 Vegas July 2025 (WSOP Part Deux) |
| Days 5-6 - Day off, called an audible |
| Last Updated: 2025-07-08 13:44:41 |
| The plan was to take a couple days off, then play HORSE weekly on Tuesday and PLO weekly (at the WSOP) on Wednesday. Nice, cheap, relaxing Sunday!
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| "Plans are useless, but planning is indispensable" - Dwight D Eisenhower
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| One of my all-time favorite quotes about plans, even if it's not entirely relevant here. The point of what DDE said is really about how in war you can plan all you want, as soon as the first shot is fired everything changes in ways you didn't expect ... but by taking the time to plan you take the time to think about all the other possibilities and you're prepared for how it actually goes. That matters!
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| How do you react when your plan goes to shit??? The answer depends on how well prepared you are!
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| Whenever I hear about a "plan" this quote immediately comes to mind, even if it's my own plan! In this case I just suddenly decided to take a different path. I'm just sharing some profound wisdom that is completely tangential to what I'm doing because it's an excuse to let everyone read something profound now and then. :-)
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| The daily Starbucks to start our morning. If you read my BLOGs you should know that I'm at a minimum getting at least one tea at Starbucks every day whether I say it or not.
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| Joann and I have a shit-ton of stars that are going to expire, but the best deal we will ever get for our stars is 100 stars for a free tea (hot or iced) at Starbucks in any MGM Resort. We arrived here with stars that were going to expire in August, I'm going to insure we use up all the stars that are going to expire through at least November on this trip. Not kidding, 100 stars vs $7.85 for two tea bags, two sugars and hot water in a cup. Best deal in all of Starbucks!
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| We spent the rest of the morning at the pool, couple of drinks that weren't "doubles" (we CAN be good...) and some food and up to the room noon-ish.
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| Plan for our "cheap, lazy day" was to "go for a walk"...
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| Walked from Vdara through the shops at Bellagio, decided to take the long way back through Bellagio and walked past their poker room ... where they had a 40-80 (I assume limit) 7-game mix cash game with an 8 person waiting list.
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| Hmmmmm....
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| I am going to get more info on this game! 40-80 limits is a big number, but ... if I was ever going to dive into a cash game is a mixed game not as good as it gets for me?
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| Kept walking, tho, all the way to the shopping mall off Aria called Crystals.
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| I'm not really one for impulse purchases. If I'm spending a lot of money on something I've probably put a lot of thought into it.
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| To date my biggest impulse purchase is something I wear on my wrist. I've got a small stack of Movado watches I used to hold dear, but a summer or two ago we were walking through the Forum Shops at Caesar's. Joann went to the restroom and to kill time I went into Tag Heuer, looked at a watch and Joann was barely in the store as I said "I'll take it."
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| Now the Tag is my every day. I have a green-faced Movado I wear sometimes when it goes with whatever else I'm wearing ... but only then. Even gave Angus one of my absolute favorite Movados because I was literally never wearing it and he was blown away the first time he saw it after I bought it. It's a watch that should be worn that I was not wearing!
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| I get incessant emails from Tag. I check out the watches, most of them I'm actually not a fan of but every now and then...
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| There is a collection I had my eye on. First stop in Crystals was Tag...
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| Walk through the entire store. Get to the end and there's those watches I had my eye on. The Tag I already have is a black face with a silver band from a different collection but here they have a light grey face with small black dials. This is a nice looking watch. I don't remember seeing this in emails ...
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| But in the case they had two from the collection. Similar to what I had but a very important difference. Instead of dials across the middle with one on the bottom half, dials top and bottom and on the left. A light grey face with silver trim and a two-tone black and silver band and the aforementioned black dials. Pretty sweet looking ...
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| Having a black faced watch already I really wanted some color. They had the grey faced one also in a green face, but I wanted blue. And, it had an orange second hand in the chronograph. Not in love with that!
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| "How much?"
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| I was honestly surprised it was a number smaller than the one I already owned. Joann would later tell me as soon as she heard that number she knew I wasn't leaving empty handed. I honestly did not think so at that point...
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| "Do you have a blue face?" ... which is what I really wanted. I wanted some color, really!
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| Blue face had the same orange second hand in the chronograph. I asked if he could get one to the store in the next week.
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| Into the back room. Me still looking at the light grey one. Nice looking watch...
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| Joann points out that they left us alone in the store, literally nobody in the front of the store, with two watches out of their case (and the case unlocked...)
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| Yes he could get me the blue face. They have one in Caesar's and get can get it here for me.
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| But ... I put that light grey watch on my wrist for probably the fifth time ... at least ...
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| "Nevermind, I'll take it. This one."
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| Impulse purchase. Can't stop looking at it. Love this watch.
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| They gave Joann some champagne, they poured me some Glenmorangie while we did paperwork (they've got a co-marketing thing with a scotch I happen to love!), signed me up for shit, and can you believe it ... the guy selling me this watch in Crystals is literally the same dude that sold me the one I had at the Forum shops at Caesars! Can't make that up! He was occasionally called down there to fill in, and as we were talking I honestly started to recognize him!
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| I told him that when I buy the next one I'm only buying from him!
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| After that tho, a change of plans!
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| I was going to play in HORSE weekly Tuesday and PLO weekly Wednesday with a second day off with Joann.
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| New plan is that ... in spite of the fact that I'm trying to stick to smaller fields ... I'm playing in the $600 "ultra-stack" bracelet event with what will probably be 7000 players.
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| On to Monday morning!
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| I'm gonna start with the ending. Five and a half hours of the worst card dead streak I've probably ever had.
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| This was an "ultra stack" tournament. For $600 we got as many chips as the $10,000 Main Event - 60,000.
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| For me, this meant I could spend 5.5 hours mostly bleeding off chips in blinds and antes because I literally could not play cards.
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| I'm probably forgetting something but I recall exactly three pairs in that time. In order 33, 22 and 99.
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| That's it. 5.5 hours, three pairs. AK a couple times, AQ once or twice. Best hands I had all day.
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| I registered almost an hour late so I sat down just at the end of round 2. I had a 50-50 chance of picking the right building. Walked into Paris, fired up the app, bought in ... and got a seat in the Horseshoe half.
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| It was a full hour before I actually dragged a pot. Folds around to me in the small blind at 300/500/500 blinds and I look down at KQ suited. Make it 1500, big blind folds. Woo hoo!
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| Very next hand on the button a middle position player makes it 1500 to go, cutoff calls and I make it 5k with AK suited. Folds around to MP who calls, cutoff folds. Flop 983, he check-calls a 6k c-bet, check around on an 8 turn and he check-folds when an ace comes on the river and I chuck out 7500.
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| Literally the highlight of my day.
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| There was a guy at the table who was seriously over-betting. Someone would say raise to 1100, he'd reraise to 9100. Just crazy over-betting. I really wanted to get into a hand with him!
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| He built up a huge stack, then punted off half of it calling an all-in with KQ suited and ran into AK. But then got it all back because even the nutjobs get aces sometimes and vs the same guy he had an AA vs KK hand (and they flopped an A and turned a K so it was all going all in at some point anyway).
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| My first pocket pair of the day was 33, I raised out and he was the only caller. I flopped a set! But the one time he doesn't feel like getting out of line is when I flop a set and I get the minimum for them.
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| Of course.
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| After that I never dragged another pot of any significance. On the rare occasion I had a playable hand (like 9-10 suited) I'd raise out, whiff the flop and get my c-bet raised and have to give up on the hand.
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| Stole blinds every now and then but my stack was creeping down and blinds were going up.
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| Eventually I was down around 15 bigs, stole blinds now and then to stay in the 15-20BB range but eventually jammed with 99, called by AK, K on the turn and I was finally put out of my misery.
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| Tuesday we're going to hit the pool, have lunch at Javier's and I'm going to play in HORSE so there will be another BLOG tomorrow.
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| Wednesday I will probably will play PLO because definitely a day off Thursday because we're going to get a cabana at the pool and Friday we've got group dinner plans. |
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