Vegas November 2017

Day 4 - Deep run, parking troubles

Last Updated: 2017-11-07 13:12:00

I've decided there's not much point in titling these "Aria, Aria" over and over so I might go back and retitle the other days...but definitely starting with this one I'm going to try and get a little more descriptive and maybe start trying to have a little fun with them...

Things didn't start out great. I was card dead for the first hour and 15 minutes. But all it takes is a few hands to get you on track.

Middle of the 3rd round I pick up pocket 2s and raise out. I get one caller who has a shorter stack than me. Flop something like T-6-2. I lead out, guy quickly goes over the top all in and I beat him in the pot. He has K-T, I about double up.

Last hand going into the break I'm in the big blind, button is a guy I've played with many times before and I know he's a solid local. He raises out as break is being announced and I look down at Q-3 suited. I figure he doesn't have much and is just trying a standard "break steal" hoping I just want to get away from the table...so I call hoping I can steal it back. Flop Q-6-3, two clubs. I check, he bets, I raise...he thinks and calls. Turn a 9, at this point there are two spades and two clubs on board. I lead out pretty strong...he agonizes, shows me a queen and folds. Later said he had KQ. Into break at 17450 from 10K start.

First hand after the break I'm in the small blind, bunch of limpers and I look down at 9-6 of diamonds and join the party.

Flop comes T-4-2 with two diamonds. Checks around. Turn is an offsuit 3 so I have a flush draw and a gutshot draw. I check and a woman at the other end of the table leads out for 1/2 to 2/3 of the pot, I call. River is 5d completing both of my draws. Now I lead out, she calls, my flush is good. She had A-5 and had caught a straight on the turn!

Now up around 22500.

Over this set of three rounds I catch some cards, win a few pots, build my stack for a while. Nice to have some chips and catch a few hands and steal a pot once in a while. Just before the break I catch aces, guy at the other end of the table goes over the top and all he has is Q-T. I flop an ace, but also a jack so he has four outs. No king on the turn or river and I go into the next break at dead on 39,000.

At this point things are going great. Final tally is 125 players paying 13 places, there are 49 left, average stack is about 25K so I'm well above that.

Continue to get some cards and opportunities to take down pots and build my way up to around 50K.

Unfortunately that was as good as it got. From that point on literally nothing worked for me. At the end of the 800/1600 level and beginning of the 1000/2000 level every time I would get an AK/AQ type hand late to act I would make my standard 2.5 BB raise, I would get a couple of callers, miss the flop and someone would lead into me every time. Not once even a check to see what I do! Get a middle pair, same raise, at least two overs and someone betting. Every time.

In the space of 20 minutes I go from well above average, 30 big blind stack to a below average 10-12 big blind stack in spite of several good-to-very-good starting hands.

Incredibly frustrating is all I can say.

I'm on the button, folds around to me, I go all-in with KQ suited with only two people to get through...and the small blind wakes up with AQ.

You can't make it up.

Done, 29th of 125, 16 from money.

Drown my sorrows in some gelato, buy into the 7pm and with still a little time to kill I head over to the M-Life players club desk to discuss a problem with my card.

(This story will be more interesting if you've read my June 2018 BLOG where I talk about M-life because I'm not going to repeat all that info here...)

Once they built the new T-Mobile arena it didn't take long for all of the casinos to start charging for parking. One of the perks of being gold is that you still get free parking. Another perk is that you get to skip lines at restaurants and buffets. But they stamp a year on the card now so you have to get a new card every year. Makes sense, you don't want to let people skip the line who don't maintain their status. And they do look...

When I got here on Friday my old card worked fine getting me into the parking lot. I went and got my new 2018 cards that afternoon.

Try to leave the lot this day and my new card won't let me out of the lot. Tried at least 5 times. Line is forming behind me, I have to use the call button and talk to an operator who let me out.

I'm thinking there's a small chance it was using the old card to get in and the new card to get out so I try the new card on the way back in after lunch. No luck. I have to take a ticket from the machine to get in.

I go to the M-life desk to discuss this problem. She doesn't undertand why it would happen, she ran the card at her workstation and it worked fine, but she gives me new cards anyway.

Then she asks if I have any questions about my "points". I say no, I just went over all the rules and now I understand it pretty well.

But then I decide to ask what I have. She says I have $8 and change in comps, and I have a bunch of points. If I would like, she could have her manager come over and convert them to cash and I would have another $342 in comps.

Wha?????

I confirm that number. I'm a little dumbfounded. Yup $342. I'll have to think about that...

If I can apply that to my room, and she did use the word "comps", that covers almost my entire remaining hotel bill for this trip. SWEET!!! So I'm going to go back and talk to someone again Tuesday.

On to the 7pm. Not much to tell.

One of the first 3-4 hands I pick up QQ in middle position. Raise, call, call in front of me. I do a little math and my raise should be 750, I decide to go 850.

Button who is a calling station calls, original raiser calls, everyone else goes away.

Quick note on the button: This is 3rd time I've played with him. I've outlasted him every time. I know he's a calling station, classic weak/passive player, always going to eventually give away his chips. He's the guy I caught quads on Sunday.

Flop K-6-X, original raiser first to act immediately leads out. What can I do, I have to go away. Button calls. Board runs out K-6-X-K-X. Original raiser who led out flips over A-T off. Calling station flips over A-6 off.

Eventually I learned that original raiser was a very tricky, trappy player. Good for her, she got me out but didn't know she also had a calling station in the hand.

After that, literally nothing for an hour and 45 minutes. I win very few pots and most of the ones I did win were just blinds. Not a single pot of any significance.

I look down at A-Q of clubs. I believe I raised out, same woman and monster stack next to her call. Flop J-8-4 two clubs. She leads out for 2K, monster stack calls.

I only have about 6000-6500 left, the pot is now more than my stack, I have a nut flush draw, two overs and running straight possibility. Blinds about to go from 100/200 to 200/400. If you think I have more than one option here, well, I can respectfully suggest a book or three you should read on tournament poker :-)

I'm obviously all in.

Tricky woman calls, monster stack thinks a while and folds. I think I would have preferred another call with a chance to triple up given my holding, my odds of winning hand shouldn't change a whole lot 3-way vs 2-way unless he specifically called with A-K, A-8 or A-4 since aces would no longer help me in that case. I can eliminate A-J and any two-pair or set hands because he wouldn't have folded any of those. So whatever he did have, I would have welcomed the call.

Woman rolls over K-J, no help for me, I'm out with my shortest tournament so far in the trip.

Oh well. For the record cardplayer.com's odds calculator puts me at a 54/46 fave. Can't ask for anything more than that in the situation I was in.

Tuesday I'll try and salvage the trip at Aria. Still feeling very confident, I've put myself in a position to succeed several times and the cards just haven't helped me. All I can do is keep playing solid poker.