Day Nine
Well, I am really burned out today. I don’t feel like going out to play poker at the moment because I had such a long, crazy day. Perhaps after I am done with this post I will hit it. Or maybe I will take a nap. Who knows?
Yesterday started off early; I was on the road before 10:15am. I got seated at a 2/5nl table at the Bellagio at 11:06am. Yes, I carry a notebook with me. My first table was dead and the few hands I could play got not much action. And there was little action outside of the pots I was playing. And, most importantly, there were no donkeys. I transferred tables an hour later and that is when things got really bad.
I lost two monster hands, both to bad players. In one hand, I had top two and the villain’s flush draw hit. In another, I flopped trips and the other player flopped a boat. The players were really annoying me. A drunken idiot sat my right and a punk ass kid sat on my left. They were both annoying, but in different ways. There was a solid player on my right that I got into a huge hand with. I don’t think I could get away from it.
I had QQ in MP. He raises to $25 UTG. I re-raise to $75 He thinks for a while. He calls. At this point, I am wondering what is up. I had shown a huge bluff on the previous hand. He had been seen making moves at a few points in the session. Because of these things and the length of time he thought before calling me, I can put him on a number of different hands. Flop is small, uncoordinated rags. He checks to me, I bet $125. He thinks for a while, and he pushes. It is $215 for me to call to win $547. I am getting reasonable odds considering the range of hands I can put him on. Some miserable cocksucker calls time on me while I am sorting it out. I do a good job of staying focused on the decision. I feel I am probably beat. But given my odds and doubts, I call. He shows aces and takes it down.
The guy that won the pot was nice and I was not at all upset at him or even upset about losing the hand. But that cocksucker that called time on me must die painfully. I had not even been thinking a minute when he called time. He was an old fart that plays a hand once an hour. He wanted more hands so he can eventually get a monster and peddle his nuts. And he didn’t want to wait another minute for me to make a decision for all of my chips. Cocksucker. Prick. Bastard. Yes, I was steamed. But I didn’t let it affect my play. I wish I could not be mad at all when some guy is a prick, but at least I left it at emotion rather than letting it move on to my behavior. I am improving.
I lose a few more medium sized pots before getting fed up and moving on to my next adventure. The only consolation was exchanging knowing glances at a solid player across from me while the donkeys attacked each other. I see a hand where a guy pushes all-in in a three way pot. Both players call. One shows JJ, the other shows AK. The board is KQT. The donkey that pushed in had A2o. The board comes running 2s. Why can’t I get any donkey dollars? I book an $1128 loss after a seven hour session. Normal people would have given up way before I did. But I am making a calculated decision here. I feel I am making good decisions; I am letting my thoughts rule me, not my emotions. I have a desire to succeed at a high level, and I only have a few playing days left before I go home.
So I do the only logical thing; I sit in the 5/10nl game. At the Bellagio, the game is capped at $1000. That is what I sit with. I had to first go to the cage and cash out, and then buy a rack of $10 chips. In the MGM 5/10 game, all chips play, but there are no $10 chips. People had $5 chips, $25chips, and some $100 chips, but mostly bills. And it is uncapped. The Bellagio game is mainly $10 chips, with some bills in play. But since it is capped, bills are not a big force, at least not in the must-move game I am a little uncomfortable with the $10 chips. But I knew it would be there, I have no problem with the math, and I have experience from the $10/$20nl game at Commerce from a year ago. So I am mostly fine with $10 chips, but many people that are stepping up are not. I am, however, a little uncomfortable with the level of play. I know it is going to be a tough game. My play is very tight for the first few orbits, playing no hands. The dealer gets pushed and time is collected. In this game, they collect $6 per half-hour time instead of rake. That is different than all other games I have played except Foxwoods and the Commerce $10/$20NL game. I am cool with it here; the game moves quickly, people make decisions, even big ones, reasonably quickly.
I pick up a premium hand, I raise and all fold. Wash, rinse, and repeat. Finally, I get involved in a hand. I raise to $40 in LP with 77. The BB calls me. The flop is K93. He checks to me, I bet $60, he calls. The turn comes T. He leads out with $60, and I call. River comes blank. He bets $140, and I think for a long time. My read is that he is a solid player and is probably making a play at me. He shows A9o and takes it down. Should I have played back at him? I am not used to placing a lot of chips at risk on a re-steal. This is one hard aspect of that game. There are a lot of playahs make plays. And there are also players just playing. It is hard to know the difference. It is much harder than knowing donkeys from good players in $2/$5NL because the overall skill level is higher. Does anyone have any thoughts there?
The next hand that I got involved in was a monster. I believe it was a good test of what I am made of as a poker player. I was small blind. There were 4 limpers to me. I glance at my cards as a formality before completing for $5 more. I had T4s. The flop comes JT4, rainbow. MP leads out for $30; the Button makes it $90. I make it $200 total. All fold to the button who immediately jams. It is another $440 to me.
My thought process involved putting together a lot of meta-information. One bit was very valuable, in my opinion. I went back to two days ago at the MGM. I remember playing with a guy there. He is the same one that had stacked Don on a draw. I had talked to him for a long time. He plays in big games in the SC area. And he takes sports action, I think. I got the impression that he had flown a bunch of his most valued customers and some buddies to Vegas for a poker junket. I saw one of his other buddies in my game earlier (it was a must move-game, and one of his buddies had gotten up.) Earlier in my current session, the bookie, big time playah guy had greeted me and introduced me to his buddy, the guy sitting on my right. This is the guy on the button. This is the one that I am facing a $440 all-in re-raise from at this very moment. Oh, he looked like a gambler and played like one. “I call” I say. He leaves his cards down. The dealer runs it. He looks at me. My cards are still down. “I called you,” I say. He gets ready to muck his hand. His hand is in the muck before my hand is fully face up. “Good hand,” he says.
One orbit later, I get into another confrontation with him. This time, I am the BB and he is the SB. I have KK! There is one limper, he raises it to $80, and I make it $200 straight. He smooth calls me and we take the flop heads up. The flop is K82, rainbow. I just about come in my pants. He checks to me, and I make a $250 bet. He pushes in for another $300. I call and the dealer runs it. I show my set. He shows his aces and mucks. BOOYAH! Good time to get some luck.
I lose a few small pots and a few players get moved to the main game. I realize that it is 8:40pm and that I have been playing almost continuously since 11:00am. To top it all off, I have not eaten lunch and had a small breakfast since I was in a hurry to motor early this morning. So, I do the logical thing, I sit in the $10/$20NL uncapped game with $5,000.
Actually, I am just kidding. I pick up, and go to the casher. I cash out for $1,203 in chips and $1,000 in bills. I book a $1,203 win. This cancels out my pounding in $2/$5NL and then some. I head to the North Valet. I am going downtown to the Golden Nugget to get some food and do some straight-up gambling. Downtown is a cluster-fuck due to road construction, Saturday night, and a bunch of other woes. It takes me a while to park. I get into the Nugget and immediately hit the blackjack table.
I buy in for $1,000 and nearly get felted by the dealer. I need to buy another $200 in chips to handle a double-down followed by a split. I win. I then win the next fourteen hands in a row. I am exactly unstuck in this game! I get up. It was the most fun I have ever, ever had in a non-winning casino game session.
I move right along to an empty $5 craps table. I open it up with a bang. I spin many points in a row, making come bets and taking max odds the whole way. When I finally spin a seven, I have had the bases loaded for some time and I have $175 in profit. Not bad for $5 dice.
I then move on the poker room. They spread $1/$2NL uncapped. There is a list, the floorman tells me it will be about twenty minutes and that he would lock a seat up for me. I go play Pai Gow to kill time. I walk with a $1.25 loss. Back in the poker room, a must-move game is forming and I lock up my seat. I sit with $300. I don’t play much, but notice small stacks and a lot of limping pots.
It quickly comes my turn to move to the main game. There are deep stacks, and crazy, inappropriate large bets all over the place. I have arrived at Donkeyville. Sadly, I fade fast as it is now 12:45am. I cash out for a modest loss and head back to my home away from home. On my way, I remember that I still have not eaten.
I stop on the way at a tavern. They have these things all over greater Vegas. It is a food and video poker bar. This one is just down the road from my bed. They have a ½ priced ($4.95) steak and eggs breakfast after midnight. I play $10 worth of $0.25 video poker while waiting for my food. I pay $15 for my steak and eggs. HEEEEHAWWWW.
I finally arrive back at the crib at 2:00am. I crash hard.
This has been one long post and I still haven’t gotten to why I am really here. I probably won’t next time either; I haven’t posted about Friday yet. Please note that Friday will be my next post even though I am posting about Saturday first.
Yesterday started off early; I was on the road before 10:15am. I got seated at a 2/5nl table at the Bellagio at 11:06am. Yes, I carry a notebook with me. My first table was dead and the few hands I could play got not much action. And there was little action outside of the pots I was playing. And, most importantly, there were no donkeys. I transferred tables an hour later and that is when things got really bad.
I lost two monster hands, both to bad players. In one hand, I had top two and the villain’s flush draw hit. In another, I flopped trips and the other player flopped a boat. The players were really annoying me. A drunken idiot sat my right and a punk ass kid sat on my left. They were both annoying, but in different ways. There was a solid player on my right that I got into a huge hand with. I don’t think I could get away from it.
I had QQ in MP. He raises to $25 UTG. I re-raise to $75 He thinks for a while. He calls. At this point, I am wondering what is up. I had shown a huge bluff on the previous hand. He had been seen making moves at a few points in the session. Because of these things and the length of time he thought before calling me, I can put him on a number of different hands. Flop is small, uncoordinated rags. He checks to me, I bet $125. He thinks for a while, and he pushes. It is $215 for me to call to win $547. I am getting reasonable odds considering the range of hands I can put him on. Some miserable cocksucker calls time on me while I am sorting it out. I do a good job of staying focused on the decision. I feel I am probably beat. But given my odds and doubts, I call. He shows aces and takes it down.
The guy that won the pot was nice and I was not at all upset at him or even upset about losing the hand. But that cocksucker that called time on me must die painfully. I had not even been thinking a minute when he called time. He was an old fart that plays a hand once an hour. He wanted more hands so he can eventually get a monster and peddle his nuts. And he didn’t want to wait another minute for me to make a decision for all of my chips. Cocksucker. Prick. Bastard. Yes, I was steamed. But I didn’t let it affect my play. I wish I could not be mad at all when some guy is a prick, but at least I left it at emotion rather than letting it move on to my behavior. I am improving.
I lose a few more medium sized pots before getting fed up and moving on to my next adventure. The only consolation was exchanging knowing glances at a solid player across from me while the donkeys attacked each other. I see a hand where a guy pushes all-in in a three way pot. Both players call. One shows JJ, the other shows AK. The board is KQT. The donkey that pushed in had A2o. The board comes running 2s. Why can’t I get any donkey dollars? I book an $1128 loss after a seven hour session. Normal people would have given up way before I did. But I am making a calculated decision here. I feel I am making good decisions; I am letting my thoughts rule me, not my emotions. I have a desire to succeed at a high level, and I only have a few playing days left before I go home.
So I do the only logical thing; I sit in the 5/10nl game. At the Bellagio, the game is capped at $1000. That is what I sit with. I had to first go to the cage and cash out, and then buy a rack of $10 chips. In the MGM 5/10 game, all chips play, but there are no $10 chips. People had $5 chips, $25chips, and some $100 chips, but mostly bills. And it is uncapped. The Bellagio game is mainly $10 chips, with some bills in play. But since it is capped, bills are not a big force, at least not in the must-move game I am a little uncomfortable with the $10 chips. But I knew it would be there, I have no problem with the math, and I have experience from the $10/$20nl game at Commerce from a year ago. So I am mostly fine with $10 chips, but many people that are stepping up are not. I am, however, a little uncomfortable with the level of play. I know it is going to be a tough game. My play is very tight for the first few orbits, playing no hands. The dealer gets pushed and time is collected. In this game, they collect $6 per half-hour time instead of rake. That is different than all other games I have played except Foxwoods and the Commerce $10/$20NL game. I am cool with it here; the game moves quickly, people make decisions, even big ones, reasonably quickly.
I pick up a premium hand, I raise and all fold. Wash, rinse, and repeat. Finally, I get involved in a hand. I raise to $40 in LP with 77. The BB calls me. The flop is K93. He checks to me, I bet $60, he calls. The turn comes T. He leads out with $60, and I call. River comes blank. He bets $140, and I think for a long time. My read is that he is a solid player and is probably making a play at me. He shows A9o and takes it down. Should I have played back at him? I am not used to placing a lot of chips at risk on a re-steal. This is one hard aspect of that game. There are a lot of playahs make plays. And there are also players just playing. It is hard to know the difference. It is much harder than knowing donkeys from good players in $2/$5NL because the overall skill level is higher. Does anyone have any thoughts there?
The next hand that I got involved in was a monster. I believe it was a good test of what I am made of as a poker player. I was small blind. There were 4 limpers to me. I glance at my cards as a formality before completing for $5 more. I had T4s. The flop comes JT4, rainbow. MP leads out for $30; the Button makes it $90. I make it $200 total. All fold to the button who immediately jams. It is another $440 to me.
My thought process involved putting together a lot of meta-information. One bit was very valuable, in my opinion. I went back to two days ago at the MGM. I remember playing with a guy there. He is the same one that had stacked Don on a draw. I had talked to him for a long time. He plays in big games in the SC area. And he takes sports action, I think. I got the impression that he had flown a bunch of his most valued customers and some buddies to Vegas for a poker junket. I saw one of his other buddies in my game earlier (it was a must move-game, and one of his buddies had gotten up.) Earlier in my current session, the bookie, big time playah guy had greeted me and introduced me to his buddy, the guy sitting on my right. This is the guy on the button. This is the one that I am facing a $440 all-in re-raise from at this very moment. Oh, he looked like a gambler and played like one. “I call” I say. He leaves his cards down. The dealer runs it. He looks at me. My cards are still down. “I called you,” I say. He gets ready to muck his hand. His hand is in the muck before my hand is fully face up. “Good hand,” he says.
One orbit later, I get into another confrontation with him. This time, I am the BB and he is the SB. I have KK! There is one limper, he raises it to $80, and I make it $200 straight. He smooth calls me and we take the flop heads up. The flop is K82, rainbow. I just about come in my pants. He checks to me, and I make a $250 bet. He pushes in for another $300. I call and the dealer runs it. I show my set. He shows his aces and mucks. BOOYAH! Good time to get some luck.
I lose a few small pots and a few players get moved to the main game. I realize that it is 8:40pm and that I have been playing almost continuously since 11:00am. To top it all off, I have not eaten lunch and had a small breakfast since I was in a hurry to motor early this morning. So, I do the logical thing, I sit in the $10/$20NL uncapped game with $5,000.
Actually, I am just kidding. I pick up, and go to the casher. I cash out for $1,203 in chips and $1,000 in bills. I book a $1,203 win. This cancels out my pounding in $2/$5NL and then some. I head to the North Valet. I am going downtown to the Golden Nugget to get some food and do some straight-up gambling. Downtown is a cluster-fuck due to road construction, Saturday night, and a bunch of other woes. It takes me a while to park. I get into the Nugget and immediately hit the blackjack table.
I buy in for $1,000 and nearly get felted by the dealer. I need to buy another $200 in chips to handle a double-down followed by a split. I win. I then win the next fourteen hands in a row. I am exactly unstuck in this game! I get up. It was the most fun I have ever, ever had in a non-winning casino game session.
I move right along to an empty $5 craps table. I open it up with a bang. I spin many points in a row, making come bets and taking max odds the whole way. When I finally spin a seven, I have had the bases loaded for some time and I have $175 in profit. Not bad for $5 dice.
I then move on the poker room. They spread $1/$2NL uncapped. There is a list, the floorman tells me it will be about twenty minutes and that he would lock a seat up for me. I go play Pai Gow to kill time. I walk with a $1.25 loss. Back in the poker room, a must-move game is forming and I lock up my seat. I sit with $300. I don’t play much, but notice small stacks and a lot of limping pots.
It quickly comes my turn to move to the main game. There are deep stacks, and crazy, inappropriate large bets all over the place. I have arrived at Donkeyville. Sadly, I fade fast as it is now 12:45am. I cash out for a modest loss and head back to my home away from home. On my way, I remember that I still have not eaten.
I stop on the way at a tavern. They have these things all over greater Vegas. It is a food and video poker bar. This one is just down the road from my bed. They have a ½ priced ($4.95) steak and eggs breakfast after midnight. I play $10 worth of $0.25 video poker while waiting for my food. I pay $15 for my steak and eggs. HEEEEHAWWWW.
I finally arrive back at the crib at 2:00am. I crash hard.
This has been one long post and I still haven’t gotten to why I am really here. I probably won’t next time either; I haven’t posted about Friday yet. Please note that Friday will be my next post even though I am posting about Saturday first.
posted by Weak Player @ 4:37 PM
3 Comments:
anyone calling time on me that is not in the hand better have a gun or at the veryleast a ninja sword. That shit is not tolerated.
Nice work, Weak. Way to roll with the punches and stick it to the man. I am searching for another cliche, but am running on empty. Boo yah.
"There are a lot of playahs make plays. And there are also players just playing. It is hard to know the difference. It is much harder than knowing donkeys from good players in $2/$5NL because the overall skill level is higher. Does anyone have any thoughts there?"
Yeah, you should go through the Sports Book to the Men's Room every ten minutes and throw up--that's what I'd do!
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