I'm just back from three nights in Vegas and generally had a good time. I stayed at the Palazzo and did all of my playing at the Venetian as a result. They have a very nice room, an excellent nightly tournament and mostly pleasant players overall.
Popping the Live Tournament CherryI played the nightly tournament three times with nothing to show for it, which is disappointing, but it was a relatively low-cost way to get my first live tournament experience.
The first night I played way to tight early; at least in part because I was completely card dead. Still having seen what were some less-than-marginal hands win showdowns form some good-sized pots early, it's clear that I should have been spalshing around a lot more when the blinds were $25/$50 and starting stacks were $7,500. I think I played way too scared when I was in a hand too, probably resulting in some bad laydowns with medium strength hands after the flop. I came back from the first break in push and pray mode, which worked great for one hand and not so good on the second, when I pushed A3o from the button and the SB woke up with QQ. No help on the board for me, and that was that.
The second night I went in convinced not to make that same mistake again, but badly misplayed the first hand of the night and dropped nearly 20 percent of my stack right out of the gate. Then, I was pretty much forced to play tighter than I wanted and wound up in the same position again. My first shove (KK) netted me the blinds and antes, then my second shove a couple of hands later had me nicely ahead with AJs vs KQo, but the Q on the flop ended that pretty quickly.
Here's a quick recap of the first hand and I'd appreciate any comments. I obviously have no reads other than some superficial first impressions, but the key player is directly to my right. He's a young guy with close-cropped hair and a leather jacket, and obviously is a regular. The cards come out and I find AJo UTG and pop it to $175. It folds around to the BB, who calls. The flop comes three low clubs and I have the A of clubs, so I bet out about $300 when the BB checks to me and get reraised another $500, which I call. The flop comes an offsuit J, but now I elect to just check after it's checked to me. When the river comes a complete blank, the BB checks, I bet $500 and he reraise me to $2,000. I tank, of course, and finally determine that I'm not willing to risk $1,500 more on the first hand, so I fold.
Poorly played on every street, IMO. First, an open raise with AJo on the first hand of night might have been a good idea from a later position, but UTG it's asking for trouble. Second, the flat call of the flop check raise is OK only if I'm willing to make something out of it on a later street. Third, the check on the turn when I get help just screams weakness and sets me up to have someone make a move on me on the river. Finally, the river bet, which I was thinking of as a value bet, is terrible if I'm not willing to put up or shut up.
At the time, I equated his flop and river check raises as meaning he had flopped the flush or two pair. In that case, the fold was a good one as played. But in thinking about the hand after the fact, I'm more of the opinion now that he put me on exactly what I had--a decent hand, but not a big hand--and made a bet he was pretty sure I wouldn't call. I also have the benefit now of having watched him play for another couple of hours and know that such a move is well within his arsenal. That fact alone reinforces the initial pre-flop raise decision that set this chain of events into motion.
Your thoughts?
The third night of the tournament I was much moire relaxed and, on the whole, played better. I did make a rookie mistake on an early hand that likely wound up costing me. This time, I'm in the SB with AQs and it comes around with maybe one limper to the cut-off, a young guy from NY with a PokerStars jacket and shades, and he pops it to $175. The button folds and I grab a $500 chip and toss it, saying raise as it leaves my hand. The dealer rules my verbal declaration was too late, however, and my bet counts as a call. This allows the BB and the limper to call for cheap, and I'm done with the hand when the flop misses me completely. I'm not entirely sure the dealer was right there and a couple of the other players raised questions about the ruling without me saying anything, but he wouldn't back down. I got no cards the rest of the tournament, for the most part, and wound up going out when I reraised an old codger all-in after he bet the pot on a 97x flop. My A9s was no match for his set of 7s, unfortunately.
Cash Game Post MortemI played three cash sessions of $1/$2 NLHE in all and came out ahead in two out of the three. Of course I dropped $400 in the one losing session and only won $200 in the two winning sessions, so it was a net loss. Once again I had a great time, however.
I started with a quick two-hour session on my arrival day and played 100 percent sober, as I had meetings coming up in the afternoon. That meant tight, tight play and I really only had one big hand, when I flopped top two with KQo and got Ax with a pair to call me down the entire way. That put me up $100+ and I played very few hands after.
The next session came after the tournament that night and it was a drunken doozie for sure. I wound up playing for about five hours and the general flow was this: Buy in for $300, double up, bust, rebuy, build new stack up to $800 and cash out about $700. I'm a bit hazy on the details of the first run up, but the bust was precipitated by a hand that I think my opponent misplayed (although he disagreed). I get JJ in middle position and raise it up to like $15 (standard for the table) and he calls from one of the blinds. Flop is all undercards and I bet, he raises and I bet enough to put him all in. He calls with AK and turns and A to take a big chunk of my stack, which I then donk off.
My big hand of the night came after my rebuy, however, and netted me a $600 pot. I'm in JTo in MP and play along with a bunch of other limpers and the blinds. The flop comes down T high and also gives me some kind of back door straight possibility. There's some betting and we see a turn that gives me an open ended straight draw to go along with my top pair. I bet, he shoves for like $200 more, I have him covered and call. The river straightens me out and his set goes down in flames. Oops! I goof around for another orbit or two, then make the unusually bright decision to rack up and leave with a small gain for the night. I probably got eight free Fat Tire's out of the deal, but spent another $50 in tips, so all was well.
The final night was a not quite as drunken session following my exit from the tournament. This one started out very well as I won around $75 on the first hand I was dealt and had that stack sitting in front of me before the chip runner even brought my $300 around. I called with A9s, flopped an A and got an unimproved 22 to come along for the ride; weird. From there, it was mostly up and at one point I was sitting with around $500 before I lost a decent pot (can't remember the details) to an Asian guy two to my left. That dropped my stack to around $175 and I put another $100 out on the table. I chipped up a bit on a few nondescript hands, then lost my stack on a hand that was close to a mirror image of my big hand the night before. I raised and saw a A high flop with A8o; the board had maybe some kind of straight draw out there too, but it didn't concern me and I bet and was called by the same Asian guy from the last hand. An eight comes on the turn, which obviously gives me two pair but also completes an inside straight draw. I bet out $100 and he puts me all in. I consider the scenario and conclude that his flop call and the reraise were consistent with him hitting a lower two pair on the flop and putting me on a naked A. I call and he shows that he had, in fact, called the flop bet with 9Ts and an inside straight draw, which got there on the turn. That finished me for the night and I was out of there.
In the end, I came out of this Vegas trip poorer, but not as depressed about the quality of my play as I was on my first two poker trips. I learned a lot about live tournament play in three short appearances and, overall, played a decent cash game even while drunk. The biggest factor behind not being depressed, however, probably is the fact that I'm actually decently rolled now, so the losses didn't decimate my bankroll and set me back to playing $1 SNGs like previous Vegas sessions have. I'm sure I'll be back some day, so keep watching the blog to find out when your chance to take my money comes along.
