It's Never Too Late For My Super Bowl Post, Right?

It’s not, is it?

I don’t post in chronological order, I never have.  Besides, everyone remembers the Super Bowl like it was yesterday right?  Let’s see, it was the Nashville Predators vs the New Orleans Zephyrs, right?

Or something like that.

I wouldn’t mention the Super Bowl at all except that, this year, for the first time ever, the Super Bowl game did not have my undivided attention.  Unlike all the previous ones, I was doing something else while watch the “big game.”

I was playing poker.

Originally I planned to come back from Vegas the Friday before the game.  But as it closer to the end of my trip, it occurred to me that Super Bowl weekend is a pretty big deal in Vegas.  A lot of people come to town that weekend to place bets on the game (yes, they do allow that in Vegas—in fact, they encourage it) and watch the game at Super Bowl parties that the NFL refuses to allow them to call “Super Bowl Parties.” And these people seem to have a lot of money to throw around, so I assumed some of them might want to throw it around at the poker tables.  And I thought maybe I’d be able to catch some of it.  It seemed like the games might be juicy so I decided to stay through the football game.

It was gonna be weird watching the game while playing poker but I wasn’t all that excited by the match up this year anyway, so I figured I could manage.  I was able to remotely set my TiVo back home to record the game for me in case anything earth-shattering happened.  You know, like a 33 minute blackout.  But what were the odds of that happening?

I tried to see if any rooms had interesting promos going on.  The only really good promos were the ones at Mirage, all kinds of bonuses and high hands and drawings and stuff.  The trouble is that in order to get into a game, you had to get there by 11 AM or all the seats would be filled, and unlikely to open up.  Too early for me.  I also assumed that a lot of the players would be playing ultra tight because they didn’t want to bust out before the game finished, making the poker less than optimal.  Maybe I’m wrong.  But I kind of think you probably needed to hit one of the drawings or jackpots to make it worthwhile. 

So I opted for good ol’ BSC.  I arrived about an hour before game time and walked past the sports book, which was mobbed.  There were at least 150 people in line trying to get last minute bets down.  Although busy, I didn’t have any trouble getting a seat at a 1/2 game, and was able to score a seat which gave me a pretty good view of the TV’s.

At first the game was just what I was hoping for, It was loose and there were several wild players.  I looked for my spots and got paid off some for my decent hands.  I worked my stack up to over $100 profit when two things happened.  The two loosest, worst players left (and before the game had even started—the nerve) and some crazy Russian dude took the seat immediately to my left.  He only bought in for $60 but seemed to like raising preflop pretty much all the time.  If he shoved and busted out—and that happened a lot—he just re-bought for another $60.  Apparently his particular short-stack strategy was to short buy and be ultra aggressive with every hand.  Guess what?  It didn’t work.

But before that, he got lucky by catching me holding my favorite hand.  Yeah, the dreaded pocket Kings.  I raised preflop to $10 in early position and the crazy Russian called, as did 4 others!  The flop was low, I bet out $40 and he shoved with his last $60.  No one else called but it was an easy call for me.  Nothing helped me on the last two cards and he turned over 5-2 (but at least it was soooooted) for a flopped 2 pair.  Yeah, he called a raise in early position with 5-2!

Damn Kings.

But later he paid me off when I flopped a set of 10’s and turned a boat.  Also hit runner-runner for the nut flush to get well more than what I lost to him with the Kings back from him.  He re-bought many, many times, and eventually started re-buying for $120 instead of $60.  The bigger stack didn’t help his game anyway.  He was just giving money away, and fortunately I got some of it.

Meanwhile, there were of course some distractions from everyone watching the game.  But the best moment for me was before the game started and they had coin-toss.  When the result was announced, a huge roar erupted from the sports book, I knew that meant that a lot of people had bet on the coin toss, and half of them won.  I was quite amused.  Crazy gamblers betting on a 50/50 outcome and giving up 10% vig for the privilege!  Dumb. (There was a similar loud cheer towards the end of the game when the Ravens took an intentional safety, for all the bettors who bet that there would be a safety in the game).

As the game was winding down, I got texts from Lightning, who had come into town earlier that day.  We decided to get together for dinner.  He was over at Harrah’s, and I decided to kill two birds by meeting him in that neighborhood so I could also check out the newly relocated Quad poker room (formerly Imperial Palace).  I wanted to see it so I could update the info in AVP and also mention the relocation in my Ante Up column.  See guys, even on Super Bowl Sunday, I’m working.  I cashed out of the game up $135.

I came by Harrah’s to see Lightning grinding away.  Lightning has long ago given his version of the night here.  After rejecting a bunch of ideas, we ended up trying the burger place at Harrah’s, KGB.  Like the better Le Burger Brasserie at Paris (see here), the burgers are served by good looking, scantily clad women.  Unfortunately, these waitresses, unlike those at the Paris burger joint, do not serve the burgers in their underwear.  

I had what one fellow blogger insisted (via Tweet) was scientifically impossible—a good burger at this place.  But Grange is a gourmand while I’m just a slob who likes a juicy burger.  It had the one requirement I insist on that I often find hard to get—it was rare.  I was happy with it, even though it wasn’t as good as the Bra burger place or, for that matter, the Fuddrucker’s at the Orleans.  Also, I should point out that Lightning used his Total Rewards points to pay for our meal, meaning the next time we get together, it’s my turn.  I’m hoping that by the time he returns to Vegas, the Jack-in-the-Box in the BSC food court will start accepting BSC poker comps.

After the meal, we did indeed walk over to the Quad and found the new poker room.  Unbeknownst to me, the location we found it at was only a temporary location (I said in my Ante Up column it was the permanent location—damn).  I’ve heard they’ve moved again and will move again into their—really, we mean it this time—permanent home in October or later.

We couldn’t have played at the Quad even if we wanted to, as the only games going were the tournament.  Lightning wasn’t sure if he was going to be up to playing any more poker and this was my last night in town so I was anxious to get back to the tables.  We parted and I returned to the poker room for my last session of this trip.

I got into another wild and crazy game, lots of huge raises with marginal hands.  Having learned from Grump that you can’t just play tight in games like this (see here), I called a small raise with 7-5 diamonds on the button.  Yeah, I did.  And flopped an open-ender.  And hit it on the turn.  By the river, there was a flush possible (not diamonds), plus a bigger straight possible.  My value bet was raised 3X.  I thought about it and just felt there was too good a chance he was either bluffing or overvaluing his hand.  So I called.  It was the right play.  He had flopped bottom pair with A-6 and caught the Ace on the river for two pair.  My straight was good.

I had another good read when I had a King high flush.  There were two 8’s on the board but I really didn’t smell a boat.  The aggro guy to my left bet out on the river, and a lady who had built up a small stack into a medium stack shoved.  It would have cost me $68 to call with my flush.  She was the one player at the table I was hesitant to call there.  It was a pretty big pot, and it was tempting to call.  But I put her on the Ace high flush and mucked.  The other guy called and showed an 8 for trips.  The lady did indeed have the Ace high flush.  Good lay down.

I was up and down the whole session, there was a lot of variance at such a wild table.  I would have left even but I decided to call a preflop raise to $25 with pocket 7’s.  It was a bad play, but I knew the guy would pay me off if I hit my set.  I whiffed.

So I was down a little for that session but still up for the day.  Had a nice dinner with Lightning, did a little work, and oh yeah, watched a little football game.  I had to look it up.  Turns out the final score was Ravens 34-49’ers 31.  You remember right?

A Min Cash is Better than No Cash

I’ve talked recently about trying to play more aggressively in tournaments, particularly deepstack tournaments, so as to avoid playing a really, really, really long time and leaving with nothing to show for it.  Two recent posts (see here and here) told about how I played the Bininons 2PM twice, each for approximately seven hours, and walked away without cashing.

It seems that, try as I might, I was getting stuck playing like forever and walking away empty handed.  I was tempted to stop playing deepstacks.  Alternatively, I considered a strategy where I would just shove every hand preflop through the first level, and either make a very early exit or build up enough of a chipstack so I could really improve my chances of cashing.

Of course, I didn’t really consider either of those options.  But as I once again played in the Binions 2PM recently, the day after I played those back-to-back tournaments at M Resort (see here)  I was once again was dedicated to doing my damnest to put myself in a position to make a big cash or leave early.

So early in the first level, I had Queen/Jack offsuit under the gun.  In the past, at that stage of the tournament, with basically my starting stack (20K), I would have folded. Instead, I raised and got a caller.  I lucked into a great flop, Jack-10-8, so top pair plus the gutshot.  I bet, he called.  Turn was a meaningless looking 6, I bet, he called.  I was beginning to wonder if my top pair wasn’t good enough.  A beautiful 9 hit the river, completing my straight.   I bet, he called, and mucked when he saw my straight.  I asked if he was ahead until the river but he didn’t respond. 

A few hands later I was dealt pocket 10’s, raised, had a several callers and nobody called my bet on a 9 high flop.  Then I had pocket deuces in the big blind, checked behind several limpers.  It was a low flop that I thought might have missed everyone, and since nobody had raised, I led out with a bet.  One guy called.  I caught my set on the turn, so I bet again, he called.  He didn’t call my river bet.

I got several hands in the right situation to be aggressive with, and it mostly paid off.  I had a nice chip stack for so early in the tournament, about 40-45K.   Then came the hand that I misplayed, and took away that early advantage.

I was in the big blind with Ace-King offsuit.  A guy raised in middle position.  Hmm…..I just called.  I’m not a big fan of three-betting with Ace-King, as I’ve explained elsewhere.  My gut instinct there is, well, it’s early in the tournament, I have plenty of chips, no sense risking much.

I think that’s the wrong attitude.  I had a good amount of chips more than the guy who raised, and I should have been thinking about putting those chips to work to bully the table a bit. 

But all I did was call.  The flop came K-10-9, rainbow.  I liked that flop of course, although it was possible he had flopped a straight.  I led out with a bet about the size of the pot. I didn’t want him getting decent odds if he had the straight draw. 

He made a min raise, twice my bet.  I thought long and hard about what to do.  All I had was top pair, top kicker, He could have the straight, a draw to it, or maybe a set.  A set of 10’s or 9’s were very possible.   That was really my biggest fear. 

I had him well covered and here was where I made a crucial error. Looking at his stack, I thought if we both got it all in and I lost, I’d still have a decent stack left.  So I figured this was a good place to really chip up.  I shove, he folds, I get a nice pot.  I shove, he calls, and if I’m ahead or catch up, I get a really nice pot.  I shove and lose, I’m still a long way from being short stacked.  The player had been fairly aggressive and I hadn’t seen many of his hands, so I had a feeling there was a good chance he was just being aggressive and that my hand was good.

I never considered calling or raising anything less than an all-in.  So I thought for quite a bit, and figuring his stack wouldn’t hurt me that much, I shoved.  He snap-called, which I didn’t like.

When he first flipped over his hand, I thought he had 10-10 for a set of 10’s.  But no, he had 10-9.  He raised preflop with 10-9 and flopped two pair.  The board ran out blanks.  All I could think of there was, would he have called (or even re-popped) if I had three-bet preflop?  I’ll never know for sure, but I’m thinking not.  Although, to be honest, because I was being pretty aggressive myself to that point, I didn’t have my usual tight image.  He might have thought I was just making a move there and bet back at me.   

That was my first error.  The second was, I had mis-estimated his chip stack.  He had quite a bit bigger stack than I thought.  When the counting was done, I didn’t really have a short stack, but I now had less than my starting stack, down to about 16-17k.

One or two hands later, I was dealt pocket Aces and pocket Queens, back-to-back.  Both times, no one called my raise preflop, and all I got was the blinds.  Bummer.

So I had to be even more aggressive, and I was.  I raised in early position with King-Jack offsuit, and had two callers.  Lucky for me, there were two Jacks on the flop (also two hearts).  I bet big, one caller.  Blank on the turn, I bet again, another caller.  No heart on the river, but a 9 made a flukey straight possible.  I bet, got called, but when she saw my hand, she mucked.

Then, in the blind, I got Ace-King again, this time suited.  Someone raised first.  Remembering the earlier hand, I three-bet it.  He just called.  The flop missed me completely, but was very low.  I led out with a big bet.  He folded. 

I raised another time with K-J  and on a Q-10-x flop, no one called my continuation bet.  I limped with pocket 6’s, no one raised.  Flop was King high, no 6.  I bet it and everyone folded.

Against a short stack I called an all in with pocket 10’s.  Short stack had Ace-King offsuit, better than I thought.  I hit my set on the flop and didn’t have to worry about the King on the turn.

And for a long time, that was the last decent pot I won.  My aggression got me small pots, but I couldn’t win anything big. Whether I had good hands or bad hands, my raises were seldom called, or maybe I’d win a few chips with a continuation bet on the flop that no one called.

And of course, every now and then I’d get re-raised or called when I was betting light and had to let it go.

So, with the blinds going up and the antes kicking in, I got to the point where almost all of my raises were all-ins.  Note, I usually go to this move earlier than most people.  That’s especially true now that I’m trying so hard not to play 7 hours without cashing!  Sometimes I shoved with really light hands, knowing I was likely to bust if anyone called.  And I was ok with that.  There was still time left to do something else for the day! 

But I went hours really without getting into another all in vs all in situation, where my tournament life was at risk.  Really, I didn’t face a situation where I could have busted out—or been totally crippled—for many, many levels.  It was weird.  It kept me alive, but it prevented me from building a serious stack.

I had been originally assigned to one of the first tables that they break, and it seemed, every time I was moved, by chance, I kept being sent to the next table that would break.  So I was moving a lot. Rather bad luck—I had no chance to learn the players in a situation like that. 

Somehow, I was hanging in there, and we were down to four tables (there were over 120 entrants).  At that new table, I did my all-in move about three times, causing one guy to say, “You should have played in that ‘All-in or shove’ tournament they had at Caesars.  That would be perfect for you.”  I chuckled. This is not the reputation I usually have at a poker table!

There was a brief period where I’d built my stack up enough so I had chips to play with, so I could actually play poker again.  But I got three bet a few times there or saw a dangerous flop, and it didn’t really last long.  Still, I survived until we were down to 20 players, two tables.  They were paying 12.

Now it was really getting late.  And I had been playing a long time.  And I didn’t have a lot of chips.  But I while I was short-stacked, I wasn’t the short-stack.  And I had to rethink my philosophy.

Did I want to stay aggressive, and have a higher risk of busting out before cashing?  Or should I tighten up and see if I could hang on to finish in the money, even though I wouldn’t have a good chance of getting a big cash that way?

Well, to a large degree, the cards kind of made the determination for me—I mostly wasn’t getting any.  But I also had to rethink my position.  It was long past the time where I could put in a short day of poker.  It was already getting towards 7 hours, and I was either going to play a long time and lose $125, or I was gonna play a slightly longer time and maybe get a min cash. 

The min cash was starting to look good.  As I reflected, I had to look at it differently.  I had now played more than 7 hours and still hadn’t secured cashing in the tournament.  So what I was trying so hard to avoid was staring right in front of me.  And as frustrating as min cash would be, at this point, playing 8 hours for a $90 profit sure sounded a lot better than playing 7-½ hours for a $125 loss.  I couldn’t look at it as just the profit above the buy in, I looked at as the difference between losing $125 and winning $90, a $215 difference.  Looked at that way, a min cash sure sounded nice. And besides, that $125 I paid to entered was gone.  It was no longer my money.  That was gone whether I got anything back or not.

Truth is, most of my hands didn’t give me any choice.  Unless I wanted to take a huge risk with a garbage hand, I didn’t have anything to play.  In fact, I did make one semi-reckless play.  In the small blind, it folded to me with 8-4 offsuit.  The big blind, an older gentleman, had not been even remotely aggressive.  I figured he would fold to a raise.  I just had to hope he didn’t wake up with something.  I made a big raise, and he folded.  Phew.

Another time I got pocket Aces.  That was nice.  If I had any other big hand there, even Kings, I would have shoved.  But I made a 2-½ times the big blind raise.  I did that not to play it safe but to try to get someone to call with a lesser hand.  Sure enough, I got a caller.  I planned to shove on the flop no matter what it was, barring something freakish.  Nope, it was a unassuming flop, so I shoved, and the other guy folded.

Other than that, I played very tight, but again, it wasn’t like I was folding AK, or QQ, or even 10-10.  I hung on until there were 13, which led to the inevitable discussion about whether or not to pay the bubble.  It was now past 10PM, and we’d started at 2.  The last few places on the cash list were going to get $220.  So, do we pay the bubble, and if so, how?

I stayed out of the discussion.  I think I was the short stack at my table, but there looked to be a shorter stack at the other table. In that situation, I don’t want to say anything other than that I was ok with paying the bubble, which of course I was.  After quite a few minutes of discussion, it was settled that we would pay the bubble $150 by taking $50 each off the top 3 places.  So bubble boy would make $25 (less if he tipped the dealers out of that whopping profit).

One thing that happened there surprised me.  Since the bubble was making less than last place finisher according to the posted prize pool, they still went hand for hand.  I thought the whole reason to pay the bubble was to avoid the absolute agony of playing hand for hand after 8 some hours of poker!  For a discussion of “hand for hand”, see my post here.  I don’t recall doing this at the Aria when we agreed to pay the bubble.

Fortunately, it only took a couple of hands for someone to bust out.  I was ready to play poker again.  The problem was now, I was so short stacked, I didn’t really have a lot of fold equity.  But at least I was assured of $220 back for my efforts.  I tried to find a reason to shove before the big blind came to me, but my cards were pure crap.  Finally on the big blind, I had Ace-9, offsuit.  The big blind, whatever it was, as about ¼ or more of my stack, so I was likely to shove there with almost anything.  I suppose I could have folded a garbage hand if there was a lot of action before it got to me. 

But Ace-9 was fine with me.  It folded to the small blind who raised 3X the big blind.  It could have been a move, for sure.  This guy had been the short stack when I first got to the table but was a good player who had really effectively worked his short stack up a decent amount by now.

I didn’t take too long to announce all in, but he took his sweet time deciding what to do.  He asked for a count of my chips.  That made me feel pretty good, because if he didn’t snap call he couldn’t have been too strong.  I’m thinking medium to low pocket pair? 

He did call and I was right.  He had pocket 6’s.  I was behind, but I had two live cards.  Unfortunately, neither of them hit, and I was out, 12^th place, with a $220 cash. 

It was 10:30PM and I had played 8-½ hours of poker.  It sure as hell beats 7 hours of poker and a $125 loss.  I didn’t look at is a $95 profit for 8-½ hours.  I looked at it as $220 turnaround.  I’ll take it. 

Why Not a Jewish Themed Hotel/Casino?

It was recently announced that an “Asian gaming powerhouse” planned to build a new Asian-themed resort on the site of the old Stardust, buying that property from Boyd Gaming.  You can read about it here.

I sent the link to my friend Luv Malts, who, as I explained here, is one of the people most responsible for me starting the blog.  I knew as a Vegas aficionado (she's always loved Vegas), she would be interested.

LM, as I call her here, is Jewish, as am I.  She responded with a political incorrect email wondering why someone hasn’t done a Jewish-themed hotel-casino yet. And then she had some thoughts on what that would be like, presented below:

“The Shalom House”

·         Must show lack of foreskin to register at hotel (private facilities will be provided where the cocktail waitresses will provide verification.  Could be a major draw to the hotel).

·         Free lox and bagels at check-in, plus two for one buffet coupons.

·         Courtesy and compliments are forbidden.  Only kvetching and complaints are allowed.

·         Upgraded room comes with AK* Jewish mother at no extra charge.  She stays in your room and points at your clothes that need to be ironed and hung up.  She insists that you eat more at time of room service because you are all skin and bones.  Nagging is included.

·         10% discount with proof of physician or attorney as family member or extended mishpucha.

·         Cocktail waitresses:  Skimpy, sexy Israeli-type gals that wear barely nothing except a very large Uzi strapped across their enormous bosoms.

I thought these were great, and I came up with a few of my own:

·         No restaurant in the hotel serves mayonnaise.

·         If a customer even asks for mayonnaise, he is escorted off the property, and no refunds are given.

·         The poker room offers several tables of No Limit Dreidel in addition to regular poker.

·         Players are required to tip the dealers when they win (what am I?  A Schnorrer?)

·         If a Jewish man registers at the hotel and is single, he is immediately introduced to three Jewish mothers who will sing the praises of their eligible, single daughters.  If he marries one of them before his stay is over, there is no charge for his visit.

·         All hookers who solicit in the hotel are verified shiksas.  No nice Jewish girl would ever do such a thing.

·         The “house wine” at all bars and restaurants is Manischewitz.

Feel free to use the comments section to add more.

*-AK does not mean Ace-King.  In this case, it means “Alter Kocker” which translates from the Yiddish into “old fart.”