Vegas Baby

As stated in my last post, I am seriously excited about my upcoming Vegas trip exactly 3 weeks from today. The weather is even turning nice here finally but I can't stop thinking about Vegas. I love my new job but I can barely focus.

I haven't had this feeling about a Vegas trip in a while. I think it's a combination of a few things: the WSOP, the fun I had on my last trip and the length of the trip.

I was in Vegas 2 years ago while the WSOP was going on and I was able to watch Daniel Negreanu play in the Main Event for a while but I didn't have the guts to play in any of the side games. I won't be there during the Main Event this time but other events will be going on and I will definitely play in the side games this time.

That leads to my second reason for the excitement - the fun I had on my last trip. I was with 2 of my brothers-in-law and we had a great time. I finally got up the guts and played tons of poker. I earned some comps (free meals) because I played so much poker. We got silly drunk but not overboard to the point where we were puking or doing stupid stuff. The only problem with the trip is that it was too short. I was having such a good time that I wasn't ready to come home after only 2 nights.

That leads to my third reason - the length of the trip. This time I will be there for 4 nights and almost 5 full days. I haven't been in Vegas on that long of a trip since just before my daughter was born (over 8 years ago). This time I will have more time to do new things. I always have set things I do on almost every trip like go to the Burger Bar at Mandalay Bay, Cheesecake Factory at Caesar's, Hofbrau House, Bellagio Fountains, Downtown and shopping for a toy for the kids of course. But this time I'll be able to find new things like this "burger tour" my brother suggested. And I'm sure I'll be ready to come home this time and I won't be so crabby when I get home.

No News is Not Really Good News

I haven't written in a while but that's not because I haven't been playing. I'm actually enjoying my new job so I haven't taken the time to write while I'm at work. Plus they don't block any internet sites so I've been going to Pokersavvyplus.com to download and watch some poker training videos while I'm on lunch break (instead of blogging).

I have played in about 6 WSOP Step 4 tourneys so far. I was able to accumulate 5 tickets to Step 4 before I started playing. On my first try I finished 5th which gave me a ticket back to Step 3 (which I promptly lost). On the second try I finished 3rd which gave me a ticket to Step 4 again. I have gone on to finish 5th 3 times and 3rd 3 times. Not exactly the results I want but not horrible either.

So far I've been surprised at the quality of play. I was expecting much better players since this is the half way point of the Steps but it's basically the same stuff.

I had a donkey at my table tonight who raised preflop and then called my reraise preflop. On a flop of 674 rainbow I bet enough to put him all-in and he called. To my shock he turned over KTo. Since I had AK he was drawing to 3 tens or runner runner straight. Of course the turn brought a ten and he doubled up. I was in 2nd place before this hand and I dropped to 3rd after it.

I couldn't believe such a donkey would be playing at this level but it quickly changed my mind. Of course he ended up winning this step when his Q9 beat my K5 and I ended up going out in 3rd. Earlier he had doubled up the 3rd place player (who moved ahead of me to 2nd) when the donkey called an all-in bet on the river on a board of 87643. The third place player turned over 55 for the obvious straight and the donkey had J3.

Yes he called with bottom pair and no kicker. He could only beat a complete bluff or a 3 with a worse kicker than a jack. Donkey.

Oh well, hopefully I can report that I have a ticket or two to step 5 soon since I have come very close so far.

On another note, I'm about 3 weeks away from my Vegas trip and I'm not going to make my goal of winning enough money online to buy my way into the $1500 WSOP tourney. That's why I'm focusing so much on these Steps tourneys so that I can win my way into the main event.

I am seriously excited for the trip though. Some of my brother's friends are going to be there also and they seem like fun people. We've decided to do a "burger" tour while we're there this time so hopefully we'll hit some new restaurants. We're still doing Cheesecake Factory and Hofbrau even though we won't be getting burgers there though.

I'm hoping to play in a satellite tourney or 2 to win my way into the $1500 tourney and if I can't do that I'll be playing a lot in the side games. I'm really looking forward to that. I'm also just looking forward to the freedom that Vegas provides. It really is like a fantasy world for me and I think that's why I like it so much. I can drink as much as I want. I can stay out as late as I want. And I can basically spend money on whatever I want as long as I don't lose the house.

I usually end up losing money gambling or win just a little. I'm still waiting for that trip that I win enough to cover the cost of food, drink and airfare/hotel. Either way I have a great time without a care in the world. I think I have a lot of stress here at home that I usually don't express or let out so my Vegas trips provide an opportunity for that release. Hopefully I can do well enough in poker to cover my expenses this trip.

Amazing Night

I guess I shouldn't title this "Amazing Night" because I didn't really win very much money tonight but I had some amazing hands. I'm still playing in the WSOP steps tourneys on PokerStars and I played in a Step 3 tourney tonight. I ended up winning it but that is an understatement.

I completely blew away the rest of the table. I wish I could claim it was all skill but I was really getting great cards and getting lucky. My luck started in level 2 (15/30 blinds) when everyone folded to me on the button. I had A9o and made the standard raise to 90. The small blind reraised me to 240 and I folded.

That doesn't really show any luck but I think it led to what happened on the very next hand. I was in the cutoff with 77 and it was folded to me again. Once again I made the standard raise to 90 and the button and big blind both called. The flop came down 6s 9h 7d and I bet 180 into a 285 pot. The button folded and the big blind called. The turn brought the 3s and I bet 360 into the 645 pot. The big blind check-raised me all-in for another 925.

I suspected he had an 8 and a flush draw and was trying to push me off the hand but I guess he could've had the straight already or a set also. I had to call and he turned over Kh Jh. He was drawing dead. He put his whole stack in on a complete bluff. Why? I'm only guessing it's because he saw the previous hand and thought I could be pushed off my hand.

That gave me the chip lead. Then in level 4 (50/100 blinds) I was dealt QQ in the small blind. An early position player made the standard raise to 300 and the player next to him called. Everyone else folded to me. I thought about just calling but then I'd be pretty scared if an Ace or King came on the flop. Since I was the chip leader I decided to reraise all-in. Both players had decent stacks and could fold and still have a chance at winning.

The original raiser thought for a long time and I was happy that I had made the all-in reraise. I'm guessing he had AK or maybe a medium pocket pair but I won't know since he folded. The other caller thought for a while too and eventually called with Ad Tc. I'm guessing he hoped I had a middle pair or he was just in the mood to gamble. No matter since the board brought no help to him and I jumped to a huge lead.

After that I started getting really lucky. I knocked out a player with QQ against my AJ when an Ace came on the river. Later I flopped 2 pair when I had T8 in the big blind and 2 players limped pre-flop. The flop also had an Ace and one of the original limpers called my bets on the flop and turn but then folded on the river.

In level 7 (150/300 blinds plus 25 ante) we were down to 3 players - the top 2 move on to Step 4. I was in the big blind with AJ and the small blind raised to 900 leaving him about 700 in his stack. I reraised him all-in and he surprisingly folded. I don't get that at all since he was left with basically nothing and he was getting the right odds to call with any 2 cards.

The luck lasted on the last hand when I was on the button with J7. The big blind was the super short stack who folded on the previously described hand and I made a minimum raise which was enough to put him all-in. I made the min raise because I was hoping the other player would call also and then the 2 of us would have a better chance of knocking the short stack out.

Unfortunately the other player folded and the short stack turned over KJ. I was in bad shape until the flop brought a 7 and the river brought another 7. Obviously I wasn't going to be in bad shape for the tourney but at least for that hand. I now have 3 tickets to Step 4 so hopefully I will be reporting some good results from those tourneys soon.

The luck didn't end there though. I started playing some cash games on FullTilt and ended up getting dealt quads twice. Both times I flopped a set and turned the four-of-a-kind and won some decent sized pots. I also caught a lucky turn card to give me a set of sevens over another player's flopped set of deuces. That player was seriously bad though so I was going to get his money on other hands even if I hadn't turned that set of sevens.

With all of this luck, I should probably still be playing instead of writing this but I wanted to stop for the night and watch some training videos on PokerSavvyPlus.com. I started a trial subscription on there and hopefully it'll open up some ideas to me.