Orleans
Open Trip Report (long)
THURSDAY
7-12-01
SAN ANTONIO TO LAS
VEGAS - My wife and I caught a
plane, got there, checked in, went to
poker room. That would usually suffice
for the travel portion of a trip report,
but Southwest Airlines deserves a little
more coverage. For those unfamiliar with
their 'herding' process, it works like
this. You stand in line for a 'boarding
number,' not a seat assignment, at the
gate. 1-30 get on first, 31-60 follow,
61-90 are third . There are separate lines
formed for each category. If you have
a number higher than 90, you are directed
to stand against the wall and hang your
head in shame for not having arrived 45
minutes before boarding time to get in
line at the gate. This is all true. I
have no idea why Herb never invested in
a seat assignment system, but the aggravation
can be tolerated for one reason. That
is, the Southwest flight is non-stop to
Las Vegas. It's the only cheap ticket
you can get that doesn't require a stop
in Houston (yes, Houston is in the opposite
direction), Dallas, Salt Lake City, or
Phoenix. These stops require a lot more
time and inconvenience than do the 30-45
minutes you stand in line at Southwest.
OK. Enough of the travel. OOPS, one more
thing. Southwest has a much better snack
package than Delta. One more thing. Our
SW Vacation plan included a car rental
at a total cost that equaled what our
best ticket would have been on other airlines
without the car.
SATELLITES
- After an easy check in, I went directly
to the poker room. That is the temporary
room on the second floor. Very crowded.
At least 30 ring games in progress, in
addition to the 1/2 stud/stud hi-lo tournament.
I put my name on the 10-20 hold'em list,
but heard an announcement for one more
seat in $35 no limit hold'em satellite.
I took the seat and won the tournament.
Nice start to my trip. Observation - I
didn't think the smoke was as bad as some
others have reported . I didn't take notes
on hands and can't remember many that
were very significant. My memory is good,
but very short. I do remember an off duty
dealer taking a bad beat, then going all
in on next 3 hands, picking up the 15-30
blinds on each. On his fourth attempt
I called him with A-T suited and flopped
an Ace and he was gone. A quiet older
player (about my age) who wasn't doing
much of anything suddenly hit a rush and
had a huge lead. I was getting short stacked
and raised with 4-4 on button. He put
me all in with AK. I called and won. Everything
went my way from then on.
LIVE
ACTION -
I played 10-20 hold'em for the remainder
of the day. Took one short break then
played till early-thirty. At one point
I was down over $600 but wound up on the
plus side by around $90 Nice recovery
late in evening.
FRIDAY
7-13-01
ORLEANS
BUFFET
- Had breakfast at buffet. In my opinion,
with cost ($5.50) taken into consideration,
the Orleans buffet is the best. We're
buffet freaks and have probably eaten
in around 25 different casino buffets.
SATELLITES-
Same as yesterday. I put my name on 10-20
hold'em list, then got into a satellite
and won again. I had planned on entering
the limit hold'em tournament today, and
maybe the Omaha-8 on the 14th. My satellite
success about sealed the decision. I'd
play in both. I was hitting hands from
the beginning and had a 3 to 1 chip lead
against a weak player heads up. She asked
me if I wanted to make a deal. I politely
declined and called her raise with 10-6
suited on next hand. Flop came 10-6-x
and tournament was over.
LIMIT
HOLD'EM TOURNAMENT
-The limit hold'em began at 12. I never
could get good run going. Around 3:30
I went out in 140th position of 371(?)
entries. If you haven't played in a large
field like this, you wouldn't know how
tough it is to survive. With 30 minute
rounds, you have to move up or out. I
took a short break after becoming a victim
of poker attrition and got into a 10-20
hold'em game. One tournament hand I regret.
Aggressive player who I met in Reno last
month opened with a raise. I had A-Q off
and after a short hesitation, I folded
from middle position. I didn't want to
risk a large portion of my stack on a
mediocre hand. As it turned out, he took
the hand down uncontested. I asked him
if he was paired. He told me he had A-J
suited.
LIVE
ACTION
-Following the Limit Hold'em Tournament
I got into another 10-20 hold'em game.
At 11:30 PM I was $800 on the short side
of even, then poker god smiled on me.
At 1:30 AM, I checked out and was up $518
for the day. A rush of over $1,300 in
two hours. Not bad for 10-20.
SATURDAY
7-14-01
SATELLITES-
I entered an Omaha/8 satellite around
10:30-10:45. As Omaha goes, it was running
slow. At around 11:40, they dropped the
rounds from 15 to 5 minutes so the winner
would be able to buy into the noon tournament.
I went out in 3rd place when the blinds
had reached 1-2K. A-2-3-x. Raised and
bet all the way. Low didn't get there,
nor did I catch a pair. Lost pot to a
pair of kings. It sure would have been
nice to win 3 out of 3 satellites.
OMAHA-8
TOURNAMENT
- I rushed over to entry table just as
tourney was about to start and handed
in the second of my receipts for the entry
fee. I haven't played a whole lot of live
Omaha, but I practice on an Odds-on software
program, and have done well in PokerPages
Omaha tournaments (won two TOC entries
on consecutive days) and ring games so
I wasn't too concerned about making a
fool of myself. I played a very solid
game and got enough cards to make it to
the final 4 tables, but I was very short
stacked, somewhere around 2K with the
blinds about to eat up the remainder of
my stack. I caught an A-Q-Q-T hand and
went all in. The board was unkind to me
and I finished in 39th out of around 275,
twelve positions out of the money. I spotted
5 WSOP tournament winners in the field.
There were probably more. None of those
I recognized where still in the tournament
when I was eliminated. It reemphasized
to me how tough it is to survive in large
field tournaments. All of these players
are way over my head in ability.
LIVE
ACTION
- I was feeling pretty good about my Omaha
game and bought into live Omaha-8 game
for $300. Twenty minutes later my stack
was reduced to around $120-140 when I
got involved with an A-2-4-T hand. Flop
came A-T-8. Turn was a queen(AT8Q) putting
two str8's possible on board. The river
was a five to make a low hand. I didn't
think I was going to get any of the goodies,
but called the bet on river. I was totally
surprised when my top two pair won high
and my partially counterfeited low completed
the sweep of the hand. Nice pot, right
at $500. I won a few more hand and finished
up $215. It was 9 PM and a TOC satellite
was ready to start. I decided to enter.
TOC
SATELLITE
- Entry fee for this tournament is $65
for $200 in chips. Multiple $50 rebuys
were allowed. Structure was one hour of
no limit hold'em, followed by 20 minute
rounds each of Omaha-8, stud, and limit
hold'em. Payout was guaranteed entries
into TOC with a cash supplement. The number
of paid TOC entries would be determined
by the total collected minus house rake.
As it turned out, there were 41 entries
X $65 = $2,665. Rebuys took the total
to approximately $6,900! I had around
$1,800 in chips when the final add on
came and hadn't done any rebuys. I was
pretty exhausted by then and decided to
take my chances without a rebuy since
$50 would only buy me an additional $200
in chips. I finished 11th in tournament.
One hand that I fully regret came late
in tournament. I was in middle position
with QJ off and called. All folded to
the blinds. Small blind called and flop
came 8-9-X. Young oriental player big
blind hesitated and then fired in a $300
bet. He was a good player, but I was positive
he was bluffing. Nonetheless, I opted
to fold. Small blind called. Of course
the ten came on the turn (QJ) (89TX).
Small blind called and won the hand. Big
blind showed down 3-4 off suit. Had I
called and won that hand, I'm pretty sure
I would have gotten into position for
one of the 3 paid TOC entries that were
awarded.
SUNDAY
7-15-01
LIVE
ACTION
- I put my name on 10-20 and 20-40 hold'em
lists and 10-20 Omaha-8 (half kill) I
got called for the Omaha-8 game and played
from noon until 6 PM. Total disaster.
As on other days, I fell behind, but today
there was no recovery. I had actually
gone 3 hours without one legitimate low
draw (not one A-2). Finally, down to last
$70 in chips I catch A-2-3-X and raise,
($30 - kill hand). Flop is A-2-X X. I'm
on tilt and check/call all the way. One
remaining opponent shows down 2-4 for
low and nut flush for high. Both got there
on river.
LIMIT
HOLD'EM TOURNAMENT
- Decision time - go back to Omaha-8 game,
play 10-20 hold'em, enter evening Limit
Hold'em tournament, or play the TOC qualifier
again. My morale was on the slide and
my instincts told me to play live action
and try to recoup. The evening hold'em
tournament, with 20 minutes blind structure
was just too tough to survive in. But
I entered anyway. I didn't decide to do
the single rebuy until the last minute,
but opted to go for it and bought the
additional $500 in chips for $100. A short
time later, I'm down to the $500 that
I rebought and figured I'd made a bad
decision. A very aggressive player in
early position raised and I called with
KJ off. Flop had a jack and I took a $2,100
pot over his AK suited. Things went on
the upswing from that point, and although
I never built a big stack, I managed to
survive to the final two tables and finished
in the money ($375) in 14th position.
It was midnight and I was too pumped up
to go back to room. Onward to 10-20 hold'em,
but one side note. I played 6-12 hold'em
with a lady, (60'ish?) around ten years
ago at The Mirage. She had a glaring tell.
Whenever the flop hit her, her hands would
be on her chips before the cards hit the
board! It was more obvious than normal
because she played her cards way in front
of her chips and always had her hands
on the cards until the flop came. Well,
there she was across the table from me
in the TOC satellite! Needless to say,
she saved me a few bets by her actions
and allowed to bluff her on one occasion
when the flop missed her. I'm surprised
that no one has told her about this over
the years. Or maybe they have. Some never
learn.
LIVE
ACTION
- I played 10-20 hold'em until 4:30 AM.
This was to have been my last opportunity
to play. Monday was reserved for antique
shopping. It was a good game, lots of
friendly banter, a few drinks for first
time on trip. As drinking goes, so does
the playing. I played much looser than
normal,had some wild swings again, and
fortunately cashed in with a $41 profit.
Turn around hand: I had pocket nines.
Flop came 7-2-2. Lots of betting, but
I was pretty sure no one had a deuce.
The two players who stayed beyond the
flop, although they were drinking, were
very solid players. The turn was a Jack.
I checked and called two bets. River brought
me the miracle 9, putting a flush on board.
I bet out, solid east coast player called
and showed pocket sevens for full house.
He said he didn't raise the apparent flush
because he was certain that I had pocket
nines. Good observation.
MONDAY
7-16-01
ANTIQUE
SHOPPING
- My wife had a number of sites to visit,
but after spending about 1.5 hours at
the Red Rooster Antique Mall, and making
7 or 8 purchases, she decided to call
it quits around 1:30. "Would you like
to play a few more hours of poker before
we go to the airport?" she asked. NOOOOO!
Side note. I purchased 3 WSOP tapes covering
five tournaments from 1988 through 1992
at the Red Rooster. I've watched the first
two. Chan versus Seidel, and Chan versus
Hellmuth.
LIVE
ACTION
- Anyway, we went back to The Orleans.
I got in a new 10-20 hold'em game at 2
PM. This was my shortest session, but
produced some great situations. First
hand I'm in the big blind and chop. Second
hand I catch AA. Hand is folded around
again. I look at the big blind and say,
"CHOP?" He shakes his head and says, "No!"
Ka-ching. I bet and get called all the
way through turn. Check on river and win
$65 on a chop hand. Good start. Twenty
minutes later, I've built a small profit
and am in big blind with 10-3. Flop is
10-4-5. I bet and get four callers. Turn
is 8. I bet again, and everyone calls
again. River is an apparent blank 3, but
I check. Morten's theorem is in full effect.
All check to button, who bets. I call.
He shows 2-6 suited for straight. Big
pot, would have turned a marginal trip
into a fair profit. He called $50 on a
gutshot! One more hand. I'm to left of
UTG with A-K off. He brings it in with
a raise, I re-raise to limit the field.
It works, as everyone folds....but, he
re-raises. I know I'm in trouble, but
call anyway. Flop has two diamonds, but
no help to either of us. He checks! Turn
is a third diamond. He has put me on diamonds
and checks again! I get free river. Fourth
diamond comes on river and he checks again.
I bet and he fires his two aces into the
muck face up. Did I have a diamond? Yep.
Would I have bet it if I had 2 black deuces.
Yep. End of report.
Ed
Barrett
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