Friday Night at the Old Room

Played $10/20 at the Hideaway on Friday night the 26th. Went for a short jaunt to see how the old room was doing. Not doing great, but at least not dead yet. We got a short handed game going. I did not play that well, but did not suck either. I have not been playing that much lately and there is a little rust in the game. I was paying off a little too much for my taste. That means I am not reading perfect right now, and also I am a little too impatient to win. That put me under at the beginning. Then the game got three handed, yum, and I started to play a bit better. I got back to even and booked a small profit. I hope the place makes it as I love to play there. I will go back on Tuesday night to check it out again and hope to crank up another 10/20 game. Small profit of +$25, not a great hourly win, but a win nonetheless. SJ

Vegas Trip

Well, I went to Vegas over the weekend with friends and unfortunately did just about everything except play much cards. I had a great dinner at Jasmine in the Bellagio on Friday, and went to the Scorpions show at the Aladdin on Saturday night. I also did a lot of eating and shopping around town, but alas not much poker.

I played a total of 5 1/2 hours over two days. Two brief session. I played $30/$60 on Friday night from about 11:00pm to 1:00am. I would have played longer but I had to get up and go out to breakfast with everyone and did not want to be a zombie the next day. The session was great, game was pretty good. Bellagio was absolutely packed, every table in use, and some big games going on. Not the really big games, but they did have a $300/$600 mixed game with a lot of names in it. I saw Paul Phillips, Carlos Mortensen, Freddy Deeb, and Mel Juddah in the game. I hit pretty well and played average. I ended up the quick session winning +$1,342.

I then got to play for about 3 hours on Saturday in the afternoon. I sat right down into the must move $80/$160 game. This game was so good I could hardly believe myself. There were two people in the game who truly had no clue how to play real poker. They would just put there money in and see if they won. Unfortunately, that can go both ways on you as you have no idea where to put someone because they can have anything. I watched this one guy turn over a J high in a three way pot on the river. He was so clueless that he did not even know that he did not have to show his hand. The other players turned over full houses and he just flipped up his J high. This is great. Because I could only play a short time I was going to be subject to the whim of luck to get good hands to play. Alas I did not get many. The only big had I received pocket AA's went down in flames to a 5,8 suited which made a straight on the turn. Big pot gone. I then got involved in a small blind with 9,5 suited only to run into a K,5 hand when the old K,9,5 flops. I ram it with the big blind only to lose to a bigger shitty two pair. Those two pots cost me any chance I had a profit in a short session. I ended up losing -$1,150. The total for the trip a whopping profit of $192. Did not even pay for one night hotel. O well I am going back on the 10th for a weekend of pure poker. Get lots of play in that weekend. Talk to ya later SJ

Daniel Negreanu Site

Daniel finally has a real site with a good blog on it. I like Daniel, he is an action player and always fun to play with. There are a couple of good poker stories in there of the big game at the Bellagio, in which he dumps a decent amount of money. He actually did not lose much for that game, but in nominal amounts it was a good sum. I have sat and sweated Aaron in that game a number of times. Always fun to watch. Fun to see who gambles even at that level. He mentions a couple of names that many would not know. Lee Salem, good guy, pretty good player, when not drunk. That man likes to drink, and then he starts to play really loose and aggressive. When he hits, he can put you on tilt, he calls like a 4-8 game with runner runner draws and then hits. "Tight" Jim, Jimmy Warren, is a good player that I have never seen in a tournament. I watched him go on a $500,000 rush over a three day period this year in that game. I do not know where his money came from, but he is always in that game, so he must be pretty deep. He did not mention Phil Ivey, Phil was in the game a few times this year when I was there, he gambles like crazy in that game, at least while I was watching. Making prop bets for large amounts, and playing just stupid hands. I will not be surprised to see that guy go broke when his luck runs out. Maybe it never will, but I could not play like that. There is a pretty good article on Phil in this weeks Card Player.

I thought I would mention these as I am still not playing because of work. I am going to Vegas next weekend, so I am super excited to just play a little right now. Talk to you next week. SJ

A Win

I do not have a set place to go right now as the Hideaway $10/20 game does not go anymore and I do not like to play at Parkers in the $8/16 game or the $12/24 game because it takes to long to get into on a weekend. I decided to go to the Muckelshoot Indian Casino in Auburn, which is not that close but they offer bigger games. I do not like to give my money to a place that does not pay taxes to the state on their gaming income, but I do not have much of a choice right now. The place was packed. All those suckers that dump at the blackjack, craps, and other Vegas games were in full force. You don't even get comped if you lose big. Gotta love the casino business.

The poker room was full too. They had everything from $2/4 stakes up to $20/40 going. I got up for the $10/20 and $20/40 games. I also put up for a new $30/60 and $50/100 game. I got a seat in the $10/20 game after about 15 minutes, and proceeded to play my game. I won a few pots, and then after about 45 minutes they started a must move $20/40 game that I went to. They could have started the $30/60 game but chose the must move game, what great customer service. I started off in the $20/40 game just like my last two months. No cards, ton of crap. I blinded off for about an hour, which at $30 a round adds up quick. I had given my small profit of $150 from the $10/20 game back in blinds,and then picked up pocket QQ's UTG and raised. I got 4 callers. Wow, I had not played a hand for an hour and then raise UTG and get 4 callers, Nice. Flop comes A high. I bet right out to find out where I am, and get raised and then two more guys cold call. I take off the turn for the extra bet and get no help and dump the hand. Looks like the same shit different day. I get called for the must move game, and even though I do not really want to go because the game is good action and there are a few gamblers at the table, I must move so I do.

This turns out to be a good move. I get a new table, fresh start, and a few of the guys from the other table get moved in as well. All is good. I have not played down there in over a year, so I did not recognize anyone at the table and I would assume that no one knew me as well. It took me about 1/2 to get the table dynamics down, and then I put a game plan into action. It was a really passive table, lots of cheap flops and not much post flop raising. I decided to play an aggressive game and bluff to see if I could pick up some pots. It worked to perfection. I still did not get manage to great cards, but I stole a lot of pots, and even made a hand or two when I was behind. It felt like normal again. I sill had a few runner runner beats, but not all my hands lost like the last two months. I booked a small win for that game of $685, but hey it a win. Cool.

I will not get to play much over the next week as work is still killing my card playing. I will probably not play until Vegas on the 19th for a few days. I might get one random day in here somewhere. Talk to you soon. SJ