Rudy Edwards

I woke up before everyone else in the house, and decided to put in some more work trying to play in all the card rooms in Vegas. I drove to the Sahara, but was disappointed to discover that there was only a 2-4 limit game going. I'd already passed on the OShea's card room for this exact reason, so I dipped, and drove to the Riviera. It was about 8PM, and unfortunately, they also only had 2-4 limit going (plus a tournament in progress) Disheartened, I decided to take a walk down the strip, and figured I'd find a game on the trek.

Walking by the Wynn and Venetian construction projects was kind of cool, and there is a spot that rents exotic rides, including Vipers, Prowlers, and Ferrarris. Probably out of my price range, but maybe I'll give it a shot one day. I think Prowlers are dope rides, and would love to drive one.

I ended up at the Wynn Poker Room, and back to my first limit game in a lil' bit, an 8-16 game. The Wynn uses $2 chips for this game, which is real annoying and cumbersome. If you're going to switch from the standard 1's and 5's, why not use $4 chips like the Venetian does? it's real smooth. In a few hours of play, there was confusion over bet sizes at a Limit game enough to make it clear this was a terrible idea. not even counting how absurdly large your chip stack gets when you are running well. It's also a forced move game, meaning that you can be arbitrarily taken from your game to the "main" game at any time. This is really annoying. I'm sure they have a good reason for it, but none of the other casinos I've played at so far have used this system, and I didn't notice any real problems.

The game was softer than I'd expect from my Wynn experience last year, and as a bonus they served Strawberry, Pineapple, and Orange Julius that were real tasty. I'm probably making a mistake playing so much NL, because every time I sit down in a Limit game, I feel like I'm playing bush league games. The donk at the table (In a pin stripe suit, with an open necked silk shirt) was one of those special players... after calling your preflop raise, he'd open bet every time if he had a top pair or better, and he'd call down with A high or better every time, with some worse calls thrown in the mix. The best part was, no one else at the table seemed to figure this out, and people kept reloading him with their second pairs.

An attractive Asian lady sat down next to me, and was playing very well, but felt the need to justify every action that didn't work out, to me in full detail. This had a few benefits, aside from constantly conversing with this Asian hottie next to me, I got all the insight into her play I needed to own her, with one exception. It folded to me on the button, and I reached for my chips to raise with J4s, when she points out that she was going to chop with the big blind. As nicely as I can, I point out that while I'll chop the blinds, I won't fold my button so others can chop. She calls, and the flop comes QT8 and giving me a flush draw. She check raises me, and I three bet, and then cap her reraise. The best part of all of this is that I've seen her get feisty with garbage already when she had perceived some kind of table injustice.. and that she was willing to three bet with air in the past. The turn came another T, and I just called her bet. The final card was a 4, missing both of my draws, and she bets out. now, I've got a J high to add to the board at this point, but we've built a reasonable pot, and IMO she either has a monster or two low cards (possibly with a flush draw, or a J or 9 for a gutshot), so I anguish about it for a few seconds, and put in a call with my J high, and she flips the QT for the boat.

I didn't even show her my hand because she was already teasing me about having played back at her, and not letting her just chop. I hope that she was actually just leveling me the whole time, and knew exactly what she was doing. That would be a better story, and kinda hot, too. Poker skill is hot in already attractive women. Apparently, she's a regular at the Commerce in L.A., meaning the odds she was leveling me are a little bit higher than I would otherwise give her.

I also had a full house counterfeit by a third 9 on the board when my pocket fours set on the flop, filled up on the turn, and were chumped on the river. At least that time I didn't waste a big bet after having housed my opponents for max action up to that point. I finished the session up about $350, with many tasty Juliuses under my belt.

On the walk back to the Riviera, I noticed that it had a 24 hour food court that contains a Quizno's. I don't know if the Quizno's is also 24 hours, but if it is, it's gonna catch a lot of my late night, after poker business. Also, if you are looking to score crack, or score a crack whore, I'd recommend the 7-11 parking lot near the Riviera. The Riviera also seems to cater to groups looking for high end adult revues, but with diverse sexual orientations. They have an all male revue (American something), a topless revue (crazy girls), and celebrity cross dressers (La Cage). Now, I'm a big fan of boobs, and can see going to a topless revue at some point, but I think I'd hit the Folies Bergerie at the Tropicana, which does a good job of looking like something from the rat pack heyday of Vegas.

A bit of good news, an old friend who I hadn't seen since before either of us played poker seriously, is chip leader going into the final table of the 3k NL event today. Dustin Holmes finished 19th last year in the main event, and I hadn't seen him in years, when I walked by him at the Rio last year while he was busy final tabling a Pot Limit event. Dustin and I used to game together years ago, and while we weren't great friends, I love being able to root for an old buddy who is clearly having some success in the poker world now. Good Luck Dustin!