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There's weather, and there's weather.
Dec. 5th, 2011 05:51 pmIt's actually a little colder at the moment in Las Vegas than it is in London (if you take the average over 24 hours). It's dipping down to about -3C overnight. But if it's a day when the sun shines and the wind does not blow, even 10C during the day feels pleasant, and the 15C or so that is expected as a high for each day here through to Thursday will feel positively balmy.
+++++++++
Yesterday was the marathon.
As you can see, they closed down the entire strip, with predictable consequences for the traffic elsewhere! The runners did good times because the temperature was low. It also started to rain for the last couple of miles for most of the 3.5 hour runners, which they said "made them speed up to get it over with". 55,000 runners. Apparently a number of commercial operations pay significant sums to get the runners to go past their premises.
++++++
For me, Sunday was not so good. A splintering $580 loss over 11 hours knocked out nearly all the hard-earned profit for the week. I looked back on the session and felt that I didn't do anything wrong, and the emotional impact was surprisingly low (which perhaps means that I should play higher). It started going wrong with KK v AA (-$200 on that one). Then came the "splash pot" of $100 when New Orleans scored a touchdown and we won the table draw. I was the small blind with K8s and I had deliberately not reloaded in the previous hour or two, so I was only looking at $100 in front of me. The entire table limped (including three old locals who obviously would not risk $100 pre-flop with anything less than AA, KK, QQ, JJ or AK, all of which they would have raised) so I shoved.
I got round to the last two opponents and I was beginning to think that I might actually win it uncontested, but then a young guy called me with 95s. Obv he flopped the flush. Sigh.
And then I got 98s (diamonds) in MP, put in a 3x pre-flop raise and got four callers. Flop was 987 two spades, to which a half-stack in early position bet a third of the pot. I pot-raised, he shoved and I put in the last $40 I had in front of me. He had Ts6s. No 9 or 8 on turn or river and it's reload time for me again.
These sessions happen and I think that the last three days have turned me from net running good into net running bad (if only because of the KK v AA - a rare event indeed in live play -- prob once every 200 hours that it would happen to me that way (and once every 200 hours the other way round). Not sure how often it happens to "any two players" at a full table - once every 20 hours?
So, back to square one, but never mind.
++++
On Saturday night I went with some friends and friends of friends to Binion's and the Golden Nugget. I think that this is the first time for many years that I have been Downtown on a Saturday night. The Rodeo is in town, so the minimum stakes were ratcheted up a bit ($10 on the craps tables, for example). Dinner in the Nugget was nice, but I felt that it was a bit overpriced for what it was. The $17.99 for canneloni looks ok, but then they add 8% sales tax and 18% gratuity. A few drinks for the other people at $9 a spirit and $9 a wine, and the bill soon moved to $480 for eight of us without coffee or dessert. So, nice, but not that nice.
Why so many American places go for this "low headline" price and then smack on the extras I do not understand. It only causes resentment. What is going on in the minds of the people who make these decisions? Surely a headline price and the rider "guaranteed no extras" would work better?
Three of us went to find a cab at about 1am and I spotted a line on the corner around the back of Binion's. As we were walking towards this line a cab turned right and pulled up and the driver said "cab?" The merest hint of a change of direction from us caused such a flurry of horns that I thought it might actually lead to violence. Clearly times are tough for cab drivers in Vegas. We went to the line and got driven back to the Flamingo by a guy from Brooklyn. Vegas is cool. No-one is from Vegas.
+++++++
The "splash pot" in the Flamingo reflects an odd economic dynamic in the card rooms. Over the years that I have been coming here the rake has gone up from 5% (up to $3) to 10% (up to $5). But, in order to get custom, the poker rooms offer more bonuses. In essence this means that the poker rooms are following the online rooms with rakeback. This indirectly benefits regulars over tourists, because the more you play, the more you qualify for some of the bonuses (e.g., the monthly $5k freeroll for 30 hours' play) . From 8am to 2pm there is a $100 bonus for Aces cracked (on Saturday I got my aces cracked at 7.30pm with AAA vs flush flopped on the turn. I somehow managed to restrict my loss to $45 - god bless bad players -- but the $100 bonus would have been even nicer). There's a reasonable high hand ($50 for quads, $100 for a straight flush and a big progressive for a royal flush - must use both hole cards). The Aces-cracked promotion brings in a lot of the old locals for the $2-$4 limit. It's almost as if you are in Sunset Station.
None of these promotions are really enough to change your playing decisions, (the big Royal Flush award might make a limp right where otherwise it would have been wrong), but if it changes the way other people play, all to the good. My normal parameter is to win one or two of these a trip. Have won one so far (a splash pot). But have also had set under set, KK under AA, and some generally rubbish cards.
+++++++++++
I saw less of the Poker bloggers over the weekend than I had intended, but I did make it over to the Aria to say hello. The first person I saw in the blogger tourney was, strangely, Jena, a dealer at the Flamingo. She looked at me in surprise as we both moved into a George Costanza-like "When Worlds Collide" moment. "Do you know these people?" Jena asked. "Sure", I replied, "Do you?" As it happens she only knew a couple of the people there, one of whom had invited her over to play. Just the 74 entries. The blogging economy is fading as well.
+++++
As for the health, well, I'm much better, although the ribs haven't healed and still hurt badly when I cough. The chest isn't 100% either, which is something of a concern. Luckily the doctor seems to have given me 30 amoxicillin tablets rather than 20, so I will keep taking two a day until I run out. If the chest does't feel 100% by then, it's back to the doctor's.
__________
+++++++++
Yesterday was the marathon.
As you can see, they closed down the entire strip, with predictable consequences for the traffic elsewhere! The runners did good times because the temperature was low. It also started to rain for the last couple of miles for most of the 3.5 hour runners, which they said "made them speed up to get it over with". 55,000 runners. Apparently a number of commercial operations pay significant sums to get the runners to go past their premises.
++++++
For me, Sunday was not so good. A splintering $580 loss over 11 hours knocked out nearly all the hard-earned profit for the week. I looked back on the session and felt that I didn't do anything wrong, and the emotional impact was surprisingly low (which perhaps means that I should play higher). It started going wrong with KK v AA (-$200 on that one). Then came the "splash pot" of $100 when New Orleans scored a touchdown and we won the table draw. I was the small blind with K8s and I had deliberately not reloaded in the previous hour or two, so I was only looking at $100 in front of me. The entire table limped (including three old locals who obviously would not risk $100 pre-flop with anything less than AA, KK, QQ, JJ or AK, all of which they would have raised) so I shoved.
I got round to the last two opponents and I was beginning to think that I might actually win it uncontested, but then a young guy called me with 95s. Obv he flopped the flush. Sigh.
And then I got 98s (diamonds) in MP, put in a 3x pre-flop raise and got four callers. Flop was 987 two spades, to which a half-stack in early position bet a third of the pot. I pot-raised, he shoved and I put in the last $40 I had in front of me. He had Ts6s. No 9 or 8 on turn or river and it's reload time for me again.
These sessions happen and I think that the last three days have turned me from net running good into net running bad (if only because of the KK v AA - a rare event indeed in live play -- prob once every 200 hours that it would happen to me that way (and once every 200 hours the other way round). Not sure how often it happens to "any two players" at a full table - once every 20 hours?
So, back to square one, but never mind.
++++
On Saturday night I went with some friends and friends of friends to Binion's and the Golden Nugget. I think that this is the first time for many years that I have been Downtown on a Saturday night. The Rodeo is in town, so the minimum stakes were ratcheted up a bit ($10 on the craps tables, for example). Dinner in the Nugget was nice, but I felt that it was a bit overpriced for what it was. The $17.99 for canneloni looks ok, but then they add 8% sales tax and 18% gratuity. A few drinks for the other people at $9 a spirit and $9 a wine, and the bill soon moved to $480 for eight of us without coffee or dessert. So, nice, but not that nice.
Why so many American places go for this "low headline" price and then smack on the extras I do not understand. It only causes resentment. What is going on in the minds of the people who make these decisions? Surely a headline price and the rider "guaranteed no extras" would work better?
Three of us went to find a cab at about 1am and I spotted a line on the corner around the back of Binion's. As we were walking towards this line a cab turned right and pulled up and the driver said "cab?" The merest hint of a change of direction from us caused such a flurry of horns that I thought it might actually lead to violence. Clearly times are tough for cab drivers in Vegas. We went to the line and got driven back to the Flamingo by a guy from Brooklyn. Vegas is cool. No-one is from Vegas.
+++++++
The "splash pot" in the Flamingo reflects an odd economic dynamic in the card rooms. Over the years that I have been coming here the rake has gone up from 5% (up to $3) to 10% (up to $5). But, in order to get custom, the poker rooms offer more bonuses. In essence this means that the poker rooms are following the online rooms with rakeback. This indirectly benefits regulars over tourists, because the more you play, the more you qualify for some of the bonuses (e.g., the monthly $5k freeroll for 30 hours' play) . From 8am to 2pm there is a $100 bonus for Aces cracked (on Saturday I got my aces cracked at 7.30pm with AAA vs flush flopped on the turn. I somehow managed to restrict my loss to $45 - god bless bad players -- but the $100 bonus would have been even nicer). There's a reasonable high hand ($50 for quads, $100 for a straight flush and a big progressive for a royal flush - must use both hole cards). The Aces-cracked promotion brings in a lot of the old locals for the $2-$4 limit. It's almost as if you are in Sunset Station.
None of these promotions are really enough to change your playing decisions, (the big Royal Flush award might make a limp right where otherwise it would have been wrong), but if it changes the way other people play, all to the good. My normal parameter is to win one or two of these a trip. Have won one so far (a splash pot). But have also had set under set, KK under AA, and some generally rubbish cards.
+++++++++++
I saw less of the Poker bloggers over the weekend than I had intended, but I did make it over to the Aria to say hello. The first person I saw in the blogger tourney was, strangely, Jena, a dealer at the Flamingo. She looked at me in surprise as we both moved into a George Costanza-like "When Worlds Collide" moment. "Do you know these people?" Jena asked. "Sure", I replied, "Do you?" As it happens she only knew a couple of the people there, one of whom had invited her over to play. Just the 74 entries. The blogging economy is fading as well.
+++++
As for the health, well, I'm much better, although the ribs haven't healed and still hurt badly when I cough. The chest isn't 100% either, which is something of a concern. Luckily the doctor seems to have given me 30 amoxicillin tablets rather than 20, so I will keep taking two a day until I run out. If the chest does't feel 100% by then, it's back to the doctor's.
__________
