OK latest news from LV. Although please bear in mind it is 4am local time and cold drinks have been taken.
Thursday Ceasar"s $235 NLHE 605 runners. Another fantastic turnout for yet another top Ceasar"s tournament.
5,700 at first break (end of level 2, 7,500 starting chips). Not alot of hands. I am playing alot tighter today. I am also on the same table as Jon. A hand developed early on. There are 6 limpers into my BB which is
and I check. Flop is 527 rainbow and all check. The turn is the
(putting 2 diamonds on board) and Jon bets 200. I call with my flush draw and hit the river with the
. I bet 450 and Jon folds his set of 5"s face up. The only other hand of note involved me having
in SB, which I m ake up and BB checks. Flop is J24 and I check (probably should bet this flop), he bets and I call. Turn is
(2 spades on board now) and I check, he bets and I call. River is
and I check again, he bets 400 on the end and I think about it. He may have a better kicker but I decide to call and he shows
for a nice hand. Apart from those I have mainly stayed out of barny and ried to play alot more tighter and conservative.
I bust out 40mins into level 3 when the following hand occurred. There are 2 limps in front of me and I find
on the SB and raise to 800. Both the BB and the button calls. Flop is
and I bet 1,500, the BB folds and the button raises to 4,000. Now I know I am behind. He either has a made flush, a set of 7"s or AJ, and I am behind to all of them. However I do have the re draw to the nut flush. I move all in and get called by a set of 7"s. No help on turn or river and I am out before the start of level 4. I don"t think I can get away from that, without
it is an easy fold but the re draw to the nut flush makes the decision a lot harder. I get a rub down from Jon as he announces to the table that I owe him $5 from the last longer bet we had, I pay up and head to the sportsbook pronto.
3 winners on the horses eased my poker pain. "Cockadoodle", "Orange Street" & "Pretty Lucky Lady" (@15/1) all won and added over $200 to the thinker bankroll. Also when you place a bet you get a free beer token. I managed to get 7 of these tokens on Thursday and the Miller Light was flowing by the time the Basketball started in the evening. Perhaps I should stick to the horses? The cocktail waitress in the sportsbook was very impressed with my aftershave. I inform her that it is "Paul Smith" and she comments it must be a british thing. She loves the smell and british guys in general. I am flattered and thank her for the compliment and she makes sure the beer is available when required. We settle down to watch the NBA playoffs before heading back to the Circus. I am not tired and so play video poker for a couple of hours. 3 beers later and a nifty up, I retire for the evening.
Friday Ceasar"s $340 NLHE, 528 runners.
8,000 at the first break (end of level 2, 12,500 starting chips). A major pot occurs the very first hand. I am UTG with 55 and limp for 50. 5 players see a flop of
. The SB bets 2,000 (into a 200 pot), he says he thought they were 100 chips. BB flat calls behind. I hate the borad for my set but I decide I am in front and the 4,000 in the pot will be nice to pick up. I move all in and the 2 both fold. So I am up to 16,500 after the first hand. Another interesting hand occurred a few hands later. There are 4 limpers and I make up in the SB with 36 off. BB check and the flop is K 5 K and all check. The turn is the 2 and I bet out my gutshot and get 1 caller. River is the 4 (to complete my straight) and I value bet 450, then matey raises to 950. I am wary of the full boat with pocket 5"s or 2"s so I just call and win a nice pot whe the lady shows a king. Then I take a hit. This is bad play from me and I do have my stack in one hand. There is a raise UTG to 200 and 1 call behind. I am in the SB with
and raise to 700, UTG calls and other caller folds. Flop is
and I bet 1,000 and get called. The turn is
and alarm bells start to ring. I check and he bets 2,500. Now I am trying to put him on a hand. TT or JJ seems most likely and I don"t think he would bet the flush so I call. River is Q, I check and he bets 3,900. Now I ask myself what has changed since the turn. He may have hit a set of queens or I could still be ahead with my aces. I call and he shows
for the nut flush. The bet on the turn totally got me and he won a nice pot. I have done halve my stack when I did not need to. This is bad play from me, I should have folded on the turn when the third heart came.
11,100 at 2nd break (end of level 4). I was down to 4,200 whne this hand happened. I raise in early position to 1,200 with 1 caller behind. Flop is AK7 and I see that the caller is interested so I move all in for 3,000 and get insta called by AQ. It holds and I am back up to 9,000 now. The only other hand to note was a raise in mid position with AA to 1,100. BB re raises to 3,200 (with only 6k back), now this is a solid player and I put him on a big hand. I think he will call so I move all in and after a dwell he passes JJ face up. I am playing really solid and have a great table image, I hope I can use this later on.
16,500 at 3rd break (end of level 6). No real hands, raised with big aces twice to take the binds then the monster hand. UTG chip daddy raises to 2,500 and the matey next to him goes all in. I look down at QQ and go into the tank. With my chips there is only one thing to do, I move all in and its back to chip daddy. he asks for a count and finally calls. So we are 3 way QQ vs AK vs QQ (chip daddy). There is no ace or king and I chop and pick up 7k in this hand. Nothing else to note from the 2 levels.
I bust out in about 160th, 20 mins into level 8. A previous hand invloved me raising in early position with
. Big chip daddy calls and then folds when I move in on a
Td
flop. I am moved tables. Limper UTG (he has done this 3 times and folded to a raise), I find
Tc on cutoff and raise, all fold and I pick up a nice pot. Then the exit hand. I have been blinded down and have only 15,800 in chips. All fold to the button who raises to 4,800 (blinds 800-1,600 with 200 ante), I find As
in BB and push all in. He says "I"m probably behind" and calls 11,000 with A 3 off. A flop of 234, turn 8, river 2 and I am felted and absolutely gutted. I felt I played alot better today and apart from the AA call I made good decisions all day.
I joined Jon in the sportsbook and managed to find 2 more winners (I really should stick to horses), got stuck into the beer and the pu$$ycats. Martyn is still going strong in the tournament and I end up railing him till 2am, hence why I have had a bit to drink, as he has made day 2 with good chips (235k), and is in position to to have a go at winning it. He has already made the cash and will be looking to go deeper when play resumes at 2am local time. This is a top effort by Martyn and a reward for his play throughout the entire trip.
So thats about it. The original plan for tomorrow was to have a day off and chill by the pool with beer, some chinese and then go clubbing on the evening. However hopefully Martyn will have a final table to take care of, and so the plans may be subject to change.
Till the next time...
NO BAD BEATS - A 3 off, nice hand, well played, gl all...
