Vegas and Face to face poker:

So,

I went to Vegas on business, which meant that I only got a chance to play some tourneys very late at night.

In other words, they started at 11pm (2 am eastern).

I did ok, no one obviously read me, and I bluffed people out of the blinds a few times.

And I got a read on one newbie - figured he had pocket K's or A's - and I beat him. He had A's (He told the dealer this was his first tourney, that's how I knew he was a newbie)

The rest of the story - as told to a friend - is below:

Mike Did you and Howard win lots of cash?
Walt: No, I lost
Walt: money was 10th
Walt: finished 17th
Mike out of how many?
Walt: 100 (what I thought) - or 150th (what everyone else was telling me was there)
Mike not bad, was it a slow death or 1 bad luck hand?
Walt: I played 2 tourneys. First night by myself - 2nd night with Howard, Dick, Jon, and Wheeler.
Walt: 1st night story - doing pretty good - fairly nervous. Got quad A's on like the 3rd hand.
Walt: I also knocked out a newbie - I had 5's over q's full house - he had pocket A's
Walt: Heh
Walt: So, I'm up a decent amount, I get pocket 9's - limp in - small blind and big blind limp in.
Walt: flop's 8-7-6- small blind checks - big blind goes all in. I think about it for a minute and call. (I shoulda gone all-in) - small blind calls.
Walt: Turn comes nothing - small blind goes all in - I call. (I've got em both covered) - we show, and I have 9's - they have AJ and A-nothing. River comes up A - and I'm hurt real bad.
Walt: Then, when I pretty much had to go all in, I had A-3, and I got knocked out by a guy with A-2 hitting the A-5 straight.
Walt: No big whoop, 50th or so.
Walt: 2nd night, I did the exact opposite - I had AK and knocked out a guy with an A on the turn - he had pocket 3's and had me beat.
Walt: What crippled me there (at the first table I was at) was a guy going all in (short stacked) with pocket 4's - I had him covered with 10's and he caught a 4 on the flop.
Walt: After that I doubled up once with AK, and never saw a flop again - just went all in a few times to keep me alive through a few tables - finally got knocked out with KQ vs two guys who checked it down - guy had pocket 3's that held up.
Mike What were the entry fees on the tourneys?
Walt: $42 entry plus a $20 rebuy - *everyone* took the rebuy - so $62 each night.
Walt: Which, considering I lasted 2.5 hours on Thu and 4 hours on Sat - is pretty damn cheap for Vegas.
Mike Did anyone from Mystic finish in the money?
Walt: $15 an hour - no drinks, no tips, nothing
Walt: No, I was highest
Walt: Dick was 2nd - about 23rd - Howie about 34th? Faranelli 50? Brian was out early
Mike Still medium fish in the small pond then :)
Walt: Dick was surprisingly good
Mike Did Jon just get bad cards? I figure he is 2nd most experienced out of that bunch.
Walt: Honestly, Howie I think got lucky. He loves Q-J too much - with the 11 man or 12 man tables we were at, that is a shitty starting hand
Walt: Not sure what happened with Jon, think he took a bad beat or two
Mike yeah, you are playing slots for the flop with Qs and Js
Mike A 2 7 is a great hand with a 772 flop
Walt: It's ok to *see* a flop with QJ - but howie likes to go all in with it
Walt: before the flop
Walt: I used to like QJ - now, I mentally say "Ok, this hand is a 10-9, play it like that."

Balance $149.09 - Losing streak goes on

So, been a while since I have posted. Pretty much stopped playing cash games, until I convinced myself I wasn't fundamentally doing something wrong.

I've convinced myself of that - I switched over to play money games, and set a goal for myself of getting to 100,000 in chips before I start playing cash games again.

Right now, I'm at 30,000 and rising.

I'm pretty sure I just went through one of those cycles where I didn't catch good enough cards to win.

Will post more about my trip to Vegas tomorrow.

-W