Another Snuffy Vegas Trip Report

Saturday (6/30)

So I am sitting around reading the blog for updates on how Chris is doing. Hey he is up to 11,000. I tell my wife someone I know is doing well in an event. Her quote is “I don’t care. Why don’t you just go out there and watch.” I told her that she had 2 minutes to take those words back or I am booking the flight. She said go ahead so I booked my flight for Sunday afternoon.

Sunday

All of this planning doesn’t mean shit since Chris doubled-up everyone through his stack and was out Saturday night. I got into town around 2:30pm or so and headed over to the Rio. I jumped in the satellite line and was seated in a $125 in quick order. After I pay I head for the bathroom before it starts and saw Scott and Chris heading for the media room. I stop by before the table starts and say hello.

In the satellite I got absolutely no cards and busted out fairly early. It was almost time for Scott’s SHOE event to start and I was going to play another satellite. Chris says “put me in too and you can have whatever I win. Fine. We played a $175 satellite and we both had a good stack with 4 people left. For sure one if not both of us will get a chop right? Wrong. I went out 4th and Chris busted shortly after.

After dinner we watched Scott win absolutely zero pots. I jumped into a 2/5 NL game which right now I can’t remember how it did. Wait, now I do. I flopped top 2 and lost to bottom set and flopped top and bottom and lost to middle set. I cashed out down around $300 or so. I’m dead tired and call it a night at 10pm.


Monday

I get up bright and early hand head over to the Bellagio to play a satellite to get into the $1500 Bellagio Cup III event. It was a $350 two winner satellite. I think I was the second one out. I lost most of my chips check-raising into the chip leader on a scary looking board with air. Well he must have had it as he pushed and I folded half of my chips away.

I walk over to Planet Ho and was seated into the $60 tourney 1 minute before the first break. Coming back from break I have $4000 and the blinds are at 200/400. Well I didn’t last long in that one. I then sat in a 1 / 2 NL game and dropped another $100. WTF!!! This trip is really starting to be a bad idea.

I give a call to Chris and they are heading over to Monte Carlo to find a game. I walk down and they are already seated in the 1 / 2 NL game. There is an open seat and I sit in to the right of the both of them. I gave them position on me so they can’t have any complaints, lol!

It didn’t take long to find the fish at the table. There was an older guy from Mexico who called almost every single flop and called all bets to the river sometimes showing no pair. I bought in for the table max of $200. I twice dropped to $100 and bought in for another $100 so I am now in the game for $400. I won my first pot 1 ½ hours into the game and won a total of 2 pots in the first 2 hours. I was able to get my stack up to around $350 or so when the hand of the night happens.

Chris and Scott left from the game. One of the people entering the game to replace them was a middle-aged guy who thought he was playing on the WPT. The very first hand I was out of the pot and he was holding his cards for me and the guy on the other side of him to see. He had complete air on the first flop and raises. He bets the turn and river hard and gets the other in the pot to fold. Alright this is the guy I want to target. I told him and so did the dealer to protect his hand from anyone else seeing the cards. I only give a person one warning. IF they do it any more than that I am going to use the information as I see fit.

About ½ hour later I get QcJs and limp including the guy to my right. There is a raise to $10 and I think we take the flop 5-6 handed. The flop comes down 10c9c8c. I bet out $30 to see if there are any flushes out. When I do this the guy to my right is holing his cards up and I see a face card that is a spade. OK I know I have him beat. Its folded to him and he calls. The turn is an off-suit baby and he bets out $75. I raise to $250 and he calls fairly quickly. The river is another off-suit baby and he checks. Just in case I saw his hand wrong I decided to check behind. Why I am not sure. He turns over Qs (like I thought he had) 8h. WTF is this guy thinking betting into me on the turn (OK I guess I can see that) but then insta-calling my raise with bottom pair, a gutter and no club???? I was able to take a few more pots off of the guy and some off of the Mexican guy. When the guy to my right decided to quit I got up shortly after with $850 in front of me for a nice $450 profit. Is this where the trip turns around???? I called Chris and they were over at the Orleans so I headed over there. I got in about 45 minutes of Stud 8 before the game broke and won $30.


Tuesday

I was up by around 8:30 and headed over to Bellagio to see what they were spreading. They had 2/5 going but I didn’t feel like playing it. I walked over to Caesars and they were just opening a 1/3 game. Everyone was buying in for 100-300 so I bought in for the table max of 500. It worked well and the competition wasn’t that strong. I can’t remember any unusual hands at all. I chipped up throughout the session and cashed out with $850 good for a $350 profit.

After Caesars I drove over to the Rio and signed up for the first satellite they were offering which was a $125. There was one guy at the table who I recognized. I knew he played very aggressively and I was actually surprised to see him playing in one that low. He usually plays $500’s and $1,000’s. I was glad to pull the seal directly to his left. I was dealt one pocket pair early (6,6) and called a raise from the aggressive dude. I missed and folded to his $250 c-bet. He had built up a decent stack early until he ran his hand into a monster (can’t remember the details) and he was down to around $700. The key hand of the satellite was when I picked up A,A and called a $150 raise from the aggressive guy waiting to trap him for all of his chips. The current chip leader announces all-in and the aggressive guy goes all-in and I insta-call. The CL had AsKs and the aggressive guy had K,J. I faded a flush draw on the end from the CL and took a nice lead. I played pretty tight after that and when we got to heads up I was behind 56/44 and we chopped it.

After that it was time to head to the Ante-Up! meet-up down at Binions. We played 7-handed and started out playing 2/4 razz. We played it without an ante and a $1 bring-in. I play a lot tighter when its played without the ante. I was down a little when we switched the game to 2-7 triple draw. I did fairly well in this. I think we ended up playing it for around 2 hours or so. We then played Stud-8 and I ran really well. I seemed to never catch a brick (according for Fasso at least). I won a good bit of money. We switched to limit h/e. I played pretty tight and had two big hands which I was paid-off. I got Q,Q and raised pre-flop and was bet and called all the way down on an paired board hitting my boat on the river. The next hand I got J,J and hit a set on the flop. I bet the whole way and my hand was good.

Now its time for an interesting game called Juarez. The dealer explained it to us so we decided to play it. You are dealt 5 cards. There are two flops and turns and one river. The game is played like Omaha as you use two cards from your hand and three from the board. It is a split pot game. The highest and lowest hand regardless of what board it comes from gets half the pot. There was one interesting hand that I scooped. I was dealt A,K,Q,J,9. The boards came out something like this:

Q,Q,J,4,9
K,K,A,8,9

I made like a gazillion high hands and won a sizeable pot. The dealers said that this game is usually played pot limit. I couldn’t imagine that. Just sick. We ended up ending the night with some more Stud 8. Near the end there was a good war of words between Fasso and Chris. I won’t get into the particulars as it will be in their blog or on the podcast soon I imagine. I ended up with a $101 profit good for the big winner of the night.


Wednesday

My first stop of the day was at the Rio. I played a $125 satellite and missed. After the satellite I bought into a newly opened 2/5 NL game. I bought in for the max of $500. I had cards early but missed the flop and I was down to $350 fairly quick. I then started to pick up some hands and within 2 hours or so I had it up to $700 when the hand of the trip comes up.

I am in mid-late position with AQ off. There is a straddle to $10 on the button. There are 3 limpers before me and I pop it to $70. The straddle calls and all else folds. The most beautiful looking Kc,Jh,10c flop comes. I lead into the pot for $75 and he rather quickly says all-in. He has about $690 ($10 less than me). I immediately call and he says he has the nuts. I said you have A,Q too? He turns over Q,9. Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I show him broadway and now he needs and ace to chop. It doesn’t show and I just won a $1400 pot. I played about another 2-3 hours after that. One guy I called Mr. Flush kept hitting them, one against my lower flush but he didn’t raise me with his K high flush. I like that. I won a few more pots and ended up cashing out for $1425 ($925 profit).

After being on a heater the last couple of days and my flight scheduled for 5:15 I called the wife and asked if she would mind me staying another day. She agreed (I might pay for this later) and I ran around and booked another flight and hotel room.

Once I was done I went back over to the Rio and signed up for another $175 satellite. I was hit in the face by the deck repeatedly in this one. In a matter of 5-6 hands I had J,10 and raised to 75. There were six callers. The flop comes A,K,Q. I lead out for 200 and EVERYBODY FOLDS!!!! How can nobody hit that flop? A few hands later I bust someone when my A,A beats his A,K. A few hands later I raised with K,K, flop a set and bust somebody. We are now down to 7 people and I have 4100 of the 10,000 chips in play. We get down to about 5 handed and I am still around 4-handed. The player second in chips has 2200. We are playing 100/200 and he raises from the SB to 500. I look down at 4,4. I decided to put him all-in. There is no chance I think he calls in this spot without a monster, but he decided to call with K,Q. At the turn he is open ended and a flush draw but the river bricks and I now have around 7000 going to 200/400. The other two have 1800 and 1200. The 1200 guy asks if there is a deal to be made. I said that I would give them both their money back. The 1800 guy passes. This would have been a good deal for me as if the 1800 guy busts the 1200 guy I am going to chop it 2/1 “losing” 500 instead of 350 if I give their money back. Two hands later I bust the 1200 guy when I have A,5 and he has a middle pair and I flop an ace. I then up the offer to $200 for the other guy and he passes. I put him in the next hand and he folds and is down to 1200. The next hand he goes all in and I call with Q,8. He has A,J. I hit a Q on the river and its over. Good for $1560 after tip.

I was talking to the dealer and he was from Tampa and dealt at Tampa Bay Downs. The floor person was from Bradenton and dealt at the Downs a few months as well. The dealer was really cool and he said that he was wrote a screenplay called “That Time of Months.” It’s a comedy that is supposed to be shot in Tampa near the end of the year or the beginning of next year. He said that he is trying to get Ryan Reynolds or Eric Bana for the lead. Should be interesting to hear more about this. I will see him again dealing at the Downs after the series is over.

After this I am really feeling good. I played one more $175 and busted 9th. I decided to leave the Rio and went over to Planet Hollywood for their 7pm $60 tournament. I doubled up early when I rivered a flush. After that I ran into K,K vs my J,J. I called a raise pre-flop from another guy who doubled up early. The flop was 8 high, he checked, I bet $425, he raised to $1500, I reraised to $3000 and he shoves. I guess I got the information I was looking for, albeit expensive, and fold leaving me around $3500. I proceed to run into kings two more times in the next 10 minutes and still manage to survive with around $1600. I then made a couple semi-bluffs in multi-way pots with flush draws and get it up to $4000 again without a showdown. There were 84 people in the tourney. We made it down to the final 12 people (pays top 9) when I make the absolute worst play of the trip. We are playing 3000/6000 and I have around 40,000. I am on the button 5 handed with J,K. There is a short stack in the big blind with 6000 of his 8500 posted. I call, the SB calls (who has 50,000) and the BB shoves. I call and the SB shoves. The flop comes j,7,2. The SB checks and I shove. The SB calls and has J,7 and I am busted. There was a bust at the other table at the same time and I am out on the bubble.

What the f*** was I thinking. If I shove or raise to 15,000 before the flop I get the SB to fold and I knock out the BB and we are at the final table 10 handed and I would have about the 3rd best stack. Just an absolutely horrible play by me.

After that debacle I went to Harrah’s where I stayed and got in a new 1 / 2 game. I played for about 2 hours practically falling asleep at the table. I cashed out up $70 and headed to bet.


Thursday

I took it easy on my last day. I walked through the Bellagio again around 9am to see what they were spreading. I just dodn’t feel like playing a 2/5 game so I walked over to Caesars and signed-up for a 1/3 game. It was a new table and I decided to short buy for $300. I think there was only one person who bought-in for the full $500 as everyone else had 200-300.

The first two hands I think took around 10 minutes to play with both pots going to showdown with around $400 in the middle. The first couple of playable hands I lead the betting with top pair only to be raised on the turn or river huge and I had to dump my hand. I just refuse to lose a lot of money with top pair unless I have a good read on my opponents.

I was down to $130 when I picked up A,A. I bet the whole way and it was all-in on the river and my hand was good for the double-up. I then picked-up numerous hands including A,K , A,Q , A,J , A,K , 10,10 and miss every single flop. I am down to $130 again and get J,J , flop a set and get another double-up. I pick-up aces again and win another $50ish pot. After about four hours I ended up cashing out up $80. This was the last gambling done on the trip.


Summary

In cash on me I am up around $1500. If you include all of the food and soda I paid for I was probably up around $1700 for the trip. After being down to $200 in my pocket and $200 on the table Monday afternoon I walked into my house early this morning with $3600 in my pocket. All in all I would call this trip a victory. I’m not sure what my next trip will be. I’ll probably wait till January and make a trip to Tunica.