Day/Night 4: Saturday 20th August (Poker)
O'Shea's
$1/$2
Bought In For: $80
11AM-1PM
2 Hours
It's a self-evident truth that poker becomes an even greater and more enjoyable game when you are winning. But when you can people-watch, not six feet away from the street, the crazy characters on the sunny Las Vegas strip from the air-conditioned comfort of the casino while playing the game you love - then I just wonder if there are any other places in the world where you would rather be. Not only this but when the Miller is brought to you, almost at the click of the fingers, for the measly price of a dollar with the stunning and the beautiful Bellagio and Caesars Palace smiling down on you, then you just may think you are in heaven itself. People who say this place is a dump just have no soul.
Then, you just may get treated to the patter of the little fella who strides out to the front with microphone in hand to give the passers-by his spiel. Dressed as a leprechaun, this guy goes on for what seems like 30 minutes saying the same thing over and over again about the beer-pong and the $1 bottle of Miller that you can get inside. Crazy.
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Anyway, it's just after my visit to the Bellagio and I see spare seats at O'Shea's. All the players are on small, scared looking stacks of around $50 so I dive in for just $80. With reminders and obvious rules explained numerous times, it soon becomes apparent that the players just aren't very good with three of them seemingly completely new to the game! I attempt to engage the stocky mixed race chap to my right, with loads of bling, in conversation but he doesn't want to know. After bullying him off a few hands he leaves after about 30 minutes when he realises I'd take his money if he stayed much longer and is replaced by a much more friendly older chap who's happy to chat away.
Key Hand #1
With it just at 6 or 7 handed I'm on the button and I hold any two cards. I raise it to $7 and get two callers. The flop comes K x x and it's checked to me so I plonk in $15, get two folds and take it down.
Key Hand #2
I look down at 9 10 on the button and limp. The flop comes 9 10 x. It's checked all round. I sense interest in the pot by the other players so throw in $15 and get two callers. The turn is the beautiful 9 giving me the full-house. It's checked to me again. I want to keep them in so bet about $20 and they BOTH call again. The river comes, whatever, and it's checked round to me again so I put in a fairly small $30 bet in the hope of getting called but they both fold and I take down a healthy pot.
Key Hand #3
Ok, so I know my key hands thus far have been winners and I know it looks like a lot of trumpet blowing going on but, trust me, the cards have just been kind to me on the trip so far. (I do play some shockers later in the trip and there are plenty of losing key hands to come - don't worry about that!) In the meantime, here's a losing hand that made me get up from the table...
About an hour into the session we are joined by a couple of good, strong players. One of these guys plays a dynamic loose aggressive game and it's he who manages to push me off a hand which, in retrospect, I really should not have backed out of.
I'm in early position and I look down at the J 8 of clubs. As was often the case it was limped all round. The flop came J x x with two clubs and I'm sitting there with top pair and a flush draw. I'm first in and I fire out $6 which is called by Mr Dynamic and Mr Suspect. The turn brings a brick and I come over all weak and check it. This sends out the green light to Mr Dynamic who puts in a predictable but strong $18 pot-sized bet. Mr Suspect calls and I stupidly fold my top pair and flush draw. Putting $18 into a pot which would have swelled to around $70 with a top pair and flush draw should have been a no-brainer call.
The club hitting the river made matters worse in my head - I had Mr Dynamic in the palm of my hand but he was the one who sorted me out! Dang!!
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Of course, I was none too pleased about that hand but felt ok to leave the table with $120 and I don't think I've ever had such an absorbing live poker session at 11 o'clock in the morning before.
One more point, the drinks service was the most efficient so far - nothing beats O'Shea's (so far) for regularity of top-ups!
Profit/Loss For Session: +£40
SESSION #8
Imperial Palace
$1/$2
Bought In For: $200
3PM-4:15PM
75 Minutes
The visit to IP was during a burning hot afternoon. I'd had no sleep the night before and as I wasn't feeling 100% probably shouldn't have played. In a nutshell; I wasn't impressed with this place at all and its distinctive $1 chip certainly doesn't equate to it being a distinctive or exotic place. For a start the lighting was far too bright, for seconds (like the Luxor actually) some of the backs of the cards were faded. I even noticed a slight dent in a card, alerted this to the dealer, but was just told that a lot of them were like that and it was due to the shuffle machine.
Furthermore, and I know this isn't a result of the room, some of the players were just plain cold and unfriendly. Other than a little bit at Mandalay Bay (there were just a few others on the trip), this was the only place so far where I felt reluctant to talk due to the stifling atmosphere. In fact, I even started to feel uncomfortable about opening me mouth at all! There was only really one key hand:
Key Hand #1
I'm in the small blind and I look down at AK. It's folded all the way round to the button who limps so I zonk it up to $15. I get a call from the hyper-aggressive big-blind and the button gets out of the way. The flop comes K x x and I raise it to $20 only for the villain to make it $40. He's been very aggressive and is by far the most active at the table so I ain't going anywhere and elect to call. The turn is a harmless looking card and we both check to the river card which is a very nice looking king, giving me trips. I fire in $50 which may have been a little high as he folds. Now maybe I should have bet the turn to get more money into the pot but with his raise on the flop I would have been in difficulties, out of position, had he re-raised me on the turn as well.
Profit/Loss For Session: +£35
Profit/Loss For Session: +£40
Profit/Loss For Day: +$40
Profit/Loss For Trip: +$343_________________________________________________________________
Imperial Palace
$1/$2
Bought In For: $200
3PM-4:15PM
75 Minutes
The visit to IP was during a burning hot afternoon. I'd had no sleep the night before and as I wasn't feeling 100% probably shouldn't have played. In a nutshell; I wasn't impressed with this place at all and its distinctive $1 chip certainly doesn't equate to it being a distinctive or exotic place. For a start the lighting was far too bright, for seconds (like the Luxor actually) some of the backs of the cards were faded. I even noticed a slight dent in a card, alerted this to the dealer, but was just told that a lot of them were like that and it was due to the shuffle machine.
Furthermore, and I know this isn't a result of the room, some of the players were just plain cold and unfriendly. Other than a little bit at Mandalay Bay (there were just a few others on the trip), this was the only place so far where I felt reluctant to talk due to the stifling atmosphere. In fact, I even started to feel uncomfortable about opening me mouth at all! There was only really one key hand:
Key Hand #1
I'm in the small blind and I look down at AK. It's folded all the way round to the button who limps so I zonk it up to $15. I get a call from the hyper-aggressive big-blind and the button gets out of the way. The flop comes K x x and I raise it to $20 only for the villain to make it $40. He's been very aggressive and is by far the most active at the table so I ain't going anywhere and elect to call. The turn is a harmless looking card and we both check to the river card which is a very nice looking king, giving me trips. I fire in $50 which may have been a little high as he folds. Now maybe I should have bet the turn to get more money into the pot but with his raise on the flop I would have been in difficulties, out of position, had he re-raised me on the turn as well.
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After this it was back to passive damage-limitation mode as I wasn't particularly enjoying the experience and soon after I was just looking for reasons to leave. I definitely caught myself passively calling a few times and in the end was happy to leave $35 up on the session. I don't think I'll be back to IP on this trip.
Profit/Loss For Day: +$75
Profit/Loss For Trip: +$378______________________________________________________________________
Flamingo
$1/$2
Bought In For: $200
12AM-2AM
2 Hours
Midnight at the coconut/Malibu scented Flamingo and after a 20 minute wait and my first non-live poker related gamble (A $4 win at video poker!) I'm sitting in a $1/$2 cash game with a $200 buy-in. I took my place between a loud-mouthed but good-natured Canadian on my right and an inebriated whisky-guzzling red-faced unshaven fellow to my left who only seemed to be half conscious.
As I settle in, the loud-mouthed Canadian is getting a warning from the dealer for using the f-word. His response to this is to yell out "fart" continually over and over again much to his own delight but the annoyance of everybody else who probably thought, as I did, that it was just a little bit odd and childish - if not to say a tad retarded.
Anyway, as things settle down we soon get chatting and it turns out that he sells houses for a living. It seems as if he earns a fair whack as well because when the sum of $2000 is mentioned by someone at the table he says, "I shit $2000!" I have no reason to disbelieve him but when he later says he loves the job because he has good people skills, I'm not entirely convinced.
Things move along. I'm getting nothing, betting nothing but starting to enjoy the vibe at the table. Whiskeyman is bluffing good players off big pots with total air but he soon leaves the table with a huge $800 stack and with a drunken slur uttering, "You people are so boring to gamble with!" The players at the table are a bit uncertain as to what the hell he means, considering he's cleaned up, but off he waddles into the night probably to lose the lot at roulette.
A deadpan Canadian then takes his place to my left and proceeds to berate the play of the more serious (and probably better) players at the other end of the table. The thing is, he does it in such a straightforward no-nonsense way that he has Mr Fart and myself in stitches - all great stuff and I don't think I've laughed so heartily at a poker table in all my born days. The humour is enhanced even more so by the rather large and slightly comically rotund dealer who sits in the middle of it all keeping the straightest face ever.
Over the two hour session, I only played (and only needed to play) one significant hand:
Key Hand #1
I'm in the big-blind and look at my old friend, big-slick, once again. (That's AK to the noobs out there.) It's folded to the button who raises it up to $10 and this is called by our house-selling friend, Mr Fart, and called by yours truly in the big-blind. The flop comes A 10 7 with two clubs. Mr Fart throws in $20 and I decide to commit myself to the hand. I raise it up to $60. Button man folds and it's on Mr Fart.
He's uncertain and so I go with the "talk-to-them-if-you-think-they're-gonna-fold" strategy. I ask, "Flush draw?" There's no reply but after a bit of deliberation he makes the call. The turn is a harmless looking red 4 so I go all-in for the rest of my $80-$90 stack and he makes the call. The river is a low card and he flips over a pair of 8s! I happily show my AK and scoop quite a healthy pot.
Curiously, he said "Well played" to me because he thought that by saying "Flush draw?" I was telling him that "I" had the flush draw and not asking whether "he" had it!! On reflection I guess I did tip my head in a slightly discrete and conspiratorial manner which may have suggested I was sharing "secret" knowledge with him but there again, why the hell would I share "secret" knowledge with the guy I'm heads up with!? An unintentioned angle-shoot?
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Anyway, as the fish left the pool three of us, including yours truly, started gathering our chips to leave as well. A nice touch was when one of the good players from the other end of the table (a fella who I never got the chance to say a word to for the entire session) came over to chink his bottle to mine as a gesture of respect. No words needed - smooth.
Profit/Loss For Session: +£130
Profit/Loss For Day: +$205
Profit/Loss For Trip: +$508
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SESSION #10
Bellagio
$1/$2
Bought In For: $200
3AM-4AM
1 Hours
Unfortunately, the amazing venue did not match any sort of amazing play at the table and this actually turned out to be the most dull and non-eventful session of the tour so far with no memorable hands to speak of. Add to this a set of fairly competent, half-decent players and it all amounted to a fairly pedestrian and uninteresting hour of poker. In actual fact, for the first time, I encountered a pet-hate of mine in a poker room and was quite surprised to experience it here at one of the so-called premium poker rooms in Vegas....
You're sitting at a table but with another table squeezed in behind you allowing just about one foot of space between you and seats 1 and 10 and the dealer behind you. This means that whenever someone needs to get access to these seats (usually the dealer) you get a sudden nudge in the back of your chair giving the body a slight but highly annoying jolt. I even had a railer squeezing through and nudging the chair as she went to speak to her friend.
I FUCKING HATE this about the live poker game and would rather just leave the table than play no matter how fishy the opponents. There is just no way that anyone should have to tolerate the back of their chair being nudged intermittently throughout the time they're trying to concentrate on a game of poker and if a poker room knows that there is a bottle-neck somewhere but continues to allow the situation to happen, no doubt to save money, then something is wrong.
And that's that.
You're sitting at a table but with another table squeezed in behind you allowing just about one foot of space between you and seats 1 and 10 and the dealer behind you. This means that whenever someone needs to get access to these seats (usually the dealer) you get a sudden nudge in the back of your chair giving the body a slight but highly annoying jolt. I even had a railer squeezing through and nudging the chair as she went to speak to her friend.
I FUCKING HATE this about the live poker game and would rather just leave the table than play no matter how fishy the opponents. There is just no way that anyone should have to tolerate the back of their chair being nudged intermittently throughout the time they're trying to concentrate on a game of poker and if a poker room knows that there is a bottle-neck somewhere but continues to allow the situation to happen, no doubt to save money, then something is wrong.
And that's that.
Profit/Loss For Session: -$20
Profit/Loss For Day: +$185
Profit/Loss For Trip: +$488
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