I haven't been able to come to terms with no 24/7 service.

Tell me about it, also reduced staff when open.

Yesterday I played a little $1/$2 at the Sahara, as FWWM pointed out to me that their max rake is $4 with no promo drop. They had one table running at 2:30PM and the action was soft, until a good aggro sat on my left.

I bought in for $400 and doubled up with 22 vs A4 on a 24432 cooler board, and then lost some back with AK vs 65 on an AT72K board against the good aggro, who made a 3x raise over my $50 block bet on the river, and who could have easily been bluffing in that spot, and I was high enough in my range where I had to defend.

I ended +$239 and took the monorail down to Paris to stand in line for today's $1111 One More for One Drop, but there was no line to speak of: I was called to a kiosk within 30 seconds. Hopefully the rungood continues for today's tourney.

Oh man deep run in the one drop.

Dinner break. My table sucks.
I started with a good Euro aggro on my left, a very good American aggro on his left, and a good Asian aggro on his left. It was the goddamn Benetton of 3betting.

I tightened my opening range while loosening my 4betting range, and I got a trio of 4bets through.

That type of higher variance play isn't great for this long structure, but playing the players takes precedence. Hopefully tables start breaking soon.

Starting stack: 40k
Current stack: 73k

Did you bag and tag?

After dinner break I was mostly card dead, which wasn't an existential problem given the tournament's long structure. During that time I made a couple of nitty preflop folds: one due to math, and the other due to a strong player read.

The first fold was QT in MP1 (10-handed) when UTG--on his third 24-ounce Bud Light can and after (from what we could smell) his second breaktime cannabis vape session--limped in. I'll usually raise to 4bb in that spot, but the dealer had exposed the T before the action got to me, so I made kind of a sigh fold and let one of the aggros bump him up. The board ran out something like A562T and UTG won a big pot with K4. Had I played, I would likely have gone broke there having the 2nd nuts vs that player.

The second fold was vs the TAG on my right, who open limped from the HJ. At that point I'd played with him for more than 8 hours and I knew for certain that he was on Team Neverlimp. During the entire day he had never once open limped, nor had he ever limped along. He'd only raised or folded, that was it.

From the CU, I looked at his bet and told him, in all seriousness, that that amount was not enough for a raise. "I'm just calling." he replied, rather testily. I tossed AJo into the muck. The aggro Euro on the BTN made it 4bb, Team Neverlimp made it 10bb, aggro Euro shoved 40bb, and TNL snapped with his AA, doubling over aggro Euro's K9s.

So we come to the hand where I called off most of my stack, at the end of the second-to-last level of the night.

I started the hand with around $T56,000, and the main Villain--the good aggro American--had around $T48,600. Blinds were 600/1200 with a 1200 big blind Ante.

I open 2400 with QT on the BTN, V calls in the SB and BB calls as well.

Flop A7J (Pot: 8400) - 3 players
Checks to me. I bet 5000, SB checkraises to 15000, bb folds, I call.

Turn: 9 (Pot: 38400) - 2 players.
SB shoves his remaining 31200.

(Pot:69600) - 2 players, 1 is all in.

If I call 31200, the final pot will be 100800. So I need to be good around 31% of the time.

At this point, 9 hours into the tourney, I was tired; not exhausted, but a little tired and not at 100%. I talked about trying to get fit for this grind, and I am fitter than I was 6 weeks ago, but probably not fit enough.

My thought process in real time is: 15 outs twice on the turn is around 30%, and I've seen V get caught in some big bluffs a few times already during these 9 long hours. He can be drawing. I might have partial outs to the Q or the T. Even Q high can be good here if he's bluffing with air.

Now, before I go to Equilab, I'll state that I'm afraid that I was wrong, and that I'm not going to find all that many bluffs on his end, and that I failed to discount my 15 outs to account for sets, two pairs and K high flush draws on his end.

That said: here we go. Note that most of the suited hands are diamond only.



Now, bear in mind that this range comprises only those hands that V would just flat from the SB against a BTN open, then checkraise on the flop, then put all in on the turn. That's going to be a very narrow range for several reasons.

(1) V is going to 3bet or fold most holdings in the SB vs a BTN open. Most of his better hands are going to be 3bet, and I'd already seen him do that many times. For example: AJs is a 3bet. Possibly also AJo, but I put that in there as a call.

(2) The flop favors my range. He's not going to checkraise it with air. It's going to be either big value or semibluff hands with equity that can make the nuts or close to it on the turn.

(3) His range on the turn, again, is big value or hands that retained or picked up equity.

That said, I haven't done an Equilab in a long time, and I probably missed a few obvious holdings, and I'll be happy to revise if anyone catches them, or politely debate if I disagree.

So where does that leave me. Do I get 31%?



V shows 77 for the flopped set, and the river bricks.

I started the last level with around 4bb, and I shoved AJo from MP1. BB had around 150k in her stack and called with K5s, and she caught her 5 on the river and knocked me out.

The question is: should I be risking my tournament life for these small equity gains? Probably not, but I was a little tired, and the thought occurred that I'd like to go into Day 2 with a big stack, and hopefully find a table where I could bully people as we approached the bubble. Had I folded the turn, I would have been left with less than the starting stack.

I don’t think I should answer your question. I don’t play tourneys, I’m a nit and I suck.

It is a fine call. Or you could GII on the flop. Even if villain is never bluffing turn, it is a minuscule error at worst. Obviously it sucks results-wise, as it always does busting out of a tournament, especially when playing higher then usual, but it is completely fine/standard.

A case can be made for checking flop sometimes, but with a range advantage, I would simply cbet/3bet jam and live with the results

Thanks Dubnjoy000. The more I think about it, the more I like the 3bet shove. 12 outs on the flop is better than 15 outs on the turn, plus there's an added sliver of fold equity; not for V's particular holding, but definitely for his checkraising range.

Advanced level ITO play here. 🎈

You still in town SJ?

Miscellany

I'm here until Friday. Speaking of which, Gold Coast has a 24 hour TGI Fridays restaurant, and I had been eyeballing their $20 steak and lobster special since I arrived.

That special only runs from 3-6pm on weekdays, so I had figured that the limited timeframe indicated that it might be a loss leader and therefore a worthwhile play.

I was wrong: when I went there last Friday (pleased with the symmetry of day and name,) the steak they served weighed in at 3 ounces (85 grams) tops, and 1 ounce of that was inedible gristle--and I can work with a reasonable level of gristle. The lobster tail came from from a specimen I feel must have been of near questionable legality. Is there no minimum size limit for catching lobsters?

I ordered a $10 beer to go with my rat cut sirloin and glorified crawdad tail, and the server pushed me another beer, without asking, just after I'd finished the first half of the first one, bumping the bill up to $50 with tax and tip.

I'm not the type who sends back food or beer, unless it's completely inedible; I'm just the type who never returns.

Over the weekend I did the Palms buffet brunch--thanks to Da_Nit for that list. $40.00 with tax and tip opened up a good breakfast and seafood spread, along with frequently poured champagne or mimosas.

I filled up on twin piles of peeled cocktail shrimp and sushi, then saddled myself with the damn crabs legs Labor of Hercules again. I don't know how many times I've ambitiously loaded up a plate with those incredibly laborsome, incredibly low-yielding legs, and then regretted it after like the third one reluctantly gave up a mere portion of its tiny bounty to my low-key frenzied cracking, twisting and peeling efforts. The meat is not even that great; it's mostly just a conduit for drawn butter.

On my way out, I tripped over a portion of the sidewalk by the Palms' front street exit and went ass over teakettle, turning a 3/4 profile somersault and fortunately missing my fallen glasses. A youth spent on skis in the winter has taught me how to fall properly, so I didn't hurt myself this time, but I swear that I remember tripping over that same spot around 20 years ago, and if that's the case then I have to wonder how no Slippin' Jimmy type hasn't yet sued the Palms--or the unincorporated township of Las Vegas--into fixing it.

Yesterday I tried the Palms' first-time slot promo, also thanks to Da_Nit. I played almost two hours at a 25c 9/7 Double Bonus machine to generate a $10 reward, and during that time I could have easily sank in $300 or so if I hadn't been lucky.



I went card dead afterwards and stuck around only for the $10 bonus, out of principle mostly, and I cashed out +$132.50.

After that I had a nice breakfast with FWWM, who was heading back to Germany and 7 days of quarantine.

Today I might play some cash and/or the $250 deepstack.

Damn DDB VP variance. You hit 4aces, non premium 4OAK for a total of $325 and ended up only $132.50. I played this but did $0.50 JOB, way less variance.

Also screw GC and TGIF as there 24 hour option, can’t they have a normal cafe or something. If you need a cheap steak special you need to do Ellis Island. Not a far walk from the back entrance of Bally’s. You do need a players card and probably some coupon from the kiosk. Mattress Mack who’s probably worth half a billion flew in on his personal jet to spend a few hours in town to bet millions on the Astros to hedge his customer free furniture if the Astros win the WS. Anyway Anthony Curtas that was helping get money down on the Astros met him at the airport. He asks Mack where he wants to eat and he’s like, “let’s eat that streak special you mentioned.”

TGIF at GC replaced one of the better casino cafes in Vegas. When it happened, I broke down and wept. TGIF == Mall food gone wrong.

Giving you that 2nd beer wasn't a mistake, they were padding the tab. I'm willing to bet on it if we can define the action.

No question on the tab padding play from Monsieur Friday, but you're supposed to shear the sheep, not kill him for his wool. I won't be back.

Ellis Island is my home away from home in LV. They're still selling their good beer for $3 a pint, and the food specials are unmatched.

Has anybody ever stayed at Ellis Island? I get email offers from them at odd times, but for me it's always been about the brew pub.

It use to a Super 8 Motel. I think it taken over and remodeled a few years back by EI.

I was outside EI smoking a cigarette about 10 years ago. I saw a guy and gal leaving there. The guy was probably in his late 50s, balding fat Italian looking guy in a leisure suit, his companion was a black women probably half his age in obvious hooker attire. The clientele might of changed slightly but whatever I’d personally stay there for a night or two especially with a free offer and you like hanging out at EI. I’m the type though that stayed at Arizona Charlie’s Decatur which might be worse.

Yeah, I think I remember it being a Super 8 but maybe I'm confusing it with something else. It's prolly fine, good ol Americana hotel/motel, nothing special but it has a bed, a TV, a pool. Might be a good choice for WSOPs, easily walkable to Ballys/mid strip, not sure current rates, if they have resort fees etc.
Nice to see you, GL with the remaining grind Mr. Suited

Wow $33 resort fee at EI.

https://www.lasvegasadvisor.com/resort-fee-hotels/

It was fun hanging out, Fire! Good luck with the quarantine. Have you picked out your video game lineup yet?

A few years back I stayed at Circus Circus mid-week for $19, plus the $32 resort fee. That's how they get ya'.

More Miscellany

Quick note on the Palms slot promo. My two hours of play racked up 252 points, and thanks to a 5x multiplier running at that time, I carried 1260 points to the buffet line, where I suavely told the cashier lady, "I think I may have something on this card."



I believe I have around $10-$14 on my Caesar's card, so I'll have to find somewhere to eat on one of their several properties. The Caesar's Palace $80 buffet is too much, even with my appetite and at that discount. Harrah's used to have a good noodle place, so I'll check on that. The LINQ has Hash House A Go Go, but they weren't great the last time I went--seemed like they had lost a step.

Yesterday I played $1/$3 at Caesar's for 2 hours. Their max buyin is $300, which seems too low. They also have a button straddle where the button gets last action preflop as well throughout the hand. This is bad for the blinds, who have to tighten up pre if they want to adjust properly. The straddle should be a device that juices the action, not suppresses it.

The table was nice and soft for the duration. Based on my few hours of play over this fortnight, I'll hazard that the low-limit player pool has not improved in the year I've been away. I had guessed that the recent influx and popularity of so many poker blogs made by so many good players had improved the field, but it seems that people are watching and being entertained, and not learning. And to paraphrase Martha Stewart: that's a good thing.

I cashed out $+157 and took that to the WSOP $250 daily Deepstack, where I made it to within 20 or so of the bubble, but did not cash. No real hands of note. I lost a fair chunk with TT on a K4K4K board against K9; I just couldn't fold to V's small raise on the river, as he could have been doing that as a bluff playing the board, or with 55-99 as perceived value. I don't remember the price I was getting, but it was damn good.

On my bustout hand I squeeze-shoved A9o in the SB with 18bb against an active CU who covered me. That's a spot where I block an A, and I can get folds from AT, and I can also get calls from A8, depending on the V and where they're at at the moment. It's a standard play. V called with AT and held.

Nothing planned for today.

I loled at your spoiler. Damn you need to get one tourney score.

+1

I mean FU Palms. I ran not much more through at Az Charlie’s on there 100.06% 10/6 DDB and they gave me enough dough through accumulated points to buy their $10 ham steak special. I also now am getting free room offers for there luxurious resort + like $10 in freeplay and a similar amount in food comps.