Vegas Day 3

Trip Report – Vegas Day 3, Part 1

Actual poker content.

I woke up early as planned and headed down to the poker room just before 7am. My plan was to grind out 3 hours of sober poker before NFL Sunday started and see if I could get unstuck from Friday/Saturday morning. When I got down there, it was obvious that most of the drunks had gone to pass out already. There were two tables to choose from – The first one was a 3/5 NL game where there were only 4 players playing. One guy (who turned out to be a pro from Europe and came to the Mirage every two months to prey on the unsuspecting donkeys) had a stack worth at least $3,000. When he finally cashed out he had three racks of reds and another half rack of greens and blacks. I didn’t catch his name, but all the dealers knew who he was.

So anyway, I decided that my obvious move would be to sit down at the 1/2 table as planned. At first I was a little worried that it was just full of locals trying to use the same strategy as me, and in hindsight, there were a couple. However, the majority of the table was full of exactly what I had hoped. Drunks. Drunks that had been there since the previous night, or had rolled in there after a night of drinking and partying (sound familiar?) who had decided to play a little poker and donk it up… and donk it up they did.

I remember when I went to bed the night before seeing a few people that stood out to me. Well this one girl was still there when I arrived that morning! She was wearing a pink hoodie and had a rack and a half sitting in front of her when I sat down across from her in the 10 seat (bought in for only $160 for some reason) to start the morning. I immediately posted my blind as I was sitting in the SB and decided that I wanted to jump in there right away and see what damage I could do. I look down at my cards… pocket aces! Wow, first hand of the morning and I get dealt pocket aces. What a deal, I thought to myself as I processed the table and tried to set up my image for the rest of the morning. I didn’t really know what angle I should take. Although I knew one thing… don’t get tricky fool! After all, this is 1/2 NL with at least 50% of the people who I considered to be drunk donkeys. The last thing I wanted was for my aces to get cracked on the first hand of the morning... right?

It comes around to me and it has already been raised (I think it was to $10 total) in early position and called 3 times. I decide to call as well and we see a flop of K-A-4 rainbow. I check my monster and don't bet my set, because, well... just because that's all. C-bet of $10 by the raiser (weak), one caller (the pink hoodie chick PHC), so I decide to slow play my monster and just call. The turn is a Jack. Ok, now there is a draw available. I check. C-better checks and the PHC bets out $15 (seems weak too). I decided enough is enough and I raise it up another $30. One fold, and after some thinking PHC folds as well. So I did the #1 thing that you should never do when playing in a cash game… I showed my set of Aces. Why? I think at the time I just wanted everyone to know that I wasn’t about to screw around. I took down the decent pot (flipped the dealer a red chip) and folded for about 30 minutes as I tried to study the table. After all, I was ahead by a bit now and had an above average stack.

The other hand that I remember (and let’s face it, you are really only looking for two or three big hands to maximize your session) was when I was dealt AKo in the SB. This one would be interesting, I could just tell as soon as the action got going. Three callers for $2, and then the button (A Canadian from Ottawa I might add) decided to raise it to $12. I just call (because as Fuel says – AK is a rag hand) and so do 2 others. The flop comes down J-K-6 rainbow. I check (so sneaky huh) and it checks around to the button. The button bets out $15, which, to me, seemed like a C-bet. Does everyone c-bet now or what. Man. Anyway, I stop and pause and think. I finally decide to raise it up. “I raise” I state and put out another $30 on top. It folds around to the Canadian and he looks me down. He talks a big game (even mentioned how he lost thousands at another hotel already… we weren’t impressed as one guy stated “why are you here at 1/2 then?) and tries to intimidate me.

I have to be honest, at the time I actually was a bit worried that I was beat here already… but I was only concerned with Aces or a set right? I mean I am a TPTK donkey from time to time, so what should I do if he re-raises me?

He tries to get information from me by talking and asking me questions, but I won’t budge. He finally says “I don’t think you’ve got it” and all I could come up with was “Got what?”

He said it again – “I don’t think you’ve got it” as he pulls out two stacks of reds (enough to cover me as he had at least another stack sitting there that he left behind) and says “I’m all in.” Ok, so now what the fuck do I do? I really thought he might have Jacks or sixes. But his range includes a whole lot more for sure. I decide that I’m either going back to bed, or doubling up. “I call” I stated firmly. He flips over… KQc!! I show him my hand and as I am doing that he says “oh man you do have it…” ummmmm, thank you, thank you for your chips fellow Canuck. The guy to his right chimes in and says “well what did you think he had, he’s only shown two hands so far and the other one was Aces.” The Canadian said "well I thought that if he had AK that he would have re-raised me preflop!" LOL. ouch.

Woo hoo! Double up and I am unstuck just like that. I walk away with $371 total about an hour later, just in time for the morning games.

I head back to the room and grab CD and we get some breakfast. CD orders a steak and eggs (back to back to back steaks including that night’s dinner at Okada - 3 steaks in a row! LOL) and I go with the standard go to – bacon and eggs with sourdough toast. It was very good.

Later that day we decide to hit up the mall. But before we do that, we must get in our other sports bets for the day (although I already had my football parlay crappy bets done the night before). The Canucks were playing Columbus and we all jumped on it, and big. We pulled together about $200 in total and let it ride on our home team. They easily won (4-1) and we scored $440 total. Not a bad deal at all! We also bet on the Red Sox at $50 a pop and made a nice return (I think we won $35 on each $50 bet) and came out ahead for the day in the sports betting department.

At the mall I grab a pair of shoes (another adventure that is filled with a bunch of waiting and more waiting for my size) and the rest of the guys hit up some of the other shops where we can buy clothes for what seems like a steal of a deal compared to a few years ago when our dollar was worth 75 cents (It currently sits at about 1.05 now suckas).

When we get back it’s about 30 minutes until game time and I decided that I would play in the Sunday night tournament. The cost was $125 each and you got 2500 chips... a total donkfest is what I thought Chad might call it, in fact I remember him telling me that the Mirage was full of tighty old farts... and he was right. There turned out to be 65 players in total with a top prize of just over $3,000 for first. The tournament only paid 9 spots (the final table).

I was feeling confident and… hungry. I hadn’t eaten since breakfast so I quickly ran to the coffee shop and grabbed a bagel. It was an onion bagel, and it was damn good... but man do they give a lot of frickin' cream cheese! 4 bucks, not a bad snack at all.

I get to my table as the first hand is being dealt. I selected the lucky 10 spot when I registered and remembered sitting there a day ago for a sitngo. Hopefully my luck would change this time, I really felt like I could take this thing down!!

To be continued…