June 28th started as I promised with me entering Event #3, the $1,500 PLHE which kicked off at midday. 1,100ish runners in total, 1,500 chips and starting blinds of 25/25.
The very fist hand I had A-K suited, folded to me in the cut-off. I make it 100, big blind calls. He checks the 2-4-6 rainbow flop, I bet 150, he calls. Turn is 8, putting two diamonds on board. Check check. River is the 7 of diamonds. He now bets 400, and I pass, having done 1/6th of my stack with A-high on the first hand.
Soon after I have 8-8, an aggressive ep player makes it 75, and I call along with the button. Flop is 9-6-3 rainbow, initial raiser checks, I bet 150. The button calls, the initial raiser checkraises 500 more. I shake my head and pass.
I now have 1,075 chips. I have AQo in the big blind. Three limpers to me and, with my stack size, I decide to check. Flop is Q-4-4 with two hearts. Checked to the button who bets 100. I have a key card - the ace of hearts, so I just call. Everyone else folds. Turn is 8 of diamonds, check check. River two of spades. I bet 125, into a 325 pot. A value bet designed for K-Q, Q-J, or Q-T to call, which I think are his most likely holdings, or, if he has absolutely nothing (a missed draw), I have bet small enough to give him the option of raising my weak bet which I will call. Well in actual fact he minimum raises me (lol), I obviously hate this but call anyway and he shows 45o. Maybe I should have raised pre-flop though, of course that is results-oriented analysis.
40 minutes in I now have 6-7-5 chips. Two limpers to the button who makes it 125. He has been quite aggressive so far taking pots without showdown so i can't give his hand too much respect here. I have 9-9 in the small blind. In No-Limit, in this situation, I may just tank the lot in pre-flop. However, as this is pot-limit, I opt to call. (If I reraise the maximum that's over half my stack in and I'm in an awful spot if I get a caller and two or more overcards flop.)
Anyway, the limpers fold, and the flop comes down exactly the same as the first hand, 2-4-6 rainbow, exactly what I want to see. With 325 chips in the pot and 550 in my stack it should be obvious what the best play is here. I check, the aggressive preflop raiser bets 175, and I checkraise all-in. Well he calls and turns over J-J and I'm out. So 4 hands played, all of them lost and I don't survive the first level. Still it's better to be knocked out early than play for six hours without cashing I guess.
I'm still in good spirits as I leave the table - I'm only disappointed if I get outdrawn in a big pot or I play a hand badly, and as far as I can see I couldn't have played any of those 4 hands any better, anyone disagree?
Next I play a $325 single table satellite. The standard of play in this is laughable, and I chop it with the only other player at the table who seems to have a clue.
5pm and time for the $500 second chance multi I cashed in the day before. 190 runners, $29k first prize. Again the standard of play is awful, I start off well and after a while I have an above average stack and get the lot in with 8-8 on an 8-4-5 flop against the only player on the table who has me covered. Well he turns over 6-7 for the coconuts. I expected he had this when he put the third reraise in on the flop, but over here there's an equal chance a player turns over T-5o in this situation! I get lucky when the case 8 hits the turn.
I have 13k chips when the average is 4k. With large antes (in relation to the blinds), lots of small stacks, and of course a field full of donkeys, I could not be more confident. However, as can happen in tournament poker I lose three consecutive coin flips and finish 32nd, the hand details are standard and pretty boring. I swear I'm due a break in a decent-sized tournament like this, very reminiscent of how I blew a big stack twice in the Stars Sunday million earlier tihs year. Bill, author of 'The Grind' took the lion's share in a 4-way split.
No more poker for me after that, myself Dubai and Martin have a few drinks. We go to the Voodoo Lounge which is on the roof of the Rio (54 storeys up) and the views of Vegas are absolutely breathtaking, I never knew the population of Vegas was about 3 million, I assumed it was about the size of Manchester (700,000ish). Martin doesn't enjoy it as much as he's scared of heights though! He needs an early night as he has made the second day of Event #3. Of course I didn't think to ask for a 10% swap before the event started! He busts in a coinflip scenario in 34th with AK v 88, very disappointing but good for a $7.5k cash. Anyway, I make it to bed at 5am the night before last, Dubai however heads for the cardroom at this time to play cash and eventually rolls in to bed at 9.30am!
So onto the 29th (yesterday). Martin busts out as I mention above, I chop a second consecutive single table satellite, and then lose a coinflip early on in the $500 second chance, which is appearing to be one of the best value tournaments I've ever known of. I play another single table sat, can't make it three in a row though, and last night we leave the vicinity of the Rio (after being here for 4 days it was about time).
We head to a steakhouse, for some unknown reason it has the name '9'. This is located in the Palms casino a short walk from the Rio and the food is simply excellent. After this I almost die of boredom as Dubai and Martin (right) have a small spin up on the Craps table (I honestly cannot see the attraction of throwing dice about in a -EV game, to me watching paint dry is far more interesting than this!).
As we walk back into the Rio we see a Vegas legend, TJ Cloutier. He is of course at the craps table. We go to take a closer look. He is betting the minimum and clutching a couple of $25 chips. A sad sight and also quite pathetic from a man who has won millions in poker tournaments. I just don't get why poker players have a propensity to give all their winnings (in his case millions) to the house in these boring games.
On the adjacent craps table is Kenna James (a big name apparently), and WPT presenter Mike Sexton. Two days earlier Mike had won $1 million in the Tournament of Champions freeroll. And here he is stood at the craps table 48 hours later. The mind absolutely boggles, surely he can think of something more interesting to do with his money.
Martin goes to bed, being sensible as he's playing the $2,500 short-handed tournament today, as me and Dubai head for the Voodoo Lounge again. The $20 door charge (as it's Thursday I guess this counts as the weekend) is well worth it, as the views are magnificent, and not just the skyline :-)! I've never been in a city with as many good looking women as there are in Vegas. But anyway, we have a few beers, admire the views, have a few more beers and eventually head for bed. The thin veil of being professional poker players is slowly slipping away it would seem! Just caught the end of the Germany v Argie game, and wasn't surprised to see the German's progress, as I predicted.
It is now 11am local time, Martin is playing the $2,500 which kicks off in one hour. Today I hope to make some money on the single table sats, and maybe have a crack at the $500 multi again. I want to play the $2,000 NLHE tomorrow but with the England game on at 8am local time and a couple of Martin's mates from Brighton having arrived (including Resteal Ray - the best nickname in poker?), I will have to wait and see if I'm in a fit state before making a late decision.
As an aside, other UK players I have seen here include Willy Tann, Gary Bush, Rivedave, Carlo Citrone, ActionJack, Dave Colclough, Neil Channing. Sure there are others too.
Second aside, I'm genuinely delighted to see that PokerStars player 'Rizen' has almost 1/3 of the chips in play going into the final table of the PLHE. He is regarded as one of the the very best MTT players on PokerStars, and in my experience of playing with him online I would agree. Hope he can take the bracelet.
After 4 days I'm really enjoying it here, however all profits in single table sats so far have been cancelled out by multi-tournament buy-ins. Hoping for a good day at the tables today. More later...
