"You Had the Best Hand"

Damn.  This is one post I really wish I'd been able to write while I was still in Vegas.  I really wanted to get this one posted while all the Vegas summer series were still running.  But I had difficulty finding the time to write anything when I was up in Vegas this summer.  I guess I would have been more eager to write this up if I had done better in the tournament.  But as with all my tournament action in June, this one was a dud. 

The main reason I wanted to write this up at the time was to talk about the venue I played, which currently no longer exists.  I wanted to tell you about the temporary tournament venue that the Venetian had this summer.  Of course it's gone now, so maybe this post is completely irrelevant.  But I suspect that they will use the same venue next year (or a modified version of it) so if you're thinking of hitting Vegas next summer, bookmark this post.

Anyway, rather than just add some tables near the poker room for their big Deepstack Championship Poker Series (that's what they called it this year), the Venetian took an entire huge conference room in their Convention Center.  And it was quite a setup.

For a temporary venue, it was unbelievably comfortable and player friendly.  They had over 100 tables there, and amazingly, all of them had automatic shufflers. When I heard about the auto shufflers, I couldn't believe it.  I've never seen temporary tables have auto shufflers before.  And over 100?  Impressive to be sure.

The tables were well spaced, not cramped at all (you know I hate cramped seating). The chairs, though not adjustable, were quite comfortable (which can't always be said for a temporary venue).  And the lighting was great.  Now I heard a few complaints that it was too bright, but I sure didn't feel that way.  There was a nice stage area for final tables, which was not being used while I was there.  The tables didn't have chargers, but there were work benches and charging stations around the periphery.  There was also a huge, comfortable eating area, five different food "stations."  I believe they rotated the kind of food regularly.  When I was there, there was a hot dog place, a BBQ place, a spaghetti place, an Asian place and a salad place.  All of these places really only had one item for sale each, so not a big selection.  I suspect that this is exactly the kind of food available there when they have a more traditional convention in the hall. 

One small issue was that there seemed to be only one set of restrooms for this huge place, which were both relatively small, and which were far away from the tournament area (again, the place was really big).  You kind of had to try to use the restroom during the tournament or the line would have been too long during the breaks.  And again, it was a big hike from some of the tables. 

The one complaint I did hear from others who played there was the walk to the actual venue. It was a long walk from the casino.  Unfortunately it wasn't close to the parking garage either.  No way to avoid the long walk unless someone dropped you off right outside the convention center.  It's actually located right on Sands Ave so if you could get a lift there it would be pretty nice.  But no place to park there—not sure if Uber would drop you off right there.  But now that I think of it, if they have same set up next year and I play an event there, I might consider using Uber instead of driving over, could save a lot of steps.

Anyway, the event I played there one Thursday evening was the $400 Nightstack, which I discussed at length in my summer preview (here). That was the Venetian's version of the WSOP's Giant.  They had a bunch of flights leading to a day 2 on July 1.  The flight I played had 177 players, so 18 were in the money and 9 advanced to day 2.  For all the flights they had a total of 2,570 players and there was an overlay of $126K to make the $1MM guarantee.

As for the tournament itself, not much to say.  As usual, I was card dead.  I didn't make it past level 9.  I'm just gonna mention my last hand, not because it is so interesting but because of a comment I heard after I busted. 

Desperate, I looked down at Ace-10 off.  A woman who had just moved to our table had limped in.  If she had raised, I likely would have folded.  But since she only limped, in my situation, with no one else yet in the pot, shoving was the obvious play.  It folded back to her and she called with pocket 7's.  Not bad, really.  At least I wasn't dominated.  A coin flip is pretty much what I'm hoping for there.  The flop was all low cards, 6-5-3.  It was looking bad for me but the turn card was a beautiful Ace and I was in great shape.  But then the river card was a 4, which miraculously filled in her gut shot and ended my tournament.  Well that's poker, right?

Now there were some oohs and ahhs when the 4 hit.  Maybe there was some reaction from the table when the Ace hit before that.  But after the 4 hit and the dealer announced her straight as the winning hand, I heard another player say to her, "Well, that's good because you had the best hand."  Like she deserved to win.  I didn't say anything as I slunk away but come on….I had the best hand before that.  I had the best hand on the turn, right?  OK, it's true, before the flop she had the best hand—but barely.  I mean they don't call it a coin flip for nothing.  She was only a 55/45 favorite, it's not like she had me crushed.

You know, I could see someone saying that if I had Kings and she had Aces, then I hit my King and she rivered an Ace.  Yeah I was supposed to lose that (I'm always supposed to lose with Kings) and in the end, justice would have prevailed. But in this case, I wasn't a big underdog to start out, then was an 86% favorite to hold on the turn.  And she hit her six-outer.

I'm not saying I was really upset by that comment, it just made me wonder if the person who said it really understood poker. Now maybe they said it cuz they were happy that I busted and they were one player closer to the money. Or they were just trying to be nice to the lady who won.  But how about showing some sympathy for me, huh?  I lost when I was a 85% favorite.

Oh well, another bad tournament run for me in Vegas this summer.  I took the long walk back to my car and called it a night.

Still, I really did like the Venetian tournament venue this year, and look forward to seeing it again next year.  Maybe next time I'll have a better run.