"You'll Read About it on the Blog!"

As I mentioned in one of my last two posts (or possibly both of them), I’ve been to Vegas twice since mid-April.  I’ve never told my stories in chronological order, so let’s start with the reason I went back there a second time, just at the end of May.

My long time poker/blogging pal Lightning organized a Poker Blogger (and readers) Meet Up Game for May 30.  This was to celebrate the return of retired blogger Josie to Vegas.  It’s been 10 years since I first met Josie in person in Vegas. At her insistence, she has her own personal label on this blog, so you can find it on the right side of the page and find all the blog posts that reference her. I think the prime motivation for her timing of this particular visit was to see Koalapete from down under again, who I first met on the same trip that I met Josie and have seen in Vegas a few times since.  Josie was coming to Vegas with her long time pal Gary, aka The Crafty Southpaw (The link is to his seemingly defunct blog, even tho he hasn’t posted in over four years, but you see, Gary is not on Twitter)  My recollection is that when I burst upon the blogging scene, some 11 years ago, Gary was the first person to add my fledgling little blog to his blogroll, and I am forever grateful for that.

I wanted to see all those wonderful folks again, and I wanted to finally meet Gary, who always struck me as a great guy from his blog.  So I had no choice but to head up to Vegas just a few weeks after I’d returned from there.  Lightning, enterprising fellow that he is, did a blog post about the game and soon everyone wanted to attend! 

The location was the fairly new Sahara poker room, which I had never been in since the hotel underwent about 17 ownership and name changes.  It is a small room and is sadly short of players too much of the time, so I could never find a game there during my last trip.  Since it was quiet and the manager over there is a good guy, Lightning figured it would be a good place for a private game (or two), and he was right

I was surprised to see Mr. Ben, but then I shouldn’t have been. Ben lives in England, but despite that, of all the bloggers I’ve met in Vegas, I’ve probably run into him the most.  It’s like he’s always in Vegas when I go.  He is a good guy, and it is always a pleasure to toss cards with him. I don’t believe he made a special effort to show up in Vegas for the game, but like I said, he’s in Vegas a lot.

Josie greeted me with the traditional ass grab, or at least that’s what she tweeted.  In reality there was a big hug but no ass grab.  I don’t think anyone else hugged me, and I’m not complaining about that. 

By the time we started, there were enough for two tables, and I think a third table of mixed games broke out at one point.  We drew for seats, and at the “main table” I got seat 8, sitting between Ben in Seat 9 and Lightning in seat 7.  In seat 6 was Luke Johnston, not a blogger but a long time twitter pal to most of us, and a former dealer at both Sahara and the WSOP.  Blogger and twitterer Mr. Subliminal claimed seat 4.  He lives in Vegas and I’ve had the pleasure of meeting him several times before.  Usually he is sitting next to me at the Wynn and after about an hour and a half he finally gets around to telling me who he is since I apparently suck at matching names and faces.  This time I recognized him!

Seat 5 was taken by Joseph W, aka Hockey_Poker who I only recently started following on Twitter but is a prolific poker player and, I guess, a hockey fan.  By strange coincidence, I met Joe for the first time earlier that same day.  You see Lightning, Koala and I had lunch at the Cafe at South Point, and afterward, I wanted to check out the tournament area they had for their summer series.  I was kibbitzing with one of the dealers there I know (it was Mike, ex of the MGM) and somehow, even though we had never met, Joe figured out I was Rob or perhaps I figured out that he was the hockey poker guy.  I have no idea who first realized who the other one was.  But I did recognize him when he showed up at the MUG game and took seat 5.

Gary, Koala and Josie took seats 1,2,3 respectively.

It was a really fun game, but we were surprisingly restrained, and not nearly loud enough to justify having the room to ourselves. But we were laughing all the way through.  A few of the Sahara dealers were having fun knowing it was a big group of friends and were making as many jokes as we were.  Sadly though, as much fun as we were having, I didn’t catch a lot of “blogging material” type comments and I didn’t catch a single “woman said.”  That’s probably because Josie was so far away from me it was pretty hard to hear most of what she was saying.   Same for Gary & Koala (tho I wasn’t expecting any “woman saids” from them).  And after a couple of hours Josie switched tables so she could play with the one and only Tony Bigcharles  (he needs no introduction) who responded to Josie’s many pleas on twitter that he come down from Reno to play in the game.  Another twitterer who needs no introduction, Alysia Chang was also at that table.  There may have been some other people at that table that I knew or should have known but I can’t recall.  Sorry.

So….the poker.  The very first hand I was dealt pocket 6’s on the button.  Instead of facing a raise, a re-raise and a 4-bet, as you might expect from a game like this, it folded to me.  I have to raise there, right?  I made it only $8, but the blinds folded.  Can’t win them all if you don’t win the first, right?

Later, with King-Jack of spades I limped in and Ben, acting next, raised to $11.  It was four-way and the flop was Jack-high. I checked, Ben checked and the rest checked as well.  On a blank turn Josie bet $15 and I called, heads up.  There was no betting on a blank river and I claimed the pot, beating Josie’s pocket 8’s. 

I got pocket Aces and before it got to me, Joe made it $11. After a couple of folds, I made it $33.  Joe called, we were heads up. The flop was Ace-high but two spades.  I bet $35 and Joe called.  There was another spade on the turn and we both checked.  A Queen on the river put four to Broadway out there, in addition to the possible flush.  When Joe bet $45, I tanked for awhile, but the board was too scary to raise.  I just called.  Turned out that Joe had rivered a set of Queens. Set over set is always nice if you have the bigger set, but Joe didn’t have that set til the last card.

I limped with 9-7 clubs.  The flop had two clubs so I called Josie’s $15 bet.  Heads up, no more betting.  The final board had two jacks and a third club hit the river.  I didn’t bet it because my flush was low and the board was paired, but I won the pot.

I didn’t write down the details but I lost a pretty big pot when I rivered the bottom end of the straight with a Jack in my hand.  However Lightning had King-Jack and won with a bigger straight. I was kind of chasing the gut shot all the way through and just needed a King to get it.  Instead, an 8 gave me the bottom end, so I called off on the river only to see Lightning’s bigger straight.

As I noted, Josie moved to the other table and was replaced by a fellow named Gabriel.  I’m not sure if or how I know him, but he was apparently part of our group and was a good guy.  Anyway, he opened this hand to $10, and before it got to me, Luke called the $10.  And I looked down at the dreaded Pocket Kings!  Well, now, what do I do here?  I believe Gabriel had a lot of chips and I was thinking, “here goes my stack.”  Nevertheless, I did indeed three-bet.  Not sure why I bet a little bigger than I ordinarily would have, but I made it $50.

Everyone folded and of course, I mean of course, I had to show the Kings. I figured almost everyone there knew of my perpetual problems with that hand.  So I showed my hand and everyone reacted.  At least a few people, including Gary I specifically recall, shouted “Dreaded” or “the dreaded hand” or “Dreaded pocket Kings.”  I have to admit, it warmed my heart a little!

Luke had left and been replaced by someone not of our group.  And this new player was acting like he really didn’t know what he was doing, like he had never played poker before.  I had pocket Queens and this newbie had opened to $6 in front of me.  Lightning called.  I was thinking about raising but I got caught up in thinking this newbie was so quirky and so unpredictable I should play it safe and just call.  The flop was K-Q-X.  The newbie checked, Lightning bet $8.  I made it $25.  The newbie folded and Lightning tanked. He talked about trying to get a read on me.  Finally, reluctantly, he folded.  I told him, “You can read about what I had on my blog post!”  I didn’t show.  But I believe I texted him what I had just to be a nice guy.  I think he folded a King with a weak kicker.

I had pocket 9’s in the big blind and Gary opened to $12, a few others were in the hand.  My 9’s were an overpair.  I really don’t remember the betting action but on the river, with the 9’s still an overpair, Ben took a stab at it with a $25 bet and I called.  He said, “Well you won, I have nothing.”

Now, my good buddy Don had arrived and took over Joe’s spot in the center of the table.  He opened the pot for I don’t know how much and I called with Ace-10 of hearts.  I didn’t accurately record the betting action, but there was an Ace on the flop and I called Don’s c-bet.  Another Ace on the turn. I think I called but I may have bet, can’t recall.  I do recall the river, it was a 10. Yahtzee!  Kaola was in the hand too and he led out for $25.  Don tanked a long, long time..I had the nuts so it was just a matter of how much I was gonna raise if he did call (if he had raised, I would have shoved).  But eventually he folded.  So I put out $75 and now it was Kaola’s turn in the tank.  He thought a long, long time, talking through the hand.  I suspect if he didn’t know me, a call would have been easier.  But eventually he folded.  I shouted over to him, “You’ll read about it in the blog!”  However, after we were done playing I did tell him I had the boat.  He told me had pocket Queens.

Eventually a good chunk of us got up to move on.  I had played 4-½ hours. My longest poker session by far since the 2020 lockdown.  There was a lot of nice conversation after we were done playing too.  I did get to chat with both Alysia and Tony who were at the other table the whole time (or maybe they were at the mixed game that sprung up, I know Alysia was).  Alysia and I compared our results for the night, she won a buck or two, I recovered from down over $100 to book like a $7 loss.  Tony was really interested in learning about the re-opened and re-located poker room in Ventura.  I answered all his questions, and I must admit I have been remiss in not discussing the new room here on the blog. I hope to rectify that soon.  I have no idea why Tony is so interested in the Ventura poker room though.  It’s not like it is practical for him to play there.  Now that it is right on the beach I’m sure there is no lodging anywhere near there that he could afford.  I’m not sure there is lodging near there that that Elon Musk could afford.

The goodbyes were turning out to be long, most of us were through playing, and when I left I thought everyone would soon join me in departing but that was not the case.  I got texts from both Lightning and Don that I missed a big time brouhaha.  It was at the other table, not the one Lightning, Don and I were playing at.  Don was still playing and Lightning was just chitchatting.  But apparently a drunk guy gave another player a “beer shower” (and got beer all over the table) and then took a swing at the same guy, but the guy successfully ducked the punch.  He fled, but I think I heard that security caught up with him, and the victim was hanging around because he wanted to press charges.  I hope that in Lightning’s version of this night, which I’m sure is coming soon, will give more details on this epic skirmish.

It was really great meeting old friends, making new ones, and just bullshitting and playing poker with a great bunch of folks.

I saw we do it again, soon, what do you say?

Very funny dealer (Tom, maybe?), Gary, Kaolapete, Josie, Mr. Subliminal

Joe (Hockey_Poker), Luke, Josie, Lightning, Mr. Ben, yours truly.

Happy New Year!!

Wishing all my loyal blog readers (and even the disloyal ones) a Happy and Healthy New Year!

By the way, the decade of the 2010's does not end tonight as many are saying.  We don't start counting years at "zero."  We start counting at "1."  So the first year of this current decade was 2011, not 2010. This decade lasts one more year. Just so you know.

Edited to add, my pal Lightning said they did this bit in a Seinfeld episode that I had long forgotten.  You can see the punchline here and be sure to read the comments for some further explanation and debate!.  Thanks, Lightning.

  

In case your Christmas was a bust....

Happy 4th!

Hope it's not too late to wish everyone a happy 4th of July.  I just got back from a month in Vegas and it is taking me awhile to get back in the groove.  Obviously I'll have more to say about the trip in the coming weeks, if not months.  Hint:  Things didn't go exactly the way I had planned. I actually left Vegas a couple of days earlier than I planned.

In the meantime, I have an Ante Up column to write so not sure when you'll see a "real" post.  So for now, enjoy the rest of your day, celebrate the USA and maybe you might like the pic below.

Halloween Boobage 2017 Edition

This post is a hybrid of a repost and a new post.  Actually it's not really a post at all, it's just some pics to carry me over until I can do a real post.  Most of these pics ran a few years back but there are a couple of new ones.  Yes, I am still too busy to do a complete a new post.  Sorry.  I will be back to writing 100,000 word posts soon!  In the meantime, enjoy the boobage.

Happy Labor Day!

Happy Labor Day from Las Vegas, everyone!

So Long, 2016, You Really Sucked

The title of this post is a reference that only one person who reads my blog will get, my pal (since college) Norm.  Back in the '80's (I think), the two of us would regularly attend the performances of an improv group known as "Instaplay."  The creative team behind this group went on to fame and fortune.  Bill Steinkellner and Cheri Eichen became producers on Cheers and later created a sitcom for Bob Newhart.  But before that, every Saturday night they did a show in Hollywood with a few other talented people and improvised an entire play for a small but loyal audience. 

Norm and I were regular attendees.  They would take suggestions for a title from the audience, have the audience vote for their favorite, and then improvise a play based on the title.  The plays were always funny and frequently they were downright awesome.

One time, a day or two before New Year's Eve, someone shouted out his suggestion:  "So long, 19xx, you really sucked."  The "xx" is because I can't remember the year, but I assume some year early 80's.  The audience had a huge reaction to that title, and Bill (the director of the play) said, "If that doesn't win, the person who suggested it might just kill himself—the final blow of the year."  Not to worry, it won in a landslide.  I don't recall anything from that particular play, but obviously the title stuck with me all these years.

That's what everyone is saying about 2016.  It sucked,  It has been such a bad year, everyone can't wait for it to be over.  This is generally meant in the "meta" sense, that it has been a bad year for the world and the country. 

Well, I'm going to leave the world and the country out of this.  No politics here, although for a lot of people, world events, particularly the US presidential election has had a strong influence on how they view the year (good or bad). 

The other thing that has created this meme is all the celebrity deaths this year.  It has seemed like a terrible year for deaths of well known people, people who have been a part of our lives for many years.  It was capped off by the tragic deaths, within a day of each other, of mother/daughter, Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher.

All those famous people who we have loved for years passing is indeed sad, horrific, even.  But I do wonder if 2016 was really worse than any other year?  When we think of deaths beyond this year, we don’t usually identify them with a year.  Are we just forgetting some other year—or indeed every year—with a lot of big celebrity deaths?  Perhaps someone has or will review recent years and compare them, deathwise.  Or is that too ghoulish to even consider doing?

It's just that as we get older, more and more people who were important to us (both family/friend wise and famous people wise) die.  It's the nature of life.  When you're 8 years old, and your parents are commenting and even grieving over some movie star they grew up watching, it probably doesn't make much of an impact on you.  But now, as an adult, someone you've enjoyed for 20-30 years passing, it really hits home (and maybe gets you to reflect on your own mortality—now that is really scary!)

All of this is an introduction to my own personal reflections on 2016.  What kind of year was it for me, personally? Ignoring all those meta considerations, I mean.

Obviously not good. 

This was the year I really started souring on Las Vegas, my favorite city in the whole world for most of my adult life.  You all know it started with the change to paid parking.  That was bad in and of itself.  But it just reminded me of how much Vegas has changed since I first fell in love with it.  I've reflected on this on a number of posts, here, for example. 

This bad taste in my mouth led me to decide to visit Vegas less often.

Then came another hit that I haven't really spoken about here.  Soon after my last visit to Vegas in June/July, I heard that MGM properties (the people who brought paid parking to the Strip), without any announcement/warning whatsoever, had suddenly made all the poker comps for all their players in their rooms disappear if they were over a year old.  I cannot properly reveal all the angst that news brought me. 

I'm happy to report that subsequently, most of the comps that I personally lost have been restored. I can't reveal what it took to get that accomplished, tho. If you have lost any significant amount of comps from an MGM owned poker room, my advice would be to speak to no one but the poker room manager him or herself about trying to get them restored (and if they do, you will only have one year from the date of restoration to use them).

That began the second half of the year, followed by the first of two surgeries for me.  The first was elective.  I finally decided to have the cataract in my left eye removed.  That eye has been my worst eye since birth.  But lately, I had become pretty much blind in that eye.  Due to a specific condition I had, my ophthalmologist said there was only a 50/50 chance the procedure would improve the vision in that eye significantly.  I decided to roll the dice since the eye was pretty much useless.

That procedure was scheduled a week before Labor Day weekend (not my choice, but it was the best available).  That meant my traditional Labor Day weekend Vegas trip was out.  I'm happy to report the procedure was a success and my doc was actually surprised by how much my vision improved.  It is not quite as good as my right eye but I now have pretty good distance vision without glasses (tho it can still be improved with glasses).  Reading is a different story (cuz I'm old). 

But as is not uncommon with this surgery, they had to wait three months to do a final step in a process, a laser treatment that was completed in the doc's office in early December.  That means I wasn't able to get my new glasses before coming to Vegas—they are waiting for me when I return home. Actually, the reason I didn't come a day earlier was I finally had the Optometrist appt for them the day before I got to Vegas. My old glasses are now just a monocle (ala Col. Klink) because they took the left lens out, it only blocked me from seeing anything.  So in Vegas, I am using a pair of "cheaters" (twenty buck reading glasses from Wal-Marts) and mostly carrying them around since they are not good for distance vision.  But I need them to read anything.  Can't wait to get my new glasses. 

Then, in late October, just two days before what was supposed to be my triumphant return to Vegas, I was told I had serious heart disease that had to be addressed right away.  You know the rest of that story.  No Vegas, just a triple bypass and 6-7 weeks of recovery.  In fact, the complete recovery will take at least six months if not longer. 

That put a serious dent in how I view 2016 as a whole, of course.  On the one hand, I'm grateful that the problem was caught in time, before it did more serious damage to my body.  Or gave me an actual heart attack.  Or, you know, killed me.

However, if it was all just the same, I sure would have preferred not to have gone through it, of course.  It was not a pleasant experience, obviously.  I received clearance to head for Vegas just a week before I arrived. I knew there was an excellent chance I wouldn't make it here before next year.  But I did.

So yeah, 2016 kind of sucked for me.

But make it to Vegas I did.  Thus far, this has been a pretty good trip.  Better than pretty good, in fact, despite the usual bad beats and such.  I gave Vegas a chance to disappoint me further, and so far….it has not.  That's good.

In sum, it hasn't been a great year for me, but it appears to be ending on a high note.  I guess you could say that being able to come to Vegas just 8 weeks after having my chest cut open is a pretty good high note.

I'm sure all of you had your ups and downs this year….hopefully the downs weren't as low as mine.  Just like any year, it's not all bad or all good.

No matter how you rate 2016 as a whole, I want to wish you all a Happy New Year.  May 2017 be a better year for all of us!

I Wasn't Rubbing It In!

As I wind down this current Vegas trip, I have so many stories to tell, I dunno where to start.  But I best start somewhere, so I'm taking part of this July 4th holiday to get a post up.  I'll have a few pics to help honor the 4th, but this is not a specific holiday post.

I haven't figured out how I'm gonna talk about all the tournaments I played in.  I know some readers love long tournament summaries, hand-by-hand descriptions, even if I don't have a cash to report at the end.  But others, including the world's most famous poker blogger, hate my "boring hand histories."  So it's a dilemma.   You're welcome to chime in with your opinion, which I may or may not take into account.

But for now I will start with an incident from a tournament last weekend that caused a stir, and furthermore, I was reminded of it very recently when our friend grrouchie  posted a pic that seems appropriate for the story.  So thanks to him for the first pic you see in this post.

Late before the first break, this young guy wearing a baseball cap (the right way, to be fair)  joined our table, directly to my right.  He had obviously just bought in, so he had his full $15K starting stack. He played a few hands, lost a few chips. I was around $12K, and then we went on break.  In just a few hands he had lived up to his stereotype as an aggressive young player.

I was the big blind and he was the small blind first hand back from break.  The blinds were 150/300 with a 25 ante.  I had King-6 of hearts.  An aggro made it $600 and the kid in the small blind called.  It seemed like I was getting a pretty good price to at least see a flop, so I called. 

The three of us saw a flop that had two hearts (not the Ace) and a 6.   The small blind bet $1K, and I called, the original raiser folded.  The turn was a blank and he bet $1,500, I called again.  The river was the 3 of hearts, giving me the second nuts.  He bet $3K.  I didn't study his stack any further.  My assumption was that he still had more than me, but it was close, and definitely I was willing to risk my entire stack with the second nuts to this guy.  I announced all-in.  He snap-called. 

I turned over my hand, and he said, "Oh man….I have a flush too, but not as big. I wish that heart hadn't come. "  Now, I guess when I had shoved he had picked up his remaining chips—I'm not sure if it was before he saw my hand or after.  Anyway, he throw some chips on top of his original $3K bet to pay me off. 

Well, while the dealer was counting the stacks to make sure I was properly paid off, I said, "Doesn't he have to show his hand, it was an all-in?" But he no longer had his cards. Apparently, while I was looking at the dealer counting the stacks, he had slid his cards, face down, to the dealer, who had slid them into the muck.  That of course is incorrect.  It was all-in situation and thus both hands should be exposed.  That is a basic tournament poker rule.

I wasn't just being a rules nit.  I assumed he was still alive in the tournament, and I wanted to know if he was betting with just the flush draw if he had something else.  Important information for me to know, right?

The dealer admitted I was right and that she made a mistake not showing the hand before she put them in with the muck.  I had earlier learned that this dealer deals regularly in one of the really low-end locals joints and is probably not used to dealing in such a "big" tournament—$150 buy-in! None-the-less, she was actually a very competent dealer, a lot of dealers would miss this.

She apologized but the kid was not so nice.  He threw a bit of a tantrum.  "What do you want me to show for?  You won the pot, that's just rubbing it in!"  I said "I'm not rubbing it in, I just want to see what you had….that's the rule."  "Yeah, you are rubbing it in!"  I said, "I'm not rubbing it in."  He got louder, "Yes you are!  You're rubbing it in."

Meanwhile, the dealer saw that the chips he had thrown in after he saw my hand weren't enough to cover me.  He still had chips in his hand, that I really couldn't see.  The dealer told him, "You need $900 more."  Well, he just threw her the rest of his chips, which was less than $900, so he was busted.  I really didn't know that until then.  He stormed off, "Thanks for rubbing it in."  To his credit, he didn't call me a name.  I assume he went to buy back in, but I never saw him again, thankfully.

Anyway, I realized after a few hands that some of the other players may not have understood why I was making an issue of seeing his hand, especially since I busted him, and might have thought that I was being somewhat of a dick.  So during the next shuffle, I announced to the entire table, "The reason I wanted to see his hand was not to rub it in, I wanted to see what he kept betting with.  Was he betting with just the flush draw or did he have something else?  I had no idea I had busted him, he was hiding his chips in his hand."

A few of the other players nodded and said, "Yeah…makes sense."

I said, "I really wasn’t trying to be asshole there.  I assumed he was staying and wanted to know why he was betting like that."

It was agreed I wasn't being an asshole, and then, for the next few levels, the phrase, "I wasn't rubbing it in," became a bit of running gag at the table. 

Sadly, that was the most memorable event from this particular tournament.

In the meantime, everyone have a happy 4th of July.  Happy Birthday, U.S.A.  And note: the last pic was just sent to me by a Englishman I know.  I'm sure my other British followers will enjoy.

A Million Thanks!

If you look over to the right side of the page, you will see my last post, I've now passed 1,000,000 page views since I started this blog in September, 2011.   That's one million, folks.  I'm not sure what I expected when I started doing this, but I'm sure it wasn't that.

I joked on Twitter yesterday that to celebrate, I would take every single post I've done until now, combine them into one combined post, and publish that to celebrate.  Yeah, I'm not sure there's a server in the world that could handle that.

Instead, I'm going to put a sample of some of the pics I've included in posts over the years.  So yes, these are all basically "reprints"--except I'm going to throw in a new one or two.

You see I'm still too busy to actually write a post for you, so hopefully this will do for the time being.

I want to thank each and everyone one of my loyal (and even my not-so-loyal) readers for coming here regularly to see what silliness I'm talking about it.  Obviously I couldn't have reached this milestone without you.

I'm gonna keep trying to knock out blog posts for you as long as I can.