VEGAS WEDNESDAY

I played the noon $320 tournament at the Wynn today. I played great for three and a half hours, then played crappy for three and a half seconds and lost my shot at making any money. With blinds/antes at $500, I made it $500 to go from first position with QJc. It folded around to the big blind who bumped it an inordinate amount. I should have just mucked, but I convinced myself it was AK or TT and he might fold to an all-in reraise which he didn't since he held kings. The kings held and I was suddenly short-stacked after starting the hand with a viable stack.

The next hand, I got all in with KQ against KT and doubled up plus. On the next hand, I got all in again with 77 against A5d. If it holds, I'm back to average, but an ace on the flop ended my day. It's a shame that I tried to muscle that QJ thru because without that fiasco, I'm doing just fine. I guess there are still leaks in my game when it comes to unbridled aggression in the wrong spots. It was a good tournament to play though for the live experience and I held my own for the most part.

Tom got out of the cash game so we could try a new venue. We ended up at the Sahara, which is a hillbilly haven. You can really judge a place by the quality of the ladies serving drinks. At the Wynn they are all gorgeous and a bit doctored, while at the Sahara, they are ancient and brag about having been there for twenty-nine years. As we played the cash game, I just watched an endless parade of obese people waddle by on their way to and from the buffet.

We were in a $1/2 NL game, but it was playing like a $5/10 NL game. The pots were huge and people were gambling, It was a great game. There was a Korean dude to my right who would play any draw and spoke only "small English". He got his chips in whenever he could and for awhile he hit everything and amassed a fortune, but then his luck ran dry and he atrophied away. I got some money out of him when I first sat down, by check/raising him, but we never got it all in together.

I did manage to get all in one time against a guy who was apt to push all in with marginal hands. On a 7542 board, I got all my chips in with trip fours, and he made the call, only to show the 63. He played that garbage and flopped the straight. I didn't pair on the end, so that cost me about $300 and all my profit for the night. I finished the game down $99, then we signed up for the nightly tournament.

As soon as I sat down at that eleven-handed table, I knew I didn't want to last long in this tournament. I had paid $42 to play and there was a $20 rebuy. I gambled the first chance I could. I got all my money in with KsQc on a Q83 flop, all spades. I was up against top set and I didn't hit my flush. So I rebought and I knew I was going to shove in soon, but then Tom walked by telling me he busted out when first his aces then his queens were cracked. He was on his way to get back into the cash game but I told him not to bother and I pushed all in with my KJ. It came in third to 99 and AK and I was out.

We went to an awesome Italian restaurant for dinner then back to Rio to stop by the PokerRoom suite where we ran into Thomas and his friend, John from Albequerque. We made plans to meet at the Masquerade Bar for cigars and drinks at 10:30P. We had a good four-way conversation, then at 1A, everybody and their brother showed up and I spent the rest of the night talking with Justin (Phatigue) and Link (Dogg30) and Paul (Lazyeye), my fellow Bustouts from PokerRoom.com, while fielding drinks from all directions.

John is a television sportscaster who doesn't get to go out much in his home town because he is a public figure and must always present himself properly, so he took advantage of the Vegas getaway to live it up. Link told me how Brian (Darmonuts) bolted late last night, leaving a note on his bed about how he wanted to get back home to his dog. I was meeting Justin for the first time, and he proved to be a great guy. We ended the night at 230A, with four of us promising to meet at 11A for the Rio buffet.