The Grand Finale
I may have been a bit tired by the end of the afternoon poker grind, but post-Wayne I definitely had a second wind. It was my last night in Vegas, which certainly contributed to the adrenaline surge. This can only mean back to the Aria.
Arrive at 10PM but I hadn’t called in, so I can wait for PLO or take a 2/5 seat right away. I’ll take the seat and some lucky chips, please! And a watermelon juice, I believe that is responsible for at least 85% of my run good. (I can’t believe I never ordered watermelon juice while playing PLO. As has been said by smarter wags than I, I’m not superstitious, just a little bit ‘stitious.)
I played for 3 hours, and it was the type of session you feel great about. I cashed out up $463, but I never won any big pots. (I think the largest single pot I won was about +150.) It was simply a couple of hours where I seemed to make the right move much more often than not, and I really appreciate these moments. I’m sure many of you know what I mean when I say that we feel better about grinding well than we do after as session where we won more but didn’t necessarily play well.
The most interesting hand was towards the end of the session. I have a very talkative, very LAGgy image, and I’ve been up the entire session, while the BB is a MAWG rec who has had a roller-coaster night. His stack had dwindled to about $300, but he’s muscled it up over $800 with no more than one or two showdowns. He’s defending his blinds almost 100% (which I would know as my LP rfi is probably over 60), is very sticky post, and it appears he’s simply attacking every time the OR doesn’t bet. Without showdowns I can’t range him at all, but the odds of him having it every time are pretty small.
An EP rec makes it 10 (lol), I’m otb with AT and bump it to 35. (In hindsight I prefer somewhere between 40-50.) Both blinds and EP call and off we go. Flop ($140) Q88r, and it checks around. Turn is a T, and true to form, V bets 45. EP folds, I call, SB folds. River ($230) is another 8, for a board of Q88T8. V pretty quickly puts out a bet of $100, and at this price vs this V, I have to be good here 25%. But I give it a longer think than normal, about 45 sec I imagine. I even do something I almost never do, cut the chips out behind my cards and riffle them as I stare at my V. He’s in the 5 seat, so he’s naturally staring at the board, breathing normal, doesn’t give off much. I finally let out a loud, exasperated sigh that gets the table's attention, and I declare, “Well, I hope you’re a church man, so at least I know this money’s going to a good place.” Everyone at the table laughs, including V, who chuckles and smiles, not a care in the world. Well OK then, I wait another beat or two before tossing my cards in the muck. V is a good sport about it, turns over A8o.
At 1 AM it’s late and I’m exhausted and it’s time to go to bed. So I rack up...then glance over at the PLO tables...then hit the cage and make my way back to Bally’s. Where naturally I end up in the poker room for “last last call”, if you will. Reasonably fun, way too passive 1/2 game. I know it’s a Monday night, but there's 2 water bottles and two coffee cups and no likka. What has happened to poker? Anyway, I play til 3 AM, can’t find another Matrix moment, down $43.