My whole mindset on this trip to Vegas was to play poker, poker, and more poker. I did manage to play quite a bit but those damn slots are so fun! Fun and highly -EV which my wallet noticed after losing more then half of what I brought to those cool little bonus games. Damn you Pat Sajak and Vanna White with promises of spinning the wheel!!
The weather was tolerable in the morning as my wife was planning another day at the pool with her $15 drinks. I can see where Vegas gets its money back on booze now. While I was going back to Imperial Palace to check out their morning tournament. After seeing how soft the competition was yesterday I figured I'd have a decent chance of not finishing last.... but it almost happened. 50 people maxed out the competition with T1500 and we were underway!
Second hand I look down at the Hilton Sisters, and watch 3-4 limpers ahead of me, none showing too much strength, so I pull a Hoyt Corkins and set em all-in. This was a one-time rebuy tournament so I figured I'd get called by a lesser hand and give myself a chance to double up early (and if I lost, well I could re-buy which I hate doing). Folded to an old guy in the BB who called immediately (WHOOPS!), the limpers wanted none of the action and it was heads-up. I thought for sure he'd flip over K..... AJo? Eh? Wow, AJo, and I was in better shape then I thought until the flop came out K Q T to flop him a nut straight but gave me a set. Not worried in the least because a T on the turn filled me up and more the doubled me up.
I did a lot of folding after that since the table started getting very loose with several dominated hands hitting their horrible kickers for two pair. And soon I was back to par with T1500 and blinds up to 200/400 after the first break and looked down at A5s in the BB. Folded around (which was very rare) the kid next to me pushed, seeing I only had under three BBs left I said "I'm probably dominated but you need to get lucky somewhere" and called to see his JTo. Surprised once again! The board didn't improve either one of us and I had some chips again! People started dropping left and right and soon we were consolidated to two tables. Blinds started getting high again for me as I was only able to steal once with A3o. Then I got lucky.
Kd7s in the BB and 2 people limped in and the SB completed. I checked with T2000 left and blinds at 500/1000. Board 5 6 8 of diamonds. Whoa. I figured if there was a good as spot as any to draw this was as good as it gets barring the Ace of Diamonds being out there. SB checked, I pushed my two yellow chips in, the limpers folded while the SB thought long but he was second in chips with plenty to cover my meager bet. He called with 99 (I can't lose to my favorite hand!) I figured I was ahead or slightly behind.
Resulthttp://twodimes.net/h/?z=873862
pokenum -h kd 7s - 9h 9s -- 5d 6d 8d
Holdem Hi: 990 enumerated boards containing 8d 6d 5d
cards win %win lose %lose tie %tie EV
7s Kd 549 55.45 437 44.14 4 0.40 0.557
9s 9h 437 44.14 549 55.45 4 0.40 0.443
The turn was a lovely Jack of Diamonds, and Drizz was back in action!
We got down to 13 people and after another orbit of folding I caught JTo in the BB. One limper, SB completed, I checked to see a board of 2 8 9 rainbow. Check, check, check (wasn't sure about pushing here but I figured if I'm gonna get a free draw, why not take it?). Again my luck prevail when the 7 rained down on the turn completing the rainbow and giving me the nut straight. The limper checked again and the SB woke up with a min bet. I quietly announced all in with my remaining T4000 in chips. He thought for awhile, called to flip over Q8o. My nut straight got so oooohhhhh and ahhhhhhhhs from the rail. Now I was sitting much prettier. Since the other table had an all-in every hand for 4 hands in a row till two people busted there and one person busted on our table to make up the final table!!
I'd like to say I played well, but all the aggression that I showed at the Aladdin and here went out the window (or maybe its because I stopped drinking during level 3...). A5o with the blinds at 2K/4K and me holding T8000? Nope, and would have flopped two pair and tripled up. Sigh. 53sOOOOOOted? Would have flopped a boat. GAH! I finally settled on pushing with K9o in the BB when a 9 flopped on a 9 high board. I was called by a guy who was chipping up then losing every other hand. He turned over ATs with two flush cards on the board. The turn completed his flush and IGHN.... but wait he had 7K in chips which left me with.... a chip and a chair. Next hand he pushed out the BB and I was all-in vs. the lucky bastard again. He flipped up 4s on a cordinated board of 9 8 K with two diamonds. Strange bet, but worked. I flip over deuce of diamonds and whoa! the ace of diamonds. But, my flush didn't come and I was out 8th for a $100 payday.
The wife was playing slots the whole time and wasn't too pleased since the weather turned windy and cool leaving her to spend most of the time in the casino. But, I treated her to a nicely comped chicken strip basket, and I snarfed down a bacon cheeseburger with fries. And all was right in the universe again.
Later that night we dined at Kahunaville at Treasure Island. They have bartenders slinging drinks and bottles every 30-45 minutes, and a mini water/light show similar to the Belliago but on a much smaller scale. After all the greasiness and 10 gallons of rum and cokes I'd consume, I settled on a nice ceasear salad with chicken (of course I had a rum runner with it).
Dinner was filling as we took our seats to view Mystere. Since we always get our seats to shows when we get our airline tickets (3 months in advance) we got second row seats dead middle. The show was like nothing I'd ever seen before. There was so much going on: Acrobats, a funny composer looking guy making jokes with the audience, people climbing on the walls. If the other Cirque Du Soleil shows are similar, count me in for them on all our future trips. Very highly recommended and worth the $100 ticket cost.
After all that action I finally crashed hard in getting my first sleep over 3 hours since we'd arrived on Sunday.
Next Post: Vegas Day 5, The Last Day of Summer Vacation... sigh
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