The Joker in Vegas

[Joker161]

Level 4. 25/100/200. UTG raises to 525. +2 calls and I"m +3 with JJ. I almost call, but decide to raise to 1,800. They both fold. On 9,300 now. 20 minutes into the level there"s a 600 raise UTG and I have AQ in the CO and call. The button, SB and BB all call! Flop is KJ7. UTG bets and we all fold. On 8,300 now. My immediate right raises, I re-raise with A7, he calls. Flop seven high, just like last time, he checks I bet he folds. Then I make a mistake. Same bloke raises, I re-raise to 1,400 with AK, button raises to 3,200. Raiser folds and I just call. I think it should be all-in or fold here, plus I should have flatted the first raise. She only has 3k back and so obviously pushes the low flop and I fold. So annoying! The very next hand I get KQ and raise (a bit tilty) my Australian friend calls and the BB only has 1,200 and goes all-in. Not concentrating! I fold, Aussie calls with A3. All-in has KQ and hits the king! I"m down to 5,700 now. Handy last hand of the level. I raise in the CO to steal with QJ, and my Aussie friend calls on the button; the blinds fold. Jack high flop. I check, he bets, I raise and he folds. On 7k now.

[Joker161]

Level 5. 50/150/300. Half hour gone and no hands. I finally get TT and the Aussie reraises me. I decide to fold. He shows AQ. Don"t want to gamble at this stage. Back to 5k starting stack. Nothing until the last 10 minutes. Not even any steal opportunities because there always seems to be someone raising ahead of me. I finally get a chance, first in, and I"m prepared to raise with anything just to stop looking like a rock. I have A7 AGAIN and raise. The Aussie calls. 886 flop. I bet and he folds. Up to 6k. By the end of the level I"m getting close to 5k again. Need to get a hand!

[Joker161]

Level 6. 50/200/400. People are starting to push a lot. Starting stack is only just over 10BBs. I try a steal with J9. The BB calls. Flop is T85. He checks. I think for a bit and realise that I should just push but by the time I"ve worked that out it"s too late. So I do the worst thing and just bet 1500. He goes all-in. I have 2,500 left. I decide to gamble with my straight draw. He has J8 and I miss. Very annoying. I push pre-flop he folds. I insta-push the flop he probably folds. If I check the flop I get a free card. Could I play it any worse? Very annoying. Still, I had a nice table and it was good fun. I managed to persuade the Aussie to subscribe to the Economist! He did it on his phone there and then! Just before I went out we got this new player who sat down just to the left of the Japanese lady (who was left of the Aussie). She had just cracked the aces of the bloke to my right, so he was annoyed. Then she pushed her stack on to this new bloke and he asked for a count, wondering if he was covered, it was pretty close. Then he said he had to call and he had AA! Proper poor slowroll! She was very polite. Perhaps the concept doesn"t exist in Japan.

[Joker161]

Got a taxi back to the Mirage and went straight to the cash table. I"m afraid I started drinking so the details are hazy. I remember winning $100 in one hand with AQ, ace on flop and queen on river. He didn"t believe me. I then went back to starting stack but I can"t remember why. Then I won quite a big pot with Q9 on a queen high board where, once again, they didn"t believe me. What I do remember is that I ended up $67 up and then went to dinner for the first time in days.

[Joker161]

Friday 8th July

I think I might have had a normal amount of sleep last night. I must trying this drinking thing more often. Still awake by 6am, though, and all set for a morning of tennis. Went down for breakfast during the fourth set of the Federer match and then back to the room for the rest. Considering a rest day especially as the cold is still lingering. Perhaps off to the pool after the tennis? And then some cash poker?

Good luck to all of you at Luton this weekend!

[Joker161]

Changed my mind, especially once Murray had won relatively quickly. Got showered then off to the Wynn for the $400 event. Half hour levels and 12k starting stack. First hand I fold the hand that knocked me out yesterday - J8 - and the board runs out with three jacks. Brilliant! Chipping up OK, then decided to call a raise with QT and then run a massive bluff on a 543 board. I raised his flop bet, then bet the turn which was a six and he kept calling. I checked the ace on the river and he bet. Down to 8k. Well done! Raised late with 98 and an old bloke who had yet to play a hand calls. He checks the queen high flop, I bet he calls. Hmm. Another queen on the turn, check/check. Nine on the river, check/check and I take the pot! Not much happens in Level 2. I raise with 66 get called, bet the T95 flop, get called then check fold the turn. In the SB I call a min raise with five players in the pot with Q9. Flop is Q77. I check/raise and it gets through. On 9k at the end of the level. Totally card dead for Level 3. The good thing is that you don"t lose any chips. Only hand of note was calling late with JT and missing. On 8,500 chips.

[Fatcatstu]

Good luck mate, really enjoying reading these updates, keep going!!

[ian.ski309]

Good luck mate, really enjoying reading these updates, keep going!!

Seconded... logging on several times a day, looking forward to each update !

[Joker161]

Level 4. I raise UTG with JTs, one caller, I bet the flop and he folds. Towards the end of the level I finally get AA. Three callers! Flop is 874 with two clubs. Am I favourite anymore? Check, check and I bet and the fourth player, the loosest, raises me. I tank and decide to fold face up. What hands am I beating? Only if he"s raising with a draw, but then it"s still a bit of a gamble. Down to 7k. At the break he told me he had 87 for the two pair. Final hand of the level I get AJs which is looking massive at the moment and raise, three callers again! 868 flop, I bet it and the one caller is the loose bloke. King on the turn, check/check. Two on the river, check/check. He shows 99. I"m down to 5,500 at the break. Hmm. Very nice card room, by the way. Restrooms very close to my table, which is nice.

[Joker161]

Level 5. 25/150/300. Blinds go through me a couple of times so I"m below 5k. I need to make a move. I raise with A9. Two callers, including loose bloke. Flop AK5. First bloke checks, I go all-in with my last 4k, loose bloke thinks for a bit but calls relatively quickly. The other bloke folds. What does he have? K5. Really? Clearly this was never going to be my day. Perhaps I should have gone to the pool after all. Might go and find somewhere for lunch.

[Joker161]

Found a nice French place in the Wynn and also had a glass of wine. Very good food, but it didn"t make me feel any better; in fact this head cold is getting worse. I walked back via Walgreens and got some "cold and head" pills and then back to the hotel. The pills didn"t seem to make any difference. Spent the rest of the day in the room feeling a bit rubbish. Didn"t eat anything else - not particularly hungry at the moment.

[Joker161]

Saturday 9th July

Didn"t sleep that well. Up at 5am as usual. Watched the first set of the Serena match and then breakfast as usual at Pantry"s. It was quite a good match. Not much in it. It seemed to me that Serena was making more mistakes but that her serve got her out of trouble. Also, Kerber played the occasion big points badly. Now back in the room with a continual headache. I think this time I really will not play poker today. I"m starting to get worried that playing when feeling like this will almost certainly lead to mistakes and so it"s just a waste of money. I might play a bit of cash later if I"m feeling a bit better. I"ll definitely play the $400 PLO tomorrow and then that"ll be it.

[Joker161]

Did very little all day, and although I didn"t feel much better I decided to play the 7pm bounty tournament here at the Mirage. $100 buy-in and a $25 bounty on everyone"s head. I didn"t bring my iPad with me and was drinking, so I don"t remember many details. I got chips quite quickly and then I remember not betting the turn when up against a women who then hit a set on the river (someone else was all-in). That was annoying. The other memorable hand was not calling second pair when a big stack put in a hefty river bet and he showed the bluff. I was very close to calling and it meant I went into the final table a bit short. I ended up 7th after pushing the button with 44. I got called by A9 and there was a nine on the flop. So I cashed for $180 and had $125 in bounties, less $10 that we each chucked in for the bubble in 9th. Shame I didn"t get a little further, but I was battered by the end, to be honest. Only five hours until the Murray match. I"m sure I"ll be awake by then, as usual.

[Joker161]

Odd watching a British man in a Wimbledon Final and it not really being an edge-of-seat game. Playing a man who had served 130-odd aces in his six matches so far, and reducing him to eight; can we say that Murray returns as well as Djokovic? Anyway, had breakfast in the "Pantry" while the first set was going on and then back to the room for the rest. Watched the mixed as well, then the football and then got ready for the 5pm PLO at the Venetian, my last biggish tournament. By the way, how did Portugal win this tournament? As someone on Twitter said, if England had not scored that last minute goal against Wales, we would have had three draws too and would also have been on the **** side of the draw. Hmm.

[Joker161]

I"m at the break after the first four 30 minute levels. We started with 12k. I won a couple of small hands, then far too much chip dribbling, then a hand where I was up against a player who was playing a lot of hands. I had something like a nine-high flush and he turned over the nut flush! Must remember that this is a game of the nuts. I got down to about 5k, but then won a smallish hand that I"ve totally forgotten (and I"m not drinking) and then I got up to 9k when there were three calls, the button raised and I potted from the BB with AAT7. He tank/folded.