The Joker in Vegas

[Joker161]

Levels 5-8. Lost a bit in a stud hand where I had 3456 after four cards, no or showing, and I call all the way and watch a jack, then a queen, then another five fill up my hand. Thanks for that. Omaha. I have 7653 and the board is 7653. I fold the turn, and of course the river is a seven. Not much happened after that. A bit up, a bit down. Then on the very last hand of the stud I get trip aces and the other bloke is clearly drawing and misses, so I make about 10k on that pot. So at the end of a level 8 I'm on nearly 40k. Very good fun!

[Joker161]

Levels 9-12. The last break was the end of late registration, and we end up with 92 runners. In a limit tournament. Imagine that in the UK. Lively start and I get up to 52k. But then some missed draws in stud. Seems to be happening a lot now. By the end of Level 10 I'm down to 24k. We have about 50 runners left. Then two hands where I'm all in both times. The first I chop when I hit two pair on 7th Street. I missed my flush, but luckily the other bloke did too. Then I do hit my flush, miss the low, but he only had aces. Suddenly I'm over 60k! Then an Omaha hand where I have A489 and the flop is A67. Interesting. The turn is another ace and I'm heads up with a loose bloke who keeps betting. I have a bad feeling and so it proves. He has A6 for the boat and 82 for the slightly less s**t low. 54k. Quiet Level 12, and I go into the break with just under 60k.

[Joker161]

Level 13. I unwisely get involved with QJTT, hoping for a high flop. It comes Q65, and I have the flush draw. Then the turn is a Jack. More betting (limit sucks you in!). River a five. Someone is all in and the other bloke has QJ the same as me. We split the tiny side pot and the all in has a five for the trips. Hmm. Down to 29k. Blinds are getting to the point where it's a bit like no-limit. The antes are killing me. I'm down to 20k and get A25T in the Omaha. I raise, get two callers and know this is going to be it. All my chips are in on the flop and the other two keep betting for the side pot. The board comes out KQ824. The four on the river gives me the low. Phew! Back to 30k. We're on Level 14 now and I'm on the comeback. I get A239 and it's time to get raising. We are four handed and I end up with the nut low. Up to 42k.

[Joker161]

Level 15. I sense this is going to be "chip up or go home" time. We are down to 24 and 12 get paid. One more good hand and I might be in with a chance. Min cash is just under $1000 and the winner gets $14k. First hand. Stud I get 23 in the hole and the six showing. I get an ace on 4th street. This is the hand. I then get king, queen and a jack. Brilliant. Down to 10k. Back to Omaha. Blinds are 3k/5k (don't ask) and I am UTG with 8234. I raise my 10k and get four callers. The flop is 722. Handy. Then the turn is a five, so I get the low and the straight draw. I miss the river, but still win the low, so I'm up to 24k. Grind! I raise and win the blinds. Then I raise with A28J. A nice Englishman calls. Flop is A35. All the chips go in and the turn and river are a ten and another ten. I have a pair of aces for a high and a pretty rubbish low, but he mucks. My American neighbour is discussing with me how that was possible. Did he had two pair and the two counterfeited it? Anyway, I'm up to 60k and there are only 20 left.

[Joker161]

Level 16. Stud. I get A22. I'm heads up and keep betting as my board has another ace, and a couple of low cards. He folds. 80k. Stud. First four cards are 2358. Then I get TJK. Thanks. Down to 60k. Omaha. I get involved with T923. I have three pairs but miss the boat and the low. 25k. I really shouldn't have been involved in that hand. Annoying. I get all my chips in with 8743. Flop is Q33. Up to 55k. The blinds and antes are so bad I'm down to 40k about five hands later. Another stud hand with the Englishman. I get it all in. I miss my flush but hit the low on 6th street and two pair on 7th. Scoop! 85k! Still below average. Blinds are 8k/16k though. 18 runners left and the average is 100k. I get involved with a short stack. I miss and am down to 50k. So swingy! I win a couple of small battles and am up to 80k. We re-draw for two tables, so we are down to 16 runners.

[Joker161]

I must have missed the clock because we are on Level 18 now. Omaha. I raise from the button with TT23. The BB calls. Flop is AQT. She bets I call. Turn is a three. I'm worried about the straight and so need the board to pair on the river. She bets and I have to call because most of my chips are in the middle. The river is a queen, but it turns out that's the card I didn't want because she has AQ. Out in 16th. Shame, but very good fun. For the last three hours it's felt like I've been on borrowed time, but then if I swerve that queen I would have been on over 100k and well in it. It's 9pm now so I'll go and find Matt and get an Uber home.

[Joker161]

Got back to Harrah's and Matt suggested we play the 10pm $70 tournament. OK. I was sort of thinking I need to get as many free drinks as possible to make up for the loss of $70 in this crap shoot. Anyway, it turned out to be quite a laugh. On my right was one of the players with whom I chopped at the Flamingo the other night. The most amusing hand of the night was where he was all in for 800 in the BB (blinds 400/800). He didn't look, obviously, and I had K2 suited and called for a laugh. There were a few other callers. On the turn I had a flush draw and so I showed him my king and was just about to show the two when the dealer said "no, there's another player." Two to my right there's someone with his hands over his cards. No penalty because no one seemed to give a s**t in these tournaments. I expect him to bet but he checks. I hit the flush on the river, bet, and the "cover my hand" guy calls. I show my flush. The Flamingo bloke turns his cards over one by one and he has aces! The very next hand I'm the BB and there are three calls. I raise pretty big with AK. I get a min re-raise from a Finnish bloke (I find out afterwards) who hadn't seemed to know what he was doing all evening. I push and he tanks before finally calling with QQ! I hit a king on the two-spade flop, and then it's runner, runner spades for his flush. Quite an amusing hour and a half. Off to bed now.

[ian.ski309]

Very entertaining as always Joe 

[Joker161]

Thursday 4th July

I got woken up at 2.30 am (didn't reach the phone in time) then again at 4.30am by an MBNA fraud robot. An automated voice tells me they are a bit worried about a few payments. I have to go through various "press one" etc. Thing is, I tried to warn them I was in Vegas through the online account and there was no way of messaging them. I then rang them up and there was another automated message saying there was no need to inform us of foreign travel; just use your credit card as usual. SO WHY THE F**K ARE THEY WAKING ME UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT? Of course, it's day time in the UK, but perhaps the robot has the mathematical ability to work out it's the middle of the night in Vegas. FFS. The good news is that I'm sleeping so well this year that I managed to get back to sleep on both occasions. I wonder why? Perhaps it's Harrah's. I might have to stay here every year!

More good news: I'm watching Wimbledon and the Farmers Insurance advert has come on. At last! Vegas trips are not the same without Farmers. Also, Nadal/Kyrgios is about to start on the TV. Good job my Venetian PLO bounty tournament doesn't start until 2pm.

[Joker161]

Breakfast at 9am, then a trip to Walgreens with Matt to get some supplies. Big breakfast then snacks during poker seems to be the way forward. Back to the room for the Kyrgios match and to get ready for the Venetian. There was an earthquake a couple of hundred miles away and Harrah's swayed a little bit. Tempting to evacuate, but the tennis was good.

[Joker161]

$400 PLO bounty today. 12k in chips and 30m levels. They use the card shuffler at the Venetian, so perhaps more like 40m levels. Level 1. After two hands I've lost half my stack. First, I get T976. It's 100 to call, so why not? Flop is Q76. Bet, call. Turn is a third club. Hmm. Check, check. River a fourth club (obviously irrelevant) and I don't hit my boat. Check, bet, fold. The very next hand I get QJJT. Pretty. I've already forgotten the exact details, but I have top two and a flush draw. I call the flop bet and the turn, but miss everything. Hmm. Then about four hands later I get some of it back when I hit the nut flush on the river, but he doesn't call my river bet. Perhaps I should have pushed to look desperate (and the tempter of the bounty). Back to 7.5k. I need to fold some hands! And so I do in a much quieter end of Level 1 and for all of Level 2.

[Joker161]

Level 3 (100/200). I get KQQJ in EP. I just call, another caller then a raise to 1k. Call, I call, third call. Flop is queen high with two clubs. I pot it and everyone folds. Up to 10k. No more action until the very end of the level. I get KQJJ and call EP. Four more callers. Flop is KQ3 two clubs. I bet out 3k, which turned out to be an error given three of the other players all went all in! I obviously fold. The hands were a nut flush draw, third nut flush draw and KK for top set. The turn was a three, so the KK man had it, but the side pot was with the other two and the river hit the flush. So I would have been fourth! Down to 5.5k.

[Joker161]

Level 4. I raise with A245 and the BB calls. I'm clearly having flashbacks to yesterday! I need a very specific flop! It comes A75, so could be worse, but he pots and I have to fold. Hmm. 4.5k. Getting to the point where I wait for AAxx and get it all in pre. No more action for me in this level, but a hand where three players were all in. All of them had a flush draw, so there weren't many spades left in the pack. The winning hand was a pair of aces, and not a pocket pair. I'm beginning to feel like PLO is not my game! There's a $600 limit Omaha high/low tomorrow. Much harder to lose chips. Given the success (ish) yesterday I'm tempted to play that, and then play Day 2 of the $1,100 on Saturday. We shall see. 15 minute break now.

[Joker161]

Level 5. First hand the nice old bloke on my right somehow manages to get his whole stack in with AKxx. He's up against AAxx with a flush draw. The flop has an ace and the flush hits too. He loses both ways. He had over 20k in chips and was the first to raise pre. WTF? The very next hand I'm UTG and decide to raise with T976 double suited. There are three all ins behind me. WHAT IS GOING ON AT THIS TABLE??? One of them has AAAJ, another has the other ace with pretty random other cards and the third...I forget, but not special. The bloke to my right says "you've got the best hand here" and he's got a point. They all seem to have each other's cards. And so it proves. The board comes low, doesn't pair and I hit two pair with the 76. QUADRUPLE! I have 15k somehow. Feels like a massive win, but basically all I've done is get back up to average. Someone has come to the table (an alternate) and on his first hand has got it all in with AJT7. Obviously he misses. WTF is going on? There are only five on our table now. They've run out of alternates! I foolishly call a raise with AK76 (feeling good about 76 clearly). I miss the flop. Waste of 1200. Concentrate! Another alternate comes to our table and gets it all in on his very first hand. Loses. Mental tournament.

[Joker161]

Level 6. I finally get AAxx (one suited) and raise. Two callers. I bet out the K87 board, I get potted and the other bloke goes all in. I have to fold. The all in is out as the raiser gets the flush and the straight! That's five bags down the drain. Down to 7.5k. Hmm. Quite a few showdowns with players having pretty poor hands. Easy when you have loads of chips, I suppose, to play a load of  average hands. I'm in the BB and there's a min raise and three callers. Massive odds, so I call with K764 (suited king). Flop comes Q44. I check, bet, call and I go all in. Fingers crossed. Fold, call. He has Q974 rainbow. How s**t is that hand? Might as well call every hand. I don't hit a king and am out. I just don't think I'm aggressive enough for PLO. Hopefully I'll have a bit more luck later in the week.