Oh My God We're Back Again
“OH MY GOD WE’RE BACK AGAIN” thundered out AJ McLean in Las Vegas 2018, without quite the same gusto as the mid 90s. AJ looked first to his left and noticed Backstreet 2 having completely let himself go and was…
Vegas
71 posts
Suited Gappers
I played at the pub again last night and continued my upswing with another £600 win. I realised when I dealt myself pocket Jacks, that it was the first premium pair I had seen since my second last Luxor session…
Vegas - two final shorties
1) Had just finished dinner in the over-rated Jasmine at the Bellagio and left the table for the toilet. Opened the door stretching, with my eyes shut, before turning round to lock the door. Then realised it was a single…
Vegas - Time to leave
The last day of Vegas had little to write about from a poker perspective. I couldn't get motivated to play another cash game so just played the Hollywood 2pm tournie, and busted in 7th after losing AJ v 77 and…
Vegas - More Luxor Fun
I put in a 3 hour session in the Luxor cash game yesterday with more fun and games. I normally try to establish a stupid image cheaply, but I took it a bit far this time. I 4 bet some…
Vegas - Spa
Jimbo talking to prim and proper spa American lady: "Well it would only take 5 seconds if you waxed my chest" Shazbo: "Not if they did your arse it wouldn't" FFS Shazbo :(
Vegas - a good day
Yesterday went very well with only 4 hours of poker action. Chopped the Treasure Island $50 tournament for $200 when we were 4 handed and everyone had about 3 big blinds. Not much to write home about though as I…
Vegas - Quad Run
No poker yesterday, as Shazbo arrived in town and I was pretty drained after the Luxor game the other day. However, we did play "3 card poker" on the tables and had some good fortune. First Shazbo was dealt JJJ…
Vegas - Luxor cash game fun
I put in a 6 hour shift at the Luxor yesterday, with Shaun and Neil, and we all came away with big wins (I finished on a $1100 stack from a $200 buy in). The best way to approach this…
Vegas - Roulette Slowroll
Myself, Shaun and Neil were playing $100 each on roulette whilst waiting for our seat at the Steakhouse in Luxor. Myself and Shaun had both busted, but Neil had about $150. It was time to go, so instead of betting…
Vegas - Treasure Island
There is a 40 year old lady on the table dressed at a 20 year old. Her breasts are fighting to join the chips on the table. Oh boy. Proper "Old Gold" She loves my accent. As far as she…
Vegas - funny hannds
Hand 1 - Caesars Final Table Blinds 400-800 I make it 1800 UTG with K(x)? Rock calls in SB. Uber rock BB folds but keeps his cards. Flop is A77. I can't remembe whether my "x" is a 7 or…
Vegas - Binnions
I first met Shaun in Planet Hollywood as he was coming to the end of a 36 hour cash session. We got on like a house on fire and spent today with his mate Neil playing cash in Binnions. They…
Vegas - Ballys
So - $70 for 5k starting stack sounds okay right? When we didn't receive any "25" chips in our starting stack I realised I'd been sold a lemon. That's right - blind structure was (20 min levels): 100-200 200-400 400-800…
Vegas - Luxor/Excalibur/MGM
Didn't feel like playing tournies on day 3 so after seeing off Shazbo post 2 bottles of premimum saki, decided to go and play cash at the top of the strip. The cash game at Luxor was MENTAL. 70% of…
Vegas - First Impressions
Wow……Vegas is in recession - that is for certain. I've spoken to a couple of the card room managers and all have confirmed that unemployment is running at the 20% mark. All tournies have faster structures than 12 months ago,…
Money Never Sleeps
"So.........what's in it for moi?" Ah - Wall Street 2 is finally here, 23 years after the first film. I'm sure the sequel won't be a patch on the original, but I should be able to see it either on…
Vegas - Final Day
Another pretty unproductive day today on the poker front. Wandered downstairs a little after 10:30 and bought into the $60 tournament late, which impressively lasted one hand. I call a raise to 600 with 88 on the button. Flop arrives…
Vegas - Quote of the Week
Didn't play much poker at all yesterday - just the 7pm Planet Hollywood tournament. It transpired I wasted 5 hours playing Pai Gow with Shazbo, a game which seems to tilt me quite badly, before sitting at the Texas Holdem…
Vegas - Big Blind Special
Wandered down to the poker room at 8am this morning but there was no cash game going so had to enter the $60 tournament. I was down to 250 chips at the 200-400 level at one point, but managed to…
Vegas - Running Hot on Moonshine
Found myself plonked next to a couple of guys from Oklahoma last night. I was being educated in the production of moonshine, and how adding apple pie mix to it took the edge off and made it a fine afternoon…
Vegas - Cash Bounce
Played a 4 hour cash session waiting for Shazbo's flight to arrive and had a mini recovery. After a pep talk from the guys I went down with the idea of value betting and not doing anything adventurous. I promptly…
Vegas - Nit-rolled
Just got nit-rolled so badly. It was so ridiculous it was amusing rather than annoying. I resisted the urge to go to sleep early and entered the 7pm Planet Hollywood tournament. $80 buy in gets you 4.5k in chips, and…
Vegas - Let's Get Busy
Just woke up at 5:30am, but feel fit and ready to go after ten hours sleep. I finally feel prepared to play some poker after 36 hours of unproductiveness. I'm going to hit Caesars for a poker marathon - they…
Vegas - Caesars midday $80 tournament
This tournament plays a lot deeper than its 9am brother. It is exactly the same 20 minute levels which still sky rocket, but you get 7.5k in chips, thus there are more chips in play to deal with the antes.…
Vegas - Caesars $70 9am tournament
After waking at 5:30am I decided to give this event a bash. You only get a 3k starting stack, but the opening 20 minute levels are fine at 25-50, 50-100, 75-150. After that though the jumps are big - 100-200…
Vegas - 3pm $70 tournament
After busting from the midday event I jumped straight into this one. Same structure as the 9am affair, plus I joined in level 2 so had been blinded down to 2800\. Probably not a good idea to enter. Time-line below:…
Vegas - Jetlagged
Decided not to play the Venetian today - I felt really tired and don't think I could have given such a deep stack event its due attention. Obviously I will refund stakers appropriately. I also dropped four buy ins in…
Vegas - Judge Dredd
Arrived in Vegas, after a long 11 hour flight due to the headwinds this time of year. I’m staying in Planet Hollywood this time for a change, as the bustle of the Venetian is too much for me sometimes, so…
Vegas Looms
An impromptu visit to Vegas now looks fairly likely to happen later in the month. My trip will take in the Venetian deep stack main event, plus the first event of the Bellagio 5 Diamond Classic. None of the usual…
Splash
I played a couple of hours of last night's cash game at Loose Cannon in my underpants. At about 11 o'clock, I unfortunately spazzed out and spilt an entire pint in my lap, giving me a dilemma of whether to…
Vegas P&L
So the dust settles on a fun, if unprofitable trip to the gambling capital of the world. The disappointing aspect was that I never got going in any of the five serious tournaments I entered, never making it past half…
Vegas Day 9 - Time to Leave
I didn't manage to play any real poker yesterday - I was exhausted after stumbling back at 6:30am from Planet Hollywood with The Don who had postponed his flight by one day. Instead I chilled at the Spa and had…
Vegas Day 8 - Running Good Against the Baron
What can I say, but I run good against the ginger guy........ Made about $400 in cash games today, the majority caused/saved by: Hand1 Myself and the Baron get in all in on a flop of 4,5,7 Me: 67 Bsron:…
Vegas Day 7 - An Afternoon in Treasure Island
We had a great day today - not from a profit point of view necessarily, but our cash table was great at TI. We discovered the phenomenon of "lemon drops" from Dave from Cleveland - tasted strangely like Limoncello but…
Vegas Day 6 - Blue Man Group Embarrassment
Went to Blue Man Group last night - clearly I was very tired and hungover, with the squits, after an all night session with the guys the night before. Unfortunately, I scored the 1000-1 shot of being picked for audience…
Vegas Day 5 - WSOP $1500
Another bad day at the office unfortunately, and a bustout half way through level 3\. "Refreshed", after an all night drinking/poker session with the Baron and the Nit where I at least posted a decent cash win, I headed for…
Vegas Day 4 - Venetian $340
This will be a quick one. I made a conscious decision to play more hands today in the early levels, as I've been playing too tight early on so far. This worked well to begin with as I moved up…
Vegas Day 3 - Caesars $340
Unfortunately I only just received Ian's post on the last entry, so we arrived a Caesars to discover they had scrapped their old poker festival, and were now just holding $340 tournaments every day. It was too late to head…
Vegas Day 2 - WSOP $1500
I really felt stuck in the mud in this tournament - nothing got going and I busted shortly before the end of level 3. The table was as as you would expect at the WSOP - about 4 young internet…
Vegas Day 2 - Cash Game Woe
After my early WSOP bustout, I went to join the guys at the MGM playing a cash game. The Nit wanted to be on his own table (and sure enough ground out $150 but me, Devski and The Baron located…
Vegas Day 1 - Venetian $500
Well I'm out about half way through the field of 660 - I played pretty well apart from one disastrous hand, so I'm quite happy. I also won $700 on some poker holdem bonus house game in the morning, so…
Vegas - Middle of the Night
Jetlag has kicked in, and I am sitting here at 6am after eight hours sleep waiting for the midday Venetian tournament. Shazbo has been dispatched for coffees, so I guess I'll just stay up now and hope I don't get…
Vegas Day Zero
Gatwick airport 9am - location is the overpriced seafood bar. I am just about to tuck into my seafood platter, when I notice Dan, formally from Eastenders, sitting right next to me. He was the rugged chap, attractive to ladies…
Vegas Schedule
Nearly that time of the year again, so I have put together a provisional schedule of the tournaments I will be playing in Vegas. In addition to the below, I've got a $1500 cash game budget, plus $600 set aside…
Weekend Laziness
As usual, my resolve to play the International £100 tournament on Saturday night crumbled to dust. Once I was out of London, I simply couldn't summon the motivation to go to Old Street and play the event, so I spent…
Back from ToyTown
I haven't looked at a card for nearly two weeks now, having been out of London for a week to get some fresh air and have a much needed break. I went to Norfolk, to a small town called Happisburgh…
2009 Preview
I had intended 2009 to be a real make or break year on the poker front, in that I'd play in a number of EPT and WPT events as well as the WSOPE and WSOP Main Events. However, the fragile…
Year End Fast Approaching
December is never the best for poker, as players have other family commitments to worry about, so I guess I am entering the last 4 weeks of playing time for the year, before taking a couple of weeks off and…
GSOP Main Event - Split Personality Poker - Part 1
Saturday saw me compete in the £500 Gutshot Series Of Poker Main Event in Clerkenwell. The structure was superb - 20k starting stack with 90 minute blinds. The only real downside was that with only 90 runners, many people would…
Quarterly Review
I was bitten by a donkey on Sunday. This being a poker blog, I imagine you think I am talking about a poker analogy, but no, I was actually bitten by a real donkey. I was at a donkey sanctuary…
USA v Europe - Playing Mentalities
After playing tens of hours of poker in Vegas over the last 2 weeks, I've come to the conclusion that there are marked differences in playing styles on either side of the Atlantic (in the live arena in anycase). Some…
Vegas Day 9 - That's all folks
It's been a long 10 days at the tables. I just busted out of the Caesar's $500 deepstack on level 8. I made a good start when someone decided to call my all in with KK when they had AJ,…
Vegas Day 8 - Pokered Out
I am knackered from playing too much poker now. I was scheduled to play Binnions short handed, but I taking the day off and going to the spa for a massage. I might play a crapshoot or two tonight with…
Vegas Day 7 - Venetian $2.5k - El River Blufferino
I played the Venetian 2.5k today, but played poorly after a drunken late night (morning?) cash session with Volcano, Deven, Fluke and Jalfont. 20k starting stack, but the starting table contained 3 Equadorian riverboat gamblers, and I didn't win any…
Vegas Day 6 - Made The Cash
I busted today in 42nd place, good for nearly $13k. I'm off out now so I'll blog the hands tomorrow, although most of it consisted of oriental guys staring me down after I had shoved over the top of their…
Vegas Day 6 - $5k NLHE - Hands
120 players left, 72 of us get paid. I have a couple of big stacks on my table, so I decide if I don't get cards I am going to put the medium stacks to decisions, to call off most…
Vegas Day 6 - Preview - $5k Day 2
Just checked my table draw - perhaps I am not in as bad a position as I thought, and the tournament average has been distorted by the few huge big stacks. I am on table 7, Seat 4, and 4th…
Vegas Day 5 - Preview
I just had 12 hours sleep, and 36 hours of detox. For once, I am in sound mind for the tournament today - it's a big one as well - $5k WSOP. I imagine the table is going to be…
Vegas Day 5 - $5k WSOP NLHE
Quick update - will blog all the hands tomorrow. I made it through to day 2 of the event with just under 40k in chips (starting stack 10k). The average is about 60k, so I'm behind the pack, but still…
Vegas Day 5 - $5k WSOP Day 1
Made it through to day 2 with 39k in chips, average is 59k. 120 players left, 72 get paid so I lot of work to do early tomorrow. Starting table was tough - 3 young internet pros including Steve Billirakis.…
Vegas Day 4 - Venetian $500
Another frustrating tournament. I just busted after 5 hours of play - I had literally NO starting hands - I think pocket tens was the best, but I had to fold that pre-flop after some heavy action, and I think…
Vegas Day 3 - Jimbo's Happy Hour
So it's time to be star attraction. I set up Jimbo's Happy Hour in The Venetian. This involves me going all in blind for $500 pre flop in a cash game 3 hands in a row, every half an hour-…
Vegas Day 3 - Binnions $500
Downtown Vegas is amazing - it's the first time I've been there. It's like a place stuck in time - the feel of the architecture and lights is 1970's. Fremont Street know they can't compete with the new strip on…
Vegas Day 2 - Miscellaneous
A few things to blog which are unrelated to the Caesar's tournie: 1) Shazbo busted out of WSOP ladies' event after 2 hours. She ran a straight into a higher straight and a straight into a flush. With only 2k…
Vegas Day 2 - Caesars $550 - Deepstacking
The opening levels of a deepstack tournament such as this one, (15k starting stack, 280 runners, 50 minute blinds) have a strange dynamic. The value of pocket Aces/Kings actually go DOWN due to the amount of money it can cost…
Vegas Day 1 - Harrah's Tournie
It's 7am here and I can't sleep due to jet lag. I may as well stay awake till the Caesar's tournie at midday now I think. Last night we found a pretty well structured tournament at Harrah's to play. $150…
Vegas Day 1 - Tilt before seeing a card
For the last 15 minutes I have waging a war with the electronic curtains in the Venetian. They appear to operate via remote control but I have been unable to locate the device. I am getting the mechanism to work…
Final Vegas Schedule
I've tinkered with my WSOP schedule endlessly over the last few weeks, but I think I've now hit on the final line up. I've decided I'm not going to play the 5k event unless early results are good, because my…
Provisional Vegas Schedule
Vegas looks like it's going to be brilliant this year. I'd love to be able to stay for the full 6 weeks of WSOP, but will have to make do with 10 days. All the other casinos seem to have…
How Many Real "Pros" Are There?
How big a bankroll do you need to go pro? A huge amount in my opinion. I think there are lots of young guys who set themselves up as professionals with bankrolls that are about 10% of the size required.…