My losing Vegas trip
I flew in late on Sunday, May 27. My flights to Vegas were pure torture. I seemed to insist on not purchasing something to read in the airport, telling myself that I'd just save a few bucks and listen to music. Then my headphones broke (and no the flight I was on didn't have any). Talk about idle time. Was I ever happy to see the lights of the city as we landed, though. What a view!
Had a 3 p.m. check in time the next day. Tried to open a box at IP where I was staying but they wouldn't let me since I wasn't yet a registered guest. I went to the nearby bathroom and put $1,000 in cash in my socks. Good.
I checked my bags which contained my brand new laptop with a bellhop who proceeded to leave them on a cart halfway between the front door to the hotel and his desk. He finally moved them after I stood there, fearing thievery, unable to leave my valuable possessions in this strange new place.
"Don't worry," he says. "There's a camera."
To the Strip
I had Vegas shock. Everyone was drunk and walking around with drinks. I had to get over to Planet Hollywood for their 2 a.m. tournament. As a first time Vegas virgin, walking through that crowd was quite an experience.
I was relieved to get off the sidewalk and into PH's new poker room, which is very nice and has very friendly dealers and staff. I even sort of liked the reacetracks. I played a cash game for 90 minutes before the tournament, managing to lose about $30.
The tournament had about 4 tables or approximately 40 people. I busted out in fourteenth or fifteenth place after an exciting run of cards kept me alive. I was happy with the way I played, especially after I knocked out a guy I was sure was a local (who was none too happy) when I went all in with Q-Q vs. 8-8 and caught my queen to add insult to injury. Ironically, as the blinds were starting to affect my stack, I lost with 8-8 to a Q-Q 20 minutes later.
I hopped back in on the cash game while the tournament dragged on a few tables over until way beyond 6 a.m. Managed to lose a little more money here. I was getting pretty tired but still played my hands well. Unfortunately I ran up against a few slightly better hands and went down -$160.
No great hands to report in the cash game except when I flopped a two pair when holding A-J. I slow played it of course (I need to work on this) and ended up only making about $40 profit on the hand when I turned a full house and bet some small amount since the villian across the table clearly wouldn't have called a big bet.
Ten Sobe energy drinks later, I walked out onto the Strip at around 6 a.m. The weather was great and the drunken revelers had mostly gone to bed, although certainly not all of them. I checked out the Flamingo and Paris casinos, which is a pretty cool place. I had to kill much more time (check in at 3 p.m.)and was getting a little worried about how I was going to do so.
I made my way back to IP and there was actually a cash game going on that early. I felt like I had a second wind (maybe it was just that I really like poker) and sat in on it after peeling two sweaty hundreds from my sock in the bathroom. I broke dead even after 3 hours of play. The dealers at IP were letting all sorts of rules be broken (likely because they were getting tipped well) and the players were of a unique and unsavory variety. It was worse than a poorly-run home game. This one guy had a real problem as he kept putting $100 in the middle before getting dealt his cards (this is not allowed, right?) and losing every time. Then he would take out another hundred and do it all over again. He was distraught about his losses and truly seemed to think this was the way to recoup them. I informed the dealer about some of the things I perceived to be against the rules but it didn't matter. Floor seemd to be on a bathroom break. I was praying for a big hand so I could stack this guy but it was not to be. No way am I calling off $100 preflop with nothing invested holding anything short of a monster. But you know that already.
I probably won't play here again, I told myself.
Also, their chips (and tables) totally suck. Too thin, pretty old, and not uniform enough. Invest a little, IP.
I managed to check into a room three hours early (great success!!) after asking a nice woman at the desk. No $20 trick necessary. The room was nicer than I expected after hearing IP horror stories.
I played the Sahara 11 p.m. that night where there were about 130 players. I took the rebuy right away. Not really sure why I did this. Just seemed like what I wanted to do at the time.
Waiting for the tournament I played $3 blackjack and lost 21 bucks. I swear off the game forever.
To the tournament: My biggest hand, I was down to about $4500 in tournament chips from my original $5000, which I had built up but then took a beating from some guy. I have Ah-Qh and call a raise to $1800 with the blinds at 300-600. three players to the flop and I'm praying for hearts.
Flop: Kh-9h-6d
The lady next to him pushes all-in for an additional $3000. I have a one in five chance of hitting my heart for a nut flush. If this were a cash game, I'd be out of this hand fast as it is a negative expectation bet.
But this was $62 so I pushed the rest of my stack. The original raiser (who raised under the gun and who I was sure had A-A) called, looking a little mad that we had 3 players in this pot.
Since two of us are all-in, we all flip our cards. Sure enough, the original raiser has A-A. Lady has black A-10 (wtf??)
The Jh hits the turn, the original raiser curses my name, and I'm golden. That was one of the biggest pots I saw all night at my table and people ooh'ed and ahh'ed as the dealer shoved it towards me.
I also called an all-in earlier in the game with Q-Q. The raiser shows K-K and I'm totally dominated.
"Here comes the Queen," he says.
The flop gives nothing but the turn and river are Queens, giving me quads. We all cheer and I double up.
I went into the second break (six 20-minute levels later) with $30,000 or approx. 4.5 percent of all the chips in play in the room. I was maybe in the top 7 in the whole room but I couldn't sit back as there were still five tables and the blinds were going nowhere but up. I lost a few big ones after the break with the blinds at $1,000 and $2,000. Went out with Q-J vs A-9.
I finished in the top 40 out of 132 players. I'm mostly happy with the way I played and will leave it at that. It is freaking hard to get in the money in a tournament that big.
The next morning I trudged over to PH where they have a shopping mall containing one of two precious free wifi spots on the entire strip that I know of. After taking care of some online business, I walked by the poker room and checked out a few ongoing games from the rail surrounding the room. I wasn't really planning on playing I swear. I was going to bring my backpack and laptop back to my room and go eat or something.
Well of course I spot a game that looks inviting and buy in for their max $200 1/2 game.
The first important hand occurred 10 minutes in and went as such:
I have the dealer button, and get dealt T-T. I'm in position and don't have any reads on most of the table. Just one or two guys from the day before. I raise to $15 and get one caller.
Flop: Q-Q-T (I believe two were hearts but could have been rainbow)
This was a good flop. The only hand that had me beat at this point was Q-Q or Q-T. Villain bets 25. I call.
Turn: 2 of spades I think
Villain checks. I bet 30. He calls fairly quick.
River: Jd
Call me irrational for fearing a better full house but that Jack made me uneasy. He could have Q-J or one of the two aforementioned hands - all three likely starting hands.
He checks (which should have been a clue that he didn't have the nut full house) but I'm paranoid and check.
He shows Q-K for the trip Q's. (I was close right?)
I flip my full house and the dealer pushes that pile of red chips my way. I should have bet the river. I'm a donkey.
A few others:
Some new guys sat down and one of them straddled.
I mutter to a nice lady next to me what I think about straddlers and say that I hope I get a big hand to punish the straddle-happy newcomer.
I'm in middle position and get the rockets. The bullets. A-A baby.
I raise to $15 and get two callers. One of the new guys says I look like my hand is weak because I'm biting my fingernail. I glare at him and tell him it's a fake out. He looks at me like I'm stupid. This was the guy who turned the fun table sour in the next 25 minutes or so by yelling at a middle aged woman to my right).
Flop is 9-T-4 or something. I can't remember exactly. I bet $30. One caller, straddler folds. Darn.
Turn: 6
I check, hoping for a bet. No luck.
River: T me no likey
He checks. And I, being a paranoid hack, follow suit.
He shows J-J and I show my Aces. Yay.
In the next 25 minutes I had A-K hold up against A-J for a $100 pot and also bluffed a bunch of free blinds into my stack while in position.
I left after I had $433 in my stack, bring me nearly back to even for the trip. And to think I nearly didn't play.
The next day was not so good. I lost a $300 pot with A-A vs 7-7 when the villian hit a runner runner straight. Ughhhhh.
Then I push the rest of my chips on the next hand with A-K- suited and run up against K-K. Off to black jack. I'm drunk at this point and break even there.
Off to Pai Gow. Lose $100.
Busted out of the 7 pm PH tourney after literally running over my first table. Had a huge stack after 2 levels. But it again, was not to be.
Played at the V that evening and started out great at the new table that had formed. Was up $150 in 30 minutes. A few bad plays later and I lost it all to a slyly played full house.
I go to bed and pray the next day is better.
Its not.
I wake up. Lose another $100 in Pai Gow. (I thought this game wasn't really in the casino's favor?)
Go over to the PH and lose $300 bucks. Had to toss K-K with several raises preflop and an Ace hits the flop.
The last day I played video poker and got free drinks. The flight back sucked as the last hour was through a lightning storm.
Overall I lost about a grand. Disappointed but still enjoyed getting to play that much poker. I am nursing my wounds right now as my bank roll wasn't really big. Back to the drawing board.
Nice report.
I don't blame you for not betting your full house. A jack would've made me nervous, too.
Better luck next time!
Nice report. Thanks for the tip on the free wifi location. My last trip I was able to take advantage of an AVP tip on where you can buy a cell phone charger when your wife forgets her's, lol. Now I know I can avoid the $11 hotel charge in Vegas on wifi if need be.
it is almost impossible to lose that much that quick playing Pai Gow. My very first time playing though was like your trip in a way. Sat down with two buddies donked off 100 bucks on 4 hands IN A ROW($25 each hand). Now how hard is that to do? I love the game though and my wife like to play so it gives us time gambling since she dont play poker just spends my winnings
"This one guy had a real problem as he kept putting $100 in the middle before getting dealt his cards (this is not allowed, right?) and losing every time."
It is a slight breach of the rules, but one that shouldn't really bother anybody, because it only works to his own disadvantage.
The rule is that out-of-turn action (or declarations) are binding unless an intervening player changes the action. That is, if the all-in-dark guy should be, say, 6th to act before the flop, but shoves it all in during the deal, then officially the dealer should push the guy's chips back and announce that that action hasn't happened yet, but will be binding if nobody raises before it gets to him. If the UTG player decides to raise, he certainly can, in which case the all-in guy is no longer committed to his all-in.
But you know he's going to do it anyway. He's BEGGING for a call, so he's not going to be deterred by somebody raising ahead of him.
Look at it this way. Suppose he made a big show of not looking at his cards, but otherwise waited his turn, then shoved. That would clearly be perfectly legal, right? So nobody is hurt by knowing in advance that he's going to do this. In fact, if you are supposed to act before him, and would want to raise, but not put your whole stack at risk, he has actually saved you money, because now you know to just fold.
The smart strategy when you have one of these guys at the table is to limp in if you're ahead of him but know or think you'll call. That way you get to see how many others might also be calling or even reraising him. For example, maybe you have K-J and figure that's a pretty good bet against a random hand. But if the maniac goes all in blind, then there are two callers, followed by a reraise to, say, $400, now your KJ isn't looking so good. If all you've done is limp before you get this additional information, you save a bunch of money. Conversely, if you pick up AA, you'd like one or two others to commit to the all-in call before you reraise behind to either make them fold or get as much money in as possible.
In short, you should always welcome these maniacs to the table. They provide a huge +EV to everybody else there. Their action out of turn is an advantage to you, not a disadvantage, so there's really no point in getting hypertechincal about it.
I was really pretty cool about it. I said "Are you sure he can do that?" The dealer looked at me and said nothing so I kept folding. It was fine. I understand the guy was legally retarded for doing such a thing.
What really pissed me off is when the dealer took back our cards on a misdeal when he should have just dealt another card to the guy who got one face up when I had K-K. Really poor call on that one but it was too late.
All,
What is the rule on the misdeal situation DHG described when he had KK? I've seen all cards pulled back and re-deal and I've seen dealers show everyone the flipped card, deal another card, and use the flipped card as the burn card. What's right?
Hey DGH,
Nice trip report. Sorry about the losing sessions. I couldn't agree with you more about blackjack. It kicks my ass every time I'm in Vegas.
Pete,
Rule on the misdeal is if it is a blind, or the final card to the button its a misdeal. No player can get two consecutive cards off of the deck. If not, face-up card is the burn and player gets the card that would have been the burn card.
I can relate to the first trip losses. Except for the blackjack....you gotta play the $5 single deck. Blackjack only pays 6 to 5, but I think the odds are slightly better for you. I always faired well, at least compared to multi-deck.
Slight correction to RR's note about the misdeal. It is, as far as I know, universal that if the first card dealt to either blind flips face up or flashes during the deal, it's a misdeal, and the cards are all pulled back in. The button, however, is variable. In some places, they'll just replace it as with any other seat, even though this means the button gets two consecutive cards from the deck. (See, e.g., "Cooke's Rules of Real Poker," p. 104, rule 14.09: "The only time in poker a player may receive two cards in a row off the deck is when the last downcard dealt to the last player in a Hold'em or Draw game is exposed.") Other places call it a misdeal rather than give two consecutive cards to the button seat.
Incidentally, Cooke lists 11 (!) different events that can cause a misdeal to be declared (rule 14.20). A gold star to anybody who can list them all without looking it up.
I concede my gold star...
I probably was in that same tourney at 11pm at sahara... Last year I was there and played in about 6 touneys.. Did well up to the first break but never made it to the 2nd break. This time I played there twice. The 11pm tourney with 132 players I played a bit loose. Calling some hands I typically don't. Got lucky on a few... Anyway that night I got knocked out in 20th place. Which is just 10 out of the money... But I felt good to get close to the money.
I play in the next days 7pm tourney. I believe they had 109 players. Again I hit another spill of great cards. NExt thing I know we are down to 20 players.. then 10.. Woohoo.. Finally I had done it. I was at the final table. I was certainly not the huge stack... Well, I ended up 5th with a payout of only $260. We tried to chop some of the money up but we had a player whom insisted not too. We tried to give everyone $500 and then the rest of the money to first and 2nd. It didnt work. I think I tilted on this cause it was a nice offer I thought as the chips were going around the table.... But ole well.. I was happy just to be in the money in this tournament.. IT was fun. Will certainly try my luck again at the sahara next trip...
We did have a WSOP bracelet winner playing amongst the sahara tournement the one 11pm tourney... A rather you kid.... Never did get the particulars on his win....
Yes it was the same tourney I think cuz a guy stood up and announced that we had a bracelet winner playing. Glad to hear you had a little success.