Good morning everyone. I sit here starting this entry at 3:30 a.m. on a couch in the Monte Carlo sportsbook. There is a photo of this couch on Facebook and Twitter if you're interested... I got about 8 of the 13 hours that I need for next Saturday's freeroll, and I made about $20.00 an hour tonight. I started in the 1/2 NL game, and after a half hour I was dealt AK suited. There was a raise to 8 in front of me, and 2 callers. In retrospect I feel my play was a bit timid, but I haven't sat in 1/2 live for quite a while. I reraised to 20, and 4 of us went to the flop. The flop came A 3 3 (2 clubs - I had diamonds). The original raiser bet 40, was called, and I stuck my 70-something out there (only bought in for 100). I was called by both players. The original raiser's call put him all-in, and both players called. The board dealt out without a club. The original raiser tabled A J, the other player folded, and I ended up with 308 in front of me after the hand. That was the only real pot I won for 7 hours in that game. When the table became short, I switched over to 2-6 spread limit so that I could keep accumulating time. I remember hating the game from the one time that I played at Excalibur years ago, but a poker dealer from the Luxor named Paul (who I was playing no limit with) explained how the betting worked. Oh,and if you haven't figured it out already, I'm not too proud to sit in limit games. I have played 2-4, 3-6, 4-8, and 2-6 spread limit, in addition to 1/2, 1/3, 2/5 no limit, and tourneys from free rolls up through a $500.00 WSOP event before. Anyway, the game looked appealing because the full table was having fun (and I sat in at 2:15 a.m.). Sean and Todd (locals who I met in the game) were fully enjoying the 'Karaoker' - poker was being played and songs were being belted out. Sean was campaigning to call this 'Pokeroke' (therefore, both made the blog). Same story for me in the 2-6, in that I had one big hand. After an initial raise to 4, I made it 10 with AA, and 4 of us saw the flop. Three of us put in 18 on the queen-high, two-heart flop. A king hit the turn, and a blank hit the river. On the turn, we all put in 4, and 2 of us put in 6 on the river. The girl betting from the flop on had K 2 (for kings), and a happy Coach drug a big pot. Note to the new poker players: Pocket aces NEVER hold up against 3 opponents in limit hold 'em, ESPECIALLY winning as just a pair...
I think I may lay low today before playing in the Flamingo free roll in the morning on Monday. Have a great Sunday!
I know you are putting in freeroll hours, but it is interesting that some of the rooms you are playing are places I rarely go. For some reason, I don't like the vibe at Flamingo. Add that in with a really bad loss there a couple of years ago, and ...
ReplyDeleteAnd Monte Carlo is one casino I have rarely stepped foot in. No real reason why, except maybe a lack of identity in my mind.
As a tourist, I rarely qualified for any freerolls based on hours/week. Some places actually never had a tourney, but just chopped the money instead.
fwiw, my favorite poker room for years has been Bally's. I also like Harrah's and Luxor. For spread limit O8, Omaha or other limit games, I have enjoyed playing at Sam's Town and Suncoast.
Happy to see that you are off to a much better start this time in Las Vegas!
I talked about that with Paul last night Lightning. He mentioned how he didn't like Mandalay (which he used to play all the time), partly due to running bad there. I was like, "Yep - that will do it..."
DeleteCash games do often come down to two or three big hands, often involving a set -- good job.
ReplyDeleteWhen I'm in this super tight mode, cash games come down to big hands REALLY OFTEN MOJO... :)
Deletedegenerate.
ReplyDeletealso, black and purple are Ravens colors - you trying to tell us something?
Ha. The thing you can't see in that couch photo Grrouchie is that behind me is a bar that faces the casino floor, and I was sitting right underneath a Steelers helmet when I wrote this up... :)
DeleteMonte Carlo huh? Played there very little. But its not a bad little room. Are they still using the dreaded $2 chips?
ReplyDeleteIf you're making $20/hour that's better than TBC. So there's that....
Since you're a free-roll whore, do you know about the Sunday morning $10K "Invitational" at the MGM? It's technically not a freeroll because if you qualify, you have to pay a $5 fee (its for the staff). 15 hours needed to qualify, first 60 who qualify that register get in, They give away $10K total, first place is $2k. You have to play Monday thru Saturday, for some reason Sunday hours don't count.
They still use the $2.00 chips Rob (I thought of you). :) I can't link to TBC's blog because I'm not about the profanity and other content that appears from time to time, but I know how grueling poker can be, and I do read Tony's blog and wish him the best. You will never see me constantly bashing him like some of the other commentors (and "Rob the rules nit" may be one of the quotes of the year... :) I DID NOT know that MGM has a weekly freeroll - I will absolutely look into that. They all add 5 or 10 bucks for staff appreciation/extra chips, so that's a given to me... Thanks for the info. Rob!
ReplyDeleteFreeroll Whore
Yeah I liked the "Rob the rules nit" comment myself. I never bash Tony either. But I have to admit I did temporarily take down his blog from my blogroll for two days when he used an especially obscene blog post title, just because I didn't want those words appearing on my blog.
DeleteCheck each room on PokerAtlas to see if you can find more freerolls and other promos you like. I think we do a better job of updating them than Bravo. And if you find something wrong, let me know.