When facing a big bet on the river that brought in a Q to match the two you are holding, but the board allows a flush as well as a straight, you better have a solid read on your opponent before making that call. My read on this particular villain: british, mid-30ies, Leister City F.C. jersey and heavily tattooed. Now that doesn't get me very far. But the fact that he had eight Jack & Coke from noon to what is now 2 pm and has fired on all streets although the nuts changed with every street, allow me to lose much less thought on this than versus most villains. 7 high he claims at tabling.

See, more often than not when I sit down for a noonish session at 1/2, a new table is opened as opposed to getting a free seat at a running table. Today sees me sit down with five newly arrived Brits. And well, if you plan to get completely hammered in the shortest amount of time and at the least cost, a 1/2 table is not the worst place to accomplish that. So all five of them start ordering liquor instantly. At their rate of a drink every 15 minutes I would have been done for in an hour 15. But if their intention was to get drunk cheaply, that mission failed miserably as they all hand over significant amounts of money to the rest of the table. It's no pro advice to mention that if you can't make out the board anymore, all your poker skills have gone down the drain. Still this is far less easy for the sober folks as you might think. Said villain from above on one occasion scoops a real big pot from one of his buddies with 53o. His buddy frowns at how often he has lost big money to villain playing that holding. So my decision on the river a little later with AQ in the BB having called villains raise on the button on a 5Q7K3 (in the order they fell) isn't that easy. Villain had just fired his third barrel again. I ask him "53o again?" and tank a little. This time he tables AJs and his last Jack & Coke had cost him 150 bucks.

Of course poker is fun when you make easy money of drunken fish. But the reality is, that if those Brits would have been ten years younger, they would have been unbearable. Your typical, obnoxious drunk-dumb Brit. But these guys have wives and some of their tattoos blackened out. Don't get me wrong I love England but still feel more comfortable with this mellowed version of this particular type of inhabitant of that beautiful country. But when the GN poker room surprises me big time and puts on Liverpool vs Roma in the Champions League semi-finals, you want these guys around for sure! "THIS IS ANFIELD!" we all scream in chorus as Firmino puts away LFCs fifth goal. With the four best club teams in the world so close to the title, the way the Italian squad gets trashed is hard to believe. Even more so as Roma had just thrown the mighty Barca out of this competition. This is pure football beauty, this is Anfield in Las Vegas!

And then there is Eve. Whom I want to marry in the chapel half a mile from here, or let her adopt me (which I guess is a much more complicated procedure). Eve sits on my right on that memorable champions league table. Eve is just the kindest, most intelligent and literate, sweetest, funniest British Lady one can imagine. With an everlasting oh so friendly smile under light blue eyes she stands for everything I love about Britain. She claims to hate football, but knows her football very well for that matter. Also she supports Brighton – cause "I have to, that is where we live, right?" For her it's a shame that Arsene Wenger leaves Arsenal and surely Jürgen Klopp is one of the good guys. There is no argument against that for anyone in the room when you just witnessed how his team turned Roma into a squad of school boys. I'm making plans for our honeymoon when to my dismay she introduces my to her "partner" Peter. Oh my. Maui is out of the window for us now. But I am spared explaining that 25 year age gap to family and friends, with me be being the younger part. I still get her companionship on several occasions at the tables and it's always very enjoyable. And while her countrymen go Jack & Coke she sips on champagne. And when she and Peter leave the day before I do, they sit at the 1/2 tables until the very last minute to hop into their taxi. We hug dearly as they leave and agree that this is just the kind of acquaintance that makes this town so very special.

My last hand of the night sees me shoving AKo 120$ versus an UTG open to 7 and a MP 3bet to 30. UTG is a kid who had just doubled up and who is playing pretty loose. MP claims to be a professional and had been majorly involved in UTGs doubleup. I consider to be ahead here … until UTG reshoves 250 bucks and the pro instacalls. Bad news. Pro claims to his friend that "he" (which is I) "wouldn't jam with KK or AA" before we see any hands. That is how your regular 1/2 player thinks: Weak is strong and strong is weak. But of course I'd jam here with all my top five percent hands and 60 bigs, I'm a tournament player! And as such I can hardly believe when they turn over AJs and JJ, my holding being surprisingly live. But JJ holds and I don't rebuy.

And although the second week of cash game hadn't been as good as the first one, I'm not annoyed by this loss, cause I can't see any mistake in my game. But the thought comes to my mind that I would have had more playing possibilities if I had bigger stack in that situation. Sitting down with 200$ at 1/2 might seem a biggish stack, but in reality this game plays bigger than 1/2. There are straddles, there are regular opens to 12 bucks. So if you lose a couple of hands at the start, your stack at like 120 gives you little room for maneuvers in big hands.

So it's noon on my last Friday in town and I've decided to sit down with a 150 BBs stack instead of my usual 100 bigs. It's a new table and the very first hand sees three limpers and me in the BB with Q8o. After I decide to check my option, the board runs JT9. Alright, here comes my big stack! But alas, it gets checked around and after a 3 on the turn I lead 10. To get raised by EP to 35. With no flush draw I decide to flat. A 5 on the river changes nothing. I check to villain, he fires, I call, he tables his limped AKs. Can you get into the heads of these guys? Cause I just can not. But still stack my new red friends.

I fold my small blind the next hand and then call a CO raise to 10 on the button with QTs. Flop is AQT and I call his 25. Turn brings another T for my boat, this time I call his 50. River is something like a 3, now he fires 100. I call without much thought and CO shows KJ for the straight. More new red friends join me! Later I will wonder that if that hand had been played at higher stakes with more competent players (and that includes me!) this hand would have been quite interesting from the turn forward. Cause I really have the worst boat possible while his range has AA, QQ and AT. His third barrel would have been considered real strong. But at 1/2 it's a shrug call at the most. So three hands in I have doubled my stack.

And I keep running like god. I simply cannot lose any hand with a Q in it. Part one of my magical Friday will see me running at 100BBs/h for three hours. There is just no skill involved, I smash very board I play. Only the last big hand runs out a little different, but I'm holding AA this time. Which I open raise to 10 and get two callers. On a Q63 board with two diamonds I bet 25 and villain calls. The same guy who got spazzy with his AKs earlier. Turn is an interesting A of spades, which I check to him. But with a pot of close to 70 he has only 120 behind, of which he bets 50 now. I call and the river brings a non-diamond 8. I check to him and he pushes the rest of his stack over the line. I tank just a little before calling. He shows JJ and after the table sees my set of Aces one Asian guy is close to accusing me of a slow-roll. I admit he is partly right, cause of stacks I just cannot fold here. But if villain had been playing something like a 500$ stack, this hand would have been a lot tougher.

Now I cash out and meet the Lady who likes my cigarettes so much. See above.

And after we treat ourselves to a steak at Vic & Anthonys – covered in full by GNs poker comps – we need a little more time than usual to digest. So we sit down at a newly opened table somewhere around 10 pm. I'm instantly happy, cause I get the same seat as in the big session before, the SocialWorker puts his beer in the drink holder to my direct right. Table fills up and finally, directly on my left the last player (sort of) sits down. He is already very drunk and his first words are asking the whole table where he could get come cocaine. Well, I think, just go outside and wait on Fremont for max ten minutes. But this guy wants delivery service to this table. So he sits down with a giant… no stack, but pile of chips, since just throws like a thousand bucks on the table. Now, this is gonna be reeeeaaaaly juicy!

And it is, with this guy betting big and being 90 percent VPIP aggressive. But for an hour or so, no one can win any money of him. His pile just grows and grows, winning the stacks of two players and several big pots. SocialWorker finally breaks this spell and gets his stack in with K9 on a KxxK runout. Still it would have been split, since Whitepowderfriend has K7. But with the river a nine, it all goes to Germany. I get my share of this treasure with trips T on the river vs him. One hand stands out a little as I try to trap him and limp AK UTG. A few limpers behind and I'm counting out the raise in my mind when our drunken friend just checks his BB. Damn, this is a first! Flop is AA5 and my hopes of a big pot are close to zero. But I will find out that he is pretty sticky here with T5 and my trap had kinda worked in the end. After he sees what I had done, he high fives me on that play. He is loud and drunk, but a friendly guy with sportsmanship.

In the end, it's the dealer who provides the best laugh of the evening. See, drunken boy comes and goes a lot at the table. In one instance he is gone a little bit longer and a player asks the dealer if that player will return. Dealer looks at the asking player, then under (!) the table back at the player and states "I think so, he left his shoes."

Really excellent ready, just finished it and really enjoyed it.

rookie error not trying to hook up with her before she went full cray cray

On funny dealers, I got one more: Sometime during the first weekend a simply unbelievable hot girl sits down at GNs 1/2. A straight 10 for every guy (and most women) even with personal preferences. Steaming red hot. She will do a 36 hour session at the cash games. She gets drunk and at one point starts going all in on every hand preflop. The SocialWorker calls her once with QQ to lose against her K2o. Ah well. The next evening we return, she is still there and a guy from Germany we have me couple of days before tells us that she hasn't left since we saw her and that she donked away a good 3K. Now there are two good reasons to be at her table!

After some wait we both get seats at her table, only to see that her stack is only 60 bucks. So it's time for good reason #2. I mean every guy at the table has only one thought (and close to drooling, really!). And every guy at the table knows that there is zero percent chance for that. Only exception being the handsome grey-haired guy from Germany. On top of her amazing looks she starts making slippery remarks on her hands or bets. On her left there's an Indian guy who in one hand starts taking back to her in the same fashion. I goes back and forth until she announces "Oh yes, I'm a dirty, dirty girl!" Now all of a sudden the dealer looks at her. He is of the older, silent kind but now goes "Don't worry dear, I'll take you home and give you a bath."

Well of course, I don't get my hands on her, but take her last 30 bucks. Some small pleasure after all.

So, this is the final episode of my TR. But I'm gonna add some random stuff, that fitted nowhere else. Like Coffee: Every morning I will pass the ridiculously long line at Starbucks and head over to "The Coffeestand at the D" for my Latte-Fix. If you ever crave for a coffee downtown, give my Coffeeman some love. His latte is like 20 percent cheaper than SB and like 50 better. And you'll get some real coffee, while SB tastes like flavored milk to me. On top of that, when I return from my (very healthy!) 20 minute walk for coffee and sit down at the GN pool, most of the SB line is still where it was when I passed it. Coffeeman never has a line and when there are like two or three people in front of me, Coffeeman will have my Latte ready the minute I reach the counter.



Food at GN: If you don't want to, you never have to leave the place. I'm not into fine dining that much, but I really like Vic & Anthonys. Steaks there are great, but the "Creamy spinach" is just over the top awesome. Then there is Grotto for Italian food. Solid every time. And if you are a cash gamer: there is a happy hour in the afternoon with every pizza for 8 bucks at the bar. This allows you to hop in there, get a cheap but quality pizza and be back at your table in 25 minutes. And if you need to be really fast, the Grille will provide very decent fast food. For breakfast we mostly did GNs buffet. This is a little bit nicer with a late breakfast, when it's officially lunch already. But anyway for like 16 bucks you get a good start for your day. Although this buffet doesn't come close to the likes of Caesars or Cosmo. But a windows seat overlooking the pool can go a long way. Sometimes we see Claim Jumper for breakfast or lunch, but it's pretty popular and sees lines a lot of the time. Food is solid though. Then there is an Asian and a Mexican place. We didn't eat there this trip, but I like the atmosphere in both places. The only no-go for me at GN is "Chart House". Two absolutely horrible experiences on previous trips with bad service and way overpriced food in an overcrowded very narrow space. But high praise to Red Sushi. SocialWorker is not into raw fish, so I get to eat there after he has left. Awesome as ever:



And someday I will do Kabuto!

A first sees us dining at the Wiked Spoon. We hit the place at 5 pm and it's empty, which provides a very nice atmosphere. And the food is really awesome.







This is a baked ravioli filled with tomato crème. Boy, that’s a truckload of tomatoes delivered right to your tongue.



Very nice lamb and Jamaica chicken… but the garlic potato mash is out of this world.


To finish this TR off with some poker, one more hand I recall very well. I'm in the BB and button straddles to 4 bucks. We see three limpers and now button raises to 30. Out of turn. So the dealer makes him take back his bet, the SB folds and I look down at AKs. Time to get unethical and sneaky. I fill up. And yes, straddle can't help it, makes an even bigger raise to like 35 with me now in the pot. Now I push my remaining 140 bucks into the middle. Oh, he frowns at me and himself for his error now. He knows what I did but still takes some time to fold.

So for the wrap up – did getting rid of that 50 do me any good at the online tables? I guess so, since last Sunday sees me finishing 48th out of 11500 in a 11$ PKO SCOOP. I busted three minutes before Day 2 with AQ vs AK and QQ (not much hope for Hero in that one). Although a very deep run, final tableling this would have been amazing. And a top three finish would have been my next Vegas trip right there!

Thanks for reading!

Thanks for the good read, enjoyed your split into non chronological short stories!
Greetings from Maxvorstadt

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Excellent thread, as far as I've gotten (about 28 posts)... Good perspective, entertaining and well-written.

I'll return and finish reading later ....

congrats on the TR OP.

what was your P&L at poker over your trip?

Ja, servus!

Trying to inform the world, how great LV is and only getting 3 miles. Ever been to Rozvadov? i hear so many great things about Kings.

Rough estimate, since I didn't have a seperate roll this time is up 850 for the trip.

Oh, and on the A7hearts hand: I made it 100 and they both folded. I thought flatting would just look so strong and being in the BB if another heart falls it would kill all action. Or I'll get into a tough spot when the board pairs. They both (!!!) claimed to have flushes. So the beauty of this move is I could have done it with the naked Ah. Or with any two.

Never been, planning to go some day though... Heard good but not very glamorous things. Do you regularly play somewhere in DE/AT?

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