Vegas Success!

[greenbuckets]

Just spent 9 days in Vegas for a conference and a class at the coatings expo but found a little bit of time to play some poker.

Day 1:
$100 NL table at Excalibur: Played for 6 hours and left with $208. I was up over $400 when someone went all in on an AK9 flop and I had pocket kings. Of course he had pocket aces and I doubled him up.

Day2:
Same casino and table, but couldn't catch a card to save my life. I bought in three times for $100 and struggled to get back to even after about 8 hours. I cashed out for $320.

I played in the $40 buy in NL tourney at The Orleans. I rebought chips twice for $20, so I was in for $80. Out of 208, I finished a spectacular 201st.

At the end of day 2, I was up approximately $50.

Day 3:
Back to the Excalibur for the NL table. I played for only about 5 hours and cashed out for $717. This was the easiest poker I have ever played. I was dealt pocket aces 7 times in this period and won with them each time. On one hand, towards the end of the 5 hours, I was dealt pocket jacks. The flop was JJ3. Flopped quads for the first time in my life. I checked the flop and called a $20 bet. The turn was perfect...an ace. I checked the ace, the guy who bet $20 moved all-in for $173. I called of course and he flipped over AK. At the Excalibur, you get to spin a wheel when you lose with pocket Aces or get a four of a kind or higher so I spun the wheel and won an additional $35. Not too bad.

At the end of day 3, I was up over $750 and feeling pretty good about myself.

Day 4:
Didn't have much time to play so I tried the tourney at The Orleans again. I was in for $80 and managed to hang on for a little while longer but finished 77th out of 223.

Four days and still up close to $700.

Day 5:

Played in the 4-8 Omaha at The Orleans and left after only about 10 hands. The average age of the players there (as with most Omaha games) was about 70 and every player contested every hand and generally bitched and moaned the whole time. I was out about $30 when I left. I would have paid to leave the table if I needed to. I have never seen so many unhappy people at the same table.

Day 6 and 7: No poker as I was fairly busy.

Day 8:
Thought I would try the Luxor. Bought in for $200 at the 4-8 hold 'em table. It seems the Luxor put in the poker room as an afterthought. The tables were very small and the room was smaller. If I leaned back in my chair, I would hit the player at the table behind me. I played for about 4 hours and left with nothing. This table was very loose and aggressive and I was generally uncomfortable and everyone picked up on it.

Late Day 8 and Day 9:

I was finished with my work so I had about 16 hours to play poker before my plane left. I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I didn't give the Bellagio a try so I headed over there. I bought in for $200 at the $2-$5 blinds NL table. I won a few hands and was feeling pretty good with my play. Then I was dealt pocket kings. I raised pre-flop to $30 and was called by 3 players. The flop was three low cards. A player before me bet $75 and I went all-in. He called and had (of course) aces. I bought back in for $200 and mananged to work my way up to about $500. I was dealt 9T suited and called a $15 pre-flop raise. The flop was 678 rainbow. The raiser then bet $20. I raised to $50. He called. The turn was K. He went all in for about $350. Of course I called and won. I am now sitting on a stack of about $800. The next 8 hours or so, I was playing pretty tight and didn't catch many hands but still had over $800.

My plane was leaving in 4 hours so I was about ready to leave when I decided to play another round. I'm in the big blind and was dealt Q2 off. No one raised and I checked my hand. The flop came QQ2! Jackpot. I slowplayed my boat and it checked around. The turn was a 10. I bet $40. The next player went all in for $220. The next guy called. I thought I was toast and was kicking myself for slowplaying my boat as I figured one of those players had to have me beat. The guy that called had about $150 in chips left so I figured I might as well go down with a bang. I went all in and he called. My Q2 off was up against AQ and TT. They held up and I won a $900 pot. I played another few hands and cashed out for $1674 and caught my plane home.


All in all, I was very happy with the results of the trip. I left with a profit of close to $2000 but the majority of that came on a few hands where I had good cards and the other player(s) had just a little bit weaker cards. I did make some suspect plays and folded the winner a few times when the bet to me was fairly large. I was disappointed in my performance in the tournaments but I can live with those as the ring games more than made up for those.

After playing only online for the last 8 months, I found the live games to be a little bit easier since the players can be read and you can see reactions. If I had a dollar for every time I saw someone's hands shaking so bad they couldn't put their chips in the middle, I would double my profit for the trip. Every time hands started shaking, I knew that person had a hand. That was one of the tells I did pick up on. This may be due to an adrenaline rush or something but without fail, that person had good cards.

Hope this wasn't too long...

[PShabi]

Nice Post. Thanks for sharing. Sounds like a great trip.

Although "aces 5 times, with no losses"? Sounds like that might be "rigged."

[Talking Poker]

This was an awesome post. Thanks for the trip report, and congrats - sounds like you played well.

I liked the Q2 hand a lot. I wouldn't have been too worried when that T hit - only QT beats you right there. they had a combined 4 outs between them. Sounds like a pretty good time to put all your money in to me. Then again, what do I know about big pots when your opponents have a combined 4 outs:


Of your entire report though, I must say, this was my favorite line:

LOL