Low-rolling the strip day 6 (Thu 3rd Sept)

Decided to try out a tournament at O'Shea's today. Headed down for the 1pm, wearing my green shirt to soak up some of the luck of the Irish. The person of restricted growth who appears in all the posters was there in person today, inviting everyone in to take advantage if their 24-hour happy hour.

Buy-in was $45 and there were I think 27 entrants, with a few alternates as people busted out. 2000 starting chips, 25/50 blinds and 20-minute levels. This is probably the kind of structure the Excalibur should have been for $25, but overall the $60 at Planet Hollywood with 4500 chips felt better value.

Overall however the standard of play was better than I had seen at Planet Hollywood. I had made a little progress early on, then after 30 minutes I find myself limping with 7-2 on the SB – 4 players. Flop comes down 357 – I bet half the pot and am min-raised, everyone else has folded. Now V has already knocked out two players and is sitting on a large stack, he has been playing reasonably tight so I can't think he has much of a made hand here. Surely he would have raised pre-flop with an overpair? I convince myself he is just taking a punt here, and decide to re-raise. V pushes all-in. Hmmm … .I think for a while, but decide to fold. V shows pocket 3's for the set.

That has made a significant dent in my stack, and with the third level approaching I realize my next move has to be all-in sometime before the blinds come round again. I miss playing T9 suited on a board which would have given me runner-runner for a straight flush. I pick my spot with A8. One caller, who shows AK, and I am out around the 40-minute mark.

Shortly before the end I order a margarita (just for research purposes, you'll understand) which arrived promptly. And, despite being in a plastic cup, it wasn't actually a bad margarita. People were out in force practicing for their weekly beer pong tournament as I left, and I set off down the strip with my drink in hand.

Walked all the way down the strip to the Monte Carlo, the one low-rolling establishment I had missed on the south strip in the first half of the week. 3 tables in play: 2 x 2-4 limit and 1 x 1-2 no limit. Got immediate seating at the 2-4 limit, though for the most part of my session the table ran short-handed.

Drink service was relatively fast, and the quality of the Bloody Mary was the best of the week – not perfect, you'll understand, but the best. It is a nice room, and the dealers are friendly and encourage a fun atmosphere. But they were fighting a losing battle, as you got the distinct impression that none of the other players actually wanted to be there – it was almost exclusively a mixture of locals trying to earn their 10 hours for the weekly freeroll and NL players waiting for an open seat. Don't get me wrong, I've had some great fun times there in the past, but I have to say choosing a weekday afternoon was probably not the smartest move.

And there is a lesson here for the low-rolling tourist, something I have been aware for some time. A jackpot drop that is used to fund high-hand jackpots adds to the experience (the Excalibur does this best – a low threshold to qualify, and a wheelspin to see what you get). A jackpot drop that is used to fund a freeroll subtracts from the experience – it is taking money for something you can never qualify for, and encourages nitty local fun-killers to the table.

And add to this the fact that the poker gods were inflicting their vengeful wrath on me for the lack of faith I had shown them the previous day. In my entire session I think I only won one hand, and I lost my whole buy-in after 2 hours. Its not that there weren't big hands out there, a guy won a big pot with pocket aces against trip 9's on a A99xx board. The very next hand, the same guy lost a big pot with … wait for it … trip 9's against pocket aces on a A99xx board. Live poker is soooo rigged.

And today's loss means that I am now back to playing with my own money.

Summary
Thursday 3rd September
O'Shea's, $45 1pm tournament
Time to drinking first drink: turned down 1st drink – would have been