long overdue vegas update, welcome to chicago

at long last, a vegas update from my 2 weeks at the WSOP:

the quick version: vegas was a whole lot of breakeven poker, with me winning just enough at the end to cover my airfare and hotel. i played a lot of lo8, 5/10 full kill at the mirage, 10/20 half kill at the wynn, and 20/40 half kill at the bellagio. all the games were really soft (save one night at the wynn), but what i've realized about live lo8 is that people are so bad at the game that it takes almost five minutes to play every hand while the 5 people in ever pot try to figure out exactly what they're holding. to that end, even the 20/40 game wasn't lucrative. although i beat it for somewhere around 4BB/100 while i was there, i only made around 400 bucks at the game and played for over 16 hours. ugh.

surprisingly, the best night i had in vegas was when i decided to get fucking hammered and go play 4/8 at the bellagio. i raised every hand that was open to me and absolutely crushed the game for about 300 bucks while drinking my face off. i think that night was the one where sam grizzle was strangled (yes, literally) about two tables over, but i was so drunk that i can't really remember. the coronas and sierra nevadas were tasty, though. that i can say with the utmost certainty.

before i talk tournaments, i'd like to say that it was pretty cool to meet everyone at fcp: mr. negreanu (obviously, and really friendly for someone who's more famous than i'll ever be), steve7stud, fcpinfo (matt), governator (again), aasnake88, nutzbuster, nosup4u, wrto, partypsux, cfinnn, patty, weishan, and whoever else i'm forgetting (it was a while ago. sue me.). i also ran into some old ongame buddies from the days of yore, thegamekat, sunfish2, and sircloud.

ok, tournaments now. i can leave out the non-wsop ones. they're boring, and i never cashed in even one, though i did manage to be the bubble boy in one, busting out from 2nd in chips to the chipleader after i restole a9 from the small blind and donktastic called with QK when he would have been left crippled. but meh.

the wsop event (a 1500, #40 i think) was honestly some of the weak/tightest play i've EVER seen in my life for the first 3 hours. i was open raising everything in late position and taking tons of little pots down, and folding to reraises and talking the donkeys into showing me aces, kings, or AK every time. but unfortunately, i was so card dead for the whole 4 hours that followed that i couldn't make a move. i had AK twice (folded to c/r on a rag flop and took down a Kxx flop), AQ once (which i folded to an UTG raise--he showed down AK), and 99, which i folded on an AKQ flop. i was playing lots of suited connector-type hands for raises and shoving draws as best i could, but i could NOT pick up any decent-sized pots. after the first three hour period, i honestly never flopped top pair or better (till the hand i busted on--more on that in a sec) while i barely kept myself afloat for 4 hours. that's tough. fortunately the play was bad enough to where i could stick around, but there's only so much you can do without getting ANY cards to speak of at all.

i did make one move at a pot which i regret, though:

this is in the 7th hour. about 220 runners remain. blinds are 100/200 with a 25 ante. i have about 4400 in chips in front, most of the people at the table have me covered. i'm on the BB with 34o, and the CO open raises to 500. i casually call. the flop comes KQ5, giving me utter air. i check, he throws out 800, and i come back at him for 2000. if he can actually call, i'm done with the hand, obviously. he does, looking quite confident (at which point i put him on a big set), and i check/fold the turn. ugh.

the next hand i pick up A9 and double through the button who open raised J2d to 700 and i shoved from the SB. flop Jxx, turn A. phew.

one orbit of folding, then the busto hand:

i have JQc on the button and about 3500 in chips. it folds to me, i make it 700 to go, the SB calls, and the BB folds. the flop comes Js9s6c. SB checks, i bet 1500 into a 1950 pot, SB instashoves. shit. if i fold here, i'm sitting with under 10BB. trying to figure out where i'm at, i say, "i have a jack, does that scare you?" he looks like it does. i figure his range to be spades, QT, KJ, QJ, or JT. maybe he hit a set, but i can't imagine he'd shove the flop with that, and AJ pushes back preflop. considering my dwindling stack and the fast-approaching 200/400 level, i call. sure enough, he has KJ, and i get no help and bust in somewhere around 210th place of 1099 entrants. considering my utter dearth of cards, i think that's a pretty good finish, but i really could have gone deep in that sucker with just a little bit of help.

i also left out the part where i got to play next to matusow for an hour. that was pretty fun--he's a very nice, chatty guy, and we shared a couple looks at terrible plays by our opponents. i did earn a head ruffle from him, too:

matusow is SB, i'm BB with 73o. folds around, he completes, i check. flop comes K53. check, check. turn 6. he bets slightly above the minimum, i pop him the pot, he shows me a six and says "you're waiting for me to catch a pair before you bluff me?" i say, "yeah, man, exactly!" and show him the 73. he says, goodnaturedly and just joking around, "oh, you fucking internet kids," takes off my hat, and ruffles my hair. LOL. ten points for matusow on that one.

so yeah, the basic gist of vegas is that people are indeed still terrible at poker, and i deserve another big score sometime in the near future. hopefully the forthcoming WCOOP will help me out with that one. i might be playing upwards of 10 events (depends largely on backing--my roll is still in rough shape), and hopefully i can make at least 1 final table. i'll be playing the o8 and smaller horse events for sure, and some combination of stud8, plo, LHE, and NLHE events outside of that. we'll see how it goes, but i REALLY want a win before the end of september.

in other news i moved to chicago and was presented with a parking ticket of appreciation this morning. woo.

i'll try and make some news for you in the coming weeks. till then, gl at the tables, or in school, or whatever the hell you're doing, oh loyal reader.