Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Happy New Years
Yes I am posting this from the couch just a couple minutes before 2009. I am somewhat tipsy on Vicodin and a couple bottles of Samuel Adams... For those that don't know I took a trip to Big Bear Mountain east of LA last weekend and after two days of snowboarding I took a nasty spill on the final run of the trip. I think I tore my MCL again but won't know for sure until the swelling goes down and I can get an MRI on Monday. Here's to wishing everyone a healthy and happy 2009!
Friday, December 26, 2008
Las Vegas City Life
One of the things I love about the game of poker is the social aspect of it. During what seemed like a year in Las Vegas on my trip I met an amazing amount of people. What is also crazy is the amount of extremely anti-social people you run into. Fortunately there are fewer and fewer of them every time I go up there. Those who know me surely know I never shy away from a good conversation (That way it's less awkward when you take their money) One of the players I met was Bob Shemeligian, writer for the New York Post as well as Las Vegas City Life. Over quite a few hours we talked about all the latest happenings in poker including the cheating scandal on Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet. He asked if he could publish a few quotes from me and I said "cool" (How's that for a quote). Here is the article he posted in Las Vegas City Life newspaper. I will be expecting a call from my commanding officer on Monday morning.
http://lasvegascitylife.com/articles/2008/12/11/news/local_news/iq_25625422.txt
You just never know who you are going to meet in the craziness of a poker room.
http://lasvegascitylife.com/articles/2008/12/11/news/local_news/iq_25625422.txt
You just never know who you are going to meet in the craziness of a poker room.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Craziness in Vegas and Pokerstars
So since my last post back in November a lot has happened. I went home over Thanksgiving and got to see a lot of family and friends back in the good ol OH-IO. Great times partying with the old crew from Miami and Bucyrus.
I wanted to try and keep this thing going while in OH but there just isn't as much going on when I'm not in that ridiculous city 5 hours to the North. Fortunately ( or unfortunately as my liver is screaming at me "For God's sake stop") my squadron had a formal dinner at New York New York the weekend of the 12th-15th. The Venetian was nice enough to put me up for another 3 nights this time around so I was looking forward to the poker room and my favorite playgrounds (Tryst and Tao)
Mark "Turd" Ferguson was going to crash in my suite so we rolled up there on Friday morning and started drinking after posting a quick $300 win in the poker room. Everyone was going to Tryst where a friend had a sick table for us right next to the dance floor. The goal was to take it easy Friday night so that we Saturday night would be epic in our dress blues. Does this ever work? Of course not and I crawled back to the hotel at around 4am. This is where the story took a weird turn. Usually my drunk ass walks up to a BJ table to drop a quick G, not this time. I actually won a quick 2 G's and passed out a somewhat happy man that morning at around 6am.
Saturday I got up around noon and worked my way down to get my standard Turkey Bagel at the Food Court Deli downstairs. I have eaten lunch at the Venetian Deli more than anywhere else I think since I got back from deployment. I hit up the poker room and made another small profit of just under $500. I was on a good roll gambling and was ready for an insane night of partying in our blues. Turd and I got our uniforms on and cocktail hour started at 7pm but I told him we had to run by the Bellagio because the %15,000 WPT 5 Diamond World Poker Classic was starting that day. We got there and walked over to the famous Fontana Bar overlooking the Bellagio Fountain and walked through checking out the pros in action. We were checking out all the players when out of nowhere we hear someone yell "Gotta love men in uniform". We looked over to see Phil Helmuth getting up from his table to come over and shake our hands. Certainly had nothing to do with him actually wanting to shake our hands as much as it meant everyone would be looking at him again. lol After a couple minutes talking with Phil, Turd thought it was way more important to get to the bar for a bud light so we left. I think Phil was in pure shock that we didn't want to stay and talk to him... funny stuff
We grabbed a taxi to New York squared and attend the Dining Out. It was an ok time with some good dinner and a great video made of our deployment with 100's of pictures. You coudl tell the night wasn't going to be anything special when all you heard throughout the room was how bad people were hurting from the night before at Tryst. After dinner we headed downstairs and people started dropping like flys. It was a pretty nasty effort considering how often we are in LAS VEGAS in our dress uniform. It didn't help much that half of the squadron was either married or dating someone that was 16 (or so it seemed). Well Rhino and his wife finally ponied up and said let's go party. I knew some of the doormen at Tao through Eddy so we rolled over there and walked right past a line of no more than 500-600 people and were on the dance floor in less than 5 minutes. I have never had so many people says thanks and shove shots in our face than we did that night at Tao. What a great time made even better when P Diddy and Jamie Foxx took the stage and worked the crowd for a couple hours for Jamie's B-Day party. After a couple hours Bob and Kristi left and I was just hanging when this dude shook my hand and invited me up to their VIP booth for a drink. Little did I know at the time that is was 2006 AL MVP Just Morneau of the Minnesota Twins. There were just a couple ladies up there! I had a few drinks up there and did a shot with Rob Bowen (Catcher for the Oakland A's) We hung out for the next couple hours until two girls dragged us over to Tryst to end the night. The place was nuts and Rob saw Joe Rogan and Chuck Lidell over at a table. My drunk ass told him I knew them both (kind of true.lol.... Chuck from Costa Rica and Joe from the Playboy Mansion Party) We walked over to their table and I introduced them. The next thing you know we were sitting at their table and doing what seemed like shots #60 through 80. You guys will never believe this but I have ZERO idea how the night ended. I know I came back to the room at around 6:30 and that is only becuase Turd told me the next morning. Little did I know that I gave my cell number to Rob and texted me the next day and said I have to bring a crew out to Scottsdale for spring training this Feb and hang with the guys. Should be interesting. I got an email from him yesterday and we are trying to work out a fly by for one of their games. We'll see about that though. Here is a picture of Joe Rogan, Me, and Rob Bowen...
And Jamie Foxx and P Diddy on stage....
My god what a book. Not even going to bother telling the whole story of yesterday in one of the Sunday Majors online. Bottom line was there were 3,857 entries into the $215 buy-in $750,000 guaranteed tourney on Pokerstars. After 7 hours of play I busted in 35th for just about $1,500 with 1st paying $99,000.. ONE TIME PLEASE! I promise it is coming one of these days!
ZERO plans for New Years. No Eddy I am not coming to Vegas if you are reading this! My liver just can't take it....... Talk to all of you over the holidays though.
I wanted to try and keep this thing going while in OH but there just isn't as much going on when I'm not in that ridiculous city 5 hours to the North. Fortunately ( or unfortunately as my liver is screaming at me "For God's sake stop") my squadron had a formal dinner at New York New York the weekend of the 12th-15th. The Venetian was nice enough to put me up for another 3 nights this time around so I was looking forward to the poker room and my favorite playgrounds (Tryst and Tao)
Mark "Turd" Ferguson was going to crash in my suite so we rolled up there on Friday morning and started drinking after posting a quick $300 win in the poker room. Everyone was going to Tryst where a friend had a sick table for us right next to the dance floor. The goal was to take it easy Friday night so that we Saturday night would be epic in our dress blues. Does this ever work? Of course not and I crawled back to the hotel at around 4am. This is where the story took a weird turn. Usually my drunk ass walks up to a BJ table to drop a quick G, not this time. I actually won a quick 2 G's and passed out a somewhat happy man that morning at around 6am.
Saturday I got up around noon and worked my way down to get my standard Turkey Bagel at the Food Court Deli downstairs. I have eaten lunch at the Venetian Deli more than anywhere else I think since I got back from deployment. I hit up the poker room and made another small profit of just under $500. I was on a good roll gambling and was ready for an insane night of partying in our blues. Turd and I got our uniforms on and cocktail hour started at 7pm but I told him we had to run by the Bellagio because the %15,000 WPT 5 Diamond World Poker Classic was starting that day. We got there and walked over to the famous Fontana Bar overlooking the Bellagio Fountain and walked through checking out the pros in action. We were checking out all the players when out of nowhere we hear someone yell "Gotta love men in uniform". We looked over to see Phil Helmuth getting up from his table to come over and shake our hands. Certainly had nothing to do with him actually wanting to shake our hands as much as it meant everyone would be looking at him again. lol After a couple minutes talking with Phil, Turd thought it was way more important to get to the bar for a bud light so we left. I think Phil was in pure shock that we didn't want to stay and talk to him... funny stuff
We grabbed a taxi to New York squared and attend the Dining Out. It was an ok time with some good dinner and a great video made of our deployment with 100's of pictures. You coudl tell the night wasn't going to be anything special when all you heard throughout the room was how bad people were hurting from the night before at Tryst. After dinner we headed downstairs and people started dropping like flys. It was a pretty nasty effort considering how often we are in LAS VEGAS in our dress uniform. It didn't help much that half of the squadron was either married or dating someone that was 16 (or so it seemed). Well Rhino and his wife finally ponied up and said let's go party. I knew some of the doormen at Tao through Eddy so we rolled over there and walked right past a line of no more than 500-600 people and were on the dance floor in less than 5 minutes. I have never had so many people says thanks and shove shots in our face than we did that night at Tao. What a great time made even better when P Diddy and Jamie Foxx took the stage and worked the crowd for a couple hours for Jamie's B-Day party. After a couple hours Bob and Kristi left and I was just hanging when this dude shook my hand and invited me up to their VIP booth for a drink. Little did I know at the time that is was 2006 AL MVP Just Morneau of the Minnesota Twins. There were just a couple ladies up there! I had a few drinks up there and did a shot with Rob Bowen (Catcher for the Oakland A's) We hung out for the next couple hours until two girls dragged us over to Tryst to end the night. The place was nuts and Rob saw Joe Rogan and Chuck Lidell over at a table. My drunk ass told him I knew them both (kind of true.lol.... Chuck from Costa Rica and Joe from the Playboy Mansion Party) We walked over to their table and I introduced them. The next thing you know we were sitting at their table and doing what seemed like shots #60 through 80. You guys will never believe this but I have ZERO idea how the night ended. I know I came back to the room at around 6:30 and that is only becuase Turd told me the next morning. Little did I know that I gave my cell number to Rob and texted me the next day and said I have to bring a crew out to Scottsdale for spring training this Feb and hang with the guys. Should be interesting. I got an email from him yesterday and we are trying to work out a fly by for one of their games. We'll see about that though. Here is a picture of Joe Rogan, Me, and Rob Bowen...
And Jamie Foxx and P Diddy on stage....
My god what a book. Not even going to bother telling the whole story of yesterday in one of the Sunday Majors online. Bottom line was there were 3,857 entries into the $215 buy-in $750,000 guaranteed tourney on Pokerstars. After 7 hours of play I busted in 35th for just about $1,500 with 1st paying $99,000.. ONE TIME PLEASE! I promise it is coming one of these days!
ZERO plans for New Years. No Eddy I am not coming to Vegas if you are reading this! My liver just can't take it....... Talk to all of you over the holidays though.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Made it home....
Where to begin since my last post? Friday afternoon Eddy made it to the poker room at The Venetian and we played some 2-5 for a couple hours and both made some decent money. We headed back to our rooms to get ready for the night and planned to meet at the VIP Salon for some drinks at 10:00. I was down to the Salon at 10:00 and no Eddy so I played craps for exactly 20 minutes and won a quick $750. Eddy got there and we proceeded to knock down 3 glasses of Johnny Walker Blue Label ($50 a glass) each. Of course you don't pay for anything back there so that was nice. Eddy insisted we try this pot of tea called 403. No idea what the 403 stands for but it was like 403 horsepower running through my body after that shit. Jesus was it crazy. Like 12 redbulls in two glasses. Wow. Eddy downed like 12 roast beef sandwiches at the Palazzo VIP lounge trying to get under control! lol Hilarious We rolled through Lavo at the Venetian for a little while and that was a pretty sick place but we were both ready to get over to Tao and tear it up. Eddy was boys with Jamie Fox so he wanted to roll over there and meet up with him.
Of course Eddy knows everyone in Vegas so we just walk up to Tao and 14 people say "Eddy what's up" and we walk right in. I got to meet Jamie Fox for a whole 3 seconds flat before the DJ was yelling Jamie Muthaf@&*#( Fox is in the house and he had to get on stage. I got a quick picture of him during a little freestyle. There was a chance to hang with him later in the night but you are never going to believe this, I lost my cell phone battery yet again sometime earlier in the night. JESUS! I lost Eddy and obviously couldn't get a hold of him so I left Tao at like 4am. In my state it was deadly for me to walk through the casino to get back to my room at The Palazzo. I unfortunately stopped by a blackjack table and dropped $1,300 in what couldn't have been longer than 20 minutes. Just makes me sick thinking about it after avoiding BJ tables for over a week already. It happens I guess.
I woke up Saturday morning and got a call, on the hotel phone obviously, from Eddy saying lets meet at the Canyon Ranch Spa to get rid of the hangovers. We met down there and got signed up for a pass and I signed up for a 80 minute massage. The place is amazing and worth every penny we spent there. The massage was exactly what I needed and I felt great a coupe hours later when I left. The plan was that Eddy was going to go play poker and I was going to go try and find a battery for my phone. After 2 hours of driving around Vegas I found a radio shack that had a phone for me. I made it back to the poker room where Eddy was playing some $5-$10 NL. This game is much different than the $2-5 NL I had been playing all week long. The big difference is that there is no cap on the buy-in. In $2-5 it is $1,000. People buy in for $10,000 in the $5-10 game so your money is always at risk in that game. Of course the potential is always there to win big too. Just have to be more careful is all. This is not what I did. I made two huge errors and dropped $1,500 in the first half hour at the table and was furious. I added more money to my stack and started to slowly tear away at the deficit. We played for about 4 more hours and I grinded it all back until I was a $28 dollar winner on the night. What a huge comeback!
We left the tables and planned on meeting back in the VIP room to get things started again. Who do we run into? None other than Bas Rutten and former UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture and his wife. Wow were they amazing guys. Eddy has known Bas for many years. We were going to try and meet up with them later in the night for more drinks but never got to. I will try and post a picture on this if I can. If not I will have it on Facebook and Myspace for sure. While in the VIP salon we all drank a glass of Don Julio Real. ($400 a bottle) and then later had a glass of Louis XIII. ($2,000 a bottle). Probably only time in my life I will ever drink all of this stuff. Well until my next trip to Vegas anyways. lol
Randy and Bas left and we headed over to a roulette table where I proceeded to drop $400. We did manage to down about 5 shots of Patron in the meantime though so we were ready for Tao once again for some more debauchery. We again just walked right in and headed straight to the VIP tables beside the dance floor. We met a couple of fighters that he had worked with in the past and continued to drown ourselves with the bottles in front of us. We got absolutely wasted and I'll leave it at that... Jamie was there again but I didn't get to talk to him this time. My favorite part of the night is that I didn't lose a penny on the way back to my room that night. Or should I say morning. The sun was definitely out when I made it back.
After waking up around 12pm when the front desk called to make me check out. I was experiencing a Top 3 hangover of all time! Eddy was hurting just as bad apparently as he was driving to San Diego with 50 yard line seats for the Sunday Night Football game vs the Colts. He recommended me rolling to the Spa again so I did and sat there for over 7 hours (about 2 of which I spent praying to the porcelain god). It was huge though since it allowed me to get some much needed sleep. After showering and leaving there I decided to try and make it down to the poker room for a couple hours before leaving for my 1am flight home. I sat down, bought my $1,000 in chips, and then immediately felt like I was going to pass out. As I tried to run for the bathroom. I didn't quite make it and stopped at a trash can by one of the tables. I hear "Wes, Wes are you ok?" in the background and I turn around to see JJ Liu 1/2 concerned 1/2 laughing at me. Wow was that ever embarrassing. Not the first and certainly not the last I am sure so I laughed it off and finished the deed in the men's room. Once I got back to my table I played the only mistake free session of my entire trip to Vegas and was able to pocket one last win of $420.
The next 12 hours were some of the most miserable of my life as I took the red eye back to Ohio. (Nate and Joe I do not know how you guys do it and then work the next day! Truly amazing). I tried to sleep on the flight to Minnesota but that worked like it does when I am the one flying the jet. I had a terrible 3 1/2 hour lay over in the twin cities and got another 7 1/2 minutes of sleep there. Now I am finally back in the good ol city of Bucyrus OH and you would never believe it but I am playing two tables of online poker as I type this. Anyone know that phone number for the gambler's help line?
I will stay away from exact spending numbers (jeans are expensive in vegas. lol) but after all of the craziness that is a single man's 8 day vacation to Vegas. I came out a slight winner. One day I may be able to cut out the needless spending and drunk blackjack losses but that will mean I have to grow up! If anyone sees that happening please slap me....
Vegas, my favorite city on Earth to hate!
Of course Eddy knows everyone in Vegas so we just walk up to Tao and 14 people say "Eddy what's up" and we walk right in. I got to meet Jamie Fox for a whole 3 seconds flat before the DJ was yelling Jamie Muthaf@&*#( Fox is in the house and he had to get on stage. I got a quick picture of him during a little freestyle. There was a chance to hang with him later in the night but you are never going to believe this, I lost my cell phone battery yet again sometime earlier in the night. JESUS! I lost Eddy and obviously couldn't get a hold of him so I left Tao at like 4am. In my state it was deadly for me to walk through the casino to get back to my room at The Palazzo. I unfortunately stopped by a blackjack table and dropped $1,300 in what couldn't have been longer than 20 minutes. Just makes me sick thinking about it after avoiding BJ tables for over a week already. It happens I guess.
I woke up Saturday morning and got a call, on the hotel phone obviously, from Eddy saying lets meet at the Canyon Ranch Spa to get rid of the hangovers. We met down there and got signed up for a pass and I signed up for a 80 minute massage. The place is amazing and worth every penny we spent there. The massage was exactly what I needed and I felt great a coupe hours later when I left. The plan was that Eddy was going to go play poker and I was going to go try and find a battery for my phone. After 2 hours of driving around Vegas I found a radio shack that had a phone for me. I made it back to the poker room where Eddy was playing some $5-$10 NL. This game is much different than the $2-5 NL I had been playing all week long. The big difference is that there is no cap on the buy-in. In $2-5 it is $1,000. People buy in for $10,000 in the $5-10 game so your money is always at risk in that game. Of course the potential is always there to win big too. Just have to be more careful is all. This is not what I did. I made two huge errors and dropped $1,500 in the first half hour at the table and was furious. I added more money to my stack and started to slowly tear away at the deficit. We played for about 4 more hours and I grinded it all back until I was a $28 dollar winner on the night. What a huge comeback!
We left the tables and planned on meeting back in the VIP room to get things started again. Who do we run into? None other than Bas Rutten and former UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture and his wife. Wow were they amazing guys. Eddy has known Bas for many years. We were going to try and meet up with them later in the night for more drinks but never got to. I will try and post a picture on this if I can. If not I will have it on Facebook and Myspace for sure. While in the VIP salon we all drank a glass of Don Julio Real. ($400 a bottle) and then later had a glass of Louis XIII. ($2,000 a bottle). Probably only time in my life I will ever drink all of this stuff. Well until my next trip to Vegas anyways. lol
Randy and Bas left and we headed over to a roulette table where I proceeded to drop $400. We did manage to down about 5 shots of Patron in the meantime though so we were ready for Tao once again for some more debauchery. We again just walked right in and headed straight to the VIP tables beside the dance floor. We met a couple of fighters that he had worked with in the past and continued to drown ourselves with the bottles in front of us. We got absolutely wasted and I'll leave it at that... Jamie was there again but I didn't get to talk to him this time. My favorite part of the night is that I didn't lose a penny on the way back to my room that night. Or should I say morning. The sun was definitely out when I made it back.
After waking up around 12pm when the front desk called to make me check out. I was experiencing a Top 3 hangover of all time! Eddy was hurting just as bad apparently as he was driving to San Diego with 50 yard line seats for the Sunday Night Football game vs the Colts. He recommended me rolling to the Spa again so I did and sat there for over 7 hours (about 2 of which I spent praying to the porcelain god). It was huge though since it allowed me to get some much needed sleep. After showering and leaving there I decided to try and make it down to the poker room for a couple hours before leaving for my 1am flight home. I sat down, bought my $1,000 in chips, and then immediately felt like I was going to pass out. As I tried to run for the bathroom. I didn't quite make it and stopped at a trash can by one of the tables. I hear "Wes, Wes are you ok?" in the background and I turn around to see JJ Liu 1/2 concerned 1/2 laughing at me. Wow was that ever embarrassing. Not the first and certainly not the last I am sure so I laughed it off and finished the deed in the men's room. Once I got back to my table I played the only mistake free session of my entire trip to Vegas and was able to pocket one last win of $420.
The next 12 hours were some of the most miserable of my life as I took the red eye back to Ohio. (Nate and Joe I do not know how you guys do it and then work the next day! Truly amazing). I tried to sleep on the flight to Minnesota but that worked like it does when I am the one flying the jet. I had a terrible 3 1/2 hour lay over in the twin cities and got another 7 1/2 minutes of sleep there. Now I am finally back in the good ol city of Bucyrus OH and you would never believe it but I am playing two tables of online poker as I type this. Anyone know that phone number for the gambler's help line?
I will stay away from exact spending numbers (jeans are expensive in vegas. lol) but after all of the craziness that is a single man's 8 day vacation to Vegas. I came out a slight winner. One day I may be able to cut out the needless spending and drunk blackjack losses but that will mean I have to grow up! If anyone sees that happening please slap me....
Vegas, my favorite city on Earth to hate!
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
Playing with JJ Liu
Today was a fun day at the tables. They started a new $2-5 NL table at the Venetian and we headed back to the same place I spent 14 hours yesterday. I grabbed the same seat and settled in for the long haul. The table filled up rather rapidly and I recognized a couple of the players from the past couple of days. The seat to my immediate right was reserved for someone that was coming and about 30 minutes later JJ Liu came and sat down. She was runner up to Ted Forrest in the 2007 Bay 101 Shooting Stars World Poker Tour event for a cool $600,000. She has career winnings of over $1.7 million. So sick. Well I played with her for nearly 10 hours tonight and actually got to know her quite well. Very Very nice lady to say the least. She took a couple rough beats but is a very tough player. I was happy to be on her left the whole night.
The second hand I played I had two red kings in middle position. A lady in front of me raised to $25 and I reraised her $75. She called. We saw a 10 high flop with two spades and I bet out $120. She called. The turn was another spade, she checked and I had to protect my hand. She only bought in for $500 and only had $300 left after the flop bet. I bet $700 and after thinking about it for .2 sec she called with QhQs. Boom a sapde on the river and she wins a $800 pot. Disgusting way to start the night. I was a little pissed so I went on a quick restroom break and dropped a $100 into a slot machine on the way back. Yet another wasted $100 away from poker. lol. I am still up about $700 or so in the pit due the craps table a few days ago though. I am up on craps, down on slots and roulette. Not a dime on Blackjack yet but that is sure to change the next two days with some friends coming into town.
I had a great time tonight and called it a night kind of early at 2:30am and finished up $1,072. No complaints... just made a couple of crucial errors that cost me about $1,000 total over the night. If I can cut out those types of mistakes then I can start making some real amounts of cash.
Maybe a tourney tomorrow, we'll see what Eddy wants to do. Time for some sleep
The second hand I played I had two red kings in middle position. A lady in front of me raised to $25 and I reraised her $75. She called. We saw a 10 high flop with two spades and I bet out $120. She called. The turn was another spade, she checked and I had to protect my hand. She only bought in for $500 and only had $300 left after the flop bet. I bet $700 and after thinking about it for .2 sec she called with QhQs. Boom a sapde on the river and she wins a $800 pot. Disgusting way to start the night. I was a little pissed so I went on a quick restroom break and dropped a $100 into a slot machine on the way back. Yet another wasted $100 away from poker. lol. I am still up about $700 or so in the pit due the craps table a few days ago though. I am up on craps, down on slots and roulette. Not a dime on Blackjack yet but that is sure to change the next two days with some friends coming into town.
I had a great time tonight and called it a night kind of early at 2:30am and finished up $1,072. No complaints... just made a couple of crucial errors that cost me about $1,000 total over the night. If I can cut out those types of mistakes then I can start making some real amounts of cash.
Maybe a tourney tomorrow, we'll see what Eddy wants to do. Time for some sleep
Thursday, November 20, 2008
THE GRIND....
Didn't get out of bed until like noon yesterday and then headed out to the pool for a little while. Being at the pool alone is relaxing and all but just not the same as taking shots with the Miami Crew at Tao Beach. (September isn't that far away boys!)
Finally made it over to the Venetian Poker Room at around 3:30 and got a seat by 4:00. I tried two different tables and virtually no one wanted to doing any gambling. Finally two business men, who quite obviously had no shortage of cash in their checking account, sat at our table. They managed to drop a couple grand rather quickly and then left. One of the guys bought in for a second thousand and asked for a massage from one of the Canyon Ranch girls (steep at $2 a min but soooo worth every penny.) Well she asked how long he wanted and he said 30 minutes. It quite funny that he got the last 15 minutes of his massage at an empty table behind ours because he had lost his $1,000 already.
I can honestly say I am playing the best poker I have ever played right now. About five hours into the session yesterday I had KK and raised rather large preflop. I got three callers and we saw a flop of Qs 8s 2h. It was checked to me and I bet $70. One pretty solid player raised me to $170 and I just had an absolutely terible feeling on this one. We were both pretty deep at that point with nearly $1,300 a piece. After tanking for what seemed like 15 minutes I finally folded face up and he got this miserable look in his face and showed 88. Even a year ago I go broke with that hand or at least lose $500-$800. That gave me instant respect at the table and I was able to chop up the table for quite a while. Eventually the table broke and I was moved to another table. First hand I sit down and see two red Queens. I raised to $25 and the button makes it $100 to go. Once again I tank and then fold face up and he shows AA. SICK! But it wasn't over. 10 minutes later I find QQ again. Kid in front of me raised to $30 and I reraise to $100 from the big blind. He comes over top for $300 and I fold face up again and he shows me KK. WTF!!!?!? 2 yes 2 hands later I look down at JJ on the button and call a middle position raise for $30. We see a flop of 10 10 6. He bet out $80 and I called. turn was another 6 and it went check check. River another 10 and it went check check again and he flipped over KK AGAIN. Holy shit I dropped $300 on these three hand and I am lucky I didn't lose $3,000. I got up from the table to take a breather and grabbed a bottle of water and went for a walk. I need to cool off for a couple minutes. By cool off I mean drop a quick $100 at the roulette table and become even more furious with the situation. Lol it happens I guess.
It was a tough stretch starting at 4pm and ending at 6am. 14 hours of poker and ended up with a profit of $968 minus the $100 loss at the roulette table. I was exhausted and finally got to bed at around 7am this morning. I left T.I. and got moved into my suite at The Palazzo for the rest of the week. Wow the room are off the hook. I can see the Venetian Poker room from here so it's time to get it going and start chuggin water to prepare for the weekend!
Mt boy Eddy Millis, one of the premier MMA Trainers in the world, will be coming out to party it up this weekend so today will most likely be my last "serious" day of poker. I met Eddy playing in the Bodog Poker Tournament in Costa Rica and we watched him fight at the Playboy Mansion last October. Check out his website at http://www.sharktankusa.com/index.htm
Screw posting wins and losses for now. I am up! lol
Finally made it over to the Venetian Poker Room at around 3:30 and got a seat by 4:00. I tried two different tables and virtually no one wanted to doing any gambling. Finally two business men, who quite obviously had no shortage of cash in their checking account, sat at our table. They managed to drop a couple grand rather quickly and then left. One of the guys bought in for a second thousand and asked for a massage from one of the Canyon Ranch girls (steep at $2 a min but soooo worth every penny.) Well she asked how long he wanted and he said 30 minutes. It quite funny that he got the last 15 minutes of his massage at an empty table behind ours because he had lost his $1,000 already.
I can honestly say I am playing the best poker I have ever played right now. About five hours into the session yesterday I had KK and raised rather large preflop. I got three callers and we saw a flop of Qs 8s 2h. It was checked to me and I bet $70. One pretty solid player raised me to $170 and I just had an absolutely terible feeling on this one. We were both pretty deep at that point with nearly $1,300 a piece. After tanking for what seemed like 15 minutes I finally folded face up and he got this miserable look in his face and showed 88. Even a year ago I go broke with that hand or at least lose $500-$800. That gave me instant respect at the table and I was able to chop up the table for quite a while. Eventually the table broke and I was moved to another table. First hand I sit down and see two red Queens. I raised to $25 and the button makes it $100 to go. Once again I tank and then fold face up and he shows AA. SICK! But it wasn't over. 10 minutes later I find QQ again. Kid in front of me raised to $30 and I reraise to $100 from the big blind. He comes over top for $300 and I fold face up again and he shows me KK. WTF!!!?!? 2 yes 2 hands later I look down at JJ on the button and call a middle position raise for $30. We see a flop of 10 10 6. He bet out $80 and I called. turn was another 6 and it went check check. River another 10 and it went check check again and he flipped over KK AGAIN. Holy shit I dropped $300 on these three hand and I am lucky I didn't lose $3,000. I got up from the table to take a breather and grabbed a bottle of water and went for a walk. I need to cool off for a couple minutes. By cool off I mean drop a quick $100 at the roulette table and become even more furious with the situation. Lol it happens I guess.
It was a tough stretch starting at 4pm and ending at 6am. 14 hours of poker and ended up with a profit of $968 minus the $100 loss at the roulette table. I was exhausted and finally got to bed at around 7am this morning. I left T.I. and got moved into my suite at The Palazzo for the rest of the week. Wow the room are off the hook. I can see the Venetian Poker room from here so it's time to get it going and start chuggin water to prepare for the weekend!
Mt boy Eddy Millis, one of the premier MMA Trainers in the world, will be coming out to party it up this weekend so today will most likely be my last "serious" day of poker. I met Eddy playing in the Bodog Poker Tournament in Costa Rica and we watched him fight at the Playboy Mansion last October. Check out his website at http://www.sharktankusa.com/index.htm
Screw posting wins and losses for now. I am up! lol
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Good finish
Just finished the game at the Venetian. I should've left 10 minutes earlier but that's the way things usually workout right? Saw a guy overvalue big pocket pairs severely multiple times throughout the night so when he raised in early position I decided I would play any two cards and see if I could catch him. I looked down at 2h 4d. Yeah a pathetic until the flop comes 10h 4h 2c. He bet $74 I raised to $175 and he raised to $400. I asked how much he had behind and he said "$900, What are you going to do push me all in?" I told him I was thinking about it and he got scared shitless. I pushed all in and he instantly called me with the hand I knew he had. AA. I just had to fade a couple of his outs and I won a $2,200 pot. This put me up about $1,200 for the night at this point and he was devastated and of course went on to tell me how I don't know how to play and why would I ever play 2 4 offsuit against his raise. I told him I would play any two cards against him and he didn't like that too much.
About an hour later I was sitting on the same size stack and I raised under the gun with QQ Folded all the way around to the big blind and he was considering calling. I asked if he was seriously considering playing heads up and he asked what I had and I told him pocket 8's and he called preflop. Flop came Kh Qh Jd. I flopped middle set but wanted to protect my hand from flush and straight draws. He checked and I bet $100 and he called. Turn was a 4s and he bet into me for $250. I was sure this was a blocking bet so he could still try and catch his draw. Once again I thought I had to protect my hand though it was certainly possible he flopped a bigger hand. I raised to $500 and he immediately went all in for his last $250. I had to call in this situation. Not to mention if the board pairs I am going to win. He showed a flopped broadway straight with A 10. Just plain sick. I needed a Queen, King, Jack or 4 to win and didn't hit. I was so pissed I played the hand this way in retrospect but mark it up to experience once again. Finished up the session +$507 after about 6 hours so can't complain too badly. I did manage to drop $100 at the roulette table on the way to the room though. LOL I am such a shithead. Enough of that shit I say!
I will do all the math at a later date. I am doing pretty well overall though considering I have played in $2,140 worth of tournaments. hasta la pasta
About an hour later I was sitting on the same size stack and I raised under the gun with QQ Folded all the way around to the big blind and he was considering calling. I asked if he was seriously considering playing heads up and he asked what I had and I told him pocket 8's and he called preflop. Flop came Kh Qh Jd. I flopped middle set but wanted to protect my hand from flush and straight draws. He checked and I bet $100 and he called. Turn was a 4s and he bet into me for $250. I was sure this was a blocking bet so he could still try and catch his draw. Once again I thought I had to protect my hand though it was certainly possible he flopped a bigger hand. I raised to $500 and he immediately went all in for his last $250. I had to call in this situation. Not to mention if the board pairs I am going to win. He showed a flopped broadway straight with A 10. Just plain sick. I needed a Queen, King, Jack or 4 to win and didn't hit. I was so pissed I played the hand this way in retrospect but mark it up to experience once again. Finished up the session +$507 after about 6 hours so can't complain too badly. I did manage to drop $100 at the roulette table on the way to the room though. LOL I am such a shithead. Enough of that shit I say!
I will do all the math at a later date. I am doing pretty well overall though considering I have played in $2,140 worth of tournaments. hasta la pasta
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Out in 88th out of 200
Well I hung in there for quite a while before finally getting the swift kick in the ass. Yet another 7 hours of my life that I will never get back. Fortunately I stopped by a craps table on the way home and won a quick $1,125. Jesus that is a whole story by itself but I won't both right now. I am sitting at the Venetian playing in the $2-5 NL game right now and up about $200 or so. Just thought I would drop a quick line to inform anyone bored enough to actually read these things that I failed miserable in the Main Event at Caesars. To my defense I was at a table with two WSOP braclet winners and Michael Binger. I just so happened to knock him out as well so I've got that going for me...lol Till next time.
One More Shot
Well after last night's mega marathon of poker with absolutely nothing to show for it I was exhausted and finally got to sleep around 3am. I woke up today at around 11 and went downstairs to Wet the spa here at Treasure Island and got an amazing 45 minute full body massage. God massages are the most under rated thing on planet Earth. I promise that will not be the last one of this trip. The ones at Canyon Ranch in the Venetian are pretty spectacular as well.
I then decided I was going to check out the Forum Shops at Caesars on my way to the poker room but as it turns out I didn't need and new Versace, Louis Vitton, or Christian Dior so I was only there for 11 1/2 minutes. Jesus does anyone really ever buy shit at those places? Good god. It would cost me a single paycheck just to buy a new belt at one of those places.
I finally made it to the poker room at Caesars at about 3pm. There were only $1-$3 NL games going so I bought in for $500 and took at seat at about 3:30. a few minutes later I recognized one of the guys at my table as someone I had played with yesterday in the tournament. He asked if I was there for the Super Satellite for the Main Event and I told him I didn't even know about it. Here there was a $125 SS for the $1,060 Main Event tomorrow. I decided to play and went and bought my entry ticket. I only played like 3 damn hands at the cash game and I left down $40. At the end of registration there were 38 entries for $125 so that meant 3 lucky people would win seats into the Main Event tomorrow. 5 hours later I find myself in the final 6. My biggest hand came up 6 handed when we were all seriously shortstacked except for one gentleman and I pushed all in from the button with with 7 2 offsuit. I can't really explain the situation in an email but it was just the right thing to do at the time. Unfortunately I was insta called by another short stack in the big blind when he woke up with QQ. As it turned out it was unfortunate for him when the flop came 4s 5s 6h. I flopped the open ended straight draw and rivered the 8 to knock him out of the tourney. It was now 5 handed with top three paying. That win got me back in the action and I started to manhandle the table pretty badly knocking out the last two opponents and 3 of us won seats. It was pretty rewarding after what happened yesterday. I asked it I could just take the cash and it wasn't an option. In addition to the seat we won $100 so that pretty much took care of the entry. It will be nice to freeroll my way to some money. I will try and keep everyone posted how I do throughout the tourney. If things go well it will be a very long day tomorrow starting at noon. Please god do not let me bubble another one. Here is what the whole series looked like for those interested. I am going to win this damn thing!
http://www.harrahs.com/images/non_image_assets/CLV_nov_mega_stack_093008.pdf
On a side note, I stopped by the Venetian to watch a little of the final table from last night. Of course the guy who knocked me out took it down for a little over $45,000. Let my hand hold and that may be me. Oh well.
Cash
----------------------------------------
Session -$40 over .5 hours = -$80/hour
Total +$2,443 over 26.5 hours = $92/hour
Tournaments
----------------------------------------
-$1,080 over 13 hours (Venetian)
+$1,035 over 6 hours (Caesars Palace)
Total -$45 over 19 hours = -$2.36/hour
I then decided I was going to check out the Forum Shops at Caesars on my way to the poker room but as it turns out I didn't need and new Versace, Louis Vitton, or Christian Dior so I was only there for 11 1/2 minutes. Jesus does anyone really ever buy shit at those places? Good god. It would cost me a single paycheck just to buy a new belt at one of those places.
I finally made it to the poker room at Caesars at about 3pm. There were only $1-$3 NL games going so I bought in for $500 and took at seat at about 3:30. a few minutes later I recognized one of the guys at my table as someone I had played with yesterday in the tournament. He asked if I was there for the Super Satellite for the Main Event and I told him I didn't even know about it. Here there was a $125 SS for the $1,060 Main Event tomorrow. I decided to play and went and bought my entry ticket. I only played like 3 damn hands at the cash game and I left down $40. At the end of registration there were 38 entries for $125 so that meant 3 lucky people would win seats into the Main Event tomorrow. 5 hours later I find myself in the final 6. My biggest hand came up 6 handed when we were all seriously shortstacked except for one gentleman and I pushed all in from the button with with 7 2 offsuit. I can't really explain the situation in an email but it was just the right thing to do at the time. Unfortunately I was insta called by another short stack in the big blind when he woke up with QQ. As it turned out it was unfortunate for him when the flop came 4s 5s 6h. I flopped the open ended straight draw and rivered the 8 to knock him out of the tourney. It was now 5 handed with top three paying. That win got me back in the action and I started to manhandle the table pretty badly knocking out the last two opponents and 3 of us won seats. It was pretty rewarding after what happened yesterday. I asked it I could just take the cash and it wasn't an option. In addition to the seat we won $100 so that pretty much took care of the entry. It will be nice to freeroll my way to some money. I will try and keep everyone posted how I do throughout the tourney. If things go well it will be a very long day tomorrow starting at noon. Please god do not let me bubble another one. Here is what the whole series looked like for those interested. I am going to win this damn thing!
http://www.harrahs.com/images/non_image_assets/CLV_nov_mega_stack_093008.pdf
On a side note, I stopped by the Venetian to watch a little of the final table from last night. Of course the guy who knocked me out took it down for a little over $45,000. Let my hand hold and that may be me. Oh well.
Cash
----------------------------------------
Session -$40 over .5 hours = -$80/hour
Total +$2,443 over 26.5 hours = $92/hour
Tournaments
----------------------------------------
-$1,080 over 13 hours (Venetian)
+$1,035 over 6 hours (Caesars Palace)
Total -$45 over 19 hours = -$2.36/hour
Monday, November 17, 2008
Didn't make it happen!
Ok when I left off it was 5am and I was still down a tad bit. This old fart was absolutely ridiculous if you ever gave him one inkling of weakness he would shove a shitload of money and then you fold and listen to him babble for 30 minutes about how much money he has and how none of us like to gamble. All of the sudden I was dealt Ah 10h in the big blind with old man river in the small blind. He was really starting to get pissed off due to lack of action so he was about to get some. Folded all the way around the table to me and him. He raised and I called. We saw a flop of 9h 8h 3h. He bet pretty large and I put on another show and he got all pissy about how long I was taking. This was working nicely. Turn was a 5s and he bet $100 and I went into the tank yet again still with the nut flush. He complained yet again and someone made some crack about how someone his age has limited time on Earth so we need to get the game going. I asked him if he died of old age right there at the table if I could have his chips. He yelled at me again so I threw out $100 right away and asked him if that was fast enough. The river was a Jc and he insta pushed and I insta called and took down a $1,600 pot. I racked my chips and left a monster winner on the night. We asked him if there was enough action now and he just mumbled something about kids and poker these days. Back in the day when he played with Wild Bill Hickock or something things must have went faster for him. What I forgot to mention is that 30 minutes prior to this hand he had $2,500 in front of him and he left broke on that hand! Sick but I love it. Oh by monster winner I meant not so much of a monster night. But I got grinded my way into the black finally and it was a tough road. UP $73! Craziness. What a night. I made it to bed by 5:30am so I could get some sleep before the noon tourney at the Venetian.
Ok now let's talk about this misery. I got up at about 12:20 and had time to shower and walk over to the Venetian to buy into there $1,080 tourney. My original plan was to try and satellite into the tourney since it is a lot of money and a little out of my bankroll at this point. I wanted to take a shot though and entered the tournament. There we officially 130 entries and would pay the Top 10. If it had been over 134 entries the Top 18 would have been paid. The slow blind structure was amazing and I slowly built a $15,000 starting stack up to nearly $80,000. All of the sudden I was on the button with JJ and pushed all in and was insta called by AK offsuit. I had to avoid and Ace or King and would be in phenominal shape. oh yes he flopped a K and rivered one too just for good measure.
Oh what I forgot to tell you was that this occurred 13 hours after the tournament had started and there were only 12 people left!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ah I come all the way here to play one big tournament and finish TWO out of the money after nearly 13 hours of flawless play. That was the first time I had my tournament life on the line the entire day. If I avoid and A or K on that hand I could have folded my way to a min of about $10,000 or so! Just plain SICK! That is poker though once again I guess. GOD it hurts though. At least I got to come back to the room and relive for you all...lol.
Not sure if I will play any more tournys of that size but I may try some smaller ones over the rest of the week. Depends how cash games go I guess.
----------------------------------------
Session +$73 over 11 hours = $6.36/hour (That is at least like a fun minimum wage job!)
Total +$2,493 over 26 hours = $96/hour (Better than minimum wage job... lol)
Tournaments = -$1,080 over 13 hours
Overall + $1,413
Ok now let's talk about this misery. I got up at about 12:20 and had time to shower and walk over to the Venetian to buy into there $1,080 tourney. My original plan was to try and satellite into the tourney since it is a lot of money and a little out of my bankroll at this point. I wanted to take a shot though and entered the tournament. There we officially 130 entries and would pay the Top 10. If it had been over 134 entries the Top 18 would have been paid. The slow blind structure was amazing and I slowly built a $15,000 starting stack up to nearly $80,000. All of the sudden I was on the button with JJ and pushed all in and was insta called by AK offsuit. I had to avoid and Ace or King and would be in phenominal shape. oh yes he flopped a K and rivered one too just for good measure.
Oh what I forgot to tell you was that this occurred 13 hours after the tournament had started and there were only 12 people left!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ah I come all the way here to play one big tournament and finish TWO out of the money after nearly 13 hours of flawless play. That was the first time I had my tournament life on the line the entire day. If I avoid and A or K on that hand I could have folded my way to a min of about $10,000 or so! Just plain SICK! That is poker though once again I guess. GOD it hurts though. At least I got to come back to the room and relive for you all...lol.
Not sure if I will play any more tournys of that size but I may try some smaller ones over the rest of the week. Depends how cash games go I guess.
----------------------------------------
Session +$73 over 11 hours = $6.36/hour (That is at least like a fun minimum wage job!)
Total +$2,493 over 26 hours = $96/hour (Better than minimum wage job... lol)
Tournaments = -$1,080 over 13 hours
Overall + $1,413
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Made it
Well I made a quick exit from Yuma Saturday morning after a haircut and a trip by the bike shop. I made record time to valet at the Venetian. 4 hours and 27 minutes (4 hours and 37 minutes being the old record). Of course I forgot I was staying at T.I. for the first four days and it took nearly another 20 minutes to make my way across the street. Typical really. There were approx 300 people trying to check in when I arrived and there were approx 3 people working the desk. The greatest sight ever was the casino invited guest line that had exactly one person in it. The one person just happened to be gorgeous as well so that wasn't too bad either. Well I almost wouldn't have minded sitting in the lobby for an hour just to watch the talent that was checking in but I was itching to get to the poker tables.
So I get checked in and got a room on the top floor with a pretty sick view of my next residence, The Palazzo starting in a couple days. As much as I wanted to lay down and take a nap after the drive I wanted to get downstairs and take some money from people even more. One pretty damn funny occurence on the way downstairs was when I got in the elevator on the 30th floor. It stopped on the 29th floor and an absolutely beautiful blonde got in. There was that usual uncomfortable silence as the elevator headed down. All of the sudden the door opens at the floor dedicated to Wedding Chapels. I looked at her and ask if we should go and we both broke into uncontrollable laughter. She said "Maybe later this week!" So she's saying I have a chance! After 31 years of being a single man that was officially the closest I have ever been to marraige!
Well I finally made it to the poker room and had to wait a little while for a seat. In poker this is a great thing because it gives you a chance to pay attention to the game from an outsiders perspective and get a good idea of who plays what kind of cards and how they play them. Taking the time to study the players prior to getting into the game is so important and people, including me, just don't do enough of it prior to taking a seat and putting their money at risk. What I observed in the 30 minutes waiting for a seat was that one player in particular was scared to death to see a flop and then play afterwards. Three times I saw him reraise all in for a huge stack with 10 10 and Q Q twice. A dream player to catch a hand against sometime. Well when I finally got a seat, ($1-$3 NL with $500 max buy-in by the way) with the second hand I was dealt was KK and I raised to $15. One half of a second later the same kid eating retard sandwhiches the whole night pushed all in for $600. I couldn't get my chips in fast enough based on what I had observed earlier and imagine that this was the one time he happened to have AA. Just like that I am in for $1000. Well we play for about 5 minutes when I get dealt AK of hearts and I raise again and was called by one person in the big blind. We see a flop of Ks 10h 2h. What a monster flop for me. first guy checks and I bet $30 and he insta pushes $500. I about fall out of my chair in disbelief that this could be happening to me yet again. Even if I am up against a set I still have the nut flush draw as well. I just can't fold this hand and I call. He tables AA and the board completely bricks. Boom! I am now in for $1,500. My stay in vegas is not getting off the start I was looking for! With my next $500 I grinded my way back up the ladder to about $800 over the next 10 hours or so but was having an absolute blast with some of the people I had met at the table. Lots of shots and people having fun. Now many of you may ask why I am playing in a $1-$3 NL game after my first couple of blogs talking about playing $5-$10 NL with $2,000 buy-ins. The truth is that you can almost ask anyone in the T.I. poker room where they are staying on the strip and 90% of them will say they are staying there. Real poker players do not come to vegas to play low stakes at T.I. , they go to places like I used to at the Bellagio and the Venetian. Well there are just too many ballers at those places and way to many people with $200 wanting to give poker a try at the good ol Treasure Island so that is my place of choice.
It was approaching 5am now and I was till stuck about $700. To my imediate left there was this completely crazy old man and I am talking OLD. He kept complaing about everything known to man.... Shit gotta go. Dinner break at the Venetian $1,000 tourney is about over, More to come later
So I get checked in and got a room on the top floor with a pretty sick view of my next residence, The Palazzo starting in a couple days. As much as I wanted to lay down and take a nap after the drive I wanted to get downstairs and take some money from people even more. One pretty damn funny occurence on the way downstairs was when I got in the elevator on the 30th floor. It stopped on the 29th floor and an absolutely beautiful blonde got in. There was that usual uncomfortable silence as the elevator headed down. All of the sudden the door opens at the floor dedicated to Wedding Chapels. I looked at her and ask if we should go and we both broke into uncontrollable laughter. She said "Maybe later this week!" So she's saying I have a chance! After 31 years of being a single man that was officially the closest I have ever been to marraige!
Well I finally made it to the poker room and had to wait a little while for a seat. In poker this is a great thing because it gives you a chance to pay attention to the game from an outsiders perspective and get a good idea of who plays what kind of cards and how they play them. Taking the time to study the players prior to getting into the game is so important and people, including me, just don't do enough of it prior to taking a seat and putting their money at risk. What I observed in the 30 minutes waiting for a seat was that one player in particular was scared to death to see a flop and then play afterwards. Three times I saw him reraise all in for a huge stack with 10 10 and Q Q twice. A dream player to catch a hand against sometime. Well when I finally got a seat, ($1-$3 NL with $500 max buy-in by the way) with the second hand I was dealt was KK and I raised to $15. One half of a second later the same kid eating retard sandwhiches the whole night pushed all in for $600. I couldn't get my chips in fast enough based on what I had observed earlier and imagine that this was the one time he happened to have AA. Just like that I am in for $1000. Well we play for about 5 minutes when I get dealt AK of hearts and I raise again and was called by one person in the big blind. We see a flop of Ks 10h 2h. What a monster flop for me. first guy checks and I bet $30 and he insta pushes $500. I about fall out of my chair in disbelief that this could be happening to me yet again. Even if I am up against a set I still have the nut flush draw as well. I just can't fold this hand and I call. He tables AA and the board completely bricks. Boom! I am now in for $1,500. My stay in vegas is not getting off the start I was looking for! With my next $500 I grinded my way back up the ladder to about $800 over the next 10 hours or so but was having an absolute blast with some of the people I had met at the table. Lots of shots and people having fun. Now many of you may ask why I am playing in a $1-$3 NL game after my first couple of blogs talking about playing $5-$10 NL with $2,000 buy-ins. The truth is that you can almost ask anyone in the T.I. poker room where they are staying on the strip and 90% of them will say they are staying there. Real poker players do not come to vegas to play low stakes at T.I. , they go to places like I used to at the Bellagio and the Venetian. Well there are just too many ballers at those places and way to many people with $200 wanting to give poker a try at the good ol Treasure Island so that is my place of choice.
It was approaching 5am now and I was till stuck about $700. To my imediate left there was this completely crazy old man and I am talking OLD. He kept complaing about everything known to man.... Shit gotta go. Dinner break at the Venetian $1,000 tourney is about over, More to come later
Thursday Night in San Diego
Thursday morning was exceptionally tough getting up after a long night at the Paradise tables. God I love sleeping in my own bed these days. (Huge shout out to Suzanne York for making my house immaculate for my return. Yes I do the dishes Greg Sturtz!) I needed to get up early enough to make it all the way down to 32nd St Naval Station to make sure the offload was going according to plan. There are just too many things people will try and pull over on a young Corporal that they won't try if he has a little back-up down there. I made it out of the house by 0700 and was on my way to San Diego. Fortunately for me I realized when I looked down at my cell phone on the drive that I gain an hour going West so that hooked me up nicely. I arrived and everything was actually moving along nicely and all of our gear was nearly off the good ol USS Peleliu. God I never want to see that ship again!
After about an 4 hours of hanging out pier side I decided to start the trip back and stay the night at Viejas (For those that don't know Viejas is an Indian Casino about 20 miles from downtown that has a rather large Poker Room). There wasn't really any need for me down at the pier anymore but I certainly wasn't going to leave San Diego just in case something came up. I went to my usual hotel, The Ayres Inn. Maybe it has a little apeal to me due to my history with Calvin Ayre and Bodog. Wait... Nevermind it's just the only hotel inside of 25 minutes from the casino. lol Fortunately it was only like 2pm so I had plenty of time to hang out. I knocked out the blog from the night before in Yuma and then went and hung out at the pool and hot tub for a couple of hours and made some phone calls. Although only two hours, it was exactly the kind of relaxation I have been looking for for months! Now it was time to relax at the tables!
I got to the poker room at about 5pm. Sidenote: Valet parked my ride right by the front door with some sick cars. Good lord it was sitting next to a $400,000 Lambo! Someday right! Ok I walked into the poker room and fortunately they were just starting up a $2-$5 NL game and I bought in for the max $1000. I sat and watched people as they took their seats to try and decide who I wanted to have position on. Jesus did I ever take the right seat! I chose to move in right beside a 60 something year old man who had a wad of 100's a foot thick in his pocket. If nothing else this dude HAD to have experience. Oh he had experience at the tables alright AND breath that would knock out a Kuwaiti Camel. Jesus that made for a long night. The table was a tough one for quite awhile but we still saw our majority of big hands throughout the night and I will touch on a couple key ones.
I had built my stack to nearly $1,500 over the first two hours grinding it out when the following hand came up. Very important to this one is the fact that the two gentleman beside me were Iraqis that came to the US back in 2002. The crazy part about this is I don't think they have taken a bath since the day they arrived 6 years ago and are on TILT bigtime after taking a couple of losses over the past 20 minutes. Everyone at the table is chomping at the bit for a chance to take some cash off of these two. MY TURN! In the big blind I look down at Jh 8h and call a raise to $35 from Iraqi #2. ( I will called these dudes #1 and #2, and yes he is reminiscent of a very dirty Adam Arriola) #1 calls as well and we see a flop 3 handed. Flop 10c 9c 7h. What a monster for me. Stone cold nuts (absolute best hand possible) with two maniacs to act behind me. I check as does #1. #2 bets out $75 and with little debate I toss in a raise to $175. I decide to keep it nice and small so that they can hang themselves with big mistakes. Out of nowhere #1 comes back at us with a three bet to $300. #2 instantly pushes in for $1000 and of course I insta push for my remaining $1,200 or so. Of course having half of his stack already committed, #1 calls the rest of his $600. Here we go $2,600 pot and my chance to finish off both of these smelly bastards. #1 shows 99 for middle set (three of a kind) and #2 show a terrible pair of QQs remember I said he was tiliting BAD. All I have to do is avoid the board pairing. Unfortunately for me, as I am screaming for the board to not pair, the turn comes a 2 and the river comes a 2 and I lose this monster pot when my straight can't outlast the full house. Good for me was dipshit with the QQ, I got $400 of his so in the end I only lost about $200 but still an enormous swing!
Immediately after that hand #2 was all pissed off about losing his stack so he asked to up the stakes and of course everyone agreed immediately and we were now playing $5-$10 NL with a max buyin of $2,000. This guy Paul and I both added another $1,000 to our stacks and #2 bought another $2k. Very first hand I get dealt AsAc. Folded all around the table to this lady who was a complete nit (Very Tight Player) who had folded to reraises from me the last 4 times I raised her. She made it $30 to go and I raised to $130 preflop. I expected an instant fold from her but she thought and made the call amazingly enough. I immediately had her range between JJ, QQ, KK, or AA. Maybe AK. We see a flop of 9h 8h 3s. She check and I fire $150. With little thought she tosses in $300. I still had her on the exact range that initially popped into my head and I started on a little acting piece to look like i was in serious deliberation while I was really just wanting her to push all in for her last $400 or so on the turn. I eventually made the call and a 9d came on the turn. She pushed as I had hoped and holy jesus was I ever wrong with my read on her. After my call she tabled 88 for a full house. As I stood up in complete disgust at my misread the dealer burned a card and placed the AMAZING ACE OF HEARTS for me on the table. Yes I hit a 4 outer (2 aces and 2 nines would win the pot for me) on the river and took down a nearly $2,000 pot. I chalked this one up to karma for losing that other monster pot earlier.
I certainly made some amateur mistakes early on but in the end I got my money in good once and lost and got my money in REALLY bad once and WON so go figure that one out. That's why I love poker I guess. The emotional rollercoaster is one that may rip another hole in my stomach or further my desire to sit with the big dogs in a place we call Sin City.
Vegas here I come!
----------------------------------------------
Session +$1,350 over 6 hours = $225/hour
Total +$2,420 over 15 hours = $161/hour
After about an 4 hours of hanging out pier side I decided to start the trip back and stay the night at Viejas (For those that don't know Viejas is an Indian Casino about 20 miles from downtown that has a rather large Poker Room). There wasn't really any need for me down at the pier anymore but I certainly wasn't going to leave San Diego just in case something came up. I went to my usual hotel, The Ayres Inn. Maybe it has a little apeal to me due to my history with Calvin Ayre and Bodog. Wait... Nevermind it's just the only hotel inside of 25 minutes from the casino. lol Fortunately it was only like 2pm so I had plenty of time to hang out. I knocked out the blog from the night before in Yuma and then went and hung out at the pool and hot tub for a couple of hours and made some phone calls. Although only two hours, it was exactly the kind of relaxation I have been looking for for months! Now it was time to relax at the tables!
I got to the poker room at about 5pm. Sidenote: Valet parked my ride right by the front door with some sick cars. Good lord it was sitting next to a $400,000 Lambo! Someday right! Ok I walked into the poker room and fortunately they were just starting up a $2-$5 NL game and I bought in for the max $1000. I sat and watched people as they took their seats to try and decide who I wanted to have position on. Jesus did I ever take the right seat! I chose to move in right beside a 60 something year old man who had a wad of 100's a foot thick in his pocket. If nothing else this dude HAD to have experience. Oh he had experience at the tables alright AND breath that would knock out a Kuwaiti Camel. Jesus that made for a long night. The table was a tough one for quite awhile but we still saw our majority of big hands throughout the night and I will touch on a couple key ones.
I had built my stack to nearly $1,500 over the first two hours grinding it out when the following hand came up. Very important to this one is the fact that the two gentleman beside me were Iraqis that came to the US back in 2002. The crazy part about this is I don't think they have taken a bath since the day they arrived 6 years ago and are on TILT bigtime after taking a couple of losses over the past 20 minutes. Everyone at the table is chomping at the bit for a chance to take some cash off of these two. MY TURN! In the big blind I look down at Jh 8h and call a raise to $35 from Iraqi #2. ( I will called these dudes #1 and #2, and yes he is reminiscent of a very dirty Adam Arriola) #1 calls as well and we see a flop 3 handed. Flop 10c 9c 7h. What a monster for me. Stone cold nuts (absolute best hand possible) with two maniacs to act behind me. I check as does #1. #2 bets out $75 and with little debate I toss in a raise to $175. I decide to keep it nice and small so that they can hang themselves with big mistakes. Out of nowhere #1 comes back at us with a three bet to $300. #2 instantly pushes in for $1000 and of course I insta push for my remaining $1,200 or so. Of course having half of his stack already committed, #1 calls the rest of his $600. Here we go $2,600 pot and my chance to finish off both of these smelly bastards. #1 shows 99 for middle set (three of a kind) and #2 show a terrible pair of QQs remember I said he was tiliting BAD. All I have to do is avoid the board pairing. Unfortunately for me, as I am screaming for the board to not pair, the turn comes a 2 and the river comes a 2 and I lose this monster pot when my straight can't outlast the full house. Good for me was dipshit with the QQ, I got $400 of his so in the end I only lost about $200 but still an enormous swing!
Immediately after that hand #2 was all pissed off about losing his stack so he asked to up the stakes and of course everyone agreed immediately and we were now playing $5-$10 NL with a max buyin of $2,000. This guy Paul and I both added another $1,000 to our stacks and #2 bought another $2k. Very first hand I get dealt AsAc. Folded all around the table to this lady who was a complete nit (Very Tight Player) who had folded to reraises from me the last 4 times I raised her. She made it $30 to go and I raised to $130 preflop. I expected an instant fold from her but she thought and made the call amazingly enough. I immediately had her range between JJ, QQ, KK, or AA. Maybe AK. We see a flop of 9h 8h 3s. She check and I fire $150. With little thought she tosses in $300. I still had her on the exact range that initially popped into my head and I started on a little acting piece to look like i was in serious deliberation while I was really just wanting her to push all in for her last $400 or so on the turn. I eventually made the call and a 9d came on the turn. She pushed as I had hoped and holy jesus was I ever wrong with my read on her. After my call she tabled 88 for a full house. As I stood up in complete disgust at my misread the dealer burned a card and placed the AMAZING ACE OF HEARTS for me on the table. Yes I hit a 4 outer (2 aces and 2 nines would win the pot for me) on the river and took down a nearly $2,000 pot. I chalked this one up to karma for losing that other monster pot earlier.
I certainly made some amateur mistakes early on but in the end I got my money in good once and lost and got my money in REALLY bad once and WON so go figure that one out. That's why I love poker I guess. The emotional rollercoaster is one that may rip another hole in my stomach or further my desire to sit with the big dogs in a place we call Sin City.
Vegas here I come!
----------------------------------------------
Session +$1,350 over 6 hours = $225/hour
Total +$2,420 over 15 hours = $161/hour
Friday, November 14, 2008
A Little Training
After spending a weekend in Pacific Beach with the family, I returned to Yuma and was ready to recharge the batteries and get ready for the upcoming trip. In the 6 months I was gone I was fortunately able to play a lot of online in Kuwait and Iraq. In the vicinity of 60,000 hands over a 35 day period. While I learned a lot from the experience, there is just no substitute for sitting down with other players in a card room with real money in hand. Most of you heard about my first two chances to play some "live" poker in Australia so I won't get into detail on those trips. It was great exposure and had me wanting more when I got home. While I thought I may get a chance to hit up Oceans 11 (ironic due to the fact Ocean's 13 is on TV right in front of me) in Oceanside during the San Diego trip, it just never happened. I did know that the coming Wednesday would allow me to sit down in my old game back at the Paradise Casino in Yuma, AZ.
After the Veteran's Day Holiday it was time to get back to work at the squadron for a couple of hours. Not a lot going on with everyone out of town so I was able to get a seat when the No Limit game started up at about 2pm. Not a lot of excitement at the poker table that night but there was one enormous event that occurred. Bingo, a crazy aggressive player with tons of money, returned to Yuma after 2 years of contracting in Cuba of all places! Bingo is the sole reason, along with a little luck, that I was able to make five figures in the game before I left on my last deployment in 2006. Needless to say it is good to have him back in the game to "spread the wealth" per say. In a $500 buy-in game he was no doubt in for no less than 6 buy-ins in his first night back. All is good in Yuma!
One quick big hand of the night. I had bounced around between down $100 and up $600 for about 7 hours and the following hand came up. I was in the big blind. First to act was a pretty tight player who opened up for a raise of $30. 90% of the time he will only do this with a big hand. He gets two callers the second of which is a pretty tight kid who will usually get all crazy if he hits a hand. We had all been waiting to get a big hand the same time as him but it hadn't happend yet. I look down at my cards and see two black 10's. I deabte a raise but decide a call is far and away the best idea due to a potential reraise from the big hand next to me. 4 of us to the flop. Flop is 6c 9h 10h (for those unaware, that means 6 of clubs, and the 9 and 10 of hearts). I had planned to bet if I hit my set but changed my mind last second because I thought this was a flop the guy next to me would surely bet. I wanted to cry when he checked and I thought I was giving a free draw to the draw heavy board. Middle position checked and the kid on the button bet $40 into the ~$120 pot. I knew this was where I had to protect my hand. I raised to $140. Under the gun debated and eventually folded as did the middle position player. Remember I said the crazy kid went nuts when he had a hand? Well he pushed all in for the remainder of his $600 stack. Obviously I am only afraid of one hand here, 7 8 would be the nuts but I didn't want to be up against a flush draw either. I decided to show him my hand to see how he felt and when i laid my hand face up on the table. I have never seen fear in someone like I did right that second. Though it may already seem like it, it was certainly an easy call after seeing the look on his face when he saw my top set. Turns out he had 9 10 for top two pair and was drawing dead to running 9's and never got there. I scooped the largest pot of the night and finished up $1,070 over approx 9 hours and off to a good start. Ready for a little more training though before Vegas!
---------------------------------------------------
Session +$1,070 over 9 hours
Total +$1,070 / 9 hours = $119/hour profit
After the Veteran's Day Holiday it was time to get back to work at the squadron for a couple of hours. Not a lot going on with everyone out of town so I was able to get a seat when the No Limit game started up at about 2pm. Not a lot of excitement at the poker table that night but there was one enormous event that occurred. Bingo, a crazy aggressive player with tons of money, returned to Yuma after 2 years of contracting in Cuba of all places! Bingo is the sole reason, along with a little luck, that I was able to make five figures in the game before I left on my last deployment in 2006. Needless to say it is good to have him back in the game to "spread the wealth" per say. In a $500 buy-in game he was no doubt in for no less than 6 buy-ins in his first night back. All is good in Yuma!
One quick big hand of the night. I had bounced around between down $100 and up $600 for about 7 hours and the following hand came up. I was in the big blind. First to act was a pretty tight player who opened up for a raise of $30. 90% of the time he will only do this with a big hand. He gets two callers the second of which is a pretty tight kid who will usually get all crazy if he hits a hand. We had all been waiting to get a big hand the same time as him but it hadn't happend yet. I look down at my cards and see two black 10's. I deabte a raise but decide a call is far and away the best idea due to a potential reraise from the big hand next to me. 4 of us to the flop. Flop is 6c 9h 10h (for those unaware, that means 6 of clubs, and the 9 and 10 of hearts). I had planned to bet if I hit my set but changed my mind last second because I thought this was a flop the guy next to me would surely bet. I wanted to cry when he checked and I thought I was giving a free draw to the draw heavy board. Middle position checked and the kid on the button bet $40 into the ~$120 pot. I knew this was where I had to protect my hand. I raised to $140. Under the gun debated and eventually folded as did the middle position player. Remember I said the crazy kid went nuts when he had a hand? Well he pushed all in for the remainder of his $600 stack. Obviously I am only afraid of one hand here, 7 8 would be the nuts but I didn't want to be up against a flush draw either. I decided to show him my hand to see how he felt and when i laid my hand face up on the table. I have never seen fear in someone like I did right that second. Though it may already seem like it, it was certainly an easy call after seeing the look on his face when he saw my top set. Turns out he had 9 10 for top two pair and was drawing dead to running 9's and never got there. I scooped the largest pot of the night and finished up $1,070 over approx 9 hours and off to a good start. Ready for a little more training though before Vegas!
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Session +$1,070 over 9 hours
Total +$1,070 / 9 hours = $119/hour profit
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Test Post
Everyone this will be where I plan to post blogs while I am on my Vegas trip. Sorry if it was a pain in the ass to join this website or anything. I check on a couple of friends blogs all the time and it seems like an easy site to navigate. Just make a bookmark or favorite and you can check it out randomly when you want to. Keep your fingers crossed on a wild 10 days of poker ahead of me.
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