I was looking over my profile and noticed I have not submitted a trip report in quite some time…..the last one was written in 2012, although the trip occurred in 2011 sometime. In 2011 Las Vegas still had O’Sheas and Wild Bills. I didn’t really like O’sheas but loved Wild Bills…the small stakes NL holdem games there were a lot of fun. These days I usually play 2-4 limit at the Flamingo for my small stakes action whenever I’m in Vegas. Sigh…moving on.
******In June 2012 I came to Vegas to play in a Chess tournament which was held at the South Point Casino located at the far end of the strip. The chess tournament activities began with a one day training camp thing on a Thursday with the tournament beginning on Friday and running through the weekend. Wanting to play some poker, I decided to get into town a few days earlier. I don’t remember everything I did during the time before the Chess activities began, but I do remember a poker tournament at the Aria and I remember the long walk from South point to the Aria. It was june and it gets pretty hot in june in Vegas, so I was sweating. I remember thinking I had plenty of time to get to the Aria but soon realized I wasn’t going to make it on time just by walking, so I started jogging…then the jogging turned to sprinting mingled with speed walking. Im not sure if I knew about the monorail back then…but even if I did I probably still would have walked, I like long walks and its good to get the blood flowing a bit when you sit down to a poker game. If I remember right, I was about 10 -15 minutes late getting registered and taking my seat at the table. It wasn’t a big deal being a little late…this tournament was $10,000 stacks with 30 minute levels.
******What was a bigger deal was that I was very thirsty. I drink a bottle of water or two during my walk but it was a long walk and Vegas summer heat is no joke. I was also kind of out of breath from the running/speed walking portion of my journey. Anyway I sat down to the table and immediately ordered a water from the cocktail waitress and when she came back another water. Anyway, in between the first water and the second water a silly hand came up. I had AQ and raised. One player called me. I have position. The flop came down A-X-X. I cant remember what the xs were but I figured I was good. My opponent checked I bet, he puts a small reraise and I call. The turn came with some blank. He bets, I reraise and he goes all in and I call. He turns over AJ and my kicker prevails..
*******
A little while later Im betting big pre flop and flop with aces when my opponent goes all in on the flop with a set of Queens I called but I get lucky with an Ace on the river, so within the first couple of hours I won 2 pretty big pots and am in good shape. A couple of more hours go by and we are starting to get close to the money. I look up at the board and 1st place is something like $3500. I remember thinking that would be a pretty good payday for a $125 buy in. This tournament is a $140 buy in today but in 2012 it was $125. The field was pretty large this particular night….probably 70-80 players at least. Anyway….I get some hands I’d like to see a flop with 54s, Q10s, J10o ect. So I’m limping and every time this guy to my left raises an amount I can’t call. So, I’ve folded to this guy 3 times, but I still have a descent size stack…somewhere around avg stack size when I get QQ so I jusr limp. Dude raises me and everyone else folds. I reraise pot size and he goes all in. I call. He turns over JJ so I figure I’m about to double up and have a good chance for 1st place, but a Jack comes on the river and I’m out on the bubble or somewhere close to the bubble…its 3 am and all I had to show for the experience was a good time. It was a good time Indeed though…lots of fun players.