Scandis in Vegas - TR 4/18-4/27
04-27-2018
, 01:18 AM
That's nothing. Brutal is you get dealt the full after already having 12x everywhere, you're playing TDB and are supposed to hold only the 3s, debate briefly, make the correct play... THEN whiff every spot.
04-27-2018
, 04:04 AM
I did not join the other guys at Red Rock, as I have been a bit sick for pretty much a week now. Nothing major, but just coughing a bit here and there and not feeling 100%. Hopefully it will pass as soon as I get home.
Home yeah, that's tomorrow. This was the last full day in Vegas. I dedicated myself to playing cash the whole day, and have done just that. I'm a bit too tired to go for a long recap (famous last words?) but let's start from the top.
I took the Monorail over to MGM Grand, intending on starting the day there (around 10am), only to be met with a wait list. Oh well, I had checked Bravo and knew that might happen so I went over to Excalibur instead. Even though I lost in my last session there, I liked the game and the caliber of play (or lack of it).
Unfortunately I would not fare any better this time around, and ended up losing -$212 USD over 2.5 hours. Not really too many interesting pots of note, except once where I flopped the flush with J6hh from BB in a limped pot. The flop came Ah-Th-3h, and first limper leads for $15 and a bit of a station calls for $15. This should be my queue to raise, but instead I just call. And when I don't raise, I should consider leading the 5d on the turn. But rather than considering that, I check without much thought, it gets checked through, and Kh hits the river. I call a $25 bet from the calling station fish, and he obviously has Qh Ts. Likely I would have doubled him up had I raised the flop, but that doesn't matter. It would still have been the better play.
Apart from that I just lost a few small/medium sized pots, but for the most part I actually thought I played ok. Just didn't connect much, and raising a bit and taking a few stabs here and there gets expensive. I also missed a big draw once, where I raised turn with open ended straight draw and flush draw, but bricked river and didn't dare a bluff. My opponent won with 2 pair.
I left the game and went out into the Vegas sun again, which always put one in a better mood:
Made the short walk over to the Aria, and got quickly seated in a $1-$3 game. I immediately got involved in an interesting spot when I raise KK to $13 over a limp, and get no less than four callers. 6c-7c-8s is a fairly ugly flop. It checks to me, and I decide to check it. The last player bets $40 into $65, one of the limpers jams for $100 or so, and another limper rejams for around $190.
Wtf? I end up folding, as I cannot see myself being ahead here with such action. There are a lot of draw out there of course, but normally I would say one of them have me beat. Except they don't. The player who bet $40 folded, and the two all-in players had K9cc (huge draw, to be fair) and QcTh. I would have scooped the pot as well, since they both missed, except QT made a pair on the river. But on average probably fine to fold?
I quickly realized this was a very good game, with one father/son duo from England directly to my left who was in almost every hand. The son was somewhat decent (although way too loose pre), while the father was just a terrible calling station. There were also 2-3 other middle aged guys in the game who seemingly had no fold button.
At one point I was actually up around $120 in the game, but then it imploded drastically. First I made a huge mistake after raising KQo to $15 over two limps, and getting 5 callers (standard). Flop is very safe; Q-3-3. I decided to check it, slightly for deception + wanted some of the players behind to bet. The 'father' takes the bait and bets $10, a younger-ish guy with a backpack calls $10, and it's back to me. I really should raise here to get value from worse Q, but instead I just call. Turn is 7. Seems safe, so I bet $40 after it's checked to me. The 'father' folds, but the backpack-guy looks uncertain for a while and then ships it for $95 or so.
I'm fairly prized in and he seemed unsure, so I quickly call. He does however show 77 for a turned boat; a hand I could easily have gotten him off with a raise on the turn. I guess it's nothing wrong with having him in there drawing very thin, but I still think I should have check-raised flop (or just bet) to charge the fish some more.
I also slowplay a bit when I flop trip sevens myself on 7-7-5, and let one of the middle aged stations get there on an 8 turn (64ss he had). I paid off turn and riverbets, once again after only calling a bet on the flop when I could have raised.
Then we get a set of 88 as the preflop-raiser on Jd-8c-7c, and get it in against a new player that just sat down ($200 stack). He obviously has 9Tcc, and no help for me.
So yeah, basically playing bad and not running well either. By some miracle I actually managed to steal some medium sized pots here and there, thus preventing me from going completely bust in the game. I really should have stayed longer as well, cause the game was still good. But in the end I couldn't take it anymore, and left after around 4 hours down -$375 USD. Not a good feeling at all.
Went back to the room a bit and tried to reset mentally, before going down to the Venetian to play an evening session. And it felt really good to salvage my psyche with a cool $290 USD win there. Some up and downs also in this session, but nothing too bad, and eventually I won a decent pot with JJ on 4-2-4 up against a flushdraw that didn't get there. Also won a few other medium/small pots etc.
Will update the stats tomorrow, likely no more play now before the plane leaves at 3:30pm. It's been an eventful and fun trip, but man how time flies in Vegas. Still feel like there is so much more I should have done, but ok - then I have a reason to come back.
/O
Home yeah, that's tomorrow. This was the last full day in Vegas. I dedicated myself to playing cash the whole day, and have done just that. I'm a bit too tired to go for a long recap (famous last words?) but let's start from the top.
I took the Monorail over to MGM Grand, intending on starting the day there (around 10am), only to be met with a wait list. Oh well, I had checked Bravo and knew that might happen so I went over to Excalibur instead. Even though I lost in my last session there, I liked the game and the caliber of play (or lack of it).
Unfortunately I would not fare any better this time around, and ended up losing -$212 USD over 2.5 hours. Not really too many interesting pots of note, except once where I flopped the flush with J6hh from BB in a limped pot. The flop came Ah-Th-3h, and first limper leads for $15 and a bit of a station calls for $15. This should be my queue to raise, but instead I just call. And when I don't raise, I should consider leading the 5d on the turn. But rather than considering that, I check without much thought, it gets checked through, and Kh hits the river. I call a $25 bet from the calling station fish, and he obviously has Qh Ts. Likely I would have doubled him up had I raised the flop, but that doesn't matter. It would still have been the better play.
Apart from that I just lost a few small/medium sized pots, but for the most part I actually thought I played ok. Just didn't connect much, and raising a bit and taking a few stabs here and there gets expensive. I also missed a big draw once, where I raised turn with open ended straight draw and flush draw, but bricked river and didn't dare a bluff. My opponent won with 2 pair.
I left the game and went out into the Vegas sun again, which always put one in a better mood:
Made the short walk over to the Aria, and got quickly seated in a $1-$3 game. I immediately got involved in an interesting spot when I raise KK to $13 over a limp, and get no less than four callers. 6c-7c-8s is a fairly ugly flop. It checks to me, and I decide to check it. The last player bets $40 into $65, one of the limpers jams for $100 or so, and another limper rejams for around $190.
Wtf? I end up folding, as I cannot see myself being ahead here with such action. There are a lot of draw out there of course, but normally I would say one of them have me beat. Except they don't. The player who bet $40 folded, and the two all-in players had K9cc (huge draw, to be fair) and QcTh. I would have scooped the pot as well, since they both missed, except QT made a pair on the river. But on average probably fine to fold?
I quickly realized this was a very good game, with one father/son duo from England directly to my left who was in almost every hand. The son was somewhat decent (although way too loose pre), while the father was just a terrible calling station. There were also 2-3 other middle aged guys in the game who seemingly had no fold button.
At one point I was actually up around $120 in the game, but then it imploded drastically. First I made a huge mistake after raising KQo to $15 over two limps, and getting 5 callers (standard). Flop is very safe; Q-3-3. I decided to check it, slightly for deception + wanted some of the players behind to bet. The 'father' takes the bait and bets $10, a younger-ish guy with a backpack calls $10, and it's back to me. I really should raise here to get value from worse Q, but instead I just call. Turn is 7. Seems safe, so I bet $40 after it's checked to me. The 'father' folds, but the backpack-guy looks uncertain for a while and then ships it for $95 or so.
I'm fairly prized in and he seemed unsure, so I quickly call. He does however show 77 for a turned boat; a hand I could easily have gotten him off with a raise on the turn. I guess it's nothing wrong with having him in there drawing very thin, but I still think I should have check-raised flop (or just bet) to charge the fish some more.
I also slowplay a bit when I flop trip sevens myself on 7-7-5, and let one of the middle aged stations get there on an 8 turn (64ss he had). I paid off turn and riverbets, once again after only calling a bet on the flop when I could have raised.
Then we get a set of 88 as the preflop-raiser on Jd-8c-7c, and get it in against a new player that just sat down ($200 stack). He obviously has 9Tcc, and no help for me.
So yeah, basically playing bad and not running well either. By some miracle I actually managed to steal some medium sized pots here and there, thus preventing me from going completely bust in the game. I really should have stayed longer as well, cause the game was still good. But in the end I couldn't take it anymore, and left after around 4 hours down -$375 USD. Not a good feeling at all.
Went back to the room a bit and tried to reset mentally, before going down to the Venetian to play an evening session. And it felt really good to salvage my psyche with a cool $290 USD win there. Some up and downs also in this session, but nothing too bad, and eventually I won a decent pot with JJ on 4-2-4 up against a flushdraw that didn't get there. Also won a few other medium/small pots etc.
Will update the stats tomorrow, likely no more play now before the plane leaves at 3:30pm. It's been an eventful and fun trip, but man how time flies in Vegas. Still feel like there is so much more I should have done, but ok - then I have a reason to come back.
/O
04-27-2018
, 11:29 AM
04-27-2018
, 12:08 PM
Safe journey home! Thanks for the read!
04-27-2018
, 12:42 PM
Every day, and especially since I've been an early riser all days here, I have seen it when I have started my mornings. People rolling suitcases, checking out and ready to go home. 'Sucks for them', I have thought and then moved on with my day. Now it's our turn. Vegas is over, and it's time to go home. This time we will be rolling suitcases out of here, while others are checking in.
But instead of making this into some kind of 'sad-but-true' metaphor for life, I'm just gonna focus on the positive. It has been a lot of fun, at times a bit frustrating poker-wise, but I'm 100% gonna make Vegas a yearly priority from now on. No way I'm letting it go 5 years again until the next trip.
As for poker, here are my final stats - unless I squeeze in one short session before we leave.
Results-tracker:
Cash:
Hours played: 42.0
Amount won: +$613 USD
Hourly rate: $14.6 USD
Tournaments:
Amount won: +$174 (5 played)
The tournament results are fine, I only played a few and one cash is probably more than expected even. But the cash game results are just terrible, and simply not even close to being good enough.
Not because I think I'm such a crusher that should win every session, but because I have been making some terrible decisions during hands which have cost me all trip. And that is simply not good enough. I will never make the transition from being a mediocre/slight winner in the game unless I manage to get better at logical thinking in the middle of hands and to be even more cold/detached when faced with decisions. So that is something I absolutely have to work on, whether I'm in Las Vegas or not.
But hey, it's a profit, and I'm happy with my volume of play. Annoyingly I got a bit sick and never 100% recovered, but I would say I was lucky as it never affected me too much or made me too tired to play.
Hopefully I will be back in Vegas soon, and if so there will obviously be trip reports
/O
But instead of making this into some kind of 'sad-but-true' metaphor for life, I'm just gonna focus on the positive. It has been a lot of fun, at times a bit frustrating poker-wise, but I'm 100% gonna make Vegas a yearly priority from now on. No way I'm letting it go 5 years again until the next trip.
As for poker, here are my final stats - unless I squeeze in one short session before we leave.
Results-tracker:
Cash:
Hours played: 42.0
Amount won: +$613 USD
Hourly rate: $14.6 USD
Tournaments:
Amount won: +$174 (5 played)
The tournament results are fine, I only played a few and one cash is probably more than expected even. But the cash game results are just terrible, and simply not even close to being good enough.
Not because I think I'm such a crusher that should win every session, but because I have been making some terrible decisions during hands which have cost me all trip. And that is simply not good enough. I will never make the transition from being a mediocre/slight winner in the game unless I manage to get better at logical thinking in the middle of hands and to be even more cold/detached when faced with decisions. So that is something I absolutely have to work on, whether I'm in Las Vegas or not.
But hey, it's a profit, and I'm happy with my volume of play. Annoyingly I got a bit sick and never 100% recovered, but I would say I was lucky as it never affected me too much or made me too tired to play.
Hopefully I will be back in Vegas soon, and if so there will obviously be trip reports
/O
04-27-2018
, 01:33 PM
04-27-2018
, 04:32 PM
Thanks guys for the trip report well done!!
