The Joker in Vegas

[Joker161]

Level 5. 200/400/400. TM got involved with LB and said as he called the raise "I think I am 80% to win this hand." Flop comes T87, LB bets, TM puts in a massive raise. And then there's lots of talk. LB eventually folds AA face up and TM shows 87. TM then starts telling stories about his premonitions, and how he was down to the last 11 in a big tournament and senses he was going to win the next hand as the dealer was shuffling. The bloke to his right raises, and he goes all in blind and the bloke calls. TM then hits the straight flush on the river. Jimmy Hill. Sadly LB got moved soon after that hand. TM limps and so does someone else; I'm in the BB and have K5s. Am I going to see a free flop? Of course not. There's a player who lost a big hand and is down to 5k. So he's pushing loads. Including this hand. It's costing 1000 a round at the moment. I need a hand! I get KQ UTG+2 and it looks massive. I raise and everyone folds! I then get 65 in the BB and all in boy has min raised (he has some chips now). I call. Flop comes 843. Interesting. I bet, he calls. Brick on the turn, check, check. Handy free card, but I miss the river too. I can't get a break! I have just over 18k. By the way, we have nearly 600 runners already and there were over 500 yesterday, so it looks like they made their $1mn guarantee. Last hand of Level 5 I get T3 in the BB and I get to see a flop! And it comes 542. Check, bet, call. Turn is a six! Exciting. I bet and he calls. River is another two and it puts three hearts out there. Check, check. I win a pot!! 22k.

[Joker161]

Level 6 is 300/500/500. I get AK! I'm in the SB. There's one raiser, I re-raise and he calls. Low flop, I bet and he tank folds. 24k. Next hand there's a call and I call with 97s. Amazingly no one raises, so I get to see a flop. It's all high cards, but it only cost me 500. Card dead for the rest of the level.   On my second break at the moment.

[Joker161]

Level 7. I'm going to record every hand in case I get nothing all Level, just for ****s and giggles. Here goes. 74o. A5o. QJo (already raised - AR). K8o. 62o. 93o. 75o in the BB. I get to look at the flop! Total miss. J6o. KQs on the button. There's a call, I raise to 2k and the BB (TM) calls. Flop has none of my suit and all the cards are 8 or less. Checked round. The turn is low too and the original caller bets. We both fold. Next, AJo, but AR (and the hand gets messy. TM re-raises the raiser with AA, and the raiser calls with 86s! And then it all goes in when the raiser hit his straight. Psychic TM didn't see that one!) Next, I get 99 and am first in raising. Two callers. Flop is seven high. I bet and they both fold. Up to 22k. Totally forgotten the next hand, so it must have been bad. Next, 73o. 93o. TM got his aces cracked again. He's not happy. 96o. A2o in the BB and there's no raise! Totally miss the flop. 85o. T9o AR. A7s AR. Last hand of the level. I get 66. Bloke to my right, who plays quite a few hands, makes it 1500. I decide to re-raise to 4200 and the BB then pushes for 10600. The raiser folds. I know I should fold, leaving me with a playable stack, but I'm getting great odds and he could easily be on AK/AQ. So I reluctantly call and he has QQ. Six on the flop. Phew. I now have 34k.

[Joker161]

Level 8. I'll stop all this "telling you every hand" nonsense. Interesting to note that we had 19 hands that level. So about two circuits each level. Is that slow? Anyway, I do an UTG steal with 87s and it gets though. Then I get to see another flop in the BB with Q6o. Flop is 543. Ooh! Checked round. The turn is a nine and puts two flush draws out there. TM bets 5k and I fold. Two on the river! But then when TM bets some other bloke pushes on him. Did he have 76? I got to see a flop in the BB against TM. It was an AKx board so I decided to take a stab at it. Error. He instantly re-raised. 2k down the drain. Next hand I get 87s in the SB. There's a raise and two calls so I call (bit of a punt). I miss, the raiser bets and we all fold. Lots of excitement - the very next hand I get AJ on the button. A loose player raises, I re-raise and he calls. Flop is T98. He checks. I'm tempted to bet but decide to take the the free card. Turn a seven. Nice. He checks, I bet, he folds. I have 36k.

[Joker161]

Level 9. We are up to 500/1k/1k. Went for another UTG steal with 22. Only the BB called. The flop was 886. Pretty scary, so I bet and he folds. This UTG thing seems to work, so I try with 75s. Two callers. Flop is T43. Close! I bet but get raised by "a loose player" above. A waste of 6k in chips. Hmm. I raise to steal in LP with K2. The BB calls and we see a king high flop. He checks, I bet and he folds. Then the disaster. A few minutes before the break I go and get my tournament card stamped so I can get $10 off in the Grand Lux. As I come back to the table I see that the dealer is shuffling and I'll get another hand. I get 99 in MP and raise. Someone new to the table re-raises to 6,500. Difficult. Perhaps I should fold here, and I don't like the call, but I decide to make it 13,500. He thinks for a bit and goes all in for 28k. That's 15k more for me and would leave me with about 3k. I properly tank, but decide that I'm more likely to be behind than ahead, and I can just about work with 18k, so I fold. Really annoying. I should have just gone to the Grand Lux.

[Joker161]

Level 10. The blinds go through me. Then I'm the BB again, the monster stack on my right raises, and I call with K7. The flop is king high. He bets, I push, he insta-folds. 20k. This monster stack seems like a very good player. Just active enough. Although he did get caught out earlier when his raise got through and when he threw his cards in, they hit the dealer's hand and flipped up. A2o. Hmm. Anyway, that's the only hand I played during the whole level. Level 11 is 1k/1.5k/1.5k, so I need to get busy. First hand of the level UTG raises, monster stack (MS) calls and I'm UTG+2 with AJ. I almost fold, but decide to push. UTG folds saying he had KJ and MS calls with 88. Ace on the flop so I double up. 47k. Finally I get AA. Luckily someone else has a hand too. UTG raises to 3500, I make it 8500, he has a think and goes all in and I snap. He has AK. I'm on 100k now! And then it's so much easier. I raise LP with 43s. Both the blinds call and check the QT4 flop. I bet, they fold. 107k.

[Joker161]

Level 12. 1k/2k/2k. I get TT UTG. I make it 5.5k and the bloke to my immediate left makes it 11k. Very like the 99 hand. This time I just call. Flop is J98. I bet, he calls. Turn is a five. I have to keep betting. I make it 21k. He folds. I'm on 125k. Average just under 100k. I get JJ in the CO. I raise, the BB calls, and he checks the queen high board. I bet and he folds. MS to my right raises, I re-raise from the button, the blinds fold and so does MS (although his stack is smaller than mine now). On a break now, but all looking good. Three more levels until the end of the day. 860 entered to day and there are about 190 left.

[Joker161]

Level 13. 1.5k/2.5k/2.5k. One very big hand and it didn't end well. MS raises to 5k and I look down at kings. I re-raise to 12.5k, but as soon as I put the chips in I realise that I've only made it 11.5k not a big deal, but MS said afterwards that he would have folded pre if I'd made the raise a bit bigger. Anyway, the flop is J65 all spades. I have the king of spades. He checks, I bet, he calls. Turn is a king! Check, I bet, and he raises. I go all in pretty quickly and he calls. He has AJ spades. So my king of spades is useless and I need a paired board. River in an ace. I have more than him, but I'm left with 30k. Big shame. I think I needed to think a bit more after his re-raise, but the king on the turn made it very difficult. In pushing mode now.

[Joker161]

Level 14. 1.5k/3k/3k. My first push gets through. On 34k. Next push, UTG with 99. Folded to MS who has a think and folds, showing KJ. Through the blinds so back to 34k. The bloke to the right of MS goes all in for less than my 34k. I'm on the button and push with AJ. He has T8 and we both miss. I'm on 70k. Average is now 140k. A very loose player re-raises to 6k for about the fifth time in eight hands. I re-raise to 14k with A2. The plan is to push the flop, but then when it comes ace high I decided to check for disguise. What was I thinking? I'm short, there's an ace, just push. The flop is A76, the turn is an eight. NOW I decide to push and he has 54. REALLY?! So angry with myself. There are 140 left from 859 according to the screen. One more level until they bag up. Fuming.

[Joker161]

I text Matt and he's playing blackjack at Treasure Island. I go and join him and have quite an amusing few hours, up a bit, down a bit, and end up $75 down but four Negronis to the good. One player at our table was playing $20 a hand for about an hour, then got bored and put $500 on a hand. He won, and so stuck the $1000 on the next hand. He won that then walked off! Somehow, it is now gone 2am. Back to the hotel and bed.

[Joker161]

Sunday 7th July

The plan was for a 9am breakfast, but there was a delay for obvious reasons. Sadly, after 9am is when everyone else has breakfast so the whole procedure takes a lot longer. We don't get to Planet Hollywood until nearly 11.30 and miss most of the first level. Not the end of the world. We have 20k in chips and 30m levels. It's a two-day $200k guarantee event, so lots of time. First significant hand: I get AQ UTG and raise. Only the SB calls. Flop is JT5. Check, I bet, he calls. Turn a brick. Check, bet, call. River a brick. I should fire a third bullet but bottle it. Check, check. He shows AK. Already down to 16k.

[Joker161]

Level 3. I try a raise with 97s. Three callers and I miss the flop. Then a raise UTG with KQs. Probably an error. There's a call then a raise, and I call the raise (also an error). Flop is queen high, I bet he raises. I fold and he shows AA. Great timing! Down to 12k. I need to fold for half an hour! Start of Level 4 it gets folded to the SB to my immediate right. She calls and I check with A2s. Flop is A23. Check, check. Turn is a brick. She bets and I call. River a four. Hmm. She throws in 1000, but I think she says "500", so I turn to her and say "500?" She thinks I said "call" and shows 54. She had it from the start! I was going to fold anyway. She was fine about it given that she has massive headphones on and so didn't hear what I said. A lesson there, methinks. There's a call and I raise with ATo. The BB calls and the caller calls. Flop is 744. No one likes that. Check, check, I bet they both fold. 12,500. At the end of the level it's folded to me in the SB. I raise to steal with J8. Call. I bet the K22 flop. Call. I check the turn, bet, fold. The very next hand I get AQ on the button. There's a raise and I call. I totally miss the flop and fold his flop bet. 8,500 at the first break. Not great.

[Joker161]

Level 5. The very first hand I get AQ. SB and BB call my raise. Queen high board, I bet, one caller. She folds my turn bet. Up to 13k. Level 6. Card dead and chips are dribbling away. I get AT in the CO and it looks massive. Raise, and the button calls. K43 flop. Check, bet, call. Plan is to bet only half my stack on the turn to look strong. It's worked before. So that's what I do, he goes all in, I fold and he shows the king. Down to 4k. All very poor. I get 99 in the BB. Folded to the SB. She calls, I push, she folds. Next hand in the SB I get AK. Folded to me and I just call (error). He checks. Flop is 642. I push, he snaps with 43. I hit a king on the river. Lucky boy. I get AQ UTG. The bloke to my immediate left calls and everyone else folds. Low flop. He's very active and I know he will call a C-bet. I check, he bets, I fold. He shows 88. 6,700.

[Joker161]

Level 7. I'm wondering if I should push before I take the BB, but my hands are just too bad. I take the BB, there's a raise, a re-raise and I wake up with AA. I push, the raiser folds and the re-raiser has to call. He has KT! He does keep saying he's new to the game. Up to 14.5k. In the SB with 75. Button raises. Shame - I fancied a look at the flop. BB calls. Flop 864. Thanks for that. Level 8. Nothing for most of it, then I raise with AJ. There's a raise and I fold. 10k. They've just announced that they haven't got enough runners to make the guarantee. Expensive for Planet Hollywood then. A loose raise with QJ. I get re-raised. I fold. 9k at the break.

[Joker161]

Level 9. We're are now on 500/1k/1k, so I need to get active. I go through the blinds. Down to 6400. Desperate. Lots of raising so no chance for me to push. I finally go with K2. The BB calls with A8. A king and an ace on the flop. All over.