So, I am back in Tampa after a fun time in Vegas. Reflecting on the last few days I can only come up with positive experiences.
I found my Blackjack stride (Thanks to Adrian/Monica), and the one time I played cash I came out in the Green. A big difference between the Pocket Queens debacle last year where I lost $140 bucks in 1 hand. I think I am now addicted to Roulette even though I don't win much at it lol. I think the thrill of watching the ball roll around and come to a stop provides a rush.
After I made that deal in the 1-table satellite I bum rushed a guy holding $500 dollars in his hand, which was the exact amount of the tournament chip in my pocket. I ran up to him and said hey you buying into a tournament? Cash my chip out, and I started grabbing for the money and handing him the chip. It was a short asian guy and he was kind of mumbling and grumbling then he handed over the cash and took the chip. I said thanks and was off to count my new found green. I was walking back towards Adrian and he was looking at my like WTF??? He said do you know who that was? I was like no. He said that was Can Kim Hua a pro poker player, he made several WPT final tables and a few WSOP final tables. I was like really? I didn't even notice all I saw was the money. I looked the guy up online, he is a good damn poker player LOL. Thanks Can Kim!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.cardplayer.com/players/results/Can-Kim-Hua/176
On the last night before I was leaving for the airport, we all went to Planet Hollywood to eat at Pampas one of those Brazilian Skewer places the food was good. Then we hit the tables again for one last round of Blackjack, but we played Roulette first and didn't hit anything LOL. I was up about $75 at Blackjack and Adrian said last hand because we had to leave for the airport. Both him and Monica said put it all in, me being a little bit tipsy from drinking Adios's said what the hell and pushed all my money on the circle. There was about $175 or so in there, and the dealer starts dealing, I believe I got a 10 with the first card, and a 9 with the second one. The dealer had a Queen showing, and I was like "s*it" she's going to have 20, but she flipped over a 6 she hit and busted WOOT!!!!!!!!!! Then on the real last hand LOL, I put in $100 bet, and the dealer dealt me a 10 and a King, I thought the $100 was a lock until she flopped over a 10 and a 4 then hit and got a 7 for 21!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I flipped her 5 bucks collected my chips and left lol.
It kind of sucks to be back, and at work, but I guess all good things come to an end. We had so much fun, you guys can ask Adrian about his lasting memory of me and Blackjack from this trip LOL.
Showing posts with label Las Vegas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Las Vegas. Show all posts
Thursday, July 05, 2007
My First WSOP Tournament!!!
Well my WSOP experience lasting all of about 40 minutes, and for the most part I feel I played well, but things did go my way.
I arrived at the Rio, and proceeded to head for the poker room I wasn't all that nervous or anything, it was more excitement than anything else. Me, Adrian, and Mark are walking talking poker, and Adrian gives us some tips on the rules and how to try and play the first couple of hours. We were comparing seat cards and what not, and I was at table 109 while Mark and Adrian's tables were in the 200's. We go to find my table and discover it's outside in the "heat tent" which was this make shift tent that Harrah's had setup a large section of tables outside in this tent with portable AC units. Well that's all fine and dandy, but it's Las Vegas with it's 106 degree heat and a tent room, not enough AC in the world is going to cool that place off!!! So we go back into this loading dock area, and Mark wants to Video Blog us before the tourney, so we went to the loading area because we didn't want to look like newb tourists LOL. After the "Vlog" we wish each other luck and I head off to my table.
I sit down in seat 9, and is a British dude to my left and then some dude who thought he was a rapper sitting to my right. The table fills up except one player and the tournament director starts the tournament. I look around to see what Pros are near me (there are none at my table), and I see Andrew Black walk in about 4 tables over. Then J.C. Tran walks in and comes towards my table and I am like that will be interesting, but he walks past and sits at the table next to mine. My table is full of amateurs and wannabe's for the most part, and I have learned if you listen to people talk they can tell you all you need to know about how they play LOL.
The guy in seat 1 gets aces on the first hand and takes about $1000 chips from this Swedish guy in seat 2, I think I have found the ATM at the table. So I get dealt
in the cutoff seat. The action wasn't raised to me just a four limpers, so I pump up the 25/50 blinds to $200 (overbet I know). Everyone folds except the "Swedish ATM", he calls and the flop comes 
he checks to me and I lead out with a continuation bet of about $200 he calls!!!!! The next card is a 
he checks to me. At this point I am not sure if I should fire again or just check, I don't feel he is on a flush draw, I start to think that he may have a small pair. So I fire out again with a bet of $200, he calls!!!!! The river card 
and I say bingo in my head, and of course he checks and I over bet $400 so he thinks I am bluffing, but he folds to me and I take down about a nice pot early.
So I am off to a decent start, I am up to about $4500 early ($1500 over the starting amount), which is good. I called a few small raises to see if I could catch something, but nothing came of it. Then I was dealt
while I was on the button. Seat 5 raises to $250, I call with jacks of course, but I don't feel good about it because I prefer to be the initial raiser. The flop comes 
me and Seat 5 are heads up and he checks to me, I lead out with a bet of $250 as sort of a feeler bet, he calls. The next card is 
he checks to me again and I lead out with a "Strong" bet of $600 hoping to take the hand down right then, he ho's and hum's and calls. The last card 
making a flush which I don't think he has, and he immediately pushes all in for his last $900 (F*CK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). There is almost 3000 in the pot, and if I call I will be down to about $1675 in chips. I don't think the flush is likely, the only think i can think of is he had the 10's the entire time and was slowplaying them. But it was just wierd so I folded after a lot of thinking. He didn't show, so I will never know what he had.
The infamous last hand I was dealt
and everyone limped it came to me and I pumped it up to $300 (the blinds were 50/100), and this Canadian lady re-raised me to $600 I just call (which was probably a mistake). The Flop comes 
making a top set of kings with my hand. Since I was acting first I lead out with a bet of about $400, I intentionally underbet the value of the pot so it would give her a reason to call. She calls and the next card is 
I am thinking about the range of hands she may have and I thought maybe she had Ace King with the way she played things so far. I lead out with a bet of $1000 in order to see how serious she was, and I only had $625 left after that. She asks how much I have left and she puts me all-in, I gladly call and the river card is 
and I show my set of kings and ask her if she has a jack (which crept into my mind as the last card was being flipped), and she says yes and turns over 
which gave her a 1-Card straight, and it knocked me out of the tournament. I wasn't mad about it, but I wished I was able to stay in a bit longer and see how things would have gone.
I arrived at the Rio, and proceeded to head for the poker room I wasn't all that nervous or anything, it was more excitement than anything else. Me, Adrian, and Mark are walking talking poker, and Adrian gives us some tips on the rules and how to try and play the first couple of hours. We were comparing seat cards and what not, and I was at table 109 while Mark and Adrian's tables were in the 200's. We go to find my table and discover it's outside in the "heat tent" which was this make shift tent that Harrah's had setup a large section of tables outside in this tent with portable AC units. Well that's all fine and dandy, but it's Las Vegas with it's 106 degree heat and a tent room, not enough AC in the world is going to cool that place off!!! So we go back into this loading dock area, and Mark wants to Video Blog us before the tourney, so we went to the loading area because we didn't want to look like newb tourists LOL. After the "Vlog" we wish each other luck and I head off to my table.
I sit down in seat 9, and is a British dude to my left and then some dude who thought he was a rapper sitting to my right. The table fills up except one player and the tournament director starts the tournament. I look around to see what Pros are near me (there are none at my table), and I see Andrew Black walk in about 4 tables over. Then J.C. Tran walks in and comes towards my table and I am like that will be interesting, but he walks past and sits at the table next to mine. My table is full of amateurs and wannabe's for the most part, and I have learned if you listen to people talk they can tell you all you need to know about how they play LOL.
The guy in seat 1 gets aces on the first hand and takes about $1000 chips from this Swedish guy in seat 2, I think I have found the ATM at the table. So I get dealt
in the cutoff seat. The action wasn't raised to me just a four limpers, so I pump up the 25/50 blinds to $200 (overbet I know). Everyone folds except the "Swedish ATM", he calls and the flop comes he checks to me and I lead out with a continuation bet of about $200 he calls!!!!! The next card is a he checks to me. At this point I am not sure if I should fire again or just check, I don't feel he is on a flush draw, I start to think that he may have a small pair. So I fire out again with a bet of $200, he calls!!!!! The river card and I say bingo in my head, and of course he checks and I over bet $400 so he thinks I am bluffing, but he folds to me and I take down about a nice pot early.So I am off to a decent start, I am up to about $4500 early ($1500 over the starting amount), which is good. I called a few small raises to see if I could catch something, but nothing came of it. Then I was dealt
while I was on the button. Seat 5 raises to $250, I call with jacks of course, but I don't feel good about it because I prefer to be the initial raiser. The flop comes me and Seat 5 are heads up and he checks to me, I lead out with a bet of $250 as sort of a feeler bet, he calls. The next card is he checks to me again and I lead out with a "Strong" bet of $600 hoping to take the hand down right then, he ho's and hum's and calls. The last card making a flush which I don't think he has, and he immediately pushes all in for his last $900 (F*CK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). There is almost 3000 in the pot, and if I call I will be down to about $1675 in chips. I don't think the flush is likely, the only think i can think of is he had the 10's the entire time and was slowplaying them. But it was just wierd so I folded after a lot of thinking. He didn't show, so I will never know what he had.The infamous last hand I was dealt
and everyone limped it came to me and I pumped it up to $300 (the blinds were 50/100), and this Canadian lady re-raised me to $600 I just call (which was probably a mistake). The Flop comes making a top set of kings with my hand. Since I was acting first I lead out with a bet of about $400, I intentionally underbet the value of the pot so it would give her a reason to call. She calls and the next card is I am thinking about the range of hands she may have and I thought maybe she had Ace King with the way she played things so far. I lead out with a bet of $1000 in order to see how serious she was, and I only had $625 left after that. She asks how much I have left and she puts me all-in, I gladly call and the river card is and I show my set of kings and ask her if she has a jack (which crept into my mind as the last card was being flipped), and she says yes and turns over which gave her a 1-Card straight, and it knocked me out of the tournament. I wasn't mad about it, but I wished I was able to stay in a bit longer and see how things would have gone.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Hello Vegas, I'm Back!!!!!!!!!
I arrived in Vegas tonight, and it sure feels good to be back in the city. Nikki and Adrian picked me up from the Airport and we grabbed a bite to eat at the Wynn and headed over to the Rio so I could register for the WSOP tournament tomorrow (errrmmm Today). While I was in line they went to play a Sit n' Go tournament, I finally registered and was relieved to get my entry ticket.
I have waited many years to play in a WSOP event, and I am on the Eve of it finally happening. So I head to the Men's room while mulling over playing in a Single Table Satellite Tournament, well I leave the mens room and head back to the Poker Room and I realize I didn't have my entry ticket for the tournament on me. GASP!!!!! So, I rush back and go to the stall I had been in and there was a guy closing the door, I knocked on the stall door before it closed, pushed it open and grabbed my entry tickets leaving the guy with a befuddled look on his face. He probably wouldn't have said anything since I was a bit bigger than him lol.
So, I get back and decide to play in a $175 satellite tournament, the setup is 10 players winner take all which is $1500 in tournament chips and $120 in cash. You start with $1000 chips.
When the tournament started with the blinds 25/25 sandwich wrap lady called and after the flop, she bet about half the pot, then scruffy re-raised her and she went all-in (on the first hand) Scruff called her and his Ace King had her K 9 dominated as a King came off on the flop her hand didn't improve and "flush" $175 down the drain. The way she was f*cking that sandwich up there was no way she was going to win.
I picked up Pocket Kings about the 8th hand and I was in the BB, the hand had been raised by a player to my right, and I did the patented Marcus overbet and re-raised him to $550. He put in the rest of his chips and declared All-In, I called and flipped over my Kings his Pocket 8's didn't improve and I doubled up. I picked up a few pots raising pre-flop, and making a few 3/4 pot sized bets on the flop since I had a tight image and people felt I only played monsters. After several other players went out I was in a hand with Scruff, I was dealt Ace Six Off suit he called as I was in the BB, an Ace came on the flop with 2 diamonds. I made a pot sized bet, he re-raised me about 3 times my bet, I felt he had a flush draw and not a big Ace since there was no raise pre-flop. So I pushed all-in he called and didn't catch a diamond, now I am 2nd in chips at the table. I ended up heads up with this young, drunk, dude who had knocked most of the people out with hitting great flops. We played a few hands heads up, and I raised pre-flop with garbage a few times and he folded, then when we did play a flop he just checked it down he had about 6800 chips to my 3200. He then looked over at me and said you wanna make a deal? I thought about it and said okay, I started out with a 60% - 40% deal in his favor and he couldn't calculate the amount and he goes how about you get 1 chip and half the cash and we split the dealer tip. I went ahead and agreed to the deal, I ended up with $40 and $500 in tournament chips. He was drunk and was tired of playing I probably should have kept trying to beat him, but my tight side kicked in and I took the money. On the way out I traded the tournament chip for $500 cash to this pro poker player (whom I didn't recognize), Adrian told me who he was, I remember seeing him at a few final tables, I guess I was just so jacked up to get the cash lol!!!!
That was a nice start to the trip and hopefully I will have similar fortunes in the tournament tomorrow.
I have waited many years to play in a WSOP event, and I am on the Eve of it finally happening. So I head to the Men's room while mulling over playing in a Single Table Satellite Tournament, well I leave the mens room and head back to the Poker Room and I realize I didn't have my entry ticket for the tournament on me. GASP!!!!! So, I rush back and go to the stall I had been in and there was a guy closing the door, I knocked on the stall door before it closed, pushed it open and grabbed my entry tickets leaving the guy with a befuddled look on his face. He probably wouldn't have said anything since I was a bit bigger than him lol.
So, I get back and decide to play in a $175 satellite tournament, the setup is 10 players winner take all which is $1500 in tournament chips and $120 in cash. You start with $1000 chips.
When the tournament started with the blinds 25/25 sandwich wrap lady called and after the flop, she bet about half the pot, then scruffy re-raised her and she went all-in (on the first hand) Scruff called her and his Ace King had her K 9 dominated as a King came off on the flop her hand didn't improve and "flush" $175 down the drain. The way she was f*cking that sandwich up there was no way she was going to win.
I picked up Pocket Kings about the 8th hand and I was in the BB, the hand had been raised by a player to my right, and I did the patented Marcus overbet and re-raised him to $550. He put in the rest of his chips and declared All-In, I called and flipped over my Kings his Pocket 8's didn't improve and I doubled up. I picked up a few pots raising pre-flop, and making a few 3/4 pot sized bets on the flop since I had a tight image and people felt I only played monsters. After several other players went out I was in a hand with Scruff, I was dealt Ace Six Off suit he called as I was in the BB, an Ace came on the flop with 2 diamonds. I made a pot sized bet, he re-raised me about 3 times my bet, I felt he had a flush draw and not a big Ace since there was no raise pre-flop. So I pushed all-in he called and didn't catch a diamond, now I am 2nd in chips at the table. I ended up heads up with this young, drunk, dude who had knocked most of the people out with hitting great flops. We played a few hands heads up, and I raised pre-flop with garbage a few times and he folded, then when we did play a flop he just checked it down he had about 6800 chips to my 3200. He then looked over at me and said you wanna make a deal? I thought about it and said okay, I started out with a 60% - 40% deal in his favor and he couldn't calculate the amount and he goes how about you get 1 chip and half the cash and we split the dealer tip. I went ahead and agreed to the deal, I ended up with $40 and $500 in tournament chips. He was drunk and was tired of playing I probably should have kept trying to beat him, but my tight side kicked in and I took the money. On the way out I traded the tournament chip for $500 cash to this pro poker player (whom I didn't recognize), Adrian told me who he was, I remember seeing him at a few final tables, I guess I was just so jacked up to get the cash lol!!!!
That was a nice start to the trip and hopefully I will have similar fortunes in the tournament tomorrow.
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