A couple trips ago I couldn’t believe what I saw: the Flamingo had closed its poker room. You know how many hours I played poker in that room?!?! I had to walk by where it used to be a couple times just to make sure I wasn’t losing my mind. Now what? Well, the poker room that made sense was across the street at Caesar’s. Staying there this time and last was perfect. At the end of a long day, I certainly don’t want to walk all over the place to find a place to play poker. I want to head right downstairs, put my name on the list, walk a handful of steps away to the cigar bar, then come back and sit down and play. Well, best laid plans… Walking around Caesar’s the first day, we saw that their poker room was closed… wtf?!?! Yes, we were told it was under construction, and it would be back opened up a few months from now; a lot of good that does me on THIS trip. Now what???
The closest poker room was at the Horseshoe, the old Bally’s; not too bad. Sure, I’d have to take two skybridges to get there, but… that’s not bad. I saw they had daily tournaments; the time that would suit me on this trip was the 11pm slot. It was $100 buy in. I’ve had success playing in tournaments in the past; I believe I’ve split the tourney winnings three separate times. I probably played a dozen or so tourneys, so not that great I guess. Still, it’s worth a shot.
The thing I don’t like about tourneys is the ante. Not only will I have to put up the big blind, but the ante at the same time. So, it’s like double the big blind every time around; that sucks. I misplayed a hand too. Flop came an Ace with three diamonds; I had A-10, no diamonds. I bet; one guy called. Turn was a blank; I bet again… he called again. River was a Queen. I should have bet again; I didn’t. I checked and he went all in. Maybe I would have been knocked out at that moment, or maybe he was just taking advantage of my bad play; I’ll never know. I mucked them. My all-in moment came a bit later. I saw that big blind/ante coming my way; I saw my chips were dwindling. I looked down at pocket 3s; there was one raiser before me. I went all-in. He insta-calls and turns over A-A; nice timing man. 2 hours into the tournament, I was out; at least I would get to bed early… if I didn’t find something else to play before I got back to the room.
Whenever I get knocked out, I always tell myself I like cash games more; why do I play in a tournament then? Well, maybe it’s because I only get this chance one time per year? Oh well… down $100 on my 2nd night in Vegas; I avoided the tables/slots on the way back to the room; one more night in Vegas. Cash game time, right?
Leave a Reply