Rub It In!

My most recent visit to Vegas was definitely a “working” trip.  I had to keep with my AVP responsibilities while there, as well as work on my next Ante-Up column.  Thus, almost all of the weekdays were spent in my room, working.  When I did get out, it was mostly to meet the managers of various poker rooms around town (in most cases, at their invitation).  That was certainly fun.  But almost all of my poker playing was thus confined to the evenings, except for the one weekend I was there.

One exception to that was playing in a tournament at Caesars one Thursday afternoon.  Actually, it was because of my position with AVP that I decided to play in it.  You see, as part of my duties, I was entering the information for Caesars’ “Poker Classic” special event into the AVP database.  This was a 2-plus week tournament series held in October that culminated in a Championship Event to begin the Friday of the first week of my Vegas trip.

That championship event had an entry fee of $1080 with a $200,000 guaranteed prize pool.  Well, that’s too rich for my blood.  The entry fee, that is.  The $200K prize pool I could handle!  But the day before the final event, they were running a series of satellite tournaments with the prizes being entries into that $1080 final.  As I was entering the details of those satellites, I started to realize that the structure of the satellites was quite appealing to me.  It was very similar to the $125 tournament I’ve played frequently at the Aria, and had some success with (see here, for example).  Most satellites that offer entries into bigger tournaments have really fast structures, low starting chips, short blind levels…..not really what I enjoy, or have ever been very good at.  But this satellite had 30 min levels with a 10K starting stack.  Not bad.  I could see myself winning a seat to the championship event with that kind of structure.

By the time I finished entering the info on AVP, I had pretty much convinced myself to play it.  The thought of playing in a $1080 event (with that $200K guaranteed prize pool) for a mere $150 was just too tempting to pass up.

So I made my way to Caesars that Thursday for the 3:00 PM satellite.  Unfortunately, I was pretty much card dead the entire time.  I barely made it through the first break (after four levels).  After the break, I shoved with pocket 4’s and a very short stack.  I lucked out there because someone called me with K8 suited.  He had a big stack but it was still a silly call if you ask me. He didn’t catch anything and I doubled up. 

That still left me short-stacked so I shoved light a few times and chipped up a bit because no one called.  Then I was dealt a pair of 9’s.  By now I had enough chips so I didn’t have to go all in, so I made a good size raise instead.  A very aggressive young guy raised 3 times my bet.  Based on his play, he could have had anything, but I didn’t care.  In my situation, I wasn’t folding and my shove was not all that much more than his raise.  He insta-called.

Of course my fear there is that he has a bigger pocket pair.  Anything else, I’m very happy with.  In fact, he had Ace-King, which was fine with me.  It’s a race, and he’s got two live cards, but I’m ahead and actually about a 55%-45% favorite to win the hand. 

So I thought I had a decent chance to double up and get right back in the tournament.  And then, the flop came.  There wasn’t just one Ace, there were two of them.  Yeah, two Aces for him right off the top of the deck.

I groaned and started to get up.  The turn card was a blank, but the river card…..the river card…..was merely another freakin’ Ace.  Yeah, the case Ace.  I could have just lost to a pair of Aces, but no, I had to lose to quad Aces!

I was already standing up when that fourth Ace hit the board.  I let out a “Whoa!” and then said, “Quads?  You had to get quads there?  Really?  Rub it in!  Rub it in!”

Some of the other players gave me some sympathy and even laughed at my “rub it in” comment.  But the guy who busted me said nothing.  He had no reaction.  He just started stacking his chips.  You know, the ones that used to be mine.  It was like he busts someone out with quads every day.

I only played one other tournament during this trip.  That was my regular visit to Binions for their 2PM tournament on Saturday (see here).  Just one of the reasons I like this tournament is that Heather is almost always dealing there. Yes, I like having her deal to me even though it wasn’t that long ago that she dealt me one of the more horrific bad beat endings to a tournament I ever encountered, (see here) for which I took to calling her “Devil Woman.”  And of course, this new story took place just a few days after she accused me of liking boobs (see here) right at a poker table (can you imagine?).

So we had a nice chat before the tournament started and then, as it happened, she was the very first dealer of the tournament for me.  When I took my seat and realized that she was going to be starting off the tournament for me, I laughed and said to her, “Oh, you’re starting me off?  Well, just go ahead and bust me out on the first level, then I can have the rest of the day to do something else.”

She laughed and said she would see what she could do.  But I survived her down with ease.  As we were about to get started, some young guy, waiting in line to pay his entrance fee, saw her and said hello.  That gave her the opportunity to tell me how she pulled off a great bluff against him in a tournament she won not that long ago.  The guy had trip Kings (one in his hand, two on the board), and when a third spade hit the river, Heather shoved with total air.  The guy had her covered but decided to fold, not wanting to be crippled if she indeed had the flush.  He actually showed his buddy that he folded, who was appalled he didn’t call, and from what she says, has never let him forget it.  The buddy is convinced that he folded to a bluff, but the other guy insists it was a good lay down.  To this day, the guy doesn’t know that Heather bluffed him off the hand (unless he reads this blog).

I actually started out ok, getting some cards to play, winning some small to middling sized pots.  Then I got cold and couldn’t catch any cards, and saw my stack dwindle.  On the other side of the table from me, in Seat 3, there was a guy who went on quite a nice run.  He made some questionable plays and kept getting the card he needed time after time.  Pretty early in the tournament, he raised with QQ and had a caller or two.  The flop was J-10-3, so he bet the flop, another guy raised, first guy re-raised, other guy shoves, first guy calls.  The other guy had Jack 10 for 2 pair.  The guy with the Queens hit a straight on the river to double up and cripple the guy who flopped two pair.

From then on, for the next hour or so, the guy couldn’t miss.  He built a huge stack, and once he had a huge chip lead (at our table) he started bullying the rest of us around, almost always making pretty large preflop raises whenever he was first into a pot.  Of course, eventually the cards turned on him, and his stack started going down, but he had so many chips when his lucked finally turned that he could withstand the hits for some time.

By now, the drip drip drip of my chips leaving was taking its toll and I was getting towards “fold or shove” territory.  So when I got a pair of 9’s, I put aside the painful memory of the last time I shoved  with pocket 9’s in a tournament two days earlier (see above) and moved all in.  The lucky aggro guy I just discussed had me covered by a mile and called with Ace-rag.  Seemed like a needless risk on his part.  He didn’t hit his Ace, and just for good measure I caught a straight on river to double up.

That gave me enough chips to actually play a little poker with again.  So when I was dealt King-Jack offsuit in the big blind, I had some options.  In early position the kid that Heather had bluffed, who had only recently moved to our table, made a small raise, about 2-1/2 times the big blind.  It folded to me.  I figured since I was already in the pot, and the raise wasn’t that much more, I had enough chips to just call and hope that the flop hit me.  The kid hadn’t been too active since he got to the table, so I figured there was a good chance he had a better hand than mine.  I actually had him covered by a little bit.

The flop was Jack high.  Of course, he could have had an overpair, but I remembered the story Heather had told me.  This wouldn’t be bluff since I did have top pair, but I could actually see him laying down pocket Queens or Ace-Jack based on Heather’s story.  So I just went all in.

He thought long and hard, took a long time to decide.  Finally he folded.  I’ll never know if I made him lay down a better hand, but it’s possible.  I might have played that differently if Heather hadn’t told me her story.

Alas, I wasn’t able to put those chips to good use, and for a couple of orbits I was looking for anything even remotely reasonable to move all in with.  But time after time, I had pure garbage and there was a always a raise in front of me.  Under the gun, I looked at 7-4 offsuit.  I could be the first raiser, but there had been too much action at the table for me to think it was likely that a shove there would get everyone fold, especially with my anemic chipstack.  So I folded and knew I was pretty much committed to shoving on the next hand, when I would be the Big Blind, no matter what I was dealt.

After I posted the $300 ante and the $2000 big blind, I had about $15K left.  So I was delighted to see my first Ace in at least three orbits.  Unfortunately, there was only a deuce to go with it, but at least the hand was suited.  The aggro guy with the dwindling stack raised to $5k.  When the blinds had gone up a level or two ago, he made the statement that now the blinds were definitely worth stealing, and he got even more aggressive.  He raised virtually every time it limped/folded to him preflop.  He didn’t have to show a lot of hands but it was clear he wasn’t raising with much. 

His stack had dwindled, but he still had at least 3-4 times my stack.  It folded to me and it was a very easy shove.  The guy asked for a count of my all in bet and then went into the tank.  Here’s the thing.  He didn’t have so many chips that the extra 10k or so it would take to call me wouldn’t hurt.  So you would think he’d have to have a reasonable hand there to call my shove.  But no…..he finally called and as I turned over my Ace-deuce soooted he flipped over….five-deuce, offsuit.

Really?  Really?  I understand the initial raise. He was raising anytime he could get in first.  But to call there when he didn’t have to?  I guess I just didn’t have enough chips to scare him. 

I could also maybe understand it if he was still in that middle of that hot streak he was on at the beginning of the tournament.  But Lady Luck had left him at least an hour and a half ago.

So I was really happy to see his hand.  The fact that we both had a deuce made it really sweet.  He only had one live card.  Outside of a lucky straight or a freakish flush, I was looking real good.  I was a 3 to 1 favorite to win (although, I admit, it seems like I should have been an even bigger favorite). 

I don’t remember the first four cards to hit the board.  They were all totally harmless.  No flush possibility for me, no straight possibility for him.  I was just about to relax when the dealer flipped over the river card.  I swear he called it while it was still in his hand, before he put it down on the board.

“Pair of fives.”

Yes, dammit, the river card was a friggin’ five and he took the damn pot and knocked me out of the tournament.

I groaned or sighed or something.  The other players shook their heads.  As an aside, I’m pretty sure that the other guy had made some enemies at the table with his incredible luck and his aggression, and I’m sure everyone was disappointed that he didn’t get hurt there, and instead chipped up.  That despite the fact that, at that point, you want to see people busting out, as we were slowly but surely getting toward the money (but still a ways off). 

Before I had a chance to leave (this time I was sitting until the end, thinking I was good), the Tournament Director was already behind me picking up my seat card.  He knows me—in fact, we’ve even played together (see here).  I was still in a bit in disbelief. 

“Did you just see that?” I asked the Tournament Director

He too shook his head.  “Yeah.  That was pretty sick.”

I could not disagree.

Maybe She Always Goes Shopping Dressed Like This

This happened quite a few months ago. It must have happened when I was staying at Imperial Palace in the spring, as that would be the only reason I’d have been driving where I was when this happened.  My pal Norm (the same Norm who has made quite a few comments on the blog) and I used to stay at Imperial Palace all the time back in the day, but this was the first time in maybe 10-15 years that I’d been a guest at this establishment.

The room was actually quite decent, probably better than I remember it.  But it was a rather bad experience staying there because of all the construction going on.  I believe they had just closed O’Sheas next door as part of the The Linq.project being undertaken by Caesars Entertainment for that whole part of the Strip.  It was quite a trick to drive in and out of the parking structure due to all the construction.  The traffic mess this caused actually is relevant to the story.

One day, in the early afternoon—in other words, in broad daylight, on a warm day, I had managed to escape the parking lot and was driving southbound on a little side street, Audrie.  Audrie runs behind Bills, Flamingo, Imperial Palace, Harrah’s, etc, parallel to the Strip.  It ends at Flamingo Rd, because if didn’t, it would run straight through Bally’s on the other side.  If you cross Flamingo on foot at Audrie, there’s an entrance to Bally’s right there, which is at the east end of the shopping arcade.  You can walk through the arcade and get to the casino in Bally’s from there.  Norm and I did that many a time when we stayed either at Imperial Palace or at casino called The Maxim that used to be on Flamingo, across from Bally’s employee parking lot, which is now known as the Westin Casuarina.

Anyway, I was stopped at the light on Audrie, waiting to to turn on to Flamingo.  It was a long light, because Audrie is a tiny street and Flamingo is a major route.  Suddenly, I looked up and saw something you could pretty much only see in Vegas.  Coming out of that Bally’s entrance was a showgirl, dressed something like this:

I assumed she was from the big production show they have at Bally’s, Jubilee which has been running for over 30 years.  I can tell you that Norm and did indeed see that show, probably pretty close to the time it opened. I’m guessing they’ve changed some of the numbers since we saw it.  Also pretty sure they’ve changed some of the showgirls since then.

Now, truth be told, there are some places where you might actually expect to see a Vegas showgirl, and I don’t just mean on a stage.  There are girls dressed like this downtown, on Fremont Street, posing for pictures and handing out fliers.  I’ve seen “showgirls” doing the same thing in various Strip casinos too.  In fact, somewhere, I have a picture of myself with a “showgirl” that was taken at Harrah’s not too long ago.

But this girl was not working.  She came out of Bally’s, got to the corner, waited for the light to change and crossed the street.  Traffic was jammed, so I was stuck there long enough to see where she was headed. Across from Bally’s, at the corner of Audrie and Flamingo, is an establishment called “The Stage Door.”  It’s actually in a little strip mall.  I guess you would call it a bar, as it has a bar and they serve bar drinks and also some food (they advertise cheap hot dogs, I dunno if they serve any other cooked food).  But it’s also sort of a convenience store, as they sell snacks and beer (in bottles and cans) and sodas and stuff.  So it’s sorta like putting a bar in a 7-11.  And since it’s Vegas, there are slots and Video Poker machines in there too.  In fact, it might actually call itself a casino, although that would be really be very generous interpretation of that word.

The Stage Door was where she was headed.  She seemed to be carrying something in her hand, but it was really too small to be a purse.  Perhaps a wallet or even just some cash.  So she was presumably taking a break from rehearsing the show—a full dress rehearsal, obviously—and heading to The Stage Door to buy something on her break.  I dunno why, since I never saw what she came out of there with, but my best guess is she was going to buy cigarettes. 

The funny thing to me was that here was this gal dressed in a feather boa, a huge headdress and basically a bikini, just walking the streets of Vegas as if there was nothing unusual about it.  And I’ll bet when she walked into The Stage Door, she was far from the first woman dressed like that to have patronized this place. 

Only in Vegas.

Ducks?

This is a hand from my most recent visit to Vegas, early in the trip.  It’s always nice to face a player who plays a hand horribly and pays you off in the process.  Especially when you didn’t notice something potentially damaging until it’s almost too late.  Or to put it another way, I screwed this hand up somewhat, but the other guy really totally butchered it.

I guess it was my third night in town and on my very first hand of the session, I was dealt Ace Queen of spades under-the-gun.  It was a brand new table so nobody had a read on anybody.  Hmm…..as I explained here, I’d rather not get such a playable hand right off the bat, before I know anything about the table or the other players.  Nevertheless, I made it $8 and only one guy called.

The flop was K-6-3, but two spades.  So I bet $12, thinking that might take down the pot right then, and if not, I had a nice draw to the nut flush.  The other guy called.

The turn was a five of spades—or so I thought.  I hit the nut flush, nice.  I bet $15 and immediately wondered why I had bet so small.  I can’t explain it.  My first thought as I waited for my opponent’s action was, “Damn, what am I thinking, betting so small?”  But I was pleasantly surprised when he raised me!  Just to $30, the minimum raise.

Hmm…..maybe my small bet was a good idea after all.  I decided, since I had the nuts, to min-raise him back.  I made it $45.

It was only after I put out that bet that I noticed something.  Staring straight at the board, with what I hoped was a totally blank expression on my face, it suddenly became apparent that the turn card was not the 5 of spades.  It was the 6 of spades.  There were a pair of 6’s out there.  Ooops.  That put a possible full house—or even quads—in play.

My opponent just called.

The river card was a red 5, and yes, this time, it really was a 5.  I made sure.

I sure considered just checking then.  If he had me beat, the most logical hand he had was pocket 6’s for quads.  I thought that was highly unlikely.  Nevertheless, by default play there is not to value bet….to play it safe.  He’s not gonna call me if he can’t beat the nut flush, right?  Well, maybe he has a lesser flush and will indeed pay me off. 

So I bet $40.  Seemed right.  If I have the best hand, I want it to small enough for him to call.  If he’s got me beat, he’s gonna raise whatever I put out.

He thought for a long time.  I figured that was a good sign, although it was possible he was trying to figure out how big a raise to put out.

Nope, after awhile, he finally called.

I flipped my card to show my nut flush.  He looked at my cards, heard the dealer say “Ace high flush,” looked at his two cards in disgust.  It was clear he was beat, unless he was about to give me the ultimate slow-roll.

Which I worried about for a milli-second when he did indeed flip his two cards face up.  And his hand was……..

Pocket deuces.

Really, pocket deuces?  A pair of ducks?  That’s it?

Wow, what a badly played hand.  By me, somewhat, sure.  But especially by him!  Ok, you call a raise preflop with a low pocket pair, you should be prepared to toss it right away on the flop if you don’t hit your set (or luck into a great draw).  Not sure I understand the call on the flop.

And the raise on the turn when the board paired and a third spade showed up?  Ok, maybe that was a bluff on his part.  But he probably should have bet more than the min raise there if he was bluffing, no?

And then he calls me on the river when all he has is the lowly pocket pair?  Really?  Ok, I guess he thought maybe I was bluffing.

Whatever.  Nice of him to help me out like that, first hand of the night.  Also nice of him to show his hand, to demonstrate how badly he played the hand. It reminded me of the hand where the guy misplayed his 2nd nut flush to my turned full house that Lightning witnessed here.  Unfortunately, I didn't stack this guy.  But not surprisingly, he didn’t last at the table too long.  Regrettably, he lost the rest of his money to other players, not me.