Might be stupid but I kinda did not get this part:

" "So sick" he said in legitimate frustration as he fiercely chucked his cards towards the middle. All was well until the Kd took a detour off a $25 chip and flew into the air slowly rotating in my memory as it struck an already agitated Joe in the right temple.

Oh **** I thought knowing how fragile anger can be after a losing pot. Joe stopped mid shuffle in shock. He raised his head slowly, as I channeled him serenity now. Not only was an outbreak on the horizon, but also our livelihood in the best game we'd sat in all year. Three seconds passed before logic took over and Joe wiped his temple, nodded his head, and went back to his chips like nothing ever happened."

His friend won a pot off the local donk who bounced a card into his head accidentally. He was worried his friend might react in a way that would cause the awesome game to break, but that did not happen.

There is no chance would she be carrying a gun that could fit into a handbag.

Also Melbourne is the coffee capital of the world, its funny that you end up at Gloria Jeans which has the worst coffee in Australia. Soo many choices for amazing coffee right there in the cbd.

Just finished reading this entire thread, just an amazing story, the years worth of updates not only kept me interested but addicted to find out what happens next. "Good luck mate!".

How educated can a person be if he chooses to spend 55$ for a drink when he knows the entertainment next door is equally the same and the drinks are 1$? When Bill Gates visits Vegas he chooses to play on the lowest stakes available instead of playing with the big boys? Sounds to me like this is a status quo for you rather than anything else.

bump

C'mon Matt, tell us about your most recent big day!

finally made it to the end, great read and keep crushing the tables Matt.

If you ever decide to "slum" it back down to the 5/10 at the B this summer, i may hopefully get to play some hands with you

gl on your grind and your journey in life

Wow, never knew about this story or this guy and got randomly linked here off of another 2+2 thread. Was gonna head to the strip a handful of hours ago but i think ive learned more reading this than in any of the brief cash trips ive had in my first 3 weeks in vegas. Im older than matt and seeking a job here but im a decent player and im here because i still hold on to small chance of experiencing the dream that he has lived and is currently living. I skipped plenty of pages and ill get to em one day, now time to reflect on how i can make some of these things happen for myself. Great story

Where you at Matt?

The Craziest Hand I've Ever Played

I just got back from a 10/20/40 session at Bellagio, and while I have a separate blog post I should be writing up, this one is fresh in my mind. This is the story of the craziest hand I have ever played.

The lineup was good, as it's been all week. Three tables of 10/20/40 consisting of a good mixture of regulars, tournament players in town for the 25k WPT and recreation players. My day had been going well, I was up to 11k from my original 6500 buy in and I had a pretty reckless image that would hopefully get me paid later in the session.

The first critical portion of my "craziest hand ever" occurred when the mid-aged rec player moved from the 4 seat (directly to my left) to the 8 seat. His parting words were that I had "too much gamble in me."

It couldn't have worked out much better when he opened UTG to 140 and I looked down at the KK on the btn. Enter the 2nd significant portion of the story. In the HJ, a player, W, who I've been playing with every day for the past year calls the bet.

Now W isn't your every day poker professional. He's an older gentleman who's made loads upon loads of money in another field. He lives in Las Vegas and plays Hold'em every single day.

Apparently he used to be quite the action player in the game. But by the time I started playing with him a year ago, he was probably slightly a losing player, and by now in my opinion he is definitely a winning high stakes poker player.

But his skill level is irrelevant for the course of this hand. What is important is the presence that W holds at the Bellagio. He's the number one VIP. He treats all employees very well, and is friendly with all of the players. For these reasons, mixed with his business success, people are enamored by W. Everybody laughs at his jokes, everybody massages his ego. Lots of regulars even check it down when they're heads up in a pot with him.

I've never understood this approach and generally it makes me uncomfortable. For that very reason, my relationship with W, is slightly different. I give him ****, and he gives it right back. We play lots of hands together, but have a different type of respect for each other. We are friends, but we're not afraid to gamble.

Okay so back to the hand. With two Kings on the btn I 3bet the pot to 560. Both players called with W commenting that he was going to ride out the rush. "Haven't you heard that every rush meets a tragic end" I told him as the A46 hit the board.

Both players checked and the action was to me. To protect myself from being bluffed off the best hand and potentially getting called by worse I bet 760. The original player folded and W tossed in the call.

"I wouldn't be so sure this one has come to an end yet" he told me as the perfect K rolled off the deck. I counted the pot, roughly 2800, and bet out 2 yellows and 3 blacks after W had checked. Immediately he called what he believed was 1300. Noticing his mistake he was undeterred as he realized it would cost him another 1k.

Grasping the potential 20k pot I was about to win, I kept my cool the best I could as the final card was about to come. The 3 fell belly up, and before I could curse the gods for ruining my perfect set up, W had immediately shoved his 7k in remaining chips into the pot.

My initial intuition was to fold as I knew W's game pretty well, and was certain he was capable of having both a backdoor flush and a rivered 57. Then began the bull****ting.

"God damn--it. I wanna call you W, I think you're bluffing, but I just don't have much," I said while flashing him the K. At this point W was very talkative. Sitting next to his wife, who was waiting for him to leave for dinner, he was flashing his cards to others at the table, and even members of the rail. Members of my rail.

Now before we go any further lets review the two Bellagio rules that we just broke. There is no showing of any cards allowed at Bellagio, or any table talk about hands. Both bizarre rules, but both rules nonetheless.

However, at the expense of sounding arrogant and condescending, the high stakes games don't exactly follow all rules. Cards are shown all of the time and table talk is often used when fishing for information.

After a couple of minutes, I'd made up my mind. As painful as it was, I was going to have to release my hand. W was too capable of having flushes and he seemed overly confidant.

"I guess I'm gonna let you bluff me" I said to W, as I picked both of my cards up with my left hand and held them at eye level as I took one more look at the wasted set.

But before I could make any motion towards folding or even think of muttering the "final answer", W flipped over a card.

The card was the 6.

I let out a shocking "huh". I couldn't lose the pot. "Now what are you gonna do?" W asked me one final time in his challenging tone. "I can't lose to one hand with that card" I said while flipping over my set of Kings.

Now while I was considering the severity of what had just happened and the potential 22k pot that was about to be controversially won by one of us, another player spoke up at the other end of the table.

"That's not right Matt, you can't call him here. You said fold" chirped David Limb. He was right about one thing, but 100% wrong about another. Yes I was preparing to fold my hand, but I had never muttered the words, or even made a tossing motion towards the muck.

I was completely dumbfounded, I didn't know what to do. W had now shown me his other card, the 6 I could sense the embarrassment coming from W as he had either just failed in tricking me to call him with a worse hand, or prematurely flipped over a hand I could beat.

There's Twenty two thousand in the middle of two competitors and two friends. A guy you play with every single day has made a mistake. A guy who went out of his way to invite you to his house for Christmas when somebody told him you'd be in Vegas alone. The pot is worth more then your whole bankroll was when you started this poker journey. You're on the clock...

MM

lol what on Earth, call.

I should mention that there was a disagreeance between everyone at the table over whether he was showing me his card assuming I'd already folded or done so to entice me to call.

You didn't fold take the pot....

You have a story to laugh about with him for years to come (but also the money you deserve)

i would call, as after all, he showed you a 6, as he wanted you to call (he must have thought he was winning with a set) and im sure he wouldnt have had a problem taking in the huge pot had you called with worse than him.

to me, 20k is alot of money, and im sure it is to you, im sure upsetting a few regs for a few hours is a small price to pay for 20k better off.

dont leave us hanging like that, did u get it?

ah right, i guess this is what it boils down too...

if he honestly showed you a 6 because he thought you folded

or

he showed you a 6, thinking he had the best hand, and wanted you to call with worse

either way, i would still call and claim the pot, and might offer something like him taking the last bet back...but i wouldnt let the whole pot go, not to save face or friends at the tables.

I hope I have this problem one day, lol.

If you really love the guy, pull out the Laliberté maneuver...if he would do it for you, that is.

lol W. Playing with him was great.

On top of that, the pot is rightfully yours. Poker is all about punishing mistakes.

call. damn. simple game.

After flipping over the 6, "Now what are you gonna do?" W asked me one final time in his challenging tone. SO he obv. knew that you didn't make your decision yet . I hope you called and took it down!

Holy ****, this.

Yea, you have to call. It sounds like he is smart enough to understand your situation as well and I doubt this will hurt your relationship. Showing that K was brilliant because that definitely prompted him into showing the 6. He should also know better than that because showing a card there is never going to cause a good player to make a bad decision. He's just giving you too much info.

Wow, what a situation!

First off: I dont like all the bs in this hand with showing hands, almost folding and so on. Those kind of actions increase **** like this happening.

I dont know, I guess Id do like someone above me said. Call, win the pot but give him back his last bet. You win some in the pot but will remain good friends and people will remember it and like you forever. Its kinda fair also.

Tough spot though!