Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Sin City: The Poker
Well, I caught a nice cold on the airplane ride home, which basically sums up how poker went while I was out there. The play was definitely tighter out there, at least in the limit games, but overall I didn't come away too impressed with poker in Vegas. I basically played five sessions while I was out there: 15-30 hold'em (2-3 handed), 15-30 hold'em, 10-20 Omaha 8 with a half kill, 2-5 NL hold'em and 8-16 hold'em.
The 15-30 and the Omaha 8 I played at the Wynn, which was a decent poker room, but didn't seem to have a whole lot going on any of the times I was there. I got seated on a must move the first time which was only 6 six handed and within minutes me and this guy were heads up. Playing heads up doesn't bother me at all, and since there were a lot of empty seats with stacks, I figured we wouldn't be HU for long. Well, I ran into a guy on an absolute heater. In the first five hands he had Kings twice, Jacks, flopped quad threes and flopped two pair. We played HU for about 30 minutes or so before he got moved and I feel fortunate that I only lost around 15 BB's to him. Naturally, I had finally started winning some pots when he got called. I finally got seated in the main game after a long wait and the cards didn't improve much, just couldn't make anything happen when I caught a piece and missed a few draws. The 15-30 was right next to the Omaha 8, and the Omaha table looked pretty good.
I love Omaha 8, and have never played it live in a casino, so I figured it would be a good learning experience at the worst. I got sick, absolutely sick, starting hands for about the first twenty minutes. Aces double suited with a deuce four times, Ace-deuce with broadway cards and suited, and on and on... flopped the nut-nut draw three times... and it all missed. I made a couple mistakes and was lucky to get bailed out, and then right before the table broke I picked up half or three quarters of four monster pots and turned the Omaha into a positive session and made back some of my hold'em losses.
Went back the next day and played some more 15-30 and sat through about five more hours of dead hands before going on a mini-rush and basically making back my heads up losses from the day before, bringing me decently close to even for the trip. Took some time out and went to the sportsbook to watch some MNF where the Redskins promptly sucked balls (though the refs definitely whored over Sean Taylor). Beers, a good burger, hot blonde cocktail waitresses and a screen the size of a house to watch football on is always +EV, though.
Played 2-5 NL at the MGM (where we were staying) the next day, and from what I saw there and watching my friends play on the NL tables, people are still just awful at NL. And everytime all the money went in, the donkey got bailed out. At one point there was about six-seven thousand dollars on my table (max $500 buy-in), and it seems like about one out of every five pots was over a grand. It was insane.
One particularly ridiculous hand saw 10 of the 13 clubs in the deck in play. I had raised in EP, trading off a tight image, with 78 of clubs. I got called in four places and the flop came down Kd Jc 10c. I lead out for about 2/3 of the pot, got smooth called, then raised $200 on top, then the guy to my right smooth calls. I had planned on being agressive with it, but I knew there was disaster looming and got out the way along with the first caller. Turn was a brick, the raiser moved in and the guy to my right called. Queen of clubs on the river, and the raiser turns over AQ for the flopped Broadway and the guy on my right turns over the stone cold nuts with AK clubs. The caller who bailed with me had 56 of clubs. The were more shenanigans at that table, but I left down about half a buy-in after bleeding off a lot of money with middle pairs that never connected and one hand where I had overpair versus bigger overpair.
The last session was at the Bellagio, and there just wasn't a lot going on. I wasn't terribly impressed with their room at all, and the poker just didn't turn around for me either. Couldn't make anything happen with overcards, couldn't make big pairs hold up and twice flopped a set only to have the board run out a straight and chop the pot.
I know I'm bleeding off at least 7-8 BB's a session betting when I shouldn't or being too aggressive where I don't need to be. But I think I've noted a few of those types of leaks and hopefully am improving on them for future play. I definitely feel like I'm moving in the right direction with my overall play again, no matter whether I've been up or down. All in all, Vegas was great (which I'll cover in a second post), but the poker left a lot to be desired.
The 15-30 and the Omaha 8 I played at the Wynn, which was a decent poker room, but didn't seem to have a whole lot going on any of the times I was there. I got seated on a must move the first time which was only 6 six handed and within minutes me and this guy were heads up. Playing heads up doesn't bother me at all, and since there were a lot of empty seats with stacks, I figured we wouldn't be HU for long. Well, I ran into a guy on an absolute heater. In the first five hands he had Kings twice, Jacks, flopped quad threes and flopped two pair. We played HU for about 30 minutes or so before he got moved and I feel fortunate that I only lost around 15 BB's to him. Naturally, I had finally started winning some pots when he got called. I finally got seated in the main game after a long wait and the cards didn't improve much, just couldn't make anything happen when I caught a piece and missed a few draws. The 15-30 was right next to the Omaha 8, and the Omaha table looked pretty good.
I love Omaha 8, and have never played it live in a casino, so I figured it would be a good learning experience at the worst. I got sick, absolutely sick, starting hands for about the first twenty minutes. Aces double suited with a deuce four times, Ace-deuce with broadway cards and suited, and on and on... flopped the nut-nut draw three times... and it all missed. I made a couple mistakes and was lucky to get bailed out, and then right before the table broke I picked up half or three quarters of four monster pots and turned the Omaha into a positive session and made back some of my hold'em losses.
Went back the next day and played some more 15-30 and sat through about five more hours of dead hands before going on a mini-rush and basically making back my heads up losses from the day before, bringing me decently close to even for the trip. Took some time out and went to the sportsbook to watch some MNF where the Redskins promptly sucked balls (though the refs definitely whored over Sean Taylor). Beers, a good burger, hot blonde cocktail waitresses and a screen the size of a house to watch football on is always +EV, though.
Played 2-5 NL at the MGM (where we were staying) the next day, and from what I saw there and watching my friends play on the NL tables, people are still just awful at NL. And everytime all the money went in, the donkey got bailed out. At one point there was about six-seven thousand dollars on my table (max $500 buy-in), and it seems like about one out of every five pots was over a grand. It was insane.
One particularly ridiculous hand saw 10 of the 13 clubs in the deck in play. I had raised in EP, trading off a tight image, with 78 of clubs. I got called in four places and the flop came down Kd Jc 10c. I lead out for about 2/3 of the pot, got smooth called, then raised $200 on top, then the guy to my right smooth calls. I had planned on being agressive with it, but I knew there was disaster looming and got out the way along with the first caller. Turn was a brick, the raiser moved in and the guy to my right called. Queen of clubs on the river, and the raiser turns over AQ for the flopped Broadway and the guy on my right turns over the stone cold nuts with AK clubs. The caller who bailed with me had 56 of clubs. The were more shenanigans at that table, but I left down about half a buy-in after bleeding off a lot of money with middle pairs that never connected and one hand where I had overpair versus bigger overpair.
The last session was at the Bellagio, and there just wasn't a lot going on. I wasn't terribly impressed with their room at all, and the poker just didn't turn around for me either. Couldn't make anything happen with overcards, couldn't make big pairs hold up and twice flopped a set only to have the board run out a straight and chop the pot.
I know I'm bleeding off at least 7-8 BB's a session betting when I shouldn't or being too aggressive where I don't need to be. But I think I've noted a few of those types of leaks and hopefully am improving on them for future play. I definitely feel like I'm moving in the right direction with my overall play again, no matter whether I've been up or down. All in all, Vegas was great (which I'll cover in a second post), but the poker left a lot to be desired.
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blackjackidols Thank you for sharing this article. I love it. Keep on writing this type of great stuff.
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