Another kid Another dream tl;dr
01-07-2010
, 06:36 PM
Day 14
After a short break even session on day 13, I was well rested for a long successful session the next day. But first there was an event I needed to check out. The most prestigious of its kind. Where all the best players in the world gather to determine who holds the most poise under pressure and the greatest precision and concentration amidst countless distractions. An event where the further you advance the more tipsy you become.
I’m talking about the World Series of Beer Pong of course. Let me start off by saying Casey and myself had very low expectations for the WSOBP. We expected to see a bunch of nerds who took an otherwise socially entertaining game and turned it into a no nonsense chess match. That was definitely not the case, at least in the preliminary days. Every team showed up in matching uniforms; whether it was the Asians in their martial arts gear, the girls in their catholic school outfits, the older guys with their handlebar mustaches or the younger kids in the “got foam?” shirts. The atmosphere was out of this world. 2 deejays spinning fresh music, side competitions sponsored by Tucker Max’s book, and fans cheering on their favorite teams. I was minding my own business watching a rather competitive game when one fan turned to me and said “These two in the Red. They got no shot. They’re stackin’ their cups. Look at everybody else in this room, is anyone stacking their cups?” I got a good kick out of learning the superstitions involved in beer pong.
In many ways the game is very similar to poker. It began as a method for social gathering amongst friends (mostly teenagers) and became competitive when certain players realized there was an edge to be pushed. Poker, however, does not have anything close to the two catholic school girls who were competing in Beer Pong. Imagine Jennifer Tilly pulling her shirt down all the way to the nipple or Leann Tweeden completely pulling up her skirt, leaving her ass on the table as Phil Ivey was considering a call. These girls were unreal. If any of you were there you have to know who I am referring to, there is no confusing these two. Anyways for those who weren’t, they were nice enough to take pictures with us after the game, and I will definitely post those once they are developed. The atmosphere was so incredible that Casey and I made a pact, which I hope we keep, to play next year.
After watching for a good 45 minutes we made our ways to the Bellagio for some 5/10. I get seated in the 1, next to a very friendly man who answered virtually all of my questions about City Center (He worked there). I’m starting to like the 1 and 9 seats. I used to like the 3 and 7, but I now enjoy the anonymity of sitting next to the dealer. You’re like a hawk. Watching your prey as they unravel all of their tendencies, but somehow they aren’t able to see you. That’s probably complete bull****, but it’s my impression from my few sessions hidden behind the dealers.
Anyways after C-Betting and winning a couple hundred I’m on the BTN with 44. 4 limps to me and I limp along. My friend in the small blind, whose been experiencing a mild case of tilt makes it 40 and everyone calls. Flop comes 234 and he bets 80. No calls back to me, and I pop it up to 240. He thinks forever. I consider taking off my shirt and using my chest as a distraction, I opt not to. Finally he makes it 200 more. I’m pretty certain he’s making a move thinking I was making a move. Regardless I’m never folding top set so I ship it in for 700 more. He calls. Turn comes a 6 and the river is a 10. I show him my set and he nods his head and mucks. I have no clue what he could’ve had. I’m up about 1200.
After winning a hand with a bluff and showing in a multi way pot I get involved with a very aggressive Black gentleman in the 9 seat. He makes it 70 preflop, as he always does when he opens, and I call with AQ. Flop comes Q98 and he checks it. I check back. Turn comes a 2 and I raise his 100 to 280. He calls and I fire 350 on a 3 river. He calls, presumably with tens or jacks, and I take another big pot. ****, running good is fun.
Now onto the most interesting spot of the day. I limp UTG with A
4 and so does half the table. The blinds check and the flop runs out J94
. ABG (aggressive black guy) leads for 40 and I make it 120. Short stack sticks it in for 320. Gets back to the small blind who makes it 600 all day. Now the ABG cold calls 600. The SB and ABG still have 1000 back. What the ****????? I’m convinced that neither of them have sets, which probably makes it a shove for me? But with my aggressive/bluffy reputation my fold equity is minimal. Bewildered, I eventually just fold. The turn brings a 9 and the SB ships it in. ABG calls and the river brings an off suit 3. PHEW! ABG’s J9 is good. Other gentleman claims to have had 44, but I saw the 10 as he mucked. So even if he had the Q10 and ABG had J9, I’m still not sure what my play is.
Anyways after a little while longer of getting paid off by the ABG, who NEVER believed me because I showed one bluff (LOL), I called it a day with a 2200 dollar profit. Not necessarily my best day playing wise, but by far economically. I’m only 2 days behind in my reports now, and at this point up 5400 dollars. CES is in town. If they are as reckless with their money in poker as they were playing craps last night, it could be a good couple of days.
PS I’m considering going to the porn convention. Anyone ever been? That could be a good trip report, no?
After a short break even session on day 13, I was well rested for a long successful session the next day. But first there was an event I needed to check out. The most prestigious of its kind. Where all the best players in the world gather to determine who holds the most poise under pressure and the greatest precision and concentration amidst countless distractions. An event where the further you advance the more tipsy you become.
I’m talking about the World Series of Beer Pong of course. Let me start off by saying Casey and myself had very low expectations for the WSOBP. We expected to see a bunch of nerds who took an otherwise socially entertaining game and turned it into a no nonsense chess match. That was definitely not the case, at least in the preliminary days. Every team showed up in matching uniforms; whether it was the Asians in their martial arts gear, the girls in their catholic school outfits, the older guys with their handlebar mustaches or the younger kids in the “got foam?” shirts. The atmosphere was out of this world. 2 deejays spinning fresh music, side competitions sponsored by Tucker Max’s book, and fans cheering on their favorite teams. I was minding my own business watching a rather competitive game when one fan turned to me and said “These two in the Red. They got no shot. They’re stackin’ their cups. Look at everybody else in this room, is anyone stacking their cups?” I got a good kick out of learning the superstitions involved in beer pong.
In many ways the game is very similar to poker. It began as a method for social gathering amongst friends (mostly teenagers) and became competitive when certain players realized there was an edge to be pushed. Poker, however, does not have anything close to the two catholic school girls who were competing in Beer Pong. Imagine Jennifer Tilly pulling her shirt down all the way to the nipple or Leann Tweeden completely pulling up her skirt, leaving her ass on the table as Phil Ivey was considering a call. These girls were unreal. If any of you were there you have to know who I am referring to, there is no confusing these two. Anyways for those who weren’t, they were nice enough to take pictures with us after the game, and I will definitely post those once they are developed. The atmosphere was so incredible that Casey and I made a pact, which I hope we keep, to play next year.
After watching for a good 45 minutes we made our ways to the Bellagio for some 5/10. I get seated in the 1, next to a very friendly man who answered virtually all of my questions about City Center (He worked there). I’m starting to like the 1 and 9 seats. I used to like the 3 and 7, but I now enjoy the anonymity of sitting next to the dealer. You’re like a hawk. Watching your prey as they unravel all of their tendencies, but somehow they aren’t able to see you. That’s probably complete bull****, but it’s my impression from my few sessions hidden behind the dealers.
Anyways after C-Betting and winning a couple hundred I’m on the BTN with 44. 4 limps to me and I limp along. My friend in the small blind, whose been experiencing a mild case of tilt makes it 40 and everyone calls. Flop comes 234 and he bets 80. No calls back to me, and I pop it up to 240. He thinks forever. I consider taking off my shirt and using my chest as a distraction, I opt not to. Finally he makes it 200 more. I’m pretty certain he’s making a move thinking I was making a move. Regardless I’m never folding top set so I ship it in for 700 more. He calls. Turn comes a 6 and the river is a 10. I show him my set and he nods his head and mucks. I have no clue what he could’ve had. I’m up about 1200.
After winning a hand with a bluff and showing in a multi way pot I get involved with a very aggressive Black gentleman in the 9 seat. He makes it 70 preflop, as he always does when he opens, and I call with AQ. Flop comes Q98 and he checks it. I check back. Turn comes a 2 and I raise his 100 to 280. He calls and I fire 350 on a 3 river. He calls, presumably with tens or jacks, and I take another big pot. ****, running good is fun.
Now onto the most interesting spot of the day. I limp UTG with A
4 and so does half the table. The blinds check and the flop runs out J94. ABG (aggressive black guy) leads for 40 and I make it 120. Short stack sticks it in for 320. Gets back to the small blind who makes it 600 all day. Now the ABG cold calls 600. The SB and ABG still have 1000 back. What the ****????? I’m convinced that neither of them have sets, which probably makes it a shove for me? But with my aggressive/bluffy reputation my fold equity is minimal. Bewildered, I eventually just fold. The turn brings a 9 and the SB ships it in. ABG calls and the river brings an off suit 3. PHEW! ABG’s J9 is good. Other gentleman claims to have had 44, but I saw the 10 as he mucked. So even if he had the Q10 and ABG had J9, I’m still not sure what my play is. Anyways after a little while longer of getting paid off by the ABG, who NEVER believed me because I showed one bluff (LOL), I called it a day with a 2200 dollar profit. Not necessarily my best day playing wise, but by far economically. I’m only 2 days behind in my reports now, and at this point up 5400 dollars. CES is in town. If they are as reckless with their money in poker as they were playing craps last night, it could be a good couple of days.
PS I’m considering going to the porn convention. Anyone ever been? That could be a good trip report, no?
01-07-2010
, 06:45 PM
01-07-2010
, 11:39 PM
Quote:
To be honest, $5400 - so what;it's a fish net. From now on people will root for you to lose, then what?....good writer, yeah no ****, I'd buy your book- I'm back daily. Time to show integrity or you fall down..just like blah blah blah.... and you know how it ends.
Hope they comp you a couple weekends this spring break buddy!
Hope they comp you a couple weekends this spring break buddy!
01-08-2010
, 04:33 PM
01-08-2010
, 05:55 PM
Day 15/16
Days 15 and 16 were composed of one god awful 2/5 session sandwiched in between two pretty well played 5/10 sessions. Day 16 was the last for all of my friends. My poker friends and those from home. We all ventured to the Bellagio for a final session of the trip. Otto and I sat down at a pretty slow 5/10 game.
After a couple hours of up and down poker, I got some chips into a pot. In the BB with 88, a scared money Asian limped in the CO, the BTN followed and I made it 50. Asian calls and we see a flop of J72. I lead for 80 and he calls. I plan on shutting down. That’s until the Ace hits the turn. I fire 140. He thinks, doesn’t want to call, but does. I glance at his stack and see he’s got about 300 remaining. The turn comes another great card, the King. I ask him how much he has, he tells me 320. I bet 270. I read in a CitzenJames post I believe that this is a very intimidating strategy. He doesn’t want to call; I can see it in his eyes. He hates his hand so much, that instead of putting the whole 270 into the pot, he sheepish puts 1 10 dollar chip (anyone who plays live knows this is an indication of a call). I turn over my 88 and he shows J9. Thanks a-****ing-lot CitizenJames.
A little bit later, Aggressive Black Guy joins the table. It’s not long before we get tangled up. I’m in the BB with 77, when UTG opens to 30. ABG calls in MP, as do I. The flop comes 10 4 3 and it’s checked to ABG who fires 80. Him and I see an 8 turn and it goes check check. I know I’m ahead. River comes the J, but I’m not scared, and fire a 200 dollar value bet out. He takes little time in calling, and chuckles to himself when he can’t beat my 77. He spends the next hour promoting his imaginary book he plans on writing. “It’s called, Check raising Value Betting Youngsters, for Value”, he tells us repeatedly. All things considered ABG is actually a really nice guy. He doesn’t spend hours after losing significant pots moaping and complaining like most regulars. He’s very friendly and obviously good to have in the game.
Later on Otto gets involved in a spot where he raised a pre flop raiser with 810 on a Q53 flop. On a 7 turn he shoved in his stack and the aggressive kid folded AQ face up. What the ****??? He can get an aggressive monkey to fold top pair nut kicker, but I can’t get some Asian whose holding onto their money like it’s their god damn first born child to lay down 3rd pair ****-house kicker?? I must really suck.
Around even, I call the table fish’s raise to 30 preflop with k2 on the btn, as does seemingly the whole table. Flop comes A3J. Fish bets 70 and only I call. Turn comes an off suit T and I raise his 80 dollar bet to 250. He calls fairly fast. The 9 hits the river and he insta-calls my 400 dollar bet. He shows the 86 and says “I guess it’s not my day as he leaves.
With 8 o’clock approaching, Otto, Casey, and I head back to our place to get dinner. After eating we’re craving some relaxing poker so we head to Venetian for 2/5. Little did I know that relaxing for me would mean, play like an absolute moron. After playing fairly decent poker for an hour, and just losing a bunch of 50/50’s, I go into monkey mode. Every hand looks good. I’m calling raises to 25 preflop with any decent holding because, hey, that’s only half of what I’d be calling at 5/10. Brilliant logic, I know. The last of my money goes in when I call a turn Bet with QJ on a K1034 board and shove the river on a 7. He snap calls with 10 10, and I’ve officially managed to donate 1,000 dollars back into the fish pool.
After the session I get very angry with myself. That type of play is not okay. If you’re trying to prove you can make a steady income playing poker, mental lapses are just completely unacceptable. There’s enough variance as it is, that adding a mood induced variance variable is simply a death wish for a pro poker player.
At night we head out to NY NY because we’ve heard good things about their piano bar. We were not disappointed one bit. The two piano players are awesome. I’m legitimately surprised at the number of songs that our foreign friends knew the words to. They claimed afterwords that they probably knew 85% of the songs. I guess I never realized how strong our pop culture is worldwide.
The night was going great until Casey decided to run his mouth off to 2 Las Vegas Avenge players (apparently that’s the semi-pro hockey team in town). To Casey’s defense he claims it was the other way around, but either scenario was just bad news. These guys were built, and looked, like barbarians. Not only did they come over to our group and tell us they were going to beat us up, they told us how they were going to beat us up. I believe mine was a right hook that would shatter my nose. We tried to calm them down, as we really didn’t want a fight. But they really didn’t want to listen. Finally the massive bouncer approaches the crowd and I’m relieved. The man must be 6’10 300 pounds. Relieved until I realize it’s not the bouncer, just another one of their friends. Now I’m certain I’m going to die. One of the barbarians (who looked identical to Dirk Nowitski) keeps asking the other two if he should throw a cheap shot. As if he needed their okay??
Finally the girls they were with approach the group and whisper things into their ears. I’m not sure what they said but it works. They tell us continually how lucky we are and disappear into the Las Vegas night…
The next day I wake up and everyone is taking off. I say goodbye. Those feelings of emptiness in a crowded room begin to return to me. Vegas is an amazing place, but not exactly ideal for someone travelling alone (in my opinion). Whatever it’s only 4 more days. I can focus on poker and hopefully make a late trip run.
I walk to the B and get placed in just the perfect seat. Directly to the left of an absolute whale. Not only is he a whale who raises 70% of his hands preflop, but he’s got about 6 grand to give away. I watch in amazement as he calls 400 dollar turn bets with mid-pair, only to trip up. I sit patiently, waiting for my spot, until I realize we are in a must move and he is next up on the list. The anxiety overwhelms me. I start playing impatiently. Calling 70 dollars with pretty marginal holdings (910cc, KJ, A10) because I’m dying to get involved with him. Someway, somehow, I manage to hit absolutely no flops. An hour later they declare our table a “main game” and I can relax.
Unfortunately, at this point I’ve burnt through 600 dollars trying to catch a flop with the beluga whale. Down about 700, I rebuy and finally find my hand, AA on the BTN. As the action slowly makes its way towards the whale, I anticipate the fireworks. I can see the money being shipped my way in my head. Finally it gets to the whale and OF COURSE he folds. Mother ****er. I do get action however as I raise to 50 and get a call out of the BB and 1st limper. Flop comes A63hh. Checked to me I check it back. Turn brings the off suit 8 and the BB leads for 100. Limper calls and I make it 300. Back to the BB, his hands are shaking and I know he’s got a big hand. He ships it in for 500 more and shows me 6 8. Strong yes, any outs, no.
A bit later I see a regular ream out a dealer for counting out a bet without the request of the player. Now usually this would go unnoticed, but it’s maybe the 10th time this trip I’ve noticed this regular go off for the same reason. Anal retentive much? It’s strange because he’s actually a really nice guy. Came to Vegas for vacation 30 years ago and just decided to never go home. Owns a jewelry welding business I believe and does fairly well for himself. But for some reason he cannot get over this miniscule rule. Things get worse when he tries to explain himself. “What if a player wants to call until he realizes that he’s actually faced with a bigger bet than he believed?” Does he realize he just outed himself as an angle shooter, I wonder to myself. Or worse, maybe this type of business is standard in the live Vegas games?
Anyways, I spend a few more rounds in the game and actually do get involved with the whale. Unfortunately he seems to slow down every time I’m in the pot. He looks tired and uninterested, so I decide to rack up, 500 dollars richer than when I sat down.
The win makes up for my mental lapse in the 2/5 game, but unfortunately that episode cost me 2 days of break even poker, when I should’ve been up a buy-in.
Days 15 and 16 were composed of one god awful 2/5 session sandwiched in between two pretty well played 5/10 sessions. Day 16 was the last for all of my friends. My poker friends and those from home. We all ventured to the Bellagio for a final session of the trip. Otto and I sat down at a pretty slow 5/10 game.
After a couple hours of up and down poker, I got some chips into a pot. In the BB with 88, a scared money Asian limped in the CO, the BTN followed and I made it 50. Asian calls and we see a flop of J72. I lead for 80 and he calls. I plan on shutting down. That’s until the Ace hits the turn. I fire 140. He thinks, doesn’t want to call, but does. I glance at his stack and see he’s got about 300 remaining. The turn comes another great card, the King. I ask him how much he has, he tells me 320. I bet 270. I read in a CitzenJames post I believe that this is a very intimidating strategy. He doesn’t want to call; I can see it in his eyes. He hates his hand so much, that instead of putting the whole 270 into the pot, he sheepish puts 1 10 dollar chip (anyone who plays live knows this is an indication of a call). I turn over my 88 and he shows J9. Thanks a-****ing-lot CitizenJames.
A little bit later, Aggressive Black Guy joins the table. It’s not long before we get tangled up. I’m in the BB with 77, when UTG opens to 30. ABG calls in MP, as do I. The flop comes 10 4 3 and it’s checked to ABG who fires 80. Him and I see an 8 turn and it goes check check. I know I’m ahead. River comes the J, but I’m not scared, and fire a 200 dollar value bet out. He takes little time in calling, and chuckles to himself when he can’t beat my 77. He spends the next hour promoting his imaginary book he plans on writing. “It’s called, Check raising Value Betting Youngsters, for Value”, he tells us repeatedly. All things considered ABG is actually a really nice guy. He doesn’t spend hours after losing significant pots moaping and complaining like most regulars. He’s very friendly and obviously good to have in the game.
Later on Otto gets involved in a spot where he raised a pre flop raiser with 810 on a Q53 flop. On a 7 turn he shoved in his stack and the aggressive kid folded AQ face up. What the ****??? He can get an aggressive monkey to fold top pair nut kicker, but I can’t get some Asian whose holding onto their money like it’s their god damn first born child to lay down 3rd pair ****-house kicker?? I must really suck.
Around even, I call the table fish’s raise to 30 preflop with k
2 on the btn, as does seemingly the whole table. Flop comes A3J. Fish bets 70 and only I call. Turn comes an off suit T and I raise his 80 dollar bet to 250. He calls fairly fast. The 9 hits the river and he insta-calls my 400 dollar bet. He shows the 86 and says “I guess it’s not my day as he leaves.With 8 o’clock approaching, Otto, Casey, and I head back to our place to get dinner. After eating we’re craving some relaxing poker so we head to Venetian for 2/5. Little did I know that relaxing for me would mean, play like an absolute moron. After playing fairly decent poker for an hour, and just losing a bunch of 50/50’s, I go into monkey mode. Every hand looks good. I’m calling raises to 25 preflop with any decent holding because, hey, that’s only half of what I’d be calling at 5/10. Brilliant logic, I know. The last of my money goes in when I call a turn Bet with QJ on a K
1034 board and shove the river on a 7. He snap calls with 10 10, and I’ve officially managed to donate 1,000 dollars back into the fish pool.After the session I get very angry with myself. That type of play is not okay. If you’re trying to prove you can make a steady income playing poker, mental lapses are just completely unacceptable. There’s enough variance as it is, that adding a mood induced variance variable is simply a death wish for a pro poker player.
At night we head out to NY NY because we’ve heard good things about their piano bar. We were not disappointed one bit. The two piano players are awesome. I’m legitimately surprised at the number of songs that our foreign friends knew the words to. They claimed afterwords that they probably knew 85% of the songs. I guess I never realized how strong our pop culture is worldwide.
The night was going great until Casey decided to run his mouth off to 2 Las Vegas Avenge players (apparently that’s the semi-pro hockey team in town). To Casey’s defense he claims it was the other way around, but either scenario was just bad news. These guys were built, and looked, like barbarians. Not only did they come over to our group and tell us they were going to beat us up, they told us how they were going to beat us up. I believe mine was a right hook that would shatter my nose. We tried to calm them down, as we really didn’t want a fight. But they really didn’t want to listen. Finally the massive bouncer approaches the crowd and I’m relieved. The man must be 6’10 300 pounds. Relieved until I realize it’s not the bouncer, just another one of their friends. Now I’m certain I’m going to die. One of the barbarians (who looked identical to Dirk Nowitski) keeps asking the other two if he should throw a cheap shot. As if he needed their okay??
Finally the girls they were with approach the group and whisper things into their ears. I’m not sure what they said but it works. They tell us continually how lucky we are and disappear into the Las Vegas night…
The next day I wake up and everyone is taking off. I say goodbye. Those feelings of emptiness in a crowded room begin to return to me. Vegas is an amazing place, but not exactly ideal for someone travelling alone (in my opinion). Whatever it’s only 4 more days. I can focus on poker and hopefully make a late trip run.
I walk to the B and get placed in just the perfect seat. Directly to the left of an absolute whale. Not only is he a whale who raises 70% of his hands preflop, but he’s got about 6 grand to give away. I watch in amazement as he calls 400 dollar turn bets with mid-pair, only to trip up. I sit patiently, waiting for my spot, until I realize we are in a must move and he is next up on the list. The anxiety overwhelms me. I start playing impatiently. Calling 70 dollars with pretty marginal holdings (910cc, KJ, A10) because I’m dying to get involved with him. Someway, somehow, I manage to hit absolutely no flops. An hour later they declare our table a “main game” and I can relax.
Unfortunately, at this point I’ve burnt through 600 dollars trying to catch a flop with the beluga whale. Down about 700, I rebuy and finally find my hand, AA on the BTN. As the action slowly makes its way towards the whale, I anticipate the fireworks. I can see the money being shipped my way in my head. Finally it gets to the whale and OF COURSE he folds. Mother ****er. I do get action however as I raise to 50 and get a call out of the BB and 1st limper. Flop comes A63hh. Checked to me I check it back. Turn brings the off suit 8 and the BB leads for 100. Limper calls and I make it 300. Back to the BB, his hands are shaking and I know he’s got a big hand. He ships it in for 500 more and shows me 6 8. Strong yes, any outs, no.
A bit later I see a regular ream out a dealer for counting out a bet without the request of the player. Now usually this would go unnoticed, but it’s maybe the 10th time this trip I’ve noticed this regular go off for the same reason. Anal retentive much? It’s strange because he’s actually a really nice guy. Came to Vegas for vacation 30 years ago and just decided to never go home. Owns a jewelry welding business I believe and does fairly well for himself. But for some reason he cannot get over this miniscule rule. Things get worse when he tries to explain himself. “What if a player wants to call until he realizes that he’s actually faced with a bigger bet than he believed?” Does he realize he just outed himself as an angle shooter, I wonder to myself. Or worse, maybe this type of business is standard in the live Vegas games?
Anyways, I spend a few more rounds in the game and actually do get involved with the whale. Unfortunately he seems to slow down every time I’m in the pot. He looks tired and uninterested, so I decide to rack up, 500 dollars richer than when I sat down.
The win makes up for my mental lapse in the 2/5 game, but unfortunately that episode cost me 2 days of break even poker, when I should’ve been up a buy-in.
01-09-2010
, 07:00 AM
01-11-2010
, 10:59 AM
I can, however, confirm that this is the best TR I've ever read... and I know a little something about TRs.
Fabulous job, OP. Simply fabulous.
01-11-2010
, 03:52 PM
Day 17
James van der Beek is a dick. Yeah you know, the guy from Dawson's Creek. Johnny Moxon in Varsity Blues. Okay, fine, maybe he's alright. But some guy whose been frequently playing in the 5/10 game at Bellagio and looks identical to the actor is ruining his reputation. Decent player, maybe a tad overaggressive. But a total douche bag. Real uptight. I tried to loosen him up by asking if he and Katie Holmes had any sexual tension off screen and he responded with "good one. Never heard that before." You know what Dawson, I thought it was a good one. **** you. It's on.
I limp K10h UTG and Dawson raises it up to 50 from mp as he often does. Btn, co, and bb all call before I announce raise and make it 300 all day. Folds around. I show and give Dawson a nice little stare as he soaks it all in.
But it's not over yet, about an hour later he opens again to 50 in MP and I'm the only caller in the sb with KK. Flop comes J52 and I check raise his 80 to 210. The turn is a 3 and I bet 350. He thinks for a bit before shipping in for 400 more. I can't fold. Not after showing him nothing the other hand. Expecting to be winning about half the time I call and see a safe 10 river. We look at each other for what seems like minutes. Neither of us wanting to flip over our hands, en epic stare down. After what was probably 6-7 seconds of blank staring I remember that it was actually me who called him and flip up my KK. He lets out some combination of a whine and a gasp that lets me know I'm good. He flashes QQ and tosses them straight where they belong, the muck. Two nothing Matt.
Up about 1200 dollars I prepare to sit back and watch the national championship game, waiting for premium cards to get involved. I head to the sports book and place two bets, Texas and the under, a benjamin on both. I feel like a high stakes sports better. That feeling lasts for roughly the 10 seconds it takes for me to walk back to my seat. When I get back the Asian to my right asks me who I bet. I tell him Texas and he proceeds to tell me that we'll be rooting against each other because he put 5k on Alabama. The old man to my left then chimes in that hes got 2k on the over. 2k! 5k! Jesus Christ I can't even root for my own god damn teams out loud now.
The cards turn pretty cold. For a good two hours I see no premium hands and very few I could even play. With my two bets on the game looking very terrible as usual, I begin to press a smidge.
I limp in mp with A5 and call a raise to 40 from a regular in the sb. We see a flop of K104. Check check. The turn is the Q and I bet 100 when checked to. He calls. JJ or AQ. River is the 3 and I bet 190 thinking he will fold JJ always and AQ maybe half of the time. He calls. KK is good.
From that point on my night went about as well as Colt McCoy’s. KQ I limp UTG. Whale from day 16 makes it 40 from the sb and I call after the tourist from the bb puts his chips in. Flop 368, whale bets 80, BB calls, and I decide to float. Turn is a 5 and they both check to me. I bet 220. The whale immediately folds and the tourist starts thinking. Eventually he shoves for like 550 total and I sheepishly toss my hand towards the muck.
By the end of the session I had successfully bluffed 800 of my 1200 dollar profit back to the table and improved my sports betting record to an impressive 1-5 for the trip.
Day 18
I could never have imagined the action that CES produces without experiencing it for myself. These guys love to gamble. In any given marginal spot they always click raise or call. Though I suppose that's the default move for most fish universally.
On another note they are great guys to play with as most of them have a bunch of money and don't get salty over losing couple hundred dollar pots. I got tangled with one gentleman early on day 18. This particular fish made himself quite easy to find. He wore his CES badge into the poker room. That’s like blood in the water for the local sharks. He may as well have been wearing a Tommy Bahama shirt, drinking a margarita, and trying to discard after the flop.
Anyways early on he called a raise with A6 and raised the pre flop raiser's flop bet on an 356 board, only to lose the pot later on. When analyzing the hand afterwards he believed his mistake was in not raising enough on the flop, not his pre flop call or post flop continue. Point being the man overvalues hands like Chumlee overvalues worthless junk. (If you don't get that one, stop reading right now and go watch Pawn Star on the History channel).
So a bit later I get dealt A9 in the bb and call a raise to 40 by utg, after mp and the btn had already done so. Flop comes 935 and I lead for 80 trying to figure out where I'm at while not giving away any free cards. Original raiser wants to shove but can't pull the trigger and folds. MP does the same and it gets back to the btn, the CES gentleman with the name tag. He counts out 80 and wants to throw it in when all of a sudden he goes back to his stack as if he's had an epiphany and raises to 280. Normally I would fold pretty fast, but not during CES week. Not against this guy. He's got 400 back and I shove. He snap calls. Oh ****. The turn is the 10 and river 4. Great now I'm beating nothing. One pair he says, and I can't believe it. My A9 trumps his K9 and all of a sudden I'm up a buy-in.
A bit later, after showing off my awesome bluffing skills I get involved in a pot with another CES player who by no means is going to be bluffed. He's got the tough guy CES look. He's the king of the nerds.
Some guy raises to 50 in mp, I call on the btn with JJ and nerd king follows suit in the BB. Flop 1075 and the bb leads for 110. MP folds and I pop it up to 300. He not only calls, but open shoves for 400 on a 3 turn. I make the call and get a J on the river. I didn't need it. I had his A10 beat the whole time.
A bit later a guy named Tim from Houston sits down at the table. Not a CES guy, he's just here to play cards. We start chatting it up and he tells me he's a stock trader. I tell him how that's what I want to do and he asks me what I'm majoring in. I tell him I ****ed up my freshman year and ended up doing Psychology and Statistics because I liked it. He gives me a "what the **** are you doing look" and says "yeah well I like whacking off, but it aint gonna make me any money so I didn't major in it." "Look kid, are you trying to work in a field you like, or are you trying to find a job that makes you some money." I didn't know how to answer the question, because I honestly do not know. It got me thinking about my whole trip, graduation, and what's going to happen afterwards. Playing cards is a very enjoyable way to make money for 3 weeks. I've done quite well this trip. Yeah I've probably ran pretty well and haven't really been coolered, but right now it's conceivable that I could make money doing this full time. How high's the ceiling though? Unless you’re in the top .00001 percent of all players and aren't playing higher than 5/10, your potential earnings are never going to be much higher than 100k a year, and most likely ALOT lower. Now I don't want to sound arrogant and act like that's not a lot of money, but knowing that it's the absolute highest I could shoot for the rest of my life is pretty unsatisfying. I feel like I came on this trip looking for answers, closure. But the only thing I gained were more questions and curiosity.
Anyways after coolering a short stack's AA with AK on a flop I ended the day up 2k. With one day to go that leaves me with roughly a 7600 dollar profit for the trip, and a 9k up swong since Christmas.
James van der Beek is a dick. Yeah you know, the guy from Dawson's Creek. Johnny Moxon in Varsity Blues. Okay, fine, maybe he's alright. But some guy whose been frequently playing in the 5/10 game at Bellagio and looks identical to the actor is ruining his reputation. Decent player, maybe a tad overaggressive. But a total douche bag. Real uptight. I tried to loosen him up by asking if he and Katie Holmes had any sexual tension off screen and he responded with "good one. Never heard that before." You know what Dawson, I thought it was a good one. **** you. It's on.
I limp K
10h UTG and Dawson raises it up to 50 from mp as he often does. Btn, co, and bb all call before I announce raise and make it 300 all day. Folds around. I show and give Dawson a nice little stare as he soaks it all in. But it's not over yet, about an hour later he opens again to 50 in MP and I'm the only caller in the sb with KK. Flop comes J
52 and I check raise his 80 to 210. The turn is a 3 and I bet 350. He thinks for a bit before shipping in for 400 more. I can't fold. Not after showing him nothing the other hand. Expecting to be winning about half the time I call and see a safe 10 river. We look at each other for what seems like minutes. Neither of us wanting to flip over our hands, en epic stare down. After what was probably 6-7 seconds of blank staring I remember that it was actually me who called him and flip up my KK. He lets out some combination of a whine and a gasp that lets me know I'm good. He flashes QQ and tosses them straight where they belong, the muck. Two nothing Matt.Up about 1200 dollars I prepare to sit back and watch the national championship game, waiting for premium cards to get involved. I head to the sports book and place two bets, Texas and the under, a benjamin on both. I feel like a high stakes sports better. That feeling lasts for roughly the 10 seconds it takes for me to walk back to my seat. When I get back the Asian to my right asks me who I bet. I tell him Texas and he proceeds to tell me that we'll be rooting against each other because he put 5k on Alabama. The old man to my left then chimes in that hes got 2k on the over. 2k! 5k! Jesus Christ I can't even root for my own god damn teams out loud now.
The cards turn pretty cold. For a good two hours I see no premium hands and very few I could even play. With my two bets on the game looking very terrible as usual, I begin to press a smidge.
I limp in mp with A
5 and call a raise to 40 from a regular in the sb. We see a flop of K104. Check check. The turn is the Q and I bet 100 when checked to. He calls. JJ or AQ. River is the 3 and I bet 190 thinking he will fold JJ always and AQ maybe half of the time. He calls. KK is good.From that point on my night went about as well as Colt McCoy’s. KQ I limp UTG. Whale from day 16 makes it 40 from the sb and I call after the tourist from the bb puts his chips in. Flop 368, whale bets 80, BB calls, and I decide to float. Turn is a 5 and they both check to me. I bet 220. The whale immediately folds and the tourist starts thinking. Eventually he shoves for like 550 total and I sheepishly toss my hand towards the muck.
By the end of the session I had successfully bluffed 800 of my 1200 dollar profit back to the table and improved my sports betting record to an impressive 1-5 for the trip.
Day 18
I could never have imagined the action that CES produces without experiencing it for myself. These guys love to gamble. In any given marginal spot they always click raise or call. Though I suppose that's the default move for most fish universally.
On another note they are great guys to play with as most of them have a bunch of money and don't get salty over losing couple hundred dollar pots. I got tangled with one gentleman early on day 18. This particular fish made himself quite easy to find. He wore his CES badge into the poker room. That’s like blood in the water for the local sharks. He may as well have been wearing a Tommy Bahama shirt, drinking a margarita, and trying to discard after the flop.
Anyways early on he called a raise with A6 and raised the pre flop raiser's flop bet on an 356 board, only to lose the pot later on. When analyzing the hand afterwards he believed his mistake was in not raising enough on the flop, not his pre flop call or post flop continue. Point being the man overvalues hands like Chumlee overvalues worthless junk. (If you don't get that one, stop reading right now and go watch Pawn Star on the History channel).
So a bit later I get dealt A
9 in the bb and call a raise to 40 by utg, after mp and the btn had already done so. Flop comes 935 and I lead for 80 trying to figure out where I'm at while not giving away any free cards. Original raiser wants to shove but can't pull the trigger and folds. MP does the same and it gets back to the btn, the CES gentleman with the name tag. He counts out 80 and wants to throw it in when all of a sudden he goes back to his stack as if he's had an epiphany and raises to 280. Normally I would fold pretty fast, but not during CES week. Not against this guy. He's got 400 back and I shove. He snap calls. Oh ****. The turn is the 10 and river 4. Great now I'm beating nothing. One pair he says, and I can't believe it. My A9 trumps his K9 and all of a sudden I'm up a buy-in. A bit later, after showing off my awesome bluffing skills I get involved in a pot with another CES player who by no means is going to be bluffed. He's got the tough guy CES look. He's the king of the nerds.
Some guy raises to 50 in mp, I call on the btn with JJ and nerd king follows suit in the BB. Flop 10
75 and the bb leads for 110. MP folds and I pop it up to 300. He not only calls, but open shoves for 400 on a 3 turn. I make the call and get a J on the river. I didn't need it. I had his A10 beat the whole time. A bit later a guy named Tim from Houston sits down at the table. Not a CES guy, he's just here to play cards. We start chatting it up and he tells me he's a stock trader. I tell him how that's what I want to do and he asks me what I'm majoring in. I tell him I ****ed up my freshman year and ended up doing Psychology and Statistics because I liked it. He gives me a "what the **** are you doing look" and says "yeah well I like whacking off, but it aint gonna make me any money so I didn't major in it." "Look kid, are you trying to work in a field you like, or are you trying to find a job that makes you some money." I didn't know how to answer the question, because I honestly do not know. It got me thinking about my whole trip, graduation, and what's going to happen afterwards. Playing cards is a very enjoyable way to make money for 3 weeks. I've done quite well this trip. Yeah I've probably ran pretty well and haven't really been coolered, but right now it's conceivable that I could make money doing this full time. How high's the ceiling though? Unless you’re in the top .00001 percent of all players and aren't playing higher than 5/10, your potential earnings are never going to be much higher than 100k a year, and most likely ALOT lower. Now I don't want to sound arrogant and act like that's not a lot of money, but knowing that it's the absolute highest I could shoot for the rest of my life is pretty unsatisfying. I feel like I came on this trip looking for answers, closure. But the only thing I gained were more questions and curiosity.
Anyways after coolering a short stack's AA with A
K on a flop I ended the day up 2k. With one day to go that leaves me with roughly a 7600 dollar profit for the trip, and a 9k up swong since Christmas.
01-11-2010
, 04:52 PM
01-11-2010
, 06:09 PM
