Barry
10-03-2003, 03:59 PM
The highlight of my recent trip to Vegas was my Wednesday golf outing with the Babe, (That is if you exclude getting hit over the head with the deck on my first time playing 15/30 at the Bellagio, winning 40BB in 5 hours; the 29 BB pot that I won the next day in the same game; playing at the same table with Mason; and …) Only kidding Babe, golf was the highlight. Also Babe, I’m doing this from memory, so I just might get some of the facts wrong.
I was in town principally for business meetings, so I had arranged with Babe to play a round of golf with some of my business associates and her husband. So at 7AM 4 of us rode over to her club to make 7:45 tee off times. By way of background, I was a pretty decent player in my youth, playing to an 8 handicap in high school. But work, family and other hobbies (poker included) had limited me to less than 5 rounds a year recently, usually tied to business. Also I broke my collarbone skiing last winter and hadn’t been able to even swing a club without severe pain until August. This would be my second round of the year.
Babe and I shared a cart and played with 1 of my co-workers and the other 2 played with Mr. Babe.
So with me from the back tees and the Babe from the front tees our match was on. I started off decently just 2 over for the 1st 4 holes and Babe was playing bogey golf. On the 1st hole I hit a putt about halfway to the hole and Babe asks me if I want to wear her skirt!
Between shots on the 1st few holes we exchanged the Reader’s Digest version of our life stories. She really is a terrific person and a lot of fun to spend time with. Babe has a great looking “swing” and hits the ball pretty good “for a girl”. The next 2 holes the wheels fell off and I went double, triple and then 4 more over one the last 3 holes of the front nine. I was actually hitting the ball well, but had lousy club selection. It must be the altitude; twice I hit beautiful shots straight at the pin but flew over everything. Babe was playing her steady game, but had a few bad holes and we made the turn with me 1 shot up(Barry 47, Babe 48). Both Babe and I were steady on the back, me +5 and Babe +6 on holes 10 through 15, so I was 2 up on the Babe and had her drawing thin when the following hole came up.
Hole 16 is a 500 yard par 5 that has a slight dogleg right, which is perfect for my natural left to right game. I hit my best drive of the day, long, down the middle with a slight fade to it. Babe hits a decent drive too. (Poker analogy: I’m BB, EP limper, Babe in MP limps, CO raises, I look down and see A /images/graemlins/diamond.gif A /images/graemlins/spade.gif and 3-bet, BB folds, both call, 12 SB’s in the pot). Babe hits her second shot up the fairway and is in decent shape. We go to my ball and I’m about 215 yards out and have a decent shot to reach the green. Babe points out that there is water in the right front of the green that comes in towards the middle of the fairway. Super opportunities, but loaded with risk. (Flop comes A /images/graemlins/heart.gif 9 /images/graemlins/club.gif 8 /images/graemlins/club.gif, I bet, EP calls, Babe calls, CO raises) I hit a beautiful 3 iron just onto the fringe (I-3 bet, everybody calls, 24 SB in the pot).
We get to Babe’s ball and she hits a bad shot and it looks like she might be OK, but we can’t quite see over the hill down to where the water is. When we get over the hill, I see that the water comes “waaay” out, at least to the middle of the fairway. I would have been toast if I had mis-hit my shot. We search around and can’t find her ball. Deciding that her shot went into the drink, she drops a ball and hits her 5th shot towards the green. We get up to the green and I look over my chip. It’s about 60 feet, and my short game hasn’t been exactly my strong suit today. (Turn is 7 /images/graemlins/heart.gif) I hit a decent chip (I bet), it rolls up to about 7 feet away, makeable, but not easy, Babe chips onto the green lying 6 and 2 putts for an 8 (EP raises, Babe folds her 9 /images/graemlins/heart.gif 9 /images/graemlins/spade.gif, somehow she knows that I have A’s, CO and I call, 18 BB’s in the pot)
I line up my putt and hit it well; I hope that I read the break right. (River is 7 /images/graemlins/club.gif, I bet, EP calls, CO raises) The ball falls into the hole for a birdie. (I 3-bet and both call. I show my aces, EP throws his J /images/graemlins/heart.gif T /images/graemlins/heart.gif down face up on the table and the CO shows me A /images/graemlins/club.gif K /images/graemlins/club.gif before he tosses them into the muck, Babe smiles at me now knowing for sure that she made a great fold, and the dealer pushes me a 27 BB pot)
Babe and I both par 17 and bogie 18; I shoot 41 and Babe gets another 48 for the back side. 88 for me and 96 for the Babe. Tell you what Babe, next time I’m in Vegas, I’ll give you 2 shots a side, if you agree to show me 1 of your hole cards every orbit. I had a great time and am looking forward to doing it again. I only regret that we couldn’t work out our schedules to have dinner together with our spouses. I hardly got to meet Mr. Babe. Babe told me she wants to have a Babe’s Best Boys Golf outing sometime in the future. What I don’t know is if I’ll get invited.
Other Stuff
I am now 0-3 in trying to meet Clarkmeister and Dynasty while in Vegas. I hope that it wasn’t anything that I said guys.
The “Big Game” was going while I was there. The fellow from Texas was in town playing heads up with the locals. Howard Lederer was at the table with him in the wee hours Thurs AM.
I saw a much smaller than I thought Jennifer Harmon having a smoke in the sports book area on my way the rest room.
Regarding Mason, I was sitting for a while in the 8 seat at a very tight 15/30 game. A seat opened up and I heard the brush call “Mason 15/30”. Sure enough, THE Mason walks over and sits down in the 5 seat at my table. I introduce myself to him. He smiles and says that at least he knows that I play well. He thinks for a bit and says, “well, at least OK”. Visions of going heads up with him dance in my head. In one hand Mason open raises from 2 off the button. I’m in the SB and look down hoping for something playable, alas it is 94o and I fold. A few hands later in LP, I look down and see JJ, Mason in EP folds, I open raise and earn the blinds. An orbit later, I get AJo, Mason in EP again folds, I raise, only the BB calls. The flop is 3 rags BB checks, I bet, BB folds. Just then, Mason is called for his 30/60 game he gets up and my dreams are dashed. Oh well.
Now having played a decent amount in the 15/30 at the Bellagio as well as the 10/20 at the Mirage, my preference is the 15/30. There usually is only 1 10/20 game going and the action is very spotty. At the Bellagio there are usually at least 3 15/30 games going. While there might be 1 bad table, table changes are easy enough so that you can usually find a good game. While there are a number of very good players around, there are also many weak ones. In fact on my 40BB win night, there were a number of weak players as well as a college kid from CA who was very LAG and drinking heavily. When I arrived he had over $1,500 in front of him. If checked to on the flop, he would almost always bet. He would frequently raise with very little, “just to get information” 3-betting him would many times get him to fold. You could usually believe a 4 bet from him though. He wound up busting out a few hours later with a significant amount of his former chips sitting in my pile. Twice at other times during my visit I was 3 bet on the river when I had the nuts; that’s such a great feeling.
I’m looking forward to my next trip which I hope to be over the Christmas holidays.
I was in town principally for business meetings, so I had arranged with Babe to play a round of golf with some of my business associates and her husband. So at 7AM 4 of us rode over to her club to make 7:45 tee off times. By way of background, I was a pretty decent player in my youth, playing to an 8 handicap in high school. But work, family and other hobbies (poker included) had limited me to less than 5 rounds a year recently, usually tied to business. Also I broke my collarbone skiing last winter and hadn’t been able to even swing a club without severe pain until August. This would be my second round of the year.
Babe and I shared a cart and played with 1 of my co-workers and the other 2 played with Mr. Babe.
So with me from the back tees and the Babe from the front tees our match was on. I started off decently just 2 over for the 1st 4 holes and Babe was playing bogey golf. On the 1st hole I hit a putt about halfway to the hole and Babe asks me if I want to wear her skirt!
Between shots on the 1st few holes we exchanged the Reader’s Digest version of our life stories. She really is a terrific person and a lot of fun to spend time with. Babe has a great looking “swing” and hits the ball pretty good “for a girl”. The next 2 holes the wheels fell off and I went double, triple and then 4 more over one the last 3 holes of the front nine. I was actually hitting the ball well, but had lousy club selection. It must be the altitude; twice I hit beautiful shots straight at the pin but flew over everything. Babe was playing her steady game, but had a few bad holes and we made the turn with me 1 shot up(Barry 47, Babe 48). Both Babe and I were steady on the back, me +5 and Babe +6 on holes 10 through 15, so I was 2 up on the Babe and had her drawing thin when the following hole came up.
Hole 16 is a 500 yard par 5 that has a slight dogleg right, which is perfect for my natural left to right game. I hit my best drive of the day, long, down the middle with a slight fade to it. Babe hits a decent drive too. (Poker analogy: I’m BB, EP limper, Babe in MP limps, CO raises, I look down and see A /images/graemlins/diamond.gif A /images/graemlins/spade.gif and 3-bet, BB folds, both call, 12 SB’s in the pot). Babe hits her second shot up the fairway and is in decent shape. We go to my ball and I’m about 215 yards out and have a decent shot to reach the green. Babe points out that there is water in the right front of the green that comes in towards the middle of the fairway. Super opportunities, but loaded with risk. (Flop comes A /images/graemlins/heart.gif 9 /images/graemlins/club.gif 8 /images/graemlins/club.gif, I bet, EP calls, Babe calls, CO raises) I hit a beautiful 3 iron just onto the fringe (I-3 bet, everybody calls, 24 SB in the pot).
We get to Babe’s ball and she hits a bad shot and it looks like she might be OK, but we can’t quite see over the hill down to where the water is. When we get over the hill, I see that the water comes “waaay” out, at least to the middle of the fairway. I would have been toast if I had mis-hit my shot. We search around and can’t find her ball. Deciding that her shot went into the drink, she drops a ball and hits her 5th shot towards the green. We get up to the green and I look over my chip. It’s about 60 feet, and my short game hasn’t been exactly my strong suit today. (Turn is 7 /images/graemlins/heart.gif) I hit a decent chip (I bet), it rolls up to about 7 feet away, makeable, but not easy, Babe chips onto the green lying 6 and 2 putts for an 8 (EP raises, Babe folds her 9 /images/graemlins/heart.gif 9 /images/graemlins/spade.gif, somehow she knows that I have A’s, CO and I call, 18 BB’s in the pot)
I line up my putt and hit it well; I hope that I read the break right. (River is 7 /images/graemlins/club.gif, I bet, EP calls, CO raises) The ball falls into the hole for a birdie. (I 3-bet and both call. I show my aces, EP throws his J /images/graemlins/heart.gif T /images/graemlins/heart.gif down face up on the table and the CO shows me A /images/graemlins/club.gif K /images/graemlins/club.gif before he tosses them into the muck, Babe smiles at me now knowing for sure that she made a great fold, and the dealer pushes me a 27 BB pot)
Babe and I both par 17 and bogie 18; I shoot 41 and Babe gets another 48 for the back side. 88 for me and 96 for the Babe. Tell you what Babe, next time I’m in Vegas, I’ll give you 2 shots a side, if you agree to show me 1 of your hole cards every orbit. I had a great time and am looking forward to doing it again. I only regret that we couldn’t work out our schedules to have dinner together with our spouses. I hardly got to meet Mr. Babe. Babe told me she wants to have a Babe’s Best Boys Golf outing sometime in the future. What I don’t know is if I’ll get invited.
Other Stuff
I am now 0-3 in trying to meet Clarkmeister and Dynasty while in Vegas. I hope that it wasn’t anything that I said guys.
The “Big Game” was going while I was there. The fellow from Texas was in town playing heads up with the locals. Howard Lederer was at the table with him in the wee hours Thurs AM.
I saw a much smaller than I thought Jennifer Harmon having a smoke in the sports book area on my way the rest room.
Regarding Mason, I was sitting for a while in the 8 seat at a very tight 15/30 game. A seat opened up and I heard the brush call “Mason 15/30”. Sure enough, THE Mason walks over and sits down in the 5 seat at my table. I introduce myself to him. He smiles and says that at least he knows that I play well. He thinks for a bit and says, “well, at least OK”. Visions of going heads up with him dance in my head. In one hand Mason open raises from 2 off the button. I’m in the SB and look down hoping for something playable, alas it is 94o and I fold. A few hands later in LP, I look down and see JJ, Mason in EP folds, I open raise and earn the blinds. An orbit later, I get AJo, Mason in EP again folds, I raise, only the BB calls. The flop is 3 rags BB checks, I bet, BB folds. Just then, Mason is called for his 30/60 game he gets up and my dreams are dashed. Oh well.
Now having played a decent amount in the 15/30 at the Bellagio as well as the 10/20 at the Mirage, my preference is the 15/30. There usually is only 1 10/20 game going and the action is very spotty. At the Bellagio there are usually at least 3 15/30 games going. While there might be 1 bad table, table changes are easy enough so that you can usually find a good game. While there are a number of very good players around, there are also many weak ones. In fact on my 40BB win night, there were a number of weak players as well as a college kid from CA who was very LAG and drinking heavily. When I arrived he had over $1,500 in front of him. If checked to on the flop, he would almost always bet. He would frequently raise with very little, “just to get information” 3-betting him would many times get him to fold. You could usually believe a 4 bet from him though. He wound up busting out a few hours later with a significant amount of his former chips sitting in my pile. Twice at other times during my visit I was 3 bet on the river when I had the nuts; that’s such a great feeling.
I’m looking forward to my next trip which I hope to be over the Christmas holidays.