Dynasty
03-07-2003, 03:37 AM
Clarkmeister and I (as well as Allan, a non-poster who bets sports for a living) returned to Las Vegas after a 4 day trip to the Commerce Casino in California. Just like in our trip last year, it was a great time, especially when we met other 2+2 posters.
The 9-18 Game
We arrived at the Commerce on Monday afternoon and wasted little time before jumping into the games. One of our first discoveries was a bit dissapointing. The Commerce 9-18 was usually a bad game in the afternoons. They played surprisingly tight. We each put in a few afternoon hours on both Monday and Tuesday and didn't care for what we saw.
But, the late evening/early morining games were fantastic- as good as you can realistically hope for. I had a nice 5.5 big bet winrate in the night games while losing a little in the tight afternoon games.
mike l.
Both Clarkmeister and myself have met mike l. before. I think I first met him while he was in Las Vegas for Mason and David's seminars a year ago. We had dinner and played a little together then.
To my surpise, mike l. showed up Monday night. Since we were all playing in different games, we were only able to chat for a short time. However, later that night, he was able to tell us some interesting stories of a tilting woman on his left who was seriously peeved at her boyfriend.
Andy Fox and Jim Rivett
Tuesday afternoon brought our first scheduled 2+2 meeting. Andy Fox and Jim Rivett came for lunch and some play. I had met Jim when he was in Vegas. However, this was the first time I met the famous Andy Fox. As expected, Andy was a great guy and he started a trend of people buying meals for me (actually mike l. ordered me a free snack the night before as well).
We had a nice lunch but I actually feel bad that I couldn't talk more with Andy (especially since he paid for lunch). After lunch, we were playing in different games. Andy played some 30-60 hold'em. Jim Rivett went with Clarkmeister to the 9-18 game. And, I experimented playing 30-60 lowball. When Andy was leaving the Commerce, I was acually out taking a walk and didn't get to say goodbye. Sorry, Andy.
30-60 Lowball
For no good reason, I decided to play the 30-60 lowball game which is populated entirely with players at least twice as old as me and have probably been playing poker longer than I've been alive. I lost a few bets over 2 hours in this game but think I played well. The game had a full kill so the opportunity to make it $180 before the draw was something I didn't resist when dealt Joker,2,3,4,Jack in a kill pot. I've never played a hold'em or stud hand where I made it $180 pre-flop or on 3rd street. That's a new record for me.
Rick Nebiolo
Tuesday night broght Rick Nebiolo and his babe-like girlfriend to the Commerce for dinner- a free dinner, courtesty of Rick. Thanks, Rick. Dinner had the usualy good poker chat until Rick mentioned that the casino he works at, the Bicycle, spreads 3-6 Crazy Pineapple hi-lo. Since, Clarkmeister and I had enjoyed playing in a pot-limit Crazy Pineapple home game last May, I knew he would react the same way I did. And so, we headed to the Bicycle.
3-6 Crazy Pineapple hi-lo
There were about 50 games being spread at the Bicycle that night. But, I think our little 3-6 game drew the most attention. At first, our table was nothing special. Then, after Clarkmeister lost a few pots, he made a big rebuy of $500. Rick's girlfriend, who already had a couple hundred in chips in front of her, also made another $500 rebuy. I had always wanted to do something like this so I added to my ~$300 stack by buying 5 more racks. Rick followed suit.
The four of us were sitting at one end of the table and each one of us had a bare mimimum of 100 big bets in front of us. As a chip runner walked by and sarcastically asked if anybody wanted to buy the two racks he had in his hand, I said "Yeah, I'll take them" pushing my total buy-in for this 3-6 game to $900. Clarkmeister and I started building pyramids with our chips. My pyramid was routine "5 stories" high with a story being 20 chips. The center of my pyramid was a single vertical stack of 100 chips. It could be clearly seen from across the room.
The massive display of chips drew enourmous interest from players around the room. As a result, I think I'm going to continue making excessively big buy-ins for low-limit games and see how people react.
We played the Crazy Pineapple game for 5.5 hours until about 3:00 in the morning. I left with a win of 65 big bets, my biggest win ever I think.
Another free meal and a trip to the Beach
Clarkmeister, Allan (or sports betting friend), and I went to a hamburger place called Fudruckers for lunch on Clarkmeister's reccomendation. Somehow, my meal got paid for by Allan. That made 3 consecutive free meals.
Afterwards, Clarkmeister took some time away from the tables and head to the beach. Unless you think me taking my shoes and socks off to walk in the Pacific Ocean is news, I haven't got much to report other than the Pacific Ocean seems less salty than the Atlantic (in New England).
California knows when I'm coming
Last year, Clarkmeister and D. Andrew "dragged" me to the Santa Anita racetrack during our Commerce roadtrip. There were two horses there that day which had interesting names- Dynamous and Dynamistic. On the way to the beach, we came across an interesting painting on the side of a building. It had a Lakers logo and a simple message- "pure dynasty".
Final Night of Poker
Wednesday night was going to be our final night of poker. Wait: free meal report. While on the waiting list for the 20-40 game, I ordered a steak (good meal, mediocre for steak). However, I got so frustrated waiting to get into the game (more than half an hour) that I walked over to the 9-18 and took an open seat. I guess that meal was kind of stolen. 4 in a row.
I played the 9-18 into the early morning hours while Clarkmeister braved the 20-40 game. Both games were great but variation was much kinder to me.
The damn racetrack again
We had been planning to leave for Las Veags after eating breakfast Thursday morning- which I disgustedly paid for myself. However, Clarkmeister schedule opened up and we were able to make a short side trip- to Santa Anita where I watched Clarkmeister and Allan bet on horses while I watched birds eat horse droppings. We only stayed for 5 races so it wasn't so bad. I like animals so the first hour was okay.
Overall, the trip was fantastic in many ways, including turning a profit.
The 9-18 Game
We arrived at the Commerce on Monday afternoon and wasted little time before jumping into the games. One of our first discoveries was a bit dissapointing. The Commerce 9-18 was usually a bad game in the afternoons. They played surprisingly tight. We each put in a few afternoon hours on both Monday and Tuesday and didn't care for what we saw.
But, the late evening/early morining games were fantastic- as good as you can realistically hope for. I had a nice 5.5 big bet winrate in the night games while losing a little in the tight afternoon games.
mike l.
Both Clarkmeister and myself have met mike l. before. I think I first met him while he was in Las Vegas for Mason and David's seminars a year ago. We had dinner and played a little together then.
To my surpise, mike l. showed up Monday night. Since we were all playing in different games, we were only able to chat for a short time. However, later that night, he was able to tell us some interesting stories of a tilting woman on his left who was seriously peeved at her boyfriend.
Andy Fox and Jim Rivett
Tuesday afternoon brought our first scheduled 2+2 meeting. Andy Fox and Jim Rivett came for lunch and some play. I had met Jim when he was in Vegas. However, this was the first time I met the famous Andy Fox. As expected, Andy was a great guy and he started a trend of people buying meals for me (actually mike l. ordered me a free snack the night before as well).
We had a nice lunch but I actually feel bad that I couldn't talk more with Andy (especially since he paid for lunch). After lunch, we were playing in different games. Andy played some 30-60 hold'em. Jim Rivett went with Clarkmeister to the 9-18 game. And, I experimented playing 30-60 lowball. When Andy was leaving the Commerce, I was acually out taking a walk and didn't get to say goodbye. Sorry, Andy.
30-60 Lowball
For no good reason, I decided to play the 30-60 lowball game which is populated entirely with players at least twice as old as me and have probably been playing poker longer than I've been alive. I lost a few bets over 2 hours in this game but think I played well. The game had a full kill so the opportunity to make it $180 before the draw was something I didn't resist when dealt Joker,2,3,4,Jack in a kill pot. I've never played a hold'em or stud hand where I made it $180 pre-flop or on 3rd street. That's a new record for me.
Rick Nebiolo
Tuesday night broght Rick Nebiolo and his babe-like girlfriend to the Commerce for dinner- a free dinner, courtesty of Rick. Thanks, Rick. Dinner had the usualy good poker chat until Rick mentioned that the casino he works at, the Bicycle, spreads 3-6 Crazy Pineapple hi-lo. Since, Clarkmeister and I had enjoyed playing in a pot-limit Crazy Pineapple home game last May, I knew he would react the same way I did. And so, we headed to the Bicycle.
3-6 Crazy Pineapple hi-lo
There were about 50 games being spread at the Bicycle that night. But, I think our little 3-6 game drew the most attention. At first, our table was nothing special. Then, after Clarkmeister lost a few pots, he made a big rebuy of $500. Rick's girlfriend, who already had a couple hundred in chips in front of her, also made another $500 rebuy. I had always wanted to do something like this so I added to my ~$300 stack by buying 5 more racks. Rick followed suit.
The four of us were sitting at one end of the table and each one of us had a bare mimimum of 100 big bets in front of us. As a chip runner walked by and sarcastically asked if anybody wanted to buy the two racks he had in his hand, I said "Yeah, I'll take them" pushing my total buy-in for this 3-6 game to $900. Clarkmeister and I started building pyramids with our chips. My pyramid was routine "5 stories" high with a story being 20 chips. The center of my pyramid was a single vertical stack of 100 chips. It could be clearly seen from across the room.
The massive display of chips drew enourmous interest from players around the room. As a result, I think I'm going to continue making excessively big buy-ins for low-limit games and see how people react.
We played the Crazy Pineapple game for 5.5 hours until about 3:00 in the morning. I left with a win of 65 big bets, my biggest win ever I think.
Another free meal and a trip to the Beach
Clarkmeister, Allan (or sports betting friend), and I went to a hamburger place called Fudruckers for lunch on Clarkmeister's reccomendation. Somehow, my meal got paid for by Allan. That made 3 consecutive free meals.
Afterwards, Clarkmeister took some time away from the tables and head to the beach. Unless you think me taking my shoes and socks off to walk in the Pacific Ocean is news, I haven't got much to report other than the Pacific Ocean seems less salty than the Atlantic (in New England).
California knows when I'm coming
Last year, Clarkmeister and D. Andrew "dragged" me to the Santa Anita racetrack during our Commerce roadtrip. There were two horses there that day which had interesting names- Dynamous and Dynamistic. On the way to the beach, we came across an interesting painting on the side of a building. It had a Lakers logo and a simple message- "pure dynasty".
Final Night of Poker
Wednesday night was going to be our final night of poker. Wait: free meal report. While on the waiting list for the 20-40 game, I ordered a steak (good meal, mediocre for steak). However, I got so frustrated waiting to get into the game (more than half an hour) that I walked over to the 9-18 and took an open seat. I guess that meal was kind of stolen. 4 in a row.
I played the 9-18 into the early morning hours while Clarkmeister braved the 20-40 game. Both games were great but variation was much kinder to me.
The damn racetrack again
We had been planning to leave for Las Veags after eating breakfast Thursday morning- which I disgustedly paid for myself. However, Clarkmeister schedule opened up and we were able to make a short side trip- to Santa Anita where I watched Clarkmeister and Allan bet on horses while I watched birds eat horse droppings. We only stayed for 5 races so it wasn't so bad. I like animals so the first hour was okay.
Overall, the trip was fantastic in many ways, including turning a profit.