Books & Limit Holdem

Today was a relatively quiet day. Caught up with Theos Rippis, a mate from my chess days in Sydney who has also become something of a poker player (he cashed in a $1500 NLHE at the 2008 WSOP) & spent some time at the Gamblers Book Shop. I picked up two books, the new David Sklansky essay-based book 'DUCY?' & 'Tales of Old Las Vegas' by Sam O'Connor, which I'm hoping can compare to 'When the Mob Ran Vegas' by Steve Fischer, which I picked up on my last trip to Las Vegas. When the Mob Ran Las Vegas covered for the most part Las Vegas in the 1950s & 60s & explained the growth of Las Vegas, from a desert into a thriving tourist destination. It was surprising to learn about the mob connections (from multiple parts of America) to many of the casinos in Las Vegas (including places like Caesars Palace & the Riviera) & interesting to discover some of the people & personalities of Las Vegas in those days. Another interesting part of Las Vegas of the 50s & 60s was the mob-enforced principle that no murders were to happen in Las Vegas, because it was not good for tourists & tourism, so any hits that were arranged by the mob were conducted outside Las Vegas. Really makes you wonder why some people who were on the hit list ever left Vegas ... but they did ... and often never returned.
Turning to poker, I played a session of $10/20 limit Holdem at the Rio. Nothing too eventful, though I did manage to run into runner-runner quads, with my AJ being no match for QQ on a A22QQ board. Also managed to repeat my trick from the other night, binking a set on the river on a board of AT83Q after getting four callers on the flop, checking the turn (I was the button) & getting in a raise on the river against a guy who I assume held AT by his reaction. I also had my name down for a mixed game, but was already at the limit table by the time I was called & was feeling tired, so just left the Rio when I got up from the holdem table, rather than taking a (now open) seat in the 415/30 mixed game.
It was also good to see another familiar face at the Rio, with Peter Aristidou playing a $2/5 NLHE game. I had a talk with him at the table while waiting for my name to be called. Peter played the Razz event earlier in the day & said he got nothing going & was out early. He was impressed with the Venetian (where he is staying with 'Carwash' George Cotaidas) & staggered at the standard serving size of meals over here, though he is missing good coffee! Although I didn't mention it, Peter would be a great interview of the podcast ... might see what I can do on that front.
Next on the agenda: Probably looking to play the 1pm Deepstack event at the Rio, with the backups options being cash games at the Rio, or the Pokerati/Deuces Cracked night at the Hard Rock Casino, which features a $1/2 PLO/NLHE mix

Back on the HORSE

Played another HORSE tournament, this time at the Golden Nugget. Had a table that was good in some ways & bad in others. Good because many players were horrible; bad because of the attitude, things done at the table & time taken to play out hands.
Personally, I didn't get much going & busted just before the dinner break, largely due to a big Stud8 hand where one of my opponents couldn't fold & caught up on 6th or 7th street. There is a short stack (showing a 7) at the table who completes after a limper (showing an A). There is a caller (showing an 8) & I raise (showing a J, with AA in the hole). The limper called, the short stack moves all in for half a bet more (1500 total playing 600/1200), the caller asks if I have the option to raise & folds when he is told that I can, so I re-raise & the limp/caller calls again. To make a long story short, my board ends up (AA)JK9T(5), with the short stack eventually making a 7-high straight (which scooped the main pot) & the other player in the hand (who called bets on every street except 7th) finished with a board of A29Q & showed AKT in the hole, to win the side with aces with KQ kickers! Yes, he called me down & caught his magic card on 6th or 7th ... which of course left me crippled.
To make matters worse, he'd taken quite a bit of time to call on each street (yes, even calling the re-raise on 3rd!) ... and then proceeded to call the clock on another player in the very next hand when he took more than 5 seconds to think about a decision on 5th street! And people thought Tiffany Michelle was bad for calling the clock in the Main Event a few years back ...
Of course to complete the day, I managed to get all-in pre-flop in holdem with Q9o & saw a final board of 4QQ9T, with one player betting all the way & being called down to the river ... only to see him turn over Q9 as well (so I only got half of the main pot!) & then finally went out with 56 suited, which flopped a straight & flush draw, but missed everything & I was playing the board by the river!

After that wonderful performance I headed to the Rio to see if they had any mixed games going. I put my name on a few lists, then went to have a look at the tournaments that were running. When I returned to the cash game area it was only a short wait before I got a seat in a $10/20 Omaha8 game & proceeded to run horribly before being called for $10/20 HORSE. I topped up my stack at the HORSE table & when it finally got going (lots of people walked past while there were three of us at the table waiting for players to start ... they checked the mix, looked at the table & walked off, often never to return) I managed to make up for both the earlier Omaha8 session, as well as re-couping my buy-in from the afternoon's tournament at the Golden Nugget. All-in-all, not a bad day.
Next on the agenda: Catching up with Theos Rippis, a mate of mine from my chess days in Sydney who I have not seen for years, who arrived yesterday ... and more poker!