Vegas June 2018 (WSOP)

Day 2 - WSOP 8-Game Mix

Last Updated: 2018-06-10 14:40:30

Before I get to poker I learned something new Saturday.

Seemed rather odd to me that our elevator for floors 31-54 had no buttons in the 40's. My first thought was that it just didn't service them. Except when we went up there was no gap. The elevator counts the floors as you pass them and it went immediately from 39 to 50 when we got there. So "what gives" I thought.

Apparently the word for "4" in Mandarin sounds an awful lot like the word for "death", and it's considered bad luck. So hotels that expect to cater to Chinese, which let's face it is pretty much all of Vegas, skip floor numbers in the 40's. So there are really only 44 floors at Aria, but they're numbered 1-39, 50-54. Our room on the 52nd floor is really on the 42nd. Just doesn't seem as cool any more :-)

Spent a little time at the pool, lunch at the Bellagio Cafe (really good french onion soup!) and over to Rio for the 8-Game Mix.

I've had better days...

8 games in rotation, change game every 6 hands. Six limit games, one pot-limit, one no-limit. Started out with limit Omaha 8/b. Lost a chunk on the only hand I played.

On to Razz and in 6 hands had 4 face cards up and a pair of 4s in a 5th and a 4 up but 9-10 in the hole. Already down about 1K from my 7500 starting stack.

First pot I won came in PLO, I flopped an open-ended straight flush draw and caught the flush on the turn (not a great flush, but 6-handed so good enough). Then in limit hold'em I picked up pocket 9s, raised pre-flop, one caller, went bet/call every street on a 4-6-8-3-J board and 99 was good! Back up to starting stack again.

Again got hammered in 8/b, picked up a couple of decent pots in 2-7 and NLH and finished the first level at 8150.

Fucking Razz. Start out with A-2-6. Guy calls me down in spite of catching two face cards on what should be a scary board for me...but I paired, also caught a face card and all said and done I lose with J-7 to a J-5. Argh!

I catch any card on river that doesn't pair me lower than a Jack and I win the pot. Then playing limit Hold'Em I start out with JJ, all undercard board but I was called down by 8-6 who flopped and open ender and caught on the river. Down to 5k. 4225 at the first break.

Lose another thousand in NLH, another 500 in antes and bring ins in Razz and I'm down to 2500. One third of a starting stack. Can't get in a pot.

I work my way down to a measly 825 chips. Antes killing me, no hand is working out. We're on stud 8/b.

I start out with AAT with the T showing. Two other players, both have low cards so I figure I have a decent shot at taking the high.

I get all my chips in by 4th street, they go at it a little as their boards run out a mix of high and low cards. I catch another A on 6th street. One guy only has two pair, other guy trip jacks. I scoop and triple up!

Back up to 3K. At least I have fighting chips!

Little while later now on Omaha 8/B I pick up AA47 double suited. Guy raises into me, I go over the top, we end up capping. Flop 3-6-8 so I have overpair, gutshot, second nut low and a backdoor flush. 2 on the turn, pair the 6 on the river, I bet every street, he folds on river and shows me his A-2.

Very next hand, can't make it up, AA27! Same guy caps the betting with me pre, but flop comes Q-J-Q. We check down to river, AA is good, I'm at 5675. Pick up some chips later in Razz and go into the next break over 7K. I thought I was at 6625 but it turned out I forgot how to count, made stacks of 12 instead of 10 and really had something like 7200. Duh. Noob!

Dust off 1500 in Razz (fucking Razz), but then take out a very short stack to get back up to 7650.

Cindy Violette sits down at the table.

I work my way up a little over 8K again, but that was the high point of the day for me.

Lose a chunk in 2-7 when I start with a great draw (2-3-4-6) and miss every street. Then lose to Violette 2 pr vs 2 pr (I caught on 5th, she caught on 6th) and just like that down to 3600. 3550 end of level 5.

Get a little back when somehow 2 pr is good in Omaha 8/b with three low cards on the board because everyone paired one of their low cards and I had the only 2 pr.

But...stud 8/b, start out with 456, catch a 7...and miss literally everything, don't think I even paired up. 2225.

Next hand back to 2-7 TD. I get a walk in the BB and don't play another had of those six.

On to No Limit Hold'Em.

Blinds for no/pot limit games are half what they are for limit games. I'm sitting on what is a 15 BB stack for NL and 7.5 BB stack for limit. Not good. And in 2.5 minutes that will change to 10 BB and 5 BB after a break.

I look down at 87 of clubs, decide it's worth taking a shot and I shove. For the record the push/fold chart in the new Jonathan Little book I'm in the middle of says this is a profitable shove in exactly the situation I'm in. :-)

I go all in, get called by A-Q off. I'm a little better than 40/60 preflop, when I flop T-5-2 with two clubs I'm actually ahead 56-44...but QQ on turn and river is the end of me. But what more could I have asked for than getting a great flop and a chance to double up?

So 6 hours of poker, card dead most of it and aside from that one run I had the gaps were just two long between winning hands for me to really make any noise. And I had some really tough runouts too many times when I had good starting hands.

Dave arrived just a few minutes after I busted, the three of us got pizza at NYNY and we called it a night.

Originally I had planned to play HORSE on Sunday if this didn't work out, but as badly as I want to play mixed games I don't think I want to do it back-to-back. Limit games are so card dependent and I think I want a chance to play something where I can have more impact on the outcome next.

So instead Sunday we'll do some shopping and then play in the 7pm at Aria. Wish me luck!