Vegas April 2012

Day 4 - Wynn noon, 5pm HORSE at MGM

Last Updated: 2012-04-26 08:40:16

Yesterday was a good day.

Sorry I'm late this morning, it was a very long night (and that's a good thing...)

Leon and I hit Starbucks to trade war stories over our hot beverages of choice to start our day. I told him about my very unfortunate victory dance over Paul's misfortune at my hands the night before. Also unfortunate was that Paul apparently did not hear my immediate apology at the time, but thankfully he had a very good sense of humor about it after a good night's sleep and I did apologize again.

So on to Wynn, and first let me say that I didn't hear anything about how "the crew" did at Aria yesterday except that Leon's 0-fer continued when he got knocked out on a set vs set hand.

I buy into Wynn and it was such a pleasure playing with chips for a change. I was stack building the entire tournament and was above average for pretty much the entire time after winning my first decent sized pot. Unfortunately I just can't remember a whole lot of hands but I do have a few that stick out in my mind.

The first was that we had a guy at the table that clearly had Parkinson's or something and was constantly swaying in his seat and had a little trouble holding cards and grabbing chips. He was a good player tho and did a good job of working through his difficulty.

But he also had a penchant for the random and unnecessary all-in move to try and take down pots now and then. After we broke down to two tables (there were only three, about 33 buyins with some rebuys) he got moved to the opposite end of the table and tried that move again. I leaned over to a guy next to me that I had been chatting with (one of about 3 players I recognized from previous trips, a little scary) and said "I really hope he tries that with me, I'm gonna bust him".

Well about 20 minutes later I raise out with A-10 and he calls. Flop 10-7-X. Here we go...how can I get him? I decide he will fall for the weak looking bet. I bet about 2 big blinds, he insta-shoves and I insta-call. He's got K-7. Next!

From that point I was pretty much able to run the table. I was easily the chip leader and nobody wanted to mess with me. I upped the aggression a little, and for the most part everyone stayed out of my way unless they had premium holdings themselves. Poker becomes a very easy game to play when you have lots of chips.

So we get down to final table and I continue to build my stack. They were paying 5, when we got down to 7 I think I get the short stack all-in with JJ vs his A-Q and he rivered the Q. Ugh. A woman down at the other end of the table then proceeded to double him up again, a tight player who had built up quite a stack lost her mind and called his all-in w/ just a straight draw and missed. Ugh again!

Just to back up a little, when we got to final table I was actually second in chips, a gentleman from Sweden had built up a stack a little bigger than mine. Well he was also taking good care of his stack but also would get out of line from time to time.

So back to 6 or 7 handed action, I'm in the big blind and I peeked at my cards early (I've been trying very hard to force myself not to look until my turn to act) and see pocket Jacks. It folds around to my Swedish buddy and he actually looks at me, smiles and says "all-in". Guy in between us folds and I didn't even have to think about making the call, risking my tournament life without a second thought 'cause I just instinctively knew Jacks were good.

He's got pocket 9s. Jacks hold up, now I'm massive chip leader.

But over the next several hands, my buddy who rivered the Q redoubled AGAIN by the tight lady, took big chunks from a couple of others and before we knew it we had taken out all but four of us and he and I were about tied with about 3/4 of the chips in play between us.

Now understand that at this moment it's just before 6:00. HORSE started at 5:00. Can only sign up until 7:00. I need to get my ass down to MGM at the other end of the strip and fast!

So I make an offer. Me and chip leader split 1st and 2nd place money and kick in $200 to the other two to split 3rd and 4th place money. Short stacks agree in a blink, the only thing left to negotiate was my buddy who owes his tournament life to me on a river suckout wanted to be able to say he WON a poker tournament and wanted to be in first place.

Fine buddy, take the extra $1. I gotta get out of here!

So I grab my money and start briskly walking down the strip. I make a stop at the room so I don't have to carry that much cash on me, haul ass down to MGM and walk into the casino with about 10 minutes to spare.

I wasn't the only one, they actually started up two new tables for all of us late buyins so we got to play with people who had equal stacks to start even tho we were two hours late buying in.

Early on I played poorly, no two ways about it. One of my problems when I play HORSE is that since its limit I have a tendency to play borderline hands I know better than to play early on, and was going between my starting stack of 7500 and about 6000 in chips. Then our table broke up and I got unlucky once and before I knew it I was down to 4000 chips.

I know a lot of my poker playing friends don't play a lot of limit and definitely don't play a lot of non-hold'em limit poker. One thing about these games is that with the extra round of betting you get in stud losing pots can easily be more costly than losing pots in hold'em. On the other hand, also unlike hold'em in most of these games it's a lot harder to be a heavy favorite. As a result in these types of tournaments "chip and a chair" is not nearly as improbable as it is in NLH. You see a lot of swing in chip stacks and you have to be mentally prepared for that to happen.

So after dropping down to 4000 I had a couple of great starting hands that I had to give up and and dammit I'm down to a low of 1425 I believe.

At this point I'm pissed at myself. Who the hell do I think I am planning to play in the 8-game mix this summer??? I must be out of my BLANK-ing mind thinking I can hang with these people in this game. I suck.

Oh by the way, the game was filled with B-list TV poker players. Layne Flack (I sat at a table with him years ago), Chip and Karina (?) Jett and Gavin Smith to name a few.

But back to "Pete has 1425 chips". Finally a little luck goes my way. I start with 3-5-6 in Razz and get all my chips in 3 handed. Razz is lowball for those who aren't familiar. Ace is low, straights and flushes don't count, A-2-3-4-5 is the best hand. Drawing to a 6 low is pretty damn good.

I catch a King (that's really bad), other guys catch low cards. I catch a queen, a 10 and a paint for the other two...DAMMIT I'm done. I catch an ace on 6th street, one pairs his 7, the other gets another face card. LIFE! Neither of them can beat a 6-low if I can hit! River cards are dealt and my heart sinks...it's a 9. No way is a 9 going to hold up. But then I hear disgust around the table...the guy who had caught the 10 rivered a 3rd 7 so he was 10-low (I think A-3-6-7-10 with the other two 7s not playing) and the other guy had caught 3 running paint cards, my 9 is GOOD! With the antes I had about quadrupled up!

From there I play tight as a drum, play only quality starting hands and lo-and-behold I start building up a stack. I win almost every pot I put more than one bet into.

Then players start dropping like flies. I see the "players remaining count drop to 40 (started with 97)...then 32. All of a sudden I have a shot at this thing!

At 24 (you play 8 handed due to the stud games) they redrew all tables and Brian W and I got put at the same table. Unfortunately I had to witness a bit of a blowup. Brian had a very good starting Razz hand and kept betting to represent as his board was running out all low. What we discovered after the river was that Brian had actually started pairing up and ended up losing the pot. Remember what I said about stud being costly and big swings? I wouldn't say he was crippled, but he definitely went from being one of the bigger stacks to one of the smaller ones.

Then down to two tables (Brian and I got split up) and I got very lucky once and then hit a monster hand and for the first time all night had a big stack of chips at my table. It went like this:

First one, playing hold'em I was a little short and in the small blind and called after action folded to me with J-7 suited. BB raises, I assume he's stealing and call. Flop 8-7-5. Middle pair has to be good after the guy was stealing, right? I bet, he calls. Turn a 10, I have a pair, an over and a gutshot now. I bet, he calls. River a 7 (no way!), I bet, he calls and flips over pocket aces.

Yup, folks, I risked my tournament life (I would have been down to about 4000 chips with blinds at 1500/3000) on J-7 and cracked aces with it. You can't make it up.

Little bit later, Omaha 8/b now, I'm in the big blind with two limpers and I see 8-5-4-2 rainbow (not a hand I'm normally inclined to want to play but I got in free).

Flop A-4-10. Huh. Middle pair (not great), and a 2nd nut low draw. OK I need to play this, I check, someone bets, call and I call.

Turn is a 4. Huh. I have trip 4s and a second nut low draw. I bet, call, call.

River is an 8. Full house! I bet, call, call, I say "I have a boat". Disgust, one guy tables his A-5-3-10. People start talking about the low and I say "what low? there's no low." DUH. Idiot. My second nut low is good as well, I scoop!!! And I just about triple up!

OK I know this is getting really long, but I'm out of major hands. We get down to 9 handed and there is some chatter and negotiation going on that I'm not following until it's explained to me - they want to agree to take a hair less than 8th place money out of the first place prize to pay 9 places. Tournament directory says that yes she will create a 9th place if we all agree and we do.

Now I said HORSE is played 8 handed. Do the math, 7-card stud, if everyone plays to the river that's 56 cards. Not that many in a deck, you really can't play more than 8 at a table just in case.

But in these tournaments they do final table at 9 anyway. I have yet to see running out of cards in a stud game but it's definitely possible and I'm sure it happens.

SO...

After about 30 minutes two people bust out on the same hand. We're down to 7 players. And the grind begins...

30 minutes, still 7 handed...

60 minutes, still 7 handed...

Oh, there's a guy two seats to my right I KNOW I recognize. Where do I know him from...we're on a break and I hear someone talking about McEvoy this, McEvoy that...HOLY SHIT that's Tom McEvoy. I've got like 4 of his poker books. Damn I wish I had one with me for him to sign...

Well McEvoy survived 2-3 all-ins along the way, I would guess we probably had about 8-10 short stack all ins and they won every time. I was a victim once or twice myself and doubled people up.

Then something happens that I have never seen before. We're about to go to the next level...and the clock doesn't have one! They RAN OUT OF LEVELS. And we're STILL SEVEN FREAKIN' HANDED.

So the tournament director sends us on a 5 minute break so she can figure out what the next level is.

We come back, I double up a short stack, someone else re-doubles him, another short stack doubles...oh i forgot to mention when we got down to 9 there was one guy with a MASSIVE stack of chips...well he had blown it and was down with the rest of us...

In steps Pete. "Guys, we're 7 handed, we're all pretty close in chips at this point, we're playing on a 'made up' level...anyone willing to chop?"

The very nice lady running the tournament pounces. "I have a computer program, if you guys are willing I'll stop the clock and get you chip-chop numbers. You don't have to commit to anything till I give you the numbers". Sure. We'll all hear what she has to say.

Well based on chip count, the person with the most chips was getting $2600 (that's Mr McEvoy), bottom money is about $2000, I'm getting a little over $2100. 5 people quickly agree. One guy says he doesn't care and sounds like he really doesn't care.

But the guy whose aces I had cracked, who was now 2nd in chips after building back up, isn't sure. Why?

Well they had put out the trophy for the winner of the tournament. He thinks we should play for the trophy, that it shouldn't just get handed to McEvoy.

Seriously?

Sigh.

He relents, we all shake hands. It's over. I got somewhere around 3rd place money, McEvoy the "big winner" only got a little better than 3rd place money. Everyone goes home happy.

WHEW. Sorry this was so long. But folks, I basically played poker non-stop for 16 hours from the noon tournament until this ended around 4am. I had a lot to say.

When I got back to my room I was so wired up even after the very long walk from MGM to IP I was pacing for 5-10 minutes. I was gonna sit down and blog then but finally within about another 10-15 mins I went from hyper to totally crashing and I went to bed.

So today it will be Aria at 1pm and if I don't cash, the 7:00 as well. Four straight cashes, one top-two chop and a top-7 chop. What a great two days.