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Mark Banin's Vegas Diary
Mark_Banin
Member Posts: 19
Sunday 18th Oct 2009===============
This Vegas trip hasn't started so well. I've arrived at the car rental desk (after waiting in line for 30 minutes) only to discover that my drivers licence has gone walkies. Well last place I saw it was at the gate in Phoenix - that doesn't help me here though; No licence, no car! What's worse is that I've already prepaid for it!
Well I get to the hotel, (I'm staying at the Venetian), check in, and mosey down over to Caesars Palace which is where I'll be playing most of my poker. They're running a festival called "Caesars Palace Classic", it's a series of $300-$1000 tournaments culminating in a $5k main event. My first tournament will be on Monday 19th, which is a $500 NLH Freezout. So I buy myself in and am more than happy to see a very good structure for the event; 10k, 50 min clock.
I want to take these tournies seriously, so on my way out decide to give the very inviting cash tables a miss. It's about 11.30pm and I want to be fresh for the 12pm start tomorrow.
Mon 19th Oct 2009 - The day of the Ace Queen
=============================
Good Morning Diary. It's about 10am, I've had a good nights sleep - but still can't stop yawning. Not really the kind of physical condition I wanted to be in - but recognising that, I've told myself in no uncertain terms to concentrate on every hand.
Blinds are 25/50 and were off....
20 minutes into the tournament and I've managed to steal a few pots and am starting to become a nuisance for the rest of my opponents on the table. Most of them have clocked me as some aggressive British guy and are looking to somehow get involved with me....if only they could catch a hand!
An early raiser followed by a few callers have entered the pot and I look down to find Ace Queen. I decide that squeezing here is the right play as I don't really fancy playing it multiway so I decide to raise. A Vietnamese player who I recognise from the WPT or something calls, he has position on me, the flop is not a good one; 7 High. Well it hasn't hit me, hopefully it hasn't hit him either...I throw out a decent sized continuation bet and he thinks about it and calls. Uh Oh! This pot is now getting out of control. Well judging by his manerisms etc I've decided that it looks like he has something between Pocket 88's - TT's. The turn card brings a King, I think this is a great card to push with - so without really engaging brain - my mouth announces all-in.....Oh my, what happened to this focus and concentration I was talking about? My Vietnamese friend goes into the tank. My brain now decides to switch on and it whispers, "please think I have AK", "please think I have AK", "please think I have AK". One of the other players calls a clock on him - I think this is a good thing but am not convinced. In the meantime I'm pulling out all the double reverse tells I can think of and of course praying that he doesn't call. 20 seconds into the clock, he ............mucks. Phew! that was a close one! Don't be so **** stupid next time. The good news is, my stupidity has made me rich - I now have nearly 20k in front of me.
*New Entry......
We're in the 2nd level now...and i've been in a tussle a few times with a Mediterranean bald guy in seat 7 - he's definitely come to play. So far I've had the best of him although he did show me one bluff that he made in a hand where I had 7 high - so not too worried.....but I will have to make him pay for that - I'm now gonna focus on this guys tells & patterns a little more than the rest of the table.
A few hands and levels go by, I've managed to make a few steals, continuation bets etc to build my stack up to 32k, I'm chip leader on the table, baldy has about 28k. Born by my continuous raising and stealing of pots, I've noticed that most of the players are itching to get me, as Kevin Keegan would say they would "just Lov it" if they could get a hand against me - "Just Lov it!". So I'd better watch out for some slow play reads.
Blinds are 300/600/50: Baldy is pretty much the only guy who still wants to mess with me, he raises my Big blind (from cut off - 1) making it 2400 to go. I look down to find AQo - hmmm, how to play it? Well he's certainly capable with raising with any two cards that he likes to play. But the way he threw his chips in suggests this is nothing more than a standard raise with a standard hand - so calling here would be the wrong option. I reraise making it 9k to go - he insta calls. Uh Oh, didn't really want to him to call - this is gonna be tough if I don't hit - especially with so much in the middle. Flop comes King, Nine, Four with two clubs.....I look down to find the Q of clubs. It's a reasonably dry board, question is has he got a King, I don't put him on a pocket pair as I'll explain later. I think it's too risky to continuation bet here, mainly because it's committing my stack without enough info....it would just be pure gambling. Well, I'm just gonna have to wind up the Banin antennae and watch him very closely....So I check. He pauses for about a quarter of a second and pushes all in. The pause is probably the surprise at my check and not wanting to miss the opportunity, the shove all in could mean "let's steal". The problem is, it's for 90% of my stack which I've been growing organically over the last few hours - do I just want to stick it in with ACE HI!! I go into the tank....time to replay the hand....
* He made a standard raise with a STANDARD HAND
* Baldy insta called my re-raise: HE'S FRUSTRATED, CAN'T BE POCKET PAIR, AK, KQ (POSSIBLE KJ)
* His momentary pause and shove suggests: HE'S MISSED
In some cases, an insta shove means a big hand, sometimes it does not: I've seen this guy slow play and think about his big hands, so I believe he's not the guy that would insta shove with a big hand.
After about 30 seconds.....I announce.........................................................."CALL"
"Good call"....he says.....Only to see his and the rest of the table amazement when I flipped AQ, he in turn flipped QJ for a gutshot.......it didn't arrive......I have over 60k in front of me
*** New Entry 2 ***
With baldy out of the way I can continue to run riot. There are currently 38 players left. Another advantage of being aggressive is that other players stay away from your blinds especially when you have a stack full of chips.
In the meantime, a young kid has taken baldy's seat. He came to the seat with about 25k in front of him and has stolen a few pots taking him up to 35k. However, set against top pair plus an out-kicked situation has seen him drop to 9k. Whilst this has been going on the table is staying well out of my way, I'm up to over 90k now...not really doing anything too special, just reading situations and stealing when I feel opponents don't have anything they can defend with. Blinds are now 600/1200/100.
The Kid sitting in cut of -1 decides to shove his last 9k in the middle - I get the impression he's desperate....everyone folds round to me I look down at K9s.....The kid looks nervous, plus I'm getting 6/4 on my money.....not great odds but just enough to call a desperate looking nervous kid plus I might well have the best hand.....so I make the call. The kid doesn't look pleased....he turns over Q9o and shows his displeasure at my call with K9. No queen arrives and it's goodbye kid!
I now have around 105k in front of me with 30 players remaining. Just when I was enjoying this table - the table breaks. The blinds are now 800/1600/200. First hand in, I raise it up with 89s making it 3900 from mid-pos, the big blind calls. The flop comes J 8 4. He checks, I didn't really like the way he checked - I have a feeling he has at least a Jack - I think he's looking to Check-raise me....so I check behind. My check in this spot is not too bad - I'm only really worried about seeing an Ace, King or Queen....everything else I don't mind too much. The next card is a deuce....which is a great card for me....So now the big blind decides to bet 6k, I'm pretty sure the guy has a Jack - but you can never be sure - and as the pot is so juicy I call 6k. That's the advantage of not always continuation betting; pot control. River brings a 9, giving me two pair - but also brings a straight with QT....somehow I don't put him on that. He checks, I go into the tank as to whether I should value bet and if so, how much. I doubt he has QT, which means unless he has J9 or J8, I'm winning. Well I originally thought he had a Jack, now I'm not so sure - I think it might be less, pocket 7's or Pocket T's. Well I don't think I can get a lot out of those two hands....So I make it 5k. He immediately throws his hand in the muck face up....77's.
We're getting closer to the money 9 places get paid (141 started) and some players are waiting. There are 18 players left, blinds are 1k/2k/200 - I have about 150k in front of me. My neck has been killing me all afternoon, so I get a massage from one of the pretty massage girls. In the meantime, an Australian guy on the button hesitatingly decides to go all-in, I got the feeling that he really didn't want to but felt compelled to. It's my BB! His shove is about 40k. I look down at J7s. I just get the feeling he doesn't have much......He didn't seem to want to raise but then sort of changed his mind - I'm pretty sure it wasn't an act!.....I mean he could have like 7 9 or something! So after about 60 seconds I decide to call....he flips KJ....ooops! got that one totally wrong. No 7 appears - in fact he makes Kings full, so I lose that one. Well my read was right, but my assessment was wrong. He really didn't want to tangle with me but felt he had to with KJ. Did I really need to lose a quarter of my stack with J7 ?? Maybe it was the massage girls fault? It certainly doesn't help you concentrate when she's digging her elbows into your shoulder. I will say that I do rely on my reads quite a bit and if I think I'm right I usually go with it......even if it's for all my stack! Still I'm stewing a little that I lost that one, so I raise 3 out of the next 4 hands, all semi-playable and without conflict....I'm up to about 125k.
*** NEW ENTRY 3 ***
Well, with only 9 places paid things have been going pretty well, I've managed to knock out a couple short stacks, one with AQ vs his A7 and another with TT vs 55. That plus some steals etc puts me on over 190k. Blinds are still 1k/2k/200. The Aussie guy (75k) who's been playing pretty tight raises, I'm in the BB with K6s. I'm not sure he's that strong, his bet looks a little on the weak side, I'm considering a re-raise but go with the precautionary call....lets hope that's not a mistake. Flop comes King, T, 9 - with one spade. I check, to see if I an get a read of Aussie bloke who bets 11k. Without wanting to go into details, my read on his bet is strong - But I'm really on the fence with this one. Did I really play K6 to flop a King high board then throw it away? For a King to flop if we both have a King is about 8/1 - so it's unlikely - of course he could have pocket Ts or 9's but that's equally unlikely. One thing I'm certain about is that this guy is not keen on putting all his chips at risk without a big hand - he's definitely looking to survive.....So I decide to put that to the test. I announce all-in. He goes into the tank, The way he's thinking, he definitely has a king...he continually mutters to himself for the next two minutes....he then proceeds to tell me that he has two pair - Uh oh, I can't imagine his instinct for survival will push past two pair......he announces..........call! I miss any of the back door stuff and Aussie guy gets me again.....I'm back down to 125 ish....ouch!
***NEW ENTRY 4 ***
Well here we go again.....I go into super aggressive mode I make a couple of blind steals, one reraise with 85o....and all successful. I'm upto about 140k.....I lay low for a few hands but can't resist the lure of the A7o - So I raise to 5600, SB goes all-in for 14,800 and BB goes all-in for 17k......I'm not known for backing down + the juicy pot odds means.....I CALL! SB turns over 44 and BB turns over TT......I proudly show my Ace Seven off suit: BANG! The Ace hits......no set in sight for my two shortstacked friends and I'm up to 175k.
I continue to dominate the table with short stacks just having enough, and shoving with mediocre hands. Fortunately my antennae have been up and I've been picking my moments pretty carefully. I've had to throw a few hands away, even some aces but this is due to my reads more than anything else. The good news is, I've knocked out a few short stacks and even one medium stack. This has increased my chips to over 300k, whilst this has been going on, we're finally down to ten. Everyone agrees to pitch in with $100 for 10th place.....no sooner does that happen then it's final table time!
The final table is meant for tomorrow, however if everyone agrees we can play it tonight. Unfortunately, one doesn't so it's bagging up time. My final chip count is 316k, I'm chip leader!
*** NEW ENTRY 5 ***
Tuesday 20th October
==============
Well, I manage to draw seat one, not my most favourite seat as your always having to peer round the corner, another problem is Dutch calling station is immediately to my left - this guy never puts down a hand, Good/solid player in seat 3, Seat 4 is unknown to me, Seat 5 is Mike Sexton look-a-like, fairly ABC type, Seat 6 is my nemesis; Aussie bloke, Seat 7 is unknown, Seat 8 is an emotional ABC type, Seat 9 is old bloke, tight aggressive. Ding Ding Ding, and we're off!
My early encounters have not gone well. I've made a couple of steal attempts and bluffs, most of which have failed, I'm down to 260k. I decide to continue the pressure a little while longer and am rewarded with another 20k, back upto 290k. Blinds are now 2k/4k/500.
From mid pos, I raise it to 13k with KJs, Aussie bloke moves all-in for 80k.....this bloke is getting on my nerves.....things haven't been going my way on this final table and out of frustration I call. He flips AJ, I get no improvement. I'm down t 205k. A few hands later I raise on button with KT (12k) - Dutch calling station re raises from SB to 35k. I generally have a pretty good read on Von Dutch on his Pre & Post flop play. Well I figure him with a biggish hand - but I'm not about to fold whilst I've got position & lucrative pot odds....so I make the call. Flop comes TJQ. Not a bad flop for me......Von Dutch thinks it's a good flop for him too and pushes all in. I have Von Dutch covered by about 40k - not really enough to make a genuine comeback without heavily relying on luck & cards. So into the tank I go.....So I replay the hand....
His Re Raise suggested he had a biggish type hand......I've seen him just make calls with AJ, AQ and medium pocket pairs....So possible holdings are AK, TT, JJ, QQ, KK, AA - I'm in pretty bad shape against any of those hands and the pot odds are nowhere near big enough so after a 2 minute think....I reluctantly fold. I'm now down to 160k. In the meantime Mike Sexton look-a-like and old bloke have taken out the short stacks and we're down to 7. I've wrestled my chips back up to 190k....then down to 160K....back up to 195k.....down to 165k and finally back up to 195k then this hand comes up....
Blinds are now 3k/6k/500.....Aussie bloke's been a bit quiet - his stack is down to about 140k, he makes a raise from the cut off making it 17k. I look down at 68o, I am a defender of the blinds and the Grandson of 78o - so of course I call, Flop comes 789 with two clubs. I have one club. Now if I check and he fires a continuation bet then he might feel compelled to call with AK or AQ for his remaining chips....worse still he might go all-in, and if he checks behind me....the what do I do on the turn?? - If he has an overpair, then at least I have plenty of outs - About 43% depending on whether he has a club in his hand. I'm just happy to take the pot right here and now.....So I push All-in, he Insta calls......Oh No.....he must be huge! He flips Ace King of Clubs - Excellent that's the best Insta-call hand I could have hoped for........I'm even slightly ahead! turn and river miss and I scoop a 290k pot - Excellent! I'm up to 330k and a little nearer the finishing post.
A few hands later Von Dutch leaks a few chips to Mike Sexton look-a-like and is now short stacked. It's not long before he's out too.
We're now five handed and I've stolen my way to 390k and decent chip leader....nearest stack is 300k
Blinds are now up 4k/8k/1k.
A deal is talked about, we finally agree to do the deal where I get the lions share and we play out for $2500 watch which is in addition to first prize (Added by Caesars).
I knock out one of the short stacks who had about 80k - putting me on 470k ish. Old bloke is the next short stack to go - leaving us 3 handed. Mike Sexton Raises from the button and I call with KT hearts, Flop comes Ten High with two hearts, I'm excited! I check waiting on Mike Sexton to bet - and he checks too! Arrrgh.....Mike Sexton always continue bets!!! Next card is an Ace......."Dealer are you for real....?"I'm thinking. Now I know Mike Sexton has hit that Ace and sure enough he fires at it - Ok, no point raising here - cos this guy ain't gonna fold in this spot - So I exercise pot control and just call......Next card is a beautiful looking.....TEN. Now I know Mike has an Ace - he can't put me on a Ten as I checked a Ten high flop....So he's probably not going to fold....I announce all-in, he dwells up and eventually calls and I scoop.....I'm up to 900k my opponent has about 500k.
We're HEADS UP!
This guy is definitely the most dangerous - good solid player with a few moves. Fortunately I've been playing a lot of heads up over the last few weeks and been pretty successful - So I like my chances.
I've stolen a few pots and increased my stack to about 950k....then this hand comes up:
I min raise to 16k on the button with 79o he Re-raises to 52k....I call. Flop comes Q86 with 2 clubs. He bets 65k, I put him on something just not sure what, He's not played too aggressively whilst we've been heads up - So I take it cautiously.....I just call....Turn is a beautiful Five.....I check, He bets......and I go into the tank, just to decide how to best play the hand....I figure he's got too many chips invested not to see the last card so I push all-in....he calls with a flush draw that doesn't come.....and we have a winner!
Not bad for my first tournament - roll on the next one.
** NEW ENTRY 6 **
================
Ok, back in the saddle for the next one.....
Of course feeling pretty confident....
An hour and a half in and am playing pretty well...Lost a few chips early on....but have since scooped a few pots and have about 14k in front of me (started with 10k).
Then this hand comes up....
I limp in mid pos with AA, Blinds are 50/100. SB raises to 250, BB calls comes back round to me, I make it 1250 to go. SB folds, BB thinks and calls. I just about have him covered. So far this guy has had AA, KK x 2, twice flopping sets and the third he folded KK pre-flop after a tennis match of raising with some other guy. Anyway flop comes K 3 2, He checks, and I'm just happy to take the pot now......so I bet 3k.....he thinks about it and calls. Now I was a little concerned that he had a set, after all what else could he call such a large bet with? Now it can't be KK, so it must be 33 or 22 or is it AK? Hmmm.....I'm not sure....let's see what the turn brings......a Four! A good card for me (or is it a bad one?) He checks again, problem here is, If I check the turn, there's a chance he could bluff me on the river. Thinking about it afterwards though, that was a stupid idea. He's not floating me and he's not going to bet an AK - so if he bets, guaranteed I'm losing.....So a check would have been the best move - however the four has given me a straight draw too, so mistakenly I move all-in, he calls with 33 and no five or Ace arrive.
I have 250 chips left and am out a couple of hands later.
Looking back at the hand, I played the turn badly, a few thoughts that were going through my mind at the time were....
i) I have an overpair, and should get max value out of it
ii) On the turn didn't fancy the idea of getting bluffed on the river by checking (There was no way this guy was going to attempt such an audacious bluff)
iii) Didn't like the idea of leaving all those chips behind.
iv) I know this one sounds crazy, but just couldn't believe this guy had hit his third set in 90 minutes....I mean what are the odds?? He's not even meant to catch 3 pocket pairs in that time - never mind hit 3 sets.....it's outrageous!) - This is a time when I should have relied more on a read of the situation rather than the math.
So on my way out, of the tournament area, I sit in a cash game - my goal is to make the $500 I just lost.
There's no seat in the $2/$5 - so I take a seat in the $1/$3. After 30 minutes, I'm down $300 :-O That wasn't the plan! One hour later, I'm up $485...That'll do....time to get some food and relax.
*** NEW ENTRY 8 ***
Thursday 22nd Oct - $300 NLH
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I'm pretty dissapointed that I didn't make a better showing yesterday: I really felt that was probably the only hand that I could possibly get knocked out on early on....Never mind, I won't overplay them next time.
However, today's a new comp......Unfortunately, I didn't catalogue any of these hands... but will say that I did cash finishing 14th - I really felt I should have won this one. Two tables to go and I'm chip leader. Then, I overplay AK, lose a third of my chips when I run into Aces the rest is all a blank...
Really should have done better....
Comments
I'd love to have seen you sweating under that clock though!
As for your full night's sleep but with continued yawning...sounds like a Vegas hangover to me matey- stay off the booze and the gentlemen's clubs.
Serious question- could you give us some examples of your double reverse tells you mentioned?
Good luck in Vegas dude...
Great read Mark, keep it coming!
I've seen a few episodes of the WPT, that Vietnamese guy wasn't the one who calls himself "the master" was it? He's crazy!
Best of luck for the rest of your trip and COYS! 8- />
and Come on you Spurs!
I sense a big win, good luck m8, show em Sky Poker rules.