Las Vegas Poker Edition

Several days have passed since I returned from Vegas.  Many details are now lost to time, but such trips also throw up moments which stay with you forever.  Here are some of my favourites:

1. McCarran International Airport 

I have travelled to the USA dozens of times, and the airport arrival is usually a pretty low point.  But McCarran, despite being a long way from home, is a great place to arrive at.  It’s a small airport, and very low key and friendly in my experience.  And of course it is so wonderfully close to the strip.  As soon as the wheels touch tarmac, you know you’re just minutes from the tables!

2. Aces

I love that whole “my favourite hand is 5-7 offsuit” thing.  Spending hours at the
table, you get to hear it all. 

I do have a slight affection for  

I must have won a big pot with it, the details of which have been lost.  I also confess that I look sympathetically on a suited King – when the Ace of the suit flops it can get interesting. 

But, basically, I like pocket Aces.

On this trip, I had mixed overall success with them.  In cash games, I was on the wrong side of the law of averages.   Three times I had all the money in pre-flop against a single opponent with KK, and lost.

In tournaments I fared much better, including what will now count as one of my all-time favourite hands.  It’s about 50 minutes into the $2,000 NLH event at the WSOP, with the blinds still 25/50. 

In the UTG+1 position, I am dealt 

I make the standard raise to 150.  There’s one caller in mid-position, then the button wakes up and makes it 800 to go.  The blinds fold back round to me.  Inside I am thinking “Yippee-Ki-Yay!!”, but outside I am trying to be calm, and I hopefully look like someone overplaying AK.

After a dwell up and some obligatory table chat, I decide on a re-raise to 2,200.  As soon as I push in the chips, I’m worried that it’s too much, but the button moves in.  I call as quickly as I dare without risking my “call” sounding like “fold” in my unfamiliar accent (it has happened before!).  The button shows QQ.

The board is all low and the double-up sets me on the way to a 10-hour stint in that event.  It’s not a hand I will forget in a hurry.

3. The Cardroom at The Venetian

I had more time in Vegas this trip, so I had plans to visit lots of different cardrooms – there are so many I have yet to see (including some biggies – like Binion’s).  In the event, I stopped by the Venetian early on (recalling good memories from a previous trip) and found it nearly impossible to leave!  So many good things to say about that place.

4. Powerhouse Glories

Every time I am dealt the Gutshot signature hand, I like to imagine the havoc I might be about to inflict on the unsuspecting table.  Naturally it is hard to throw away, especially at a $2/5 table where numerologically it seems right to play it.  Don’t try to tell me you don’t think the same.

Nevertheless, most of the time I do the decent thing and muck it.  Not every time, though.  I

fondly recall one hand in a $2/5 game at The Venetian where I’m dealt 

...on the button and make it $25 (what else?) to go.  Two earlier limpers make the call, including one guy at the table who’d been pushing me around all night.

The flop:

looks promising.

My nemesis bets $50, folded to me.  I min-raise to $100, which is called.

Turn:

He bets $100, I raise to $400.  Called.

The river is a (presumably) meaningless:



Check/Check (I decided there probably isn’t value in betting the river). 

His hand? 

$1,000+ in the pot.  Ship it. 

The table was treated to a short recap on the provenance of the mighty 5-2 offsuit, and they were suitably deferential.

5. Playing With The Best

After playing in two of the WSOP NLH events, I tried my hand at a $1,000 “Deep Stack Extravaganza” event at The Venetian.  Kind of a WSOP-lite – lots of chips, long levels, big fields.

In that event, I had the privilege to sit next to a world champion all day long.  Vince Burgio – bracelet-winner, Main Event final-tablist, $2mm+ in tournament winnings.  It was an education to watch him play.

Since he was always the big blind to my small blind, and small blind when I had the button, I was in a lot of hands with him.  Naturally he tended to outplay me post-flop.

There were a couple of memorable hands where somehow I came out on top.  In the one I remember most, I held... 

 

UTG (200/400, 50ante) and made it 1,500 to play. 

Only Burgio called.  The flop came out all low:



No imminent danger, but I decided not to allow any chances to be outplayed and announced “All-In” for 11,500 more.

After about 30 seconds, Vince Burgio decided “call”.  Hmmm.  He turned up:



So, am I ahead or behind?  I’m ahead now, but two overcards and the flush draw are 55% to overtake me, so I’m behind.  Ahead?  Behind? In any case, the Poker Gods decreed no Ace, King or heart and I doubled up plus the blinds and antes. 

Not the most elegant play perhaps, but it lives long in my memory and set me up for a long run in that event.

6. Las Vegas Buffets

Vegas veterans assure me that by your umpteenth trip, you tire of them.  I’m not so sure.  I love’em.  Roast beef and ice cream for breakfast – no problem.  Ten kinds of eggs, twenty kinds of cookies, Chinese, Indian, Mexican side-by-side and served up in unlimited quantities.  Fantastic!

7. Can’t See Straight

You see all sorts of play if you put in enough hours.  Some of it is very impressive, some otherwise.  The most bizarre things do happen.  I recall one hand at the Rio in a $2/5 NLH game that went like this:

It was a pretty lively table to be fair, and the actors in this particular hand were directly on either side of me.  The left-hand fella (LHF) had come off a massive losing streak where he’d lost $2,500, but was now hitting every card in the deck and sitting with $2,000.  The other fella (RHF) had improved his $500 buy-in to around $900.

RHF had open-raised in the hijack, and LHF on the button had called. Quite a bit of money was wagered on the 2-6-7 flop.  When the turn came a Jack, RHF moved in for about $600 and LHF called.

The river was a King.

“Straight” announced RHF and tabled

Slightly confused, LHF turned up his

...for a winning 9-high.  $1,800 pot.  Interesting.

8. Playing With The Best, part II

Playing in Vegas during the WSOP means there’s a good chance of bumping into fellow Gutshotters at every turn.  I’d be happy to go to Vegas on my own, just for the poker, but a bunch of friendly faces around town means it’s even more of a home from home.

In my case, pretty much all of them are much better players than me and I learnt a lot from them.  It’s one of the reasons why Vegas remains one of my favourite places.