The rest of our journey to Las Vegas continued. The main reason for coming.
Gambling: First off, I don't consider games of skill gambling. Just wish the more conservative political dunder-heads(and a few liberals!) agreed with me. Blackjack and sports wagering should not be considered gambling-at least by those who developed the necessary skills to beat the game. Of course there is some luck involved in these games but in the long run one should prevail by creating an edge in at least one of these games of skill. I will try to break down somewhat the poker terms that I will described in the hopes of all readers getting a grasp of what happen during my poker adventure.
We arrive on Monday afternoon to 109 degree day. And got up to 115 the Saturday we left. We thought it was hot in Texas! Summer is starting early in Vegas. The plan was to play in two warm-up tournaments before the WSOP Seniors event started Friday. I decided to rest up for the remainder of the day and try my first test on Tuesday. I believe in rest when you get into town and let the jet lag sort itself out before risking any money. I have heard that you should rest a day for every time zone you cross for your body to catch up to the current time. I crossed two time zones, so I had plenty of time for the big event Friday.
Tuesday, Jun. 16. I looked on the WSOP website and noticed that they(The Rio) has daily 8:00 a.m. Turbo Satellite events for $75. I get up early, have a snack and drive over to The Rio, go to WSOP area in the convention hall at the back of The Rio. I purchase a seat and join 3 other tables. You get 5K in starting chips with 10 minute blind level increases. So this tourney goes very fast! I always like to get some live poker playing time in to adjust to how other players are playing, and to get the nerves out of my system. Total night and day difference between playing online and in real life. After about an hour in I have about 4.5K in chips when I get KQ suited. From under-the-gun(utg), I make it 800 to go. A player from mid position who had only 3K shoves the rest of chips and is all-in. The player on the big-blind decides to call the all-in bet as well as me. The flop is: J-10-9 rainbow(different suits) to give me the nut straight. The BB(big-blind) checks and I bet 3K to push him out. After a minute he decides to fold his feeble pocket 4's. The all-in player rolls over pocket 8s', which of course gives me a huge lead in the hand. I am feeling really good at this point. The turn cards is an 8! So the board is: J-10-9-8. If the board pairs I lose the hand. Of course the river is the last 8 giving him 4-of-a-kind(40ak) and severely crippling me. Oof! A few rounds later I put my short-stack in on A-2 suited, only to have the player to my left smooth call and the big-blind shoves the rest of his chips with A-7. The flop is: J-7-7. The turn card: 4. The river: 9. So the final board: J-7-7-4-9. Knocking me out but tripling up the all-in bettor. For some reason the player with KK was hoping an Ace wouldn't hit. I told him the other bettor flopped a set and he would need a two-out King to win. Oh well. That's poker!
Wednesday, Jun, 17. I decide to take the day off and take wifey to Primm, a show, dining, etc... Just like to pace things out some. You all can understand that its her vacation too! And I'm glad she was there!
Thursday, Jun 18. Instead of going back to the "Chamber of Horrors" known as The Rio I go to Excalibur to play in their 9:00 a.m. tournament. To me they have the softest games in town. I had won a tournament there about 6 years ago and did a three-way split with two others 3 years ago. But today it was not "the softest game in town" as there were numerous seniors playing to get some practice in as well as me. That was good as I could use a similar type of competition ahead of tomorrow's tourney. There were 2 tables with alternates waiting to get in for this tourney. The starting chips for this tourney were 5K as well, and 15 blind increases. Cost was $40 per person with one rebuy if you so chose. As usual I started with slow. I limped in with pocket 6's in early position. Everyone folded except for an Aussie senior in the big blind. He made a minimum raise from the big blind and I called. The flop: 6-2-3. He makes another minimum bet and I just call, licking my chops and thinking about how I was going to take his stack. The turn: J. Another minimum bet and a smooth call again. The river: K. So the board is: 6-2-3-J-K. Aussie bets half of my stack, which would leave me with only 2K left if I lost. Since it was early in the tournament I didn't yet have a good read on him. I thought about shoving. Did he hit a set of Jacks on the turn, or a set of Kings on the river? There was no flush on the board, only a little straight. I finally just decided to call and he turns over: 5-4 suited, having the straight! lol. In retrospect I really should have shoved my chips in but I didn't and was still alive. Even though I was crippled I vowed to bust him later on if I had the opportunity. And as usual, I was swimming upstream from then until close to the end. A made it to the final table being last in chip count but at least I got some good play in and felt better about things. There is a small bank of nickel slots near the poker room. I told my wife to stay close because it looked like I would be leaving soon. Here we go!
Final Table: the remaining 5 of us went to the final table and we had to draw for seats. I just had the big blind at my original table. So of course it made sense for me to draw Seat 10 and get the big blind again! When it rains it pours. From then on, any two reasonable(I wont bore you with the strategies) cards I would shove, and win. The one lucky break I got was shoving a J-8 suited under the gun and winning when another gentleman playing in the Senior's event tomorrow called me with pocket 8's. The flop was: K-K-4. Oops! I needed help. The turn: J. Yes! The river: 4. The board: K-K-4-J-4. I took the chip lead with 4 players remaining. I finally got revenge on the Aussie. I had big-slick(Ace-King) on the button when I minimum raised him 2K(the blinds were 1K-500 at the time). He calls. The flop is: A-J-6. I had 6K in chips left and bet 3K, he calls. The turn: 5. I bet my remaining 3K in chips. Aussie tells me: "I don't think you have the Ace" and calls me. Aussie shows me: Q-7! lol. Aussie has no draw and is drawing dead as the river is: 5. Making the final board: A-J-6-5-5. Ozzy! Ozzy! Ozzy! I was sure gonna miss him! My goal was not to really win the tourney but get some more time in. But since I was in this position, why not? We were both hungry but if I hung on I could possibly take this thing down. I ultimately knocked out 8 of the 9 remaining players. The same senior that I won the hand from was my final opponent with me holding approx. a 3-1 chip lead. He was a very good disciplined player that would playing in the Seniors event the next day. The heads up match only lasted one hand.
Heads up: the "Gentleman" was I fairly tight, experienced player of about 70 years or so. I am 51 by the way. He saw me raising with big over-cards for a while, and play tightly afterwards. I had to shift gears against him to keep him guessing at what my range of hands actually way. I was in the small blind and was dealt: 10-7 off suit. The blinds were: 8K-4K. I made it 16K to go and he just called. This surprised me as I thought he would fold, or, go back over the top. hmmm... The flop: 10--7-6 rainbow. Since he is first to act he insta-shoves. Watching the "Gent" play earlier he only did this to protect a middle or bottom pair, or if he didn't think you were strong. I had top pair wit a gut shot straight draw so I was going nowhere and called him immediately. The "Gent turns over: 9-7. The board: 10-7-6. Giving me top pair and him second pair. Before he rolled his cards over he said: "So you got me again?" So I had read him right! The only way I could lose would be if he flopped a two-out 9. We would split if an 8 hit. The turn: 3. The river: Ace. The final board: 10-7-6-3-A. My 10s' held and it was over. The "Gent" told me: "I hope I don't see you tomorrow". We laughed and wished each other luck for the next days tourney. I won $448. I left $28 to the staff as tip. I grabbed my starving damsel in distress, rafting back over the moat with her in tow, carefully protecting my newly minted crown, and tightly clutching my scepter and orb. On the other side we grazed the land(parking lot) for food while looking for more adventure(ate at Mirage Buffet then went and took a nap. Sure fun to win one. The math boys are sometimes right!
Friday: Jun 19. Later on Thursday afternoon I went back to the Rio to buy my tournament seat. I only had to pay $695 more for the seat and could lock away the rest as a profit(minus the $75 I lost at the Rio for the Tuesday tourney and minus the $40 entry fee for Excalibur). I wanted to sign up early because it is a huge line of players trying to get in the day of the tournament. Play started at 10:am. Johnny Hale was the guest speaker for this year' Senior WSOP event. Entry fee: $1000. Starting chips 5K with one hour levels.
Today I lost 3 hands on two out draws. Could not get any traction whatsoever. I played with a man named Dave. He didn't give me his last name. But he said he had been to 3 WSOP tournaments. Originally as a dealer and later on as a player. Dave was the only player I respected at the table I was sitting at. I was in the Brasilia Room, Silver Section. I didn't want to buy my pic on the WSOP website. Just don't look good in pics! The irony of playing today was that I had tougher opponents at the Excalibur tourney than I did at my table. So it was frustrating not being able to amount much of anything. There was one terrible player with a Spanish accent. I call him "Mr. Spain". He would constantly get involved with marginal hands and sometimes hitting miracle rivers to bail him out. I had him and another player from Colorado Springs targeted early to try to manipulate. I got down to only 2200 in chips and decided to raise it to 800 from early position with AK suited. Everyone folded except "Mr. Spain" of course. He shoves his chips to put me all in. I have no choice but to call. "Mr. Spain" shows: 10-10. So its basically a coin flip with him having a slight advantage. The flop: A-J-5 rainbow. Wow! I actually might win a race and others at the table started laughing. The turn: 10. The way my day was going it didn't surprise me in the least! The only card that could save me would drawing a 4-out Queen on the river. The river: 5. "Mr. Spain" won and I was doing "the walk of shame" out of the Brasilia Room into the other side of nowhere! And its over just like that!
I once read in a gambling book that: "the most exciting thing to do is to win. The second most exciting thing to do is to lose." I believe that is true as I experienced both sides of that pendulum this trip. I wouldn't trade that excitement for anything. To feel alive with adrenaline coursing through my body. I can't wait to do it again next year!
Things I learned: Never play in a tourney the day before a big tourney. I was coming down from the rush from winning and had a hard time sleeping that night.
2. There are not near enough bathrooms in the WSOP area for people to use, especially early on the tournament. I bet they get this situation rectified before next years events come around. I had to go to the other side of the Rio's small poker room to use the bathroom and didn't get back until 7 minutes into the next section. They give you 20 minutes but it is not enough time. I can only imagine how bad it was for their "Colossus" event that had over twenty thousand players! Brutal.
3. Don't drink Gin & Tonics the night before, to try to go to sleep! Was sluggish throughout the day
4. Stay at a place(like a timeshare rental, without buying the timeshare!) where you can cook your own food or at least control having to go out to eat so much. I put on at least 5 pound during the trip.
5. Don't accept a black rental car. Its hot enough in Vegas during this time of year to have to have a black car with a dark greyish material. The steering wheel was so hot I would grab a towel to cover it until it somewhat cooled.
Thanks for reading the report and let me know where I messed up or if you have any questions concerning this report!
Fred
Gambling: First off, I don't consider games of skill gambling. Just wish the more conservative political dunder-heads(and a few liberals!) agreed with me. Blackjack and sports wagering should not be considered gambling-at least by those who developed the necessary skills to beat the game. Of course there is some luck involved in these games but in the long run one should prevail by creating an edge in at least one of these games of skill. I will try to break down somewhat the poker terms that I will described in the hopes of all readers getting a grasp of what happen during my poker adventure.
We arrive on Monday afternoon to 109 degree day. And got up to 115 the Saturday we left. We thought it was hot in Texas! Summer is starting early in Vegas. The plan was to play in two warm-up tournaments before the WSOP Seniors event started Friday. I decided to rest up for the remainder of the day and try my first test on Tuesday. I believe in rest when you get into town and let the jet lag sort itself out before risking any money. I have heard that you should rest a day for every time zone you cross for your body to catch up to the current time. I crossed two time zones, so I had plenty of time for the big event Friday.
Tuesday, Jun. 16. I looked on the WSOP website and noticed that they(The Rio) has daily 8:00 a.m. Turbo Satellite events for $75. I get up early, have a snack and drive over to The Rio, go to WSOP area in the convention hall at the back of The Rio. I purchase a seat and join 3 other tables. You get 5K in starting chips with 10 minute blind level increases. So this tourney goes very fast! I always like to get some live poker playing time in to adjust to how other players are playing, and to get the nerves out of my system. Total night and day difference between playing online and in real life. After about an hour in I have about 4.5K in chips when I get KQ suited. From under-the-gun(utg), I make it 800 to go. A player from mid position who had only 3K shoves the rest of chips and is all-in. The player on the big-blind decides to call the all-in bet as well as me. The flop is: J-10-9 rainbow(different suits) to give me the nut straight. The BB(big-blind) checks and I bet 3K to push him out. After a minute he decides to fold his feeble pocket 4's. The all-in player rolls over pocket 8s', which of course gives me a huge lead in the hand. I am feeling really good at this point. The turn cards is an 8! So the board is: J-10-9-8. If the board pairs I lose the hand. Of course the river is the last 8 giving him 4-of-a-kind(40ak) and severely crippling me. Oof! A few rounds later I put my short-stack in on A-2 suited, only to have the player to my left smooth call and the big-blind shoves the rest of his chips with A-7. The flop is: J-7-7. The turn card: 4. The river: 9. So the final board: J-7-7-4-9. Knocking me out but tripling up the all-in bettor. For some reason the player with KK was hoping an Ace wouldn't hit. I told him the other bettor flopped a set and he would need a two-out King to win. Oh well. That's poker!
Wednesday, Jun, 17. I decide to take the day off and take wifey to Primm, a show, dining, etc... Just like to pace things out some. You all can understand that its her vacation too! And I'm glad she was there!
Thursday, Jun 18. Instead of going back to the "Chamber of Horrors" known as The Rio I go to Excalibur to play in their 9:00 a.m. tournament. To me they have the softest games in town. I had won a tournament there about 6 years ago and did a three-way split with two others 3 years ago. But today it was not "the softest game in town" as there were numerous seniors playing to get some practice in as well as me. That was good as I could use a similar type of competition ahead of tomorrow's tourney. There were 2 tables with alternates waiting to get in for this tourney. The starting chips for this tourney were 5K as well, and 15 blind increases. Cost was $40 per person with one rebuy if you so chose. As usual I started with slow. I limped in with pocket 6's in early position. Everyone folded except for an Aussie senior in the big blind. He made a minimum raise from the big blind and I called. The flop: 6-2-3. He makes another minimum bet and I just call, licking my chops and thinking about how I was going to take his stack. The turn: J. Another minimum bet and a smooth call again. The river: K. So the board is: 6-2-3-J-K. Aussie bets half of my stack, which would leave me with only 2K left if I lost. Since it was early in the tournament I didn't yet have a good read on him. I thought about shoving. Did he hit a set of Jacks on the turn, or a set of Kings on the river? There was no flush on the board, only a little straight. I finally just decided to call and he turns over: 5-4 suited, having the straight! lol. In retrospect I really should have shoved my chips in but I didn't and was still alive. Even though I was crippled I vowed to bust him later on if I had the opportunity. And as usual, I was swimming upstream from then until close to the end. A made it to the final table being last in chip count but at least I got some good play in and felt better about things. There is a small bank of nickel slots near the poker room. I told my wife to stay close because it looked like I would be leaving soon. Here we go!
Final Table: the remaining 5 of us went to the final table and we had to draw for seats. I just had the big blind at my original table. So of course it made sense for me to draw Seat 10 and get the big blind again! When it rains it pours. From then on, any two reasonable(I wont bore you with the strategies) cards I would shove, and win. The one lucky break I got was shoving a J-8 suited under the gun and winning when another gentleman playing in the Senior's event tomorrow called me with pocket 8's. The flop was: K-K-4. Oops! I needed help. The turn: J. Yes! The river: 4. The board: K-K-4-J-4. I took the chip lead with 4 players remaining. I finally got revenge on the Aussie. I had big-slick(Ace-King) on the button when I minimum raised him 2K(the blinds were 1K-500 at the time). He calls. The flop is: A-J-6. I had 6K in chips left and bet 3K, he calls. The turn: 5. I bet my remaining 3K in chips. Aussie tells me: "I don't think you have the Ace" and calls me. Aussie shows me: Q-7! lol. Aussie has no draw and is drawing dead as the river is: 5. Making the final board: A-J-6-5-5. Ozzy! Ozzy! Ozzy! I was sure gonna miss him! My goal was not to really win the tourney but get some more time in. But since I was in this position, why not? We were both hungry but if I hung on I could possibly take this thing down. I ultimately knocked out 8 of the 9 remaining players. The same senior that I won the hand from was my final opponent with me holding approx. a 3-1 chip lead. He was a very good disciplined player that would playing in the Seniors event the next day. The heads up match only lasted one hand.
Heads up: the "Gentleman" was I fairly tight, experienced player of about 70 years or so. I am 51 by the way. He saw me raising with big over-cards for a while, and play tightly afterwards. I had to shift gears against him to keep him guessing at what my range of hands actually way. I was in the small blind and was dealt: 10-7 off suit. The blinds were: 8K-4K. I made it 16K to go and he just called. This surprised me as I thought he would fold, or, go back over the top. hmmm... The flop: 10--7-6 rainbow. Since he is first to act he insta-shoves. Watching the "Gent" play earlier he only did this to protect a middle or bottom pair, or if he didn't think you were strong. I had top pair wit a gut shot straight draw so I was going nowhere and called him immediately. The "Gent turns over: 9-7. The board: 10-7-6. Giving me top pair and him second pair. Before he rolled his cards over he said: "So you got me again?" So I had read him right! The only way I could lose would be if he flopped a two-out 9. We would split if an 8 hit. The turn: 3. The river: Ace. The final board: 10-7-6-3-A. My 10s' held and it was over. The "Gent" told me: "I hope I don't see you tomorrow". We laughed and wished each other luck for the next days tourney. I won $448. I left $28 to the staff as tip. I grabbed my starving damsel in distress, rafting back over the moat with her in tow, carefully protecting my newly minted crown, and tightly clutching my scepter and orb. On the other side we grazed the land(parking lot) for food while looking for more adventure(ate at Mirage Buffet then went and took a nap. Sure fun to win one. The math boys are sometimes right!
Friday: Jun 19. Later on Thursday afternoon I went back to the Rio to buy my tournament seat. I only had to pay $695 more for the seat and could lock away the rest as a profit(minus the $75 I lost at the Rio for the Tuesday tourney and minus the $40 entry fee for Excalibur). I wanted to sign up early because it is a huge line of players trying to get in the day of the tournament. Play started at 10:am. Johnny Hale was the guest speaker for this year' Senior WSOP event. Entry fee: $1000. Starting chips 5K with one hour levels.
Today I lost 3 hands on two out draws. Could not get any traction whatsoever. I played with a man named Dave. He didn't give me his last name. But he said he had been to 3 WSOP tournaments. Originally as a dealer and later on as a player. Dave was the only player I respected at the table I was sitting at. I was in the Brasilia Room, Silver Section. I didn't want to buy my pic on the WSOP website. Just don't look good in pics! The irony of playing today was that I had tougher opponents at the Excalibur tourney than I did at my table. So it was frustrating not being able to amount much of anything. There was one terrible player with a Spanish accent. I call him "Mr. Spain". He would constantly get involved with marginal hands and sometimes hitting miracle rivers to bail him out. I had him and another player from Colorado Springs targeted early to try to manipulate. I got down to only 2200 in chips and decided to raise it to 800 from early position with AK suited. Everyone folded except "Mr. Spain" of course. He shoves his chips to put me all in. I have no choice but to call. "Mr. Spain" shows: 10-10. So its basically a coin flip with him having a slight advantage. The flop: A-J-5 rainbow. Wow! I actually might win a race and others at the table started laughing. The turn: 10. The way my day was going it didn't surprise me in the least! The only card that could save me would drawing a 4-out Queen on the river. The river: 5. "Mr. Spain" won and I was doing "the walk of shame" out of the Brasilia Room into the other side of nowhere! And its over just like that!
I once read in a gambling book that: "the most exciting thing to do is to win. The second most exciting thing to do is to lose." I believe that is true as I experienced both sides of that pendulum this trip. I wouldn't trade that excitement for anything. To feel alive with adrenaline coursing through my body. I can't wait to do it again next year!
Things I learned: Never play in a tourney the day before a big tourney. I was coming down from the rush from winning and had a hard time sleeping that night.
2. There are not near enough bathrooms in the WSOP area for people to use, especially early on the tournament. I bet they get this situation rectified before next years events come around. I had to go to the other side of the Rio's small poker room to use the bathroom and didn't get back until 7 minutes into the next section. They give you 20 minutes but it is not enough time. I can only imagine how bad it was for their "Colossus" event that had over twenty thousand players! Brutal.
3. Don't drink Gin & Tonics the night before, to try to go to sleep! Was sluggish throughout the day
4. Stay at a place(like a timeshare rental, without buying the timeshare!) where you can cook your own food or at least control having to go out to eat so much. I put on at least 5 pound during the trip.
5. Don't accept a black rental car. Its hot enough in Vegas during this time of year to have to have a black car with a dark greyish material. The steering wheel was so hot I would grab a towel to cover it until it somewhat cooled.
Thanks for reading the report and let me know where I messed up or if you have any questions concerning this report!
Fred
