My brother and I completed our annual poker run in Vegas over 10 days between Nov 12 – 22. Here are 10 lists to summarize the trip.
1. Best Rooms: Aria, Bellagio, Venetian, Caesars Palace. Next time I will probably only play at these rooms. Runners up: MGM Grand, Flamingo, Golden Nugget.
2. Celebrity Sightings:
a. At the Venetian: Phil Collins, Gavin Smith,
b. At Aria: Jean Robert Bellande, Minh Le, Crazy Mike Thorpe
c. Imperial Palace: Alaska Gal
d. Treasure Island: Talon_1964
3. Strangest character seen: “Toyman, Arch-enemy of all Poker Players”. A regular at Treasure Island who has a suitcase full of props and weird hats. He does the Woody Woodpecker laugh when he goes all in.
4. Best Non-Poker Activities:
a. Santana concert at Hard Rock (especially since I won the tickets in a Twitter contest).
b. Bellagio Fountain Show.
5. Biggest Leaks: Blackjack, Craps, Sports Bets, Chasing Promotions and Freerolls. Next time I will cut these from my agenda.
6. New games played.
a. Razz at Tropicana (Tuesday evenings).
b. 4-8 HORSE at Venetian (lots of action, you will need to mix it up in that game to profit).
c. 2/5 NLHE (sat down with $250 at Aria and left about 2 hours later with $915 in my first time playing at this limit at Aria. Recommend being patient for good hands as there is not much limping in this game).
7. Worst tournament decisions:
a. Overplaying an overpair to a low board during one of the Venetian $350 Deep Stack events. Had QQ out of position against one caller who called me down on my pre-flop, flop, and turn bets and then raised me all in on river after I was pot-committed. This sent me to the podium to buy back in (went out early on the re-entry after KK was cracked). Consolation: I have a DeepStack hat and t-shirt that I got as part of the entry fees (great value for $700!).
b. Not shoving JJ just outside the bubble in the Aria $125 tournament. Tournament had 120 entrants and 12 get paid. We are just outside the bubble with about 145 or 14 left. Ante are 500, blinds are 800 / 1600. I am in cutoff with JJ and fully intend to shove when UTG raises to 12,000, I have about 41,000 in front of me. I know I have two options, fold or shove. I’m not just calling and leaving myself short if I don’t hit. I had just seen the raiser take down another player with AA, so I think he is probably strong. I don’t want to race against AK for my tourney life that close to the bubble. I decide to fold. The player behind me shoves and the raiser calls. The initial raiser had A7 and the shover had TT. The board brings a Jack. I would have at least doubled up had I shoved.
8. Tournament results: no cashes in any of the 14 tournaments I played. This is unusual as I usually cash deep in at least one tourney each trip. I did manage to get my buy-in back from the Aria $125 event as we took a bubble boy collection from the remaining 13 players (12 cashed but I was the bubble boy).
9. Most memorable hand. I am playing 1/2 NLHE all night at Bellagio. I am moved to a table about 1:00 am with some crazy players from Germany, Australia, and Brazil. The Australian is drunk, having a good time, and spewing chips. Then German is coming out ahead on all his hands and has about $1000 in front of him. I am virtually card dead for a couple of hours, looking for my shot. I get 88 in the BB and call a raise in a pot with 3 players. The flop is 833, giving me the full house. The German raises all in and the Australian is next to act. I am itching to get in with my monster. The German is taunting the Australian into calling. I subtly lift my cards as if I will muck. The German notices this and tells the Australian “look, he is going to fold”. The Australian calls and so do I. I triple up.
10. Best smart phone apps used:
a. All Vegas Poker. This app became available shortly after I arrived in Vegas so I downloaded it right away. It is very user friendly for checking out all the rooms, games offered, tournaments, etc. You can even tap on the “call” button to call the room to check on how many games are running.
b. Poker Income Pro. Great app for tracking all your sessions and results.