An interesting day today. I started off with a trip to the Gamblers Book Shop (yes, as opposed to the Gamblers General Store) where I picked up a few books, including Dusty Schmidt's 'Treat Your Poker Like A Business'; Jon Turner, Eric Lynch & Jon Van Fleet's 'Winning Poker Tournaments One Hand at a Time Volume 2'; a biography of Johnny Moss as well as some others. Although its a pretty small place, it is filled with all things poker & gambling, and has pretty much anything you can think of in relation to things you find in a casino.
Following the shop visit, I headed downtown, intending to play the 2pm satellite at Binions for the main event there. Of course I managed to miss the bus down Fremont Street by about a minute (the bus I was getting off pulled up at the stop just as the bus I wanted to catch left the stop on the cross street), so I decided in my infinite wisdom to walk down Fremont Street ... which sounded like a good idea at the time ... but of course this was before I realised it was about 1.50 in the afternoon in a desert! Anyway, long story short ... I managed to get to Binions at around 2.30, with a stopover at 7-11 for a drink, and *somewhat* sweaty! Of course this was not the best state (or time) to play a 2pm tournament, so after grabbing a seat to cool down, I took a seat at the $2/4 limit holdem table in the Binions Poker Room, planning to stay there until 5pm, when there was another Main Event satellite running. The limit holdem session went a bit better than expected & I managed to pick up over $100 in a little over 2 hours! Yep, the standard 13 big bets per hour ... just like Sklansky says! Anyway, this profitable session meant that the satellite was effectively a freeroll. The tournament had 68 runners, which meant there were 6 seats up for grabs, with some cash for 7th place. My tournament was going pretty well until my final hand. Although in hindsight I played the hand badly, I'm not too unhappy with the play given the structure of the tournament. I started the hand with 9600 playing 300/600 blinds. With 20 minute levels & blinds about to go up to 500/1000 there was a raise from early position to 1700. I looked down at AKo in the small blind & decided to re-raise to 4500. In hindsight I probably should have just shoved my 9600 in the middle, but I was looking to double up rather than simply picking up the blinds & the raise. I thought that the fact that I had put about half my stack in would be a sign to my opponent that I was not folding & expected my opponent to either re-raise (he had my covered by about 1500 or so) or fold. Of course this thought was completely wrong & my opponent decided that calling the 2500 extra would be a good play, so we went to the flop. I had mentally committed to the hand & the flop itself was (in theory) a pretty decent one for my hand - 585. Being a paired board, with such a low card being paired, meant that it was likely I had the best hand. The fact that he didn't re-raise suggested that he didn't have a pocket pair (unless I was already crushed with AA, but even that wouldn't make too much sense with the blinds going up so quickly) & it that was the case, he needed either a 5 or 8 to be in front of me ... and even if he did have an 8 I still had 2 overcards with 2 cards to come (not the best shape, but still with a reasonable chance. Of course my opponent had the good old 9d8d for top pair. A standard flat call pre-flop obviously ... and of course the dealer put another 8 out on the turn, removing any hope I had of winning the pot & sending me on my way from the 'place that made poker famous' in around 40th place.
Next on the agenda: Being a tourist with the exhibitions at the MGM & Luxor still to see! Maybe some poker as well ... for a change! Of course this is before the weekend of UFC!!
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Mammoth mixed game session!
After a fairly quiet weekend, particularly for Las Vegas, where I picked up a new external hard drive & had a shortish session of $1/2NL at the Flamingo, I rounded off the weekend with a session in the $3/6 mixed game at the Imperial Palace.
The Flamingo session was fairly uneventful, with the highlight being a hand where a player opened for $10 & I called on the button with 55. The hand was checked to the river (think the final board was something like T9742) & I thought for a few seconds before checking behind on the river ... and my opponent mucked! Ship the pot! Also managed to lose the two big hands of the night to the same guy ... first when I tried (unsuccessfully of course) to get him off top pair with my middle pair (where I was betting every street, including pre-flop), then later I ran my AK into his KT on a KT8K6 board.
The mixed game at the IP was surprisingly tight this time. There were few hands that were 5 or more to the flop (or draw) & few that had 4 or 5 bets in pre-flop. Made for a different dynamic from previous nights in the IP mixed game! I got off to a slow start, but hit some run good around 3am (some 5 hours after I sat down) & this continued until the game broke at around 9am! I'm sure my body clock is going to be somewhat askew for the next day or two as a result, but its always good to book a decent win in a game that is enjoyable to play ... complete with the challenges of trying to figure out if you have the best hand, or should bet or check in a game like double flop Omaha or 3-2-1 Omaha, or 4 card crazy ocean Pineapple! I think this will be a place to find me if you are in Vegas on a Sunday night for the next few weeks.
Next on the agenda: some more tourist stuff, a haircut ... and some poker.
The Flamingo session was fairly uneventful, with the highlight being a hand where a player opened for $10 & I called on the button with 55. The hand was checked to the river (think the final board was something like T9742) & I thought for a few seconds before checking behind on the river ... and my opponent mucked! Ship the pot! Also managed to lose the two big hands of the night to the same guy ... first when I tried (unsuccessfully of course) to get him off top pair with my middle pair (where I was betting every street, including pre-flop), then later I ran my AK into his KT on a KT8K6 board.
The mixed game at the IP was surprisingly tight this time. There were few hands that were 5 or more to the flop (or draw) & few that had 4 or 5 bets in pre-flop. Made for a different dynamic from previous nights in the IP mixed game! I got off to a slow start, but hit some run good around 3am (some 5 hours after I sat down) & this continued until the game broke at around 9am! I'm sure my body clock is going to be somewhat askew for the next day or two as a result, but its always good to book a decent win in a game that is enjoyable to play ... complete with the challenges of trying to figure out if you have the best hand, or should bet or check in a game like double flop Omaha or 3-2-1 Omaha, or 4 card crazy ocean Pineapple! I think this will be a place to find me if you are in Vegas on a Sunday night for the next few weeks.
Next on the agenda: some more tourist stuff, a haircut ... and some poker.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Rough day at the tables & some history
After yesterday's good run at Planet Hollywood I decided to play a Venetian tournament. A big field (think it ended up being 649) filled the tables surrounding the poker room that have been set up for the Deepstack Series. I got off to a great start, with a dubioud play working out and putting a player on tilt at the same time! Blinds were 50/100 & it folded to the cutoff who raised to 300. I had A3dd on the button & made the call, as did the big blind. The flop came down T42 with one diamond & the cutoff bet 600. I called, deciding to peel with the gutshot while I had chips (starting stack was 12k) & could make such plays & the BB called as well. All fairly standard so far. The turn brought the Kd, giving me a flush draw as well. The cutoff bet 1100 this time & I called again, only to see the big blind raise to 4100. The cutoff quickly folded & I thought about the bet. I knew my ace-high was behind, but with at least 10 clean outs (any 5 or a diamond that doesn't pair the board) & as many as 15 (diamonds that pair the board or an ace might win me the pot, but I thought it was unlikely), combined with the 8450 already in the pot (with 3000 more to call), I decided to gamble a bit & make the call. The river was a magic card for me, the 5d & the big blind almost instantly moved all-in! I called instantly & showed my Ad3d & this sent the big blind into a spin as he dejectedly showed his TT for flopped top set. This began something of a tirade from the player 'you called with a gutshot!'; 'were you hoping to hit an ace?'; 'you know a diamond that paired the board was no good!'; 'you really called 3000 more on the turn!' ... which I ignored, though there was another player at the table who decided to give the simple explanation for me ... he flopped a gutshot, turned a flush draw & got there. Conveniently for me a level or so later the same player gave me the rest of his chips when I raised with QQ & he moved all-in almost immediately. I called & my hand held up against his A3o. An excellent start to be over 25k at the first break. Of course shortly after the break (where I picked up my 'free' souvenir card protector - it was either that, a t-shirt [only small sizes left], a cap or a $10 food voucher) I was moved to a new table where there were a few stacks bigger than mine. Of course I lost some chips early at this new table, but reovered them when I picked up AK in back-to-back hands. I stayed around the 20-25k mark until I found a way to get rid of them all in one hand. 200/400/50 & I raised to 2200 in the cutoff, after two limpers, with 87 of clubs. The small blind called & we saw a flop of KcQs6c so I have a flush draw & the betting lead against an opponent who has me covered (he recently doubled up against a tight old lady who had been moved to the table when his 96 flopped 2 pair against her QQ & held up). I lead on the flop for 3300 & my opponent called. The turn brought the blank 2d & I bet 5000 after it checked to me again. My opponent quickly put the rest of his 5k chips in the middle, effectively putting me all-in. I thought about it for a while & eventually decided to put my remaining 10k at risk in an attempt to win the 33k+ that was in the middle. The river paired the king (meaning it wasn't a club) & my opponent's AQo won the pot & I left the Venetian.
I decided to head to the Luxor to see the Titanic exhibition that is on there. Of course there are ways to get more money from tourists, so they price a single exhibit at $27 & offer a 3-exhibit pass for $54, so I picked up tickets to Bodies (also at Luxor) & CSI (at MGM) while I was there. The exhibit itself was very interesting, with a number of artefacts & recreated areas of the ship on display. The big draw of the Luxor exhibit (which is a 10-year exhibit, unlike many of the shorter temporary displays like the one on in Melbourne at the moment) was the creatively titled 'Big Piece', which is a section of the side of the boat which is roughly 5mx2m in size. Also of interest was one of the passengers on board, a journalist named William Thomas Stead. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, primarily the W.T. Stead resource site, I discovered that Mr Stead introduced the interview to journalism in the mid 1880 & was also credited with creating the Titanic mummy curse myth. Sounds like an interesting character!
After the exhibition I decided to head to the Rio, looking to either play some satellites for the $2500 8-game tournament, or play some cash mixed games. The satellites were somewhat disorganised (as they often seem to be) & although I put my name on the list for an 8-game satellite, I took a seat at a $20/40 mixed game before the satellite was called. The mix was 2-7 triple draw, razz, Stud hi-lo, Baduci (2-7/bagudi split) & Badaci (A-5/badugi split) ... interestingly without badugi, as it apparently 'played too slowly' (which makes no sense at all ... but the mix was set before I arrived). Anyway, I proceeded to run horrendously, with the exception of one baduci hand where I was dealt 76432 with a 64 badugi on the initial deal & was called down to the last draw by two players after I made it four bets pre-draw, with one player calling on the end to see the bad (for him) news. Of course I managed to have the unique honour of the night of being quartered in badaci, with my 7642A with 642A badugi being up against 6542A with a 642A badugi, in what was the only quartering while I was at the table. The run good (of my opponents) saw me leave with a lighter wallet & crushed my hopes of playing the 8-game event at the WSOP.
Next on the agenda: being a tourist in Las Vegas & finding some run good in cash games ... and a break from tournaments for a few days.
I decided to head to the Luxor to see the Titanic exhibition that is on there. Of course there are ways to get more money from tourists, so they price a single exhibit at $27 & offer a 3-exhibit pass for $54, so I picked up tickets to Bodies (also at Luxor) & CSI (at MGM) while I was there. The exhibit itself was very interesting, with a number of artefacts & recreated areas of the ship on display. The big draw of the Luxor exhibit (which is a 10-year exhibit, unlike many of the shorter temporary displays like the one on in Melbourne at the moment) was the creatively titled 'Big Piece', which is a section of the side of the boat which is roughly 5mx2m in size. Also of interest was one of the passengers on board, a journalist named William Thomas Stead. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, primarily the W.T. Stead resource site, I discovered that Mr Stead introduced the interview to journalism in the mid 1880 & was also credited with creating the Titanic mummy curse myth. Sounds like an interesting character!
After the exhibition I decided to head to the Rio, looking to either play some satellites for the $2500 8-game tournament, or play some cash mixed games. The satellites were somewhat disorganised (as they often seem to be) & although I put my name on the list for an 8-game satellite, I took a seat at a $20/40 mixed game before the satellite was called. The mix was 2-7 triple draw, razz, Stud hi-lo, Baduci (2-7/bagudi split) & Badaci (A-5/badugi split) ... interestingly without badugi, as it apparently 'played too slowly' (which makes no sense at all ... but the mix was set before I arrived). Anyway, I proceeded to run horrendously, with the exception of one baduci hand where I was dealt 76432 with a 64 badugi on the initial deal & was called down to the last draw by two players after I made it four bets pre-draw, with one player calling on the end to see the bad (for him) news. Of course I managed to have the unique honour of the night of being quartered in badaci, with my 7642A with 642A badugi being up against 6542A with a 642A badugi, in what was the only quartering while I was at the table. The run good (of my opponents) saw me leave with a lighter wallet & crushed my hopes of playing the 8-game event at the WSOP.
Next on the agenda: being a tourist in Las Vegas & finding some run good in cash games ... and a break from tournaments for a few days.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Quiet day, then hit by the deck!
Had a relatively quiet day today, watching some videos in my room after I woke up. The Pokerstars Big Game is looking like an interesting show, with the 'Loose Cannon' concept working fairly well with the first two Loose Cannons doing well for themselves.
I decided to head to Planet Hollywood for dinner, getting my usual order from Earl of Sandwich before what was intended to be a quick stop in the Poker Room before heading to O'Sheas for the Deuces Cracked drinks night. After a slow start I was down roughly $120 playing $1/2 No limit when I started to think about leaving. Of course as soon as this happened, I looked down at QQ after two limpers. I raised to $12 & was called by the button & one of the limpers. The flop came down J65 & the limper lead at the pot for $20. Having only $65 behind I decided that I needed to gamble to try and win a big pot, so just called the $20. The button also called the $20. The action happened on the turn, which was a repeat 6. The limper moved all-in for $80. I took a little bit of time before moving my remaining $45 into the middle as well. The button then went into deep thought & eventually called the $80. Quite a pot up for grabs! The river was another 6 & my QQ took the main pot, with the limper's JT chopping with the button's AJ for the side pot. Excellent ... now I am back in the black & ahead enough to cover my dinner! Time to head to O'Sheas obviously ... but not wanting to be *THAT GUY*, I decided to play another round at the table before leaving. Of course just as I was about to leave (I was UTG & planning to leave after the hand) I look down at AA! Guess I'm playing this hand ... so I raise to $8 & get called by the player to my left (who had been playing fairly tight) & the big blind. The flop came down 873 with a club draw (I had the Ac) & I lead at the pot for $17 & was called by the player to my left. The turn brought the Js & I bet $25, only to be raised to $50 by the player to my left. I thought it was unlikely that my opponent had two pair (like 87) as he had been playing fairly standard. I was a little worried about T9, but was more concerned about a set (33, 77 or 88). I also thought he could be doing this with a hand like AJ or a pair above 88, so decided to call, with the intention of check-calling on a safe river & throwing up before check-calling on a not-so-safe river. Part 1 of the plan went fine ... offsuit 2 on the river & I checked. My opponent then put out a $100 bet! Of course a smaller bet would have been an easy call & an all-in would have also been relatively easy (double-up or go home & it was part of the plan on the turn), but $100 was an awkward amount. It was about half of my opponent's remaining stack & if I lost the hand I would be left with about $50. Ultimately I decided that the river didn't change anything, so I had to go with my turn read. If my opponent had a set, so be it ... if not, my hand should be good. I eventually called, to be me with a 'good call, you've got it' & I turned over my aces & my opponent showed 55 for a bluff. Over $400! So now the plan from before came into effect ... play another round, then head to O'Sheas ... but plans rarely go as planned! On the next round there was a limp & a raise in front of me to $12 when I looked down to see AcKc. I decided that I didn't want to play a big pot pre-flop, so just called. Another player called & we saw a flop of 6c5c2d. Not a bad flop! The pre-flop raiser lead out for $25. I considered raising, but decided to just call & the other player got out of the way. The turn was a great card for me, 4c meaning I had the nut flush (though not the absolute nuts with the straight flush possibilities). My opponent bet again, this time $45 & I did a bit of fake thinking before calling. The river was another excellent card for my hand, an offsuit 3, putting a 6-high straight on the board. My opponent checked & after a short while I put out a $90 bet. Of course there are a number of hands that I would play in a similar manner that make the river bet logical - a hand that is big, like the flush that I have, or possibly a hand like 77 that rivered a straight after being an overpair on previous streets ... or a hand like an overpair that was now counterfeited by the straight on board, or a complete bluff. My opponent thought for quite a while before finally calling ... and I showed the nut flush to take a sizable pot! Ultimately what was intended to be a brief stop became a longer session, though definitely a profitable one.
I decided to drop into O'Sheas briefly (I was a few hour late for the intended 10pm start) & saw a few DC shirts around the place, including Chris 'DeathDonkey' Vitch at the Craps table, but ultimately decided to head back to the hotel.
Next on the agenda: possibly a tournament at the Venetian (if I wake up in time), otherwise I might go for the bookstore or Titanic options ... or maybe just some cash games somewhere.
I decided to head to Planet Hollywood for dinner, getting my usual order from Earl of Sandwich before what was intended to be a quick stop in the Poker Room before heading to O'Sheas for the Deuces Cracked drinks night. After a slow start I was down roughly $120 playing $1/2 No limit when I started to think about leaving. Of course as soon as this happened, I looked down at QQ after two limpers. I raised to $12 & was called by the button & one of the limpers. The flop came down J65 & the limper lead at the pot for $20. Having only $65 behind I decided that I needed to gamble to try and win a big pot, so just called the $20. The button also called the $20. The action happened on the turn, which was a repeat 6. The limper moved all-in for $80. I took a little bit of time before moving my remaining $45 into the middle as well. The button then went into deep thought & eventually called the $80. Quite a pot up for grabs! The river was another 6 & my QQ took the main pot, with the limper's JT chopping with the button's AJ for the side pot. Excellent ... now I am back in the black & ahead enough to cover my dinner! Time to head to O'Sheas obviously ... but not wanting to be *THAT GUY*, I decided to play another round at the table before leaving. Of course just as I was about to leave (I was UTG & planning to leave after the hand) I look down at AA! Guess I'm playing this hand ... so I raise to $8 & get called by the player to my left (who had been playing fairly tight) & the big blind. The flop came down 873 with a club draw (I had the Ac) & I lead at the pot for $17 & was called by the player to my left. The turn brought the Js & I bet $25, only to be raised to $50 by the player to my left. I thought it was unlikely that my opponent had two pair (like 87) as he had been playing fairly standard. I was a little worried about T9, but was more concerned about a set (33, 77 or 88). I also thought he could be doing this with a hand like AJ or a pair above 88, so decided to call, with the intention of check-calling on a safe river & throwing up before check-calling on a not-so-safe river. Part 1 of the plan went fine ... offsuit 2 on the river & I checked. My opponent then put out a $100 bet! Of course a smaller bet would have been an easy call & an all-in would have also been relatively easy (double-up or go home & it was part of the plan on the turn), but $100 was an awkward amount. It was about half of my opponent's remaining stack & if I lost the hand I would be left with about $50. Ultimately I decided that the river didn't change anything, so I had to go with my turn read. If my opponent had a set, so be it ... if not, my hand should be good. I eventually called, to be me with a 'good call, you've got it' & I turned over my aces & my opponent showed 55 for a bluff. Over $400! So now the plan from before came into effect ... play another round, then head to O'Sheas ... but plans rarely go as planned! On the next round there was a limp & a raise in front of me to $12 when I looked down to see AcKc. I decided that I didn't want to play a big pot pre-flop, so just called. Another player called & we saw a flop of 6c5c2d. Not a bad flop! The pre-flop raiser lead out for $25. I considered raising, but decided to just call & the other player got out of the way. The turn was a great card for me, 4c meaning I had the nut flush (though not the absolute nuts with the straight flush possibilities). My opponent bet again, this time $45 & I did a bit of fake thinking before calling. The river was another excellent card for my hand, an offsuit 3, putting a 6-high straight on the board. My opponent checked & after a short while I put out a $90 bet. Of course there are a number of hands that I would play in a similar manner that make the river bet logical - a hand that is big, like the flush that I have, or possibly a hand like 77 that rivered a straight after being an overpair on previous streets ... or a hand like an overpair that was now counterfeited by the straight on board, or a complete bluff. My opponent thought for quite a while before finally calling ... and I showed the nut flush to take a sizable pot! Ultimately what was intended to be a brief stop became a longer session, though definitely a profitable one.
I decided to drop into O'Sheas briefly (I was a few hour late for the intended 10pm start) & saw a few DC shirts around the place, including Chris 'DeathDonkey' Vitch at the Craps table, but ultimately decided to head back to the hotel.
Next on the agenda: possibly a tournament at the Venetian (if I wake up in time), otherwise I might go for the bookstore or Titanic options ... or maybe just some cash games somewhere.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
New Logo! Oh ... and some poker
The Donkcast now has a logo! Many thanks go to a former student of mine, Diarmaid Murray, who decided to spend some time with photoshop ... and the results are at the top of the page! Hope you like it.
I should also give a plug for Diarmaid's blog while I'm singing his praises http://anydaytuesday.wordpress.com/
In other news I played the 1pm deepstack tournament at the Rio today, ran horribly and busted early (yes, I was out before the first break). Of course I ran TT into AA on a 7-high board; rivered trips into a rivered flush; AK into AK to chop; and finally lost a race when my TT could not hold up against the might that is AK.
With that over I decided to head to the WSOP shop & picked up some gear (a hoodie, t-shirt, cap & magnet) before heading to the cash tables. I began with some limit holdem. Of course I continued the trend from the tournament, with players finding ways to beat whatever hand I had. Of course it would feel much worse because they would raise & bet with their draws, which inevitably got there on the river ... yet when I tried the same I simply got called down & missed, tabling the 'queen-high, I missed' or similar on the end, only to see the pot being shipped elsewhere.
I thought it was a good thing to be called for my HORSE table, however a combination of having similar things happen there, combined with some poor play on my part meant that I left the Rio tired & with a lighter wallet than I had arrived with. Of course mentally I keep telling myself to avoid problem spots, yet somehow I still keep finding myself in them after not following my own advice. T865 with a suit in Omaha hi-lo ... yes its been raised in front of me, but there are two callers & I'm in the big blind ... so rather than making the simple play & folding the hand like I should, I find the evil voice putting thoughts like 'well I am getting 7-to-1'; 'what if I flop a straight & it holds'; 'a ten-high flush might scoop a big pot' and the like, so I play the hand, wind up with some kind of dodgy draw (or even worse a dodgy combo draw), which either misses, or worse still, gets there & is no good ... and the chips I work hard for at other times seem to disappear twice as fast! Such is the dilemma of the poker player ...
**Correction** In yesterday's blog I said that I went to the Gamblers Book Shop, when in fact I went to the Gamblers General Store ... yes the first place does exist (and I might make a trip there some day), but it wasn't the place I went to.
Next on the agenda: Something relaxing (considering the Titanic Artifacts exhibition at the Luxor) or another bookshop trip, with some poker mixed in before another Deuces Cracked meet-up, this time at O'Sheas
I should also give a plug for Diarmaid's blog while I'm singing his praises http://anydaytuesday.wordpress.com/
In other news I played the 1pm deepstack tournament at the Rio today, ran horribly and busted early (yes, I was out before the first break). Of course I ran TT into AA on a 7-high board; rivered trips into a rivered flush; AK into AK to chop; and finally lost a race when my TT could not hold up against the might that is AK.
With that over I decided to head to the WSOP shop & picked up some gear (a hoodie, t-shirt, cap & magnet) before heading to the cash tables. I began with some limit holdem. Of course I continued the trend from the tournament, with players finding ways to beat whatever hand I had. Of course it would feel much worse because they would raise & bet with their draws, which inevitably got there on the river ... yet when I tried the same I simply got called down & missed, tabling the 'queen-high, I missed' or similar on the end, only to see the pot being shipped elsewhere.
I thought it was a good thing to be called for my HORSE table, however a combination of having similar things happen there, combined with some poor play on my part meant that I left the Rio tired & with a lighter wallet than I had arrived with. Of course mentally I keep telling myself to avoid problem spots, yet somehow I still keep finding myself in them after not following my own advice. T865 with a suit in Omaha hi-lo ... yes its been raised in front of me, but there are two callers & I'm in the big blind ... so rather than making the simple play & folding the hand like I should, I find the evil voice putting thoughts like 'well I am getting 7-to-1'; 'what if I flop a straight & it holds'; 'a ten-high flush might scoop a big pot' and the like, so I play the hand, wind up with some kind of dodgy draw (or even worse a dodgy combo draw), which either misses, or worse still, gets there & is no good ... and the chips I work hard for at other times seem to disappear twice as fast! Such is the dilemma of the poker player ...
**Correction** In yesterday's blog I said that I went to the Gamblers Book Shop, when in fact I went to the Gamblers General Store ... yes the first place does exist (and I might make a trip there some day), but it wasn't the place I went to.
Next on the agenda: Something relaxing (considering the Titanic Artifacts exhibition at the Luxor) or another bookshop trip, with some poker mixed in before another Deuces Cracked meet-up, this time at O'Sheas
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
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
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
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!
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!
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Some run good in cash!
Played some cash games yesterday. I started at the Rio, playing $10/20 limit holdem. Of course the easy way to make money at limit holdem is to run good & that's exactly what I did. Top pair, middle set, etc. The best of the lot was when a player raised from early position, there was a call from the cutoff & I called in the big blind with 99. The flop came down T54 & I checked, the pre-flop raiser bet, the cutoff called & I decided to peel one off. My 9s might be in front, but I couldn't really be sure. Of course the turn made it easy for me ... BINK ... 9! I lead into the pot on the turn & the pre-flop raiser made it two bets, the cutoff folded & i made it three bets. The pre-flop raiser called & called my bet on the end & after I showed my 99, turned over AT in disgust. While at the Rio I also had a look at some of the tournaments running at the time ... quite a few pros still in lots of events.
I then decided to go to the Hard Rock to see what was going on there on Sunday night, in particular hoping to play a mixed game, which apparently happen there from time to time. There is also the Pokernews game there on Wednesday nights, which includes the Pokerati $1/2 NLH/PLO game. Of course there was nothing but $1/2 NLH running, so I sat down for a while. The run good continued, with the big double-up plus hand coming in a limped pot. I had AJo in the small blind & saw a flop of JT7. The plan was to check-raise the flop to try & build a pot & get it heads-up, so I checked ... it was checked around to the cutoff, who bet $12. The button then raised to $24. I wasn't so pleased with my top pair, top kicker, thinking there was a chance I was up against two pair or better, however I could also still have the best hand, so I just called. To make matters worse, the drunk guy who was playing any two (and hitting from time to time) then re-raised to $48! The initial bettor folded & the button called, so I also called. The turn was another Jack, which was either a great card for me (because I was now in front) or a horrible card for me (as I was still behind a straight or full house, but now could not fold). I checked again, knowing that I couldn't fold my remaining stack (just under $100) & the crunk guy moved all-in for around $150. This got the button to fold, though he did take some time & show his cards to players nearby at his end of the table, which made me think he had bottom two pair that had now been counterfeited. I called & the dealer put out the river ... another jack! Runner-runner quads! Not a bad hand. I showed my AJ & the $350+ pot came my way. I stayed a little longer & left with a reasonable profit ... not a bad day in the office for a change!
Next on the agenda: Back to tournaments downtown. Probably HORSE at the Golden Nugget, but maybe PLO8 at Binions.
I then decided to go to the Hard Rock to see what was going on there on Sunday night, in particular hoping to play a mixed game, which apparently happen there from time to time. There is also the Pokernews game there on Wednesday nights, which includes the Pokerati $1/2 NLH/PLO game. Of course there was nothing but $1/2 NLH running, so I sat down for a while. The run good continued, with the big double-up plus hand coming in a limped pot. I had AJo in the small blind & saw a flop of JT7. The plan was to check-raise the flop to try & build a pot & get it heads-up, so I checked ... it was checked around to the cutoff, who bet $12. The button then raised to $24. I wasn't so pleased with my top pair, top kicker, thinking there was a chance I was up against two pair or better, however I could also still have the best hand, so I just called. To make matters worse, the drunk guy who was playing any two (and hitting from time to time) then re-raised to $48! The initial bettor folded & the button called, so I also called. The turn was another Jack, which was either a great card for me (because I was now in front) or a horrible card for me (as I was still behind a straight or full house, but now could not fold). I checked again, knowing that I couldn't fold my remaining stack (just under $100) & the crunk guy moved all-in for around $150. This got the button to fold, though he did take some time & show his cards to players nearby at his end of the table, which made me think he had bottom two pair that had now been counterfeited. I called & the dealer put out the river ... another jack! Runner-runner quads! Not a bad hand. I showed my AJ & the $350+ pot came my way. I stayed a little longer & left with a reasonable profit ... not a bad day in the office for a change!
Next on the agenda: Back to tournaments downtown. Probably HORSE at the Golden Nugget, but maybe PLO8 at Binions.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
23rd in the H.O.R.S.E. at the World Series!
Yes, I managed to run good in a tournament for once! Not a bad tournament to find the run good in either ... the $1500 HORSE at the WSOP. 827 players entered & I managed to finish in 23rd place, taking home a little over $5200 (after the IRS/US Treasury took their cut) for my three days (well two days & about 20 minutes) at the tables.
I got off to a decent start, building my 4500 starting stack to 5500 by the first break & dropped slightly to 4800 at the dinner break. Post-dinner was horrible for me & I sunk to just 900 at the final break for the day & was pretty much ready to write the tournament off completely. I had a quick chat with Chuck & Joe of http://deucescracked.com who were at a table in the Poker Kitchen & told them of my plight - I almost told them to hold the seat for me because I would be back soon ... but didn't.
The first critical hand for me was the first back from the break. I have only 900 left & we're playing 400/800 Razz. Thankfully I have a 3 as my door card & there is only one other card below a 9 showing (one player has an ace). I look down & see 22 in the hole ... not exactly the A2 or A4 I was hoping for, but with only one other low card I decided that this was the hand ... make or break time! I complete the bet to 400 & the ace calls. Fourth street sees me catch a 6 & the ace catches a 9. I have the lead & bet my last 400 (though I don't make any indication that it is my last chips, nor do I announce that I am all-in) & my opponent insta-folds! Double-up for me! Of course I managed to go on a massive run & built my stack up to a high point of around 13k before losing a few pots just before the end of play to finish at 8900 for the day.
Day two saw me get off to a good start, with my initial table (with Jason Mercier) being the first to break. The second table was good for me, before moving again, where I settled in, stuck between Yuval Bronstein (on my right) & Brandon Cantu (on my left). I managed to keep my stack around the 20k mark for most of the day before winning a big (30k+) pot against Bronstein in Razz, where my 75 improved to a 65 on 7th street to beat out his 75 that he made on 7th street. That got me near the 50k mark, where I stayed for much of the middle part of the day. I picked up a few big pots later in the day which took me over the 100k mark & I was doing great until my table broke.
At the next table (where I remained for the rest of the day) I started well enough, but made a few mistakes (the biggest was thinking I was playing Stud8 when we were still on Stud Hi & I called down an opponent thinking I was drawing to a 6-low, only to make a pair of kings on the river & pay him off in a 15k+ pot) & lost some big hands (the biggest being a 3-way holdem hand where I had top 2 pair & was called down by a player who had flopped a flush draw & made it on the river, with the other player also staying in the hand until the river, for a 50k+ pot) before I found myself at critical hand #2.
By this stage I was getting short on chips (around 30k) & the limits were now 4k/8k. I was BB in the holdem round when it was folded to the button who raised. I called with J9o & saw a flop of AT9, giving me bottom pair. Although it was not an ideal flop, I did have a pair & the button would likely bet the flop trying to represent the ace. As expected, I checked, the button bet & I check-raised (the button was also very short & I only just had him covered), only for the button to respond with a 3-bet. Thinking positively (or perhaps over-optimistically), I surmised that although I was most likely behind now, there were a number of good turn cards that could come for me (I had the Jc to go with the 9c & Tc on the flop to give me a three-card straight flush draw), so I decided to call & see what came on the turn ... BINK! 9 on the turn! I bet both the turn & river (and was called down) & showed my winning J9o, much to the disgust of my opponent, who said he had AJ & I had caught a 2-outer. I guess you just have to run well to make it deep in these things after all!
Anyway, Al Barbieri (who went on to finish 2nd) joined the table late in the day & he managed to run like God (or at least a very fast Kenyan) & collected a large portion of chips on the table, making whatever hand he needed to to win the pot ... including a few from me & I was left with 52,500 at the end of the day.
Day 3 saw a tough table (though with only 3 tables, all were tough). I was seated between Robert Mizrachi (to my right) & defending champ James Van Alstyne (to my left), with overnight chip leader & eventual winner Konstantin Puchkov sitting to his left. The day started with Holdem & I didn't make it out of the round. With levels of 6k/12k I didn't have much room to move & had to find a way to get chips & get chips quickly! First hand of the day sees me pick up A6cc UTG+1 & I decide to raise, only to be 3-bet by Van Alstyne. I decide to call & see the flop before deciding if this is going to be the hand or not & see a not-so-friendly flop of KQ4 & I check-fold to Van Alstyne's bet. When I was BB it folded around to Robert Mizrachi, who raised. I looked down at KQo & 3-bet, knowing I was not folding, regardless of the flop. Thankfully the flop was KJ6 & what was left of my stack found its way into the middle, with Mizrachi tabling J8o for middle pair. He missed & I even managed to hit a queen on the river to make sure of the double-up & I was back to 50k. I then got involved in another hand when in the small blind! A late-position player raised & I looked down at A9ss & made it 3 bets. The raiser called & I bet both the flop & turn before check-calling on the river on a board of 742J3, to be shown 87 for flopped top pair ... and I was back to being the short stack once again! My final hand came when it was folded to me in the cutoff & I looked down at Q8 of diamonds. This would be it ... I raised & the big stack in the small blind asked how much I had behind (which is either a really bad or really good question to hear, depending on the response) & proceeded to re-raise (not the response I was looking for). I re-raised all-in & found out I was in horrible shape against his AQ of clubs. Of course the flop made my predicament worse, falling KQ7 with 2 clubs, meaning I had only 2 outs to survive. I missed my 8 & my opponent found the final nail on the river with a club & I left to get my payout in 23rd place.
Of course the taxman got a decent chunk of my prizemoney (why Australia & America don't have a tax treaty to avoid this situation is beyond me!), but I left with a little over $5200 for my efforts, which was quite a change from the day 1 bustout I was expecting!
Afterwards I went to Aria to play some $1/3NL (in the absence of any mixed or limit games running) & managed to find an awkward spot to lose my stack. I had $107 to start the hand & looked down at AA UTG & raised to $10 ... standard so far. Of course it then proceeded call, fold, call, call, call, etc around the table & there were 8 people to the flop!! Now I have some idea of how Barry Greenstein felt on High Stakes Poker! Anyway, the flop came down 9s8s5c ... not an ideal flop for aces (though I did have the ace of spades) when facing 7 opponents. My dilemma was made worse by the small blind, who lead out for $20, which the big blind called. What to do in this spot? I was really unsure & eventually decided to just call the $20. Everyone else at the table folded & we went to the turn to see the Jc. Again not an ideal card, but it was checked to me, so I put my remaining $77 in the middle ... and the SB went into the tank ... and eventually called. This then got the BB thinking ... but he eventually called as well! Looks like it was either a triple-up or bustout for me ... and then the river 9h appeared. Both players checked, so I was hopeful. The small blind turned over T5ss for bottom pair & a missed straight & flush draws. The BB turned over T9o, for three 9s (flopped top pair & missed straight draw), which was more than enough to beat out my aces up ... oh well ...
Tim Duckworth, from http://pokernews.com & http://www.tiltedbehaviour.com/ had dropped by earlier in the evening & asked about mixed games in Las Vegas & said he was going to try to get a $4/8 HORSE game going (if not already) at the Venetian. After the disappointment of having my aces cracked ... and a meal at Subway ... I headed for the Venetian & joined the HORSE game after a shortish wait & took a seat next to Tim. Also in the game was Heath Chick & some other PokerNews people & after roughly 6 hours at the table, the game broke, with a tick in the small win column for me.
Today I played a tournament at Caesars Palace ... a 'Turbo Double Stack' event, where you started with 30k in chips, with 20 minute levels. I started well, but eventually picked some bad spots to bet & raise before the blinds became enormous. Of course I was crippled when my 76 was run down on a 997 flop where the money got all-in, with my opponents J8o finding an 8 on the turn. I then took my final stand with AJo, only to run into A8 suited, who flopped top pair before I bricked out, to finish in around 100th place out of the 178 or so starters they had for the event. Although it wasn't horrible, I doubt I'll be back there for tournaments while I'm in town.
Next on the agenda: More cash games & some laundry ... oh fun!
I got off to a decent start, building my 4500 starting stack to 5500 by the first break & dropped slightly to 4800 at the dinner break. Post-dinner was horrible for me & I sunk to just 900 at the final break for the day & was pretty much ready to write the tournament off completely. I had a quick chat with Chuck & Joe of http://deucescracked.com who were at a table in the Poker Kitchen & told them of my plight - I almost told them to hold the seat for me because I would be back soon ... but didn't.
The first critical hand for me was the first back from the break. I have only 900 left & we're playing 400/800 Razz. Thankfully I have a 3 as my door card & there is only one other card below a 9 showing (one player has an ace). I look down & see 22 in the hole ... not exactly the A2 or A4 I was hoping for, but with only one other low card I decided that this was the hand ... make or break time! I complete the bet to 400 & the ace calls. Fourth street sees me catch a 6 & the ace catches a 9. I have the lead & bet my last 400 (though I don't make any indication that it is my last chips, nor do I announce that I am all-in) & my opponent insta-folds! Double-up for me! Of course I managed to go on a massive run & built my stack up to a high point of around 13k before losing a few pots just before the end of play to finish at 8900 for the day.
Day two saw me get off to a good start, with my initial table (with Jason Mercier) being the first to break. The second table was good for me, before moving again, where I settled in, stuck between Yuval Bronstein (on my right) & Brandon Cantu (on my left). I managed to keep my stack around the 20k mark for most of the day before winning a big (30k+) pot against Bronstein in Razz, where my 75 improved to a 65 on 7th street to beat out his 75 that he made on 7th street. That got me near the 50k mark, where I stayed for much of the middle part of the day. I picked up a few big pots later in the day which took me over the 100k mark & I was doing great until my table broke.
At the next table (where I remained for the rest of the day) I started well enough, but made a few mistakes (the biggest was thinking I was playing Stud8 when we were still on Stud Hi & I called down an opponent thinking I was drawing to a 6-low, only to make a pair of kings on the river & pay him off in a 15k+ pot) & lost some big hands (the biggest being a 3-way holdem hand where I had top 2 pair & was called down by a player who had flopped a flush draw & made it on the river, with the other player also staying in the hand until the river, for a 50k+ pot) before I found myself at critical hand #2.
By this stage I was getting short on chips (around 30k) & the limits were now 4k/8k. I was BB in the holdem round when it was folded to the button who raised. I called with J9o & saw a flop of AT9, giving me bottom pair. Although it was not an ideal flop, I did have a pair & the button would likely bet the flop trying to represent the ace. As expected, I checked, the button bet & I check-raised (the button was also very short & I only just had him covered), only for the button to respond with a 3-bet. Thinking positively (or perhaps over-optimistically), I surmised that although I was most likely behind now, there were a number of good turn cards that could come for me (I had the Jc to go with the 9c & Tc on the flop to give me a three-card straight flush draw), so I decided to call & see what came on the turn ... BINK! 9 on the turn! I bet both the turn & river (and was called down) & showed my winning J9o, much to the disgust of my opponent, who said he had AJ & I had caught a 2-outer. I guess you just have to run well to make it deep in these things after all!
Anyway, Al Barbieri (who went on to finish 2nd) joined the table late in the day & he managed to run like God (or at least a very fast Kenyan) & collected a large portion of chips on the table, making whatever hand he needed to to win the pot ... including a few from me & I was left with 52,500 at the end of the day.
Day 3 saw a tough table (though with only 3 tables, all were tough). I was seated between Robert Mizrachi (to my right) & defending champ James Van Alstyne (to my left), with overnight chip leader & eventual winner Konstantin Puchkov sitting to his left. The day started with Holdem & I didn't make it out of the round. With levels of 6k/12k I didn't have much room to move & had to find a way to get chips & get chips quickly! First hand of the day sees me pick up A6cc UTG+1 & I decide to raise, only to be 3-bet by Van Alstyne. I decide to call & see the flop before deciding if this is going to be the hand or not & see a not-so-friendly flop of KQ4 & I check-fold to Van Alstyne's bet. When I was BB it folded around to Robert Mizrachi, who raised. I looked down at KQo & 3-bet, knowing I was not folding, regardless of the flop. Thankfully the flop was KJ6 & what was left of my stack found its way into the middle, with Mizrachi tabling J8o for middle pair. He missed & I even managed to hit a queen on the river to make sure of the double-up & I was back to 50k. I then got involved in another hand when in the small blind! A late-position player raised & I looked down at A9ss & made it 3 bets. The raiser called & I bet both the flop & turn before check-calling on the river on a board of 742J3, to be shown 87 for flopped top pair ... and I was back to being the short stack once again! My final hand came when it was folded to me in the cutoff & I looked down at Q8 of diamonds. This would be it ... I raised & the big stack in the small blind asked how much I had behind (which is either a really bad or really good question to hear, depending on the response) & proceeded to re-raise (not the response I was looking for). I re-raised all-in & found out I was in horrible shape against his AQ of clubs. Of course the flop made my predicament worse, falling KQ7 with 2 clubs, meaning I had only 2 outs to survive. I missed my 8 & my opponent found the final nail on the river with a club & I left to get my payout in 23rd place.
Of course the taxman got a decent chunk of my prizemoney (why Australia & America don't have a tax treaty to avoid this situation is beyond me!), but I left with a little over $5200 for my efforts, which was quite a change from the day 1 bustout I was expecting!
Afterwards I went to Aria to play some $1/3NL (in the absence of any mixed or limit games running) & managed to find an awkward spot to lose my stack. I had $107 to start the hand & looked down at AA UTG & raised to $10 ... standard so far. Of course it then proceeded call, fold, call, call, call, etc around the table & there were 8 people to the flop!! Now I have some idea of how Barry Greenstein felt on High Stakes Poker! Anyway, the flop came down 9s8s5c ... not an ideal flop for aces (though I did have the ace of spades) when facing 7 opponents. My dilemma was made worse by the small blind, who lead out for $20, which the big blind called. What to do in this spot? I was really unsure & eventually decided to just call the $20. Everyone else at the table folded & we went to the turn to see the Jc. Again not an ideal card, but it was checked to me, so I put my remaining $77 in the middle ... and the SB went into the tank ... and eventually called. This then got the BB thinking ... but he eventually called as well! Looks like it was either a triple-up or bustout for me ... and then the river 9h appeared. Both players checked, so I was hopeful. The small blind turned over T5ss for bottom pair & a missed straight & flush draws. The BB turned over T9o, for three 9s (flopped top pair & missed straight draw), which was more than enough to beat out my aces up ... oh well ...
Tim Duckworth, from http://pokernews.com & http://www.tiltedbehaviour.com/ had dropped by earlier in the evening & asked about mixed games in Las Vegas & said he was going to try to get a $4/8 HORSE game going (if not already) at the Venetian. After the disappointment of having my aces cracked ... and a meal at Subway ... I headed for the Venetian & joined the HORSE game after a shortish wait & took a seat next to Tim. Also in the game was Heath Chick & some other PokerNews people & after roughly 6 hours at the table, the game broke, with a tick in the small win column for me.
Today I played a tournament at Caesars Palace ... a 'Turbo Double Stack' event, where you started with 30k in chips, with 20 minute levels. I started well, but eventually picked some bad spots to bet & raise before the blinds became enormous. Of course I was crippled when my 76 was run down on a 997 flop where the money got all-in, with my opponents J8o finding an 8 on the turn. I then took my final stand with AJo, only to run into A8 suited, who flopped top pair before I bricked out, to finish in around 100th place out of the 178 or so starters they had for the event. Although it wasn't horrible, I doubt I'll be back there for tournaments while I'm in town.
Next on the agenda: More cash games & some laundry ... oh fun!
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Episode 4 Online!
Episode 4 from Las Vegas is now online.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YUGAY0UN
Some things included in this episode are news updates on the Melbourne Champs & early WSOP events; strategy section about a bluff I pulled in the HORSE event at the Venetian; TV Sickness looking at a hand from the $100k event at the Aussie Millions.
In other news from Vegas (expect a long post tonight) I'm down to the final 24 in the $1500 HORSE (event 31). Feel free to follow my progress on Pokernews. Hopefully I'll have a long day, but I'm starting the day as a short stack.
http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2010-wsop/event-31/
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YUGAY0UN
Some things included in this episode are news updates on the Melbourne Champs & early WSOP events; strategy section about a bluff I pulled in the HORSE event at the Venetian; TV Sickness looking at a hand from the $100k event at the Aussie Millions.
In other news from Vegas (expect a long post tonight) I'm down to the final 24 in the $1500 HORSE (event 31). Feel free to follow my progress on Pokernews. Hopefully I'll have a long day, but I'm starting the day as a short stack.
http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2010-wsop/event-31/
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
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
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
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Deuces Cracked Homegame & other goings on
To begin with I must apologise for the lack of updates ... this hotel wireless is frustrating me & I have been prioritising other things when I am able to use the internet.
Anyway, events of the last few days have included: The Deuces Cracked Homegame at Aria, a Stud8 tournament at the Golden Nugget, a HORSE tournament at the Orleans, a mixed game at the Imperial Palace & some brief cash sessions at the Luxor & Hooters.
The Deuces Cracked homegame was great fun. Was good to catch up with Chuck, Rob, Joe & the rest of the DC team I had met in Australia, as well as meeting some other coaches & members & being able to put faces & real names to DC names. As far as the poker was concerned, I sat in a $4/8 mixed game, which began as a mix of Holdem, Omaha hi-lo & Crazy Pineapple ... and soon became somewhat different! Of course being labelled a 'homegame' I started off playing like a homegame ... I have 3 outs for a gutshot ... I call; 2 outs for a bigger 2 pair ... I call. Of course from a purely financial perspective, such decisions are not wise ... and of course it was only after these decisions began to be more noticable (ie: I had far less chips in front of me than when I started) that it occurred to me that I should be doing something a little different with my game. So I changed up my game, and the nit that had been waiting to emerge had a chance to join the table. As a result of this transformation, the results turned around.
Of course as the night went on, the games got more unorthodox. At one point the game turned into what became known as 'Slomaha', which on the surface is run like a standard game of Omaha hi-lo. Of course this changed when some of the players decided to show random cards from their hand during play, and eventually turned into a strange cross between Omaha & Stud. The game was played where players were forced to turn over one card (of their choosing, though occasionally this was done at random by the dealer) from their hand after the completion of the round of betting before the flop, before the turn & before the river. There were some strategy considerations regarding the cards that people turned over - do you turn over a pair, a low card, the random 'dangler', etc. This meant that after the river was dealt, there were 5 community cards & each player had 3 of their 4 hole cards exposed in front of them. This of course changed hand reading, as it now became somewhat like a stud hand where you could see people's boards & determine their possible holdings from that. The third card made a lot of difference regarding low hands - given that it is Omaha, you need to use 2 cards from your hand with 3 cards from the board, so that when 3 hole cards are exposed, it became obvious who could qualify for a low. I did OK at this game, though when the game changed to Baduci I had far more success & managed to recoup most of my earlier losses. All in all a fun night. Definitely looking forward to the Bowling next Thursday.
After the recent tournaments, which turned into luckfests because of the typically horrible structures (5 big bet average stacks ... its a game of skill!), I had sworn off tournaments in Vegas for a while, yet still went to the Golden Nugget to play the Stud8 tournament, which as expected turned into a luckfest. I managed to get crippled by the table fish in two hands where he made monsters against my somewhat mediocre holdings, when it seemed like every other hand he had played he had had relative garbage (and had been playing it like the nuts!). Of course even with a short stack I managed to outlast him, however I was unable to regain my chips from the opponents he had so kindly donated them to.
I also decided to try out the Orleans Sunday night HORSE tournament, but that too turned into a luckfest after the first few levels & I busted relatively early from that one. Maybe I should try some NLHE tourneys to change things up a bit??
I also ventured to a few poker rooms that I had not played at previously - the Bruce Buffer Poker Lounge at the Luxor & Hooters. Not much to say about those rooms - played some $1/2NL at each & made a small profit at both ... and of course left with my 'souveneir' $1 chip.
The $3/6 mixed game at the Imperial Palace seemed almost like a homegame with some of the games on offer. I finally made it through an entire rotation of games (which took over 5 hours to get through all 10 games, playing 8 hands of each game) & discovered quite a few games I had no prior knowledge of!
Highlights from the night included:
Playing hi-lo 5 card draw (called A-5 hi-lo) I started with a pair of 7s, drew 3 on the first draw, did not improve, drew another 3, picked up another 7, so drew 2, picked up the last remaining 7 on the final draw, bet, was raised, so I three-bet, only to be called down by the guy who had three kings (from the initial deal) to scoop a pretty sizable pot ($100+).
Finding a wheel (23457) in 2-7 triple draw on the second draw & getting paid off in 2 spots.
Folding the same hand as the winning hand in 4-card Crazy Ocean Pineapple (89 on a board of KT7J35), when I assumed that my turned straight was no good. Of course the other player in the hand had the nut flush draw that missed (yes, even on the 'ocean')!
All-in-all a crazy game that is fun to play, and can at the right time be good for the bankroll, though it can also be very swingy, obviously. This was helped by one of the players who would almost always post a blind straddle when UTG & was later posting 'sleeper straddles' in various positions (for example a sleeper straddle on the button meant that if folded to him, it would act like a straddle where he has last option after people called his raise, otherwise it would act as a standard bet where he had the option to either call or raise).
Next on the agenda: more poker I guess ...
Anyway, events of the last few days have included: The Deuces Cracked Homegame at Aria, a Stud8 tournament at the Golden Nugget, a HORSE tournament at the Orleans, a mixed game at the Imperial Palace & some brief cash sessions at the Luxor & Hooters.
The Deuces Cracked homegame was great fun. Was good to catch up with Chuck, Rob, Joe & the rest of the DC team I had met in Australia, as well as meeting some other coaches & members & being able to put faces & real names to DC names. As far as the poker was concerned, I sat in a $4/8 mixed game, which began as a mix of Holdem, Omaha hi-lo & Crazy Pineapple ... and soon became somewhat different! Of course being labelled a 'homegame' I started off playing like a homegame ... I have 3 outs for a gutshot ... I call; 2 outs for a bigger 2 pair ... I call. Of course from a purely financial perspective, such decisions are not wise ... and of course it was only after these decisions began to be more noticable (ie: I had far less chips in front of me than when I started) that it occurred to me that I should be doing something a little different with my game. So I changed up my game, and the nit that had been waiting to emerge had a chance to join the table. As a result of this transformation, the results turned around.
Of course as the night went on, the games got more unorthodox. At one point the game turned into what became known as 'Slomaha', which on the surface is run like a standard game of Omaha hi-lo. Of course this changed when some of the players decided to show random cards from their hand during play, and eventually turned into a strange cross between Omaha & Stud. The game was played where players were forced to turn over one card (of their choosing, though occasionally this was done at random by the dealer) from their hand after the completion of the round of betting before the flop, before the turn & before the river. There were some strategy considerations regarding the cards that people turned over - do you turn over a pair, a low card, the random 'dangler', etc. This meant that after the river was dealt, there were 5 community cards & each player had 3 of their 4 hole cards exposed in front of them. This of course changed hand reading, as it now became somewhat like a stud hand where you could see people's boards & determine their possible holdings from that. The third card made a lot of difference regarding low hands - given that it is Omaha, you need to use 2 cards from your hand with 3 cards from the board, so that when 3 hole cards are exposed, it became obvious who could qualify for a low. I did OK at this game, though when the game changed to Baduci I had far more success & managed to recoup most of my earlier losses. All in all a fun night. Definitely looking forward to the Bowling next Thursday.
After the recent tournaments, which turned into luckfests because of the typically horrible structures (5 big bet average stacks ... its a game of skill!), I had sworn off tournaments in Vegas for a while, yet still went to the Golden Nugget to play the Stud8 tournament, which as expected turned into a luckfest. I managed to get crippled by the table fish in two hands where he made monsters against my somewhat mediocre holdings, when it seemed like every other hand he had played he had had relative garbage (and had been playing it like the nuts!). Of course even with a short stack I managed to outlast him, however I was unable to regain my chips from the opponents he had so kindly donated them to.
I also decided to try out the Orleans Sunday night HORSE tournament, but that too turned into a luckfest after the first few levels & I busted relatively early from that one. Maybe I should try some NLHE tourneys to change things up a bit??
I also ventured to a few poker rooms that I had not played at previously - the Bruce Buffer Poker Lounge at the Luxor & Hooters. Not much to say about those rooms - played some $1/2NL at each & made a small profit at both ... and of course left with my 'souveneir' $1 chip.
The $3/6 mixed game at the Imperial Palace seemed almost like a homegame with some of the games on offer. I finally made it through an entire rotation of games (which took over 5 hours to get through all 10 games, playing 8 hands of each game) & discovered quite a few games I had no prior knowledge of!
Highlights from the night included:
Playing hi-lo 5 card draw (called A-5 hi-lo) I started with a pair of 7s, drew 3 on the first draw, did not improve, drew another 3, picked up another 7, so drew 2, picked up the last remaining 7 on the final draw, bet, was raised, so I three-bet, only to be called down by the guy who had three kings (from the initial deal) to scoop a pretty sizable pot ($100+).
Finding a wheel (23457) in 2-7 triple draw on the second draw & getting paid off in 2 spots.
Folding the same hand as the winning hand in 4-card Crazy Ocean Pineapple (89 on a board of KT7J35), when I assumed that my turned straight was no good. Of course the other player in the hand had the nut flush draw that missed (yes, even on the 'ocean')!
All-in-all a crazy game that is fun to play, and can at the right time be good for the bankroll, though it can also be very swingy, obviously. This was helped by one of the players who would almost always post a blind straddle when UTG & was later posting 'sleeper straddles' in various positions (for example a sleeper straddle on the button meant that if folded to him, it would act like a straddle where he has last option after people called his raise, otherwise it would act as a standard bet where he had the option to either call or raise).
Next on the agenda: more poker I guess ...
Friday, June 11, 2010
More tournament bustouts & some mixed games
Two tournaments, two non-cashes ... standard.
In the last few days (yes, the wonderful internet connection I have here is so bad that I can't get online consistently to update this blog!) I've played HORSE tournaments at the Golden Nugget & the Venetian. Finished out of the money in both, roughly 35th out of 108 at the Golden Nugget & 130th out of 172 at the Venetian. As seems to be standard with these events, the structure started great, but eventually turned into a complete crapshoot & that was the time when I ran & played badly, so left before the money. The highlight for me of both these events was a bluff I pulled off during the Razz at the Venetian, betting the river with three kings & winning the pot.
I've also managed to put together another episode of the Donkcast, and talk about the Razz hand in it, as well as news from both the Melbourne Champs & World Series and look at a hand from the $100k challenge at the Aussie Millions ... however it requires a decent internet connection to be uploaded ... hopefully one day ...
I also played some cash games after busting from both events. After the Golden Nugget event I decided to stop in at some casinos at the north end of the strip & play some poker. I played some $1/2 no limit at both the Stratosphere & Sahara, and some early morning $3/6 limit at Circus Circus before the game broke & I headed home. Although not overly profitable, I did make a little bit of money from the evening & added some chips for my collection. After the Venetian event I sat in a $4/8 HORSE game there, which eventually became ORSE after about half the table left during the holdem round, so the table agreed to drop holdem from the mix. Got off to a good start & was up over a full buy-in, managed to play some hands badly (plus the table became a lot tougher as the fish busted or left & players who had some idea began to take seats in the game) & at one point was back to my initial buy-in before rallying to leave with a decent profit, doubling my buy-in. Mixed games definitely look like a good place to make some money here & with some of the tournament structures being horrible, its looking like a much more attractive proposition, at least from a financial perspective.
Next on the agenda: Deuces Cracked home game at Aria & hopefully some interviews for the Donkcast
In the last few days (yes, the wonderful internet connection I have here is so bad that I can't get online consistently to update this blog!) I've played HORSE tournaments at the Golden Nugget & the Venetian. Finished out of the money in both, roughly 35th out of 108 at the Golden Nugget & 130th out of 172 at the Venetian. As seems to be standard with these events, the structure started great, but eventually turned into a complete crapshoot & that was the time when I ran & played badly, so left before the money. The highlight for me of both these events was a bluff I pulled off during the Razz at the Venetian, betting the river with three kings & winning the pot.
I've also managed to put together another episode of the Donkcast, and talk about the Razz hand in it, as well as news from both the Melbourne Champs & World Series and look at a hand from the $100k challenge at the Aussie Millions ... however it requires a decent internet connection to be uploaded ... hopefully one day ...
I also played some cash games after busting from both events. After the Golden Nugget event I decided to stop in at some casinos at the north end of the strip & play some poker. I played some $1/2 no limit at both the Stratosphere & Sahara, and some early morning $3/6 limit at Circus Circus before the game broke & I headed home. Although not overly profitable, I did make a little bit of money from the evening & added some chips for my collection. After the Venetian event I sat in a $4/8 HORSE game there, which eventually became ORSE after about half the table left during the holdem round, so the table agreed to drop holdem from the mix. Got off to a good start & was up over a full buy-in, managed to play some hands badly (plus the table became a lot tougher as the fish busted or left & players who had some idea began to take seats in the game) & at one point was back to my initial buy-in before rallying to leave with a decent profit, doubling my buy-in. Mixed games definitely look like a good place to make some money here & with some of the tournament structures being horrible, its looking like a much more attractive proposition, at least from a financial perspective.
Next on the agenda: Deuces Cracked home game at Aria & hopefully some interviews for the Donkcast
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
USA - Mixed games at the Rio
An evening at the Rio ...
Mixed games were the order for the evening at the Rio. Tonight it was a $10/20 mix, which rotated between Badugi, Baduci, Omaha hi-lo, Stud hi-lo & 2-7 Triple Draw. After a poor start I managed to play a bit better & run reasonably well, managing to finish the night with a reasonable profit. Also at the table was Lisa Parsons (one of the last women to be eliminated in the 2008 WSOP Main Event), who was obviously playing some of the draw games for the first time.
While there I said hi to Joe Tall & Rob Cole of Deuces Cracked & saw quite a few pros in the cash game room. Looks like Chinese Poker is popular with some of the bigger players, with Barry Greenstein being one of the players sitting at a Chinese table playing $100/point.
Next on the Agenda: HORSE at the Golden Nugget
Mixed games were the order for the evening at the Rio. Tonight it was a $10/20 mix, which rotated between Badugi, Baduci, Omaha hi-lo, Stud hi-lo & 2-7 Triple Draw. After a poor start I managed to play a bit better & run reasonably well, managing to finish the night with a reasonable profit. Also at the table was Lisa Parsons (one of the last women to be eliminated in the 2008 WSOP Main Event), who was obviously playing some of the draw games for the first time.
While there I said hi to Joe Tall & Rob Cole of Deuces Cracked & saw quite a few pros in the cash game room. Looks like Chinese Poker is popular with some of the bigger players, with Barry Greenstein being one of the players sitting at a Chinese table playing $100/point.
Next on the Agenda: HORSE at the Golden Nugget
USA - Golden nugget Omaha8
Same again ... beginning to become a grind.
Played the Omaha hi-lo at the Golden Nugget & again came away with another mid-field non-cash finish. Things were going great until the dinner break. I'd had a combination of good play & good running to build my stack from the 12k starting stack up to about 32k. Of course after the break it all went downhill. I was moved to a different table & with the blinds continuing to rise (after dinner the average stack was just over 6 big bets) any pot that you lost became significant. Of course I managed to find a few hands where my huge draws missed & others where my nut hand was counterfeited on the river (the good old river A or 2). I eventually finished around 50th out of the 138 starters.
After leaving downtown I went back to the Imperial Palace to find that they had a $3/6 mixed game up & running. I put my name on the list & sat down at a $1/2NLHE table in the meantime. Of course I ran fantastically there, with the highlight being picking up kings in the small blind. The table had been playing fairly loose, but of course when I pick up a hand there was only 1 limper & when I made it $6, even the big blind folded. The limper came along & my c-bet on the J-high flop took the pot without a fuss. Of course most other draws missed, but proved costly, combined with some uber-slowplay in one hand. There were about 5 or 6 limpers & I decided to call on the button with JT suited. The flop was 7-high & it was checked through. The turn was a J & the cutoff bet $6. I called & everyone else folded, so I thought there was a decent chance my hand was good. Another low card fell on the river & I called his $16 bet, only to be shocked to see him turn over KK!! Yes, I run good!
Anyway, I eventually got a seat at the mixed game & was dealt into a baduci hand. No problem, I've played it a bit since I got here ... and following Deathdonkey's tips I'd been making some money. Anyway, I managed to end up with an 87 low with a 7 badugi, only to see my opponent (who had been betting all the way) turn over AJ642. What a great start ... a scoop ... but no! It seems that at the Imperial Palace they play baduci with the ace playing low for the badugi half of the pot! WTF??? This meant that my opponent's 642A badugi took half the pot! At least I didn't get scooped ... of course I mentioned the fact that this was the only place where the ace played low for half the pot & how it was stupid from a strategy perspective because you could never have a nut-nut hand, only to have some of the players respond with comments like 'but the ace is low in badugi'; 'well that's part of the strategy - to keep the ace or not' & other silly comments. Of course this meant that the game would be good, but it also meant that I would need to stay focused to avoid becoming one of the other donkeys at the table. Anyway, the game was fairly uneventful for the most part, with a reasonably standard mix of games being played - Baduci, razz, stud8, Omaha8, badugi and the 'novelty game' double-board Omaha, with my run good continuing to mean I was down a little, until the table I was at broke & I was moved to the other table (yes, there were 2 tables of this game running). Of course they were on a different part of the rotation & I found myself playing 3-2-1 Omaha. Of course this prompted the standard 'how do you play this' question & I went & got myself one of the Mixed Game sheets they had around the room. In 3-2-1 Omaha, there are 3 flops, 2 turns & 1 river card dealt (so all up a total of 12 'board' cards on the table) & being Omaha, you must use 2 of your 4 hole cards, combined with 3 cards from the board to make the best 5-card poker hand. The catch is that you can only use one of the flops, one of the turns & the river to make your hand. Sounds simple, but its a little confusing when trying to play this for the first time. To give you an idea, lets say you have a J in your hand & there is a J on each of the three flops, this means that you have one pair (of jacks), which can not improve to three jacks because all the jacks are out & you can only use one of the flops in your final hand. Of course as I soon realised, this means that the winning hand is almost always a straight or better (often being a flush or full house), which makes high suited cards the most valuable in this game, with high pairs also being good to have.
Of course the game broke before we got to the next odd game in the mix - 4 card ocean crazy pineapple! My first thought was WTF? Turns out you get 4 cards to start the hand & a flop is dealt & there is a round of betting. Sounds normal so far, but after the round of betting, players discard one card from their hand. This leads to the flop & another round of betting and another discard. The river is dealt & there is another round of betting. This isn't the end of the hand however, as there is another board card (the ocean) & another round of betting. At the end of the hand there are 6 cards on the board & 2 cards in the hands of the players' hands, with the best 5-card hand from any combination of the 6 board cards & the 2 hole cards of each player. Sounds interesting, though I didn't get a chance to play it.
Anyway, I finished the night with a small loss ... another case of run good!
Next on the agenda: A day off from tournaments, possibly playing cash games at the Rio or elsewhere, with the possibility of an episode of the Donkcast in the works as well.
Played the Omaha hi-lo at the Golden Nugget & again came away with another mid-field non-cash finish. Things were going great until the dinner break. I'd had a combination of good play & good running to build my stack from the 12k starting stack up to about 32k. Of course after the break it all went downhill. I was moved to a different table & with the blinds continuing to rise (after dinner the average stack was just over 6 big bets) any pot that you lost became significant. Of course I managed to find a few hands where my huge draws missed & others where my nut hand was counterfeited on the river (the good old river A or 2). I eventually finished around 50th out of the 138 starters.
After leaving downtown I went back to the Imperial Palace to find that they had a $3/6 mixed game up & running. I put my name on the list & sat down at a $1/2NLHE table in the meantime. Of course I ran fantastically there, with the highlight being picking up kings in the small blind. The table had been playing fairly loose, but of course when I pick up a hand there was only 1 limper & when I made it $6, even the big blind folded. The limper came along & my c-bet on the J-high flop took the pot without a fuss. Of course most other draws missed, but proved costly, combined with some uber-slowplay in one hand. There were about 5 or 6 limpers & I decided to call on the button with JT suited. The flop was 7-high & it was checked through. The turn was a J & the cutoff bet $6. I called & everyone else folded, so I thought there was a decent chance my hand was good. Another low card fell on the river & I called his $16 bet, only to be shocked to see him turn over KK!! Yes, I run good!
Anyway, I eventually got a seat at the mixed game & was dealt into a baduci hand. No problem, I've played it a bit since I got here ... and following Deathdonkey's tips I'd been making some money. Anyway, I managed to end up with an 87 low with a 7 badugi, only to see my opponent (who had been betting all the way) turn over AJ642. What a great start ... a scoop ... but no! It seems that at the Imperial Palace they play baduci with the ace playing low for the badugi half of the pot! WTF??? This meant that my opponent's 642A badugi took half the pot! At least I didn't get scooped ... of course I mentioned the fact that this was the only place where the ace played low for half the pot & how it was stupid from a strategy perspective because you could never have a nut-nut hand, only to have some of the players respond with comments like 'but the ace is low in badugi'; 'well that's part of the strategy - to keep the ace or not' & other silly comments. Of course this meant that the game would be good, but it also meant that I would need to stay focused to avoid becoming one of the other donkeys at the table. Anyway, the game was fairly uneventful for the most part, with a reasonably standard mix of games being played - Baduci, razz, stud8, Omaha8, badugi and the 'novelty game' double-board Omaha, with my run good continuing to mean I was down a little, until the table I was at broke & I was moved to the other table (yes, there were 2 tables of this game running). Of course they were on a different part of the rotation & I found myself playing 3-2-1 Omaha. Of course this prompted the standard 'how do you play this' question & I went & got myself one of the Mixed Game sheets they had around the room. In 3-2-1 Omaha, there are 3 flops, 2 turns & 1 river card dealt (so all up a total of 12 'board' cards on the table) & being Omaha, you must use 2 of your 4 hole cards, combined with 3 cards from the board to make the best 5-card poker hand. The catch is that you can only use one of the flops, one of the turns & the river to make your hand. Sounds simple, but its a little confusing when trying to play this for the first time. To give you an idea, lets say you have a J in your hand & there is a J on each of the three flops, this means that you have one pair (of jacks), which can not improve to three jacks because all the jacks are out & you can only use one of the flops in your final hand. Of course as I soon realised, this means that the winning hand is almost always a straight or better (often being a flush or full house), which makes high suited cards the most valuable in this game, with high pairs also being good to have.
Of course the game broke before we got to the next odd game in the mix - 4 card ocean crazy pineapple! My first thought was WTF? Turns out you get 4 cards to start the hand & a flop is dealt & there is a round of betting. Sounds normal so far, but after the round of betting, players discard one card from their hand. This leads to the flop & another round of betting and another discard. The river is dealt & there is another round of betting. This isn't the end of the hand however, as there is another board card (the ocean) & another round of betting. At the end of the hand there are 6 cards on the board & 2 cards in the hands of the players' hands, with the best 5-card hand from any combination of the 6 board cards & the 2 hole cards of each player. Sounds interesting, though I didn't get a chance to play it.
Anyway, I finished the night with a small loss ... another case of run good!
Next on the agenda: A day off from tournaments, possibly playing cash games at the Rio or elsewhere, with the possibility of an episode of the Donkcast in the works as well.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
USA - Golden Nugget Stud8
Another Tournament, another non-cash.
Played the Stud hi-lo at the Golden nugget today. A much better structure than Binions, so I'll probably return for some events later in 'The Grand' series there. Managed to finish in around 60th place out of the 119 starters, though did run rather badly late in the tourney, which didn't help my cause. Did the usual stud8 trick of having huge draws on 4th-6th streets that all missed by 7th street (or even worse, a draw completed & it was second best!), so it wasn't my day.
I'll be back to the Nugget tomorrow for the Omaha hi-lo. Think I'll go for the aggro maniac approach, if only because my usual tight aggressive approach seems to be rather ineffective when I simply don't run well! Will see how it goes, though I suspect I'll either have a huge stack or be playing cash games at the Rio by the time the dinner break rolls around. Hopefully the former, but I'll let you know.
Also trying to get another episode of the Donkcast up in the next few days. As mentioned previously, I'm hoping to have Danzasmack from Deuces Cracked on the Donkcast in an upcoming episode.
Next on the agenda: Omaha hi-lo at the Golden Nugget & cash games at the Rio
Played the Stud hi-lo at the Golden nugget today. A much better structure than Binions, so I'll probably return for some events later in 'The Grand' series there. Managed to finish in around 60th place out of the 119 starters, though did run rather badly late in the tourney, which didn't help my cause. Did the usual stud8 trick of having huge draws on 4th-6th streets that all missed by 7th street (or even worse, a draw completed & it was second best!), so it wasn't my day.
I'll be back to the Nugget tomorrow for the Omaha hi-lo. Think I'll go for the aggro maniac approach, if only because my usual tight aggressive approach seems to be rather ineffective when I simply don't run well! Will see how it goes, though I suspect I'll either have a huge stack or be playing cash games at the Rio by the time the dinner break rolls around. Hopefully the former, but I'll let you know.
Also trying to get another episode of the Donkcast up in the next few days. As mentioned previously, I'm hoping to have Danzasmack from Deuces Cracked on the Donkcast in an upcoming episode.
Next on the agenda: Omaha hi-lo at the Golden Nugget & cash games at the Rio
Saturday, June 5, 2010
USA - Binions
Another tourney, another bustout!
Today I went to Binions, 'the home of poker', to play the HORSE event in the Binions Poker Classic. The tournament had 120 starters & I finished in 72nd place, but that's simply the facts.
The structure of the event was appalling. Although the starting stack was 20,000, starting with levels of 100/200 & increasing every 30 minutes meant that you really needed to build quickly or face elimination. This was compounded in a way by the format of playing one game per level, with the holdem getting many more hands than any of the other games. The brink of elimination started for me in level 6 (just 3 hours into the event) when I was all-in on the turn in holdem against one opponent. Of course by this time we were already playing 800/1600 & my top pair held to double up. I picked up some hands & ran well & amazingly by the end of the level I was back to my original 20,000 starting stack! Talk about a wild ride! Anyway I managed to slowly dwindle down to be 14000 at the dinner break (after 9 levels) & returned to be playing Stud8 at the 3000/6000 level! Of course I was the bring-in & rather than completing the bet, I simply brought it in for the minimum, meaning that my (45)3 was facing 4 opponents for 4th street. After 4th it was heads-up & I was all-in on 5th, with my 34549 being up against my opponents T7656. I picked up a 9 on 6th to take the lead, but his river T killed my hand & send me out of the tournament.
I have since made sure to check the structures before playing in events. I *may* be back for the $500 HORSE Championship later in the month (which has a similar structure but 40 minute levels, with games changing every 20 minutes), but doubt I will play any other events at Binions.
I'm still going to be downtown in the coming days, but across the street, playing at the Golden Nugget, which seems to have a similar structure, but with 40 minute levels I hope it won't be quite as brutal.
In other news, it looks like I have at least one guest lined up for the Donkcast ... Chuck 'Danzasmack' Danielsson who is an instructor at Deuces Cracked will be on sometime in the not-too-distant future. Caught up with him at the Rio the other night & mentioned the podcast & he's keen to be on, so I'll test my abilities an an interviewer!
Next on the agenda: Stud hi-lo at the Golden Nugget
Today I went to Binions, 'the home of poker', to play the HORSE event in the Binions Poker Classic. The tournament had 120 starters & I finished in 72nd place, but that's simply the facts.
The structure of the event was appalling. Although the starting stack was 20,000, starting with levels of 100/200 & increasing every 30 minutes meant that you really needed to build quickly or face elimination. This was compounded in a way by the format of playing one game per level, with the holdem getting many more hands than any of the other games. The brink of elimination started for me in level 6 (just 3 hours into the event) when I was all-in on the turn in holdem against one opponent. Of course by this time we were already playing 800/1600 & my top pair held to double up. I picked up some hands & ran well & amazingly by the end of the level I was back to my original 20,000 starting stack! Talk about a wild ride! Anyway I managed to slowly dwindle down to be 14000 at the dinner break (after 9 levels) & returned to be playing Stud8 at the 3000/6000 level! Of course I was the bring-in & rather than completing the bet, I simply brought it in for the minimum, meaning that my (45)3 was facing 4 opponents for 4th street. After 4th it was heads-up & I was all-in on 5th, with my 34549 being up against my opponents T7656. I picked up a 9 on 6th to take the lead, but his river T killed my hand & send me out of the tournament.
I have since made sure to check the structures before playing in events. I *may* be back for the $500 HORSE Championship later in the month (which has a similar structure but 40 minute levels, with games changing every 20 minutes), but doubt I will play any other events at Binions.
I'm still going to be downtown in the coming days, but across the street, playing at the Golden Nugget, which seems to have a similar structure, but with 40 minute levels I hope it won't be quite as brutal.
In other news, it looks like I have at least one guest lined up for the Donkcast ... Chuck 'Danzasmack' Danielsson who is an instructor at Deuces Cracked will be on sometime in the not-too-distant future. Caught up with him at the Rio the other night & mentioned the podcast & he's keen to be on, so I'll test my abilities an an interviewer!
Next on the agenda: Stud hi-lo at the Golden Nugget
Friday, June 4, 2010
USA Day ... later
Its official ... Wireless hotel internet is horrible!
The last few days have been horrible, with the dodgy internet connection I have here continually dropping in & out, creating great frustration.
On the poker front, its been a mixed bag. Tournaments have been frustrating, with a bubble finish in the nightly NLHE tourney at Aria the best of a bad lot. I've also managed to bust from another daily & nightly Aria tournament, as well as a NLHE tourney today at Binions. The personal highlight was when I raised to 300 UTG (50/100 blinds), with a call from UTG+1, then a min-re-raise to 500 from the SB. I called (I held TT), as did the UTG+1. The flop was 555 & when the SB checked, I bet 800, which the SB called. The turn brought a 6 & the SB lead fot 1000, which I called. The turn was the vomit-inducing 5, putting quads on the board. The SB lead for 2000 & I folded ... and he was kind enough to show how skillfully he played the hand with his AQo!
Cash games have been reasonable, with some wins & some losses, but nothing huge either way. Played an interesting game tonight at the Rio - a $10/20 draw mix, rotating between A-5 triple draw, 2-7 triple draw, Badugi & Baduci (or is it badeuci), with Omaha hi-lo being added to the mix towards the end. I picked up a tidy profit of 8 Big Bets. I'm starting to like these lowball draw games, though it could just be that some of the opposition is horrible. I'm almost tempted to try the $1500 2-7 triple draw tourney, but its unlikely unless I make a big score in the next few days.
Public transport is also frustrating here. The 'Deuce', the bus that runs up & down the Strip is typically overcrowded, particularly over the Memorial Day weekend, and is almost as slow as walking. Last time I was in Las Vegas I had a hire car & I'd be tempted to go for the hire car the next time I am in Vegas (assuming of course there IS a next time!) & possibly stay in an apartment off the strip (not needing to be so close 'to the action' if I have a car). Anyway, that's all in the future ... now its just about making some $$$ in either cash games or tournaments.
Next on the agenda: HORSE at Binions
The last few days have been horrible, with the dodgy internet connection I have here continually dropping in & out, creating great frustration.
On the poker front, its been a mixed bag. Tournaments have been frustrating, with a bubble finish in the nightly NLHE tourney at Aria the best of a bad lot. I've also managed to bust from another daily & nightly Aria tournament, as well as a NLHE tourney today at Binions. The personal highlight was when I raised to 300 UTG (50/100 blinds), with a call from UTG+1, then a min-re-raise to 500 from the SB. I called (I held TT), as did the UTG+1. The flop was 555 & when the SB checked, I bet 800, which the SB called. The turn brought a 6 & the SB lead fot 1000, which I called. The turn was the vomit-inducing 5, putting quads on the board. The SB lead for 2000 & I folded ... and he was kind enough to show how skillfully he played the hand with his AQo!
Cash games have been reasonable, with some wins & some losses, but nothing huge either way. Played an interesting game tonight at the Rio - a $10/20 draw mix, rotating between A-5 triple draw, 2-7 triple draw, Badugi & Baduci (or is it badeuci), with Omaha hi-lo being added to the mix towards the end. I picked up a tidy profit of 8 Big Bets. I'm starting to like these lowball draw games, though it could just be that some of the opposition is horrible. I'm almost tempted to try the $1500 2-7 triple draw tourney, but its unlikely unless I make a big score in the next few days.
Public transport is also frustrating here. The 'Deuce', the bus that runs up & down the Strip is typically overcrowded, particularly over the Memorial Day weekend, and is almost as slow as walking. Last time I was in Las Vegas I had a hire car & I'd be tempted to go for the hire car the next time I am in Vegas (assuming of course there IS a next time!) & possibly stay in an apartment off the strip (not needing to be so close 'to the action' if I have a car). Anyway, that's all in the future ... now its just about making some $$$ in either cash games or tournaments.
Next on the agenda: HORSE at Binions
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
USA Day 26
First WSOP Event
I suppose its annoying when you are frustrated & distracted playing your first WSOP event. I decided to play the Omaha hi-lo event at the WSOP (the only 'small' buy-in O8 event at the series), but also had a ticket to see Russell Peters in his only Las Vegas show (He recently did a tour in Australia, but I was in Los Angeles when it was on).
What did this mean for the tournament ... well the plan going in was to try to chip up early from the 4500 starting stack, then take a cab to the Hard Rock for the Russell Peters show (which started at 9pm, which was just before the scheduled hour-long dinner break), enjoy the show, then return to the Rio, crush & make it to day 2. Unfortunately only one part a small part of that plan actually worked (the cab to the Hard Rock & enjoying the Russell Peters show). I got off to a poor start, with many of my big hands finding ways to be scooped or quartered (both horrible things to happen in a split-pot game). By the time the first break came I had slipped to just under 3k, which was not what the plan had been. After the break there were a few changes nearby, with a crowd building on the rail as Phil Ivey sat down at the table next to mine, while Sorel Mizzi joined my table. I managed to tread water for a while until just before I left for the Hard Rock. I managed to scoop a decent-sized pot (around 2k) when I rivered top set on a 63J9K board with KK42 (which picked up a flush draw on the turn) against Sorel Mizzi. This meant that I left the Rio with 5075 in my stack.
The show at the Hard Rock was great. Russell Peters was hilarious as expected with his take on different people & some of his life experiences. He's also able to improvise very well, with plenty of interaction with the crowd. Its also good to know that you get stuff before the rest of the audience. The one that stuck out for me was when he was talking about the terror attacks in India in 2008 & comparing them to the attacks on the US in 2001 he mentioned the comedy value of the date of the attacks, which co-incided with an anniversary of sorts of the USA attacks, with the difference being that the attacks on India were in July (at which point I started laughing, as I could see the punchline coming) ... and then Russell explains that yes, India ironically had their own 7-11, and the crowd joined in with my laughter. Of course as soon as the show ended, I tried to get outside to catch a cab to the Rio. This is where my plan really began to come unstuck! Once outside I saw that there was a line for cabs ... not a problem as there were a few cabs already queueing to pick people up ... but then I walked down the lime looking for the end of it ... and I walked ... and walked ... and walked ... until I finally found the end of the line, at least 60 metres from the door! At this point my genius really kicked in ... no problem, I'll just hail a cab on the street. Sounds like a plan, except all the cabs that went past (and there were a few) were either taken or ignored my outstretched hand. As I continued to walk down Paradise Road I came up with another plan ... go to another casino. If there are cab lines at the Hard Rock, then surely there would be cabs at other casinos too ... so I headed for nearby Terribles casino. Of course there were no cabs to be found at any of the three entrances! So back to plan B ... hail a cab on the street ... and waiting. I returned to Terribles as I saw a cab pulling in to the parking lot, only to see a couple who had been sitting at the entrance since before I got to the casino hop in the cab and drive off ... back to the streets. Eventually I found a vacant cab & jumped in ... TO THE RIO! Of course I also discovered traffic in Las vegas on a long weekend (Memorial Day) was horrible! Eventually I made it back to the Rio & power-walked my way back to my table.
As I returned I found I still had 4600 in chips, which was reasonable, with blinds at 150/300 & playing 300/600. Obviously I would like more, however it was still enough to get by, provided I could win a few pots before the next break. Of course I then managed to find ways to get either horrible or mediocre starting hands, which I folded, or good starting hands which either missed the flop completely (the old A23x double suited looks less impressive on a JQK rainbow board) or managed to make second-best hands (which are never good because you put chips in the pot, only to see them go elsewhere). Of course I managed to pick up mediocre aces (AA78 with spades) & was called by Sorel Mizzi (who was short) & another player. I lead out on the T55 flop, only for Sorel to announce 'I'm all in' with his stack of green $25 chips. As it turns out, he had more than a raise left, so he made it 600 to go, with only 100 behind. The other player in the hand called & I (somewhat foolishly in hindsight) decided to call as well, figuring it would only cost me the extra 100 to see the river. I was right about seeing the river for Sorel's remaining stack, but when he turned over a 2356 he managed to scoop the pot, with trip 5s taking the high & his 23 being good for the low (the board finished up T5567). Another classic of mine was raising with AQQ8 with diamonds after one limper (I was one of the only people at the table who did not open limp at times - perhaps that is a mistake on my part, perhaps not. More stategy later). After the obligatory calls from the limper & three people in late position we saw a flop of 468 rainbow. Not exactly the type of flop I was looking for & when I lead out, was called in two spots & raised by the button & called in front of me, I decided that my hand really didn't look so good after all & folded. Of course the board ran out QQ, so I would have rivered quads & taken half of a pretty sizable pot (4 players saw the river). Of course in a sense I was right (one player had 57 for the straight, while the other three all had A2 to chop the low), however it made me more frustrated with the tournament, with my stack dwindling & my better hands losing & my folded hands turning into winners. Of course just to rub salt in the wounds, our table broke when I had only 800 left. This was compounded when I sat down at my new table to find I was in the big blind (sitting next to Chad Brown, with Brock Parker & Mel Judah also at the table). I posted my big blind, saw a raise & 2 callers before it was back to me, pondered about whether I should look at my cards or simply go all-in blind, but looked & saw the less-than-inspiring 9972 with a suit & decided it wasn't the best hand, but it might make something with the right flop & with 3 people already in the pot I figured I might as well take a stand & hope to pick up as mich of the 3200 I was playing for as I could. I managed to flop a gutshot straight draw, however with a low card coming on the turn, it meant that my gutshot would also make a low possible, but it left me with some hope. The miracle 8 arrived on the river on the JT458 board, however my hope was crushed when one opponent turned over A2 for the nut low & the other showed Q9 for the nut straight ... and my brief stay in the blue section was over, with 520 or so players from the original 818 still remaining.
In more positive news, my friend Angelo made it through day 1 of the $1k NLHE event, so at least there was some positive news on the poker front.
Next on the agenda: Laundromat & cash games
I suppose its annoying when you are frustrated & distracted playing your first WSOP event. I decided to play the Omaha hi-lo event at the WSOP (the only 'small' buy-in O8 event at the series), but also had a ticket to see Russell Peters in his only Las Vegas show (He recently did a tour in Australia, but I was in Los Angeles when it was on).
What did this mean for the tournament ... well the plan going in was to try to chip up early from the 4500 starting stack, then take a cab to the Hard Rock for the Russell Peters show (which started at 9pm, which was just before the scheduled hour-long dinner break), enjoy the show, then return to the Rio, crush & make it to day 2. Unfortunately only one part a small part of that plan actually worked (the cab to the Hard Rock & enjoying the Russell Peters show). I got off to a poor start, with many of my big hands finding ways to be scooped or quartered (both horrible things to happen in a split-pot game). By the time the first break came I had slipped to just under 3k, which was not what the plan had been. After the break there were a few changes nearby, with a crowd building on the rail as Phil Ivey sat down at the table next to mine, while Sorel Mizzi joined my table. I managed to tread water for a while until just before I left for the Hard Rock. I managed to scoop a decent-sized pot (around 2k) when I rivered top set on a 63J9K board with KK42 (which picked up a flush draw on the turn) against Sorel Mizzi. This meant that I left the Rio with 5075 in my stack.
The show at the Hard Rock was great. Russell Peters was hilarious as expected with his take on different people & some of his life experiences. He's also able to improvise very well, with plenty of interaction with the crowd. Its also good to know that you get stuff before the rest of the audience. The one that stuck out for me was when he was talking about the terror attacks in India in 2008 & comparing them to the attacks on the US in 2001 he mentioned the comedy value of the date of the attacks, which co-incided with an anniversary of sorts of the USA attacks, with the difference being that the attacks on India were in July (at which point I started laughing, as I could see the punchline coming) ... and then Russell explains that yes, India ironically had their own 7-11, and the crowd joined in with my laughter. Of course as soon as the show ended, I tried to get outside to catch a cab to the Rio. This is where my plan really began to come unstuck! Once outside I saw that there was a line for cabs ... not a problem as there were a few cabs already queueing to pick people up ... but then I walked down the lime looking for the end of it ... and I walked ... and walked ... and walked ... until I finally found the end of the line, at least 60 metres from the door! At this point my genius really kicked in ... no problem, I'll just hail a cab on the street. Sounds like a plan, except all the cabs that went past (and there were a few) were either taken or ignored my outstretched hand. As I continued to walk down Paradise Road I came up with another plan ... go to another casino. If there are cab lines at the Hard Rock, then surely there would be cabs at other casinos too ... so I headed for nearby Terribles casino. Of course there were no cabs to be found at any of the three entrances! So back to plan B ... hail a cab on the street ... and waiting. I returned to Terribles as I saw a cab pulling in to the parking lot, only to see a couple who had been sitting at the entrance since before I got to the casino hop in the cab and drive off ... back to the streets. Eventually I found a vacant cab & jumped in ... TO THE RIO! Of course I also discovered traffic in Las vegas on a long weekend (Memorial Day) was horrible! Eventually I made it back to the Rio & power-walked my way back to my table.
As I returned I found I still had 4600 in chips, which was reasonable, with blinds at 150/300 & playing 300/600. Obviously I would like more, however it was still enough to get by, provided I could win a few pots before the next break. Of course I then managed to find ways to get either horrible or mediocre starting hands, which I folded, or good starting hands which either missed the flop completely (the old A23x double suited looks less impressive on a JQK rainbow board) or managed to make second-best hands (which are never good because you put chips in the pot, only to see them go elsewhere). Of course I managed to pick up mediocre aces (AA78 with spades) & was called by Sorel Mizzi (who was short) & another player. I lead out on the T55 flop, only for Sorel to announce 'I'm all in' with his stack of green $25 chips. As it turns out, he had more than a raise left, so he made it 600 to go, with only 100 behind. The other player in the hand called & I (somewhat foolishly in hindsight) decided to call as well, figuring it would only cost me the extra 100 to see the river. I was right about seeing the river for Sorel's remaining stack, but when he turned over a 2356 he managed to scoop the pot, with trip 5s taking the high & his 23 being good for the low (the board finished up T5567). Another classic of mine was raising with AQQ8 with diamonds after one limper (I was one of the only people at the table who did not open limp at times - perhaps that is a mistake on my part, perhaps not. More stategy later). After the obligatory calls from the limper & three people in late position we saw a flop of 468 rainbow. Not exactly the type of flop I was looking for & when I lead out, was called in two spots & raised by the button & called in front of me, I decided that my hand really didn't look so good after all & folded. Of course the board ran out QQ, so I would have rivered quads & taken half of a pretty sizable pot (4 players saw the river). Of course in a sense I was right (one player had 57 for the straight, while the other three all had A2 to chop the low), however it made me more frustrated with the tournament, with my stack dwindling & my better hands losing & my folded hands turning into winners. Of course just to rub salt in the wounds, our table broke when I had only 800 left. This was compounded when I sat down at my new table to find I was in the big blind (sitting next to Chad Brown, with Brock Parker & Mel Judah also at the table). I posted my big blind, saw a raise & 2 callers before it was back to me, pondered about whether I should look at my cards or simply go all-in blind, but looked & saw the less-than-inspiring 9972 with a suit & decided it wasn't the best hand, but it might make something with the right flop & with 3 people already in the pot I figured I might as well take a stand & hope to pick up as mich of the 3200 I was playing for as I could. I managed to flop a gutshot straight draw, however with a low card coming on the turn, it meant that my gutshot would also make a low possible, but it left me with some hope. The miracle 8 arrived on the river on the JT458 board, however my hope was crushed when one opponent turned over A2 for the nut low & the other showed Q9 for the nut straight ... and my brief stay in the blue section was over, with 520 or so players from the original 818 still remaining.
In more positive news, my friend Angelo made it through day 1 of the $1k NLHE event, so at least there was some positive news on the poker front.
Next on the agenda: Laundromat & cash games
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