PART TWO

I did forget about a hand against a “pro” in level three (50/100) where I raised preflop with 8 10 of diamonds to 250. He is in the big blind and raises to 675 and I called. The flop comes a beautiful 9, J, Q and Mr. Big Blind leads into me with a pot sized bet. I went ahead and re-raised and he put he all in without really thinking. I hesitate for a split second before calling making sure that I do indeed have the straight. He had A Q and I doubled up and almost busted this guy who said “Did ya see that one?” (My vision is very poor so I always ask the dealer for the bet amount since the 100 chips resemble the 500 chips). I said “well actually I had to do a double take” and he said “yeah, I saw that”. He wasn’t a bad guy but for a “pro” he spent a lot of time complaining to the guy next to him about my “awful pre flop call”. I resisted saying how calling that 425 won me around 7000 in chips!
So picking up where we left off. The player in the six seat he folded pocket tens after the eight seat showed the queens. I’m fairly confident that he was telling the truth as that completely made sense to me.

So after the last hand described in part one, I pretty well eased into the dinner break with just over 11,000 chips. I’m trying to update things on twitter while not spending too much time on my phone so I can relax. Scott (Miami Cane) had offered to go to dinner with me but after some thought I decided I needed to get to the room and just decompress for a bit. Room service was running super slow so I grabbed a sandwich and yogurt parfait from Starbucks and just tried to rest in the room. My buddy lets me know they are down to 650 or so players from around 2000 to start and I am a bit above average in chips. I’m just thinking about playing well and trying to get through the next five hours of play as I am staring to hit the red bull just to try and keep some energy.

We get back from dinner and things have been pretty uneventful until I wake up with pocket queens toward the end of level seven (150/300 with a 25 ante). I make it 750 from middle position and it folds around to the small blind who makes it 1650. This guy hasn’t gotten really out of line all day and he has me covered. My first inclination is to call and see how he acts after the flop since I have position but I elect to four bet with a plan on calling a shove. I make it 3600 and it doesn’t take the small blind long to shove and he has me covered (I started the hand with around 12,000 chips). I decide to at least try to think this through and every read I can come up with tells me this guy has QQ+. This guy hasn’t five bet all day and he has been at my table for several hours so after some deliberation I fold. In the past these types of coolers or my lack of willingness to fold has been the death of me. I’m not feeling all that great about my decision but I try to shake things off as best I can.
So I’m treading water around the end of level 8 (200/400 with a 50 ante) around 8000 chips when the guy who had pocket queens earlier against my sixes goes all in for his last 7000 chips or so. The guy in the one seat elects to call after a lot of deliberation. I screwed up and accidentally checked my cards because for some reason I thought seat one was going to fold. I look down at two kings! Now I’m just trying to not make any eye contact with seat one who clearly has a weaker ace or a medium pair. He calls, I go all in and seat one calls for the side pot of 2000 or so. The eight seat has A Q and the one seat has 10 10. My kings hold up and I’m at my best point in the tournament around 23.500 chips!
I’m determined to stay somewhat aggressive but during level nine (300/600 + 75) I made the mistake of raising preflop and continuation betting my AK against Bob Bounahara in the big blind. This guy has been on the phone half the time away from the table since getting moved to our table but he had just been abusing the player to his right and he clearly was taking down more pots than anyone at the table. I continuation bet the flop on a 10 8 4 flop. The turn paired the 8 and it went check check and after a six hit the river Bob gets enough to severely cripple me if I call. This guy had been making moves and I’m pretty confident he had me read but I was thinking there was a very good chance he was bluffing with the best hand. At the end of that level I was down to about 13,000 chips and we took a break at the end of level 8 where I met with Scott again and he gave me some very good advice about trying to stay aggressive. Level nine was fairly uneventful and our table FINALLY broke after a long day in the middle of level ten where (400/800 + 100) where I have kind of built back up to around 15,000 chips and there are 250 players left (196 get paid).

I really hated getting moved because outside of Bob I felt like I had a pretty good handle on the table. I’m trying not to be too conservative but this table is quite a bit more active than the table I left. Nonetheless, I have been able to steal some blinds despite being a bit card dead and I took down one pot post flop. Then we are in the middle of level 11 and I am still around 13,500 chips and the blinds are 500/1000 + 100 and we are down to about 210 players when I fold and this is what I think I see. The #1 seat is the small blind with about 9500 in chips and the #2 seat has a stack around my size. All in and a call pre flop and seat one has Aces which loses to K 2 of spades after three spades flopped. Obviously, seat one stormed off with no money in 210th place. Now, later I find out that seat one LIMPED with his aces and moved all in on the flop but I totally missed that probably because I am entirely exhausted at this point. This pretty much freaks me out as I have played for almost fourteen hours and we are down to ten spots from the money. The next hand I get J 10 of hearts which is a hand I might try to steal with from late position but I folded that. Then about six hands later when I am under the gun I look down at pocket queens with about 13,500 chips left. I just checked the screen and we are down to 205 players (or less). I know this is a weak, weak play but I folded them. I figured I’m probably just making the all in move here to try to pick up 2500 in chips but this has to get around nine other players. I know this is not a strong play but I also knew we would get to the money fairly quickly (the guy who was actually betting the most at our table was VERY deliberate). In the very next hand in my big blind, I get min raised and there are four callers leading up to me. I have 10 8 of clubs so I call the extra 1000 hoping to get lucky. I tell myself if I flop two pair or better I am going to play it fast and move in if I hit a monster flop hoping to pick up the 11,000 or so in chips out there and if I lose on a cooler, so be it.

I don’t get lucky at all on my big blind and then I lose my small blind as well after a substantial raise and a re-rasise leaving me with about 10,000 in chips when the money bubble bursts on the next orbit so I had the timing figured out fairly well of when the bubble would burst (there was only one hand of hand for hand play). What was good is the other players at my table seemed to have no idea that I really wanted to make the money which was good. I ordered a Corona after we made the money and the guy on my left asked if this was my first cash and I told him it was. That’s when he explained to me what happened on the K2 vs. AA hand when I told him I saw that hand and thought those two guys must have not liked each other!

Sadly, once the money bubble burst I was CARD DEAD and the aggression was ramped up even more at the table. Finally I am down to 7400 in chips and I see KJ of hearts in the cutoff plus one. I’m not incredibly proud of the hand but I don’t really want to get in the big blind with 7200 in chips either and tomorrow the blinds go to 600/1200 + 200 ante. The button calls and he is down to around 6000 in chips and the small blind also calls.
Button has 10 10 and small blind has 8 9 of spades (seemed a bit loose to me but he was fairly deep)

Flop comes 3,4,8 with two hearts so everyone is a bit excited. Turn comes a nine of clubs (ugh) and my heart comes in on the river!..... but it’s the nine of hearts to make small blind a full house. Part of me is displeased that small blind called as I would have been perfectly happy with 15,900 in chips with ten minutes left in the day but it was not to be. I go ahead and wait in line to get my 175th place money of $1975. I tip the dealers $40 and let all my major investors (who were in for $25 or $50 each, no markup for me as I have been more of a charity case than an investment) that they actually made money this year!

I can’t really sleep well after this and if I am in this position again I won’t tighten up as much on the bubble but I am overall pretty thrilled with the outcome. I probably got a little lucky but I really felt like I played well and my only real disappointment is with work and other commitments I can’t figure out a way to play another $1000 or $1500 event this year. I’d REALLY like to take another shot now that my confidence is higher. I should mention that I spent a lot of time on the app by RIzen/Pearl Jammer and Van Fleet and I really felt like that helped me prepare. I have no illusions about my game being elite but I do feel I am +EV in these types of events.

In part three I will talk about chopping the only single table satellite I played, eating at some cool places and taking in The Gold Coast and the Cauliflower Alley reunion!

Zourah,

Awesome trip report and congrats on the cash!

Dave

@Dap Poker Thanks Dave!

So part three of this report will be less about poker. The only other poker I played was on Tuesday I played the Daily Deep Stack and I played a single table satellite on Thursday and the 10 PM tourney at TI. One unfortunate thing about the week of June 1-5 was that with the Seniors’ event on Friday I had no other opportunities to buy into $1000 or $1500 full ring game tournaments.

I had some things going on Tuesday (losing money at Palms mainly) and I got back just in time to late register for the 3 PM tournament. I might have been wiser to just pay a little less and wait for the 6 PM tourney but I wanted to take a shot at a five figure payday if things really broke my way. I lost a few speculative hands and after about an hour or so of uneventful play the blinds were 400/800 with a 100 ante. I called a raise to 2000 from the big blind with QJ of clubs and we took the flop four handed. On a Jack high flop I had about a pot sized bet left and I pushed only to get called by pocket four’s (???? Three overs on the board) and by AJ suited (damn). The play in this was not stellar and I ran into the biggest jerk I saw all week at the table. I was on the button and this guy raised one off the button to 1200 (blinds were 200/400 and this was just after I sat down). The big blind clearly took his two black chips back and threw them in along with a 5000 chip. The dealer mistakenly started to make change thinking he called. Everyone was in agreement that this guy clearly raised but the dealer had initially said it was a call. The original raiser made the floor come over to declare this was indeed a raise and he kept saying (but the dealer said it was a call at first). This was just a ridiculous waste of time and when the floor made what was obviously the right ruling this guy quickly folded. I’ve seen bigger jerk moves but it was just a waste of everyone’s time.

As for the sit n go I played Thursday morning. I really should have played more of these. I played a $175 SNG with a $25 last longer bet. I think the play in these is pretty straight forward. I got some chips early and was able to put pressure on some of the weaker players. With 15 minute blind levels it seems like some players sit back a bit more than they should. Anyway I got two handed with the player I thought was pretty strong. There was a big argument at the table behind us where the guy who lost the heads up game was really giving the dealer hell. The guy I got heads up with said “that’s the only guy here I won’t chop with, he’s a real jerk” so when we got heads up I proposed a chop. He said that sounded fine but I had 5800 in chips to his 4200 so I suggested a $950/$850 split in my favor (we tipped $70) and he was good with that. I thought he was the strongest player at the table and I wasn’t that excited about playing heads up for an $1800 swing.

I played the 10 PM tourney at TI and while the rest of my gambling stories aren’t that relevant this story plays right into my result in the tournament. Yappy Dave picked me up at the Rio to gamble a bit at TI before we played in the poker. I mostly just wanted to shoot the breeze with Dave so we decided to play Let It Ride. I bought in for $320 and played $15 a hand while Dave bought in for $200 and played $10 a hand. After about 90 minutes and a few cocktails we are each at about $225. Dave is exactly at $225 as he says he doesn’t want to play our last hand before the tourney because he doesn’t’ want to break up his black chips. I throw Dave (who is seated on my left, I’m at first base) a $5 chip and say he may as well play the last hand as he can pull that bet back and pay me my $5 back. I get 4,4,5 and Dave on my left gets AA Queen (no brainer!). So far, so good right? Well I lose my $35 bet (I bet big at the end) and then realized third base also had 4,4,5! So by convincing Dave to play I cost myself $970 (full house payout) or $3900 (4 OAK payoff). Dave is ever helpful and NEVER needles anyone and he tries to convince me that third base never moves his cards so I probably would have had the 4 OAK had he not played!

Thanks a lot Dave!

I shouldn’t get tilted from that but I did. Even still the play at TI is kind of hit and miss and I get through the first hour fine. I am in the nine seat and I enjoy visiting with one of the dealers at TI in the ten seat who decided to play the event as she had just clocked out. I guess she was temporarily managing the room at one point which made sense to me as she is a good dealer and sharp. I’m actually enjoying just having a few beers and not taking this thing all that seriously for a change. So I’ve built my stack up reasonably well but after the break I totally misread a hand with a guy who had raised the two previous hands before he was in the big blind after the break. I raise with my 8 10 suited again and the flop comes Q 8 4. He checks, I continuation bet and he calls. The turn comes another queen and he leads out. I thought there were a lot of hands I could get him off of so I raise all in (I had him covered by a bit) and he had KQ. Bad read and play on my part, it happens. I thought he either had a pair that would be tough to call with or he was getting cute playing his third hand in a row. This guy wins jerk #2 of the week award by loudly telling his buddy how he couldn’t believe I put him all in in that spot. Hey jackass, you won the chips, go ahead and shut up about it, it’s not like I said anything to you. My instincts to tell this guy he’d be wise to shut up pass quickly as I just try to take it in stride and try to rebuild my stack which is now about 2/3rds of what I started the tournament with. No luck there and I was off to Venetian to meet Vookenmeister (Paul) and Miami Cane (Scott). I walked up to a 2/5 hand Paul was in that confused the hell out of me (and him also as we later discussed). I’m pretty much a 1/2 or 1/3 player and the line Paul’s opponent took made very little sense to me. Anyway he and Scott and some of Paul’s other friends discussed the hand to a great degree. I then realized that this type of unusual play is still pretty unusual for a 2/5 game also.

That’s pretty much it for the poker. The rest of the week I spent a bit of time a Cauliflower Alley. My buddy Troy Peterson is heavily involved in the Waterloo version of the pro wrestling HOF and he convinced me to join them at the banquet. Grouchie wrote a great blog about this event

http://www.grrouchie.com/2014/06/cauliflower-alley-club-2014.html

I spent a fair amount of time at Troy’s display on Monday and I got to visit with Jerry Brisco for a while who is a favorite of mine but I didn’t get to interact with any of the other wrestlers the way I usually do in Waterloo. Part of this was because I don’t think the group did a very good job of giving fans a program of events. I really had no idea of what other things were going on outside of the banquet and also I was somewhat busy doing other things. The banquet was a lot of fun though and the speeches were very heartfelt. I know wrestling isn’t looked upon favorably by all but it is cool to see dedicated people honored for their life’s work no matter what the field.

Beyond that, I had a few meals in Vegas that varied in quality. Miami Cane took Klondike and I (along with Troy’s friend Derek) to Rollin’ Smoke Barbeque Monday night. That gets my highest recommendation.

The Casino Royale now is not worth gambling at with their crappy video poker but I have accumulated a lot of comps there and I took Scott to Outback. It’s a very good Outback.

The Rio Buffet was very good. The noodle place at Gold Coast (Ping Pang Pong closes from 3-5 PM unfortunately) was pretty solid. I had steak and eggs at Hash Hash A Go Go at Rio and it was just okay but the Iowa crew took me back there for another breakfast and I saw what the fuss is about. The blueberry pecan pancake got a big thumbs up from me. I like the California Pizza quite a bit at the Mirage. We had the “World’s Greatest Pho” late Thursday night as Scott gave me a ride back from Venetian and it was very good (and the price can’t be beat either). I appreciate Scott introducing me to a few places off the strip that didn’t disappoint.

So that’s the long report. Thanks for reading and hopefully I’ll have better news next year. I realize the under the gun laydown of Queens was negative EV and if I get in that position again I think I will be able to at least not get that ridiculously tight but I still don’t regret it given those rare circumstances and what I thought about the table at the time.

Great trip report. Love the details. Congrats on the cash. Really enjoyed meeting you.

That guys line was insane. It was so polarized to just complete air or trip 6s. Air makes no sense calling pre or post flop. I'm ok with folding my JJs. What threw me off was him showing the other guy one card after I folded. I have to fold there. If it was air applause for him. I was fortunate to hit a heater the next night at rio.

Ps. Don't 4bet those QQs if you are ever considering folding. Call the 3bet and reanalyze post flop. Very tough spot regardless.

Again congrats on the cash!!!

@vookenmeister Thanks Paul

The last thing I planned on doing was four bet folding those queens but I guess I should have thought things through better in advance. The fold was based on a read but I'm no expert at that . After I tripled up I told the guy in the one seat I'd been beating myself up for they four bet fold. He ended up correctly identifying my hand. Mr. Four Bet volunteered "you shouldn't be beating yourself up on that" and that was pretty much the only thing he said all day. I'm pretty convinced he had aces but that could be mr trying to make myself feel better. I rarely saw the guy three bet and never five bet except that hand.

I'm pretty sure that board in your 2/5 hand had two nines on the board if I remember correctly.

@zourah Yes yes. It was 9 high. Then another 9 on turn. Good memory. Oops. And I 3bet preflop.

Yeah I think your QQs are beat. Was just saying don't turn the QQs into a bluff by 4betting against a tight opponent. It's a tricky spot. You get the gist. And I would be lying if I said I havent done the same thing.

@vookenmeister nice trip report I was arriving just as you left June 5-8. I will put my super mini trip report here finished 15/1500 in a 235.00 6pm deep stack Saturday night and came out ahead in cash even though my first 2 days in both cash and tournaments was terrible.As an added note I downloaded the pokeratlas site and it was totally useless as this site has become

Forgot to mention

Scott took me to get Pink Berry. I'd seen a Curb Your Enthusiasm episode about that but damn was that great ice cream/frozen yogurt/ whatever,

I'm hopeful this site can get up and running again. We had great posters at AVP and the functionality of this site is good.

@zourah I meant I downloaded the app on my phone and it was useless