I Guess This is Why They Call it "Lady Luck"

Yesterday I traveled to Ventura to play poker at Player’s Casino.  I was seated immediately at the 2/3 game, and bought in for the usual $300, the max. The place was rather dead, which didn’t surprise me.  Memorial Day Weekend in Southern California, a lot of people go out of town.  And let’s face it, a lot of people who might normally be there to play poker may have gone to Vegas to play poker there instead.

Still there were three full tables of the game and we were never short-handed.  I recognized a few of the players, but the one that stuck out was the lady who I mentioned the last time I played there (see here).  She had that odd playing style, sometimes very aggro, a real LAG.  I knew I had to keep an eye on her.  As it happens, she never had a big stack, and played her wild game a smaller percentage of the time than two weeks ago.  But she still liked to make the occasional big bet, the big three-bet, the odd shove.  Just not as frequently.

The very first hand I was in, I was in the cut-off with King-Jack of diamonds.  A few players had limped, and I decided to limp as well.  The lady was in the big blind and I wanted to see what her level of crazy she was playing this week.  It was a marginal hand, and not really knowing many of the other players, I didn’t want to raise so early.  Sure enough, the lady made it $18, one of the limpers called so I came along.

There were two low-ish diamonds on the flop (the other card was low too) and she led out for $20.  I called.  The turn was a blank and this time she bet $15.  That was such an odd bet.  I felt like raising but was worried that she would re-raise—that was certainly in her repertoire.  I figured that since she was giving me excellent odds to chase my flush, I may as well take advantage and just call.  The river was indeed a diamond and I had the second nuts.  She checked.  I bet $25 and she folded.

Nice to win the very first hand.  I was hoping it was good omen.

I lost a few bucks chasing but was still a bit in the black when I raised to $15 in late position with King-10 of hearts.  Only the guy next to me called.  From one hand I’d seen that day, and from my recollection, he was a bit of an aggro.  So I didn’t c-bet when I whiffed the flop.  But he checked.  I was still sensing something so I kept checking and he kept checking back.  Nothing hit and my King-high was good (he said he had overs but obviously below a King).  Ok, I’ll take even though I would have ended it sooner with a c-bet on the flop.

Then came the most interesting hand of the session.  I looked down at my first pocket pair of the day, two Queens.  A tight player who hadn’t played more than two hands since I’d been there raised to $12.  I just called.  The guy behind me called and then the young Asian fellow at the table made it $35.  He had been up and down, losing his stack recently and only re-buying in for $100.  But he had hit some lucky hands both before and after busting and re-buying, and had demonstrated some interesting play.  He had three-bet pre a few times with Ace-rag type hands—and in the cases I’d seen, hit them big.  Just before this hand, he had three-bet with Ace-4 off and taken a pot with two pair against a much stronger Ace.  When his stack was below $100 he seemed to shove (sometimes a three-bet shove) fairly light.

It looked like he had around $150ish left after the bet $35, give or take. But his chips were arranged oddly so it wasn’t clear.  I had a bit more than the $300 I’d started with.  When the original raiser folded, I decided to re-raise. I felt my Queens were way ahead of his three-betting range.  I thought he very likely had an Ace but the other card was lower than a Queen and thus it wouldn’t be a coin-flip, I’d be a big favorite.  I also thought there was a pretty decent chance if a tight player like me pulled the call/re-raise move, he’d fold a crappy Ace.

There was still a player behind me.  I was a bit worried about him.  His stack was closer to the Asian’s than mine.  I decided to put another $100 on top of the $12 already out there.  I figured he’d either fold or shove, not call, and I was fine either way.  The player between us got out of the way and the Asian immediately announced “all-in.”  I snap called.  He said, “Is it Aces vs. Kings?” Gulp.  He showed me two Kings and I was certainly dreading them.  I just shoved another stack out in front of me, expecting to be down a fair amount after the hand played out.  I got unlucky there, I thought, but based on my read of this guy, I was ahead of more than half the hands he could have there.  Oh well.

The flop was all low, and rainbow….no one was catching a flush.  I saw a face card come out on the turn, but it was a Jack.  I found myself thinking, why couldn’t that be a Queen?  Of course, it could have been a King too, leaving me drawing dead.  I was resigned to the worst and then….well, wouldn’t you know, an absolutely beautiful lady hit the river.  Everyone groaned or whatever it is you do when you see that.  The guy took it pretty well. He muttered something under his breath but otherwise was a good sport.  I gave my apology.  “Sorry….not sorry.”  And as I was stacking my chips, I said, “It was worse because it was on the river, right?  Wouldn’t have been quite so bad if it had been on the flop?”  He didn’t really agree with this assessment.  OK, whatever. 

I few of the other players said things like, “That’s awful,”  “You hate to see that,” or “That’s sick.”  Really?  I found it rather inspirational, myself.  That Queen on the river was the best looking lady I’d seen in a long, long time.  And she wasn’t even naked.

When I finished stacking, I had about $510 in front of me.  The pot must have been $360-$370 or so.  I’m sure that’s the biggest I’ve dragged (in a cash game, of course), since I left Vegas at the beginning of the year.

Later I was in the big blind with Queen-Jack off and saw the flop for free. Only three of us were alive and it came King-Queen-10.  No betting on the flop and I called $17 on the turn, it was heads up.  It checked around on the river, another blank.  He had pocket 6’s and my Queens were good.

I raised to $18 after a couple of limpers with Ace-Queen suited; no one called.  Very next hand, I raised to $12 with Ace-King off, and had two callers.  The flop was 10-6-2, rainbow.  I led out with a $20 c-bet.  The next player made it $60 and the third player called.  I got the hell out of there.  There was more betting on the turn and they got it all in.  Turned out it was set over-set, 10’s vs 6’s (the 10’s just called the flop bet).  Actually the board paired on the river and the guy with the 6’s lost boat-over-boat.  Tough way to lose your stack.

I raised with Queen-Jack of spades and had a couple of callers.  The flop wasn’t bad—Ace-King-10.  There were two of some other suit.  I bet, an older gentleman, a seeming nit, min-raised.  I came over the top, he shoved, I snapped and of course he showed Queen-Jack too.  His was unsuited but he didn’t have the flush draw.  Beats losing, right?

Eventually my $200 profit had worked its way down to closer to $100.  It was getting late—I was interested in getting home in time to see the basketball game (Warriors-Thunder, game 6, what a freaking game!).  So when I posted my big blind this time, I felt it was likely my last orbit.  I had still been fairly card dead most of the day, save that one incredible suck-out that went my way.  The only other pairs I’d started with were 10’s twice, both times calling raises with them, both times folding to decent-sized bets on flops that had an Ace.  The only Ace-King, Ace-Queen hands I had I’ve already described.  The Queen-Jack where I flopped Broadway was the only suited connector I had above 5-4. 

Anyway, the big blind hand was garbage and then in the small blind, I finally saw another pocket pair.  Two Jacks.  That same Asian fellow, under-the-gun, had limped in.  After rebuying when I felted him, he had been quite a bit quieter than before.  Might have been that this was his last buy-in, or maybe he was just not getting cards he liked.  He had about $200 or so, which is what he’d bought in for after he started liking Kings as much as I do.

It folded to me and I made it $15.  The big blind folded and the Asian fellow called.  The flop was Queen-Jack-2, two hearts.  I bet $25 and he called.  The turn was a blank.  This time I put out $50.  He tanked.  But eventually called.  A low heart hit the river, and I was not happy at the scare card.  My naturally tendency there is to check.  I thought about overcoming it.

Yeah, he had tanked on the turn.  But I remembered all the times—particularly the post here—where I had misread a player taking his time, thinking it was almost a fold when it was really almost a raise.  Was this guy capable of raising me on the turn with a flush draw, thinking I might fold a one pair hand to him?  Yes, he was. 

So if I bet and he raised, would I have the discipline to fold my set?  Well, likely not.  Hard to fold a set of Jacks, especially to someone who was certainly capable of bluffing or betting a worse hand than mine.  I figured if he had hit it, a check would cost me less money, so I ended up checking. 

I was somewhat expecting him to bet, I was just hoping it was something I could comfortably call.  But he instead flipped over his hand. King-Queen, no hearts. I showed my Jacks, and he dutifully said, “nice hand.”  As I dragged in the pot, I said to him, “I thought maybe you were on the flush draw.  It would have only been fair if you rivered me back.”  He sorta-laughed. 

By then I realized he wanted to get to the showdown cheap.  If I had bet $100 on the river, he’d probably have folded.  But if I had bet $50 again, it would probably have been too cheap for him to fold.  Oh well. I’m not losing sleep over that.

Second to last hand, I got another pocket pair.  It was 3’s.  I had to call $15 to see the flop, which was Queen-4-4.  I was done with the hand.  But here’s something I’ve observed, maybe it’s just my mind tricking me.  But have you ever noticed, whenever you have a small pocket pair, and the board comes out paired, more often than not the board pair is just one off from yours?  I mean, you have two 5’s and there are two 6’s or two 4’s on the board, something like that?  Or is that just me?

I racked up and was up $202.  I wished everyone luck, as I often do when I leave, and then nodded to the Asian.  I guess I said, “sorry,” and he said, “Hey it’s ok…that’s poker.”  Good sport!  I’ve seen plenty of guys who don’t take it so well.  I said back to him, “Well, next time, you’ll get me.”  I sure hope I’m wrong about that.

My best session, believe it or not, since the first few days of the year (from my Christmas trip).  I dunno how well I played, but it was sure nice to be on the right end of the luck curve for once.  I was due, right?

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"How Big is Yours?"

Saturday found me once again at the PC Ventura for another 1/2 session.

Before I get to the session, let me address something from my previous post about this poker room.  The title of that post, which you can find here, referenced what I thought was a dealer error.  The dealer failed to rule that a player had made a string bet.  Fortunately, I called his attention to it and got the correct ruling, so the dealer pushed back the player’s second stack of chips, I called and won the pot.

I was very surprised when a couple of readers commented on the post and said that they had played in rooms where it actually is up to the player to call out a string bet and that it was quite possible that the dealer in my story was following the house rule and, in fact, made no error.  I had never heard of that before, but I figured it was certainly worth asking about next time I played in this room.

Well, I did ask on Saturday, and sure enough, I was told by the person running the room that indeed, the house rule is that the dealer is not supposed to call out a string bet, it is up to the player to do it.  He said that they reason is that they don’t want the dealer to affect the action, or take sides, or something to that effect.

Really?

Well, I don’t get it, and for what it’s worth, I don’t agree with that house rule at all.  To me, that would be no different than allowing a player to make in improper raise as long as the player facing the action didn’t question it.  That is, suppose a player bets $50, and another player, with plenty of chips in his stack, tries to raise to $75 in a no limit game.  We would all agree that’s an improper raise, it would have to be $100 minimum. That surely wouldn’t be allowed, what is the different about that and the dealer not immediately halting a string bet?

Every single introductory poker book I ever read discusses the string bet (I use string bet and string raise interchangeably). They warn players that it is not allowed (and usually explain why) and I sure don’t recall them ever saying that rule varied from room to room and that the player was responsible for calling it him or herself. 

Just seems very basic….if something is not allowed, the dealer should stop it immediately. In the situation I was discussing, I was right next to the player so I was quite certain he hadn’t called out the amount he was betting.  But another player was across the table.  Maybe she figured, since the dealer hadn’t called it, that he had called out an amount?

Now, that lady was a regular and likely knew the house rule.  But what if she hadn’t known? OK, of course, if she was interested in the pot for the amount he first pushed out, it is her responsibility to question it regardless of the house rule.  Still, if she is used to playing in a house with “normal rules,” it would be easy to miss this.  Suppose she had never played there before, and just assumed it was right if the dealer hadn’t called it?

In fact, I’ve played in that room at least 20 times previously and never knew they had this odd rule.  I’ve never seen it before.  As far as I know, no room in Vegas has this rule.  I could be wrong, it’s possible there are rooms there that do it that way that I just haven’t played in enough to have encountered it.

This led me to think of this scenario.  I’ve seen many times, when a player makes a string bet, other players call it out.  Sometimes it’s a player who doesn’t have the action yet, and sometimes it’s even a player who is not in the hand.  What would happen if a player without cards called the string bet out?  Would the dealer warn him about talking about the hand?  I wonder.

Of course, now that I know the rule here, I could see it working to my advantage.  On the one hand, I could make the string bet in certain situations and see if the player knew to call it.  On the other hand, suppose a player makes the string bet when I’m holding the stone cold nuts?  No reason to point it out then, is there?

But honestly, I really don’t get it, and I don’t like it.  How do you all feel about it?

Anyway, to the session at hand. I got a seat right away, and I noticed two things about the table.  First, it was, shall we say, an older crowd.  Just by sitting down, I probably lowered the average age at the table by about 10 years.  The other thing though was that there were some big stacks at the table.  Mostly big stacks.  Big stacks for this game are stacks over $200, and this table had about 5 or 6 of those, including one gentleman who had about $600-$700.  This table must have been going for some time since the max buy-in for the game is $100.  So I knew I wanted to stay at this table.

It wasn’t a very aggro table but it wasn’t too nitty, either.  I never saw the blinds chopped.  There was at least 4 players seeing every flop, unless someone raised everyone out preflop.  That rarely happened.  The raises were smallish, ($4-$11).  But there was decent action.

Last time, I talked about the rake and how it was changed.  Well, I did see pots as small as $3 on the flop when only 4 players were in there without a raise.  In fact, early on, I was watching the dealer closely to see how the rake was taken.  And in doing so, I noticed one pot where the dealer absolutely forgot to take the rake.  They do it right after putting out the flop, and this time, she didn’t do it.  Didn’t do it after the turn.  And after the showdown, she pushed the entire pot to the winner without taking a single chip out of it.  I was rather surprised.

And so…I was wondering, should I say something?  I mean, it kind of bothered me.  I wasn’t in the hand of course, but I felt like the winner of the hand was getting a bonus he didn’t deserve. And of course, if it was discovered later (via security tape?), I thought maybe the dealer, a nice woman, would get in trouble.  But then I also thought….the casino will survive just fine without that five bucks.  And that’s five bucks more in play that I have a shot of winning, right?

But ultimately, the reason for not speaking up was…..I didn’t want to be like that kid in school who says, “Teacher, teacher, you forgot to give us homework!”  Right?  Anybody out there think I should have said something?

For the first hour or so, nothing was happening for me.  I dripped down to $53 from my $100 buy-in.  Now, in the past, I’ve thought that, for this particular game, I might as well just play with the short-short stack, wait for a semi-decent spot and shove, and try to build it up that way.  But with all those big stacks at the table, I figured a better way to go was to add on and try to actually play some poker to win some money.  So I bought $40 more in chips when the button came to me.

Still, I was bleeding chips. Very much card dead.  I was down to $68 when I looked down at a pair of Queens. Now as the cards were being dealt, the character in Seat 9 said, “I’m gonna raise to $13 this time.  I feel it.”  He hadn’t seen his cards yet.  I hadn’t seen my Queens either, and I resisted the temptation to ask if his verbal declaration was binding.

The reason I refer to him as a character was that he liked to raise blind.  Once I realized that, I was careful to watch him to make sure he looked at his cards preflop before he acted.  At least ¼ of the time he would not look and raise.  He especially liked to do that if the player two spots before him had straddled, as that player often did.   If the guy straddled and the next player folded, he’d put out $8 blind and only look if there was another raise.  So it was always important to know if this guy had seen his hand or not.

This time, before acting, he did look and then, as promised, put out $13.  This didn’t mean a lot.  I think based on his pre-look declaration, he would have made it $13 with almost any hand. Still, it was good to know that he had looked at his cards.  I should point out that the $13 was the largest opening raise I saw at this table the entire 3-1/2 hours I was there, except maybe for a few short-stack shoves of a bit more.  This guy though had a ton of chips in front of him.

Two players called the $13 before it got to me.  These were newer players who had come in after I got there. I was surprised to see two players call such a big raise at this table.

I wasn’t sure how to proceed.  I really didn’t want to just call there.  I felt I was well ahead of the character’s range, and probably ahead of the two players calling ranges as well. Almost no three-bet I could make would likely get anyone to fold, other than a shove.  And even then…..So, I did indeed shove.  The pot was already decent sized and if I had to take my chances with my two queens, I was ok with that.  And since they do have a “no flop, no drop” rule, the pot would be all mine, no $5 rake, if I got everyone to fold.

The character took a long time to decide.  I really thought he would call.  I figured the other two would fold even if he called, most likely.  Finally, the character decided to fold, the next guy folded instantly, and the last player, the one on my immediate right, took a bit of time to fold. Although he didn’t show, the character claimed to have pocket 10’s.

I may have won a really small pot before, but I tend to think this was the first pot I’d won since sitting down, and it did kind of get me started.

Now that guy on my immediate right, let’s call him “Benefactor.”  You’ll see why.  At one point, he thought he was going to move to a Big 0 game (I think it’s 3/6 but I’m sure it plays much, much bigger than this game), but it turned out they never got that game started.  He was probably the most aggressive player at the table once he got there.  He’d open for $10-$12 a good chunk of the time.

So it wasn’t too surprised when, a bit later, he raised to $10 after one limper.  The surprising part was that I was dealt two Aces.  I made it $28 and he called, we were heads up.  The flop was quite ugly.  King-Queen-Jack.  Then another Jack.  Then a 3.  I dunno, maybe too nitty, but I checked behind him every time.  He only showed one card, a 3.  O.K.  What the heck does he raise pre, then call a three-bet with that doesn’t hit that flop?  Or that has a 3 but obviously not pocket 3’s? No idea.

From the big blind, I completed with pocket 6’s.  Six of us saw the flop.  That’s a lot of 6’s!.  So for good measure, there was a 6 on the flop.  It was bottom set, rainbow flop. I led out with a $7 bet.  Three players called.  The turn was a blank and represented the fourth suit.  This time I bet $22.  Only one player called.  He only had $6-$8 left so I don’t know why he didn’t shove, but he didn’t.  Another blank on the river and I bet him all in. He put the rest of his chips in. He didn’t show when he saw my set.

Damn….my notes are missing a hand.  I did get Ace’s a second time, and now I can’t remember the details.  I raised with them (maybe $8), and only Benefactor called.  I bet all three streets, he called me on all three streets and didn’t show when I showed my Aces.  No idea what he had.

I open to $7 with King-Queen of spades.  Only the character in seat 9 called.  The flop had two spades on it and I c-bet $12.  He said, “I want to see one more card,” as he called.  Thanks for the tip.  When the turn was a blank, I started to bet $20 and he insta-mucked.  Hmmm….wonder if he had the flush draw too?  If he did, I don’t think he would not have folded the nut flush draw, so I might have made some nice money if I had caught my flush.

At this point, I had about $180 in front of me. Then Benefactor, sitting behind $90, opened to $7, and I had Ace-9 of hearts.  The $7 was a small raise for him (but more in line with what the rest of the table was doing).  I called and there was a third caller, a new player who had replaced the character in seat 9 (turns out the last hand I described was also his last hand, maybe that’s why he didn’t call me on the turn).  This player was the youngest player I’d seen at the table all day, he was wearing a Lakers baseball cap (the right way), so I immediately liked him (I mean, with the season the Lakers are having, I have to love anyone not embarrassed to wear that!).  He had a bit less than $100. The flop was Queen-high and every single card on it had one of them lovely heart designs on it.  The Lakers guy, who had been one of the blinds, checked, and to my delight, Benefactor put out a bet of $14.  

Now, normally, I don’t slow play flushes.  But I decided to take a chance this time.  And I was hoping maybe Lakers guy would come along if I only called and didn’t raise.  But he folded.  The turn was a blank, and as I was deciding whether or not to raise if Benefactor bet, he saved me the trouble by immediately announcing, “all-in.”

Seriously, is there any better sound in poker than hearing your opponent say “all-in” when you’re holding the stone cold nuts?  I think not.

Science has not yet developed an instrument with a fine enough precision to measure how little time there was between his saying “all-in” and yours truly saying, “call.”

And so, he started to flip his hand over even before the dealer was putting out the river card.  And he said, “How big is yours?”

Ahem.  That’s a rather personal question, isn’t it?  Rather than answer verbally, I simply showed him my nuts.  I mean, I showed him thenuts.  He showed Jack-7 of hearts (always a good raising hand, no?).  There was actually another heart on the river for good measure that didn’t change a thing.  He left, giving up all hope of beating me on this day.  This time I didn’t even need pocket Aces to take his money! 

He hadn’t pushed his chips in or towards me, but it was no bother at all for me to slide them from his now abandoned spot to mine.  In fact, I rather enjoyed it.

One of the other players asked me if I had gotten that guy’s number so I could find out when/where he was gonna play again.

I left a few orbits later, having been dealt nothing to play.  I ended up winning a bit over $140, not bad at all for the size of this game. 

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The First Win

As I’ve documented earlier—months ago, in fact—my Halloween trip to Vegas was not a very good one, poker wise.  I came back battered and disillusioned, with my confidence wavering and my poker bankroll diminished.  So I was sure hoping to get my next Vegas trip, at Christmas time, off to a better start.

It didn’t turn out that way.  My first five days in Vegas left me without a single win to book.  The good news was that the loses had not been too severe.  Also, I had managed to win a couple of $100 promos in that time—one for the cash drawings and one for the football.  So my bankroll wasn’t suffering nearly as much my ego.

On this night, my sixth night in town, I wasn’t even sure I was going to play poker.  My friends from L.A. had driven into town, and I offered to take them to Tap, the Sports Bar next to the MGM poker room, for dinner.  Of course, I had plenty of poker comps in reserve to cover it.

We had a nice dinner. My friends were tired from the long drive so after they went back to their hotel, I had a few hours to get some poker in. I got on the list, must have been around 10PM. It didn’t take long before they opened a new table.

The first pot I won, early, was with pocket deuces.  I missed the flop, but no one bet it or the turn.  Finally someone bet the river—a whopping two bucks.  Since the river was a deuce, I made it $10 and didn’t get a call.  Guess I should have done the min-raise there.

I raised to $7 with King-Queen off in late position and had two callers.  The flop was pretty nice: Ace-Jack-10 (well nice if you consider flopping the nuts nice).  There were two clubs on the board.  I bet $16 and didn’t get a call.

I raised to $7 with Ace-3 of hearts and Badger raised to $15.  Badger?  Yeah, my friends had noticed this guy waiting for a game when we got to the poker room and thought he looked like the Badger character from Breaking Bad.  I called and we were heads up.  There was one heart on the flop and we both checked.  The turn was a blank and we both checked. The river was a 3.  I guess I should have bet, but I couldn’t imagine him calling with Ace-high so I just checked and he showed his hand...Ace-Queen. My measly 3 was good.  Hmm….if you’re gonna 3-bet with Ace-Queen, why wouldn’t you c-bet the flop?  I would have folded.

I raised to $15 after a few limpers with Ace-King off.  One caller.  The flop was Ace-Queen-2, two clubs.  I bet $25, he called.  The turn was a deuce, which put two diamonds on the board.  I bet $60 and didn’t get a call.

Then I gave some money away.  I raised to $8 with 9-8 of clubs and had four callers.  The flop was Queen-10-7.  The 7 was a club.  I called a donk bet of $20, we were heads up.  The turn was a blank.  I called $40.  The river paired the 10, we both checked.  She showed a Queen.

I limped in with pocket 7’s and then called $12 from a guy who had just joined the table. It was three-way. The flop was 10-7-4, two clubs. The preflop raiser led out for $20, I made it $60.  The third guy tanked and finally folded.  The first guy shoved.  I had him covered.  I snap called.  He showed pocket Aces.  Nice.  For good measure, I caught a 10 on the river for the boat. I won about $150 on that hand.

The very next hand I had pocket Jacks, raised to $10, and had two callers.  The flop was King-high, but my $20 c-bet was enough to take it down.

Sometime later I had pocket 10’s, raised to $10, had five callers.  The flop was Jack-high, but my $30 c-bet was good enough to drag the pot.

By the time I was ready to call it a night, my profits had dwindled down to $70.  I cashed out, booking the first win of this trip, and it was a good feeling to do that, even if it wasn’t a lot of money.  As you may recall, this trip turned into a profitable one by the time I came home, and this small win was the start of the turn-around.  In fact, the very next night was the big score I already told you about at Harrah’s (see here)….and I was off to the races.

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"This Must Be the Big Boy Table"

Ok, this is the report on the last of the three tournaments I played in during my most recent
Vegas trip.  For previous reports, see here and here. The one before this was on the Saturday after Christmas.  A few days before that, I heard from the Aria that they were having special “New Years” tournaments for the following weekend, the first Friday and Saturday of the New Year.  Instead of the usual $125 (with a $10K starting stack), the 1PM tournaments would be $240 with a $20K starting stack—although the blinds started at 50/100 instead of 25/50.  I thought that buy-in was in my range and figured that the prize pool would be bigger than normal, so why not play?  I had already had two long runs in my previous two tournament efforts, including a 5^th place finish the week before, so I figured maybe I might be on a bit of a roll, tournament wise.

It turned out the $240 tournaments were a big success—so much so that they decided to make the $240 buy-in permanent for Fridays and Saturdays, as I noted here.  Now, I took a pic of the tournament clock with the prize pool info, hopefully it is readable.  If not, for a prize pool of $25K and 134 players, they were paying 12 (seems like it should have been at least one more).  The top six would get at least $1K (kind of a “magic” figure in my mind) and 1^st was nearly $8,500.  But notice the top-heaviness of it (my constant gripe).  Almost a $3K difference between 1^st and 2^nd, and another $2K difference between 2^ndand 3^rd.  Just doesn’t seem right, does it?  

And then look at the min cash.  So, $442 doesn’t sound so bad at first….but remember the buy-in was $240, not $125.  So basically the last three spots get $200 profit—again, not even double the buy-in.  How can it be less than $480 for a tournament like this?  Again, even after taking home $700 the week before, when I looked at the prize pool, I wondered why I even play in tournaments.

The first table I was at, where I played most of the day, was full of—how should I put this?—non-millennials. All of us had been born in time to have witnessed the first moon landing.  There wasn’t a hoodie, a pair of sunglasses, or a set of ear buds at the table.  Anyway, there was one woman amongst us—of similar age—and at one point she made the observation that this was not the kid’s table or something like that. 

She busted out and was replaced by another person of similar age, but male, not female.  The other thing one might notice about the entire 10 players at this table was that none of us were exactly skinny.  You could say that no one at the table looked like they had skipped very many meals.

Anyway, at one point, a cute female dealer pushed in.  She was from a middle-eastern country originally and had a bit of an accent, which might help explain what she said when she got a good look at all of us.  And that was, “Oh, I guess this is the big boy table.”  We all laughed, but the implication was not lost on us.

One of the guys said, “What are you trying to say?  That we’re all fat?  Or that we’re all old?”  She hemmed and hawed a bit and the guy continued, “It’s ok….I guess we’re both.” She was embarrassed and tried to spin it as best she could.  “No, I just meant you were big poker players…you know, really good poker players.”  Yeah, sure.

Anyway, very first hand of the tournament I had Ace-King, raised to $250, had one caller.  The flop was Jack high and my c-bet of $300 took it down.

Two hands later I was dealt the dreaded pocket Kings.  I raised to $250 and had two callers.  The flop was Ace high, two diamonds, and I did have the King of diamonds.  I bet $500 and had one caller. He seemed pretty reluctant to call.  The turn was a blank, and not a diamond.  I bet $1,300.  Again he was very hesitant, but he called  Another blank on the river.  I bet $2,500 and after tanking, he said, “Well you probably got me…” and then called.  He showed Ace-4.  There was just nothing I could to do to get him off his crappy Ace, apparently.  I kept betting because he seemed so reluctant to call every time.  Ace-4, huh?  I would have played that hand the same way if I had Ace-King or Ace-Queen.  Oh well, it’s not like it’s the first time I’ve lost with pocket Kings.

A few hands later I had Ace-8 of diamonds in the big blind and called $250, it was four ways.  There was no betting on a blank flop and turn.  The river was an 8 so I bet $500 and no one called.

In late position, I raised to $550 after two limpers with Ace-9 off, there were two callers. The flop was King-Queen-5.  I c-bet $1K and had one caller—the guy who cracked my Kings earlier with Ace-4.  This time I knew better than to bet again.  We checked it down and he showed Queen-6 to take it. Yeesh.

I opened to $250 with pocket 10’s and had two callers.  The flop wasn’t bad—10-9-9.  I checked, as did everyone else.  The turn was a King.  A guy bet $500, I called, and then the last player made it $1,300.  The first guy folded. I just called. The river was a blank, and first to act, I bet $1800 and got a call, but he didn’t show when I flipped over my boat (so-to-speak).

I didn’t note a single hand for level 2, which got me to level 3 (100/200) with $17,500. In the big blind I had King-7 off. No raise, it was heads up.  Flop was Ace-King-7.  I called $400 and then another $400 on a blank turn.  No betting on the flop, he showed Ace-5.

I limped in from late position with 9-8 off, six of us saw the flop. It was Queen-Jack-6.There was no betting. I hit the gut-shot with a 10 and called $600, three of us saw a blank river. No betting there, my straight was good.

Hmm….Glad I wrote this up.  My logic there was that I had the bottom end of the straight and thus played it safe.  But I think that’s not getting enough value for my hand, right?  I need to learn to bet (or raise) a hand like that.  And then be able to let it go if I’m raised.

After a few limpers, I raised to $950 with Ace-Queen of diamonds, two called. I bet $1,500 on a flop of 5-4-4 and had one call.  The turn was another 5, and I check/folded.

I raised to $550 with pocket Queens, had two callers.  The flop was all low cards and I took the pot with a $1,200 c-bet.

Apparently I slept through level 4 and got to level 5 (50/200/400) with $16,400. Still card dead, I only noted one hand for this level.  I opened to $1K with Ace-Jack off and took it right there.

Level 6 (75/300/600), $15k. That’s an “M” of less than 10 if you’re scoring at home.  I opened to $1,600 with King-Queen off, two called.  The flop was low and I folded to a donk bet. 

I opened to $1,600 with Queen-10 and had to fold to a shove of $8k.

I can’t explain what happened next.  I can’t because my notes make no sense.  Somehow, I got a double up with pocket 7’s.  My notes would seem to indicate that I shoved with them after someone had raised to $1,600.  I honestly cannot believe I would have done that with pocket 7’s. Now, it’s entirely possible that with my stack down to probably less than $12K, I might have opened shoved.  My M there would have been around 7.5, and that’s definitely when I consider shoving if I can open a pot.  But just wouldn’t do that if someone had even limped in, let alone raised. Sorry my notes are so bad, it’s driving me crazy.  Anyway, apparently I was heads up against a guy with Ace-Queen.  The flop was all low and my 7’s held.

My notes say that I had $24,500 in chips after that hand, which is exactly what I started level 7 (100/400/800) with, so that must have been the last hand of the level.

First hand level 7, I made it $3K after one limper with Queen-Jack of spades, no call.  Later I opened to $2,100 with King-10 off from the button, no call.

Level 8 (100/600/1200) $25,200.  Opened to $3K with King-10 off, one caller.  Ace-Queen-2 flop, I c-bet $5K and took it.

The last hand of that level has big.  I opened to $3K with Ace-Queen of clubs.  A big stack re-popped to $10,100. Decision time.  I decided to make a stand there.  I wasn’t desperate yet, but I felt I was at a point where I’d be drip, drip, dripping away, a slow painful death if something big didn’t happen soon.  If I busted there, I’d still have an entire evening ahead of me to do something else.  In other words, busting there seemed like a better alternative than just playing another few hours and getting squat.  Of course, I had some fold equity too.  I had enough chips to put a ding in this guy’s stack, maybe he didn’t like his hand quite enough to call a four-bet shove with it.  So….after much deliberation, I went ahead and pushed it all-in.

He didn’t take long to call, and flipped over Ace-King of diamonds.  Oh well.  There was a Queen in the window but before I could enjoy it I saw the next card exposed was a King.  Ugh.  The turn was a brick. I started to rise from my chair, just a little.  But I was saved by a beautiful Queen on the river.  Two-outers are nice when you’re the one hitting them.

That took me to level 8 (200/800/1600) with just about $50K.

Late in the level I had another significant hand that could have made a huge impact for me.  I limped in from late position with King-Jack off after a few other limpers.  I didn’t want to make the pot too big with a hand like that by three-betting, Figured if no one raised I could see a flop with a decent pot and go from there.  It was 4 or 5 of us seeing a flop of King-Queen-6, two clubs.  It folded to me and I bet, I didn’t note what I bet, but it was probably about 2/3’s the pot.  Someone who had checked now shoved.  She had about $20K.  Another player who had checked asked for a count and though long and hard about what to do, but finally called.  I decided to shove thinking I could get the guy to fold and I’d take my chances with the short stacked woman.  But the guy called.  He had Ace-rag of clubs.  The lady had King-10.  I was ahead.  The turn was a blank, and then the lady kept saying, “A 10, I need a 10.”  So I said, “keep it red….kept it red.”  And the river was indeed red.  A red 10, however.

I lost the main pot, but my Kings held against the flush draw.  I really only lost a few thousand chips overall.  I was down to $44,600.  Turns out it was very good for me that the guy I was trying to get to fold called, otherwise I would have taken a much, much bigger hit.  Phew. But of course if that red card had been anything else, I would have gained a whole lot of chips there, and it would have made a huge difference in where I ended up in the tournament.

I raised to $4K after one limper with Ace-King, one caller.  Jack high flop and my c-bet took it.

Level 10 (300/1000/2000) $50,300.  The only hand I noted was raising to $5K with Ace-Jack, after one call, a guy three bet to $31K.  I folded as did the other guy—who showed Ace-Jack.

Level 11 (400/1500/3000) $38,200. Early in this level my table broke and we were down to 4 tables.  Then I open shoved with Ace-King.  A big stack called.  He had Ace-Queen.  A King on the turn locked it up for me. Much needed double up.  Got my stack to $72K.

In middle position, I raised to $5K with pocket 5’s, one caller (a big stack).  The flop was King-5-2.  Isn’t that what always happens when you raise with pocket 5’s?  It was rainbow so it I checked back.  The turn was a blank, he bet $7K.  I made it $20K and he folded.  I kept thinking after I should have just called or maybe made a smaller raise.  Oh well.

Level 12 (500/2000/4000) $86K.  I raised to $11K with pocket Queens, a short stack shoved.  He barely had more than me, obviously I called.  He showed Ace-7 off and the ladies held.

We moved down to two tables, I relocated again.  I was down to $99K.  Blinds and antes are killing me at this point.  After a limper, I raised to $15K with pocket 6’s. No call.

Level 13 (500/3000/6000) $110,500.  I had 10-7 of clubs in the big blind.  It folded to the small blind who completed.  I added $15K to my blind and he folded.  Next hand, in the small blind, I just completed with 5-2 of diamonds and had to fold to a shove from the big blind.

I opened to $16K with Queen-9 of hearts, no call.  In the small blind, it folded to me with Jack-9 of diamonds, I made it $20K and took it.

Level 14 (1000/4000/8000), $120K.  First hand I stole the blinds and antes raising to $17K with Ace-4 of clubs.

We were down to 13 players, the bubble.  Someone at the other had nixed any thought of paying the bubble.  We played hand-for-hand for awhile.  Honestly, I was shocked I had lasted this long, I never had a decent stack.  But now, yes, I sure wanted to take home some money, even the damn min-cash.

I had Jack-10 of hearts and someone limped in front of me.  As you can tell by how few hands I’ve noted in these levels, I was really card dead, and that looked like a monster.  I felt I was in position to make one more raise before I had to just go all-in anytime I wanted to play a pot.  So this was it.  I made it $28K.  It folded back to the limper, who shoved.  He had me covered.  He was an older gentleman and in the brief time I’d played with him, I hadn’t seen him do anything aggressive.  And the limp/re-raise is usually a sign of a monster.  Plus the bubble hadn’t broken.  If it was after the bubble or long before it, I think I would feel committed there and take my chances.  But right then and there, I decided to play it totally safe and I folded. But that was really a tough loss to my stack.

We played a few more hands and now for sure I only had one move left, the shove.  Before I got a chance to use it, someone busted at the other table.  I was in the money.

A hand or two later I had Queen-10 of hearts. I shoved.  The guy next to me shoved too, but I had him covered.  He had Ace-7 off, which held.  Now I had only $11K.  I was now under-the-gun and with the big blind at $8K, I’d be essentially all-in with whatever I had next hand.  So I felt pretty fortunate to get as good a hand as King-10 off then.  I shoved.  The same guy called me, this time he had Ace-King.  Ace-King held, and I was out in 12^th place.

So I did get the min-cash.  When they paid me off and suggested I might want to tip the dealers, I gave just $5 and explained that as long as the prize pools are so damn top heavy, I’m going to let the top finishers do the heavy lifting on the tipping.  The person who paid me agreed with me that the prize pools are too top heavy and said that the new TD there, Paul, was planning on adjusting that in the very near future.  I hope so.  I thought this pay scale was just ridiculous.

I felt good though about the result.  Last tournament, I’d been the chip leader, albeit briefly, at the final table and felt I should have finished higher.  This time, until we were down to 2 tables—and even then, really—I never felt good about cashing, I just never had anything but a short stack.  It was moral victory, to be sure.

But as I said in the post linked at the beginning of this, although this $240 tournament is now running regularly on Fridays and Saturdays, I might not ever play in it again because of the move to 11AM.  Maybe during WSOP time, if they have it, and if they add a dinner break.

And that’s the final story on my tournament runs in Vegas for my Christmas trip.   Three tournaments, lasting like 8-1/2 hours in each, and two cashes.  If only poker rooms would make less difficult to play tournaments.

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