Vegas/Commerce/Pool/Drunk Trip Report

The weekend of the 24th had some serious potential. It could have been a blast or bust. It ended up falling somewhere in between.

As mentioned in my pre-trip report, I took Thursday and Friday off of work and would head to Vegas some time on Thursday. That meant I could go play at Commerce on Wednesday night without a time constraint. So I did.

There was something strange in the air that night. The line for valet parking was long…really long. That usually means alot of people inside and, therefore, a ton of action. As I entered, I saw there were, in fact, very many tables running in the top section. But when I came in sight of the main room, it wasn’t as crowded as I had presumed. Don’t get me wrong, there were plenty of tables running. But there were several conspicuously empty.

No problem. I was able to get on a 10NL table right away. It was full but was, unfortunately, a must-move table. I went through the blinds twice and dragged the blinds once. Suddenly we were 4-handed and the game broke. We drew cards for two open seats in other games (apparently, they were dropping like flies…made of cheese) and I missed. I would have to wait about 15 minutes until another seat opened.

The new table had tons of chips in play. That’s what happens when people keep getting knocked out…lucky me. I wasn’t sure if I meant that, though. It could have been a wild table. That doesn’t generally suit my game because I like to look for spots to occasionally steal. Wild players like these are likely to chase down with anything. As it turned out, they weren’t too crazy. A couple players wouldn’t leave me alone but the others were kind of passive when involved against me. So I just had to navigate the bullies.

I quickly noticed there were two players who liked to call pre-flop raises with small suited connectors and would call down on any flush draw. But, for some reason, I didn’t use that info in a hand I got into early on. I found J-J on the button and raised to $30 with one limper ahead. He was one of the flush chasers so I new he would give me action. We got heads up and the flop came 9-high with two clubs. But I didn’t notice the clubs (I wasn’t playing well to start off.) He checked and I bet $50, realizing that he would call a larger amount if he was willing to call 50 so there was no reason to inflate the pot. He called. The turn was a J and he checked to me again. I saw a possible straight out but wasn’t worried about him having that. I counted out $120 and pushed it in. He quickly came over the top all-in and had me covered. For some reason, I beat him in, calling off about $260 more. As soon as I said call, I followed it with, “That was a bad call,” because I realized the turned J was a club and he had his flush. I was so appalled at my bad play that I didn’t bother asking for the board to pair. It didn’t and I had dumped my initial buy-in. He showed 4c-2c. So at least I knew he would push everything in with the worst flush. I hoped to use that info to my advantage later.

After that, I tightened up in the sense that I made an effort to maintain some focus and take time before acting. This was still a good table for me because the flush chasers weren’t leaving any time soon. With my rebuy, I was able to double through to $600 with AA against the same chaser that had taken me down earlier. He left shortly after but his friend stuck around and we tangled. He was in the BB and I open raised in middle position with Q-Q. The button called and so did Chaser2. The flop came Q-high with two hearts. I should have been afraid of the heart draw since there always seems to be a flush draw out when I flop a set. But I got cocky and followed C2’s check with the same. The button checked as well. The turn brought an off-suit blank and C2 again checked. Now I found a chance to redeem my previous slow play and take control, hopefully driving out any draws. This time, I bet $60 into a $95 pot which I thought would appear strong. It was good enough to get rid of the button, but C2 stuck around. I felt sick when a heart hit on the river and checked, not hiding my frustration. C2 bet $150 and I decided to think about it…just because I should.

Its always tough to lay down a set, especially when you’ve completely misplayed the hand and surrendered on the end. But, as I thought about the situation, it dawned on me that C2 might not have the flush. I recalled, in previous hands where he caught a flush, he would move all-in, hoping to get the most out of his opponent. And why not? Everyone seemed to be calling that night. However, this time, he bet $150 into a $215 pot. For anyone else, that’s a value bet just begging for a call. But he doesn’t do that. I squirmed over the decision for a while longer, stacking and restacking the chips for a call, and finally decided I was probably good. I made the call and he declared, “Jack high.” I tabled my set and took it down. Someone else…someone who obviously doesn’t pay much attention…asked, “Jeez. What took you so long.”

After 4 ½ hours, I still didn’t feel great about my play, but I was playing smarter and managed to get ahead by a bit. I decided to go talk to my friend, Keith, who was playing in a nearby 5NL game and then head out. I left winner $13 which was just about enough to tip everyone on my way out. All in all, I am happy that I was/am able to keep my head and play smart when I get into trouble like I did. So I don’t mind breaking even. Its better than being stuck.

The next day, Roman didn’t make it to my place until just before 2pm. So we got a late start but managed to beat the traffic out of town and made it to the Riviera in Vegas by 6pm. Not bad, really.

This recap is longer than I had intended. So I’ll continue in my next post. There is still plenty to tell…We’ve only just arrived in Las Vegas.

SEEYa