Trip Report: LA and Vegas (Very long. Part 1 of 4) [w/ cliff notes]

[chiTown22]

I'm curious why one player is referred to as the African American and the others are referred to as MP or SB, etc.

What is the significance?

[Armadillo King]

[ QUOTE ]
This is all done in a chronological fashion with times.


[/ QUOTE ]
Yep. Definitely an actuary. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

(Then again, having passed 2 exams, nearly 3, myself, who am I to say anything?)

[chucky]

Could be only black guy at the table. Could also be that since he is a main actor in a few hands he gets more than a position description. I have heard that along with button and cutoff, they are now calling MP2 the African American(squeezed from both sides? It is a joke.)

[pig4bill]

Probably because saying "asian guy limps, asian guy limps, asian guy raises, asian guy calls, asian guy re-raises, asian guy folds" would be confusing.

[Garland]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm curious why one player is referred to as the African American and the others are referred to as MP or SB, etc.

What is the significance?

[/ QUOTE ]

Probably cause the African American was a very memorable character. Heavy set, huge lower lip, afro, glasses and several all-in pre-flop blind hands set him apart from the other players. So I probably exchanged "African American" for "button" (or whatever) unconsciously. Definitely not racially motivated as if I got involved with a hand with tall Jack, I'd probably refer to him as "Jack" rather than MP or LP or whatever as he was really a character too.

Sorry for the delay as I'm sprucing up part 3. Should be up soon.

Garland

[Garland]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
This is all done in a chronological fashion with times.


[/ QUOTE ]
Yep. Definitely an actuary. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

(Then again, having passed 2 exams, nearly 3, myself, who am I to say anything?)

[/ QUOTE ]

How was the 2nd exam? I heard it's easier than the 1st, but I had next to no knowledge of financial mathematics. Heck, I didn't even know what a a bond was or what "amortization" meant last month. Any advice?

Garland

[ludawg23]

let's GO GARLAND! Waiting for report 3 while sitting at my desk at work. GOGOGOGOGO [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Garland]

Trip Report LA to Vegas October 6 to October 15 (With lots of handz). This includes a time line of events. I hope you enjoy it. Cliff Notes are on the bottom.

Stats:
Hours of days for this trip (including travel days): 10
Hours of poker played: 47
Number of 2+2ers met/seen: 3
Number of poker rooms played in: 5

October 11:

Decide I have to finally eat dinner after midnight, and didn’t get all my poker fix, so I go to the Bicycle Casino one more time.

12:30AM to 2:30AM: Find a short-handed (6 players or so?) $5/$10 no-limit and hop on. Some loose passive players and some good pro players. Maybe not the best game, but not the worst either. I buy-in for $1000 and order lasagna. It wasn’t really that good, but by that time some of the specials and other things I wanted weren’t being served. Oh well, food is food. Free food to boot!

Hand 1: I [Stack = ~$1000] raise in MP with 8[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]7[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] to $30 and I’m called by SB [Stack = ~$1000] (nice person, but aggressive post-flop player). and BB [Stack = ~$1300] (solid player who likes to show cards, somewhat more passive than he should be). Flop comes: T[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]6[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]4[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] giving me a double-gutter. Checks to me. I plan a continuation bet that I can safely call a reasonable check-raise as well as reasonably taking it down sometimes. I choose $50. SB doesn’t like $50; he likes $150. BB cold-calls. Wow. I hesitate for a moment and call as well. Turn comes a 7[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] !#@$!#@$. SB pushes. BB flashes the T[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] and folds. I fold. SB claimed to have an overpair, which I believe. It would give me 13 outs due to the improvement on the turn, but still not quite enough odds to call his push. In addition, I don’t truly know if he flopped a set or not at the time. I think that if the turn came a spade or an overcard to his supposed pair, he would easily freeze and give me a free card, or I have the opportunity to steal in position.

Hand 2: I [Stack = ~$600] raise to $55 with A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]Q[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] UTG+1 and get 6 callers! Flop comes A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]K[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]8[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]. Checked to me, and I push what’s left of my desolate stack. Then it’s like the calm before the storm. Folds to button (SB in hand 1) and he goes all-in. Others fold. I know he has 88 before we even flip the cards over. I fail to runner, runner him, and he wins again.

I rebuy for another $1000, but nothing happens and this game is slow and plays mostly small, and I really want to stick a chopstick in my eye by now. At this point I’m disenchanted and glance over to the table nearby see mikel in a short-handed $40/$80 limit and peek at the action. Then I walk over and take a closer look. I like short-handed, especially because I can play a more open style (you have to actually), and because they take less rake.

2:30AM to 6:30AM: I buy into the $40/$80 limit game. I’m not going to put most of my hands up as they are already in the medium stakes limit forum, but a few of the “astounding ones” I observed with mikel in action.

Hand 1: Not too astounding, really. Personally, I would call down to the river and raised then, but his line isn’t bad. I was observing this hand before I joined. I might have messed something up as I caught the action from the flop on. Pre-flop, I don’t know if mikel raised the button or was CO or what but he had 97 [This actually makes a difference as the pot would have been inflated in a raised pot vs an unraised pot]. But if he raised he was called by 3 others including SB, BB and UTG. Flop comes: 8 5 2r. Check to mikel, he bets called by BB, check-raised by UTG (who invariably has top pair or better), mikel 3-bets, SB folds, UTG calls. Turn 7. Check, mikel bets (In my experience, they never fold top pair here), UTG calls. River: 7. Check, mikel bet UTG calls and mike takes it down with runner runner trips.

Hand 2: Limps around several people and button raises. Mikel cold calls in SB. And the other limpers call. Flop comes AJ9 forgot if there was a flush draw. Checked to limper who bets, button raises, mikel cold-calls, limper 3-bets, button calls, mikel calls. Turn comes J and mikel donks, limper raises again, button folds after much agony and mikel calls. River is a blank. Mikel checks, limper bets, and mikel flashes QJ and says “I have to have chopping outs somewhere, right?” and folds. Limper never showed his hand. Kind of surprised of cold-call of QJ pre-flop, and I’m not too sure of the flop call either.

Hand 3: The most astounding of the three. EP players limps, mikel limps in MP, Button calls, SB calls (or folds forgot). I just check with 55 from BB. Flop comes QQ8r. Checks to mikel who bets, button calls, folds to EP who thinks and then check-raises. Mikel thinks and calls, button hesitates and folds. Turn comes high card J or something. EP checks. Mikel yells “go!”. River comes something big (I really forgot). Check check. EP turns over ATo. Mikel turns over A2o for a chop. I let go of the best hand [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]. I’m thinking fold the flop check-raise, if not 3-bet. Or bet the turn. Or bet the river. Or I dunno. I’m not worthy.

What’s surprising about his play was all the cold-calling of raises (for example T9s right in front of open raiser and getting paid off by him when he flopped top pair against what seemed like AK from opener) and open limping on button in short handed. That kind of got me thinking.

Hand 4: Here’s a hand I actually did play against mikel (like a little girl no less). Pre-flop he raises in CO (I’ve seen him open limp, but I know he also gets out of line too). I find A3o in the BB and just call. Flop comes 222. Of course this flop probably didn’t change the leader, and I probably still have the best hand. But I just didn’t know how he’d react to a donk. I check to induce a bet, and sure as the sun rises, he continuation bets, and I just continuation call. Dealer turns a 4. I check to induce again, but he just says “go” to check just like he did in Hand 3, so I’m very sure he has absolutely no showdown hand at all and couldn’t stand a turn bet if I decided to lead. River comes an 8. Now since I’ve played so passively like this, there’s no way I’m betting and getting called by worse (maybe K high, but I don’t even think he’s that strong). So the best I can do is check to induce a bluff. I check, he bets, and I think for a few seconds and slide my 8 plastic red friends in front of me. “I got there! I got there!” exclaims Mike and he tables J8o. Nice hand sir. Goodbye by trusty red friends.

That’s just the beginning really as I had a rush, and then a set back and then a mini-rush again. I won’t get into it all as they weren’t all that interesting, but it doesn’t hurt when you flop 3 sets and one quad.

7:00AM to 8:00AM: Drive through the God-awful LA traffic back to the hotel at Anaheim where I realize that the other guy from Vegas was checking out that day. That means even if I have to strike (read: take down) the equipment at 3:00ish, the check out is at 11:00AM. Sh*t. I call to try to get a late check-out. They say 11:30 is the best they can do. I get my 3 hours of sleep, then get up, check out, and then get some lunch (pizza and cheese sticks). When I get back to my parking spot, I realize that I have an empty van with some dirty blankets to try to get some sleep. However, I’m too involved with posting on 2+2 and go to work sleep deprived.

3:00PM to 10:00PM. My cousin not only hires 1, but 3 others for this teardown job. And they all show! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]. So now it’s a 5 person job to strike down the equipment. It “only” takes about 7 hours to finish everything. And then I head to home, but on the way, there’s an accident on I-5 that eats up 2 lanes and delays me for about an hour. And then on a main road near Arcadia (Rosemead, I think), there’s another major accident that causes everyone to detour around. LA traffic I tell ya.

October 12:

11:00AM to 4:00PM Drove to Vegas in about 4 hours trading our full van for an empty one at the Vegas office. Discrepancy in time you might ask? We did get to Vegas in 4 hours (at 3:00PM). The extra hour is for the traffic we had to plod through on I-15 once we arrived.

5:00PM to 6:00PM Note: We haven’t eaten lunch yet and are starved. Ellis Island on Kovel and near E Paradise has this wonderful deal for people with players cards (and anyone can get it). $7.99 for half rack of BBQ ribs and half BBQ chicken with all the fixings. $1.00 for a Microbrew (for those who drink). It was great, but we couldn’t finish it all. We leave to check in to our hotel.

6:30PM to 9:00PM: We are close enough to MGM to walk (where our show is). I played at MGM’s $2/$5 blind no-limit game. No hands of memorable consequences. I learned something about Jack from the other day and straddled my first hand and announced to the table that I will continue to straddle if 2 other people straddle. This will be referred to thereafter as the Standard Straddle Offer (SSO). This actually flies (at times 3 or 4 others straddle), and I can better identify the gamblers who are willing to be loose right away.

9:00PM to 10:30PM: Watched Cirque du Soleil’s “K8” show. It was pretty good, but had some moments of lull. I think I wanted to nap a few times. Good acrobatics and stuff. Nice hand puppet show. Other stuff was impressive, but dreamy. Maybe I just needed more sleep. ** ½ of ****.

11:30PM to 4:00AM: Great $5/$10 unrestricted no-limit game back at the MGM card room. I see people raising too little pre-flop, incorrect bet sizes on the post-flop streets. In addition, it was a loose-passive game. Someone lost their relatively big stack postflop with QQ to KQ when a Kxx flops, so I think I can be very comfortable putting my stack out with marginal one pair hands (Overpairs, TPTK).

Hand 1: SSO not in effect. I [Stack = ~$1300] limp in late position with 8[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]7[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] with a couple of other limpers, weak loose kind of passive button [Stack = ~$10000] limps. Flop comes 9[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]5[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]2[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. Check to Button who bets $30 into pot of $60. Folds to me, and I decide to gamble and call. Turn 6[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] BINGO. I check. Now button bets $100. I don’t like $100; I like $400. He pauses and thinks and thinks and calls. River K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]. I bet another $400 and button folds.

Hand 2: SSO in effect. I’m [Stack = ~$1700] in the straddle position. Loose UTG+1 [Stack = ~$4000] guy limps, limper, loose passive CO [Stack = ~$800] limps. BB completes. I wake up with T[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]T[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] in the straddle. I don’t like to check my straddle; I like to make it $125 to go total. UTG+1 calls and CO calls. Flop comes 8[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]6[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]5[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]. I fire $275. And then it's like the calm before the storm. UTG+1 thinks for a few moments, but seems like an eternity. UTG+1 doesn’t like $275; he likes $800 fanning his bills out on the felt like a peacock fanning its tail proudly. I'm thinking "I'm probably folding to this". CO pauses for a moment, sighs and then pushes in his stack. "That cinches it" my brain goes. I flash my TT and fold. UTG+1 obviously called any supposed remainder of CO’s stack. Turn: 8[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] River 2[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] Cards? UTG+1 86o [I saw he also called a significant raise with 86o earlier, so I think he has something for that 86 hand, and probably still will after that win] CO? 55. UTG+1 sucked out huge. I really felt bad for CO who wasn’t really running well to that point. He was a really nice guy and took the beat extremely well and just walked away from the table. Graceful quiet exit and then an empty seat.

To be continued...[Last days with some smaller no-limit action]

Cliff Notes: I played lots of poker in LA and Vegas making some mad loot playing mostly no-limit and some limit poker, while along the way, I help my cousin with some computer stuff for her company. I meet 3 2+2ers and watch a couple of shows in Vegas before driving home. Cirque du Soleil’s “K8” circus show at MGM, ok ** 1/2 of ****. Mamma Mia at Venetian, great: **** of ****.

I tried to get 2+2 meet ups, but hope to attract more. I think I’ll sweeten the deal next time.

Next up: After my actuarial exam in November 7th. Arizona. New York. Minnesota. Tunica. Any suggestions for the next trip?

Garland

[punkass]

more

[Garland]

Trip Report LA to Vegas October 6 to October 15 (With lots of handz). This includes a time line of events. I hope you enjoy it. Cliff Notes are on the bottom.

Stats:
Number of days for this trip (including travel days): 10
Hours of poker played: 47
Number of 2+2ers met/seen: 3
Number of poker rooms played in: 5

October 13:

12:00PM: Ate prawns with angel hair pasta at Venetian. Yummy. The Grill at Valentino has some nice choices in their menu.

1:00PM to 2:00PM: Watched a fun magic show/comedy performed by Nick Lewin (it was supposed to be Mac King). Nice free show (well you have to pay for one drink each). *** of ****. Good value. Good laughs, but don't let him take your $20 bill!

2:00PM to 4:00PM: Head to the Venetian where the room is huge and spacious. Very nice feel in there. I start with the $2/$5 $500 ($1000?) max. No real big hands of consequence. I got bluffed on my last hand at the table, my straddle no less [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img].

4:00PM to 6:00PM: Venetian $5/$10 Unrestricted. Painfully card dead, and small playing game. No SSO. Really, really card dead. On a side note, there’s a $25/$50 with $100 ante on the button with a minimum of $10,000 to buy in. This starts at 3PM on Saturdays. I thought this seemed like the Gabe Thaler hosted game that was discussed in B&M. I asked the floor about the $100/$200 blind game and they said they sometimes have that and even bump it to $200/$400. Unfortunately, I left $10,000 with my cousin, so I couldn’t buy in [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]. I was in front of the cashier right next to the Salon room. I saw Bob Bright inside playing, and around 4:30PM or so, in came Gabe to the cashier right in front of me to get chips for the game, and then he said “hi” to one of the players on our table and then exited for the big game in the Salon room.

Hand 1: I [Stack = ~$800] raise after two limpers with AJo to $60 on button. Only loose UTG+1 [Stack = ~$2000] calls. Flop comes AT7 2 clubs. He checks I bet $90, and UTG+1 calls. Turn comes offsuit J. He checks. For some inexplicable reason I think something is up. A straight is possibly completed. I check (definitely not the norm). River comes an offsuit K. UTG+1 looks ready to pounce, but then backs off and checks. I bet a stupid $50 for value. UTG+1 sighs and calls and says “Your Q is good”. I show two pair. He shows JJ for his turned one outer. I didn’t play it that well, but I somehow someway saved my stack.

6:00PM to 9:00PM: Spent this time going to Bellagio, waiting in line for their buffet and eating. It was a pretty good buffet, but I wasn’t overly impressed. It wasn’t really worth the ~$35 per person in my view.

9:00PM to 3:30AM: I go to the Bellagio card room and look around expecting a line to get into a game. No! I can get into many games right away. Lots of empty tables and empty seats. Nice. I look at the limit games and see Roy Cooke. I look at the $25/$50 no-limit game, $10/$20 no-limit games (didn’t notice any name players) and finally settle upon a $5/$10 $400 min game. Lots of mistakes: Too loose, pre-flop raises are too small, bet sizing post-flop incorrect. I buy in for only $500 and see if I can grow this thing. I am glad to see that the game is raked by time at $6/half hour. $2/$5 is also raked at $6/hh and $10/$20 is $7/hh.

Hand 1: I [Stack = ~$500] raise UTG+1 with AA to $40. I get re-raised by a very nice young guy on my left who happened to be tattooed [Stack = ~$800] to $100. I say nice because the first thing he said to me when I sat down and fidgeted around in my chair with wheels that barely moved was “Are you comfortable?”, implying that he could move over to accommodate me. In poker terms, this also seems to translate to not getting value bets, not bluffing and being very honest. Maybe my theory is right, maybe it’s wrong, but I’m going with it. I decide to be tricky and just call. Deeper I definitely want to get more money in, but I’m banking on a rag flop and don’t want to scare JJ, QQ or AK away. Flop comes Axx. This is good and bad. Good as in I basically have a lock, bad in that I’ll be lucky to get much if anything. I check. UTG+2 bets only $50 (yup, he doesn’t have AK) and I call. Turn comes Q. God please hit him. I check, and he checks behind. Nope, he’s got KK methinks. River is a blank, and I bet $110 hoping he puts me on a Q or a lower pair or just can’t bare the thought of folding KK. He pays me off and I told him “I had you all the way” and he flashes KK. And I missed out on doubling up through him pre-flop.

I did only ok in that game.

October 14:

12:00PM to 3:00PM: I go with my cousin to Wynn to eat and play, but can’t agree on a place to eat there. I look at the poker room, but it appears that there is a short $5/$10 game that wasn’t too good. I wanted to go back to the hotel near MGM to get my forgotten iphone and eat a buffet at MGM, but she had other ideas, and we split with me going back to the hotel room to get some food at a local restaurant and then watch the Cowboys/Patriots game in my hotel room. When housecleaning comes, I decide to stop being a couch potato and walk over to MGM to play some poker.

3:00PM to 6:00PM: MGM grand. I leave to find the highest game MGM plays which is $2/$5, $500 max. A lot of people are watching with great enthusiasm in regards to the Cowboys/Patriot game.

Hand 1: There are 2 limpers and I [Stack = ~$500] raise A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]J[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] on button to $25, which is called by loose BB [Stack = $265] and two others. Flop comes A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]6[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]2[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]. Check to me, I bet $50 ready for check-raise, and I would push all-in. However, only loose BB calls. Turn comes 5[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]. Checks to me. I think he could be on a spade draw too and opt to let him draw for free. He might bluff into me on the river, which I’ll call. If he has an A and is behind, he has 3 outs at best. River comes 2[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]. BB checks. I value-bet $75, and BB suddenly and disturbingly raises to $190 all-in. I look at the board and think “there’s no way he has a 2”. I think for a few seconds and called, and he showed A7o. Ship it!

Hand 2: I [Stack = ~$800] limp after a couple of limpers with 7[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]4[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] SB calls, BB [Stack = $320] checks. 8[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]7[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]4[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]. Semi-aggressive BB leads $30 and all fold to me. I think he could be on diamonds but I cannot tell right away. He could literally have me crushed, and I don’t think I can make a good decision with an all-in from him should I raise the flop. His turn bet sizing will be more telling if it blanks, and I opt to just call hope to see a safe card and then see what happens. Turn: 2[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. That’s a very nice card. Now he leads for $40, so I don’t think he has much by his bet size and his body language, but also probably not just a naked flush draw as they often check then. I raise his $40 to $140. He fiddles his chips in a way that he’s trying to figure how much he’s going to get paid if he hits (at least I think that’s what he’s thinking). Then he exults “All-in”, and it’s $150 more to me. Sh*t. Maybe he does have me crushed. Why do I have a sneaking feeling that 2 helped him? If he actually made 2 pair with the 2, I kill his 72 or 42. But I can’t help the feeling he still has a flush draw. So I call. The river 8[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], and I throw up a little inside. SB shakes his head in a way I’m sure I have a winner. I tell him to open his cards, but he’s not mucking. I’m sure he has a missed draw, but I don’t know why he didn’t muck. I don’t reveal my cards, and finally he shows his hand and it makes sense: K[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]2[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]. So the 2 did help him.

7:30PM to 10:00PM: Mamma Mia at Mandalay Bay. Was a fantastic show full of energetic performers, fun songs and great humor. Highly recommended, especially if you've never been to a live musical before: **** of ****.

11:30PM to 2:00AM: Last session in Vegas. $2/$5 game and late night dinner.

Hand 1: I am dwindling my stack from $500 (due to some loose pre-flop calls) and have to leave the next morning, so I can't stay late. I [Stack = ~$280] make a relatively loose limp from EMP after a limper with A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]6[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]. MP raises to only $20 and 4 people call including myself. Flop: 662 two hearts. Check to me, and I lead $40 to look like a feeler/heart draw and induce a raise. MP doesn’t like $40; he likes $140. BB thinks for awhile making me think he’s on hearts and folds, folds to me and I push all-in for $120 more. He calls and says “no hearts”. I reply “no set”. Turn nothing, river A, and I get to go home without a losing last session.

Lesson: Don't raise to 4x the blind with your big pair after several limpers, let everyone in and have someone get lucky to bust you.

October 15:

10:30AM to 7:30AM: Drove back to San Francisco with only one stop for gas and no food. Wanted to get back home ASAP.

The end

Cliff Notes: I played lots of poker in LA and Vegas making some mad loot playing mostly no-limit and some limit poker, while along the way, I help my cousin with some computer stuff for her company. I meet 3 2+2ers and watch a couple of shows in Vegas before driving home. Cirque du Soleil’s “K8” circus show at MGM, ok ** 1/2 of ****. Mamma Mia at Venetian, great: **** of ****.

I tried to get 2+2 meet ups, but hope to attract more. I think I’ll sweeten the deal next time.

Next up: After my actuarial exam in November 7th. Arizona. New York. Minnesota. Tunica. Any suggestions for the next trip?

Garland