Vegas ---> Foul Temptress?

It dawned on me that writing a blog is easier than individually telling people how I'm going.

As such:

(warning, extremely long as I have a week worth of stuff to go through - and if you are at all sensitive on any subject matter, prob best to not read)

Arrived in Vegas last Friday. Flight from SYD-LAX was completely full which was pretty tilting. I didnt plan on sleeping much anyway to avoid impending jetlag and be able to play the $1000NL the next day. V Australia have pretty ballin' in-flight entertainment so I was able to watch a few movies that I had already seen and liked (this was preferable to watching something new, that I might not have liked at all). I had a window seat luckily, and years of sitting around doing nothing at school, in accounting, and playing poker, had conditioned my posterior to the rigor of 12hrs 35min of not standing up so that was no problem.

LAX was not as painful as I thought it would be; except for the walk from the plane to immigration, which was probably 1km by the time we lined up. I had a very helpful hispanic gentleman at immigration who took me thru the complicated process of handing him my passport and a form. When he noticed that my ongoing flight was to Las Vegas, he immediately enquired as to whether I was participating in the World Series. I confirmed this; he was a little confused though after asking me how much cash I had on me, and hearing the reply "about eighty bucks". Poor Raymond Ruiz, it took ninety seconds for him to grasp the concept that I didnt actually need to carry all of the money I required on my person.

Got through the baggage transfer lounge (which I now know was flagrant false advertising); and was greeted by a large black woman outside the terminal exit. Her name was Candice; she was smartly dressed in two airport uniforms sewn together, and she asked me how I was "doin today!!!". I questioned whether I had been wrong about black people all this time, before I could come to any conclusion she had already taken my itinerary out of my hand and directed me to the terminal for my connecting flight. "Wow" I said, "Thankyou very much". Silly of me I guess; as she then got out a clipboard (I'm still not sure of it's location prior to this point) and started telling me about the plight of inner-city street kids and I saw "suggested donation $20.00" on a pink piece of paper. I figured the odds of me getting another helpful person in all of America were slim to nil if I didnt comply, so I fumbled through my wallet past rows of clearly visible USD and offered her an AUD $5 with my best wishes.

I got the emergency exit row on the United flight to Vegas; not that it is of any advantage to me, but it did humour me to see a man of at least 6'10" a few rows in front. I immediately had visions of that super-tall guy in the VW beetle on The Simpsons. I had just finished chuckling when we landed.

The cab rank at LV airport was a sight to behold. If only I knew my iPhone had a camera at the time; I may not have had to have made such vivid mental notes. The line doubled over on itself 7 or 8 times, with each length being allegedly well over 100 yards. I remember thinking how convenient it was that my golf bag was about 3inches too long to fit horizontally walking along the line, so I basically crabbed for like half an hour. My spirits were raised when I heard a whistle blow and some feverish shouting. It appeared that a man who had already progressed through the queue to the second last lap decided that now was a good time to cut perhaps 40yards off the fast moving line. Potentially he may have saved around 90 seconds. Instead, the rank attendant told him that he would not be put in a cab at that point, nor at any point that night, and he was ordered to proceed to the public transport terminal. I love this aspect of America.

The $1000NL was sold out by the time I got to the registration desk at the Rio, so Jay and I went over to the Bellagio to grab a bite. I had a fairly awesome lobster omelette and a mediocre bacon-cheese burger, having not eaten since "breakfast" on the SYD-LAX flight.

Unpacked all my stuff in the house (ie, positioned it on the spare bed in my room) the next morning, and when I awoke Stevo had arrived and decided that a the couch was the best place to crash, rather than any of the 6 free bedrooms.

Saturday we took care of some housekeeping:

Got a cab to the Airport Rent-a-Car centre in the afternoon; this place was pretty slick to be honest. Much to our chagrin, no one would waive the "under-25" administration fee. I had to laugh at the guy from Thrifty, who we got to flat out admit that the fee does not constitute any service from the company, ie, because we were already insured, they stood to lose nothing more in our instance than in any other instance. After letting him know how I felt about this administration fee being of a greater expense than the car rental itself, we went to some dodgy joint across the road and got a minivan on the cheap. Really swindled the poor kid who was working there without the manager for the first time.

Grocery shopping was pretty amazing, we went to a Super-Walmart. Remarkably our three trolleys (carts for you Americans) worth of shit cost us < $100 a head which baffled me initially; until I realised that virtually every price tag in the store was "2-for $x" - I love this aspect of America.

Played the majors on sunday; everyone failed. Think I went like 2/26 to lose $3k; had some big stacks in a lot of things too which gave me the shits. I don't feel like going into any more detail than this.

Monday we played golf at Bali Hai Golf Club (http://www.balihaigolfclub.com/bali-hai-photo-gallery.asp). The course was every bit as beautiful as the photos suggest. I had an awesome breakfast burrito that needed to be of a high standard given I woke up at 505am to make our tee time. I regret not taking photos of the surroundings, but it is likely that we will play there again before we leave. The chick in the drinks cart didn't have to work very hard to sell us a few beers etc, and I noticed that they were selling miniature bottles of jagermeister, and marvelled at how far man has come.

Later that day came my WSOP debut: the $1500 PLO event. Not surprisingly, I arrived late and had to wait longer still for Jay to arrive with the BoS funds. (BoS = Bank of Stevo). I sat down and quickly surmised that everyone on my table was bad. I didnt get dealt much in the first session, but took down a couple pots when people missed and didnt contest.

Shortly after resuming in session two my table broke and I got moved to the other side of the room. I sat down with a strong pro on my right, and a few very aggressive guys on my left. Again I ran pretty card dead thru session two but managed to turn the nut straight against a shortstack who decided one pair no draw was good enough to go with and I maintained virtually an average stack.

I can't think of too many interesting hands until the blinds got a little higher; but pretty much all thru the 150/300 level and 200/400 level i waited patiently for cards, picked up a hand shoved a favourable flop, ran into a monster, and managed to win anyway. This pleased me greatly.

With blinds at 300/600 I was dealt QTsT8h on the button, and an aggressive player raised from the HJ seat, he had around 17000 and I had him just covered. I called his raise as did the big blind. The flop hit Jh9d3h. the BB checked, the aggro player bet close to pot, I shipped them all in, the BB folded, and the aggro guy didnt hesitate in calling with his KKJx. At the time i figured I was a smallish favourite; upon review i was a 67% shot; which made me happier still about my shove. The turn bricked then I rivered the K-ball for the nut straight. My opponent unhappily headed to the rail, mumbling in what I can only assume was a language associated with failure.

Shortly after, the chip leader (the good pro on my right) raised from the CO seat, I looked down and squeezed 7s6c4c... and thought to myself "one time can i have the 5 of spades with these..." ding ding ding, 5 of spades. I pop it to 6000, the blinds get out of the way, and after a quick count of my chips, he calls. The flop brought 9s8c3s. He checked to me, I considered checking back as any board with a 98 on it hits the range someone will flat a 3ball with fairly well, but eventually decided that I was happy enough to get it in should he CR me. I bet 10,000 - he instantly moved out 30,000 chips. I shrugged and moved the rest of my chips in, and he announced a call and turned over JdTd8s6d. I was a little surprised that he had such a low value starting hand; but it gave him a fairly easy CRAI spot on that flop. I figured i was around 60% to take the hand down, later I see that I am closer to 56%, but meh. The turn is the deuce of clubs. Could I have any more outs? (possibly...) - now, despite being behind his lowly one pair, I'm a 5/8 shot to win the hand, having 25 outs. I neglected to take into account though, that I was up against Jason Mercier, the guy who has run better than anyone in the world in the past 18 months, and obviously the river was the brick Kd. Jason went on to win the bracelet; that pot was for the chip lead with around 140 players left.

I trudged home somewhat dejected; but not unhappy with how I played.

Tuesday brought the $1500NL event, which Stevo, Tony and myself all played. Jay was busy sleeping and Watts decided to play the $2500 NL 2-7 SD later that afternoon.

My first table had Yevgeniy "Atimos" Timoshenko (winner of the WPT Grand Final this year, good for like $2.4mUSD) and Eric Mizrachi (the untalented brother of the untalented Michael "the grinder" Mizrachi). Luckily I had position on Atimos and the rest of the table appeared soft/weak. Unsurprisingly i was dealt virtually nothing playable but decided to float a guy I had identified as a mediocre internet player, that both boosted my confidence and kept me around starting stack after a couple of set mine attempts yielded nothing.

I noticed that our table was next to break, so decided to take advantage of the solid image I had built over the past two hours, and raised any two from the button and CO, winning both pots uncontested. Then I was dealt QQ in the HJ seat and raised the same amount. This time, Eric Mizrachi made a stand and flatted from the big blind. The flop was a boring T64r. He c/c my 60% pot bet. The turn brought an arguably more insignificant offsuit deuce; on which Mizrachi pounced, betting close to full pot. I laughed audibly at his play and moved my stack in, to which he insta-mucked.

Our table broke and I got moved to Scott "SCTrojans" Freeman's table over in Amazon Blue. The good part about being me is, he has no idea who I am, yet I know who he is and have a good insight into how he plays. Immediately upon sitting down I notice one gentleman has 3 full stacks of green $25 chips. This (for the non poker-savvy) indicates that he was taking down a large number of small pots. Instantly the CO raises, this gentleman flats from the button, and I look down at AJo in the BB. I call and we see a flop of 632r. I figure this missed my opponents (as indeed it had missed me), and that I would see quickly whether the CO had an overpair etc. I donk lead 700 into the pot of 1275. Pretty sure this is an ok bet size. The CO folds, but the aforementioned gentleman comes along. The turn is a repeat 6. I liked this card as there aren't many 6's in his range, and I have a 6 repped somewhat already. I bet again, 1200 or so from memory. He calls quite quickly. I am not delighted at this point as it appears he is being stubborn with a 77-88 type hand, or perhaps a pair+gutshot type hand and I was no longer sure if I had the ammunition to get him off it. Just as I was cursing the hastiness with which I had decided to make a move at a new table; the river peeled a 4. Final board reading 63264. My stack at this point is now approx 4400, and the pot is of a similar size. Basically I had to bet this card, continuing to try and sell the story I had been selling since the beginning of the hand. I figured the strongest looking play would be a small value bet rather than a shove (he had me well covered); so I bet 1600. He took around four minutes to finally fold, asking me many questions I could not hear given that I was listening to music. I decided the time was right to show him my hand; which is something I've been doing a lot less of lately, but I figured this guy would blow up and become volatile if I did so. I was proven right as he did not last a great deal longer, distributing his chips fairly evenly across the rest of the table.

Shortly before dinner, my table became interesting. Within around 20min of eachother, moorman1, petie_bigstacks, JoseBarbero, and ICuRaRook all came to the table. I did not expect to be the 6th best player at a table of 10 in a $1500NL event at WSOP (although, after the next few hours I could probly argue that 6th is quite conservative).

I busted moorman1 when he shoved his shortstack in from the SB with J9s and I called off with KTo. Sadly he looks nothing like his P5's picture otherwise I would have really given it to him (not so much for the hand as it was standard, but because I needle him online constantly and it would have livened up my evening).

I later raise UTG with AJss, to which JoseBarbero flatcalls (which i found odd as he had been 3betting a lot; but I guess my image was very snug). The flop brings 965dd. I'm not interested in making the pot any larger than it has to be, as Jose appeared to be a very tricky player capable of raising a flop like that against me with nothing. I check it over to him and he bets 2200, which was just shy of 2/3 pot. I call, being the calling station that I am, and we see a turn of 4s. I check the action over to him again, and realise that I'm not in an excellent spot in the hand, however my plan was to raise any bet he decided to make, as this would leave him little option but to fold pretty much everything but sets. He checks it back, and we see the Jd river. This is somewhat of a relief as I now have something more solid than Ace-High to show down (lol), but given his trickiness I'm not crazy about opening the betting and decide to just check and call should he bet. He checks and shows 88, and is disgusted when I show the AJ. Some heated chat ensued that I guess I got the better of and he busted shortly after with no hand. Better luck next time I guess Jose.

Later, SCTrojans plays two of the most unusual hands I've seen played by a pro. The first involves him check/3betting KJcc on a 9s4c3s flop against a super nit who CR the flop. After waving goodbye to most of his stack and flipping it back, he plays a hand against a tight old guy where he CRAI the turn with T8hh on a 7632 board. WP Scott, GG etc.

I got my stack to around 36,000 before losing two big flips, JJ losing to AK and JJ losing to AQ, and petie_bigstacks got the rest of it A6s losing to ATo bvb.

That night i finally got a good night's sleep and woke up refreshed on Wednesday at lunchtime, ready to grind the online schedule. Playing online is such a delight over here. Instead of 4am starts it's 11am starts. I love this aspect of America.

I pretty much failed all day on Wednesday, going 7/16 and losing $1k somehow.

Today was the $2000NL event. We arrived late and I sat at a table of what I had to assume were soft/weak players. I was not proven wrong as the next hour or so baffled me with it's ineptitude and inanity. Shortly into the 50/100 level the bald asian guy on my right raises the SB, i defend KTss in the BB. Flop K43r. He fires 500 into 600; where am I going? - the turn brings the 2s; I now have a spade draw to go with my top pair. Johnny Asia fires 600 into what is now 1600. I consider a raise given the small size of his bet but decide it would not really achieve much and elect to call again. The river is the 9d and he goes into the tank (starts thinking intently for a long period of time). His hands are visibly shaking as he eventually bets out like 1300 or 1600 or something... I call pretty quickly I guess and he shows me AA. Nice hand Asia. I'm pretty disappointed I didnt fold the river I guess, not because he happened to have AA, but I really only beat bluffs after he goes for 3 streets of value there, I guess if I had not noticed the physical tells I would have folded. Curses.

I came home after getting a charger for my phone and played a few tournies online. Soon into the session I realise I'm not in the mood to play and decide to either build a stack in my 3 remaining tournaments or bust trying. The Cake $109 busts easily enough with AK losing to KK, the Party 4109 was not as easy to bust, but I eventually got it in with A6hh on a 953hh board and bricked out. then the Stars $109 proved to be harder still. I got it in with AT against KK and won. Then I bluffed successfully what seemed to be 50 times, then I beat KK with AT again. At this point I realised that I was 4th in chips with 100 left ($10kUSD for 1st). I move tables to the immediate left of the chip leader, and shortly after my entire stack is in preflop with AK against his AK. I make a four card flush and by default have a giant stack (circa 58k on 150/300). I then get up to like 90k on 500/1000 when the poker gods decide to punish me for running good for a few minutes, and i endure A8 losing to JT, A4 losing to JT, AK losing to 77, then a guy stevo's me (flats KK-AA pre) but I lose the min, then same guy flats 76o from the sb when I raise QQ and looks like a genius when he stacks me on the 764r flop. WP SIR.

Then I started writing this blog.

Tomorrow is the $2500NL which I am looking forward to. With any luck I'll still be in that on Saturday otherwise I'll have to play the $550 at the Venetian as I'm not playing the $5000NL. Then again, maybe I'll just go to hooters and talk politics/religion.

Updates to follow etc.

Hope all is well wherever you are.
JD.