Black Friday getaway to the 702: TR 11/28- 12/3

Tournament: Wynn $300

starting stake 25K, arrived in the middle of level 2. with minimal aggression I was able to win a whole bunch of pots, getting up to about 40k in L3. I hit the board or had equity, and made smart bluff bets on the river that got it done. in L4 they started fighting back, raising my opens. especially this one guy who got a little short, three times in a row after I opened he shoved.
fourth time though... I open, he shoves for like 12k, I call and it's AT > QT for the knockout.

first break about 38k

Tourney p2
this was quite the session.

- 3/6/6 button open, I call bb T8
flop had T, check, he bets, I raise to 3k, calls
turn gave me gut shot with my pair. I bet 5k. he calls.
as I'm reviewing this hand now I wonder if I screwed up or misread the board. all I can think is JT79. that would give me a straight, not a gutter.
river was K, that puts a 4-liner to a better straight anyway. check, he shoves, I fold.

quickly ordered watermelon juice for mental rungood. helped, as I won a nice hand right away.

old guy on my right was a tight OMC. first time he opened I called with 88. flop came T53, he bet, I called. turn 6, he bet again and I folded.
later it was blind v blind, T64 Q 3, no bets over 1200, he had T4 for flopped two pair, besting my T3 river two pair. pretty clear he was not interested in ever putting chips in the pot.

- 4/8/8 I open K8dh, guy to my left calls. my goal this tournament was to tighten up, keep it to pairs suited connectors and broadways and here I am raising K8o.
flop Ks9c8c. lots there. bet call can't recall
turn Qc, third club. I bet 6k, he raises to 16k, I call.
river is the jackpot: Kc. I check, and with like like 6k left... he checks back. after seeing my full house he comments "if you bet you get all my chips."
was not paying attention to his stack size. still, real nice pot and I'm over 60k

-5/1k/1k I'm bb, sb OMC opens, I fold. Asian male age 25-45 limp calls.
bet call bet call shove call
OMC has aces, Asian guy has QJ for a straight to bust him.

- next hand: Asian guy limps, I call K5
flop K93. I bet he calls
turn 4 checks
flop T. I bet 5.1k, he raises to 30k
no flushes, this does not make sense, and he has been very aggressive. feels like a steal attempt against fishy-looking me. he would not be limping ep with a K or pair. feels like A9 or JT or missed flush. I flick in a calling chip.
he has QJ for another straight. honestly did not have that in my mind. running on fumes

- looking for a shove opportunity
co I shove, call
KQ v AJ
KKJ52 for double up

- couple hands later, new lady opens 2k, I see KK and raise to 6k, calls
7748 I shove, Asian calls, KK v QQ and I double again getting a bunch back from him

couple hands later I have aces but no action.
roller coaster action. beginning of level 8 I'm up to 90k.

last hand before break, button shoves for 8.7k. I call bb. A5cc v Q7o
Qc 9c 2h ... Q Q what the hell

tournament are so damn stressful. but hey, I made it to second break/end of reg. 57/115 left, let's go!

realizations: I suck at seeing potential straights, and I need to pay attention to stack sizes better

Tourney p3

- 1k/1.5k/1.5k I open QJ, get calls
flop is T98 with two clubs. hey I'm supposed to be looking out for straights and that's one not even I can miss
turn red king. I bet 10k and two calls
brick 5 on the river so I have the nuts. is there anyway to get max value here? I bet 35k but they fold.
up to 130k, should be in top 5 with 45 left

I'm having the best tournament run of my life, providing regular reports and the last follower comment was about my dog?

1) It's Thanksgiving weekend.
2) Nobody wants to jinx it.
3) I almost posted about you needing more patience re: getting into the air with the possibility of ice on the wings, but I sure didn't want to jinx that!
4) Have you called to check on Eevee?

Waiting for you to write about the fact that you won the tourney to comment.

Poker with a Purpose sighting, got to say hi to our favorite zen poker feely guru guy

fist bump and quick chat > photo

It's hard to keep track of other TRs while in Vegas, but hopefully you ship the tournament 😀

dogs are cute though

Tourney part 4

1.5k/3k/3k I open JTcc, get a call
flop is JTT. what do you do here. checks
turn is T. lol ok I bet, he calls.
river is whatever. I bet 20k and he calls with AK.
sun run is real when you flop a boat, turn quads and get paid off

got to be the color up buyer for the table which is a good sign. I am unofficially chip leader with 25 left

Tourney part 5

I get moved for the final two tables

- I open Ac8d, sb young quiet European in a hoodie tanks for a while then raises. I call.
flop Ad 9d 5c. he bets small, 16k, I call
turn is a third diamond. I have a diamond plus a pair of aces. he goes all in for 98k. what could he have... KK with a d? I've got pair of aces and diamond blocker. playing to win, I call.
he has AA. I have flush outs. brick.
this was my first major setback late. sucks, but still like my decision.
a couple hands later that player jammed with A5 to double up a 110k "shortie" so he didn't keep my chips very long.

bubble bursts, make the money. yay.

at 6/12/12 I do the blinds. then to the final table. yay. go right to the blinds again. 60k gone without playing a hand
I'm hanging in there but at 215k I'm below average. I would really like to make top 7 to crack $1000.

- 1.5/3/3 sb opens, I shove bb 185k, he calls
AJss v AT and I hold for the big double.

next hand, an open, I raise all in, folds so I pick up a nice pot
in just a few hands I went from FT shortstack to chip leader. that's kinda how it goes late.

there were four significant hands for me at the FT.

1. other players get it in and KQ shorty > AQ for an annoying double up when I was short

2. I get heads up with AJss. nine high flop. "villian", 70 year old tourney reg, pauses and thinks on every move, checking or calling. turn Ace, river J. I put him all in for like 115k and he snaps me off with a set of 9s.

3. 8 handed now. I'm back to chip leader, get in a 600k race AK < 77, that was a setback.

4. 10/20/20, there's an open, with JJ I raise to 100k. guy next to me goes all in, another player also goes all in. I like jacks heads up, I do not like them multi-way when two other players clearly have good hands, and in an ICM point where someone busting is probably more crucial. I fold.
it was TT v AK and the tens hold. jacks would have been good and I would have been in pole position. still think it was correct decision.

it got to 20/40/40. chips moving around the table. unfortunately I got short and ultimately aipf K2 < Q5 to bust.

7th good for my second-best hendonmob entry, about $1050 in my pocket after tip.

Nice hit! That should provide some extra wiggle room for your remaining days.

Congrats on the cash

That's what I'm talking about!

Awesome job on the tourney score! Hope it ignites a great winning trip for you!

Enjoying the TR and pics-keep them coming!

• 1. Got out of freezing-ass cold
  
• 2. Cashed tournament
  

Sounds like a pretty good trip already. Congratulations!

I finished at 20k/40k which meant average stack was like 9 bb. chop was kind of discussed. there were 2 Canadians who wanted to keep under $5000 threshold, but the guy who I doubled up in the AK < 77 did not want to chop. I see it did finish with an even 4-way.

Great run to the final table!!

got a full night sleep, unheard of for second night.

decided to use my newfound wealth for some degen slots to reach a point threshold on my card. found a fireworks machine that had nearly all three bonuses ready. played for half hour until I triggered a couple features. finished out about -$16, not too bad.

the drink lady never came, that was probably more disappointing. I surpassed 1000 player points but apparently the promo is for the holiday time period so I have over 900 points to go. I did earn 1 entry into some mystery promotion whatever that means.

got a rental car for pickup at TI and return to airport at a very reasonable deal. the Dollar desk guy was the best rental car company guy I've ever had.

celebration meal at Blueberry Hill

Congrats on the nice tournament cash!

after breakfast went to nearby Palms for the first time. got a new players card and degen'd a little on dumb slots and BJ, lost about $100 which is fine. the goal was to get in line for teaser room offers. we'll see if anything comes. also to add a new chip to my collection.

from there went to visit my sister and her family. within 2 minutes her large puppy swiped my face with her massive paws and sharp claws. so if you see a bearded guy looking like he fought Wolverine that's me.

spent the afternoon with her family, then headed to Red Rock for 3 nights. this is my favorite resort in Vegas.

checked in and now sitting in a nitty 1/3 game with a bunch of promo grinders

Session 2: Red Rock 1/3
RR is an interesting room. it goes from 1/3 500 max to 5/5 500-2500 with nothing in between. seems to be a lot of Summerlin sharp regs. running a ton of promos: regular high hand, 20 minute high hand, football scores seat draws, and jackpots.

there was a very chatty old guy who seemed like a promo chaser at first. I bought the button to start and got a walk. won a few hands with very little aggression and thought okay this is going to be boring. but quickly realized this was not a nitty table; it was a bunch of crushers.
early on I folded J9 and it flopped 2 pair, short time later I folded Q8 and that flopped 2 pair as well. kicking myself for being tight and not giving myself a chance at hitting a qualifying full house. first hour didn't hit a high hand but did lose pots to two qualifiers.

- open, I call on button with T8
flop T86. bet $25 call, I call
turn Q. check, bet $60. I call
river K. no flushes. he bets like $115, I call.
he's got AJ for runner runner broadway to beat my two pair. again smashed by a straight.
I was ahead on the flop and turn, but even though runner runner is a cooler I had no business calling the river. he was double gutter on the turn so his play made sense.

I was on tilt and playing terrible. nearly anytime I open $10 I got 3bet off. playing wide, making marginal hands, getting blasted off, making bad river bets that were obviously going to get called. didn't really get any premium hands. tons of A4, K7, Q8, and J9. did make a few good river bluffs but not enough that worked.

got shortstacked and into a pot with As9c.
board something like Jc9d4c 6c Ac
I shove and get called by Qc 8s. guy next to me said "I had the king." I got mad because I thought he said that before the other player called me, but he said it was right after the call.

just like WW1 was terrible and WW2 was worse, this was my own Red Rock Massacre 2 (after last year's KK < JJ > TT), as I busted for a $600 loss in a little over two hours. I suck at poker once again.

I've had a bunch of bad sessions at Red Rock. I am kinda concerned for the next few days. player quality is so much better. RR is kinda on an island way out here so I may try one more time Monday but my confidence is not there.

rather than just call it a night, I walked around and found a pai gow table and sat down. I had a promo free bet so I played with that first and immediately lost. used my own chips now and also lost the second hand. this is how it's going to go, eh? did rebound a little though to get a couple bets ahead.

Red Rock is a real nice casino but there were so many smokers. one guy at a nearby slot was just holding a cigar out there and it was overwhelming. then it got worse and when I turned around he was standing up real close by just hanging out letting his cigar waft everywhere. I got up and headed to the restroom. unfortunately there were a bunch of other cigar smokers everywhere and there was no relief until I was introduced to the septic smells of the men's room. for a clean resort it was the smokiest place.

when I returned the dealer had changed from a nice Asian lady Faye to a younger nice Ethiopian lady Samda. in the next like 13 hands I pushed 10 and lost 3. it was like half hour before I won another hand.
continued with not much positive. several players came to my right side and didn't last long before getting crushed. and after a bunch more pushes and down about -4 bets I slid over a spot to see if that was the one getting all the luck.
there was a nice friendly lady playing both spots to my left who called for a dealer hand everytime "king high!" no it came two pair. I told her to just stop calling for hands because it wasn't helping. we played together there for over two hours.

about that time Faye came back. and so did the rungood. for the next 30-40 minutes I went on a nice run getting up to about +5 bets. even got a couple winning tip hands for her.
dealer change and Samda came back. the winning stopped again. my friend got up for the restroom and in the meantime the dealer got quad kings + TT (most ridiculous dealer hand ever), three pair, and a flush + pair. lost all my profits but I was still having fun so I kept going. slid back over a spot and it was the push spot which helped stop the bleeding.
after a very long down, Samda graciously told me she had 2 more minutes and then switched out, but it was old man Joey, not Faye. he was surprisingly a pretty fun guy though. I hit a nice run again. I put out a tip play with my bet and after about 5 pushes it finally hit on Joey's last hand.
but Samda came back and after over 3 hours that felt like a good time to go. I cashed out for +$85 to somewhat salvage my otherwise terrible gaming day. it really was a fun session though. all three dealers were surprisingly very enjoyable (which is rare). if I had been playing the side bets I may have actually come out on top there too.

passing Lucky Penny restaurant, I noticed some good late night specials. but it was 11:45 and I was heading to bed anyway. maybe tomorrow night.

Nice run! Gotta love those Wynn tournies. they are my favorite. Down the stretch at those final tables gets real crapshooty.