poker, poker, find the joker!
You know what they say - if you fall off the horse you have to get back in the saddle again a.s.a.p. (not to be confused with w.s.o.p.), so as I had declared in my previous blog entry I put on my Stetson and the blue jeans ready to mount the black stallion they call The Bellagio Cup.
I thought I was in good time to enter the $1,000+80 tournament, but when I showed up 2 hours prior to the event I was told "you are alternate No. 31, Sir!" Wow. That meant at least 400 entries. I went to enjoy lunch at the amazingly chique "Sensi" restaurant. Four different and separate kitchens (Italian, Indian, Japanese, forgot what the last one was) behind steel and glass, rough and polished granite, waterfalls and beautiful designer furniture, a true feast for the eye as well as the tongue. Thumbs down for letting a guy in wearing tank top and flipflops though. Did he have a lot of money or was it simply that good old bad AMErican taste again?
Back to poker. I was seated at a table in the main poker room (the majority of the tables were in the Fontana Lounge where all Bellagio tournaments take place, including the WPT). Hours went by with nothing special to report, I was doing well without getting cards, and I think I was at just shy of $7,000 in chips (starting stack $5,000) when I got the Kings in the small blind. A guy with a larger stack than mine raised to $1,800 (blinds were now $300/600 with a $50 ante). I reraised him another $2,000 on top of that and he called. Flop came KK8!!! I had 4-of-a-kind on the flop, I don´t think that has ever happened to me before. I kept stonecold as I pretended to think for half a minute then I checked. He went all-in (YES!!!!!) and I walked away with almost $15,000 as they broke up our table immediately after.
Enter the Fontana Lounge. Michael Mizrachi aka "The Grinder" was at the neighboring table, Isabelle Mercier was walking around, the waitresses were taken out of a Playboy/Victoría's Secret Swimsuit Calendar - no swimsuits though, they were replaced by short skirts and tight tops (Sorry girls and ladies, but I wanna LIVE here!!!), heaven........
An older acquaintance of mine (German Carsten Joh residing in Spain) came up to me and said hi. We have been to many a backgammon tournament together, and we exchanged a few comments about poker and backgammon. We both agree that backgammon is much more exciting and technically challenging than poker, but as he said "there is so much more money in poker that you can´t let it pass you by". Very True. PartyGammon has just been launched and could be the beginning of a revival for the old board game ("outstacking" poker by roughly 5,000 years).
After the break the blinds went up to $400/800 with an ante of $75, meaning there would be $1,950 in the pot even before the cards were dealt. I raised the BB out of an early pot, and got up to $18,000. The next hand I raised again on the button with AQ and the small blind went all-in for less than my raise. She flipped the "Siegfried and Roy" and the case queen came on the flop, I was drawing (almost, only runner-runner aces could save me) dead and went down to $16,000. 2 levels went on and I maintained my stack.
Then they broke up our table. I got seated at table 64, the Final Table, the only one on "the stage"! I knew I would never leave this table to go to another, all other tables would be broken to fill up this one. There were now less than a hundred players left out of a field of 448. First 50 would get a minimum of $1,700, first prize was $134,000.
My new table was a lot tougher than the one I had left, and still I caught no cards. Blinds were now $600/1200 with $100 ante, so there would be $2,800 in the pot to begin with, and I had only around 5 times that in my stack. Aggressive - yet selective - play was called for. Twice I went all-in in late position, only to hear a loud grumble from the guys 2 and 3 seats to the left of me respectively. They had apparently been sitting next to each other for a long time and had built up some kind of comradery. Still they folded and I kept my stack intact at 5 times the blinds and antes. The guy in seat 5 (I was in seat 3) promised me "I will be ready and waiting for you next time!" Next time (now blinds 800/1600, antes 200) was the following hand, I went all-in again, and again he folded this time saying nothing. Scooping in his ante chips I said "Did I misunderstand something?" The air was loaded......
Time went by, we had upped it another level, about 80 players were left in the tournament. I had only half of the average stack but I felt quite alright, knowing that not all players knew how to manage this situation technically correct. Then comes the first decent hand I had looked at for the past 2 hours: KJ off-suit. Yes, you may laugh, but that is the truth. I was in the cut-off seat (the one to the right of the dealer button) and this time I decided to raise it to $5,000. Fold-fold, then the small blind went all-in, demanding almost all my remaining chips ($10,100 out of $11,200 to be exact) to see the flop. I thought for a while: The guy had 3 times called raises and all-in bets with lower suited connectors, and even if he had a pair, it would probably be a lower one, so I decided to call. I was delighted to see his Js10c against my KdJc, I am almost a 3:1 favorite. A jack came on the flop with two spades. Runner-runner spades made his flush, instead of looking at more than $30,000 in chips and a VERY good chance of ending up in the money, I was now looking at $1,100, not even enough to pay the blinds!! Sucked out, goddamit, and I had read him perfectly.
I folded the next couple of hands, 10-2 and J-3 are simply not good enough to go all-in. With $700 left I finally went all-in without looking at my cards, and I got one caller, the guy that had said he would be waiting for me. He showed a pair of nines, and I turned over 95c, yuck! However, we both made a straight on the river (phew!) and now I had almost $3,000!! Another few hands went by when I decided to go all-in UTG unseen (under the gun, the player first to act pre-flop), I had exactly $1,600 to match the BB. Two callers, One with A10, the other with KJ. I turned over my cards: 63.... two 6's flop and save my butt, I am now up to $7,000!!
The blinds gobble through me and take $2,000 out of my stack. There is a break, 69 players left, only 19 more to exit before the money will rain on us. I have outlasted 379 players at the Bellagio so far, I am like butter (=on a roll, haha!) and after one hand I am looking at pocket 3's (blinds now 1,000/2,000, antes $300, my stack $4,700). A young Swedish player goes all-in two seats to my right. He has been doing this a little too often, and I of course call, there is no way I can wait for a better hand with these antes. The small blind thinks for a loooong time (I wish he hadn't) before calling the all-in bet with A10. The Swede had nothing, and there was nothing on the board for the SB (2 Qs and a 7), until the turn revealed a Jack and ultimately a King completed his gutshot straight to send me out into the warm Las Vegas air in 69th spot.
Tomorrow is my last day in Vegas this time around. I have learned a couple of lessons, but none of them have told me I should stay away in the future - on the contrary. I will pick up a new chip carrier and play cash games tomorrow, I will have fish and seafod with my friend Thomas in the evening (most of you know him, he visited me in CR for a few weeks at the beginning of the year - he lost 11 hours into day2 of the main event today) and then I will be heading home to my sweet Costa Rica Friday morning.
There is a new tournament at the new West Wing Jazz Casino in Escazù August 10th and 11th, but ssssshhhh.... don´t tell anyone, I want them all to myself!! ;o)
I thought I was in good time to enter the $1,000+80 tournament, but when I showed up 2 hours prior to the event I was told "you are alternate No. 31, Sir!" Wow. That meant at least 400 entries. I went to enjoy lunch at the amazingly chique "Sensi" restaurant. Four different and separate kitchens (Italian, Indian, Japanese, forgot what the last one was) behind steel and glass, rough and polished granite, waterfalls and beautiful designer furniture, a true feast for the eye as well as the tongue. Thumbs down for letting a guy in wearing tank top and flipflops though. Did he have a lot of money or was it simply that good old bad AMErican taste again?
Back to poker. I was seated at a table in the main poker room (the majority of the tables were in the Fontana Lounge where all Bellagio tournaments take place, including the WPT). Hours went by with nothing special to report, I was doing well without getting cards, and I think I was at just shy of $7,000 in chips (starting stack $5,000) when I got the Kings in the small blind. A guy with a larger stack than mine raised to $1,800 (blinds were now $300/600 with a $50 ante). I reraised him another $2,000 on top of that and he called. Flop came KK8!!! I had 4-of-a-kind on the flop, I don´t think that has ever happened to me before. I kept stonecold as I pretended to think for half a minute then I checked. He went all-in (YES!!!!!) and I walked away with almost $15,000 as they broke up our table immediately after.
Enter the Fontana Lounge. Michael Mizrachi aka "The Grinder" was at the neighboring table, Isabelle Mercier was walking around, the waitresses were taken out of a Playboy/Victoría's Secret Swimsuit Calendar - no swimsuits though, they were replaced by short skirts and tight tops (Sorry girls and ladies, but I wanna LIVE here!!!), heaven........
An older acquaintance of mine (German Carsten Joh residing in Spain) came up to me and said hi. We have been to many a backgammon tournament together, and we exchanged a few comments about poker and backgammon. We both agree that backgammon is much more exciting and technically challenging than poker, but as he said "there is so much more money in poker that you can´t let it pass you by". Very True. PartyGammon has just been launched and could be the beginning of a revival for the old board game ("outstacking" poker by roughly 5,000 years).
After the break the blinds went up to $400/800 with an ante of $75, meaning there would be $1,950 in the pot even before the cards were dealt. I raised the BB out of an early pot, and got up to $18,000. The next hand I raised again on the button with AQ and the small blind went all-in for less than my raise. She flipped the "Siegfried and Roy" and the case queen came on the flop, I was drawing (almost, only runner-runner aces could save me) dead and went down to $16,000. 2 levels went on and I maintained my stack.
Then they broke up our table. I got seated at table 64, the Final Table, the only one on "the stage"! I knew I would never leave this table to go to another, all other tables would be broken to fill up this one. There were now less than a hundred players left out of a field of 448. First 50 would get a minimum of $1,700, first prize was $134,000.
My new table was a lot tougher than the one I had left, and still I caught no cards. Blinds were now $600/1200 with $100 ante, so there would be $2,800 in the pot to begin with, and I had only around 5 times that in my stack. Aggressive - yet selective - play was called for. Twice I went all-in in late position, only to hear a loud grumble from the guys 2 and 3 seats to the left of me respectively. They had apparently been sitting next to each other for a long time and had built up some kind of comradery. Still they folded and I kept my stack intact at 5 times the blinds and antes. The guy in seat 5 (I was in seat 3) promised me "I will be ready and waiting for you next time!" Next time (now blinds 800/1600, antes 200) was the following hand, I went all-in again, and again he folded this time saying nothing. Scooping in his ante chips I said "Did I misunderstand something?" The air was loaded......
Time went by, we had upped it another level, about 80 players were left in the tournament. I had only half of the average stack but I felt quite alright, knowing that not all players knew how to manage this situation technically correct. Then comes the first decent hand I had looked at for the past 2 hours: KJ off-suit. Yes, you may laugh, but that is the truth. I was in the cut-off seat (the one to the right of the dealer button) and this time I decided to raise it to $5,000. Fold-fold, then the small blind went all-in, demanding almost all my remaining chips ($10,100 out of $11,200 to be exact) to see the flop. I thought for a while: The guy had 3 times called raises and all-in bets with lower suited connectors, and even if he had a pair, it would probably be a lower one, so I decided to call. I was delighted to see his Js10c against my KdJc, I am almost a 3:1 favorite. A jack came on the flop with two spades. Runner-runner spades made his flush, instead of looking at more than $30,000 in chips and a VERY good chance of ending up in the money, I was now looking at $1,100, not even enough to pay the blinds!! Sucked out, goddamit, and I had read him perfectly.
I folded the next couple of hands, 10-2 and J-3 are simply not good enough to go all-in. With $700 left I finally went all-in without looking at my cards, and I got one caller, the guy that had said he would be waiting for me. He showed a pair of nines, and I turned over 95c, yuck! However, we both made a straight on the river (phew!) and now I had almost $3,000!! Another few hands went by when I decided to go all-in UTG unseen (under the gun, the player first to act pre-flop), I had exactly $1,600 to match the BB. Two callers, One with A10, the other with KJ. I turned over my cards: 63.... two 6's flop and save my butt, I am now up to $7,000!!
The blinds gobble through me and take $2,000 out of my stack. There is a break, 69 players left, only 19 more to exit before the money will rain on us. I have outlasted 379 players at the Bellagio so far, I am like butter (=on a roll, haha!) and after one hand I am looking at pocket 3's (blinds now 1,000/2,000, antes $300, my stack $4,700). A young Swedish player goes all-in two seats to my right. He has been doing this a little too often, and I of course call, there is no way I can wait for a better hand with these antes. The small blind thinks for a loooong time (I wish he hadn't) before calling the all-in bet with A10. The Swede had nothing, and there was nothing on the board for the SB (2 Qs and a 7), until the turn revealed a Jack and ultimately a King completed his gutshot straight to send me out into the warm Las Vegas air in 69th spot.
Tomorrow is my last day in Vegas this time around. I have learned a couple of lessons, but none of them have told me I should stay away in the future - on the contrary. I will pick up a new chip carrier and play cash games tomorrow, I will have fish and seafod with my friend Thomas in the evening (most of you know him, he visited me in CR for a few weeks at the beginning of the year - he lost 11 hours into day2 of the main event today) and then I will be heading home to my sweet Costa Rica Friday morning.
There is a new tournament at the new West Wing Jazz Casino in Escazù August 10th and 11th, but ssssshhhh.... don´t tell anyone, I want them all to myself!! ;o)
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