Still Alive...

Still in Vegas though... but I finally decided to bite the bullet and purchase some wireless internet so I can dust off this old blog here. Since I've been playing live poker everyday for 2 weeks straight, I probably won't remember 90% of the shit that I've done (+drinking), but I'll give it a shot.

Goal for this post is to keep it under 1,000 words, just updating the bare minimum, like a summary/reminder post for future reference.

So where to start?

After arriving I quickly realized the difference only a month can make for Vegas weather. After being disappointed in early April with the coldish temps outside, I was ready for a similar experience for early May. Clearly, I was wrong in my assumption. Average temperature has been somewhere between 90F and the boiling point of human skin. Needless to say we've spent 100% of our time indoors where it is safe.

Anyways, since I had no plan for this trip as far as what I was going to be playing as well as how long I was staying, it's going to be pretty difficult to run down my day-to-day activities, so I'll just try to post the highlights.

First night there we hit up the MGM for 1/2 NL action. In fact, we've spent 90% of our time at the MGM Grand, playing 1/2 NL. I never got the balls to hit up any higher stakes games, despite my clear dominance at the 1/2 level.

During my first 3 days I had won about $500 and was feeling good about my game. I still hadn't gone back to Sahara to claim my winnings from the last tournament I played there and had to leave before the final table, so we decided that we would check out that same tournament again. They had $540 waiting for me there, which was pretty gangsta. I ended up finishing 4th place, which is just hilarious. I wish I could have watched them play that one out, seeing the frustrated look on the short stacks faces as another round passes through my behemoth stack, nary putting a dent in it.

We played the 7pm tournament that night at the Sahara. The buy-in is $60 and the structure is definitely the best in Vegas for these stakes. Plus the competition is just ridiculously soft as they have no knowledge of late game push/fold strategy. Most of them end up blinding themselves off waiting for that elusive top 10 hand. It is pretty humorous watching the reactions to my aggressive late game strategy, especially from the old-timers. Because they were so reluctant to call off their chips late game with anything less than AA, I could literally push any 2 and steal the blinds with impunity. I did get "caught" a few times, pushing with pure shit, much to the delight of said old-timers. But since I had a lot of chips to lose, I didn't mind doubling up a 3bb shortstack. Anyways long story short, I ended up winning the entire thing for a cool $1,750. The best part was playing heads up live against an unknown opponent for a lot of money. 2nd place was $850 so I really wanted to win. And since my opponent was an inexperienced old man who was still waiting for TT+, AJ+ heads up, I managed to widdle him down to nothing before he finally was forced all in with something and I won. Pretty sweet indeed.

So after 3 days in Vegas I was +$2750 and feeling mighty fine.

The next few days were filled with long sessions at the cash game tables with no real big wins or losses. I will point out one hilarious hand that I won't forget ever for the rest of my life.

First I have to set it up a little bit.

Older man who had been the victim of numerous lost big pots had been verbally jawing back and forth with lucky Asian man. It got pretty heated at times, with the older man actually yelling across the table at him. Anyways, it was clear that this dude wasn't having a good day, was extremely emotional and was ripe for the fucking pickings. Ok, here's the hand:

I have J9 of clubs and limp from mid position. Button raises to 5bb and he gets a few callers, including Old Angry Man from the BB. I call the raise and see a flop of A34 with 2 clubs. Old Angry Man bets out from the bb. I call the raise, and everyone else folds. The turn brings another 4 and he checks to me. I thank him mentally for the free card and check behind. The river brings another 3, but its the 3 of clubs. So the board reads A3344 with 3 clubs. I have the flush but it's not exactly the type of board you like to see when you have a flush. Instantly Old Angry Man goes all in. At this point he is betting like $150 into a $80 pot. I take a second to think about the situation. Because it is just him and I on the river, and he is all in, I decide to flip over my cards to "get a read on his reaction". I show him my flush and ask him, "what should I do?". Old Angry Man sort of shuffles in his seat, says "you calling?" in sort of a uncomfortable way and then for no reason flips over his cards as well! Keep in mind my hand is still live, and I have yet to make any decision. He shows me his AK(!?@?) for only top pair and I obviously insta call with 100% certainty that I have the best hand. He then LOOOOOOOOOOSES it. I mean this dude flips his fucking wig. You can see the confusion in his face, but is so angry that he doesn't know what to do. He immediately attacks me, stating that I know what I did was wrong and I shouldn't have "played it that way". I really don't know how to respond to him so I just sit there silently, awaiting the dealer to push me my chips. But the dealer hasn't done anything yet. Old Angry Man demands the floor for a "decision" on this hand, even though in my mind there isn't any thing that needs to be decided. The floor comes over and the dealer replays the hand for him. All the while Old Angry Man is pacing back and forth, spouting random thoughts that come in his head, all the while probably realizing that it was his dumbass fault he is in this mess in the first place. The floor awards me the pot, which of course sends Old Angry Man off even more. I quietly scoop the pot, keeping an eye on Old Angry Man for comedic value. He continues his incoherent rant to the floor manager for about 10 minutes before finally leaving the poker room. On the way out he passes me saying "you know you did wrong". I still don't know what that means.

Anyways, fuck I knew this post would be long. I'm getting uncomfortable and restless here in my hotel room so I'll end this here and now and continue it some other day. Thats probably the best for all of us. For anyone who cares, I'll be returning back home this Friday, which admittedly I'm looking forward to as I'm almost sick of live full ring cash game poker.