This past weekend I was in Las Vegas (woo hoo!) for the first time since October. There would be three of us this trip.
Getting There
For some reason, getting to Vegas is always an adventure. Okay, okay, I think it's a well established pattern that, for me, getting anywhere is an adventure. But this time it wasn't my fault, unless you consider anything bad happening as a result of choosing Southwest airlines to be my fault (an understandable position, I might add).
Long story short, one of three things happened on the Thursday afternoon flight. Either 1) the ailerons and rudders all went haywire, randomly moving in any direction at any time, 2) the pilot was drunk nearly to the point of unconsciousness, or, the most likely option based on the extreme nature of the flight, 3) both. We were tilting back and forth so much coming in to land that it was unclear up until we actually touched ground whether we would land on the landing gear or on one of the wings.
When we finally did touch down (thankfully on the wheels), there was a few heartstopping moments as people were both 1) completely amazed and 2) waiting for the plane to just spin out and crash. Thankfully, we merely slowed down, and so after the shock wore off about half the passengers spontaneously did something that I've never seen before--they cheered. Go sloppily drunk pilot with his malfunctioning airplane! Way to land us all in one piece!
Alive and with a new respect for life, I headed for the Bellagio as fast as I could go.
Boy, Do I Suck
My original plan was to go play in the Thursday night tournament at the Mirage. Registration for the 7:00 tournament began at 5:30 and unfortunately arriving at 5:45 was too late to get a seat. A little disappointed, I returned to the Bellagio.
I got a 15/30 seat pretty quickly. For those who have noticed over my last few trip reports, I for some reason cannot win a hand at 15/30. The story of the past 80-90 hours of play at that level has been sets on the river (someone else's, of course). Starting with last October's Vegas trip, and including my trip to Canterbury park, my two January trips to Lake Charles, LA, I've dropped about 175BBs at that level, or about $5200.
That's a lotta cash.
But, besides a couple of bad calls on the river, I haven't been playing all that badly. If you count all my live play over that time, I'm actually up big-bets wise. I've just had all my bad luck concentrated at the one level. So in effect, I'm waiting for the regression to the mean to occur (er, progression towards the mean?). Considering the crappy luck I've been having, one of these days I should just sit down and win about $3000 in the course of about two hours. Er, right?
Apparently the poker gods don't believe in statistics. That Thursday night would just be more of the same. I won't regale you all with the bad beat stories, but suffice to say there were numerous hands in large pots where I was at one point 90%+ favorite and lost. Seven hours and -35BBs later I slinked off to bed.
Ok, Maybe I Don't Suck That Much
I spent Friday lounging by the pool, reading, and getting lost in Caesar's Palace, at first looking for decently priced food, and then an exit. I'm not sure which one was harder to find. That place is expensive. And big.
Finally around 9pm I got to the Mirage to at long last try 20/40 (you know, having dropped now 210BBs at 15/30, I felt more than ready to move up). I first played 15/30 last March when I probably shouldn't have been playing above 6/12. For the past year that's remained the highest limit I've played at. But finally I had both the cajones and the bankroll to attempt the next level.
After an hour of 10/20 waiting for a seat, I got sat at a boring, tight 20/40 game. It took me about 10 minutes to switch tables to the one that actually saw an occasional flop. It was still depressingly tight until around midnight when the flood gates opened.
We were ten-handed and among the other nine players at the table, there was one tight, tough player; one slightly-too-loose, straight-forward player; one stereotypical weak-tight old man; two loose-aggressive maniacs; and four, count 'em four completely clueless dolts. Now, there was certainly a range of cluelessness among the dolts, but it is suffice to say that they ranged from ability from one who would be clueless at a 4/8 game to one who might be able to break even at 4/8. And I got to play 20/40 against them.
One great advantage is that I'd played against all the players before. Okay, I'd only played against two of the actual people before, but I'd played against the exact type of player many times over. I could handle each and every one of them.
I also managed to avoid being nervous at the new limit meaning I would also be able to take full advantage of the profitable nature of the table. You see, when I used to move up in limits, I would often play a little scared. The new limit would be a lot of money. My third hand I ever played at 15/30, one long year ago, I got KK. It was four-bet to me on the button in a super loose-aggressive game. My exact thoughts were "I need to cap it, but that's $75!!!" I did indeed cap it, but the whole time I was thinking "Jesus, I just put in $75 to see a flop!" (Luckily, I won that hand.)
This time, however, there was a slight shock at having to post $20 when I came in behind the button, but after that I was slinging chips around like a seasoned 20/40 pro, not even thinking about the amounts.
The first three or so hours I played at the game I bounced around between being even and down about 15BBs (about $600, meaning at my low point I was down over $1600 for the trip). But I was getting cards, and confident in my ability in relation to the other players and knew that if I just hung out long enough my time would come. I finally won a good sized pot and then another one and I was up a bit for the first time. Then I won a few other pots and was up considerably. I made a few mistakes, but the players were transparent enough that my course of action was usually pretty clear.
One mistake: I had JJ in middle position. UTG, a calling station who simply would never fold, limped in and I raised. The very next person, the slightly-too-loose and straightforward player, cold-called. Uh-oh. She has a hand, either a pocket-pair or two face cards Q or higher. Watch out. Everyone else folded.
The flop came KQ9. UTG checked and I bet, knowing that the straightforward player would fold if she missed, or call if she hit. She called and so I figured I had a very slim chance of being any good. The turn was a deuce, and UTG checked again. I checked, figuring I could confidently fold to a bet from the straightforward player (who probably wouldn't fold a K or a Q for one bet). But she checked. She would bet a K there 100% of the time, but perhaps not a Q. She'd call with a Q, but maybe not bet, hoping to see a cheap showdown. Like I said, she was straightforward. UTG would have bet just about anything, so I was sure I had him beat. The river was a four and now UTG bet. There was no flush and I was sure he didn't have the straight, a K or a Q, and I was sure straightforward player didn't have a K, but might have, and would call with, a Q.
My move, therefore, was obvious. I had to raise. I knew I had UTG beat. The four almost definitely did not hit the straightforward player and she would almost definitely fold a pocket pair less than a Q so going for the overcall would be a horrible play. But she might have a Q and, if so, she'd almost certainly call. But she would be very, very hard pressed to call a raise.
I knew all this. I knew what my correct play was. But rather than calmy make the right play, I just went with my knee-jerk reaction and called UTG. Straightforward player thankfully folded (TT) and UTG showed T9o for the pair of nines, and my hand was good.
It was still a poor play, however.
That was the last hand I played that evening, as it was getting close to 5am. I looked down and counted, finding that I was up over 37BBs, $1496. All in all, it was a good session.
Back to Sucking
Saturday afternoon would find me back at the Bellagio trying in vain to finally have a winning session at 15/30. Once again, I would be disappointed. I would drop over 20 more BBs into the game, as I was once again completely card dead, with the few big hands I had being drawn out on by someone hitting one of the five or six collective outs against me on the river.
My best play came when I raised J4o from the SB. Heh. Maybe my problem is I should play trash more...
Unlike my fishy days, this play was actually definsible (in fact, I felt it was a good play). UTG was a weak-tight player, completely fit-or-fold. Just trying to be a little different, he nervously threw out a live straddle. It folded around to me in the SB and I saw my J4o. But at that point, it didn't matter what my cards were; I almost didn't even look. There were 3.67 small bets in the pot, and to raise I only had to put in 2.33 small bets. Since I figured that 1) UTG had a random crappy hand, 2) He would fold unless he hit strong (therefore I most likely had the advantage if I missed, but high cards flopped along with his, say, bottom pair), 3) I was more aggressive, and 4) The BB would be very hard pressed to call that many bets with anything but a premium hand, I put my chances of winning should I raise at over 60%.
So I raised. The BB folded as expected and UTG hesitantly called. Good, he had a weak hand. The flop came AT8. I bet. He threw out a courtesy call. The turn was a Q. I bet again. He finally gave up on what was obviously a really weak hand.
Sigh....J4o...my most profitable 15/30 hand of the weekend (okay, probably not true, but it's up there).
A Little Confidence Booster
Later in the evening I went back to the Mirage to try the 20/40 again, but it looked like a tougher game than Friday night and so I returned to the Bellagio. The 15/30 list wasn't too long, but it was not budging at all. There was open seating at 30/60, however...
I couldn't, could I? That's way too big.
But the games looked really good.
But it's 30 freakin 60.
And the pots were huge.
"Hey, Ski, I'll take that 30/60 seat."
So a little after 4am, I sat down at 30/60 for the first time in my life. And unlike how confident I was playing at 20/40, I was nervous. I think a lot of it had to do with the chips. I'm used to seeing piles of red $5 chips in front of players--after all they're used at 10/20, 15/30 and 20/40. I'm used to dealing with them--any amount I want to bet is ingrained into my muscle memory. If I have to use, two, three, heck eight of them to bet, it isn't a problem. The Bellagio 30/60, on the other hand, uses these orange, green and purple $10 chips that just make the game look completely different, more intimidating. It really shouldn't matter, but for some reason it did.
It also didn't help that I looked around and the players were obviously smarter and richer than any group of players I had before played against.
My introduction would work out pretty well, however. About my fourth hand or so, I got AA UTG+1. I raised. Call...call...call...call. Four callers. Dammit, I was about to lose a lot of money.
Flop: As9h2h. Top set. The nuts. But there was a flush draw, so I bet out. I got one caller, the player two to my left. Not bad.
Turn: (As9h2h) Kc. I bet. Raise. Um, excuse me? Did someone just hit two pair? I went to reraise, still feeling the nerves of the higher limit and therefore fumbling with my chips like a brand new 2/4 player. I eventually managed to get the reraise out, and the raiser just called, obviously distressed.
River: (As9h2hKc) Qd. Unless he had been semi-bluff raising with the JhTh, I still had him beat. I bet out. He called, obviously even more distressed. He must have a smaller set, I thought. I showed my top set, and dragged the 14BB pot. Obviously not the biggest pot in the world in terms of big bets, but it was $840 which made it the biggest pot dollar-wise I'd ever won.
My opponent later told me he had KK. He didn't reraise me because the only hand I could play that way that he could beat was the unlikely AK. Otherwise, I had AA and would keep going. Yes, players at this level think a bit more than players at lower levels. However, they still call a bet by the preflop raiser, with three players left to act afterwards, an A on the board and KK in their hand, so that's good.
With that hand, I was up about $500. I would manage to win a few more small pots, lose one big one, and get blinded otherwise, to remain about even after that point. I would finish the under-two-hour session at 6am, up $538, or about 9BB.
With that session, I was finally once again in the black for the trip.
Winding Down
Sunday would be a much more relaxing day. While I spent my weekend at the middle limits, my less experienced friends were taking their shots at the low-limit grind, playing mostly 3/6 and 4/8. With only a few hours to play before my flight and not wanting to jump into a higher-limit afternoon game, I decided to play 4/8 alongside my buddies.
Collectively they finished up for the trip. My roommate, who got his first taste of casino poker when he joined me for a trip to Lake Charles, LA, in January did remarkably well his second time out, finishing up over $500. He's becoming quite a fan of poker. I may have to stop giving him tips, lest he start using his knowledge of my play against me someday soon at the same table. My other friend didn't fair as well, bouncing around before finally finishing down about $70.
The 4/8 table broke, but with 30 minutes still before I had to leave, I sat down at 8/16 to finish out my trip. I thus ended up playing six different limits over the three day trip, with the following results:
4/8: +$ 12
8/16: +$ 49
10/20: -$ 219
15/30: -$1746
20/40: +$1496
30/60: +$ 538
Total: +$ 130
Not bad for 18 hours of work. Hey, for $7.22/hr, I should quit my job now and move to Vegas! Heh.
This means that my current downswing at 15/30 is nearly $7000, or about 230 BBs. That's quite a downswing. If I haven't done fabulously well at, well, just about every other limit I've played over the same time period, I'd be worried. For right now, I'm willing to chalk it up to my bad runs of cards just clustering at the 15/30 level. Yes, I'm making some mistakes, but not enough that I feel I'm a losing player. I just have to figure out how to get the guys who check-raise me on the flop with pocket threes and all overcards on the board to stop hitting their sets on the turn (yes, that happened this trip, among many other fun hands).
One of these days, I'll just sit down at that game and win $2000. Of course, maybe it will be a long time coming, after I've established myself as a successful 20/40 or 30/60 player...
One can always dream.
One Last Irrelevant Note
I saw Jennifer Harman playing at the $2000/4000 game. Because of the remodeling of the poker room, the high limit games were right there next to the low-limit tables, so I was able to watch that game from pretty close up.
What a cutie. Coincidentally, at the airport on the way home I saw she was also on the cover of the most recent issue of CardPlayer magazine. I of course had to buy it, even though those magazines are given out for free in most cardrooms.
I'm sure she goes for 15/30 players, right?
