Vegas Jan 2017
So I'm planning a return to Vegas the second week of January. Probably 4 nights from Monday, Jan 9 - Friday, Jan 12 or Tues - Sat. I haven't confirmed hotel yet, but leaning towards the Monte Carlo as it seems to have the best deals for a 4-star. Probably because of the construction.
A couple of people have indicated interest in coming along, so if anyone's interested, lemme know.
A couple of people have indicated interest in coming along, so if anyone's interested, lemme know.
Comments
First off, this is the first time I've come with a poker pal so I wasn't sure how that would go, but I have to say, it was cool to have a travel partner for a change. Someone to swap stories with, split costs with, pick you up off the sidewalk, etc.
So we arrived tuesday night, and by the time we got to TI and checked in, it was after midnight. At that point it was 3am our time, and having been up for 21 hrs at that point, the sensible thing to do was to hit the hay and get a fresh start in the morning... so off to the Venetian we went.
In my 2 big encounters with him, it was brutal. I led $10 into him with QQ, and of course, he made it $33. Couple ppl call and I make it $100. He calls and everyone else folds. Flop comes something like J85 and I jam around $180. He calls with A2 and turns an ace. In the other hand, I have AJ of hearts and limp - call his $23 raise with 1 other caller. Flop comes 9TK with 2 hearts, so I have a gutter and nut flush draw. I bet out like $50 and he calls, as does the other guy. Turn is a black 7, giving me the dbl gutter, so I bet $110-ish, and he jams again. I call my last $120 or so, and he shows Q8 os, so he can only win with a 6 that is not a heart. And the river is a black 6... ugh!
Take any pictures of the action and sights you'd like to also share?
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...so anyways, dude started cooling off after about 2 hrs and his stack hovered around $2200 for at least an hour, and then he started to spew. Within 2 hrs of that point, he was tapped and had rebought and was tapped again. Unfortunately for me, table dynamics had changed, and I couldn't just play this guy any more, so I had to be aware of who was in the hand. I finally got in a good spot with him with TT on a AJ9 board that got checked around, and I turned a 10. I checked UTG, he bet out $35 and got min-raised by the button, who was a solid player, so I was pretty confident he had KQ. Pot was definitely going to be huge, so I flatted the $70 and prayed for no shove. Dude flatted as well. River was a brick and dude shoved, button called, and I had to fold since I still had over $150 behind. Dude shows small straight and button does have KQ for the nuts. Dude was tapped, and other than the 2 hour conversation we had about food, I was not sad to see him go. After that I grinded off the rest of my stack in small pots here and there where I was always second best.
Headed back to the hotel to grab more cash, grabbed a quick dinner, and met Dave at PH for the 7pm daily. Busted in level 3 after losing 3 big pots with KK, where someone hit an ace, AK where top-top vs 2 pair, and KK again, where a noob misclicked and threw in 3 $5k chips instead of 3 $500 chips with his 6d3d, which put me all-in and he runs out a flush. Grinded cash at PH for a wile with no remarkable hands of note, except more run-bad, so I turned in early and got a full night's sleep.
Expensive day, but the entertainment value was through the roof.
So after such a rough day on Wednesday, and a solid 8 hrs sleep, on thursday I decided to get back to my old routine. Denny's for breakfast, and a walk down the strip. I then decided to head back to the Venetian to see if I could extend my rungood from tuesday night. I get there around 11 and the room is pretty quiet. There's a list of 7 or 8 for 1-2, so I take an open seat on 4-8 Limit with a half kill, just for fun. Table is very nitty, and I discover that there's a high-hand promo of $150 every 15 mins and they're all just grinding for it. So I decide to splash around a bunch, raising with J5 suited and such, especially if I had won the first leg of the kill. I also discovered they'd raise or even 3-bet preflop with hands that could make a high-hand qualifier, but then fold to 1 bet on the flop if they missed. I made about $120 in 45 mins, but then they opened a new 2-4 game, so they all racked up and moved and they broke the 4-8 game. So I went to 1-2 NL since they now had seats open.
The table was a great draw for me with just the right mix of players. There's a young aggro guy at the other end of the table wearing a shirt and tie with an orange NYI baseball hat, mirrored sunglasses, and a pair of beats headphones - it was quite an image. The players on either side of me are baffled by his play and are getting frustrated because they can't figure him out and he plays any 2 cards. After a few orbits, I see what he's doing. Raising 3x in late position with a wide range, straddling every button, and raising 8x with big hands, hoping to take advantage of his loose image. About an hour in he raises to $12 in EP and I call with 9dTd. Everyone else folds. Flop comes 88x with 2 diamonds. He bets like $30 and I call. Turn is a 9 and he bets something like $55 and I call. River is a 9 (Ding! Ding! Ding!) and he bets around $60 and I shove for another $80 or so and he calls with his Jacks. So I double up to around $500 and he's pissed. I took 2 or 3 small pots off him in the next hour and he racked up shortly afterwards. This set me up for the rest of the day.
Over the next several hours I was able to chip up to about $750, just through taking down my share of decent pots. The table has turned over a couple of times throughout the day, but i'm consistently playing solid and have a decent edge. I took a few medium pots off an older guy to my right who was a decent player, and then he got stacked by someone else. He then rebought and moved to the far end of the table and shortly afterwards he's at $350 when we tangle.
I raise to about $10 in MP with A4 suited (yes, I know Dad!) and get a couple of callers including Mr. Man who's on the button. Flop comes Q74 rainbow, it checks to me and I c-bet $25. He's the only caller. Turn is a 4 and I check. He bets $40, so I'm pretty sure he has a decent Q, so I check-raise to $100. He thinks for a second and then goes all-in for about $175 more. Now I have to re-evaluate. Did he flop a set of 7s, does he have Q4, or is he just repping the 4? Based on his play, I suspect he has a big Q, pocket 7s, or maybe something like 45 suited. I figure I'm winning here at least half the time, so I call. He turns over K4 suited and I'm liking it, until the river - big fat K! Ugh! So I'm back down to about $450 and this sends the table into a tizzy, with most ppl chastizing me for raising with A4 and calling with only a 4. But this did buy me some loose calls on value bets later on.
I grab some dinner and spend the rest of the evening ginding away, rebuilding my stack to around $600 when the highlight of my trip happens...
He reaches into the side pocket of his camo cargo pants and pulls out a fistful of crumpled bills. He slams them on the table and shouts "Give me this much!". The dealer flattens the bills and counts $276. The chip runner takes the cash to the cage so he's playing behind. As the dealer is riffling the deck the guy shouts "I bet 40!". Dealer announces the bet is binding unless action changes before it's on him. It doesn't, so the $40 stands. It folds around to me in the cutoff and I look down at AdJd, so I call. The button tanks for a long time, during which the drunk guy shouts "I'm all in!". Button then folds and starts muttering to himself, so he clearly had a hand but didn't want to get into a big pot. Everyone else folds, and the dealer announces the all-in is binding but not live until after the flop. Flop comes Q9x with 2 diamonds. So I call and put out my $236. Turn pairs the 9 and the river is an Ace, so I table my AJ and dude stares at his cards for what seemed like forever, but was really about 45 seconds. Then he mucks his hand and the dealer starts shipping me the pot. Stupidly, I said "Phew! For a minute I thought you were slow-rolling a 9." at this point, something clicked in his head and he shouts "Wait! I did have a 9!" At this point, the chip runner comes back with his $276 (yes, all this happened before his chips arrived) and he refused to push them in because he had a 9. Dealer explains it doesn't matter because he mucked, but he still refused and started shouting profanities at the dealer.
So the dealer calls the floor, and explains the situation to her, so she tells him he must release the chips (he physically had his arms wrapped around them). He then gets even more agitated and loud and profane. Within 30 seconds, there were 4 large security guards within 10 feet on standby as the floor tries to calm him down. Then she asks a stupid question. "Did you table your cards face up?" Again, a light bulb goes off in his head and he declares "Yes I did!". So even though the dealer and all the other players were definitive that he did not, she decided to have the cameras checked, I think mostly to pacify him.
She then rakes my $276 and the pot to one side, and convinces him to let her put his stack in the pile, and then tells the dealer to keep dealing while we wait, but I can't play because a portion of my stack is in escrow and I can't bet chips that I may or may not have. So everyone else at the table sits out as well until it's resolved. We wait about 15 minutes and the decision comes down that my hand was the only tabled hand, and therefore wins the pot. As she tells him the result, security is clearly ready to act if needed, and the dude cheerily says "OK!" and walks out of the room.
I then rack up just under $900 and head back to the hotel.
Q: did you ever see a 9 from his hand?
On the way back to the hotel I was feeling pretty good about the day. The air was cool and fresh, which gave me a bit of a second wind, so I popped my head into the usually dead poker room at TI. To my surprise, they had 2 1-3 games going with just one seat open. Even tho it's a $500 max, average stack is around $200. So I grab $300 and sit down, which meant I had everyone at the table covered. About 45 mins into the session I get AA and the guy 2 to my right opens for $15 and has about $200. I 3-bet to $40 and he calls. Flop comes a small rainbow and he leads $60, leaving him about a hunrdred behind. I jam and he calls with KK. Nobody improves. Literally 2 hands later I get JJ and same guy opens for $15 again (he rebought for $200), this time on the button. Again I make it $40 from the BB and he flats again. Flop comes JTx rainbow and I check. He bets out around $60 again, I jam, and he calls with KK again! He doesn't hit and leaves in a pretty sour mood. I play for another half hour or so, but was getting pretty tired and gave back a hundo or so. Cashed out $600 and went to bed.
We get to the Mirage poker room just after 10, register, and head across the street to McD's for a quick breakfast. We get back at about 10:50 and grab our seats. It's at this point we notice there are only 2 tables set up for the tourney. I ask the dealer about that and he tells me they rarely get 3 tables
With blinds at 500/1000/200 I have 33 in the BB and he raises to 3x and 1 caller, so I call. Flop is Q73ss, and knowing he's very likely to c-bet, I check. He bets about 3k and the other caller min-raises. I ponder and figure the re-raiser has a hand like AQ, and the original bettor has a huge range, so I shove. V insta-calls and the re-raiser folds (later saying he had KQ). I show my set and he fistpumps as he shows his naked flush draw. Turn bricks and river is a spade that didn't pair the board.
He then proceeds to play almost every hand and starts knocking ppl out at will, and cracks Dave's aces with TJ or something like that, in the process. I was able to grind back a few chips in the process and ended up finishing 2nd for $425. The whole thing was over in 5 levels.
We then headed over to Caesar's and I registered for their $150 2pm daily. Field was very weak, and I built a decent stack early, but then went card dead for a couple of levels. The blinds went up pretty quickly and by level 8 the average stack was <20bb. I shoved 18bb with AQ from the cutoff into one limper + the blinds. The limper declared he's bored and calls with KJos and hits his K and I'm out.
I head to the Wynn for some $1/$3 and their amazing gourmet mac n cheese for dinner. I get disappointed on both fronts as the room is really dead and they've taken the mac n cheese off the menu. Noooooooo...!
I get myself moved to the only table with any kind of action and have a fun session as one guy is driving all the action with his monster $2k stack and having a good ol' time of it. I end up -$800 with KK and QQ as I had them a total of 5 times, and +$400 with everything else. I finish the evening -$400 but quite entertained.
Got to the Aria around 1pm, and put my name on the 1-3 list. I was about 8 names down and they weren't calling many names, when they announced open seating on a new 1-2 PLO $500 max game. I'd never played PLO at a casino before, and I know I'm not the best at it, but I figured this may be a good spot to have a big day, but more importantly, it would be pretty cool to play PLO at the Aria. So I grab a seat.
I buy in for the max, and as the table filled up, I noticed that only one other player did so. I thought this was a good sign. I played very tight the first hour, just to see how crazy the table was. Surprisingly, it was pretty tame, with not a lot of pot/re-pot bets, and even in big hands, one pair often won, as guys missed their naked draws. One guy in particular was potting with weak holdings or a naked draw. This allowed me to widen my range a little and I won a couple of pots early and was up about $300 when they called me for 1-3 Holdem. The table was so soft and juicy that I passed on the seat and stayed on PLO.
To be honest, the next 8 hours are a bit of a blur. As the session progressed, I became more confident that I could hold my own at this table and my stack size grew to about $1200 when I got it all-in on the flop vs the bluffy dude with AA77ccss on a Q85ss board. I missed my draw but the aces were good for a big pot. I know this is not a super strong spot, but vs this guy it was like the nuts. He dropped $2k into the table before leaving.
Later on I'd win another big pot vs a young competent player when I have 6789hh on a Q97hh board. He opens for $50, which is pot, and I make it $150. He flats and the turn is the Tc - blech! He shoves his last $220 so I'm sure he has KJ, but the pot is so big and I have 2 draws that may or may not be live. So I call and he asks to run it twice and I agree quickly, knowing I need to hit. He tables KJQ9 rainbow. Oops, this is bad, but I do have live hearts. First river card is a heart and I exhale as I've secured a chop. Second river card is a miracle 7 and I scoop! We're both stunned and I'm sitting on $1600.
Rest of the session I tightened it up and tried to stick to playing in position with strong holdings. I chipped up to just over $2k at my peak, and around 9pm I cashed out $1925 for a $1425 profit and a winning trip.
Luck box haha, well done kid! lower stakes PLO honestly everywhere I travel that's outside say 300K radius minus maybe mooses basement I feel the amount of hands they have seen are far lower than our own so they don't grasp hand strength properly which makes them painfully outclassed, makes it VERY +EV for us.
good read, thanks for posting
Taking a dump with the door open, neither qualifies as busy nor important.
Good tr but lacking pictures. Phone broken?
I'm not much of a picture person, so I only took a couple of stack pics from the PLO session but I don't know how to get them from my phone to the forum.
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