Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2008 1:23 am Posts: 2588 Location: Des Moines IA
Day 1- Wednesday, June 9th, 2010: I experienced my first beat of the trip by not getting the direct flight to Vegas- I had a 3 hour layover in Denver. By the time I got to LV it was 4pm, and then I got longhauled by the cabbie. He went all the way up to Sands then over to LVB to the IP. Bah, not a great start. My $20 trick attempt was refused but I was "upgraded" to a pool view room on the fourth floor. Acceptable. Walked over to the Venetian to play the 7pm $120 tournament. With the DSE going on, the V had dozens of poker tables extending from the poker room out on to the gaming floor. Had a decent salad at Grand Luxe, then got seated in the tourney. After an hour of unplayable hands, I get AK OTB. With a couple of limpers (100/200/25 level), I bump it up to t1050, and a guy in the CO is the only caller. Flop comes K-T-8r. V checks, I c-bet t1600, he smooth calls. Turn is an unwelcome Q. V asks how much I have, I respond, he bets the exact amount, and I make the call. He has J9o for the turned straight. Nice PF call, buddy, must be nice to be a luckbox, I wouldn't know. I walk back to the IP for some cash action. The room has been moved to the immediate right of the front entrance- a much better location IMO with plenty of railbirds watching. I get on a brand new $1/2 NLHE table. We're 6-handed to start. Second hand, I see TT UTG+1, raise to $10, and the CO is the only caller. Flop is Q-8-3, I c-bet $15, she raises to $40, I call. Turn is a brick, I check, she ships it for $50. Getting 3 to 1, I make a crying call. She has KK. Booooo. So, 5 minutes in and I'm already -$100. It didn't get any better, as I never won a pot. I picked up after 45 minutes -$160. Decide to downgrade a bit and play at Bill's. AlaskaGal is there dealing, and I buy in for $120. In consecutive hands, JJ wins the blinds, 99<AJ and 77<Jx when a jack flops both times, and 33 can't hold on a K-9-5, 8 board. Never got any better, so after two hours I cash out -$60. To walk it off, I go on "walkabout" down the Strip to MGM then all the way back to the IP. Time to sleep it off. Day 1: Venetian, 1hr 15mins, -$120(t). IP, 45mins, -$160(c). Bill's, 2hrs 10mins, -$60(c). Total: 4hrs 10mins, -$340
Day 2- Thursday, June 10th, 2010: Thanks to the time difference, I awoke at 9:30 PDT. Plenty of time before the day's activities, so I decided on breakfast at Grand Luxe. Had some excellent Binoche French Toast. Walked down to Bill's to catch the shuttle to Gold Coast and walked over to the Rio from there. It's a really long walk from the front entrance at the Rio all the way back to the Convention area. I stood in awe at the massive spectacle that is the WSOP set-up- the tables seem to go on forever. I railed some pros playing in their various events before heading over to my table for the 1pm deepstack. For $200, you get t15,000 chips, 30 minute levels and experience in the WSOP, albiet not in a bracelet event. Within the first orbit, I run KJ into AA on a K high board for a third of my chips. Then the dealer misdeals when I have QQ, but the same guy claims he had AA and another seat has KK- thank goodness for small miracles I guess! I drift into far too typical card deadness with multiple hands of A2o and the like. After a while, I get my first pocket pair- TT in the CO. One player has min-raised to t200 (50-100 obv), gets 4 callers before me, I flat, BB calls. Flop comes Ts-6h-9s. V1 in BB bets out t250, V2 calls, I bump it to t900, V1 calls, V2 folds. Turn is the 3c. V1 checks, I bet t1300, he folds and I win a pot that gets me back to a starting stack. Not much later, 2 more Vs call my PF raise of t250. Holding KQo, I get the dream flop of A-J-T. V1 in SB checks, I'm in MP and lead out t325, V2 OTB calls, as does V1. Turn is a 2x. V1 checks, I bet t1000, V2 calls, V1 folds. River is another 2x. Undaunted, I bet right out t1800. V2 folds and I've chipped up to t17,325. AK wins a small pot on a J-8-3, 2 board. t18,125. Then, V2 from the KQ hand makes a huge bet on an A-Q-8 flop. I lay down JhTh and he shows AA! I really do feel I've run into AA an inordinate number of times. I lose a couple of blinds and limps to chip down to t15,800. In the 100-200 level, I FINALLY get AA, make a PF raise to t600 and get called in two spots. Flop is J-3-7 with 2 diamonds, and my t1000 c-bet takes it down. Up to t17,200. Blind off a little bit more to have t16,600 at the first break. I go card dead after coming back, the only hand of note is AK winning the blinds and antes with a PF raise. By the 300-600-75 level, I'm just below a starting stack and am elated to look down at AA. A V in LP opens PF for t1700, I 3-bet to t4000 from the BB, and he open-folds TT. Phew! I usually lose when a V has TT so I'm glad he folded. In the very next hand, a new player with a big stack who has taken the empty seat to my immediate right raises PF to t1875 OTB, I squeeze AA AGAIN. I reraise to t4500. This time, this V shoves and I snap-call. He rolls over QQ and all in need to do for an above average stack (~t37,000) is avoid the two outer. Flop is 9-8-6. Turn, 8. River, Q. Ugh. I walk around the Pavilion watching some of the pros play the $10,000 NL 2-7SD, $1500 Omaha and $1500 Stud tourneys. That wasn't enough walking so I decided to hoof it back to the strip. It was easy- out the Rio convention center entrance, north to Twain, under I-15, down Frank Sinatra Dr. to Jay Sarno Way to the strip. Spent a little time relaxing in my room before heading back out to play some more. Went to Bill's for some easy action. My 5th hand there, I hold Ac4h in the BB, V in hijack raises to $3, I call. Flop is 4c-3x-2x. I lead out for $6, V calls. Turn is the 8c. I bet $15, and after tanking for 2 minutes, V goes AI for just $5 more. Easy call. River is the 9h. I show, and after a minute V finally rolls over JJ. Slowrolled at Bill's- this trip is awesome! Lost another (thankfully) small pot when AhJh gets run over by 8d6d, T-6-T, 8, T. I then chopped an all-in (no details in my notes) and think since it's going so well I should probably leave. I actually have other motivations- my friend D. is driving up from Tucson to visit me for the weekend. She's a Des Moines native who was living in the desert. We reconnected when she was in Iowa a month before so to spend more time together she thought it would be good to come up. Plus, she had never been to Vegas. I go back to my room to shower and make it neat before she arrives. I guide her in and get her to my room. She's tired from the long journey so she goes to sleep and I go back downstairs for some poker-drinking at the IP. I buy in for $120 and order a Captain and Coke. At the table, there's a SVB who, while I was there, flopped a set with QQ, had AA hold up and get paid, and flopped quads with 22. Separately, I have As9s and get 1 PF caller to my immediate left. Flop comes 9x-Xs-Xs, I bet $15, he calls. Turn is paint, I check, he bets $25, I call. River, Ace. I bet $30 and he lays it down. Winner! Cocktails! Later, KQ flops top pair, I get it AI against the SVB, and it holds! I double to more than $300. Somehow, 94o wins against a new guy. Happy with a winning session for once, I cash out $310. Quietly back to the room for some shut-eye. Day 2: Rio (WSOP), 4hrs 15mins, -$200(t). Bill's, 1hr 45 mins, -$50(c). IP, 2hrs 15mins, +$190(c). Total: 8hrs 15mins, -$60. Running total: 12hrs 25min, -$400
Day 3- Friday, June 11th, 2010: We “slept in” til 10 this morning. Sensing extreme hunger, D. and I went to the very conveniently located Hash House A Go-Go in the IP. The portions are HUGE, and after eating there a food coma set in. For the next session, I go to TI and play their 2pm tournament. It’s t3500 to start. I immediately spot the fish, and it’s not me. The guy to my left check-calls all the way with AK unimproved until he spikes an A on the river. Target acquired. He doubles me QQ>JJ and busts not long after. Thanks for playing! I start loosening up and manage to catch a flush on the river after betting half my stack against KK. Wheee! At the first break, I have t9600. Coming back, I go runner-runner flush to bust a player and break the table, moving with t15,000. I manage to make the final table with t18,700, but bleed off a bit to t17,900 at break. After break, we lose the shorties to get in the money. I donk off some chips with JJ against AA but double when my TT spikes a set on the river, giving me t30,000. We get down to 3 handed and the 3 of us decide we’ve had enough and make a deal. First in chips gets $450, second $380, and I, being the short stack, collect $300. Not bad for 3 hours of work. D. and I then head to the Mirage and meet RedRight88 at California Pizza Kitchen. Had some amazingly good pineapple something-or-other pizza before heading over to the poker room next door. He and I start an interest list for $1/2 NLHE/PLO (that never goes off) then get into regular NLHE games. This was my first time in the Mirage and its poker room, and needless to say I’m impressed. The chairs are very comfortable, the room looks nice, and it’s run very professionally. I sit at a table that seems passive- lots of limping and calling. The first hand I put in my notes was me in the BB with JJ. An EP player raises to $10, V in C/O calls, several others do, I flat. Flop is J-5-5. I check, all check to V who bets $20, I call, all others fold. Turn is a 6, I check-call V1’s bet of $40. River is a 7, now I lead out $75, V tank-folds. Later on, I find AA UTG+1, raise to $13, different V UTG+4 is the only caller. We see an ugly flop of 6-7-8. Fearing not, I c-bet $25, V flats. Turn pairs the board with a 6, I chack, V bets $40, I call. River is a 2, also a third heart. I check, V bets $50, and I make a crying call. V rolls over JJ and my Aces are good! IN THE VERY NEXT HAND, I once again squeeze AA, this time UTG, and again make it $13 to go. One V flats, but V2 goes AI for $30, I 4-bet to $100, V1 folds. AA>KK. Twenty minutes later, I get AA YET AGAIN UTG+1, make it $10, the same V from the first AA hand makes it $26. Seeing that he doesn’t have much more I shove but he folds. Later, not in my notes but on my twitter feed is a tweet that says I “turned the nut straight and got paid by Aces up.” Needless to say, this little over an hour long session is very profitable, +$322. I will be back to the Mirage later for sure. D. and I then went to see Vinnie Favorito at the Flamingo. It was riotously funny. He’s an insult comic who, after telling some jokes involving himself, goes around the audience and makes fun of them. We laughed it up about my 9 year employment at Papa John’s, then, seeing that I was white and was with D. (who happens to be black), gave me a very, shall we say, “manly” compliment. All I could do was smile and nod. D. was getting a little bit tired after the show, so I walked her back to the room, encountering AlaskaGal, Bobbi, and KBBMT on the way. I told them I’d meet them at CPK in a bit. Obviously I hadn’t had my fill of CPK, this time eating some garlic chicken pizza that was awesome. Afterwards, some AVPers in for the AVP meet the next day we already in the Mirage poker room wrecking poker. I got into a $4/8 mixed game with Clem, Sauza and Pokermuffin. It was tons of fun and frivolity, ended up playing for about 2 and a half hours, and managed to profit $26! Cindy remarked “You can’t put a price on fun.” How right she was. She, Clem and I wandered over to the Venetian poker room for some more mixer fun. We got on various lists, and the HORSE list got called down first. We, along with the other players, agreed to change to mix to O8B, Razz, 2-7TD, Stud8, and Crazy Pineapple. In the last hand of the O8 round, I flop a wheel holding 42xx, A-3-5. I scoop against Clem who has a set of Aces. In the second Razz hand, however, Cindy beats me 7652A<7632A. I lose track of time and play until 5:15am, tired and down -$100. I walk back to my room as first light is on the horizon. Day 3: TI, 3hrs, +$230(t). Mirage, 1hr 15min, +$322(c). Mirage, 2hrs 20min, +26(m). Venetian, 3hrs 15min, -$100. Total: 9hrs 50min, +$478. Running total: 22hrs 15min, +$78
Stay tuned for Part 2, which includes AVP XI, some amazing meals, and the sickest single-day cash game run I’ve ever had.
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Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2008 1:23 am Posts: 2588 Location: Des Moines IA
LOL! I'll try not take that long. Part 2 is nearly finished and I'll do my best to get 2011 done before this year's trip. And as far as my memory, I actually have a crappy one, but thanks to my detailed notes and Twitter, I can reconstruct the past.
_________________ This post is my own and does not represent the views of All Vegas Poker, its hosts, management or sponsors.
Joined: Thu May 05, 2011 2:36 am Posts: 647 Location: Las Vegas, NV
What's with that title? Was that on purpose? Assuming it wasn't, we edited it out in the main site, but I can't seem to figure out how to do so in the forums! lol
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. Looking forward to part 2. After AVP XVI in a couple weeks, I hope you don't wait 2 years for that trip report! haha