 Vegas December 2016 |
| Day 1 - Travel, catching up, Aria |
| Last Updated: 2016-12-10 11:03:49 |
| Jim and I each started our days by getting up earlier than 3am in our respective time zones. Of course Jim starting out on Eastern time meant he was up before midnight Vegas time.
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| Since we're not staying in the same hotel and our flights came in a few hours apart I got checked in. No more early check-in fees at MGM resorts! Well, NYNY anyway...I just assume...
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| If they have a room you can have it, and they had a room in spite of it being a Friday. I dropped off my stuff and headed up the strip to burn some calories.
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| Got as far as walking around the Linq, started to head back and by the time I walked back around to the other side of it a few people in matching shirts rolled out cases and cases of some new Chips Ahoy cookie variety and started handing them out. Free box of cookies just for walking past that spot at that time of day!
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| Jim landed as I was getting back to the room so I went and grabbed lunch while he made his way from the airport. Apparently Caesar's resorts still charge for early checkin...
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| Oh and in hindsight, instead of walking up and down the strip I could have walked to the closest In-N-Out. What was I thinking????? Doubly unwise because Jim is somehow immune to I&O's addictive qualities, so that would have been a smart time to go. Next time...but then if I did that I wouldn't have gotten free cookies...
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| We had talked about maybe trying the Planet Hollywood 1pm tournament so we met there, but the poker room was dead and we decided to just go catch up and have a few beers at a bar at the Linq that has something like 100 different kind of beer by the bottle. On the way up they were still handing out cookies. We each grabbed one.
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| Jim was more adventurous than me trying new things. I saw they had a few varieties of Sam Smith's, which I used to drink a lot "back in the day" so I went a more nostalgic route instead.
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| But Jim had this one "blood orange" beer and was warned that it had a strong chocolate taste. Gave me a sip and WOW could you taste the chocolate. I didn't get any orange, but the chocolate taste was powerful and stayed with me a little while in spite of the stout I was drinking...
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| Then dinner at the MGM buffet. I'm a little torn about how much I liked it. I probably would go back. Everything I ate tasted good and much of the selection was pretty good. But the "salad bar" wasn't much more than 3 kinds of lettuce, a few toppings and dressings. And self serve drinks. That I really don't like.
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| All I ask at a buffet, besides good food, is that someone clear my plate and fill my drink every time I get up to go get more food. And as is typical when you get your own drinks the iced tea is from a soda fountain instead of brewed....that's never good in my book. And price-wise, well, there are cheaper buffets if I'm going to have to get my own drinks. The food was about the right caliber for what we paid I guess.
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| Finally on to some poker at the Aria 7pm.
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| For the first hour and 15 minutes I had literally nothing. No pair, A-9 off and A-5 off the best hands I saw in that stretch. Got down around 8K from a 10K starting stack and saw maybe two flops. Those people should have thought I was the tightest person on the planet.
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| Finally there's a hand with three limpers and I look down at JJ on the button. This early in the tournament I try to flop sets with that hand, and even tho I will have position it doesn't make sense to alter that plan and raise out and be stuck playing them against 4-5 other players so I call, blinds are happy to see a flop.
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| J-8-rag. Gin!
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| Guy in a middle position with a short-ish stack bets out, I smooth call, one other caller.
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| Turn another rag (2 I think), he bets again, other caller goes away, I call again. In hindsight I probably should have just shoved, he was pot committed, but I don't think it's terrible to let him keep betting if he wants to.
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| River is a Q, which I didn't really want to see since it completed a straight draw, but zero chance I'm folding. He goes all in, I snap call, he shows A-8 and gets up to leave.
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| Very next hand I'm in the hijack seat. Someone raises out from a middle position, I look down at "Double-Infinity" (88) and call. Button and big blind also call.
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| Flop K-J-8, two clubs so very draw heavy. I lead out.
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| Button goes over the top, all the chips go in, he says "you got a set of 8's?" and rolls over K-J. I double up.
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| Into the first break I'm up around 27K. Jim is a little above starting stack, had had to give up on a big pot when he flopped a straight I believe but the board ran out a 4-flush. Hate that...
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| I did catch a 3rd pair before the break. 9s. Raised out, flop came 7-J-Q, no set, gave up on the hand.
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| After the break maintained my stack for a while, no big moves up or down. Did catch pocket 9s. Raised out, flop came 7-J-Q. Same cards, same order.
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| I don't remember where I was in relation to blinds/button, but once again I catch pocket 8s. I was first in the hand and raise out, guy who doubled me up last time goes over the top of me. I would guess it was 200/400 blinds, I probably made it 1100 and he probably made it 2700. I've got chips, he's got chips, I'm getting the right price to set mine...
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| Flop comes 8-10-Q, two diamonds. I decide to lead out.
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| He stands up and says "are we doing this again? Set of 8s again?" and goes all in.
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| Call.
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| He rolls over QQ. Seriously?
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| Turn is a 9...
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| River is a Jack. Chop it up.
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| Into second break still around 27K. Jim was crippled just before the break getting all in with K-Q vs 6-4 and lost. Ouch.
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| Unfortunately that's the end of the excitement for me. No other big hands, my stack stayed in neutral and the blinds kept going up after the next break. I did catch pocket 9s once. Called a raise, flop came 6-J-Q. Can't make it up. I went away...
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| Eventually down to about 12-13 big blinds I got all in with A-Q (no A-K all tournament, A-J once and A-10 once in about 4.5 hrs of poker?) and ran into QQ. No help for me, done. I was 24th of 78, not bad to outlast 2/3, Jim was about middle of the pack.
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| Today it will be the 11am at Aria. Wish us luck! |
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