Oh Yeah - About My Most Recent Trip to Las Vegas ... - Part I

With finalizing the sale of my mom's house and with work keeping me plenty busy, I had yet to write anything about my second trip to Las Vegas in July. Now is as good a time as any. 

Poker Highlights

Believe it or not, I'm writing actual poker content! Sadly, too much stupid and impatient play on my part turned what should have been a winning poker trip into a losing one. However, there were two hands that certainly got the juices flowing.

Hand #1 --  I was playing my usual $1/2 NL at MGM in the evening. There were a group of guys in for some type of computer convention, and they were having a fun time at the table. Aside from the fun play, there was the possibility of a nice bonus for certain high hands on a progressive pyramid payout. To get one of the bonuses, you had to have a full house of 10's full, 7's full or 5's full while holding the designated pocket pair. For those of us who are recreational players, these jackpots are sweet to shoot for.

I had been playing for several hours and had grown my initial stack from $200 to about $400. The drinks were flowing and people were having fun. I had been hot and cold in terms of getting cards, but it was still a fun night. I looked down to see that I had been dealt pocket 5's  -- or as the old time bloggers used to call that hand, Presto! I had only had one other chance at the progressive bonuses when I was dealt pocket 7's, but nothing came from them. This time, with Presto, I just had a feeling. I either limped into the pot or called a small raise. The flop was sweet: 10-3-5 rainbow! I was thinking that I didn't want to raise anyone out of the pot, but I didn't have to worry when a guy in early position made a $10 bet. This player made some terrible plays when he first came, then went on a heater and was pretty much the table captain for an hour or so. He was playing some very good poker. I called along with another player or two. At that point, I was silently praying for the board to pair. Then the turn came -- a 10! Shazam -- bonus money! The guy in early position put out a bet of $75. I didn't want to hollywood too much, but I acted like I had a tough decision. Apparently reluctantly, I called the raise. I don't remember the river as I was excited and doing my best to remain looking calm. The original raiser put out a raise of $125. I took my time in making a move, and then finally said "all in" and pushed my remaining chips into the middle. The villain had me covered by a bit and had to decide whether or not to commit about another $200 to the pot. He went into the tank and took quite a bit of time before saying "I call." I flipped over my pocket 5's and said "jackpot hand!" He them flipped over his -- K-10! I got a huge pile of chips and also collected a $599 bonus for hitting a jackpot hand. My stack looked pretty sweet.

Not bad for a $200 buy-in!

I was told that I could pocket the bonus chips if I wanted, but I told the table that they were there for the taking. Play continued for a time afterward, but then several players left and were replaced by a whole new group from another table. It was already past 4:00 a.m. and it seemed like a good time to call it a night, so I took a restroom break and was walking back to the table with a smile on my face. I spotted an attractive hooker and guess I looked a tad too long. She smiled at me and ... ahhh, you know me. I headed back to the table, cashed out and headed back to Excalibur via the Tropicana. Not a bad evening at all!

Hand #2  --  I headed to the north end of The Strip to fling a few cards with Tony Bigcharles at the Wynn/Encore poker room. A new $1/3 table started up and we were seated. At the opposite end of the table, a maniac decided to raise every hand. He collected some chips but lost most of them to another player at the table. Everyone was playing very cautiously, waiting for the chance to hit a big hand and decimate the maniac's stack. He left the table for some time when I looked down to see Pocket Rockets. Dang -- where was the maniac when I needed him? Then the pre-flop fun began. Raise. Three bet. Four bet. All in. All in. All in. Both players had me covered. One player was to my left and was a totally solid player. The other guy in the hand was playing live for the first time and had made some questionable plays. Since I was not able to isolate, I was a tad nervous as the dealer dealt out the hand. The highest card dealt was a Jack. We turned over our cards. The solid player had K-K and the other had Q-Q. My aces had held and I scooped a nice pot, tripling up This was the first time I had ever been involved in a A-A vs K-K vs Q-Q hand.

I am rarely accused of writing long-winded posts that resemble the writings of another blogger, so I think I'll stop Part I here. However, I see that several bloggers have written posts in the past few days. Check out the new posts by my friends Rob, Lucki Duck, TBC, PPP and Ace.

Coming in Part II (and maybe a Part III): Reuniting with Koala, Las Vegas friends and The Return of the Man-hating Woman!

Thanks for reading!