Back from Vegas;
Well me and the monkey flew in on the Redeye and thought you might want to get a report;
So I should have known that I was screwed after winning the bingo luckfest at the MGM, the monkey must have shit out the lucky horseshoe as I was pretty card dead for the rest of the week.
Thankfully the cash games (2-5NL $1000 Max) at the Venetian kept my head above water, as I dumped all but one more tourney. I ended up playing the Venetian a bunch as it is one of the nicest card rooms and had a decent mix of good players (some pros) and tourists. Typically, the players would know the board and the cards well enough to make a laydown, given the monkey's tendency to bluff this was a good thing!
One of the highlights of the week, 2-5NL at the Venetian. Alex Rodrigues sits down. Everyone starts to whisper, motion etc... I really did not know who he was but it became pretty apperant he was someone special as the seemed to be alot of action sweating our table. By the time I figured it out he had already dropped a buy-in and it was appearent he plays this level as he really isnt very good, at poker anyways.
Here is probably my most memorable hand EVER!!!
2-5 NL 1000 max, I have $1200
UTG AdQd
I limp and MP raises to $40 which is called all the way to the BB who is Arod, he reopens it at $120 and I of course call. One other caller and we see the flop 3 ways with $480 in the pot!
Flop Kd 9c Td
Arod Checks and I bet $100 the other caller folds and Arod Calls.
Turn 2c
Arod bets out $150 and I confused call. I am not sure why he didnt reraise on the flop if he had anything. I don't think he is a good enough player to be doing anything outrageous but me, AND the monkey scratch our heads... maybe this was roid rage?
River Jd
Arod bets $150 again. Yippee.... I look to the dealer and ask; "If he has a Str flush and I fold is there a big hand jackpot that I will miss?" One of the pro's catches on and I see him smile. The dealer responds saying; "That it is only until 2pm and that diamonds has already been paid out so no, there would not be a jackpot."
I humm and haw... and try and keep the monkey from screaming. I figure Arod only had $300 left in front of him and I might as well bet.
"ok, I make it $400 and hope you dont have a flush!" He calls showing AQo for the straight and I have the most memorable hand of my career!
He is alot smaller then you would think, but he is a good looking guy and the women sweating the table is kinda nice! In the tournament that night I heard them call Alex R for the 5/10 game and was thinking of taking a shot at the little BIG game... but I really wasnt running that great so I hope they all had fun.
So I think the deck running over me for the MGM pushfest was a bad thing as I played;
$180 8PM Ventian Tuesday, Friday and Saturday
$120 Ceasers 11PM Thursday
$200 8PM Mirage Thursday
$540 12PM Friday Wynn
$330 12 Noon Saturday Ceasers
I found that in most of these tournaments there were 1-3 Sharks at each table, 3-8 good solid tourists and if you were lucky 1 maybe 2 total donkeys.
The noon tourneys had the best play vs stack, but I had brought family and the monkey isn't the best babysitter of a three year old on the strip. It forced me to play the 8pm's and you really need to make a couple of BIG hits by the third-fourth levels to have a run at these.
I found myself forced to push and this is how I ran
KJs vs 79c - Flop 99K no help on turn or river
AKo vs QTo - Flop AKJ no help on turn or river
A8s vs 77 - Flop 457 two spades but the set held up on the river
QQ vs KK - forced to push against a reraise from the button and ran into a hand.
44 vs A2 flop 386 turn 7 river A
JJ vs TT all in preflop and he hit a set on the flop, this was at the Wynn and really made me start to question my week. Should I have called the allin here with 30BB? Against a pushy aggressive player on the button? Yes this was results orientated thinking, but after the week I had been pretty badly beaten in the tourneys and started to question everything...
The biggest hole I think I had was playing too cautiously during the lower blind levels. I think I really needed to gamble more and hit a huge hand so I have some padding. the agression levels from good players are much higher then I was used to. At 25/50 the standard raise was 300, and a reraise was 1200 putting 25% of your stack in play preflop. Me and the monkey also didnt get to see alot of oppenents hands, I am normally able to do this with ease but found in Vegas no one would let me see anything.
So after taking a week of beatings in the tourneys, I decided to take the Sunday off and just enjoy it with family. We went over to the Orleans so my daughter could play in the indoor play area and me and the wife could hang out. Well ofcourse we took a walk by the Pokerroom and there was a tourney playing in 20 minutes with a decent structure.
Me and the monkey started to take notice of the honey-do bank account. Honey rememeber how you asked me to take Cadie after our night out sake bombing? Maybe I can take Cadie New Years morning and let you have the day? I promise to clean the whole house when we get back (the monkey is going to be swinging from a broom for a while!)
Well the persitance (begging) worked and I bought into the Sunday Bounty Tourney at the Orleans. Me and the monkey wanted to shake the bad mojo I had during the earlier part of the week.
I found myself playing alot better, and pushing more rather then calling.
IE -
me in the BB with A4d facing a 3xb raise from the button, I found the gear to reraise and push on the flop of Kd4cTd, I caught my flush and had some room to play my game! I don't think I was making these moves earlier in the week and am trying to figure out if it was purely card deadness, playing like a NIT because of the buy-ins or lack of big tourney experiance (most of these tourneys had 80-100 Players and I have been focusing on SitNGo's)
That being said I took a chop of this tourney in top spot, 360K in play - 5 players -My stack 95k but the blinds 2000 - 4000 with 1000 ante. I barely had the lead and they made a deal giving me $1025, 2 seconds at $825 and 2 thirds at $725. I think I had some skill advantage at this level over three players, but the player on my left was good and had reraised a few of my steals. However, I had an hour to get to the airport and with the blinds where they were I could easily bust in 2 hands so I took the chop and got myself another first place and a pretty nice jacket - for 1982!
SO my goals are even more secured now, and every effort is being set to learn and get myself back to vegas at least for the WSOP if not permanently.
I need to practise tournament play and really study my mistakes and learn from them. (see hand I will post later)
That being said, I think I am heading down at the end of the month. Anyone want to share a hotelroom?
Oh, BTW I saw Pokerdro when I was there at Ceasers. He was playing a final table of a 9am so I think he was doing well too.
So I should have known that I was screwed after winning the bingo luckfest at the MGM, the monkey must have shit out the lucky horseshoe as I was pretty card dead for the rest of the week.
Thankfully the cash games (2-5NL $1000 Max) at the Venetian kept my head above water, as I dumped all but one more tourney. I ended up playing the Venetian a bunch as it is one of the nicest card rooms and had a decent mix of good players (some pros) and tourists. Typically, the players would know the board and the cards well enough to make a laydown, given the monkey's tendency to bluff this was a good thing!
One of the highlights of the week, 2-5NL at the Venetian. Alex Rodrigues sits down. Everyone starts to whisper, motion etc... I really did not know who he was but it became pretty apperant he was someone special as the seemed to be alot of action sweating our table. By the time I figured it out he had already dropped a buy-in and it was appearent he plays this level as he really isnt very good, at poker anyways.
Here is probably my most memorable hand EVER!!!
2-5 NL 1000 max, I have $1200
UTG AdQd
I limp and MP raises to $40 which is called all the way to the BB who is Arod, he reopens it at $120 and I of course call. One other caller and we see the flop 3 ways with $480 in the pot!
Flop Kd 9c Td
Arod Checks and I bet $100 the other caller folds and Arod Calls.
Turn 2c
Arod bets out $150 and I confused call. I am not sure why he didnt reraise on the flop if he had anything. I don't think he is a good enough player to be doing anything outrageous but me, AND the monkey scratch our heads... maybe this was roid rage?
River Jd
Arod bets $150 again. Yippee.... I look to the dealer and ask; "If he has a Str flush and I fold is there a big hand jackpot that I will miss?" One of the pro's catches on and I see him smile. The dealer responds saying; "That it is only until 2pm and that diamonds has already been paid out so no, there would not be a jackpot."
I humm and haw... and try and keep the monkey from screaming. I figure Arod only had $300 left in front of him and I might as well bet.
"ok, I make it $400 and hope you dont have a flush!" He calls showing AQo for the straight and I have the most memorable hand of my career!
He is alot smaller then you would think, but he is a good looking guy and the women sweating the table is kinda nice! In the tournament that night I heard them call Alex R for the 5/10 game and was thinking of taking a shot at the little BIG game... but I really wasnt running that great so I hope they all had fun.
So I think the deck running over me for the MGM pushfest was a bad thing as I played;
$180 8PM Ventian Tuesday, Friday and Saturday
$120 Ceasers 11PM Thursday
$200 8PM Mirage Thursday
$540 12PM Friday Wynn
$330 12 Noon Saturday Ceasers
I found that in most of these tournaments there were 1-3 Sharks at each table, 3-8 good solid tourists and if you were lucky 1 maybe 2 total donkeys.
The noon tourneys had the best play vs stack, but I had brought family and the monkey isn't the best babysitter of a three year old on the strip. It forced me to play the 8pm's and you really need to make a couple of BIG hits by the third-fourth levels to have a run at these.
I found myself forced to push and this is how I ran
KJs vs 79c - Flop 99K no help on turn or river
AKo vs QTo - Flop AKJ no help on turn or river
A8s vs 77 - Flop 457 two spades but the set held up on the river
QQ vs KK - forced to push against a reraise from the button and ran into a hand.
44 vs A2 flop 386 turn 7 river A
JJ vs TT all in preflop and he hit a set on the flop, this was at the Wynn and really made me start to question my week. Should I have called the allin here with 30BB? Against a pushy aggressive player on the button? Yes this was results orientated thinking, but after the week I had been pretty badly beaten in the tourneys and started to question everything...
The biggest hole I think I had was playing too cautiously during the lower blind levels. I think I really needed to gamble more and hit a huge hand so I have some padding. the agression levels from good players are much higher then I was used to. At 25/50 the standard raise was 300, and a reraise was 1200 putting 25% of your stack in play preflop. Me and the monkey also didnt get to see alot of oppenents hands, I am normally able to do this with ease but found in Vegas no one would let me see anything.
So after taking a week of beatings in the tourneys, I decided to take the Sunday off and just enjoy it with family. We went over to the Orleans so my daughter could play in the indoor play area and me and the wife could hang out. Well ofcourse we took a walk by the Pokerroom and there was a tourney playing in 20 minutes with a decent structure.
Me and the monkey started to take notice of the honey-do bank account. Honey rememeber how you asked me to take Cadie after our night out sake bombing? Maybe I can take Cadie New Years morning and let you have the day? I promise to clean the whole house when we get back (the monkey is going to be swinging from a broom for a while!)
Well the persitance (begging) worked and I bought into the Sunday Bounty Tourney at the Orleans. Me and the monkey wanted to shake the bad mojo I had during the earlier part of the week.
I found myself playing alot better, and pushing more rather then calling.
IE -
me in the BB with A4d facing a 3xb raise from the button, I found the gear to reraise and push on the flop of Kd4cTd, I caught my flush and had some room to play my game! I don't think I was making these moves earlier in the week and am trying to figure out if it was purely card deadness, playing like a NIT because of the buy-ins or lack of big tourney experiance (most of these tourneys had 80-100 Players and I have been focusing on SitNGo's)
That being said I took a chop of this tourney in top spot, 360K in play - 5 players -My stack 95k but the blinds 2000 - 4000 with 1000 ante. I barely had the lead and they made a deal giving me $1025, 2 seconds at $825 and 2 thirds at $725. I think I had some skill advantage at this level over three players, but the player on my left was good and had reraised a few of my steals. However, I had an hour to get to the airport and with the blinds where they were I could easily bust in 2 hands so I took the chop and got myself another first place and a pretty nice jacket - for 1982!
SO my goals are even more secured now, and every effort is being set to learn and get myself back to vegas at least for the WSOP if not permanently.
I need to practise tournament play and really study my mistakes and learn from them. (see hand I will post later)
That being said, I think I am heading down at the end of the month. Anyone want to share a hotelroom?
Oh, BTW I saw Pokerdro when I was there at Ceasers. He was playing a final table of a 9am so I think he was doing well too.
Comments
Yeah the Venetian 2-5NL game is my bread and butter when I go to Vegas...that game is incredibly soft and the regulars hate when the Toronto tourists come to play....HAHA suckers all watch rounders and think no tourist can play...
I racked 40hrs there on my last binge for a week in vegas. Going again in March for a week and I will be sitting doing 8 hour shifts at that card room.
The only downside is the games usually don't get going really during the week till about 3-4pm...so you have to plan accordingly. I usually scoot over to the wynn and play there in the morning.
Congrats on the Royal Flush vs A-rod.
For a cash game player is there much advantage to going to vegas vs playing at say.. Seneca?
I've never been to vegas ....
I think the biggest difference is the table selection. At Seneca you usually don't have a choice of which 2/5 table to play at. Vegas gives you 100 games to play at, usually 5 within the same casino.
The games are pretty similar but more rocks then nutso's.
I've heard that Alex Rodriguez loves poker and is good friends with Phil Hellmuth. Scary to think he plays such "low" limits. Phil must give him bankroll advice
A 3000/6000 mixed game with Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson, Eli Elezera, Phil Tran, David Benyamine and others.
The story is that no one really wants to host the big game as these players are so demanding, they berate dealers and have some wierd superstitions so they move every couple of months. Right now they fancy the Venetian.
As for my poker experience
I ended up chopping the tourney Tyson mentioned up in the OP. I played a lot of limit in various casinos pretty much all winning sessions.
As for tourneys
Venetian at Noon looks great. I didn't get to play due to circumstance
Plane Hollywood has a $65 Mon, Wed and Fri tourney with "The Grinder and a $300 bounty of his head.
Treasure Island has a bounty tourney as well at 7 PM
as for other rooms
Imperial Palace has now moved the poker room beside the bar. Drinks are quick and the jackpots are nice.
The have a JP for any quads using your 2 hole cards
They have a JP for any st8 flush and any royal all vary in amounts
if you get quad 10s beat it is worth $55000.
As for rooms if someone doesn't mind staying in a smaller place the Casino Royale is where I stayed beside Harrahs and the venetian it is cheap and rooms are not bad at all for the 3 hours a day you use them. I usually book right from their site.
The Palazzo beside The Veneitan had a soft open on Dec 30th it's a nice place. Ididn't see a poker room thou.
Well starting to plan for a mid June WSOP trip if anyone sees a deal or two let me know.
Also a couple of friends and I heading to AC in Feb/Mar. Might be a good time to get some forumers to make a road trip.
The forum invasion of the Seneca Winter Challenge was both fun and successful, so I am open to another forum road trip to Foxwoods on the February 22 weekend, Atlantic City, or Turning Stone in March.
She was still there as of last Aug.
I chopped the same one 4 handed but decided to let one of the regulars have the jacket. They said I could have it as I was the chip leader (but not by much) at the time of the chop.