Vegas daily - March 27th

I woke up at 10am and tried to extend my stay at the Luxor but they would not give me a good rate for another night (something about not playing their slots while I was there), so I instead tried to get a late checkout. Then I toyed with the idea of driving back to CA in my tired state but I talked to Ami and she convinced me to stay a few more days and win some money off the weekend tourists, So I farted around phoning hotels and finally got a comp stay at NYNY for 3 more nights (Fri,Sat,Sun) under their Friends and Family offer.

Good Job. Now to pack and move hotels. Initially NYNY put me in a really bad room with terrible views and noise but they kindly gave me a room change so now I am on the 21st floor overlooking th strip. Unpacked and had a nap to 5.30pm to make up for last night. 

Now NYNY does not have a poker room but I have heard good things about the 7pm tournament at the Sahara so I decided  play there tonight. I bought in for $70 and played a cash $1/$2NL game while I waited. I only played for about 20 minutes but left with a $90 profit so I was frerolling in the tournament. I played well and was chipping up nicely when I really aggressive player was moved to the left of me. He was raising and 3 betting preflop and we had a couple of small battles that I got the better of when this hand came up. I am on the button with QJs and he is small blind. I preflop raise to 3000 and he min-raises to 5000 so I call. The flop is 6dQcJh - nice!! I check it because he is so aggressive.  I want him to bet and he does, firing out 8000. I think for a bit and then push all in for another 15000 or so. He calls instantly and shows QQ - the Q on the flop was the case Q. Obviously I could not put him on QQ - I had thought he had AA, KK, AK or maybe 66,  KQ, AQ or even the same hand as me. Well I was wrong and did not get runner runner JJ so that was that. I was quite disappointed.

I then played limit and N cash games which seemed pretty soft - a number of tight and/or drunk players combine with aggressive players who balked at any 3bets meant I won money in each session. I started my day with $750 and ended it with $1200.

After a taxi back to the NYNY I again am hitting the sack at 5.40am - seems I just cant get away from these late nights. At least I can sleep in tomorrow without worrying about the hotel room or a long drive back to CA.

Vegas daily - March 26

Today I got going about noon starting at the Luxor poker room. The only seat available was at a $3/$6 limit game so I played that. I got off to a good start but then had a number of coolers against a lady playing insane cards from out of position. 9-4 offsuit, J-2 offsuit, 10-4 offsuit etc. - not only did she play these cards but she cracked my big hands 6 or 7 times where I was ahead until the turn and betting every street and then the river made here a hand. I lost my $100 and could not believe her luck. I decided I would be able to get it back because she was so bad so I spent another $100 just having the same bad luck. So I stopped playing and decided that table was a cooler.

I played $1/$2 NL for  short while and made a net loss of $20 before deciding to go to Ceasors Palace for their 7pm tournament. It cost $160 to enter. I was playing well and chipping up to well above average when I made a bluff 3 bet on this chap to my right. It worked so I tried it again a short while later. It worked again.  The next orbit I raised his bb again from under the gun and he pushed. He had about half my stack. I looked at my cards (pocket 8s) and decided he was just playing back at me to stop me from bullying him so I called his all-in and he showed the aces. Ouch! A while later I moved tables and was trying to chip up again when I pushed in with A-10 suited from the cutoff. Unfortunately the BB woke up wth QQ and that was that.

I then played some $1/$2 NL at Ceasors and made about $120 back of my tourney buyin when they announced they had a few seats left for the midnight tourney. So I bought a seat. This only cost $60 and had about 50 runners. The problem was I was supposed to check out of my hotel the next morning and drive back to CA and by playing this tournament I would be really tired (and probably fall asleep at the wheel).  So after and hour or so I regretted my decision to play but I was chipping up well and still pissed at my 8-8 mistake in the early tourney. Nothing much happened except we played for 5 hours until we had 8 left on the final table and all agreed to  8 way split. I felt I would win if we carried on but I was tired, aware of what was going to happen the next day and just glad to be going to sleep. The good news was a $307 payout.

I took a taxi back to the Luxor and finally got to bed about 5.45am....

Vegas daily - March 25

Today I woke at 10am and spent 2 hours messing around extending my hotel stay for a bit longer so I can continue my Vegas adventure.  My day went as follows:

- 1.30pm - register for 2pm Luxor tournament

- play $3/$6 limit game while I wait - buyin for $100 and cash out $120

- 2pm - play Luxor tournament - only 11 people registered but I win it so I get $300 payout for 1st place after paying $55 to enter.

- 4.20 pm - play $1/$2 NL for a couple of hours until I go to the MGM for their 7pm tournament - did ok = buyin for $100 and cash out for $240

- 6pm - get some lunch/dinner from the deli

- 6.45pm - register for MGM tournament

- play $1/$2 NL game for 10 mins until tournament starts - buyin for $100 and cash out for $165

- 7pm - play MGM tournament - 40 runners and a few alternates. Got down to 2 tables but made a mistake. I had 8k chips at 800/1600 and played SB/BB, then they broke the table and put me on another table immediately playing SB/BB again. Suddenly I was mega shortstacked so I pushed with J8 suited into a 3 way all-in hoping for a miracle. Both my cards were live but I did not get lucky and that was that

- played $1/$2 NL for about 90 mins and did ok - buyin for $100 and cash out for $243

- played $3/$6 limit for a couple of hours (into early morning) and did ok - buyin for $100 and cash out for $163.

- walk back to Luxor and sort our room key recoding for extending my stay

- after checking emails and the blog updates it is just shy of 4am so I will sleep for 6 hours and start again.

Overall, a good day with 1 tournament win and a few cash wins.... 

Vegas daily report

I thought I would put at least one detailed entry of how I am spending a day in Las Vegas. Each day is different but this is typical. Its Tues March 24th and it went like this:

- 10am - wake up, shower, get a taxi from Luxor where I am staying to the Venetian

- 11.30am - register for noon toruney at Venetian - play some $4/$8 limit while I wait - buyin for $100 and cash out for $112

- noon to 4pm - play tourney 98 entries, down to about 35 left where I have 11BB and move all in on button with Q-10suited hoping to steal. The BB has AK and thats that.

- walk to Mirage - get some lunch/dinner

- 6.45pm - sign up for Mirage 7pm tourney. Play some $3/6 limit while I wait. Buyin for $100 and cash out for $101

- 7pm - 8pm - play Mirage tourney - get AK 3 times and lose/not connect 3 times. You have to chip up fast in this badly structured tourney so Im in trouble - push all in preflop with AJs in late pos. Called by J8 by large stack - he hits a straight - thats that.

- walk to Bellagio

- 9pm - after waiting a while I get a spot in a $4/$8 game and do ok. Play for about 90 mins. Buyin for $100 and cashout with $210.

- walk to Excalibur

- 11.30pm - sign up for the Pokerpro electronic machnes and play a game of .5/$1 against crazy drunk people. Get to $144 and then push all in with 87 suited on a 956 rainbow flop. Called by a guy with 10-9 (top pair). Turn is a 10, river is a 9 - nice catch by him as he stacks me. Its 2am by now and even though the table is soft and crazy I decide im too tired so take my loss and 

- walk to Luxor

- 3am - by the time I arrive and check my emails its time for bed.

Vegas trip - March 2009

So I am updating the blog from Las Vegas. I took my wife Ami to Vegas for her Birthday on March 14th weekend and I stayed on here for a couple of weeks to practice my live cash game and tournament progress. So far its been a fun and very educational trip.

I started off in Monte Carlo casino on the strip where Ami and I focused on her interests which included slots, shopping, blackjack, spa and relaxation. Not a lot of poker played but I did sneak into the poker room a couple of times for short sessions and it is a nicely laid out room. There seem to be a few regulars who like to educate the tourists by taking their money but I held my own and even got a few compliments and asked if I was a local. (Maybe they were just buttering me up but it seemed sincere).

After Ami left I upped the poker ratio and tried to stay away from the Craps tables (my biggest leak - that game is such fun!). So far I have played cash games and/or tournaments at MGM, Wynn, Venetian, Luxor, Mandalay Bay and Monte Carlo. 

My stats:

- came 16th out of 207 in a Venetian deep-stack tournament for a $307 cash ($150 entry)

- came 1st out of 18 in a Luxor tournament for a $160 cash (3 way chop) ($50 entry)

- bubbled in Mandalay Bay 35 person tournament (5 paid) after losing with AQ then AK in 2 hands on the bubble v all-in short stacks. Worse they were all in on the BB with no choice so I lost to random cards!!!!

- played 7 tournaments so far, cashed in 2.  Bubbled in 1.

The cash games are harder to quantify. I have bounced all over the place posting some losses and some wins. Some terrible bad beats taking my stack (AJ v J8 on J65 rainbow board where his 8 catches the runner runner straight, AA v 10-10 were he catches a 10 etc.). As I said before I am taking this in stride.

Some of the younger Vegas locals I have met out here are mega aggressive and its interesting to watch and learn. They seem to have learnt online how to play poker and brought that game with them. They play 1-2 or 2-5 no limit. In 1-2 NL they seem to raise most pots preflop to $15 or $20 and then bet $30-$50 on the flop. The tourists often do not want to risk this much money preflop to the locals take it down. Its an interesting strategy.

I have tried to avoid these players by moving to a different table or mixing it up and playing 3-6 or 4-8 limit where a lot of older players like to play. There the older guys like to give advice on how I am playing which often is helpful and occasionally terrible. But it is worth exactly what I am paying for it and I am keen to hear from anyone I can about how they play and if they are profitable. 

A big part of my game right now is trying to pick the right table. Often you go on a casino list so you don't get a choice but you can request a tale change if needed. Other times when it is quiet several tables have an empty seat and you can select where to sit. I look for drunk players first and foremost, then unbalanced stacks and if I can I try to observe the table for a bit. Even if I sit down I am waiting an orbit or o before I get too involved just to get a feel for the players.  When I have decided who is weak and I play aggressive against them. I also tend to be very aggressive in the first couple of hands I play - the other players seem to give a lot of respect until they have seen you for a bit and often fold to flop aggression or a second barrel on the turn.

I will try to update the blog again while I am out here - its been 10 days so far so I only have a short time left before I have to go back to CA.

Oceans 11 tournament - finally cracked it

So as you know I have been frequently going to Oceans 11 casino in Oceanside on Wednesdays and playing the tournaments they put on. I have made he final table a few times but the best I have got is 5th place last year.

Well, that all changed on March 4th when I finally won the thing. To be fair we chopped it 4 ways but I am going to chalk that up as joint 1st place!!

So what now....I guess I will have to pick another tournament to try to win....!

More cash game theory

So I played a lot of cash games in February and I lost a lot of money! I read a lot of books and forum messages and websites on cash game theory. I moved down limits to the micro levels and still lost. I played in the local CA casinos and lost some more.

Eventually I turned it around and started winning. Some significant adjustments I made regarding how to play include:

- play position very strongly but only with cards that can improve and only if the pot is worth it. For example if it is folded to me on the button with only the blinds to go I will not bother with raising any marginal hands because the pot is not worth it. However if there are 2 or more people in the pot I will play marginal hands because the pot is likely to be a decent size.

- in limit poker I was chasing draws to the end calling down bets on the turn and river when the pot was pretty small - I now will only call down to the river IF the pot is large. Most of the times I still miss my draw but when I gt the miracle river card the payoff now makes up for all the times I miss.

- I have upped the aggression. There are lots of limpers and weak players wanting to keep the pot small. I now raise much more than calling and c-bet more than 50% of flops that I have raised with a large near-potsized cbet. The idea is to get rid of the raggy cards preflop and get rid of the draws on the flop. I tend to fold to an aggressive flop re-raise unless I have a made hand.

- I am doing a lot more reading of my opponents and trying to understand pokertracker and its various statistics.  I am looking for tight weak players who will limp a lot into the pot preflop and fold to a raise either preflop or when they miss the flop.

- I am only playing the marginal hands from late position and being much more picky. It seems in cash games too many players now play 1 and 2 gappers trying to get lucky from the wrong position. I am trying to play less of these hands and focus on suited or high unsuited connectors from late position only and only when there is already money in the pot.

- tilt. I am trying to understand good poker players gamble their stack when they think they are ahead and therefore must lose sometimes. So if I lose my stack nd have to rebuy, no big deal. The beats I have taken have been sometimes very tough - KK v KK and he gets  a flush, A v JJ and he gets a straight etc etc. - No big deal. I now realise the other guy got lucky and I will often win those chips back by keeping my focus on the game.

Thats about it......