Warod
01-05-2006, 03:35 PM
Dear Constant Reader,
My attorney Lazlo and I left Los Angeles on the Monday morning after Christmas Day en route to Vegas for a little two-day vacation full of food, fun and frivolity. We enjoyed ourselves so much we ended up staying twice that long. The trip, however, began badly. Our flight was delayed for more than an hour. Apparently they’d had to swap planes in Phoenix because of mechanical problems, and the flight itself was very turbulent and foreboding. I overheard a stewardess mumble something unsettling about the Bermuda Triangle and how the pilots were all wary of flying over “Area 51”.
During my last sortie to Sin City back in October I’d played in some no limit hold em tournaments at the Sahara, and since I’d enjoyed playing in those, and since the Sahara offers a terrific card room rate to poker players ($39 / night) I decided to stay there. The delayed flight made me miss the 11 am tourney, so after checking into the hotel I took the Monorail to Bally’s and walked to the Aladdin from there for the 2 pm tourney. Let me say this – it’s a longer walk from Bally’s to the Aladdin than it appears from the map of the Monorail. On the map they are only an inch or so apart. Perhaps the scale is off. Not surprisingly, I arrived at the tournament a little late, but got in as an alternate after a short wait. There were 60 or so entrants. I won the blinds once with pocket queens, and when short stacked with pocket 3’s in the big blind called and early position raise hoping for a race but lost to an overpair when my 3’s did not improve and busted out in 27th place. I’d heard they served cookies but I never saw any. I met my attorney for lunch at the Paris hotel. I had crab cakes and beer and he had the escargot, Beef Wellington and wine made from 100 year old grape vines. Pricey, but delish.
Then it was back to the Sahara for a quick freshen-up before the 7 pm tournament. We had tickets to see the 10:30 show of “Zumanity” at the New York New York, but I figured the outcome of the tournament would be decided by then, at least as far as I was concerned. I was still alive and doing alright until sometime around 9:30 pm, when I decided I either wanted to bust out soonish or double up. If I was going to miss my show I at least wanted to have a decent chance to go deep in the tournament. I pick up AK in the big blind. Two people go all in in front of me and I call. I was up against a pair of queens and some other hand I can’t recall. I was almost disappointed when the king fell on the turn and I tripled up. A little while later my attorney found me in the card room and advised me that if we did not leave immediately we would miss our show. I told him it’d be all over soon, then proceeded to double up again while he stood there watching. As the dealer pushed the pile of chips my way my attorney said “Maybe we can see the show tomorrow” and walked away. As soon as there was a break I called the hotel box office and arranged to swap for tickets the next night, then got right back to the tourney. I managed to make it to the final table but with a short stack. By a combination of luck on my part and some ghastly play on the part of the chip leader I moved up the pay ladder all the way to 3rd place. With about 110 entrants and their rebuys, 3rd place earned me $700 even. It was especially gratifying because I’d forgone seeing the show to finish the tourney.
The next day I went to Caesar’s to see their new card room and play in their daily noon tournament. In my humble opinion, that room is destined to become the Mecca of Vegas poker rooms. Understated and classy, and the tournament structure has got to be one of the very best for the semi-serious player. For $130 ($80 entry + $50 rebuy) you get 4500 tournament chips with the blind levels going up at a leisurely 40 minutes per. This allows for a lot of play and keeps it from becoming a crapshoot for a long, long time. So after about three hours we were down to around 20 players from the original 60 and I’d worked my stack up to about 13k, which was on of the shorter stacks at my table. A Persian gentleman with sunglasses and a big stack raised from late position. My experience playing with him at another table tended to make me think he wasn't very good at cards, so I didn't give him much credit for a good hand. The small blind with a short stack went all in, and I woke up with pocket queens in the big blind. I call since the all in had me covered, and the original raiser called since it wasn’t much more for him. He had pocket 4’s and the other fellow had Ace King. My queens held up, and I tripled up to near 40k. Not long after that the Persian fellow was crippled when he called a huge bet with pocket 4’s again versus and lady’s sneaky set of 2’s. A few hands later he goes all in with queen eight, and I go all in over the top with ace jack. Two jacks come on the flop and that was all she wrote. As we got down to a dozen or so players spread between the two remaining tables, I started raising in late position with good but less than premium hands to stay ahead of the blinds. After the third time I made a steal-type move, the big blind, who had me covered, went all in over the top at me, which constituted a massive overbet. This told me that in his mind I’d been stealing the table blind, and he was going to put a stop to it. I folded. A few hands more went by and the player that had been sitting between us was knocked out. This put me in the small blind when he was the big blind. It folded around to me in the small blind where I find myself with pocket 5’s. I was unsure how to play the hand. If I raised, the big blind would probably think I was bullying him and come back over the top at me, so I decided to just limp and try to hit a set, and muck on the flop if I didn’t hit. So I limp, and the big blind raises about double the pot. Now it’s me who’s thinking he’s being bullied, so I decide to put the badge on him. I don’t want to just call and play the hand out of position, so I go all in thinking if he calls me it’ll most likely be a race situation. He thinks for a minute, then calls. I turn over my 5’s thinking we’ve got a coin flip, but as soon as the fellow sees my fives he gets a look on his face like someone just crapped in his hat. He turns over pocket 2’s, and I cut his legs off. He busts out a few hands later, and off we go to the final table, my second final table in less than 24 hours. Immediately the short stack at our table begins lobbying hard for us all to make some kind of deal. The tournament director informs us all that the top 3 finishers must all fill out W2 forms to collect their winnings, and that no matter what deals we might all make, someone must receive a W2 for the amount of first prize, which was a little over $2000, even if they in fact made a deal and got less that. I imagine this little wrinkle will make deal-making at these tournaments very rare and very litigious. Luckily for me my attorney was present. Not surprisingly, however, no deal was struck, and on we played. At 7 pm, seven hours from the start of the tourney, I was starting to lose focus and had even begun to hallucinate. Chips were disappearing and reappearing, and I thought I saw a circus fat woman in a muumuu sitting next to me, but when I blinked she was gone. I knew I had to do something very rash and soon. I re-raised pre-flop all in with Ace Jack and got called by King Queen. A king flopped and I was knocked out in 5 place, good enough to earn $450. The short stack that had lobbied so hard for a deal was now the monster chip leader. I collected my lucre and paid compliments to the room hosts, and then left with my attorney, who was in the black himself to the tune of $2500 from shooting dice, vowing to play no more poker until tomorrow. After 7 hours of tense poker action, my weary mind needed rest.
That night we saw “Zumanity”. If you’ve never seen it, imagine a cross between “Cabaret” and “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”. I really enjoyed it. Afterward my attorney and I walked down the strip all the way from New York to Bally’s with the intention of catching the Monorail back to Sahara. Once in Bally’s we were beset on all sides by a motley collection pleasant prostitutes. They we all nice and well mannered, yet unmistakably hoes. One of the hoes, who reminded both myself and Lazlo of the ho from “Hustle and Flow”, said, and I quote “I’m a ho, but I’m a smart ho. I am not a green ho, I’m the mamma ho. I got what you need. If you want my (you know what), it’s five hundred dollars. And you know the (you know what) is good.” Flush though were both were with our ill-gotten booty, we declined her more than fair offer.
The next two days I played in all 3 of the Sahara daily tournament (11 am, 7 pm and 11 pm). I made it past the 2nd break in all six I played in, but never got to another final table. I won $50 in a ring game waiting for a tourney to start. So overall, I finished up $600 on the good side, and had a terrific time doing it. I can’t wait to go back.
Sincerely,
Warod Ono
P.S. - The Prime Rib dinner special for $7.95 at the Sahara cafe has got to be the best deal in town.
My attorney Lazlo and I left Los Angeles on the Monday morning after Christmas Day en route to Vegas for a little two-day vacation full of food, fun and frivolity. We enjoyed ourselves so much we ended up staying twice that long. The trip, however, began badly. Our flight was delayed for more than an hour. Apparently they’d had to swap planes in Phoenix because of mechanical problems, and the flight itself was very turbulent and foreboding. I overheard a stewardess mumble something unsettling about the Bermuda Triangle and how the pilots were all wary of flying over “Area 51”.
During my last sortie to Sin City back in October I’d played in some no limit hold em tournaments at the Sahara, and since I’d enjoyed playing in those, and since the Sahara offers a terrific card room rate to poker players ($39 / night) I decided to stay there. The delayed flight made me miss the 11 am tourney, so after checking into the hotel I took the Monorail to Bally’s and walked to the Aladdin from there for the 2 pm tourney. Let me say this – it’s a longer walk from Bally’s to the Aladdin than it appears from the map of the Monorail. On the map they are only an inch or so apart. Perhaps the scale is off. Not surprisingly, I arrived at the tournament a little late, but got in as an alternate after a short wait. There were 60 or so entrants. I won the blinds once with pocket queens, and when short stacked with pocket 3’s in the big blind called and early position raise hoping for a race but lost to an overpair when my 3’s did not improve and busted out in 27th place. I’d heard they served cookies but I never saw any. I met my attorney for lunch at the Paris hotel. I had crab cakes and beer and he had the escargot, Beef Wellington and wine made from 100 year old grape vines. Pricey, but delish.
Then it was back to the Sahara for a quick freshen-up before the 7 pm tournament. We had tickets to see the 10:30 show of “Zumanity” at the New York New York, but I figured the outcome of the tournament would be decided by then, at least as far as I was concerned. I was still alive and doing alright until sometime around 9:30 pm, when I decided I either wanted to bust out soonish or double up. If I was going to miss my show I at least wanted to have a decent chance to go deep in the tournament. I pick up AK in the big blind. Two people go all in in front of me and I call. I was up against a pair of queens and some other hand I can’t recall. I was almost disappointed when the king fell on the turn and I tripled up. A little while later my attorney found me in the card room and advised me that if we did not leave immediately we would miss our show. I told him it’d be all over soon, then proceeded to double up again while he stood there watching. As the dealer pushed the pile of chips my way my attorney said “Maybe we can see the show tomorrow” and walked away. As soon as there was a break I called the hotel box office and arranged to swap for tickets the next night, then got right back to the tourney. I managed to make it to the final table but with a short stack. By a combination of luck on my part and some ghastly play on the part of the chip leader I moved up the pay ladder all the way to 3rd place. With about 110 entrants and their rebuys, 3rd place earned me $700 even. It was especially gratifying because I’d forgone seeing the show to finish the tourney.
The next day I went to Caesar’s to see their new card room and play in their daily noon tournament. In my humble opinion, that room is destined to become the Mecca of Vegas poker rooms. Understated and classy, and the tournament structure has got to be one of the very best for the semi-serious player. For $130 ($80 entry + $50 rebuy) you get 4500 tournament chips with the blind levels going up at a leisurely 40 minutes per. This allows for a lot of play and keeps it from becoming a crapshoot for a long, long time. So after about three hours we were down to around 20 players from the original 60 and I’d worked my stack up to about 13k, which was on of the shorter stacks at my table. A Persian gentleman with sunglasses and a big stack raised from late position. My experience playing with him at another table tended to make me think he wasn't very good at cards, so I didn't give him much credit for a good hand. The small blind with a short stack went all in, and I woke up with pocket queens in the big blind. I call since the all in had me covered, and the original raiser called since it wasn’t much more for him. He had pocket 4’s and the other fellow had Ace King. My queens held up, and I tripled up to near 40k. Not long after that the Persian fellow was crippled when he called a huge bet with pocket 4’s again versus and lady’s sneaky set of 2’s. A few hands later he goes all in with queen eight, and I go all in over the top with ace jack. Two jacks come on the flop and that was all she wrote. As we got down to a dozen or so players spread between the two remaining tables, I started raising in late position with good but less than premium hands to stay ahead of the blinds. After the third time I made a steal-type move, the big blind, who had me covered, went all in over the top at me, which constituted a massive overbet. This told me that in his mind I’d been stealing the table blind, and he was going to put a stop to it. I folded. A few hands more went by and the player that had been sitting between us was knocked out. This put me in the small blind when he was the big blind. It folded around to me in the small blind where I find myself with pocket 5’s. I was unsure how to play the hand. If I raised, the big blind would probably think I was bullying him and come back over the top at me, so I decided to just limp and try to hit a set, and muck on the flop if I didn’t hit. So I limp, and the big blind raises about double the pot. Now it’s me who’s thinking he’s being bullied, so I decide to put the badge on him. I don’t want to just call and play the hand out of position, so I go all in thinking if he calls me it’ll most likely be a race situation. He thinks for a minute, then calls. I turn over my 5’s thinking we’ve got a coin flip, but as soon as the fellow sees my fives he gets a look on his face like someone just crapped in his hat. He turns over pocket 2’s, and I cut his legs off. He busts out a few hands later, and off we go to the final table, my second final table in less than 24 hours. Immediately the short stack at our table begins lobbying hard for us all to make some kind of deal. The tournament director informs us all that the top 3 finishers must all fill out W2 forms to collect their winnings, and that no matter what deals we might all make, someone must receive a W2 for the amount of first prize, which was a little over $2000, even if they in fact made a deal and got less that. I imagine this little wrinkle will make deal-making at these tournaments very rare and very litigious. Luckily for me my attorney was present. Not surprisingly, however, no deal was struck, and on we played. At 7 pm, seven hours from the start of the tourney, I was starting to lose focus and had even begun to hallucinate. Chips were disappearing and reappearing, and I thought I saw a circus fat woman in a muumuu sitting next to me, but when I blinked she was gone. I knew I had to do something very rash and soon. I re-raised pre-flop all in with Ace Jack and got called by King Queen. A king flopped and I was knocked out in 5 place, good enough to earn $450. The short stack that had lobbied so hard for a deal was now the monster chip leader. I collected my lucre and paid compliments to the room hosts, and then left with my attorney, who was in the black himself to the tune of $2500 from shooting dice, vowing to play no more poker until tomorrow. After 7 hours of tense poker action, my weary mind needed rest.
That night we saw “Zumanity”. If you’ve never seen it, imagine a cross between “Cabaret” and “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”. I really enjoyed it. Afterward my attorney and I walked down the strip all the way from New York to Bally’s with the intention of catching the Monorail back to Sahara. Once in Bally’s we were beset on all sides by a motley collection pleasant prostitutes. They we all nice and well mannered, yet unmistakably hoes. One of the hoes, who reminded both myself and Lazlo of the ho from “Hustle and Flow”, said, and I quote “I’m a ho, but I’m a smart ho. I am not a green ho, I’m the mamma ho. I got what you need. If you want my (you know what), it’s five hundred dollars. And you know the (you know what) is good.” Flush though were both were with our ill-gotten booty, we declined her more than fair offer.
The next two days I played in all 3 of the Sahara daily tournament (11 am, 7 pm and 11 pm). I made it past the 2nd break in all six I played in, but never got to another final table. I won $50 in a ring game waiting for a tourney to start. So overall, I finished up $600 on the good side, and had a terrific time doing it. I can’t wait to go back.
Sincerely,
Warod Ono
P.S. - The Prime Rib dinner special for $7.95 at the Sahara cafe has got to be the best deal in town.