Sitting in flight 1C of the first big tournament of the WSOP, the Colossus on Saturday morning, my time at table White 136 got off to a good start. The table next to us started the action off right.
Almost immediately after the call of "Shuffle up and deal!" the dealer next to us called "Three all in!" Moments later there was a soul screeching "Nooooooooooooooooo!" and a white-haired lady first stood up, looking dazedly at the table. Then she sat down in her chair and flopped head and shoulders down on the felt in abject disbelief.
Story is a raise and two calls preflop action. The flop came T8x. Check, check, All-in, Call, Call.
The raiser pre-and-post flop showed the pocket rockets. Another showed 88 for a set, and the last, the white haired lady, showed TT for top set.
The turn was an A.
Set over set over set with a two-outer on the turn. What a way to start, and end, the Colossus. But then the WSOP is a place where dreams are made.
And dreams are crushed.
As for me the table I was at had no big names at it. The two best players were to my right so I was in really good shape. My table was a "destination" table so we weren't forced to move and instead received a steady stream of replacements as people were knocked out.
In fact I felt I was playing well despite not getting really good cards. I won several pots simply by aggresive betting even when I hadn't made anything. I managed to fold KK when a pre-flop caller started betting aggresively when an Ace spiked on the flop. I knocked out a short stack when their A8 failed to improve against my JJ.
I new guy with what looked to be about 10k chips sat down in the empty seat. Ten minutes from the second break I was four hours in, nearing the end of level 6 and feeling happy with my play and my 16k stack.
I was in the SB and UTG did a minimum raise to 400. He had done this a lot, playing a lot of weak hands. The New Guy bumped it to 800. It folded around to me and I saw unsuited AK.
There was no doubt in my mind that I was very good on UTG, and probably good on New Guy. They both seemed to have about 10k in their stacks so I liked this position. Thinking my hand through I felt my best play was to try to isolate vs UTG. He often called with thin holdings. The real question was New Guy. He had raised actively in the few hands he had been in, not much of a smaple size, but it just seemed like he was the young aggressive type to three-bet with a middle pair or AQ. It was a good spot to double or triple up, and even if things went against me I'd have chips to keep going.
I pushed all in and started doing Jedi mind tricks to get UTG to call.
Then I saw how comfortable New Guy looked and I wasn't near as happy.
UTG agonized and finally folded, then as New Guy stated he called I suddenly realized he had more pink $500 chips than I'd thought. A bunch more. He didn't have only 10K, he had enough to completely gut my stack and maybe knock me out. Even before I saw his cards, my stomach started doing flip-flops.
And, of course, he showed AA.
If I had realized that either UTG or Young Guy had more than 10k I would have approached the hand much differently. With a raise, re-raise with equivalent stacks and me out of position I probably would have called. I would have had a chance to get away from much more damage. But I misread the stack size, and put my tournament life on the line against a reraiser I didn't know much about when I was out of position.
A long row of blanks came on the board. Then the dealer made a mashup of counting New Guy's chips but after an eternity I was covered by about 500 and just like that I crashed out of the tournament.
One silly mistake and four hours of good work was wiped away.
Which is why I prefer cash games.
Monday, June 1, 2015
Saturday, May 30, 2015
I have the golden ticket to the Colossus
Seat 9 table 136 in the Pavilion Room. A good draw I think since I should not have to move as much
Friday, May 29, 2015
Shuffle up and Deal - And the Bellagio Conservancy is Aquarium Delight!
Shuffle up and deal! The WSOP at the Rio is off with event #1 (Casino Employees). Las Vegas itself is getting flooded with rich poker players, pro poker players real and imagined (in their own minds) and others who just want to scratch the big poker tournaments off their bucket lists. My first foray will be Saturday when I will be one of tens of thousands playing the Colossus tourney. The first half of the field kicks off Friday morning.
Along with the tournaments, the cash games around town get soooooo good. My normal games are 1/2 or 1/3NL with occasional forays into 2/5NL. Come WSOP time I stay in 2/5NL pretty consistently and sometimes foray into 5/10NL if the game looks good and my bankroll allows.
Poker Action - The Orleans
My wife wanted to see a movie at the Orleans, so while she watched her film I spent a couple of hours at the Orleans Poker Room, The Orleans I believe has the largest off strip poker room, and is quite busy, especially with Limit Hold'em and especially Omaha. I love playing Omaha, and I love the tournament structures, but I have had terrible luck at the Orleans.
This session didn't change anything. I caught few cards. I had few situations to make plays in position. Three times when I did wake up to hands I ran into AA each time. Yeah - bad mojo the whole way. I was happy just to get out of there having only lost $200.
The Summer Conservancy at the Bellagio
One of my favorite free spots in Vegas is the Conservancy at the Bellagio. This is a large area just off the main hotel lobby where the staff does major decorations depending on the time of the seasons and year. This week they broke out their Summer, and I loved it as it basically made it like you were inside an aquarium, complete with seahorses, jellyfish, bottom-of-the-briny-deep-treasure and a smirked sea tortoise. See the pictures:
Poker Action - Bellagio
Bobby's Room was closed but the rest of the room was rocking as serious and pro poker players were hitting town for the WSOP. I grabbed a seat at a 2/5NL game and fun began almost immediately. There were two larger stacks in seat 2 and 3 in the $2000 range. Everybody else ranged from about the max buy in of $500 to $200. In one of my first hands I raised to $25 from the button with Ad9d with Seat 1 ($500) and Seat 4 ($200) calling. The flop comes T high with two diamonds. Seat 1 bets about $40 and after Seat 3 mucks I re raise to $100 and Seat 1 calls. A blank on the Turn is followed by a check from Seat 1. I bet $180 and Seat 1 goes all in.
At this point I know I am beaten. However I do have the draw to the nut flush. Plus at this point I am in for $310, $190 remaining to call for a possible $1000+ pot so at 5-1 odds I am stuck. I call. The river pops a diamond. I show my nut flush. Seat 1 shows his TT for flopped set and goes freaking nuts.
I am an idiot, a donkey, how can I call that raise with just a draw. Don't go away because he is going to get my entire stack and every dollar I have in the ATM.
I nod and agree with him, which makes him dig even deeper into his wallet to rebuy.
Life is soooooooo good.
He eventually rebuys twice more, once leaving for about half an hour, a twenty dollar bill left at his seat to hold it, while he tracks down more money somewhere. He mocks me a couple of times when I reluctantly fold on the river when I knew I was beat.
"That King of Diamonds isn't so good now, is it?"
(I actually had a pair of Aces but it was clear from the action a single pair was dead).
Meanwhile he continues to spew chips. There are four others at the table who I generally stay out of the way unless I have a good hand. They are low-level pros or solid regulars. But there is a rotating cast of 3-4 weak players including my Seat 1 Spewer and I leave four hours later with four racks of red chips.
As I rack up to leave Seat 1 comes up and apologizes for his earlier action. He normally doesn't do that sort of thing.
"It didn't bother me guy," I say. "We're good."
And as I cash my chips I am very good. How I love the cash games around WSOP time!
Along with the tournaments, the cash games around town get soooooo good. My normal games are 1/2 or 1/3NL with occasional forays into 2/5NL. Come WSOP time I stay in 2/5NL pretty consistently and sometimes foray into 5/10NL if the game looks good and my bankroll allows.
Poker Action - The Orleans
My wife wanted to see a movie at the Orleans, so while she watched her film I spent a couple of hours at the Orleans Poker Room, The Orleans I believe has the largest off strip poker room, and is quite busy, especially with Limit Hold'em and especially Omaha. I love playing Omaha, and I love the tournament structures, but I have had terrible luck at the Orleans.
This session didn't change anything. I caught few cards. I had few situations to make plays in position. Three times when I did wake up to hands I ran into AA each time. Yeah - bad mojo the whole way. I was happy just to get out of there having only lost $200.
The Summer Conservancy at the Bellagio
One of my favorite free spots in Vegas is the Conservancy at the Bellagio. This is a large area just off the main hotel lobby where the staff does major decorations depending on the time of the seasons and year. This week they broke out their Summer, and I loved it as it basically made it like you were inside an aquarium, complete with seahorses, jellyfish, bottom-of-the-briny-deep-treasure and a smirked sea tortoise. See the pictures:
Poker Action - Bellagio
Bobby's Room was closed but the rest of the room was rocking as serious and pro poker players were hitting town for the WSOP. I grabbed a seat at a 2/5NL game and fun began almost immediately. There were two larger stacks in seat 2 and 3 in the $2000 range. Everybody else ranged from about the max buy in of $500 to $200. In one of my first hands I raised to $25 from the button with Ad9d with Seat 1 ($500) and Seat 4 ($200) calling. The flop comes T high with two diamonds. Seat 1 bets about $40 and after Seat 3 mucks I re raise to $100 and Seat 1 calls. A blank on the Turn is followed by a check from Seat 1. I bet $180 and Seat 1 goes all in.
At this point I know I am beaten. However I do have the draw to the nut flush. Plus at this point I am in for $310, $190 remaining to call for a possible $1000+ pot so at 5-1 odds I am stuck. I call. The river pops a diamond. I show my nut flush. Seat 1 shows his TT for flopped set and goes freaking nuts.
I am an idiot, a donkey, how can I call that raise with just a draw. Don't go away because he is going to get my entire stack and every dollar I have in the ATM.
I nod and agree with him, which makes him dig even deeper into his wallet to rebuy.
Life is soooooooo good.
He eventually rebuys twice more, once leaving for about half an hour, a twenty dollar bill left at his seat to hold it, while he tracks down more money somewhere. He mocks me a couple of times when I reluctantly fold on the river when I knew I was beat.
"That King of Diamonds isn't so good now, is it?"
(I actually had a pair of Aces but it was clear from the action a single pair was dead).
Meanwhile he continues to spew chips. There are four others at the table who I generally stay out of the way unless I have a good hand. They are low-level pros or solid regulars. But there is a rotating cast of 3-4 weak players including my Seat 1 Spewer and I leave four hours later with four racks of red chips.
As I rack up to leave Seat 1 comes up and apologizes for his earlier action. He normally doesn't do that sort of thing.
"It didn't bother me guy," I say. "We're good."
And as I cash my chips I am very good. How I love the cash games around WSOP time!
Monday, May 25, 2015
Playing Against a WSOP Bracelet Winner
Memorial Day is fun in Las Vegas. We are hours away from the start of the 2015 World Series of Poker and the big names are starting to come out of the woodwork. I sat for a few hours at the Bellagio Poker Room playing 1/3NL.
The Big Game was going on in Bobby's Room. I don't know everybody who was playing at the table but I did recognize Doyle Brunson, still taking his place with the high rollers at the fresh young age of 82.
Then while I was squeezing cards and stacking chips I suddenly realized that non other than Barry Johnston was sitting at our table.
Barry is a dignified man who won the 1986 WSOP Main Event as well as a total of five WSOP Gold Bracelets.
Oh, and he is a member of the Poker Hall of Fame.
He bet, I called. Flop came blanks. He bet, I called, hoping against hope. Blank Turn came, he bet and I folded so fast I might have sprained my wrist. It is tough when you have to play 1/3NL against WSOP champions, but that is Vegas sometimes.
After about 20 hands he got up and went to a table with bigger stakes.
Yeah, it's that time of the year.
As for me it was a wierd session. When I first sat down there was one tourist from France in the 4 seat with about $1300 in chips in front of him. The rest of the table had less than $300 and most were buying in for only $100. In fact I had the second biggest stack with my $300 buyin.
A wild ride began as I was getting big cards and getting smacked the bad way. My pocket pair QQ lost to an All In 55 when he hit a set on the flop. Thank God he only had about $80. A couple of hands later my KK ran into AA - again, short stack limited the damage. In just a bit I was down about - $150 and considering rebuying.
But then AA held up for a decent pot. Then my own 55 struck set gold and I raked a good sized pot. Then my evil side kicked in and I raised on the button with 72 - off suit of course. The flop was 228 and I dragged another good pot from two others playing - K high?????? Uff da!
The games then began.
In the end I had to go pick a friend up, otherwise I would have stayed longer. Five hours and up about $450, I'll take that.
Wednesday is the start of the WSOP. I can't wait!
The Big Game was going on in Bobby's Room. I don't know everybody who was playing at the table but I did recognize Doyle Brunson, still taking his place with the high rollers at the fresh young age of 82.
Then while I was squeezing cards and stacking chips I suddenly realized that non other than Barry Johnston was sitting at our table.
Barry is a dignified man who won the 1986 WSOP Main Event as well as a total of five WSOP Gold Bracelets.
Oh, and he is a member of the Poker Hall of Fame.
He bet, I called. Flop came blanks. He bet, I called, hoping against hope. Blank Turn came, he bet and I folded so fast I might have sprained my wrist. It is tough when you have to play 1/3NL against WSOP champions, but that is Vegas sometimes.
After about 20 hands he got up and went to a table with bigger stakes.
Yeah, it's that time of the year.
As for me it was a wierd session. When I first sat down there was one tourist from France in the 4 seat with about $1300 in chips in front of him. The rest of the table had less than $300 and most were buying in for only $100. In fact I had the second biggest stack with my $300 buyin.
A wild ride began as I was getting big cards and getting smacked the bad way. My pocket pair QQ lost to an All In 55 when he hit a set on the flop. Thank God he only had about $80. A couple of hands later my KK ran into AA - again, short stack limited the damage. In just a bit I was down about - $150 and considering rebuying.
But then AA held up for a decent pot. Then my own 55 struck set gold and I raked a good sized pot. Then my evil side kicked in and I raised on the button with 72 - off suit of course. The flop was 228 and I dragged another good pot from two others playing - K high?????? Uff da!
The games then began.
In the end I had to go pick a friend up, otherwise I would have stayed longer. Five hours and up about $450, I'll take that.
Wednesday is the start of the WSOP. I can't wait!
Sunday, May 24, 2015
Even Elvis Can't Stay in Vegas
www.lasvegasadvisor.com is reporting that Elvis is permanently leaving the Westgate.
The show 'Elvis Experience' opened on April 23 at the Westgate and now the report is the last show will be May 27 while tickets for the accompanying 'Elvis the Exhibition' has no tickets available for purchase after 30 May. This after the Riviera closed its doors for the final time.
With all of the Elvis impersonators as well as all the chapels where you can get married by Elvis in this town, this show should have been a natural.
In fact yesterday evening while walking around Harrahs I saw two Elvis impersonators walking along Las Vegas Boulevard.
Old Las Vegas is going away...
The show 'Elvis Experience' opened on April 23 at the Westgate and now the report is the last show will be May 27 while tickets for the accompanying 'Elvis the Exhibition' has no tickets available for purchase after 30 May. This after the Riviera closed its doors for the final time.
With all of the Elvis impersonators as well as all the chapels where you can get married by Elvis in this town, this show should have been a natural.
In fact yesterday evening while walking around Harrahs I saw two Elvis impersonators walking along Las Vegas Boulevard.
Old Las Vegas is going away...
Memorial Crowds Flood Vegas
It is Memorial Day weekend and Vegas is gloriously flooded with tourists.
Traffic along The Strip is a case of pure torture. The sidewalks are moving masses of people doing their best to walk out in front of cars.
The mobs when the Bellagio Fountains and the Mirage Volcano erupt are screaming and well inebriated with no concept of allowing anything to pass by.
And the poker tables are full.
Last night (Saturday) I sat at poker nirvana. Four young guys (YG) who said they were from USC had brought their home game to the Mirage. All four were splashing huge bets. When they lost, which was often, one of their members would pop out a huge wad of $100 and restake his cleaned-out buddy. I love kids with silver spoons.
They also didn't tip normally. For those not in the know, Vegas dealers work mostly for tips. It is customary for the winner of the pot to push $1 or more to the dealer as gratitude to their winnings. I'll occassionally tip as high as $10 if I've stacked a monster pot. But while YGs didn't during their wins they sure they made up for it when it came for the dealer to change out. Their member in the 9 Seat would push a bunch of chips to the dealer. These were sizable piles of chips, one time it was about 40 chips, all mixed whites and reds. My rough guess was about a $120 tip to be shared by the dealers, and that was just the biggest tip.
The dealers were very happy with these guys.
Makes me almost want to become a dealer.
Almost.
Okay, not really but I was definitely glad for the dealers. Good for thse dealers too, because these well lubricated YGs were a handful, making wild requests, acting out of turn, getting into conversations and ignoring action in front of them. They were nice drunks, but their exuberance were like puppies with new toys.
It even rubbed off on me. For some reason I couldn't get my bets right. I was constantly tossing out undersized calls or making raises that were under the minimum raise for the time. The dealers were patiently getting my attention that they needed another red chip, or...
I ended up going to the old standby of calling my action just to make sure it was clear what I really wanted to do. It just sucks getting old.
The game also had a couple TAG locals in the mix so it was a very good and predictable table. It would have been better if I had caught better cards because when people are willing to call big pot raises with nothing but K high you have to have something. I snagged two big pots where my 2-pairs managed to avoid a bunch of straight and flush draws.What with the big raises and re-rases from YGs there were no small pots to be had.
In the end the YGs headed out for a date at Hakkasan and the table died a sudden death. It was a good solid win for me and I was happy.
I hope they are back Sunday evening.
Traffic along The Strip is a case of pure torture. The sidewalks are moving masses of people doing their best to walk out in front of cars.
The mobs when the Bellagio Fountains and the Mirage Volcano erupt are screaming and well inebriated with no concept of allowing anything to pass by.
And the poker tables are full.
Last night (Saturday) I sat at poker nirvana. Four young guys (YG) who said they were from USC had brought their home game to the Mirage. All four were splashing huge bets. When they lost, which was often, one of their members would pop out a huge wad of $100 and restake his cleaned-out buddy. I love kids with silver spoons.
They also didn't tip normally. For those not in the know, Vegas dealers work mostly for tips. It is customary for the winner of the pot to push $1 or more to the dealer as gratitude to their winnings. I'll occassionally tip as high as $10 if I've stacked a monster pot. But while YGs didn't during their wins they sure they made up for it when it came for the dealer to change out. Their member in the 9 Seat would push a bunch of chips to the dealer. These were sizable piles of chips, one time it was about 40 chips, all mixed whites and reds. My rough guess was about a $120 tip to be shared by the dealers, and that was just the biggest tip.
The dealers were very happy with these guys.
Makes me almost want to become a dealer.
Almost.
Okay, not really but I was definitely glad for the dealers. Good for thse dealers too, because these well lubricated YGs were a handful, making wild requests, acting out of turn, getting into conversations and ignoring action in front of them. They were nice drunks, but their exuberance were like puppies with new toys.
It even rubbed off on me. For some reason I couldn't get my bets right. I was constantly tossing out undersized calls or making raises that were under the minimum raise for the time. The dealers were patiently getting my attention that they needed another red chip, or...
I ended up going to the old standby of calling my action just to make sure it was clear what I really wanted to do. It just sucks getting old.
The game also had a couple TAG locals in the mix so it was a very good and predictable table. It would have been better if I had caught better cards because when people are willing to call big pot raises with nothing but K high you have to have something. I snagged two big pots where my 2-pairs managed to avoid a bunch of straight and flush draws.What with the big raises and re-rases from YGs there were no small pots to be had.
In the end the YGs headed out for a date at Hakkasan and the table died a sudden death. It was a good solid win for me and I was happy.
I hope they are back Sunday evening.
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Countdown to the WSOP - The Colossus?
Less than a week until the WSOP 2015 kicks off at the Rio on May 27. I am incredibly tempted to break my cherry and actually dip my toe in the tourney this year.
In past years I have been too happy just taking advantage of the incredibly juicy side games. One year I had an incredibly profitable time playing the Single Table Qualifiers for the Venetian's Deep Stack Extravaganza. I'd play, win a seat, then sell the seat. Play, win, sell. Wash, rinse, repeat.
Most of the pros - real or self-delusioned - are playing the tournaments, meaning most of the games at places like the Bellagio and Wynn and Venetian are a couple steps easier than normal, and more profitable.
For me there is just too much variance in tournies when compared to the reliability of cash games. Fighting through several hours of play, pressured by ever increasing betting levels, subject to the crazy variables of desperate short stacks, doesn't normally fit well with my natural poker game.
And yet the WSOP is the World Series of Poker. Moneymaker, Brunson, Negreanu, Hellmuth and all the other icons of big time poker and its history. Yeah, I toil in the minor leagues of poker, but you always have dreams.
And for me there are a couple of interesting new tournies to consider. The first is Event #5 - The Colossus. With only a $565 buy-in the risk is low. The WSOP people are really thumping it up, hoping for a record turnout. Can they parley a lower buy-in event on the first weekend to make for a bigger tourney than the 2006 Main Event (8,773 entrants) which stands at the apex of poker popularity. WSOP is hoping for 10,000 or more. It could be fun.
Should I play? Right now I am leaning to at least give The Colossus a try, depending on how I am doing in the side games before it.
In past years I have been too happy just taking advantage of the incredibly juicy side games. One year I had an incredibly profitable time playing the Single Table Qualifiers for the Venetian's Deep Stack Extravaganza. I'd play, win a seat, then sell the seat. Play, win, sell. Wash, rinse, repeat.
Most of the pros - real or self-delusioned - are playing the tournaments, meaning most of the games at places like the Bellagio and Wynn and Venetian are a couple steps easier than normal, and more profitable.
For me there is just too much variance in tournies when compared to the reliability of cash games. Fighting through several hours of play, pressured by ever increasing betting levels, subject to the crazy variables of desperate short stacks, doesn't normally fit well with my natural poker game.
And yet the WSOP is the World Series of Poker. Moneymaker, Brunson, Negreanu, Hellmuth and all the other icons of big time poker and its history. Yeah, I toil in the minor leagues of poker, but you always have dreams.
And for me there are a couple of interesting new tournies to consider. The first is Event #5 - The Colossus. With only a $565 buy-in the risk is low. The WSOP people are really thumping it up, hoping for a record turnout. Can they parley a lower buy-in event on the first weekend to make for a bigger tourney than the 2006 Main Event (8,773 entrants) which stands at the apex of poker popularity. WSOP is hoping for 10,000 or more. It could be fun.
Should I play? Right now I am leaning to at least give The Colossus a try, depending on how I am doing in the side games before it.
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