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

The Quick-E-Mart is...D'OH!

I've mentioned before that I don't have anything to do at work. Well I also don't have anything at work. My cubicle is normally bare except for the necessities (computer, phone, supplies.) But I recently brought a couple items in with me. This morning, I looked at them and found it kind of surreal...

SEEYa

Welcome back, Mr. Cottaaaaair

"I'll be honest with you, I love his music, I do, I'm a Michael Bolton fan. For my money, it doesn't get any better than when he sings "When a Man Loves a Woman".

Just a quick update on my status. I got back from Vegas on Sunday but I am still recovering...So you know I had a good time. But I haven't fealt like writing about it yet. Maybe later today. For now, I just want to say hi to both my loyal readers.

I also need to vent. "The Man" has blocked access to Pandora. So I need to find something else to listen to while at work. I'm thinking about getting Sirius or XM but I'm not sure which. Of course, Sirius has Howard. But XM has Jericho in the Boneyard, a channel that plays mostly 80's metal with alot of hair metal. So I'm at yet another cross-roads. But the point here is that work (or my lack of it) sucks!

And, now, a couple more Office Space quotes…

“So I was sitting in my cubicle today, and I realized, ever since I started working, every single day of my life has been worse than the day before it. So that means that every single day that you see me, that's on the worst day of my life.”
”What about today? Is today the worst day of your life?”
”Yeah.”
”Wow, that's messed up.”

--------

“Mother... shitter... Son of an... ass. I just...”

SEEYa

Vegas Tomorrooooooooow. Commerce Tonight.

I’m going to Vegas, baby! It’s been schway too long. I’ll be heading out some time tomorrow for a long weekend. I’m going for a team pool tournament (8-ball) with some friends from my weekly league team. It’s the first time I have been able to field a team for this event so I’m psyched.

Unfortunately, this falls around the last Saturday of the month which means I will not be in town for poker at Paul’s. Damn it! I really enjoy our monthly home game, especially since it has changed to $50 buy-ins and a slightly smaller turn out. It’s a bit less hectic and more intimate, so to speak. Last time out was a hell of alot of fun.

But there is an outside chance that I might come back on Saturday and make it to Paul’s. That’s only likely to happen if my team gets eliminated from the tournament early. Now here lies an internal dilemma. I don’t go into any competition wanting to give any less than my best effort and I’d never root for my team to lose. But I don’t really have anything at stake in this thing and don’t expect my teammates to perform well. They might, but I have no reason to expect it. So I may have to fight off the inner quarrel and maybe not think about poker at Paul’s.

You’d think it wouldn’t be too hard since I will be playing cards in my choice of poker rooms on the strip. So I won’t be starved for action. But its just once a month that we have to get together for a good-natured yet competitive game with friendly faces in a welcoming home. Good times…Good times.

Oh, well. My immediate plan is to just get through today at work. Then I’m going to Commerce tonight to get the gambling weekend started early. I haven’t played live since Chumash about a week and a half ago. So I’m really itchin’ and happy to know that, tonight, I will be in action. Tomorrow, I’ll be on the road with my friend Roman (Ruh-mawn) – he’s driving – and I’ll be in “Whatever happens, I’m along for the ride” mode.

(Is it ironic to introduce a Vegas post with a reference to a movie starring a guy named Zero?)

SEEYa

Chumash III – Trip Report compl’t’d

Continued from trip report II

…Sunday morning I woke to a warm breeze which was odd because I didn’t think the hotel room windows could be opened. Well, they couldn’t. Kid was still frrrrrrting remnants of the two bowls of pea soup from the previous afternoon. Damn you, Kid!

Paul and Dena stopped by to give Kid a lift back to Santa Barbara and I got ready to check out. I did so and headed for the poker room before making the trek home. I felt the need to play poker since I had not gotten in as much table time as I had intended throughout the weekend and I wanted to improve on my play from the night before.

The Sunday morning tournament was underway but a couple tables had already cleared and cash games started. There was already a good list for $5 NLH so it wouldn’t be long before I found some action. The game was announced and I managed to snake the 2s. I always prefer the 3 or 7 seat so I can see everyone at the table. But I’ll take the 2 or 8 seat as my next choice.

I started out in my normal tight-aggressive mode, surveying the table and trying to find some tells. It didn’t take long to figure out which players were playing rags and calling down with second or bottom pair. As it happened, there were 4 or 5 players of that type while there didn’t seem to be anyone that I would need to avoid (loose-tricky). I managed to almost double through fairly early with A-K on an ace-high board against an old gentleman who seemed to know he was beat but couldn’t get away from his pocket Qs.

After that, I got mostly cold cards. But that isn’t normally a problem. On that morning, however, it would lead me to trouble. From the beginning of the session, I didn’t really feel like I wanted to be there. In hindsight (and I realized this after a couple hours of play), I knew I didn’t want to stay later than 2pm and, having started at about 10am, I was feeling restricted. I usually go to play on my own terms with no one in tow so I can play for as long or short a session as I feel is needed. This time, I was battling conflicting mindsets: (1) I wanted to get some time in to make up for the night before and (2) I wanted to go home. I couldn’t do both, so my body stayed while my mind had one foot out the door.

The end result was a lack of patience. Patience is another strength of my game. So, without it, anything could happen. I tried to talk myself into the proper state of mind and, for a while, it seemed to work. But I finally gave in to whatever demons were haunting me that morning and began to loosen up…loosen way up. I decided to try to bully a few select players at the table. So I raised pre-flop from early position with hands that I normally wouldn’t play from there (like A-x suited and small pairs). Then I would make continuation bets at the flop regardless of what hit. It worked for a little while but I was only taking down small pots and these guys were going to push back eventually.

My bully strategy was actually born from the way the table had been playing. There were way too many limped pots followed by a bluff by the button that would take it down on the flop. I folded top pair/weak kicker a couple of times from early position in that situation and decided not to let it happen so much anymore. But I was not making plays with absolute rags…at first.

Things were going my way for a while. In the hand that marked the turn, I raised in middle position with A-Qo after one player had limped. The big blind (a pretty tight player) and the limper both called. The flop came 10 high with two diamonds and the BB led out for $20 into a $50 pot. I had seen him lead out like that before in this game when he was on a flush draw. But I really didn’t have enough reason to think he was on a draw this time. I convinced myself that he might just have over cards (A-J) and decided to raise and find out. I thought I might be able to take it away right there with a raise to $60. He thought only long enough to look down at his chips and then pushed them all in. He had a ton of chips, so it was quite an over bet. But it told me exactly what I was trying to find out…he had the best hand. I quickly mucked and he kindly showed me pocket 10s for top set. He seemed a little embarrassed at his all-in as he said, “That was probably a bit much, huh?” I assured him that I wasn’t going to call even a min raise.

I still felt like I could control the table so, on the very next hand, I looked down at 3-2o and…raised! Now I’m in earlier position than the last hand and I’m raising with rags. That’s bad. But I should note that I had been aggressive with the same hand just 3 deals prior and taken the pot. So it wasn’t really about the cards at that point. This time, I was only called by the big blind who had played very passively so far. The flop was J-7-x and he checked. I had no reason to do anything but bet here, especially since my opponent only had $40 behind. I bet $40 and he called all-in…oops. I had failed to acknowledge that this guy was the kind of passive that will check-call with any pair. I hoped for a luck-out river after the turn brought me a flush draw, but nothing came of it. He showed his A-7 for the nut second pair. I decided to show my rags for a laugh (however pathetic) and to ruin my image so I could get paid off with my next big hand.

I did tighten up from there but only stuck around for another half hour while looking at more cold cards. I decided that 4 ½ hours of play was more than I should have put in and cut my losses. I left, down $49 for the session. Somehow, I managed to contain the bleeding during the butchering or my game that morning.

I log my results in a journal after every session but, this time, I was hesitant. I guess I didn’t want to commit my faulty play to ink. But after writing it in the book, I immediately felt better. I realized that I knew exactly what my leaks were that weekend and I wasn’t afraid to address them. I still feel confident with my game and look forward to getting back to executing it the right way.

SEEYa