Summer of Tournaments – Day 30
I didn’t sleep particularly well last night—no specific reason, just one of those nights. After a small breakfast I headed over to the tournament area where my session was to begin at 10 AM. I reminded myself to be patient, yet aggressive when the time was right. The top two players left at each table will advance to the next round tomorrow. This turned out to be, by far, the shortest tournament of my summer. On the second hand, I was dealt pocket queens. I raised three times the big blind. Two players called me. The flop was 2-7-8 rainbow. Both players checked; I knew that it was very unlikely these two had called a raise with any of these cards on the flop, and confirmed it with the checks. I bet 600. To my surprise, the player before me goes all in, I call all in, and shockingly, the guy after me goes all in. Now I know I’m in trouble. We all turn over the cards. The guy on my right has pocket kings, the guy on my left has pocket Aces. The turn is a blank and the river is another Ace. Just like that, I’m out after the second hand—not angry—just outplayed. And I left Caesars Palace early for this? I can only laugh, take a deep breath, and walk away.
I went back to the room, picked-up an $80 mail-in voucher and headed down to the casino to do my play for this trip. Though there were no royals, some occasional quads kept me playing. I finally quit playing after running 10K through the machines. Martin, who is in Laughlin for his final day, joined me and we enjoyed a lunch in the café. I picked up some comped water taxi tickets and we took it down to the Colorado Belle. The Belle and the Edgewater are having a swipe promotion. At the Belle I won a $10 free play and at the Edgewater got a “lose your turn.”
The Edgewater continues to remodel and making changes, first it was the food court, then the sportsbook, and now the McDonald’s has been shut down and in its place is a joint called The Wild Side Burgers and Pizza. Evidently, they needed some extra cash for all these new places, so they took ALL of their 8/5 Bonus poker schedules and lowered them to 6/5: you know, screw the video poker player. This is at both the Colorado Belle and Edgewater, so it seems aside from any freeplay, machine playing from me at these places has come to an end.
The Edgewater McDonald’s has closed and was replaced with this, The Wild Side burgers and pizza.
The construction between the two hotels has finished and the Loading Dock buffet/restaurant has opened. Martin tells me that they went through some growing pains figuring out how to run both a buffet and a restaurant in the same place. It was lunch time when we visited and there were only about five or six people in the place—not a good sign.
The Loading Dock between the Colorado Belle and Edgewater hotels
We decided to play some live 2/4 poker at the Belle. I bought in for $60 and really should have just gone back to Harrahs because I went through a terrible streak of bad cards, at one point being dealt a deuce eleven straight times in a row. I won only one pot with 9/9 and after an hour or so, was wiped out. I headed back to Harrahs via the water taxi. Though it’s 110 degrees, traveling on the river under a canopy was pretty nice. I still am amazed at how many people play in this weather. But all the small beaches along the route were packed with water coolers, jet skis, and children.
Part of Harrah's beach. The scorching hot weather doesn’t deter many from enjoying the river
Later I met up with Martin, who took a small loss at the poker tables, and we hung out in the Diamond Lounge until 7 PM, so it would cool down for his drive back to San Diego. The food was okay but they did add a bread case, so when you made your own sandwiches, you could pick any type of bread you like versus just having rolls.
I headed back up the room to watch “So You Think You Can Dance.” This year’s crop of kids are ALL excellent—tough to pick winners and losers.
More tomorrow
Totals:
Tournaments: 21 Cost: $290 Won: $2150 Balance: $1860
I didn’t sleep particularly well last night—no specific reason, just one of those nights. After a small breakfast I headed over to the tournament area where my session was to begin at 10 AM. I reminded myself to be patient, yet aggressive when the time was right. The top two players left at each table will advance to the next round tomorrow. This turned out to be, by far, the shortest tournament of my summer. On the second hand, I was dealt pocket queens. I raised three times the big blind. Two players called me. The flop was 2-7-8 rainbow. Both players checked; I knew that it was very unlikely these two had called a raise with any of these cards on the flop, and confirmed it with the checks. I bet 600. To my surprise, the player before me goes all in, I call all in, and shockingly, the guy after me goes all in. Now I know I’m in trouble. We all turn over the cards. The guy on my right has pocket kings, the guy on my left has pocket Aces. The turn is a blank and the river is another Ace. Just like that, I’m out after the second hand—not angry—just outplayed. And I left Caesars Palace early for this? I can only laugh, take a deep breath, and walk away.
I went back to the room, picked-up an $80 mail-in voucher and headed down to the casino to do my play for this trip. Though there were no royals, some occasional quads kept me playing. I finally quit playing after running 10K through the machines. Martin, who is in Laughlin for his final day, joined me and we enjoyed a lunch in the café. I picked up some comped water taxi tickets and we took it down to the Colorado Belle. The Belle and the Edgewater are having a swipe promotion. At the Belle I won a $10 free play and at the Edgewater got a “lose your turn.”
The Edgewater continues to remodel and making changes, first it was the food court, then the sportsbook, and now the McDonald’s has been shut down and in its place is a joint called The Wild Side Burgers and Pizza. Evidently, they needed some extra cash for all these new places, so they took ALL of their 8/5 Bonus poker schedules and lowered them to 6/5: you know, screw the video poker player. This is at both the Colorado Belle and Edgewater, so it seems aside from any freeplay, machine playing from me at these places has come to an end.
The Edgewater McDonald’s has closed and was replaced with this, The Wild Side burgers and pizza.
The construction between the two hotels has finished and the Loading Dock buffet/restaurant has opened. Martin tells me that they went through some growing pains figuring out how to run both a buffet and a restaurant in the same place. It was lunch time when we visited and there were only about five or six people in the place—not a good sign.
The Loading Dock between the Colorado Belle and Edgewater hotels
We decided to play some live 2/4 poker at the Belle. I bought in for $60 and really should have just gone back to Harrahs because I went through a terrible streak of bad cards, at one point being dealt a deuce eleven straight times in a row. I won only one pot with 9/9 and after an hour or so, was wiped out. I headed back to Harrahs via the water taxi. Though it’s 110 degrees, traveling on the river under a canopy was pretty nice. I still am amazed at how many people play in this weather. But all the small beaches along the route were packed with water coolers, jet skis, and children.
Part of Harrah's beach. The scorching hot weather doesn’t deter many from enjoying the river
Later I met up with Martin, who took a small loss at the poker tables, and we hung out in the Diamond Lounge until 7 PM, so it would cool down for his drive back to San Diego. The food was okay but they did add a bread case, so when you made your own sandwiches, you could pick any type of bread you like versus just having rolls.
I headed back up the room to watch “So You Think You Can Dance.” This year’s crop of kids are ALL excellent—tough to pick winners and losers.
More tomorrow
Totals:
Tournaments: 21 Cost: $290 Won: $2150 Balance: $1860
