Binions, 2PM

Arrival: 2:25 Buy-in:100$ Starting Chips: 10k Blinds: 50/100
Field: 75/86 players, paying top 8

Well, I started out fairly sharp and observant. Took down a few pots once I figured out who would chase draws yet fold on the turn if they missed. Before the break I made a play on a relative short stack.

Blinds were 100/200. I raised to 1000 pre-flop from MP with K9s, small blind short stack only caller (about 3.5k behind). Flop comes 899. Checked to me, I make a small bet of 600, he calls. Turn comes blank, I make another bet of 600, he calls. River is a 10, he checks to me. I tank, and try to figure out how to get his last ~2000. I bet 1100, looking like a weak steal attempt. He goes all in with 77, I snap call to knock him out.

I make a good run after break as well, getting two players to call my 2500 bet preflop when I had KJ (was making moves on the small stacks). One calls with a weak ace, the other calls with Q9, and I flop two pair. Turn comes an A, and I fade the draws.

The streak continues for a few hands. And gets even better... for me to get bent over.

Because I've been playing so many hands and hitting, the players have to make stands, right? I raise a small amount pre-flop with KK, folded to the blind, who shoves, I snap-call. He's got JJ, and a big stack, he was third in chips at my table with around 13k, and I was sitting big at 30k. Well, he hits a jack on the turn and I do not recover.

A few hands later, I raise with AK under the gun, and a late position player calls me. Flop comes 5K7, I make what I hope to seem like a defensive bet (or perhaps I checked). He shoves, I call, he turns 88. The very next card is 8, and I'm drawing dead.

Lost almost my entire stack, but made two great plays, what can you do...

After that hand I was crippled to about 5BB and unable to recover. I go out on a JT bluff against a set of aces. Doh...

"If only..." but I left feeling very confident about my plays, I was reading my table well early on, made moves at the right time, and had the best hand when all the money went in, very strongly at times.

2pm Binions Tourney

I had sour luck hitting hands, and even getting decent holdings. I was down to 2500, with average stack 14000, blinds 200/400. All-in mode worked for me. Stole two sets of blinds, and then doubled up. I was at around 11k, with average stack 16.7k. Then I made a few mistakes. I was button with 67s, facing a min raise from the cut-off. I call, flop comes 6Q8, none in my suit. It's checked to me. I shove, he snap-calls with QQ.

A few problems here:
1) I called a raise with mediocre holdings to be taken (likely) heads-up.
2) I did not connect firmly with flop, yet over-committed with very few draws.
3) I lost my whole stack with one pair, and a weak one at that.

The night before, at Golden Nugget, I played perfectly, but lost on the river twice when I was about a 9-to-1 favorite on the turn. Guy landed two pair one time, and the other time the guy landed trips. Second time I had some well-disguised aces, head's up, and he had top pair with QT. Went to the cash game and made back about 150$.

Will hit another tourney this evening, hopefully I can play it more solidly.

--G

Pain Spiral

Reverse Order:

Binions:
Just got home after bombing out of the tournament when blinds were 300/600 and I had 3.2k left. Action was weak to me in the cutoff, I had K9 spades, shoved. The two players after me happened to have hands that counterfeited me. One blocked my spade draw with AT, the other had KQ. Board did not help. I had made a few "bad" calls earlier that put me on a crippled stack. Raised to 700 earlier with AJs, re-raised to 2500, I called. King on flop, had to fold. Had AA UTG, raised to 700 when blinds were 200, and it was folded all the way around.

Golden Nugget:
Could not catch a hand, was batting about 3%. When I did make a hand, I was coolered. Flop came 9K9 when I had A9. Someone had K9. Doubled them up. Never made a set...

Bellagio:
Was playing pretty damn well, but the cards were abusing me at the 1/2 table. AQ was my kryptonite, could not win with it, and could not beat it. Was taking it from both ends.

key hand AQ:
I bet pre-flop, someone across from me snap raised. Flop came AQ4. I bet, they called. Turn came another rag. All my money went in, and they beat me to the pot with a set of Queens. Now, I could have gotten away from this because, based on the player, I had a strong feeling he had a pocket pair pre-flop, and a good one at that. So if he had AA, KK, or QQ, 2/3 of these hands gave him a set on the flop. I should have gone with my suspicions and kept myself from losing another 400$ on that hand.

Sat down at the 5/10 game with 400 or 500. Worked it up to 2300 and then had a pivotal hand that I was bluffed off of. I had AA, made a solid pre-flop bet, got called. Flop was 682, made a big bet, called. Checked turn of 7, he made a big bet, called. River was 9, putting four to a straight on the board. I made a tiny bet, hoping to provoke a show-down. He raised 300$, I folded AA face up. He showed 33, OUCH. I was tearing myself up trying to figure out why that hand bothered me so much, and I think the issue was that he had a mountain of chips, but when he raised me, he used 100$ bills. I should have felt suspicion. Also, the pot was so huge, that 300$ may not have been too much. I proceeded to tilt off more than I care to admit.

Rough night. And my girl seems upset about some things, but won't share...



682 7 9

Golden Nugget, Wynn

So, a few good stories over the intervening days.

Blew quite a bit at the Wynn classic, mostly on satellites, also bombed out of the two expensive tourneys.

But, a summary...

Wynn:
Bought into 5/10 with minimum buy-in of 500. AQ, raised, flop came QQ4, River 5, Turn 6, ended up tripling up. As I was racking up to run, I got AA, had one caller, bet 150$ on flop, 150$ on turn, double-checked on river, I won hand. Left.

Two nights ago, I got broadway on the turn, thought it would be a chop, shoved for 500$ or so on the river. He had two pair.

Last night, I had 8T suited, got a straight on the turn, river came 8, putting a straight on the board. Other player grinned at me, went all in. I tanked for about 15 seconds, realized his betting patterns were too strange for JT, when I had the flush T, so I called. He had A8, and was playing the board straight, he thought we were chopping. I had 700$ behind me and there was another 250$ in the pot.

Good times. My tournaments have been dry though.

Binions and Nugget

What a long day.

Started in the 2pm tourney, I forgot my wallet. Luckily Adrian came over and lent me his cab fair so I could play. Went out fairly early. Couldn't win a race, opponents kept hitting their cards on turn and river, and I couldn't get cards as the blinds increased. The 7pm tourney went along in a similar fashion, bad run of cards. The 10pm tourney I finished fifth, and it paid four spots.

The last tourney of the evening was at 1AM at the Golden Nugget. It was a bit over two tables. I got some decent cards, made some good plays and hung in to the final table. It paid three spots and there were five of us left and after break blinds were going up... I had a mere 11k left and would need some incredible luck to make it to the money. Out of curiosity I calculated how much each person would get if it was split five ways. It was about 264$ each, or third place. After break I shrugged and mentioned that a five way split would give everyone third place money, and much to my surprise they all agreed that it sounded like a good idea! I was blown away, here I am with 5 big blinds in a five handed table, and they were willing to just split it up. So that covered the three binion's buy-ins.

Then I went over to Binions and lost more money in 2-4 limit. I could not catch a break, even when I caught a hand.

It was almost 5AM, and I went to check out the 1-2NL tables at Golden Nugget. I sat down to a table that had many many deep stacks. There was this crazy black curly haired guy who was bumping pots up into the 20's without hesitation. Straddles ran rampant, and I thought maybe I could sit through for a quick double or triple up. The first pot I get into, he raises a large amount pre-flop, and I have 33. I go all in and it isolates him and I head's up. He has AK. Unfortunately he hits and A on the flop and I never improve. 95$ go to his stack. I came back about 10 minutes later for more. I sit down with 200, and over the course of about 90 minutes tear his stack apart, and luck out against a tight player at the table. I left with over 700$ I was hitting random stuff that people couldn't put me on, and The last hand I played against the curly haired dude, I had A9, and the flop came 99J. He raised on the flop after I checked to him, and I went all-in. He tanked for a while and called. I tossed down my A9, and took the last of his money. He was not happy and will not soon forget me. Fun night!

Binions and Golden Nugget

(Cash on hand: ~1100$. ATM: 500$, 200$ debt, so not up much for the past few days)

So, I have been playing, just not blogging.

I have had terrible luck in the past few tourneys, but before I left tonight, I shared first in the last tourney I played. Had a severe change of luck.

At one point in the tourney I told myself if I did not place in the cash, I had to retire for a while. At the time I had about 1/6th of the total chips.

I was dealt KK, KK, AJ, 99, and TT all in a row. And I had action on three of the four hands. That put me in a strong chip lead. The odds of getting running kings is less than 40000:1, wow. So I was tipping my dealers mid tourney. At the end Bill and I chopped for 626$ a piece. The third place guy was annoyed that I did not do a three-way split, but he didn't use the reload option, either.

With all this in mind, I'm still way down for the week. MY last success was last Saturday when I made 900$ and a Binion's victory T-shirt. But over the course of my next three sessions I lost around six tourney's. I almost placed in the money twice, but never seemed to get back there. Tomorrow is a deep stack tourney at 2:00, but I am not sure if I'll make it to that, if I do I will post the results.

--G

Binions

Summary
Date: Feb 3rd to Feb 4th 4:20AM
Binion's 100 -> 63, 60 -> 366, 118 -> 0, 200+100 -> 0, 200 -> 263
Net: Down ~86
Cash-in-hand: ~1360

Binions:
Arrived around 9:30, played 2-4L waiting for tourney to start. Had A6, flop was AAT, paid out to river against someone who flopped full house. Luckily it was a limit game. I actually could have gotten away much sooner, as my kicker was junk, and the player was a super-tight old man. I had only seen three hands, but I still noticed that almost immediately, especially with the way the dealer was talking to him.

Binions tourney:
Was playing very tight, aggressive, and fairly smart. Didn't bother stealing the blinds so much when they were low during the first few levels, but I still ended up with a decent stack of greens. Mid-level in the tourney I kept an eye out for tight players who I could push out, and started buying blinds with decent bets if my hand had flop potential. Almost every pot I won in the middle-levels was without showdown. The blind started getting ridiculous, 800, 1600. There was one caller, and I was on the button. With the small blind and big blind in pot there was a total of 4000, my stack was about 11-12k, and I considered a move with (KQ)h, but realized, based on the blinds and amount in the pot, I would not be able to buy it. I simply called. Flop came ATh3. It was checked around to me. I thought for a while, and bet 4500. The blinds folded instantly, but the caller tanked for a minute, counted out his chips, and had 4500. I had not realized his stack was so low. He called with A7. I did not back-door to a flush, nor did I hit my gut-shot straight, losing a big pot. I proceeded to crawl ahead a bit, winning a pot here and there until I got almost stacked. Blinds were up to 3k, and I was at 4k. Folded to button, who pushed, I grinned and called the other 1k, regardless of my cards. He turned over AQoff, and I turned over 49off. I made a four on the flop, and then another on the river, winning the pot. Over the course of the next 30 minutes I won almost every show down and got a decent number of pushable hands. The player to my right shoved pre-flop in the small blind, I snap-called with AT. He had 28. I took his chips after a T hit the flop. A little while later it was down to three players. I looked around at the stacks and we were all within striking distance of each other. I asked the others if they wanted to chop the winnings 550, 330, and 220. I was middle stacked at 35k, big stack was 47k and short stack was 23k. They all agreed and we played a showdown to see who won the victory shirt. Appropriately it went to the big stack, who had 27 on the showdown and paired up.

I took a break for a while, trying to relax a bit, and talked with Frank. He mentioned that there was a 1AM tourney at the Golden Nugget and I offered to stake him (60$) and split his winnings. He was apparently down 10g for his Vegas trip. Unfortunately they had canceled their tourney.

Went back to Binion's and lost with AK three or four times. Sort of tilted/donk'ed off all my winnings for that evening, overplayed hands and didn't let them go when I knew I was beat. Tried to make plays that were not credible and lost a vast majority of my hands. Bleh.

Binions to Aria

Summary
Date: Feb 3rd to Feb 4th 6:20AM
Binion's 100 -> 116 (11PM to ~Midnight)
Aria 100 -> 0, 120 -> 0, 300 -> 600 (~12:20 to 6:00AM)
Net: Up ~100
Cash-in-hand: ~1460

Binion's 1-2NL:
Played fairly solid stable poker, was settling in for the long haul once I was finally seated. Saw Frank Wiese again. Called his 2$ raise pre-flop with a 27off, asked if he wanted me to call, or if he wanted his red bull, since I owed him one from last time we played. Recognition dawned on him and he said he wanted a call. I called and said he could have both. Flop gave me a gutshot with my 7, would have needed a 9. He bet, I folded face up, much to the pleasure of the table. Bought him a red bull when we finally got a waitress. We were chatting a bit across the table, and he mentioned that he wanted to go to Aria, and that they had a few tables open. I said it sounded like fun. Last hand before I left the table had a bit of action pre-flop, I had KJo, so I called the 10. Flop came rags, two clubs, I made a small bet, the guy called. On the turn he pushed in a 20$ bet, I went all in for 63$ I figured I wouldn't have to cash out if I lost, and it was a fun move to leave the table with. I had two overs and a board that seemed ripe for bluffing. Opponent tanked, then folded. So I left there ahead instead of behind.

Aria 1-3NL:
Overall, I set in for a long grind, played very tight but aggressive. My bluffs were successful 80% of the time or more, and I never had to show a total bluff..
First buy-in (100):
Worked it up to 140, stealing small pots, avoiding going all in unnecessarily, and trying to play smart and tight to gather intel. However I got caught with a decent hand against a set. I had top pair with a decent kicker and some decent draws. Player was playing weak/passive. I did not detect the trap, by the river the board looked harmless, any kind of draw he might have had would have missed, so I shoved about 50$ into a 180$ pot. He called with a set of 5's.

Second buy-in (120):
KK pre-flop. Someone bet 15 pre-flop. I was in middle position. I pondering isolating, but instead decided to call, ended up being head's up anyway. Flop came three diamonds, A7T(?). He slow checked, so I bet 15. He was not the type to trap, and always seemed to either fold weak hands, or bet strong hands, so I knew he either had zero or one diamond. I had Kd, so I figured I'd out-flush him with one more diamond. He pondered a moment and pushed in 45, I snap-called. River was a blank and he checked again. I shoved with little delay, figuring he might have paired an ace, but I might scare him out with the diamonds. He called, river was not a diamond, I said ace is good, and he showed his ace. Pot was ~270-300

Third buy-in (300):
Was playing fairly stable and tight, and I figured I'd make every effort to get my money in good, was not playing with the "must double-up to get even" mentality. Tried to keep my game stable.

AKs pre-flop straddle raised to 20$ by tricky player, I re-raised to 40, since he had a wide range of hands and only Frank was left to act. Frank pushed all in for another 77 on top. Middle guy folded, I called, thinking there was a decent chance Frank was making a move, and worst case was coin flip, best case domination. Flop came three diamonds, turn fourth diamond, river a blank. Frank had AdQo. He made nut flush even though I had him dominated. Pot was around 275$.

99 from middle position. Yellow-shirt was a fairly chasy player, and I flopped middle set on a board with two clubs. Not wanting to risk being drawn out on, but knowing I could extract value, I bet a little over half pot, putting pot up to about 100, he called. Turn was a blank, so I put 100 in, which was almost his entire stack. He said something along the lines of "Well, I'm getting 2:1 on my money..." and pushed all-in. I called, and he apologized as he made a straight on the river. Lost a 360$ pot to a gut-shot.
My stack drifted down to about 150$ at its low point, but I was playing hands solidly and slowly rebuilding.

45 clubs. Got stack back up to around 280$, a few of the looser players put some money in, so I called 7$. Four or so players in pot. I figure I can easily escape if I miss the flop, and suited connectors can be sneaky. Flop comes J(45)s. Indian big-stack bets 20$, I re-raise to 60$. This isolates him as he calls. Turn is a blank (10d? 3d?). I'm doing my best to not feign weakness too strongly, I'm also unsure of what he has. I doubt the set very much, because he's not playing like he made a set. Possible flush draw, but if so I have that beat. He looks at my stack, goes all in, and I snap-call. River is a third card to a flush draw, I frown and show my two pair. He flashed a KQo and folds. Doubling me up, I leave a few hands later with 600. I thought the turn was 3d, but it makes more sense for it to be 10d, giving him an open-ended to semi-bluff with.

Binions to Golden Nugget

Summary
Date: Jan 31 10:30PM to Feb 1 4:00AM
Binion's 1-2NL 200 -> 900
Golden Nugget 1-2NL 100 -> 0, 150 -> 450
Net: Up ~900
Cash-in-hand: ~1550

Over-all:
Played well, no notable mistakes. Got value on MANY hands. Unlike the day before, when I went in as favorites and lost, I won pretty much every all-in and race when I was favorited.
Met Frank Wiese. After I won a big pot, I bought his book for four red chips (20$). He suffered a bad beat in one hand for a big pot, then lost the rest of his chips in a bad hand a round or two later, overplaying a middle pair. He has a picture in his phone of Phil Ivey reading his book at one of the big tourneys.
Binions 1-2NL:
77 in mid position, raised 7$ to increase pot, as there were a decent number of callers. Flop was 566, no impression of an opponent having a six or trapping. Raised or bet about half pot, two callers. Seven on the turn, giving me a full house. I was in position, so last to act. One of the players before me went all-in, and the other called his all-in. I contemplated what to do, and decided to go all-in. Figuring even if I chased out the third player, I liked the look of the pot. Big win, as the other player called, too. I only had him covered by about 20$.
5d6d in late position. Flop came (478)d. Ended up heads up. Used some table talk to keep my opponent in the hand and to give him the impression I was nervous. Wasn't too hard, as the casino has high-hand jackpots for straight flushes, so I was nervous. On the flop he bet 40, I asked if I raised him, would he shut down. He stifled a smirk and I raised to 80, he called. He checked turn, and checked river. I tanked for a while, looked at my cards, confused, and bet 100. He called, I said high hand, and laid out my cards near the board. Flopping a straight flush felt pretty good, and getting paid for it made it a huge jackpot. Frank said I owed him a payback red-bull for the one he bought me earlier. He was gone before I could pay up. Monster swing upward...
Having just made a large amount, and the table starting to fall apart, I cashed out at 900$ after playing another round or two.

Golden Nugget 1-2NL:
Lost some chips to an older (~40) man who either had my number, or singled me out.
Had A9s. Board came 89x. Bet moderately, got a caller. Turn came 8, thought I was safe, he called again. On river he bet and I called. He had A8.
Q2s in mid position. There was a small pre-flop raise, I felt like there might be a few callers, especially if I called. Realizing I had been playing pretty tight since my last decent pot, I tossed the chips out there. Flop came QT2, with two-to-a-flush. I liked the pot as it stood, and decided to just shove. Guy tanked and called, turn and river were rags (58?). He showed a Q, I showed Q2. Clearly he had me dominated pre-flop, and I would have been able to get away if I had not double-paired, instead he was the one who couldn't get away. I was also lucky the board didn't pair.
JcTc, late position. Got a call, time almost up. Action was 7$ pre-flop, around four callers. Flop was three clubs, I bet 15$, got two callers. Turn was another club, so board of (367Q)c. I'm slightly hesitant, but bet 20-25$, they both call. River is a heart, so I bet 30, tentatively. They both call. One of them had 5c, and had a straight draw on the flop, the other had 9cQs. Was a good note to end the night on.

Binions

Summary
Date: Jan 30 10PM to Jan 31 4:40AM
Binion's 200 -> 0, 65 -> 0, 200 -> 156
Net: Down ~310
Cash-in-hand: ~160

Overview:
Most, if not all of my all-in's were as a favorite.
Lost ~100 with KK. Got all money in on flop, opponent was going for a gut-shot (OE possible?). He made straight on river.
Lost ~90 with top pair, got drawn out to a flush.
Lost 20$ here and there with missed flops but strong hands (AK, JJ, suited connectors)
Hit a straight against an aggressive caller. Put in a moderate bet, he tanked and folded. Perhaps he would have called an all-in?
At one point I went in blind for ~half my stack (20$). Fast Eddie (an elderly gentleman) called blind, keeping it sort of between us. At flop, he went all-in for 300$ into an 80$ pot. Flop was basically rags, and I only had T5. Considered calling with my 21$, but I could ONLY beat a bluff. The player before me tanked for a long time with mid-pair, and finally folded. I folded as well and Eddie showed his bluff with 82off.
Fast Eddie pulled this move a few more times, all-in bluffs, always chased out the other players, and always on the flop.
Played A-rag suited a few times, won more than I lost by playing them strongly when I was short-stacked.
Chopped a pot with AK.
Chopped another pot where I had 48h against 58d, luckily the paired 8's we both had didn't care about kickers, or I would have been even farther down.