Poker At The Bellagio

Some friends of mine have been talking about going to Vegas for Turkey Day and considering my parents live on the other coast (Yes, it always comes back to the whole East Coast/West Coast thing) I was, pardon the expression, "all-in". Wife, not so much. She has fun when she goes, but by day two she is begging to leave. I guess its all the excess behavior (can't blame her too much). Anyway, the day our friends left, I was told I could leave earlier than usual from work, so I call my wife. After our friend and my harassment she gives in and we're off to Vegas. We stayed at the Hard Rock which was pretty fun actually. I prefer the music while gambling as opposed to the sounds of those pesky slots. I sat at the Blackjack table and was later joined by a guy I play hockey with that moved to Vegas and later by my wife. After we were each up a few hundo, we decide drinking at the "Pink Taco" was the next logical step. I proceeded to get way too drunk. So drunk I woke up drunk. We couldn't get tickets to Avenue Q with our friends so my wife and I went to Blue Man Group, good stuff. I then decided that moment was probably going to be my best chance to get some poker in, though I felt like crap still and still smelled like booze. Not exactly what I had in mind going to the poker room at the Bellagio.

I got in the 2/5 NL Hold Em after about 20 minutes, maybe 15. I played well at times and others I played as if I had never seen a card before. At one point I was down to about 50~60 then battled back to about 350 (oh yeah, 200 buy-in to the table, no more, no less). This is generally where some people who don't "feel it" get up and go home, especially if they had played for 2 hours. Me, not really. Though I had my moments of stupidity, I had the table pretty much pegged. And I honestly believe they thought of me a worthy adversary. Then after about close to five hours of play, the cards turn luke warm. Five out of six hands were pocket pairs. But with some retarded raises and semi-scary flops I folded what turned out to be winners. Tilt begins to creep in when I look down and see QQ. Frustrated with the lack of preflop calls when I raised I switched from my "normal" 15/25/30 preflop raise and raised to 20. I had been careful to vary my raise amounts and with which hands I raised with so not to say if I raise 25 I have Ace low kicker, 30 Ace high kicker etc. This actually did raise some eyebrows and to my dismay I received five callers. Scary. Flop came 10 7 7. Not too bad. I was only scared of pocket 10s, higher pocket pair (not really since there was no re-raise) or someone staying in with a lower pocket pair. I did think about the K 10 or A 10 as a reasonable hand to call a preflop raise, but I still felt my Queens were good. I bet 65 into a 100 something pot. Folds except for one guy. He mulled it over for a moment which told me A 10. My though was (as was his probably) I'm probably beat right now, but if an Ace comes up my two pair beats his or if another 10 comes up it will be concealed. Turn is another ten and I push the breaks and check, he checks. River is a Jack, he bets 40 and I call knowing I'm beat but on the off chance I'm wrong, I win about a $300 pot. I was right A 10 suited. My first "good" pocket pair and I get that. TILT TILT TILT. Maybe my preflop plan sucked, who knows but by this point I was ready to call it quits, depending the outcome of the next couple of hands. (I don't give up too easy) Needless to say I lost it all on the next hand on a semi-decent call when this total wild card went all in, and based on some of the cards he played I figured my A8s was good. Plus the fact that there was a raise with five callers then two people all in, so about 400-450 in the pot before I call. So I had the one guy but nut job actually had a hand, KK. Two diamonds did come but no Ace and his third King came which was unnecessary.

All in all, I had fun and I'm positive I could make some serious grip if I don't get trashed the night before, not that I'm making excuses. My B-/C game did well at that table so I'm sure my A game would bring in the bacon. Can't wait to go again, in the meantime, back to Hawaiian Gardens and The Bicycle to hone my skills.

Horseshoes and Hand grenades

So as goes my weekly ritual, I made my way to a B&M to play some poker. I had been playing in the Hawaiian Gardens $100 NL Hold 'Em with one re-buy until I discovered the Bicycle Casino. They have at 7pm a $100 NL Hold 'Em tournament with no re-buys, Sunday through Friday night. So depending on the day I can just cruise up there and take a chance. So far I have yet to place in the money.

Last week I went and I played probably the best poker to date. Getting out of hands without losing too much, making the correct bets to push people out and just basically playing real solid poker. We started with only 34, which is actually the smallest the field has been so far, and were down to about 24~21 when this hand occurred. I'm up about 300 from the 800 start with a VERY large stack to my immediate left. He is new but from the few hands he played, he was crafty and knew how to use his stack to his advantage. The button is immediately to his left, so I'm two to the right. UTG folds, super short stack raises to 150 and it folds around to me. Now from what I had seen so far, roughly 95% of the time if someone at this table raised and there was a caller, everyone else folded which dictated my play. I look down to see two nines, so I decide just to call to keep from getting into too much trouble, just in case since there were others to act. AND just in case the short stack guy was waiting to move in, even though I had him 4 to 1 on chips. Well the guy on my left moves all in, which puts anyone at the table all in. Now in my head I'm thinking if anyone calls I'm out because I would certainly be beat. But if it folds to me, I consider calling. 1. At worst, I'm a 4 to 1 underdog against a higher pair with a chance to double up. 2. This guy has a huge stack and by me not showing real strength by just calling he could be making a move. Well it folds to me and I say lets gamble. A look of disgust comes on the chip king's face as he flips over pocket 7s. Great call on my part.... Until the flop is 7 8 6. He flops a set, BUT I'm still good with a 10, 5 or another 9, so I have 10 outs. Then the turn reveals another 8 and I'm down to two 9s. River is a Q. I still think I made the right move by calling the all in, and I think even if I had moved in before the reraise the guy to my left still calls. That's poker though.

So with the field being 34 and me playing great until I lost that hand, my confidence was boosted. I strongly feel like it will be very soon that I place or even win this thing.

Last night I go again but this time the field was up to 67. Doesn't matter, I've been playing great lately and no longer have the "Gee I hope I do better this week" mentality. So I win some hands in the beginning and I get into a zone. Possibly playing better than last week. Not to mention the cards were quite warm and even when they weren't I had the table read well enough I knew when to push and when to stay out. So I make to the first break, not bad but its usually after the break when I have a "Matasow". Not last night, I decide to switch gears and tighten up. I maybe tightened up too much because I folded the nuts three times when I could have been in for cheap. Moderate hands in great position and then the nuts on the flop, but I didn't care, I had to switch it up since I was starting to look loose/aggressive. Then the chips start coming after I double up with a pair of Jacks. Then I play this hand, which I still think I may have made the right call though I'm not convinced. I'm Big Blind, with 89o, two callers and the small blind calls. Four to the flop. Flop comes J 8 9. Magic, SB checks and I think I bet 125, not sure. Guy on my left raises 300, folds around to me and I raise to 1000. He thinks and calls. Now I'm thinking he has a 10. Turn is a 7, so I check, he checks. River is a King, check he bets 500 or 600 and I lay it down. If I call and I'm right I win a HUGE pot. But if I'm wrong and he has a 10, I still have chips but am weakened quite a bit. So I fold the next 5 hands just to avoid making a tilt decision. I claw my way back up and down. I look up and there is about 5 minutes left in the round and we're down to 2 tables of 9. (Actually one with 8 and mine with 9) I had moved in with AK to steal the blinds and one caller (100/200) so 500, up to about 1600. Blinds are going to be 100/200 with 25 ante after the break so my M is getting small, not to mention my stack relative to the average is small too. Two hands after AK I get JJ. I'm in late position, one caller I move in again and everyone instantly folds except for guy that calls almost too fast. His chips were in and his cards were flipped before I even knew he called it was so fast. Of course he had pocket Kings but what could I do? Short stack, late in the game, pocket Jacks. So I finish 17 out of 67, my best yet. 1-9 got paid so I didn't make the money but it was certainly a rush to get that far. Soon, very soon it will be all mine!

By the way, I've stopped playing online as much and noticed my live game has improved significantly.