Oceans 11 - low stakes fun

Decided to play $1-$2 at oceans as they had just made it their minimum game (it used to be $1-$1) and has a buy-in of only 30 big blinds. This almost guarantees a certain quality of fun/social player who maybe does not mind losing some money.

I got down there about 9pm. I figured the 7pm $35  tournament would have lost some players by then and they would be playing the cheap cash games. I bought in for my $60 and waited for the action to being.

Some guy brought a load of red chips to the table and proceeded to bluff them off $60 at a time. I was lucky to be a recipient quite a few times. All I did was value bet my big hands (2 pair, straights, flushes) and fold to any obvious strength. Mostly my opponents would show down a big pair or over pair having played them totally wrong.,

Some of my friends have criticized me for playing low stakes and just picking off the players like this but the games are really very social and make my hobby more enjoyable. Some of the players are just retirees trying to fill their time but others are young Asian men determined they are going to become professional players.

I quit the game about 12.30am and headed home. I did not get any big hands that I can think of and the poker was quite unremarkable.  It was nice to go when I did as there was no traffic and I got out before the casino started blasting out the cold air to keep everyone awake through the night.

Vegas - April

Had a quick 2 day trip to Vegas a couple of weeks back. My buddy goes there for insurance conferences and gets his room and board paid but wants someone to carpool with him. I am lucky that I still get comps for free rooms so I often agree to go. This time I had a freebie at Excalibur.

We left at 7pm Sunday and got in before midnight then met for drinks about 12.30am and drunk beer for 4 hours before deciding to go gambling. Probably not the best start. On Monday he went to his conference and I did not see him again until Weds when it was time to go home.

So Tuesday I started playing:

I played for a bit on Monday art Excalibur but they only ever get one or two tables open and while the player pool is very soft, the chairs are not great and the drinks are slow. So I headed over the Mandalay Bay where everything seems a little more classy. Also I have a different friend staying in the Mandalay Bay with his family and I thought I might say hi so he had gone walkies that day down to Venetian.

I then headed over to MGM which is a must if you are staying on that corner of the strip. It has more poker action than Mandalay Bay, Excalibur, Luxor, or Monte Carlo combined. And NYNY and Tropicana have no poker action at all. 

I played one tournament at MGM at 11am on Tuesday mornng. The structure of the MGM morning tournament has changed and almost become reasonable (it used to be a stupid double the blinds every round like most of the cheapo tournaments in Vegas). I went deep but no cash. Then i played the cash tables a bit more at MGM as I had a good session there on Monday.

 I managed to hook up with my buddy and his wife/kids on Tuesday afternoon and walked around with them showing them some of the Vegas highlights. Finally we got back to their hotel (the Mandalay Bay) and the kids were tired so my buddy could finally join me in the card room. That was a fun session as I made $750 in about 90 minutes. Then I went drinking so no more poker that night.

Overall I did well at poker, but lost quite a bit playing Craps. I love that game, but there is a reaosn TJ Cloutier went broke playing it. It is very addictive and I know how easy and quick it is to love hundreds or thousands of dollars playing it.

Met up with my lift on Weds and after watching a soccer game in the Sports Book headed back to OC.