Vegas mark IV - Part 1

So it comes and goes. The vacation I had waited weeks for and worked my ass off to be able to go to has passed. It was an absolute blast. My initial worries that Brandie would get bored were totally unwarranted. She played more than I did (damn you need for sleep). I made the move to playing predominantly No Limit this time around. Finally. And I agree with what Mark and Daniel have said for a while now. That's where I belong.

Though I don't read many poker blogs (as that requires time, and you can probably figure out that I don't have much based on my post frequency) it was nice to meet all the bloggers. Some even asked my blog's name. Great. Can anyone say readership going up 75%!!!! Sure, that's only from 4 to 7, but dammit that's progress.

So anyway, on to the events of the trip. The first day was a bit slack, we got in and ate immediately. After that we played at the Flamingo (where I'm still at a net loss) and Brandie got her first Vegas poker action at a 2/4 table. I sat at a no limit table, and there was truely nothing to speak of save a single steal (successful) where I won a 30$ pot on the flop with A4s. And that was that.

Later we headed to the Excal, which is one of my favorite places. We got to play with Joe Stevenson's (UFC fame) father-in-law. An enormous and mean looking guy, who was pretty damn funny and fun to have at the table. He and Brandie got into some staredowns that were pretty comical. Good times. After a trek to the MGM for a while and some wind-down action at the Sahara (with these two guys that "didn't know what they were doing" but were quite obviously proud of their poker abilities...and were dicks), I had a profit at the end of the first night. First time that's happened on one of these trips. Score.

Mark was in town when we woke, and he and Daniel were on their way to the Wynn. Brandie and I had an interesting time getting there as the shuttle to the Wynn (from the monorail) had changed locations that day due to construction, and no new signage had been posted. Anyway, we got there and I had my first glimse of their poker room. Nice looking. Can't say that for the rest of the Wynn. Too warm earthy in the color scheme for me.

As I do not have my notes in front of me right now, I don't remember where all we played that day (though I remember the Mirage being involved...and Daniel almost not doubling up on this one guy due to a dealer's mistake and not hearing call...when he had A's). Oh well. I do remember the low limit HORSE at MGM though. Damn, that was fun (once we got into the damn game...took nearly 3 hours and then we got bumped from the list on the way back to MGM from Excal and had to wait again).

Oh yeah, a memorable hand came at the Excal just before that. Playing 1/3 spread I had pocket queens. In late middle I raised to 4. I get two callers, one in the blinds and one in the cutoff. Flop comes QAx and the blind caller checks. I go to 3 and to my suprise, the cutoff raises. This guy's been playing some, crazy stuff for many raises, so no credit for A's can be given in my opinion (plus it's 1/3 spread...can't loose that much in that game right). Blind caller folds, I reraise, he calls. The turn brought another A and I figure my boat's seeing this one through. Sure, quad A's were a possibility, but not a probability. AQ? Well if he had it so be it. We went to the cap on both the turn and river (which I thought didn't exist heads up the last time I was at the Excal). He turns over an Ace proudly expecting the pot. He still expected it after I turned up the boat. His friends explained it to him. He still didn't understand. Whatever, the dealer shoved me the pot and I went a stackin'.

HORSE was tremondous. Mark existed the game stating "that one's to be filed under 'games I have no business playing'". I don't know about that. Fortunatley due to playing these games at home, I felt perfectly comfortable. Two nut lows in a row on Stud Eights made me feel great ('specially on the one that quartered the high). We tried to get the dealer to add Badugi in there, but he said that only like 3 of the dealers knew how to deal it (because they played). Then we asked about Chinese, and he said something to the effect of he knew all 10 people who played Chinese in the US. Rounded the night off with some drinks and prepared for the tourney the next morning.

Next episode: The Tourney, The Cup, and The Beat that Should not Be