Working in Vegas, Part 1

As 2008 began, I started to shift my thinking towards preparing for this year’s World Series of Poker. As part of my preparations I wanted to focus on some live play since the WSOP isn’t played over the Internet. I got the opportunity to work for a week in Las Vegas in mid-January, so I left a couple days early and planned my work trip to stay an extra day and a half after I was done working.

I started by playing at the Bellagio, and within two hands I found myself down my initial buy in of $300. I was dealt Q-Q, and with the blinds at $2-$5 a player in front of me raised to $25, so I reraised to $85. My opponent called and the flop came: K-9-x (x was either a 2 or 3). My opponent checked, and I fired $125 in to the $180 pot. My opponent reraised, and I was pretty much committed to calling since I now only had $90 left. My opponent showed me A-K, and I had to rebuy after I didn’t hit my Queen on the turn or river. I continued my tight play, and after about 6 hours, I had worked my stack to about $1400, putting me up approximately $800. I was looking forward to playing at the Wynn’s poker room, so I cashed out and headed over there.

I was able to get in to a $2-$5 game at the Wynn fairly quick, and because I was ahead from my session at the Bellagio and because of the stacks at the table I bought in for $400. At the Wynn you can buy in for as much as you would like. Most poker rooms have a lower limit and upper limit for your buy in. For example, at the Bellagio’s $2-$5 table the buy in range is $100-$500. There were at least three players that had over $2000 at the table, and one of those had over $4000 at the table, so I decided to buy in for the extra $100 for two reasons. First, if I got lucky and picked up a hand I’d be able to double up for more if I bought in for more. Second, big stacks have a tendency to try and put small stacks to “the test” for all of their chips. The more chips I have in my arsenal the harder it will be for them to push me around. After buying in I posted a big blind instead of choosing to wait for the big blind to get to me. Just like in my session at the Bellagio, hand #2 provided a significant change to my stack. I was in early position and was dealt 8-8. A player from UTG (under the gun) raised to $35. This is pretty standard in a game with larger stacks so I decided to call. Three other players also called and off to the flop we went. It came:

K-8-4 (two spades)

The UTG player who had initially raised led out with a bet of $125. I called, figuring that most players would exit the hand and I would be playing heads up against this player with my set of 8s. The player with a $4000 stack moved all in though as the action went around the table. The remaining players folded back to the UTG player, who thought for a long time. He had about $2000 in front of him, and I’m sure he was considering not only what I had and whether I would call, but even if I did call, there would be a significant amount of money in the side pot that was created by Mr. Big Stack. He mucked, and I called. As I turned over my cards I inquired, “You weren’t slowplaying Kings before the flop, were you?”. My opponent chuckled as he turned over A-K when he saw, to his horror I’m sure, that I had a set of 8s. The man was a foreigner, and he got visibly upset when he saw he was almost drawing dead. He actually took his stacks of chips and just shoved them into the pot, creating a mess. It took several minutes to sort out as the dealer and floor supervisor had to “reconstruct” the hand and betting so that I would get paid correctly. Apparently, the foreigner wasn’t used to losing. During the delay he got up and left, but I didn’t care since I already had doubled through him. I played for a couple more hours, and after losing about $150 of what I had won I thought it was time to quit. Not bad for Day #1!

Because I was going to be working the next couple of days I decided to play poker where I was staying, which was Binion’s downtown. I played in the $1-$2 cash game and made it a couple of bucks there. Binion’s holds a nightly tournament, which I got in to both evenings. The tournament had a $60 buy-in, with an optional rebuy/addon, if needed for $40. I had to rebuy, but was doing rather well in the tournament when the following hand came up. I was in the big blind when two other players and the small blind limped to me. I was dealt Q-9. I checked, and the board came Q-9-2, giving me top two pair. I checked, trying to get someone to fire a bet and I would then raise (also known as the check-raise). No one bet, and turn card was a 3. I checked again, thinking for sure that one of my opponents would bet since they had been pretty aggressive at the table. No one bet again and the river showed an Ace. I led out and bet this time, hoping that someone holding an Ace might raise. Well, I got what I wanted. A player moved all-in, and to call wasn’t going to cost me so it was an automatic call. My opponent showed me his A-2. Oops. That’s what I get for trying to get too cute with a hand. The hand left me as a shorter stack, and I never recovered. I exited in 9^th place, which was a final table finish, but in a tournament that had 43 players they were only paying 6 spots, so I finished just outside the money. I’m still kicking myself for how I played that hand, especially since even with the limps the pot was a decent pot! Lesson learned.