Vegas Prefunk

I head for Vegas in less than 3 days. I wanted to get some live action in beforehand so my brother & I went to one of the casinos in town for a tournament. I'd rather have chosen some cash games since that's what I'll most likely play in Vegas but the lowest game was 3-6 and it was just limit. Fuck that.

I started the tournament at a disadvantage. It was 1000 chips with a $10 add-on to double your stack. Easy choice. But I was surrounded for regulars who were cashing in points for an additional 3k on top of the add-on. Before the first hand was dealt, I was already the shortstack.

The table was full of old men with deep pockets and an insatiable urge to call everything, so I just tried to play tight. My first playable hand was a pair of 9s in late position. Down to about 1700, I raised a couple of limpers 5x to 500. The old man next to me calls. Flop comes KQ5 and I can either fold or hope for the best. I push but get no respect & the old man calls with QJo. Rebuy!

I triple up to almost 5k a shortwhile later when I push on some limpers again from late position with KQ. Shortstack in the BB calls with 66, rich old man limp-calls with A7 I think, and I nail a Q on the river.

I call two all-ins a bit later with AK and split the pot with another AK against QT. I end the break around 5k, take the $20 add-on for 3k more in chips.

I lose a decent amount with AQ against a shorty's JT after he reraised my UTG+1 raise for 1400 more. I couldn't fade the two tens on the flop and drop down to 5k when I get involved in THE sickest beat I've ever had live.

I'm sitting on JJ in the SB. Reckless old rich man pushes & I think he's got me covered so I announce call. UTG who limped decides to call 4200 more. He's getting about 3:1 on his money but against two all-in, he has to figure he's a bigger underdog than that. But that's also assuming that he can think beyond the two cards in his hand. Anyways, I state this only because I don't know if by declaring "all-in" as well would have chased him off even though it was only 200 more than the initial push.

Flop comes 537. I put my 200 in, he calls & flips over 55. Oh well, time to go home.

Turn is a J.

But you know this is a bad beat story so you can figure out what the river was.

Fuck your presto, Fuel.

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Word on the bloggers street seems to say that MGM is the softest place for cash games. I won't go any higher that 1-2 NL, so if anyone else has any recommendations for other places to check out, do let me know. I've thrown out the idea of playing any tournaments while I'm there since I won't have much time to devote to poker.

I'm almost salivating at the fact that I'll be in Vegas for the first time in almost 3 years. I miss being able to hop on a plane for $80 and be in Vegas in an hour, or making the drive through the Arizona desert in just under 5. I miss the strippers at the Rhino (except for the Asian one with insanely long nipples) and I miss the drunken roulette rampages (which are much better than Recess Rampages). And in less than 72 hours, it will be all mine again.

This will probably be my last post until after Vegas, so I'll leave you all with this final thought:

PAIGOW!!!