Day/Night 6: Monday 22nd August (Poker)
SESSION #15
Bally's
$1/$2
Bought In For: $200
10:30AM-1:30AM
3 Hours
With Harrah's (again) and Planet Hollywood devoid of cash game poker action I'm happy to scope out and fill an available seat at Bally's. It's a friendly table with relaxed conversation and a cosy, comfortable vibe but it's also Limp-Fest City! I wonder why the hell I'm playing so passively preflop myself and not getting out there to bully the table myself. Again, I realise, this is why I'll never be a "crusher" or a "baller"; where the hell are my big cajones when I need them!?
One painful example was when I called a small raise, from the button, in the small blind with 10 10 and see a 6 6 2 flop. Of course I should bet as the first one in so why the hell do I go and check it? Of course the ace comes on the turn and I'm cursing my passivity; what the hell was I thinking?
Another example was when I held AQ preflop and see an A x x flop with two spades. I raise about $15 or $20 and get a call (so far, so good). The turn comes a blank and I go and check it! Bad, bad, bad. What the hell am I doing checking this!? I really should have value-towned the bejesus out of this hand. The river comes another blank and although I put a bet in (leading to a fold from the villain) I'm still left to wonder why the hell I shied away from the turn there.
In both cases I'm a little concerned over the way I wimped out of both pots. Where's the wobbly magic when ya need it?
With Harrah's (again) and Planet Hollywood devoid of cash game poker action I'm happy to scope out and fill an available seat at Bally's. It's a friendly table with relaxed conversation and a cosy, comfortable vibe but it's also Limp-Fest City! I wonder why the hell I'm playing so passively preflop myself and not getting out there to bully the table myself. Again, I realise, this is why I'll never be a "crusher" or a "baller"; where the hell are my big cajones when I need them!?
One painful example was when I called a small raise, from the button, in the small blind with 10 10 and see a 6 6 2 flop. Of course I should bet as the first one in so why the hell do I go and check it? Of course the ace comes on the turn and I'm cursing my passivity; what the hell was I thinking?
Another example was when I held AQ preflop and see an A x x flop with two spades. I raise about $15 or $20 and get a call (so far, so good). The turn comes a blank and I go and check it! Bad, bad, bad. What the hell am I doing checking this!? I really should have value-towned the bejesus out of this hand. The river comes another blank and although I put a bet in (leading to a fold from the villain) I'm still left to wonder why the hell I shied away from the turn there.
In both cases I'm a little concerned over the way I wimped out of both pots. Where's the wobbly magic when ya need it?
Profit/Loss For Session: +$8
Profit/Loss For Day: +$8
Profit/Loss For Trip: +$747________________________________________________________________________
SESSION #16
Venetian
$1/$2
Bought In For: $200
3PM-4:20PM
80 Minutes
After reading oftentimes that the Venetian was the place where it was at for cash games in Vegas, I entered the casino with high hopes. It proved to be a slightly odd session and I left with a sour taste in my mouth. Not, I hasten to add, due to the room itself which was absolutely fine but due to another player.
First off, a guy got annoyed with the old female dealer who asked him to only speak English at the table while he was talking to a friend beside him (who was not in the game) in a foreign language. Now I can see his grievance here as I do sometimes wonder how on earth players can affect the game when they are just chatting quietly and idly, in a foreign language, to someone railling. (Also, at Bally's, a guy just chatted to his wife in another language as she approached the table - obviously non-poker related - and he also got a warning for not speaking English.) I do think that surely some discretion could be used when it's obvious they're just talking about something mundane like when they should eat or how they're doing.
Secondly, I made the decision to leave the table because of a muppet who sat to my immediate left who overstepped the mark. (Details at the end.) In saying that though, the cards were not exactly falling my way AND I reckon I don't think I was playing that great either. Here are 4 hands in the session...
Mr Hershey Bar, next to me, in the small blind decides to make it $8 and I work out that this would put me slightly below the nice and round figure of $200. The really stupid thing is, it's called round to me with about 3 or 4 callers - but not only do I fold for the sake of the $6 (making me look stupid for not calling for the value) but the flop brings the king AND the nine as well! Mr Hershey bar then puts in quite a large bet (a bet which would have seen him pot committed for the $60 or so he had left) and proudly shows AA after everyone folds.
When the hell will I learn my lesson? The hand is just wrong on so many levels. An $8 raise with AA in the small blind after 4 limpers is awful for a start, my fold on the button is cringeworthy AND I play on and fall below the $200 anyway!! I really am such an arse at times, I really am.
He'd recently moved to my immediate left and suddenly asks me to lower my hand because he couldn't see the board. I apologised as a natural reaction that, I think, many people would have and lowered my hand. But then it kind of occurred to me that in all my years of playing NO ONE had ever asked me to move my hand away so they could see the board. It just seemed kind of weird. But then, two or three hands later, I'm fiddling with my chips (as you do) and he goes and taps the back of my hand with his finger - as if to say, move your hand again it's in my way!
I'm sorry, call me sensitive, but that's just not right. I just turned my hands over with my palms upwards and kind of shook them a little as if to say "What the fuck are you doing?" Instead of taking issue with him though or causing a scene I just told the dealer I was all done, tapped the table and left. This was some sort of wind up, right? I mean, just move your great big fat head innit? You fat blob of lard.
Profit/Loss For Session -$15
Profit/Loss For Day -$7
Profit/Loss For Trip +$732
It's 6PM in the early evening and I sit down to a 6-handed game at O'Shea's with the glorious sun streaming down outside. In contrast to the last game I sat down to at O'Shea's, the table is SILENT. It's clear that the three guys to my left know exactly what they're doing and I really should have left after 5 minutes. One of the guys across the table asks another what he does and it turns out he's studying for his PhD in sociology! Apart from the deafening silence here's another warning sign right there but I choose to ignore those signs, and with the allure of cups of Miller Light being brought forth constantly, I play on - it ends up being my largest losing session of the trip thus far.
Either they play good or I play badly, or probably both, and I end up calling far too much with my marginal hands and quite rightly get value-towned to death. Here's an example:
After reading oftentimes that the Venetian was the place where it was at for cash games in Vegas, I entered the casino with high hopes. It proved to be a slightly odd session and I left with a sour taste in my mouth. Not, I hasten to add, due to the room itself which was absolutely fine but due to another player.
First off, a guy got annoyed with the old female dealer who asked him to only speak English at the table while he was talking to a friend beside him (who was not in the game) in a foreign language. Now I can see his grievance here as I do sometimes wonder how on earth players can affect the game when they are just chatting quietly and idly, in a foreign language, to someone railling. (Also, at Bally's, a guy just chatted to his wife in another language as she approached the table - obviously non-poker related - and he also got a warning for not speaking English.) I do think that surely some discretion could be used when it's obvious they're just talking about something mundane like when they should eat or how they're doing.
Secondly, I made the decision to leave the table because of a muppet who sat to my immediate left who overstepped the mark. (Details at the end.) In saying that though, the cards were not exactly falling my way AND I reckon I don't think I was playing that great either. Here are 4 hands in the session...
Key Hand #1
I've been playing fairly tight and look down at AJ in mid-position and elect to just limp like all the rest of 'em. (I think this is weak due to the large amount of players in the pot. I think a raise is more correct here.) The flop comes 4 9 J and Mr Big-Stack, who I've never seen play a hand, whacks in a massive $25 overbet into the middle. Based on the fact that he has a big-stack and it's the first move I've seen him make since I sat down, I fold my AJ. BUT, I then start to think that this is wrong. My annoyance is compounded by the fact that a jack hits the turn and the villain fires out another $50 against another player who stuck around but who folds to the aggression. Maybe he had 99? 44? Or hit a two pair on the flop while holding 4 9? I just feel annoyed at myself for not committing to the pot on this one. Maybe I should, at least, have called the flop bet? Or even raised it?Key Hand #2
This was more a psychological mistake - and one I make far too often. (The pros will cringe at this.) I'm on the button with K9 of hearts and as the action is going round the table I count out that I have $206 in chips. I tell myself that I'm up $6 in the session and that I don't want to fall below $200 needlessly. (BAD thinking.) It's limped all round to me so I throw in the $2 and hope the blinds limp and check for a cheap flop.Mr Hershey Bar, next to me, in the small blind decides to make it $8 and I work out that this would put me slightly below the nice and round figure of $200. The really stupid thing is, it's called round to me with about 3 or 4 callers - but not only do I fold for the sake of the $6 (making me look stupid for not calling for the value) but the flop brings the king AND the nine as well! Mr Hershey bar then puts in quite a large bet (a bet which would have seen him pot committed for the $60 or so he had left) and proudly shows AA after everyone folds.
When the hell will I learn my lesson? The hand is just wrong on so many levels. An $8 raise with AA in the small blind after 4 limpers is awful for a start, my fold on the button is cringeworthy AND I play on and fall below the $200 anyway!! I really am such an arse at times, I really am.
Key Hand #3
I'm in mid-position and it's limped to me while I hold AQ. I put in $20 but I'm called by the table donk who was one of the limpers to my right and who is, thus, now out of position. I've not played a great many hands but the table knows that when I'm in, I play aggressively. The flop comes K x x and Mr Donk checks so I make a $40 c-bet - which he calls. Annoying. The turn comes a brick and Mr Donk goes all-in forcing me to fold. He shows K 10.Key Hand #4
Soon after that hand I look down at KK. I raise the $4 straddle by putting in $30 and get two callers! The flop comes 8 9 Q and I go all-in. They fold and I get my money back from the last hand.---------------
I end the session $15 down but leave due to Mr Hershey Bar to my left. This is a fairly scruffy and quirky looking old guy, from one of those southern states, who earlier bemoaned how the Wynn was going downhill due to the woman who runs it. He had this odd habit of tipping the dealers a Hershey Bar when they sat down to deal.He'd recently moved to my immediate left and suddenly asks me to lower my hand because he couldn't see the board. I apologised as a natural reaction that, I think, many people would have and lowered my hand. But then it kind of occurred to me that in all my years of playing NO ONE had ever asked me to move my hand away so they could see the board. It just seemed kind of weird. But then, two or three hands later, I'm fiddling with my chips (as you do) and he goes and taps the back of my hand with his finger - as if to say, move your hand again it's in my way!
I'm sorry, call me sensitive, but that's just not right. I just turned my hands over with my palms upwards and kind of shook them a little as if to say "What the fuck are you doing?" Instead of taking issue with him though or causing a scene I just told the dealer I was all done, tapped the table and left. This was some sort of wind up, right? I mean, just move your great big fat head innit? You fat blob of lard.
Profit/Loss For Session -$15
Profit/Loss For Day -$7
Profit/Loss For Trip +$732
______________________________________________________________________
SESSION #17
O'Shea's
$1/$2
Bought In For: $150
6PM-7PM
60 MinutesIt's 6PM in the early evening and I sit down to a 6-handed game at O'Shea's with the glorious sun streaming down outside. In contrast to the last game I sat down to at O'Shea's, the table is SILENT. It's clear that the three guys to my left know exactly what they're doing and I really should have left after 5 minutes. One of the guys across the table asks another what he does and it turns out he's studying for his PhD in sociology! Apart from the deafening silence here's another warning sign right there but I choose to ignore those signs, and with the allure of cups of Miller Light being brought forth constantly, I play on - it ends up being my largest losing session of the trip thus far.
Either they play good or I play badly, or probably both, and I end up calling far too much with my marginal hands and quite rightly get value-towned to death. Here's an example:
Key Hand #1
I'm getting destroyed at the table and my $150 stack is dwindling as quick and as fast as the Miller Lights that are being put before me. I look down at 7 J in the small blind and complete. The flop comes J x x. I check to Mr Academic's friend who throws in $6 and I have to call. The turn comes a queen and I check/call Mr Academic's friend's raise of $10. The river comes another queen and so I check to Mr Academic's friend who fires another $10 into a $42 pot. Of course I have to call, and of course I've been out-played as he shows the K J to out-kick me with the special manoeuvre of the twist and the turn and the flourish with a thrust. I feel I'm getting beaten up bad as I look down at my $70 stack---------------
I stupidly play on in the misguided belief that I may just recuperate some of the losses but eventually leave a thoroughly beaten victim and with a paltry $35. Slightly tilted I lay this out on the blackjack table and manage to spin this up to $40! Vegas baby!! Hmm.
Profit/Loss For Session: -$115
Profit/Loss For Day: -$122
Profit/Loss For Trip: +$617
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There were 3 more sessions today so I'll post about those on my next post.
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