Elmo’s Vegas Report – part 1


Wednesday

I arrive at about 9:30 and get to the hotel at about 10:30. I played a bit of $1/$2 NL to try to get to Vegas time late at night. I was very tired, and ended up winning only $18. It would have been more, but called a short stacks $45 reraise with TT when he had JJ with only a few hands left.

Thursday

My plan of getting on Vegas time failed, as I was up by 7:00 AM. (Which is 10:00 AM eastern. I got a few things ready for my conference, got breakfast, and called my wife early. I am here for a conference, so I checked the schedule, and figured out what I would be doing with the conference that day. Then I walked by the poker room. The only thing available was the $55 donk-a-thon (fast blind structure tourney). Only 19 players in it, actually, so it was not too bad. I knew it would not be a big time committment. It played like a 2-table SNG. I played pretty standard, got lucky with an 89 push when AT called when I was very shortstacked, chiped up a bit, and had 6500 when 4-handed (started with 1500). The other three players all had slightly more than me, so I was happy to take a 4-way chop with blinds of 1000/2000. Nice way to start.

I played some $1/$2 NL in the afternoon, and won a bit – a few hands of note:

I get AA. Someone raised into me (for $15). I reraised to $55 (about 180 behind), other guy pushes and I insta-call. He pushed with 99 for about 70 more, so I picked up a nice pot.

I raise several limpers with JJ – I raise to 20. I get 6 callers!! :0 Flop – JT3. checked to me, I bet about 45. A shortstack pushes for 110 with King-Ten, saying, “I haven’t done anything stupid yet, now seems like a good time”. My top set holds and I win a big pot.

I get AK. Nutjob joined the table, and we were having fun chatting it up. He raisesd. I reraised (I think he raised 10, I reraised 30). A short stack reraises all in for 100. Nutjob folded AQ, I called with AK. Shortstack has 96s (WTF?). He flops 987, and wins.

I get 53s. I decide that even though it isn’t 53o, I will play it. Folded to me, I raise to $6. button is moderately tight and standard player, reraises to $15. Both stacks are deep, so I call. Flop is J34. I check, he bets $10. I figure he could easily have missed the flop, so decide to call and reevaluate. Turn is a 7. I check, he bets $30 (pot is close to $60 prior to his bet. I am still not convinced he has a J, but think he does. Now I likely win with a 3, 6, or 5, however. I call. River comes a 6 giving me a straight. I bet $20 trying to sucker him to a raise or at least get some value for my turn call. He just calls and is pretty disgusted with me. He says “I thought you were better than that”, which I did not hear. (Nutjob did). Then he says “I did not think you were so, uh, uh”, when I decide to complete it and say “bad”? He says yes. Then nutjob and I start talking about how bad of a player I am for the next half hour. None of this seemed to cheer up the guy who I outdrew. (I figure I won $110 for my $30 turn call, so I was getting an OK price. Plus it sets up my image as someone who is unbluffable with someone who would be playing for the next few days. I like that image.)

Shortly after this, ChrisJP stopped by to pick up me and Nutjob to go to dinner at a steakhouse in Paris. There we met nside and suited, NukeDuke and Mrs. Nuke, Taz and Tara, Nardo and his friend, and Tanya. Dinner with this group was a great time – it is just fun to chat with so many ITHers. Nside can tell the story of Nutjob giving the headlock really well – his written version does not do it justice.

After this we play some ITH donk-poker. I play a bit of NL after it is over then crash for the night. Overall I lost a bit in the night session, but not much.

FRIDAY

The next day I spent a lot of time working. I was attending sessions, preparing my presentation, and presenting until 3:00 PM. After that, I walked over to the Wynn where Nutjob, nside, taz, and Nuke were playing the $500 two-day event. Suited told me dinner was at 6:30 at the Wynn restaurant right next to the poker room. I went and played some 1/3 NL at the Wynn while I waited for the dinner break. One key hand:

2 limpers and I am in MP with QJ clubs. I limp. 2 more limpers and the blinds come in and we are 7-handed to the flop. The flop is KT8. While I have an OESD – with 6 others in the pot this is not the time to get too aggressive. It is checked to me and I check. Thankfully the others check as well and we see a free card. The turn brings a 6 of clubs that puts two clubs on the board. One of the blinds bets $18 (into $20 pot). There are 2 callers. I figure the better could have anything. Further, the callers must not be too strong (unless they have 97) and I have a monster draw with 15 straight or flush cards. I raise to $120. Folded to the original bettor who calls. The others fold. The key thing for me to determine is “what would he call with?” I ruled out a set, as the board has so many draws that he should want to push. Also, a 97 for a straight is possible, but with all the other straight draws and the flush draw, that seems unlikely. A flush draw seems most likely, to me, so I will fire the river. The river is a 10, pairing the board. He checks to me. I have about 155 behind. I pause, start counting out a bet, then put all the chips together and push all in. He waits about 5 seconds or so before folding K6 face up. I guess I got that read wrong, but it turned out right.

Lets think about this hand. I think I played it right, although you could certain argue that I should have only called the turn and played it much more cautiously. With all the players in the hand, that would have been acceptable. I don’t think I played it wrong, however. The villain with K6, however, made a big mistake IMO. By calling on the turn, he allowed himself to be put in the position to make a huge mistake, folding a pot worth over $450 after my all in for $150 with the best hand. If he reraises the flop, he does not get put into this situation. The problem he was facing is that he was not closing the action on the turn. He might have thought he calls the turn and folds if one of the other players reraises. Perhaps he even thinks he plays almost any river card except the disaster cards (which a ten and eight were awful for him). I guess this is where my aggression helped. He was facing two unpleasant possibilities, and he chose the one that allowed me to bluff him out of the pot.

There was a complete and total donk who bought in for $600 at this table. He called off a pot bet of $150 on the turn with an OESD on a board w 3 spades! He ended up winning the hand and had a big stack. I left the table (and the donk) to eat with nside, suited, nutjob, taz, tara, nuke, and mrs. Nuke. I am not sure I made the right decision with that donk there, although dinner was very nice (and extremely tasty). Thankfully nside can interpret food written in any language, and he helped me make a good choice.

I watched nside make it to day 2 of the Wynn event, while Taz and Nuke got unlucky. Then I went back to my hotel and played some ½ NL. There was a total donk (worst I have ever seen). He would raise to $50 PF with 1 limper, bet the flop then show everyone his hand (e.g. J82 board, he bets $50 then shows his QJ), etc. Unfortunately, I could not take advantage and actually lost money at the table.

I crashed again at a reasonable hour – because the next morning I had more work to do for the conference.

Part 2 coming soon ….