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Diary of a Las Vegas grinder part two
Jun. 17th, 2015 04:08 pmIt was a somewhat uneventful Tuesday at the poker tables – five hours in the morning at the Flamingo (10 hours now booked to qualify for freeroll on Friday) and just over two hours at Harrah's in the evening from 10pm until midnight. Came back to the apartment in between and had a nap.
But after a grim Monday, where I managed to mislay a buy-in (and, no, I still can't figure out how it happened), an uneventful day is what you need. The session at the Flamingo was notable for a lack of cards. Best hand was TT. No JJ, QQ, KK or AA. No AK of any type.
I drifted down to about $75 but doubled through via a cute bit of play UTG with 9h8h. Raised small, got a couple of callers, and flop came Ah 6s 3h. Put in an $11 continuation bet. Got one caller. Turn brought Qh. I bet $25, which is what I reckon opponent would expect AK to bet. He raised me all in. I called and after the dust settled he showed AQ and I tabled my flush.
I think he was a bit miffed that I didn't table my flush straight away, but I called him and a higher flush was fully within his range. His pissed-offness was more a matter of him thinking he had won and suddenly finding that he had lost.
Drifted down again, either card dead or missing any set opportunities that presented themselves. Broke even for the session.
I walked to Planet Hollywood (via Bally's and Paris) and said hello to Kevin O'Leary, who was playing one of the PH Goliath tournaments. These look good value and much more fun than the WSOP. Played on the mezzanine. A lot of space, high ceilings, nice temperature.
The bonuses offered by the Caesar's properties to poker players in December have nearly all been suspended for the WSOP. Harrah's has a tough six-weeker with a freeroll at the end offering a ME seat and 10 x $200 prizes. But I expect there will be some 200 qualifiers. There are bonuses for exceeding the minimum number of hours and, given the paucity of offers elsewhere, this might be the route for me to take. The Bad Beat jackpot at Flamingo is still hard to hit (quad fours) and Bally's is offering nothing bar its normal high-hand promotions.
So I played a couple of hours at Harrah's. There were three Spanish guys at the table who were friends and all reasonably competent. Not many weak spots TBH. But I sneaked a small $37 profit via a limp-call UTG with AKo and a check-raise on a flop of Kxx. However, it's somewhat sobering to work out that what started out as a $48 profit turned into a $41 profit after rake, bonus box dollar and dollar tip. My second win was about as tedious an AA as you can get. Raise to 5x from one of the Spanish guys UTG. And I reraise to $30 in UTG+2. No customers. Given the fact that he was competent and he knew I wasn't playing speculatively (and I only had $150 in front of me) he folded to the reraise fairly quickly. That's the way it goes. Flat-calling with the AA is asking for trouble. And at least the $13 profit on that had was rake-free (no flop, no drop).
So, a tiny profit for the day, but a good base on which to build for rest of the trip.
I got home about 1am to read the excellent news that Mr Hawes is on a flight from Paris at this very moment. I assume that he will be playing the Seniors, although I might recommend the Saturday Seniors at Planet Hollywood ($565 entry) as an alternative. But, these tourney players – all of them just look at the size of the first prize!
But after a grim Monday, where I managed to mislay a buy-in (and, no, I still can't figure out how it happened), an uneventful day is what you need. The session at the Flamingo was notable for a lack of cards. Best hand was TT. No JJ, QQ, KK or AA. No AK of any type.
I drifted down to about $75 but doubled through via a cute bit of play UTG with 9h8h. Raised small, got a couple of callers, and flop came Ah 6s 3h. Put in an $11 continuation bet. Got one caller. Turn brought Qh. I bet $25, which is what I reckon opponent would expect AK to bet. He raised me all in. I called and after the dust settled he showed AQ and I tabled my flush.
I think he was a bit miffed that I didn't table my flush straight away, but I called him and a higher flush was fully within his range. His pissed-offness was more a matter of him thinking he had won and suddenly finding that he had lost.
Drifted down again, either card dead or missing any set opportunities that presented themselves. Broke even for the session.
I walked to Planet Hollywood (via Bally's and Paris) and said hello to Kevin O'Leary, who was playing one of the PH Goliath tournaments. These look good value and much more fun than the WSOP. Played on the mezzanine. A lot of space, high ceilings, nice temperature.
The bonuses offered by the Caesar's properties to poker players in December have nearly all been suspended for the WSOP. Harrah's has a tough six-weeker with a freeroll at the end offering a ME seat and 10 x $200 prizes. But I expect there will be some 200 qualifiers. There are bonuses for exceeding the minimum number of hours and, given the paucity of offers elsewhere, this might be the route for me to take. The Bad Beat jackpot at Flamingo is still hard to hit (quad fours) and Bally's is offering nothing bar its normal high-hand promotions.
So I played a couple of hours at Harrah's. There were three Spanish guys at the table who were friends and all reasonably competent. Not many weak spots TBH. But I sneaked a small $37 profit via a limp-call UTG with AKo and a check-raise on a flop of Kxx. However, it's somewhat sobering to work out that what started out as a $48 profit turned into a $41 profit after rake, bonus box dollar and dollar tip. My second win was about as tedious an AA as you can get. Raise to 5x from one of the Spanish guys UTG. And I reraise to $30 in UTG+2. No customers. Given the fact that he was competent and he knew I wasn't playing speculatively (and I only had $150 in front of me) he folded to the reraise fairly quickly. That's the way it goes. Flat-calling with the AA is asking for trouble. And at least the $13 profit on that had was rake-free (no flop, no drop).
So, a tiny profit for the day, but a good base on which to build for rest of the trip.
I got home about 1am to read the excellent news that Mr Hawes is on a flight from Paris at this very moment. I assume that he will be playing the Seniors, although I might recommend the Saturday Seniors at Planet Hollywood ($565 entry) as an alternative. But, these tourney players – all of them just look at the size of the first prize!
