And now the downswing...

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okay its been awhile... i've just been so damn busy playing poker! ... well i've been playing poker at least... while god however has been playing some sick twisted game in which i am the butt of every joke. seriously if you had watch my game in the last 4 days . it would not give and new players to the game of poker any confidence at all... its been to quote Phil Hellmuth. its been 'sick'

i played the $1k buy in WSOP bracelet event #34... in chase of the big monet after my 10k score. what i didnt know is that you only get 3000 in chips.. and with 3100 other entrants you are going to get have to get real lucky and run really well to be looking at the big time cash in 3 days when the thing winds up. The play was really spewy and i doubled on like the second level with AJ on a A J 5 5 board with 2 hearts. The villian had AK and i crushed him and i thought i was going to be a very good day. from there i got super lucky in that i could have busted twice but my opponents played so badly that they let me walk away losing the minimum rather than busting me. First i hit top 2 on a A Q 2 board. cecked to me i riskily bet and when i get a call i hope he has hit the ace and can even catch up. the turn is a 3 and it goes check as i set the monster trap. river is a 7 and the villian bets 500 and i hope the poor beggar has hit Ace 7. i re raise to 1500 and am ready to call an all in if he puts it in.... he hold the chips in his hand and i use all sorts of jedi mind tricks to make those chips hit the felt. sending waves of what i hope are telekenesis out the tips of his fingers.... finally he announces ok i call and turns over 22 for a monster 3 of a kind! The spaz is relieved he wins but doesnt realise he has just missed the opportunity to stack me. he raises me im shipping it in the middle and losing. 'I thought you must have hit 77 and beat me....' he explains... as im about to give him the spiel but realise im not here to give lessons to fish the easy way... just the hard. and i live to fight another day....
after that i get 1 outered K 10 vs 10 10 on a K J 7 4 board when the last 10 in the deck finds the river. fortunately the sucker checks and even though i have 2 pair i check to the straight board and survive again! one outer and i live... Stop giving me chances idiots!!!
Well despite the 2 lives i end up putting a shortstack in a few hours later with A 10 and am crushed against 10 10 ... and was feeling a little drained. headed home and decided to go exploting the next day

Despite my near residence in nevada, i have not ventured down to the Fremont St area... which is the old strip at the bottom end of town. its where the 4 Queens, Golden Nugget and other iconic casinos are and there is heaps of hype about it on the tv etc. its also the where Binions Horseshoe casino is. The birthplace of the WSOP. Jack Binion started the wsop in 1970 and was responsilbe for turning it into a backroom game for sahdy hustlers into the widely wayched tv product today. It had to be moved from Binions because they couldnt fit the players in and when Harrah's (now Caesers) bought Binions the WSOP was moved from there completely... but i wass determined to pay homage to the "Bethlehem" of poker...
I set out at 8am and despite there being a $7 all day return bus to Fremont street, i opted for adventure, exercise and some sun on this pasty white skin and decided to walk it. i discovered a few things that day... 1. Vegas maps are not to scale 2. Long walks in the desert are hazardous 3. The bus is not only there for comfort but for safety.

I passed the Sahara and Riveria casinos which look like they havent been cleaned since the days of Sinatra, and the abudance of $2 gift stores slowly changed into liquor stores and wedding chapels. Even spotted the one used in the Hangover (the first one where the car gets rammed, not the second cash grab not as funny clone we will still pay record amounts to see). Wasnt really the high point of tourism i thought but i side of vegas i hadnt seen. It was getting a little hairy at this point when all of a sudden wedding chapels and liquor stores morphed into Bail bondsman agencies, pawn stores and tattoo parlours. The one tattoo parlour i recall was emblazoned with the quirky business moniker "precious slut" on the window, and despite it being in one in a lifetime photo opportunity, The realisation that in fact unlike the $1k poker tourney the day before i actually only have the one life, made me think stopping and/or producing a camera would be as we say in poker... a bad play.
The pawn stores had lines put the front of them by 9am and i felt like i was in some post apocalyptic Mad Max goes to Monte Carlo world... jesus get me the fuck out of here. strange toothless vagrants started popping out sporadically like jawas on Tattoine (now theres a name for a tattoo parlour) and was R2-D2 cruising for a zappin'.
Finally when i arrived at the "Fremont Street Experience" which despite being correct i feel is a little misleading... i head straight to Binions to with my underpants full of what i hope is sweat after the ride. I head to the poker room and despite wanting to take a day off the felt. the floor man comes up announces.. "$60 tournament? one seat left..." as i said i didnt intend to gamble today but in fact i just had getting there... before i knew it was was playing ans searching for the bus timetable. No fucking way was i walking back....

Binions was shit. But worth the look. if you werent a poker fan it would be useless. i came 12th in the tournament but hardly a achievement... the field was 20!! The dealers wore tight pink tank tops and fishnet stockings. That get up should have an age limit though... the 48 year old ex stripper who was dishing the cards out was as uncomfortbale in it i was looking at it. All those years on the pole at least she has her fake boobs as a trophy i guess... (note: she could deal very well. Fairs fair)

Post Binions i bussed it back to Caesers where a $120 game was. i regitered late ans was seatedv as an alternate. Great. This means they have more players than seats do you need to wait til people bust so you can get a seat. Not usually a problem except thism is a deepstack game... andd i am alternate 190. super.... looks like i have some time to kill. i head over to Paris (my happy hunting grounbd to play some tables... hell after that experience at fremont st i might even have a lager or two... shit... was that $200 bucks i just dropped? crap... better head back to caesers... still at least an hour till i can get seat.. back to the table games. drop another $200. more beers... really cant be arsed with this tourney. but i've paid you it now. i finally get seated and only have 16 BB. i ahve to double up early. play one hand when i see a flush draw.. i miss. game over. now ive had 5 beers my legs ache and im losing coin. Thats what vegas is all about. realising this sort of behaviour built this town... i retreat to th palms gof a solo viewing on X men first class. popcorn and coke will be my dinner and asleep by 11.

Wake up and the thrist for poker is back. i head to venetian for a $340 buy in with the intention on playing super tight. my review of my play over the last few days was a little loose which is an inevitability of confidence. time to turn the spanner and tighten up. i play 5 hand in 2 hours at the venetian. i lose most of them. AQ takes the blinds is my only win. after that AQ gets rivered by Q 10 (my favourite hand) when a ten hits the last card on a Q high board. J9 suited sees a flop 3 ways and misses. KK gets in big pot only to find a Ace on flop.... and AK gets it all in on a K high board only to be trapped by AA. wow... so much for playing tight. where to now?? over to the rio... i make it there for tyhe 2pm and play even tighter. twice holding AQ and showing the table to build my image. would have been against Ak and KK both times. the table applauds me and one bloke gives it the "super fold... thats how you win tourneys" he is right im right... im also setting up a massive steal later on i can shove with any two on any board and not get called after doing that twice... but i need some chips.
finally i see JJ ... action is raised and i caller. i could triple up here but need 1 caller... not two... if i do get caller, hell even if i dont i will show the JJ to enhance my stature as a rock. It will pay off in 2 hours when i can Bluff-shove. The first player folds and when the second player goes in the tank i know his range exactly. he has A9 or ace ten suited or pocket 77s through 99s. im a massive favorite but really would take the fold at tyhis point. he calls... ace ten suited... the table laughs chastising him for calling me. but its to not avail as he hits and ace in another hand im 70% fav in and im out... i want to give him a blast. but decide to give the "well played" which is poker talk for... "you stupid C#nt"... that and "nice hand" are the biggest finger you can give someone under the guise still being nice. all the table agrees im still but there is another sating bantered round the tables alot "thats poker" unfortunately that rinfs truer that "Nice Hand "ever does.

I go from bad best to just copping a monster cooler the next day in the $230 at caesers.. After playing the pants off a loose table im cruching them with a superstack and tilting some iranian lunatic to the point of no return. This idiot has been winning monsters with 10 7 off etc and crying when his J 8 goes down to QQ after a 8 high flop. I smash him in a pot where land the nut flush drawing to the royal but i cant get paid. He gives it the old "i know you have the flush, you got lucky" i seen wound... add salt. tossing my a high flush on the table. "yout unlucky. i turn the nuts into the loosest player here and it the only time you dont play like a maniac. " after quick interperation of what maniac means... he decides he is insulted. demands an apology. I refuse. he says i have no class. I rephrase... "sir, i was merely stating that your agression and wide range of hands played to me is to play like maniac. And the statement was inferred about being unlucky as to not get paid by you. So dont be so self absorbed as to think it was a statement on you. You make a statement on your luck. i made mine"... " if you would prefer... i will change my statement im unlucky as your play is technically looser than average i was unfortnate that you realised i had the better hand. i love the way you play. makes it easy for me. just sad you folded. now il have to wait to get your chips".... well thats it for him... he's gone right off. not in words but in play. i take him out with KK with in ten minutes.....
Not long after i see a board of Q J 7 Q land hoilding AQ with the old woman next to me tight as all in. sadly she has JJ for one hell of a cooler. no way in the world im can fold that... thats poker again...

Anyway, thats the bad news... next edition has a silver lining will write it up in next few days

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