My tournament in Las Vegas

Here is a report on the tournament I entered whilst in Las Vegas.

I played at the Aladdin where the tournaments were $50 for 1000 chips plus an optional add-on of a further 1000 for just $10. 44 players entered and the top 6 got paid.

I started slowly as I struggled to get any hands. In fact bizarrely in the first orbit I was dealt K7 5 times!!! I tried to play 99 and 88 but missed the flop and folded to bets. Then I moved tables.

With blinds at 50/100, I had about 1050 in chips. I had A9 one before the cutoff. A player in MP1 just called, I called, and so did a couple of others. Flop was A9x. The BB bet 300, MP1 called. I pushed all-in. Everyone folded to MP1. He looked over at me, and I just looked down trying to pretend to be weak. He called with amazingly K5. He called an all-in with King high!! What an idiot! I doubled up to around 2800 in chips with my 2 pair.

My chips once again frittered away. $500 was taken when I called a pre-flop raise with KQ, but a big stack pushed all-in. I folded. He had AA.

Then first hand after the break, with blinds up to 200/400 I pushed with AT. I got called by QT and doubled up again. Shortly after this we were moved to the final table.

By the time we got to the final table, blinds were 300/600 and I had about 3000 in chips. I was seriously short stacked and needed a miracle. We were down to 10 players, and only 6 get paid. I got the miracle. In one hand, 4 players all pushed all-in. The big stack at the table won the hand with JJ and knocked 3 players out in one go. We were down to 7 players. I only needed 1 more to go out, but I was still very short.

A few hands later, a player in EP made a raise. I looked down to see TT. I had to push all-in as I probably wouldn't get another hand like this for a while. My opponent called and showed T8. I doubled up again. Blinds were now getting high. I pushed a couple more times with QJ and AJ and won the blinds. In another hand, I called a player's raise with KJ. Flop came down K high. I pushed all my chips in. He folded. I was up to around 12,000 in chips and could sit back. I was no longer the short stack.

This tactic worked as 3 more players went out.

My tournament ended when we were down to 4 players. I was back to being the shortest stack at the table. I pushed with AT and got a quick call. I knew I was in trouble. My opponent showed JJ. Flop was JQQ. A King on the river made my straight, but I couldn't beat his flopped full house. I was out in 4th for a nice payout of $246. What a nice birthday present!

A nice story to finish with - when the tournament started, I told everyone at the table that it was my birthday. One loud American latched onto this and proceeded to tell everyone he met this. When I got to the final table, I had developed my own fan club all rooting for me to win. That was a nice feeling.

Las Vegas

Last week was my 40th birthday. To celebrate (or mourn) my new decade in life, Penny booked a mystery holiday for us as a present. After many guesses, she finally told me we were going to Venice, so I duly packed my Euros and Italian dictionary. I was shocked to find we'd actually been booked into the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas. (She claims this doesn't constitute a lie).

The actual itinery was 4 nights in the Venetian, then a couple of days staying at a ranch in Arizona to see the Grand Canyon, then back to Las Vegas and staying in the Bellagio for 2 more nights. What a fantastic holiday!

I didn't know if I'd like Las Vegas with it's excesses, tackiness and seediness, but in fact I loved it there. I certainly think it's somewhere you can only take in small doses at a time.

I was hoping to play a lot of poker there, but I was surprised how expensive a lot of the games and tournaments were there, especially on the Strip. Due to my budget, I was looking at maybe $50 tournaments max and limit ring games of $1/2. Most of the tournaments started at about $100 and the ring games were all $4/8 min. All too much for my meagre bankroll.

Another highlight for the week I should mention is that we managed to catch part of the WPT tournament that was being held at the Bellagio. We watched the final 7 play out until someone got knocked out before the televised final. It was quite amazing standing around the final table watching and rubbing shoulders with famous names like Mike Sexton, Martin DeKnjiff (sp??), Andrew Black and Harry Demetriou (and these were just the guys I recognised). We did try to watch the final 6 the next day, but the waiting list was too long. I'll just wait for it to be shown on TV. Then we wondered back to the main poker room in the Ballagio and saw Gus Hansen, Barnie Boatman and Donnacha O'Dhea playing (well, actually Gus was just wondering around).

What a great trip. Can't wait until I go back there again.