Vegas Trip - Part 5, Terrible Thursday

Our Hero's stats for the trip: +$1586 poker, +$25 other bets

Ok... I wake up to a shrieking alarm at 8:30am. My eyes burn as I reach over to turn off the alarm then turn on the light. I look around. The room is scattered with feathers and smells like cheap perfume. You know, the kind of perfume smell that sticks to your shirt after several hours of listening to 80's heavy metal music while receiving lap dances in a strip bar. "what the hell happened here?", I think to myself." Dazed and confused I get out of bed to head for the shower. On the way I trip and fall over a bulky green object. I look down to see what it is. "what the hell is a leprechaun hat doing in my room?" I kick it to the side, open the bathroom door and turn on the water. Wow. I need to get a hold of myself. I shower, get dressed, and begin the 30 minute walk towards the Hard Rock.

I sit down at the Hard Rock $1/$2 cash game to put in an hour's work to qualify for the 11am free roll tourney. I see several familiar faces including, Nancy (aka Poker Muffin). Nancy is sitting on my right so we chat for a while. I apologize for knocking her out of the tourney the other day. She replies that she was surprised I called her shove with just an A-9 offsuit. I defend my strategy saying I had enough chips and thought her range was wide enough. By the end of the conversation I realize I was wrong in two places. First, Nancy is right, I shouldn't have called her shove. Second, Nancy is actually named Cindy.
I enjoy sitting next to Cindy. She's only been playing poker for a couple years, but in my opinion is an excellent player. We discuss strategy on a couple hands as we sit. Cindy picks up a couple nice pots here and there and then the following hand occurs:

I get dealt two 66s in late position and raise to $10 and get called by the small blind. I plan to bet on 90% of the flops here. Fortunately, the flop comes 7-6-4 rainbow. I bet $10 into the $20 pot and get called. The turn is a 2. Small bind checks so I bet $20 into the $40 pot. (yes, maybe, I could have bet $30 besides the point though). Anyways, small blind calls so pot is now about $75. RIver comes a 5 making the board show 7-6-4-2-5 no flushes. Small blind goes all in for an additional $150. Small blind is another stereoypical aggressive Asian guy. An extremely solid player who is capable of expect pocket 33s to fold on the turn so I rule it out. I start to think about the 8. 8-5 had me all the way and would have put more money in on the turn. 86 is possible, but i would expect that to fold pre-flop most of the time or at least on the turn. Anyways, in my head, I narrow it down to 9-8, 8-7 or a bluff. I decide to fold. Unfortunately, Asian guy does not show. I feel good about this thinking he would've shown a great bluff. (he tells me hours later that he had 9-8, he is probably telling the truth, but who knows). I cash out up $62 and get ready for the tourney. (I had a nice HR button straddle pot when I got dealt K-9 after straddling and the flop came a-9-9).

25 players and 3 tables for today's tourney. The other two times I played the Free roll we chopped it 5 way and 8 way. Today, there will be no chop as one player has a large stack of chips throughout the final table. No memorable hands as I make it down to 3 players remaining. I have about 12 big blinds left, when I call a small raise in the big blind with 5-2 of spades. The other player has been playing tight despite the large blinds. I decide I might have a chance to pull a stop and go bluff on a dry flop. I think he might call me if I shove all in now so I don't want to risk it. Flops come K-10-5. I have about 16000 left and the pot is about 13000. My opponent has about 25000 left. the other guy has about 60% if the total chips in play. I decide the flop is dry enough and I might be ahead. I shove and get called. Opponent shows QJ and hits a 9 on the turn to beat me. Oh well! I collect $135 in profit after tipping and head back to the hotel to meet my wife.

The room is all made up. The feathers are gone and the leprechaun hat is sitting off in the corner. My wife gets in around 3:30 and we catch up. She catches me up on how our twin girls are doing and how much she missed me. I tell her lots of bad beat stories and how I would be up millions of dollars if other people weren't so lucky. She asks where the leprechaun hat came from. I tell her, "You don't want to know." THis is true. She doesn't want to know.

Another friend of ours, Barry, has flown into town also. We decide to meet up with him at the Venetian poker room. I have heard the Venetian has a great room, but I have been hesitant to play there since I have also heard the competition is tougher. Of course, having played so amazingly well thoughout the trip my ego has told me that I can beat the Venetian. I'm eager to try. My wife and I get seated at separate tables. I ask for a table change when a seat is open. I win a hand and get moved. I sit down across from my wife and ask the dealer if my extra $6 over the $300 max is allowed to play from the other table. Everybody stares at me. My wife shakes her head. the jackass has sat down.

I have decided to forgo my strategy of playing 7-2 like AAs. Instead, my plan is to try and make an early bluff in a good situation then play tight, solid poker till I figure out the dynamics. Very first hand there are 5 limpers and I get 8-3 of clubs in the small blind. This looks like as good a time as any so I raise to $15 and get one caller. Not a bad result. I like my shot at firing a continuation bet at one person. I can't recall the flop, but I bet $15 on it and the other player folds. I show my 8-3. Everybody stares at me again. My wife shakes her head again. Next hand, I am the button. 4 people limp and I look down at two AAs. No joke! Perfect timing. I decide this is worth a raise to $20 after just showing 8-3. I make it $20 and the same guy calls. Perfect!!! He only has $55 left in his stack. Flop comes K-10-8 or something like that. He checks and I shove all in. He calls and shows K-9. Perfect!! Turn comes a 3 and the river comes another K. Not perfect! Oh well... it happens.

A few hands later I get dealt KKs in middle position, make it $10 to go and get called by the button. The flop comes A-A-7 two clubs. I fire $10 into the $20 pot and get called. Hmmm... If he has an Ace I am dead. I'm not ready to give up, but decide to keep the pot small if I can. The turn is a 10 of clubs. A-A-7-10 three clubs. I bet $10 again into the $40 pot. Not sure if this is a great move. My gut tells me he has an Ace. If he re-raises I fold probably. He just calls again. The river comes K of clubs. The board now shows A-A-7-10-K with the three clubs. However, there is a big problem. I have gotten so caught up with whether he has an Ace that I forget that I have two pair already. Seriously, I am sitting there thinking I have three of a kind with a board that shows four to a flush. I decide my hand has some showdown value so I bet $10 into the $60 pot. My opponent quickly re-raises it $15 more. I have about $230 more behind. I decide he has me beat so I lay my cards down face up and fold. The table stares at me. I have just laid down a Ks over As full house to a $15 bet. What a moron! my opponent then flips over Q-J clubs to show a Royal flush. Wow! It is then that I realize I have folded a full house. Horrible! I am so lucky to be an idiot. I easily would've bet $40 and called an all in if I knew I had a full house. I would figure to be beat only by an unlikely A-10 or A-7. Even worse for my opponent there is no Jackpot at the Venetian. I leave it you to decide if this is the "Greatest Laydown Ever" or if it is the "Worst Laydown Ever". I'm not results oriented so I think it is the "Worst Laydown Ever". I decide to get up and take a walk.

I get back to the table in time to see my wife suffer a horrible cooler hand. She is dealt two 33s and limps with a few other players. The flop comes K-5-3. Royal Flush guy checks. Another person bets $8 and my wife raises it to $25. Both players call. The turn comes K, which gives my wife a full house as the board shows K-5-3-K. Royal Flush checks, other person bets $25. My wife raises it to $75. Royal Flush reraises all in. The pot is now about $250 plus the all in. The other person takes a long time and then throws in her remaining $70 in chips to call. My wife has about $200 left in her stack. She can put in $200 to win $520. She has 3s over Ks. She can only be beat by K-K, K-5 or K-3. All of these are unlikely as Royal Flush limped under the gun. the other cooler hand is 55s. She calls and Royal Flush shows 55s while the other player shows K-10 (huh?). ROyal Flush collects the $300 from my wife (which he should have collected from me).

Later on I make questionable move on the flop with top pair, top kicker and get beat my a low two pair (that nearly folds). Her slow play of two pair on the flop lured me into re-raising heavy on another player only to get pot committed when she re-raises me all in.

We decide to seek safer ground and get up from the table to head to Planet Hollywood. My buddy, Barry, sends me a text to sum up his Venetian experience. It reads, "Mediocre hands played badly." I lose $169 at the Venetian and my wife loses $352. I vow never to return (nice room though) and we head towards Planet Hollywood for easier prey.

We get my wife a poker card at Planet Hollywood. She asks them for a coupon book so we can get a $25 free match play. She decides to bet on black on the roulette table. We find a wheel. I push her into quickly shoving the $25 match play and cash on black before the wheel stops spinning. BINGO!! It lands on red. We lose! I decide to see if we should have waited for the next spin. we watch as the wheel lands on red again. I decide maybe the wheel is fixed. Let's watch it till it lands on black. 73 spins later if finally lands on black (after hitting zero once). I guess it isn't rigged after all. truth is we only watched the wheel spin a second time (PS. I also lied about the feathers. I never could find a duck last night)

No truly exciting hands to share at Planet Hollywood. I'm card dead, but minimize my losses to $65. My wife plays rather well and wins $86. About 5am or so we call it a night. I want to get a little sleep before getting up for my daily Hard Rock Free Roll tourney extravaganza. I owe Hard Rock lots of props. Their free roll has helped fund my week. Plus, I really love their room setup. I will post a room review for them later.

We decide to call it a night. Before we go to sleep, my wife begins unpacking. I hear an odd AFLAC-like noise and turn around as my wife pulls a duck out of her suitcase. "I heard you were looking for one of these!". I so love this woman.

Day 6 Stats:
+$62 Hard Rock cash game (1 hour)
+$135 Hard Rock Free tourney
-$169 Venetian cash game
-$65 Planet Hollwood cash game

Overall Stats for the day: -$37 poker, -$25 match play bet
Overall Stats for the trip: +$1549 poker, even on other bets

Next up. Freaky Friday... Barry should have taken the chop when I offered it.