Showing posts with label James Bach. Show all posts
Showing posts with label James Bach. Show all posts
Wednesday, 7 December 2011
LockeLamora PKR TV: April Masters 2009
Fond memories of this one, still my biggest PKR tournament cash by some way.
Wednesday, 30 November 2011
Fear and Loathing in Locke Vegas 2010: Part 7
This series of blogs first appeared on the PKR Forum in June
and July 2010. I won a WSOP Experience Package worth $4,000 through a
PKR Road To Vegas Tournament League that ran for several months. Most
players are referred to by their PKR user names.
Part 7
'Just another freak in the freak kingdom'
The main reason for selecting the Imperial Palace was location. So I waste no further time and take a walk up the Strip. The heat is utterly relentless but at least you can dive off into air conditioned buildings every few hundred metres. There is the old school Flamingo, the Irish themed O'Sheas, home of Beer Pong, and the spectacular Bellagio fountains. In front of Planet Hollywood is the Miracle Mile. This is a circular mile of shops containing all sorts of outlets, some areas are themed in different styles much like the shops at the Venetian. I walk up as far as City Centre and enjoy the spectacular architecture from another angle. You couldn't talk about a walk up the Strip without mentioning the Mexican 'Pimp Run'. I had heard Jabba making reference to this on the Wednesday night but hadn't really taken it in. Every few hundred metres along you would find 2 or 3 Mexicans in orange or green t-shirts dishing out leaflets to anyone who will take one. The t-shirts promise 'Girls direct to your door.' They make this sort of regular noise by slapping the card leaflets against their hands. Whilst it is a little annoying they are no more in your face than just putting the leaflets under your nose, clearly where they stand and how they behave is subject to some police scrutiny.
I return to the shade of the Imperial Palace
at about 4pm. I am meeting Chivalrous Gent and others for dinner later but have
two hours to kill. What better way to fill it than the $1/2 NL Hold'em
game in the Palace's poker room. To say the table is soft is an
understatement. I get off to a bad start losing $110 in an ugly pot. I
am about to reload $100 when I find QQ and jam it in preflop.
Unfortunately the spewtard I am jamming on has woken up with pocket
aces. A glorious Q on the flop gets me level. I then flop two more sets
in the space of ten minutes including cracking aces again. I then
pound on the table with the full fury of a big stack. 2 hours later I
am almost aggrieved to have to leave, up to the tune of $500 dollars.
Dinner
is at the Grand Lux cafe at the Venetian. From the Imperial Palace it
is less than five minutes walks so you can see the usefulness of it. I
meet up with teh Chivster plus entourage, Elz442, Trymean77, Khaine81
and Discomonkey. I have to say it is always a pleasure to spend dinner
with Chiv. He is a fellow foodie and his brother has a seriously
amazing knowledge of wines and beers. Both like the refined things in
life. We are also probably the only idiots wandering round the Venetian
in suit jackets. After dinner several members of the party have a
craving for cigars, luckily the Venetian has a kiosk selling some of
the finest on the planet. We end up in a fairly flash bar complete with
VJ and spend a pleasant few hours before going our separate ways,
though a number of us are at the Imperial Palace so can walk back
together.
It is about midnight when I settle in for my second session in the poker room. Clearly I have been saving up my luck for today as this session just gets silly. About forty minutes in I flop a straight flush and get paid off by an overpair. When the dealer halts rather than shoving the pot straight over to me I ask what is going on. I am told there is a High Hand Bonus in operation and my hand needs verifying by the floor. For doing nothing other than flopping a monster and getting it to showdown they ship an extra $250 my way. The session turns into small pots gained and small pots lost. I am thinking about leaving at about 2am but decide to play one more round. I'm glad I do as a pot comes up where I flop an open ended straight flush draw. A short stack goes all in on the flop and the original preflop raiser just flats him so I have to call. The turn brings my 2nd straight flush in two hours. I am just thinking about how to get the most value from this when the other guy in the pot shoves all in. I take all of about 0.2 of a second to call announcing 'This is the sickest thing ever...' The short stack had a pair and the other guy made a full house on the turn. I ship the pot... and another $250 bonus!!! Soooo sick. I of course feel it would be rude to leave at this point and keep playing for another hour. I bleed away a few dollars in a couple of coolers but end up leaving $800 to the good and $1,300 on the day.
Epilogue
I never finished the blog at the time. My last day was spent back at the Aria's poker room. I won a nice little cash session then went out just before the money in the evening tournament. I got a relatively early nights sleep and the following morning found myself back at Mccarran Airport. It had been a brilliant eight days that I would never forget, a first taste of poker's biggest stage that had whet my appetite for more. After a bad start I had turned it around to a nice little profit on the trip.
Part 7
'Just another freak in the freak kingdom'
The main reason for selecting the Imperial Palace was location. So I waste no further time and take a walk up the Strip. The heat is utterly relentless but at least you can dive off into air conditioned buildings every few hundred metres. There is the old school Flamingo, the Irish themed O'Sheas, home of Beer Pong, and the spectacular Bellagio fountains. In front of Planet Hollywood is the Miracle Mile. This is a circular mile of shops containing all sorts of outlets, some areas are themed in different styles much like the shops at the Venetian. I walk up as far as City Centre and enjoy the spectacular architecture from another angle. You couldn't talk about a walk up the Strip without mentioning the Mexican 'Pimp Run'. I had heard Jabba making reference to this on the Wednesday night but hadn't really taken it in. Every few hundred metres along you would find 2 or 3 Mexicans in orange or green t-shirts dishing out leaflets to anyone who will take one. The t-shirts promise 'Girls direct to your door.' They make this sort of regular noise by slapping the card leaflets against their hands. Whilst it is a little annoying they are no more in your face than just putting the leaflets under your nose, clearly where they stand and how they behave is subject to some police scrutiny.
 |
| The spectacular City Centre |
 |
| The Venetian |
It is about midnight when I settle in for my second session in the poker room. Clearly I have been saving up my luck for today as this session just gets silly. About forty minutes in I flop a straight flush and get paid off by an overpair. When the dealer halts rather than shoving the pot straight over to me I ask what is going on. I am told there is a High Hand Bonus in operation and my hand needs verifying by the floor. For doing nothing other than flopping a monster and getting it to showdown they ship an extra $250 my way. The session turns into small pots gained and small pots lost. I am thinking about leaving at about 2am but decide to play one more round. I'm glad I do as a pot comes up where I flop an open ended straight flush draw. A short stack goes all in on the flop and the original preflop raiser just flats him so I have to call. The turn brings my 2nd straight flush in two hours. I am just thinking about how to get the most value from this when the other guy in the pot shoves all in. I take all of about 0.2 of a second to call announcing 'This is the sickest thing ever...' The short stack had a pair and the other guy made a full house on the turn. I ship the pot... and another $250 bonus!!! Soooo sick. I of course feel it would be rude to leave at this point and keep playing for another hour. I bleed away a few dollars in a couple of coolers but end up leaving $800 to the good and $1,300 on the day.
Epilogue
I never finished the blog at the time. My last day was spent back at the Aria's poker room. I won a nice little cash session then went out just before the money in the evening tournament. I got a relatively early nights sleep and the following morning found myself back at Mccarran Airport. It had been a brilliant eight days that I would never forget, a first taste of poker's biggest stage that had whet my appetite for more. After a bad start I had turned it around to a nice little profit on the trip.
Fear and Loathing in Locke Vegas 2010: Parts 4 and 5
This series of blogs first appeared on the PKR Forum in June
and July 2010. I won a WSOP Experience Package worth $4,000 through a
PKR Road To Vegas Tournament League that ran for several months. Most
players are referred to by their PKR user names.
Part 4
'The line between madness and masochism was already hazy'
Six a.m. Friday morning. Somehow I manage my best nights sleep in Las Vegas at a grand five hours. Just enough time to hit the buffet before playing the $150 1pm Aria Deep Stack for the 2nd time. This time there are about 60 runners. I make it to about 20th before the standard bad beat disposes of me. Zero luck at the tables since arriving in the desert and with expenses I am now stuck about $900 on the trip. This was supposed to be a decent working holiday, a cake walk. Damn you Poker Gods. Yet another awkward cash game session follows.
I escape the tables in decent time to get ready for the PKR Party. The party is at the side building of Mandalay Bay called, creatively enough, The Hotel. A group of us grab a taxi. I feel a word is in order about Vegas taxi drivers, on the whole they are an incredibly amiable bunch. The rare one does not speak much English but most are very chatty and very likeable. They also have lots of great tips on where to go and what to do. My favourite turned out to be the son of a prolific TV scriptwriter and his two brothers were both published authors. Whilst the writing bug had passed him by he was a keen thriller reader and we had a good chat about his favourite writers, a number of whom I had met. Vegas is a strange place but an oddly friendly one.
At The Hotel we wonder round lost for a bit before running into PKR_Paul and Ashley Hames with their video camera. They lead us to the private elevator to The Mix Lounge, the venue for tonights party. At the queue outside it are loads of old friends. Not just qualifiers but other members of the PKR Massive including JJBird22 and Chivalrousgent. We are finally let through and find ourselves in a glass elevator going up and up with an awesome view of the Vegas skyline by night. The lounge is on the top floor of the building and with an outside balcony area offered an awesome view all night long. Loads of the PKR gang turned up throughout the night. Apparently other guests including Kara Scott and some of the Cardrunners crew were there too. Clearly I was talking too much to notice, oops. Drink was free all evening including champagne and anything else you could think of. I met Scardey77 from Canada, the only Canadian qualifier for the WSOP package . He was having a great time but felt a bit guilty being away from home as he was away from his three month old baby for the first time.
The evening went far too quickly. At 2:30am we were getting bundled out by the bouncers when it felt like we could have stayed for hours longer. At this point Zlatan35 was in a particularly amusing state of free bar drunkenness that saw him wrestling with Ashley Hames on the Casino floor. He was also falling over quite a bit and got stopped by a casino floorman after attempting to climb onto a dancing podium occupied by a scantily clad gyrating woman so that he too could express himself through dance. We were eventually able to bundle him into a taxi. A few more drinks at the Aria and it is yet another 5am finish to the day. Vegas is part holiday, part endurance test.
Part 5
Part 4
'The line between madness and masochism was already hazy'
Six a.m. Friday morning. Somehow I manage my best nights sleep in Las Vegas at a grand five hours. Just enough time to hit the buffet before playing the $150 1pm Aria Deep Stack for the 2nd time. This time there are about 60 runners. I make it to about 20th before the standard bad beat disposes of me. Zero luck at the tables since arriving in the desert and with expenses I am now stuck about $900 on the trip. This was supposed to be a decent working holiday, a cake walk. Damn you Poker Gods. Yet another awkward cash game session follows.
I escape the tables in decent time to get ready for the PKR Party. The party is at the side building of Mandalay Bay called, creatively enough, The Hotel. A group of us grab a taxi. I feel a word is in order about Vegas taxi drivers, on the whole they are an incredibly amiable bunch. The rare one does not speak much English but most are very chatty and very likeable. They also have lots of great tips on where to go and what to do. My favourite turned out to be the son of a prolific TV scriptwriter and his two brothers were both published authors. Whilst the writing bug had passed him by he was a keen thriller reader and we had a good chat about his favourite writers, a number of whom I had met. Vegas is a strange place but an oddly friendly one.
At The Hotel we wonder round lost for a bit before running into PKR_Paul and Ashley Hames with their video camera. They lead us to the private elevator to The Mix Lounge, the venue for tonights party. At the queue outside it are loads of old friends. Not just qualifiers but other members of the PKR Massive including JJBird22 and Chivalrousgent. We are finally let through and find ourselves in a glass elevator going up and up with an awesome view of the Vegas skyline by night. The lounge is on the top floor of the building and with an outside balcony area offered an awesome view all night long. Loads of the PKR gang turned up throughout the night. Apparently other guests including Kara Scott and some of the Cardrunners crew were there too. Clearly I was talking too much to notice, oops. Drink was free all evening including champagne and anything else you could think of. I met Scardey77 from Canada, the only Canadian qualifier for the WSOP package . He was having a great time but felt a bit guilty being away from home as he was away from his three month old baby for the first time.
 |
| The View from The Mix Lounge |
The evening went far too quickly. At 2:30am we were getting bundled out by the bouncers when it felt like we could have stayed for hours longer. At this point Zlatan35 was in a particularly amusing state of free bar drunkenness that saw him wrestling with Ashley Hames on the Casino floor. He was also falling over quite a bit and got stopped by a casino floorman after attempting to climb onto a dancing podium occupied by a scantily clad gyrating woman so that he too could express himself through dance. We were eventually able to bundle him into a taxi. A few more drinks at the Aria and it is yet another 5am finish to the day. Vegas is part holiday, part endurance test.
 |
| Ashley Hames wrestled by Zlatan35 |
Part 5
'Against that heinous background, my crimes were pale and meaningless.'
As had become routine I awoke midday Saturday and sought out the buffet. The moment I got off on the promenade level it was obvious just how much busier the Aria was. 4th of July weekend was bringing the people in big time. I had to queue for a buffet table for 20 minutes (/OMG) when I had previously just walked in every time. I also had to smile at the American capitalist machine at work. On previous days you could get breakfast from 7 -11am, then brunch up until 7pm at which point dinner kicked in. Though saying that you could pretty much get dinner at any time of the day, it just cost the different prices. As I reached the front of the queue I could see today had no breakfast option (I was too late anyway) and only a 'Holiday Brunch' was advertised. This cost me $33 dollars rather than the $22 I had paid for brunch the day before. What extra delights did I get for my hard earned 10 bucks? Sod all... exactly the same as yesterday but a $10 hike just to milk the weekend 4th of July trade that little bit harder.
I hit the $150 Aria Deep Stack again but this time there was a strong PKR presence and a lot of uber-donks in for the weekend. The tournament had about 74 runners. At the first table is some of the most retarded poker play in the history of the universe, I mean worse than the dumb nonsense you see in the PKR Open on a daily basis. My favourite guy is a massive overbettor. Blinds are 25/50 with a 10k starting stack. 3 times in two rounds he open raises to 1,300... then con bets on the flop for more than half his stack...for the love of God just give me a hand!. LeRouli stacks two players on about the 3rd round... overshoving his full house on the river and gets called by not one idiot, but two, with a straight. A couple of rounds later he makes another full house and sucks in Mr Overbet who calls with trips. The table doesn't get any harder and myself and LeRouli just carve it up between us. We redraw from 3 tables to 2 with 18 left about after 5 hours of play. Suddenly I feel like I'm sat at the final table of a PKR Primetime as I have old adversaries Trymean77 and Azurecoil to compete against. The whole dynamic of the game just shifts. There are a couple of other okay players at the able so what had been a cakewalk took on some higher level dynamics with some more intricate play going down. On the other table are 3 more PKR players, 1BlackMamba3, LeRouli and a guy whos name I don't know.
At the final table of 10, with 7 places paid, I am still in along with Trymean77, Azurecoil, 1BlackMamba3 and the unkwown PKR player. We should have had Paul down with his camera as this was clearly just a PKR event in disguise. Az busts in 10th to a bad beat. Our nameless guy then shoves all in for about 4 big blinds. I have a decent stack and look down to find pocket 8s. I call. I then wish I hadn't as an old American uber-nit jams over the top of me for another 20,000 chips. It is a horrid spot. I'm convinced he has AA or KK but even if he does I am still priced in to call. This is a snap call in a cash game but here it is a stop and think moment. I factor that if it is even remotely possible he could have AK in his range here then I would be making a hideous fold and bite the bullet. Shortstack turns over pocket 10s (oops), Nit turns over KK. First card out is an 8 (fist pump on standby) and the 2nd card is a king (FML). We are down to 8 players, I need some chips fast and Old Man Nit is now the chip leader by a decent margin. I manage to double through with A J against K J and the bubble bursts just after. I am still short at this point. I raise up with a pair of 5s and 1BlackBamba3 jams over the top. I know he is an aggressive player and will do this with a lot of high card combos so I have no choice but to make a reluctant call and hope I am flipping. He shows jacks and I am gone in 7th for $330 dollars. 1st prize was $3.5K so I wasn't particularly happy, especially as the 4 non-PKR players were all awful. I believe a 5 way deal was struck which Trymean77 was a part of. Maybe I was a little too aggressive in this one but meh, that's my game.
As had become routine I awoke midday Saturday and sought out the buffet. The moment I got off on the promenade level it was obvious just how much busier the Aria was. 4th of July weekend was bringing the people in big time. I had to queue for a buffet table for 20 minutes (/OMG) when I had previously just walked in every time. I also had to smile at the American capitalist machine at work. On previous days you could get breakfast from 7 -11am, then brunch up until 7pm at which point dinner kicked in. Though saying that you could pretty much get dinner at any time of the day, it just cost the different prices. As I reached the front of the queue I could see today had no breakfast option (I was too late anyway) and only a 'Holiday Brunch' was advertised. This cost me $33 dollars rather than the $22 I had paid for brunch the day before. What extra delights did I get for my hard earned 10 bucks? Sod all... exactly the same as yesterday but a $10 hike just to milk the weekend 4th of July trade that little bit harder.
I hit the $150 Aria Deep Stack again but this time there was a strong PKR presence and a lot of uber-donks in for the weekend. The tournament had about 74 runners. At the first table is some of the most retarded poker play in the history of the universe, I mean worse than the dumb nonsense you see in the PKR Open on a daily basis. My favourite guy is a massive overbettor. Blinds are 25/50 with a 10k starting stack. 3 times in two rounds he open raises to 1,300... then con bets on the flop for more than half his stack...for the love of God just give me a hand!. LeRouli stacks two players on about the 3rd round... overshoving his full house on the river and gets called by not one idiot, but two, with a straight. A couple of rounds later he makes another full house and sucks in Mr Overbet who calls with trips. The table doesn't get any harder and myself and LeRouli just carve it up between us. We redraw from 3 tables to 2 with 18 left about after 5 hours of play. Suddenly I feel like I'm sat at the final table of a PKR Primetime as I have old adversaries Trymean77 and Azurecoil to compete against. The whole dynamic of the game just shifts. There are a couple of other okay players at the able so what had been a cakewalk took on some higher level dynamics with some more intricate play going down. On the other table are 3 more PKR players, 1BlackMamba3, LeRouli and a guy whos name I don't know.
At the final table of 10, with 7 places paid, I am still in along with Trymean77, Azurecoil, 1BlackMamba3 and the unkwown PKR player. We should have had Paul down with his camera as this was clearly just a PKR event in disguise. Az busts in 10th to a bad beat. Our nameless guy then shoves all in for about 4 big blinds. I have a decent stack and look down to find pocket 8s. I call. I then wish I hadn't as an old American uber-nit jams over the top of me for another 20,000 chips. It is a horrid spot. I'm convinced he has AA or KK but even if he does I am still priced in to call. This is a snap call in a cash game but here it is a stop and think moment. I factor that if it is even remotely possible he could have AK in his range here then I would be making a hideous fold and bite the bullet. Shortstack turns over pocket 10s (oops), Nit turns over KK. First card out is an 8 (fist pump on standby) and the 2nd card is a king (FML). We are down to 8 players, I need some chips fast and Old Man Nit is now the chip leader by a decent margin. I manage to double through with A J against K J and the bubble bursts just after. I am still short at this point. I raise up with a pair of 5s and 1BlackBamba3 jams over the top. I know he is an aggressive player and will do this with a lot of high card combos so I have no choice but to make a reluctant call and hope I am flipping. He shows jacks and I am gone in 7th for $330 dollars. 1st prize was $3.5K so I wasn't particularly happy, especially as the 4 non-PKR players were all awful. I believe a 5 way deal was struck which Trymean77 was a part of. Maybe I was a little too aggressive in this one but meh, that's my game.
 |
| Mclash 80, Jabba, Danski, PKR_Simon at Pure |
Another evening another VIP Party to
attend (God, isn't life just hideous). This time we are at the VIP
area of Pure over at Caesars Palace. The taxi ride over takes forever as
traffic on this busy weekend seems to have jammed up the entire centre
of Vegas. Eventually we make it. Pure is a nightclub. A nice one but
still... just a night club. There is a large main room then a VIP
lounge area and a small room off of that. We had the 'Owners Room' to
ourselves and a couple of lounges in the area outside. I hate to think
how much it cost overall, a lot. There was also an upstairs area which
lead out onto a rooftop terrace that looked out onto part of the strip.
There was a lot of talking, laughing and drinking. Kelly Rowland
appeared in the main area and performed 2 songs. Must be nice to be
paid a small fortune to turn up and do less than 10 minutes work...
 |
| KingKai and Waswini |
It
was day 2 of event 54 today and about 7 players had made it through
from the 2 day 1s. At the club we heard about the varying stories of
people who had been playing but none was crazier than that of Beyne.
Beyne played on the Day 1b on Friday and after the 2 day ones had
finished there were about 700 left in and Beyne had the 39th biggest
stack. Now some time after this and the PKR party at the Mix Lounge
several of our crew had found themselves sat at 5am in the morning
playing Black Jack. Day 2 of the tournament started
at midday. Apparently a dealer took offence to a comment Beyne made
and asked him to leave. Beyne didn't think he had done anything wrong
(and probably hadn't!) so refused. Unfortunately he also decided to
refuse to leave once the Cardroom Manager asked him to. So the police
were called and although he wasn't charged with anything they held him
for about 12 hours. Beyne finally made it to Day 2 of the tournament
very, very late. So late that when he got there all that was left of his
39th biggest chipstack was 4 big blinds. The crazy part, although some
might say this is just standard on Planet Beyne, is that he was able to
bounce back and turn that 4k back into 200k and put in a deep cash
finish... MBN as they say.
At about 2:45am myself and PirateNation decided to head back to the Aria, or at least that was the plan. As we exited the club area into the main floor of Caeser's Palace we were confronted by a worried looking Jake who asked for some help. Slightly to one side being stood over by a large bouncer and Ovnis was our very own Waswini, slumped in a wheelchair. He was just about responsive if you tapped his shoulder but only to the extent of a small twitch. He couldn't hold his head up and certainly couldn't talk. The bouncer was saying an EMT (paramedic) was on the way and that if we couldn't walk him out then he would have to go to hospital in an ambulance. We try standing him up but it just isn't happening. The EMT arrives and has a look at him. He breaks out the smelling salts which induces the biggest reaction yet. Waswini twitches up about ten centimetres then slumps down again. Despite this the EMT is not overly worried about him but confirms we need to get him out or he has to go to the hospital. We wheel him down to the taxi rank. Quite wisely the taxi drivers take one look at him and tell us nooooo way. Jake, ever the thinking man in an alcohol based crisis, grabs a limo instead. The driver is quite happy to charge through the teeth to take a drunken Fronk home. Myself and PirateNation have to grab an arm each and manouver him into the back of the thing, no small task. At the other end We have to repeat the same feat and carry him towards the door of the Aria. The doorman quickly grabs another collapsable wheelchair and we put him back in, head slumped. We wait with him whilst Jake goes to find out what room he is staying in. I comment to the Doorman 'Another quiet night in Vegas.' He gives me a look before saying 'This is the tenth one like this tonight.' Fourth of July weekend...
At about 2:45am myself and PirateNation decided to head back to the Aria, or at least that was the plan. As we exited the club area into the main floor of Caeser's Palace we were confronted by a worried looking Jake who asked for some help. Slightly to one side being stood over by a large bouncer and Ovnis was our very own Waswini, slumped in a wheelchair. He was just about responsive if you tapped his shoulder but only to the extent of a small twitch. He couldn't hold his head up and certainly couldn't talk. The bouncer was saying an EMT (paramedic) was on the way and that if we couldn't walk him out then he would have to go to hospital in an ambulance. We try standing him up but it just isn't happening. The EMT arrives and has a look at him. He breaks out the smelling salts which induces the biggest reaction yet. Waswini twitches up about ten centimetres then slumps down again. Despite this the EMT is not overly worried about him but confirms we need to get him out or he has to go to the hospital. We wheel him down to the taxi rank. Quite wisely the taxi drivers take one look at him and tell us nooooo way. Jake, ever the thinking man in an alcohol based crisis, grabs a limo instead. The driver is quite happy to charge through the teeth to take a drunken Fronk home. Myself and PirateNation have to grab an arm each and manouver him into the back of the thing, no small task. At the other end We have to repeat the same feat and carry him towards the door of the Aria. The doorman quickly grabs another collapsable wheelchair and we put him back in, head slumped. We wait with him whilst Jake goes to find out what room he is staying in. I comment to the Doorman 'Another quiet night in Vegas.' He gives me a look before saying 'This is the tenth one like this tonight.' Fourth of July weekend...
 |
Eventually
Jake returns with the room number. We wheel him up in the lift. Jake
is looking at himself in the mirror and questioning where the spots on
his face have come from. I suggest that getting more than 30 minutes
sleep a night might help. Jake leaves us once satisfied the door key
works. We wheel Waswini into his room inadvertently waking up the
friend who is staying with him. There is a good selection of spirits on
the table and a large amount of empty pizza boxes. Pirate rolls Waswini
into bed at which point he decides to roll back towards the wall and
start vomiting. Satisfied that our public service remit has been filled
for the evening we leave, safe in the knowledge that at least some one
is there to keep an eye on him.
Tuesday, 29 November 2011
Fear and Loathing in Locke Vegas 2010: Part 3
This series of blogs first appeared on the PKR Forum in June
and July 2010. I won a WSOP Experience Package worth $4,000 through a
PKR Road To Vegas Tournament League that ran for several months. Most
players are referred to by their PKR user names.
Part 3
'It won't be long before they tear us to shreds.'
The PKR welcome party is at the Deuce Lounge, one of the many separated areas on the main floor of the Aria. The PKR staff posse are all present as are some of the qualifiers. More turn up as the evening wears on but not everyone makes it due to flights and other annoyances. Everyone is is in good spirits. Most of the staff have already been out for a few days or more. For the most part they actually got a few days off of work to do this rather rather than spend these hard days by the poolside Cabana on the blag. PKR_Jake, the VIP Manager, doesn't seem to have had more than one hours sleep a night for about a week. This is never a good sign. Beyne has been on psycho blackjack swings all week. Reports have him from anything to up $50k to down $100k in the space of the same evening. Bellagio comp room buddy James666 shakes his head whenever the subject comes up. Suddenly at 24 James is looking like the sensible and mature one on Team PKR Pro - how on earth did that happen? PKR_Jake is having his own table games rollercoaster and from here on in I think should be known as Mini-Beyne.
Jabba explains PKR V2.0 has been delayed by a few
weeks and assures me fun and exciting ideas are coming soon for the
tournament section, subject to 'patent approval'. Being starving myself
and Jabba order some snack food from the menu. You know you are in VIP
land when 4 mouthfuls of food set sets you back $20. Also at some
point during the evening a smart toilet attendant appears as happens
at some posher clubs in Britain. Some things I don't mind tipping for,
but seriously, don't expect a dollar when I am perfectly capable of
reaching for the paper towels all on my own TYVM. This is probably a
recurring theme from our VIP week. I'm sure these places have staff
that are used to big tippers in their VIP areas, I bet none of them
counted on stingy tight ass poker players.
At about
midnight I put in a couple of hours at the 1-3 NL cash tables before
heading off to bed. Reported sightings place some of the more hardcore
members of the staff heading back out of the Aria at 5am in the morning
having already been out to a club inbetween. Hardcore degens.
I wake up after 4 hours in bed once again. Still, I need to get to the Rio to preregister before the event so this is not a bad thing. I stuff myself silly at the gorgeous Aria buffet so I will not need to eat for a while once the nerves kick in. The buffet is just awesome, stuff from all over the world, lots of things that just do not belong on a help yourself line. I get a taxi to the Rio. As I walk from the main casino through to the convention centre it slowly becomes more WSOP orientated. Giant banners of past players of the year fill the hallway. After registering I dawdle around. At the moment barring a few cash tables the two halls are empty. Tables are everywhere. The scale is immense but not as intimidating as I expected. I sit in the Poker Food Hall with DWH103and another qualifier With 20 minutes to go the nerves start kicking in. At this point I just want to start playing. Not playing is now worse than playing could ever be. I pace around for the last ten minutes and find my chair.
I don't recognise anyone at my
starting table. With my fairly deep knowledge of poker this is a good
sign. After the immortal 'Shuffle Up and deal' I am suddenly playing in
the WSOP... /OMG. First hand I am in the big blind. A few players
limp in and I look down to see K 9o. I check the option and am rewarded
with a K 9 3 rainbow flop. I check, as does everyone else. I bet
small on the turn and everyone folds. I have won the first hand, not a
big pot, but it makes me feel better. I pick up and lose a few small
standard pots but am glad to see I am fast picking up a strong read of
the table. In the first big hand on the table I put both guys on their
exact hands. There is such a thing though as concentrating too hard
however as my first key hand showed. This is probably the most
embarrassing hand of poker I have ever played. A guy raises in late
position who has been more active than most and I look down to see 10 6
of clubs. I decide to flat call and screw with him a little if the
opportunity presents. The flop comes low with 2 spades. He fires a
standard small continuation bet. I decide as a lot of hands he has here
will be two big overs to try and raise him out. If he jams I know he
has the big overpair. If he calls I know he has a likely weak overpair
and I can then check the turn and try and represent the spade draw if it
lands on the river or bet it if the spade hits the turn. He calls and
the turn is a brick. He checks, I check. The river is not a spade. He
checks again though... suddenly I feel like bluffing again may take the
pot anyway. I fire out a decent bet into the pot. He calls pretty
quickly and I just want to muck my 10 high. As experience has taught
me that weird things happen in poker I show my cards face up after
looking like I want to muck them. When the dealer says flush I almost
fall out of my seat. I have been so intensely concentrating on my bluff
line that I clean failed to notice that I had runner runnered a club
flush. The other guy is of course disgusted that his pocket 10s
(exactly the sort of hand I put him on after he just called the raise!)
have been beaten by some donk who doesn't even know when he has a flush.
This table image would have been perfect for exploitation though sadly
they break this rather soft starting table just fifteen minutes later.
My 2nd table seems okay to start with and I am up 1K on my 3k starting stack after close to 2 hours. After the 2nd level we break. The trick to finding a toilet during a WSOP break is to start walking to the far end of the Rio as fast as possible. The queues are actually bearable down the far end. I run across a few people for a quick update but it is straight back into action. No PKR staff are anywhere to be seen after the particularly heavy night they had. In quick succession the 3 guys at my new table I marked as idiots bust out... none of them throwing chips my way. In the most annoying fashion possible each is replaced by an obvious online Pro. To my left sits down a Russian guy, not one of the top tier of superstars, but some one who I recognise. He strikes up a conversation with the guy to my right who he knows about how well all the guys he is staking (thousands of dollars worth) have done during the last couple of weeks. He knows the guy to my right because he is being staked by Timoshenko. I buckle my seat belt and prepare to dig in. I of course go card dead at this point and get played back at constantly in the sort of ugly spots you just can't do a lot about. After 3 and a half blind levels I am down to 1.8k from the 3k starting stack and take a stand with pocket 6s against an obvious big ace. He turns over A Q and the flop of course drops A Q x on me. You have to win flips to win bracelets and I haven't in this one. I spend the next few hours catching up with who is in and who is out. I spotted Gavin Griffin and Kara Scott playing but then in quick succession saw most of the rest of the poker world. Moneymaker, Dennis Phillips. Going into the other room were some sick tables, especially in the $25K six max event. At one table is Greenstein, Seidel and Sam Trickett. On the next one over Phil Ivey is drawing a huge rail as always. At a feature table is John Juanda, and at the main flashy TV table sits John Duthie. Elswhere is Juha Hellpi, Barney Boatman, Vanessa Rousso and on and on it gos.
At this point
Pirate Nation arrives having only just got into Vegas. We head back to
the Aria and hit the NL tables. I have an annoying session where I
can't win a flip. Despite that I am only down about $100 dollars. I
spot a super soft table nearby and ask to go on the waiting list. As
this happens I see a player get up and Japete gets the seat before I get
a chance, damn you Spaniard! I wait 90 minutes dying a slow death at
my nitty table watching the drunks dumping their their cash off left
right and centre. When a seat finally opens the game has broken up
within 10 minutes. FML. I think about sleep, it now being about 1am
but instead take a seat at the $4/8 limit game where PKR_Danski,
PKR_Jake, PKR_Scott and PKR_Harry are engaged in psychotic action with
an uber-donk and a couple of spewtards. 4 or 5 players are regularly
seeing the 5 bet cap putting $100 dollars into most pots preflop. As a
guy who plays a lot of $3/6 and $5/10 limit the scale of the action is
mind blowing. Being rivered in a $300 pot at $4/8 limit is just not an
average occurrence. Sick beats go down left right and centre. Insults
and banter fly. A really nice guy joins the table who claimed to be 54
but looked about 35. The PKR posse took to calling him Peter Pan for
the rest of the night, when Dan wasn't calling him his 'Dawg'
in a really bad American accent. The game broke at about 6am in the
morning by which point Danski was pre tipping every dealer and taking
the piss out of their names ('Ping' being the favourite) and tipping
everyone at the table each time he won. Somehow I ended up stuck about
$200 dollars despite being the least drunk whilst Scott and Harry walked
off with about $600 a piece.
Stay tuned for the truth about
Waswheelchairgate, which PKR Pro spent the morning in a Las Vegas jail
drunk tank and more exciting adventures!
Part 3
'It won't be long before they tear us to shreds.'
The PKR welcome party is at the Deuce Lounge, one of the many separated areas on the main floor of the Aria. The PKR staff posse are all present as are some of the qualifiers. More turn up as the evening wears on but not everyone makes it due to flights and other annoyances. Everyone is is in good spirits. Most of the staff have already been out for a few days or more. For the most part they actually got a few days off of work to do this rather rather than spend these hard days by the poolside Cabana on the blag. PKR_Jake, the VIP Manager, doesn't seem to have had more than one hours sleep a night for about a week. This is never a good sign. Beyne has been on psycho blackjack swings all week. Reports have him from anything to up $50k to down $100k in the space of the same evening. Bellagio comp room buddy James666 shakes his head whenever the subject comes up. Suddenly at 24 James is looking like the sensible and mature one on Team PKR Pro - how on earth did that happen? PKR_Jake is having his own table games rollercoaster and from here on in I think should be known as Mini-Beyne.
 |
| PKR Welcome Party |
 |
| Beyne and Danski |
I wake up after 4 hours in bed once again. Still, I need to get to the Rio to preregister before the event so this is not a bad thing. I stuff myself silly at the gorgeous Aria buffet so I will not need to eat for a while once the nerves kick in. The buffet is just awesome, stuff from all over the world, lots of things that just do not belong on a help yourself line. I get a taxi to the Rio. As I walk from the main casino through to the convention centre it slowly becomes more WSOP orientated. Giant banners of past players of the year fill the hallway. After registering I dawdle around. At the moment barring a few cash tables the two halls are empty. Tables are everywhere. The scale is immense but not as intimidating as I expected. I sit in the Poker Food Hall with DWH103and another qualifier With 20 minutes to go the nerves start kicking in. At this point I just want to start playing. Not playing is now worse than playing could ever be. I pace around for the last ten minutes and find my chair.
 |
| WSOP at the Rio |
My 2nd table seems okay to start with and I am up 1K on my 3k starting stack after close to 2 hours. After the 2nd level we break. The trick to finding a toilet during a WSOP break is to start walking to the far end of the Rio as fast as possible. The queues are actually bearable down the far end. I run across a few people for a quick update but it is straight back into action. No PKR staff are anywhere to be seen after the particularly heavy night they had. In quick succession the 3 guys at my new table I marked as idiots bust out... none of them throwing chips my way. In the most annoying fashion possible each is replaced by an obvious online Pro. To my left sits down a Russian guy, not one of the top tier of superstars, but some one who I recognise. He strikes up a conversation with the guy to my right who he knows about how well all the guys he is staking (thousands of dollars worth) have done during the last couple of weeks. He knows the guy to my right because he is being staked by Timoshenko. I buckle my seat belt and prepare to dig in. I of course go card dead at this point and get played back at constantly in the sort of ugly spots you just can't do a lot about. After 3 and a half blind levels I am down to 1.8k from the 3k starting stack and take a stand with pocket 6s against an obvious big ace. He turns over A Q and the flop of course drops A Q x on me. You have to win flips to win bracelets and I haven't in this one. I spend the next few hours catching up with who is in and who is out. I spotted Gavin Griffin and Kara Scott playing but then in quick succession saw most of the rest of the poker world. Moneymaker, Dennis Phillips. Going into the other room were some sick tables, especially in the $25K six max event. At one table is Greenstein, Seidel and Sam Trickett. On the next one over Phil Ivey is drawing a huge rail as always. At a feature table is John Juanda, and at the main flashy TV table sits John Duthie. Elswhere is Juha Hellpi, Barney Boatman, Vanessa Rousso and on and on it gos.
 |
| TV feature table |
 |
| Fixed Limit degeneracy |
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