Sunday was the annual "Partners Tournament" at Ceaser's. Estie and I played this last year and it was a lot of fun. You play 40 minute levels with each of you playing 20 minutes of it, from the same chips. So if you lose chips your partner has fewer to play with than when they left. Estie and I both played very well but we got outdrawn on a big hand and card dead the rest of the time meant we were out fairly early when QQ lost to KQ.
This tournament is a lot of fun to watch the interaction of couples trying to play poker from the same chips... You have girlfriends who are so afraid to lose the chips their boyfriend got them they won't ever play a hand, then you have guys coming to the table and trying to get a bunch of chips playing over aggressive. Not to mention friends playing together changing their play styles to not get knocked out since they are playing for their friend as well. It is a lot of fun.
When we were not taking our turn in the tournament we took our turn in the no-limit cash game. I figured out what my problem was in no-limit... I just need to get pocket Kings 5 times, Aces 3 times in a 7 hour period and I will be up for the day :) My Kings got cracked twice both times when I had a set. The tournament had a $230 buy-in and after 7 hours of no-limit Estie and I were up a combined $230. Coincidence? I swear we did not plan it that way! It just happened when we got to the cashier.
We started the day off with a lovely buffet at the Bellagio. It was very good, but we have to get Line passes next time, that hour wait was brutal. We then finished the night with a nice steak dinner at the Victorian Room at Bill's. It isn't going to win any awards for best steak, but it is pretty solid and the service was good as was the price. All in all a lovely valentine's day a few days early.
Monday and Tuesday are Estie's night out with the girls for their Ladies tournaments. I get to catch up some with my Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek, play some PoxNora and Warcraft and relax. Wednesday through Sunday we will probably be at the casino again.
Bankroll is up over 1000 now, and not having to use any of it for bills is awful nice! I want to get a few more wins under my belt and them move up to 8-16 at the Bellagio. The game looks less passive but still very very loose. I want to grind up to a 4K bankroll then settle in at 15-30 for awhile.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Bellagio poker room
It is absolutely amazing to me how one of the biggest poker rooms in vegas can be so absolutely awful. The Bellagio is the biggest room in Vegas sporting about 35 tables and is constantly sold out. They also sport the biggest games and the best action. However the room is crowded, the cocktail service is absymal, the waiting list is kept on a piece of paper (no electronic list), the paging system is a microphone which only works in the poker room, no comps, table felts are old and need repair. It is just absolutely amazing that a room of this nature is run this poorly... On the other hand their main competition the Wynn has nice electronic lists, you can get on from your room, you can get a pager and wander the casino (and therefore lose MORE money while waiting), best cocktail service in vegas, etc... So why play at the Bellagio? I will give you one reason, the players are AWFUL!
Most poker players are stuck up ego-maniacs. They won't play somewhere where they don't feel like they are the center of the universe. The Wynn makes them feel this way. The Bellagio does not. So what you get at the Bellagio are the players who don't know any better, while all the educated good players go to the Wynn. The Wynn games therefore are much tougher than the Bellagio games, so I suck it up, put my ego in my pocket and play the Bellagio.
On to some Poker. A nice 5 hour session at the Bellagio in 4/8 went very well. I felt I played almost as good as I could, 2 minor mistakes in 5 hours is an acceptable mistake rate. The cards weren't amazing, I only flopped 1 set in 5 hours, didn't really get any big draws in big pots. I did play the hands to their maximum value and my A's (twice) and K's (once) held up to avoid getting cracked. I ended the night up 430. I look back at the session and realize I didn't really get any extraordinary hands.. I just played the hands I was winning to the maximum and got out of the hands I was losing. Played hands in position where I knew where I was, and could control the pot... it was a masterful session if I do say so myself. I realized towards the end the table had NO idea how I was winning. One guy commented how lucky I was getting and how I always hit the flop (despite the fact I fold most hands after the flop), and another guy commented that I was playing so loose (despite the fact I played very few hands). I only raised premium hands and only showed down premium hands yet I would raise A's and get 7 callers. They would then fold on the flop just donating to the pot with no chance of winning.
Most poker players are stuck up ego-maniacs. They won't play somewhere where they don't feel like they are the center of the universe. The Wynn makes them feel this way. The Bellagio does not. So what you get at the Bellagio are the players who don't know any better, while all the educated good players go to the Wynn. The Wynn games therefore are much tougher than the Bellagio games, so I suck it up, put my ego in my pocket and play the Bellagio.
On to some Poker. A nice 5 hour session at the Bellagio in 4/8 went very well. I felt I played almost as good as I could, 2 minor mistakes in 5 hours is an acceptable mistake rate. The cards weren't amazing, I only flopped 1 set in 5 hours, didn't really get any big draws in big pots. I did play the hands to their maximum value and my A's (twice) and K's (once) held up to avoid getting cracked. I ended the night up 430. I look back at the session and realize I didn't really get any extraordinary hands.. I just played the hands I was winning to the maximum and got out of the hands I was losing. Played hands in position where I knew where I was, and could control the pot... it was a masterful session if I do say so myself. I realized towards the end the table had NO idea how I was winning. One guy commented how lucky I was getting and how I always hit the flop (despite the fact I fold most hands after the flop), and another guy commented that I was playing so loose (despite the fact I played very few hands). I only raised premium hands and only showed down premium hands yet I would raise A's and get 7 callers. They would then fold on the flop just donating to the pot with no chance of winning.
Saturday, February 09, 2008
How did I never Valet before?
The Bellagio self-park is located off the strip and is at the opposite end of the casino from the poker room. So I asked around to some poker friends and found out there was a north valet located off of Flamingo. I thought I would give it a try and WOW! It is about a 2 minute walk to the poker room, they take your car, and bring it back for free... just give them a little tip and bingo! So now I valet everywhere! it is so amazing! I can't believe I never did it before!
On the poker side of the news, I played the bellagio on Thursday night hitting up the 4/8 for 3 hours. They say that if a bad player hits good cards he can have a good day and win some money, especially in 4/8 which is basically a showdown game. However if a good player gets good cards, watch out. He will run over a table! Well I had one of those days... good cards, good flops, no suckouts. Just killed the table up 330 in 3 hours. It was absolutely sick. I just couldn't miss...
Friday night however was a whole different story, bad cards, bad flops. When the good cards came someone else was coming out better. I flopped flush over flush, 2 pair over 2 pair, set over straight, etc. To top it off, I was getting frustrated at the stupid people and I left my ipod at home. So I was pushing trying to make something happen and forcing hands that I had no business being in. So I dropped 350 in about 4 hours before Ifinally managed to straighten out my game, played better and won 250 of it back before cashing out at about 12:30 AM for a net loss of 95.
It just goes to show that in the long term the better player WILL win, you just have to not get sucked into the short term results. Heading back out to the bellagio again and we will see if I can maintain my focus.
On the poker side of the news, I played the bellagio on Thursday night hitting up the 4/8 for 3 hours. They say that if a bad player hits good cards he can have a good day and win some money, especially in 4/8 which is basically a showdown game. However if a good player gets good cards, watch out. He will run over a table! Well I had one of those days... good cards, good flops, no suckouts. Just killed the table up 330 in 3 hours. It was absolutely sick. I just couldn't miss...
Friday night however was a whole different story, bad cards, bad flops. When the good cards came someone else was coming out better. I flopped flush over flush, 2 pair over 2 pair, set over straight, etc. To top it off, I was getting frustrated at the stupid people and I left my ipod at home. So I was pushing trying to make something happen and forcing hands that I had no business being in. So I dropped 350 in about 4 hours before Ifinally managed to straighten out my game, played better and won 250 of it back before cashing out at about 12:30 AM for a net loss of 95.
It just goes to show that in the long term the better player WILL win, you just have to not get sucked into the short term results. Heading back out to the bellagio again and we will see if I can maintain my focus.
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Back on the wagon (again)
It has been awhile since my last post between Christmas, New Years, new job, old job, etc... I have been so busy and so distracted to say the least.
Let's talk about Poker first. I don't know if I will ever make the cut with no-limit and tournament poker. I don't know why, but i think there are parts of my personality and background that make backing down and accepting someone else has me beat as hard. I just feel like they are stupid (and they are) and I should win... it doesn't really work that way.
Limit poker on the other hand has a lot of math to it. When I can apply mathmatics and not emotion to the game it makes all the difference. So it is back to limit for me.
In the past 6 weeks I have played about 25 hours of 4/8 Limit and am up 475 dollars.
I have also played no-limit once, and 3 tournaments... Lost every time down 400 total.
So I am going to stick to limit, planning to move up to 8/16 in the next week or two and keep grinding away.
On the positive side, my wife is awesome at tournaments and doesn't have the ego I have... even though she is winning them left and right including a 3rd place finish in a 500 dollar buyin event at Binions which took home 3.5K. This was a huge deal as a good portion of the field was pro's including Kenna James, Barbara Einright (first woman at the WSOP final table), Chip and Karina Jett, and many others who I didn't know... it was one tough tourney let me tell you. 11 hours and she was out 3rd. I couldn't be prouder of her, and she really made an impact there and got a lot of notice.
The job is going very well, I moved from a contract to perm position into full time on Feb 1st. There is still no real Las Vegas office so I am working at home which is pretty nice I must admit. On top of that I also got a nice 6% payraise during my move to perm. I have to admit it is pretty nice not to have to worry about paying the bills anymore, that is definately taken care of now with both of us working. A big change from neither of us really working a year ago.
Let's talk about Poker first. I don't know if I will ever make the cut with no-limit and tournament poker. I don't know why, but i think there are parts of my personality and background that make backing down and accepting someone else has me beat as hard. I just feel like they are stupid (and they are) and I should win... it doesn't really work that way.
Limit poker on the other hand has a lot of math to it. When I can apply mathmatics and not emotion to the game it makes all the difference. So it is back to limit for me.
In the past 6 weeks I have played about 25 hours of 4/8 Limit and am up 475 dollars.
I have also played no-limit once, and 3 tournaments... Lost every time down 400 total.
So I am going to stick to limit, planning to move up to 8/16 in the next week or two and keep grinding away.
On the positive side, my wife is awesome at tournaments and doesn't have the ego I have... even though she is winning them left and right including a 3rd place finish in a 500 dollar buyin event at Binions which took home 3.5K. This was a huge deal as a good portion of the field was pro's including Kenna James, Barbara Einright (first woman at the WSOP final table), Chip and Karina Jett, and many others who I didn't know... it was one tough tourney let me tell you. 11 hours and she was out 3rd. I couldn't be prouder of her, and she really made an impact there and got a lot of notice.
The job is going very well, I moved from a contract to perm position into full time on Feb 1st. There is still no real Las Vegas office so I am working at home which is pretty nice I must admit. On top of that I also got a nice 6% payraise during my move to perm. I have to admit it is pretty nice not to have to worry about paying the bills anymore, that is definately taken care of now with both of us working. A big change from neither of us really working a year ago.
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