 Vegas June 2026 |
| 8-Game at the Nugget |
| Last Updated: 2026-06-13 12:30:05 |
| I'll say up front that for being in the "low rent district" as far as Vegas is concerned the Nugget had the most competent group of dealers at mixed games I've seen in a while. Every dealer was on top of things, they were friendly (one guy got a little cranky when too many people were "trying to help" him, but he was very competent as well and he cooled off and was friendly after that) and I really enjoyed playing there.
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| So much so that I'm calling an audible for Saturday and playing TORSE there at noon instead of the seniors at Orleans. That's HORSE with 2-7 Triple Draw replacing Limit Hold'Em.
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| Starbucks for breakfast as usual, when I got to Vegas the car was down to 25% battery so I needed to charge it up. As it happened there are charging stations at the south outlets Joann and I often shop at so it was an easy choice to go there, plug in and walk around in air conditioning for half an hour.
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| Except not only were they all full, but three cars ahead of me and one of the six under repair! Thought I was going to be there all morning, but four of the five parked there left within 15-20 mins so not too bad.
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| Forgot my belt at home so I bought a cheap one at the Gap that I actually like a lot, since I've lost some weight none of my shorts hold up very well so I did need one. And only half an hour to get the car over 80% which could be good for a while, might not need to charge again until it's time to go home.
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| The theme for Friday was winning a lot more small pots than big pots and still not being able to really break out with a big stack for any length of time.
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| Eight games, HORSE plus NLH, PLO and 2-7 TD in rotation, 6 handed tables so six hands of one game before moving on to the next.
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| Started with 7-Card Stud (high only) and I stole antes and bring-ins in half the hands. Then lost a chunk in Omaha 8/b when I got quartered missing all my draws and having the same low hand as the other guy (who won the high with just a pair, we both had the made nut-low and were drawing to a better high).
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| Not much going on all the way through Razz, PLO, or Hold'Em, won a small pot here and there to roughly maintain my stack. But then lost a chunk in Stud-8.
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| Started out with T-T-Q with two spades. My board ran out Ks, Th, Jh and then a brick on the river while the other guy was showing 3-8-9-8. Small chance he could have caught a low at the end showing just two low cards so a set of 10s is a monster, right?
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| Except he filled up on the river and I didn't, rolling over 778 at the end. Ouch!
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| Won some pots here and there, particularly winning a 3-way 2-7 hand with 8-7-5-3-2. Gave some back in NLH, and after going through all 8 games one time I was at 28,500 from a starting stack of 35k.
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| Only played a few hands of stud before the break but I actually did catch a full house (5-K-5-K-blank-K, he folded at that point) and I went into the break just a little below starting stack at 33,400.
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| Very card dead for a while after the break, lost another chunk when I started out trying to represent with a ace showing still in stud, ran out two pair and lost to a rivered straight. Argh.
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| But finally caught a nice break in O8.
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| Started out with A45K double-suited (not a monster but good enough 6-handed) and got called on every street after raising out preflop and seeing a flop of 4-4-Q, 5 on the turn and K on the river. He had rivered a nut flush and had a low draw!
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| That made up for the hit in stud and I was at least back to a starting stack again.
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| Win a couple pots in Razz and I'm actually up around 40k! Is this finally it?
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| Nope.
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| Playing PLO, guy who had no idea what he was doing in stud games because he really only played PLO and NLH he said calls my pot sized bet with A-A-Q-J with a suit.
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| Flop 10-5-6, I bet out mostly pot, he calls. Turn a 4, he immediately pots and I fold. He turns over 3-8-7-J. Unreal.
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| 31,800 at the next break.
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| One thing I haven't mentioned yet was that when I played HORSE Wednesday at the WSOP there was a guy next to me who was not the best player, very friendly and chatty but spent the entire time with his face mostly buried in his phone whenever he wasn't in a hand. Constantly delaying the games because he's not putting out blinds (because his face is in his phone...) and saying things that confuse the dealer and make it unclear what his intentions are.
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| Nice guy, but really annoying.
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| And here he is sitting right next to me again all day. Well, until he busted anyway. He was very short and we get all in with my A-K vs his JJ and I turn a king in hold'em.
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| But ... short stack, not a big pot.
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| As always the stakes go up over time and now being card dead and not winning pots you get involved in becomes costly.
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| Two good starting hands in stud high don't work out and I'm down around 28k again.
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| Steal some blinds now and then but that's not making up for all the ante's I've made and the hands that didn't work out.
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| Get really short in 2-7 when I catch an 8-7 on the second draw and he catches 7-6 on the third draw. 9k.
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| My table gets broken up and I move to a new table, start out in stud and 500 ante is rough when you're down around 9000 chips.
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| Then Omaha 8 and I get all my chips in with A-3-8-9 with a suit in a 4-handed pot. By the turn I had a straight draw, second nut low draw and a heart flush draw ... as usual I missed everything when an unhelpful 9 came on the river and one of the three other guys had the other two 9s. I noted that nobody had an ace in their hand, all playing junk and almost no red cards to be seen other than mine. Everything was in the deck for me to hit and nothing came.
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| I was pretty frustrated at that point. Went for a walk, thought about jumping into their triple draw mix tournament that had started about half an hour earlier but they were only up to 20 players. Instead I went back to the room, watched team USA win their first World Cup match and got takeout from Push Burger.
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| So like I said, I enjoyed playing there enough that I think I'm going to make the trek back up to downtown and play in TORSE. |
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