 Vegas November 2022 |
| Day 3 - NLH and HORSE at Orleans |
| Last Updated: 2022-11-15 12:57:08 |
| Off to a good start!
|
| Starbucks while writing yesterday's BLOG as usual. The plan was simple: I wanted to make sure I could play HORSE at Orleans so instead of waiting until 1pm to play Hold'Em at Aria I was going to play in the 11am at Orleans instead.
|
| Smaller buyin, but I was hoping they'd get more people to make up for it.
|
| Well, they did and then some. When we were here in October and again when I looked this Sunday they typically get 50-something people at Aria for a $160 buyin.
|
| Orleans had 128 yesterday for $100 buyin, more than double what I've seen at Aria when I've looked this fall. Paid more places, but bigger prize pool overall I would assume. This is now mostly the new plan!
|
| Packed a backpack with snacks and my Eagles jersey to throw on in time for Monday Night Football, threw that in the car that was still in the parking deck, ran over to Aria to have breakfast at Salt and Ivy. It's our current go-to for breakfast, they have a special Platinum line, but since I'm by myself I just sat at the bar to eat.
|
| As I was finishing up breakfast I realized I left one critical item up in the room. Buyin money!!! Duh...
|
| Back up to room, down to car, over to Orleans.
|
| Got there about 11:40 and they were half way through round 2. Took me a while to realize that unlike Aria who does breaks after two hours of poker they do breaks after 80 minutes of poker. 4 20-minute rounds then a 15 minute break.
|
| First hand I look down at is pocket Jacks. There's a raise from an early position older guy and I decide that literally having just sat down the play was to just call and see a flop. One or both of the blinds also called, King high flop, original raiser quickly leads out, done with the hand.
|
| Not long after that with blinds at 200/300 with a 300 ante I look down at pocket Queens! Second to act limps in, I make it 1300 to go and only the cutoff (one behind the button) calls. Flop T-A-rag, I check out of position and the cutoff checks. On a small turn card I try a 1600 bet, he calls. River a king, check it down, QQ beats his 99. Not what I expected him to show up with.
|
| One recurring theme is going to be me NOT getting paid off with big hands. Yes I got chips, but I didn't win a huge pot with my big hand.
|
| Just pick up blinds with Kings a little later.
|
| Early to act makes it 1000 to go now at 200/400/400. I call with Q-J of diamonds. Very short stack goes all-in for just 1300. Blinds call, original raiser calls, I call.
|
| Flop comes 8-10-3 with the 8 and ten of diamonds so I have a gutshot straight flush draw and two overcards. It checks to the original raiser who makes it 3500 to go and I go all in with what was probably around a 25k starting stack.
|
| A raise would have been 10k or so, I'm never folding to a shove after putting more than 1/3 of my stack in. And I'm never, ever folding a straight flush draw with overs. It's just too big of a hand. All-in is the play here for max pressure.
|
| Folds around to original raiser, he makes sure he can still re-enter and calls off his remaining 15k or so. He has Q-10 off so a queen doesn't help me but my jack is live.
|
| Ace of diamonds on the river! Ship it!
|
| 48,900 at the break.
|
| That guy I busted re-entered and sat in the same seat. He would bust again, sit in the same seat again, bust a 3rd time and finally give up.
|
| Card dead for a while after the break. At 400/800/800 I made it 2200 to go with aces and had two callers. King high flop, I lead out hoping someone has a king and everyone folds. Minimum for aces.
|
| But pick up a nice pot making it 3000 to go now at 600/1200/1200 with Jack-nine of clubs and get two callers. Flop comes 8-9-J, I make it 6200 to go, one caller. Lead out again on a blank turn, he goes away.
|
| First to act makes it 3600 at 800/1600/1600 and I look down at aces. I make it 11k, he folds. Minimum for aces.
|
| Winning some pots, losing some pots ... then I think I win a huge hand but they start taking my chips ...
|
| There was a limper early to act and I made it 7000 to go (roughly 2.5 times BB plus limp) with pocket 9s. I think it was button, a very loose/passive player who called a lot before the flop, called my raise and then the button goes all-in for about 20-25k. I go all-in to get rid of passive guy ... and he thinks a while, shrugs and calls. He's got two small cards but the original raiser who had more chips has queens. ARGH!
|
| I catch a 9 on the river! Sweet!!!
|
| They start counting out stacks and then start taking chips from me ... wait a minute ... oh shit.
|
| Passive guy had 7-6 of diamonds, flopped two diamonds ... river 9 of DIAMONDS. Son of a bitch...
|
| I lose about half my stack, I get what little original raiser had left after paying off passive guy.
|
| That guy naturally crashed and burned eventually, but not to my benefit. 34,500 at the second break. Numbers come in, as I said 128 players paying 18 places.
|
| Drop down to about 29k, not even 10 big blinds with the big at 3000. But ... finally get paid with aces! I go all in early to act and the big blind snap calls me with A-Q. Board runs out clean, I'm at 51500 with ante and small blind.
|
| Big blind up to 4000, I have 12-13 bigs. I go all in with suited A-9 second to act, small blind thinks a while and calls, big blind folds. Small blind had pocket Queens, what was he thinking about?
|
| Under the gun tells me he folded A-9. Don't tell me that...
|
| Flop a 9, river a 9, ship it! Nobody ever won a poker tournament without getting lucky at least once :-)
|
| That gets me to 106K with the average around 84k. Nice!
|
| Win a pot, lose a pot ... I look up and we're 10 from the money. I actually get a couple walks!
|
| 5 from the money I look down at aces. Min-raise, only big blind calls, flop 7-7-K, he folds to my flop bet. Minimum with aces again.
|
| I get another walk with 99. 3 from the money.
|
| 116K at the break.
|
| Get another walk with J-4 offsuit and we're on the money bubble!
|
| I fold 33 on the button. I'm at 12 big blinds, that's all in if we're in the money.
|
| We go around the table, still hand-for-hand, folds to me in the small blind and I look down at K-Q. I need to steal, I go all in, big blind folds. Whew.
|
| Finally the bubble bursts and we're down to two tables. My table finally breaks up. Now it's money bumps...
|
| Big blind now 12k, I look down at aces in the cutoff seat. I make it 25k to go, the big blind calls, folds to my bet on the all small flop. Minimum with aces.
|
| 165k stack, average 188k, 30k in blinds every round.
|
| First money bump, my guarantee goes from 187 to 212.
|
| In the big blind with 55, small blind just calls, I shove, he folds. Even better than a walk!
|
| Another bump, we're at $237 for my $100 buyin.
|
| I finally don't get a walk and have to give up my big blind ... then a big hand for me.
|
| Blinds now up to 8000/16000/16000. We're down to 5 players at our table and 6 at the other so 40,000 chips every 5 hands if you don't steal now and then.
|
| It folds to me on the button, I make it 60,000 to go with pocket queens. Small blind, older lady who was not afraid to make some moves calls me. She definitely played too many hands and gave away chips, but also hit some really big hands. Big blind folds.
|
| Flop comes all small. She's first to act and instantly goes all in. I've seen her try this before, I snap call, she rolls over A-Q. Board runs out clean, I get a full double up! I'm at 366k with the average now 290k. I'm chip leader at my table I think.
|
| We lose a player, they bring over a player with about the same stack as me from the other table. Both tables 5-handed. We're about to get a money bump when ...
|
| The two biggest stacks of the tournament are at the other table. They want to chop the tournament now for $818 per person. No negotiating, everyone takes same amount. It's between 3rd and 4th place money with 10 players left.
|
| I'm the only person who says no. Everyone is cool about it.
|
| But ... I think it over and with blinds now at 20k I don't even have 20 big blinds and I'm 3rd or 4th in chips in the whole tournament. It's a crapshoot. After two hands I tell everyone I'm in if they're still in.
|
| Done. I take my $818 and go have dinner, I've got a couple hours before HORSE.
|
| Get a couple of appetizers and a couple of whiskys at the pub in Orleans Joann and I have discovered that we really like while I watch the first half of the Eagles/Commanders game. Not a great half for them. The second half would get worse...
|
| But on-time buyin for HORSE. And honestly, even tho I played for 3.5 hours there isn't really much to talk about.
|
| Early on I was winning almost every hand through the first rounds of Omaha 8/b and Razz and for a while had almost all of the smaller denomination chips. 18,500 at the first break.
|
| After being told there would probably only be about 30 players at the buyin from the morning was very happy to see 49 players showed up!
|
| Card dead for a while, won a decent pot now and then but nothing spectacular. Would whittle down near my 15k starting stack size, win a pot up around 20k, then get whittled down again.
|
| Second break I was exactly at a starting stack after not winning the chip race.
|
| Eventually in limit hold'em, under starting stack, I look down at aces. NICE! Someone raises, I reraise, a blind calls, he calls 4500. Flop comes queen high, he leads out for 1500, I make it 3000, only he calls.
|
| Turn and river seem to be blanks but I manage to get the rest of my chips in ... and he catches two pair on the river with Q-7 to crack my aces.
|
| Careful what you wish for ...
|
| They were only paying 6 places and I was probably busted out in the low 20s out of 49. Not bad for never really getting much over 20k from the 15k start.
|
| Back to the room, finally valet park the car, get a couple slices and a couple beers to celebrate my cash and up to the room to bed.
|
| So now I have a problem. This Orleans tournament is great, now I want to play there every day at 11 and then again at 7. But I gotta spend money at MGM resorts, and spending all day at Orleans doesn't help me spend money at MGM. I need to get in this massage I've been talking about!
|
| Tuesday I'm going over there. Friday it looks like a juicy 7pm tournament I don't want to miss so definitely want to play there early Friday. And Wednesday evening they have stud 8/omaha 8 at 7pm and don't want to miss that, so want to play the 11am there on Wednesday too.
|
| Looks like Thursday is going to be a massage and a steak dinner! :-) But we'll see, at some point I'll have a bad day at Orleans and be able to come back and spend some money while waiting for the 7pm I'm sure.
|
| But, for now, I have a breakfast reservation here at Park this morning so I need to get my ass in gear. |
| Post a comment |