In my last post I mention Bobby Binski as the player who slept through much of his game one night at the Orleans. For some reason I decide to Google him and....no wonder he was tired. He played and cashed at the WSOP at least once and then played all day and night at the Orleans when he was not playing in the BIG ONE.
He was this funny and very nice old Jewish man who read the paper and ate onion rings at the table(causing one dealer to chastise him for getting grease on the cards) and slept most of the time and I remember beating him in one hand when I called his all in bet. His answer to the beat was:"I misread my hand" He said it with a very mischievious look on his face.
Hey....I beat a guy who actually knows how to play poker!!!!
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Last post: SO...why didn't I try for the big tourneys?
Honestly,I did not feel like spending the money. Simple. I do not have the bankroll to play in tourneys like that and I did not want to play scared. Maybe some day,but not yet. Simple answer, as I have to play the levels I am comfortable at. $1-2 and $2-5 are levels I can deal with right now. Nothing great but what can you do? There is money to be made though at these levels. Remember Marty from an earlier post?
I thought that I played well in Vegas. Yes,I ran into some bad beats but that is poker. All in all though,I won when I had the best most of the time. Patience helps a great deal and,although I do bitch about going long periods without cards,I do believe that I am getting even more patient when I play,which although boring at times,sure does save you money and headache in the long run.
Low level poker can be taxing on the brain as well as the pocketbook,especially when you play against fools,but all in all....those fools will eventually pay for your dinner and your toys and trinkets,and,even though they will get you once in a while that is what you must remember.
I can hardly wait till I get to play with my friends again.
Will I play the same foolhardy game that I play when I play with those friends? Maybe?
Possibly?Probably?Who knows?
I play this game because I love it...win or lose. This is why I almost hate playing with friends,because I take it too lightly. ;>)
I do know what I can hold my own though when I apply myself,and that is what counts for me,because if you can win consistently in Vegas you can win anywhere.
This is my 6th trip down there and my 5th winning session. Now if I could just apply myself to the home games I participate in......hmmmmm......we shall see:>)
This blog is now officially over. Hope that you enjoyed it.
SEE YOU AT THE TABLES!!!
I thought that I played well in Vegas. Yes,I ran into some bad beats but that is poker. All in all though,I won when I had the best most of the time. Patience helps a great deal and,although I do bitch about going long periods without cards,I do believe that I am getting even more patient when I play,which although boring at times,sure does save you money and headache in the long run.
Low level poker can be taxing on the brain as well as the pocketbook,especially when you play against fools,but all in all....those fools will eventually pay for your dinner and your toys and trinkets,and,even though they will get you once in a while that is what you must remember.
I can hardly wait till I get to play with my friends again.
Will I play the same foolhardy game that I play when I play with those friends? Maybe?
Possibly?Probably?Who knows?
I play this game because I love it...win or lose. This is why I almost hate playing with friends,because I take it too lightly. ;>)
I do know what I can hold my own though when I apply myself,and that is what counts for me,because if you can win consistently in Vegas you can win anywhere.
This is my 6th trip down there and my 5th winning session. Now if I could just apply myself to the home games I participate in......hmmmmm......we shall see:>)
This blog is now officially over. Hope that you enjoyed it.
SEE YOU AT THE TABLES!!!
and finally.....back to the cash table
Decided to try the cash table once again before I hit the road for home. The usual buy in for 200 and the usual crap for an hour or so. Hey...whatever happened to those cards I hit last night? Hmmmm...oh I see....that was LAST NIGHT! Not much is happening until I hit an 88 in early position. Now,normally I try and limp with a hand like this in early position but I decide to raise the pot to $15.00. There has already been 3 limpers in and,with the blinds there is $9.00 in there. Hell,I thought I would try at least. The next guy to act raises another $18.00. Hmmm...this could get ugly. Two other players stay in and I decide to call. The beauty flop is 8-K-7 I decide to check and the initial reraiser goes all in for his last $75.00. The other two players immediately fold and I think to myself...if this guy has KK I will puke. I seriously think about this for a couple of minutes and then the guy starts talking and trying to goad me into a call with comments like: "No guts no glory", "Now we are playing real poker" etc. He was kind of an old bully type guy with the big voice and the bigger pot belly. I put him on AA maybe AK. Like I said...if he has KK...well,that's the way it goes.....and I call with my set. He turns over AK and I clean him out as he misses the next two cards. It was great to win the pot as I made the right read but it was even greater knowing that I won with an AK earlier and won against the AK just now. What a great end to my trip.
I am going home a winner!
I am going home a winner!
Finally some rewards for patience
I decide to try the evening tourney at the Orleans. Now,for most of you who may not know,the Orleans is off the strip and is a locals casino. What that means is there are players there who will kill you and bleed you dry in a game if you have any degree of "suck" in your game. These guys just wait for the fish to come and they play day after day against each other. Many are on a first name basis and many of them are very above adequate players. No free poker "calling with anything" players here my friends. A tough game yet a very good game most of the time.
There are evening tourneys and morning tourneys and there are well over 100 or so players in each. Usually a $60 buy in and they pay the top ten. I played here the other night and finished on the bubble so I knew that I could hold my own here as long as I did not play like an idiot.
The details of this game are not too important except that I ACTUALLY WON A HUGE HAND WITH AK!!!!!! I did! Honest! Called in early position with AK diamonds and the flop was K-8-9 with two of them being diamonds. WHOOPPEE. What did I do? Well,I checked and the dealer made a big bet and I thought that he was worried about the diamonds so I put him on a pair. I seriously felt that I had him beat and I went into my little acting thing,hesitated and reluctantly called,saying that I would see one more card. Next card is a Q. I check again and he makes another big bet. I decide to pull the trigger and go all in. Now,this guy has a huge stack but I am not that far behind in chips and if he loses this he is crippled. He thinks and thinks and thinks and says I think you are on a diamond draw,but he does nothing. I am watching TV so I don't care what he says or does. Another few seconds go by and he calls with an AQ. SWEET!!! The river is a K. I win and he is reduced to rubble. What a great feeling. The guy took it well and was gone the next hand.
With his chips and playing some sound positional poker,I was able to finish fourth when my A-10 lost to an A-J. Good for $400. No bad beats and when I was ahead I won. Is poker really like that? Shockingly...the answer is yes....sometimes!!
Life is good once again.
There are evening tourneys and morning tourneys and there are well over 100 or so players in each. Usually a $60 buy in and they pay the top ten. I played here the other night and finished on the bubble so I knew that I could hold my own here as long as I did not play like an idiot.
The details of this game are not too important except that I ACTUALLY WON A HUGE HAND WITH AK!!!!!! I did! Honest! Called in early position with AK diamonds and the flop was K-8-9 with two of them being diamonds. WHOOPPEE. What did I do? Well,I checked and the dealer made a big bet and I thought that he was worried about the diamonds so I put him on a pair. I seriously felt that I had him beat and I went into my little acting thing,hesitated and reluctantly called,saying that I would see one more card. Next card is a Q. I check again and he makes another big bet. I decide to pull the trigger and go all in. Now,this guy has a huge stack but I am not that far behind in chips and if he loses this he is crippled. He thinks and thinks and thinks and says I think you are on a diamond draw,but he does nothing. I am watching TV so I don't care what he says or does. Another few seconds go by and he calls with an AQ. SWEET!!! The river is a K. I win and he is reduced to rubble. What a great feeling. The guy took it well and was gone the next hand.
With his chips and playing some sound positional poker,I was able to finish fourth when my A-10 lost to an A-J. Good for $400. No bad beats and when I was ahead I won. Is poker really like that? Shockingly...the answer is yes....sometimes!!
Life is good once again.
"I feel like I am at the Academy awards" Are you kidding me here?
So I head over to the Rio after I have dinner with Rob and Leanne who are in town for a few days. They are off to a show and I decide to do my photography thing. I head onto the strip and shoot some cool pics and then decide to go to the Rio to see whatever I can see.
I walk into the middle of the $50,000 HORSE tourney and everyone is there:Gus Hansen,Annie Duke,Doyle,Freddie Deeb,Daniel,Tony G,Lederer, and Scottie. They are all there man and it is quite cool. I am pretty close to the action and am able to get some great pics with my 18 zoom Panasonic.
One lady is beside me looking at the pics I am getting and says:"This is so wonderful...seeing all of these TV personalities.It is like being at the Academy Awards." Hmmmm......when I think of Angelina Jolie's cleavage,Brad Pitt's manliness and countless other stars with their class and coolness, and then I look over at Scottie Nguyen's sweaty old muscle shirt(don't you need muscles to wear a muscle shirt?),and most of these haggard old poker players who have been playing for hours and all look like they have been through a ringer,I really cannot associate any of them with any type of award let alone an Academy Award.
Still though...pretty cool to be able to get that close so that I can take pictures without anyone yelling at me.
I will try and load them on here if my brain ever starts to think in a technical manner. NOTE:Please do not hold your breath.
Nice to watch others suffer though. In a perverse way I enjoyed their apparent discomfort and stayed at the Rio until 1:00 AM,snapping away like a fool:>)
I walk into the middle of the $50,000 HORSE tourney and everyone is there:Gus Hansen,Annie Duke,Doyle,Freddie Deeb,Daniel,Tony G,Lederer, and Scottie. They are all there man and it is quite cool. I am pretty close to the action and am able to get some great pics with my 18 zoom Panasonic.
One lady is beside me looking at the pics I am getting and says:"This is so wonderful...seeing all of these TV personalities.It is like being at the Academy Awards." Hmmmm......when I think of Angelina Jolie's cleavage,Brad Pitt's manliness and countless other stars with their class and coolness, and then I look over at Scottie Nguyen's sweaty old muscle shirt(don't you need muscles to wear a muscle shirt?),and most of these haggard old poker players who have been playing for hours and all look like they have been through a ringer,I really cannot associate any of them with any type of award let alone an Academy Award.
Still though...pretty cool to be able to get that close so that I can take pictures without anyone yelling at me.
I will try and load them on here if my brain ever starts to think in a technical manner. NOTE:Please do not hold your breath.
Nice to watch others suffer though. In a perverse way I enjoyed their apparent discomfort and stayed at the Rio until 1:00 AM,snapping away like a fool:>)
I made how much an hour????
I know that I am a patient player but HOLY SHIT DUDE!
Played two cash games in the last two days. In those games I played a total of 10 hours and made.....are you ready for this?......$48.00!! WHAT??? Yep...once again I am card dead. Played 6 hours the first day and netted a whopping $17.00 and then 4 hours the next and took home $31.00. That is $4.80 an hour...whooppee.
Meanwhile,I sit and watch guys take in pots of $40 to $50 regularly and see the odd pot over $100 or so. One guy whom I met there slept through much of the 4 hours(seriously) and yet took a pot of over $800 when his pocket deuces hit big on the board which gave his opponent a flush and Bobbie Binsky(that was sleepy guy's name)a full house. He was half asleep during the whole damn session and yet made almost a grand! Sick.
Meanwhile I sit and sit and hit 2-7/3-9/j-5 etc. and cannot hit the board at all. Actually I was lucky enough to to hit a river card once when I was all in against two pair or else I would have been broke.
Don't know what it is about poker sometimes. You sit and sit and wait for your "pair in every 17 hands",and they never come. In those 10 hours I doubt if I had 5 pocket pairs. The ones I did have were either 3's,4's,6's etc. Meanwhile I watch and see players hitting AA/KK with regularity. Man this game is so depressing sometimes. Am I whining?...yep I am.
Screw this...I am heading off to the Rio to watch the pros.
Played two cash games in the last two days. In those games I played a total of 10 hours and made.....are you ready for this?......$48.00!! WHAT??? Yep...once again I am card dead. Played 6 hours the first day and netted a whopping $17.00 and then 4 hours the next and took home $31.00. That is $4.80 an hour...whooppee.
Meanwhile,I sit and watch guys take in pots of $40 to $50 regularly and see the odd pot over $100 or so. One guy whom I met there slept through much of the 4 hours(seriously) and yet took a pot of over $800 when his pocket deuces hit big on the board which gave his opponent a flush and Bobbie Binsky(that was sleepy guy's name)a full house. He was half asleep during the whole damn session and yet made almost a grand! Sick.
Meanwhile I sit and sit and hit 2-7/3-9/j-5 etc. and cannot hit the board at all. Actually I was lucky enough to to hit a river card once when I was all in against two pair or else I would have been broke.
Don't know what it is about poker sometimes. You sit and sit and wait for your "pair in every 17 hands",and they never come. In those 10 hours I doubt if I had 5 pocket pairs. The ones I did have were either 3's,4's,6's etc. Meanwhile I watch and see players hitting AA/KK with regularity. Man this game is so depressing sometimes. Am I whining?...yep I am.
Screw this...I am heading off to the Rio to watch the pros.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
A bad start but a "happy ending"
Signed up for a tourney tonight at the South Point. 140 players and a $90 buy in.
Decided to play smart and not push with any nonsense and went into "free poker" mode.
Well...that was the idea anyway. Sat through two rounds of the table with not even a hint of a hand. Blinds were too small to really make a stab at the pot as there were several call stations at my table.
So....had A-Q diamonds in the cutoff. Blinds were 50-100. Six players limp and I bet 800 trying to take it down right there. One caller(dealer)Flop is Q-8-2 rainbow. Hey...I have top pair and top kicker. So I lead out for 1600. He looks at his cards,checks out the pot,thinks for a bit and decides to call. WTF? Now what have I run into? This guy has been calling everything just like the drunken fool from last night. Turn is a Queen of clubs and I now have QQQ. I put him all in. He does not even think about it and he calls. He has an AJ of clubs!!!! Is this guy for real? Am I going to lose to a flush again as there are two on the board? This cannot be happening. I plead with the Gods: "Give me a heart! Pair the board! I will take a diamond! I will take a.........and,as I am praying,the dealer turns up another club!!! I have been run down two nights in a row by fools. Have I died and gone to "free poker hell?"
Oh man,this is putting a damper on my trip. I am starting to get that "I suck" thing going on in my head. If you do not have luck in this game,it does not matter what you know. Grrrrr..... screw this,I am going to play cash again.
Despite losing that last hand I feel that I am playing well but not getting the breaks so I buy in for $200 and,in my first hand I walk into my famous 8-5 again!! Hmmmm...everyone limps except the dealer who makes it $12. Everyone calls of course and,since there is so much money in there I also decide to call. The flop is 8-5-9! Oh my,this is good BUT.....am I heading for disaster again? Everyone checks to me and I decide to bet $80. The dealer reraises all in with his remaining 50 or so dollars. Everyone has folded and,I have to call. Lo and behold...the dealer had AA! No A shows up on the board and I take home a nice pot.
And now the kicker:The dealer and one other player decide to leave the table and...as much as I would have liked to stay,my senses tell me to get out of there as well. Now,this is something that I normally do not do. I mean...I have played 1 hand! But....since the guy I beat left,I decided that there was no harm in leaving and I walked home ahead despite my $90 tourney loss a few moments ago. All in all,a happy ending,considering my recent spate of bad beats.
I can always play tomorrow right?
Decided to play smart and not push with any nonsense and went into "free poker" mode.
Well...that was the idea anyway. Sat through two rounds of the table with not even a hint of a hand. Blinds were too small to really make a stab at the pot as there were several call stations at my table.
So....had A-Q diamonds in the cutoff. Blinds were 50-100. Six players limp and I bet 800 trying to take it down right there. One caller(dealer)Flop is Q-8-2 rainbow. Hey...I have top pair and top kicker. So I lead out for 1600. He looks at his cards,checks out the pot,thinks for a bit and decides to call. WTF? Now what have I run into? This guy has been calling everything just like the drunken fool from last night. Turn is a Queen of clubs and I now have QQQ. I put him all in. He does not even think about it and he calls. He has an AJ of clubs!!!! Is this guy for real? Am I going to lose to a flush again as there are two on the board? This cannot be happening. I plead with the Gods: "Give me a heart! Pair the board! I will take a diamond! I will take a.........and,as I am praying,the dealer turns up another club!!! I have been run down two nights in a row by fools. Have I died and gone to "free poker hell?"
Oh man,this is putting a damper on my trip. I am starting to get that "I suck" thing going on in my head. If you do not have luck in this game,it does not matter what you know. Grrrrr..... screw this,I am going to play cash again.
Despite losing that last hand I feel that I am playing well but not getting the breaks so I buy in for $200 and,in my first hand I walk into my famous 8-5 again!! Hmmmm...everyone limps except the dealer who makes it $12. Everyone calls of course and,since there is so much money in there I also decide to call. The flop is 8-5-9! Oh my,this is good BUT.....am I heading for disaster again? Everyone checks to me and I decide to bet $80. The dealer reraises all in with his remaining 50 or so dollars. Everyone has folded and,I have to call. Lo and behold...the dealer had AA! No A shows up on the board and I take home a nice pot.
And now the kicker:The dealer and one other player decide to leave the table and...as much as I would have liked to stay,my senses tell me to get out of there as well. Now,this is something that I normally do not do. I mean...I have played 1 hand! But....since the guy I beat left,I decided that there was no harm in leaving and I walked home ahead despite my $90 tourney loss a few moments ago. All in all,a happy ending,considering my recent spate of bad beats.
I can always play tomorrow right?
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