Ten Minutes And Two Hands

As I mentioned last post, here, it was Super Bowl Saturday (if such a thing exists) and I had had a very good, albeit quick, session at Planet Hollywood.  Time to spend the rest of the evening at the MGM. 

Have I mentioned that the MGM has had some renovations recently?  During my December trip they were actually shut down for four days to do some of the remodel.  I have a couple of posts to write about poker sessions I had in other venues when they were closed.

The remodel is not dramatic.  One of the things they did was put a podium in the middle of the room (if you seen Caesars Palace new room, it’s somewhat like that).  That actually cost them a table (now down to 13) which is kind of unfortunate.  They apparently laid some new carpet, not that I would notice something like that (I tend to notice carpet only when it does or doesn’t match the drapes).  They also did something that would no doubt get the approval of TBC….they added USB phone chargers to all the poker tables.

I’d seen those changes in December after they reopened.  While I was gone, they finally got the new chairs they’ve been needing for a long, long time.  Their old chairs were a mistake from day one….I always found them too low to be comfortable, and they sure didn’t age well.  The new chairs are terrific.  Probably the most comfortable chairs I’ve seen in any poker room.  Great back support, adjustable height, wheels, the whole nine yards.  A fantastic improvement.

Also while I was gone, they added a bunch of TV’s.  Initially there were only TV’s on one wall, if you had your back to that wall, you were out of luck.  Now you can see several TV’s from any seat in the house.  This is important because you know that in any Vegas poker room, at least 95% of all the players have money on at least one of the games that is taking place at any given moment.  I am in that 5% that doesn’t have money on the games.

Nick, aka Cokeboy had returned to town for the big game, and he and Chris  were planning on joining me for some pokerz at the MGM that nite.  But I was first to arrive, and as it turned out, all the memorable action occurred before the two of them showed up.  In fact, pretty much all the memorable action happened in a span of less than 10 minutes.

I had been in a game for awhile, slowly bleeding chips.  I was down to about $140 and was starting to think about buying some more chips when I was dealt the dreaded pocket Kings on the button. Someone had straddled, someone had called the straddle, so I made it $15.  Three players called.  Ugh.  Surely one of them had an Ace.  Surely an Ace would hit the flop. 

And in fact, there was indeed an Ace on the flop.  But there was also a King.  Along with a 10.  It was a rainbow but not exactly a dry board.  An early position player made a donk bet of $25 into the $60 pot.  I knew I was likely getting my whole stack in this hand, the bigger question was, would I win the pot or would I have another “dreaded pocket Kings” story to tell?  It folded to me.

I took my remaining chips, split them into two almost-equal stacks, and put out the smaller of the two stacks (by $5) out. I believe it was $60.  He thought for a few seconds and went all-in.  He had me covered.  Of course, I wasted no time in calling.  If he had Queen-Jack, that’s poker.

But when the turn card was an Ace, I no longer had to worry about the straight.  Of course, the thought that he might have had Ace-King crossed my mind.  The river was a blank.  He showed Ace-7.  Wow.  He shoved with top pair, crappy kicker.  Good for me.  I had a nice double up.

I lost some chips on the very next hand and the details are a little murky.  I didn’t have a chance to write them down right away because of what happened on the hand right after.  But I raised and then called a raise with a medium suited-connector, called a bet on either the flop or the turn with a pair and a flush draw, and then called a smallish (compared to the pot) bet on the river thinking my pair might have been good.  It wasn’t.

During that hand I was still stacking my chips and I was just finishing up stacking when I got King-Jack of hearts.  One player had limped so I made it $10.  Four of us saw the flop, which was pretty good for me.  King-high, and the other two cards were both hearts.  Top pair and a flush draw.  It checked to me and I bet $25.  Two players called.

The turn was a lowish heart, giving me the second nuts.  It was checked to me and I bet $80.  The next player to act was the guy who I had beaten with my Kings full hand just two hands ago.  He shoved.  He was short-stacked (thanks to me), but it was more than my bet.  No matter, the next guy announced all-in as well.  His stack was close enough to mine that I didn’t bother to ask for a count.

It was easy to believe that one of them had the Ace of hearts.  And possibly another heart to go with it.  But with what I’d already put in the pot, there was no way I could fold even if I wanted to.  Can you fold the second nuts there?  But as I announced my call, I was starting to think that, instead of having a dreaded pocket Kings post to write about, I was going to have a dreaded King-Jack (suited) hand to post instead.

None of us showed and of course I was very much wanting to see the Ace of hearts hit the river.  And that was the only heart I wanted to see.  In fact, a red Ace did hit the river, but it was the Ace of diamonds.  Was I toast?

I think we all more-or-less showed our hands at once.  The short stack had a baby flush—something like 5-2 of hearts (I don’t think it was deuce-4 but it might have been).  The bigger stack had a suited connector, 9-8 or 8-7 hearts.  Phew, my second nut flush was always good. 

It was a big pot, over $400.  It turned out the suited connector guy had less chips than me and he just took off.  The other guy rebought.  I stacked chips.

I had a nice story to tell, three all-ins, three flushes, and I win with only the second nuts?  I really thought I was in trouble there.

So I was up over $300, all from what happened in the span of less than 10 minutes.  By the time Nick and Chris showed up, I had no interest in leaving that seat to join them.  They were each at a different table and eventually they both migrated over to my table.

The trouble was, after that quick run, I went card dead.  I managed to win a few pots with preflop raises and c-bets, but I never caught anything the rest of the night.  So my stack kept shrinking as I would call or raise with speculative hands and then whiff.  In hindsight, I should have been willing to move out of that lucky seat, because it wasn’t that lucky except those two hands from that one dealer.  Maybe I should have followed that dealer around from table to table?

The three of us had a fun time bullshitting at the table, but I couldn’t remember anything especially earth-shattering the next day that we covered.  I do remember laughing a lot and having a good time, even as my chips were slowly disappearing from my stack.

One thing Nick and I discussed was Planet Hollywood.  It turns out he and his wife were eating at the Earl of Sandwich right by the poker room at the same time I was playing poker there.  Obviously, we never saw each other.  I was actually sitting about as far away from the restaurant as I could. 

As for Chris, there will be another post from this trip where he plays a starring role.   But on this particular night, we didn’t really get into any hands against each other.

At least I didn’t catch any second best hands.  When I finally cashed out, I was up $210.  So over $500 for the day.  I guess it worked out just fine that I missed the Aria tournament that afternoon.  

Crazy Day at Planet Hollywood

Sometimes, when the day doesn’t go the way you planned it out, it works out just fine.  Everything went wrong on this day until I finally got into a game at the Planet Hollywood poker room.

This took place on the day before this year’s Super Bowl, otherwise known as Pete Carroll’s brain fart.  My plan was to play in the 1PM Aria tournament.  Now, I knew I had to get there early for sure.  It was Super Bowl weekend and additionally, the Aria was having one of their High Roller Tournaments, with something like a $25K buy-in, in addition to the regular tournament. I was even personally warned by the TD that I should arrive early to insure getting in when the tournament started.

And that was definitely the plan.  Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons I won’t go into, I was delayed leaving my luxurious accommodations and didn’t get to the Aria until just a few minutes before 1PM.  Damn.  I knew I could come in as an alternate but that didn’t appeal to me unless I was one of the first alternates.  Coming into to the tournament during the 3^rd or 4^th level was a non-starter for me (why start the tournament already in fold-or-shove mode?).

There was a crowd lined up, but it wasn’t too long so I figured I’d at least ask if the tournament was filled up and if so, how many alternates they already had.  I heard the cashier tell the person in front of me they were only taking alternates. When I got to the cashier I asked how many alternates they already had.  “Sixty-eight,” he said.  Sixty-eight? Did I want to be alternate #69?  All obvious jokes aside….no.

Well so much for that plan.  I had a backup plan.  Play cash all day and really (try to) take advantage of all those tourists who poured into town for the big game.  After all, that’s why I picked this weekend to hit town, right?  There was just one little problem.  For the previous two days, the tables weren’t treating me kindly and I didn’t have enough money on me to play cash.  I had a little more than the $125 tournament buy-in on me. 

Of course, there’s only about a gazillion ATM’s on the Vegas strip.  But I hate using casino ATM’s because they charge exorbitant fees, and then my own bank adds on some fees of their own. Some years ago, I opened up an account with Citibank just to avoid the fees.  They conveniently have branches in both California and Nevada and at least 75% of the 7-11’s in Vegas have Citibank ATM’s. If I use one of them to get my money, no fee whatsoever.  And there are more 7-11’s in Vegas than there are bad boob jobs there (well, maybe not quite).

But not on the Strip.  But I have a car and I stay off the Strip so it’s never inconvenient to stop by on my way to some poker.  Well, almost never.  Because I was rushing to try to make the Aria, I didn’t have time to stop before getting there. Besides, I didn’t need to—I had enough money to buy-in into the tournament and then the plan was to win enough money playing the tournament so that I wouldn’t need to hit an ATM at all (except to deposit). 

So…..I could have gotten back in my car, driven to a nearby 7-11, gotten the cash, and found a cash game.  But…..I thought I had a better idea.  About six months ago, I discovered there actually is a 7-11 on the Strip, and it sure enough does have a Citibank ATM.  Even better, it is located between the MGM and Planet Hollywood (on that side of Strip).  And if you know your Vegas geography, you know that Aria, where I was, is more-or-less between MGM and Planet Hollywood (on the other side of the Strip).  How convenient!  I could walk across the street, hit that ATM and then head over to Planet Hollywood.

I had been meaning to get over to Planet Hollywood and play in their new room for awhile.  In case you haven’t heard, they moved the poker room a month or two ago.  I had been over there to see the new location but didn’t get a chance to play that day (I think it might have been Christmas day) but now I would get a chance.  Not that I especially liked the new location.  I’m fairly certain that the decision to move the PH poker room was made by casino management and not necessarily endorsed by the poker folks over there.  Just another example of how casinos treat poker like a nuisance, not a revenue source.  But considering that PH is now the home of the WSOP circuit events, plus all those big tournament series that Caesars Palace used to host but no longer has room for, you’d think they’d show the poker room a little more respect. And you’d be wrong.

The new, somewhat smaller room is between the sports book and the popular Earl of Sandwich eatery.  Which means it’s right next to the Planet Hollywood Miracle Mile Shops, so it’s almost on the outskirts of the casino.  Not really a good location.  The old room was right in the heart of the casino, and although it did tend to get noisy at night, the room almost always had some nice moving scenery in the vicinity, in addition to the sexily costumed cocktail waitresses.

Alright, that seemed like a good alternative plan.  I left the Aria and headed toward the Strip and hoped to see that 7-11 I’d been to last year.  Since I’d actually used the ATM, I knew it existed.  But from across the street, although I saw a bunch of shops that looked familiar, that looked like where I sorta remembered the 7-11 being, I couldn’t see it.  I didn’t want to cross the street until I knew which direction it was from where I was.  Finally I remembered that I have a smart-phone on me and that there’s this thing called Google Maps.  And guess what?  That 7-11 that had been there six months ago no longer exists.  Which means the Citibank ATM is gone as well.  One more bad beat.

I had a decision to make….walk back to the car, drive to an off-strip 7-11, or walk to PH and just hold my nose and use a casino ATM.  If I went back to my car, I was unlikely to head back to PH because I think their parking is the absolute worst, which means I’d likely play somewhere else.  And I really wanted to give PH a shot, since I was so close (at least I thought it was).

So I walked towards PH.  I swear I made that walk in December and it wasn’t bad. This time it was bad. Because I was already on the Strip, I didn’t take the shortcut thru the Crystals shopping venue.  And there is a lot of construction going on in that area, which not only made the walk longer but took away some escalators and I had to walk up some stairs.  The weather had started to warm up and I was still wearing my ready-for-winter ski jacket, so I actually worked up sweat.  Then my back started acting up.  It had been fine until then.  By the time I finally got inside PH, I was in bad shape.

I found an ATM and got my money.  They only added on $4.99 in fees.  But I knew my own bank would add to it.  When I first checked, I thought it was $2.  But just yesterday I noticed there were two $2 fees.  I thought it was a mistake, so I called the bank.  Seemed like an easy mistake to correct.  But no, it wasn’t a mistake.  In addition to charging me two bucks for the withdrawal from an out of network ATM, they charged me two more bucks for checking my balance at an out of network ATM.  Can you say goniffs? 

I had one more stop to make before landing in the poker room.  I had to swing by the “Pleasure Pit” and see if a certain young lady was dealing.  I’ve seen this girl most times I’ve gone to PH during the afternoon.  She is an absolutely drop-dead gorgeous blonde.  Stunning.  Face, figure, she has it all.  And she deals blackjack in lingerie.  The first time I saw her was the last time I played 3-card poker.  I’m lucky I won because I think I would have emptied my wallet just to keep gazing at her.  If you ever want to get me a present, she would be my first choice.

And I eventually saw her, just as she was going on break.  She was working the $50 minimum BJ table.  No, no, not gonna play $50 a hand BJ, no way.  For fifty bucks a hand, that hand would have to go in a very specific place.

Anyway, I somehow made it to the poker room (after getting a bit lost, I admit, because I’d only been to the new location once and only briefly).  I got on the list and had a nice chat with Chris, the poker room manager (who I had interviewed for Ante Up recently).  The room was packed, about five tournament tables and all the rest of the tables filled with cash games.  So I went over to a nearby slot machine and waited for them to go thru the list.

I was trying to cool off and relax a bit and hoping that back wasn’t going to get any worse.  I was sitting just a few feet away from one of the tournament tables.  Suddenly, I noticed a guy at that table reacting happily to having just won a pot.  As it he was enjoying the thrill of victory his head turned and he saw me.  And he shouted over to me, “Look at this, I just won a hand with pocket Kings!”  Huh?  I realized it was Vegas724, a reader of the blog who I met and introduced you to in the post here.  I got up to say hello as he stacked his chips.  “I just won with the dreaded pocket Kings.”  Always love to hear other folks use that term back at me.  We had a nice chat and he explained to me that he had also intended to play at the Aria but he too was running late and realized he had no chance of getting in, so he wound up at PH.

It was a good half hour before I got called into a game.  Up until that point, pretty much everything had gone wrong on this day (other than the pleasant surprise of running into one of my readers), but my luck changed when I took my seat.  Sitting to my immediate right was a cute girl who was wearing a rather revealing tank top.  Also, her friend, also cute and also wearing a low-cut top, was sitting behind her, railing her.  The friend was basically sitting between us, very close to me.  I didn’t complain about not having enough space.  Finally, I caught a break this day.

It didn’t take me long to figure out that this was a wild game.  The very first hand I saw, a guy open raised to $15 UTG, another player shoved for $52 and the big blind cold called the $52, as did the original raiser.  Nobody bet the flop.  On the turn, which was a Queen, the original raiser bet and got the big blind to fold.  At showdown the original raiser (and turn bettor) showed pocket 3’s, unimproved.  The guy who was all in had King-Queen and won the pot. I can only imagine what the other guy had.

People were open raising to $15, $20 even $25.  Yes, this was a 1/2 game!  I knew this was going to be wild ride, and that if I could hit a hand I could do well.  Of course, variance being variance, I might have to hit that ATM another couple of times before I was done.

So when I got the dreaded pocket Kings on a hand where someone straddled to $5 UTG (they allow the button straddle but oddly enough, no one ever did) and two people had already called the $5, I went ahead and made it $40. Only two players called, I was surprised it wasn’t more.  The flop was 9-7-6, two spades (my Kings were both red).  I put out $80 and was glad to take it down.

The very next hand I had pocket Jacks.  There was a limper and I made it $15—probably not enough at this game.  Again, two callers, again a low flop, again my c-bet ($35) took it down.

Strange hand…I raised to $15 with King-Queen offsuit, three players called, including a guy who put in his last $7.  I don’t recall the flop, but I c-bet $20 and everyone but the guy who was all in for $7 folded.  By the river, there was a full house on the board and my King-Queen was worthless.  He had Jack-8 offsuit, also worthless, we chopped.  Note:  Even though he wasn’t the blind and didn’t have to do it, he put his last $7 in with Jack-8 off.  It was that kind of game.

From the small blind I completed with King-10 offsuit.  By this time the preflop action had calmed down a bit and there were occasionally limped pots, this was one of them.  The flop was Jack-9-8, rainbow.  It was checked around.  A queen on the river gave me the nut straight, so I bet $7 and a guy made it $20.  I bumped it to $50 and he tanked.  There was just the two of us left.  He finally called.  A 5 on the river didn’t change anything and I put out $100, hoping he had a 10.  Otherwise, I couldn’t imagine him calling.  He tanked for a long time, but eventually he called.  I showed my hand and he just mucked. My impression of the way he looked at my hand and then tanked….he didn’t have a 10.  I think he may have had a pair, maybe two, but I doubt it was better than that.  I had already gotten the impression he was a weak player and nothing that happened the rest of the way changed my impression.

The very next hand I had pocket Aces.  First in, I made it $15.  You think I would have learned by then.  I only had 6 callers.

Yeah, that’s right, 6!  Six players called an early position raise of $15.  I’m thinking that’s a few more than I wanted.  The flop was Ace-high, two diamonds.  I did actually have the Ace of diamonds.  Now seriously, anybody have an idea how to proceed there?  I would love some feedback.

A set of Aces is sure nice, but I figured with 6 opponents the likelihood of someone having two diamonds was pretty damn good.  In fact, I kind of figured that there might very well be players with two suited cards of every damn suit!  I really had no idea what to do, other than that there was no chance in hell I was going to slow play it.

I put out $100.  I was wondering how many would call.  To my amazement, every single one of them folded.  No one had two diamonds (or anything else to call with)?  Or did I make it too expensive to chase?  As I was collecting my chips I wondered if my bet-sizing was right.  But you know, claiming a $100 pot on a wet board like that wasn’t such a bad result. 

One bad hand, another limped pot.  I had King-8 of clubs in the big blind.  I think it was 5 to see the flop. It was 8-5-3, one club.  I bet $8 and was raised to $20, I called.  Now it was heads up.  A second club on the turn, I checked and called $20.  I missed the flush and checked the river.  He only put out another $20.  I don’t believe the 8 was still top pair, but the way the game was going I couldn’t be sure I didn’t have the best hand, and a $20 bet into that pot seemed small, I couldn’t fold for that price.  But he had flopped a set of 3’s.

Next hand, Aces again.  I raised to $14 from the small blind.  Only one player called (one by one, the crazy players had left, some with chips, some after felting).  The flop was Queen-high and I bet $20 and took it down.

I had been there for two hours and the big stacks had left or gotten felted and failed to re-buy.  I had been in town two days and this my first winning session.  So I left with a $310 profit.  I liked that hourly rate, to be sure.  My back no longer hurt as much and I took a slow walk back to Aria, taking all shortcuts possible.  I noticed that the tournament only had 120 players total.  They started with 70 when I was there so that means only 50 alternates got in.  I’m sure plenty gave up even after buying entry.  That would still have made for a nice prize pool, but the odds of me getting a better score there than the one I made at Planet Hollywood were rather slim.  The odds of me getting a better score in the same amount of time were non-existent.

Guess it all worked out after all.  There was more poker played this day, but that story will have to wait for another time.

Rebound

Where was I?  Oh yeah, as I mentioned here, I was just about to go out for my final session of my most recent Vegas trip.

I got to the poker room a bit before 6PM.  The table they sent me to was the same table where I had two horrific beats the day before.  I mentioned those hands in that post I just linked to: the set of 7’s beaten by a rivered flush and the pocket Aces taken down by Queen-4.  So I was already reluctant to take a seat at that table and then I noticed the lady dealing was the otherwise nice lady dealer who had dealt me the pocket Aces the day before.  For reference, she is the British dealer I mentioned in this post here, that fellow blogger MrBen had a nice conversation with in December.

I gulped and took seat 5.  I said hi to the dealer and then held up my two forefingers in a cross to try to ward off the evil emanating from her.  She said, “Yes, I guess after yesterday you don’t want to see me.”  Then she said she only remembered the result, but the details were vague to her.  So I described how the hand went down in excruciating detail.  Imagine a verbal telling of one my lengthier blog posts.  That’s what she got.

Fortunately she was almost finished with her down and she avoided dealing me anything to play this time.  However, she was replaced in the box by Ginger, who normally treats me well but happened to be the dealer who dealt me the set of 7’s hand the day before.  Someone was testing me.

And soon after she arrived, she sent me two Aces.  All I could think of was, “how am I gonna lose with them this time?”  Not the best attitude to have.  And then the guy to my immediate right raised to $15.  After rejecting the idea of just smooth-calling, tempting tho it was, I think I mentally reached into my pocket to pull out another buy-in.  But I went ahead and made it $40 and just the original raiser called.

The flop was Queen-high, rather dry, and I c-bet $70.  He folded.  Odd as it seems to say, but after the past few sessions, I felt like I had dodged a bullet.

A few hands later I had Ace-Jack offsuit in early position and raised to $8.  There were three callers, but there was also an Ace on the flop.  My $20 bet went uncalled.

Just as I was beginning to think things might have turned back around, I looked down at the dreaded pocket Kings.  Now this would be true test to see if my runbad was over.  First in, I raised to $8.  Only four players called.  What could go wrong?

But the flop was low.  There were two clubs but it looked otherwise harmless.  I bet $30 and no one called.  Phew.  If I could survive pocket Kings, I figured I could survive anything. 

Mike came to the table to deal.  Mike usually gives me pocket Kings but the hand I just described was from the previous dealer.  Instead, Mike gave me pocket Aces.   Second time in barely more than an hour.  The player to my right had changed, but this new guy raised in front of me too.  He made it $8, I made it $24.  He called and it was just the two of us seeing the flop, which was 4-3-2.  I c-bet $40 and he folded. 

I called a raise to $7 with Ace-Queen clubs.  Five of his saw the flop, which was King-Jack-10, one club, two diamonds.  The raiser bet $25 and I just called, everyone else folded.  Note: I’m scratching my head about that, that’s what my notes said, and I couldn’t remember it any differently the next morning when I did my voice notes.  It seems really odd that I would just call.  I virtually never slow-play a straight and with two diamonds on the flop, I dunno why I would have picked this hand to start.  But apparently I did.  The turn was a low black card and this time my opponent checked.  I bet $75 and he folded, showing a King and saying, “I believe you.”

I limped in with Ace-5 hearts.  A guy made it $13 and another player called.  I decided to come in for $11 more.  I guess I should mention those cash drawings again.  It was getting very close to 8PM, the time of the next drawing.  At the beginning of the month, they changed the drawings a bit.  There are six a day still, but five of those six times they give away $100 each to two drawn tickets.  The sixth time, they give away $1,000 as follows: First ticket drawn gets $400, the next six tickets drawn get $100 each.  When I got to the room, I asked if the $1,000 was still in play and it was.  And with about 10 minutes to go before the 8PM drawing, they announced that the eminent drawing would be for $1,000.  This meant an increased incentive to get tickets.  Remember, you need a flush or better to get a ticket.

As you will note, none of the hands I’ve described thus far involve me getting a flush or better.  So with a few minutes to go before the $1,000 giveaway, and a stack that was nearly double my $200 buy-in, I was somewhat incentivized to chase flushes for the next few minutes.  So that’s why I called.

The flop was King-10-4 two hearts.  The preflop raiser bet $20 and I called.  It was heads up.  The turn was a black 3, giving me a gut-shot to go along with my flush draw.  And interestingly enough, the guy bet only $17.  Weird.  I suppose with all my outs it might have been wise to raise there, but honestly, I didn’t want him to fold….I wanted to hit my flush and get a ticket to the drawing.  So I just called.  The river was a diamond, not a heart.  On the other hand, it was a deuce, giving me the wheel.  I had to settle for that.  This time the guy checked, and I bet $45.  Too much, I guess, he folded.

I limped in a few more times with questionable cards before the drawing, hoping to get a ticket…..a couple of unsuited Aces and a suited non-connector.  Nothing that cost me much, and nothing that hit the flop hard enough to get me to put any more money in.

So when the drawing started, I had zero tickets, zero chance to win any promo money, and I took a dinner break.  I had $372 in front of me and decided to leave my chips at the table and hold my seat while I took a quick bite.  Yeah, I know I’ve complained about players tying up seats like that.  I don’t like it, and I don’t like to do it myself, but they do allow it, and since my table and my seat were good—and I was having the first profitable session in a few days—I decided to be a hypocrite.  Besides, I know they allow 70 minutes at MGM and I knew I could eat and be back in less than half that, so it wouldn’t be so bad.

Indeed, I was back in less than half an hour but there had been a fairly dramatic turnover in the players.  Now, I should mention that the seat I was in was seat 5, which meant I had my back to walkway that would soon be filled with young ladies wearing their nightclub outfits.  Or, as I respectfully refer to it, The Slut Parade.  And in fact, after being back at the table for an hour or so, one of the dealers asked me, “Not interested in the parade tonight?”  I explained that the seat had been good to me and I didn’t want to leave it.  “There are always choices to be made,” I said.  The truth is, after the past few sessions, it was more important than usual for me to have a winning session if at all possible.

However, my post dinner results were not nearly as good.  I wasn’t getting any bad beats, but I wasn’t getting a lot of cards to play and the few speculative hands I played never went anywhere.  After a couple of hours, I had won one small pot and my stack had dripped down to below $300.  So when seat 9 opened up, I grabbed it.  I no longer had any attachment to seat 5 as it I was now just bleeding chips there.  And seat 9 offered me a view of the aforementioned young ladies, who were about to invade the casino.

In the new seat, I got the dreaded hand again.  I bet $10 and had three callers.  The flop was Queen-Queen-X.  I nervously put out $30 (pretty much anything I do when I have pocket Kings is done nervously) and was more than happy to not get a call.

Before I knew it, it was 11:30 and my stack was now under $300. It was beginning to look like the best I could hope for was a more-or-less break even session with no “cooler” hands.  I figured I’d play to midnite because I had to get up early the next day, pack up the car, and drive the 4-1/2 hours to get back to L.A.  That also gave me 30 more minutes to get a drawing ticket.  Of course, I knew the drawing would only be for two $100 winners so I wasn’t all that excited about it, and not about to go crazy trying to get a damn ticket.

The dealer this last half hour was Derek—at least that’s what I’ve called him previously so we’ll stick with that.  In the big blind Derek gave me 9-3 of spades, not exactly a thrilling hand.  But no one raised, there were 4 or 5 of us who saw the flop.  It was all spades.  I led out for $6 and it folded to the small blind.  He check-raised to $20.  I suppose the ticket was in the back of my mind but I certainly thought he could have top pair, two pair, a set or even a worse flush.  So for another $14, I called.  The turn was the Jack of spades, which I sure didn’t like.  He checked and I checked behind.  The river was a blank, and the guy put out $20.  OK, I guess this was a crying call, but I still thought there was at least some chance I had the best hand.  And I knew if I called the $20 I’d get a ticket.  I wouldn’t have called much more. He showed Queen-4 of spades.  Lost the hand, got a ticket.

I limped/called $10 with pocket 8’s.  The flop was J-3-3.  It was checked around.  The turn was a blank and the preflop raiser led out for $15.  Heads up, I decided to call.  I had a feeling he had an Ace-King type hand and after failing to c-bet, was just trying to steal it.  I got lucky when the river was 8.  He checked, I bet, he folded, but I showed my hand to get another drawing ticket.

There was a straddle and I called the $4 (only UTG straddles allowed here) with pocket deuces.  It was 4 or 5 way. The flop was all hearts, but one of the hearts was the deuce.  Of all people, Bob, from Bloomington, IN, was back in the room this night, at my table, and he led out for $15.  It folded to me. I just called.  Now, I didn’t fail to raise there because I was slow playing my set.  No, not at all.  After the earlier sessions of getting killed with my sets, I was just assuming that Bob flopped a flush.  My thought process was, “get to a showdown as cheaply as possible unless I catch a boat.”  Seriously.

It was heads up and I was really hoping to see the board pair.  It did.  It paired the deuce!  Yes, yes indeed, I had caught quad deuces against Bob again.  Second time in about six weeks or so.  I checked and unfortunately, so did Bob.  The river was whatever and I put out $25 but Bob just mucked.  I flipped over my hand, said “I don’t believe it,” and Bob said, “Yeah, I knew it.”  Sure he did.  Well, this time he didn’t pay me off.  But at least the quads earned me two more tickets.

Yes two more tickets.  Another change in the drawings they made in February is they give you extra tickets for quads or better.  Two for quads, three for a straight flush, four for a Royal (to get the extra  tickets, you need to play both cards in your hand). 

I’d played 5 plus hours and gotten no tickets, then in the last half hour I had earned four. Derek was pushed out by Mike and they held the drawing.  They called a name and that person was present to claim the $100.  Then the shift boss pulled another ticket and said, “I know this person is here….” and read my name.  Note:  Every time I’ve heard this particular shift boss say, “I know this person is here” it’s been me.  So that was a nice bonus.

Mike, being my pal, immediately upon hearing my name being called, shouted, “Missed blind button!” and threw a missed button right in front of me. But of course the boss knew he was just joking (Note: if you have a missed blind button, you’re not eligible for the prize).

While I was waiting for them to bring me my $100, I had King-4 off in the big blind, no raise.  King on the flop, no one bet (I didn’t like my kicker).  King on the turn, I bet $10, one caller.  The river was a 4.  I bet $15, he called and mucked when he saw my boat.  I didn’t take the ticket though, I wasn’t about to hang around to 4AM for the next drawing.

Then Mike asked me if I saw the nipple.  Huh?  Apparently, at one point earlier in the evening, the guy in seat 2, an older, Asian gentleman, had literally jumped out of his chair when a girl walked past with a wide open top that clearly displayed her nipple, in addition to a whole lot of boobage.  I asked him if it was seemingly intentionally exposed or if it was just a slip.  Mike said he didn’t know, he had seen the young lady (from a different table), he had seen that her top was wide open, but he didn’t see any nip.  “But seat 2 jumped out of his chair, so it must have been pretty interesting.”  The guy in seat 2 suddenly had a huge smile on his face and said excitedly, “Yeah, I saw the nipple.  Pretty good, huh?”

That must have been when I had my back to the parade.  No biggie.  You all know that I prefer the derrieres.   In fact, as I was leaving the casino, I saw a girl wearing the shortest dress I’d ever seen.  Seriously, when I saw her from the front, it just barely covered her belly button.  Ok, I didn’t see “the promised land” but it sure looked like I should have.  As it happened, just by coincidence, she was walking the same way I was (I mean in the same direction—there’s no way I could ever walk in the same “way” she was) so I totally unintentionally followed her out of the casino.  It was not an unpleasant view—I managed one or two quick glances at her, by accident.

The dress was some kind of knit material, skin tight, orange and did I mention short?  The weird thing was that she was with another woman.  But the other woman was not at all dressed for the club.  She was wearing pants and a loose top and did not at all have a good figure (unlike the girl in the orange knit dress, who had a spectacular figure).  And the entire time I saw them, they were holding hands.  It was as almost like a mother/daughter, the daughter being a small child.  But they appeared to be the same age.  I didn’t quite get the situation.

But the poor girl in the short knit dress had to constantly pull her dress down…I’d say she did this once every 10 seconds or so.  Since her left hand was in use (holding on to her friend’s hand) she could only use her right hand to tug her dress down, and in reaching around to the left side to do it, the girl sometimes accidentally pulled her dress up a little before pulling it down.  I can only imagine what anyone walking towards her saw during these moments (But, fortunately, I do have a good imagination).  I tried my best to look away (you all buy that, right?), but I did occasionally see some flashes of butt cheek before she could pull down the dress.  And then once or twice when she accidentally pulled the dress up, it was pretty obviously she had somehow forgotten to put on any underwear before going out for the evening.  Shocking.  It was also pretty obvious she had a very nice tush, as it was completely exposed those couple of times.

I’ll bet that if the guy in seat 2 had seen her walking towards him at those moments, he would have completely forgotten all about that nipple.  Just saying.

The dress in this pic I found on the web is somewhat similar in that it appears to be a knitty material.  But it is much, much longer than the dress this girl was wearing.  Much longer.  The dress depicted here is practically ankle-length in comparison.

Anyway, I ended up winning $230 (counting the promo money) for that final session, with no major suckouts against me.  A nice rebound from the previous few sessions.  A nice way to end the trip.

(EDITED TO ADD:  THIS PHOTO BELOW SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE ONE THAT ACCOMPANIED THIS POST IN THE FIRST PLACE.  THANKS TO ANGERISAGIFT FOR HELPING ME OUT.  FOR AN EXPLANATION OF THE PHOTO AND WHY IT WASN'T ORIGINALLY POSTED, SEE HERE.)