Saving My Poker Bankroll for Vegas

I called to request a dealing spot in last night's tournament.  Wish granted, table 1, which receives 50% of the tip pool.  I made a huge mistake last week by turning it down as it ended up costing me the $40 buy-in when I went out early on the table from hell. Smaller crowd this week, around 24 players, so also smaller tip pool.

I felt that I played well, but really could not connect solidly with most flops (best connection- flopped set of jacks on a pre-flop all-in vs. AK.....player down).  As a dealer, I was lighting up an Asian kid who was playing for the 2nd time here.  He said he was a regional manager for Home Depot and visiting the store up North this week.  I dealt him several winning hands, including the high hand of the night, quad 3's (he was playing A/3), which won him $48. When table 3 broke he moved, but returned with a nice stack for the final table.

I limped into the final table but managed to work my stack up to a competitive level, about 6,000 with blinds still only at 200/400.  Basically lost all of my chips in 3 hands, the first calling a small stack shove with AJ, losing the coin flip to 6/6.  Next I lost a stack of chips to a short stack gamble/gamble shove of K/7 again vs. AJ suited...he flopped a 7 and rivered a king.  He would eventually go on to win the tournament.  My last loss was my shove with 9/9 vs. A/10 held by the previously mentioned Asian kid.  Unbelievable that I could not win any of my coin flips!!!  All 3 players that I mentioned went on to cash.  The winner got super lucky against one of the big stacks getting all-in with 4/4 vs. KJ.  The big stack flopped a jack, and mr. lucky hit his 2 outer 4 on the river, also making a flush.  Pocket 7's folded pre-flop, he would have won when the board showed 4 hearts and he had the biggest heart.

The tournament director was a little upset about the tip prize pool.  A couple of the players did not tip (the guy who knocked me out and won high hand money...I can understand since he was a rookie, but I did mention the tipping part at final table), and some "under-tipped".  I really did not care, but would have been nice to get my buy-in back...I got $31, so my tournament cost me $9. When I win, I like to deduct my original buy-in and pay 10%, which I think is fair.  A "rule" I would like to see is that anyone who stiffs the dealers must deal the next week so they can see how very difficult the job is. They would gain a new appreciation for the work we do, as it is over 4 hours of grinding.

Rookies Vs. Pro, No Contest

Friday night finally rolls around.  A whole week without live poker.  I am asked to deal final table, "no thanks", big mistake as that reimburses me for my buy-in.  Table draws are done by placing the seating cards on a drink serving tray.  One card is sort of hanging part way over the edge of the tray.  It beckons me.  Oh great, table 3, seat 6 at my dealer buddy Mike's table.  Let's see who shows up.  Seat one is a young kid, never seen him before.  I immediately peg him as a rookie.  Seat 2, another kid, also a stranger, definitely a rookie....may be his first tournament.  Seat 3 is Paul, a good, thinking player.  Seat 4 is a definite problem, Larry, a semi-pro player, WSOP regular, tricky guy.  Seat 5 next to me is John.   Rut row, but despite being a good player he has some leaks and is not over aggressive.  Seat 7 is another player named John, also a good solid player.  Seat 8 is a calling station, unnamed because he is a very nice guy.  Seat 9 is one of my all time nemesis players, very lucky and loose.

I lose some chips right away, flops just missing the heck out of me, recover with a flopped two pair of a super scary boart (3 hearts, co-ordinated).  Lose half my stack when seat 1 rookie check raises my bet in position (I had 9/10 vs. Q/9 with a 9 high flop).  John to my left is first out when my nemesis slow plays AA....he was just lucky I had not limped with my 4/6 on a 3/5/7 flop!!!!

Larry, playing fast and loose chips up nicely hitting flops with garbage hands and bluffing in position.  Then this hand comes up.  Blinds are 60/120, Paul is UTG and raises to 300.  Larry and John both fold and I check my cards.  AK offsuite.  With only $910 in chips it is clearly a "raise or fold" situation.  I elect to shove, hoping to end up heads up with Paul.  No such luck.  First the calling station calls, then the tournament rookie calls (not the other one that got half my chips).  Paul tanks, then folds.  The flop is middle cards, I think 5's paired on the turn, and the river is a 9.  Nobody has bet the side pot until the rookie bets 200, which is called by who else, the calling station.  He turns over AQ suited and loses to 10/10 which also knocks me out.

Now:  here is the problem:  I think Paul folded an ace.  Plus CS had an ace, so that only left me with possibly 5 outs, and it is even possible that Paul had the same hand as mine so maybe just 4.  It was a good fold on his part and I understand how a rookie could overcall a raise, shove and shove call with action behind him from the original raiser.  I would have folded 10's in that spot particularly since Mr. CS had a pretty good stack and original raiser had close to 1000 behind if he decided to come over the top.  Better lucky than good we say.

Going For Steps....Again

Trying to work my way back up the "stepladder" for another big $25K tournament.  They have lowered the number of steps to 8, and am currently playing on step 5.  It is frustrating and a challenge, but heck, somebody has to win!!!

Vegas Update

Mirage  $60 tournament
This is one of my favorites having cashed in it several times, and won twice.  10K deepstack with 20 minute blinds, so it is slow, but designed to be over in 3-4 hours, usually 30-40 players.  They tend to register late, so we started with 2 tables but a third was added shortly.  My buddy, Ron, was also playing, but on a different table.  Was running o.k., but not hot, and over starting chip stack at first break.  Chipped up very nicely flopping a set of 2's against a preflop bettor with another player.  With an ace high flop got nice action from both players, but when the turn bet and call got raised all-in by me, they both folded, but managed to almost double up.  My ace king got snapped on a king high flop by a set of 8's, but had the short stack well covered. Playing down to about 8, I got all-in against a very short stack who had A/10.  I re-raised all-in to isolate him with my A/6 and my overcall was called by a player with a few less chips who had A/2.  Naturally the 2 hit the river, and player 1 was gone and I was now the table short stack.  Ron was also on the final table and tripled up with QQ from his desperately short stack.  I was forced to shove light a couple of times, winning to stay alive.  Ron doubled me up calling with KJ vs my A/10 and we got down to 5 players with only 4 cashing.  There was no discussion of bubble pay.  One guy had about 3/4 of all chips in play, Ron was 2nd, me 4th, and another player about 2k under my stack.  This would prove to be critical when I found A2 on the button.  This is a good shove play, despite the monster stack in the small blind as he can just fold and let the short stack defend, but fortunately for me he chose to call and then unexplicably, the short stack shoves!  This was strange play, frankly, for both players, as the short can hope to have me knocked out so he can cash while the big stack could just let us fight it out for 4th place money.  So, the big stack shows up with A9, the shorty with A/6 and we play high kicker wins, knocking both of us out.  But hey, remember the lousy 2K I had over his stack?  Good enough for the money, $203.  Ron played a few more hands, and took 2nd for $350.  Good showing for the Northwesterners.

Lesson:  Always pay attention to the money bubble.

Venetian Omaha Conflict 
Playing the Omaha 4/8 with half kill this situation came up.  My friend Bob plays very slowly, peeling his cards back one at a time, taking lots of time to put chips in the pot.  He calls bets to the river and a player turns over his hand with the winning high.  Bob holds his cards up so I can see them.  Another player has tabled a low hand which Bob has beat.  After a bit, I say "Just table your cards, Bob".  The low hand player begins bitching about "one player per hand", etc.  He is a local with a father who is connected with the casino as several employees come by and say hi to your dad.  I never said, "you have a low" or anything like that, just encouraging him to lay his cards face up so they could be read.  I apologized, but reading recently how we all need to be patient with older players.  It majorly slows the game down, and the complainer soon left.

Lesson:  Keep your mouth shut if not involved in hand (and sometimes when involved)j

Vegas scorecard:
biggest losses in Omaha, which is usually my cash cow ($350).
One small winning session in 1/2NL ($35), one small losing session ($75).  overall loss ($40).
Win at 3 card poker ($20)
small loss at video poker while drinking at bar ($10)
Tournament win net $143
Overall loss $240, Not bad for time at tables, have done worse in the Moose game.

Returning to the Tri-Cities, played the morning Moose and chopped 3 ways for $165 each.  Net $130.

   

Dumb, Dumber & Dumbest...Me!!!!

So, let me begin by saying I have been sleeping poorly, going to bed late and waking early.  Driving to Richland yesterday to play in the deepstack that I usually crush, had the distinct feeling that I should drive back to the house and go to bed.  Should have listened to that inner voice, as I was heading back there soon enough.

Winning a couple of hands and losing a couple at the first blind level, I was slightly over starting chip stack of 10K.  Getting pocket kings 2 under the gun with a limper, I raised to $350 at 2nd blind level.  With multiple callers and out of position I was happy to see the flop...J/8/5 with 2 clubs.  This is a flop that is good news for kings as it is possible to get action while having probably the best hand.  I bet out $800 and was raised to $2100 by "Al" in middle position.  His raise was called by the big blind and I immediately put Al on AJ and the other player on a flush draw.  That would make sense, so I called.

The turn was a queen, and I checked.  Al bet another 2100.  He was getting short of chips having lost a couple of hands and it made sense to me that he would not pot committ but still want to protect his hand.  The other player called (loose call???), so I called too as the pot now was over 11,000.

The river brought another queen, which I thought was a great card for me as it would counterfeit and random 2 pair hands that had snuck in, and did not stand to improve anyone's hand.  WRONG!!!  This is where I got dumb and dumber.  Al shoves, the other player shoves, and I shove, believing that I had both players covered.  Definitely should have slowed down, asked for chip counts and thought for a few minutes.

We turn over our hands:  AL has J/J for a full house, the other player has Q/10 for a gutshot straight draw that turned into trips by runner/runner.  The other player has me covered and I am the first player out of the tournament.  Like I say, dumb, dumber, and dumbest.

Vegas Rules

Venetian Poker Room
My game usually the one on the left by column 4/8 omaha
There are 59 tables in the room

Hopefully my chip stack within an hour

Getting excited for the Las Vegas annual buddies trip this Monday.  Thinking of trying some pot limit omaha, but only if I can chip up in other games/tournaments as this is a big game (meaning big stakes, huge pots) and I feel that I am a rookie at it.

So, thinking about some Vegas "Rules" before I leave.  These are just some random thoughts about what to do or not do while there.

1.  Buy in for minimum at first until you get a feel for the players and action.
2.  Identify the locals.  They are all grinders and will not give you action without the nuts.
3.  Identify the tourist/rookies.  That part is usually very easy.
4.  Always get a player card when going to a new casino.  It is free, quick, and sometimes some freebies with it (I have gotten sunglasses, free slot spins for a million bucks, discounts on buffet, etc.).  But the big deal is getting comps for your play, up to $1.50 an hour.  Have gotten enough in the past to pay for room, gift shop stuff, etc.
5.  People watching is the best in Vegas.
6.  If an attractive woman approaches you in the bar, she is a hooker.
7.  Buffets have gotten more expensive, but the breakfast is faster, better and sometimes cheaper than the coffee shop.
8.  Walgreens next to the Venetian has a cheap ATM as well as the best place to buy whatever you need.  Vegas is designed to suck money from you, so save where you can.  I always get extra waters while playing poker to take to the room.  Venetian serves premium Fiji water (yes it is from the island), and when you order a beverage (I drink coffee and Baileys exclusively), ask for a water too.  Same $1 tip gets you both.
9.  If you just want a cup of coffee in the morning, skip the coffeehouses and head for the poker room.  Most have free coffee there.
10.  The slots at the airport are supposed to be the worst in Vegas.  Avoid them.
11.  Free Wifi can be tough there (remember rule 8), I use my phone to set up a wifi hotspot so I can use my Kindle.  There are free spots, Starbucks or McDonalds for example.
12.  Things are very far away but because of their size they look closer.  Take the free tram if you can then walk the rest.
13.  The sports book area is a great area to sit in a comfortable chair and take a break.
14.  Catch the free entertainment when you can:  water show at the Mirage, Pirate show outside of Treasure Island. 

3 Good Things

Rather than focusing on my rotten, horrible, awful luck in the tournaments yesterday, would like to tell you now about three good things that happened recently in online tournaments.

1.  Playing in my "step" tournament (is this somewhat like a stepchild?), a 6 person SNG, I managed to knock every player out....no, not in one hand.  Never done that before.  And, no, I did not turn into the big chip bully, just happened to get them all in at the right times.  Now in step 8, but I think too late for the televised event.

2.  I did a late entry into a No Limit Omaha tournament with 90 entries and finished in 5th place (won 70,000 in play money...significant as my total bankroll was only 340,000.....20K entry fee).

3.  For I think the first time ever in my Omaha game career I hit a "steel wheel"....a 5 high straight flush!  While it is very possible not to "scoop" the high and low pots due to other wheel hands, or even a higher straight flush, I did indeed scoop this in a 100/200 limit game....even capping the river bets 3 ways.

Now, one funny story.  Donna playing at Luck Bridge is seated next to me.  She is rambling about the prize drawings they are holding for Cinco de Mayo, repeating herself a couple of times.  So, I pick up on it, saying, "Oh, by the way Donna, did you know they are having drawings tonight?".  After about the third time, others at the table are also commenting about the drawings.  Donna, irritated, does her usual thing about holding fingers up so she can ask you a question that leads to her flipping you off. Sorry, no takers on that old trick of hers.

Getting Bad Beats Out of My System Before Vegas

It is important to "cleanse your palate" when sampling fine wines.  Just as important, but not quite as widely known, is getting the bad beats out of the way in small tournaments before entering big ones that really matter.  With that thought in mind I purposefully got two horrible beats today.  In the morning Moose, with blinds at 25/25, I limped in with 5/5 and about 6 other limpers.  The flop was a thing of beauty, rainbow K/Q/5.  The player to my immediate right bet $150 after the blinds and one limper checked.  He had been active, trying to bluff a calling station, losing a ton of chips, then chipping back up to over starting chip stack.  I had missed a draw but recovered most of my chips on another hand.

I raised his $150 to $300 with a fairly wet board and he shoved with his K/T.  Call.  Turn was an ace, river was naturally a jack for his broadway backdoor straight.  Player down.

Not to be deterred, and wanting to purge myself of all possible bad beats, I signed up for the noon Bridge tournament.  Chipped up nicely, mainly through the chip leader who called my shove of AQ with A9 after second ace hit the turn, I am chip leader at my table, I flopped top pair with a flush draw to the queen (Q3 hearts in small blind).  I bet, am raised (had him covered) all-in.  He has a better flush draw with KJ of hearts.  Turn is a king and I am now the short stack.  Successfully shove with 3/3 and called in two places, hand holds up and am back in contention.

Final table, I flop middle pair from small blind on Q/J/3, bet, am raised all in by big blind, I fold (He flopped 2 pair (J/3), nice fold on my part.  Now short stack, player shoves with A/5, I call with A/10  He rivers a 5 and I am out.  A player who was on my table during the earlier tournament just sadly shook his head.

Real honestly, it is hard for me to second guess my play, as got all my chips in every time with the best hand.  These are just some bad beats that I got out of my system.

Eking

Managed to eke out a small win on Friday, $85 for 5th place, less $40 buy-in, less $5. dealer tip, for a $40 net win.  I was hoping for lots more as I need to build up my poker bankroll for Las Vegas next week.  No notable hands, lost about 1/4 of my chips early with a failed flush chase, then doubled up nicely against a player insisting on calling my preflop raise with my AJ, betting the jack high flop, and shoving on the river.  He had pocket 2's.  Really, what was he thinking?  Stone cold bluff?  He was eliminated shortly afterwards after recovering some of his chips (he had me covered) on another horrible call.

Down to 10 players, I was sitting on 7 big blinds and looking to make a push.  The table composition and my cards shut me off completely, as two players who acted before me kept pushing....I had suited aces 3 times against their raises, but no kicker, so folded.  Your really can't be doing any calling in those situations as you need to be first in the pot.

The final table was dealt by a rookie dealer who continually made mistakes and was frankly pretty sloppy in his card shuffling, cutting, mucking, figuring side pots, etc.  It was nice to see someone less competent than me in the chair.  He came alive on the final table, going all-in 3 hands in a row with everyone folding.  Blinds were 500/1000 so he was not picking up chump change.  He met his waterloo by raising preflop with KQ offsuite, and being raised my the chip leader who had KK.  His aggression on the flop did him in as the only card that could show up to slow the action was an ace.

I was very frustrated to get nothing but junk cards, and just folded my way into the money.  My final hand was against a poker rookie who had to be told everything....no, that is a string raise.....no, you need to raise twice the big blind, etc.  He knocked a buddy out who shoved with QQ by calling with A/6 offsuite.  Naturally, he caught his ace.  I was down to 2 big blinds, had not seen an ace, so when he raised to 5,000 (blinds at 1/2000) under the gun, I was next to act and called with AJ suited.  It really pained me to call as his range had me in trouble, but with my stack size figured they were all in the next 2 hands anyway.  He had AQ and he hit his queen on the flop.  The turn gave me hope with a king....and a couple of players had been eliminated earlier when broadway draws appeared, but I did not get that lucky.

My best hand was 9/7 offsuite in the unraised small blind with one limper.  I limped, flopped a straight on an 8/10/J flop and eliminated a player with J/10 and also got a flush draw's money in the pot.  Life can be good sometimes.