My break from online poker didn’t even last a day.
To be fair, I didn’t actually want to play poker. The bloggers and Party Poker conspired against me. The bloggers by sitting at a 2/4 BBJ table there, and Party by disabling observer chat. All I wanted to do was chat, dammit, and I ended up dropping $30 playing 2/4.
Thanks a lot, guys. It was fun playing with iggy, maigrey, pauly, helixx, -EV, trumpjosh, scott, veneno, and reader Dohpee. Sorry if I left anyone out.
Constant physical attack (er.. vacuuming) didn’t seem to work, so I’ve had to resort to chemical warfare. Hopefully, this will take care of the problem.
I’ve been running pretty bad at the tables lately, and have decided I need to take a break. My bankroll is suffering too much, and it doesn’t seem like I can do anything to stop it. So, with the exception of Wil’s tournaments, I’m not going to play any more online poker until next year. I wonder if I can make it the whole ten days.
This doesn’t mean I won’t possibly head up to Chumash and get some time in at real tables, though. I feel much better about my game thanks to the weekend in Vegas, actually. I just can’t seem to avoid the bad beats online lately.
Maybe I’ll use the extra time to finish a Vegas write-up. I still have to talk about the tournament, storming the castle, 1-2 NL at the MGM, and some serious 2/4 donkey poker at the IP.
Right now, though, it’s time for bed.
I’ll have more Vegas writeups soon, I promise*. I just haven’t gotten around to it. I’ve been playing too much poker (and getting killed at it lately.)
After another frustrating $20+2 180sng on Stars (I saw 6 flops in like 80 hands and someone still called my all-in with QTo and sucked out on me!), I decided I needed even more frustration and sat down in a $5+.50 razz sng on FullTilt. Thanks, maigrey for playing in it with me.
Of course, since I’m running bad, I had to get this playing Razz:
I did end up finishing in the money, though, taking third for a whopping $8 ($2.50 profit). maigrey took second. Hopefully, it’s the start of turning my luck around
* Promise not binding.
THIS is why I can’t win one of these $20+2 180 SNGs. All-in preflop. arkansasmatt limped, I raised, thongbandit called, matt pushed, I pushed, thongbandit CALLED. He’s now chipleader, having doubled up again later calling all-in with Q4 against AK. With this pot, I think I actually woulda been chip leader of the thing.
Of course, this did happen shortly before that.
I’m going to interrupt my attempt at a complete trip report to give you the three best hands played in Vegas over the weekend.
Number 3
I’m sitting in the 2-6 blogger game at the Excalibur, with a table full of bloggers, donking off chips and just generally playing badly, waiting to get aces so I can get them cracked and spin the wheel. Dr. Jeff is doing well. StB is the biggest donkey in the room. All of a sudden, I hear some noise from another side of the room, and turn to see Donkeypuncher stand up and scream, “Dems quads, beetches!” (alternate pronunciation to fool the floorman, of course.) From all over the poker room, the color shouting started. “Green!”, “Blue!”… no one wanted yellow.
The hand itself, from what I’ve been told was a massive suckout. He had two outs and hit both. All in with JJ vs AQ on a queen high flop. Turn: Jack. River: Jack. It was against Falstaff, and I only know that from reading his report about it.
Number 2
I just wrapped up a grueling 10-hour 1-2NL session at the MGM and trudged back to the Imperial Palace, my mind still buzzing with the adrenaline of the game. Without a thought to the late hour, I phoned A1 to see if anyone was still up in the suite. He wasn’t, but mentioned some of the crew were trying their hand at poker online. The lure of the game was strong, but so was the need for rest. Ironically, I found myself heading to the IP poker room instead of bed. A lively 2/4 table caught my eye, speckled with fellow bloggers. While I waited for a seat, it struck me how the scene here was almost like a live version of the bitcoin casinos a cousin had mentioned – always accessible, a blend of faces from all over, united by the thrill of the bet. I watched while waiting for a seat.
A few of the unknown players seemed to be having fun, but one of them was getting very frustrated with the donkey play. Iggy needed a cigarette. He went to the other side of the rail, and told the dealer he’d play his cards from there. I don’t remember all the action, or the cards on the board. I believe Iggy raised preflop, and got heads up with the 4 seat, the guy who wasn’t having any fun. A raise on the flop, and a bet on the turn, were called.
The river gets dealt, apparently a blank. I only know it’s a blank because the 4s checked, and Iggy bet, still from the rail, still in the dark. The 4s thought about it briefly, and folded! The dealer looked at Iggy’s cards, gave a little smirk, and put them in the muck. He wouldn’t tell us what they were.
Number 1
Back at the Imperial Palace poker room after two hours of sleep. The one and only Bobby Bracelet is in the ten seat. “Wisconsin Bob” has been playing with us for a while, and I think he can tell that we know how to play and are just having fun. He seems to be enjoying himself, too. Bobby iPod straddles the blind. Wisconsin Bob calls, and TrumpJosh raises. Bobby Blackjack quickly re-raises, and both players call.
The flop comes down A33, and TrumpJosh fires out a bet. HugeJunk raises, still playing in the dark. Both players call. The turn is a 7. Josh bets out.
“I think I’m good here. Raise.”
Wisconsin Bob calls, and Josh finally folds, figuring he’s got the 28th Best Blogging Poker Player in all of the world beat, but still behind in the hand. The river’s another 7. You all know where this is going now.
Bet. Call. Everyone gets to see the 860th Greatest Poker Player in the World’s (as of 6/3/05) hand, while he looks at it for the first time. He turns over a 2. And a 7. Offsuit.
Wisconsin Bob mucks.
Honorable Mention
TrumpJosh’s sevens full of twos at the Mandalay Bay, with me tapping on his cards with my hammer the whole time, before the table had been properly introduced.
I need to get better at this whole trip report thing. I basically just write what happened, chronologically, and it’s rather boring. At least it seems like it to me. I don’t really consider myself a writer. There are many far better ones in our little (big) poker blog community. The following are links to some of the best stories I’ve read about this trip so far.
Roshambo, by F-Train
Tiltboys: The Lost Episode, by Joe Speaker.
Who put the SHAM in Roshambo?, by AlCantHang
And, of course, Human Head’s take on it in his post Friday.
Those first two four need to be read together.
Legends of the Fall, by Joe Speaker
The Imperial Palace, by factgirl (Chapter 2, specifically)
The Best Cab Ride Ever, by Donkeypuncher
Tournament report: WPBT Holiday Classic 2005, by the winner, StudioGlyphic
Meet Cliff, donkey poker inspired article, by Spaceman. I was the button that hand, and folded the winner, dammit.
Losing the Sahara Tourney (That I Won), by F-Train
Social Reset Part 1 and Part 2, by Biggestron
I’m sure I’ll add more to this list, and I’m also sure everyone reading this has already read all of these, so I don’t know what the point was.
One other quick link: My card protector was purchased here. Do a search at the site for “hammer keychain”.
Before I start… I can’t get away from the hammer:
I finally arrived at McCaran at 1pm Friday afternoon, only 14 hours late, and 10 hours later than if I had driven. The reason I didn’t fly out Thursday night: news article. Miraculously, my checked bag with my bowling balls (which I never used) was waiting at the American counter, even though I had flown American from SBA->LAX and then America West from LAX->LAS. I also only had to wait ten minutes in the cab line and was on my way to the Imperial Palace.
My plan initially was to check in, drop my stuff off, and head over to the Aladdin, because I knew some bloggers would be playing in their noon tournament. I got quickly sidetracked running into Gracie, Pablo, Maudie, .. and others, not ten feet into the hotel. They were headed up to the IP’s poker room, and told me how to get there after I checked in. So that’s where I went.
When I got there, I waited a little while for a seat, and sat down at 3/6, with several other bloggers. I tried to straddle right away, but a player returned to the table before the deal so I was no longer UTG and had to pull my six chips back. I look down at two black kings and raise it up anyway. I take down a nice pot on on my first hand when I flop a king and end up with kings full of sevens. The rest of the session is a blur. (I need to start taking notes.) What I do know is that I left +$161 in an hour and forty five minutes. (Thanks, Poker Journal!)
From there, it was off to the Hilton for an unmentionable geek thing with a bunch of bloggers. I don’t remember everyone who went (I need to start taking notes). It was fun, as expected. I’ve done it before, and actually was more impressed with the new one than I was the first time I went. The older one is still better, though. That’s all that will be said about that.
I can’t believe we spent so much time there that it was right to the MGM next, but I can’t think of anything else we did in between. The next thing I remember is sitting in a 4/8 half kill game there. I know there were bloggers at the table. I know it was a great game, and we were having tons of fun. I don’t remember who most of them were. From reading other reports, I can piece together that the following people were at the table at some point: Chad, Shelly, CJ, Dr. Jeff, and Pablo. (I need to start taking notes.) I also know that I beat that game for $94 in exactly an hour, and then another $93 in two hours after four hours of HORSEP (thanks, Joaquin!). The HORSEP game was great, and it was fun just donking off money to fellow bloggers. I only remember two significant hands: I got AA6s playing (regular) pineapple. I raised preflop, got callers, and threw away the 6. The flop was 45x, and CJ either raised my bet or checkraised me. I don’t remember which. I mucked my aces, and he showed his 54 (sooooted!). The other hand was O8. I hate O8. I had A224 with the ace suited. There was little action preflop, and the flop came down 25T. Checked around. Bottom set is bad. The turn was another ten, giving me deuces full, and then there’s a bet and a raise in front of me. I flash my hand to people sitting next to me and fold. My high was no good, never draw at the low. Right? Case deuce on the river. I stood up and punched a wall. It hurt. (As it turned out, I was right to fold: I was behind to 55xx. It still sucks.) With laydowns like those, how the hell did I donk off $124 in that game? I have no clue.
Memory is fuzzy from here (I need to start taking notes). I think I finally left the 4/8 game and walked back to the IP from the MGM with Jeff and someone else, to get some sleep before the tournament. (Edit: This walk back to the IP may have been after Storming the Castle the next day, not the games at the MGM. I really can’t remember. Edit again: Nope, it was from the MGM. I remember taking a cab back from the Excal, only because I remember not remembering who was in it the next day.) Why does the monorail stop running at 2am? Dammit.
…more to come…
I’m sitting at work recovering from the weekend. It’s going to take my a while to get my head around everything that happened and write about it. I can’t even leave a bullet point list of things here now. I’ll just say it was a great time, as expected. And I really need to start taking notes, dammit.
For now, I’ll just leave everyone of a shot from the MGM 1-2 NL game, on my photoblog.
Updated with a quote from Joaquin:
I just got off the phone with Geek and Proud at the IP room we shared. I needed to notify him that I left my cell phone in the room and I needed him to send it to me. He sounded wide awake and I told him sorry for calling so early. Yet, since he sounded so wide awake I enquired about his session at the MGM that he was playing in when I left last night to come back to NYC. He proceeded to tell me that he had just gotten back from the session. I mentioned to him that I had already flown home (four hour flight), went to my apt. and dropped off my stuff, took a shower, and got to work during his session. I think it finally dawned on him how long he had been sitting there playing poker. And this is the best way to describe this weekend.
One more quick and easy update:
Real poker (w/ bloggers, but not 9 of them at the table): +$364
Donkey poker (HORSEP, 2-6 spread half kill vegas hold ’em, calling raises with 63s): -$472
Overall: -$108
No, not drunk. Wasted four hours of my life at the airport in Santa Barbara, and I’m still not in Vegas. No snowstorm, no equipment problems. No, this time, it was a medical emergency. Apparently, someone on the incoming flight from Phoenix (delayed! Why can’t America West ever fly through their hub without delays?!) had TB. They don’t have the equipment needed to clean the plane properly in Santa Barbara, so they cancelled the flight. It’s probably for the best. One day of hassle isn’t worth a lifetime of problems, but dammit. They could have told us an hour earlier than they did… and not taken two hours to get everyone booked on another flight.
Oh, and the only direct flight they could get me on was the same flight tomorrow… getting in at 10:20pm. So instead, I have to connect through LAX. At least it’s on American Eagle, not America West. Why do I keep making the mistake of flying with them? I really thought a direct flight would have been fine.
So now, I have to go get three hours of sleep, and get back to the airport at 5am. Hopefully, I’ll see everyone soon.
Dammit.
…and too lazy to type it all out.
I got my new receiver, and then promptly killed it in less than a day. Warranties are good. Before it broke, though, it’s speaker autosetup detected that two of my speakers were hooked up out of phase. Cool.
I have a desk and a makeshift monitor shelf. My house is actually almost clean.
I’ve been getting killed at the cash game at Stars. I seem to do fine anywhere else, but just can’t make money there, even though the play looks just as bad. People always just seem to catch their card on me. Two days ago, the money got in when I had top two pair back to back hands, and the idiots promptly hit their flush and straight cards respectively. Today, second nut flush on the turn, and a guy calls a ton to catch a four-outer with his two pair. I am paying them off too much when they hit, though. The only things I seem to do well at on Stars are the WWdN tourneys. One win, and four final tables at those. Just the right mix of reliable play and fish for my liking.
Vegas! I leave in less than 48 hours. Things I want to do: Tournament at the IP, of course. Gracie’s geeky thing to do. We must drag Wil along. Storm the Castle. Play lots of poker. Bowl with bloggers.
Preparing for that, I got myself a nice smaller bowling bag that only holds two bowling balls. I still have to check it on the plane, but at least it’s lighter and easier. I also got a new ball. I’d seen a few people use it, and only throw great games. It’s called The One. I used someone else’s last night, and like the way it moved, so I bought one today and had it drilled. I then threw my highest ever four game series with it, in my first four games. 247-185-255-268 for a 955. Unbelievable. All prop bets we make regarding bowling have to be on me. 🙂
I think that’s it. I have to get back to cleaning. I said it’s almost clean.
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