Saturday, April 23, 2005
Vegas Wrap-Up
Writing this in McCarran airport. Conclusion number 1 : well worth bringing lap-top along :-)
Results can be summarised very succinctly :
Bellagio : -$2,660
Mirage : -$760
Everywhere else : +$1,930
I will spare you the game selection lecture (game selecture ?)
Small NL cash games are very playable, even for a cashophobe like me. In fact I might even be developing a taste for them. The bad beat I took in the MGM is nothing I haven't had in tournaments a dozen times. No, make that 50 times. You put $200 down, double up, get it all in as the favourite and lose. That's poker baby !
I should make a correction to something I said below. When I said I was playing "as Brunson recommended", I don't mean I was raising pre-flop and taking pots down betting on the flop automatically - that just doesn't happen in a small game. I was playing AA/KK/QQ/AK as Brunson recommends * and apart from that trying to take cheap flops with pairs and suited connectors. Generally if you make something that beats top pair it's fairly clear who will pay you off with top pair (most of them) and who you have to be a bit more careful with (a few decent pros).
Should I have played the $1500 ? Hindsight is a wonderful thing. One day I am going to go deep in one of these and that should be quite a buzz. There's nothing wrong with taking the odd shot if you can write the money off before you sit down.
As for the Series, I have already booked it so I am 90% certain to go. There will be plenty of poker available (Palms tournaments, satellites, cash) to play without ever having to cough up $1500 or more. Perhaps I will only do the latter if I'm well in front on the trip. See you there !
* After the first session, where I would have lost $25 less if I had played KK right (checked it on a 653 flop).
Results can be summarised very succinctly :
Bellagio : -$2,660
Mirage : -$760
Everywhere else : +$1,930
I will spare you the game selection lecture (game selecture ?)
Small NL cash games are very playable, even for a cashophobe like me. In fact I might even be developing a taste for them. The bad beat I took in the MGM is nothing I haven't had in tournaments a dozen times. No, make that 50 times. You put $200 down, double up, get it all in as the favourite and lose. That's poker baby !
I should make a correction to something I said below. When I said I was playing "as Brunson recommended", I don't mean I was raising pre-flop and taking pots down betting on the flop automatically - that just doesn't happen in a small game. I was playing AA/KK/QQ/AK as Brunson recommends * and apart from that trying to take cheap flops with pairs and suited connectors. Generally if you make something that beats top pair it's fairly clear who will pay you off with top pair (most of them) and who you have to be a bit more careful with (a few decent pros).
Should I have played the $1500 ? Hindsight is a wonderful thing. One day I am going to go deep in one of these and that should be quite a buzz. There's nothing wrong with taking the odd shot if you can write the money off before you sit down.
As for the Series, I have already booked it so I am 90% certain to go. There will be plenty of poker available (Palms tournaments, satellites, cash) to play without ever having to cough up $1500 or more. Perhaps I will only do the latter if I'm well in front on the trip. See you there !
* After the first session, where I would have lost $25 less if I had played KK right (checked it on a 653 flop).
# posted by Andy_Ward @ 11:47 AM 
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Was the big minus on Bellagio games just the type of events you played there? (SNG/Sats and the $1500 event) or was the standard of play outside Bellagio uniformly bad?
Both !
I may have understated quite how badly people were playing tournaments in Harrah's and Binions in particular.
Andy.
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I may have understated quite how badly people were playing tournaments in Harrah's and Binions in particular.
Andy.
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