That next morning the Squirrel headed to her conference. I was going to hit the pool for a little while so I headed down a little before 9am, but the pool at the Excalibur doesn’t open until 10am. I really didn’t want to just wait an hour up in the room to go to the pool, so I cleaned up and headed down for a late breakfast and a leisurely stroll over to the Wynn for an early session of poker.
I got a seat at a $2/$5 No-Limit table and bought in for $300. As I got to my seat I was witnessing someone’s pocket Aces being cracked by the player who was going to be on my right’s hand of 2-6. I don’t know all the details of that hand, but it was a huge pot, and my first impression of the player on my right was that he was loose. This was confirmed during my first half hour at the table. He was a foreign gentleman, and had a friend sitting behind him. He was also playing almost every hand. Often times he would show his friend his cards at the end of the hand, and because of my position at the table he was exposing his cards to me as well. Since it wasn’t during the middle of play I decided to just make mental notes about what he was showing. More often than not he was usually bluffing on the river by just placing a large bet out there. No one would call and he would take down the pot. Using that information I was planning to try and get involved with him in a big pot when I was holding a huge hand.
Things appeared to be going my way when, after this guy raised to $25 to open the pot, I looked down and found pocket Kings (KK). I just called the $25, hoping that he would follow up on the flop with a bet. Well, both the blinds called after I call. The flop came: Jack-8-3. Both blinds check, and my “mark” bet $125. I was up a little since I sat down, but I only had $350 or so, and I decided that now was the time to try to take this pot down in case he had a piece of it already I didn’t want to allow him to draw to a better hand for free. I moved all in. The first blind folded, but the other blind moved all in for less than what I had. THAT wasn’t good. I was almost certain that I was beat when that happened. About the only hand I would be beating there would be AJ, but I was guessing that the blind had either 8-8 or 3-3. Then it got back to the initial raiser on my right. I was initially hoping he would call since he had enough chips to cover me, and I could still win a side pot (although the side pot would be about $200 and I’d still lose on the hand overall). Well, he’s thinking about it when he asks the dealer if he can show me his hand. Since all the other action was complete the dealer informed him he could and then he showed me…pocket Aces!! He still hadn’t called yet, and now I was praying he’d fold since I basically had no shot at either pot. After a couple minutes he came to the conclusion that he couldn’t fold for the $200 or so it would cost him and he called. My instincts were correct about the other guy, too, unfortunately, as he turned over 8-8 for a set of 8s. No King arrived, and it was time to rebuy.
The decision to rebuy was easy with the action that table was generating. I felt I just got real unlucky that both Aces and Kings happened to be dealt at the same time (with me getting the Kings). So I bought back in for $300, and started working my stack up, slowly, but I had managed to get it up to $540. The foreign guy on my right had left about 1½ hours ago, but he had been replaced by a player who was just as aggressive, but wasn’t playing as many hands, although he was playing more than most players at the table. It was at this point when I was dealt KJsuited and this player raises to $25. I decided to call and see what the flop would bring. Everyone else got out of the way, and the flop was: K-J-4. Wow! Top two pair! My opponent led out and bet $50, and with my two pair I thought I’d lay a trap and call. The turn card was a Jack! This now gave me a full house, Jacks full of Kings. My opponent led out and bet again, this time $75. I decided to make the minimum raise to $150. I’m really hoping he’s either got a King or a Jack. I was hoping it was the Jack since it would be very hard to get away from trip Jacks here. Well, he thinks for a minute and decides to raise to $400. To call that it would only leave me with $100, so I knew he would call my reraise of all in and that’s what I did almost immediately. He called just as quickly and turned over…pocket Kings! ARE YOU F---ING KIDDING ME?!? Obviously, his pocket Kings gave him a better full house, and since the last Jack in the deck didn’t hit the river (why the hell should I get lucky?) to give me four of a kind I lost that pot. Yes, I’m bitter. That one hurt. If I had been thinking a little earlier, I would have gone and grabbed something to eat as it would have given me the opportunity to pull chips off the table; something you cannot do during play. It was getting close to time for me to leave so I could be back at the Excalibur by 5 o’clock, so I decided NOT to rebuy again and I headed back to the Excalibur to meet up with the Squirrel for dinner.
I got back to the Excalibur, and while I was in the room waiting for the Squirrel, the room phone rings, and it’s the Squirrel asking me to meet her at the elevator to let her up. I agreed and headed down. I assumed that she had left her room key in the room, and the guard at the bottom by the elevators won’t let you up without showing a room key. How I wished that were the case! I found out when I got down there that the Squirrel had dropped her wallet in the cab and had lost her cash, ID, room key, and credit cards! We tried to see if the cab was out front, but no such luck.
Here I thought I was having a bad day because of poker! My day sounds pretty good compared to that! We got back up to the room and called all the cab companies to report the lost items, but we weren’t getting anywhere as far as tracking the items down. Then she called to cancel her credit cards. There was also a new problem. I had cash on me, but when I go to Vegas I typically leave my credit card and debit card at home to not be “tempted” to use them, so I didn’t have an easy way to access cash. The Squirrel had no way of getting any, and I just lost $600 playing poker earlier. I was slightly worried that we might have to get by on what I had left for cash. I had plenty for gambling for myself, but to cover both of us along with meals and hotel, that would have been another story. After canceling the cards and after she had called home to apprise her hubby of the situation we got a late supper and turned in early for the night.
As it turned out, the next morning, the Squirrel was able to hit a bank in Las Vegas that also has branches back home that she banks at, explain her situation, and cash a check, so that part of the problem was now resolved. I did find out during the course of this that this wasn't the first, or even the second time that this has happened to the Squirrel, but actually this was the THIRD time this happened to her while out of town. Note to self: pick up a wallet with a chain for the Squirrel for Christmas, unless she's going out of town before Christmas, then get it sooner. :) We never heard back from any of the cab companies, and the wallet and credit cards were never recovered. That really sucked. Our trip wasn’t over yet, though…
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