Vegas June 2019 (WSOP)

Day 2 - 8/b two ways at Aria

Last Updated: 2019-06-07 10:49:11

Now I get what Limit Omaha/E means...

Seemed pretty obvious "E" meant "Eight or Better" as in Omaha 8/b.

Nope.

E=Stud 8/b! I was a pretty happy camper when I found out the Omaha 8/b tournament was really an "8/b mix" tournament! Games rotate every 8 hands.

Alas for my Thursday my joy at this discovery was the best part of my day :-)

Started out the day writing up yesterday's entry at Starbucks as always. Brought more Starbucks up to Joann, eventually got ready and on to the Aria tournament area.

Never got above starting stack. Almost none of my good starting hands worked out, I was winning the smaller pots and losing the bigger ones. That's not a winning combination. Start out with a A-3-X-X Omaha hand with two suits, turn nut low, straight and flush draws and catch the flush and a low! But it was the wrong flush and non-nut low on that river 3 and lose both ends to a bigger flush and a slightly better non-nut low.

Just before break I wake up with AAK2 double suited! Can't ask for a much better starting hand!

3-handed flop comes Q-3-4 with rainbow but one of each of my suits! Outside of a flopped nut hand what more could I ask for???

But...board runs out Q-3-4-A-3, my full house is good but I lose to a 5-6 on the low and we split up the other guy's chips. I'm down at almost exactly 15K from my 25K starting stack. Right about this time Joann got us our room change and is getting our stuff moved.

I chop a big pot but then lose a big pot both in stud 8/b. All the draws in the world on the second one, start with A-3-5 with ace showing and pair my ace on 4th street...what more can you want?

But all I end up with is two pair and lose to a runner-runner flush (only had two diamonds showing so I know she rivered a diamond) who also missed a low when I pair the 5.

And that was pretty much how it all went. You have to catch some cards to win these kinds of tournaments, it's much harder to buy pots. Well...in stud you certainly can when your board is scary and the other person's isn't, but you at least have to catch scary looking cards to do that!

Last pot of any significance I took half of was A3Q8 start in Omaha (suited ace) 3-handed on a board that ran out Q8786. As it turned out they both had A23X so even if I had hit that river deuce I would have only gotten 2/3 of the pot instead of half. But...any 7 through K is a scoop for me and about 55% of the time I'm scooping with the only high. Just couldn't get a break!

Into the next break at just 5700 chips, didn't last too long into round 9. But...hey...made it to the 9th round with very little help. And it was a good warmup for Sunday!

Do some IMing with Joann and Dave and we all agree on Javier's for dinner. Mexican restaurant at Aria, definitely one of Joann's favorite places to eat! And here's a hint...if you ever eat there, when they bring you your chips ask for some of the roasted tomatillo salsa to have with your chips. Really, really good...

Dave is waiting for his key for his room change, but Joann and I are starving so eventually I let Dave know we're going to head down and see if they'll seat us one short at 4:00 in the afternoon. We get out in the hallway, take about 20 steps and here's Dave coming at us on the way to his new room! Few doors down on the other side of the hall.

Big meal, disappointing tournament, working on about an hour of sleep...guess what I did after dinner! Took a good 90 minute nap while Dave went to buy in to the 7pm.

Joann wakes me up around 7:30 and I decide to head down and buy in myself. But...

I know the deal with the 7pm at Aria in June. And it's not good trying to buy in at 7:30pm. Because...

It was after 5 when we finished up dinner, Dave didn't think they started taking buyins until 6pm for the 7:00 so maybe some blackjack while he waited and I napped? No buyins 'til 6pm didn't sound right to me but...ok, if you say so :-)

Instead of going to the buyin cage I went straight to the tournament area to see how bad the "alternate" group is. Doesn't look terrible...but there's dave? What the hell? Already bust?

Nope. Apparently buying in at 6-ish for the 7pm meant that you were ALTERNATE 42!!!!

But, Dave says, there aren't that many more after him and I should go buy in. Can't be that long for me to wait. I hear them call alternate 32 to sit down as I start walking...

Up to the cage (which they do in the sports book in the summers, and that's smart because the cage at the poker room would be overwhelmed) and I ask what alternate they're up to...

"We just sold number 131 sir"

Yup...about what I expected. No thanks, I'm not waiting for 99 people to bust out before I sit down. Thanks anyway :-)

Dave eventually sat down and lasted all of an hour. Brutal. Starts with AK, flop AK3...loses to K5 on running 5s. That hurts! After he busted he IMed me asked me what we were doing. The next morning I replied "'asleep in bed' was the answer" :-)

So the plan for Friday is a bank run (I only drove with enough cash for Thursday) and Dave and I buying into our weekend WSOP tournaments before the rush. The two Dave is planning to play in are both going to be massive Saturday and Sunday (mine Sunday won't be so bad) so it would be in our interest to pick a time when the line is much smaller at the cage today and get that over with. Dave is playing in the 11am at Aria, I'm going to play in the 7pm.