The Joker in Vegas

[Joker161]

Before I left the Venetian I had a look at the list of tournaments going on, and saw there was a $150 limit O8 starting at the Orleans at 6pm. Half of what I was playing yesterday, which was fun. I got an Uber down there and registered. By the way, I've been using Uber all week, and whether it's a five minute trip or a 15 minute one, it always seems to be $10. Odd. Anyway, it's all good fun, but I slowly dribble chips, essentially missing nearly every time. There's a break at the end of Level 6 and it's the last chance to re-enter, so I decide to hand in my very small stack and start again with 15k for another $150. The buy in is not too steep, and I was having fun, so why not. Perhaps the fact that the blinds will be 800/1600 when we get back after the break, but you only live once.

[Joker161]

I play for three levels playing very few hands. I dribble down to 5k and the blinds are 1k/2k. I'm UTG and raise to 4k with KQJT. Flop has a ten on it, but also three hearts. I don't have any. It looks pretty grim. I put my last grand in and there are four players in it betting away. Surely I'm out. Turn a jack, river a ten. Boat! I'm up to over 20k. Table change straight after that hand. First hand on the next table I'm in the BB and there's no raise. I have QTxx and it comes KJ9. One bloke keep calling my bets and luckily the turn and rivers are two low cards. No low, and I scoop. 45k. Then I get A233 and hit the wheel on the river. Another scoop. 53k. This is all in under 10 minutes after four hours of pain! One more significant hand before the break. I get AA44 suited and get involved with a flop of Q23. The turn is a jack and gives me the nut flush draw too. The river is a nine so I miss the low and the high. I check, he bets and I tank fold. Surely he at the very least has a ****ty two pair? He shows total air; my aces were good. On reflection, in a limit hand, should I ever fold there? Or just bet regardless on the river? I'm clearly still learning! Down to 37k.

[Joker161]

We are on Level 13 now. Blinds go through me so I'm below 30k. Then there's this mad hand where I commit with JJ34 and there are three others all in. I win the high with bottom two pair! Up to 40k again. Grind. Level 14. I get involved in a three-way hand with K422 suited. We bet the flop, then on the turn I have a nut flush draw and the second nut low draw. I bet and they both fold. Up to over 70k. Level 15. Folds to me in the SB. I should have given up my 9834, but the old man was spinning a line. I bet the flop, he called, and the turn, and got raised. Error. Down to 45k. Level 16. I get involved in a four-way all in. I have A447 and hit two pair, but one of the all in characters has a slightly better two pair. I miss the low. Down to 30k. Blinds 4k/8k.

[Joker161]

Last half hour a bit of a blur. Hanging on, and then suddenly the TD says "you're all in the money". How did that happen? 15th prize money is $300, so exactly what I put in. Only $4200 up top; let's see how close I can get. Fingers crossed. End of Level 18. I won a bit in a hand and was up to 50k, but then the blinds ran though me and I was back down to 30k. I'm BB again (12k) and there are two callers. I raise to 24k with A249 suited. The flop gives me the nut flush and the nut low draw. Obviously I put the rest of my chips in. The board runs good and I'm on 85k! Another break. Level 19. I raise (30k now) with 6542. A big stack makes it 45k and I call. That's 45k of my 85k. Flop is J33. How did I have all the low cards except that one? He bets and I fold. Hmm. I'm now in the 15k BB with J654. I get a free look at the flop of KJ8, but that's as far as it goes. SB next. I have A449 suited, so it's definitely all going in. There are two callers and the BB, and all three of them call my 25k total, so there's 100k in there. The flop doesn't help, but the turn gives me the nut flush draw and an OK low draw. I miss the spade on the river but hit the low. Sadly, someone else has A3 for the better low. Out in 13th. I win $300, which is exactly what I put in! All very good fun, though, and three free large gins! It's 1am now so taxi home and bed.

[Joker161]

Friday 5th July

Didn't really get to sleep until after 2am, and then was up at 7am. I really ought to have tried to get back to sleep, but the tennis was on and I was starving, so an early breakfast. After yesterday's fun I've decided to play the O8 at the Venetian and then play Day 1B of the $1,100 event tomorrow. It starts at 11am and I spend the first three levels winning a bit, losing a bit, but mainly watching the Coco match. So odd. I haven't seen so much slicing in a match since the days of wooden rackets. They were both so scared of losing; they were both just trying to keep the ball in play. Did either of them hit a winner in the third set? Fascinating match, though. By the end of the match I have about 11k from the 12k starting stack.

[Joker161]

First significant hand at the end of Level 3. I have A367 double suited. I call, there's a raise and three of us call. Flop gives me the smaller flush draw, and it's also a straight flush draw. I have a second nut low draw too. He check it. I turn the flush, and the river misses the low. There's a final bet and I know my flush is not good enough, but it's limit - 400 call to win over 2000. He has the queen high flush. Down to 9k. Level 4. 150/300. I call a raise with KQ42. Miss the flop. Another 600 gone. AKT3 suited. Flop gives me the nut flush draw and a second nut low draw. Turn pairs the board. I'm out of there. By the first break at the end of Level 4, I'm down to 6300. It's a bit like the first bullet at Orleans yesterday. Fingers crossed for the next couple of levels.

[Curlarge]

First significant hand at the end of Level 3. I have A367 double suited. I call, there's a raise and three of us call. Flop gives me the smaller flush draw, and it's also a straight flush draw. I have a second nut low draw too. He check it. I turn the flush, and the river misses the low. There's a final bet and I know my flush is not good enough, but it's limit - 400 call to win over 2000. He has the queen high flush. Down to 9k. Level 4. 150/300. I call a raise with KQ42. Miss the flop. Another 600 gone. AKT3 suited. Flop gives me the nut flush draw and a second nut low draw. Turn pairs the board. I'm out of there. By the first break at the end of Level 4, I'm down to 6300. It's a bit like the first bullet at Orleans yesterday. Fingers crossed for the next couple of levels.

Grind on m8😎

[Joker161]

Level 5. I lose with A23K, and then go quite big with A2QQ double suited. The flop is J34 with two clubs (not my suit). Turn misses the low and the river makes the club flush and still misses the low. This is not my day! Down to 3k. Call with A36Q. It's just me and the BB. Q56 on the flop. Promising. Then a high card, but it's checked, then a four. I have two pair and the second low. It turns out he has the same low and his seven gives him the straight. He had a queen too so a very similar hand. Quartered. REALLY not my day. I get it all in with KK42. He has A46x and we chop, but I win the high with the 42 for two pair and his A6 is good for the low!

[Joker161]

Level 6. I am now on 1,000 chips and the blinds are 250/500, so I basically have to hope for a hand before the BB comes to me and hope I hit. I decide on A576 with a suited ace. Amazingly, I only get one caller. He has 358K or similar rubbish. He is double suited but his king suit is the same as my ace. The table agree that I'll definitely finally win a hand now! Flop is T87 rainbow, then he hits his rubbish flush and a better low with running cards. I should have stayed in bed! Or I could have turned up thee hours late and had a bigger stack right now! I'm blaming the table move half way through the first level. They were making new tables and instead of just using new players they were moving those that had arrived early.  Someone had commented on it when I arrived at the table ("why penalise early arrivers?"). At the time, I just thought the view of the tennis was not quite so good. But now I'm firmly of the view that it was to blame for my s**tty run.

[Joker161]

Almost at the exact time that I busted out, Matt texted me. He was going to Treasure Island to play some blackjack. Apparently the odds were good, 2-1 rather than 6-5 for a blackjack, for example, and also it was right opposite the Venetian. We found a fun table, $15 minimum, and I watched for a bit before dipping my toes into the very uncertain water. Actually, it was great fun. I played for (I think) about two hours, had three Negronis (the second was a bit too Campari dominated) and ended up even. Matt then suggested going to an Arts Festival that had been recommended. It was somewhere north of Stratosphere but south of Downtown. Some interesting stalls - I particularly liked the wooden watches - but we ended up, pretty quickly, in a restaurant/bar that had been recommended to Matt. It specialised in Cornish pasties (!) and had two free pool tables that no one was using! We stuck to the Negronis and played loads of pool while eating starters of scotch eggs and one of the 20-odd pastries on offer. Obviously I only got through half of mine, given that it was double the size of any pastie I'd ever seen from Cornwall. Eventually we got an Uber home. I think we were more pissed than we realised. I assume we went straight up to our rooms, although I don't remember the exact details.

[Joker161]

Saturday 6th July

Woke up at about 4am, but back to sleep reasonable easily and then woke again at 8am, and with no melatonin (that I can remember). Feeling OK all things considered, although Matt chose to forgo breakfast. It's the big $1,100 at the Venetian today. Quite exciting! I forgot to mention. Yesterday while at the bar there was another earthquake (7.1 apparently). We were on the ground floor of a pretty solid building, so no swaying this time, but all the lights started swinging including the ones above the pool tables. No one seemed unduly concerned. The balls weren't moving, so we just got on with the game (and the Negronis).

[Joker161]

Here goes. We have 25k in chips and 40m levels, but there are no 25 chips. So we start at 100/100, and then 100/200. It already feels like we've missed all those cagey early levels. We've already had a 10k pot! One bloke has raised about seven times. He's only shown once - A5s. Hmm. Before all these raises, I make a raise to steal (why?), he calls. I bet the flop and he raises. I get the chips back from him when I raise with KK, he calls, and calls my flop bet. He finally folds to the turn bet. My first big hand. There's a raise to 300 and I call with KQs. A bloke who has just called a raise with 94s (it went to showdown) re-raises to 700. The raiser calls and I call. Flop is Q88. We check it round. Turn is a second diamond. Bet of 700, I make it 2k and the loose bloke folds and the other one calls. The river is an ace, check, check. The raiser shows K2s for the missed flush draw. Nice. I then get KK again, raise, one caller. Flop is ace high but I bet anyway and he folds. On 29k already. End of Level 1. I call UTG with 88. On reflection, on this table that should always be a raise. The loose bloke raises from the CO and I call. Flop is QT9. I bet and he calls. Turn an ace. I check, he bets, I fold. Also, an even looser bloke has joined the table. He lost a chunk, JJ vs KK and then went on massive tilt, raising the next five or six hands and massively betting the flop. He's settled down now. He has a very angry tattoo, so slightly scary!

[Joker161]

Level 2. 100/200. Very little action for me, apart from a visit to the toilet. The tattoo man is playing most hands and building a stack. He had a decent AJ for two pair (against A7). Then he's shown K9 and J8, both for two pair too. I'm very scared about playing a hand with him. I can see my aces getting cracked by his 74 s**t. At the end of the level I get AQ UTG and raise. I get three callers including loose bloke (LB) and tattoo man (TM). Flop has three hearts. We all check. Turn a blank. We all check. River a fourth heart. I have the ace of hearts. I bet and obviously they all fold. Perhaps I should have bet the turn.

[Joker161]

Level 3. Because there are no 25 chips, they kindly give us this 100/300 level before jumping to 200/400. In fact, the clock is telling me the next level will be 200/300 (odd) but with a 300 BB ante. So that's a bigger jump than to 200/400. Anyway, again, not much action on this level. I'm in the BB and it gets folded to the button. He goes all in for 3800 and I have ATs. Feels like a bit of a gamble to me so I fold. The very next hand he does the same thing and the bloke to my right calls him. All in has AJ and caller has AQ. Clearly my decision was tight! I play 76 LP in a limped pot. Miss. Dull level.

[Joker161]

Level 4. I get AJ in the SB. Another LB raises to 1000, I re-raise to 2600 and he calls. I miss, check and he pushes for 10k. Clearly me not playing a hand for over an hour had no effect on him! My first big "what if" of the Vegas trip. I get AT UTG+1 and decide to be super sensible and fold. TM calls, LB raises and TM calls. Flop is TT3. NO! TM folds to a bet, but I wonder if I would have got anything off LB. I play no more hands this level. Card dead, and I don't want to try and get lairy because I WILL get called. I'm down to 21.5k.