They were spreading 1-2 No Limit and 3-6 Limit with a Full Kill. We sat at the 3-6 table and played for a few hours until we decided to take a walk around downtown. This session was the beginning of a great week of poker for me. I played 2 – 3 (4 hours or longer) sessions of poker each day, and left each session with more chips then I started.
We later had dinner at The Grotto, and informal Italian Restaurant at the Nugget. It was excellent. Back to the Poker Room where I have another small winning session. Off to bed early the first night.
Labor Day Poker Tournaments
We had planned on playing in Binions 10AM Poker Tournament. When we were in Vegas last year we really liked the feel of Binions and The Golden Nugget. You could feel the essence of pre-strip Vegas, and we liked that vibe. So we were definitely going to play some at Binions. We both entered the 10AM tournament and my better half did much better than I did. I bust out when my 5h6h that flopped an Open Ended Str8 Flush draw failed to improve. I busted out early enough to go buy in the Nugget 11Am Tournament. The Nugget has 4 tournaments daily…all with the same structure. $65 buy in, with one $40 rebuy/add-on. In essence it’s a $105 buy in tournament. You start with t 2,500 and the buy-in or add-on gets you an additional t 3,000. You can rebuy/add on anytime in the first hour (3 (20) minute blind levels). The juice at $13 is pretty steep though. We played them because we really liked the room. I didn’t fare well in this tournament either.
After Merlotgirl busted out we checked on our good friends Ms. America and Bruce who were also celebrating their anniversary in Vegas. We got married the same day as them, only 24 years later. We met them over at the LV Hilton and played some Pai Gow Poker. We came very close to hitting it pretty big there. For those of you who don’t know Pai Gow Poker it’s a pretty simple game and more often then not results in a push with the dealer. You place your bet, and you can place an additional bet for Pairs Plus. In our case it was $5 on the hand, we didn’t play the Pairs Plus. You receive 7 cards and make 2 poker hands. A 5 card hand (which must be better than your 2 card hand) and a 2 card hand. For instance, if you had the following cards As Ah 2d 2s 6d 6c Qd, you would put your 2 2 6 6 Q as your 5 card hand, and your AA as the 2 card hand. You then wait to see the dealers hand. You will obviously win the 2 card hand, and if you win the 5 card hand as well you win your bet minus a small commission. If you lose the 5 card hand, you push that round and keep your bet, just like a push in black jack. Well after we’re playing a while someone else sits down at our table and is playing the Pairs Plus bet. So Merlotgirl decides to try it one time. On that bet you can bet anywhere from $1 on up. If you bet at least $5 on it, you get the “Envy” button, which means if any other player gets a big hand, you also get paid (although not as much). As soon as she places the bet, the gentleman who just joined us looks at his hand and starts babbling that he thinks he has a Royal Flush…He lays his hand down for us to see (which is legal…as a matter of fact the Dealer will help you play your hand if you ask them) and sure enough he has a Royal Flush…not only that but he has a 6 card Str8 Flush. His Royal paid him $750 and earned Merlotgirl $50. If he had somehow managed to also have the 8 of spades, he would have had a 7 card str8 flush which would have paid him $25,000 for his $5 bet, and would have netted my wife $5,000. Close….very very close.
After visiting with our friends a bit we headed back to the Nugget. We watched a movie in our room, and had a bite to eat. Relaxed for a while.
Poker and Politics
After resting for a while we find ourselves back in the Poker Room. Me sitting at a 1-2 NL table, and Merlotgirl at a 3-6 with a kill table right next to mine. I’m folding for an orbit or two…watching and listening. As it turns out my table is turning into quite a collection of characters. The 1 seat is empty. I’m in the 2 seat. In the 3 seat is a player who I played the tournament with earlier that day. He rode a lucky streak which included his preflop all in with 33 beating my TT, when he flopped a set, into the money at the 11 am tournament earlier in the day. In the 4 seat is a gentleman who looked like the Professor from Gilligans Island. 5 seat was several players throughout the night. 6 seat was a gent with a tank top on, crew cut, and I would have to say very opinionated on a variety of topics. A little rough around the edges. 7 seat several players off and on. 8 Seat an older gentleman(when I say older…I’m talking like 80) who apparently had a lot of money to throw around. Seat 9 a Willie Nelson look alike. Cowboy hat…rugged looking, about 70 years old. He was there to gamble…and apparently it didn’t matter how many times he bought in either. I can’t even tell you who was in the 10 seat. The major players in tonights events were 33 (Seat 3), the Professor (seat 4), Crew Cut (Seat 6), Ocho (80 year old in Seat 7), Willie (Seat 8 ) and yours truly.
Talk turns to politics (never a good thing at a poker table) as I’m quietly observing Crew Cut, Ocho and Willie express their displeasure with the Democrats, and expound the virtues of the Republican Party. As I’m enjoying the show at my table for ten minutes or so , I see The Professor getting a little uneasy. Finally, he’s had enough. He speaks up, in a rather loud tone “If I’m going to have to listen to this, then I’m going to have to give my opinion as well….” And he goes off on a defense of the Democrats and making accusations and imflammatory remarks about the Republicans. This sure makes folding easy when there’s a floor show. This continues for several hands…with voices on both sides getting raised. Finally, 33 who I think is trying to be funny stands up and says…”why don’t you 2 dance?” (Meaning The Prof and Willie). Well Willie, who is a Purple Heart Viet Nam war veteran has no problem with this idea…and take it to mean go outside and have at it. Well, this isn’t quite what The Professor was thinking. He being a Viet Nam War conscientious objector and all. It was really getting heated now. I hear the following conversation at my wifes table. Black woman “Is that your husband on that table?” Merlotgirl – “Yes.” Black Woman – “Is he the one wanting them to take it outside?” Merlotgirl – “ I can guarantee you it isn’t him. I’m sure he’s sitting there enjoying the show, just waiting for someone to make a mistake and take their chips.” To which I lean over and smile at both of them. Tee hee.
Needless to say the floor was called over, and reminded everyone that it’s not a good idea to talk politics at a poker table. Everyone agreed. Of course it didn’t stop the comments…but everyone agreed. And oh yeah, I love it when a plan comes together. 2 hands after a visit from the floor. The following happened. I wake up with 77 in the Big blind. It gets raised to $7 and I call, along with 5 others. Flop comes up 5 7 9 rainbow, with the 7 being the door card. $$$ flashing before my eyes. I check…and quite unexpectedly…it checks around. Fooey. 9 on the turn. Cha ching…boat. I’ll give it 1 more shot at checking. 33 bets $30…woo hoo. It folds around to me. I raise to $80. He gets this disgusted look…checks my stack which ahs only another $60 behind and he pushes all in. I insta call. He says…shit…do you have a boat. I nod my head as I table my 77’s. He flopped a str8 and is drawing dead. Ship it!!!!!!!
Next Installment will include playing a tournament with Oklahoma Johnny Hale (The Gentleman Gambler and winner of the Best All Around Poker Player at the WSOP in 1980 when they voted on it), winning a tournament at Binions, "whoaaaaa", more cash games and controversy at the Nugget
Merlotgirl and I have returned from our Annual (at least) pilgrimage to Las Vegas. We were married there last Labor Day and plan on going back for our anniversary every year. This post will be quite long, and possibly broken up into several parts (we’ll see how much I can get done at a sitting). Hopefully it won’t bore the 2 or 3 people who read these things. If it does…oh well…sorry you wasted your time.
I’ll try and make it interesting, but I will be leaving out the XXX stuff. Nuff said.
FIRST CLASS
Our itinerary was as follows:
• Depart DFW at 7:30 AM on Sunday August 31st
• Check into the Golden Nugget
• Depart McCarron Airport at 1:30 PM Thursday, September 4th
That’s it. No other plans.
The trip got off to a rousing start when my lovely wife discovered that for the paltry sum of $100 each, we could upgrade to First Class for the flight to Vegas. Since I had just finished a project where I worked 91 hours in a 7 day period, the luxury of First Class was well worth it. We sat down, ordered a cocktail, loaded “The Grand” into the laptop and had a wonderful flight on US Airways.
For those who don’t already know, “The Grand” is a poker movie which went directly to DVD. I won’t say it’s good. But it is pretty hilarious. Phil Laak, Antonio Esfandiari, Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negraneau, Phil Hellmuth and others have cameo appearances. Woody Harrelson (as a self destructive gambler playing to save his casino), Dennis Farina , Cheryl Hines (as an Annie Duke type), David Cross (as the trash talking brother of Cheryl Hines), Richard Kind (as the Amateur Internet player) and Chris Parnell (as the math wizard), Gabe Kaplan (as the father of Cheryl Hines and David Cross) make this entourage poker comedy quite enjoyable. Phil Gordon and his sidekick are the analysts for “The Grand Poker Championship” of the National Indoor Poker League. It is interesting to note that each actor was given direction concerning their character, and then left to improvise each scene. Supposedly the poker matches were played by the actors as it was being filmed. The ending was determined by how the game turned out on the set. If you’re looking for a great poker movie, watch Rounders. If you’re looking for a poker related laugh…I can recommend this movie.
$20 Trick
We arrive at McCarron and take a cab to the Nugget, where we check our bags with the bellman and head off to the Champagne Brunch. We sat overlooking the Nuggets newly renovated pool (with the Shark Tank in the middle of it) and had a fantastic Brunch while sipping Poinsettias. We’re off to a great start.
When we finish with Brunch it’s still prior to check in time, but we go to the Registration Desk anyway. I slip a $20 between my Drivers License and Credit Card, and ask if there are any Complimentary Upgrades available for us. Lo and behold Derek was able to find a newly renovated North Tower room for us. This room is normally $60 / night more than what we paid…so the $20 was well worth it. The $20 trick works again!!!
We arrive at the room and find a very nice, smoke free room with a new big screen plasma TV. Very nice. Unpack and off to the poker room.
The Golden Nuggets Poker Room is not very big. Only 10 tables…but it is very nicely appointed and very comfortable. They were spreading 1-2 No Limit and 3-6 Limit with a Full Kill. We sat at the 3-6 table and played for a few hours until we decided to take a walk around downtown. This session was the beginning of a great week of poker for me. I played 2 – 3 (4 hours or longer) sessions of poker each day, and left each session with more chips then I started.
We later had dinner at The Grotto, and informal Italian Restaurant at the Nugget. It was excellent. Back to the Poker Room where I have another small winning session. Off to bed early the first night.
Labor Day Poker Tournaments
We had planned on playing in Binions 10AM Poker Tournament. When we were in Vegas last year we really liked the feel of Binions and The Golden Nugget. You could feel the essence of pre-strip Vegas, and we liked that vibe. So we were definitely going to play some at Binions. We both entered the 10AM tournament and my better half did much better than I did. I bust out when my 5h6h that flopped an Open Ended Str8 Flush draw failed to improve. I busted out early enough to go buy in the Nugget 11Am Tournament. The Nugget has 4 tournaments daily…all with the same structure. $65 buy in, with one $40 rebuy/add-on. In essence it’s a $105 buy in tournament. You start with t 2,500 and the buy-in or add-on gets you an additional t 3,000. You can rebuy/add on anytime in the first hour (3 (20) minute blind levels). The juice at $13 is pretty steep though. We played them because we really liked the room. I didn’t fare well in this tournament either.
After Merlotgirl busted out we checked on our good friends Ms. America and Bruce who were also celebrating their anniversary in Vegas. We got married the same day as them, only 24 years later. We met them over at the LV Hilton and played some Pai Gow Poker. We came very close to hitting it pretty big there. For those of you who don’t know Pai Gow Poker it’s a pretty simple game and more often then not results in a push with the dealer. You place your bet, and you can place an additional bet for Pairs Plus. In our case it was $5 on the hand, we didn’t play the Pairs Plus. You receive 7 cards and make 2 poker hands. A 5 card hand (which must be better than your 2 card hand) and a 2 card hand. For instance, if you had the following cards As Ah 2d 2s 6d 6c Qd, you would put your 2 2 6 6 Q as your 5 card hand, and your AA as the 2 card hand. You then wait to see the dealers hand. You will obviously win the 2 card hand, and if you win the 5 card hand as well you win your bet minus a small commission. If you lose the 5 card hand, you push that round and keep your bet, just like a push in black jack. Well after we’re playing a while someone else sits down at our table and is playing the Pairs Plus bet. So Merlotgirl decides to try it one time. On that bet you can bet anywhere from $1 on up. If you bet at least $5 on it, you get the “Envy” button, which means if any other player gets a big hand, you also get paid (although not as much). As soon as she places the bet, the gentleman who just joined us looks at his hand and starts babbling that he thinks he has a Royal Flush…He lays his hand down for us to see (which is legal…as a matter of fact the Dealer will help you play your hand if you ask them) and sure enough he has a Royal Flush…not only that but he has a 6 card Str8 Flush. His Royal paid him $750 and earned Merlotgirl $50. If he had somehow managed to also have the 8 of spades, he would have had a 7 card str8 flush which would have paid him $25,000 for his $5 bet, and would have netted my wife $5,000. Close….very very close.
After visiting with our friends a bit we headed back to the Nugget. We watched a movie in our room, and had a bite to eat. Relaxed for a while.
Poker and Politics
After resting for a while we find ourselves back in the Poker Room. Me sitting at a 1-2 NL table, and Merlotgirl at a 3-6 with a kill table right next to mine. I’m folding for an orbit or two…watching and listening. As it turns out my table is turning into quite a collection of characters. The 1 seat is empty. I’m in the 2 seat. In the 3 seat is a player who I played the tournament with earlier that day. He rode a lucky streak which included his preflop all in with 33 beating my TT, when he flopped a set, into the money at the 11 am tournament earlier in the day. In the 4 seat is a gentleman who looked like the Professor from Gilligans Island. 5 seat was several players throughout the night. 6 seat was a gent with a tank top on, crew cut, and I would have to say very opinionated on a variety of topics. A little rough around the edges. 7 seat several players off and on. 8 Seat an older gentleman(when I say older…I’m talking like 80) who apparently had a lot of money to throw around. Seat 9 a Willie Nelson look alike. Cowboy hat…rugged looking, about 70 years old. He was there to gamble…and apparently it didn’t matter how many times he bought in either. I can’t even tell you who was in the 10 seat. The major players in tonights events were 33 (Seat 3), the Professor (seat 4), Crew Cut (Seat 6), Ocho (80 year old in Seat 7), Willie (Seat 8 ) and yours truly.
Talk turns to politics (never a good thing at a poker table) as I’m quietly observing Crew Cut, Ocho and Willie express their displeasure with the Democrats, and expound the virtues of the Republican Party. As I’m enjoying the show at my table for ten minutes or so , I see The Professor getting a little uneasy. Finally, he’s had enough. He speaks up, in a rather loud tone “If I’m going to have to listen to this, then I’m going to have to give my opinion as well….” And he goes off on a defense of the Democrats and making accusations and imflammatory remarks about the Republicans. This sure makes folding easy when there’s a floor show. This continues for several hands…with voices on both sides getting raised. Finally, 33 who I think is trying to be funny stands up and says…”why don’t you 2 dance?” (Meaning The Prof and Willie). Well Willie, who is a Purple Heart Viet Nam war veteran has no problem with this idea…and take it to mean go outside and have at it. Well, this isn’t quite what The Professor was thinking. He being a Viet Nam War conscientious objector and all. It was really getting heated now. I hear the following conversation at my wifes table. Black woman “Is that your husband on that table?” Merlotgirl – “Yes.” Black Woman – “Is he the one wanting them to take it outside?” Merlotgirl – “ I can guarantee you it isn’t him. I’m sure he’s sitting there enjoying the show, just waiting for someone to make a mistake and take their chips.” To which I lean over and smile at both of them. Tee hee.
Needless to say the floor was called over, and reminded everyone that it’s not a good idea to talk politics at a poker table. Everyone agreed. Of course it didn’t stop the comments…but everyone agreed. And oh yeah, I love it when a plan comes together. 2 hands after a visit from the floor. The following happened. I wake up with 77 in the Big blind. It gets raised to $7 and I call, along with 5 others. Flop comes up 5 7 9 rainbow, with the 7 being the door card. $$$ flashing before my eyes. I check…and quite unexpectedly…it checks around. Fooey. 9 on the turn. Cha ching…boat. I’ll give it 1 more shot at checking. 33 bets $30…woo hoo. It folds around to me. I raise to $80. He gets this disgusted look…checks my stack which ahs only another $60 behind and he pushes all in. I insta call. He says…shit…do you have a boat. I nod my head as I table my 77’s. He flopped a str8 and is drawing dead. Ship it!!!!!!!
Next Installment will include playing a tournament with Oklahoma Johnny Hale (The Gentleman Gambler and winner of the Best All Around Poker Player at the WSOP in 1980 when they voted on it), winning a tournament at Binions, "whoaaaaa", more cash games and controversy at the Nugget
Monday, August 18, 2008
Rob, Buck Nekkid and Shamrock's Big Adventure
First of all kudos to J Mo. She hit me up with Flushstraighted 30 seconds after my arrival at Varsity Club Friday night. Cheers J MO!
Rob, Buck and I took to the road Saturday afternoon for a day of pokering up at the Winstar Poker Emporium. It was an uneventful ride as we stopped at Love's truck stop so Buck and Rob could get a Subway sandwich. I passed on that since Merlotgirl and I had gone to our Saturday Brunch at Breadwinners, on Preston. We've really taken a liking to the place and sit at the bar, watching TV and talking to our favorite Gay Bartender, who used to be a waiter...Antonio. As a matter of fact he's the reason we now call the poker hand Q3, the Antonio. Originally called either the San Francisco waiter, or the Gay Waiter...it is now The Antonio. We highly recommend breakfast at Breadwinners.
We get to Winstar about 1:30 or so. I get seated at a new $4/$8 Limit table after about a 10 minute wat. The room was pretty full, and would end up getting very full later in the day.
For some strange reason, which I have been unable to figure out I must go down at least one buy-in before I turn thinga around and head the right direction. This time I actually started out pretty good winning a few hands, before I lost that first buy-in. As a matter of fact it ended up being a pretty bad day, as I headed deeper into the negative. They eventually broke our table and I was seated at another table, where I continued to get my big hands run down. My KK runs into an A 6 4 flop. Of course someone had the A. My KK runs into a JJ2 flop...of course someone had a J. My AA ran into a 7 Q 2 flop, which wasn't so bad until the player playing 7 4 hit his kicker on the turn. As I've always said, my favorite kicker is one that pairs the board. Things did not start to turn around until this next hand.
I'm in the BB with 5c 8c. Not a stellar hand by any stretch of the imagination. UTG raises pre flop and their are 5 callers before it gets back to me, so I'm looking at calling $4 into a $44 pot. Even 85 is good enough to play with those 11 : 1 pot odds. So I call. ($56 in the pot). Flop comes 467 rainbow. hmmm....I flop the nuts. What to do...what to do. SB checks...I check to the Preflop raiser. He bets...5 callers back to me. I don't want to lose anyone on the small bet round, figuring raiser will bet out on the turn too. So I call. (Pot now at $84).
Turn is a beautiful A of yellow horseshoes. Leaving a perfectly innocent board of 467A...and no possible flush. A beautiful rainbow. I planned to check..hoping raiser would bet, and everyone else would call before I could 2 bet it. SB checks, I check, bettor bets...(my plan is working like a charm) it gets called to the SB and she..... RAISES!!!!!!! WOOOOOHOOOOOO. Time to put the hammer down...I briefly consider just calling and hopefully carrying the rest of the players into the pot...but no..I make it 3 bets. Original bettor insta calls. Player next to him does not like it, but calls another $16. Next 2 players fold and SB caps it!!!!!!! Yes there is a god. Let me get my calculator out and see if I can figure out how much is in the pot now. (cha ching $228).
I've still got the absolute stone cold nuts. What the heck could these other 3 players have. No flush draw...those peeps are gone with the rainbow board. Could be someone with 2 pair or a set. Could be someone with 89. Soooooo.....All I need to look out for is the board not pairing, and no 10 or 5. I must say, I don't even know what the river card was. It was a number that was unfamiliar to me. I know for a fact it didn't pair the board, and it wasn't a 5 or a 10. I remember what those numbers look like. So lets just say it was the gizmo of purple clovers. Deep breath. Check my cards. Recalculate... yes...a 5 and an 8 do in fact make the nuts on a 467AGizmo board. Okie Dokie here we go. SB bets...I raise...original bettor thinks for a bit and finally puts his $16 in..next guy folds...SB doesn't have many chips left so she partially 3 bets me by putting her last $14 in the pot...and since her bet was more than half a raise, I can cap it. Cappaccino!!!!!! So I do and Original bettor has to call at this point. Although he takes his time again. The SB asks me a question while I'm waiting, but I don't hear her since my MP3 player is on...the dealer tells her to not talk about it because the other guy is still in the hand. I hold my cards up so she can see them and she says, I figured as much. She has the same hand. 8 5 to both of the blinds and we chop a huge 4/8 pot of...$310 (minus rake). It's a good sign when it takes the dealer 4 pushes to shove the megafuckton of chips over to you. This one hand puts me on the road to recovery. While I didn't make it all the way back to even...it ended up not too bad.
By now it was getting very late...or early as the case may be. Buck started winning some big hands at his table after going card dead for a long stretch...so we ended staying a bit later than originally planned. You can read about his exploits with HKS on his blog over at http://pokeroutlawoneouter.blogspot.com/.
Unfortunately, about an hour before we leave another table breaks and a hearing impaired woman, who allegedly plays at Winstar all the time, either 4/8 limit or 10/20 No Limit comes to our table...and she brings over $700-$800 in chips. Damn..she must be really good. Uh...not so much. I wish she could have gotten to our table a lot earlier. In the one hour we played, she managed to play every hand. Raising most of them preflop...and betting all the way...with basically crap. I think she won one hand where she raised preflop with 8d 9d and hit a flush on the turn. But most of her hands weren't that good...and she proceeded to donate about 1/2 of her $700+ in only one hour. Oh well...I'm sure she'll be there again when we go to play. At least I hope so.
IMPORTANT EVENT:
Wednesday night is Nanuck's birthday and Pinky has requested everyone's presence at EZ to celebrate. I know I'll be buying Mickey an Irish Car Bomb (thanks for the idea J-Man) hopefully others will buy him that raspberry creamy concoction he came up with called "Lick Me Long Time", and someone else can get him a large Tuaca Lemon Drop. It is difficult to explain the distress signals being sent out by your body once an Irish Car Bomb lands on top of the Lick Me Long Time/Tuaca Lemon Drop combo. Yes...when the nectar of the gods (Guiness) is combined with Jamesons and Baileys (one might actually consider this the holy trinity) and then dropped on top of whatever the hell is in that raspberry stuff, and the Lemony goodness of a Tuaca Lemon Drop...things get a bit interesting. Oh... I almost forgot the piece de resistance when Neva topped it all off by giving me a Three Legged Monkey....Mmmmm Mmmmm good.
COUNTDOWN to VEGAS:
It is now T minus 12 days and counting before Merlotgirl and I return to the scene of the crime. Where she, in a moment of weakness, made me the happiest person alive by marrying me. It's been the best year of my life. And for me it makes the old joke/toast "Here's to wives and girlfriends...May they never meet" an oxymoron. She's my wife, my girlfriend and my best friend. I'm very lucky and eternally grateful. I love you Pookie!!!!
Rob, Buck and I took to the road Saturday afternoon for a day of pokering up at the Winstar Poker Emporium. It was an uneventful ride as we stopped at Love's truck stop so Buck and Rob could get a Subway sandwich. I passed on that since Merlotgirl and I had gone to our Saturday Brunch at Breadwinners, on Preston. We've really taken a liking to the place and sit at the bar, watching TV and talking to our favorite Gay Bartender, who used to be a waiter...Antonio. As a matter of fact he's the reason we now call the poker hand Q3, the Antonio. Originally called either the San Francisco waiter, or the Gay Waiter...it is now The Antonio. We highly recommend breakfast at Breadwinners.
We get to Winstar about 1:30 or so. I get seated at a new $4/$8 Limit table after about a 10 minute wat. The room was pretty full, and would end up getting very full later in the day.
For some strange reason, which I have been unable to figure out I must go down at least one buy-in before I turn thinga around and head the right direction. This time I actually started out pretty good winning a few hands, before I lost that first buy-in. As a matter of fact it ended up being a pretty bad day, as I headed deeper into the negative. They eventually broke our table and I was seated at another table, where I continued to get my big hands run down. My KK runs into an A 6 4 flop. Of course someone had the A. My KK runs into a JJ2 flop...of course someone had a J. My AA ran into a 7 Q 2 flop, which wasn't so bad until the player playing 7 4 hit his kicker on the turn. As I've always said, my favorite kicker is one that pairs the board. Things did not start to turn around until this next hand.
I'm in the BB with 5c 8c. Not a stellar hand by any stretch of the imagination. UTG raises pre flop and their are 5 callers before it gets back to me, so I'm looking at calling $4 into a $44 pot. Even 85 is good enough to play with those 11 : 1 pot odds. So I call. ($56 in the pot). Flop comes 467 rainbow. hmmm....I flop the nuts. What to do...what to do. SB checks...I check to the Preflop raiser. He bets...5 callers back to me. I don't want to lose anyone on the small bet round, figuring raiser will bet out on the turn too. So I call. (Pot now at $84).
Turn is a beautiful A of yellow horseshoes. Leaving a perfectly innocent board of 467A...and no possible flush. A beautiful rainbow. I planned to check..hoping raiser would bet, and everyone else would call before I could 2 bet it. SB checks, I check, bettor bets...(my plan is working like a charm) it gets called to the SB and she..... RAISES!!!!!!! WOOOOOHOOOOOO. Time to put the hammer down...I briefly consider just calling and hopefully carrying the rest of the players into the pot...but no..I make it 3 bets. Original bettor insta calls. Player next to him does not like it, but calls another $16. Next 2 players fold and SB caps it!!!!!!! Yes there is a god. Let me get my calculator out and see if I can figure out how much is in the pot now. (cha ching $228).
I've still got the absolute stone cold nuts. What the heck could these other 3 players have. No flush draw...those peeps are gone with the rainbow board. Could be someone with 2 pair or a set. Could be someone with 89. Soooooo.....All I need to look out for is the board not pairing, and no 10 or 5. I must say, I don't even know what the river card was. It was a number that was unfamiliar to me. I know for a fact it didn't pair the board, and it wasn't a 5 or a 10. I remember what those numbers look like. So lets just say it was the gizmo of purple clovers. Deep breath. Check my cards. Recalculate... yes...a 5 and an 8 do in fact make the nuts on a 467AGizmo board. Okie Dokie here we go. SB bets...I raise...original bettor thinks for a bit and finally puts his $16 in..next guy folds...SB doesn't have many chips left so she partially 3 bets me by putting her last $14 in the pot...and since her bet was more than half a raise, I can cap it. Cappaccino!!!!!! So I do and Original bettor has to call at this point. Although he takes his time again. The SB asks me a question while I'm waiting, but I don't hear her since my MP3 player is on...the dealer tells her to not talk about it because the other guy is still in the hand. I hold my cards up so she can see them and she says, I figured as much. She has the same hand. 8 5 to both of the blinds and we chop a huge 4/8 pot of...$310 (minus rake). It's a good sign when it takes the dealer 4 pushes to shove the megafuckton of chips over to you. This one hand puts me on the road to recovery. While I didn't make it all the way back to even...it ended up not too bad.
By now it was getting very late...or early as the case may be. Buck started winning some big hands at his table after going card dead for a long stretch...so we ended staying a bit later than originally planned. You can read about his exploits with HKS on his blog over at http://pokeroutlawoneouter.blogspot.com/.
Unfortunately, about an hour before we leave another table breaks and a hearing impaired woman, who allegedly plays at Winstar all the time, either 4/8 limit or 10/20 No Limit comes to our table...and she brings over $700-$800 in chips. Damn..she must be really good. Uh...not so much. I wish she could have gotten to our table a lot earlier. In the one hour we played, she managed to play every hand. Raising most of them preflop...and betting all the way...with basically crap. I think she won one hand where she raised preflop with 8d 9d and hit a flush on the turn. But most of her hands weren't that good...and she proceeded to donate about 1/2 of her $700+ in only one hour. Oh well...I'm sure she'll be there again when we go to play. At least I hope so.
IMPORTANT EVENT:
Wednesday night is Nanuck's birthday and Pinky has requested everyone's presence at EZ to celebrate. I know I'll be buying Mickey an Irish Car Bomb (thanks for the idea J-Man) hopefully others will buy him that raspberry creamy concoction he came up with called "Lick Me Long Time", and someone else can get him a large Tuaca Lemon Drop. It is difficult to explain the distress signals being sent out by your body once an Irish Car Bomb lands on top of the Lick Me Long Time/Tuaca Lemon Drop combo. Yes...when the nectar of the gods (Guiness) is combined with Jamesons and Baileys (one might actually consider this the holy trinity) and then dropped on top of whatever the hell is in that raspberry stuff, and the Lemony goodness of a Tuaca Lemon Drop...things get a bit interesting. Oh... I almost forgot the piece de resistance when Neva topped it all off by giving me a Three Legged Monkey....Mmmmm Mmmmm good.
COUNTDOWN to VEGAS:
It is now T minus 12 days and counting before Merlotgirl and I return to the scene of the crime. Where she, in a moment of weakness, made me the happiest person alive by marrying me. It's been the best year of my life. And for me it makes the old joke/toast "Here's to wives and girlfriends...May they never meet" an oxymoron. She's my wife, my girlfriend and my best friend. I'm very lucky and eternally grateful. I love you Pookie!!!!
Friday, August 15, 2008
Upcoming Events
It's about time to update the list of upcoming events. As you can see from the latest poll, Grapefest is upon us again. For those of you who didn't go last year it was great. Many Texas wineries are present and the wine tasting was fantastic. Respond now, and contact our social coordinator, Pinky, so she can compile the list!
For those men in the crowd who aren't invited to the Women's Only Poker event tomorrow, I'm probably looking to head up to Choctaw for an afternoon and evening of poker. Give me a shout out or talk to me tonight at Varsity Club.
First person to mention the term "flushstraighted" to me this week gets a shot!
To quote one of my favorite poker writers, Tommy Angelo, "when I keep missing and they keep hitting, I get very flushstraighted".
Ship it!
For those men in the crowd who aren't invited to the Women's Only Poker event tomorrow, I'm probably looking to head up to Choctaw for an afternoon and evening of poker. Give me a shout out or talk to me tonight at Varsity Club.
First person to mention the term "flushstraighted" to me this week gets a shot!
To quote one of my favorite poker writers, Tommy Angelo, "when I keep missing and they keep hitting, I get very flushstraighted".
Ship it!
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
One Eyed Jacks!!
Sorry for the lack of updates. Been hellaciously busy at work. As a matter of fact it looked like I was going to be heading off to Kansas City this weekend, although now it seems to be put off for a while.
Spent 10 lovely days in western Florida. Sarasota to be exact. Worked about 45 hours overtime during that period so there wasn't much time for fun. I did manage to squeeze 2 nights of poker at the Sarasota Kennel Club, which has a poker room. One Eyed Jack's! Nice name for a poker room. Nice chip too. A greyhound staring at you with a patch over one eye.
Strange games being spread there though. $2 limit. I didn't particularly care for 2/4 limit at Tampa Bay Downs when I was there, because it was basically play every hand and we'll see who has hit something by the river. With a straight $2 limit game it was going to be worse. Much worse. So I decided to play 1/2 No Limit. There was a $60 buy in for that game. Not a $60 Max or a $60 Min....just $60. I did ok the first night cashing out up a little. The second night was a much different story. I had a case of second best hand...and there was one old guy at the table who would play any two suited cards, and he went on a ridiculous rush. In one dealers half hour down, he hit 5 flushes. He went from about $40 to close to $500 in that one half hour. My final hand of the night was KK under the gun. I made it $12. 2 callers. 8 2 J flop. I bet $30 (only had $20 more behind), kid who just sat down goes all in. I call. He had 88 and flopped a set. I didn't improve. Time to go back to the hotel. Some nights you just can't win, and this was one of those.
The rest of the trip to Florida was uneventful except for the fact that Merlotgirl bought me a great laptop for my birthday, and I took that along with my work laptop. This way I was able to play online poker at night, after a long day at work. I may be addicted. It's possible.
I usually play Single Table Sit N Go Tournaments on Bodog. There's also a $10 + $1 Pot Limit Hold'em Multi Table Tournament every night at 9 Central time. There are usually only 18 - 45 players in it, and I seem to always do pretty well in it. The week I was in Florida I played it 3 times and bubbled out once, got 2nd once, and 5th once. The second place was in a 45 man tournament and paid $108, so that was pretty nice.
More posts to follow.
Spent 10 lovely days in western Florida. Sarasota to be exact. Worked about 45 hours overtime during that period so there wasn't much time for fun. I did manage to squeeze 2 nights of poker at the Sarasota Kennel Club, which has a poker room. One Eyed Jack's! Nice name for a poker room. Nice chip too. A greyhound staring at you with a patch over one eye.
Strange games being spread there though. $2 limit. I didn't particularly care for 2/4 limit at Tampa Bay Downs when I was there, because it was basically play every hand and we'll see who has hit something by the river. With a straight $2 limit game it was going to be worse. Much worse. So I decided to play 1/2 No Limit. There was a $60 buy in for that game. Not a $60 Max or a $60 Min....just $60. I did ok the first night cashing out up a little. The second night was a much different story. I had a case of second best hand...and there was one old guy at the table who would play any two suited cards, and he went on a ridiculous rush. In one dealers half hour down, he hit 5 flushes. He went from about $40 to close to $500 in that one half hour. My final hand of the night was KK under the gun. I made it $12. 2 callers. 8 2 J flop. I bet $30 (only had $20 more behind), kid who just sat down goes all in. I call. He had 88 and flopped a set. I didn't improve. Time to go back to the hotel. Some nights you just can't win, and this was one of those.
The rest of the trip to Florida was uneventful except for the fact that Merlotgirl bought me a great laptop for my birthday, and I took that along with my work laptop. This way I was able to play online poker at night, after a long day at work. I may be addicted. It's possible.
I usually play Single Table Sit N Go Tournaments on Bodog. There's also a $10 + $1 Pot Limit Hold'em Multi Table Tournament every night at 9 Central time. There are usually only 18 - 45 players in it, and I seem to always do pretty well in it. The week I was in Florida I played it 3 times and bubbled out once, got 2nd once, and 5th once. The second place was in a 45 man tournament and paid $108, so that was pretty nice.
More posts to follow.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
End Zone Monday Night
It was hot. Very hot. 80 in the upper room and 85 in the lower room. What is it with the places we go to play poker that they think we want to play in oppressive heat!
Oh well. Final hand of the night for me was when we were down to the final 2 tables. It would have made the cut for TV. Many other hands would have ended up on the cutting room floor. But this one would make it. Nanuck is under the gun and goes all in for 6,000, I'm just to his left and go all in with 8,000. Floyd also goes all in for a little less. And Counting Girl calls all of our all ins. I didn't exactly want to see everyone call my all in with 22. Nanuck had 33. I don't remember what Floyd had other than it was 2 big cards that were suited. And C ounting Girl had AA. (Where's Kurt with J4 when I need him) Crap.
Flop comes 2 K x. 2 spades. Which is what Floyd had 2 of. So I now take the lead with a set of 2's. Floyds got the flush draw. And Nanuck and Counting Girl are drawing to bigger sets. K on the turn. Yippy! That knocks Floyds flush out, with me having a boat. But now I lose to any K, A or 3. Counting Girl spiked the A, to send Nanuck, Floyd and I to the rail.
Nanuck reports that he and Pinky are heading to Tunica for Labor Day weekend, and everyone is welcome to come along with them. Talk to either of them.
Merlotgirl and I are heading to Vegas 8/30 - 9/4 to celebrate 1 year of wedded bliss. And some said it would never last. Ha! Y'all are welcome to join us as well. We'll be staying downtown at the Golden Nugget. We were on the strip last year and want to check out old Vegas a little more this time. Come on out!!! This will probably be an annual pilgrimage so if you don't make it this year save up for next year!!!
I know Counting Girl and One Outer have seen the blog...and started one of their own to keep us up to date with their comings and goings. Click their link over their ->>> to see whats up with them. No idea if anyone else even knows its here/ If you read it let us know, by making some kind of comment!
Later.
Oh well. Final hand of the night for me was when we were down to the final 2 tables. It would have made the cut for TV. Many other hands would have ended up on the cutting room floor. But this one would make it. Nanuck is under the gun and goes all in for 6,000, I'm just to his left and go all in with 8,000. Floyd also goes all in for a little less. And Counting Girl calls all of our all ins. I didn't exactly want to see everyone call my all in with 22. Nanuck had 33. I don't remember what Floyd had other than it was 2 big cards that were suited. And C ounting Girl had AA. (Where's Kurt with J4 when I need him) Crap.
Flop comes 2 K x. 2 spades. Which is what Floyd had 2 of. So I now take the lead with a set of 2's. Floyds got the flush draw. And Nanuck and Counting Girl are drawing to bigger sets. K on the turn. Yippy! That knocks Floyds flush out, with me having a boat. But now I lose to any K, A or 3. Counting Girl spiked the A, to send Nanuck, Floyd and I to the rail.
Nanuck reports that he and Pinky are heading to Tunica for Labor Day weekend, and everyone is welcome to come along with them. Talk to either of them.
Merlotgirl and I are heading to Vegas 8/30 - 9/4 to celebrate 1 year of wedded bliss. And some said it would never last. Ha! Y'all are welcome to join us as well. We'll be staying downtown at the Golden Nugget. We were on the strip last year and want to check out old Vegas a little more this time. Come on out!!! This will probably be an annual pilgrimage so if you don't make it this year save up for next year!!!
I know Counting Girl and One Outer have seen the blog...and started one of their own to keep us up to date with their comings and goings. Click their link over their ->>> to see whats up with them. No idea if anyone else even knows its here/ If you read it let us know, by making some kind of comment!
Later.
Friday, July 25, 2008
TGIF
We love Fridays!!! Fridays Rock!!!
Usually Friday night means poker with friends at Varsity Club, but tonight we are off to dinner and a play. Our son heads back to NJ Sunday so we're having an early birthday dinner for me tonight and then going to see one of our friends in a play in Irving. Our son is in theater at his HS, and we figured it would be fun to take him to see the a production somewhere between HS Drama and Broadway. It should be a lot of fun.
Sadly he heads back to NJ, and we won't see him until we head that direction for Thanksgiving. He was fun to have around, and we'll miss him.
We were thinking of heading up to Winstar once his plane takes off, but One Outer pointed out to us that Winstar will be crazy because they are having another Mega Sattelite for "The River". So it may end up being either Choctaw or Varsity Club for the first edition of their Sunday afternoon Poker with sessions at 2:00 and 5:00,with the 2:00 game being a $100 freeroll.
As I learn more about this blogging stuff I'll try and add more functionality to the site. It would help if we had more visitors and commentors, than just One Outer and Counting Girl, but building readership takes time.
I've added a poll over on the right trying to gauge interest in going to see The Eagles in concert at the AAC on either September 13th or 14th. Tickets are still available, but I imagine they'll be going fast, so let us know ASAP if you have any interest.
Another event of note coming up is High Tea for the girls. I understand that several of ourt friends are planning on going to High Tea on Saturday August 30th. Talk to Merlotgirl, Pinky or Lovely Pamela for details.
Later.
Usually Friday night means poker with friends at Varsity Club, but tonight we are off to dinner and a play. Our son heads back to NJ Sunday so we're having an early birthday dinner for me tonight and then going to see one of our friends in a play in Irving. Our son is in theater at his HS, and we figured it would be fun to take him to see the a production somewhere between HS Drama and Broadway. It should be a lot of fun.
Sadly he heads back to NJ, and we won't see him until we head that direction for Thanksgiving. He was fun to have around, and we'll miss him.
We were thinking of heading up to Winstar once his plane takes off, but One Outer pointed out to us that Winstar will be crazy because they are having another Mega Sattelite for "The River". So it may end up being either Choctaw or Varsity Club for the first edition of their Sunday afternoon Poker with sessions at 2:00 and 5:00,with the 2:00 game being a $100 freeroll.
As I learn more about this blogging stuff I'll try and add more functionality to the site. It would help if we had more visitors and commentors, than just One Outer and Counting Girl, but building readership takes time.
I've added a poll over on the right trying to gauge interest in going to see The Eagles in concert at the AAC on either September 13th or 14th. Tickets are still available, but I imagine they'll be going fast, so let us know ASAP if you have any interest.
Another event of note coming up is High Tea for the girls. I understand that several of ourt friends are planning on going to High Tea on Saturday August 30th. Talk to Merlotgirl, Pinky or Lovely Pamela for details.
Later.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
This could be fun!
Well, it looks like this might actually be fun. Here's a list of upcoming events that may or may not be of interest to many of you.
- Journey with Heart and Cheap TrickSuperpages.com Center, Dallas, TX Sun, Jul 27, 2008 07:00 PM
- Gretchen WilsonAug 2nd, Chocktaw
- Dave Matthews BandSuperpages.com Center, Dallas, TX Sat, Aug 16, 2008 07:00 PM
- Foreigner Nov11 Winstar Casino
- ColdplayAmerican Airlines Center, Dallas, TX Wed, Nov 19, 2008 07:30 PM
- Grapefest September 12-14, prefer Saturday evening. http://www.grapevinetexasusa.com/FestivalsAndEvents/GrapeFest/tabid/228/Default.aspx
- Addison Oktoberfest September 18-21, prefer Saturdayhttp://www.addisontexas.net/events/oktoberfest/general_info/
- Western Day Festival, September 27, 2008 Lewisville, Texas
Western based event that is designed to showcase Lewisville's rich history.Estimated attendees-15000 972-219-3712 - October 4-5, 2008 - Richardson: Cottonwood Art Festival.
I know there are several people (Mickey, Doris, Gail, Kurt and Dori)going to the Gretchen Wilson show up at Choctaw. I'd love to be going as well, but will be traveling on business that weekend.
Several of us went to Grapefest last year and had a blast!!!!!! So we're looking forward to it this year. Hopefully we get a large group to go.
I know Doris sent out an e-mail requesting we all vote for a friend of hers trying to break into the Country Music scene, so lets all help out by visiting http://austinmusiccity.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=32 every day and voting for 'Jerry Audley'.
If there's anything you want included in this blog just let me know and I'll try and include it in here ASAP.
In the meantime, don't take any wooden nickels.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Welcome Friends!!!
For months now several of us have thought about starting up a site that would be a common area where we could keep everyone abreast of upcoming events and other things of interest that may be going on. We tried several things, but none seemed to work.
That brings us to where we are right now, with me attempting to establish a blog for the ever growing group of friends that had its humble beginnings playing free poker at The End Zone. In many cases that was 3 years and one poker league ago.
We have seen some friends move away, and new ones arrive on the scene. We have seen some have children or grandchildren, and others get married (Yay Me!!!). We've shared some bad times, bot more often than not some very good times.
We've gone to different events together, some are going on a cruise this October, and The Tulsa Trio looks forward to their next adventure. Hopefully with an expanded cast of characters.
I have no idea what direction this site will take, but what the heck...let's give it a shot.
I'll try and post things that come to my attention as I find out about them. It's the readers responsibility to let me know what's going on so I can keep the site updated. It seems that Doris, on top of being a great Poker Party Hostess, has taken the lead on being the sites social director. great job so far Doris!!
All comments and feedback are welcome...how else will I ever know if anyone is reading this or not. This blog will only be as successful as you let it be.
Shuffle Up and Deal!!!!
That brings us to where we are right now, with me attempting to establish a blog for the ever growing group of friends that had its humble beginnings playing free poker at The End Zone. In many cases that was 3 years and one poker league ago.
We have seen some friends move away, and new ones arrive on the scene. We have seen some have children or grandchildren, and others get married (Yay Me!!!). We've shared some bad times, bot more often than not some very good times.
We've gone to different events together, some are going on a cruise this October, and The Tulsa Trio looks forward to their next adventure. Hopefully with an expanded cast of characters.
I have no idea what direction this site will take, but what the heck...let's give it a shot.
I'll try and post things that come to my attention as I find out about them. It's the readers responsibility to let me know what's going on so I can keep the site updated. It seems that Doris, on top of being a great Poker Party Hostess, has taken the lead on being the sites social director. great job so far Doris!!
All comments and feedback are welcome...how else will I ever know if anyone is reading this or not. This blog will only be as successful as you let it be.
Shuffle Up and Deal!!!!
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