Rudy Edwards

just in time to stop me from playing 2-5, I had a $800 downswing at the 1-2 game at the Venetian. Now, you'd think it would be pretty hard to lose $800 at 1-2 without interesting poker hands to analyze, but that's what happened. I won't just list out bad beat stories, because they are all the same, but suffice it to say that I felt very good about my play.

In fact, it was only when I lost a stack to the top straight with my wheel, that I felt I was steaming, and even then I stood up from the table, and ended my session.

Table 6 at the MGM is a fun place to play between midnight and 5am on weekends. You get a prime view of the talent coming out of Studio 54, and often drunk and silly girls come by and railbird for awhile. Now, while this is terribly distracting to your poker game, it's very enjoyable, and if you play it right, you can gain a lot of value.

At one point I was holding a conversation with a very drunk girl from the Bay Area. While I was constantly distracted by the 4 or 5 loud drunk hotties around the rail, I figured that people would expect I would not play any but premium hands, so I kept getting "distracted" by hands to raise, and went on a tear with very speculative hands. It doesn't hurt that other people at the table are also distracted.

I finished up $535 at the MGM, negating much of the previous loss. It did keep me from playing 2-5, but I don't mind that much. I guess my absurd hot streak had to end eventually, It just ended a little harder than I wanted. I'm pretty pumped that I didn't have any confidence issues hold me back from having a good friday session. I briefly considered not playing, but decided I wouldn't have a problem, and I was right.

I had a great session last night. It's not that I'm not talking about tough decisions or potential mistakes... I'm just running really, really hot and there aren't that many rough hands to discuss. Hopefully, this will continue, to the detriment of this blog, but to the benefit of my bankroll.

I sat down at a 1-2 NL game at MGM, and it was a pretty loose game. Early on I get 88, and raise to 10, getting calls from both blinds. the flop is Txx with a flush draw, and the small blind donks out for 20. After the big blind folds, I raise it to 60, and take it down. A few hands later I limp in third with A9s, and the guy to my left raises three limpers to 7. We all call, along with the button, and the flop comes down 9 high with one suit. I check to the raiser, who also checks, but the button bets pot. After it folds to me, I repot on the check-raise, and he thinks for awhile and lays it down, saying his JJ probably wasn't any good, and that he thought I had a set. I smirk, but don't tell him anything.

A few hands later, I have 44 in the big blind, and call that same guy's raise to 12, along with a few other players. I hit a set on the flop, check to him, and when he continuation bets, it folds to me, and I decide that slow playing is a terrible option because I have such an over-aggressive table image, having put in huge raises on the flop 2 hands in my first lap. I raise pot, and he shoves over the top, giving me a sweet stack.

I find this interchange an interesting example of how to work people's incorrect perceptions of you when you're new to a table. I had also thrown a straddle in UTG, which really helped push my over-aggressive image as well.

The next hour or so is pretty quiet, I build up a few more chips with continuation bets. I limp ATs in early position, something that I'll do a reasonable amount once I discover that a table has a tendency not to try and punish limpers. The small blind raises to 12, and I call along with the big blind. The flop comes down Q8s6, giving me a flush draw. The SB bets $35, leaving him $76 back. BB thinks for awhile, and calls, leaving him about $185 behind. I give a lot of consideration to whether I should push or call, and decide that the odds of the BB having two of my clubs are very high. I have less outs than I'd like, but If i hit one, he'll probably pay me off, so I just call.

The small blind goes all in for $76 in the dark, and the turn comes a 9, giving me a gutshot for the straight. I make the small blind for an overpair, probably KK or AA, so it's possible that an A can give me the pot as well, but unlikely. The BB calls, and so do I. I make my gutshot, but not my flush, and get paid off because although I was right that the BB had a flush draw, it was with a 9, and he somehow thought his 9 might be good.

As I write this, I realize that he must not have had 93s as I remember, but 96s or something that gave him two pair, because I really don't think he was dumb enough to put his last $100+ in the pot with second pair ass kicker vs. two opponents.

My real debate is whether or not I was correct to play it the way I did, or If I should have pushed on the flop. As it turns out, my read was correct on both players. I finished up $850 at the MGM, and picked up another $160 later in the night at the Tropicana, giving me my first $1000+ day in NL poker. I've had a few of those at limit, but it's nice to feel like my NL training has been positive. It also gives me the bankroll room to try out 2-5 NL this weekend If I want.

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!

I wasn't doing a good job of playing the NL game I had been training myself in for the last two months or so. I kept getting caught up in the limit games I would find, but over the past week I've focused pretty hard on the small stakes NL games around town. If I keep having success, I'll move up from 1-2 to 2-5. I doubt I'll try to climb any higher than that on this trip.

Last night I sat at a $1-2 NL table at the MGM, with a $200 max buyin. A man across the table from me was sitting with what must have been $1600 or so, and he was building the stack by making large bets, and occasionally getting lucky. After a lap or so, I limped A9s after two other callers in late position, and Stacky Stackerson raised it to $15. I was one of two callers, and the flop came down 249 with a flush draw not of my suit. Big Stacks bet out $50, and after the other player got out of the way, I had a decision to make. I was pretty sure he'd drop a bet this large with almost anything, including worse nines, fours, twos, and even air. unfortunately, there were plenty of hands better than mine he'd play that way as well, or at least I was guessing. I didn't want to have to make decisions if overcards came, because I was confident he'd put me to those decisions, so I went all in, and he called with 94o, beating me with two pair.

Big Stacks played this way for the most of the night, but once I built a stack myself, stopped giving me any action at all. I tried to goad him into it, by pointing out that he wasn't even playing with me anymore. I decided to stop being aggressive at all with him if I could, and draw a little more action from him. I picked up a straight draw in a limped pot with 75 on a 68J board. There was around $10 in the pot, and he bet $15. I called out of position, for a head up turn. It came a 9, making my straight, but I still had to be a little bit worried about T7 or QT. I check called again for $50, and the river came a unconcerning 3. I was about $600 back, and knew he was the kind of man who would raise a real bet all in with any large hand, including hands that beat me. The thing is, I was pretty sure he did have a hand from the way he'd acted up to this point, so I felt reasonably comfortable check-calling, and hoped he'd bet big. Instead, he checked behind with top pair.

Okay, so I felt like I left some money on the table, but I'm still new to this NL thing, and I'm learning as I go along.