701 Adventures to the 702: TR 5/26 - 6/1

didn't really know what to do as I was planning on lasting a lot longer (that's what she says I said). I drove to MGM Grand to check into my new room. Gold card says that you can get an upgraded room, but the app already had my room ready and there was a long line so I just printed my keys. I noticed the Gold Lounge and asked a worker about it and he says it is for quicker help and stuff and basically that's what I should have done. lessoned learned. oh well, I'm solo and not very picky. 27th floor and perfect view of OYO, the deconstructing Tropicana, and the airport.

I took a quick nap before visiting the pool. another mistake as the lazy river closes at 5 and I got there at 4:55. by the way, the pool is like 10 miles from the hotel. and the lazy river closes early and opens late so that's another chink in the plan. I scoped out the pool complex. the main pool was very warm, probably from urine. I relaxed in the jacuzzi instead with some old black folks. after dicking around for an hour I went in and scoped the casino. had some freeplay to use and MGMG only has like 7 VP machines, they are all high limit with crappy pay tables. but I did some of that, then did played some buffalo slots, and my $125 freeplay netted me $52. great.

at this point I still didn't know what to do, was hungry but everything at MGMG is overpriced. thought about buying a ticket to Ka, decided instead to go visit Mandalay Bay. a couple reasons: I like their poker room and it will be closed tomorrow, and they have cheap pizza.

I like MGM Grand, but for such a gigantic hotel/casino they have a pretty terrible Video Poker selection.

Didn't realize they'd started on Tropicana removal.

mosied over to Mandalay Bay, bought in for the max $300, buckle up

and before my first hand the two big stacks were at it, flopped bottom straight vs flopped top straight for a $1000 pot. that was a pretty good indicator of how the action would be.

lots of interesting players. guy on my left was about 40M foreigner, looked middle eastern, I'll call him Gus.
guy on my right, 35-45M friendly black guy fish, I'll call him Bob.
guy across who had $1k+, Tim.

- my first hand I opened T9 to like $7, got raised to $30 and I folded.

- next hand UTG again I got T9, and again opened, getting several calls.
flop T93r. okay I got top two pair on a pretty dry board. what do you do here? bet $7, Gus raises $20, I call.
turn is 4. I bet $40, he raises to $90. I think about it. he only has 50 behind. does he have set of 3s? or an overpair?
I call. turn is ace. I check he checks and shows JJ and my two pair scoops a good one.

- can't remember position on this one. I limp with pocket deuces hoping to hit a set.
bingo, flop is 752ss. I bet $10, several calls.
turn 9c. I bet $25, Gus calls.
river is Tc. I bet up to $70, he calls, and my set is good.

in less than half hour I'm up $220, a lot of it coming from Gus who gets to showdown against sets and full houses every pot.
there was a lot of limping in this game but it didn't stop big pots from forming and creating some very interesting hands. and it helped that I hit a lot. I rarely limp, but I probably did more in this game than any other one I've ever played.

- MP opens $12, I call in BB with 54cc, which is probably the lightest hand I would ever call here.
flop 965cc, pretty good. I bet, calls.
turn 3d, giving me open ended combo draw with a pair. Gus bet $25, Tim and I call.
river is Qc. checks around and my baby flush beats Gus's straight and whatever Tim had.

- I get JJ on the button, I raise to $15. several callers, which isn't desirable, but...
QJ7hh. I bet, Gus snap calls. he always beat me into the pot.
turn is a third h.
river is a brick, he bets $75 and I snap call. he does not have a flush and my set of jacks are good.

I took a lot of chips from Gus but he seemed to win from everyone else so he always had more to take. only hand I remember losing to him was when he limped with JJ and I ended up losing the minimum.

- Bob in SB raises all in $29, I raise to fold everyone else out and it's my 88 vs A6.
Ace on the flop, 8 on the river, bink.
so this is what it is like to win.

a little drama follows. Bob tells me something like I'll be back or hold his seat, but I'm distracted stacking his chips and before the next hand a new lady is sitting in his old seat, and the dealer changes. Bob comes back from the ATM and is irate. his friend says "why didn't you use the machine right there next to the poker room? I didn't see you, I thought you left." "I used the machine I always use." didn't know ATMs have loyalty points. he was kinda mad at me but I'm not the dealer or floor. he wanted to stay at this table and I wanted him too. no seats opened for a while so he waited.

- in the blind, I open $10 with 55hd, many calls like usual. hoping for a set...
the runout is a dream, 975 9 8 ccc. everything hits. I'm heads up vs a new guy, I bet $100, he tanks and I try to look nervous. he calls.
I have won back my buy-in from this morning.

the new guy eventually leaves and Bob takes his seat next to Gus. everyone is happy. more hands I didn't have time to note. I don't want to leave but I am pretty hungry and the pizza place closes soon so I take a break. Slice of Vegas, the pizza was very very good for under $7.
couldn't wait for the photo

- came back and Gus is unfortunately gone, first hand in BB, I check my K7.
flop comes K75. heat check, I toss out $5 and some calls.
turn is another K. how can I get action? check.
river is the third diamond. I bet $25, Bob raises to $50. this is interesting. I make it $100 and he calls. I table, he has a flush and thinks the pot gos to him and can't believe he didn't win.

- I don't remember much of the action here but there was a lot of it. I'm on button with 96dd.
975h 6h
Bob bet, new guy went all in for $101. I call and Bob calls.
Ad river. checks and with two pair I scoop my biggest pot of the night.
pretty sure this is the biggest stack I've ever played with.

- this was a fun one. I open with red 3s. button raises to $20, several calls.
AK3ccc. oh boy. I bet $25, he raises to $100, I call.
turn Jc. feels like AK is very possible. even with four clubs out, I am certain he doesn't have a flush. checks.
river bricks. I bet $50, he calls.
Set of Kings > set of 3s, I lose a big pot, one of the first setbacks I really had. I tap the table good hand.

- another fun one. BB I check with 32.
flop comes Q32. tough not to be the best here. I bet $20, calls.
J on the turn. I bet $25, Tim raises to $100. other player calls. that escalated quickly! I got 2 pair but pretty sure my 2 pair is no good. I fold. there was a river jam and Tim had QJ to scoop a big one. feels like QJ should be more than a limp but he still won the maximum.

that was kinda the trend for this game. small action preflop, but then huge bets later. I the nit made more $100 bets and called more $100 bets than probably the rest of my career combined.

so yeah, gave some back, won a few more. I wanted to catch the tram before closing time so I cashed out for $1215 (+$915) in 4 hours. interestingly, my largest call/bet was $101 so I didn't get into any monster all-in coolers, it was a consistent and gradual rise. crazy how hot I ran. sets, flushes, straights, full houses, seems like I always had it. even when I folded the flop or turn I binked the river. the table had zero nits. it was a perfect storm.

it's hard to feel like I played well when I won so easy. but I'll take that anyday. Mandalay Bay continues to be my favorite poker room.

Damn man that’s the way to run in poker.

Nice job!

It’s okay to bet/3bet all in on the flop when you get raised holding a monster, like a set or two pair. Play those hands for stacks!!

gogogo

Nice session, but yes - this was my thought too. Some of these pots should have been way bigger. Don't be afraid to go for it when your opponent clearly likes their hand!

Sounds like a fun game, maybe I should have given MB poker room more chances my last trip.

A taxi would probably be less than 20 bucks. Stay another hour and you could probably take a limo back.

got to sleep pretty well but woke up too early. couldn't fall back asleep so I blew up my pool tube. pretty hungry so I walked over to the beautiful Excalibur for their gourmet buffet. it was good. I didn't eat anything bad, didn't gorge myself, but left full and happy.

started a game of "where will I miss applying sunscreen?" and made the trek to the pool. found a seat in the only shaded area over by the "Private Pool" (not really private, more like 'quiet') and got some exercise swimming around for a while in a nearly empty pool. eventually the river opened. we have two cheap tubes from Target and I think I brought the small one. but the lazy river was very nice. worth planning for. it was obviously busy but not congested. no early favorites for the game but I'm a little nervous about the top of my head through my short fine hair.

later headed to the beautiful Resorts World and joined the tourney in middle of Level 2.

my table is all age 55+, three ladies, everybody just happy to be there, all friends, chatting about retirement and playing "at TI back when they had a room."

meanwhile, fight broke out at the other table. big pot. at showdown, guy says "you win," she mucks her cards. He tables his hand. dealer pushes the pot his way. she is outraged. "You said I win!" "But you mucked your hand!" they were still hollering after five minutes. my tablemates are just shaking their heads at the incivility.

I wish I had some hands to report but I got nothing. I got no good hands and any aggression I showed was sniffed out by these tourney regs who always had a monster. hung around until L6 when I got in a hand with JT, raise jammed the river when a T hit, only to see two players with AT, one who flopped the flush. and I'm back to the point of "why am I playing tournaments, these are miserable."

but I love the Resorts World room and hopped over to a new 1/3 game.

I'm a nit who plays for lower variance. I would rather win a $250 pot than lose a $800 pot. when I'm already up about 1k without breaking a sweat I'll take my wins to the bank.

yes I understand I may be leaving money on the table. but I'm also keeping my money on the table and getting them to pay up without me risking getting coolered.

that's me. I'm not a gambler.

Afternoon 1/3 game at Resorts World

first hand I had AJ. guy in seat 1 (Hispanic or Native 30-40M, we'll call him Jorge) was blasting away. I made a small river bet which he called and my ace high was good.

one or two hands later I had QQcd and got another big pot with Jorge.
532ss. he bets $70, I call.
turn As. he goes all in for my stack.
I fold, and he shows a 3.

a little later Jorge is betting $100 on a pretty dry turn and gets a call from Seat 2 (Mike). shoves again on river and unfortunately Mike folds.

I finally got KK and opened to $18 but he and everyone folded. I thought poker was supposed to be easy.

T832, Jorge bets $75, Mike thinks he's bullying and shoves. Jorge announces aces, which is good. Jorge is clearly the boss and sometimes he has it.

(Jorge folds,) Asian lady on my right opens and I call with A8cc.
flop JT8hh. she bets $20. I'm not going anywhere yet.
turn is 8d. she bets $35. I shove, covering her (you guys would be so proud!). she tanks, then calls. I table my trips with ace kicker, and she quickly departs. I have a stack to play with. poker is easy again!

(Jorge folds) I open $10 in cutoff with T9h. the blinds call.
642dcs, checks.
Td turn. I bet $25, loud drunk Irish guy calls.
9s river. Irish shoves for $300.
I unblock diamonds that missed. he's not slow-playing a set. I snap with top 2 pair and he slaps down 87dd for the nuts.
he stands up to lean over and examine my cards, which I did not care for.

short time later I shove my crumbs with nut flush draw on a QQ5 flop but KQ boats up. poker is hard again!

I usually look at my opponent instead of the cards as they come out. didn't this time. I think if I watched him and saw his eyes light up when the river came, the live read may have been enough to get out and save my stack. I didn't even notice the straight draw, my eyes just saw the runner runner two pair.

probably just write it off as an unavoidable cooler i.e. that's poker. I'm down $500 at Resorts World, the MGM lazy river is closing soon, I have tickets to Ka at 9:30, and once again no idea what to do in the meantime.

but hey we're having fun. maybe.

What time did you leave Resorts World? I think I got to the poker room between 5 and 5.30 PM. I agree that they have a nice room, but my favorite part about RW is the big ball near the entrance that turns into a smiling, winking, and laughing-with-tears emoji.

Also, why are you naming poker players after yourself? 😉

I left around 4. then wrote my obituary for about 20 minutes

two Guses at the same table, what are the odds

I'm not a very good loser. that was enough poker for the day.

I did something a little different that I hadn't done before, rode the Big Apple Coaster at NYNY.
leading up to it was pretty frustrating though. you have to walk all through the casino, and then you have to wander through the massive arcade maze. I had ordered a full day ride pass. I finally got to the ride and they said "no you have to go get a ticket printed." so I went around in circles through the maze, talked to about 3 different workers until I reached the right ticket counter. they scanned my phone and gave me one ticket. I said I have an all-day pass, right? that's not what my ticket showed so I had to scroll through my email to find my original reservation. finally acceptable, they gave me a bracelet. I wandered back through the maze and got to my spot next. while waiting, I took out my phone and then alarms went off and workers shouted and I was told phones were not allowed even in pockets and I had to get a locker. "it is posted everywhere!" they said. in all my wanderings I never saw a sign that said "no phones in your pocket allowed" and didn't read it in the reservation. but it was only a dollar. but the machine did not take bills, though it does say "no change given, exact amount required," doesn't that imply cash is taken? anyway, progressively more and more annoyed and frustrated by the minute but after a long journey I am finally locked into my seat.

the ride is actually very fun and very exciting. it goes very fast, very high, drops very low, has a loop, has some corkscrew turns that hang you upside down momentarily, is very smooth, and is a decent length (not too short). I am glad I did it. planned to ride again but didn't get around to it.

went out to the east side of the city for some personal stuff for the evening, getting back around 9. stopped at Chipotle and wolfed down a burrito just in time to get in my seat at like 9:29

I saw KA back in 2019 and liked it. stopped by the ticket office earlier and got a ticket for Row F right in the center for a "cheap seat" price (damn Ticketmaster still made it about $100). the show was great. I don't know why people ever say it's boring, I found it very interesting and enjoyable, even on a repeat viewing. I did start to doze off a few times though, I was very tired. 9:30 is a late showtime.

after the show I was asleep before 11:30.

slept well, woke up close to 8.

I am tired of the Strip, I'm tired of walking through casinos, I'm tired of cigarette smoke, I'm tired of parking garages. don't know how some of you do these multi-week trips but I can certainly understand how one could go on uber-tilt from it.

went for a walk down Harmon to Tropical Smoothie Cafe for breakfast. that was good, although I am reminded again I don't have a hat and that was about an hour in direct sun even before the pool. but no ill effects. might buy a cheap hat at some point.

hit the pool right at 10. I walked completely around the lazy river and there were no available seats. did find a place to leave my stuff and spent an hour lounging in the river. it is very nice and everyone is happy, including me.

this is my third day at MGM Grand and the first time stepping into their poker room. got put at a newly opened table and was dealt one hand before the first break, which is right when I wanted to start.

Spin it up in the tourney!!

MGM $400 2-day $100k

first impression of the table is no one said a word. declaring action was the only spoken words for an hour.

Level 5 300/600/600
- early open, 3-bet to 3k, I'm SB with KQo. is that a fold? I did.

- folds to me in the cutoff, I open to 1500 with A4. BB calls.
765 he leads for 1300, I call.
another 7, he bets 2400, I call.
river King, he bets and I fold.

young lady with tattoos all over her hands and legs, we'll call her Tami.

- I have JT, I open for 1200, a couple calls.
Q77. checks, I bet like 2400, Tami calls.
turn 6 checks.
river 4. I bet 4200, she calls... with A4o.
I don't know how she makes that call. I should have barrelled the turn instead.

- UTG opens, I call on button with K9hh, there are 3 of us.
flop is desirable: 923hh. I bet, original raiser calls.
turn is 7h completing my flush. I shove and take it in. nice to finally win a pot and at least I have a playable stack.

- UTG opens, guy to my right shoves, guy to my left calls, OR calls. QQ KK AK.
king on flop, queen on river. that was exciting.

Level 6 400/800/800
- on a K84ccd flop, a guy shoves and gets a call, QJo v AJo. wtf is happening at this table

- I lost a big hand against Tami when with QT I flopped a T, and after runner runner clubs she shows up with AJcc.

the next hand she calls an all in with 76ss. she did not win that one.
I'm at a table of tourney crushers and they are all psycho.

Level 7 500/1k/1k
- after Tami limps on the button, I shove with AK and she calls with K2. thank you.

Level 8 600/1200/1200
the table has turned into a shove flip fest. pretty deep and not turbo structure and still early so that's pretty weird.

- limps to me on button, I raise with KJ. original limper shoves and I call for like 13k. he has AK and I am out.
limping UTG with AK seems pretty wild, but it was unlikely to make it all the way around so it was a good trap and he caught me.

three tourney entries for me and three quick exits. I played pretty poor but didn't get many playable hands and didn't catch a big break, which you need to advance. this one wasn't too fun so I wasn't sad to leave.
my interest and enthusiasm for tournaments has vanished again. I think I will be good for one tourney per trip from now on.

thought it would be a good time to get some food and I wanted some chicken so I went to Lo-Lo's Chicken & Waffles. you know the saying that you can tell a good Asian restaurant by the number of Asians eating there? well I was the only white guy in this place.
been here a few years ago, decided to try chicken and waffles for the first time.

it was fine. I think something else would have been better than waffles. this would be my last meal of the day so I went ahead and got peach cobbler for dessert.

the plan is play cash at Mandalay Bay for the rest of the day so I drove over there and got on the list. they were short dealers and only have 2 tables running. I did get a seat after about 30 minutes.

I am hoping for a nice relaxing day and won't share very many hands unless they are very interesting.

KQo is a snap fold from SB facing an EP open and LP 3bet. Two broadways look good, but it’s an equity disaster for our hand if we take a flop dominated 70/30 or worse, vs AK, AQ, or QQ+, which they’ll frequently have. Plus OOP.

On A4 facing a donk lead on 765, consider raising flop if you want to continue. We’re the PFR, we have fold equity, wield position. You can elect to take a free card, value bet if you hit, or give yourself the option to keep barreling. And it’s an easy fold if they come over the top on the flop.

Congrats on that cobbler!
Sick score my guy.

the plan was to play poker at Mandalay Bay for as long as I could manage. had to wait a while but I got a seat at about 4:30. they were short dealers due to some high roller tourney at Luxor.

guy to my left (50-60 Asian male) with Mirage hat and Park MGM shirt, pretty good player, made big bets when he had big hands. easy to avoid. didn't stay too long though.

the guy to his left (loud 50M white from Illinois, call him Ed) was not a good player, seemed like his first time in Vegas, but when I arrived he had like $700 and said he just hit a ton of straights, flushes and full houses earlier. he was also very slow, staring at the board way too long before making decisions that should not be difficult. one hand on a Q752r board he jams into a $21 pot. annoying as hell, but he was splashy with his chips, and was kinda easy to just sit back and call his bets with top pair bad kicker to beat his second pair.
sure enough, Ed shoved an all in on a four-to-the-straight with two pair, and the other guy had the straight so he lost half his stack to Roy from Texas.

- A2 I limp, Ed raises on button, lots of calls.
AAQc. check. I check, Ed bets $20, a couple calls.
Turn was Jc. new guy goes all in for $41. I call, Ed shoves and I snap call. Ed has KT flush draw. I stand and when the river bricks I do a fist pump. I lost the mini-main to AJ but I got Ed's $250.
the good news doesn't stop there: Ed reloads, and he's not talking anymore.
Roy next to me has to be reminded every time it's his turn. drives me nuts.

Ed bluffed $100 into a paired board and got called by trips.

Ed went on a $1000 downswing. he didn't say a thing after the big hand earlier. I actually feel kinda bad for him. he eventually busted misreading the board or his hand and the next hand left busto.

at 8:00 the turbo tourney started and the table got super short. I asked to change to the other table but was denied.

maybe I'm just slow and dumb but I finally learned a skill: with a small pair on a weak board, I can check instead of trying to steal. if I'm beat they will call, if I have the best hand they will fold anyway. small pots in a cash game are not worth losing a bunch. I've heard this before of course but now I finally understand and utilized several times. I've lost way too much before today trying to steal pots like an idiot. I'm late but now enlightened.

speaking of dumb, I did something that qualifies. I was in the blind, my option, I asked the guy to my left if he wanted to chop. he paused then said sure and threw his cards. but I was the BB and he had limped UTG. dealer got all mad and I was pretty embarrassed. but 3 seconds later nobody even cared. I had an ace too, maybe I just saved time and money.

at 8:30 I was the long man. not much money on the table and super nitty. several tourney alternatives playing while waiting. at 9:15, up $300, I again asked for table change and was granted.

new table had a few more chips, but not as much as I remember seeing earlier. two foreigners had ladies sitting next to them spectating. only one of the other 7 players had a players card, which is a sign of a rec heavy table.

I trip-outkicked the good looking guy from India in a big pot and his lady left. should I feel bad about that? after that hand, I had won back my tourney buy-in.

time for a first: I got a massage at the table.

there was a 25M at the table who was super drunk and talked nonstop. he wasn't a great player, but he had like $600. I don't recall him getting any from me, and while he was annoying as hell I stuck around in hopes of getting some of his stack. somehow we never tangled.

a new guy came to the table and he beat me like five times. in one hand I opened button with AK, he called with 85o, and the flop came 764. then the guy next to me flopped a flush that knocked me down quite a bit. 11:30 and I was getting on tilt. then a weird thing happened:

- button opens, in SB I call with 87dd. I announce "check in the dark."
flop comes all diamonds. it checks around, and then when the dealer gets ready, I say "hey wait!" dealer reminds me I checked. if that's not a neon sign blinking tell I don't know what is.
I bet the turn and get called by the button.
I don't remember the river, I bet $25, he raises to like $90 and I snap (he had AdTh).
it was a huge relief and I am finally back up a bunch, but I am clearly tired and playing poorly.

I called it quits at midnight, cashing out for +$180 and a free massage for 7.5 hours.

it was supposed to just be a relaxing time but a long session presents a lot of little stories. I didn't play great but I was good enough to not lose. I paid attention to everyone at the table, made a lot of good calls and folded a lot of second-best hands.

plan is to work-work in the morning. we'll see where we go from there. it's moving day.

The reason we want to bet for example 66 on 9-7-2 is for equity protection, for example a hand like JT will have a sh*t ton of outs to beat us so we have to charge it. And if we can get some bad OMCs to even fold that hand to a bet, that is a huge win for us. Same if they fold KQ, AT or those types of hands.

But it obviously depends on the number of players in the pot, which is the most important factor when considering whether to c-bet or not. I assume a game like you describe would often go 4-5 ways to the flop, which makes it pointless to try to steal as you are not getting enough folds.

Btw, impressive long session of 7.5 hours, I need to try that sometime!

Know exactly how you feel.

Felt like I was getting a particularly crappy run of cards (83o, 62o etc) yesterday so I decided to write them down to make sure.

In 58 hands I had AKo once, AQo once, ATo once and a grand total of 2 pairs (22, 66).

Only consolation was this was in an 8-max online tourney so at least went by quicker than 58 hands of live tourney poker would :p