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I was in Las Vegas this spring for a four-day conference. The conference was held at the Venetian. I was staying at the Mirage, which was right across the street. I had played poker a couple of times at the Mirage, but the room was kind of small. There were only about 25 tables, and the highest limit was 2/5 NL. I wanted some bigger games, so I looked into the poker room at the Venetian. Afterall, I had to pass the poker room every morning on my way to the conference (yes, I was tempted to blow off the conference and sit in the poker room - but I resisted the urge).

There was a 5/10 NL game going that looked somewhat tame. The minimum buy-in was $500, and the maximum buy-in was uncapped. The stacks seemed to be in the $1000 range, so I thought this should be a decent game. I was escorted to the table and did not even have to get my own chips. The Venetian had a chip runner come over and buy my chips for me. How nice! I was greeted by name and was treated very nicely. We were playing 6 handed when this hand came up:

UTG raises 3x BB to $30. I have

in UTG + 2. I make the call and the button the pops it to $90. UTG calls. I have no choice. Its $60 to call into a $210 pot.

Pot: $285

The flop comes:

Wow! What a nice flop for me. UTG checks. I, of course, check to the preflop raiser. He decides his best bet is all-in for an additional $900. UTG folds and I smile. I insta-call and show the flopped full house. I had a REALLY bad feeling when he said, “I have outs”, and turns over:

The turn was a blank and the river was:

I lose a $2100 pot to a 2-outter. After that flogging, I decided to drop down to 2/5 NL. I bought in for the maximum of $500. About 30 minutes into the session, I am UTG and I get:

I raise 4x BB to $20. It is folded to a guy in LP who raises to $60. It is folded back to me. I “know” he has pocket kings. I just had the feeling. I smooth-call his $40 raise.

Pot: $120

Flop:

There are two clubs on the board, but I feel that he has KK. I check to let him do the betting. He bets $135. I need to move here just in case he has AK of clubs. I decide to push all in for my last 500 total. He calls. I am praying for anything but a King.

Turn:

Uh-oh. Trouble in Paradise. The river is:

I show my AA and just as expected, he shows pocket kings for quads.

Two bad beats inside 30 minutes, and a loss of two pots worth over $3000. Some days it does not pay to get out of bed.

On Friday, the final table of both tournaments were being held. Donna and I just vegged out in the morning. I booked another scuba dive for the afternoon.

I went out front at noon to be picked up by Stuart Cove. This time I rented a dive computer in addition to a BCD, Regulator, and Wetsuit. Once we got out on the water, it was determined that the first dive was going to be at Clifton Wall. We dropped anchor pretty close to shore (it was swimable) and off we went. We all dropped to the bottom, which was 50 feet below the boat, then off to the wall we went. This portion of the wall was a lot better that the first dive that I went on. The water seemed more clear. We went down to about 90-95 feet. The water and coral were beautiful. You were able to see the ocean floor fade off into oblivion (well, at least to 6500 feet). I got down to 95 feet and did not even notice how deep I was! We surfaced after about 30 minutes, then off the the next dive site we went.

This one was actually the only natural wreck on this particular island. There was debris all over the ocean floor. It was pretty cool. Under the ship, I saw a Moray Eel. He was just sitting there minding his own business, watching us swim by.

After the dive, I went back to the hotel and checked in on the final tables. They were still going, so Donna and I watched them for awhile. When it seemed like they would never get done, we went to dinner (as did everybody else). Of course as soon as we did go to dinner, the champion was crowned.

After dinner, Lee Childs decided to organize one last tournament - 30 minute levels and 2500 starting chips for a $235 buy-in. I decided not to play. I wanted to play cash games. They had three cash game tables going, one table each of 1/2 NL, 2/5 NL, and 5/10 NL. I put my name on the list for all three games, and figured I would play whichever game called me first. It turned out to be 1/2 NL. After sitting there for about 15 minutes, I saw a guy sit down at the 2/5 table who I had played the previous night. He was not bad, he was TERRIBLE - and I had several tells on him. Immediately, I requested to be in that game. Before too long, I was sitting at the 2/5 NL table to the immediate left of this terrible player.

This guy was drunk and lets just say, he was losing. He would lose $1000, then go to the ATM and get another $1000. When that was gone, he would go get more. I only wanted to play until about midnight or 1:00am at the latest. However, with this guy at the table, I just could NOT bring myself to leave. If I did not take his money, somebody else would. I busted him THREE times and I ended up winning about $3000 that night alone. They finally kicked us out of the poker room at 3am. I had one hand where I had to make a tough decision, but that will be the subject of a different blog post.

I got to bed around 4am and got up at 8:00. Donna and I packed, then we went parasailing before we had to check out. It was quite a fun trip and I cannot wait for The Battle for the Season Pass III !

Here is a rundown of all the pros that I played against this week:

Vanessa Rousso

Lee Childs

John-Robert Bellande

Shannon Elizabeth

Mike Binger

Kenna James

Next up is the World Series of Poker Circuit Event in Atlantic City next week (yes, I am home for one day to do laundry, then off I go again). Watch for more daily updates next week!

Since I was not in the main tournament, Donna and I were able to relax in the morning. We actually worked for a bit. I sat on the balcony and worked. I think I could get used to this. We then went to get lunch, then I went to the bust-out tournament.

We started with T10,000 chips and the blinds were 30 minutes long. They planned to play until the final table was reached. We got started and there was a guy from Finland who really did not want to be there. On the first hand, UTG raised to T150, and he promptly went all-in. UTG was kind of mad and was harassing him. She folded.

On the second hand, he again went all in (without looking at his hand) and got one caller. The caller showed QQ and he turned over 62s (spades). When the river brought the third spade, the QQ was out. On the third hand, he again went all in without looking at his hand. Again, he had one caller and again he busted the opponent. Three hands, and now he had T30,000 chips.

A few hands later, I had KQs in early position and raised to T150. Again he goes all-in and as I call, I say, “I will be your third victim”. The KQ held up and I doubled up to T20,000. This guy took a hit from another player before I tangled with him again. I had pocket 55 and limped. He went all-in without looking at his cards. I called, and he flipped over 97o. I was scared when the flop came T82. The turn and the river did not help him and I busted him. I now had T27,000 chips.

After that, I was kind of quiet. John-Robert Bellande was two seats to my right. I was up and down until this hand came:

I was in a MP and it was folded to me. I had:

I raised 4x BB and everybody folded except the big blind, who calls. The flop comes:

I lead out with a pot-sized bet, which the BB calls.

The turn is:

Again, I lead out with a large bet after the BB checks. He calls, but only has 1850 left. The river is:

He immediately goes all-in. I know he hit his ten, but I cannot fold for 1850 (there is over T10,000 in the pot). Sure enough, he shows JTo for trips.

A few hands later, I get:

I raise to T4500. Seat 10 pushes all-in and I call. He shows:

When seat 1 says, “I folded an Ace”, I am feeling pretty good. When the flop comes:

I am not feeling too well. I cannot get the case king and I take another bad beat. I am now down to T800. What a rough couple of hands. I go all-in blind the next hand and I am eliminated in 43rd place out of 162.

After I was eliminated from the tournament, I played 5/10 NL. I got a wicked rush of cards and won a couple grand in about 90 minutes. That helped make up for the bad tournament cards.

Donna and I have a free day tomorrow. Nothing is going on until the afternoon. Both final tables start at 2pm. Now, I guess I must look forward to the World Series of Poker Circuit Event next week in Atlantic City. Check back tomorrow evening for the final update from the Bahamas!

I woke up around 8:30 this morning and went to breakfast.  Donna had decided that she was going to go to the Straw Market and do some Christmas shopping while I was playing the tournament.  I decided that I wanted to take notes while at the table, I went to the business center and bought some paper.  Donna left and I got settled into my seat and started to get into the zone.  (I’m really not trying to avoid watching him play, Bob and I discussed it and we think he wouldn’t be as distracted if I wasn’t there — so, I just HAD to go shopping!  :)  )

Blinds went up pretty slowly, and the levels lasted 60 minutes.  We each started with T20,000 chips.  This is my kind of tournament.  It is a typical WPT main-event structure:  Deep Stack and Long levels.  This allows skill to shine.

Once we started, I recognized three people.  One was a guy named Gary who I have played against in previous boot camps.  The second was a gal named Tracy.  Tracy actually won her way in into this event by winning the $50,000 freeroll that Donna and I came to play in during September.  The last person was, of course, Vanessa Rousso.  After the cards got in the air, I studied my opponents intently.

After about an hour, I had a good take on the whole table. 

Seat 1 (Tracy) and Seat 2 (an older woman):  Both bad players.  We had to constantly remind them that it was their turn and what they had to put in for blinds (how annoying). 

Seat 3:  A guy that lives in a town in Pennsylvania near where I grew up.  He was extremely tight and very weak.  He had a whole horde of facial tells.  You could tell what he had by what his face said.

Seat 4:  Vanessa Rousso - who is obviously a great player

Seat 5:  Gary - who I have  played against at other boot camps

Seat 6:  Tuan Phan - a guy who I played against in the SNG the previous night.  He was a fairly tight player, and somewhat weak.  He would raise standard amounts and follow through with continuation bets.  I pushed him early on and he would fold his continuation bets he he did not connect.

Seat 7:  A guy names Donovan. Donovan liked to make big bets.  Once Vanessa Rousso bet T600 and he came over the top for T10,600 (what the heck?).  He made massive overbets and raises several times.

Seat 8:  A guy who was tight-weak.  He would fold to pressure.

Seat 9:  A very nice lady who was pretty solid.

Seat 10:  Me!

Overall, the table was fairly solid (besides seat 1 and 2) and it was moderately tough - but leaning on the weak side.  Seat 3 was funny.  He was a stickler for details.  Several times, he tried to enforce proper ettiquitte.  He was on tilt from the beginning because seat 1 and seat 2 were not up to speed.  It was funny.  At one point, he walked away and Vanessa asked the table if it was just her or whether anybody else thought he was in a bad mood.  We all laughed and said that we was on tilt for no reason (he had not played a hand).

During level 2, with blinds of 50/100, this hand played out:

From a early position I had:

 

and I popped it to 300.  Seat 6 re-raised to $900, which I called.  The flop came:

  

I wanted to test him.  I figured that if I checked, he would lead out with a continuation bet.  I checked, and just like planned, he led out for $800.  I raised to $2400, and he folded.  This was valuable information.  I now know that he will continuation-bet and then fold if he misses.

At first break (end of level 2) I had T21,475.  There were 209 of the original 214 players left.  Ironically, the first person out was John-Robert Bellande - a pro.  He was out after 20 minutes.

I was moved from my table during level 3.  This kind of stunk because I had a great read on my table, plus I thought I could beat it.  I had to start over with my reads.  My new table was more aggressive and had more good players.  I got tangled up in two hands during level 3.  The first one was like this:

Blinds:  400/800 + 75 ante.

UTG:  Raises to 2400.

I peek down at:

 

Wow!  This was nice.  I thought about what I should do.  Since I was in UTG + 1, I needed to raise.  I do not want anybody else coming into the pot.  I want to be heads-up, but at the same time, I want UTG to call a raise.  Instead of raising 3x to 7500, I decide to raise 2.5x to 6,000.  Everybody folds back to UTG who declares all-in!  VERY COOL!  I insta-call and show my Aces proudly.  He laughs and shows:

 

When 4 suited cards did not show up on the board, we split the pot.  Ugh!

The next hand went like this:

Everybody folds to the big blind who raises to 2400.  Small blind folds.  I am in the big-blind and peer down at:

 

This hand is kind of weak AND I am out of position, but I have 800 in the big blind.  The button is on the short stack with 9500 (I have about 18,000).  I decide to call.  The flop comes:

  

This was a pretty good flop for me.  If the Big blind wants to make a continuation bet, I will come over the top and  take the pot away.  The only thing that he could beat me with here is QQ, KK, or AA.  If he hit the Jack, then I should split at worst.  I check and he bets another 2500.  I reraise all-in. He things for a second and calls and shows:

 

The turn and river are:

 

Giving him the flush.  I swear under my breath and tell him nice hand.  I lost about T10,000 on that hand and I am now crippled and have only about T7000.  I clawed my way back to about T12,000 before I was moved to yet another table.  On my first hand in middle position, I get:

 

Blinds were 400/800, so I pop it to 2400.  It is folded to an online qualifer from Sweeden who raised to T25,000.  Huh?  A 25,000 bet into a 3000 pot.  That really makes sense.  I fold and ask him that the heck he was thinking.  He said he was suspicious of my bet because it was so large.  I told him that my raise was 3x the BB.  What an idiot.  I really was having a hard time recovering from the bad beat on the AJ earlier.

From here on, I was so card cold.  I finished this level (400/800) and the next one (600/1200) with no cards.  Remember that the levels are 60 minutes long, so that is a long time to post blinds and antes with nothing.  I am whittled down  to 7050 when I get:

 

This really is not a hand that I want to go all in with, especially under the gun.  However, I was going to be in the blind next hand, so I needed to move.  It is weak, but above-average, so I push all in.  I am called by a guy who had AK and the AK held up.  I was out in 109th place. 

I was definitely disappointed in my finish, but I did the best I could with the cards I had.  Now, I am looking forward to the “Bust Out” tournament tomorrow.  That one starts at 2:45pm.  Donna and I are going to go take advantage of the free morning and we are going to go Parasailing!