My housemate and I left the house last evening setting our sights on playing some cards.  We went to the MGM Grand first.  The room had two 2/5 NL tables with a short waiting list and 1/2 had open seating.  I sat down on a 1/2 table until my 2/5 seat was available.

This table liked to see flops and they wanted to see them as cheaply as possible.  I was given the opportunity to see a flop for “free” when  5 others limped in on my big blind.  I held the Jack four off suit.  I flopped a full house on a 4JJ board and dutifully checked.  I love flopping full houses–don’t you? It continued to check around until the button bumped it up to $20. I call as do 3 others.  The turn is a queen.  I check again.  It checks around to the button, who fires another bullet at the pot.   This time he bets 2/3 of the pot. I call as does the other remaining player. The river is a blank.  The other player checks and I take a stab at the pot, to which the button folds and the other player shoves the rest of his stack (an additional $45) Of course, I call and he proudly flops up 45. Nice hand, Sir!

My housemate likes to play limit and the game at the MGM was not the greatest, so we decided to move on.  We stop by the Wynn.  There are only 6 or 7 tables going with no list.  Next!

At the Mirage, we see games that meet both of our needs. I help get a 2/5 games started, which remained strong until I left at 3 am.  There was a nice mix of regulars and tourists.  It was an enjoyable game.  The room was well run and there was no complaints with the staff.  I look forward to playing at the Mirage again this summer.

Last night, I took another shot at the Wynn tournaments since the only tournament going on at the Venetian was the second chance. I would last through several levels until finally busting out. The structure of the tournament is a good one, but at an average stack, it became time to pick up some pots, which never happend.

I played a little 1-3 and called it a night. Now, I’m laying in the room taking it easy today. I am gonna eat dinner later with a friend and just get away from the cards for the rest of the evening (I think). We’ll see what happens! The Vegas trip is almost over and it couldn’t come at a better time! I can’t wait to finally lay down in my own bed for a few days and just take in some much needed r & r.

I left off yesterday heading into the Wynn tournaments. It’s good to see that these mega resorts are actually taking note in the deep stack format and making the necessary adjustments.

The tourney buy-in was $225 and the starting stack is 20k. The blinds started at 50-100 which meant that sooner or later we would have to play some all-in poker, but nothing crazy in the first level.

The field size was 57 and 9 places paid. It seemed to go slower than the 5 hours it took to get to the final table. In the end, I would make it down to fourth, which was a gift from the other 5 players that busted because they just felt the need to push the action!

I would go to an early dinner about 6 and head back to the 8 p.m. version of the same tournament. This time, I wouldn’t last long, but would have some really crazy things happen in the 30 minutes I was in. First, I get to the table and am setting the purse, jacket, and other sundries down and the dealer deals me two cards. Almost as soon as I turn to get them, she MUCKS them. I ask why and she tells me that I’m not at the table. That’s interesting. I thought being between my seat and the table was ok?

I get the floor involved and he makes it clear that I had the right to that hand. This doesn’t make this particular dealer happy at all! She would put me on further tiltness when I was in a hand facing a raise and ask her how much it is to me. She tells me that it’s 4,100 which I put in. Then she tells me it’s more! Then snaps the chips up and tries to motion to me that there needs to be more!

I would get knocked out of this one rather quickly and was pretty happy to be gone! The venetian was the next stop where I would play some cash games and lose a little of the bankroll before calling it a night!

I am now heading back down to the Venetian Poker Room to get in the $150 daily tourney to get a little more action and hopefully bring home a little more money!

The ending of the Deep Stack event left a sour taste in my mouth. I came into the day with a great feeling about my stack, which was at 176k and the average was 125k. It wouldn’t take too long for the bubble to break and the pressure was somewhat off.

We made the money and got redrawn for seats and I got the fortune of sitting on the “featured table” with some great players. There weren’t many soft spots in the field this late in the game, so I’d have to play my “A” game.

Once we settled into the new seating I took stock of the stack sizes and realized that the biggest stack was to my left. This meant that I would have to play a little tighter than usual cause I didn’t want to put myself in the position of playing for a big pot against a player who could afford it.

Not many hands were big enough to mention early in the game until I finally got involved in a pot with a blonde lady in the 8 seat. We got tangled up in a hand that would reveal a flop with a K and she was putting me to the test. I had K-Q, but put her on the A-Q, which would have me, all but dead. Unfortunately, it would cost me ¾’s of my stack before I could really put her on that hand.

So, with 20 BB’s, I was now forced to pick a spot and possibly play for my tournament life. The eventual hand that would knock me out came when I picked up pocket 7’s in the BB and saw a raise from John Strzemp in seat 6. I called and saw a 9-5-3 flop. Now, I had seen him play tight, but thought he might be trying to steal with K-Q, or A-J. So I checked to him and let him make the continuation bet and I moved all-in. To my surprise he insta-called with A-9. Nothing would produce for me and that was that! Out in 24th with a min. cash of $2,125.

I really had no time to spare if I wanted to get in the $540 Mega that started at 7 p.m. I managed to make some small pots here and there in the first 2 levels, but no big stack yet.

Soon, I found myself playing in some strange pots with a gentleman in seat 7 who would was making some rather rash plays for the early stages of the tournament. In one, he called an all-in for most of his stack with pocket 9’s against the A-Q of another player and got lucky to see a 10 hi board.

This guy was all over the place in hand range. Twice he’d put me to the test when I made an early position raise that would have forced me to go all-in. After the second time, he turned to seat 6 and muttered, “all I got do is raise her and she’ll fold.” REALLY? So, this guy prides himself on being able to knock me off a hand by sticking his entire stack in? I can’t call an all-in from a guy that’s shown down total garbage before.

The good news was that he wasn’t the one to take me out. The bad news was that it came from grandpa cowboy in seat 9. It was blind versus blind and he limped in. I looked down at pocket 8’s and pushed the stack past the yellow line. He made the quick call and I was racing against A-Q. Wasn’t much of a race as the flop peeled off 5-7-A. The turn was hopeful when the 9 came giving me a small glimmer of hope. The river was a 3 and I was busto.

I would take a small breather at the noodle place adjacent to the poker room and collect my thoughts. I finally decided to play the $540 sit-n-go. I knew a few of the players at the table who were from the Florida area, which was a small advantage. I also got sat with Will Failla who is always amusing to say the least. We would get down to 5 handed and I would be knocked out!

So, today I am making the trek over to The Wynn to see how their new tournaments are. They are now doing a $225 noon and 8 p.m. tournament. The starting stack is 20k and the blinds start at 50-100. They just kicked it off today and seems to be a good tournament to make a little extra change in. Wish me luck!