Vegas 2011 - Dec 14th - Day 7

Sessions: 2
Net Result: -$603

Far and away, the worst day.

Also, if you've been reading these, you've probably figured out that I write in a very stream of consciousness manner. And I do minimal editing, So expect to see grammatical and typographical errors in most of these posts. They take a long time to write, and frankly, I just want to go play poker right now.

I just don't want some of you to read these things and think I'm a sloppy writer. I'm not. I'm just a lazy/rushed one.

Someone should contract me to write a book...

Session 12: MGM $1/$2 NL HE (4h 15m)
Buyin: $600
Cashout: $0
Result: -$600

I cut and paste these blog posts. And I'm telling you, there's nothing I hate more than having to backspace over the "+" symbol in my "Result:" Putting that "-" there… just… ugh.

Anyway, two more friends from Austin showed up today: Brian and Leigh. I spent most of the day with them just walking around. They're staying at MGM. Duy and James had mentioned that they moved the MGM poker room and put it in a temporary spot near the Lion Habitat. They also mentioned that they had found a super juicy game there, and that they made tons. So, I figured I'd go check it out.

The room is shitty. The dealers hated it. I hated it. It was pretty ghetto. Apparently they're renovating the original poker room, and they're saying it'll return to it's normal place on January 9th. That does me no good since I'll be gone by then, but I played anyway.

I sat down with $200 and was never up. I plugged away at the table, but it was pretty tight and passive. I couldn't make any ground. I was down $20 pretty quick. Then down $75. Then I was under $100. I almost re-loaded, but I won a few hands and got within $3 of being even. If I'd have gotten there, I had planned to leave, but I didn't.

I busted with AK vs Aces. I wasn't happy, but I didn't feel like I was playing poorly, so I re-bought for $200.

There was this one Israeli guy to my right that was sorta big stacked and aggressive. He also laid out the worst smelling farts in the history of man. Seriously. He first tried to pass it off as his Canadian neighbor's doing, but after the Canadian left, the farts remained. They were literally tear inducing. They were really, really bad. And since I just kept spinning my wheels at that table, I took that as just another reason to leave.

But instead of leaving the room, I decided to request a table change, and I got one.

I moved to my new table with about $125 left from my 2nd buyin. I figured, new scene, new table, new start. I reloaded for $200 more.

My first hand, I look down and see Kd Qd. I call $2.

This beatnik looking type dude raises to $12 from the small blind. He's really short stacked. He's got like $60 or so.

He's got this bushy tuft of hair growing from underneath his lower lip. You know what I'm talking about? It's not a goatee. It's not a beard. It's that thing right in the middle and right below a guy's lower lip. If you picture a 50's/60's beatnik artist with sunglasses and a beret and that little tuft of hair growing out long and bushy, you'll visualize this guy. Oh, and yeah, he was wearing a beret. I shit you not. It was a leather beret, and it was being worn backwards, but he wore one nonetheless. Also, he was French-Canadian.

Anyway, I call $12.

The flop is Ad Qh 9h. Not super great, but it's OK for me. The French-Canadian beatnik makes it $15. Now, I can't call. Either I fold here, or I put him in for the rest of his chips.

I raise to $75. I know he doesn't even have $50 total, but I didn't want to risk an all-in in case some other dude flopped a set or something on me.

They all fold except the beatnik. He calls. Someone did flop a set. Him. A set of Aces.

God! C'mon! First hand, and I run into Aces with a short stack? Ugh.

After some grinding, I build it back up to about $325. I'm in for $600, so I'm still not feeling that great.

I pick up QTo and limp in.

The flop comes AKT rainbow. It's checked to me. I bet $20 which is slightly more than a pot-sized bet. It gets folded around to this middle aged, bald fat guy to my right… who just sat down 2 hands ago and won his first hand.

I've learned from experience that people that just sit down at a table are more apt to fold when bet into because they don't know the table, they're not frustrated, and they're still optimistic about the session. It's easier to bluff a guy when he just sat down than that same guy after he's been playing with you for an hour.

But not this guy. He didn't come to Vegas to fold hands. He calls.

Not that big a deal. I still have a nut draw.

Turn is a rainbow 9. Damn. I really needed that Jack.

The guy checks weakly, so I bet again. This time I bet $40. The guy thinks for a while, but still calls. Again, he's meek and not very confident. He could be on the same draw that I'm on, and I have a pair at least.

I decide I'm betting this river no matter what.

The river is a 6. Not really a game changing card.

He checks again. I bet $75. He thinks for a bit, and calls. Fuck. What does this guy have? Two Pair?

A6o. Let me state that more clearly: Ace Six Offsuit. He called me down with a fucking weak-as-shit Ace. Maybe he had a good read, right? Wrong.

He turns to me and says, "I thought you had two pair."

Huh?

So I say, "You thought I had two pair, but you called me anyway with an Ace with a weak kicker on every single street? Really?"

Realizing how stupid that sounded, he said, "Yeah, well, I figured you might have missed your draw."

Which is more retarded.

"So, wait a minute. You said you thought I had two pair. AND. You also thought I had nothing? Well, which is it? Those are about the two most opposite reads possible… So what you really mean to say is that you had no clue where you were and just called because you could."

After that he clammed up, which was about the smartest thing I'd seen him do in the 15 minutes he'd been there.

The next hand I pick up AKo.

The same guy raises to $5. $5. That's a fucking stupid raise.

I raise to $20. I get one caller, and it's back to him. He reaches for chips and I say, "Dude, you just took down a bunch of chips with A6. You can't lay one down? You've been here for 4 hands and played them all."

He calls anyway.

The flop is beautiful. K 5 7 rainbow.

He leads out for $30. $30? Really? Why would he lead out? It was sort of suspicious. I'd seen his hands. He'd literally played all 4 hands since he sat down. His hands were shit. I thought there was a chance he had two pair even, given how loose his play was.

I raise to $60 to see what he does. The other guy got out of the way, and old fat bald guy raises to $90.

What the fuck? A set? I have to make a decision here. I have $80 in this pot and about $110 behind. This guy could be doing this shit with anything from a set to King-Jack.

I just couldn't bear to fold. I should have. The signs all pointed to AK being beat, but it was just so unlikely. The rainbow K57 flop for my AK was just too hard to fold.

I went all-in. He calls.

A set? Yep. He flips over 55.

Jesus Christ.

I'm furious. I storm out of there to the sound of his annoying voice saying "Sorryyyyy…" Normally I stop and lecture people about saying "Sorry" after winning a pot, but I just couldn't stand the sight of that guy for another second. Plus, the rest of my cash was in my room. And I needed to cool off.

I knew that guy wasn't going to keep those chips. And as angry as I was, I was more sad that I wouldn't be there to take them.

Session 13: Planet Hollywood $1/$2 NL HE (1h 0m)
Buyin: $200
Cashout: $197
Result: -$3

I learned an expensive lesson at MGM. A lesson that every good poker player knows, but few can execute. Do not chase losses.

If something doesn't feel right, leave. It doesn't matter if you're down a little or a lot. The only reason NOT to leave is if you feel you're still playing well, and are confident that you can win. If you're mad and playing like shit or feel like you'll play like shit if you continue, leave. Fuck the daily stats. The only stat that matters is the one that shows you as a winning player over the long haul. How many BBs do you win per hour?

It's very, very, very hard to leave money on the table. Even a few dollars. But sometimes you have to.

I put this into practice on this session. I was down quickly at this game, but felt I was playing fine. I got to within $3 of my initial buyin, and of course, I just felt like just getting my $3 back and leaving. But I fought off the urge to play to get even... to get back those last few dollars, and I just called it a day. I left. I was done.

Tomorrow's a new day, and my long haul stats say that there are more BBs to win.