Honeymoon in Vegas—With Me! (Part 1)

Note: if you enjoyed my previous post, you might want to see the comment that the great Lee Jones himself left in response to his critique of his decision in the hand.  You can go directly to it here.  

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As you probably know, when I first started playing poker in casinos, and even when I first started blogging, I was strictly a 2/4 limit player. I was having really fun sessions and picking up amusing anecdotes to tell my friends from these 2/4 games.  And as I’ve explained often, those anecdotes I was relating to my friends turned into many of my early blog posts when those friends encouraged me to start the blog.  

Recently, I’ve been reflecting back on my days of playing 2/4 and kind of missing them.  I’m almost thinking of them as the “good old days.”

This is not because my recent run of poker has been bad—although it has.  Yes, my bankroll would likely be better off if I had been playing 2/4 limit instead of 1/2 NL during this downswing.  But that’s not the reason I’ve been thinking more fondly of those days. 

It’s because I miss the fun.  Back when I first started playing NL cash games, when the blog was just a few months old, I did a post about the differences between the limit and no-limit games.  You can—and should—find that post here.  At the time, I was concerned that if I played NL full time, the kind of fun I was having playing poker—and the kind of fun stories I was getting from it—would vanish.  That post was actually introduction to my post about meeting my now good friend Prudence.  That was key because my first session with Prudence helped me convince me that I could play NL and still have really fun, really crazy sessions that would also provide me with quality blogging material. 

It’s a good thing, because honestly, sooner or later, I really wouldn’t have had much choice but to switch to NL.  Limit poker is increasingly hard to find in Vegas.  When I first started playing it, my favorite poker room (then referred to as “BSC”) always had multiple 2/4 games going whenever I walked in (even though there were always more 1/2 games going).  It became my favorite poker room because of the great 2/4 games.  These days, they virtually never get a limit game going (it would be 3/6 if they did). It’s been over two years I’m sure since I’ve seen one there.

Now of course, I’ve played in fun, crazy NL games plenty of times since then, and hopefully those sessions made entertaining blog posts.  But games like that occur much less frequently at the NL level than at the low limit level.  And it just seems like it’s been quite a while since I’ve played in one of those really fun games.

There are two ways a poker game can fun (maybe there are more, but for now, let’s go with two). One, it can be fun because you’re winning.  Winning is always fun.  As I’ve documented here, winning has been a rather infrequent occurrence for me lately.

The other way is with a great group of fun players, or perhaps just one particularly entertaining player bringing great conversation to the table.  Or outrageous conversation.  The more outrageous, the better.  It helps if said player is female.  Female isn’t mandatory of course, but those outrageous and slightly (or not so slightly) provocative women I’ve encountered in the course of my poker endeavors make for my personal favorite blog posts, starting with Prudence. It was my pal Woody who coined the term “woman said” and I love writing posts that merit that label—they are my favorite. But I haven’t run into a “woman behaving badly” in a long time—over a year, I believe. My dry spell in scoring stories starring fun ladies runs longer than my bad run of poker.

So, in thinking of this recently, I remembered there was one story, featuring a very fun female, that goes back to my 2/4 days that I’ve never written up for the blog.  It’s perhaps ironic, because it took place just a few months before I started the blog. In fact, this story is definitely one of the ones that my friends Woody & LM had in mind when they pushed me to start the blog.  The email thread about this particular night is quite long and very entertaining in and of itself.

So why have I avoided posting this before now?  Well, I guess there are a couple of reasons. One, there is somewhat of an embarrassing element to it that I always had a problem coming up with a way to talk about to the general public (as opposed to my really close friends, where I can say anything).  Second, it took place right around the same time as a particularly painful incident in my life occurred.  Furthermore, in some odd way that I cannot reveal, this story ultimately played a small part in painful incident. 

You see, this story took place on my first night of poker in Vegas in May, five years ago.  And although I wasn’t totally aware of it at the time, by the time this trip was over I was about to enter one of the most painful periods of my life—and as I said this story played a small (but not insignificant) part in it.  Thus I had trained myself to not think about this story too much, least I relive some painful memories.  And in fact, just starting to write this post brought some unpleasant stuff back to me that I’m better off not revisiting. Sigh.  But it’s been a long time and it is time to soldier on.

So on this night, I arrived in the poker room and there were two 2/4 games, as was pretty standard for that era.  I got on the list and looked over the two games (which were right next to each other).  I couldn’t help noticing that at one table, there was an attractive young woman sitting behind one of the male players.  She had long, brown hair and was wearing kind of a flowing white dress that was rather low cut. She was slim but had a very nice figure. So yeah, she got my attention.  And when she leaned forward to talk to her man, she revealed some cleavage.  Just on the basis of having a pretty face to look at, I kind of hoped that I would get a seat at that table as there were no pretty faces—just guys—at the other one.

I took a seat at an empty table and waited to be called.  It didn’t take that long and I was called to the game I wanted.  However, when I got there, I was disappointed to see the attractive woman was gone, as was the guy she was sitting behind.  Guess that’s why the seat was open.

I played there for about an hour, sitting in seat 4.  The limit games were always 10-handed, so either 5 or 6 were my preferred seats (for purposes of vision), 4 a bit less so.  When seat 2 opened up, the floor man brought over a new player, a young guy.  Then I noticed there was a young girl with him and the floor man turned to her and said, “You’ll be first up.  What’s your name?”  She said it was “Sheila” and he put her on the waiting list.  And then Sheila pulled a chair up behind the new player to observe. 

Since it had been an hour at least, I didn’t even recognize the girl initially.  But when she leaned over to talk the guy, it suddenly came to me that this was the girl I had noticed sitting behind a player before I joined the game.  So of course I assumed that she was sitting behind the same guy as before.

In fact, the player in seat 1, who had been there the entire time, said to him as he got settled in, “You’re back, huh?”  The returning player, who we will refer to as “Bruce” from now on, replied, “Well, we had to eat sometime.”  At first I thought I might have detected a British accent from Bruce, but in fact, I soon overheard Bruce tell seat 3 that he and Sheila were visiting from Australia and were on their honeymoon. I’m always upset with myself when I make that mistake, I’ve encountered enough players from both Australia and England that I should be able to easily tell the difference.  Usually I do, but sometimes I goof, like this time.

Meanwhile, I was doing lousy at cards, barely winning a pot.  Suddenly the guy to my left, in seat 5, left the game.  Because I was losing in my current seat and because I prefer seat 5, and only for those reasons, honest, I told the dealer I would slide over to take seat 5.  I was not remembering at this point that Sheila was next on the list and would be taking the open seat.   But of course that's what happened...she took the seat that I had just vacated.

It was really fortunate.  Because it put her only one seat away from her loving groom, and basically right across from him. So they could easily converse during the game. It was real nice of me to do that, even though that's not why I did it.

However, when Sheila took the seat on my immediate right, I couldn’t help noticing the cut of her dress.  In addition to being low-cut, it had this sort of crisscross design, meaning from one side it was possible to see a whole lot of Sheila.  To see a “whole lot,” you had to be on her left side.  And as it happened, I was on her left side.  Oh dear.  I guess I should mention that it was obvious that Sheila had not bothered to put on a bra when she left for her evening of poker.  Was I perhaps in position to see something I wasn’t supposed to see?  

Spoiler alert:  I was.  You remember the famous Janet Jackson “wardrobe malfunction” from the Super Bowl, right?  Well, one time when I was conversing with Sheila, I got a better view of her than I ever got of Janet Jackson.  Oops.

Oh well, so what?  It was just a quick nip-slip.  And what did it matter that some guy she’s gonna be playing poker with for an hour or two and never see again saw it?  Back then I thought, “Wow, this is fun story to tell my friends.”  If it happened today, my thought would be, “Wow this will be a fun story to blog about.”

But what happened over the next 6 hours changed my perception a bit.  Yeah, six hours.  That’s how long I played with Bruce and Sheila. 

Now of course, being a gentleman, I spent that entire time trying my damndest to not experience another Janet Jackson moment with Sheila.  I tried really, really hard not to see anything I wasn’t supposed to see—that I had already seen—again.  And again.  And again.  You all believe that I tried really hard not to see it again, right?  You do believe me, I’m sure.

I suppose the surest way to avoid a recurrence would have been to move to other side of her.  From her right side, I’d be able to see nothing. For reasons I am unable to explain, that though never occurred to me on this night.

Ok, we’ll get back to the wardrobe malfunction later. Actually, it will be in part 2, sorry. Let’s return to the conversation.

It turned out that Sheila was a really nice, really fun, really interesting person.  The same could be said for Bruce.  Soon after she sat down next to me, I confirmed what I heard, that they were from Australia on their honeymoon.  Just Vegas?  No.....they came to the U.S. for six weeks. They flew to NY and drove across the country, and were having a great time. BTW, it was tough driving here at first because she told me they drive on the wrong side of the road in Australia just like they do in England.  Vegas was their next to last stop.  The next morning they were planning to drive to L.A. and fly home from there.  They were going to Disneyland. Sheila had been there when she was five-years-old but Bruce had never been. But they would be returning to Vegas first for one more night—a last minute decision. Saturday night was a special "Glee" show at Mandalay Bay and they wanted to come back for that since Sheila loved that show. Actually Bruce said "they" love the show but Sheila said he was just being nice, it’s she who loved the show.  They were staying Saturday nite at Mandalay Bay.  They’d had four nites in Vegas—two at Venetian, two at Caesars.  I wondered why they were at BSC in that case. Had they seen a show there? Nope, just came to check it out.  

Sheila had been watching Bruce play poker and decided it looked like fun and would try playing. This was her first time ever playing real poker.  She said she plays on her Blackberry, but that was not with real people or real money.  But she was losing so much money at the video poker machines she didn't think she could do any worse at a real poker table, and this was more social.

I asked if they had come to the U.S. immediately after getting married.  Not quite, they were married in March and Bruce had been busy in court.  So I asked if he was a lawyer or a criminal. Sheila laughed.  He’s a lawyer, as is she.  She was quick to point out that they are corporate lawyers, not those “personal injury lawyers everyone hates.”  So Bruce was in court on a case. I asked if they wear those wigs in Australia like they do in England.  She said they do!  But not Bruce and her.  It's a little different down there.  Although they are actual lawyers and work for the biggest law firm in their city, they have not passed the bar exam yet.  Sheila was hoping to soon.  It is only the barristers who are allowed to speak in court (and wear the wigs). All they can do is take notes. 

After a few minutes of chatting, Sheila introduced herself and Bruce to me by name and asked my name and where I'm from and what I do.  Sheila immediately noticed that I knew all the dealers and asked if was a local.  I said no but that I’m Vegas a lot.  

And that’s where I’m going to end Part 1.  Part 2 is now posted and you can find it here.

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He Let This One Off the Hook—But Should He Have?

This post is a little different than usual.  It is basically a long comment in response to a recent blog post on someone else’s blog.

I’m not leaving this as a comment on that blog for two reasons.  For one thing, it will be way too long.  As you have probably figured out by now, when they were passing out instructions for how to write succinctly, I took one look at the instructions, handed them back and said, “Too long, didn’t read.”

The other reason is, this particular blog doesn’t accept comments.  I guess that’s really the major reason.

The blog post is written by Lee Jones and you can find it here.  If the name Lee Jones sounds familiar, it should.  Lee has played poker for a long time and has long been associated with PokerStars.  But he’s also an author, and he wrote what is often considered the definitive book on low limit hold’em, Winning Low-Limit Hold’em.  It wasn’t quite the first book I read when I started getting into poker, but it was the first one that really made sense to me.  I read that book over and over again in my early days (and remember, I started out playing limit).  Last time I touched that book it literally fell apart in my hands from having been paged through so often.  The other books I read at that time not only were weak on strategy but didn’t really explain the rules and the etiquette very well. They weren’t particularly well-written. Lee’s book excelled in all areas.  It really helped me understand the rules, as well as the strategy for low limit games like the ones I wanted to play. And presented all of that in a way that was clear and easy to understand.

So go ahead and check out Lee’s post that I just linked to.  I’ll summarize but it will be better if you read it in Lee’s own words.  He’s an excellent writer and it will give you insight into what he was thinking—and why he did what he did—better than I ever could.

That said, here’s the short version.  Lee was playing a short-handed 1/2 NL game well into the wee hours, and he flopped the nut flush with a suited Ace.  His flop bet was called by one player, a reg.  When he bet the turn, still holding the stone cold nuts,, the remaining player announced “all-in.”  Dealer put the all-in button in front of him, Lee snap called of course and flipped over his hand, announcing that he has the nuts.  And the other player said, “I didn’t say all-in.”

Indeed, the other player insisted that he didn’t say “all-in” and refused to put any of his chips in the pot.  The floor was called, the floor told him he must put his chips in, and the player kept saying he wouldn’t do that.  Just as it was about to get real ugly, Lee left the other player off the hook and said he’d just take the pot as it is (again, it’s worth reading the original post for the full flavor and to get Lee’s reasoning).

Lee’s generosity and class saved the poker room a big, messy scene.  And for sure, Lee is to be totally commended for how well he handled this, and even admired for it.

That said….I cannot agree with Lee’s decision.  I believe it was wrong-headed.

I say this knowing full well that Lee Jones knows has forgotten more about poker than I will ever know.

Lee ultimately decided that $300 wasn’t worth it.

If it had been me, I would not have have accepted that.  And honestly, as nice a gesture as it was, I don’t think Lee should have accepted it either.

It’s not the money—although of course, it isthe money.  But beside that, it goes to the integrity of the game.  One of the reasons that we play in a casino instead of a home or underground game is that the house is supposed to protect the players.

Furthermore, even with the house there to protect us, there is an implied agreement we all make with each other when we sit down at the poker table. That agreement is that we will abide by the rules of the game.  For example, when I switched from limit to No Limit, I was surprised to see that “all-in” bets were often not immediately pushed forward.  In limit, the bet is a fixed amount each time, so you put the call or the raise (double the call) in right away. But in NL, all you have to do is say “all-in” and you have given your word of honor that you will surrender all your chips if you lose the pot.

If we allow someone to say “all-in” and not really mean it, the game falls apart.  You would have to change the etiquette and insist that the player shoving literally put all his chips out in front of him.  And therefore, a person couldn’t just say “call” in response—he would have to count out the bet to cover the all-in. 

But we don’t do that because, as we know, “verbal is binding.” 

Of course, the villain in Lee’s story insisted—after he had seen Lee’s hand—that he did not say “all-in.”  Even though Lee heard him say it, the dealer heard him say it, and at least one other player at the table heard him say it.  That should be enough for anyone.

But there’s more.  The dealer, upon hearing the word’s “all-in” come out of his mouth, put the “all-in” button in front of him.  Lee points out that the player had been there for hours and was a regular in the room.  Thus, there is no possible way that he didn’t know what the “all-in” button in front of him meant.  And yet he didn’t immediately object to it by asking the dealer what the heck that button was doing in front of him, and stating that he had not declared himself to be all in.

No, he only said that after he had seen that Lee had the nuts. And when he was called on it, he said, “"Do you think I'm going to go all-in when he has the nuts?”  Umm…..I can’t believe someone didn’t point out the obvious fact that when he went all-in, he didn’t know that Lee had the nuts, did he?  Lee could have had a lesser flush, two pair, a set, or 7-high. 

By the way, this story is a little similar to one that happened to me a few years back, which you can find here.  The big difference was, my villain had made it conditional.  He said,”Oh if you’re betting, I’m gonna call whatever you put out.”  That was a bit of gray area.

Here, the player didn’t make it conditional at all.

Of course, despite three people (at least) hearing him say it, despite the “all-in” button sitting in front of him, he boldly stated that he had not said “all-in.”

He didn’t even try to say something like, “What I said was, ‘I’m thinking of going all-in.’” Nope, he flat out denied saying what three people heard him say.

In other words, he lied to save himself some money.

That’s what he did.

I’m sorry, there is just no way you can let a player get away with that.  Ever.

When you sit down at a poker game, especially in a casino, you have to know that the house will protect you from something like that.  Otherwise, you should never play.

Look at it this way. Suppose the shoe had been on the other foot.  Suppose it was Lee who said “all-in” and it was the villain who snap called and turned over the nuts.  As unhappy as Lee would have been to see his opponent’s hand, would he have honored his bet and sent his chips to the other guy? 

Of course he would have paid him off.  He would have done that because that’s the rules of the game, and because he knows if it was reversed, he would have gotten his opponent’s chips. Well, except for this time, that is.

Besides, Lee called knowing that, despite having the nuts at that point, he could still lose.  Suppose the villain had a set and rivered a full house?  Lee was surely prepared to pay him off in that case.  Notice I said “prepared to” and not “be happy about it.”

That’s why you play poker, right?  To get the other players’ chips.  Lee won them fair and square.  Every decision you make, every bet you make, every call you make, is done with the understanding that the rules will be enforced properly, so that if you win, you win.  If you lose, you lose.  There’s no third option (unless there’s a chopped pot of course). 

Every single player at that table—including the villain—was sitting there with the understanding that if a player makes a verbal bet, it is binding.  Period.  End of statement.

Lee should have said nothing.  The floor person should have insisted the guy put his chips out in front of him (or maybe grabbed them himself).  If he refused, he should have called security.

Lee is a nice guy, and his good-nature about this is to be applauded.  And he’s certainly right that the $300 he was cheated out of (and that’s exactly what happened) is not the end of the world, and would have had little impact on his life.

Nevertheless, for the integrity of poker games everywhere, he should have been awarded all of the villain’s chips.  Because he won them under the rules everyone had agreed to when they sat down.

I’m right, aren’t I?

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"If You Get Lost, Ask a Hot Girl"

This is an old session I recently uncovered.  There were no spectacular hands, no huge pots.  Just chipping up and up, and coming out ahead in the end.  Slow and steady wins the race, to quote an old cliché.

This took place on a club night.  I was assigned to a seat in the back of the room, unfortunately.  I never asked for a table change to a better table (viewing wise, of course) because I was doing well enough where I was.  If you’re winning at a table, why move?  Just to get a better view of the walking scenery?  Not on this night.

I limped in with pocket 4’s, then called $7.  Four of us saw a flop that was all clubs, but it did contain a 4. Nervous about the clubs, I just called $20 and $30 on the flop and turn.  I declined to bet on the river when he checked.  My set was good.

I raised to $8 with Ace-8 of clubs. There was a call and then someone raised to $40.  I folded, but the other guy called.  I dunno, $40 just seemed like too much to call with such a marginal hand.  So the flop came Ace-Ace-6, two hearts.  Damn.  I had to console myself thinking that one of them had the case Ace with a better kicker.  The preflop raiser bet $80 (which was more than half his stack).  The other guy shoved and the first guy called.  The turn made me ill—it was an 8. The river was a 7.  The preflop raiser showed pocket Kings.  The other guy just mucked!

Huh…what the hell did he have that couldn’t beat Kings on a paired Aces board for him to shove with on the flop?  A semi-bluff with hearts?  Queens?  It was strange.  I really couldn’t figure out his hand.  But one thing is for sure.  The guy with the Kings would have known why I call them dreadedif I hadn’t folded.  I had both guys covered but still it would have been a very nice pot. 

I raised with Ace-King, had a couple of callers and took it with a c-bet.

Then I had pocket Jacks, raised to $8, only one caller.  The flop was Ace-high but he didn’t call my $12 bet.

In the small blind I put in a buck with 8-6 offsuit in a five or six way pot.  There was an 8 on the flop and I called $6.  Now there were three of us.  The turn was a 6 and I led out for $12; it was now heads up.  A blank turn and I bet $25, he called and showed Ace-9 (just top pair, top kicker).

In late position, I raised to $13 with Ace-King off and had two callers.  The flop was Jack-7-2, two diamonds—I had no diamonds.  I made a $20 continuation bet and had one call.  The turn was an Ace, I bet $30 and she called.  I bet $35 on a King river and she called.  She showed one card when she saw my hand….an Ace.

With pocket 9’s, I raised to $8 and had three callers.  The flop was 9-8-2, two hearts.  My $25 bet was not called.

I raised to $8 with King-Queen offsuit and had two callers.  The flop was Ace-Jack-5, two spades.  I bet $15 and one guy made it $30, the other guy folded, I called.  The turn was a 10.  I bet $60, the guy tanked for a bit.  Finally he said, “I’ll lay it down for you.”  Gee thanks.  I just had the nuts.

I had pocket Jacks and raised, got three callers.  A c-bet on a low flop took it.  A few hands later I had pocket Aces, raised, had only one caller, and took it with a c-bet.

I limped in with King-10 of clubs.  Four of us saw a flop of Ace-Jack-4, one club.  It checked around.  The Queen on the turn gave me Broadway.  A player led out for $5, I made it $15 and she called, it was heads up.  But the board paired on the river and neither of us bet.  She didn’t show when I showed her the nut straight.

At one point one of the players asked if there was a Men’s Room nearby.  And the dealer said, “No.”  You see, this was during a period when the nearest restrooms to the MGM poker room were being remodeled.  So you had to walk past the Sports Book to get to the next closest ones, which were the ones that serviced the poker room before it was re-located to make room for the club.

By this time, the line for the club had already formed.  From the poker room, there are two ways to get to rest rooms. You can walk through the sports book, or you can take a slightly less direct route and walk through where the poker room used to be, which is now part pathway and part line-up area for the club. In other words, if you want to take the scenic route, it’s a few more steps.  You should be able to figure out which route I take when I have to go that restroom.

Anyway, the player was surprised to get that answer.  “No?”  The dealer said, “You’ll find it, just go over by the sports book and then passed it.”  So I chipped in, “Go around the sports book, not through the sports book.  You’ll enjoy the view a lot more.”  The rest of the table laughed at that, knowing exactly what I meant.  The dealer said, “If you get lost, ask a hot girl.”  And I added, “If you don’t get lost, ask a hot girl.’

When he returned—and not particularly promptly, I might add—he said, “Yeah, I see what you mean about the view on the other side.  Thanks.”

And that was that.  No huge pots, but I was never down and kept adding to my stack.  By the time I cashed out, I was up $230.  Slow and steady wins the race.

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Was Colossus II a Disappointing Sequel?

The World Series of Poker is well under way.  The first “major” event was the return of Colossus.  As you will recall, I played in the very first Colossus event last year (see here and here).  This year, I’m not in Vegas yet so obviously I didn’t play in it.  Honestly, even if I was able to be in Vegas now, I would have skipped the event.  And apparently, I’m not alone in thinking that I could afford to miss this tournament.  The turnout was less than last year’s.

That is the subject of this post.  Was Colossus II a disappointment—attendance wise, that is?  Was it just another case of the sequel not being as good as the original?  Or would that be the wrong takeaway?

I initially got the idea to do this post on Thursday, the first day of the event.  When I saw the reports of the number of seats sold for the two flights that made up the first day, I was thinking that turnout must have been a huge disappointment.  And I started thinking of all the reasons why this was happening.

I’ll get back to that but now that we know how many people actually turned out for the event, it is obvious that “huge disappointment” is a totally inaccurate assessment.

But was it slightly disappointing, at least?  I’d have to say yes.  Let’s look at the numbers.

This year’s event drew 21,613 making it the second largest tournament field in poker history.  The first was of course last year’s Colossus, which had 22,374 entrants.

OK, that’s not much of a drop off.  But I heard they were expecting to break 30K players this year and if that’s true, then it is a disappointing turnout.

What’s important to note is that they added two more starting flights this year.  So they could have handled 30K players, where as last year they wouldn’t have been able to.

Last year, the Day 1’s  were on Friday and Saturday of the first week of the series (two each day).  This year, they were on Thursday, Friday and Saturday of that first week, again two a day.  I think they were anticipating pretty much maxing out each flight.

That would have been 4400-4800 each flight.  Thus, when I saw they “only” had 3,249 for Flight A on Thursday, followed by a much smaller field of 2,153 for Flight B later that day, it sure looked like a big disappointment.

But to a great extent, adding two more days just spread out almost the same number of players over six flights rather than four.  That was better for the players, and I guess for the staff as well, but probably not what the WSOP was hoping for.

The impact on the entire Vegas poker scene was way down too.  Last year, they had to use every single table in the Rio for Colossus or some other bracelet events.  They even used half of the Poker Kitchen for tables. No cash games at the Rio meant that cash game action was spread out over town and there were 3-4 hour waiting lists at many rooms to get into a cash game.

From what I could tell, nothing like that happened this year and I think the WSOP venue was able to run cash games most of the time (except maybe for part of Saturday). Thus the other rooms were busy, but not swamped. 

The turnout picked up on Friday (3,770 & 3,099) and then a huge turnout on Saturday (4,855 & 4,487). 

So, although not the turnout they hoped for, still an incredible number of players for a single tournament, to say the least.

But if we’re honest, it was on some level disappointing.  So why didn’t they exceed last year’s numbers even with two more starting flights?

I have a few theories. 

First, the novelty from last year was gone.  I’m sure a lot of players who played last year didn’t feel the need to play again (like me), either because it was more of a “one time thing” or because their experience wasn’t so good. 

As I reported in those posts I’ve linked to, it was kind of fustercluck last year.  Although they did an incredible job under the circumstances, there were still a lot of glitches—starting with having to change the number of levels played on Day 1 and having to change the start times of the afternoon flights.  One glitch from last year I unfortunately didn’t have to deal with was that there were incredibly long lines at the payout window for those lucky enough to cash.  I’m sure this left a bad taste in the mouths of some of those who got paid.  I’ll bet that’s one reason people who got paid last year may not have returned.  That and the other glitches I mentioned last year.

And for those who didn’t play but were thinking of it, remembering all the stories of the glitches from a year ago may have dissuaded them from playing this year.

Ironically, by adding the two starting flights and getting a similar number of players, I think they were able to do away with most of the glitches, so that was a bad reason I guess for people to decide not to play.

And they fixed the payout problem by having each starting flight have its own individual pay outs before the flight ended.  If you made it to Day 2 you cashed, but the money bubble hit during Day 1, and thus people who cashed but busted Day 1 could collect their money right then and there, reducing the lines for the pay outs. 

They also made it simpler by not letting people register for more than one flight at a time.  You couldn’t register for a second flight until you busted from the current flight you were playing.  No doubt that made things go smoother. 

I did read some complaints on Twitter that there issues on Day 2 as they kept reaching another pay jump on the pay scale—apparently they were stopping the clock and playing hand for hand for each jump.  Can anyone confirm that?

Anyway, I wonder if a lot of people—whether they played last year or not—figured out that the odds of surviving such a huge tournament were so overwhelming that their tournament dollars were best spent elsewhere?  That’s probably the main reason I wouldn’t have returned this year even if I had been in town.  It is just way too big a crapshoot.  And once I had the experience one time, I didn’t need the thrill again.  Also, I believe there are a few more lower priced bracelet events this year, so there are more options for the low-rollers to play for a bracelet than last year.

And then there was the revised structure.  I mention that in my post here, where I linked to the article here explaining the new, almost turbo-like structure of the event. Can’t be sure how many people read this article—or maybe just figured out on their own that structure was much quicker—and decided that there was not enough value in the tournament to play in it.  But I’m sure the new structure had some effect. 

Now I realize you readers come to my blog expecting detailed posts about long tournament runs, and must be disappointed that I don’t have one for you this time (since, you know, I didn’t play).  So, if you want to read about a nice tournament run in Colossus, I’m giving this link hereto my friend Don’s write up. I’ve mentioned Don numerous times, we’re pals from the days when PokerAtlas was All Vegas Poker. For some reason, Don calls himself “Dave” in his summary. As you can see, Don actually won a free seat to Colossus and it paid off for him.  I think you’ll enjoy his reportage of the event. 

So that’s it.  Do you think the turnout for Colossus II was disappointing?  And if so, why do you think turnout was off?  Please share your thoughts. And if you played, let us know how it was and how you did.  

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Face Off in Ventura

It was a titanic battle of two Asians at PC Ventura yesterday.  The first one had joined our table after I’d been there for a good hour.  He was both a bit of an aggro and a bit of a luckbox, at least when he started out.  His stack had risen and fallen, and I’m sad to report his stack had doubled (from under $100) when he beat me boat over boat.  By the time this hand occurred, he had nearly $600.

The second Asian had joined the table more recently.  He was even more aggro, and he was only at our game for a few hands when they asked him if he wanted to move to a bigger game, but he said no, he would stay at this table. So I figured he’s probably used to bigger stakes. The two of them got into a few hands together, and seemed to be playing against each other a bit.  As far as I could tell, they didn’t know each other previously, but it’s possible that I’m wrong about that.  He had just won a big pot right before this hand and had around $500.

We’ll call the first player I mentioned Kenny and the second guy Artie.  Kenny had been away from the table for awhile and didn’t see Artie win that big hand I mentioned.  On Kenny’s first hand back from his little break, he raised to $21 after a couple of limpers.  Artie immediately said something like, “Whoa…first hand back and you make it $21?”  I don’t believe he had looked at his cards when he said that.

Meanwhile, an older gentleman, one of the tightest players at the table, had called the $21 immediately behind Kenny.  Artie looked at his cards and then said, “The bet is $21?  What’s four times $21?”  The dealer said, “No math please.”  I’m not sure if he was joking or not. Maybe it appeared another player, one not in the hand, was going to tell him, and I guess that would not have been ok.  But the guy managed to figure it out without any help and called out his raise to $85 (close enough).  It folded back to Kenny.

He complained a bit to Artie.  “What, you were giving me a hard time over $21 and you make it $85?  What’s that all about?”  Artie said something like, “Hey I’m not kidding here. I mean it.”

Kenny tanked for some time, then counted out chips and looked at his stack and looked at Artie’s stack.  And reading his body language, I thought he was going to re-raise.  But finally he said, “I’ll just call,” and counted out the $85.  The gentleman who had called the $21 folded instantly.  Apparently he only had a $21 hand, not an $85 hand.

It was heads up and the flop was Queen-high on an unconnected board.  Kenny took very little time in checking, but Artie didn’t notice that he checked.  “Is it on me?”  Assured that it was, he announced, “all-in.”

Kenny was surprised by the bet.  “What does he have, “$300?”  No, he had more than that.  He had two $100 chips which were kind of hidden (by the way, in this casino, the $100 chips are white, not black).  The dealer said it was more so he asked for a complete count. It was something like $425-$435, in that range.  So Kenny counted his own stack, and separated the amount he needed to call.  It would have left him with less than $100 if he called and lost.

Kenny was in a bit of agony.  He mentioned something about really not wanting to lay his hand down.  Or maybe he said, “I can’t lay this down.”  Artie said, “I showed that one hand.”  It was a reference to a really big bet he had made in a previous hand, and after getting the fold, he showed his hand to be exactly what he was representing with his big bet—not a bluff.

So Kenny asked, “Will you show if I fold?”  But Artie said, “Will I show if you fold?  No…I don’t do that.  I never show.  That one time was it.”

Kenny stared and stared.  He kept quizzing Artie and Artie just softly indicated he “had it” and that he wasn’t kidding.  I can assure you that everyone at the table was totally engrossed in this battle of wills.  So I was kind of surprised when someone called for the clock.  I wasn’t sure who it was.  I’m pretty sure it wasn’t Artie.  Frankly, I was enjoying the drama.  I wouldn’t have minded watching for another five minutes if not more.  It was highly entertaining.  Of course, I would have been more in favor of calling the clock if it had been a tournament setting.

It took awhile for the floor to come over for the clock, but finally he did and the countdown began.  The staring continued, Kenny kept talking, saying anything to try to get a better read on Artie.  By this time Artie had stop saying anything in response, and was looking away.

The floor said, “30 seconds,” and a few seconds later Kenny just flipped over his hand.  It was two Kings.  Artie jumped a little…..not sure if it was from the hand itself or if he was just surprised to see the hand exposed.  Needless to say, Kenny wasn’t taking his eyes off Artie the entire time. 

But he still wasn’t acting on his hand.  The floor man spoke again. “Ten, nine, eight, seven…”  I knew that if he got past “one” his hand would be dead.  Kenny was motionless and I wondered if a last second “call” announcement would escape his lips at the last possible moment.

But……no, it did not.  The floor man said “one” followed by, “this hand is dead,” And he himself put his hand on the two Kings and swept them into the muck for the dealer.  The dealer started pushing the pot to Artie.  Everyone was kind of gasping that he could lay down his Kings on a Queen-high, non-threatening board like that.    Especially since, from our observations, Kenny certainly seemed to have more than a little gamble in him.

Artie started to just slide his cards back face down, but at the last second, he flipped them over.

Of course, it was two Aces. 

Artie said, “Wow….how could you lay that down?  I would have called.”

He repeated similar comments for a quite a while and now Kenny was strangely silent.  I think at one point he said, “I saved myself a lot of money there.”  He did indeed.

Artie even pointed out that he could have still won.  He had outs, after all.  Yeah…two of them.  But he used that to justify his statement that he would have called had the shoe been on the other foot.  Another player said, “I thought he had a set of Queens,” (meaning Artie).  Kenny said, “No way, I knew he didn’t have a set of Queens.”  I agree, I don’t think he would have played it that way.

OTOH, I’m not sure I like how he played the Aces. It was a dramatic hand, but not necessarily a well played one, at least not by Artie.  You can’t argue with Kenny’s play, unless you just want to say, “Kenny was supposed to lose his stack there.”  But Artie?  His shove into a pot of a bit less than $200 was not necessary.  He probably could have gotten called with a bet of say, $150.  And been an 90/10 favorite if the hand continued.  Based on his comment though, it appears he really was concerned with losing as a huge favorite, that’s why he bet so much.

If that was his concern though, did he consider the possibility that Kenny might have played pocket Queens the exact same way?  In which case Artie was shoving into a set?  Just asking.

What do you think of Artie’s play there?

Anyway, the table was buzzing about this for the rest of the time I was there.  I enjoyed being a spectator to it.

Oh, and by the way….my original title for this post was going to be, “Aces vs. Kings—Asian edition.”  As you likely know, I’ve done “Aces vs. Kings” posts a few times (see here, here and here).  But I realized I’d be giving away the punch line of my post in the title, so I had to up with something more innocuous. 

Anyway, the pic below was taken by my pal Norm in Vegas at the grand opening of the new Wynn poker room.  It seems an appropriate pic for a post about Aces.  As far as I know, there were no guys there dressed as Kings.  Sorry.  Thanks, Norm!

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"Where Are You From?"

This took place quite a few months ago. There was some drama that was quite a bit more interesting than the poker was for me.  In fact, I will spare you all the “boring hand histories.”  Early in the session I flopped a set of 4’s, didn’t get paid for it, and it was downhill from there.

The drama reminded of an incident that I had been involved in personally over a year earlier.  You can read about it here.  In short, I was in bad mood from an incident at another table, and then, at the new table, ran into an absolute maniac who raised big every single time. He was also a non-stop talker and he just infuriated me.  So when I checked a flop, and he didn’t see me check, he decided to ask me, totally out of the blue, with the action on him, “What’s your nationality?”  I was beyond infuriated (read the old post to get the full flavor).

On this night, I originally was seated in the perfect seat at the perfect table to enjoy the Slut Parade.  But before the provocatively dressed young ladies showed up, our table broke and I was stuck at a table in the back of the room, a seat with no view.  It’s amazing I didn’t blow up just for that, but in fact, the drama this night didn’t involve me.

When I got to the table, I had just won a small pot at the previous table (the last hand before they broke it) and the seat I took was between the blinds, so I had to wait a couple of hands to play.  Thus I had my face buried in my phone making notes on the previous hand and also putting down an accurate count of the chips I took to the new table.  Again, as it turned out, this information is not worth relating to you now.   

There was a dealer change so the old dealer had put a “reserved” button in front of me, so I wouldn’t be charged for a missed blind when I was able to take a hand.

Meanwhile, there was a guy at the other side of table who “welcomed” me to the table.  “You don’t know what you’re in for.  I talk a lot.  One guy already left because I talk too much.”  Thanks for the warning, bub.  But I was busy with my notes and ignored him. That annoyed him.  “What, you’re not going to participate?  You’re just going to bury you face in the phone and ignore us?”

I didn’t respond immediately, but in a moment or two, I received my first hand at the table.  I still had the “reserved” button, which I picked up and returned to the dealer..  But not before I waived it in front of me and said to the loudmouth guy, “You see, I had to be quiet because I had the ‘reserved’ button. I had to act reserved.”  That got a good laugh, even from Loudmouth.

The loudmouth was from Chicago, a fact he repeated at least three dozen times.  By the time his night was over, I think he had repeated everything at least three dozen times.  He was one of those guys.

The player he got into it with was a guy who looked like he might have been Asian, but I wasn’t sure.  He never spoke a word at the table to any of us, but every once in awhile his buddy came over and they would talk to each other in a foreign language.  But just as I couldn’t be sure of the guy’s national origin, I couldn’t be sure what language they were speaking.  He never gave any indication that he didn’t understand English, but I never heard him speak a word of it.  I was pretty sure he didn’t live in the U.S. and was visiting from another country.

The loudmouth couldn’t tell where the guy was from either.  And it drove him crazy.  He kept asking the guy where he was from and the guy just shrugged, or stared off into space.  This happened between hands or even during hands.  I assume the guy understood the question and chose not to answer, for whatever reason. If he figured out that it was putting the loudmouth on tilt, he was pretty dead on.

The mysterious man had an interesting playing style.  He played generally very nitty, but every now and then he’d make a really big bet, or a three-bet.  He kept us off-balance.

Loudmouth was already frustrated with the guy when the two of them were in a hand together and the mysterious man put out a huge bet.  I didn’t note the details but it was a big bet and Loudmouth clearly had a good hand. He went in the tank forever.  He was in agony.  So he asked the guy, “Will you show if I fold?”  The guy said nothing.  The loudmouth was infuriated that he wouldn’t commit to showing.  Finally the loudmouth folded.  As the pot was pushed to him, the mysterious man hesitated and then showed his cards.  It was a total bluff.  He had nothing, he never even had a decent draw.  It was garbage the whole way.  I wasn’t sure, but I kind of think that the loudmouth threw up a little in his mouth.  He was really pissed.

On the very next hand, I raised, the mysterious man three-bet, and the loudmouth said, “My fault, I just gave him the confidence to do that.”  I don’t believe that, but whatever.

Loudmouth would only shut up long enough to text on his phone.  Sometimes, when he was blabbering, he was making comments about the other players.  Just mild stuff, I don’t think it was too bad.  I didn’t hear anything about me.  He was saying some things about the mysterious man.  I didn’t write any of it down so I obviously didn’t think any of it was beyond the pale.

Finally he got into another big hand with the mysterious guy.  And they got it all in, and it turned out that loudmouth had two pair but the mysterious guy had flopped a set of Queens.  Loudmouth was now out of chips. 

He was of course really unhappy.  And so he shouted over to the guy, “Now will you tell me where you’re from, you god-damn mother-f***er?”  Again the guy said nothing, just kept stacking his chips.  But the dealer said, “That’s it, you have to leave.  You’re done.”

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a dealer kick a player out before.  As it happened, the shift manager was coming over to the table anyway for another reason, and the dealer explained what happened.  But it didn’t matter.  Loudmouth didn’t argue.  He was already on his way out.  The shift boss just kept on her eye on him to make sure he left the poker room, which he did.

I guess it was only a matter of time before his big, loud mouth would get him in trouble.  Moral of the story:  If someone doesn’t want to tell you where they’re from, don’t press it.

I’ll close this post out with some big boobs.  Because, why the hell not?

What, you say those boobs aren’t big enough for you?

Well, here’s a bigger boob.

Of course, I’m referring to the guy wearing the shirt.  Who would wear a shirt like that? 

Hmm…..maybe there is actually a market for a shirt like this?  Perhaps I should look into marketing them?

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