- Vegas musings and stuff that didn't cost money

I was pretty awestruck getting into Las Vegas late Friday evening. The skyline is amazing (even though our hotel was less than expected). My roommate's Dad goes gambling a lot so we got two free rooms (one in Caesar's and one in the Imperial Palace). The Caesar's room was huge, had an extra couch, flat screen, mini-fridge, walk-in shower and a tv in the bathroom. The Imperial Palace room was considerably less than that...but it had a dirty bathtub, so I guess that's good. Not a big deal, though, I wasn't planning on spending much time in the hotel anyway.

After dumping my stuff, I immediately pulled $300 and went to a $1/3 table in Caesar's. It was only midnight and there were a bunch of games going. Since it was my first time there and I really haven't played live in a while, it was probably a good idea to start at the low limits and figure out what some of the competition is like. Within 20 minutes, I saw a guy fold (and show) 66 on a Q63 rainbow board when he got reraised all-in for about 150 bucks. He claimed that "the other guy probably had QQ." I was stunned (only about half the table even noticed). Drunks filtered in and out of the poker room (which is absolutely beautiful, by the way; plenty of space between tables, comfy chairs, well-lit, and very aesthetically pleasing) and dropped off money here and there. I made about 150 at that table before it broke around 3 AM.

My plan was to try to make 300 or so before calling it - thus making it easy to jump up to 2/5 the next night. Hung around the other table for quite awhile picking up little pots here and there. One guy on my right was a local who chatted up the whole table and played pretty much any hand. He bluffed me out of a nice pot early on when he raised to around $11 from the cut-off and I reraised to $ 27-28 with AK. I forget the exact flop, but I know it was something like AJx with two hearts (I didn't have a heart). He checked, I bet a little over half-pot. Turn was either the Q or T of hearts (probably the worst card to come for me). Check, check. River was a baby heart putting a four-flush up. He bet half-pot immediately. I tanked it and folded, just not able to bring myself to call off that much with A high and no heart. He showed K-rag with no heart to me and said "you look like you know what you're doing so I figured you'd lay it down if I pushed hard enough." I probably have so many tells that I don't even know about. I'm sure he picked something up. Oh well.

A little later these two Spanish or Mexican guys came in (both drunk and still drinking). Within 5 minutes, one has tripled up and the other has busted. The one that tripled up was extremely cocky and kind of fun to watch. His English wasn't that great and at one point, he started saying that he's not a "Texas freak." The dealer had told him that he had to show both of his cards after shoving all-in and the kid argued for a minute. Finally, he turns them over explaining that he doesn't know all the crazy rules because, after all, he's not a "Texas freak." Anyway, he had the few good players at the table licking their lips for a chance to take some of his stack. I didn't get any of it, but did manage to give him some of my chips. Not going into detail because it still pisses me off to think about it.

Around 6 AM most of the table had split. We were down to our last 4 players (me, a local, and two not so good players). I was sitting on about $250 (down 50 bucks on the session, but it could've been worse). I actually got a read on one of the two weak players - he said early on that he knew poker was much more bluffing than people think. He'd bluffed a ton of small pots and shown his hands. Basically, every time he got reraised, he'd lay it down, but say something like "I'm in on the next one. No more bullying" or something like that. Finally, I pick up AQs in the small blind. He raised from the cut-off to about $15 bucks (standard for him, but waaaay more expensive than it needs to be for a 4-handed 1/3 game) and I reraised to $40 even. He goes "I told you I was going to get in there next time and I don't mean to be an asshole, but I reraise to $90." From someone that knows what they're doing, I'd probably think about that reraise (live min-raises sometimes encourage action, but he'd been playing so bad, I didn't think much of it). I went all-in and he called with ATo. No problem, right? Colin ends up around 200 on the night, right? No. Ten on the turn. To make matters worse, as soon as the ten hit, he puts his hands up over his face and starts into this "Thank you, God! Thank YOU!!! OH Thank you!!!" over and over like he's just won the lottery. If the money was that important to you, I'm glad you have it (oh, the local guy that I'd been talking to all night leaned over and told me he folded the other ten...which was just great). So, no profit or initial buy-in for me. Went back to the room and slept for a few hours.

Ate at this fantastic Asian restaurant in the MGM. Probably the best shrimp tempura I've ever had. Sorry, Shanghai Bistro. The group that I went with to Vegas got ready to go to Jamie Foxx's birthday thing at Tao in the Venetian (apparently it was incredible - particularly if you're a guy...lots of scantily clad women walking around). I didn't have nice shoes so I figured the bouncer wouldn't let me in and I sure as hell wasn't going to give him any money to let me through. I guess we were all on a list, but I didn't want to risk it. Thus, poker tournaments! Yay!

Played the 7 pm $150 at Caesar's and went pretty deep. It had a really good structure and nice mix of locals and tourists in it. Picked up some hands and managed to make it to the final two tables (10 places paid - something like 4k for 1st). The blinds just went up to 1k/2k with a 200 ante and this Asian kid that looked like (and sounded like) Aunch from Paris Hilton's "BFF" show or whatever (I don't watch that show, I just remember Joel McHale from the Soup ripping on him/her constantly) raised to 7k from the CO. I've got about 34k chips in the small blind and have A9o. He'd been pretty active, but I figured I had a perfect reraise stack against his (he had something like 50k left). Wrong. He snapped off with KJo and spiked a K on the river. Once again, someone started thanking the Heavens for getting him some chips. Yeah, forget the fact that you made an awful call, sir. Oh well.

Joined the midnight $70 shortly thereafter and decided that, since this buy-in was basically the same as a single game that I play on pokerstars, I might as well have some fun with it. Food service brought me a 7 bite quesadilla (which was delicious, but cost waaaaay too much). Only two tables worth of players joined and the structure was such that it was going to be an all-in fest within an hour, so I figured I'd be much looser than usual. Tripled up early when I flopped a set of threes and guys were willing to put chips in without any effort. A few hands later, a guy raised in early position and I called with A8s on the button. Flop came AJT with two of my suit. He checked, I bet and he reraised. I figured him for AK or a set, but wasn't really going anywhere with the flush opportunity. Turn and river faded for him and he scooped it. Little bit later a kid around my age had been 5-6x raising constantly in late position and I was waiting for a spot to throw a reraise in. He bumped it 5x on the button. The small blind was this old, kind southern gentleman wearing a really loud yellow striped shirt. He flatted and I reraised huge with AK. Aggro button folded, but the small blind guy says "Sorry, son, was trying to trap the button guy" and flips over AA. By now the table is having a good time and I'm talking to as many of them as possible, not because I think it'll give information (which I wouldn't know how to use anyway), but we were actually having fun.

Since I was knocked down to about 900 chips with pretty big blinds already, I told everyone that I wanted to get through 3 coronas before i busted. I hadn't had anything to drink at the tables until that point - considering I knew it was time to get crazy, I figured why not get the drinks for really cheap? I made it through 2 before I busted. Sigh.

The next morning we ate at the buffet in the Mirage. Holy crap. Heaven. That's what it will look like for me. One of the chefs said to my friend when she asked about the desserts, "We change our dessert menu 4 times per day. You're in the Mirage; you're in a completely different world." It probably wouldn't have been so funny if he hadn't used the snootiest accent available.

I remember telling one of the guys that I'd be disappointed if I didn't make $1k while there. Complete lie. I can't wait to go back in a couple weeks (working for the World Series of Beer Pong - yes, you read that right) even if I don't win.