Session No. 22 Bellagio and Mirage (6/28)

Bellagio 8/16: TP = +$215 TSP = 3 Hrs 30 Min BB/Hr: 3.84BB/Hr
Mirage 6/12: TP = +$155 TSP 3 Hrs BB/Hr: 4.31BB/Hr

I rolled out of bed around 2pm and decided to make my way back toward the Bellagio and redeem my poor session from the night before. I was about eighth on the 8/16 list and unfortunately there was only one table running. I thought about walking to the Mirage, but decided to just wait it out as I noticed a couple donks from the previous session sitting in the game. About an hour later my name was finally called and I was ready to play again...

This is the last session I need to talk about...will do it later...I'm starving
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Alright well I finally got to me seat after an hour of waiting and playing a 25c BJ machine...lost $5...Blackjack is fucking rigged! Anyway, I sat down and only recognized one donk from the night before. He called open-limped a ton in MP-LP and cold-called raises alot. He was not a very good player.

Anyway, my very first hand of the table the not so good player raised Pf from MP, and was called by three people after him. I looked down at AQos and decided to simply call and evaluate after the flop. The flop came Q-High and I decided to CR the original raiser. However, the action went: SB checked, I checked, original raiser checked, Hijack bet, Button called, SB folded, Hero raised, original raiser folded, 2 calls. The turn and the river end up blanking out and the Hijack called me down with middle pair. Good start.

I won a few small pots after that and I was starting to roll. I love picking up momentum at a table, especially a live one. The next hand I was in I was dealt 99 on the button. It gets open-limped somewhere in early position, the Cutoff, who has been playing very aggressively, raised, so I chose to cold-call. The BB and open-limper called and we were 4-Handed to the flop.

The flop came J54 with two clubs. It checked to the cutoff who bet, and I decided to raise and isolate the aggressive player. He only called my raise and I decided he did not have a big PP or the club draw, or else he probably would have 3-Bet OOP. The turn was a 7, he checked, I bet, and again he called. I decided before the river card even came out to check-down the river unless I improved to a set of nines. He may have a pair of tens here and think I have a pair of Jacks or a club draw, so he is in check/call mode. The river was a Queen, the cutoff checked and I checked behind. He showed AK and I took down the pot.

The rest of the time at the table was alright, as I ran my KK into a set of Jacks, but an orbit or two later I cracked KK myself when I turned a set of Queens. I started to get hungry, and slowly but surely some good players made their way into the game, making the game a rock garden. I decided to be smart and cash out my $215 and meet up with Todd for dinner.

After dinner at the Ventetian (tons of hot girls btw, def go to the Venetian at night if you have the chance), we headed to the Mirage 6/12 game. When I sat down I found myself between a couple of talkative asshats who thought they were God's gift to poker. They seemed like solid players though.

The first hand I played I was dealt ATs hearts in the Cutoff. It gets folded to me, so I raised it. The guy on my left thought I was stealing so he called, as did Todd in the BB. The flop came out 8-High with two spades. Checked to me, I bet, the button raised, Todd called, and I decided to call. I was talking a lot at this point with the asshats, in a way to sort of stay friendly but to also try and better get a feel for how they were playing. I told the guy I thought he was on a flush draw and I was pretty sure I was ahead of him, but Todd was actually the one I was worried about.

The turn was an Ace of spades. I wasn't sure who that card hurt. Todd could have called two with the flush draw, but I wasn't sure. He checked, either with the intent to raise or fold, so I checked behind him. The button fired again and Todd shook his head and folded. I looked at the button and told him his flush was good and mucked my cards. I didn't want him to know I folded an ace there, so I obviously didn't show and I was prepared to lie and say I had 99 there or something. He opted to show KT of spades though and told me I made a nice fold. Probably a bad fold in the grand scheme of things, maybe I should have thought about folding that flop if I was only going to be happy with a non-spade ace or ten on the turn, but whatever, it felt good to be right.

Quickly after that another interesting hand took place. A drunk kid in seat 1 decided to straddle, making it a Live 12. Of course I get AK UTG+1 so I raise it to 18. I love the look at people's faces when they straddle and I make it 3-Bets to go almost immediately. It's this shock/disgust/anger look that always stays with me...I love it.

It folds to the BB who decided to call and the straddle obviously called. The flop came QT3 with two hearts. The turn was another blank, so I bet out again and the BB called again. Shit. After I bet I immediately noticed he only had $5 left after his turn call so I knew he was tied to the pot. What a doofus though...why didn't he just raise all-in? The river was a non-heart four, he checked, so I checked, figuring he's calling off with anything at this point. The donk turned over 74 of hearts and his rivered pair of fours was good enough for the pot. Errrrrrrrrrrrr...everyone at the table had a lot of fun making fun of Mr. 74 suited for the rest of the night. Awesome pre-flop call by the way...

After those first couple of hands though I ran fairly well as a couple of my big pairs held (KK in a four-way pot) and I ended up cashing up $155. After a terrible Wednesday, my Thursday was pretty good and I was ready to go home content with my Vegas play.