Survived the Stag
Well I had a fun and successful trip to Vegas last week. My liver is hung out to dry right now.
Wednesday Night-I was the first to arrive and the other flight bringing participants was delayed because of very high winds in LV. Thus I drank and gambled by myself for around 5 hours at the IP. My favourite dealer from previous trips, Cheryl, recalled the heater I had been on last summer as well.
Just played my regular 1-2 NL with $100 starting out-drinking gin and 7up and beer every time the waitress arrived-managed to build my stack to around $250. My buddy finally arrived and we played until about 3 am when the games started to thin out leaving us as the drunken tourists! So we cashed out (I was up $200 at this point) and headed to Caesars to play. The only games were a couple of $2-5 NL and a $1-3 NL. I bought in for my profit and sat down at the 1-3 game. Most of the players had $500 at least back so I had an idea that we should have gone to the Flamingo...oh well. Nothing exciting for the first while, I won a few pots and was up to around $240 or so. Then the crucial hand. I am on the button with 10-8s. 4 limpers and I take a free look at the flop of 1077. I bet out for about 2/3 of the pot and get one caller. Turn is a 10 which inspires confidence. I bet out again and get a call. River is a blank and I bet out again and get raised all-in. I call expecting to chop but oh no, this fucker has pocket 7's for all my money plus the high hand bonus. I got my shit and left for bed very annoyed. The next day though as I thought it through I don't think there is anyway I get away from that hand, even sober.
Thursday brought the $120 tourney at Aria. I found this to be a nice room with a great tourney format-8000 starting stack, 30 minute blinds. 40 players started and the level of play was widely varied-some total beginners right up to regulars. I ended up 13th. We were 7 handed at my table, blinds of 300-600 or 400-800 I can't recall right now. I have about 13000 in chips. I am on the SB and have AJs. Everyone limps and I limp, planning to come over the top when the BB makes a play at the pot. He had about 25k in front of him and I read him right for the play. Everyone folds and I go all in. He snap calls with 88. Door card is a Jack and I am happy but then somber up as the next card is an 8 and I am out the door. Comments on this play would be appreciated. I think on that flop I go all-in anyway to try to win it right away.
Back to the IP for some more 1-2 NL for the evening. I was totally card dead at first but then started clicking later on. A couple of interesting hands and events occurred at this table: a really drunk kid sat down for around $200 and slowed the table down immensely since he "normally only plays 2-4 limit". He would say "Raise the maximum" which to me means go all in but then just mi-raise the people. Or he would make the "standard" raise of about $30. He is getting drunker and slower and stupider when this hand comes about. Two players are in the raised hand to a flop of KQ10 rainbow. Betting and raising goes on until the river brings a final board of 10JQKA rainbow. The first player bets and gets re-raised all-in. He asks the dealer if his kicker will play. She says she can't answer that and this drunk kid bellows out about 15 times it is the best 5 cards. The other player is obviously pissed, floor comes over and the kid doesn't get how his statement could affect the hand. Players end up chopping the pot with the dumb guy who asked about his kicker showing pocket 4s! A few hands later the drunk kid raises and is called by a good local regular player. Flop comes 9 high rainbow. Kid bets and the good player sends out a big stack of reds. Drunk kid string calls all his money into the pot and dealer deals out turn-6- and river-K. Kid is irate and says the other guy didn't call his all in. A count shows this is indeed true, the kid had an extra $20. Floor is summoned and the end result is that the river card is re-shuffled in to the deck and a new river is dealt. Drunk kid shows down AQ and good player shows pocket 10s. Kid becomes ignorant (and obviously missing the point that he had a re-draw at his 6 outer) and storms off cursing. Game settles down and we cash out shortly thereafter. I am up around $250. We head to the Flamingo and sit at a short 1-2 NL table which gets closed soon. We are moved to a new table with a couple of cool Aussie dudes. We are talking MMA with them and I pick up pocket Qs and raise. One re-raises me and I just call. Flop comes Q high rain-bow. I bet out and he insta-shoves. I call and he shows aces. He is upset but rebuys again. Not more than an orbit later I get 44 on the BB. The other Aussie now raises and I call. Flop comes 44J. I check and he bets. I call. Turn I check and he bets. River and I put him all in and he insta-calls with AA. He is also upset but rebuys. I drag a nice pot plus collect a $50 high hand bonus! We cash out and leave for bed an hour later. I am up another $250.
Friday brings a day at the track for me for the Kentucky Oaks and then more poker. We play the $65 tourney at Sahara. A decent structure with a 105 players and 6000 chips if you take the add-on. I end up tripling up early to around 18000, but then start running into some hands and bleed down to around 13000 when this crucial hand occurs. Blinds are 500-1000 and I get JJ in EP. I raise to 3500 and the button goes all in for a total of 6000. I call and he shows 77. Flop comes JQQ and he stands up and starts to walk away in disgust. Turn is a 7 and someone yells for him to come back. He arrives to see another fucking 7 on the river. He yells and sits back down. I try to swallow everything I just puked into my mouth. Two hand later I get KK and raise, everyone folds. When I am in the BB I get K9 and shove at the lone limper who calls with A8 and spikes an Ace to eliminate me. Apparently pocket 7s have my number this trip! Head back for poker at the IP. I buy-in for $100 again and manage to run it up to $180. There are some really drunk (and big stack players) and the table is awesome. I pick up KK at one point and raise after some limpers to $11. Two good players call, one drunk guy goes all in for around $65, another good guy calls the $65 and another drunk guy calls the $65. I go all in for $180 and end up with 3 callers-2 drunks and 1 good player. Drunks show Q8o, Q4o and the good guy shows AKs. I dodge an ace and win a nice pot. Few hands later and I pick up 36o in the BB, I flop bottom 2 pair and bet out. Couple drunks call and one drunk raises. I call other guys fold. Turn brings another 3 giving me the boat. I bet and the drunk calls. River is a 5 which would have made the 7 high straight (which I hope he has. I bet out $100 and he calls. He shows A high because "I might have been trying to bluff him". NICE! I am starting to get more loaded myself though since more guys are arriving for the stag and we are drinking heavily. Pretty much my final hand for the night was JJ. I raise to $11 from MP after a few limpers and a guy goes all-in for $100 behind me. I figure he overbets to steal the pot and I call and he shows AA and I lose a hundred. Damn, I am getting too drunk. End up cashing out for another $185 profit.
Saturday headed home with $100 more than what I brought. I love Vegas and especially the IP poker room!
As a side note/question one of the good players said I need to play more hands (and no I wasn't drunk at this point-I had played with him the previous night as well). My reponse was I am getting well paid for my good hands and any time I can limp and hit a flop as well. Why mix it up against the good players when the drunks reward me (and aren't paying attention anyways)? Any thoughts on this approach? Perhaps I am leaving money behind this way, but I am comfortable playing this way at the IP.
Hope that wasn't too long or boring.
Young Grimm
Wednesday Night-I was the first to arrive and the other flight bringing participants was delayed because of very high winds in LV. Thus I drank and gambled by myself for around 5 hours at the IP. My favourite dealer from previous trips, Cheryl, recalled the heater I had been on last summer as well.
Just played my regular 1-2 NL with $100 starting out-drinking gin and 7up and beer every time the waitress arrived-managed to build my stack to around $250. My buddy finally arrived and we played until about 3 am when the games started to thin out leaving us as the drunken tourists! So we cashed out (I was up $200 at this point) and headed to Caesars to play. The only games were a couple of $2-5 NL and a $1-3 NL. I bought in for my profit and sat down at the 1-3 game. Most of the players had $500 at least back so I had an idea that we should have gone to the Flamingo...oh well. Nothing exciting for the first while, I won a few pots and was up to around $240 or so. Then the crucial hand. I am on the button with 10-8s. 4 limpers and I take a free look at the flop of 1077. I bet out for about 2/3 of the pot and get one caller. Turn is a 10 which inspires confidence. I bet out again and get a call. River is a blank and I bet out again and get raised all-in. I call expecting to chop but oh no, this fucker has pocket 7's for all my money plus the high hand bonus. I got my shit and left for bed very annoyed. The next day though as I thought it through I don't think there is anyway I get away from that hand, even sober.
Thursday brought the $120 tourney at Aria. I found this to be a nice room with a great tourney format-8000 starting stack, 30 minute blinds. 40 players started and the level of play was widely varied-some total beginners right up to regulars. I ended up 13th. We were 7 handed at my table, blinds of 300-600 or 400-800 I can't recall right now. I have about 13000 in chips. I am on the SB and have AJs. Everyone limps and I limp, planning to come over the top when the BB makes a play at the pot. He had about 25k in front of him and I read him right for the play. Everyone folds and I go all in. He snap calls with 88. Door card is a Jack and I am happy but then somber up as the next card is an 8 and I am out the door. Comments on this play would be appreciated. I think on that flop I go all-in anyway to try to win it right away.
Back to the IP for some more 1-2 NL for the evening. I was totally card dead at first but then started clicking later on. A couple of interesting hands and events occurred at this table: a really drunk kid sat down for around $200 and slowed the table down immensely since he "normally only plays 2-4 limit". He would say "Raise the maximum" which to me means go all in but then just mi-raise the people. Or he would make the "standard" raise of about $30. He is getting drunker and slower and stupider when this hand comes about. Two players are in the raised hand to a flop of KQ10 rainbow. Betting and raising goes on until the river brings a final board of 10JQKA rainbow. The first player bets and gets re-raised all-in. He asks the dealer if his kicker will play. She says she can't answer that and this drunk kid bellows out about 15 times it is the best 5 cards. The other player is obviously pissed, floor comes over and the kid doesn't get how his statement could affect the hand. Players end up chopping the pot with the dumb guy who asked about his kicker showing pocket 4s! A few hands later the drunk kid raises and is called by a good local regular player. Flop comes 9 high rainbow. Kid bets and the good player sends out a big stack of reds. Drunk kid string calls all his money into the pot and dealer deals out turn-6- and river-K. Kid is irate and says the other guy didn't call his all in. A count shows this is indeed true, the kid had an extra $20. Floor is summoned and the end result is that the river card is re-shuffled in to the deck and a new river is dealt. Drunk kid shows down AQ and good player shows pocket 10s. Kid becomes ignorant (and obviously missing the point that he had a re-draw at his 6 outer) and storms off cursing. Game settles down and we cash out shortly thereafter. I am up around $250. We head to the Flamingo and sit at a short 1-2 NL table which gets closed soon. We are moved to a new table with a couple of cool Aussie dudes. We are talking MMA with them and I pick up pocket Qs and raise. One re-raises me and I just call. Flop comes Q high rain-bow. I bet out and he insta-shoves. I call and he shows aces. He is upset but rebuys again. Not more than an orbit later I get 44 on the BB. The other Aussie now raises and I call. Flop comes 44J. I check and he bets. I call. Turn I check and he bets. River and I put him all in and he insta-calls with AA. He is also upset but rebuys. I drag a nice pot plus collect a $50 high hand bonus! We cash out and leave for bed an hour later. I am up another $250.
Friday brings a day at the track for me for the Kentucky Oaks and then more poker. We play the $65 tourney at Sahara. A decent structure with a 105 players and 6000 chips if you take the add-on. I end up tripling up early to around 18000, but then start running into some hands and bleed down to around 13000 when this crucial hand occurs. Blinds are 500-1000 and I get JJ in EP. I raise to 3500 and the button goes all in for a total of 6000. I call and he shows 77. Flop comes JQQ and he stands up and starts to walk away in disgust. Turn is a 7 and someone yells for him to come back. He arrives to see another fucking 7 on the river. He yells and sits back down. I try to swallow everything I just puked into my mouth. Two hand later I get KK and raise, everyone folds. When I am in the BB I get K9 and shove at the lone limper who calls with A8 and spikes an Ace to eliminate me. Apparently pocket 7s have my number this trip! Head back for poker at the IP. I buy-in for $100 again and manage to run it up to $180. There are some really drunk (and big stack players) and the table is awesome. I pick up KK at one point and raise after some limpers to $11. Two good players call, one drunk guy goes all in for around $65, another good guy calls the $65 and another drunk guy calls the $65. I go all in for $180 and end up with 3 callers-2 drunks and 1 good player. Drunks show Q8o, Q4o and the good guy shows AKs. I dodge an ace and win a nice pot. Few hands later and I pick up 36o in the BB, I flop bottom 2 pair and bet out. Couple drunks call and one drunk raises. I call other guys fold. Turn brings another 3 giving me the boat. I bet and the drunk calls. River is a 5 which would have made the 7 high straight (which I hope he has. I bet out $100 and he calls. He shows A high because "I might have been trying to bluff him". NICE! I am starting to get more loaded myself though since more guys are arriving for the stag and we are drinking heavily. Pretty much my final hand for the night was JJ. I raise to $11 from MP after a few limpers and a guy goes all-in for $100 behind me. I figure he overbets to steal the pot and I call and he shows AA and I lose a hundred. Damn, I am getting too drunk. End up cashing out for another $185 profit.
Saturday headed home with $100 more than what I brought. I love Vegas and especially the IP poker room!
As a side note/question one of the good players said I need to play more hands (and no I wasn't drunk at this point-I had played with him the previous night as well). My reponse was I am getting well paid for my good hands and any time I can limp and hit a flop as well. Why mix it up against the good players when the drunks reward me (and aren't paying attention anyways)? Any thoughts on this approach? Perhaps I am leaving money behind this way, but I am comfortable playing this way at the IP.
Hope that wasn't too long or boring.
Young Grimm
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