Well I got into my room at Main Street Station downtown Friday night late close to Midnight which is 3AM Eastern Time where I spent the past week and 2AM Houston time where I currently reside. I decided that I still needed to play poker. I eat a quick meal and then head over to the Fitz for a $1/$2 NL game. Unluckily for me a shorthanded game was breaking up literarily as I walked into the room. I decide that I’m too tired for no cap buy-in $1/$2 at the GN or Binions so I head over to Binions and buy-in for $60 at $2/$4 limit. I really suck at limit and have no idea how to play this game. Luckily there’s a lot of drunken tourists playing to the river and taking down pots with mid pair. Unluckily for me I literally don’t get a decent hand all night and don’t win a single hand in over two hours of play. I get hands like A2s and completely miss the flop. Only memorable hand is I get KJo in the BB. There are 3 limpers so I decide to put in the $2 raise, everyone calls. Flop comes out Kx3 rainbow. Based on previous play from these guys I know I’m good here 90% of the time. I bet and get two callers. The turn is a blank and I bet again and get one caller. The river is another 3 and I check and the other guy checks. It turns out the other guy has A3 that hits trips on the river. A little after this I cash out down $51. I decide after this I still want to play more poker but am not up for NL. I decide to make the walk down to the El Cortez and buy-in for $40. The game consists of one guy who looks like he just got out prison a few guys all pushing 70+ years and a couple of other guys that look one step away from living on the street. Play here is just as bad as at Binions but since it’s a $1 blind you get a lot of limped pots and it’s hard to put anyone on a hand. Somewhat early in the session I’m in the single blind for $1. The guy to my left has been straddling my blind for $2 the past couple of orbits. I have pocket Jacks literally the first pocket pair I’ve seen in about the 3 hours I’ve been playing poker this night. I decide to put in the max raise at this game and make it $5 to go. The guy to my left who’s one of the homeless looking guys gives me a pissed off look and calls along with one other guy. The flop is all spades AQx. I decide to put in a continuation bet and the guy on my left calls. The turn is another spade, I check, he bets and I fold. I decide to show my pocket jacks and the guys gives me this look like I’m nuts for folding them. Anyway I end up win a few pots a lot from this guy on my left who eventually leaves. I’m up about $20 at one point but play for way too long and end up leaving around 6AM with down about $30 bucks.
I wake up around 11:30 the next day walk over to Binions to sign up for the 2PM $100 tourney and go the Fremont Casino for some crappy Chinese lunch. I really enjoyed this tournament, they have 133 runners, it has a good structure for the buy-in, and it’s very well run excellent floor staff, good dealers, and good drink service that kept the black coffee coming. My opinion of the tournament I’m sure was benefited by the fact that I made the final table. It was also cool that it was still considered part of the Binions Poker Classic which means I got a hat for making the final table and now I show up on Cardplayer and a few other sites. A few interesting hands from the tournament are below.
First hand of the tournament I get KJ on the button. I decide to limp and BB raises to T250 with blinds at 25/50. The guy looks like some kind of Eurotrash and loose aggressive so I call. I suck at first impressions because it turns out he’s a solid player and nice guy who’s girlfriend also ends up making the final table. I’m the only caller and I hit my J on the flop for top pair. BB checks so I decide to bet the pot. He calls and turn is a blank and I decide to bet half the pot and he calls. I check the river and puts in a pot size bet and being the donkey I am decide to call. He has AJ and takes the pot down. Another hand I raise from EP with AJ. I get one caller a big mixed martial artist looking guy who I decide is a donkey or I think he is based on absolutely no knowledge of his play. Flop is J high and I bet and he calls. I end up betting my J high the whole way and he turns over QQ at showdown. I end up losing a good amount on this hand. After these two hands I’m down to around T2200 and we are only at the 100/200 level. I get 1010 from early position and bet 600 and get two callers. The board is all low cards so I push for my remaining chips. The other two players call and I figure I doomed. It turns out they both where on some type draw of missed draw and I take down a decent pot. A few hands later I get 99 make a standard raise and get one caller (loose player who’s been lucking out). The flop is something like J95. I check and the other player bets the pot. I don’t have many chips so I decide to go all in. Luckily for me he calls with QQ and I end up winning another good sized pot. I think I win another decent pot when my pocket 10s trip up on the flop again. After that I don’t really get anything worth playing for a good hour or so. An aggressive French guy ends up at our table with a good sized stack. He’s raising a lot of hands and winning a decent amount of pots. About roughly an hour after he sits down he does his standard raise from EP and it’s folded around to me on the button. I have KK and 3 bet his raise. BB decides to call. French guy goes all-in. This is the first time he’s done this all night which means he either has AA or KK or something like AK or JJ and he’s trying to take the pot down preflop. I’m on the button and I have KK. It’s an easy call for me but I’m still scared he might have AA. BB thinks about it for a while and calls. With KK against two other players I’m feeling good but not great. It turns out they both AKo about the best possible outcome for me and they miss and I take down a huge pot. After that I’m now one of the chip leaders. I’m for the most part pretty card dead until final table. I know end up losing a small amount when my AQ runs into KK. I believe the tournament paid 13 and when we get down to 14 we decide to make a deal that pays 14th so that we don’t have to play hand to hand. Not much after the deal we are down to final table and I get my stylish light blue BPC final table hat. I believe I have the 7th largest stack with 8th and 9th having similar stacks and 10th with a significantly smaller stack. Probably within the first orbit I get into a 3 way all-in with the two other similar stacks. EP who’s 8th in chips goes all in. I’m on the button with KK again and go all-in. The SB folds and BB things about it for a minute and calls. EP flips over QQ, BB flips over AA. Flop comes out K, J, 10 all diamond, I’m ahead for about two seconds until the turn comes out another diamond and BB takes it down with his A diamond. A few hands after that I push with K10c and bust out.
Well this is getting way to long. I’ll put in another post shortly about my NL play at Fitz with the Poker Manager Mike Palm dealing and talking about the night he threw TBC out as well my horrible run at $3/6 limit. I’ll also add some general details about my hotel, food, and my limited other gambling.