In town for WSOP. Played in a $1500 NL event and ended up busting after the dinner break around 690, out of 2500 or so entrants. Played pretty TAG, despite several loose players at our table. I was busted with the following scenario:

After the dinner break I was treading water as blinds were starting to eat up about half the table. I had an M of 2-3, and our table had fewer chips than most the tables because nobody was getting knocked out and we kept passing our chips around. Finally someone gets busted, and a new person (NP) comes to the table with enough chips to easily cover the whole table. I have no time to learn anything about NP’s play before this hand happens, so all I could go off was that he appeared like any of the other amateur-type 50-60 year old man who enter the WSOP for fun (in other words, not overly aggressive).

NP is on the button, and I am about 2 positions in front of him. UTG is a tight passive player (TPP) with an M of about 1 or 2. UTG+2 is a pretty ABC player (ABC) also with an M of 1 or 2. TPP calls, and then ABC shoves in what appears to be a move to scare us out from calling, but he has so few chips I put him on a range of almost anything above 10xJx. Action comes to me and I have QQ. Feeling extremely confident that my hand was far better than either of theirs, I shoved since my stack was so short, and expecting everyone to fold behind me since the rest of the table had been playing so tight.

Action came to NP, and he looked at his hand for a little and then called, and TPP called behind him. So three of us are all-in, and the fourth is the monster chip leader. I didn’t take notes at the time, but recall TPP having a hand like Ax10x, and ABC having about the same. I remember thinking I had them both beaten. Then NP turns over AA. Well, the board ran out and NP knocked three of us out of the tournament right there. The whole table was standing since it was such a big knockout.

Even though I was knocked out, I felt good about going that deep and that I had played pretty solid poker and finding the right spots to shove. I played through the hand a few times in my head and wouldn’t have changed anything since I had accurately gauged my opponents’ ranges, and blinds were eating me up and I had been card dead for hours and was fearful of not seeing another opportunity (we had several other aggressive players at table).

I then went on to play in several other tournaments. I played in the Venetian 7pm and didn’t cash, but made it to about the final third of players. I managed to get my favorite Venetian dealer at one point who I remembered from previous years, a big fell named James who always makes things fun as we spar back and forth with well-placed insults and your-mama jokes. The guy had us in stitches. And he’s also the fastest dealer I have ever seen.

Another day I cashed in the Aria $230 Noon tournament and had a great time. My final hand had me in the hijack position and V in the cutoff. V was an amateur-type older player in his 60s, who played pretty tight-except-when he appeared to have a hand and wouldn’t hesitate shoving. The top 12 or so were paid, and we were down to place 9 or 10, and the difference between 1st and 10th was about $6000.

The table folded to me. I had an M of about 2 and look down at 5x5x. The only person I was worried about calling was V, as the button was the monster chip leader and had already confided that he didn’t want to risk losing his chips, even though he was calling people when he had AK, KK or AA which seemed pretty frequent and was the source of all his chips.

I shoved with 5x5x and V instantly shoved and everyone else folded. V turned over Ax10x and hit an A on the turn and I cashed out with about $500 for my troubles. I think I made the right play given the circumstances, and still wonder why the guy called me since I had been playing so tight to that point. But that’s tournament life.

I left Aria around 11 p.m. and still wanted to play, so I headed over to the Monte Carlo for their midnight donkament, and experienced the funniest moment in poker I have ever seen.

There were about 30 players, and only about 8 of us seemed to understand tournament strategy and the rest were very drunk tourists. I went into overly aggressive mode and was the chip leader for most of the tournament. If I had position I hammered away with or without cards and managed to win a lot of pots without showdown.

We are down to about 15-17 players and everyone was tightening up trying to get into the final table, making it easy to steal pots. I am in cutoff or hijack, and the guy to my right had been extremely tight and seemed to be a solid TAG player. We’ll call him pissed-off boy (POB), for reasons to become obvious.

The table folded to POB and he raised 3bb. I look down at 5h8h and decide to call (this represented about a third of my chips). Yes, yes, yes, before you can say it, I will admit this was a very stupid, donkey call, but the table had been playing so weird that I thought I could probably push this guy off a hand on the flop/turn. Looking back, I should NOT have made this call. But it was a small buy-in tournament and I was just trying to have fun and play like some of the crazy internet kids who drive me nuts.

I don’t remember the exact cards, but the flop came three low cards with two hearts. Without hesitation, POB shoves all-in, barely waiting to even look/examine the flop. I think that he’s trying to put a move on me since he’s seen me be so aggressive, and because of the flush draw I decide to call (mistake #2 on my part since he could have had a higher flush draw). He turns over Jacks for the best hand, and when he sees my cards he goes ballistic on me for making the pre-flop call.

The turn comes another heart, giving me the flush (and also paired the board). POB proceeds to curse me out BIG time, and I thought he was going to get violent before he turns and runs out of the room because he was so upset that I hit my flush. Well, guess what happened next? The river was a J, giving him the full house and the winning hand. Nobody knew the guy so they couldn’t find him and get him back to the table. His resulting chip stack was so big, that even though it was blinded off, it made it to right before the bubble!

When we neared the cash, I was again the chip leader and suggested we pay the bubble. Nobody had any idea what I was talking about, but after I explained it they all were very happy and agreed to do so. Even though I could have easily made it into cash without a worry, I just see that as a karma issue. Bubble boy got knocked out and I ended up in about 3rd. Really fun tournament, but POB just made it downright hilarious. Poor guy.

I played in the Mirage 11:00 $60 tourney twice and had a blast both times. The first was probably the most fun tourney I ever played as everyone was talking and being laid back. I again switched modes and played extremely aggressive, even without getting cards, and managed to get into the money when we got to the final 8 and decided to chop evenly since our chip stacks were so even. After paying bubble boy, we each received about $400. I thanked the tourney director for a very well-run game.

Same tournament at Mirage the next day, but different results and a big goof-up by the whole.

UTG was a very tight and passive fish (TPF) who displayed obvious physical tells, and the whole table knew it and had been picking off his blinds and calls throughout the tournament. Hijack was an above average tourist player (AAT) who had a relatively solid TAG game and about 60% the size of my chip stack. I was in cutoff and viewed as very aggressive, but I had shown down several hands, so people probably had a harder time putting me on a hand.

TPF limps in, and before I looked at my cards I knew I was going to give a big raise and take it from him since he had always folded when I did it previously. AAT also limps in, and I was 90% certain he was just trying to see a flop, knowing he could probably push TPF off a hand since TPF never raised big post-flop. I look down and see 10s2s, and followed my plan and raised 3bb.

TPF looked at his cards in disgust and folds. AAT thinks a little and calls. That has me a bit worried, but not too much since I thought he might have 9J or something similar.

The flop comes out with 2x3sXs. Sorry, I don’t remember exact flop, but those are the only cards that really mattered. This gave me a pair and a flush draw. AAT shoves all in without even really looking at the board, and then I made the first of many mistakes made by the whole table. I called.

AAT turns over 6x3x for middle pair and the table reacts completely surprised at his moves (pre-flop call to a big raise, followed by post-flop shove). Then when I turn over my cards they all start to laugh because everyone at the table (except for TPF) knew exactly what we had just done.

I don’t remember the turn, but the river was a 2x. However, I was so focused on looking for my flush draw that I completely missed the fact I had made trips (the winning hand) and started stacking up my chips for AAT. The dealer had also missed the trips, and then mucked the board and cards. Right before she shipped my chips, a player at the table said, “wait, I think he had trip two’s.” Another player said the same thing, and then it hit me that I indeed had trips because I could see the board in my head. But the dealer had already mucked all the cards. AAT said he never saw my cards and was also only focusing on the flush draw.

The dealer was beyond embarrassed. One or two folks at the table started giving her a hard time, and I tried to lighten it up since we all make mistakes, and told her not to worry about it since she kept saying how embarrassed she was about what happened. The fact was that I should have protected my hand, the dealer should have pushed out the winning hand without assuming I was correct when I said the other player won, and the rest of the table should have spoken up.

But there was one other goof-up. When the floor came over, she said they would have to review the video to determine the winning hand. Well, it turned out they didn’t have the video running (I guess it was because they weren’t collecting a rake, and it was our money at stake, not theirs!). The floor ended up chopping the pot between the two of us. All in all, while I know that was not the best decision for me, I was ok with it because I was on a draw anyway and just happy to not be short stacked. What a lesson for all of us at the table to protect cards, be observant, and help out others. I ended up busting out shortly thereafter.

A non-poker event to report - I had breakfast at the Planet Hollywood buffet and found it ironic that all of the Miss America pageant contestants were there eating. As if they were going to chow down on full plates of bacon, pancakes and sausage right before going on stage in bikinis before a national audience? Really cracked me up.

All in all, this was a fun trip. Kudos to the staff at Aria, Mirage, and funny-guy James at the Venetian.