Saturday, September 14, 2013

Las Vegas Trip Report Part IV: Planet Hollywood Tournament, One Last Indignity, and Goombye

My plan for Thursday, September 5 was to play in one of the Planet Hollywood PHamous Poker Series On the Mess events -- Event #4 at noon. After having a great lunch at P.F. Chang's, I took an unfamiliar seat IN A TOURNAMENT! My table had some of the biggest donks in the world! I guess that an $85 buy in attracts that kind of crowd. One guy busted (15,000 starting chips) in the first ten minutes, running a bluff into rivered quads! He rebought and often went toe to toe with another terrible player.

After getting some nice encouragement from Very Josie along the way, I finally exited in the ninth level when I pushed all in with a flush draw after the flop. I thought the other two players would fold, but one was slow playing pocket Kings and called. No crub on the turn or river (I thought that crubs ALWAYS got there) and that was all she wrote.

I soothed myself with some Del Taco and a Blizzard, then met seattle irish for some $1/2 NL at Ballys. He schooled me on one hand (flush vs two pair) and did quite well in a short time. Unfortunately, he was called away by a work emergency. He did bring a friend with him, who unfortunately was up against my pocket Aces twice.

The final blow of the trip came later in the evening when I was dealt The Dreaded Pocket Kings! The guy on my right raised to $18 and I raised to $40. The dealer, Gianna, who is usually excellent, somehow had a hard time deciphering the initial raise, which should have been some foreshadowing. The flop contained all uncoordinated low cards. I led out with a bet and the villain went all in. No way that he had a set, straight draw or a flush draw based on the board. He either had me beat with A-A or I had him crushed. I called. He had J-J. He stood up to leave, said "Nice hand," and then we saw the turn -- a Jack! I immediately knocked my cap off my head and let out a muttering string of eff-bombs. They weren't directed at anyone but the poker gods for crapping on me again. Such is what happens when you just have "one of those trips" to Las Vegas. I left shortly thereafter, calling an end to my poker for this trip.

The next day the King of Komps and I headed back to Chicago. Our flight was delayed, but sleeping through an hour of the delay helps! Upon heading back to our mom's house for the night, we stopped to eat at Portillo's, allowing me one last good meal on the trip:

The Chicago Style Hot Dog!

Epilogue: The next day, instead of driving immediately home, I detoured to Harrah's Hammond and played a few hours there. I am happy to report that my winning ways returned and I did NOT lose boat over boat or lose to a two-outer. Such is life with our mistress, poker. And in case you have never played in Hammond ...
 
... the view from the marina garage is actually not too bad.

Next trip to Las Vegas: possibly late January or early February, maybe not until March or next summer.

13 Comments:

Blogger jusdealem said...

Yuk at the KK vs JJ hand, ouch! Oh and yuk at that hot dog, too..LOL Too much for me! But I am the simple type ha!

4:58 PM  
Blogger Memphis MOJO said...

(I thought that crubs ALWAYS got there)

Crubs always do get there -- not sure what that was all about.

8:46 PM  
Blogger Tony Bigcharles said...

u left out the part of ur trip about playing at samstown

10:08 PM  
Blogger angerisagift said...

man,that hot dog looks awesome.i think i am going to make 1 of those on the cheap. going to walmart now.that hot dog and some pabst blue ribbon 4 tommorrows football games

10:35 PM  
Blogger lightning36 said...

Tony -- Sam's Town was in Part III

10:57 PM  
Blogger angerisagift said...

now is the cheese sauce for the fries or the hot dog. hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. so no strip clubs or hookers. LMAO. also, did i miss where u took yr bro 4 his bday?

12:17 AM  
Blogger Tony Bigcharles said...

when u publish that many blog posts in the same day, im sure im not the only reader who missed reading that entry or even knew it existed. this is why i spread my blogs out

1:16 AM  
Blogger Cranky said...

Sounds like a fun trip, even if the poker was frustrating. Thanks for your trip reports!

8:04 AM  
Blogger ~Coach said...

I was wondering what that was until you said there was a hot dog in it, and then I found it...

9:01 AM  
Blogger lightning36 said...

@ Mr Bigcharles -- those of us whose lives consist of more than poker and Candy Crush Saga generally do not have the luxury of time that others do. And yes -- I guess it was spread limit. My unfamiliarity with this all is pretty evident.

It appears that several readers are either unfamiliar with or do not appreciate the Chicago Hot Dog? Hey -- should we meet in person around the Windy City the first one is on me!

9:32 AM  
Blogger angerisagift said...

LMAO.there is more to life than sucking at poker,candy crush saga,and living in the past? really? who knew. sweet on the chicago hot dog invite. it looks fucking awesome. making a florida/colorado version today with slaw ,chili,and jalpeno peppers. paper towels a must

11:59 AM  
Blogger cokeboy99 said...

I keep saying I'm going to try the Chicago style dog and never have....now I'm going to wait until you can buy it for me!! lol

12:23 PM  
Blogger The Poker Meister said...

I'll hopefully be able to get out there next month or so... Sounds like you had another successful trip out to LV. That's terrific. It's a shame that you got coolered so often, but it still sounds like you persevered.

Great trip report!

8:56 AM  

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