Vegas Summer Series Preview (May Ante Up Column)

Here's my latest Ante Up Column, or at least the version I submitted. As you can see, it is a preview of five of the big poker summer series that are coming starting this month.  The rooms missing, Aria & Planet Hollywood, were covered in my previous column, which you can find here.

You should be able to find this issue in your local poker room by now.  Enjoy!

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Golden Nugget hosts the Grand Poker Series, May 28 – July 8.  The $600 main event has three starting flights beginning June 27 and offers a $600K guarantee.

Most weekends during the series will offer $200 buy-in, multi-flight NLH events.  Each will have three starting flights a day on Thursday, Friday and Saturday with a day 2 on Sunday.  The guarantees for these is $250K, except for the first one, starting May 30, which has a $300K guarantee.

Once again, a staple of the series is a $150 buy-in NLH tourney at 1 p.m. that runs daily, except during the weekends that offer the $200 multi-flight event.  The guarantee on most days is $25K.  A nightly $120 tournament with a $5K guarantee runs at 7 p.m.

There are four seniors events starting June 15, including Omaha 8/B with a $10K guarantee on June 17.  A $150 Ladies event with a $10K guarantee is set for June 19.

Disciplines other than hold-em are offered most days at 11 a.m., usually with a $250 buy-in. Guarantees vary between $10K and $20K. There are also $360 events in this time-slot. Big-O, with a $10K guarantee, runs June 24. A $20K guarantee HORSE event is offered on June 30.  A PLO Bounty event with $100 bounties and a $10K guarantee plays on July 1.  Seven-card Stud with a $10K guarantee follows on July 2. On July 3, an Omaha 8/Stud 8 championship event with a $25K guarantee is offered.  

VENETIAN:  The Deepstack Championship Poker Series runs May 13 – July 28 and offers more than $24M in guarantees.  An $1,100 Summer Kick-off event with two starting flights and a $400K guarantee starts May 27.  On June 3, a three-day MSPT event with a $3M guarantee gets under with the first of its four starting flights. 

Another MSPT event with a $3M guarantee starts on June 17. It has a $1,600 buy-in and three starting flights. On June 24, a four-day, $3,500 buy-in event with a $2M begins. It has just one starting flight, with registration open until 5 p.m. on day 2.

Two $1,100 "Summer Saver" events are offered in July, each with $1M guarantees. The first of the two starting flights are July 5 and July 9, respectively.  New this year are a couple of "Epic Stack" tournaments, which are $600 buy-in events with five-starting flights each and $750K guarantees.  The starting stack 50K.  The first flights for these are June 14 and June 23.

The LIPS Ladies tournament, with a $500 buy-in and a $50K guarantee, runs June 17-18. An $800 Seniors event with a $750K guarantee has the first of its two starting flights on June 10.

Fans of disciplines other than hold'em can find Limit Omaha8, PLO, PLO8, PLO Bounty, Big O and HORSE events throughout the series.  A one-day, $600 Omaha 8/Stud 8 tourney with a $50K guarantee runs June 22.

The main event is a four-day, $5K buy-in with two starting flights beginning July 16.  It has a $2M guarantee.

ORLEANS:  The Summer Poker Series runs May 28 – July 7.  A $150 NLH tourney with a $25K guarantee runs at 11 a.m. most days.

 

"Championship" events, with $400 buy-ins, run throughout, in a variety of disciplines.  There's Omaha 8/B June 1, HORSE June 2, 8-Game Mix June 8, Stud Mix (Stud, Stud 8, Razz) June 9,  PLO June 16, and PLO 8 June 23.  All of these have $50K guarantees.

The NLH championship, also a $400 buy-in, has three starting flights beginning June 29 and offers a $200K guarantee.

The $300 LIPS Ladies championship, with two starting flights, begins June 21. The Senior Poker Tour hosts its $400 championship event beginning June 15.

Except for the events already noted, most days have a NLH tournament in the day and a non-hold'em event in the evening.  These are priced between $150 and $300. There's plenty of Omaha, Omaha 8/Stud 8, Triple Draw, 8-Game Mix, Triple Stud,           and HORSE.

The Orleans is offering a Player of Series award. A total of $10K will be awarded, with the top point getter earning $5K.

WYNN: The Summer Classic is set for May 30 -  July 16.  The first big multi-day event begins on June 11 with a $1,100 buy-in, three-starting flight NLH event that has a $1,500,000 guarantee. The first of two-starting flights for the $1,100 PLO championship is June 25.  It has a $500K guarantee. 

The $1,600 NLH championship event has three-starting flights beginning July 11. It has a $2M guarantee.

There are two $1,100 Seniors events, on June 9 and July 7, each with a $250K guarantee.  A $400 Ladies events with a $50K guarantee is offered on June 25. A $550 PLO tournament with a $100K guarantee plays on June 16.

The rest of the schedule is filled out with one-day NLH tournaments with solid guarantees.  The biggest of these are the $1,600 buy-in events with $350K guarantees running June 4, June 23 and July 9. Single day $1,100 events with $250K guarantees make up a good portion of the schedule. There are also $55   0 single day NLH events with $100K guarantees throughout the series.       

BINION'S: The Summer Series runs June 1 – July 1.  This series specializes in games other than hold'em.  Except for Sundays, the featured daily event for the first two and a half weeks is a $550 event. June 1 is PLO8, June 3 is HORSE, June 5 is Limit Omaha 8, June 6 is 7-Card Stud, June 8 is PLO, June 10 is Triple Stud. June 12 is Stud 8, June 15 is Limit Omaha 8/Stud 8, June 17 is PLO8, June 18 is Razz and June 27 is Triple Stud.  There's also a $550 NLH event on June 14

Championship events with $1,100 buy-ins run later in the series.  These all have two starting flights.  PLO starts June 19, NLH starts June 23 and HORSE starts June 28.

I Got Clubbed

This was my abbreviated Christmas night session at MGM.  You'll see why it was abbreviated.

There was not much going on for awhile.  I raised preflop with pocket Jacks and bet out on a flop of 5-4-2, got two callers (I think there were three callers preflop).  I checked a 9 turn and then the river paired the deuce.  A player bet big, I folded and she showed King-deuce!  Wow. Based on her play, she wouldn't have folded if I bet the turn unless I shoved—and even then, maybe not.

I won raising with pocket Queens.  Jack hi flop, I got a couple of calls. No one called my turn bet.

Then came the hand.  I guess I had about $160-$165 when it started. The Asian lady who beat me with King-deuce played into this hand.  Also there was an older European gentlemen who barely spoke.  Not sure if he was just quiet or if there was a language barrier.  The lady was sort of an aggro and the older guy was just a strange player, was really all over the map.

In the big blind, I was dealt pocket 6's.  After a few limpers, the European guy made it $10.  Well, that was kind of a small bet after a couple of limpers but I notice many players don't adjust their raises to account for limpers.  However, this guy was all over the map with his raises, he'd open-raised much bigger sometimes.

Anyway, I called, the lady called and one or two others called.  The flop was King-6-2, two clubs.  Because of the clubs, I almost donked out a bet but I decided to check and see if I could check-raise.  It folded to the preflop raiser who very considerately bet $25.  I raised to $75.  The lady called.  Really?  OK, so I was at least half-expecting the guy to fold, thinking he might have been just c-betting with nothing or maybe a weak pair and would see he was losing to two players.  But he surprised me by shoving!

Well OK, then. If he has pocket Kings then it really sucks to be me.  But I didn't think that was very likely. Would he have shoved with pocket Kings?  I suppose he might have, given the two clubs on the board.  Oh well, I'm not folding a set of 6's.  I snap-called and then to my surprise, the lady called as well.  Now the guy had me covered by a lot and the lady had a stack similar to mine, maybe a little less.  In the instant I had to think about it, I guessed that one of them had a set and the other had the flush draw.

I was proven at least partially right when the lady turned over her hand before the turn card was dealt—it was pocket deuces.  Well, bad luck for her.  I showed my pocket 6's. We both looked at the European guy who was both motionless and emotionless.  He wasn't about to reveal his hand.

I was pretty sure the guy would have shown his cards if he had two Kings.  I have heard of set-over-set-over set before but I don't think I've ever seen it personally. I assumed I was ahead and I knew I didn't want to see a club on the turn.  But sure enough, a club hit the board.  I figured I might already be beaten and then the river card was yet another club.  Ugh.

We stared at the guy who very meekly said, "I've got a flush."  And he turned over two black Aces.  Seriously?

According to the odds calculator, I was 82% to win on the flop, Mr. AA was 13%.  But that's poker, right?  It was pretty close to a $500 pot that was thisclose to being mine.

I had had enough for one night.  Just didn't feel like rebuying and continuing after that.  I called it an early night.

Merry Christmas to me.

Bah Humbug.

Great Customer Service and an Honest Poker Player

This is my evening cash session at The Venetian, following the tournament that I discussed here.  I had dinner at Café Lux, using the $10 comp I had received for playing in the tournament and paying a few bucks out of pocket.  I figured this would be my last chance to play 1/2 at the Venetian; on January 1, they changed the game to 1/3. 

I got into a game and what a wild game it was.  Seriously, it'd been a while since I'd played in a 1/2 game that was this crazy.  It seemed as if every player, save yours truly, was a maniac.  Really, for a few hands there, it looked like I wouldn't even be able to play a hand unless I was prepared to get my whole stack in preflop.

It wasn't quite that bad, but there were three or four players who really liked to make big preflop raises and then up it a notch on the flop.  I figured I would try to wait for a premium hand and have them pay me off (if it held).

So I was there for awhile and bleeding chips as I did call some preflop raises with some possibilities that missed.  Then I got pocket Queens in the small blind.  Not sure what happened, but there was a raise to $10 and it folded to me.  I just called.  My notes don't give me a clue but I suspect one or two of the main maniacs must have been away from the table for this hand, and I'm not sure if the preflop raiser was one of other maniacs but I suspect not.  Because on a Jack-high flop, two clubs, there was no bet. I guess I should have bet the turn, but it was a third club and I just checked, as did the other guy.  The river was the fourth club.  Did I mention I had the Queen of clubs?  This time I led out for $10 and he folded.

I was down to about $160-$165 when this next hand happened.  There was a lot of straddling at this table.  Some guys straddled from the button and under-the-gun when they could.  But the villain in this hand was one of the maniacs and he would only straddle under-the-gun, never on the button.  Of course that's nuts. There's no good reason to ever straddle UTG, but an argument can be made that it might be a good play to straddle from the button.  This guy was the reverse.  This guy's stack had gone up and down like a yo-yo since I'd been there.  At this moment, he had me covered by quite a bit.

In middle position, I looked down at pocket Jacks. I decided the situation called for me to just call the $4 straddle, not raise. There were still plenty of maniacs behind me. I was certain that I'd get a chance to put more chips in play before the flop. The odds of one of those maniacs raising were quite high.  And if they didn't, I was really sure the straddler would raise.  He'd never just checked his option in all the times I'd seen him straddle UTG.

But to my shock, there were just a few calls and the villain just checked behind.  Damn.  I was prepared to get my stack in if possible before the flop and I thought I had I figured out a way to do it.  Note:  Because I had been playing so tight, in stark contrast to just about everyone else, I thought if I had raised initially I might just get everyone to fold.  I hadn't raised a single hand prior to this, and so even though I had only two cards, they might have put me on quads.

The flop was nice:  King-Jack-4, two hearts (I had no hearts).  The villain led out for $15.  Seeing that wet board, I knew I had to raise, so I made it $40.  He thought a few seconds and called.  Everyone else folded.

The turn was a Queen, non-heart, and he bet $40.  Hmm….did he have Ace-10 or 10-9? It was possible.  It was also possible he had air.  I considered shoving but decided to just call. 

The river was a 6 or 7, black.  And he shoved. I had about $80 left and snap called.  If he had the straight, so be it.  As soon as I said "Call," he said, "You're good."  But he did show one card…the case Jack.  I wonder how bad the other one was?  It was a nice pot and it put me well over $100 in the black.

Sometime later I had pocket 5's and called $10 (at least one of the most extreme maniacs was gone at this point). It was multi-way. I hit my set but the flop was all diamonds.  I checked but the preflop raiser also checked. The turn was a blank and this time I bet $25.  Only the preflop raiser called.  He was not one of the maniacs, he was an older gentleman who had won a few big pots from the maniacs.  He had me covered.  The river was a blank and I put out $45.  He folded and showed one card—the Ace of diamonds.  Dodged a bullet there.

With Ace-King on the button, I called $25 on the button.  I suppose this was a good table to three-bet there, but I didn't want to get raised out of the hand and I didn't want to put my entire stack in play at that time.  It was 3 way. The flop was Ace-King-10.  It checked to me, I bet $45 and took it down.

I got pocket 5's again and I limped in, it was one of the rare limped pots.  The flop was 8-2-2, no bet.  The turn was a 5 and I bet $5, one call (the guy who paid me off on the Jacks hand).  The river was a blank and I started to bet $10 and he mucked before I got the chips out.

In the big blind with 6-9 off (aka "Big Lick"), the same guy made it $4!  It wasn't the first time he'd raised so little, although typically he raised huge.  He was an unusual player, to say the least.  It was six-ways. The flop was Ace-9-3, two diamonds.  My 9 was a diamond.  There was an Asian guy who was new to the table, he bet $10.  He had actually been complaining about how crazy this game was.  Imagine that—an Asian complaining the game was too crazy?  I called, and it was now heads up.  A third diamond hit the turn and we both checked.  A fourth diamond hit the river.  Was my 9-high flush good?  I wasn't going to bet it.  But he checked.  He had Ace-10, no diamond, and I took down the pot.

And that was it for me.  When the guy who paid me off for the Jacks finally busted out (after a few rebuys), the game got less crazy and I had grown card dead.  I had about $300 profit…almost what I was out buying into the tournament earlier that day (it was a $340 buy-in).  I was pretty happy about getting most of my money back.

I grabbed a rack.  The dealer asked, "Are you all done, Robert?"  He saw my name on the Bravo screen right in front of me.  I said yes as I racked up, I saw that I had mis-stacked my chips—I had them in stacks of 21, not 20.  So it took me a bit longer to rack then and then somehow the one black chip I had (which I won in the Jacks hand) was mixed in with the reds.  Then the dealer offered to buy the white chips off me, so we did that exchange.  Sometime during all this, I knocked a couple of my red chips into the cup holder.  If you're familiar with the Venetian, you know that their tables have unusually large cup holders.  So I heard the clank but then forgot about them.

Fortunately, I decided I wanted to take a pic of my chips for social media.  So as I walked towards the cashier, I found an empty table nearby, placed the rack of chips down, and was just about to snap a pic of the rack when I heard someone calling out, "Robert, Robert!"  At first I assumed it wasn't me they were calling, after all, I hadn't seen anyone I knew in the room, and if anybody did know me, they would have called me "Rob," not "Robert."  But since the voice was coming in the direction of the table I had just left, I looked over there, and saw a floorman and the dealer looking over the room.  The dealer was indeed calling my name and calling me back.

Had I left something there?  Before heading over there, I grabbed for my phone and it was right where it should have been, in my phone holster.  As I approached the table, the dealer was holding up a couple of red chips and telling me I left them behind, they had fallen into the cup holder.  Oh yeah.  Well what happened was that the player called to my seat noticed them as he was taking the seat.  Even though the seat was right next to the dealer, he could have easily pocketed the chips himself, so I am grateful for his honesty.  And I really appreciate the dealer reacting so fast and remembering my name and calling it out before I left the area.  Great customer service on his part.  I tipped him a buck.  Maybe I should have tipped the player too?

In a way, I did.  He needed chips and asked if he could buy some off of me, as they were still in my hand.  Of course I sold him the $200 in red he wanted.  So, instead of $500 in chips, I had two $100 bills and $300 in chips.  That's why I didn't take the picture.

Anyway, the great customer service (and that player's honesty) made me feel even better about the two-hour cash game that got almost my tourney buy-in back. I actually won $310 in that session.