Vegas Recap II

I woke up at the bright and early hour of 11:45 AM after getting to bed at the early hour of 7 AM. I decided to get a few hours sleep after playing at the Rio and Venetian, before heading to the Fremont Street area to play at the Golden Nugget.

It was my first time heading downtown, despite three previous trips to Las Vegas. I hopped in a cab and headed up after finding out that the monorail only goes to the Sahara, stopping a couple miles short of downtown.

I got there a little early, so I walked into Binion's to check out their poker artifacts and some of the history. The WSOP was held there from 1970 until 2005, when the move to the current location of the Rio was completed.

After a little bit of walking about, I walked to the Golden Nugget and took my seat. During June and July, the Golden Nugget was running something called the Grand Poker Series, which I wrote about here as offering a wide variety of games. On Friday, the tournament was a $240 HORSE tournament, which plays to my strengths in stud games.

Yes, I know - I'm decent at stud, but under the age of seventy. Weird, huh?

In the first round of five levels, I didn't get much done. I dropped slightly, but played very tight.

In the second round, during Omaha 8/b, I got my first pocket aces - A-A-3-7, double suited. I raised untilt he turn, when the straight got there and knocked out any lows.

CRACK.

In Stud, I started with aces in the hole, and watched them go down to trips on sixth street.

CRACK.

We took a break after Stud H/L, about three hours into the tournament. I walked across the street and got a deep-fried twinkie in order to offset my tilt, as I was now down to about a half-average stack. I managed to not win a single hand for the last four levels of play before the break. Considering Limit Hold' Em is not my strong suit, I wasn't feeling very good.

At the beginning of the third round, I got pocket Aces again. This time, they got run down by the more traditional pair of Sevens which couldn't fold to three-bets.

CRACK.

Yes, in three levels, I had rockets cracked THREE TIMES. Remarkably, I still had chips.

I held on through Omaha with one split pot, and won one small pot in Razz, hoping that I could make my comeback in Stud or Stud H/L.

On the second to last-hand of Stud H/L before the break, I ended up all-in. I started with 6-4-2, all clubs, and decided this was the time to push. I raise and get three callers.

Fourth street brings a Queen of clubs - bet, I raise, and two others stay along for the ride.

Fifth brings an offsuit 5. I bet, they both call.

Sixth brings a blank. I call off my remaining chips. I need a club or a three or an ace to stay alive against both players.

Seventh street is dealt, face down. One player shows two pair, one player shows a seven-low. I'm dead without an ace, club, or three, though the three would give me the scoop.

I squeeze the card and look.

The three of clubs.

BOOM!

Still alive.

I went to the break with a decent stack again as I'd almost quadrupled up from that one hand. With under 80 players left and 24 paying, I had a chance again of cashing.

Thank God that crubs get there.

Unfortunately, it did not continue. The blinds and antes increased very quickly at this point and they caught up to me. I got shut out in a Omaha pot where I though I'd be taking at least half with my A-3, only to see A-2 flipped up. In Razz, I went brick-brick after big bets on 4th and 5th.

Finally, in Stud, on Level 19, I ended up all in with a pair of Queens showing and another club draw on sixth street against two pair. I could not catch another queen or club and was out in 59th place.

Crubs did not get there, nor could I get payback for getting aces cracked three times earlier.

I still felt OK about my showing, having faded three-quarters of the field. Since I had basically bought in with my winnings the night before from the Venetian and Rio, I wasn't feeling too dejected as one would normally feel after being bounced from a tournament.

I headed back to the IP to get changed before meeting with some friends at Tommy Rocker's near the Rio. There were plans for some of us kooky conservatives to meet up in Vegas for drinks and whatnot, so about thirty or forty of us met up for drinks and general complaining. Considering that cap-and-trade legislation had just passed the House, we had a bunch to kvetch about.

After that was over, I headed back to the Rio, determined to chip up in the cash games and buy into Event #51 on Saturday for the WSOP. I wasn't going to buy into it if I couldn't justify it on my available cash.

I sat down, and had a decent session. It was not a great session. Just good. It could have been great, if I stood up 30 minutes earlier. I was up about $300 on a 2/5 NL table, until I got aces cracked (AGAIN!) and then got slowrolled by a douchebag next to me who decided K-10 was a good enough hand to call raises with before hitting his king on the river. It knocked me down to about plus 150.

I left and headed to a blackjack table to cool off for a little while. Normally, I am terrible at blackjack, but in this case I cashed out around +200.

Close enough, I decided, and I headed over to the Rio cage around 1:15 AM to register for Event #51.

TOO BAD THEY CLOSED REGISTRATIONS AT 1 AM!!!!!

The event sold out. As the last $1500 donkament on the WSOP on a weekend, it sold out at 2700 entrants, and registrations had closed about 20 minutes before I came up to the cage.

There were a few people looking to unload satellite lammers, and I though about trying to buy some at a discount until it was clear that registration was closed and was unlikely to re-open in the morning.

With that in mind, I decided to head on back to the IP around 2:00 and get some rest. Since the WSOP was out, I pretty much decided right away, like Hoy and a few others, to play in the Venetian Deep-Stack Extravaganza on Saturday instead. I had a couple friends from Atlanta who were also in Vegas to play the event, so it would probably be fun.

I sat at the IP for a little while and took some pics of the Dealertainers, and found Michael Jackson. He apparently wasn't dead, just dealing three-card poker at the IP.

To be continued ...