Day 2: $340 Terminator NLHE w/$100 Bounties

I find myself at Table 20, Seat 7 with 5,000 brand new shiny chips in front of me with half hour levels… only one problem… we’re 11 handed. Yeah, fuck you too Crown.

The blinds start at 25/50 and I find myself involved on the very first hand in the SB with effective stacks of 5k

Dealt to SwoopAE: As Qd

Folded to CO
CO calls 50
BTN raises 175 to 225
I call
BB folds
CO folds

Flop: Ks Js 8c

I’m pretty much done with this hand if he fires a reasonable bet since it’s all over his range and i’m behind a low PP anyway so I check.

Villain bets 200. That’s odd. I decide he must have a low PP or a monster and elect to call and lead most turns then give up if I get any further action unless I hit something.

Turn: Ah

Well, that changes things. Leading this card makes no sense so I check.

Villain bets 500. I don’t really like this but I have to call down now since the only hands that should be beating me here are AK, AJ and sets. I elect to call and checkcall most rivers.

River: 9d

The river changes nothing really, so I check with the intention of going with my read since I essentially only beat a bluff or a very badly played AT on this board. Villain bets 1,000. I’m thinking about folding but villain’s mannerisms seem fairly weak so I make an ‘I don’t beat anything other than a bluff but villain could be a spewy retard because it’s live poker’ call.

Villain shows 73 offsuit and I take down a nice pot with my bluffcatcher. Who am I kidding, i’m just a station.

Anyway, i’ve got off to a nice start and i’m up to nearly 7k.

I stay mostly uninvolved for a while, win and lose some small pots raising preflop and then either cbetting or giving up with mixed results and then find myself in another hand at 100/200 with a stack of ~7500. I cover most players at the table, BTN has ~2200 and SB has ~1400.

I find 2d 2h UTG+1 and those of you who have played with me know this is my ‘lucky hand’. I consider mucking since the stack sizes are awkward but we’re 9 handed at the moment so whatever, I raise. I make it 500.

BTN elects to call, leaving ~1700 behind. BTN is a spewy live donk who limpcalls and flats large raises out of position only to checkfold the flop and stuff like that. He’s awful.

In any case, SB elects to go all in for 1400, only 900 on top of my raise. With a bounty worth a third of a buyin on the line and potentially two if BTN calls with the largest stack being 11bb, I snap reshove and BTN tank-folds. LOL, donkaments at BTN flatcalling a quarter of his stack and then folding preflop. Anyway…

Villain turns over Qc Qs and I remain in my seat, calmly telling villain that I have the stone cold nuts and he’s going to the rail. After all, I have my lucky hand and i’m going to run good today. Villain starts yelling ‘HOLD, ONE TIME!’ and stuff like live donks yell when they’re all in.

Flop: Jc 6c 5h

Um, two please?

Turn: 3c

I haz teh gutshot!

Unfortunately, villain has picked up a flush draw so I only have four outs.

I calmly repeat that I have the stone cold and ask the dealer for a two or a four.

River: 4s

Ship it! I make a straight and villain starts cursing at either me or the dealer, it’s hard to tell. He tells his friend on the rail that i’m a ‘fucking donk luckbox’ and I tend to agree. It’s fun being a luckbox though.

I find myself with about 9.5k and then go completely card dead, stealing once per orbit for the next three levels. I raise preflop with Ah 7h at 200/400, get one caller, flop a nut flush draw and open shove. Villain quickly mucks. I play position and win one hand per orbit without seeing a hand better than KcTc (which I folded) for about two hours (only about 6-7 orbits/4levels for live poker) and find myself sitting with 9,000 at the start of 500/1k with the average at 18k. I jam some random hands on the SB two orbits in a row then on the button on the next orbit. I also pick up a pot when SB (a nitty woman named Kim who is apparently good but seems to be a massive nit) limps and I jam some random two cards like Q6 and she folds. I haven’t seen a pocket pair other than 22 yet and my next best hand after the AQ on the first hand was ATo or some rubbish. Still, i’m staying afloat because my table sucks. With no antes though, accumulating is hard so i’m just staying afloat.

Finally, on the last hand of 500/1k, I find Qd Qh in MP. A weak player limps UTG+1 and I raise to 5,000 with a ~10k stack because it’s live poker and he’s going to view that as weak because he’s retarded and i’ve been going all in a lot. It folds around to villain who elects to shove and I quickly call. Villain has Ac 7c and i’m looking good to double up with ~22k in the pot.

Flop: Kc Jc 9h

Well, I never said it was going to be easy.

Turn: 9d

Hold, please.

River: 4h

I somehow hold and climb to 22k, which is close to the average. We’re down to a little under a quarter of the field.

At 600/1200, I find a nice spot to jam over a limper with AJ, he tank-folds and then says he had AQ.

My response to that can be best described by watching Durrrr’s facial expression on the HSP episode when Eastgate just calls Durrrr when Eastgate has A6 and Durrrr has 62 on the 66xxx board. Limp-fold to the 15bb stack is optimal, sir.

I continue stealing blinds on the BTN and CO every orbit and jam every SB into the nitty BB who only has ~12k, he continues to fold.

I eventually find AQ again and jam over a raiser who folds and suddenly I have 37k despite only having gone to showdown three times during the tournament, twice of which was during the first level.

At 800/1600, my friend James raises to 4500 with ~25k on the CO, I say ’sorry James’ and snap-shove my ~35k with 99 on the SB, BB immediately overcalls for about 17k, much to my disgust. James folds Ah Jh face up and I pray to be up against AK. Sadly, BB has KK and i’m going to need to bink a nine. Suckout again perhaps?

Flop: Q87
Turn: 2
River: 6

I brick out and find myself with ~18k as the blinds go up to 1k/2k. At this point we’re down to about 40 players, with 251 runners and 20 places paid.

I open shove A8o on the button, AQ UTG+1 and 33 UTG over the next orbit without callers to move back to about 27k. Some idiot tank-folds and claims he has AK to my UTG shove. LOL, Donkaments. ‘But I didn’t have a made hand’, he protests, when the table laughs at his perceived nittiness. He didn’t show the hand though so who knows. I fold my blinds and then wake up with Jc Js on the cutoff with about 35 players left and ~24k. Cool. UTG raises to 6,000. Not cool. Fortunately, UTG is a young Asian Gambler Kid™ who is beyond retarded at poker. Example: At 500/1k, he opens 4.5x in MP with AsTs, gets shoved on for 13x, the shove gets overcalled by a guy with 28x, he flats the overcaller, checks the 8×7s6s flop, overcaller jams, he tank calls getting over 5-1 with 13 clean outs after putting half of the effective stacks in preflop, then gets there. Seriously, he flatted a shove and overcaller pre for 60% of the stacks then considered folding once he hit as hard as he could realistically expect to hit. Anyway, for this reason, I know i’m way, way good against his UTG range and I also know he isn’t folding to a 12BB shove after i’ve open shoved 3 of the past 10 hands. I move in, he calls and tables Qh Qd. Of course the idiot has a hand. Anyway, a jack would be nice. Maybe two of them.

Flop: Tc 8c 6d

I pick up some runner-runner draws. It’s a start. How about the nine of clubs on the turn?

Turn: 2s

Well that didn’t help. Jack, please. I’m going to win this tournament. I feel it.

The river… is a king. The paint got me all excited. Oh well.

I head off to the rail with my single bounty chip for a loss of $240 and yet ANOTHER top 20% of the field without cashing finish. I’m getting a lot of those.

I watch James for a while but he loses a big flip with about 30 left and sadly, the remaining members of Team Obnoxious Jerks both fail to cash in the event.

Tomorrow i’m thinking about playing Day 1a of the $550 250k GTD event.

A rundown of today, by the numbers

Tournaments: -$240 (-$340 Buy-in, +$100 cash for bounty)
Cash: $0

Net: -$240

As if I would have two winning days in a row.

I’m feeling good about tomorrow though. I won 1/3 key races today, went to showdown 6 times all tournament (4 AIPF, won 2/4, the AQ hand and a checked down bvb pot which I won) and still accumulated well, ran up a stack twice and just lost the key pots.

I wouldn’t change how I played any hand today, at all, so i’m very happy with my play but disappointed with the result, obviously.

Maybe tomorrow i’ll start my journey towards that huge score. It should be about 60k for the win in tomorrow’s event. That would be nice.

Live poker. Sigh. Gotta win those races… um, I mean 20/80s… whatever.

…and the blog is back!

A couple of days ago, I was deliberating whether or not to subject myself to more live poker so soon after leaving Las Vegas. After a session of being 3bet and 4bet by maniacs online, I decided that live poker was calling me. After a quick look at the list of upcoming tournament series in the nearby region, I was left with three choices; ANZPT Queensland (my home state’s first poker championship), The Victorian Poker Championships at Crown and AAPT Macau. With Macau being slightly out of my price range with a 6k main event, I was forced to decide between a $2500 ANZPT Event at Jupiters where the floor staff don’t know the difference between a straight and a flush or a $2700 Main Event at Crown, which is arguably the world’s best poker room (better than any in Vegas anyway) with a full schedule of preliminary events including an $1100 6-max event, a $550 250k GTD event, several $230-340 events, a $340 Teams Event and a $240 HA Event w/$100 rebuys.

Five minutes later, I booked my flights to Melbourne for the Victorian Poker Championships.

Day 1

4 August 2009

I arrive in Melbourne at 3pm with four hours until I meet James for the Teams Event. I check into the increasingly familiar hostel I normally stay at and make my way over to Crown for some 2/3NL.

I buy in for the max, which sadly is $200. The max buy-in and rake at 2/3 are pretty much the only bad things about the Crown poker room.

I win and lose a few small pots then find myself involved in my first large pot with approximately $200 in front of me. We’re 9 handed, UTG has $76, UTG+1 has ~$150.

Dealt to SwoopAE: 6c 6s

UTG raises to $16 (lol donkaments but this is standard for cash at Crown)
UTG+1 calls
UTG+2 calls
MP1 calls
I call on HJ
Button calls
BB calls

Flop: 6h Jd Qs

Cool.

BB checks
UTG shoves all-in for $60
UTG+1 calls
Folded to me
I raise $65 to $125
Folded to UTG+1
UTG+1 moves all-in for about $25 more
I call

UTG+1 tables AQo
UTG keeps his cards face down

Turn: 8c
River: 6c

UTG mucks and I find myself up to about $480

I flop another set and get one street of action and then get all in preflop with KK against a very short stack’s TT which holds. I’m sitting with about $580 when I find myself involved in another big hand. Everyone is pretty deep this time, all of the players involved in the hand have over $200 and some have similar stacks to me.

Five players limp for $3, I limp with Ac 3c on the button, SB completes, BB checks.

Flop: 9c 8c 6d

SB bets $15
BB calls
UTG+1 calls
MP1 calls
CO raises $15 to $30
I think over my options then elect to call since my hand plays really, really well 6-way here.
SB calls
BB calls
UTG+1 calls
MP1 calls

There is now about $200 in the pot. So sick.

Turn: 7d

What a sick turn card. Please let me see the river cheap… Please!

Checked around to CO

CO bets $55
I call
SB calls
BB calls
UTG+1 tank-calls
MP1 folds

WTF is going on in this hand? There’s close to $500 in the pot and several players, myself included, have close to a pot sized bet behind and even the shorter stacks still have $100 or more behind.

River: Kh

Gross spot to brick out.

Checked around to CO who bets $100
I fold
SB calls
BB folds
UTG+1 tank-calls again.

Take a moment to try and work out what everyone has here.

CO tables… K5o for the bottom end of the straight. How does he ever have that, ever? He minraises the flop with the bottom end of a gutshot then bets 1/5 pot with his bluffcatcher with only one player to act behind him on the river? WTF?

SB tables… 97o for two pair.

What the fuck?

UTG+1 tables… T9o for the second nut straight. How does a ten scoop this 300BB pot? UTG+1 is a solid young guy and probably the second best player at the table after me. He tells me that he almost threw his hand away on the turn when CO bet with four callers. So ridiculously sick. I understand that he chops a lot there but how does he ever scoop that, ever?

BB tells me he had the diamond flush draw (wtf?) and MP1 won’t say what he had.

Anyway, I drop a hundred or so in that pot where I somehow have NINE clean outs to the nuts on the flop six way

About half an hour later, I find Qd Qh UTG and raise to $15 with two callers.

The flop is 9s 6d 3h and I bet $37, MP folds and BTN jams about $130. I call, the board bricks out and button mucks. Probably TT or 87 or something. Whatever.

I cash out about $580 when James arrives for a 2BI profit and we get delicious Indian food for dinner with Chris from the epic last night in Vegas story and an Asian girl named Demi he is playing with in the Teams Event. I recognise Demi from the Crown Poker Room but i’d never known her name.

We buy into the teams event which is 5k stack/30min levels and James has a mostly uneventful first level; he flops a straight in a 3way pot and gets 2 folds when he bets the flop and loses some small pots, giving me about 4600 in chips to work with.

My first hand comes up against George, a late-40s Crown regular who is massively spewy preflop, limpcalling huge bets with hands that flop really badly and a station postflop. George is one of those guys who thinks he’s good at poker but he’s possibly the biggest loser out of the Crown regulars in both cash games and tournaments.

The blinds are at 50/100 and we’re already under 50bb deep

I find Ad Js in MP and raise to 250, BTN calls, George calls in BB

Flop: As 8c 6h

George checks, I bet 325 (very small but there’s some method to the madness as it allows me to get 3 streets instead of 2 on the right boards), BTN folds, George calls. I intend to get three streets of value on a safe board or check behind and snap the river on a bad turn

Turn: 6d

George checks, I quickly check behind. This is a terrible card since George’s range to checkcall this flop is roughly ace rag, 9x, 6x, 87. After I check, he’s the type of player who bets hands with some showdown value for no reason so i’m 100% sure he’s leading his entire range on any river.

River: Kc

George bets 850, I quickly call, he tables 86o and I feel kinda stupid for not betting more on the flop, although he would have called anyway since he never folds a pair to one bet.

A few hands later I find myself involved again with ~3400. Most players at the table cover.

MP limps, George limps on HJ, I raise to 475 with 9h 8h. I’m expecting to get called a lot by one or both players who will check fold flops when they miss. Accumulation 101.

Flop: 5c 3s 2d

Well, they either have a set or air here. Both villains check, I bet 1,000 (I like this since a single chip looks very strong live), MP folds and George elects to raise all-in. He’s not capable of making a move here so he pretty much always has a set. I have nine high and have to fold regardless, George tables Ac 4d for the flopped wheel. Nice work limp-calling a 4.75x raise there with 40bb effective stacks then failing to get value. I’m actually quite fortunate I had air there since the overpair which is probably 50% of my range is basically getting stacked there since i’m getting nearly 4-1 to call off when he shoves.

So i’ve spewed off down to 1725 and things aren’t going well, but a double up puts us close to the chip average.

A few hands later I find Kd Qc in MP. UTG limps, UTG+1 limps and UTG+2 limps. UTG+2 is George, the other two are randoms who have been limping weak hands. I’m certain none of them have a legitimate hand but it’s gross to move in with 4-5 players to act behind. I move in anyway for 17BB and get overcalled, the three limpers fold and claim they folded A4, A2 and A8 before the cards are exposed. The overcalling villain shows AQ and although i’m dominated, all of the aces are out of the deck so villain is drawing virtually dead if I hit.

Flop: 445

One of the limpers starts moaning about how his A4 would have made trips. I don’t suppose I could have a king here?

Turn Q

Well, I have a few outs to chop now as well. King, Queen or a Four perhaps?

River: 3

George has a small tantrum about how his A2 would have made a wheel and how he would have probably called me if everyone folded (he’s not capable of making that call for 17BB with A2 anyway) as I shake hands with everyone and head off to the rail after playing for less than 20 minutes.

I apologise to James for my failure but we agree that the hands are fairly standard with the 98s button raise being non-compulsory of course but not really leaky either since we were looking to accumulate without showdown early.

We play some more cash and I win a bunch of small pots flopping top pair/two pair hands mostly and then stacking a guy for most of a buy-in when I get it in with bottom set against top pair. I flopped three sets playing live poker today. So sick. I cash out around midnight and head back to the hostel to get some sleep. The $340 Bounty event is tomorrow.

Anyway, my Teams Event failure aside… he’s the breakdown for Day 1

Tournaments: -$170
Cash:+ approx $600
Overall: +$430

I wake up early for a change and head into Caesars for the Megastack at midday. The first few levels are fairly uneventful; we start with 15k at 25/50 and i’m finding some premium hands although getting little action and I manage to chip up to 20k without any major showdowns. Unfortunately, around the start of the 75/150 level, the poker gods decide to flip my doomswitch and i’m card dead for several hours. I manage to stay afloat between 16-18k for several levels by picking up hands, isolating limpers and bluffing in postflop spots but accumulating at a table full of TAGs is next to impossible when i’m card dead. Eventually the table breaks and I take 17k to my new table at 200/400/50. I drop to about 15k then a short stack shoves about 4k into my aces so I find my way back to 19k. I find spots to 3bet twice (once with air, once with jacks) and get 4bet shoved on both times, the second time by a total nit whose range is QQ+ AK so I have to lay it down.

I remain mostly uninvolved until 400/800/100 and i’ve climbed back to around 20k stealing blinds and isolating weak players in hands when eventually I get involved again. I find Qd Jd, a weak player limps, I raise to 5x, he calls and then check-raises all in on an Axx flop and I have to give it up. That one hurts and i’m down to 11k. I pushbot my way back to 15k by the ridiculous 80 minute dinner break and head over to the Augustus Cafe to use part of my stockpile of $10 food vouchers that I have accumulated on a meal. After some delicious chicken, I find my way back to the poker room and prepare for some pushbotting with my 12bb stack.

After a couple of hands, I find myself involved in my first significant pot of the day on the small blind.

Effective stacks ~15k (both villains cover me) at 600/1200/100

Dealt to SwoopAE: Qc Qs

Folds to the button who is a super loose fish who almost minraises to 2500. I think it over for a couple of seconds and decide that 3betting is better than jamming against this guy whose opening range is literally any two, since I do want to get it in here.

Then something weird happens. At the EXACT same moment that I announce raise, the BB throws in three yellow 1k chips to go with his 1200 already out there which is 4200 total. Odd. The dealer says that my raise changes the action so he can take his almost minreraise back. The BB then says he didnt mean to raise to 4200 and was intending to call. I ask for the floor and the floor rules he can take his raise back. Odd. After it’s all sorted, the dealer says that my raise stands and regardless of my raise amount, the BB can take his chips back. I elect to raise to 6600 (lol donkaments, but it’s live poker and they’re both fish so whatever) and the BB now decides to fold instead of min3bet. Okay then. Button decides to call though, despite it being completely obvious that I have a monster.

Flop: As 9s 2c

I check, BB announces the good old ‘i’ll put you all in’ for my remaining 8k and I snapcall with my queens, he tables Jc 9c and i’m way ahead but I have to dodge five outs.

Turn: 8c
River: 4h

I fade the 5-outer and double to around 30k.

A few hands later, a weak player who limpfolds a lot decides to limp UTG, a deepstacked loose-passive guy limps behind him and it folds around to me on the cutoff. I decide that with 5k in the pot and both limpers folding in excess of 90% of the time I can’t do anything other than move in here and fortunately I manage to find Qc Jc which makes my decision a lot easier. I ship my 29.5k in and the button immediately calls all in behind me for 15k. Fuck. Everyone else folds. ‘I hope you have AK’, I tell the button as I table my QcJc. To my surprise and delight, he tables ThTd and we’re off to the races!

Flop: Picture in the window! Excitement! Oh crap, it’s a king

Flop: Kd 8s 4c

No help so far. Queen please?

Turn: 3s

I don’t suppose I could bink the river…?

River: 8h

I guess not. So much for being back to an average stack. I sink back to 14k and open shove territory.

A few hands later, I find Qs 4h and jam over the same weak guy who limped UTG before when he limps again, he quickly folds and i’m back to 17k.

An orbit later, I open shove 15k with Ah Qs and find a caller in a horrible Asian player three to my left, he tables Ks Qc and I need to fade a king.

Flop: 2d 2h 8h

Hold, please.

Turn:9s

River: Ad

Excellent. I climb back to about 31k and life is good again. The average at this point is about 38k.

About ten hands later, it folds around to the weak-fishy button who limps, SB is a new player to the table, a young early 20s Irish guy with an Irish Poker Open card protector who has 3bet once and opened about 2 pots despite only having been here for an orbit. He’s short with about 16.5k. He elects to move all in over the limper and my first thought is ‘he’s an online player his range is any two’. I squeeze out Ah Tc in the BB which sucks because I was thinking ‘the minimum hand I reshove with here is AT’ before I looked at my cards. It’s a tough spot though since it’s live poker. I ask Irish Guy some questions and he seems nervous (i’m completely unconcerned about the button) so I decide to reshove. Button folds, SB shows AQ and I announce to the table that i’m really stupid because everyone in live poker is a nit until proven otherwise. The extremely loud New York Yankees fan at the next table who has been yelling all day looks over, perhaps amused that someone is almost as loud and annoying as he is. Anyway, I don’t suppose I could spike a ten perhaps?

Flop: QQ2

LOL, Donkaments. I guess not.

Turn: 9

River: 4

Well, that was fun. Sigh at being retarded; no one’s range is any two cards in live poker, because they’re all a bunch of nits. I sink back to about 13k with a few minutes left in the level.

I pick up the blinds open shoving Ts9s and then elect to jam 15k over the same weak-tight limper from the earlier hands who now has a similar stack to me. This time he calls and we both table AQ and chop it up. This guy is literally limping in over 50% of pots with a ridiculous range. He’s down to about 9bb and limps again; a couple orbits later after the blinds go up to 800/1600/200. I have ~11bb and I find Qs 9s and figure I fold out over half of his limping range because he’s just that much of a retard and move in again, this time he asks how much more and then elects to call and tables Ad Ah (the first time he’s actually had a big hand all day after limping).

Some spades would be nice. I tell villain that I have a nice hand to crack his aces with and i’m going to win this pot.

Flop: Js 4s 3d

Villain’s face goes all white as I ask for another spade.

Turn: 8h

More outs. Crack aces one time?

River: Kd

I guess not. I wish everyone luck and prepare to head to the rail, then realise i’m left with about 2800, good for a little over 1.5bb. Comeback time!

I fold my next two hands and then find myself in the big blind. Horrible Asian player raises to about 5500 (lol) and gets 4 callers (even more lol since the average stack at the table is about 30k). I throw my last few hundred in without looking at my cards and hope for the best; theres about 13k in the main pot and 15k in the sidepot.

Flop: Ts 7d 2c

This looks promising. Asian guy open shoves about 30k and the other three players fold. Asian guy tables 6d 6h (!?!?!?) and i’m very, very live.

I squeeze my first card and discover 9d. Well, that’s an okay start. I flip my other card and unfortunately, it’s the 3c

Turn: 7s

Well, hello! I now have three nines and three tens left in the deck that can save me.

River: Qh

Or not. I wish everyone luck and head to the rail, busting outside the money but in the top third of the field for what seems like the tenth time in my last twelve tournaments or something ridiculous like that.

I consider heading to the Rio to see how Ozone and doing and catch up with James who is grinding cash there but i’m really tired so instead I wander home, book my flight back to LA on the 15th and fall asleep shortly after.

I’m calling my bank in a few hours when it opens in Australia in a last ditch effort to get the 10k in USD in time to register for Day 1d of the Main Event tomorrow.
I had no idea it would be this difficult to transfer 10k from my Australian bank account to cash here in the US.

Here’s what i’ve tried so far

P2P transfer - fallen through
Western Union - can only transfer $999 in first transfer
Bank Wire to Rio - too late to do via bank, Full Tilt sent me an email saying they couldn’t do it
Gary Benson’s Intercash service - Gary left LV and is currently in the Mediterranean
ATM - My bank won’t let me withdraw more than $1500/day and I only tried for the first time yesterday
FTP$ to Cash - Couldn’t find a buyer.
So now you understand how my past couple of days have been spent.

The last 48 hours has been a little bit difficult. If I don’t get to play the main it’ll be disappointing but i’ll just play some 1k events over the coming week as my ‘take a shot’ attempt which is really probably the smarter option anyway due to bankroll management and the fact that I am a massive life nit. I’m still playing the Main though if my bank will let me withdraw the 10k, I went down to the Rio today and the atmosphere is great.

I watched Negreanu on the feature table for a while, picked up my Full Tilt gear from the FTP Suite, explored the Full Tilt lounge and laughed at the hilarity of about 30 of Dennis Phillips supporters in uniform on the rail next to his table. The atmosphere at the rio is like nothing else.

Yesterday, I played another $330 Megastack at the Rio. A couple levels in, I got involved in a big pot where I bet/3bet all in on the flop with a nut flush draw while deep against an older guy who pretty clearly had top pair or an overpair; he tanked for a while and eventually called off his stack with the overpair and I missed my 12 outs to end my very uneventful tournament. After busting, I headed to the Stratosphere to check out the thrill rides at the top. The rides were surprisingly awesome and the view of the strip from 1100 feet is fantastic. Although the surrounding area is seedy and I wouldn’t recommend staying there, the Stratosphere is definitely worth the visit. I also found a pizza place that actually serves BBQ Chicken Pizza here in America. It’s one of the most popular types of Pizza in Australia and yet you can’t find it anywhere here in America.

After the thrill rides, I lost $50 playing blackjack against a dealer who keps making 6K5 21s against my JT and stuff so i’m back down from being up $51.50 to being up $1.50 in pit games for the trip. Kinda pales in comparison to the 5k or so i’m down from playing poker. LOL, Donkaments, etc.

I’ll upload my photos from the Rio today shortly, check out the SwoopAE’s Photography Thread in the Poker Stories section of the forums.

I have spent the past 48 hours mostly avoiding poker; with the exceptions of a small winning session of 1/2 at the Venetian and a small losing session of 4/8 Mixed at the Hard Rock. Today was Day 1a of the Main Event and assuming i’m able to get the cash together by tomorrow morning (my options are find a Bank of America branch or transfer Mike the money online for cash) I am fully intending to play Day 1b of the Main Event this year. Failing that (Mike isn’t home and I have no idea where the nearest BoA branch is), i’ll be playing Day 1c most likely.

I spent Day 21 hanging out with James, Michelle, Tim and a bunch of other Aussies from Melbourne. We played some cash at the Venetian and then headed out for dinner at one of the restaurants nearby. Have I mentioned how enormous the food portions are in America? An appetizer or salad is a full meal here. Their beer is also huge, I ordered a Stella and they brought me a 20 oz glass (probably about double the size of a normal beer on tap back home). No wonder this country has an obesity problem, I can’t eat three meals a day here if I try.

I spent today hanging out at the condo before wandering down the road to the Hard Rock for the annual 2+2 meetup. We play some 4/8 mixed games and I drop about 25 bets due to a mixture of playing badly and running badly at a table including 2+2ers ‘Dynasty’ ‘Ashixxx’ ‘Count Chocilic’ (names have probably been misspelled) and a bunch of others whose online names I can’t recall. Famous poker players in attendance include Phil Hellmuth, David Sklansky, Isabelle Mercier, Greg Raymer and probably a few others I missed plus notable online players including Bond18, cking and a bunch of other online players who crush stakes where my bankroll would consist of roughly one buy-in. I decide to leave at about 11pm since i’m planning on playing the Main tomorrow, i’m starting to get drunk and i’ve already lost 25 big bets playing 2-7 Triple Draw, Double Flop Omaha, Badugi and a bunch of other random games.

I’ve signed up for coverage during the Main Event at pocketfiveslive.com and hopefully a few of my hands get covered by PokerNews as well, they might since i’ve met Tim Duckworth (one of their main reporters) at Crown a few times and I think he knows who I am.

I’m still waiting to hear from Ozone, he should be arriving in town pretty soon since he’s playing the Main Event (as far as I know anyway). Seb has disappeared to Los Angeles for a few days so my rail will probably be fairly thin and consisting pretty much exclusively of random Aussies I know who happen to be in town.

It’s been a quiet couple of names but tomorrow it begins; the Main Event. If everything goes to plan, i’ll be celebrating my status as one of the November Nine in two weeks time.

Another day, another flip, another river and another $340 gone up in smoke. This trip is nothing short of a financial disaster so far.

I wake up early and after chilling at home for a while, I make my way over to Caesars for my what seems like nine hundredth attempt to run deep in a $340 Megastack.

Like usual, I hit no cards early but chip up to about 22k anyway by the start of 200/400/50 without playing any significant hands. My edge is so huge playing deepstack tournament poker. During the first three hours or so, my table is super nitty and i’m super card dead so I amuse myself by teaching the thtree guys sitting in the seats next to me how to play ‘Lodden Thinks’. For those of you who don’t watch High Stakes Poker, the basic premise is that you come up with a question (for example, how many kangaroos are there in Australia) and choose a subject (let’s assume it’s me). The guys i’m playing the game with are Jeff, Joe and Mike. One of them has to decide on the number of kangaroos that they think that I think are in Australia (lets assume Mike does this). Now Joe and Jeff take turns bidding, starting at 1 and going up in whatever increments they choose until one of them decides that the other’s number is more than Mike’s answer to the question (as the subject, my actual answer here is irrelevant). When one of them chooses the under on the number thrown out by the other (lets say 10 million in this case), that person has 10 million and under and the other person has 10 million and one and over. Mike reveals his answer, whoever has the over/under right wins and then I reveal my answer and much hilarity ensures (questions include how many women Joe thinks Jeff has had sex with to how many hookers Mike thinks I think are in Vegas to how many Zoos I think Jeff thinks there are in the world and many more)

Finally, the blinds hit 300/600/75 and the game winds down when Jeff busts when his nut flush draw goes down to a set. After breaking even for a few orbits, I finally find myself involved. I raise to 1750, random aggro villain shoves ~6.5k, I call with Kh Jh, villain has AJo, I bink a king and move up to about 30k. Cool, but could I please save my running good for when we’re playing for stacks?

The table breaks and then I find myself involved again at 400/800/100. UTG raises to 2000, UTG+1 calls, UTG+2 moves all in for 4400 total, I reshove with QQ to isolate, everyone folds, UTG+2 has AQ and my QQ holds. Suddenly I have about 41k. I lose a few thousand without finding any hands and at 600/1200/100 I find myself involved again with ~35k, villain covers.

Weak-passive player in MP limps for 1200, I raise to 4400 on the button with 8s 7c, The player in SB (station pre, hyper aggro postflop middle aged Euro) decides to call, everyone else folds. With a little under 12k in the pot, we take a flop.

Flop: Jh 5h 2c

SB leads 5500. I evaluate my options; i’m essentially drawing dead but there’s 17.5k in the pot and I have 30k behind and giving up after raising the limper preflop seems very weak since I have a fairly tight image. I figure that he never has better than top pair since he led out and is rarely that strong so I elect to move all in (within about 2-3 seconds of his bet) and villain quickly folds. I find myself back at 50k and life is good.

I still can’t find any hands and by 800/1600/200, i’ve dropped back to 45k (average is about 48k at this point with slightly under a third of the field remaining). I still haven’t put a significant portion of my stack at risk. I know the first of the two big flips that will take me into the money is coming soon though.

Sure enough, it folds to the button who moves all in for about 19k on my BB; I look down at Ah Qh and snapcall, villain unfortunately has sixes (I think his range is almost any two) and we’re racing. I tell him i’m going to hit an ace or queen because i’m feeling it.

Flop: Td 7d 2h

No help. Ace please?

Turn: As

Bink! Wow, it looks like today might actually be a deep run…

River: 6c

I guess not. The river doesn’t surprise me at all; i’m not running below expectation n all in pots this trip but I seem to win every 5k flip and lose every 40k flip.

Sigh.

Well, I still, have 26k, time for a recovery.

I stay alive taking the blinds once per orbit and about 20 hands later on the last hand of the level, I find myself involved again with a ~24k stack. Villain has ~35k and is a young guy wearing a baseball cap who seems competent but not particularly aggressive.

Folded to me on hijack with 9c 9s, I see that there are a bunch of 20-35k stacks behind me and decide i’m strong enough to raise/call instead of open shove, I raise to 5k (standard at this table) and young guy reraises to 15k on the button. I hate this spot, he’s always strong, i’d much rather be facing a shove. I know i’m doomed because his range is probably TT+ AQ+ but folding leaves me with under 10bb since next hand is 1k/2k and raisefolding a 15bb stack with 99 is just retarded. I make a speech about how everyone is a nit until proven otherwise in live poker then announce that i’m all in anyway, villain calls and tables Qd Qh and the doorcard is Qs. I wish villain luck and wander away as the dealer runs out the rest of the board. I figure they’ll call me back if I make running nines. Evidently, I don’t and I fail to cash in yet another Megastack despite chipping up to three times the starting stack without a showdown for a major portion of my stack for what feels like the millionth time. I’m really disillusioned, far more so than normal and although it’s completely standard to lose a few key flips over a sample size of 15 tournaments, it feels like the situation is completely hopeless. When we’re 60+BB deep, I chip up uncontested but as soon as we hit reshove stacks, I lose a flip or two and suddenly i’m open shoving into queens or aces.

I need to stay deep in the Main Event and hopefully I can find a way to get ITM without every needing to win a flip then maybe win some key flips for a deep run. Because my trip has been such a financial disaster so far (down about 5k now) i’m thinking of selling off about 20-30% of myself in the Main Event. Seb’s expressed interest in 10%, Glockers has 2% already and I gave 1% to TWLLM and Kid Hustlr a while back for helping me out at various points in my poker career. Leaves about 16% more I might sell, although I haven’t decided yet for sure.

In any case, I eventually wander home through the excruciating heat (even though it’s 10pm) and figure that tomorrow’s a new day, i’ll be taking it off poker and then i’ll probably be playing either Day 1a or 1b of the Main Event.

Here’s to my redemption and impending deep run in the Main Event. As Skeptix would say, it’s time to do it to it.

After lying in bed unable to sleep, I get up and decide to watch some American TV and stay up at late as I can then try and sleep late in the afternoon so I can wake up early in the morning and reset my sleeping patterns in time for the Main Event.

American TV is weird. One channel is running an informercial, featuring a Pastor with a Southern accent trying to convince viewers to purchase a vial of ‘Blood of Jesus’ (it looks like water with food colouring) for good luck. If you order now, it comes with a multicoloured piece of cloth with some biblical quote about wealth embroidered on it which will bring you money. Listening to the obviously fake ‘real testimonials’ amuses me for about five minutes before I change the channel and end up watching several episodes of ‘Angel’ back to back. The advertisements on this new channel are also hilarious. There is one ad for a headache relief pill which lists the possible side effects as ’stomach ulcers, internal bleeding and muscle loss’ and urgses your the consumer to ‘contact your doctor if you experience any of these symptoms leading to likely side effects including (random symptoms). The ad concludes by stating ‘Product Name isn’t for everyone: Know the risks, know the benefits’. Really? Is anyone going to buy a medical product for something as minor as headache relief with the slogan ‘Our product isn’t for everyone, know the risks, know the benefits’ with side effects including internal bleeding and stomach ulcers?

If I see the ad again i’ll take note of what the product’s name is (I forget) and try and find a link to the ad online.

I also withdraw my 10k in WSOP Main Event funds from Moneybookers to my bank account so that i’m ready to transfer the money to either Mike or Seb or whoever ends up wanting a 10k bank transfer for 10k in cash. I swear everyone i’ve met here is loaded with cash after a great series. It’s going to fell really weird handing over 10k in cash for a tournament buy-in since this will be the first time i’ve bought into a huge tournament without being auto-registered.

By the early afternoon, i’m completely shattered decide to let myself fall asleep. I wake up at 3am, play some poker and decide that Day 20 will be the day I actually final table a Caesars Megastack event and i’m not going to oversleep for a change. Now all I need is to win some flips, flop some sets, find some aces and activate my luckbox. Poker is easy when you flop the nuts. Hopefully it’s my turn today.

Day 17 - Very uneventful so i’m going to skip ahead since this was basically a rest day

Day 18 - I wake up at 11am not feeling so good and decide to skip the WSOP 1500 I was going to play. After getting a bit more sleep, I eventually wander over to the Venetian at around 6:30pm. It’s about 42 degrees (105 fahrenheit) even though it’s late afternoon and the sun is about to go down, probably the hottest day since I got here. I arrive at the Venetian at about 6:50 and decide to play their nightly $120 7pm tournament. Here’s where it gets tricky; their floor staff are hopelessly incompetent and despite being about 30th in line (I was in a similar spot at Caesars and got registered within 5 mins a few days ago) it takes me a full hour to reach the front of the line due to the bumbling incompetence of the ONE person they have registering players even though the tournament is due to start. Random Venetian floorstaff are wandering around doing nothing while the slowest floorperson in history registers players. The line grows over 100 deep and I find my seat at about 7:50pm, well into the THIRD level of this ‘turbo’ tournament. The blinds are already 100/200 and i’m starting with 7500. For some reason they haven’t blinded me off, but because of their incompetent floorstaff, i’m starting with 37.5BB with antes coming into play in 15 minutes and about 60 people in line behind me still to register.

I can sum up the Venetian floorstaff’s performance in two perhaps harsh but certainly true words today.

Fucking disgraceful.

Anyhow, I stay uninvolved early and drop to 6400 or so by 100/200/25 and then at 200/400/50 I start finding spots to squeeze all in over limpers and chip up to about 9k without playing any postflop poker or getting called at all. I find a spot to jam over a raiser with AK and take it down to move to about 10.5k and then the table breaks. I continue open shoving in late position or over limpers with an assortment of hands ranging from JTo to AQs to 55 among other things during 400/800/100 and with about half of the field left, I find myself with 11.5k, down from a high of about 13k, having not played a single pot without being all in preflop and without having been called once when the 600/1200/100 level begins.

During 600/1200/100, I find myself involved for the first time. I find As 8d on the cutoff in an unraised pot and shove about 9.5bb, folded around and super tight woman in the BB who starts tanking. She says she has a really tough decision and I figure it’s something like 77-88 or maybe AT or KQ. After about two minutes, she calls time on herself? WTF? It’s the second or third time i’ve seen someone do that since I got to Las Vegas, why the hell would you call time on yourself? Weird. Anyway, as the clock counts down, she tells me that she thinks I have ace king (lol, since i’ve been open shoving about twice a lap since I got to the table) and I ask what her hand is, she tells me she has a pair so i’m figuring it’s probably 77 or 99. With about ten seconds left on her self-imposed clock, she says ‘ok lets gamble’ and calls showing…. Jc Jd? I say something like nice slowroll and she insists that she thought I had AK so it was a really tough decision for her tournament life (we have almost identical stacks of 9.5bb and I shoved CO)… LOL, Donkaments.

I brick out and start to walk away having counted her stack as 700 more than mine but it turns out I miscounted her yellow 1k chips and I actually cover her by 300. Awesome. It folds around to me on the next hand and I put my remaining 200 in without looking, some guy on the button pops to about 5000 and the blinds fold. He turns over AK and my 64o is in good shape. I somehow bink a six and suddently I have 1600 again, good for slightly over 1bb. On the very next hand, UTG decides to raise to something retarded like 5500 so I throw my 1bb in, everyone folds and i’m getting about 4-1 with my Ah 3h. Unfortunately, villain has Jd Js and I brick out again and wander off to the rail. No comebacks today.

I notice a 6/12 HORSE game on the list and sign up; meanwhile I play a few hands at 1/2NL and end up winning $18 in a 10 hand session when I make a flush on the turn and raise on a paired board after the flop checked around and villain led the turn in a limped pot; villain folds. Whatever.

My 6/12 HORSE seat is ready and I quickly win 10 bets during the first three hands because they seem to be incompetent at L08. I then go card dead and fail to win another hand for 58 hands (it’s 7 full games on rotation plus two hands at 8 hands/game until I win my next hand) and by that time i’ve dropped back to around even without playing particularly tight; i’m just not finding anything. Anyhow, I suddenly find a rush of playable hands and break even for about 50 hands, then go on a bit of a downswing and drop 10 bets or so. The game goes 6-handed as it gets late and I start clawing my way back as the table has weakened significantly. An obnoxious older guy at the table slowrolls a young guy very deliberately and I sarcastically say ‘nice slowroll’ or something to him since the young guy is too nice to say anything. About 10 hands later, i’m even again and the same guy slowrolls me in a pot with the nuts in PLO8, we all show in a 4 way pot, then he takes like 15 secs and shows the nuts in the 4 way hi only pot, I have the second best hand and make some sort of a remark to him (I forget what I said but it wasn’t very nice, he’s slowrolled twice in about 15 mins now), he shoots me a dirty look and I say something to the young guy who is sitting next to me about how much of a douchebag older guy is loud enough so that older guy can hear, older guy seems a bit pissed off and tilts away a few bets then leaves. Good riddance. Slowrollers must die and I don’t care if I make everyone feel slighly uncomfortable in calling them out. At least the woman in the tournament was just a donk and didn’t realise she was slowrolling, this guy was just a douchebag and he was like 50-something too, so much for old people having manners. God help us all if I draw Men ‘The Master’ Nguyen’s table during the Main Event.

Anyway, the table drops to 4 handed then 3 and some of my Aussie friends from Crown have shown up, Michelle, Lee and Tim are all playing various games, Lee decides to sit in 3 handed with me and a fairly tight-fishy guy and we alter the game rotation to LHE/LO8/Razz and we’re 3 handed. I start to dominate LO8 which is my strong game and more than hold my own in Razz, my LHE is fairly weak but nowhere near as weak as the other guys LO8 games so I gradually increase my stack and after about two hours, i’m up about 15 big bets again. Eventually, the tight-fishy guy leaves up slightly after winning some big pots against Lee, i’m up about $200 and Lee is down about $300. Lee and I decide to do a bunch of random $10-20 flips in games varying from O8 to 6 Card Omaha to Chinese Poker (one good thing about Vegas is they’ll deal anything at any table if the entire table agrees and in this case we were left playing HU at about 5am); he wins a little bit back due to ruinning good at flips and I end up booking a $150 win for the session, so i’m up about $30 for the day after the tournament buy-ins and almost exactly even after food expenses are taken into account.

Lee, Tim, Michelle and I head over to a random cafe inside the Venetian casino for breakfast; I order some delicious pancakes and eventually we all part ways, arranging to meet up for dinner (hopefully with the added presence of PTippers) this Thursday night. Message me on the forums for details if you’re interested in coming along to meet me and other random Aussies, eat oversized portions of delicious food and generally engage in other degenerate activities.

I walk home, catch up on some writing and watch some TV; it’s already about 35 degrees at 7am and the sun is burning me. Las Vegas is a strange place.

Stats for Today

Cash: +$150
Tournaments: -$120
Random Aussies from Crown I met up with: 4
Hookers encountered: 0
WSOP Events played: 0
Meals eaten over the past 24 hours: 3 (a record for my trip to Vegas so far; portion sizes here are enormous, I broke my previous record of 2!)
Special Incompetent Floor Staff Award: Venetian
Fastest Mixed Games Dealers Anywhere Award: Venetian

I wake up at about 3pm and head down to the Caesars Forum Shops to do some shopping for presents for people back home. After purchasing a series of excellent gifts for Troy/Cookman/Paul/Brendan/Larissa (don’t worry anyone not mentioned, i’m doing a second round of gift shopping soon), I head over to the Venetian to meet up with Seb and his housemate Steve for dinner. I also run into Skeptix in the poker room who randomly calls out `Swoop` when I walk past (I had no idea what he looked like) and we agree to meet up sometime during the week. We decide to eat at an Italian restaurant at the Venetian; I forget its name but it was upstairs in the shopping area and was actually very good and reasonably priced. Seb, Steve and I elect to partake in a game of credit card roulette for the $130ish bill; I manage to luckbox the first elimination and then Seb eliminates Steve, leaving Seb with the bill. Lifetime record in credit card roulette: 1 win, 0 losses. Off to a good start.

After some deliberation, we head to the Pleasure Pit at Planet Hollywood for some $25/hand blackjack and by that I mean the card counting experts (Seb and Steve, who have been banned from Blackjack at Palms for counting cards over the past few weeks, which I find hilarious) play while I watch. They run really bad as the dealer keeps making 21 with a five showing and stuff and unfortunately drop several hundred dollars. There’s a reason I stay away from pit games. Luckily, our fortunates are revived when we sign up for Planet Hollywood membership and receive $5 each in free slot play; I immediately make a line, a seven and a seven on fire which is apparently good and run it up to $50 on my second spin, promptly withdrawing about free fiddy (i am so clever) and then Steve makes about $20 too. True to his running bad form, Seb loses his free $5. About this time, I realise i`m supposed to be meeting up with Mike and his girlfriend at XS (i`ve been calling it Excess, but I learn this is not the case thanks to a billboard on a taxi). Unfortunately, we`re way too late as it`s after ten and they would already be inside so we decide to get a taxi back to Palms for some Chinese poker. After teaching me the rules (it turns out I knew them already but just didn`t know how to score) we agree to $5 per point. Seb starts off hot and is up a few points on both of us, then gets scooped repeatedly and ends up losing $50; I make $10 and Steve makes $40. Seb runs bad, well, except for the whole two cashes for two wsop events this summer. Seb insists that I should play a $1500 NLHE event at the WSOP and offers to buy half my action for the one remaining donkament this series since he has more money than Jesus (and or worse bankroll management than Jean Robert Bellande); I tank and then call his offer so I now get two chances at a bracelet this summer. Hopefully I win both of us some monies. I feel due-ish and i`m definitely going to final table something over the next two weeks.

After Chinese poker, Steve heads out clubbing and Seb goes to bed so I wander downstairs to the Palms Poker Room for some 1-3NL. Along the way, I encounter many drunk women in lingerie, apparently there is a lingerie party somewhere. One girl is wearing nothing but a bra and gstring, another is wearing a bra, miniskirt and no panties. Why the fuck am I playing Chinese poker with Seb with all of this talent running around! In addition, there is a Pussycat Dolls concert going on at the Palms auditorium so there are many, many drunk hotties wandering around. Unfortunately, it`s too late as the party, whatever it was, seems top be over so I find my way to the 1-3 table and buy-in for $300 (min 100 max 500). I quickly find kings and aces and manage to get it in preflop with kings against AQ which holds, then get two streets of value with aces to run my stack up to $600. Sadly, I lose a major pot where I hold QhTh on a Qd8c3cTd7d board; I raise a limper preflop and get 3 way action, I lead the flop strong with one call, I lead the turn strong with one call, then checkcall a strong bet on the river, sadly villain has Ad8d and I lose a $400 pot. I leak back down to $300 and consider leaving then decide against it and manage to string together a small series of pots to climb back to $500. I find eights on the button, raise to $10 and SB and BB both call. Flop 866. It checks around. 9 on the turn, BB leads, I call, SB folds. 8 on the river. Well, hello there! BB bets, I raise, he tank-folds, I show my eights and learn that I also won a high hand bonus which turns out to be $50 for quads. Another free fiddy! That`s two in one night.

I end up +$327 and cash out just before 5am, it`s light outside. Vegas has a lot of daytime. I get a taxi back home then decide that I want food so I ask him to take me to the nearest place that is open which turns out to be Tuscany`s. I order a delicious $8 chicken burger and the server lady is really nice so I hand her $20 and ask for $5 back on my $8 bill. She seems really shocked as if this is the biggest tip she`s had in days and asks if i`m sure then thanks me like I just cured cancer. I`m glad I could make someone else`s day. I`d have happily paid $15 for the burger anyway. Food is so ridiculously cheap in America, after all, where else in the Western world can you sit down in a restaurant to an $8 meal…

As i`m walking home, I see three police cars pulled over, a guy with no shirt on who is handcuffed and a hot chick (probably an 8.5) in a skimpy outfit also being arrested in some bushes by the side of the road. I walk close by deliberately out of curiosity. The officer is counting money from the girl`s purse and she is loudly protesting that they `didnt even do anything`. Poor girl just trying to make a living and poor guy just wanted a blowjob. LOL, Law Enforcementaments

I walk home, do some writing and crash out at around 6am.

Today`s stats

Tournaments: $0
Cash Games: +$327 (277 from poker, 50 from high hand bonus)
Random Degenerate Gambling: +60 (50 from free slot play at Planet Hollywood, 10 from Chinese Poker with Seb and Steve)

I manage to wake up in time for the $340 Megastack at Caesars today; we get a field of 301 and start with 15k at 25/50 with 50 minute levels. Due to the ridiculous line at the registration window, I find my way to my table about 15 minutes late. A few hand in, I raise for the first time and find myself involved with effective stacks of 15k.

Folded to me on cutoff, I raise to 150 with Ks6s, button (a British guy who I played with at ANZPT but can’t remember much else about) decides to call, the big blind calls and we take a three way flop.

Flop: Qs 8c 3s

BB checks, I bet 300, button raises to 900, BB folds, I call

Turn: Jd

I figure that’s a decent card to represent since villain never has a gutshot and often has a one pair hand; plus I have a chance to hit my flush draw on the river and surprise him. I check with the intention of raising if he bets and jamming if I miss the river or jamming/value betting if I make my flush, depending on which spade it is. Button bets 1400, I raise to 3500 and button thinks for a moment and then calls.

River: 4s <– Bink

Villain looks a little uneasy about the river. I stack up my chips with the intention of moving in, villain seems weak so I decide to value bet instead. I fire 4000, he calls and then mucks in disgust when he sees my hand. Up to 23000 early and off to a good start.

I splash around a bit for the next few levels, flopping two sets and getting no action but otherwise missing flops. I get up to 26k then back down to 21k by the start of 200/400/50 without playing a pot that goes past a postflop cbet. The table breaks and I find myself in Seat 3 at a new table; Seats 1 and 2 (a hot blonde woman in her 20s and a 30something guy who is a local in Vegas) are discussing the shortage of weed in the city, something I find slightly odd but amusing nonetheless in a public setting.

I find KQ and QQ during my first orbit and win the blinds twice, then pick up AdAh in MP and raise to 1125 for the third time in four hands. I have about 23k, button has about 18k. Button calls and everyone else gets out of the way.

Flop: Ac 2c 2d

Cool. That works. I check, villain bets 4000. I guess he must have an ace. I call with the intention to lead the turn and shove the river.

Turn: Td

I bet 4000, villain shoves, I quickly call, villain tables As Ks and is drawing dead. Apparently, AsKs is not a hand worthy of a 3bet on the button in live poker. I really expected to see AT-AQ there. In any case, i’m up to about 42k and in really good shape by the time 300/600/75 starts. There are two stacks that cover me at the table and a lot of people with under 10k. This could get interesting.

A few hands into 300/600/75, a 30-something live player who is cvery chatty and spewy opens UTG+1 to 1800. He covers me. I look down at Ks Kh on the cutoff. Cool. I raise to 5100 and a short stack behind me moves all in for about 3500, less than my raise. Villain makes a speech about how online players play back at him too much, asks me to count out my stack and then elects to call. I figure his range is something like 88-QQ, AQ, AK at this point.

Flop: 5s 3s 2c

Mainpot: 12k
Sidepot: 3200

Villain open shoves, essentially betting 37k since that’s about what I have behind. This makes no sense, he shouldn’t have a set. Is he doing something spewy and panicking with JJ-QQ? It doesn’t add up. I quickly call and table my kings like they’re the nuts (which they obviously are here) and the short stack turns over 5c6c. UTG+1 turns over As Qs. Nice flat call out of position, sir. Now it’s time to race for the chiplead.

Brick it!

Turn: 5h

The short stack does a mini-fistpump as he makes trips, but I still have to dodge a million outs for the 75k sidepot.

Brick!

River: 9s

@#$%^&*#$%^&* roughly describes my feelings right about now. UTG+1 screams out ‘yesssssssssssss!!!!’ and starts celebrating, I shake hands with the short stack who is also eliminated then shake hands with UTG+1 and wish him luck despite his over the top celebration and I head off to the rail. I don’t really feel disappointment or anything until about 10 minutes later, when I realise I would have been chipleader with about 140bb at a table of short stacks and the pot was worth well over 1k in equity.

Massive sigh at busting in the first major pot I play where villain isn’t drawing dead. I’m chipping up nicely in these things but I have nothing to show for it except the receipts for the 4k USD i’m stuck so far.

Getting stuck another $300 or so due to exchange rates from having to cash out my Main Event money into AUD is also somewhat unpleasant. This trip is turning into a financial disaster. Plenty of time to fix that though. I just need to actually win something.