Newbie in town (kind of long with a question or 2)
Returned from my LV trip (2/7 – 2/10).
I’m new to playing in a casino (and AVP as well) so bear with me since this post doesn’t have the hand and experience details that I’ve seen here from others. Prior to this trip, I’ve only played in a single SNG last September. My recent post in the Intro Forum touches on that.
Well it was good to get away from the daily grind of work for a few days and the trip out of Boston went smoothly. Arrived to a cool and rainy Vegas but that sure beats the cold and snow that I left behind.
First time on the tables was at the Sun 9am tourney at Monte Carlo where I was staying. This is where I played before and while I won’t say I went in feeling comfortable, at least it was a familiar place. I arrived at about 20 minutes early to register and the room was empty except for the staff. Jim registered me and told me we had 19 players so far. $40 buy-in plus a $10 add-on which is less than noted here on AVP ($50 + $10). Took a short walk through the casino and returned 5 mins prior to the tourney start. My plan was to try and get into a comfort zone, get a feel for the rest of the table and not play marginal hands early. That seemed to well for me.
There were 2 tables and I was on the table of 9. Didn’t take me long to figure out that the rest of the table were visitors like myself. No overly aggressive play early and I settled in nicely. After an orbit or 2, I knew that if I think and play the way I know I can then I should make it when we got down to a final table. I think that I can read people and their play pretty well and there weren’t any surprises on this table. I figured out one woman was raising pre-flop with middle pairs and always checking paint on the flop. It wasn’t hard to bet post flop to get her off a hand. She was the first one out. I lost track of the all the hands I played on this table but I accumulated a good amount of chips. I think that I also got a lot of respect from the others. On one hand that helped set my table presence, I held Ac10c on bb (I think it was early and on the 50/100 round). Player on my left called 100, folds around, sb called and I raised to make it 300. Villan on my left calls and sb folds. I was heads-up with another newbie but I knew I was the better player. Flop comes up 3 clubs, one picture, giving me flush. I check and villan bets 450. I’m thinking villan now has a set at best but I only call. Junk comes up on the turn. I check, villan bets 600, I call. Junk again on the river, I hesitate and then put villan all in. Villan is now really worried and confused but ends up calling. I show my nut flush and I could just feel and hear villan lose his breath. A couple of wow’s from the rest of the table and even the dealer (Debbie) said “so when do you think he like that hand?”.
On one hand, I won a decent sized pot on a stone cold bluff when there was a open ended straight draw on the board after the river and another guy folded to me after I made a strong bet (sorry for not remembering details). He had shown some hesitation getting into hands with me so I was hoping I could scare him off. I had him on a picture pair but he mucked on the river and said “no way I’m playing this against that guy”. As a newbie, time stood still for way too long until he mucked. As the chips were being pushed my way, I swear that my hands were shaking trying to stack them.
I got to the final table pretty easily as chip leader from my table. Once there, I had position on the total chip leader by 2 positions and he had slightly bigger stack than me. Pretty soon he was out and I had most of the chips.
Eventually, down to 3 way action and there was one late hand that I have a question on. I was chip leader, villan 1 had a decent stack but trailed me and villan 2 was short stack and getting close to blinded out. Blinds were 1K/2K with a 300 ante. Villan 1 was on the button, first to act, I was sb and villan 2 was bb. I thought I heard villan 1 say “call”. I wasn’t looking up but I heard chips hit the table. I don’t remember my hand but I was willing to limp in and tossed in 2K to call. Dealer then says it’s 4K and I look up and see that villan 1 had tossed in four 1K chips. I was a little bit confused since I know he said “call” and the blinds had not changed prior to the deal. Not sure what to do and not wanting to reveal the strength (or lack of) in my hand, I tossed in 2K more. Short staked villan 2 folded. So as the dealer is forming the pot, I see that villan 1 is confused too and looking at the denominations of his chips. I know what is going through his mind…. He had confused the 1K chips for 500 chips. On the flop he checks knowing he already over bet his hand. I know he won’t call a big bet now. I bet 6K and he insta-folds.
QUESTION: Did I do something wrong or unethical? Pre-flop I thought I was limping in but ended up calling a raise. Though not timely, I figured out that the pre-flop bets were wrong since he put more chips in than a call. The dealer didn’t notice and thus both players were a little confused. I guess I got my senses quicker and then took villan out of the hand. Should I have said something to correct the preflop betting? I don’t know how it would have turned out because I don’t think either player were playing from strength.
So in the end, I won the tourney and won $390. Not bad for the $40 + $10. I felt really good since it was only my 2nd time sitting at a casino poker table. Most importantly, I thought I played really well. Can’t say if the competition was good or bad, all I know is that I was on my game that morning. I tipped the dealers $20 and I hope that’s reasonable considering this is new to me. I also wasn’t sure how much of the $10 add-on went to them.
The rest of the trip was less eventful but I had a good time. Went to see Love at the Mirage on Sunday night. Prior to leaving home I was able to get $165 seats for $90 through Travelzoo.com. Great show and needless to say Great Music! I’ve always been a fan of Cirque du Soleil and while this show was a little different, it was extremely entertaining.
Played the same tourney the next day (Monday morning). Very quiet and there was only one table of 10. I was pretty much card dead most of the time but I managed to stick in for 4th place but out of the money (paid top 3).
I know it’s not much but that’s the extent of my poker on this trip. I guess we all have to start somewhere. Maybe others can share their first time experiences.
I don't see where you did anything wrong. Where I play, vebal is binding, but if the dealer didnt say anything, either the dealer didn't hear him, or you heard him wrong. Once you put 2k in, the only reasonable thing to do is call his raise, whether it was an intended raise or not. Congratulations on realizing his error and taking the pot away from him. A more experinced villian would have probably realized his mistake, and continued to play the hand as though the raise was intentional.
First off, congrats on a great tourney! Sounds like you played well and had fun, which are more important than the good results.
As for the dealer tip, typically the entire "add-on" goes to the dealer tip pool, though you can always ask if you are not certain. Your additional tip of $20 was ~6% of your net winnings, so in my view that was a solid tip.
As for the weird raise/call situation, I don't think you did anything wrong. If the button had put in the $4K before saying "call", then it was a legal raise and was binding. If he had said "call" first, then that action would have been binding. Apparently, the dealer either did not hear the word "call" or ruled that the chips went in the pot first. You (or any other player) could have asked the dealer to clarify the situation, but you were not obligated to do so since the chips were in the pot and it was your action. The button could also have spoken up to say, "I said call and I put in the wrong chips" before you acted, and the dealer could have sorted out the issue at that point. But I wouldn't feel badly about how the hand went down.
Thanks for the feedback. If I was positive of the call/raise situation right at that time, I definitely would have stated my opinion and asked for a clarification. Since it was a little too late for that, I feel okay that we all just had to play from that point on.
@Grange95
Yes, playing well and having fun was definitely the best part. It was a nice start for me. It was a hilarious to see my friend's face who dropped by the room right when I was cashing out. He doesn't play poker and knew this was new to me in a casino. All he said was "Are you serious???"
I forgot to mention something in my original post. When I returned for the next morning's tourney, this time when I was choosing seat assignment, I was offered the seat numbers facing up. Can I assume this was preferential treatment from playing and maybe being in the money the day before?