Overall the trip was a roaring success - I played in 11 events and cashed three times, paying $1170 in entry fees and receiving $1220 in payouts for a whopping $50 profit! But once again, it was not poor play on my part that prevented me from scoring bigger, it was my own poor judgement outside of the game that lead to my barely better than neutral results.
I have said many times on my other personal blog that I am beyond blessed when it comes to my friends, especially the small but wonderful group of guys that I've known since grade school. One of them showed up unexpectedly on my first night in town. It was a great and wonderful surprise to see him, drink in hand, as I played the 7pm Aria tournament. He wanted to go out and hang, but alas, it was not a cash game, it was a tournament so I (foolishly) agreed to have breakfast with him and his family for the following morning. 8am, the following morning.
I don't blame him one bit - but in hindsight I needed to be firm with him and stick to my guns, saying "I only do this twice a year, this is it for my Vegas poker, I am happy to meet up with you guys tomorrow afternoon if I bust out early." And that would have to be that. Instead I once again tried to be the people pleaser, and ended up boning myself pretty hard.
Backing up, the night of my arrival -Friday - was a great time at the Aria 7pm. I had struck out in the 1pm, getting my feet wet after a long absence from the tables, but in the evening tournament I was firing on all cylinders. I was especially good at avoiding almost entirely the 2 or 3 players at each table that I knew were better than me. I abused the others pretty much without mercy, especially at my 2nd table.
At the final table, once the avg. chip stack was around 20 bigs, including mine, I ripped with expert timing and also folded a lot. A lot. There was a lot of undisciplined aggression all around, and I knew pretty early on that they would do most of the work in climbing the ladder for me.
My good friend A8Fold was at the final table with me and managed to get his chips in good, but alas ran bad and couldn't fade the dreaded 6 outer and bubbled. Another player had helpfully suggested a safety for the bubble prior to his busting, so we all dug a little cash out and got A8Fold his buy in back at least. Also, A8Fold managed, the Tuesday night after I had left Vegas, to bink first place in the Aria 7pm (though he chopped $5400 6 ways evenly).
Anyway, back to me and my first and largest cash of the trip. The only hand of any note that I played badly was when I flopped TPTK and paid off a chunky river bet to AA which had been slow played the entire way. It seems to be the real fashion these days, slow playing AA, KK and especially AK. People still massively overbet 1010, JJ and QQ. Especially JJ. I'm pretty acutely aware of the slow playing AA thing now, and I'm proud to say that (this hand excepted) I picked up on it most of the time fairly early on, and was able to minimize the losses or maximize the profit for the most part.
Play continued after A8Fold bubbled, for nearly an hour! With only five of us left and getting paid, finally, the teeny stack whimpered out, literally blinding off by FOLDING his BB when he only had 2.5 bigs left! Crazy, but not unusual at the tournament poker tables in Vegas. When he finally succumbed we played for another 20 minutes and the two big stacks see sawed a couple of times.
With only four remaining, two big and two smaller stacks, me being the smallest, the chip leader at last suggested a chip chop count and we all agreed to look at the numbers. Turned out I would get $645 if everyone went along with it, which it turned out was a hundred bucks more than the third place payout! Sold! Everyone else agreed too. The top two guys got just over 1K apiece (1st was 2K and 2nd place was about the same) and the guy with just a few chips more than me got $675.
And best of all it was 230am when we finished. Yuck.
Needless to say, after a rather lovely breakfast at the Wynn at 8am the following day, I was a wreck. Yes, I should have politely declined. But even if I had said yes I should've gone back up to my room and taken a 2 hour nap. Instead I dragged my sorry ass over to the Mirage and donated $110 to their "The Stack" tournament. It was pretty silly and fun format - 50,000 in starting chips! The joke of course is that there were no 25 or 100 chips and we started with 100 bigs which turned to 50 bigs after one level. Too bad I was way too tired to fully take advantage of the very soft field.
After languishing and busting I did at least have the fortitude to recognize that I was burnt toast and I headed for the Treasure Island 2pm $50 turbo. I was eager to check out the new room, and I have to say I didn't hate it. I thought I might since I loved the old one so much for it's tucked away location. The new room was quite a bit noisier and in a more high traffic area, but after chatting with the dealers a bit, it seems that they are all behind the move because they get a lot more business now.
After T.I. I got a bite and did some walking, biding my time until 7pm when I joined back up with A8Fold for the Venetian's evening tournament.
At this point, I was rather fried, and I must say I blew up in spectacular fashion barely an hour into the tournament.
I woke up in the BB with queens and of course raised it up nice and fat after 2 limpers came in behind. One of the limpers was the button who I could tell fancied himself a table captain at this rather touristy table. Well FUCK him. Raise! 5x bitch!
He flatted and the flop came 7 high rainbow. I led out with an almost pot sized bet, he flat called. The turn was a nine. I knew this asshole was drawing to some wonky bullshit so I ripped - ALL IN MOTHERFUCKER! He snap called with 79, two pair. I was out.
Sigh.
I botched the hand pretty badly. This was basic stuff. Had I been half awake I would've kept the same line except I would've checked the turn, having already given him the wrong price on the flop to continue. I would've paid off his thin value bet on the turn (or he very likely would check, God's gift to poker that he was) and I would have check-called the river and maybe even been able to get away on the river if he bet large enough. I've gotten very good at recognizing that only a very special breed of player barrels big on fifth street with air. Chunky river bets, a good 80-90% of the time, mean what they mean. Top pair, in this case an over pair, is no good.
But I was rather wasted, though not too wasted that I couldn't recognize the futility of re-entering. I smartly called it a night and retired. A8Fold told me the next day that he didn't last much longer either.
I loved that the old room was fully enclosed and quiet. This new place is loud and smokey, though not too bad at 10am on a Sunday. Again, the dealers told me that they much preferred the new digs, much more foot traffic and business.
Me, I guess I liked the room well enough, though I do hate the open air (smoke and noise suck) - if only because it still consistently gets super soft and touristy poker players! This morning was no exception and I delightfully had my way with the lot of them - including the one half decent player across from me. I recognized his type immediately, a Vegas regular, stopping by for his morning pillage on the vacationing home gamers, and I resolved to avoid him. But with AK in the cutoff I had to raise his blind. He defended, of course, and I c-bet a low but wet board. The flush draw hit the turn, I had air. He led out, I 3 bet him, he flat called. The river brought a fourth spade and he checked. I fired very big. He tanked and tanked and folded a jack high flush face up! Oye. He bought my story, though I hadn't put him on such a strong made hand based on his weak lead. Oh well, it worked out!
This reg and I tangled a little bit later at the final table. They only paid four players and I managed to make it easily. Then I four bet shoved on him with AJ, he tanked a long while and finally called off with J10. A ten on the flop and that was that. Out in fourth for $135. Can't complain really, I was so comfortable throughout. If it wasn't for the sky high juice and low payouts, I no doubt would make these type of tournaments a regular event if I was a grinder. The opponents are just so darn soft so often!
So it was almost 1pm, and instead of hoofing it over to the Aria, I made my way over to Caesar's for their weekend 2pm. I had never played in this one before, a $225 entry and what I knew was bound to be a bigger prize pool and tougher players. Well, it turned out to be more of the latter and less of the former. Only 30 runners total sat down for one of Vegas' biggest dailies. I was dissapoint. I'd also say I didn't play that well for the first hour or so, getting my bearings at a TAG table after playing with soft fish for the last 3 hours, took a little while. I spewed off about a third of my stack before I readjusted and began to grind back.
I felt good, though I realized that the structure wasn't the greatest and that I would have to start winning some flips to have a chance at a real run. First place was almost 5K, so I had some incentive to buckle down.
Turned out, my first flip would be my last. I woke up with AQ in the BB and the 3 betting maniac on my right had pulled the trigger yet again - and I knew he was likely firing light. I ripped my 32 big blind stack, he tanked and tanked and tanked and finally called with QJ. Nope, could't win with this dominating hand either as after a Q came on the flop a sickening J peeled off on the river. Out.
No worries. Overall I was very happy with my play, especially grinding back from early setbacks and felt good about my chances at the Aria 7pm.
Turned out that I was not only card deadish, but I couldn't over come this either thanks to a genuine table captain who had a strangle hold on the rest of us. It was impressive but frustrating as my evening came to an early end in a flurry of cold 3 and 4 bets that only went to showdown the one time when he had a hand. Ah well.
Sunday was, despite my puny results, a good day. I knew Monday, my last day, would be even better, as I was rested and raring to go.
I donked around a bit in the 10am Harrah's with no hands or results to speak of, before doing the same in the 11am $60 Mirage. I got coolered in that one, my aces cracked by a pair of sixes AIPF that hit a set on the turn.
I must say, this was my best played tournament of the trip. I was really warmed up and firing on all cylinders. I had a maniac on my right that I managed to handle perfectly, brilliantly shoving the river with air and getting him to lay down and then a few hands later pulling the same maneuver with a monster and getting paid handsomely. I also managed to outplay the "better" player across from me on more than one occasion. Best of all I smashed a flop in a three way pot and got all the monies. I was table chip leader for the remainder of my stay there, and then continued to accumulate at my second table through small ball grinding in expert fashion.
As the final table approached I was able to bear down and play just about perfectly, not bothering with pocket pairs out of position, rather raising in position with trashier holdings and c-betting my way to more and more chips with air. It felt fantastic, picking the right targets and picking them apart. The art of no-limit hold-em, playing the player and being less concerned with the cards, is what truly makes the game great. On more than one occasion I only pretended to look at my cards, because what I had did not matter one bit.
At last it was final table time; I continued much the same, but I blew it big time in a crippling hand that saw all my hard work potentially reduced to rubble. From the cutoff I raised it up with two over cards. The SB defended. She was a very newish player whose boyfriend was a capable grinder on my right.
I c-bet the safe enough flop of 266. She literally rolled her eyes and called. She was Hollywooding in about the most obvious way she could, she had a six. Duh. Another six peeled off on the turn. Hmmmm.... she had to have deuces. She checked. I bet big, probably too big, but I knew this was a horrible card for her. Her baby full house was no effing good against my higher pair, or at least the one I was representing. She pretended to be steamed and then abruptly announced she was all in.
She had me covered and obviously I had to fold because I had nothing, except I had lost 75% of my stack. "Your deuces are in fact good..." I said with more than a hint of frustration, "...but only because I don't have a pair or enough chips." She smirked and turned up her deuces. Wow that sucks, I thought to myself, she's so bad she doesn't even grasp how bad that turn was for her. I felt like an idiot for misplaying this newbie so badly - I had been handling them expertly for the past 3 days and she basically owned me, bad acting and all.
I truly was devastated. After being comfortably at 50 bigs for the last 2 hours, among more than a few short stacks, I was now in genuine danger of busting and not cashing, and I had only myself to blame. Before I knew it, the structure jumped and I was at 3.5 big blinds. My big blind hit and I didn't have to bother looking to stick my chips in. Three other players came along, limping in and checking it down to bust me.
Or... maybe no one had a hand? The flop was as ragged as I could've hoped for, as was the turn and river. Everyone turned up their cards, no one had shit. My Q6 had turned a pair of sixes. Holy crap, it was good! Ship it!
More than quadrupling up put the wind back in my sails. I was not back in it by any means, but I was off life support. I managed to hold on and not make any big mistakes for the remainder, even winning a few pots to get back up to 20 bigs or so. Probably the biggest comeback in my tournament career, considering there had been 9 players and I had been down to 3.5 bigs with 4 more eliminations to go until the money. Now it was bubble time, and I managed to squeak in for a min cash! $420! Yay!
I was so relieved that I had gotten away with fucking up my hand earlier that I didn't even mind my QQ getting cracked AIPF by JJ. The $420 felt like a million bucks, and officially got me unstuck for the trip! Nice!
I was done, and didn't have any more tournament poker in me, but I let A8Fold talk me into one last dance at Caesar's for the 10pm. I resolved not to count it as an official result, even if I cashed. I just splashed around and had some fun and actually final tabled once again, before spewing it all away on a fantastic (and terrible) all in bluff with 73 into a flopped 2 pair. Awesome! I had to laugh as the rest of the table sat gaping and horrified at my utterly insane and hopeless shove. Hey, if he had blanked the flop I would've taken it down - I don't think it was the worst EVER. Fuck you guys!
Ah well, another trip in the books. Another lesson learned. Poker time is MY time and is not to be trifled with. I need to stand my ground and be firm. Nice about it, but firm. I already can't wait for June and the WSOP to get here. Hopefully I can satellite into a bracelet event. Specifically, event #6, the $1500 Millionaire Maker - which has a guaranteed first place prize of a million bucks! My good buddy Sven is parlaying his 2012 satellite winnings from Pepper Street into the entry for this event. I hope I can join him!
In the mean time, it's home games and smaller stakes. Last week I chopped evenly three ways for $160 at a $20 rebuy tournament at Monkeyland Audio studios. A very profitable and soft home game that I've been recently invited to on Thursday nights. The structure is beyond terrible, but is fairly easy to overcome thanks to the less than adequate skill set of the majority of players. One last week that I chopped with had literally never before played a poker tournament. He was friendly enough, perhaps a bit too apologetic as the deck smacked him hard and he raked the chips, oblivious to the "moves" other people were pulling. I didn't bother to make any moves, I simply got my chips in when I hit a hand against him and got paid.
The host is a brusque fellow who berated the new guy a bit, which I thought was truly bizarre. Firstly, it's $20 and secondly, why would you want to discourage an ATM at your game? Most of all he just wasn't very nice to him, which is not the way a host wants to roll I would think.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to my own home game this Saturday and then hopefully I can sneak off to play in at least one event for The Bike's Winnin' O' the Green event this month.
