Venetian - What a luckbox!

I didn't expect to have the opportunity to play poker on this trip, but I was able to sneak in a short session at the Venetian right before the Blue Man Group show.

When I first sat down, I kinda freaked out when I saw people playing with $5 chips, instead of $1 chips that I'm used to. I even asked out loud "Uhm, this is the $1/2 table right?" I'm sure I scored for tourist fish girl points there, haha. Then I realized something else out of whack. Why is everyone's stack so short? Then, ohhh, I get it. Their chips are sitting on top of Benjamins. I've never played a game where cash money was on the table.

After a few orbits, I settle in and feel less nervous. I'm dealt AJs and I call a raise from the button. BB, a crazy aggro skinny asian dude with a ball cap, comes along. He's been raising and showing down awful hands. Everyone wanted to get a piece of him. Easy money.

Flop comes all clubs. Checked to me. I look down at my cards cuz I remember them being black and lo, behold I'm holding the nut flush. I freak out for half a second and check. BB raises substantially, MP shoves all in. What can a girl do? I'm all in as well.

"Who has the nut flush?" was asked. I remember that specifically.

BB shows a straight draw.

MP shows KQ clubs.

I flip over the winner. WOOHOO!

MP congratulates me. He seems like a nice guy. Probably a young father in town for the construction expo. The dealer does some magic with the split pot madness (I was the shortest, but still nearly a full $200 stack) and then I scoop it all in. The whole table is sad that BB gets up and leaves.

A few orbits later, I catch KJs. A guy in MP raises and I call. He's been raising preflop quite often since the table is a bit tight so I feel like his holding could be in a wide range. Definitely a player who is looser and more aggressive than the rest of the table trying to take control. He's short also, about half a stack.

The board comes all broadway AKJ giving me two pair. He checks and I bet into him hoping to get a shove out of his aggressive style. He indeed shoves all in and I think momentarily and call. The turn and river are blanks. He flips over a missed gutshot, 9T. He stands up and calls it a day.

The older gentleman across the way says to me "You keep drivin' them off! That's the second one today!"

Time ticks by slowly after that. Thankfully one of the guys that sits down has a watch that I keep checking from across the table discreetly so that I don't miss the show. All in all, a quick and profitable trip!

Vegas trip with friends!

In a nutshell, Vegas was great! I did get a chance to play poker and did really well. I'm gonna write a separate post on it soon!

Not poker-related, but equally exciting things happened though...

Delicious dinner at Nora's, an Italian restaurant in a strip mall on Flamingo Rd. Our party was so big they had to make a makeshift long table by putting a thin board bridging two tables and hiding it under a table cloth. There was a big surprise when we tried to move the tables a few inches to the right. Thankfully, some people caught it before the plates hit the floor.

The bread had the right amount of crisp and crunch all around with garlic and butter spread on top. I had the Pasta Carbonara because I was craving carbs, cream and grease to soak up the eventual alcohol consumption later. Thinking about it now makes me want it again. My friend and I were feeling sorry for the boyfriends who couldn't make it. Not really, haha!

Cuh-razy mouthy New York style cab driver took us to the Bellagio where we met up with the boys and had a great time at The Bank to celebrate a few birthdays! It was just a handful of us that wanted to spring for the table service though. All around a good night of drinking, dancing, rejecting creepy guys (muhaha!) and falling on my ass trying to compete with a much more sober guy in "getting low."

The Blue Man Group show. Fantastic! Go see it if you haven't.

Downtown Las Vegas, Fremont St.

The old school lights that they have on Four Queens and Binion's have such a great feel to them. We played craps and didn't do so well. I specifically said to my boyfriend "How are you supposed to make money at this game? I'd rather go play poker." At least in poker you have more control. Craps is all variance! I can't handle that.

We finished off with the lunch buffet at the Cosmopolitan which I love. One day I will be able to afford to stay at that gorgeous place. One day...

White Chocolate x Oreo x Strawberry

We meet again! Yum!

Cooped up in the house

Just wanted to pop in and say that I'm still here. I haven't played any live or online (except for a bout of play money Rush. I'm up to 20k chips now) Hopefully I can get a live session in before Vegas.

The trip is less than a week away! I wasn't planning on playing poker at all while I was there since I'd probably be hanging out with the girls. But now that my "sister" is coming, I'm definitely not gonna have the chance to play. She's never done Vegas right before so I've taken it up as my responsibility to show her a good time. We might take in a Cirque show (I'm thinking Mystere, but I've already seen it. Or Love, but it's more expensive) and we're definitely taking a nice stroll along the Strip. Booze, dancing and fun meals are given. I'm thinking that place in Paris across the Bellagio fountains would be a nice spot.

As for my day to day, I've just been reading Professional NLHE by Miller lately. I've been skipping around a lot, but now I'm determined to get through at least the SPR section and actually comprehend it. To be honest, I still don't get it, much less how to apply it. Hopefully it'll show itself by the end of the section.

And I've been reading The Devil Wears Prada that I picked up at the used bookstore. I'm getting to a point where I can't stand it though. The main character, who we're supposed to feel some empathy for, just comes off as an apathetic whiny girl to me. The movie portrayal was much more likable.

I did get two interviews last week though! One was a so-so job that I'd probably take if I had to and the other was a please let me work here! job. Hopefully the latter calls me back next week!

Hustler - Riding the rollercoaster for the first time

Another profitable trip today, but it was sure hell getting there. For most of the session I was down, further down than I have ever been. QT got there against my AK (raised pot, 9 high flop, AI on flop). K8 got there against my KK (similar situation).

Most of me was thinking, hey! it's the game of poker. A little part of me was thinking What the Hell, man!? Though, I have to say, I didn't feel tilted. I just felt exasperated when I was dealt unplayable hands and that one time, being dealt KK and had no action. Literally, it was folded to me in the BB. In a live 1/2 game. How often does that happen?

I did manage to get it all back and then some towards the end of my session. I was holding QQ in MP. Raised preflop to $10. Got three callers, SB, BB and the guy to my right who plays laggy, loves to bet the flop hard (also, loves to talk and is quite macho) Flop comes 9d5h3h or something like that. SB bets out small, maybe $6. BB folds. Guy to my right raises all in $30 or so. Hero ???

My gut tells me he has the set of nines. While all eyes were on me, I tried very hard to not think about putting him on a specific holding, but rather a range. A9, K9, overpairs. I call and I pray for another Q to fall to seal the deal.

Turn comes a ten.

River comes a J.

He flips them over fast and shows 99. I flip over my straight.

While I was glad to have won, I wondered if I had made the right decision. $30 more to win $76. 2.5 ish to 1. My equity against his range is about 60/40 which means I'll need at least 1.5 to 1. I think I made the right call. Feel free to comment otherwise.

The hand that I played that sent me over breakeven with having AQ in the hole and stacking two players when the flop came QQx. Checked around and then the turn came a blank. Someone else called all in and I happily called. Beauty.

A highlight of the trip was seeing Asian guy sitting down playing decently, but slowly. Oh-so-slowly. Then he had some food table side. Then he said "when's happy hour?" and had two vodka tonics. After that he loosened up, stopped protecting his cards, made wild calls and became a worse player. What a pity.

It'll be a while before I play again. I have a job interview tomorrow which seems somewhat promising. Plus, my mom is back in town so I'll spend some time with her. Whatever happens, there's Vegas at the end of the month!

Pechanga - discovering my deficiencies

After debating whether we were gonna stay Sunday night at Pechanga, we finally decided "yes!" only to find that they don't offer poker rates on Sunday nights. Bummer.

For the most part, nothing incredibly exciting or nerve wracking. No memorable hands, really. Not long after I sat down at the table (seat six or so), a guy sits down at the table (seat three) and he was extremely good looking. I'm not the kind of girl who thinks it often, much less say it. But there I said it.

I noticed some of his mannerisms and language that indicated that he's smarter than your average bear and his somewhat reckless preflop betting and c-bets "because the flop was so dry!" gave him a pretty laggy image. I stayed out of his way. Even if I did know more about poker than he did, I admit that I didn't have the guts to outplay him.

I stacked the old guy immediately to my right with AK with TPTK easily. The reason for this is because he was getting lazy about protecting his cards. He was good about it for about the first thirty minutes that I played with him, but towards the end, his frustration and apathy could be seen exaggerated through his careless handling of cards. To be honest, he was already pretty bad and this just made it worse. I wondered if I should've said something, but that meant I had to admit that I've looked. So, fellow players, protect your hand always and forever, amen.

After he left, Mr. Gorgeous came and sat down next to me and over the course of the session, we had friendly banter laced with poker language. He caught onto my tight play and I commented on his repeated blind stealing. (I wanted to fight back so badly, but couldn't bring myself to do it with trash.) We both riled up conversation with the drunk Marine comedian in seat nine and got the table going in chatter.

Underneath all that though, sitting to his left, I was starting to realize what my lesson for the session was. I'm a poker coward. Okay, to put in kinder terms. I'm risk adverse.

While I understand the importance of tightening up, I wondered if I was being bullied around too easily postflop or preflop and playing too weak/passive postflop. I'm reluctant to put money in if I don't have super premium holdings and can't make 'fat' value bets.

I also wondered if I was running card dead and it was none of his business how I played my cards. I mean really, you just can't raise 27o, even on the button (and especially if there are three limpers ahead)!

But yes, I'm well aware that when it comes to calculating the pot odds versus equity, my aptitude has a gaping hole. I have a hard time figuring out if I ought to be committed or not and furthermore to act on it. More experience and studying needs to be in order. I didn't observe as much as I should have and when I did observe, I wasn't analyzing it. That's a lack of duty to the improvement of playing poker.

In other news, I picked up a used copy of Starship Troopers from the used bookstore for $1. I've been wanting to read this since college when a buddy recommended it. Lately, I've been reading a lot of Gaiman (Stardust, Anansi Boys) and I'm guessing Heinlein is be next!

Yes, I'm serious now.

To be perfectly honest, I didn't have any intention of taking poker seriously until I was in the car on the way to Hustler. Up to the morning of the day we went, I waffled whenever I was asked whether I was hitting the felt again on Monday. The trip to Pechanga was a welcomed escape from the couch potato existence I was starting to develop. A one time thing.

Taking another trip to the casino, twice in three days, could only mean one of two things:

a.) You're serious about playing poker

b.) You're forming what could be an unhealthy, costly and destructive addiction

At least that's how I thought of it. Coming from a relationship in the distant past where my money was spent on other people's gambling problems paints this in black and white for me. I really do not want to end up as a mooching degen.

When we got inside the casino, I immediately noticed how hard the interior tried to achieve a sense of upscale poshness but only ended up somewhere near faux classiness. The aubergine color palette, the reproduction Klimts (a shame there was no gold foiling, it would have made such a difference) the lack of nap in their velvet upholstery, I could go on. I have to say though, it was much more fun than Pechanga which is sparsely decorated like a school gym. Another plus for Hustler, I must mention, very nice and clean bathrooms.

They called me up for my seat with the name "Lady CL" which I thought was amusing and I sat at the $50-100 1/3 table. It felt like the entire table was full of regulars. A man to my right reminded me of Steve Martin and the guy to my left seemingly was always a young asian guy, no matter who sat down.

Afterwards, I went over hands with my coach over In-n-Out so I don't remember many hands other than the best play of the night that I felt I made. I laid down AA.

I raise pre-flop holding my first AA ever in early position. Two callers. The flop comes two toned with suits I don't have and extremely connected JQ9, I believe. I bet moderately and am called. The turn comes a K complete a straight and a flush. I check because I'm sure I've fallen behind and am betted into. So, I folded.

At least that's what I think I remember happening. See, the two things that I learned from this trip out were:

1.) I need a more reliable way of tracking hands because my poor memory can't store significant hands after 3 hours of play (as exampled above). If I can't study my hands later, I can't improve.

2.) When you get tired, get up. The last hand I played reinforces this big time. I raised on the button with Qx suited, c-bet on a dry K-high flop was called unexpectedly and checked the rest of the way against one opponent. When the dealer asked me to showdown, I flipped over my cards to see who had won because I couldn't remember what I had. That is awful poker. A $15 dollar mistake.

I got up when the blinds came and cashed out my first winnings ever from a live game. Forty-six dollars! While I left the casino with fewer heart jitters, I felt like I was more behind in understanding the game of poker than I had been when I entered the casino.

Playing live for the first time

On a spontaneous trip to Pechanga on Saturday with my boyfriend and a friend of his, I was hurled into the world of live poker. The drive was a little over an hour long with my boyfriend in the front seat throwing etiquette tips and hand examples at me in the back seat. This kind of coaching isn't altogether foreign to me as I've been subjected to it on and off for over the three years I've tried to learn poker.

In 2008, I had a brief brush with online micro-stakes poker. I was introduced to all types of odds (pot, implied, blah blah) and equity (pot, fold, blah blah) Never was I the whiz at math or probability. Even the key phrases revolving around such things were tough. Figuring out what "2-to-1 against" means was a real brain bender.

The end of that chapter is simply that I gave up in frustration. Whenever my coach (read: boyfriend) tried to impart some of his wisdom, my mind just shut down and his words just flew right by me. I decided that it wasn't the game for me. Graciously, he persisted with his lessons whenever I showed the smallest sliver of interest.

Now, here we are in 2011. I just finished my degree and am on the lookout for a new job in the fashion industry. They say spending a few hours a day pimping your resume and sending out cover letters should be considered your job. The problem is the rest of the hours of the day. I ought to do something productive, yet fun. Perhaps something I wouldn't have time to do otherwise.

Thus I decided that I'm gonna play a little bit of poker. Certainly, I am smarter than the average cookie and the idea of +EV play is a completely familiar concept. To warm my engine, we played a short game of heads up at home. Then I played some Play Money Rush on FTP. And now, I was standing at the foyer of the Pechanga poker room thinking to myself "oh my god, these people going to rip me to itty bitty pieces."

My boyfriend looks over to me and says "Are you okay? You look terrified."

Thanks, dude. I'm about to play a game that relies on looking strong and confident and you tell me that I look terrified?

I sit down at a 1/2 table in seat 4 with a large man to my right, a chatty old lady in front of me and to my left a man who I'm pretty sure would be called Cap'n in another time. My heart pounds more than it ever has before while they talk about having diabetes. The blinds are messed up for some reason. There are two big blinds? And the button is paying a small blind? What's going on? How can they tell so quickly how many chips he bet from all the way across the table?

I just try to remember to breathe. And fold. Breathe. And fold. Breathe. And am I protecting my hand correctly? Is the Cap'n peeking at my hand? Am I taking too long to act? I should be observing people shouldn't I? Oh hey, AKs!

Forever I will remember this hand that I played monumentally awful. In fact, so awful I don't want to repeat it. But it includes leading out on a monotone board that was not my suit and then feeling like awful after getting called then raised a street after.

Other than that though, I would say my first visit to the poker room was an eye opening experience. Being in that setting for over three hours loosened me up a little (as did a Bacardi Coke) and towards the end, I could feel my heart returning to its normal pace. Monetarily, I didn't do well, but I think the experience itself was worth the few bucks lost.