Vegas Summer '08 Follies Finale

Highlights:

-Astin goes deep into Day 2 of Caesar's MegaStack
-LJ and Iggy win seats to the WSOP Main Event (online)
-I finish 2nd in Planet Ho's nightly lucksac monkey jam tournament
-Bottle of Champagne delivered to our room Sat night (anonymously)
-Tina and I have dinner at Mon Ami Gabi

Entering our room Saturday night exhausted and ready for bed (pic from our room), we come across a cold bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries that were delivered by room service several hours prior. The ice was almost completely melted but the bottle was still cold. There was no card or note so Tina immediately got on the phone to room service to identify the culprit. They had no record of such a delivery, therefore no name. If someone we know did have that sent up, our sincerest thanks. If it was indeed a screw up on the part of room service, I run goot!

:D

Since we were dead tired, we decided to save it for the morning and have mimosas with breakfast in the room. But, Tina just couldn't resist the urge to take in one of the strawberries. It put a BIG smile on her face and we were off to donkey dreamland.

Since it was our last day/night in Vegas, we decided we'd treat our selves to breakfast in bed and a nice dinner that evening. Another thing I wanted to do is buy Tina into a cheapo lucksac tournament so she'd have a chance to play a little poker without risking any of her own $$$. I told her going in not to have any high expectations. The nightly low buy-in tournaments are luckfests with terrible structures. I figured we'd both end up donking out before the 1st or 2nd break and watch the end of the Laker game before dinner. The game was also running on all the TV’s in the poker room.

Breakfast arrived and we were in donkey heaven, having breakfast with mimosas (anonymously comped) relaxing in the room. One thing Tina truly enjoys is room service. I make sure we have breakfast in the room at least once whenever we're on vacation even if we're only off for a weekend.

After breakfast, we walked over to Caesars and I got seated at a 1 / 3 NL table immediately while Tina checked to see how Astin was doing. CK immediately shouted my name from a table across from me. I put my name in for a table change but, it never happened. CK told me later her table wasn’t that good anyway.

Tina finds out they’re down to 2 tables in the MegaStack. This is after about 2hrs of play in day 2. Astin’s got 16 hrs invested at this point.

Tina runs off to the Forum Shops to see if she can find a Victoria’s Secret while i donk around the cash tables.

The table I’m at is extremely nitty. There’s one English guy who keeps just calling with TPTK, 2p, etc. The only time he EVER re-raised was on a J-J-T-A board after the turn. He then got all-in against the other guy when a Q hit the river. English guy tables Q-J for the boat. The other guy mucks K-J. cooleriffic

I got involved in a hand with the same English guy later when I flopped a set of 3’s against his 2p. I bet every street cuz I knew he’d call with any decent hand. I scooped a $100 pot from him and probably coulda got more. It’s difficult to determine the strength of a guy’s hand when he just calls. Oh well.

Tina comes back a short time later and says she’s ready for a nap. Since I feel like I just woke up, I pass and she heads off to the room.

After bleeding down a few chips trying to see flops, I limp from EP with 7d8d. There was a lot of limping at the table and it rarely got squeezed. One other player calls along with the blinds and the flop comes 6d-9d-Jc, a monster flop for me. I check and it’s checked around to the BB who makes it $20. He over bets the pot which was only $12 before his bet. I saw him do this in a prior round when he flopped 2p on a draw heavy board. I considered pushing but I only had a little less than $200 behind, he’s probably not gonna fold 2p and I really don’t want him to. Caesars plays a bonus to high hands such as straight flushes. So, I just call. The turn brings a brick and he bets $30. I call again and the river is a J. That right there is a friggin bad beat it my mind. This guy dodges half the deck but nails one of his 4 outs for the boat. Live pokah is rigged.

Astin stops by a little later to say he busted before the final table. Well done. That tournament is a friggin marathon. I don’t think you’ll find a better valued $340 tournament anywhere. But, be prepared to strap in for a long couple of days.

6pm rolls around and it’s time to head off to meet Tina for Planet Ho’s lucksac monkey jam NLHE extravaganza, $80 buy-in with 20 min levels and 5000 starting chips. Blinds start at 25/50 and skyrocket from there. 20 minute levels gets you one full orbit at each level most times. The tournament starts with only 41 players. I guess more people decided to watch the finals instead.

The very 1st hand I pickup T-T utg and make it $175. I get one caller and the board comes all low cards. I bet $350 and he calls again. A (T) hits the turn. I don’t slow play sets esp in a monkey push tourney so I bet out $1100 and he calls again. OMG I’m gonna dubble thru on the 1st friggin hand! The river is a brick and I make it $1500. He thinks for a while and folds. WTF ?!?! I figure he musta been stuck on AK but, he said later he had pocket Jacks and felt like he was up against a set. I don’t believe anyone’s folding an over pair in one of these and just chalk it up to BS.

My table is pretty active. Some guy already got caught trying to bluff another pot with AJ losing 2/3rd’s of his stack. With the blinds at 50/100 an older guy who sat down late and missed most of the 1st level min-raises UTG. I look down at pocket 8’s and make it $600, he cold calls. The flop comes 8-T-J rainbow. He checks and I bet $1000, he calls. The turn is and Ace and he check raises me all-in. Obv I call and he shows A-Ts. Thanks for playing.

I’ve got over 12k in chips in the 3rd level and some players are already getting short. An older guy in the CO limps after it’s folded to him. The SB comes along and I look down and JackAce sOOOted! I raise my monsta from the BB to $600. Old guy calls, SB folds. Flop comes A-K-x with 2 hearts. I bet out $1200 and this guy insta-poooshes. I mean he couldn’t get his chips in fast enough. Since I’m not ever folding TPGK in a monkey shove pushfest, I call and he shows Ac-4c. well played, nh gg.

I walk over to Tina’s table to see how she’s doing and she’s down to maybe 800 chips. I ask her “any luck?” Already knowing the answer and she says “ya, bad luck. Does that count?”. Bad beat therapy at break time.

I walk back to my table and some guy limps in EP, I limp with QTo on the button. SB folds BB calls and the flop comes T-high. The guy in EP checks really fast. I don’t know why but I thought he might be slow playing an over pair. BB checks too and the turn brings a 9. It checks around and my previous suspicion is out the window. I bet almost the pot, $450 and BB calls. EP limper goes away. The river is a bee-yoo-tee-full Q. BB checks and I bet out $1000 and the BB goes all-in. Since there’s no way I’m ever folding top 2p in a monkey shoving contest, I call and he flips K-J. He dubbles thru.

While this was going on, Tina stopped by then walked off. We go on break and I walk over to see what happened. She said she got her AA snapped off by 99 after betting it the whole way. I told her ahead of time not to slow play anything good in this. The problem was the board was all low cards and this guy’s 99 looked like Aces to him. He rivers a 9 and took most of her stack. Later she got all in with 88 and ran into 9-x. Of course a 9 peels off on the flop and she’s done. She is freakin steaming.

I come back after the break and don’t see many playable hands. Before I know it we’re down to 2 tables. The one good thing I will say about this tourney structure is there are no antes. That shit always slows down the game and when you only have 20 min levels, it makes a HUGE diff. The blinds double each round but, I’d rather see that than monkey shovers having to be reminded about antes during each hand.

I think I was able to steal one pot during that level but I also dubbled a shorty who limped with QQ. I woke up with 7-7 in the BB and put him all in. The sick part is we both flopped a set and I started calling out a “7” for the turn and river. Everyone laughed.

We get to the final table and I have less than 10 bb’s. the blinds are 500/1000 and ready to shoot up to 1000/2000. after 5 hands I pick up AQo and some guy raises obv I push. Everyone folds to him and he says “I have to call”. I said “ya I know. I need to dubble”. He flips AK of course. Tina is there to see this and says “Oh no, your nemesis”. Everyone knows I hate AQ. But, then a crazy thing happens. Flop comes all rags, turn is a brick and a Q hits the river.

Tina gets all excited and I say to the other guy “that only happens online. Live poker is rigged too?” He took it pretty well. Now I have over 20k in chips but, that’s not shit with this structure.
One thing I forgot to mention is when we first sat down at the final table a few guys starting bringing up a chop. There were two guys with less than 3 bb’s left and I’m thinking, “are you guys nuts?” Anyway, I tell them we should wait a few more rounds to see what happens. But, inside I’m saying “fuck that we’re not chopping an $80 monkey shove tourney”. So, I fight it the whole way really.

I pick up QsJs and it’s folded to me in the CO+1. I shove and a shorty to my left shoves. He flips A-Q and I get ready to count chips but, a J hits the flop and he’s done.

Then several hands later, I’m in the BB and look down at QTo. Some people like to wait to look at their cards but, I don’t. I like to take a quick peek to know what I have while I consider what action I want to take as the hand develops. I’ve always done this. The table folds around to the SB who is one of the guys who wanted to do a 10 way chop (LO-FUGGIN-L). He says “oh I have to raise this” and states he’s all-in. I have him covered by about 15k. It appears like a standard ATC push and I call. He flips 4h-5h. He gave me the weirdest look. I’m pretty much calling any all-in in a Blind vs Blind battle with any two Broadway cards if I have you covered and I think you’re pushing ATC. He bricked everything but, I rivered a Q. gg well played.

Now I have the 2nd biggest stack at the table. We’re down to 7 players and I take another guy out who jams his puny little stack UTG into my BB. “If I call, it’s gonna be all over babeee”. Well, I didn’t say that but I do call with K-6o and he shows K-4sOOted. He hits the rail and we’re ITM. Another guy who was part of the let’s do a 10-way chop tag team brings up a chop again. I told him I’m not even gonna consider a chop until we get 3-handed and I’m pretty sure even then I won’t do it. He’s respects my decision and stops bringing it up for a while.

We get to 3-handed pretty quick which will happen with the blinds at 3000/6000 and no one with and M over 7 except me. I have approximately 70k in chips at this point with the next closest guy sitting at around 40k and the other player has maybe 6 BB’s.

Shorty brings up a chop for the umpteenth time. We both say no. Then this hand comes up. Shorty is in the BB and I raise it to 20k from the Button. SB folds and he agonizes for a while then folds showing Ad-4d. I show him the hammer. No joke. Tina was there to see it. He actually took it really well. The next time I get the button, I raise it 20k again. This time I have K-9o and the SB shoves. It’s like 28k more for me to call so I can’t really fold here but, I know I’m behind. I call hoping to get lucky and take this guy out. Cuz if I do this tournament is mine. He flips A-7o and an Ace immediately hits the flop. He dubbles thru and shortly after takes out the short stack.

We’re heads up but, I have less than 50k now. HU didn’t take long. I think about the 3rd-4th hand I decide to try and steal with Jd-9h. I raise it 20k and he just calls. Flop comes all rags with two diamonds. I jam all-in and he calls with Qd-8d. It was a huge flop for him. The board bricks and he takes down 1st.



I take home $484 for 2nd and he gets over $800 for 1st.



We head over to Mon Ami Gabi for dinner. If you’ve never eaten here, you should try to make an effort. I ordered Filet Mignon and Tina had Scallops. We sat out on the outside patio which has a direct view of the Bellagio fountains. My steak literally melted in my mouth. I gave Tina a bite and she said it was the best steak she’d ever tasted.

After dinner we stopped by the craps tables one last time. We both did ok after a few rolls and left the table +$50. There was one kid rolling and I got a bunch of chips laid on the field. As soon as I had every number covered, the dreaded 7 hit the felt. We cashed out and went to bed to rest up for our flight.

A big congratulations to Iggy and LJ for winning their seats in the big Main Event guarantees running this weekend. GL in the Main Event!

We later found out Nadia was the sneaky little schemer behind the champagne and strawberries. We luv ya Nadia, Muchas gracias!