Live poker
Bellagio Sucks
I don’t know why the Bellagio is considered the preeminent poker room in Vegas. It is true that it has the best game selection, but the floor in general sucks, especially the day shift.
I’ve been playing there pretty regularly in the $2/5 game the past couple of weeks, and it is ridiculous how much differently they treat their regulars compared to the tourists or other randoms in the game. First of all, they give all of their regs hidden food comps, which you have to ask the floor for in the secret back office. If they don’t recognize you, they’ll tell you that they’re all out but if they know you’re a regular, they’ll write one right up. Bellagio is the only room I know of that doesn’t offer an hourly comp rate for food but rather just hands them out completely randomly based on who they like.
Big Time Suck Outs
I’ve been getting sucked out on pretty badly in my home game, so in an effort to console and convince myself that things aren’t always going against me, I’d like to share two suck out stories. Both occurred in a live $2/$5 no limit hold’em games at a casino outside of Chicago.
Hand 1
Ups and Downs.. a few days of poker
I’ve been playing live poker a lot lately- which is great. Of course, this is coming with some ups and downs. I played a NLHE 1/2 game on Wednesday and posted about my success. I went back to Commerce again on Friday and had another winning session. Friday night was filled with a lot of calling stations and players there “just for fun!”. I hit a lot of flops early on and was up $100 after the first hour. It was easy extracting the most amount from the weak players at the table (ah, I’m missing that hour of play)… Here’s an example of a hand from that night where I felt I dodged a huge bullet…
Commerce last Saturday
So, I finally went to Commerce again. It’s sad, that I only get to go once a month. Before my daughter was born, you could find my in a card club about 3 times a week. Well, I didn’t work much then either… Anyway, I had decided, I was going to go and there was going to be no stopping me. I thought, I could meet up with PokerKat also, but unfortunately, she had to cancel last minute.
Finally.. A Success Story
It’s official I just don’t like online poker and that’s ok. I don’t have to. I can play online for fun.. I enjoy playing in the AIPS events (which I will be rushing home for tonight). However, when it comes to what I enjoy about poker and why I started playing.. that’s the live play. I enjoy reading people whether it’s at the poker table or not. I get inside people’s heads and over analyze what makes them make certain decisions. Last night I visited Commerce for a NLHE 1/2 game and came out successful.
A Story About Working on Easter
Last night at a casino outside of Chicago, I was talking to this mild mannered playground salesman that I know pretty well. He is a regular in the $2/$5 no limit game. I knew this gentleman was Catholic, so I wasn’t surprised when asked me how my Easter was. “It was great,” I told him, “I went the the park, made a nice meal for myself, and then went to the casino to play some cards.”
Then he asked me where my husband was that day, and I told him that he was working. My husband is an attorney. He was starting a month long trial on Monday, so he had a lot to get done on Easter.
Nice cash bad deal and other stuff
Went down to the casino and played in the daily $60 tournament. I hadn’t played a tourney there since January and now they have added an optional $20 rebuy which I did at the first break so I was now in for $80. They were over 110 runners and I made the final table. 6 hours later and 4 handed I was 2nd in chips. We decide to make a deal and I walked away with almost 1k. I short changed myself a couple hundred by not negotiating like I should have but I was exhausted (that’s what I get for not eating or drinking anything in about 7 hours) and just wanted it to be over. After thinking about all night, I became very disappointed in myself for not negotiating more. I let my physical and mental state get to me and took less that I should have. I won’t make that mistake again. Overall played well, got unlucky then lucky at the final table and walked away with a nice profit. By making the final table I qualified for a free roll in 2 weeks with a prize pool of $12,500.
Vegas Summer in the Cards
Super busy week for your short-stacked friend. Spent the better part of it in windy San Francisco, where I managed not only to play a little live poker but also blogged all week (thanks to a sweet wireless connection in the hotel). Got involved a bit in some interesting PPA-related dialogue as well (see below). The big news, though, was that I found out I am heading to Vegas for the 2008 WSOP to help out with the PokerNews coverage. Will be there for pretty much the whole sucker.
More details on that to come. Meanwhile, here’s what all happened at Hard-Boiled Poker this week:
Playing Blind/Squeezing
If your range for 3-betting preflop are AA/KK/QQ/AK and you are never squeezing in nlhe, you are losing a lot of potential profit. If you played an entire session at a full ring game without ever looking at your cards (and without your opponents knowing you are playing blind), you should still be able to turn a profit simply by utilizing light 3 betting and squeezing.
These are Daniel Negreanu’s words, not mine, and he is talking about levels as high as $25/50. I read this many years ago and had no idea what DN was talking about; However, I see now that his principles are definitely valid and can apply to any level in live play.
Anyone Want to Be A Tournament Reporter?
The WSOP is coming up sooner than ever this year and all the major media outlets are looking for seasonal help. If anyone is interested in tournament reporting, now is the time to apply.
I’ve done freelance work and tournament reporting for the past two years during the WSOP. I even covered one of our bloggers at a final table! The job has its perks and downsides, including:
Pros:
-Get to meet all the fake poker celebrities
-Get to experience living in Vegas and playing lots of poker
-Experience firsthand the madness that is the WSOP
