California Poker--Inside & Out

Since I’ve last blogged. I’ve actually played poker. Live poker.  Twice, in fact.

Now the last time I’d played previously was in October at the Bike and I reported this to you here. I didn’t return, and if you read that post you’ll understand why. I especially hated the use of porta-potties instead of the virtually brand new restrooms they had just inside the facility.  Then colder weather came, and then the state put us back in total lockdown early in December for a few months.  They closed card rooms, indoor dining and they even banned outdoor dining.

Sometime earlier this year, not sure when, they opened up a bit.  Outdoor dining was allowed, then even the card rooms could open for outdoor gaming. I resisted going back because of the cooler weather and because I didn’t like the restroom situation.  However, L.A. county did finally ok indoor dining (25% capacity), at which time I saw The Bike promoting the fact that they were now offering indoor dining in a couple of their eateries.  I assumed that meant the inside restrooms would be open.  Perhaps it was worth a trip down there.

So three weeks ago, on a Saturday, I went down to the Bike. I was right, you could now enter the building to either eat or use the facilities, but the main purpose of the Bike, to play games of skill and chance, was still relegated to outside.

One new thing was that you had to have your ID scanned in order to enter the property.  I assume that they want to track everyone who was there in case they get some kind of COVID outbreak. (In case you have forgotten, I received my second vaccination in early March, see here).

It was a fine day weather wise and the outdoor nature of the game was not an issue on this day.  I used the PokerAtlas app to get on the waiting list and didn’t have to wait too long for them to open a new game for me and seven other alleged poker players.

It was my usual game, 2/3 NLH, $100-$300. The tables were filled with plexiglass, and it seemed to me that there was more plexiglass than I remembered.  The tables were 8-handed, and sitting in one of the two center seats, across for the dealer, seemed cramped. Oh, I had plenty of legroom, but both my arms were butted up against the side plexiglass for my spot pretty much the whole time.  I had heard that during the original lockdown, the Bike had ordered new, larger tables to accommodate social distancing.  Still, I was cramped, eight-handed.  

Masks are required at all times, this is a statewide mandate.  Masks are required whenever you leave your house, inside and out. Technically, I am not allowed to walk the few yards to my mailbox without wearing a mask. And you are not allowed to eat, or drink, at the table.  Can’t even have a capped water bottle that you keep closed and sip occasionally.  That is strictly against the rules.  Again, this is a government mandate, not the Bike’s. 

One thing I will say, playing poker in these conditions is a lot less fun than pre-COVID.  Between the masks and the plexiglass, conversation is virtually non-existent. One of the reasons I switched to poker from table games long, long ago was that poker was such a social game. And it’s conversations at the poker table that result in my best blog stories.  No more.  In two sessions, virtually no one said a word. And it was very difficult to hear anyone, especially the dealers, most of whom had heavy duty masks and face shields.  I had to be very careful to make sure I totally understood what the dealer was saying before acting.

Once I started playing, I felt rather rusty.  It had been so long since I’d played regularly that I forgot how to play to some degree.  Of course I knew the rules, I just didn’t feel I had the right strategy or the right at-the-ready experience for any situation that might come up. I can hear some of you saying, “he never knew how to play anyway!”

I was card dead, which because of my rustiness, was fine by me.  I wanted to get back into it gradually and the garbage hands I was chucking hand after hand made that easy to do.

At the end, it seemed like I only played two hands, the only two pocket pairs I got.  One was Aces and one was Kings.  I won with one and lost with the other.  If you need me to tell you which is which, then this must be your first time reading the blog. But I think I suffered because of inexperience.  Well, inexperience with the Aces.  Maybe I just was spooked by the dreaded pocket Kings.  I guess it’s still me, rusty or not.

I had played nearly an hour and probably hadn’t played any hands but the blinds.  I got two Aces and a guy in front of me raised to $11. I made it $28 and it folded back to the original raiser, who made it $54.  I didn’t think too much (dumb), I just took a $100 stack of reds and put it out there next to my $28.  I should have raised more.  This time he just called. 

Like the time I played in October, this wasn’t the typical Bike game I recalled from when I played there regularly years back.  There was no wild action.  It was actually nitty.  No one was out of line. So when he four-bet me, I was sure he had a real premium hand. Like pocket Kings. Maybe Queens. Or Ace-King. Nothing else. Especially since this guy had been at the table as long as I had and he probably saw that my three-bet was my first raise, and really, my first voluntary bet of any kind. He had to know I had a big hand.

So when the flop was King-high, dry and rainbow, I panicked.  I assumed he had just hit a set of Kings.  Well, I didn’t assume it but I was sure worried about it. When he checked I worried he was setting a trap, so I checked behind.  A brick on the turn and again, it went check, check.  Same thing on the river.  My lack of recent playing experience cost me. Of course I should have realized he wouldn’t play a set of Kings like that. Maybe he’d check the flop, but he’d come out firing on the turn. I needed more practice.

I said, “I guess you don’t have Kings?” as I showed my Aces.  He hesitated for a bit and then showed his pocket Jacks quickly before mucking them.

I’d like to think if I’d been playing poker regularly for the past year I would have played that better, and maybe gotten some more money from him. On the other hand, he might not have called any bets with that King out there, the same King that freaked me out.

The only other time I raised was a bit later when I got the pocket Kings myself in early position.  I opened to $15 (which was actually on the high side for this table, that’s how unBikelike it was).  I had two callers. The flop was Jack-high, I bet $25, one caller.  The turn was another Jack.  I checked. He bet $55.  

It was me. It was pocket Kings. It was my first poker session in over five months.  I couldn’t shake the feeling he had a Jack. A Jack was certainly in his range, right?  Ace-Jack, King-Jack, etc?  I didn’t trust any other read I could come up with, so I folded.  I think it is most likely I made a bad fold, but I’ll never know.  Again, I couldn’t remember how to play, but I could remember how many times Kings have cost me dearly.  Oh well.

I really couldn’t play longer than two hours. I find it even more annoying wearing a mask while sitting down and playing poker than I do when I am shopping at Walmarts. Also, the lack of water was really tough on me. I have a dry mouth problem, I can’t go that long without some liquid. I had smuggled in a couple of tiny bottles of water but I would have had to have left the area, with my jacket, in order to get to it.  I just cashed out and drank one of the bottles of water on the long hike to my car.

I was able to book a $75 win thanks to those Aces, at least.

Two Saturdays later, just the other day, I returned to the Bike. I had noticed they were now offering indoor gaming. L.A. county had progressed to where indoor dining was now up to 50% capacity, not 25%, and this meant that card rooms could have some indoor tables, if they were properly spaced out. I assumed that there was no way there would be room for all of the Bike’s games inside, and that it would be a mix of indoor and outdoor. I assumed the tables games, where they make their big bucks, would be the first allowed indoors, followed by the huge buy-in poker games. My crummy little 2/3 game would be the last to get inside.  

So imagine my surprise when I got there and the outdoor area where I had played just two weeks ago had been turned back into the driveway for the valet parking.  Yes, all the games were now inside, including all the poker.  Now, some of the outside areas that were now deserted looked like they could still be used for gaming if they got super-busy, but basically, the Bike is like it was pre-lockdown. The tables were a little farther apart, but not really all that much. I’m sure their setup had to be blessed by the county health officials, who of course, always know what they are doing. Of course, there was still no eating/drinking at the table, all of which still had  plexiglass. Masks of course were still mandatory.

Now it happened that the weather this Saturday was particularly picture perfect, even by Southern California standards.  Playing outside this day would have been pretty damn nice. Still, it was good to see the progress we are making that we could play poker inside, like civilized human beings.

One thing that seemed to be worse inside than outside was the plexiglass.  The fluorescent lighting indoors reflected horribly off the plexiglass, making it even harder to see. I was sitting next to the dealer, normally a great seat from me to see from, and had trouble reading the board.  Another player on the other side of the table had to constantly ask the dealer to read the board to him, and sometimes she slid the cards right in front of him. And this guy was a lot younger than me, and wasn’t even wearing glasses (though I suppose he might have had contact lenses).

I was a little less card dead this session, but that didn’t work out to my benefit. Won a small pot with Ace-9 off in the big blind. I opened to $15 with Ace-Queen suited from UTG+1 but didn’t get a call.

Then I ran up against a guy who reminded me of Mr. Subliminal. He probably didn’t look anything like Mr. S, but I never remember what Mr. S looks like when I do run into him, and for some reason that was the first thing that came to mind when I saw this guy.

I guess out of boredom I limped with Ace-5 of hearts.  It was 4 or 5 way. The flop was Queen-Jack-10, one heart.  With a gutshot and the back door flush draw, I called Not Mr. Subliminal’s bet of $20, we were heads up.  No bet on the turn, a brick.  Another brick on the river, he bet $20.  I honestly thought my Ace might be good, he had made a few other river bets (that didn’t get called) that I suspected might be bluffs. Ace-high is a bluff catcher, right?  I called but he showed me a 10.

Then the hand that really stuck in my craw, against the same guy. I had pocket Queens UTG and made it $15. Only this guy called.  The flop was 10-9-3, rainbow. I led out for $25, and after thinking for a bit, he went all-in!  He had over $220 and I had him covered, but barely. I tanked.

It wasn’t a draw heavy board. Would he play a set that way?  I didn’t think so, that would be bad play. I mean, I hadn’t played like a guy who would raise with Queen-Jack under the gun. He might have had the draw himself, I suppose, and was making a semi-bluff.  One way or the other, I felt I was probably ahead. He couldn’t play a set that badly, could he?  Well, I never convinced myself that he could have, but I couldn’t convince myself that he didn’t have a set, either.  Would he play two pair like that? Maybe?  Anyway, again, I will blame my rustiness, but I just couldn’t find the call in me. I folded. Pretty sure I made a bad fold, but I’ll never know.

Inside, I was able to last a full two and a half hours with the damn mask and no water, but I had to call it a day down $125. But I suspect I’ll start spending more and more Saturday afternoons playing some poker, our government lords and masters willing.

Guest Post: Norwegians Invade Venetian (Part 2)

Here's part 2 of guest-blogger Eivind Brenne's report on his recent visit to Vegas to play the Venetian Deepstacks.  You can find part 1 here.

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Here we are again. Just over 2 months after our last trip to Vegas. Work in the Oil & Gas sector had not really picked up yet after the low season in the North Sea. Again, our minds were drifting off to Vegas and FM pointed out that he would soon turn 50 years and could play in the senior’s event next time at the Venetian DSE. As it turned out, such an event took place just two days after he turned 50 in the January DSE. He called me from his house in Maine and said he was planning on taking a short trip down to Vegas to play in the senior’s event. The day after I gave it some thinking and called him back and told him. “No way you are going to Vegas alone. I’m coming with you!!” Ohh crap. I had just promised my buddy to go to Vegas with him without even asking my wife. So, I found a good opportunity when we were having dinner at a restaurant in Bangkok and mentioned this. She looked at me and said sure, why not? Then my daughter of 5 years said “NO can do!” (With a slight smile). “You can only go if you buy me lots of toys.' So, we logged onto EBay with my phone and started browsing for her favorite toys and we chose some and shipped them to FM’s house in Maine, so he could bring them to Vegas for me. Then I asked my daughter if I now could get a “visa” to go to visit my friend FM. “Granted” she said and gave me a pretend “visa” stamp on my hand. Awesome!

I am blessed to have such a nice family when I want to go to play some poker. My wife knows that I never over spend money on poker or gambling, and that the rest of my time I spend with my family taking care of our child.

Actually, this reminds me of a story a few years earlier when my buddy FM called, and we started talking about our next Vegas trip. I’m not sure I should tell you this story, but here it goes. In the aftermath I’m not really proud of this. That time, I asked FM on the phone “When should we go to Vegas again?” "How about tomorrow?" FM said. "Hmmm. I’m going to have to get back to you on that one. Give me 5 min." My wife had already gone to sleep about 30 minutes prior to this. I snuck into the bedroom and asked my wife if she was sleeping. Not yet she said. Listen, I said……. You know my buddy FM called and we ended up talking about our next Vegas trip. Ok she said. "When are you planning to go?" Ehhhh, tomorrow. A brief moment of silence occurred, and she finally said yes. Not an angry yes. Then she said. “I’ll drive you to the airport tomorrow. As I closed the door to the bedroom I started thinking. “Did I just wake up my wife and asked her if I could go to Vegas tomorrow???" Almost shocked at what I really did, I grabbed my credit card and booked the trip. Ok, judge me whoever wants to J

Back to January,2018. I booked a ticket with the same Chinese airline. Hainan Airlines, to be more specific. This time I got a real good deal for a business class ticket, so I took them up on the offer. The 3 hours of customs lineup were still fresh in my mind from my last trip. The day of the travel finally came, and I really enjoyed the trip to Vegas. On the flight from Beijing to Vegas in a brand new 787 Dreamliner, I was treated with a 7-course dinner and unlimited drinks served by very attractive Asian flight attendants. 

Hmmmm, no, they did not really look like this, but in my mind they did.

After we landed I was the second person out of the airplane and I started walking very fast. No way I’m going to be last in the queue this time! I came to the immigration check point and no one was there!  A lady that was preparing the queue system said. “You are too early” The immigration staff has not yet arrived to handle your flight. Ohh my. This time I was too early. Then I hear a gentleman sitting in the green card slot saying, "Come over here, I’ll get you through." I thanked him, and he asked me what I was doing in Vegas. "I’m here to play poker." "Ohh really, I play poker too."  He told me he knew many dealers that worked at various casinos around Vegas. We had a friendly chat about poker and I told him I will be playing at the Venetian mostly. "Ohh,  then say hello to my friend Bobby that works there as a dealer." I said I would do that if I saw him. (Obviously, Bobby is a name I gave the dealer for this blog, not the real name). Just as he let me through to pick up my luggage, the 400 tourists from the cattle class showed up to wreak havoc just like last time. The only difference now was that I was already through immigration. I got my luggage immediately as it had a “priority” tag on it. Customs gave me no problems and I was out of the terminal in record speed. I took a shuttle bus down to the domestic terminal where I had to wait for FM this time. We did not book a rental car this time as we were staying at the LINQ, and it’s just a short walk down to the Venetian. What’s even better, it’s just a few hundred meters away from In-N-Out Burger!!

This time we just checked in, took a shower and headed out for a burger as usual. We decided to do the same as last trip and kick it all off with an Aria tournament. However, this time we made it to the 1pm tournament as the DSE did not start until the day after. We played there a few hours with no success. When we entered the Aria poker room we saw that the US Poker Open had started just a few days later. We decided to drop by a few days later and see if we could spot some poker celebrities. More on that later.

I’m going to break it to you early. This was a trip filled with bad beats and bad luck. We must have used all the good poker mojo on the previous trip where we won two tournaments in a row. Anyhow, the rest of the first day we played some cash at the Mirage and at the Venetian.

The main event for this DSE was the $1,100 MSPT (Mid States Poker Tour) that had two starting flights. We definitely wanted to play in this one! There where daily satellites for this tournament and we played them all. Again, the bad beats were just stacking up. The story goes like this: All in and ahead… Then our opponent hit his two outer and draws out on us. Nonstop this went on until the day before the senior’s event. This was on a Thursday I believe. FM managed to win a ticket but could not play in Day 1 as he would play in the senior’s event that day. No problem, he was booked into Day 2. I played my last satellite (I thought) and the story repeats itself. Bad beat, bad beat, bad beat. Crap, I need to change poker rooms for a while. FM looked forward to playing his first seniors event. He was thinking. “This should be easy money to play with those nits”. Ohh boy, was he wrong. The game was hyper-aggressive. The older gentlemen were not afraid to put their chips into play. And in good old fashion of this trip he was all in and ahead only to be drawn out on.

I decided that enough is enough. I need to try something else. I checked out the PokerAtlas app on my phone and found out that they were running a $50k guarantee, two starting flights tournament at South Point Casino a bit south on the strip. I think the buyin was $250. I grabbed a taxi while FM was still waiting for the senior’s event to start. Once I sat down at the table at South Point, I quickly understood that this was a room filled mostly with regulars. I think I was the only one who did not know the name of all the dealers. Anyhow, the regs were all nice and the play got under way. I did not last long and was out during the third level. I texted FM and at that time he was also out of the senior event. We agreed to meet at the Aria poker room just to have a look. Once we got there the room was packed with action. All tables were full and a $10k PLO event was going on. There were cameras, lights, PokerGO and there was Daniel Negreanu sitting at the table right in front of us. He was chatting it up with the other players on his table as he usually is. What a nice guy that is! Just on another table, Justin Bonomo was sitting with his pink hair and a big stack. The more we looked around, the more poker celebs we spotted. Several of the big names of Poker After Dark were there as well. Wow, this was so cool. Up until now, we had only seen them play poker on TV. Now they were there just in front of us. We hung around for a while soaking up the atmosphere. We kept looking around for the Poker Brat, Mr. Phil Helmuth, but he was nowhere to be seen. Not sure he played any of those events at all.

We eventually grabbed a taxi back to Venetian and sat down and played some 1-2 cash. I noticed that they had added an extra last satellite to the program. FM already had a ticket, so he continued to play some cash, but I took yet another shot to win a ticket to the $1,100 MSPT the day after. This satellite was on temporary tables right outside of the poker room as the room was packed with MSPT Day 1 players, senior event players and another tournament currently going on. Not to mention all the cash action during these events. Before I busted out of the last satellite, FM had already called it a night and headed back home. I busted out long before any tickets were awarded as usual. I texted FM when I walked back home and told him my plan for tomorrow. Alright, I said. I could not let him play alone in the $1,100 MSPT tournament tomorrow. I will buy in I told him. He thought it was a good idea and I went to bed to get some sleep. When I met him in the reception area of the LINQ the day after he handed me $550. Why, I asked. We share all the wins he said, and he had technically won $1,100 for the ticket. What a nice gesture!  

On Saturday we played the second starting flight of the MSPT. Ohh, I forgot to say…first, we had another nutritious breakfast at a place I think you know by now. A massive field came along for the last starting flight. On Day 1A I think they got just under 400 entries. On Day 1B they got almost the double. First place prize money turned out to be just over $108k! I got a quiet table at the shielded area by the cashier counter. The starting stack of this tournament was 20k. As play kicked off I had a good feeling for the first time of this trip. I accumulated some chips and hit some flops. Once the ante kicked in there was a bust out and we got a new player. A fairly young guy, clearly experienced. He immediately said hello and started chatting up another guy on our table. It turned out the guy that was already on our table was one of the guys managing and commenting on live streams for the MSPT. However, on this day he was playing poker instead. It was impossible not to hear what they talked about, but the guy that works for MSPT kept talking of all the success of the new young guy that came to our table. He had won several MSPT’s before and had several big cashes in various tournaments in L.A.

Did anyone say Hyper LAG? The new player was definitely a LAG. Hyper LAG I would say. He opened 100% of the pots that were not already opened. I did not see him fold one single time if the pot was not opened. He did not open huge, but min raised all the time. In the beginning he was running over the table. Then I got involved in a hand with his buddy. I can’t remember all the details, but I flopped a gutshot. I made a continuation bet and got called. The turn put the second spade on the board. I fired another bet and I was called again. Damn…. Then the third spade hit on the river and I made a pot sized bet as a bluff. My opponent tanked for a while but eventually folded. After that, I decided that someone had to play back on our LAG. I started raising him in position with a wide range. I got folds most of the time and an occasional call. If he called, I fired a large bullet on the flop that ended the hand. This went on for a while and I kind of took away his revenue stream. He turned over to me and said. “Are you going to continue raising all my opens?” “Yep” I said. We both laughed a bit and I did just that.  

One nice hand came up a little later where the LAG opened, and I decided to just call this time. I held T9 suited in clubs. The flop came J-8-7, one club. Wow, what a flop! I c-bet just like I usually did and got a call. The turn brought a low card and I bet half the pot. I was quickly called again, and the pot was now of a decent size. The river brought the second club on the board and more straight possibilities in the eyes of my opponent. This time a threw out a single 5k chip and the LAG tanked for a while. He ended up calling and mucked in disgust once he saw my flopped straight. Sometime later he told me that he had pocket Aces. Those can be hard to lay down, I know all about that.

I continued to build my stack and had a real good feeling. Then I got a text from FM. He was back at his hotel room!! What? He had just busted out and taken his worst bad beat of this trip. He raised with pocket Queens and got 3-bet. He 4-bet and his opponent 5-bet all in. He called, and his opponent showed pocket 5’s! Alright, way ahead and the flop brought another Q and FM almost started to celebrate right there. Here is the catch. There were two diamonds on the board and one of his opponents 5’s was the 5 of diamond. Then the turn and river were runner runner diamonds!!!! He could not believe it. He flopped a set of Queens against a pair of 5’s and ended up busting to runner runner flush with a single 5 of diamonds. Poker can be a bitch some time. His exact words in the text message was: “Busted. Home licking my wounds”.

Ohh well. I continued to play and had a bit more than twice the average. This was just before the dinner break. I looked down at pocket Kings. The dreaded pocket Kings as we all know Rob calls them. The guy to my right opened the pot and I 3-bet. He 4-bet, I 5-bet and he pushed all in. Hmmm, could I be up against Aces I thought for a while. Antonio Esfandiari was in a similar situation against Tom Dwan in a recent Poker After Dark episode. (Check it out here. It did not end well for Antonio’s Kings that time. As I had most of my stack already invested, I felt I had to go for it. When I 5-bet I was hoping I was up against A-K. I pushed my stack in and sure, he flipped over pocket Aces!! Crap! We had more or less identical stacks. I started getting up and grabbing my backpack ready to leave. I stood behind my chair and saw a flop with all low cards appear. Should I have said “One time, I need my one time now”? Nhaaa, I don’t believe in that stuff. As lightning from a clear sky, a beautiful K appeared on the turn. I was fist pumping and suddenly my opponent was in disgust over seeing that King. I said to myself. “Rob… Those Kings are not so dreaded as you keep telling us they are." Then another player at the table told us that he folded an Ace preflop, so my opponent only had one out!! One single out, the last Ace in the deck. I was so sure I was going to get a double up and a very, very playable stack with a great chance of bagging chips for day 2. It felt like an eternity before the dealer dealt the river and I enjoyed every millisecond of it even though it took only a few seconds. And then……WHAMBOOOZA…… THE LAST ACE IN THE DECK HIT!!! I was floored. I could hardly stand. The whole table went “Whooooooooaaaaaaaa. That’s sick, dude”. Alright Rob, I should have listened to you after reading countless stories about the dreaded pocket Kings. 

Once the dust settled and the dealer was finished counting the chips I had less than one ante behind. I could do nothing but laugh of the whole situation. When I finally thought I had a chance after so many days with bad beats I was shot down with a bazooka. With my less than one ante left, I was all in before the automatic shuffler was even finished shuffling the cards. Once I got my cards I did not even look at them. Two guys ended up all in, so my chances were slim. I flipped over T8o. There was an 8 on the board, but the guys going all in had premium pocket pairs. I wished my table all the best for the rest of the tournament and sent a text to FM. He immediately called me and could not believe what he just read in my text. Actually, he was on the way to In-N-Out to buy me a burger for my dinner break as the breaks are quite short on the DSE. Ohh well, I slowly walked towards In-N-Out and sat down at a table with FM. We could do nothing than smile and shake our heads in disbelief. Did anyone say shake? Yes, the Chocolate shake at In-N-Out is the best shake in Vegas.

We started to walk relentlessly around not really knowing what to do next. We ended up at a cash table at Harrahs and immediately had the waiter bring us a Budweiser. Man, that Budweiser tasted good and worked like some kind of medicine for the bad beats we had that day. After a couple of more Bud’s we called it a day and went to sleep. We woke up a bit early on Sunday and decided to head downtown for the 11am Sunday tournament at the Golden Nugget. No more Venetian for this trip we said that morning. And get this, we did not have the nutritious breakfast at you know where that morning. Instead we had a couple of sizes of pizza in Fremont street instead. (The real reason we did not have an In-N-Out breakfast was actually because they had not yet opened when we woke up!)

We bought in to the $125 tournament and took our seats. I was immediately card dead and could not get any traction. I was shortly thereafter shot down in flames and busted out. No, I did not re-enter. Instead I grabbed a Bud light and watched FM battle it out. The hours went by and FM was in the money. Sweet. He ended up heads up with a nice lady and after some heads up play they decided to chop. They each got $1,500 and gave $100 to the dealer’s tip box. FM handed me $700 and we walked outside. It could be worse. We finally made some money that day. It was our last day in sin city for this trip.

Somehow, we ended up back at the Venetian just before 7pm. I tried hard, but I could not resist buying in on the last DSE event of the trip. The buy in was the regular $200 for the 7pm events. It was a roller coaster ride, but we managed to be on the right side of the coin flips enough times to last all the way to the bubble. As there were two tables, it was hand by hand. One grueling hour went by with hand by hand play and the blinds kept eating up my above average chip stacks. Finally, the bubble burst and we were both in the money again. FM busted out shortly thereafter and received the min cash of $393. I ended up with the same fate shortly after FM busted out and took the last of the min cash for a mighty $393. Ohh well, after a week of being brutally beaten up by the deck of cards, cashing sure felt like heaven! We went back to our hotel and packed our bags for an early departure the next day.

Once again I found myself in a brilliant business class seat of a 787 Dreamliner and started thinking…… Did it all change that last day of poker? Had our poker mojo returned? Did we finally see the light in the end of the bad beat tunnel? Do they have In-N-Out Burger in Bangkok? Very interesting questions indeed. I do not have an answer to those questions until our next poker trip is due. All I can tell you is they do NOT have In-N-Out burgers in Bangkok!

As it looks like right now, we are hoping to go to Vegas again during the WSOP this year. I can hardly wait!! In the meantime, I have to start looking around for a cheeseburger detox program.

A Turkey of a Thanksgiving

Sigh.

I really should have gone with my initial instinct.  But I decided to take a shot and ended up having a pretty pathetic Thanksgiving experience this year.

I didn't have a family Thanksgiving to go to, the rest of my family had something else to do, something I always opt out of, and I'm fine with that. But that meant that I was on my own, and I thought about playing some poker.  When I was at PC Ventura the Saturday before, I had noticed that they were serving a complimentary, traditional Thanksgiving dinner to all their players on Turkey Day.  So that was an option.

I'm not really big on most of the traditional Thanksgiving fare.  Oh I like turkey and mashed potatoes of course, but the rest—stuffing, yams, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, etc, I don't care for.  That said, I didn't have a Thanksgiving meal last year.  I was recovering from my triple by-pass and couldn't drive. I think I spent the weekend watching movies.  I dunno, maybe I had a turkey sandwich?  So the thought of having a turkey dinner while doing something I love to do—play poker—certainly had its appeal.

On the other hand, I kind of suspected that going to a local L.A. card room on Thanksgiving would be somewhat depressing.  I figured the players would mostly consist of lonely people who had no family or friends to gather with and it would just be kind of sad.

Now I've been in Vegas for Thanksgiving and it's fine. But Vegas is different.  If you're there on the holiday, it's a trip, it's a vacation—it's a destination.  For whatever reason, you've chosen to go to Vegas for the holiday. Maybe it's because it's the only time you can get four days off in a row?  Whatever.  At least the people you run into in the casino will likely be happy to be there.  Sure there will be some locals in all the poker rooms, and maybe they will be missing family, but they figure to be in the minority. 

But a poker room in L.A.?  That's going to be all locals.  All people who left their homes—not their hotel rooms—to visit the poker room.  They don't have a family Thanksgiving to go to, but they couldn't go anywhere else, either. It's gotta be totally different than the Vegas vibe.

Well, I made a last minute decision when I woke up Thursday morning to give the poker room a shot.  Maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

Thus, I made the trek out to Ventura.  As soon as I turned into the parking lot, I kind of knew it was a mistake.  The parking lot was deserted.  Seriously, I couldn't believe how few cars there were there. I actually wondered if there were going to be any games going on at all.

Well I walked in and it was depressing as hell.  Yes, there were games going on.  Three, to be exact.  There were two 1/2 games and one 2/3 games.  That was it.  In the other room, there a few people playing table games.  And remember, this is a card room only, there are no slot machines on the premises.  I saw a few dealers in street clothes waiting to be sent home.  I saw another dealer playing at one of the 2/3 games.  And I felt bad for everyone I saw.

I wanted to leave, but I had just driven an hour to get there and that would have been silly.  So I got on the list for the lone 2/3 game—there were actually 4 or 5 names in front of me.  I assumed the list would get longer and they'd start a new game.  That was a bad miscalculation.  I should have opted for the 1/2 game.  Big mistake.

It actually took almost half an hour for me to get called to the game, while the waiting list kept shrinking instead of growing.

Actually, no one I saw really looked sad or miserable, they seemed fine.  But I tell you, it was just sad to see the place so damn empty.  I wondered why they even bothered to open?  I mean dragging a few employees into work on a nice family holiday for such a pathetic turnout seemed cruel.  I always feel bad for folks who have to work holidays, but it was even worse because they were so idle.  At least if they were busy, it might seem like it was worth it to be away from their families.  This was definitely not worth it.

Now, in Vegas, I've played in small rooms where there was only one table going.  It's sometimes sad, but it's not too bad because there's always a busy casino right outside the room, you can hear people walking by, you can hear the slot machines (or at least you could back in the days when they used coins).  But this was just way, way, way too quiet.  Just like I suspected it would be—just sad.

Well, I finally got called to the 2/3 game and bought in.  As soon as I could, I ordered my complimentary turkey dinner.  It was fine, but it couldn't possibly have been worth the drive to get it when you add in how depressing the place was.  Oh, and when the waitress asked if I wanted pumpkin or apple pie, I said neither (the only kind of pie I like is chocolate cream or better yet, chocolate silk).  So the off-duty dealer I had recognized said he would take my pumpkin pie.  I said fine.  "It will be my next tip to you."  Then I said, "in exchange for the pie, you gotta give me one fold when I want it."

Aside from the off-duty dealer, who I had never seen play before, I didn't recognize any of the players.  Actually I think one of the players was a reg who usually plays a bigger game.  I was card dead, but honestly, it was too quiet for me to concentrate—I was distracted by the lack of noise, if that makes any sense.  So I called $15 with 6-5 of spades from the cut-off, mostly because I hadn't played many hands until that point.  It was three-way.  The flop was 7-3-2, the 7 and the deuce were spades.  It checked around.  The turn was the 10 of spades. I called $15 and there were still three of us.  The river was the Ace of clubs.  I called $30, as did the other guy.  They each had an Ace.  The preflop raiser had Ace-10 and his Ace was the spade.  So my baby flush was good.

It was a nice pot, and put me up almost $100.

Now the guy who had raised there was on my immediate right and was a bit of a maniac.  I saw him go through a few buy-ins (never more that $100 at a time after his initial $200 buy-in). So I knew he was a loose player.  A while later I got pocket Queens in the big blind. There were many limpers.  When it came to that guy on my right, he hesitated awhile before finally completing.  I added $20 to my $3 blind.  There were two calls and then that guy on my right shoved—for $91.

Well, I was certain I was ahead of him.  There was just no way this guy was limp/re-raising with Kings or Aces or even Ace-King.  He would have raised initially with hands like those.  And no way would he have hoped to spring the limp/re-raise knowing the only guy left to act was someone who hadn't made an aggressive move all day.  I had his range crushed.

One of the two players who called my initial raise was a short-stack but the other one was the off-duty dealer.  He had almost as big a stack as I had.  So I decided to shove to isolate.  The off-duty dealer tanked for a bit and then folded, telling the actual dealer, "I want to see both hands."  What?  This is the thanks I get for giving him my pie?  And he made it pretty clear why he wanted that, he even said, "I want to see how they play."

Wow.  The fact that he—a dealer at this very establishment—said that, and said it so that the actual dealer could hear it, told me a lot.  I guess they think it's ok for players to ask to see hands just to "see how they play."  That is not what the rule is for.  I've discussed that recently (here). The dealer should know better.  But I guess maybe the whole poker room should know better.

It pissed me off, although I know he really wasn't that concerned with my play.  He's dealt to me enough to know I had a premium hand there.  He really wanted to see what the maniac was doing.  Actually, I wanted to see that too—but it's not a legitimate use of the rule.

Anyway, the short stack called for less, no one showed and the flop was 10-9-8.  The river was a King, which I didn't like.  I didn't think he had Ace-King but King-Jack or King-rag was certainly within his range. The river was a Queen, giving me a set but also putting four to a straight on the board.  Sure enough, the maniac turned over Ace-Jack to take it (the short stack didn't show).  Grrr. 

That put me in the red and the maniac proceeded to lose all my chips and another buy-in to other players.  I never got another hand to play.  Suddenly the table thinned out.  One by one, we were playing more and more short-handed.  There was no list.  When we got down to five players, I'd had enough.  I picked up and left. There were still two 1/2 games going but really, it was too depressing to hang around. It was a rather unpleasant Thanksgiving.  Oh and that "free" turkey dinner?  It ended up costing me $50, not counting the gas I used getting there and back.

Lesson learned.

Long Day's Tourney Into Night (Part 1)

This is the first part of a four-part post.

Although I didn't cash in it, I felt good enough about my game after playing in the Aria tournament (see here) that I was ready to give it another try.   Venetian was having their DSE 3.5 series during my visit to Vegas in September.  My first Saturday in town the tourney was an $800 buy-in event so I never considered playing in that.  But on Tuesday they were running a $340, two-day version of their regular Saturday tournament (same buy-in) which I told you about here and here. In fact I liked that Saturday, one-day event so much that I played in it the next week as well.  This was back in April and I suppose that one of these days I'll tell you more about my second try at that tourney.

But now we're in early September and the tourney I was considering playing had two starting flights with a day 2 combining the survivors of both flights.  My initial preference would have been to play on Tuesday, but I kind of overslept and missed my chance.  So I ended up playing on Wednesday, knowing that if I somehow managed to survive to the end of day 1 I'd have to come back the very next day at the obscene hour of 11AM.

As I said, the tourney had a $340 buy-in, and a generous starting stack of 25K which is why the name of it is the "DoubleStack."  The one-day only regular Saturday version has a 24K stack, not much of a difference.  The levels were 40-minutes and the tournament even featured a 30-minute dinner break (yay!) same as the single day version.  I really enjoyed playing the one-day version so I figured two days, twice the fun, right?  The guarantee was a cool $100K (the guarantee for the single day version is $25K).

This was not one of those two-day tournaments where you are in the money on day 1.  Nope, all surviving day 1 got you was the right to come back on day 2 and fight for the money.  The first day 1 flight would play either down to the final 11% of the starting field or through 15 levels, whichever came first.  The second starting flight would play down to the exact same place on the tournament clock.  We found out right away that the first starting flight played all 15 levels, meaning we would have to play all 15 levels as well.  So if all went well, I was in for a long day of poker.  If. The first starting flight had 218 players and of course they figured to get more for the second starting flight.  Thirty-one players advanced to day 2 from the first starting flight.

The tournament started at Noon and somehow I managed to get there a few minutes early.  When it started, we were only four-handed at the table.  They had plenty of tables reserved for the tournament of course and used them all, or most of them, by really spreading the players out.  I know it's hard to know how many players are going to show up and when they will show up.  You don't want to put the first 10 players at one table and the second 10 players at another table and so on.  But it seemed weird that we had to start four-handed.  Posting blinds for half the hands in every orbit seemed like a punishment for those of us who arrived on time.  There must be a better way to do that.  In fact, we were four-handed for a good twenty minutes and then I don't think our table was full until like the third or fourth level.

Once our table got reasonably filled up, there were two guys on my left that made life miserable for me.  I was in seat 1.  The guy in seat 3 looked somewhat familiar.  I'm sure I had played with him before, but my memory couldn't place him in any specific tournament or venue. Kind of Eastern Europeanish accent.  I called him an "Aggressive Calling Station."  He often opened pots or raised over limpers preflop.  Then he stuck around in hands seemingly forever.  He didn't three-bet preflop that much but he sure wasn't shy about calling preflop raises if it was raised before it got to him.  He especially liked to call my three-bets.  I swear, for awhile, he called every damn one of mine.  It made it really hard to pull off the standard play of preflop raise, miss the flop, c-bet with air and take it down.  He wouldn't let me do it.

A few rounds into the tourney, after the original guy in seat 2 busted out, they sent over a solid player, a real tournament grinder to replace him. He too seemed to call all my flop bets. One of the two of them was almost always in the pot with me and I was having a hard time figuring out a way to get chips.  I was really worried about lasting very long.  And just in general, there were almost no limped pots at this table.

I was a little distracted at first when I noticed our cocktail waitress.  She looked exactly like somebody famous and I couldn't think of who. It was driving me crazy, I knew she looked like some actress.  I spent so much time trying to get my brain to come up with the celebrity she resembled that I almost asked her, "Who do people tell you look like?"  But finally the light bulb went off over my head and I realized she was the spitting image of Hayden Panettiere.  I guess she's more known for the TV show Nashville but I know her from Heroes ("save the cheerleader, save the world").  She really did look like her.

Early on, blinds 50/100, I had Ace-7 of clubs in the big blind. No raise and it was a limped pot (we were still four-handed, the aggros hadn't shown up). The flop was Ace-high, one club.  I called $200, heads up. There was no more betting, the last two cards were blanks.  My Ace-7 beat his Ace-deuce.

Still four-handed, the dreaded pocket Kings make their first appearance.  It had been raised to $200 so I made it $600.  He called and it was just the two of us. The flop was Queen-high, two spades and I bet $500 and got a call.  The turn was a King.  I bet $1K and after a bit of tanking, he folded.

 We were now 6-handed and in the big blind I had Ace-Queen.  It folded to the small blind who completed.  I made it $600.  He called.  The flop was 7-5-2, I c-bet $600 and he called.  The turn was a 2 and a the river was a 7 and there was no more betting.  He took the pot with Ace-5 for a better two pair.

Level 2 (75/150), $23,500.  I limped with pocket deuces then called $625, it was heads up.  Unfortunately I didn't write down many details of this hand and by the time I recorded my voice notes I couldn't remember much of anything.  But I hit my set and apparently decided to slow play it.  I checked the flop and called $750.  I checked the turn and apparently was planning on a check raise but he checked behind.  I led out for $1K on the river and he didn't call.

With 9-7 of spades in the cut-off, I opened to $400 and everyone behind me called .  The flop was Jack-high and totally missed me.  I took a shot and c-bet $1K and didn't get a call.

Level 3 (100/200), $23,600.  Card dead the entire level, I finally get pocket Jacks near the end of it.  I called $700 and it was 3-way.  The flop was low and the preflop raiser shoved his last $3,500.  I could tell the guy behind me was eager to fold.  I called.  The all-in player showed pocket Queens.  Ugh.  But a Jack showed up on the turn and I took it down.

Level 4 (25/100/200), $27,100.  I opened to $500 from the button with Ace-10 off.  There was one call.  I flopped a gutshot and took the pot with a c-bet of $700.

I limped from the button with Jack-8 of hearts after two limpers.  The small blind, the Aggro Calling Station, made it $800.  One of the limpers called so I came along too.  The flop was Ace-8-2.  The preflop raiser checked, the other guy checked and I checked.  The turn was a blank and again, the small blind checked, rather surprising.  This time the next guy bet $2K.  My inclination was to fold but then I thought it through.  This guy was fairly new to the table and had apparently re-entered after taking a bad beat the first time.  I figured if he had an Ace, he would likely have bet on the flop when the preflop raiser checked.  So I thought he might just be trying to steal it.  I went ahead and called.  The aggro folded (a rarity).

The river was another Ace, making it even less likely he had an Ace.  This time he bet $3K.  Now, it was still early in the tournament  and I had over the starting stack and the starting stack was still a good size stack at this point.  So, taking advantage of playing in a tourney with such a big starting stack, I figured it was worth a call.  I mean if I thought he didn't have an Ace before, I thought so even more now.  It was more a question of could he beat a pair of 8's?  So I took a shot and called.

He said "King-high" and showed King-10.  I had read the situation perfectly.  Even though I had doped it out, I was still a little surprised (amused, really) and was laughing a little internally at my play there and that it actually worked out.  Perhaps a sly smile was on my face.   The other guy was not so amused.  "You called with an 8?"

For once, I handled the situation perfectly.  I shrugged my shoulders and said, "I can't help it, sir.  I'm a bad player."  I'm sure my smile grew bigger and I chuckled a little more loudly.  Meanwhile, he was shaking his head.  "Five-thousand for an eight!"  He couldn't believe it.

I was really pleased, not just because I won some chips but that I reacted so well to his criticism.  My tendency there is to get defensive and annoyed when my play is questioned.  It was really nice. 

That was my favorite hand of the early part of the tournament.  I kind of felt that no matter what happened after that, playing the tourney was worth it just for that moment.

Level 5 (50/150/300), $34K.  I limped in with pocket 8's, no one raised and it was 6-way.  The flop was Ace-high, no 8.  The same guy who I beat with pair of 8's on the previous hand bet $600.  It was such a small bet for the size of the pot, I decided to float.  Perhaps this guy was going for another steal (though the number of players who saw the flop made that unlikely).  So I called and four of us saw the turn.

Well, wouldn't you know—the turn was a beautiful 8.  My third turned set of the day!  The guy who bet the flop bet $1K.  I made it $3K and got a call before the bettor also called.  The river was an Ace.  This time the guy who bet the last two streets shoved.  I shoved and the other guy folded.  He flipped over Ace-2 for trips.  His tournament was over.  And busted out to a bad player who invested $5K with just an 8!  My stack was now over $50K.

End of part 1.  Part 2 can be found here.

"Ace-King Doesn't Raise Like That, Buddy"

I don't know why it is, but for some reason I seem to be more sensitive to criticism at the poker table than in most other aspects of my life.  I know intellectually that if someone criticizes me at the table for how I played a hand, I should just laugh it off, perhaps say, "I'm sorry, as you'll find out, I'm a really bad player," and use the fact that the critic thinks I don't know what I'm doing to my advantage.

But for some reason when someone suggests I played a hand incorrectly, I take it way too personally.  I always want to defend myself by explaining why what I did was correct.  Now, I always stop myself from doing that, but the frustration of holding back my response makes the annoyance with the original comment last longer.

This was a night where things were going decently until four Queens (but not The Four Queens casino) and an obnoxious jerk put a damper on things.

In the small blind I had pocket Jacks and someone opened to $5 and got a couple of calls.  I made it $31.  The original raiser was the only one who called.  The flop came 7-2-2 and I bet $50.  He folded.

The very next hand I had pocket 6's and limped in with a few others.  The flop was 10-9-6, the first two cards were diamonds.  A guy bet $15 and there was a call.  I made it $60.  The first guy shoved for his last $65 total and the other guy folded.   The turn was a blank and the river was an Ace—no more diamonds came.  The guy who shoved showed 10-8, so all he had was a pair of 10's (and a missed gutshot).  Here's the crazy part.  The guy who called the flop and then folded said he had King-Queen of diamonds.  Huh?  He had the second nut flush draw and a gutshot to a straight flush?  How does he fold that?  I wasn't sure I believed him.

I opened to $6 with pocket 6's but there was a raise to $19 and then a shove for $49.  I folded.  The other guy called.  Of course there was a 6 on the flop!  The guy who made it $19 had pocket Queens and the guy who shoved had pocket Jacks.  The guy who won with his Queens left a few hands later and I told him that I would have had a set if I had stayed in.  He looked to the sky as if thanking god.  What about me?  I'm the one he should have thanked.

I opened to $10 with King-Queen of diamonds and only had one caller.  The flop was pretty nice: Jack-10-9, rainbow.  I bet $15 and he made it $30.  OK....so I made it $65 and he shoved.  I had him covered and of course I snap called.  The turn was a Queen, and the river was a Jack.  I was worried about the paired board but it turns out he had.....pocket Kings.  Yeesh.  Damn Queen on the turn counterfeited me and made it a chop.  But I did find it interesting that he didn't three-bet with his Kings.  Could have gotten rid of me preflop with a three-bet.

Then I got the dreaded pocket Queens.  Yes, I said Queens.  It's been awhile since I've referred to them like that but you'll see why.  I opened to $10 and got two callers. The flop was low, two diamonds.  I bet $20.  The next guy shoved for $67 and the other guy called without any hesitation.  He had me covered. Well, I had to figure my Queens were no good there—they sure didn't seem to be worth another $47 against two players who really liked their hands.  I folded.  The turn was a King and the river was a blank—no diamond appeared.  Well, the guy who called the $67 had King-4 of diamonds and took it with a pair of Kings. Someone commented on his calling such a big bet on the flop and he said, "I had a monster draw."  The other guy shocked me by saying he had a straight draw.  I hadn't seen him bet a draw all evening.  BTW, he was the same guy who hadn't three-bet his pocket Kings in the previous hand.  That's one of the reasons I was so sure he was really strong there. 

Just several hands later I got pocket Queens again.  A new player had taken over for the guy who busted out with his straight draw a few hands earlier.  He was, well, "rough" looking.  I mean, I wouldn't want to run into this guy in a dark alley.  Or even a bright alley.  He bought in for $160.  And this was either the first or second hand he'd played.  He was under-the-gun and straddled for $5.  Two players called the straddle and now it was on me.

What am I supposed to do there?  I've mentioned before, I'm never quite sure what to raise when there's a straddle—how do I take the straddle into account? I mean, if it was three limps in front of me, I'd make it $14.  But that's too little, obviously.

To me, you can look at the straddle in one of two ways—as a small raise, or as a third blind.

If I look at it as a small raise, well I'm three-betting so I would normally triple the amount of the raise (the total bet).  So that would be $15—but I would also add the amounts of any calls.  Two calls, $5 each, and I come up with $25.

If I look it as a blind, well, I'm raising usually 4X, plus the amounts of any calls.  So 4 times $5 is $20, plus the two $5 calls and I come up with $30.

Does anybody think I should have raised less than $25?  Or for that matter, more than $30?

I was using the first method so I made it $25.  It folded to the new guy, the straddler, and he thought about it for a bit and then called.  Everyone else folded.  The flop was King-high, rainbow.  The other two cards were something like 8-3, 9-4, or similar.  He checked.  I c-bet $35 and he immediately announced "all-in."

I know, the over-shove screams of a bluff, and I was sure thinking that.  On the other hand, I didn't know this guy from Adam.  Did I really want to risk most of my stack with Queens on a King-high flop?  My answer was, no, I didn't. I folded. It was late, this was already going to be my last orbit so I didn't really have time to get it back if I lost

I'm sure some (most?) of you will think that's too weak.  But against an unknown opponent, I didn't feel like making the call.  If I was planning on playing longer, I might have been more tempted to call, if only to see if he was really bluff-shoving for $160 on his first hand.   That information would have been useful.  But under the circumstances, I'd likely never get to use it.

Anyway, here's the payoff.  When the pot was pushed to him, he said to me, in a pretty nasty tone, "Ace-King doesn't raise like that, buddy."

That irritated the hell out of me.  I didn't say a word, but I so wanted to set him straight.

I wanted to tell him, "I would have raised to $25 with any hand that I thought I should raise with, including Ace-King, buddy."

I wanted to say, "Since you straddled and there were two callers, that $25 was the least I should have raised to, buddy.  What would you have raised to in my position, buddy?"

I also wanted to say, "Don't call me buddy, buddy.  I'm not your buddy.  And I never will be."

Yeah, I don't really like it when someone I don't know calls me "buddy."  We're not buddies.  It always sounds like an insult to me.  Note: It's totally different when someone I know—someone who is my buddy—calls me that. I have no problem with that at all.  It's only when it comes from a stranger.

But again, I said nothing.  I hated that I couldn't explain the logic behind my raise—as if it would have made a difference.  But like I said at the outset, I took the criticism of my play personally.

And what did his comment suggest?  In my annoyed state, I initially assumed it confirmed my suspicion that it was a total bluff.  He was pissed at me for raising "so much" and so he would get his revenge by bluff-shoving to steal a pot off of me.

It was only later, when I was discussing the hand with my poker buddy pal Don that I considered another possibility.  Don heard my story and immediately said that for sure he had a King, just not a very good one. But that he wasn't worried about me having Ace-King because "Ace-King doesn't raise like that."

Well buddy, what does raise like that?  Pocket Aces?  In fact, a lot of folks raise bigger the bigger the hand.  But if he put me on Aces, he wouldn't check-shove against me—unless he'd gotten really lucky and caught a set.  Even then, he'd likely slow play it, at least on the flop.  And if he did put me on Aces, is he gonna bluff me there?

Or, people tend to bet bigger with pocket Jacks, everyone hates those.  Would he shove there if he put me on Jacks and he had a crappy King?  I'm not sure why he would have.

Well, I'll never know what he had.  As I intended, I left a few hands later, having lost a few bucks.  It wasn't Kings this time, it was Queens that did me in.

Queens and my new buddy—the guy who gave me instruction on how much not to bet with Ace-King.