Vegas November 2014

Day 1 - Aria

Last Updated: 2014-11-09 11:10:35

Not the best start to my weekend Saturday.

Flight was smooth, got in early and headed over to Bellagio to hit the buffet. With my change in plans for Sunday to an 11am tournament I might not have another chance to have a buffet brunch/lunch so I figured I should get it while I can. Couldn't have been any better, I got two end cuts of prime rib (love the end cuts, all the spice and never too rare) and they had Manhattan clam chowder at the soup station!

Alas that was the highlight of my day. I do have a "how would you have played it" hand in here tho.

Over to Aria for the 1:00 daily. Got Kings cracked early...by J-3 off of course. But I made a hero call at the end when I knew I was beat. I've been taking a lot of pride in my ability to sniff out bluffs over the last couple of years, but this was not confidently calling a bluff. This was stubbornness. I knew I was beat and made a crying call anyway. I lost.

But it wasn't devastating or anything, I still had plenty of chips. I was just very annoyed with myself.

After that I built up some chips on a big blind special (flopped 2 pr with a Brunson) and flopped a boat with 88 (J-8-J flop!). Got paid on both, not big but at least moving in the right direction. That's when this hand came up. How would you have played it? Did I play it badly? I think I played it well, but I also think I could have played it better.

Effective stacks about 10K. Blinds 100/200/25, full table. I'm on the button. The small blind is a solid, thinking player. He's already made the laydown I couldn't, folded pocket aces face up when same guy that cracked my kings with a bad jack cracked his aces with a bad jack (he started to proudly show, aces guy told him not to (IDIOT!) but I saw him flash a jack and there's little doubt...). Can't make it up. His starting hand range is a little wider than mine, but he's by no means loose.

So there's an early position limper, it folds around to me and I look down at A-Q suited in diamonds. I make it 500 to go, which I consider standard. Small blind makes it 1100. BB and limper fold, I call with a pretty big hand and position. I don't think I'm ever going to fold A-Qs with position and getting over 3-1 on my money.

Pot is now 2850.

Flop comes 10-10-J, two diamonds. I have a gutshot royal flush draw and two overs.

SB bets 1600. I call. I'm putting his preflop reraise range at 99+ and AK, with a small chance he thought I was button stealing and reraised with an iffy hand - but only a very small chance. This is about as good a flop as I could have hoped for aside from hitting the A or Q. I'm only hurting if he has specifically JJ or his range is wider than I think and he has J-10...but I can't bring myself to ever put anyone on quads so I'm discounting 10-10 nor can I see a reraise with J-10 from him. And, seriously, if another jack-high hand flopped a boat on me (see above) at this table it's time for me to move on anyway.

Pot now 6000-ish

Turn is an offsuit rag. Check, check. He's pot controlling, I'm happy to take a free card.

River is another offsuit rag. He quickly checks. I bet 2500 with my busted draw. It's a little small, but I'm trying to make it look like a value bet. A shove would have looked fishy. He goes into the tank. He's a bit frustrated. Counts out the chips a couple of times, looks over his remaining stack and makes a crying call with two black kings.

I don't think I played the hand wrong. Arguably I could have bet more on the river, but I do think he would have been no more likely to fold a bet of say 3500. Maybe. But in hindsight, I do wonder if a different line would have been better.

I could have raised on the flop instead of just calling with that same 2500 chips (well OK min raise would have been 3200, you get my point) and then bluff-shoved on any turn. Obviously such a line would carry more risk - I could bust out. But I think he would have laid down his kings. Is it too early to make a play like that? I still had 30-40 bigs (tho only 15-20 bigs at the next level...)

I ran the numbers, I was a 55/45 dog post-flop knowing now what didn't know then. My flop call was mathematically correct as I suspected, and I think if I ran AA and QQ I'd have been correct with implied odds. I have no doubt I stack him if the miracle Kd comes giving him a boat and me a royal. I do wonder if I would have gone broke had the Kh hit instead giving me a nut straight on a paired board. Maybe.

Went completely card dead after the break, didn't get much more than blinds on hands I played, got all in hoping I'd at least have two live cards and ran into an overpair. Oh well.

Had some time to kill, went back to the room to try and take a nap but that hand was bugging me and I just wasn't sleepy enough (working on like 3 hrs sleep from the night before, you'd think I'd pass out for an hour).

Back to Aria for the 7:00 and my pattern was exactly the same. Pay off a bet on the river when I knew I was beat (I really have to cut that out of my game immediately), catch a couple of big hands and don't get much for them, make the break, go card dead, get all in on a flip with another short stack (which I suppose is an improvement over the 1:00!) and lose.

So Sunday I'm playing in my first seniors event. Ugh. Could be worse, I guess. After I made the decision I was playing in it I texted my dad that he has a son who is playing in a seniors event (hi dad!). I was definitely not someone who lamented hitting that big-five-oh milestone, didn't think about it any more than any other birthday (I honestly don't think much about any of them). Still, however, it sucks accepting the word "senior" in relation to yourself for the first time.

I'm also thinking about a parlay on football just to add a little excitement to my day. Would be a lot more fun to do if I could just sit back and watch football. I really don't gamble on sports, but I gotta have a little actual "fun" while I'm here, right?

If I go for it I'm probably taking Saints, Cards, Pack and Eagles all at home, all giving points. Pack giving 7.5, a little high. I told Joann I think the Pack is the most risky 'cause Cutler could get hurt allowing the Bears to keep it close (ouch!). I'm going to have to throw that one up on facebook today :-).

Maybe they'll have some games on in the poker room!