Vegas October 2021 (WSOP)

Day 13 - Event #39 PLO

Last Updated: 2021-10-21 11:17:17

This is gonna be short because, well...

Patrick knew I was at Starbucks at Aria early Wednesday morning, but wasn't sure exactly where it is (he hasn't met me here in quite a while) so he went looking for it. And he found Starbucks ... but I wasn't there.

There is a second Starbucks at Aria!!! In their convention center area! With almost no lines compared to the high traffic one I usually sit at! After all these years I had no idea.

The three of us then got together for a full breakfast at Salt and Ivy and over to Rio we went.

I didn't even make it through two hours. Literally everything went bad. Cue up "Break Stuff" by Limp Bizkit, it was just one of those days...

We registered late, but not so late that we didn't get unsold seats (as opposed to them creating tables for us). I sit down in my assigned seat and Ari Engel is sitting at the other end of my table. I've played with him before. Some other guy is sitting to my right that I feel like looks familiar but I never figured out who, if anyone, he is.

I pick up K-K-9-5 single suited, there is a raise into me so I just call. You really have to not get too enamored with Kings in Omaha, you really want other broadway cards (and suits) with them. Flop comes K-6-T with two hearts. I lead out for I think 1200 (2/3 of the pot) and one person calls.

Turn is the nine of hearts completing a flush draw, checks around. River is the ace of hearts, the other guy makes a 1/4-ish pot sized bet that I call and he rolls over two tens for second set ... but also two small hearts for a baby flush. Ugh.

Picked up two aces with two cards that didn't connect at all and no suit, I called a preflop raise but completely whiffed.

And of course every other hand I'm dealt is an A-2/A-3 type hand that I'd be playing all day in Omaha 8/b but are junk in this game.

Raise out with K-Q-J-8 with the king suited in spades. Flop comes J-T-7 two clubs so I'm open ended with top pair! Finally hit a flop! Make a continuation bet, one caller. 2 on the turn, check around, I get led into on a blank river unimproved and have to give up. Top pair is never good enough in that spot.

Sometimes you have to take a shot, and I decided to take one and it didn't work out too well...

I don't remember my whole hand, but the bottom line was I had two aces with one suited in hearts plus the ace of spades.

Flop comes K-2-5, all spades. It checks to me and I bet 3/4 of the pot with my ace of spades.

The term for this is the "dry ace bluff."

You have the card that would give you the nuts if you actually had another card of the same suit to go with it, because in Omaha usually when someone is representing a flush they almost always have one. So having the ace of the right suit is very powerful in this game.

Only one caller who seemed reluctant.

Turn is a blank, I again bet 3/4 of the pot. He thinks a while and calls.

River is another blank. No paired board so no full house possible. Again I bet 3/4 of the pot...

He thinks for a while, shrugs and calls. He has two pair, Kings and 5s, no flush. But better than my pair of aces.

I'm under half a starting stack, but no problem. Blinds not that big, still well more than 20 big blinds.

But ... I think I won exactly one small pot the rest of the way and that was only because everyone else's crappy hand was worse than my crappy hand and nobody bet.

I call a preflop raise with T-T-6-8 double suited (spades and diamonds). See the flop 5-handed including the blinds.

Flop comes T-6-A, it checks to me and I bet about 3/4 of the pot. The small blind, who had just called preflop, check-raises to 3500. Clearly he has aces, same guy that hit the baby flush earlier, I fold. If I'd had a flush draw to go with my middle set of 10s against his likely top set I might have called and tried to return the favor, but I didn't so I didn't.

Just after that I call a min-raise with Q-7-7-6 with clubs I think, 5 or 6 handed. I flop top pair, the board runs out 4 spades, everyone checks every street. QQ is good, my only pot of the day.

Start with T-J-Q-K, a great starting hand, with the king suited in spades.

But ... flop naturally comes all low with two spades, someone bets pot ahead of me. I decide not to go with just a bare non-nut flush draw for my tournament life. In hindsight I wish I had ... If it had checked to me, I probably would have bet pot to try and take it right there and just got my chips in on the turn if someone called and didn't go over the top to put me in right there.

There had been an empty seat for the whole time I was there, Dan Shak finally sits down in it. I've played with him before, in fact I believe it was the first time I played 8-game mix.

I don't play with him very long this day...

A-K-J-T with a suit, clubs I think, I raise out for pot which is about 1/4 of my remaining stack. Only Engel calls.

Flop is an ace and two spades, I bet pot, Engel sees I only have another 700 behind and says "I shouldn't have called preflop, I've got three of my suit", verifies it's only another 700 and tosses out enough chips to cover my stack. He has K-J-9-rag with three spades. Could have been a queen rather than a jack but I don't think so...

Since I have his broadway cards covered he really only has the flush draw as any running two pair he might get unless it was specifically the 9-rag would leave me with a better two pair, running straight gives me a straight too. So it's as good a spot as I could ask for. Cardplayer odds calculator has me a 2-1 favorite in that spot to double up.

Spade on the turn, spade on the river to twist the knife, out.

Patrick meanwhile was building his stack a little. Little over 30k at the first break I didn't even last to, little under 40k at the second break and playing with Josh Arieh, who the two of us have played with before when he and I played in the tag-team event several years ago. I believe it was him and his son tag-teaming.

We don't think we're going to be driving any more since the rest of my poker itinerary is at Aria. I've decided that much as I'd like to play HORSE at Orleans on Friday the Seniors event at Aria is a better opportunity. I definitely feel like I have an advantage on the field in a more touristy seniors event like I expect Aria to be.

Joann suggested then that I go head out to a Sam's Club to gas up for the return home and get any more liquor shopping I want to do out of my system while I'm out. Joann was planning to read a book all day, which is exactly what she wanted to do, and me climbing the walls with nothing to do in the hotel room was not going to help her accomplish her goal for the day...

I hit four liquor stores, came away empty handed (a temptation or two, and one bottle I actually wish I'd gone ahead and bought because I saw it two more times in two different stores and the price went up every time ... but I didn't ...), got gas and went back to the room.

Pizza for me and a sandwich for Joann at NYNY (it's NEVER taken me 13 days to get my first slice at Sirocco's before!!!), back to the room for a little whisky and poker streaming and we called it a night.

Patrick unfortunately busts out as I'm finishing up my last slice and texts asking if we want to go for pizza :-)

The plan for the rest of the trip is simple:

Hold'Em at Aria on Thursday
Seniors tournament at Aria on Friday
Limit Omaha 8/b at Aria on Saturday
Football at Tom's Urban on Sunday