You've got to hand it to the Americans...they've now come up with another way in which to 'gouge' as much rake as possible to the ever present poker afficianados when it comes to playing tournaments!
The latest wheeze to hit these card rooms and no doubt soon to appear in our own European backyard is the tournament 're-entry'. The days of rebuys are over....you now have to 're-enter' which may not seem like a big deal...after all its only a change of word right...until you realise that the 're-entry' actually means you have to pay the reg fee again AND another few $$$ to get any bonus chips going!
This wonder was explained to me at a $95+$5+$30 ($130) tournament at Ceasars Palace on Friday night where I'd done my initial stack playing As-3s and missing my nut flush. The sign said it was a 're-entry tournament' so when I shouted chips and took out another Benjamin I fully expected the floor man to appear with another load of chips and a cheery smile. Instead I was told I had to physically go back to the cashiers desk and 're-enter'!
'That'll be $130 please', said the cashier, as I redrew a different table.
Commies....the lot of them!!
On Saturday, now having understood the rules of a re-buy tournament, I played in the DEEP stack (50k) event at the Mirage. Blinds stared at 500-500 so you still only got 100 BB's to start with. I ploughed through those like a tourist and 're-entered' with some winnings I'd won earlier with the Mirages 'bad beat' where if you get two 'same colour A-A' beat you 'win' $150.
After a quick moan about how I'd done 50 bucks with my A-A the kind dealer had shouted 'Jackpot' and a nice lady appeared with $150 giving me a $100 profit...anyway I digress...
Another $50k later and I was done with tournaments with the day and spent the next 4 hours playing the 'Sex & The City' slot machine and losing a grand total of $80 playing $2 a spin!
Sunday brought an event I'd been looking forward to and that was the Omahi Hi-Lo - $350 game! I'd not realised though, until I bought in, that the game was LIMIT! Feck me you couldn't lose a single player in ANY pot until the river card had made someones high hand, low hand or they missed entirely. While that may have been fun for the first hour or two once the blinds had reached 300-500-1000 (yes they have this level in Las Vegas) then my chip stack, which had reached a nice looking 18k (from a starting stack of 10k) suddenly didn't seem so high.
The following hand defined my day...
In BB I held K-K-Q-2. Five players called the 500. I raised to 1000. The next 3 players called. Player 4 raised to 1500. We ALL called. 7500 in the pot.
Flop was Kd-Qd-7h. Having made top set I bet out 500. There was an IMMEDIATE raise to my left to 1000 and two callers. I raised to 1500. The immediate player to my left made it 2500. One player dropped. One called. I made it 3k...capped...and both of the remaining players called. Over 12k in the pot already! Four of us in the pot at this time.
Turn card was the 8s. Nice card for me. I bet out 1000. Player to my immediate left calls. Player to HIS immediate left raises !!!!!! Player 4 drops out. I make it 3k. Player to my left calls. Player to HIS left raises!!! I cap it at 5k. Both players call.
They're now almost 30k in the pot. I myself have put in almost 8k and the one card I DON'T want to see on the river is a DIAMOND. What happens....the 3 of bloody DIAMONDS drops! I check. Player to my immediate left bets out. Player to HIS left just calls???? and I, of course, plop in another 1k chip to see that the player to my left has the Ad-4d while the player to HIS left holds the 10d-Jd!!!
What a fecker!! The 33k plus pot drifts to my left and the 8k I have left gives me one shot left which, needless to say doesn't last long. My time at the tournament table was over 5 hours and I got peed on from a great height!
Poker ehe...don't you just love it!!
Monday 31 October 2011
Friday 28 October 2011
Day 2 - Oct 28th
Poker can be a cruel game!
Enterered the Venetian cardroom at 8am this morning and two hours later I was $500 down in the $1/$2 NL game. I could say that I was subjected to several bad beats but the truth was that when I did have a decent hand then someone else had a better one and once all the money goes in the pot then its upto the poker gods!
Anyway as yesterday was so good I can't, and won't complain, after all if you live by the sword etc etc.
Day 1B of the $350 NL tournament started at noon and for the first 90 mins I got zero hands and whittled my way down to 9600 from a starting stack of 12000. Players were generally tight so you could see flops fairly cheaply. Trouble was that my hole cards were nowhere near those that appeared on the flop which meant that despite my best intentions I got pretty much nowhere!
Immediately after the 1st break I pick up 10s-10c in mid position and with blinds at 150-300 I raise it up to 800 and get 2 callers. Flop is a magical looking 10d-8h-5h. Its checked to me and I bet out 2400. Well bugger me if the guy next to play raises me back to 6000!
So its decision time folks...what would you do??
Of course I'm all-in and I get an instant call with my opponent showing 6h-7h for an open ended straight flush draw. I suppose if the situation was reversed I'd have done the same!
Anyway there's no waiting for him as the Ah pops out on the turn and the 2s does nothing for me except for me to say 'Nice hand', and depart towards the exit door!
I then went over to Ceasars Palace to play in the $100 NL event taking place there at 4pm but no good there either!
A pissy day all round with almost a grand gone in entry fees and cash games!!
Enterered the Venetian cardroom at 8am this morning and two hours later I was $500 down in the $1/$2 NL game. I could say that I was subjected to several bad beats but the truth was that when I did have a decent hand then someone else had a better one and once all the money goes in the pot then its upto the poker gods!
Anyway as yesterday was so good I can't, and won't complain, after all if you live by the sword etc etc.
Day 1B of the $350 NL tournament started at noon and for the first 90 mins I got zero hands and whittled my way down to 9600 from a starting stack of 12000. Players were generally tight so you could see flops fairly cheaply. Trouble was that my hole cards were nowhere near those that appeared on the flop which meant that despite my best intentions I got pretty much nowhere!
Immediately after the 1st break I pick up 10s-10c in mid position and with blinds at 150-300 I raise it up to 800 and get 2 callers. Flop is a magical looking 10d-8h-5h. Its checked to me and I bet out 2400. Well bugger me if the guy next to play raises me back to 6000!
So its decision time folks...what would you do??
Of course I'm all-in and I get an instant call with my opponent showing 6h-7h for an open ended straight flush draw. I suppose if the situation was reversed I'd have done the same!
Anyway there's no waiting for him as the Ah pops out on the turn and the 2s does nothing for me except for me to say 'Nice hand', and depart towards the exit door!
I then went over to Ceasars Palace to play in the $100 NL event taking place there at 4pm but no good there either!
A pissy day all round with almost a grand gone in entry fees and cash games!!
Thursday 27 October 2011
Day 1 - 27th Oct
So...day one is in the bag and an excellent day all round really!
Up at 5.30am, as you do on your first day in Vegas, and after a lumberjack breakfast in Dennys for $9.99 + tax it was off round the corner to the Venetian for the first of what would ultimately be two sessions of play there.
At this time of the morning (7am) its likely that you're getting a seat on a $1 / $2 NL table with players that have been there half the night already and so it proved with the usual 'nitty' type players and the one or two 'drunkies' that still felt the need to raise to $20 - $40 every time they entered a pot. That proved good for me after buying in for $150 I finished the morning at 10am with $730 in hand and the drunk had done his bollux!
For the Deepstack Festival they started satellites at around 10am and I sat down to play in an $80 - 2 seat - one which was quite enjoyable especially as I won a seat which comprised of $300 in 'laminates' and $40 in chips. The 'table charge' is a right royal rip of though with $120 of the $800 collected going to the house.
I'll be playing in my first event tomorrow as I didn't think I'd be upto playing all day, if so required, without falling asleep at the table so at least it'll only have cost me $80 to play :)
After a snoozy afternoon shopping down at Frys Electrical Store I headed back to the Venetian for the $175 evening tournament and was duly knocked out whilst holding Ad Qh. Flop came 6d-4d-Qd-x-x and I was already all in when my opponent showed Kd-8d for the flopped flush.
Prior to this tournament though I'd won a further $75 in another $1/$2 NL game.
After the tournament it was off to bed. Hopefully I'll be ready and refreshed for tomorrow!
Up at 5.30am, as you do on your first day in Vegas, and after a lumberjack breakfast in Dennys for $9.99 + tax it was off round the corner to the Venetian for the first of what would ultimately be two sessions of play there.
At this time of the morning (7am) its likely that you're getting a seat on a $1 / $2 NL table with players that have been there half the night already and so it proved with the usual 'nitty' type players and the one or two 'drunkies' that still felt the need to raise to $20 - $40 every time they entered a pot. That proved good for me after buying in for $150 I finished the morning at 10am with $730 in hand and the drunk had done his bollux!
For the Deepstack Festival they started satellites at around 10am and I sat down to play in an $80 - 2 seat - one which was quite enjoyable especially as I won a seat which comprised of $300 in 'laminates' and $40 in chips. The 'table charge' is a right royal rip of though with $120 of the $800 collected going to the house.
I'll be playing in my first event tomorrow as I didn't think I'd be upto playing all day, if so required, without falling asleep at the table so at least it'll only have cost me $80 to play :)
After a snoozy afternoon shopping down at Frys Electrical Store I headed back to the Venetian for the $175 evening tournament and was duly knocked out whilst holding Ad Qh. Flop came 6d-4d-Qd-x-x and I was already all in when my opponent showed Kd-8d for the flopped flush.
Prior to this tournament though I'd won a further $75 in another $1/$2 NL game.
After the tournament it was off to bed. Hopefully I'll be ready and refreshed for tomorrow!
Monday 3 October 2011
Oct 2nd - Let the countdown begin!!
So I'm 3 weeks away from my next 'Las Vegas' adventure.
On Oct 26th I fly to Las Vegas for a 10 day 'poker trip'.
I intend playing in 5 of the Venetian Deepstack tournaments as can be found via:
http://www.venetian.com/uploadedFiles...DeepStackIV11.pdf
on the following dates:
Thu Oct 27th - $350 No Limit Hold'Em (*)
Sun Oct 30th - $350 Omaha Hi-Lo (*)
Mon Oct 31st - $350 No Limit Hold'Em (*)
Wed Nov 2nd - $350 No Limit Hold'Em (*)
Fri Nov 4th - $560 - No Limit Hold'Em (*)
(*) Cost includes $10 to dealer for additional chips
Total buy-in costs = $1960
I am offering 50% of my action at the rate of £65 ($100) for 5%
This equates to a $/£ rate of 1.54 (as near as dammit)
For the £65 investment you get 5% of ANY returns for the 5 events entered. (e.g if I cash for $1000 over the 5 events you get $50 back)
Investments will be payable by BANK t/f only (details via PM) and will be paid back via any method of your choosing (via poker site or bank t/f or neteller or PAYPAL) at the rate of 65p per $1 won.
I'll be doing a daily blog on my adventure (can't be any worse than last time!!) and you'll be able to track the results through the HM database or via the Venetian website itself).
Any questions or comments are welcome and I look forward to winning some dough for those that partake!
News of updates will be posted on the Hendon Mob website !!
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