More books, WSOP rail, poker & slowrolled by a bus!

To start the day I thought I'd make a return to the Gamblers Book Shop, primarily to get John Fox's book 'Play Poker, Quit Work & Sleep till noon' as I'd recently heard some good things about it, along with the fact that it seemed to be a rare book not available in many places. Of course to get there I had to catch two buses - the 202 down Flamingo, then the 110 on Eastern. Sounds fairly straightforward & it should have been. The issue was the transfer between buses - to get from the stop on Flamingo to the stop on Eastern, you need to walk 50 metres to the intersection, cross the road & then walk another 50 metres to the bus stop on Eastern. The first part was easy enough - got off the 202 & as I got to the intersection, I noticed the 110 at the opposite intersection waiting at a red light. Anyway, this means that I, along with the three or four others from the 202 who want to get on the 110, have to wait for the lights to change (and the bus to make it through the intersection to the bus stop) before we can cross the road. All seems to be going to plan - the bus stops & lets people off, the lights change & a group of us walk across the road ... and the bus waits at the stop. Fantastic! The driver has obviously seen that the other bus had just arrived & is waiting for those passengers to get to the 110. Anyway, as I am about 5 metres from the back of the bus (I've gone for the powerwalk option & lead the group fomr the 202) the engine is taken out of neutral ... no problem, I'm almost there. As I get to the middle of the bus it pulls out from the kerb & takes off! Talk about a slowroll! Not only do I get within literally 10 metres of the door, but I now have to wait another 20+ minutes for the next bus! So sick ....
Once I got to the bookshop I found the Fox book I was after & picked up a few other books while I was there, including the Doyle Brunson biography, which should be a good read if I ever get around to it. The return trip was relatively smooth, though I got withing 100 metres of the bus stop before the bus passed me, meaning I again had a 20 minute wait for the 110.
Rather than heading back to the strip, I took the 202 to the Rio, as I had a few mates who had made it through to day three who I wanted to check up on, as well as seeing what day 3 of the main event was like. Of course the two people I was looking for, Theos Rippis & Peter Aristidou, had both busted by the time I arrived, but it was good to see quite a few Aussies still in the hunt. Another disappointment of the day was the fact that the cash game area, which had been buzzing a week or so ago, was now almost dead, with barely 20 tables running ... and those tables were all no-limit holdem. So much for that idea!
After leaving the Rio, I dropped my shopping off in my room & headed to Caesars Palace for some poker (yes, I thought I'd try to fit some in). I found a seat in a $1/3 no-limit holdem game & won a few small pots before (as seems to be a habit) I had my huge pot for the evening. There were two limpers in front of me & I had AhQs on the button & raised to $15. Of course not only did the two limpers come along, but both blinds joined in making it five to the flop. The flop was Qh8h6d & it was checked to the cutoff who bet $40. I wasn't sure quite where I was in the hand, so decided to just call the $40. The blinds folded & the limper who was UTG+1 then made it $140 to go! The cutoff thought for a while before eventually folding. I had $37 left after the $100 raise & the guy who had put in the raise had made some strange plays earlier (including a call down with queen-high that beat his opponent's 8-high missed straight draw). I decided to put the rest of my stack in, hoping he just has a draw or a worse top pair rather than two pair or a set. The fact that he took more than half a second to call made me think I had a decent chance & when the board ran out Kh3s & I showed my hand & he mucked, so I took down a pot worth over $450 with one pair! I stayed for another 30 minutes or so, but was feeling tired, so left with a decent profit for the evening.
Next on the agenda: stuff ... will probably try to get another episode of the podcast done before I leave, though no guarentees. Maybe a tourist stop as well.

Some cash games & shopping

The last few days have given me an opportunity to play some cash games, with the main sessions being at Caesars Palace & (finally) a session at the Riviera. Ultimately the Caesars session was profitable, the Riviera not so much. There was a key hand at each venue which became the deciding factor as to whether the evening was profitable or not.
Caesars hand:
Caesars is a $1/3NL game, with quite a few big stacks at the table (largest was around the $900 mark). I sat with $200 and was up to around $250 when the following hand happened.
A lady who has recently sat down at the table with about $150 limps UTG, another lady to my immediate left (who had around $200) also called & I looked down at AsQd & raised to $12. It folded back around & both ladies called my raise. The flop came down AdQs3d & the first lady checked & the lady to my immediate right lead for $25. As I had top two pair, combined with the lady limp-calling pre-flop, I thought it was likely that I had the best hand, though I was not really sure what sort of a hand she could have to be leading into me on the flop. I also had the queen of diamonds, making it impossible for her to have a pair and a flush draw, so I decided to call her bet, hoping she could continue to bet her hand so that I could build a big pot in position with the best hand. Of course the plan changed when the first lady who checked decided to min-check-raise to $50! The lady that bet then called & I decided to have something of a think about the situation. A check-raise normally means one of two things in this type of situation (raising two players who have both already put money in the pot), either she has a big draw or a strong made hand. The logical options for this are 2 pair, a set (most likely 3s because of my hand & card elimination) or a flush/straight combo draw. I'm in decent shape against those hands & even if she has a set of 3s I still have 4 outs to win (though if this is the case I probably have less outs given the other lady in the hand). I decided to re-raise another $75 on top, hoping to get the pot heads-up when I hopefully have the best hand. Of course, the theme continued & the check-raiser called & the other lady moved in for an extra $14, which both I and the other lady in the hand called. She had about $25 left, so I decided to put her all-in on the turn (I was hardly going to fold with the pot so big), even though a less-than-ideal 6d was dealt. She called & the river was an offsuit 8 & I showed my AQ & scooped the $500+ pot! Of course this meant that the session at Caesars was a good one.
Today I went to the Riviera again & actually found a $1/2NL game going, albeit three handed. I decided to sit down anyway & after not too long the game became three handed when the other three players all managed to get their stacks in pre-flop with AKo v AKs v JJ, with the JJ scooping to bust the AKo & take most of the AKs' chips. He rebought, but not long afterwards lost that, so it was just myself & the other guy (who seemed to have an idea of what he was doing & had been the most aggressive at the table). I was about to leave & asked if he wanted to play heads-up (given that 95% or more of games that I have played in break when they get to 4-handed or less). He said yes, so we played heads-up ... which is one of the first times I had played live heads-up cash ... and its something I need to work on! I was getting crushed until I ended up on the right side of a cooler hand, where I had AA v his JJ on a ten high flop, with all the money going in on the turn. My aces held to take down a pot with just over $300 in it. He slowly chipped away at my stack until the following hand came up. I had about $250 to start the hand & he had me covered. He raised pre-flop to $6 (which he had been doing regularly) & I 3-bet to $15 (which I had done occasionally, but it was always to $15) with AKo. He called & we saw a flop of AdTs5d & I lead for $22, which he called. The turn was the Td & I bet $33 & was again called. The river was the Jc & I checked, planning to check-call the river. He then grebbed a stack of red & added a few red & blue ($1) chips to it & slid it forward. What hands could he have in this spot? What could he put me on in this spot? A few things went through my head. he could put me on a hand like QQ & have an ace & think he is value betting. He could have a ten & have me crushed. He could have diamonds & have me crushed. He could have air & be bluffing. He could have an ace that I have crushed. I thought it was pretty close & decided to call. Obviously given the earlier comments he had me crushed & showed 6d9d for a turned flush. In hindsight I guess I could have folded, but its the kind of situation that I have trouble with in no-limit holdem games, which was further made more difficult by my lack of heads-up experience. Anyway, live & learn I suppose.
As for shopping I made a few purchases at Barnes & Noble - a philosophy book 'The Terminator & Philosophy: I'll be back, Therefore I am' which looks at the philosophy in Terminator. I'd done some stuff on this in uni & found it interesting, so if I ever get around to reading it, I might rekindle my interest in philosophy. I also picked up a teaching book & a wrestling magazine because I am such a well-rounded individual that I think on so many levels! :-P
Only a few more days in the USA before I head back to Melbourne ... and the joy of the LV-->LA-->Syd-->Mel return journey ahead of me.
Next on the agenda: More cash games ... and maybe a tourney at the Rio if I can wake up that early!

Running bad, folding aces & making a profit

Decided to go to the Rio today to play the $200 1pm daily deepstack event they have there. It looks like it has a pretty decent structure, 30 minute levels, 15k start stack & the fields are growing by the day. There were 431 today, with the top 45 being paid. Of course I did my usual trick in tournaments & ran horribly. I ran top pair into aces, top pair (as pre-flop raiser) into top two pair & eventually got my money in pre-flop with KJ suited against 67o. The flop came down KQ2 rainbow, which you would think was a safe flop, but of course my opponent found running 6s to send me out. Standard!
I then went to the cash section & played some $1/3NL (the $10/20 mixed game that I would have preferred was not running). Things were going well, until of course I ran JJ into AA. The player with AA had limp-called pre-flop & check-raised the 952 flop, bet the T turn & checked the Q river ... and of course check-called my river bet! This meant I had to start over again (with half the stack) & it went well for the most part. There was one hand where I made what some people might consider to be a big fold ... 2 limpers in front of my & I raise to $12 in the hijack with AA. I get called by the big blind only. We are both about $450 or so deep (150BBs). Flop comes 976 rainbow & she leads for $20. I raise to $45 & she 3-bets it to $105 total. She seemed to be playing reasonably solid without getting out of line much at all, so I simply dumped the hand, figuring I was probably behind ... and even if I wasn't there weren't too many turn cards that I would be overjoyed with (with the possible exception of an Ace, though even then I'm still behind T* for the flopped straight). Eventually I left with a little over 100BBs in profit, so not a bad day at the 'office', in spite of the horrible tournament run continuing.
Next on the agenda: Back to the Rio ... cash games & possibly a satellite for the HORSE