I fly out to LV to stay at the Venetian, my personal favorite, and play in their Deep Stack MTT event 3 times a year. I have a great job, so poker is only a hobby to me but it gives me an outlet for my competitive nature since I'm too old for sports and my 15 yr old can beat me on the golf course.

Day 1 - I land at 11 and buy in to the noon $350 tourney prior to checking in. I felt rushed all morning as the flight from ATL was delayed due to an overhead door not being able to shut - it took maintenance over 40 minutes to fix it and they ended up just removing it! I got a decent table draw as there are not too many competent players, but unfortunately I have to put myself in that class as well as I badly overplayed AQ on an A-J-K flop. Bye bye to half my chips. Next orbit I push JJ into AA and I'm done in like 360/400 which is far and away my worst finish in a VDS event - no one to blame but me for that effort.

I go to play a Happy Hour session of 5/2 NL and am blessed with one of the best tables ever! I believe that 3 people there have never played live poker before. I buy in for $500 which covered 8 of the 9 players there, the other had $1,500+. Early on, I get QQ and flat an Old Rock's UTG +1 raise to 45 (yes, $45 at 2/5) as I'm nearly 90% sure he has exactly AK. There's a K on the flop and he bets $100 and I fold face up and he obliges by showing me the AK. Later, I pick up KK and raise from EP to 25 and get 1 caller. Flop = J-X-X rainbow, I lead for $50 and get called. Turn is a blank and I bet $50 again and get raised to $100. I think about it for a few minutes, trying to decide if a push for $350 more will be called or if I get more value from calling and c/r the river. I decide that a $~350 shove is too much and call the raise. The river is a J (dammit!) and I check and the lady bets $200 in like 10 milliseconds looking directly at me. I'm beat and I know it. I fold KK face up and tell her that A-J is good, AND she shows me exactly A-J. I really don't understand why people will let me confirm my reads so easily. Later, I hit the 2nd nut flush and pay off the nut flush to the tune of $250, so I'm now down $400 and pull another $500 out. I win a few small pots w/o showing down and then the following hand happens:

I have red 6s in UTG +2 and elect to limp as the table is soft and passive. 6 others come along for $5, $32 in the pot pre-flop.

Flop = Kh, Th, 6s. With 2 hearts in a 6 way pot, I decide to lead (after the BB checks) for $25 to see if anyone is seriously interested in the hand. V1 calls, V2 raises to $80, V3 raises to $250, V4 goes All In for ~$300, BB folds, and I'm in serious WTF?!? mode! After 30 seconds, I look at the dealer and call time, so 2-3 players not in the hand get up and start milling about. I decide after some thought that no one has KK as they would have raised pf. TT is a real possibility, but once again I think most of them would raise TT. AT? maybe. AK? almost certainly. SD? FD? WTF??? I decide if someone has TT, then I'm going broke right now. I say "Raise" and push all in for $760 total. V1 folds instantly but V2 is seriously confused, and finally decides to fold saying "I KNOW I have the BEST HAND" V3 instantly pushes AI for $1,000+ and that swells the pot to $1,950. I flip over my set and look at the old rock who turns pale and shows K-T. The other AI had the nut flush draw. Turn = 8d, river = 2c and I drag the biggest pot I have ever won and immediately start drinking until bedtime. I cash out just north of $2,000.

Day 2 - If I thought I had a good table yesterday, it was nothing compared to today's! I got a walk 3X in the first 2 levels while in the BB - the SB wouldn't even call me. I was raising 2-3 times an orbit, c-betting nearly every time, and quickly folding to any resistance. I slowly accumulated up to ~15K before the 2 empty seats were filled by competent players who forced me back into actually looking at my cards prior to raising. I avoid most of my Day 1 mistakes, but take a horrible beat when QQ loses to TT on the river. Down to 90K in chips, playing pots in position until the dinner break. After dinner, I don't see a flop for more than 2 hours. While not having premium cards never stopped me from playing before, this time its like raise, rr-AL and I have J-7s, or Q-To, or A-x and know I'm behind. Calling raises in position only gets re-raised All In by one of the blinds, so I reluctantly shut down and wait for a table change or a decent hand. I did have enough times where I would open raise and not get called to keep my chips between 60K and 70K, but I was slowly falling behind. At 45 left, our table finally broke and I took the change as a sign to switch gears. I stole the blinds 2-3X at 2000/1000/500, and we were down to 40 where 36 got paid. I catch 33 in the BB and call an EP lagtard's raise to 7,000 with ~60K behind (he had ~200K). Flop is Q-T-3 rainbow and I check, knowing he will c-bet. He does for 22,000 and I snap push all in for ~35K more, he tanks but finally calls with J-9 for the OESD. Turn is an 8, the river doesn't pair the board and I bubble after 11.5 hours of fun.

Day 3 - I play in a satellite and with 3 left, AQh runs into KK for another bubble as the sat pays 2 winners a tournament buy-in. Later that evening, I play in the 7:00PM 2nd Chance - after busting one player's pre-break 2-3 suited push with AJs, I raise from UTG to 1400 with KK at 400/200/25 and the BB re-pops it to 2800, I push and he snap calls with AA - gg me.

All in all, a good trip. my MTT game is improving but I still require a good dose of luck to run deep. The 2K pot I won paid for all tournamants, food, and tips for the trip, so I came home with like $100 more than I left with, but with $1,000 in tournamant buy-ins, I'll take it.

Hope to be back in February. If you want to discuss a hand, by all means post your question in the forum and I'll check it periodically. GL at the tables (unless you're at mine!)

Beachman