Wardfish
04-08-2003, 05:06 AM
This was my second trip to Vegas and came as a result of being invited
to attend the wedding of my girlfriends best friend at Caesars Palace.
We decided to stay for 9 days - it's too far to travel from England
for much shorter than that. Who knows: maybe I'd get to play a little
poker whilst out there?!
Wed 19th March 2003
Arrived in Vegas following flight from Manchester, England via
Chicago, involving about 13 hours travelling and an 8 hour time
difference, but as on my previous trip to Vegas (my first) was too
keen to play poker to feel tired. As I'm sure most readers will
realise, this was a mistake.
(I had played mostly side games on my last trip without much success,
but in the previous year in the UK had built up quite a lot of
tournament experience playing in various weekly pot-limit hold'em
rebuy tourneys with good reults. I decided to concentrate on no-limit
tourneys and liked the look of the schedule at the Orleans, Mirage &
Sahara amongst others).
I had arrived with a rough idea of which tournaments I wanted to play
in.
On the list for Wednesday was the $60 no-limit tourney at the Sahara
with a $40 rebuy. Unfortunately, I felt obliged to have a bite to eat
with my girlfriend before leaving her for the rest of the night and
ended up cutting it fine for getting to the Sahara on time. I was
staying at the Aladdin and not being sure where the Sahara was and how
long it would take in a taxi I decided to bolt for the Mirage instead.
I knew where that was and where the poker-room was etc, the only
problem was I had never played a limit hold'em multi-table tourney (I
had only played a few single-table on Paradise Poker maybe 18 months
previously).
I bought in for $120 at 6.50 for a 7.00 start. There was only about 20
names down so far and 3 tables with chips laid out. At the 7.00 start
there were only 2 people seated at my table and we unofficially agreed
to share the blinds taken from all the other stacks until the table
filled up a bit more. From the staring stack of T500 we both went up
to about T750 before another guy sat down. We let him pinch a couple
of pots before we started playing properly and we were soon joined by
4 other players.
One guy had a loud East Coast accent and an even louder shirt under
his grey herring-bone suit. He told everybody how he didn't know how
to play hold'em but that he'd just won $2800 playing shorthanded
$40-80 stud. He rebought straight away, which wasn't really necessary
as the blinds we were still at the 25-50 level. He gave a few chips
away, mostly to a solid guy (SG) on my left who hit some big hands
early - in all he picked up AA four times in the first 2 hours - and
some more to the two calling stations (CSs) to his left.
I picked up very little and lost a few trying to foolishly run AK
through when I missed the flop against one of the CSs. I later picked
up AK on the button and entered the pot with a raise, only to be
reraised by SG. I reraised and he 5-bet and then bet out on the rag
flop. When I folded he showed AA. I had already rebought and was now
in bad shape.
Just after that I was moved tables as we went down to 20 players, and
lost another pot when I called in late position with 33, and tried to
bluff when everyone checked to me on a 9-high flop. I got one caller,
bet the turn, then gave up on the river when an A came. He turned up
A9 (2-pr) and I mucked but my cards hit the dealer's hand and a 3
turned up (how embarrassing!).
I was playing far too loose - I knew and so did everyone else. Soon
after 3 tables became 2 and the level then went up to 100-200 - I only
had T275 left.
I was in big trouble, and raised with J9 in early position hoping to
get isolated by maybe an AK and get lucky. Another solid player had
noticed my kamikaze tendency and 3-bet with KT. I got my heads-up wish
but no help from the board and was knocked out 18th out of 21 -
brilliant!
At least I got an early night, although when you factor in the time
difference, 10.30pm was more like 6.30am. As on my previous trip to
Vegas I had been to keen to get in and play and had made a losing
start. Never again!!
Thu 20th March 2003
Went over to the Mirage to play in a couple of $25 satellites for the
$120 + $100 rebuy No-limit holdem tourney that night. The $220 loss
the previous night had made a big dent in my playing bankroll of $750
that I had allowed myself - following a 2nd place finish back home in
the Tuesday night PLHE tourney - and I needed to try and get in cheap.
There was no satellite currently available - they had one going
already - but a juicy looking $6-12 holdem game caught my eye. There
were a couple of US tourists drinking beer and having fun watching the
basketball. They had plenty of chips and seemed to be playing pretty
loose, so I sat down with $200.
I opted not to come in after the button, but watch a round and picked
up some useful info: there were 2 or 3 solid players, 2 or 3 calling
stations and 2 or 3 'tourists'. The tourists were aggressive pre-flop
but slowed down somewhat afterwards. In the few hands I watched I saw
some interesting play: one of them called 3 bets cold on the button
with 54o, for example.
After playing for a round, I picked up AKs in middle position and
ended up making a small profit by splitting the pot with the button's
AK, with a calling station coming along for company. Then a bit later
I called the unraised pot with 3 limpers with QTs, and picked it up
with a bet on the turn when no-one showed any interest.
I was $25 up when they started calling a satellite for the NLHE on the
next table. I folded my way to the big blind and left for the
satellite.
I had played in these satellites on my previous Vegas trip and had
some success (1 for 4 not bad?). This time I played steady until made
the last 5 with very few chips and decided to look for a double-up
with 44: I was called by an AQ, the 44 held up and I was in with a
chance.
I now had enough chips to steal and pulled my way up into contention
until I made a mess of JJ with 4 players left. UTG went all-in for his
last few chips and I wimped put by flat-calling with the JJ, allowing
the chip leader (CL) in from the big-blind. I think this should have
been raise or fold(?). There was an all-club flop (I had the Jc) but
folded when the chip-leader went all-in. He ended up taking the pot,
knocking out UTG and I was severely reduced in chips.
Soon after CL (very aggressive) took out the no.3 and we were heads-up
2600 v 400 chips. I called all-in from the big blind with 86 and
doubled up when an 8 hit the board, but next hand went all-in again
with A8s, got called by Q4 and knocked out by the Q on the river when
in site of a 50-50 split in chips. Ouch!
That was it for the day as far as poker was concerned. Jo (the
girlfriend) and I went out for a nice meal at the Cheesecake Factory
(in Caesars Palace).
Bankroll still $530 (-$220)
Friday 21st March 2003
No plans for any poker today or tomorrow as the plan was to have a few
drinks tonight with the groom - remember the wedding? - his father,
brother etc, and then the wedding tomorrow.
Following a couple of hours in the Desert Passage shops and an hour or
so by the Aladdin pool I announced to Jo that I might nip over to the
Bellagio for a couple of hours for a game. The impromptu idea was for
a couple of hours of $4-8 or maybe $8-16 holdem to get the BR back up
before the Sunday night NLHE tourney at the Mirage. It turned out
rather differently:
The Bellagio poker-room was packed to the rafters, with huge lists on
all the low-limit games. I picked up a copy of CardPlayer and wandered
around. My attention was grabbed by the guy looking for players for a
satellite to win entry into the $500+40 buyin NLHE tourney at 5pm that
night. I know looks can be deceptive, but the players assembled looked
less-than-intimidating and so I thought "why not?", encouraged by my
2nd place at the Mirage the day before. The buy-in was $130 but I had
been itching to try my luck in a bigger tournament for a long time
back home - maybe this was worth a shot.
You got plenty of chips in the satellite (T1500), and with the blinds
starting at (I think) 25-50, plenty of time to play. Two players were
to qualify for the main tourney. I managed to get down to the last 3
with two other youngish players (I am 31) - one who was pretty strong
but had taken a bad beat for a large chunk of his chips, and the other
who had barely played a hand since doubling up on the first hand when
his JJ flopped a set.
I kept attacking the blinds, increasing my stack steadily, but the
strong player refused to go. He should have had his all-in raises
called at least twice by the other guy in the big-blind but he
obviously wasn't versed in tournament strategy re pot odds and
knocking out a player - maybe they were friends(?). Eventually he went
all-in from the SB and I called from the BB with J3, against his K6.
The 6 hit the flop but the J on the river sent me and the quiet guy
into the main tourney, plus we both got $30 back.
The tourney was set to start in 15 minutes, so I called Jo from the
courtesy phone in the cardroom explaining that I might be late back
(with any luck), and took a wander around to clear my mind.
With 45 players at $500 I reckoned the prize pool would be $22500, but
only the top 5 got paid. This was going to be tough: my starting table
of 9, on first few impressions, included 2 or 3 of pro/semi-pro
caliber and only 1 or 2 weak players. I guessed the other tables would
be more or less the same standard, so by that reckoning an average of
one player per starting table would make the money.
Levels were 50 minutes, the longest I had played previously was 30,
and each player got T2000 in chips, with blinds in level 1 at 25-50.
On the very first hand I picked up AK in the small blind and raised to
225 when 4 people limped in. One called and I bet out 300 on a rag
flop only to be called. I hit my K on the turn and when I bet out
again for 600 he folded - phew! I was really nervous and this showed
in the way I played this hand : I don't normally raise with AK from
the early position early in a tourney, and I don't normally fire at
the flop when I've missed. I needed to get some junk to fold so that I
could settle into the game. Luckily I got my wish, and I finished the
first level with about T2500.
In level 2 I tangled with one of the better players (a guy with
glasses & a beard - G&B) for the first time when I open-raised the 100
blind to 400 with AK. I got called from the button and check-folded
the flop to his bet when I missed. He gave me a big stare as he bet
the flop, as if trying to intimidate me. I had settled down a bit by
now and wasn't too worried.
I had a couple of unsuccessful steals snapped off soon after and had
dwindled down to about T1700 when I found QQ in the T100 big blind. It
was the first decent hand I'd seen for a while and when UTG raised to
T350 I went all-in, trying to knock him off the hand. He was one of
the weaker players and I had him covered, although not by much. He
ended up calling with his last T1100 or so and turned up JJ. The
Queens held up and I was now in a decent position with about T3500
approaching the end of level 2, with maybe 35 players remaining.
Again, I picked up AK in mid-position and raised to T400. G&B called
me again on the button and was staring straight at me as the flop came
Q33. I quickly fired out T1000, not wanting to be intimidated and he
immediately pushed all-in. My gut reaction was to fold - after all I
had A-high! - but I convinced myself that he was trying to push me off
the pot with nothing. Even if he had say 88 or 99 I would have 6 outs
- crazy thinking but I had gone mentally. In the end I convinced
myself to call, and he turned over AQ - I was nearly sick. When the K
hit river to give me the big pot (maybe T5700) I was more embarrassed
than anything else and I jokingly said "That was a good call!". The
guy next to me didn't get the joke and said grimly "More like 'good
catch'". I scooped in the pot and stacked the chips.
At the break at the end of level 2 there were maybe 30 players left
and I was in good shape. I called Jo again to tell her about the
stroke of luck with the AK, and that I wouldn't be going out that
night.
Soon after the break we re-drew for seats and we went down to 3
tables. I managed to use my good-size stack to effect by picking up my
share of the blinds, and held my own against some other decent-sized
stacks until I picked up KK in the small blind. An aggressive player
with a big stack had opened from early position with a raise and I
came back over the top. He eventuallty showed AQ as he folded. With a
few more steals I was still in there fighting - having showed no hands
down at this table - with a medium stack as we went down to 2 tables
and redrew for seats again.
Play was very tight now, and again I managed to pick up pots
uncontested without holding much in the way of cards. I was sure this
was because I had not shown down a bad hand yet. I did get reraised a
couple of times and had no trouble letting go of hands like T9 or A8
that I had raised with. I was winning more than I was losing, and as
we got down to the final table ten-handed I had about T7000 of the
T90000 in play.
My memory of levels / blinds / hands are pretty sketchy at this stage
now as most pots I played were a raise and everyone folding. I was
managing to pick out the right players to raise and rarely got
reraised. I thought at the time that a lot of the players were waiting
for others to self-destruct (maybe me?) and were hanging on to get in
the money. I wanted to win, or failing that get a high place, or
failing that get knocked out trying to win. I figure that if you try
to get 5th, the best you can usually get is 5th.
Some hands I do remember are these:
When still 10-handed I picked up 66 in the big blind (T300). I had
about T8000 and the guy who raised to T1200 from early position had
about the same and called the raise. The flop came 235 and he bet out
T1500 when I checked. This didn't convince me he had a hand, so I
called, hoping for no A or K on the turn. The 8 that came was perfect
and I bet T3000 into him. I think he suspected I was making a move but
he eventually let it go.
Later, I picked up QQ on the big blind (T400). A middle position
player (weak, made some strange calls earlier) had raised to T1200 and
the chip leader (strong, very aggressive pro from England) called from
the small blind. I reraised to T5000 and they both let it go.
I still hadn't shown a hand, but did soon after 8-handed when I
open-raised in late position with TT. I was reraised a small amount
from the blind by the weak player. I re-raised, intending to put him
all-in but didn't raise enough. He went all-in for his last few chips
anyway, I called and he turned over 44. There were no miracles for him
and another pile of chips came my way.
Soon after I defended my big blind (T500) with 55 to a small raise
from the chip leader (in the small blind). I was pretty sure the rag
flop had missed him but checked behind him - think this was pretty
weak play. The turn was Jc and he bet out: I called thinking the J
hadn’t helped him and it gave me a 5-flush draw. The river was
Qc and we both checked. He'd hit 2pr with QJ but my 5c gave me a flush
to scoop another decent pot, despite playing the hand pretty badly.
As we got down to 6-handed a pattern emerged, with either myself of
the English Pro Chip Leader (EP/CL) raising more than the others, but
getting reraised and letting go of a few.
I had to let go of a few hands, as the guy to my left decided he was
either going to fold or go all in, which I thought was quite dangerous
as he still had a decent stack. He eventually got chewed up by the
blinds and antes (not sure but probably 300-600 with 50 ante) and went
out on the bubble with $600. We agreed at the last 6 to all put up
$100 for the bubble-boy.
5-handed I had about T18K, with EP/CL on about T30K to my right. I
then got a bit too aggressive and nearly went out in 3 hands. See what
you think:
1. UTG raised to about T3000, I reraised on the button with A6 to put
him all-in. It was a crazy move by me, I realized afterwards, as I was
only likely to be in good shape against a total steal, and then still
not that good a position. Unfortunately he had KK and couldn't call
his last T2000 quick enough. I doubled him up nicely.
2. Next hand I got KQs in the cut-off and raised to about T3000 only
to be reraised T2500 more by the grey-haired guy (GHG) in the
small-blind. I knew I must be behind but had to call on the pot-odds.
He had AA - ouch!
3. Still gutted from losing more than half of my chips in 2 hands I
called UTG's raise with AQ, but hit a straight to beat his 77.
From this point onwards, I considered myself back in the game, and
managed to still keep picking up pots by raising all in. After the
break, still 5-handed we went to 1000-2000 blinds with 300 antes and I
found enough all-in moves to outlast GHG, whose steal with QT was
picked off by EP/CL with JJ.
I had about T10k, the other two guys had maybe T15k each and the EP/CL
the rest after posting the antes/blinds which were now significant.
Then this happened:
EP/CL raised to T5000 from UTG, and I decided that this was the time
to go for it with KcQc. My thinking was, if I don't play this hand, I
will have one more before I post the big blind of T2000, by which time
any hand I raise with will be a big favourite to get called. The main
point to my thinking was the intention to try and win rather than
climb one place in the ladder. 4th was $2280, 3rd $3400, 2nd $5700 and
1st $10255. Anyway, I reraised all-in, the blinds folded and EP/CL
said "You've got me this time, but I'm gonna have to call" and turned
over 74 offsuit. Needless to say a 4 hit the river and I was gone.
I'd just made my biggest poker payday in two and a half years of
playing, but was quite upset at the way I got knocked out. (I suppose
I couldn't complain having hit a 3-outer on the river 6 hours earlier
to stay in the tourney - :-) ).
I wished the last 3 in the tourney good luck and set off back to the
Aladdin with the loot, about 10 hours after popping out for a couple
of hours!
Bankroll = $2610 ($530 - $130 + $30 - $100 + $2280) (+$1860)
Sunday 23rd March 2003
No poker yesterday, as we went to the wedding as planned at Caesars
Palace followed by a meal at Ricardo's in the MGM.
Decided to play in the noon NLHE tourney at the Orleans, but left it a
bit too late and got to the cardroom (about ½ mile walk from the
entrance) at 11.50 to find the tourney sold out (88 places) and an
alternate list of 9 names. The guy running the tourney (Marlin?)
assured me that I would more than likely get in, as there was only one
rebuy allowed in the 1 hour rebuy period, so I hung around. With about
10 minutes to go, and because a couple on the list ahead of me had
gone, I was called over to take my place.
You got T300 for your $30 buy-in, plus a bonus T75 for an extra $3 for
the dealers, which seemed like good value. When I got to the table I
took the $20 rebuy straight away, which took my total up to T975. This
placed me above some of the players at the table but well behind the
guy on my left (Goatee) who had about T2500. Apparently he had won a
couple of monster pots.
I picked up a pot on the flop when I hit an Ace with my AK, and
everybody folded when I raised with AA, and had been sat down about an
hour (the blinds where 50-100) when I found AA again. There was an
early position limper and I raised to 300. As soon as I'd done it, I
knew it wasn't enough, and sure enough 4 people called including the
limper. The flop came 963 with 2 hearts (I had Ah) and the big blind
went all in for about 500. I had about 700 and went all in, and got
called in another spot. I showed first for the side pot, and the other
two mucked - phew! - I knew I had misplayed it but got away with it,
especially when Goatee told me he was going to call with 66 but folded
when he saw someone else lining up their chips – nice one. I now
had about 3000 chips, and was the new chip leader, at least on our
table. With about 60 players left, and T96000 in play I was in good
shape.
I won more than my share of pots with pre-flop raises, especially when
the antes went into effect, and don't remember picking up too much in
the way of hands. One guy just to my left got hold of some chips with
consecutive double-throughs and he became a real menace, really
aggressive, and used his big stack well.
As we moved down to 3 tables we were both moved to the same table and
continued to increase our stacks.
I had a really lean spell were I picked up nothing and got few chances
to steal - the 20 minute levels were brutal - and as the antes/blinds
went up got to the point of having a lowish stack with about 14
players left. I raised one pot with 33 in two of the button, because
the guy next to me was playing really tight and the button / small
blind were both quite low. To my disappointment the button called me,
obviously looking to gamble to double through, with QJ, and even worse
hit his Queen to reduce me even further.
On my next big blind I was ready to gamble and called a raise by the
aggressive guy from earlier. I was on the big blind and called with
A6s, and I got lucky to hit a 6 on the river to beat his AK.
About 3 hands later I made an AK hold up against KQ and went on the
blind-stealing attack as players hung on to make the final table. The
guy to my right had a big stack and used the "all-in" to full effect,
but when he was out of the way I pretty much had the green light to
steal.
As we got down to 11 players, someone suggested an 11-handed final
table. I wasn't all that keen, but decided to go along with it. I was
probably just about chip leader with T16k of T96k total.
First hand at the final table it folded round to me in late position
and I made a raise to 4000 (blinds were 500-1000 with 100 ante) but
got reraised another 6000 by a young Billy Joel lookalike. (If that
sounds harsh it probably is but I've got to describe him somehow). I
folded my A8s. After this I decided that my stack was only just above
average now and I'd better slow down.
I did okay until we got to the last 7, and then found KK in late
position. The aggressive guy from my table earlier had got low on
chips and had gone all-in with a Q2 steal, my all-in reraise deterred
any other callers, and the KK held up.
Somebody suggested a six-way deal, but nobody said too much, and we
lost one more player before it was mentioned again. If we had played
it out 1st would have got $1200, 2nd $635, 3rd $465 (etc etc - near
enough). Billy Joel then took over the negotiations, which I was happy
for him to do. I had just over T20k at the time and was happy to take
2nd prize money as the blinds were now huge and it was crap-shoot
time. Billy Joel had about the same, the two small stacks had about
T10k each and the leader about T36k. Billy came up with $700 for the
chip leader, $640 for me & him, and $450 for the 2 short stacks. I was
happy with this, as two losing hands could have meant going out with
about $175. I had also made $20 in 'bounties' and so had netted
another $607 - a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon.
I now had some money to spend
Bankroll = $3217 ($2610 - $53 + $20 + $640) (+$2467)
Monday 24th - Friday 28th March 2003
For those of you already bored of this epic trip report, its nearly
over, as having neglected the girlfriend, I got a guilty conscience
and decided to spend some time (and money) with her.
We flew to LA for the day, visited the Grand Canyon and did all the
other tourist things (even slot machines - how boring!) as well as
gorging on some fantastic seafood.
Before I finish, a few comments on the tournaments I played in :
1. The 'clock' features at the Bellagio and Orleans, where you can
easily see the level, time remaining etc are superb, especially at the
Orleans, and should be taken up by all serious cardroom managers
running tournaments.
2. I know pot limit isn't played much in the USA, but some pot limit
tournaments would really be good for the game. I had only played a
handful of No-limit tournaments in the past but found the structure
suited my 'steal-the-antes-and-don't-show-hands' style. This is a bit
more difficult in pot limit.
3. Being used to 25 minute levels in pot limit tourneys in England, I
really appreciated the 50 minute levels at the Bellagio, giving time
to pick out favourable situations if not wait for great cards.
Anybody still reading? My God, you have got some stamina!
I kind of got on a roll, but it has highlighted to me how good some
other people's trip reports are. I have really struggled to remember
details of levels / chips / blinds etc, but hopefully have been fairly
accurate.
Any comments / criticisms will be grudgingly received. If they are
favourable I may do other trip reports as I am intending to play in
some festivals / major tournaments in England at some stage this year
as long as the weekly tournament results continue okay.
to attend the wedding of my girlfriends best friend at Caesars Palace.
We decided to stay for 9 days - it's too far to travel from England
for much shorter than that. Who knows: maybe I'd get to play a little
poker whilst out there?!
Wed 19th March 2003
Arrived in Vegas following flight from Manchester, England via
Chicago, involving about 13 hours travelling and an 8 hour time
difference, but as on my previous trip to Vegas (my first) was too
keen to play poker to feel tired. As I'm sure most readers will
realise, this was a mistake.
(I had played mostly side games on my last trip without much success,
but in the previous year in the UK had built up quite a lot of
tournament experience playing in various weekly pot-limit hold'em
rebuy tourneys with good reults. I decided to concentrate on no-limit
tourneys and liked the look of the schedule at the Orleans, Mirage &
Sahara amongst others).
I had arrived with a rough idea of which tournaments I wanted to play
in.
On the list for Wednesday was the $60 no-limit tourney at the Sahara
with a $40 rebuy. Unfortunately, I felt obliged to have a bite to eat
with my girlfriend before leaving her for the rest of the night and
ended up cutting it fine for getting to the Sahara on time. I was
staying at the Aladdin and not being sure where the Sahara was and how
long it would take in a taxi I decided to bolt for the Mirage instead.
I knew where that was and where the poker-room was etc, the only
problem was I had never played a limit hold'em multi-table tourney (I
had only played a few single-table on Paradise Poker maybe 18 months
previously).
I bought in for $120 at 6.50 for a 7.00 start. There was only about 20
names down so far and 3 tables with chips laid out. At the 7.00 start
there were only 2 people seated at my table and we unofficially agreed
to share the blinds taken from all the other stacks until the table
filled up a bit more. From the staring stack of T500 we both went up
to about T750 before another guy sat down. We let him pinch a couple
of pots before we started playing properly and we were soon joined by
4 other players.
One guy had a loud East Coast accent and an even louder shirt under
his grey herring-bone suit. He told everybody how he didn't know how
to play hold'em but that he'd just won $2800 playing shorthanded
$40-80 stud. He rebought straight away, which wasn't really necessary
as the blinds we were still at the 25-50 level. He gave a few chips
away, mostly to a solid guy (SG) on my left who hit some big hands
early - in all he picked up AA four times in the first 2 hours - and
some more to the two calling stations (CSs) to his left.
I picked up very little and lost a few trying to foolishly run AK
through when I missed the flop against one of the CSs. I later picked
up AK on the button and entered the pot with a raise, only to be
reraised by SG. I reraised and he 5-bet and then bet out on the rag
flop. When I folded he showed AA. I had already rebought and was now
in bad shape.
Just after that I was moved tables as we went down to 20 players, and
lost another pot when I called in late position with 33, and tried to
bluff when everyone checked to me on a 9-high flop. I got one caller,
bet the turn, then gave up on the river when an A came. He turned up
A9 (2-pr) and I mucked but my cards hit the dealer's hand and a 3
turned up (how embarrassing!).
I was playing far too loose - I knew and so did everyone else. Soon
after 3 tables became 2 and the level then went up to 100-200 - I only
had T275 left.
I was in big trouble, and raised with J9 in early position hoping to
get isolated by maybe an AK and get lucky. Another solid player had
noticed my kamikaze tendency and 3-bet with KT. I got my heads-up wish
but no help from the board and was knocked out 18th out of 21 -
brilliant!
At least I got an early night, although when you factor in the time
difference, 10.30pm was more like 6.30am. As on my previous trip to
Vegas I had been to keen to get in and play and had made a losing
start. Never again!!
Thu 20th March 2003
Went over to the Mirage to play in a couple of $25 satellites for the
$120 + $100 rebuy No-limit holdem tourney that night. The $220 loss
the previous night had made a big dent in my playing bankroll of $750
that I had allowed myself - following a 2nd place finish back home in
the Tuesday night PLHE tourney - and I needed to try and get in cheap.
There was no satellite currently available - they had one going
already - but a juicy looking $6-12 holdem game caught my eye. There
were a couple of US tourists drinking beer and having fun watching the
basketball. They had plenty of chips and seemed to be playing pretty
loose, so I sat down with $200.
I opted not to come in after the button, but watch a round and picked
up some useful info: there were 2 or 3 solid players, 2 or 3 calling
stations and 2 or 3 'tourists'. The tourists were aggressive pre-flop
but slowed down somewhat afterwards. In the few hands I watched I saw
some interesting play: one of them called 3 bets cold on the button
with 54o, for example.
After playing for a round, I picked up AKs in middle position and
ended up making a small profit by splitting the pot with the button's
AK, with a calling station coming along for company. Then a bit later
I called the unraised pot with 3 limpers with QTs, and picked it up
with a bet on the turn when no-one showed any interest.
I was $25 up when they started calling a satellite for the NLHE on the
next table. I folded my way to the big blind and left for the
satellite.
I had played in these satellites on my previous Vegas trip and had
some success (1 for 4 not bad?). This time I played steady until made
the last 5 with very few chips and decided to look for a double-up
with 44: I was called by an AQ, the 44 held up and I was in with a
chance.
I now had enough chips to steal and pulled my way up into contention
until I made a mess of JJ with 4 players left. UTG went all-in for his
last few chips and I wimped put by flat-calling with the JJ, allowing
the chip leader (CL) in from the big-blind. I think this should have
been raise or fold(?). There was an all-club flop (I had the Jc) but
folded when the chip-leader went all-in. He ended up taking the pot,
knocking out UTG and I was severely reduced in chips.
Soon after CL (very aggressive) took out the no.3 and we were heads-up
2600 v 400 chips. I called all-in from the big blind with 86 and
doubled up when an 8 hit the board, but next hand went all-in again
with A8s, got called by Q4 and knocked out by the Q on the river when
in site of a 50-50 split in chips. Ouch!
That was it for the day as far as poker was concerned. Jo (the
girlfriend) and I went out for a nice meal at the Cheesecake Factory
(in Caesars Palace).
Bankroll still $530 (-$220)
Friday 21st March 2003
No plans for any poker today or tomorrow as the plan was to have a few
drinks tonight with the groom - remember the wedding? - his father,
brother etc, and then the wedding tomorrow.
Following a couple of hours in the Desert Passage shops and an hour or
so by the Aladdin pool I announced to Jo that I might nip over to the
Bellagio for a couple of hours for a game. The impromptu idea was for
a couple of hours of $4-8 or maybe $8-16 holdem to get the BR back up
before the Sunday night NLHE tourney at the Mirage. It turned out
rather differently:
The Bellagio poker-room was packed to the rafters, with huge lists on
all the low-limit games. I picked up a copy of CardPlayer and wandered
around. My attention was grabbed by the guy looking for players for a
satellite to win entry into the $500+40 buyin NLHE tourney at 5pm that
night. I know looks can be deceptive, but the players assembled looked
less-than-intimidating and so I thought "why not?", encouraged by my
2nd place at the Mirage the day before. The buy-in was $130 but I had
been itching to try my luck in a bigger tournament for a long time
back home - maybe this was worth a shot.
You got plenty of chips in the satellite (T1500), and with the blinds
starting at (I think) 25-50, plenty of time to play. Two players were
to qualify for the main tourney. I managed to get down to the last 3
with two other youngish players (I am 31) - one who was pretty strong
but had taken a bad beat for a large chunk of his chips, and the other
who had barely played a hand since doubling up on the first hand when
his JJ flopped a set.
I kept attacking the blinds, increasing my stack steadily, but the
strong player refused to go. He should have had his all-in raises
called at least twice by the other guy in the big-blind but he
obviously wasn't versed in tournament strategy re pot odds and
knocking out a player - maybe they were friends(?). Eventually he went
all-in from the SB and I called from the BB with J3, against his K6.
The 6 hit the flop but the J on the river sent me and the quiet guy
into the main tourney, plus we both got $30 back.
The tourney was set to start in 15 minutes, so I called Jo from the
courtesy phone in the cardroom explaining that I might be late back
(with any luck), and took a wander around to clear my mind.
With 45 players at $500 I reckoned the prize pool would be $22500, but
only the top 5 got paid. This was going to be tough: my starting table
of 9, on first few impressions, included 2 or 3 of pro/semi-pro
caliber and only 1 or 2 weak players. I guessed the other tables would
be more or less the same standard, so by that reckoning an average of
one player per starting table would make the money.
Levels were 50 minutes, the longest I had played previously was 30,
and each player got T2000 in chips, with blinds in level 1 at 25-50.
On the very first hand I picked up AK in the small blind and raised to
225 when 4 people limped in. One called and I bet out 300 on a rag
flop only to be called. I hit my K on the turn and when I bet out
again for 600 he folded - phew! I was really nervous and this showed
in the way I played this hand : I don't normally raise with AK from
the early position early in a tourney, and I don't normally fire at
the flop when I've missed. I needed to get some junk to fold so that I
could settle into the game. Luckily I got my wish, and I finished the
first level with about T2500.
In level 2 I tangled with one of the better players (a guy with
glasses & a beard - G&B) for the first time when I open-raised the 100
blind to 400 with AK. I got called from the button and check-folded
the flop to his bet when I missed. He gave me a big stare as he bet
the flop, as if trying to intimidate me. I had settled down a bit by
now and wasn't too worried.
I had a couple of unsuccessful steals snapped off soon after and had
dwindled down to about T1700 when I found QQ in the T100 big blind. It
was the first decent hand I'd seen for a while and when UTG raised to
T350 I went all-in, trying to knock him off the hand. He was one of
the weaker players and I had him covered, although not by much. He
ended up calling with his last T1100 or so and turned up JJ. The
Queens held up and I was now in a decent position with about T3500
approaching the end of level 2, with maybe 35 players remaining.
Again, I picked up AK in mid-position and raised to T400. G&B called
me again on the button and was staring straight at me as the flop came
Q33. I quickly fired out T1000, not wanting to be intimidated and he
immediately pushed all-in. My gut reaction was to fold - after all I
had A-high! - but I convinced myself that he was trying to push me off
the pot with nothing. Even if he had say 88 or 99 I would have 6 outs
- crazy thinking but I had gone mentally. In the end I convinced
myself to call, and he turned over AQ - I was nearly sick. When the K
hit river to give me the big pot (maybe T5700) I was more embarrassed
than anything else and I jokingly said "That was a good call!". The
guy next to me didn't get the joke and said grimly "More like 'good
catch'". I scooped in the pot and stacked the chips.
At the break at the end of level 2 there were maybe 30 players left
and I was in good shape. I called Jo again to tell her about the
stroke of luck with the AK, and that I wouldn't be going out that
night.
Soon after the break we re-drew for seats and we went down to 3
tables. I managed to use my good-size stack to effect by picking up my
share of the blinds, and held my own against some other decent-sized
stacks until I picked up KK in the small blind. An aggressive player
with a big stack had opened from early position with a raise and I
came back over the top. He eventuallty showed AQ as he folded. With a
few more steals I was still in there fighting - having showed no hands
down at this table - with a medium stack as we went down to 2 tables
and redrew for seats again.
Play was very tight now, and again I managed to pick up pots
uncontested without holding much in the way of cards. I was sure this
was because I had not shown down a bad hand yet. I did get reraised a
couple of times and had no trouble letting go of hands like T9 or A8
that I had raised with. I was winning more than I was losing, and as
we got down to the final table ten-handed I had about T7000 of the
T90000 in play.
My memory of levels / blinds / hands are pretty sketchy at this stage
now as most pots I played were a raise and everyone folding. I was
managing to pick out the right players to raise and rarely got
reraised. I thought at the time that a lot of the players were waiting
for others to self-destruct (maybe me?) and were hanging on to get in
the money. I wanted to win, or failing that get a high place, or
failing that get knocked out trying to win. I figure that if you try
to get 5th, the best you can usually get is 5th.
Some hands I do remember are these:
When still 10-handed I picked up 66 in the big blind (T300). I had
about T8000 and the guy who raised to T1200 from early position had
about the same and called the raise. The flop came 235 and he bet out
T1500 when I checked. This didn't convince me he had a hand, so I
called, hoping for no A or K on the turn. The 8 that came was perfect
and I bet T3000 into him. I think he suspected I was making a move but
he eventually let it go.
Later, I picked up QQ on the big blind (T400). A middle position
player (weak, made some strange calls earlier) had raised to T1200 and
the chip leader (strong, very aggressive pro from England) called from
the small blind. I reraised to T5000 and they both let it go.
I still hadn't shown a hand, but did soon after 8-handed when I
open-raised in late position with TT. I was reraised a small amount
from the blind by the weak player. I re-raised, intending to put him
all-in but didn't raise enough. He went all-in for his last few chips
anyway, I called and he turned over 44. There were no miracles for him
and another pile of chips came my way.
Soon after I defended my big blind (T500) with 55 to a small raise
from the chip leader (in the small blind). I was pretty sure the rag
flop had missed him but checked behind him - think this was pretty
weak play. The turn was Jc and he bet out: I called thinking the J
hadn’t helped him and it gave me a 5-flush draw. The river was
Qc and we both checked. He'd hit 2pr with QJ but my 5c gave me a flush
to scoop another decent pot, despite playing the hand pretty badly.
As we got down to 6-handed a pattern emerged, with either myself of
the English Pro Chip Leader (EP/CL) raising more than the others, but
getting reraised and letting go of a few.
I had to let go of a few hands, as the guy to my left decided he was
either going to fold or go all in, which I thought was quite dangerous
as he still had a decent stack. He eventually got chewed up by the
blinds and antes (not sure but probably 300-600 with 50 ante) and went
out on the bubble with $600. We agreed at the last 6 to all put up
$100 for the bubble-boy.
5-handed I had about T18K, with EP/CL on about T30K to my right. I
then got a bit too aggressive and nearly went out in 3 hands. See what
you think:
1. UTG raised to about T3000, I reraised on the button with A6 to put
him all-in. It was a crazy move by me, I realized afterwards, as I was
only likely to be in good shape against a total steal, and then still
not that good a position. Unfortunately he had KK and couldn't call
his last T2000 quick enough. I doubled him up nicely.
2. Next hand I got KQs in the cut-off and raised to about T3000 only
to be reraised T2500 more by the grey-haired guy (GHG) in the
small-blind. I knew I must be behind but had to call on the pot-odds.
He had AA - ouch!
3. Still gutted from losing more than half of my chips in 2 hands I
called UTG's raise with AQ, but hit a straight to beat his 77.
From this point onwards, I considered myself back in the game, and
managed to still keep picking up pots by raising all in. After the
break, still 5-handed we went to 1000-2000 blinds with 300 antes and I
found enough all-in moves to outlast GHG, whose steal with QT was
picked off by EP/CL with JJ.
I had about T10k, the other two guys had maybe T15k each and the EP/CL
the rest after posting the antes/blinds which were now significant.
Then this happened:
EP/CL raised to T5000 from UTG, and I decided that this was the time
to go for it with KcQc. My thinking was, if I don't play this hand, I
will have one more before I post the big blind of T2000, by which time
any hand I raise with will be a big favourite to get called. The main
point to my thinking was the intention to try and win rather than
climb one place in the ladder. 4th was $2280, 3rd $3400, 2nd $5700 and
1st $10255. Anyway, I reraised all-in, the blinds folded and EP/CL
said "You've got me this time, but I'm gonna have to call" and turned
over 74 offsuit. Needless to say a 4 hit the river and I was gone.
I'd just made my biggest poker payday in two and a half years of
playing, but was quite upset at the way I got knocked out. (I suppose
I couldn't complain having hit a 3-outer on the river 6 hours earlier
to stay in the tourney - :-) ).
I wished the last 3 in the tourney good luck and set off back to the
Aladdin with the loot, about 10 hours after popping out for a couple
of hours!
Bankroll = $2610 ($530 - $130 + $30 - $100 + $2280) (+$1860)
Sunday 23rd March 2003
No poker yesterday, as we went to the wedding as planned at Caesars
Palace followed by a meal at Ricardo's in the MGM.
Decided to play in the noon NLHE tourney at the Orleans, but left it a
bit too late and got to the cardroom (about ½ mile walk from the
entrance) at 11.50 to find the tourney sold out (88 places) and an
alternate list of 9 names. The guy running the tourney (Marlin?)
assured me that I would more than likely get in, as there was only one
rebuy allowed in the 1 hour rebuy period, so I hung around. With about
10 minutes to go, and because a couple on the list ahead of me had
gone, I was called over to take my place.
You got T300 for your $30 buy-in, plus a bonus T75 for an extra $3 for
the dealers, which seemed like good value. When I got to the table I
took the $20 rebuy straight away, which took my total up to T975. This
placed me above some of the players at the table but well behind the
guy on my left (Goatee) who had about T2500. Apparently he had won a
couple of monster pots.
I picked up a pot on the flop when I hit an Ace with my AK, and
everybody folded when I raised with AA, and had been sat down about an
hour (the blinds where 50-100) when I found AA again. There was an
early position limper and I raised to 300. As soon as I'd done it, I
knew it wasn't enough, and sure enough 4 people called including the
limper. The flop came 963 with 2 hearts (I had Ah) and the big blind
went all in for about 500. I had about 700 and went all in, and got
called in another spot. I showed first for the side pot, and the other
two mucked - phew! - I knew I had misplayed it but got away with it,
especially when Goatee told me he was going to call with 66 but folded
when he saw someone else lining up their chips – nice one. I now
had about 3000 chips, and was the new chip leader, at least on our
table. With about 60 players left, and T96000 in play I was in good
shape.
I won more than my share of pots with pre-flop raises, especially when
the antes went into effect, and don't remember picking up too much in
the way of hands. One guy just to my left got hold of some chips with
consecutive double-throughs and he became a real menace, really
aggressive, and used his big stack well.
As we moved down to 3 tables we were both moved to the same table and
continued to increase our stacks.
I had a really lean spell were I picked up nothing and got few chances
to steal - the 20 minute levels were brutal - and as the antes/blinds
went up got to the point of having a lowish stack with about 14
players left. I raised one pot with 33 in two of the button, because
the guy next to me was playing really tight and the button / small
blind were both quite low. To my disappointment the button called me,
obviously looking to gamble to double through, with QJ, and even worse
hit his Queen to reduce me even further.
On my next big blind I was ready to gamble and called a raise by the
aggressive guy from earlier. I was on the big blind and called with
A6s, and I got lucky to hit a 6 on the river to beat his AK.
About 3 hands later I made an AK hold up against KQ and went on the
blind-stealing attack as players hung on to make the final table. The
guy to my right had a big stack and used the "all-in" to full effect,
but when he was out of the way I pretty much had the green light to
steal.
As we got down to 11 players, someone suggested an 11-handed final
table. I wasn't all that keen, but decided to go along with it. I was
probably just about chip leader with T16k of T96k total.
First hand at the final table it folded round to me in late position
and I made a raise to 4000 (blinds were 500-1000 with 100 ante) but
got reraised another 6000 by a young Billy Joel lookalike. (If that
sounds harsh it probably is but I've got to describe him somehow). I
folded my A8s. After this I decided that my stack was only just above
average now and I'd better slow down.
I did okay until we got to the last 7, and then found KK in late
position. The aggressive guy from my table earlier had got low on
chips and had gone all-in with a Q2 steal, my all-in reraise deterred
any other callers, and the KK held up.
Somebody suggested a six-way deal, but nobody said too much, and we
lost one more player before it was mentioned again. If we had played
it out 1st would have got $1200, 2nd $635, 3rd $465 (etc etc - near
enough). Billy Joel then took over the negotiations, which I was happy
for him to do. I had just over T20k at the time and was happy to take
2nd prize money as the blinds were now huge and it was crap-shoot
time. Billy Joel had about the same, the two small stacks had about
T10k each and the leader about T36k. Billy came up with $700 for the
chip leader, $640 for me & him, and $450 for the 2 short stacks. I was
happy with this, as two losing hands could have meant going out with
about $175. I had also made $20 in 'bounties' and so had netted
another $607 - a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon.
I now had some money to spend
Bankroll = $3217 ($2610 - $53 + $20 + $640) (+$2467)
Monday 24th - Friday 28th March 2003
For those of you already bored of this epic trip report, its nearly
over, as having neglected the girlfriend, I got a guilty conscience
and decided to spend some time (and money) with her.
We flew to LA for the day, visited the Grand Canyon and did all the
other tourist things (even slot machines - how boring!) as well as
gorging on some fantastic seafood.
Before I finish, a few comments on the tournaments I played in :
1. The 'clock' features at the Bellagio and Orleans, where you can
easily see the level, time remaining etc are superb, especially at the
Orleans, and should be taken up by all serious cardroom managers
running tournaments.
2. I know pot limit isn't played much in the USA, but some pot limit
tournaments would really be good for the game. I had only played a
handful of No-limit tournaments in the past but found the structure
suited my 'steal-the-antes-and-don't-show-hands' style. This is a bit
more difficult in pot limit.
3. Being used to 25 minute levels in pot limit tourneys in England, I
really appreciated the 50 minute levels at the Bellagio, giving time
to pick out favourable situations if not wait for great cards.
Anybody still reading? My God, you have got some stamina!
I kind of got on a roll, but it has highlighted to me how good some
other people's trip reports are. I have really struggled to remember
details of levels / chips / blinds etc, but hopefully have been fairly
accurate.
Any comments / criticisms will be grudgingly received. If they are
favourable I may do other trip reports as I am intending to play in
some festivals / major tournaments in England at some stage this year
as long as the weekly tournament results continue okay.