VEGAS THURSDAY

Today was just horrible for me. We spent all day at the Venetian. First we played the noon tournament, which is a nice event that costs $105 and gives you $4000 in chips. I had my stack up to $10k and got into a battle royale against the one guy at my table who could bust me. He limped from UTG and I called behind him with 98 and the big blind came in as well. It checked to me on the Q98 flop and I bet it out. The UTG big stack raised me a hearty amount which put me in the tank. I never once considered QQ, though I did fear the JT. I nearly called, but it was $2000 more and I put him on a range of hands that included AA, KK, AQ, QJ and JT. The only one I was dead to was JT but I still had four outs even against that, so I decided to put him all in. The turn card was an 8 so had I played it differently, I would have still busted at that point. I was really surprised to see the queens because limping with them is so anathema. He got that one in a million flop that got my money in the middle.

Tom actually made the final table, busting 7th and earning a couple of hundred. I moved over to the $2/5 NL game and just got reamed. I couldn't catch a flop to save my life and when I did catch cards, they were always either second best or rivered. I lost a ton with top set when somebody's gutshot came true and I finally busted out after flopping two pair against an open-ended straight that arrived on fifth street. I lost $1300 and I'm not all that pleased with it.

We also played in a $40 PokerRoom-sponsored event, but it was pretty much nonsense. The blinds moved up so fast that it was an all-in fest by level three. When it folded to me, I got it in with K4 but Tom called with A3 and took me down. He was gone a few rounds later. I'm not sure who went on to win but it was pretty much like drawing a name out of a hat.