 Vegas November 2007 |
| Day Two (Friday) |
| So we slept until about 11:30 am, I'll admit I was dragging a little at first on only 4-ish hours of so-so sleep. Started the day by blowing some money at craps while Matt made some money (he bets the "Don't"s so generally our results are opposite of each other). Matt is not a big buffet fan, but he knows that I am so either he was being nice or he just wanted to get it over with and suggested I pick one. Easy choice for me, Bellagio it was. Very good as always, and for those who read the blog from the summer trip yes, I did have the ice cream with caramel again and no, I wouldn't say it had the same effect. A couple of the softball guys joined us, they each plowed through two huge plates of food so it's a fair bet they liked the buffet. But I officially give up on trying to turn Matt on to buffets, if that one doesn't impress him none of them will. He did like the food and appreciated the selection, but I guess it's just not his thing...
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| Then it was on to Binions for the big Omaha High tournament we were so looking forward to. With a little time to kill before it started I finally had a good session at the craps table. Good thing because I lasted all of 10 minutes in the tournament. First let me say that we called ahead and were told they typically get 70-90 people. When we got there a dejected looking tournament director said it was looking more like 30-40 and when the tournament started it was three tables of six (they were hoping for some late buy-ins) Not sure we would have even bothered if we knew that few would be in it. I lasted all of 10 minutes. Flopped a nut straight, someone called me down on a draw to a better straight and hit. In hindsight I guess I could have slowed down, but doubling up early would have been nice so if I had the chance to do it over I don't know if I'd do anything differently.
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| Needless to say I was somewhat dejected at that point. I was swearing off November weekend trips to Vegas forever.
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| But then things started to change for me...
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| Since Matt had built up a decent stack I needed to do something so I sat in a $1-2 no limit cash game. They started a table for us 4-handed and told us all we were "must move", which basically meant that as soon as seats opened up at the other, full tables we were going to be required to fill those seats. That took all of 10 minutes. So I move tables, first hand at the new table I'm first or second to act and I have pocket queens. I make it $7 to go, guy immediately to my left makes it $27 to go...and there are three callers. I'm in agony at this point. I've had a really rough go so far in the last 18 or so hours and the last thing I need is to bust out. Part of me says go all-in right here...but somehow I remain level-headed about the whole thing. I decide none of the three callers has an over pair, none of them re-re-raised. So my only concern is that over-the-top-guy has an overpair or has A-K. I decide to see a flop and smooth call. Flop is three rags (8-6-3 rainbow I believe) and I'm first to act. I push immediately and everyone folds. First pot at the table puts about $100 back in my pocket. I win another decent pot and walk away ahead $120, most of my buy-in from Omaha. I would have stayed longer but Matt had managed to bust out of Omaha also.
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| We play a little blackjack and then head back into town. Now Matt and I decide to part ways. Matt wants to make sure everyone is here and up to speed on the plans for softball and I want to play in the Harrah's $100 buy-in.
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| The tournament was actually $60 buy-in plus a one-time $40 rebuy that most people take up front including myself. Also turns out there's a $10 bounty on everyone's head, but only if you take out someone who has used up their rebuy. The good news for me is that within the first 10-12 hands I twice hit trip jacks with a suited Jack of Diamonds in the whole (Jd-10d and Jd-Kd) and take out two people. Bad news is that neither had done the up-front rebuy so I only get effectively half a stack from each. Still, tho, I'm early chip leader. After that I couldn't get much action whenever I raised preflop so I maintained my stack but didn't get a lot of chances to build it.
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| But I had a magic card, the Jd. Later on I had a hand where I didn't trust it, a loose player raises out and I have Jd-7s. I call, but there's another caller behind me. Flop comes J-rag-rag but all hearts. Loose player immediately goes all in. I KNOW I have him beat, but there's a caller to act behind me and if I'm wrong it's going to hurt me and surely one of them has a heart, which I do not. I fold, other guy calls. Original raiser had A-Q spades, caller had just K-10 with Kh. Dammit, my pair of jacks would have held up. I do eventually take loose guy out tho when he pushes with A-Q and I call with pocket Js (including, of course, Jd).
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| As the blinds went up, tho, since my stack wasn't getting bigger I eventually got to where I was going to have to make a move. At 1000/2000 blinds I only had about 10K and then had to give up my next two blinds. I'm looking for an excuse to push, I'm pushing with the first A I get without a raise in front of me. So in just that situation I look at one card, Ah, and I push. Guy with only a little more than me calls and turns over pocket 10s. I flip over my cards and my kicker is "the prettiest card in the deck"...I've got the pocket rockets. They hold up and I double up. A few hands later I get pocket 7s. It's a bounty, there was only one big blind because of a takeout on the previous hand and the blind only has another 5000 behind his 2000 blind so with the $10 bounty I figure best thing to do is make it 7000 to go. He's calling with any two. But the person between us on the button surprises me by going over the top for 14K and the BB dutifully calls with the chance to triple up.
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| This puts me in the tank. The raiser in between us was clearly a tight player. But I had stolen her blinds a couple of times (with legitimate hands). I've got to be beat by her I think to myself. However: 1) I'm getting about 4-1 on my money; 2) 8000 chips is not a lot with blinds close to going 2000/4000; 3) even if I lose the main pot of 21K there's still a 14K side pot so if it turns out I have her beat and can take the side pot I'm at least back where I started. It was an agonizing decision but I made the call. Over-the-top only has A-6, I'm way in the lead for the side pot and short stack has K-10 so I'm a little better than a coin flip for the main pot. 7s hold up, I'm back to being big stack.
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| At that point we were 12-handed with 5 paying. I'm up and down but eventually I make it to final three and I engineer a three-way split. A little under $600 each, short stack tips the dealer $100 from his share from all three of us and everyone goes home happy. Plus I had $40 in bounties.
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| In the space of about 4 hrs I went from down for the trip and depressed to up for the trip and happy. You gotta love Las Vegas! I find Matt and he's got A LOT of green chips in front of him at a blackjack table.
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| Well it's way past how late I should be up even tho we don't have to get up too early tomorrow. I'll be the first to admit I'm torn....can't say I'm overly looking forward to softball, but I know that once I start playing the competitive juices will start flowing and it will be cool if we can make some noise. Matt seems very confident that we have a good team. So hopefully tomorrows blog will be more about softball than about gambling. |
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