Back from Vegas

Published on June 29, 2007 By PacDragon In Gaming

I got back from Vegas last weekend. It was a lot of fun, but anti-climactic. I did five tournaments, but didn't get into the money in any of them. Stutefish came with me, so we spend the rest of the time playing $2/$4. He's still learning, so we stayed at low stakes, and he managed to go from small loser to break even during the trip. He's learning a tight aggressive style, so just needed some experience to tune it. I made a small profit from those games, but was down for the week from the tourneys.

We arrived Saturday and spent the first night just drinking & exploring. Sunday morning, we playing $2/$4 all day and then I did the 8pm tournament at Binion's. I played pretty well in that game, but got sucked out on right before the break. I don't remember the exact hand, but it was something like JJ vs. TT, all in before the flop with a player who just barely had me covered, but lost when he made three T's. That wasn't the exact hand, but it was a big suckout like that. I felt pretty good about my play and eager to try that tournament again the next day.

We did $2/$4 again on Monday, then the tournament at 8pm again. I was mostly card dead and playing way too tight. I had plenty of opportunities to steal, but just wasn't taking them. Since I was so tight, none of my big hands got paid off. I made it past the first break, just treading water. Again, I don't really remember the hand that took me out. If I remember correctly, it wasn't a suck out. I think I was all in with AK vs. KK and didn't catch an Ace. Not very memorable, but I do recall vowing to open up my game next time.

Tuesday was the same, $2/$4 and then the 8pm tourney. Made a few mistakes in that game. There was a guy who was in nearly every pot. Really passive & loose, calling people down with bottom pair/low kicker. Didn't matter if the pot was raised or not, he was in there. I only saw him fold maybe three hands pre-flop in the first hour. He was actually doing pretty well, mostly because the "good" players were trying to bluff him like mad. They kept calling the guy an idiot, but I was thinking that trying to bluff a calling station was even more idiotic. I mean, the guy was calling with anything at all. If you can't beat Ace-high, why waste your chips? That guy's presence in every pot, along with being mostly card dead again, made it difficult to do better than break even. Bluffing was no longer an option, despite my vow to open up my game. I made it past the first break, but then I was pretty short stacked compared to the blinds. I ended up limping with 77. There was one other player and the calling station in the hand. The flop came K63. I'm thinking, if no one has a K, I'm going to win this pot. I was too short stacked to fold if there was any chance I had the best hand, so figured I'd let someone bluff before I got all my chips in. I checked, the next guy checked, and then the calling station made a large bet. That really should have been my first clue, since he was usually pretty passive. But I had mentally locked myself into check-raising and pushed all-in, hoping the calling station had paired his 6 and would call with it. The other guy folded and the calling station called. He had paired his 6... but also paired his K. He had

for two pair and his hand stood up, knocking me out. I really should have pushed all-in before the flop. He might have still called, but at least then I would have gotten my money in when I had the best hand. And dropping all-in after his out-of-the-blue bet was another big mistake. I should have headed the warning signs.

On Wednesday, Binion's was doing a "Binion's Classic" no-limit event. The buy-in was bigger, but there were over 360 people in that event, so the prize pool was huge. I was doing great in that one. I had AA early and made a small raise (2.5x the big blind). The flop was all rags, so I bet about half the pot. Everyone folded and I showed my Aces. Did something similar with QQ a few hands later. Once that happened, my small raises started getting a lot of respect. Then I started stealing pots like mad, never risking much since i was betting so small. Kept fluctuating, but mostly had a good stack throughout the game. I didn't realize it until later, but one of the guys at my table was famous. His name's Hollywood Dave and plays the World Blackjack Tour or something. I suspect he's the only celebrity in the tournament blackjack circuit, because he's the only name I've heard of before. We did talk some smack to each other before I realized who he was. He had raised and I pushed all-in with AKs. He started going on & on about about how everyone just goes all-in and it's no decision poker. I told him he certainly does have a decision, which got some chuckles from the table

He was probably just fishing for information, but I was happy to not risk busting out and just taking the large pot down uncontested when he folded.

Later, I got moved to a new table. The blinds & antes had just raised and the new table was full of huge stacks. We were close to the money, only about 50 left and the top 35 got paid. But we were paying so much for blinds & antes that I couldn't simply fold into the money, I was going to have to stay active. I raised with A9 from middle position, trying to steal. Got called by a guy in late position and everyone else folded. The flop came AQ8. I pushed all-in, figuring my pair of Aces was best, since wouldn't he raise me pre-flop with AT or higher?. That would be a "no", by the way. He called with his AT and knocked me out in 45th place. My main mistake was trying to steal with an A-rag type hand. It's much better to steal with weak cards, because then you know where you stand. If there is any sort of action, you know you're dead. But with A-rag, you can pair your Ace and end up trapping yourself. That's pretty much exactly what happened. Very bad, I should have folded pre-flop and tried to steal with 74o or something. I was crippled after that and got taken out a few hands later. As a small consolation, Hollywood Dave got knocked out along with me in the very same hand.

On Thursday, my big event started. Just like my event last year, there were 3,000 players and a whole bunch of alternates. It was a tough game, but I feel that I do better against players who are logical & careful. There was one world champion at my table: Tom McEvoy (he won the main event in 1983). Luckily, he's a pretty conservative player, so was probably the best champion to have at my table. Again, I got some big hands early, bet small, won the pots uncontested, and showed my hands. Then stole like crazy with small bets to build my stack. Lost a chunk of my stack to Tom McEvoy at one point. He raised pre-flop and I called with Q7 from the big blind. The flop came 974, with two diamonds. I checked and he bet again. I figured none of his raising hands would have hit that board, so check-raised him. He called. The turn was a brick (no diamond) so I bet again. He called. The river was another brick, so I checked. He checked and showed 98 of diamonds, taking the pot down with his top pair (he also had a flush draw on the flop). I kind of felt like an idiot. I should have either a.) not bluffed on the turn or b.) bluffed big on the river, maybe pushing all-in. The way the action went down, he obviously didn't have a strong hand. He had a strong draw though, so likely would have called an all-in on the turn. But I'm pretty sure I could have pushed him off the hand on the river and taken down a large pot, especially since I had enough chips to cripple him. But who knows? Maybe he would have made a good call and I would have been out earlier.

Grew my stack back up, but then lost it trying to bust some short stacks. Guy raised and I pushed all-in with 99. He called with A9, but caught an Ace to stay alive. Then a bunch of players limped, so I limp with 55. Guy behind me raises and everyone else folded. I decide he probably has two high cards and is pot committed to call. I have him well covered and would love to take a coin-flip to knock him out, so re-raise all-in. He really wants to fold, but he's pot committed. He calls, expecting to lose. He turns over 77, so handily takes down the pot when my hand doesn't improve. That hurt me a bit. Later, I raise pre-flop to steal, get called. I bet the flop and get re-raised. I have to fold the hand, so am now pretty short stacked. I've only got 1600 chips left and the blinds are 150/300 with 50 antes.

I decide I can't wait until my stack drops so low it's no longer a threat and start pushing all-in wherever I can. One guy, another pro I think because he was friends with some of the big named guys, raised from the small blind when everyone else folded. I have A8 in the big blind and push all-in. He thinks about it for a long time, starts asking me what I have, if I want him to call, etc. Just drilling me for information or a tell for a few minutes. I just stare at the felt like a statue and don't make a move. He eventually decides I must have a pair and folds (I'm pretty sure he had a bigger A). That pot gives me some hope. With all my aggressiveness, along with that pot, I'm now up to about 3200. Still pretty short, but I've doubled my stack without showing a hand down. A few hands later, I get KQs. I'm thinking, it's a decent hand. I don't have enough chips to limp, since I'd have to fold to a raise. Same thing if I raised small... I simply didn't have a strong enough hand to call if re-raised, yet couldn't afford to fold it if that happened. So I decide to push all-in with it, hoping that my stack is large enough to scare everyone else away again. I get called by the player to my left, who shows ATo. It's actually not that bad, I'm only a 43% underdog in the hand. Kind of a ballsy call, since we were about even in chips. But I had been all-in so much that he figured I couldn't have much. He made a strait when the board came 2345J and that was that.

Kind of frustrating. I'm still not sure if it was a mistake. I could only have survived three more orbits around the table, but every time the blinds passed me my all-ins carried less & less of a threat. I really needed to double-up to get a playable stack. If I had seen his cards, I probably would have done the same thing. Once we were all-in, my equity in the hand was 43.86% (my chances of winning). The money I had invested was about 43.5% of the pot. Add that to my fold equity (the money I make from the times he folds AT) and I've got an easy push for that situation. I'd have to get lucky quite a few times in similar situations to make it deep in a 3000+ person tournament. (But of course, if I could go back in time I would have folded that hand before the flop and waited a little longer.)

The rest of the week was spent either drinking or playing $2/$4. I only made a few hundred from it, no where close to covering the nearly $2,000 I spent on tournaments. Oh well, I just have to build my bankroll again and take my shot next year.

Comments

Jythier

on Jun 29, 2007

Ack, I'm sorry you didn't get to the money! Next year, though! But hey, it was $2,000 on 1. Training and 2. Entertainment. So it wasn't a gambling loss, it was just a vacation to Las Vegas where you had a ton of fun, right?

PacDragon

on Jun 29, 2007

Heh, totally. I had a blast and it was well worth the trip. Just disappointing to not bring home any greasy wads of cash. I did learn quite a bit though and I feel pretty confident playing in big tournaments now; the fear & unease from last year is totally gone. I was actually pretty proud of myself for going out swinging and not letting the fear blind me out.

SSG Geezer

on Jun 30, 2007

Ace Rag, the bane of my existence!
During our last poker night, I had it bite me right in the ass too. And that was the best starting hand I had seen in hours.

FoxOfDoom

on Jun 30, 2007

Welcome back.

PacDragon

on Jul 02, 2007

Heh, yeah A-rag is even more dangerous when you've been getting cold-decked. I've been trying to be a lot more Zen about it. You know, trying to accept that each hand is independent from any previous hand. Just because it's the best hand I've seen in an hour doesn't mean I should stop folding.

But it's tough to keep that going when the deck's giving you frostbite. In one of the smaller events I was in, I was getting a terrible string of bad cards. I eventually vowed that I would raise the first hand I got that didn't contain a deuce. The cards came: 72, 52, 82, J2, 82, 92... and then 22. I decided "good enough!" and threw in a raise. I took the pot down pre-flop

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