A9suited
06-20-2003, 02:24 PM
Just over a month ago now the wife and I get a phone call from Arizona River Runners. Seems a couple of spots have opened up for their 8 day trip through the Grand Canyon on a motorized raft, so $3800 later we are confirmed. This is a big thing for the wife…I was lukewarm on the raft trip but negotiated a free day in Vegas prior to, as some compensation for enduring 8 shower-less days.
We book an off-strip room in an all-suites motel behind the San Remo hotel on Tropicana (Hawthorne suites, a decent place and I believe good value for the area) and we’re set.
First order of business is ammunition, so I empty out the Paradise and Party Poker accounts, and for good measure grab the two hundred bucks squirreled away in PayPal (earned about $3 at a time from sale of junk found when cleaning up the garage), and I end up with a total bankroll of just under $2000. wooohooo.
A boring drive to Sin City highlighted only by a milkshake purchased in Cedar City that was huge, like 48 ounces. Now a 48 ounce soda is one thing, but good God, 48 ounces of Milkshake? Anyway the wife insists I finish it, as punishment for my gluttony, but this punishment backfired as she had to take over driving by Mesquite, because I was lapsing into a sugar-induced coma. But I digress.
The Bellagio poker room has always intimidated me, and on previous visits I played like I was wearing a skirt (apologies for sexist comment to Annie, Jennifer etc), so this time I headed to the Mirage. As an extra bennie, the slightly smaller stakes (of 10-20) would let me play with less pressure…even I will be hard pressed to burn up 100 big bets in a single sit.
I get on the 10-20 HE list, but they have immediate seating in a 6-12 just starting up. Perfect, kind of ease in. Right off the bat we play a pot that says “Welcome to Las Vegas”. I am in 6 seat, button is 10 seat. I fold rags, Old Man (definitely touristy type guy, he was waiting for a stud seat) on my left limps, and Greasy Thin Tanned Taxi-Driver Looking Guy raises from the cut-off. Button calls 2 cold, old man calls, rest fold/have folded.
Flop comes QTT suits unimportant. Old Man bets, GTTT-DLG raises, OM reraises, GTTT-DLG four bets OM calls.
Turn comes off-suit rag, a 5 or something. OM checks GTTT-DLG bets, OM calls.
River comes the 3rd Ten. Board is QTT5T. OM bets then it goes raise, raise raise back to the OM. Now he stops and stares at the board. I start to get a really bad feeling here. He looks at his cards, at the board again. You could see the gears turning….Greasy has the case ten…. Then he MUCKS. The GTTT-DLG slaps 98 no pair on the table and stacks the pot. I wanted to puke.
I managed to blind away about a Franklin, then won it back with AA, and head off to the 10-20 basically even.
Right away you can see the tone is different…more serious. This feels so much more intimidating then on-line, where anonymity makes us all equal, at least until the cards are dealt.
I mentally grade opponents on my personal, 6 point system:
Loose Aggressive (LA) (2 opponents)
Tight Aggressive (TA) (1 opponents)
Loose Passive (LP) (none)
Tight Passive (TP) (2 opponents)
IDIOT (none)
AVOID (4 opponents by my standards!!)
Not exactly to 2+2 standards, but about all my coffee-soaked brain can do at this time.
(Aside: I know coffee negatively affects my game. Yet almost compulsively I drink cup after cup when in a casino. Perhaps a Feeney-type can illuminate this)
The first hand I play is 99 in late position. I open raise and an AVOID smooth calls from the small blind. Right away that rings alarms to me, he is letting the Big blind in cheap, and why is he doing this? Something feels wrong. Big blind calls (TA) and we take the flop 3 handed.
Flop comes Q76 rainbow, checked to me, I bet and AVOID check raises me. BB folds, I go into a huddle with myself. He is either (a) testing me, or (b) he has an overpair and tried to suck in the BB before the flop or (c) he has a Queen.
Notice the advanced level of my analysis (lol)
I decide to call, and bet or raise if I get a 5 8 9 or T on the turn. This is wimpy I know others would 3 bet here.
Anticlimactic finish to this story: Turn comes 9 making it easy. I raise the turn bet, and win a final bet on the river. Maybe he shouldn’t have been an AVOID after all.
That was the highlite. The next several hours was a steady drain, with unlucky cards slowly bleeding me, but I felt I played fairly well. I understand the local economy is a bit tight, so my several hundred dollar donation doubtlessly helped, and was well worth it.
And the trip down the Grand Canyon? AWESOME.
A9s
We book an off-strip room in an all-suites motel behind the San Remo hotel on Tropicana (Hawthorne suites, a decent place and I believe good value for the area) and we’re set.
First order of business is ammunition, so I empty out the Paradise and Party Poker accounts, and for good measure grab the two hundred bucks squirreled away in PayPal (earned about $3 at a time from sale of junk found when cleaning up the garage), and I end up with a total bankroll of just under $2000. wooohooo.
A boring drive to Sin City highlighted only by a milkshake purchased in Cedar City that was huge, like 48 ounces. Now a 48 ounce soda is one thing, but good God, 48 ounces of Milkshake? Anyway the wife insists I finish it, as punishment for my gluttony, but this punishment backfired as she had to take over driving by Mesquite, because I was lapsing into a sugar-induced coma. But I digress.
The Bellagio poker room has always intimidated me, and on previous visits I played like I was wearing a skirt (apologies for sexist comment to Annie, Jennifer etc), so this time I headed to the Mirage. As an extra bennie, the slightly smaller stakes (of 10-20) would let me play with less pressure…even I will be hard pressed to burn up 100 big bets in a single sit.
I get on the 10-20 HE list, but they have immediate seating in a 6-12 just starting up. Perfect, kind of ease in. Right off the bat we play a pot that says “Welcome to Las Vegas”. I am in 6 seat, button is 10 seat. I fold rags, Old Man (definitely touristy type guy, he was waiting for a stud seat) on my left limps, and Greasy Thin Tanned Taxi-Driver Looking Guy raises from the cut-off. Button calls 2 cold, old man calls, rest fold/have folded.
Flop comes QTT suits unimportant. Old Man bets, GTTT-DLG raises, OM reraises, GTTT-DLG four bets OM calls.
Turn comes off-suit rag, a 5 or something. OM checks GTTT-DLG bets, OM calls.
River comes the 3rd Ten. Board is QTT5T. OM bets then it goes raise, raise raise back to the OM. Now he stops and stares at the board. I start to get a really bad feeling here. He looks at his cards, at the board again. You could see the gears turning….Greasy has the case ten…. Then he MUCKS. The GTTT-DLG slaps 98 no pair on the table and stacks the pot. I wanted to puke.
I managed to blind away about a Franklin, then won it back with AA, and head off to the 10-20 basically even.
Right away you can see the tone is different…more serious. This feels so much more intimidating then on-line, where anonymity makes us all equal, at least until the cards are dealt.
I mentally grade opponents on my personal, 6 point system:
Loose Aggressive (LA) (2 opponents)
Tight Aggressive (TA) (1 opponents)
Loose Passive (LP) (none)
Tight Passive (TP) (2 opponents)
IDIOT (none)
AVOID (4 opponents by my standards!!)
Not exactly to 2+2 standards, but about all my coffee-soaked brain can do at this time.
(Aside: I know coffee negatively affects my game. Yet almost compulsively I drink cup after cup when in a casino. Perhaps a Feeney-type can illuminate this)
The first hand I play is 99 in late position. I open raise and an AVOID smooth calls from the small blind. Right away that rings alarms to me, he is letting the Big blind in cheap, and why is he doing this? Something feels wrong. Big blind calls (TA) and we take the flop 3 handed.
Flop comes Q76 rainbow, checked to me, I bet and AVOID check raises me. BB folds, I go into a huddle with myself. He is either (a) testing me, or (b) he has an overpair and tried to suck in the BB before the flop or (c) he has a Queen.
Notice the advanced level of my analysis (lol)
I decide to call, and bet or raise if I get a 5 8 9 or T on the turn. This is wimpy I know others would 3 bet here.
Anticlimactic finish to this story: Turn comes 9 making it easy. I raise the turn bet, and win a final bet on the river. Maybe he shouldn’t have been an AVOID after all.
That was the highlite. The next several hours was a steady drain, with unlucky cards slowly bleeding me, but I felt I played fairly well. I understand the local economy is a bit tight, so my several hundred dollar donation doubtlessly helped, and was well worth it.
And the trip down the Grand Canyon? AWESOME.
A9s