The Las Vegas trip was a good time. I could not access their "free wifi" Internet at the Orleans so I will have to summarize the whole trip in one posting.
Friday:
We get to Vegas and after we check into our hotel I went to get my free $250 in promotional chips. I find out that the host was wrong and once you play a bet with the promotional chips, win or lose, you lose the promo chip. Second, I am only given 6 $25 in chips and one $100 chip in which I have to bet. The whole arrangement threw me off and I had to think what I wanted to do. I decided, at that point, that if I can turn half of the $250 into cash ($125) I would be happy. So I decided to to play roulette and bet $125 on black and $125 on red. The only way I would lose all is if the ball landed on 0 or 00. However, after the pit floor declined my bet, I left for the stip to have a good time and make my decision on the promo chips later.
My wife and her friend wanted to hang out at Bellagio and Cesar's Palace for awhile so I went and played some 4-8 Holdem at the Bellagio. The game was great, however I was still running pretty bad. I did not pick up a pot into about an hour and forty five minutes of playing. I went on to win three pots total for the night and was up $75 and headed back to my hotel.
I decided to go back to the Roulette table with my promo chips and bet two separate bets of $125 on black. The first spin was red, but the second spin bailed me out and was black. I took my $125 win and went to the room for the night.
Saturday:
I woke up at 11:30am and got into the noon tournament at the Orleans. The buy-in was $60 and consisted of 82 players. I played perfect. After four hours of play and only getting four premium hands (AQ, JJ, 10-10, and 10-10 again) I used my position to steal pots and get to the final table. With 7 players left and the blinds at $4,000-$8,000 and antes at $200, I am in the small blind with 9-10 clubs. Everyone folds and with my $25,000 in chips, I decide to make a move and go all-in. The big blind calls instantly with A-6 off. The flop comes 8-J-4, the turn is a Q and I double up and leave the big blind with less than $8,000 in chips. I steal the big blinds the very next hand with K-9 on the button. A few hands later we are left with 5 players. We have the chip leader with $170,000, 2nd has $80,000 in chips and me and the other two have about $50,000 each. Everyone on the table agrees to make a deal giving the chip leader $750, $550 to 2nd, and $435 to me and the other two players. Yipee!
After the tourney my wife and I take a cab to the Rio where we check out the WSOP! We star gaze and see Mike Caro, Anne Duke, Phil Ivey, and Todd Brunson. My wife ends up going up to Daniel Negreanu and asks him to take a picture with her. He agrees and was extremely nice and funny. I get him to sign the newest edition of Bluff with him on the cover. It was pretty cool.
We go back to the Orleans and my wife goes and hangs with her friend for awhile where I head back to the tables. I was expecting to play 4-8 Omaha but see one table playing a sort of mix games and one seat open. The game is 4-8 limit and consists of Razz, Seven Stud 8 or better, Omaha Hi/Low, 2-7 Low Ball, and Bodogey. I am very familiar with Omaha and have played Stud 8 and Razz in the online Horse tourneys. However, I have never played 2-7 low ball nor even herd of Bodogey. I decide to get in the game and play it anyways as it looked like a lot of fun. The players were all drinking and were WSOP dealers. They said they come to the Orleans and play this game 5 days a week while the series is going. I learn 2-7 lowball which is a triple draw game where you want to make the lowest hand possible without making a straight, flush, or pair, and Ace in this game is high only. Bodogey is another triple draw game with four cards where you want to make the lowest four card hand possible with Ace being low only. Also, all four cards need to be of different suites. If any cards are of the same suit, the hand is considered only a three card hand and would lose to any four card hand. Confusing? Anyhow, I play the game for 8 hours and develop a strategy for the new games and end up winning $65 in which I was very happy to do! I end up calling it a night or morning as it was 10am!
Sunday:
I wake up about 1pm and my wife and I decide to go back to the WSOP as she wanted to see Jenifer Tilly (don't ask me why.) We get there about 4pm and find out that Tilly was already knocked out of the Ladies WSOP Tourney ($1,000 buy-in). However, as we were walking up we see our good friend Su playing in the series and figured she would be there. As we approached her at her table she gets up and starts walking towards us. She gives us a hug and then starts walking away from the tables stating she just got knocked out. Turns out she had AQ in the small blind and just called a two big blind raise from a middle position player with KQ. The flop came A-J-10 and that was her tournament! We hang around for a bit after that and watch the final table of the $2,500 Limit Holdem tourney where our new friend Daniel Negreanu was at final table with two other players. We find out the next day that he did not win.
I go back to The Orleans where I play 8-16 Omaha Hi/Low for about two hours and end up winning $40. I go up to the room with my wife about 11pm and take a nap.
My wife and I wake up at 1am and decide to take a cab back to the strip. We stop by a small casino calle Osheas where she played a little Casino War and I got into a short stacked 3am $45 NL tourney. There was 18 players and I ended up pushing A-10 off against KQ towards the middle of the tourney and lose when a Queen hits the board and I get no help. My wife and I get back to the hotel at 8am and crash.
Monday:
My wife and I decide to take Monday slow and hang out at the pool and pretty much wait for out 6pm flight back home. The trip was a pretty good time!
I am now visiting my in-laws in San Jose, CA and until Sunday and will probably play some 4-8 Omaha Hi/Low at Bay 101. I went to Borders and picked up Daniel Negreanu's No-Limit Holdem strategy book and will read the book very soon.
Full Tilt beginning balance - $36.99
$2.25 NL Holdem SNG - 9 players
Excited to start practicing my NL tourney skills and improve my NL stats, I jump into a SNG NL tourney. The very first hand in middle position I get AJ diamonds and raise 4 X BB to $120. The big blind re-raises $120 and I call with everyone else folding. The flop is 8-9-10 rainbow and the BB shoots out half the pot $240 and I call. The turn is a 3 and the BB checks, I bet out $500 and the BB goes all-in and I call. The BB shows QQ and the river comes another 3 and I lose on the very first hand. I think to myself that I risked too much with AJ and should have taken the free card on the turn. Oh well!
$2.25 Omaha Hi/Low SNG - 9 players
I hang on surviving most of the tourney only to finish 4th when I push a nut-nut draw on the turn only to miss completely on the river.
$2.25 NL Holdem SNG - 9 players
I double up in the first round when my BB hand of 8-5 flops two pairs and a player with a straight draw calls all-in on the turn and misses. I play aggressive the whole way through and find myself left heads up with a 3.5-1 chip advantage over the other lone player. My opponent makes things even when my AJ goes all-in against his pocket Kings. We then go all-in a few hands later with my opponent covering me and him holding K8 of clubs and my holding A6 of spades. When the flop hits all clubs I finish 2nd and get $5.40 out of it.
$2.25 NL Holdem SNG - 9 players
I try another NL game only to lose when I over play my AQ to a set of nines. I finish 4th and out of the money...oh brother.
500FTP NL Holdem MTT - 18 players
I had a hunger to play a multi-tourney and decided to use some of my 1,800 FTP points to do so. The first two places get a free entry to a $22 Sunday tourney that has 1st place at $31,000...wow! Anyhow, I play my position and cards to 1st place and get a free entry to the big tourney! Yipee!
$.02/$.05 Omaha HI/Lo PL Cash game - $2.50 buy-in
I get back into a cash game and soon double up with AA2J double suited (hearts and diamonds) when I go all in on the turn with the board Q976 (2 hearts) and a player with J-J-10-10 calls me down and the river pairs the 6. A few hands later I push my nut low on the turn and take down a $1 pot. I cash out when the blind hit me $5.64.
$1.25 NL Holdem MTT - 90 players
Again, I was in the mood to play some multi-table tourneys coming back from Vegas and the WSOP. I again use my strategy of playing position and actually start catching pocket Aces twice and pocket Kings once. I get to the final table and with 7 players remaining and 1000-2000 blinds in middle position I raise 7000 of my 24000 chips with KQ of spades and the button re-raises all-in and has me covered. The pot has 38,000 in it and cost me 17,000 to call. Getting more than 2 to 1 and my table image is one that is very aggressive, I call. My opponent has KQ also the King of diamonds and queen of clubs. The flop comes three diamonds and I knew I was in trouble. The turn comes 3 of clubs and the river is a nice queen of diamonds to send me packing with a $3.60 prize. I hate MTT tourneys...haha only half kidding.
Full Tilt Ending Balance - $38.70
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