Vegas Poker Tournaments

Sorry for the delay in updating, but I had to catch up on a lot of school work that is due this week. But as I said in my previous post I would be detailing my poker tournament experience in Las Vegas. I only had the opportunity to play in 2 tournaments while I was there; one at Harrah's and one at The Plaza.

(Harrah's Poker Room Pictured below)

Sorry for the delay in updating, but I had to catch up on a lot of school work that is due this week. But as I said in my previous post I would be detailing my poker tournament experience in Las Vegas. I only had the opportunity to play in 2 tournaments while I was there one at Harrah's and one at The Plaza.

Harrah's - $50.00 Starts at 11:00am daily, 1 Re-Buy, 1 Add-on

Me and several friends went to register for the tournament about 10:00am, we got our seat cards and decided to check out the Buffett at Harrah's. Well, while we are indulging in the buffett I don't realize I made a mistake and thought the tournament started at 12:00pm, so we get done stuffing ourselves at around 11:20am, and make it to the Poker Room about 11:35am and we see people playing, and the poker room manager is like, "We started worrying about you guys, we started 30 minutes ago". I was like opps, so I figure we only missed 30 minutes, it can't be all that bad. Well I sit down, and I notice that I have already been blinded one time, and the blinds are 50/100 already. But something doesn't add up I look at the stacks around the table and they have ranges from 3500 - 5000 in chips while I have a paltry $1500. I then realized that some dufuses just rebought and added on all at the same time, you don't have to be elminated to re-buy for some reason, you can elect to start with a bunch of chips for more money.

Well I decided to sit back the first few hands and watch how this was going to be played, and the very first hand the guy raise to $600, and he gets 3 CALLERS! I guess I shouldn't be surprised being that I play online a lot, but this was wierd that the price of poker was this high early in the tournament. I thought maybe this is an anamoly well next 6 hands were raised to these values $700, $500, $500, $650, $350, and $550. I of course folded all of them, because there is no point in calling a raise that big, you might as well go over the top and go all-in because in my case that's 1/3 to 1/2 of my chips just to see a flop. So, the guy who was the chip leader is the main one raising and he raises to $650 he gets called by a guy who is on the button while the chip leader is small blind. The flop comes AD 7C JH, the chip leader bets $1000, the other guy goes all-in, the chip leader calls and flips over K K, the other guy on the button flips over A 3 and he wins the hand, leaving the chip leader with only about $1000 in chips. Why the hell would the guy call with A 3 of all hands. So, I know right now I am in a tournament with a bunch of people who just watch poker on TV and don't play with any strategy whatsoever. Well the guy who was the chip leader then loses the next hand, and is eliminated, but wait he didn't use his rebuy so he plunks down another $50 and is back in action. I decided to play a hand for the steep price because I had no choice really, and the blinds almost didn't seem to matter because the pot was raised every hand. I was dealt A 7 off suit, and a new guy had just come to the table he was an alternate waiting for someone to get eliminated so he could play, he goes all in on the first hand I call with the A 7, he has me covered because he paid $100 to play and had $2000 chips. He flips over KQ and I flop A 7 5, and that's all I needed I doubled up the only hand I played thus far. Most people would have been happy but I hate playing coin flip poker, it's not really any fun and anyone can play that way. Anyway, I end up busting out in 30th place out of 69 players, I went all in with A 9 and someone had A 10 to bust me, I just couldn't get into the flow of this tournament, and being late to the tournament kind of threw me off a bit, but FDR placed 22nd and Black Dragon came in 17th. Those weren't bad finishes for it being their first tournament besides playing at our usual spot. I had a bad taste in my mouth after that tournament, but I analyzed my play and I realized I adapted to the style that was being played at my table it was a coin flip table and I didn't have chips, so that's all I could really do. I hoped my next tournament experience would be better.

The Plaza - 12:00 pm, 7:00pm, 12:00am daily - $55 - 1500 chips, $60 - 2000 chips, $100 - 3500 chips: 1 Re-Buy, 1 Add-On

AG told me he heard the best tournaments were at The Plaza, and I was determined to play there if I had the chance. The other people that were with me, didn't feel like playing Poker after we checked out Fremont Street, so they went back to the Hotel, and I stayed to play at the 12 am tournament. I went in and registered, and I had to wait an hour before it started, I played a little 3 Card poker while I waited, and I broke even, the funny part is when I was playing a guy sat down to my right, and the next hand that was dealt he made a straight flush, what a bastard I would have hit the straight flush if he didn't sit down, he was milling around doing nothing then out of the blue decides to play and he gets the straight flush I had been waiting patiently for LOL. Anyway the tournament starts, there are 4 tables and several alternates waiting to play, and I notice a difference in the players right away most of these people seem to be locals, while at Harrah's it was mostly people visiting. The game started off good first hand I was dealt A 9 in the small blind and I raised to $125 (I started with 2000 chips btw), I had 1 caller the flop came AC, 9H, 3D I act first and I check, the guy bets 100, I re-raise him to 250 he calls, next card 7C I lead out with a bet of 350 he sits there for a minute and folds. I already had a beat on him from talking to him a little bit before the tournament started he is a tight player and he scares really easily he told me how he laid down pocket Q's preflop because someone raised the pot to big for his comfort. The other players at the table were fairly easy to read except 3 guys, 1 was making huge raises and never had to show his hand, so I couldn't tell if he was bluffing or not. The second guy is one of those players that calls anything and will bet with anything he didnt' seem very good, but stupidity can be a strength sometimes. The last guy varied his play, he seemed very tight at times and very aggresive at others, but he didnt' play a lot of pots, so that worked to my advantage. I had an aggresive player to my right and the guy to my left was tight, but played his hands strong when he had something. Anyway I get dealt rags on the button 8 4 off suit, so I limp in because there were only 2 callers besides the blinds, the small blind goes away and the big blind just checks the flop comes 6C, 5D, JH the big blind checks, the player in 4th position bets 100 (double the big blind), the next player folds and it comes to me, a few months ago I would have folded this hand, but lately I have been attempting to find the reason why guys like Johnny Chan, John Juanda, and others always make it to final tables in tournaments, so I raise the pot to 300, the big blind immediately folds. The other player calls, at this point I am a little nervous but I trained myself to look the same a long time ago so I looked like a rock to that person. The next card is 3S, he leads out with a bet of 100 again, then I realize I forgot to try and put him on a hand, well being that he didn't raise before the flop and just limped he probably has a middle pair 5's - 9's, he didn't have a set IMHO because he did not bet bigger 100 is nothing as far as I was concerned, so I re-raised to 500 this time, I now have 850 invested in the pot entirely too much on a bluff, so he thinks about it for a while and puts me on straight and folds he shows he had 2 pair J's and 6's, he asks me did you have it and I say yep 4 7, boy if he only knew. I have bluffed plenty of times before, but that one I truly thought he was going to catch me, bluffing is a stressful thing that's why I never did it that much. I make it to the first break in great shape 7500 chips, and there are about 24 people left I am in the top 10 in chips. Here is where things messed me up, after the break the blind went from 200/400 to 500/1000, they skipped 300/600 and 400/800, I didn't know this before hand, now all of a sudden my stack doesnt look as good. They re-dealed for the button and I started as big blind, after two hands of folding I lost 1500 chips to blinds, I handn't lost 1500 chips to anything all tournament. Then 3 people were knocked out at my table and we had 5 players for about 15 - 20 minutes the blinds killed me and I went down to about 3500 in chips from blinds. They condensed everyone into 2 tables and just in time too, so a drunk guy was next to me complaining about something, and we were the only two in the pot I was big blind he was small blind, I had A 3 the flop came A, 6, 9 he bets 1000 I call, the next card is a 7 he checks I bet 1000 he folds. He then starts talking about how he hasn't gotten a hand in hours etc...., I tune him out and try to focus on making the final table. I manage to survive for a little while and the tournament is down to 11 people1 from the final table, and everyone is playing super tight, there is a guy at the other table with 500 chips trying to hold on, the blinds are now 600/1200 with a 50 ante and I only have about 4700 chips left, a guy across the table from me looks at his cards he is agonizing about playing them I immediately put him on A baby, or K baby, he reluctantly goes all-in, his exact words were I guess I go all-in. I am looking at pocket 6's, I start thinking what if I had pocket kings would I call yes, Queens yes, Jacks yes, it's all the same either way he has to hit an A to beat me if his other card is lower than a 6, so I call his all-in. He flips over A 10, just like I figured even though I was hoping he had A 5 or lower, the flop comes A, 7, 3 turn 4 river J. So I get eliminated in 11th place, no money, no final table for me, I was a bit bummed but I played well, and I can't complain the fact is was I playing poker to win or playing poker just to place I was trying to win, so I can't be disappointed.

I made a few mistakes in the tournament that I should not have on time, I raised in first position with J 10 and 2 people came over the top of me, I bet $600, and I ended up folding while they both went all-in against each other. Also, several times I didn't keep betting into someone and I won a lot less than I could have. I still have never made a final table in a tournament I have high finishes in several and I have come 1 from the final table 5 times without ever making it. I feel my game is getting better, and I am a single table king I play well when I have to beat 9 other people, if I can just make it to the final table in a tournament I think I can do well. The Plaza tournament was the best I have ever played in, the only thing I didn't like was their tables aren't felt they are some type of polyester material, and the blinds kill you later in the tournament, but other than that The Plaza gets good marks from me.