Stepping Up

It hasn't been a good start to 2007 so far.... I got my second lesson of the year in tilt. After getting my Pocket A's cracked by 5's on the turn I dumped 300 more on the table before rebuilding from 600 down to 50 up. I decided not to leave because there was a drunk/idiot who I wanted to get his money and got sucked out on again for another 300 and then proceeded to dump all of the remaining 400 onto the table for a net loss of 700. Not only was most of it tilt induced... I strongly suspect that the Drunk/idiot was not really as much of an idiot as he played it up to be. He was getting away from an awful lot of big hands and making some marvelous plays with some marginal hands. I left very frustrated and actually stayed away from poker for a few days even though I had time to play.

We had a big tournament at IP this weekend and it got me to thinking about getting my skills up the level where I can compete regularly in those tournaments. First place was only $37,000 which is small for those tournaments but it is definately enough to make a dent in my bankroll! I also spent some time talking to a few of the local pros about moving up, bankroll management, games in town, etc... and made the decision to take a shot at 2/5 No-limit at the Palms. This is a 200 minimum, 1000 max buy-in game. It is higher than I have ever played before but I felt like my game was ready for it as long as I could keep my head about me.

The room at the Palms is nice enough. It is only 10 tables. 6 in one room for the limit games, and 4 in the "High Stakes Room" where they only spread 2-5 no-limit. They had 3 tables going with a list and it stayed that way the entire 5 hours I was there. The bathrooms are right in between the 2 rooms (very convient a huge plus), they serve red bull without charging $5 a can like the station casinos do. The waitresses were nice, and prompt... Dealers were acceptable, if not outstanding. The rake is one of the best I have seen in town with a max $4 rake on a $120 pot and high hands and bad beat. All in all, I understand the reason the word on the street is that Palms is the best 2-5 in town.

The game was pretty good. The stacks were very deep and the play was decent enough to take advantage of. We had a husband/wife team playing in the game and they appeared to be playing together which was a bit disturbing but they left shortly after I sat down. I played very well most of the night... however I misplayed 2 hands badly putting most of my money in when way behind and I should have known it. I dropped 700 on those 2 hands alone, and ended the night only up $426. It could and should have been better... and I never really got any big hands. I felt like I could play this game regularly and beat it for a sizable profit..... So I will definately be back. Especially with their half a million dollar first prize freeroll in June which I only need 300 hours of play to qualify for :)