Vegas Trip, my 1st 3 Days (Way too long)

[Barry]

BTW - I'm writing this late after a long day, so please excuse the bad grammer

Angel Fish (AF), Angel Guppy(AG) and I arrived in Vegas on Monday afternoon. After we arrived I spoke with Clarkmeister, the Babe and Tommy to organize the socializing for the week. Clarkmeister (CM) and I met up at the Mirage to play in the 20/40 game Monday night. While he and I had previously met for lunch, we have never played together, so I was looking forward to the adventure. When we got to the Mirage we ran into Ed Miller and PokerBabe and visited for a bit while we were waiting get into a new 20/40 must move game.

CM offered to let me sit on his left or right, so of course I chose to be on his right. I kept getting hands and raising while he kept folding and my hands were holding up. Other than wimping out and not value betting the river 2 or 3 times, things were well and I booked a nice win for the night. On the 1 hand that we got in together, he completed his SB after 1 limper and I raised with 99; the limper called and CM folded. Yeah, that was one of the hands that I failed to bet the river. That was it for our 4 hours together. Perhaps it’s because the cards were not in his favor, but CM is not nearly as gregarious and laggy as legend would lead you to believe.

On Tuesday AF and I did a little shopping in the Forum shops and wound up at the Mirage again for an afternoon session of 20/40. I booked another nice win in a decent game thanks mostly to my last 2 hands. I’m racking up and look down at what I thought was to be my last hand and surprise, surprise, I have QQ. I raise and a fishy lady calls. She flops a draw that doesn’t get there, other than to give her a pair on the river and MHIG. Just then the person to my right returns to the game and takes his blind and I get to take another hand. I look down and see much to my delight AA. I raise and the same lady calls. The board is all rags and she mucks her hand after I turn it over.

I went back to the Bellagio and got cleaned up so we could join up with the Babe and one of her friends for a nice Italian dinner and quite a bit of poker talk. After dinner the Babe dropped us off and since the Bellagio poker room is on the way to the elevators, we decided to stop in for a while. Lo and behold, they had a seat for AF in a 4/8 and were just about to start up a new 15/30 game that I was able to get into. I got my 1st run of bad cards for the trip and was stuck about 20 BB’s in a pretty good game when it broke and we got moved to an even better game. Things started turning around pretty quickly for me mostly at the expense of one fellow.

Sucking out with Aces

On my next to last orbit I get A [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] A [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] on the button. An aggressive player in MP, raises, I make it 3 bets, the BB says “I’m going to gamble with this hand” and calls. MP makes it 4 bets and I make it 5, BB again calls 2 cold.

The flop is 47T all [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]. It’s checked to me and I bet, the BB checkraises, MP calls, I make it 3 bets, the BB makes it 4, MP calls and I call. The turn is forgettable and the BB bets, MP finally gives up and folds and I call. The river is the beautiful 2 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]. The BB lets out a big moan and checks, I bet and the BB tosses in his chips. I show my hand and he shows me his 86s for the flopped flush and a double gutshot straight flush draw. Nice 5 outer, eh? I little while later I get 86 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] in the BB and get a free play. I flop 2 pair and turn a full house. The river brings a 3rd [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], I bet, EP (BB from the previous hand) raises, I 3 bet, he calls. He nearly jumps out of his seat when he sees that his flush is beaten by the same hand that he lost to me with a little while earlier.

I’m racking up for the night and get dealt my last hand. Of course, it’s AA again. I raise and get called by 1 weak player in MP and 2 others. The flop is K96. I bet, MP raises, folded to me, I 3 bet (Clark is right, 3 betting is fun!), MP calls. Turn is a 4. I bet and MP again raises. I stare at the board, think for a bit and call. The river is another 6, I check call and ask “Did you get counterfeited?” He turns over his K9, I show my AA, and he is not a happy camper. The BB from the previous hand asks me to take good care of his chips and I turned a 20 BB deficit into a 13 BB win.

On Wednesday, I planned to sleep in, but that’s foiled by AG who is still on east coast time, and a business call that I get at 8:30 EDT. I give Ed Miller a call and he’s going to the Wed poker discussion group so we meet up at the coffee shop at the Mirage, talk about his new book for a while, and he gives me a ride downtown. We finally track down the Babe and Tommy who are playing at the Golden Nugget. We all wandered over to the Horseshoe where they were holding the meeting and we all “visited” before the meeting started. I had to leave the session before it was over as AF came downtown to play at the Nugget once our babysitter arrived. By the way Ed, sorry I didn’t say goodbye this afternoon, but I didn’t want to disrupt the group.

AF is already in a 4/8 game when I arrive at the Nugget, so I sweat her while I’m waiting to get into a 20/40 game. In one hand,she picks up KK and raises and is called only by the SB. She bets the flop and is called. On the turn the SB bets out and she raises and the SB calls. On the river the SB checks, AF thinks for a bit about how passive the table has been, and she checks behind. The SB shows a flopped set of 3’s and her K’s get taken down.

I get called for my game and sit down. A little while later Tommy comes into the room, sits down at my table just to my right (yuck). Tommy’s feeling about play in the blinds is well known, so I find it very amusing that in the very 1st hand that I see Tommy get dealt; he is in the BB and he RAISES!? He bets all the way and no one calls his river bet. Every few minutes, I watch as Tommy bounces out of his seat, does something quick and sits back down just in time for the next hand. After seeing him do this a few times I realize that Tommy and I have something in common, we’re both ADD! We get a good laugh about it as we match black coffee for black coffee.

As some of you know, Tommy and I will be doing the tiltless.com thing later in the trip, so this was purely “social” time. However, I would see Tommy making notes from time to time during the session. Perhaps it’s my paranoia setting in, but it seemed as though those notes were being taken after I might have done something not quite “zen-like” and I suppose that I’ll be hearing about them again in a few days.

Tommy continued to run well and racked up at about 11PM. He and I were only in 1 hand together. Tommy open raises from EP; I look down and see AK and 3-bet. Everybody folds to Tommy, who also folds. So far, Barry 2, Legends of Poker 0! Of course that doesn’t count the hands when Tommy raised or 3 bet ahead of me PF, I fold and would have flopped monsters. Next time Tommy, you’re to my LEFT!

I stayed until about midnight and wound up down just 1 BB for the session. There were a couple of hands that I played somewhat badly. In one hand, I raise with AJo from the button after a few limpers. I miss the flop which has 2 diamonds. I bet flop and the turn. Only an inexperienced player in the SB was left after the turn. The river was not a diamond and he checked. I bet the river and he called. Oops. He turned over A7o; there was a 7 on the board, so he won the pot. In another hand, it’s raised and re-raised to me in the BB, I look down and see QQ and 4 bet. The original raiser calls and the 3 bettor now makes it 5 bets. We both call. The flop is all rags, I bet, 1st raiser calls, capper now raises and we both call. I’m about 90% convinced that he’s got KK or AA. So why I don’t fold when I don’t spike my Q on the turn is beyond me, but I called the turn and river and he showed me his KK and I mucked. I suppose that my PF and flop decisions weren’t all that great either. Colian was in a game right next to ours, so he and I got to chat for a few minutes before I left.

I headed back to the Bellagio and made a detour into the poker room and found an open seat in what looked like a very good 15/30 game. In my very 1st hand, I post in between the button and the SB and get 88. 4 limpers, I check, the SB completes, and the BB raises. Everybody calls. Flop is 953, I bet and get 5 callers, turn is a 2, I bet and get 3 callers. River is another 2, I bet and get zero callers.

The next hand I have ATc in LP. A very laggy lady raises, which means the she has 2 cards with some distant family relationship. I call, 2 other callers. I flop 2 clubs, she checks, I bet, 2 callers (including the lady). Turn is no help, she checks, I bet, she calls. The river is another club, she checks, I bet, she flings her chips into the pot. As I turn over my hand she immediately goes into her usual huff about how lucky I was. That alone is good enough to put her on tilt for at least 2 orbits.

At the end of the 1st orbit, I’m UTG and pick up AK and raise. I get no respect and get 5 callers, including the laggy lady. I flop a K, and bet, get 1 caller, the laggy lady, (now in the CO), raises, the button makes it 3 bets and I make it 4, all but the button fold and we wind up chopping. About 40 minutes into the session and already I have a nice win going, I’m getting a bit tired so I decide to call it a night In my last orbit in MP, I look down and surprise, surprise, I have AA again. EP (the MP in the 5 outer hand from the previous night) raises and gets 1 caller, I make it 3 bets, he now makes it 4. The cold-caller finally gives up, I look up at him, smile and say, here we go again and I make it 5 bets. The flop is J high and he checkraises me, I make it 3 bets, and he calls. He calls my turn and river bets and tosses his QQ in the muck face up and goes for a walk. I fold the rest of my hands, rack up to taunts of “go ahead, take our money and run” and head up to the room.

Well the trip is off to a good start; both AF and I are running pretty good and I’ve met up with a record number of 2+2’ers during the trip. I’ll finally be meeting up with Dynasty during the Babe’s golf outing on Friday and also rharless will be in town for the weekend. I hope the rest of the trip is as enjoyable as the start.

[Mike Gallo]

Barry,

Sounds good. Enjoy yourself.

[rharless]

Hi Barry,

Good stuff. If you keep getting AA on your last orbit, I suggest playing lots of one-orbit sessions.

On your hand where you post behind the button and get 88, I would raise preflop.

Dave's chattiness level, imho, is a result of the cards he's getting and consumption of Corona. More so the latter.

looking forward to the weekend,
rh

[Barry]

No Corona that night for him.

[Clarkmeister]

I was pretty damn chatty, I still don't know what Barry expected. In fact, one guy at the table asked if I ever shut up. I just think that mythology has outstripped reality. I like it like that.

[Clarkmeister]

"CM is not nearly as gregarious and laggy as legend would lead you to believe."

Shhhhhhhh.

[CrackerZack]

I think Pipedream would disagree.

[Clarkmeister]

[ QUOTE ]
I think Pipedream would disagree.

[/ QUOTE ]

He's entitled. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]