Bottle service = baller

Thursday was my friend Kyle's 22nd birthday, so a group of us went out to Tao to celebrate. Tao is one of the trendier nightclubs in Vegas, located in the Venetian. We decided to call ahead and get bottle service. This is more expensive than paying a cover charge and buying individual drinks, but it allows you to skip the line and get your own table. We were told the stipulation was that we had to get at least one bottle for every two guys. We ended up getting Grey Goose and Jack Daniels (it was four of us) which totaled about $700 before tip. I had red bull and vodka, my favorite mixed drink.

We told one of the butler-type assistants to go find us women. He came through and brought a few girls to our table. By this point I was very drunk so I don't remember details well, but I spoke with a girl who had moved to Vegas from Canada. We ended up dancing for a bit and then parted ways. By this point, I was feeling sick. I eventually threw up in the bathroom. Apparently clubs like this will often kick people out if they get sick, but they let me off with a basic warning. I ended up leaving shortly there-after and grabbing a cab home.

When I woke up at 9:30 AM the next morning, I was still hammered. I have never been drunk from the previous night like this before. I still don't feel quite right, as if I'm going through a multiple-day hangover. I'm usually a very responsible drinker and I definitely drink less than the average 21 year old, but sometimes when I have mixed drinks it is difficult to track how much alcohol I've consumed. If I had paced myself a little more, I could have gone to Spearmint Rhino with the guys afterwards. Oh well... guess I saved money?

Jethro and cntgetmedown arrive this weekend, which I'm pretty excited about. I've been talking to them a lot over the past year, and the three of us were the brains behind the vegas house.

Here are some pictures of us playing a home game, as well as my adventure skydiving:

Yes, Im playing poker in vegas

It is now Day 11 of 27 in Las Vegas. The guys in the house haven't been doing a whole lot lately, aside from playing poker. I have played about 20 hours of live poker so far, and I'm up about $4500. I managed to find better tables this past weekend. As tough as it can be, the reality is that just playing pretty ABC tight-aggressive is what takes down the money in these games. I'm trying to make occassional double barrels and such, but really trying not to get out-of-line. I honestly don't mind live poker nearly as much as many other online players do. Full ring is the only thing that bothers me. Regardless, I'll continue to compliment my online play with live while I'm here, and definitely try to get 50+ total hours in. It seems that $100/hr is a realistic winrate in the 5/10 NL games here.

I introduced Dodgyken to Chipotle Mexican Grill (one of my favorite places) out here, and now it seems like our house has been addicted. Eating burritos multiple times, on top of eating out at restaurants, has hampered my attempt to eat healthy while in Vegas. We bought a bunch of groceries on the first day here that have mostly not been consumed. I need to stop being lazy about cooking, and stop craving unhealthy food.

My results online have been pretty mediocre since I got here. I find that I enjoy playing in the quiet setting back home more, where it is much easier to focus. In theory it is very cool to have a bunch of guys grinding online poker together, but in practice it is just stressful. This is not meant to be a knock on my housemates, I assume I would feel the same with any other poker players.

Being here has made me realize even more how important table selection is. I watch the guys around me who are great players, but consistently put themselves in matches where they have little (or often no) edge. I don't care how good you are at poker, it's all relative to who you're playing. And to pass up on a ridiculous amount of expected money just by having poor table selection amazes me. A couple months ago, I pretty much measured how good a poker player is by what their A-game is. Now, I honestly weigh that with table selection and tilt control just as much when rating a player.

And finally, I've made a list of the things I want to accomplish before I leave Vegas:

-see Comedy Stop at the Tropicana
-see a Cirque show: Mystere or O
-visit "old" Las Vegas
-go to 2 or 3 nightclubs
-go to Spearmint Rhino
-get a full body massage
-learn how to play craps and baccarat
-Try out some all-you-can-eat buffets
-Ride rollercoaster at NY/NY
-Go on the three rides at the Stratosphere

JUSTICE MUAHAHAHAHA

I checked out the Bellagio for the first time on Tuesday. Dodgyken, famousanus and I all ended up playing at the same 5/10 NL table. Like my first live session in Vegas, the table ended up being very disappointing. It seemed like most of the other players at the table were live grinders. As for interesting hands: one hand there were 3 limpers, I isolated on the button with AKs to $60, and when it folded back around to the orignal limper, he reraised to $160. I over-bet shoved for $900 and ran into aces. I was pretty down on myself, but the poker gods must have felt bad, because I got even in a relatively ugly fashion. I flopped the nut flush versus famousanus's second nuts. Pretty gross, though it was humorous to tell the rest of the table that he is a good friend of mine (as he is storming out of the poker room). I ended -$31 on the session, and not feeling too excited about live poker. My first two sessions did not have soft tables at all.

I went skydiving yesterday with Andrew, Jared, and Brystmar. It was one of the top things on my to-do list for Vegas, and was an awesome experience. There is about a 5 second period after they open the door of the plane where you are completely hanging out of the plane, but the tandem instructor attached to you hasn't left the plane. I wasn't scared at all, but it was a huge adrenaline rush. Now that I've got my first thrill activity out of the way, I'm contemplating the idea of bungee jumping while I'm out here. Might as well make the most of my trip, amirite? I don't have pictures yet, but I ordered a picture CD that should be in the mail eventually.

We had our first big group dinner at The Palm Restaurant in Caesar's. Everyone in the house went, plus three friends from another house. It was a great meal, but a large part of the time was spent sweatin the credit card roulette bill that was to ensue. I was probably most worried about it (read below), while Dodgyken was so confident. He has been bragging the entire week about how lucky he is. After everyone ordered steaks, sides and desserts, the bill (after tip) was $930. My card got picked first, and I legitimately screamed in joy. I think people were rooting for me to lose because I am such a pessimist about CC roulette. Anyway, it got down to 4 cards, and people were discussing the idea of a chop/deal. This infuriated Dodgyken, and he said he would PUT HIS CARD BACK IN IF PEOPLE AGREED TO NOT CHOP. Now keep in mind, this is the mathematical equivalent of him lighting $200 on fire. The people agreed, and of course, Dodgyken ended up losing the bill. It was the most hilarious conclusion to a great dinner.

I'm running pretty bad at credit card roulette so far. I've lost 3 out of 5 bills. I’m fortunate to have dodged the big bill yesterday, but hoping not to run hundreds under expectation when the trip is said-and-done.

VEGAS

Hey guys. I'm pretty beat right now, but I promised myself that I would blog before I went to bed tonight, so hopefully this entry doesn't come out too garbled.

I arrived in Vegas yesterday afternoon. Flight went smoothly, and then got my rental car in a timely fashion. I met Dodgyken and Andr3w for the first time (in person, obviously) when we checked into the house. They are both about what I expected since I have been speaking to them regularly for a while. We get along very well and I'm looking forward to living with them for the entire next 4 weeks. As far as the house goes, it is everything I was hoping and expecting. It's large and works perfectly for accomodating a group of young guys looking to have a fun time. Anyway, my friend Mike (a friend from college who is staying at the house for one week) flew into Vegas a few hours later, and the four of us drove down to the Rio to check out the poker scene.

I was in amazement of seeing the big-name poker players last night. The four of us just railed various WSOP events, smiling as we got to watch people we have idolized for years. Guys like Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, Allen Cunningham, Tom Dwan, and others simply have a larger-than-life presence. We were content not even playing poker last night, and just railing these guys. The $5K PLO w/ rebuys event had brought out many great players and condensed them into a few tables.

Today, I headed back to the Rio and played my first live session. I played a short session of 5/10 NL. There were five tables of 5/10 NL running when I got there in the late afternoon, and I must have been seated at the worst table. I quickly found out most of the guys at my table played online poker. I would have left the table but I got lazy because there was a waiting list for 5/10. I got very few cards preflop and just ended up playing pretty snug. I 3-bet light a couple times after I realized I had a pretty tight image at the table, but otherwise I came into zero interesting spots and basically broke even at +$330. My next live session I will probably be going to the Bellagio, as I heard the action for these stakes is pretty good there lately.

I am still on the fence about playing the $2500 six handed event tomorrow. I feel like I played a little hesitant in the cash game today, and that makes me wonder if I will not apply the right amount of aggression tomorrow. I know once I get comfortable with the overall live setting in Vegas that I will be fine, but there is still some kind of mild intimidation factor for me. If I feel this way, I probably should just skip on the event tomorrow. It's honestly 50/50 right now for me, and I believe for Dodgyken as well. I'll just wake up tomorrow morning and see how I feel about it.

Worst day ever

My blog has lately always been about how well I'm running, so some of you will be delighted by the change. Yesterday was by far my worst day ever, losing $5700 at 2/4 and 3/6 heads-up. It is not even quite fathomable right now since my worst day previous was roughly -$3K. I'm not going to bicker about how bad I ran, but I will say this... with equity adjusted I ran about even. How sick is that for one day at these stakes?

I lost $4100 of the $5700 to one TAGfish regular who 3 bets and C/Rs flops liberally, but he has no idea how to do anything else. In 800 hands, I did not win a single pot larger than $512 off him, and he won TEN POTS LARGER THAN THAT. The one thing I'm not proud of is that I should have quit earlier than I did since i had zero momentum. Regardless... of the ten pots I lost, only two of them did I play badly (and two of them he got his money in behind). Here are the biggest HHs with no explanations, you guys can come to conclusions on your own:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2746677
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2746681
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2746689
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2746691
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2746695


This debacle is probably going to stop me from playing the WSOP $2500 six handed event on Monday. While I'm kinda in shock, my spirit hasn't been broken yet. I'll just take it easy until I get to Vegas. This will be my last entry before I arrive in Vegas on two days. I'm extremely antsy about going, and I will probably blog more often for those four weeks. I have a lot of stuff I want to accomplish there.

On a lighter note, I've been working on the theoretical part of my game lately. I've spent most of the year just using my skill set to beat up on donks, but now I want to improve my A-game. I recorded a video of a match against a very aggro opponent a few days ago. It was great practice in practicing hand reading. I've also set up a list of heads-up videos to watch (I've watched almost no instructional videos the past few months). I get the most out of a video when I try to imagine how I would have normally played a situation in the video, and if it differs from the video creator, then I'll figure out why and learn from it. When I'm really studious I take notes to really hammer home the concepts I've picked up. Under normal circumstances I am too lazy to do this, but this week I have really wanted to take my best game to the next level. I might as well take advantage of this renewed enthusiasm while it lasts.

Moving forward in poker

I had my first ever $5K day grinding online cash yesterday, over 2K hands of heads-up. It isn't miles ahead of some of my other best days, but still feels very cool to reach that plateau for the first time.

I also played a $300+22 six handed tourney yesterday with Andr3w. There were 310 entrants, and I was chip leader with 80 people left. However, I made a few spewy plays and didn't switch into a slower gear when I should have, and wound up not cashing. Andrew also hit a tough wall and was the bubble boy. Those results aren't the most uplifting for two people looking to hit the tourney scene, but I am still ready to play some satellites for the WSOP main event. The first one is a $650 super satellite on Pokerstars today, which has a very slow structure that I will be focusing on this evening.

****************************************************


My stepdad has been closely following my poker progress since I got home from school. Last night, he asked me "so what is the next step?". It shocked me, because I had no idea how to answer the question. Until he asked that question, I was content with the idea of simply grinding my current stakes. Consistently making 6 digits with (relatively) low stress is an awesome opportunity, so I didn't think twice about veering from that path. However, with that question posed, I realized that I need to keep making new goals in poker.

I will never have the gamble (nor skill set) that the top players in poker do. They have amazing instincts in all facets of poker, but more importantly, they have the gamble to risk large portions of their bankroll when the time is right. I love poker for this competitive aspect, and I tell myself I wanna be the best, yet I am so conservative about moving up the ladder. Partially, my hesitancy is due to the fact that I am realistic about the online poker economy, and observe that 5/10+ NL games online are largely drying up. So many people have developed great NL hold em fundamentals, and its a constant fight to sit with fish. However, I should not allow this observation to completely halt me from rising up the poker hierarchy.

So, here are some basic goals to help steer me forward in these upcoming months:

-Regularly sit at 5/10 NL heads up (in addition to 2/4 and 3/6)
-Look into other sites that provide heads-up games at 3/6 NL and above. This is the more logical decision to move up and make better money at my best game (heads-up cash) than just battling regulars on Full Tilt.
-Become competent in other games, particularly Pot limit omaha. I need to be more well-rounded so that when I inevitably get burned out from NL hold em, I have other options of games I am competent enough at to make a living.
-Continue to build a live roll, and loosen up my risk tolerance so I can allow myself to play soft big games live. I think the main test for myself is to build up the courage to sit in a 10/20 NL (or higher) live game at some point while I am in Vegas.

Vegas is approaching!

-I have decided to play the three big online WSOP satellite tournies: $650 and $370 on Pokerstars, and $530 on Full Tilt. I expect these fields to be pretty soft, and the structures (especially the two Pokerstars events) are very good. I am fine with risking $1550 to get into the main event, especially when my ROI if I focus on each tournament has to be at least 100%. Should be a fun experience. I'll start giving updates after I play the $650 one this Sunday.

-Nerdy gamer alert: I am really excited about the upcoming release of Metal Gear Solid 4 on Playstation 3. I've been a huge fan of the series for almost a decade now. From seeing the previews of this game, this may end up being the best Action-Adventure game ever. The gameplay seems awesome, with a Middle Eastern war setting that reminds me of Black Hawk Down. I have become a much more casual gamer since I took up poker, but this is the first game I have really been anticipating in years. The only problem for me is that the game is released on June 12th, two days before I leave for Vegas. I have to either go on a complete binge and play the game for two straight days, or have to wait out an entire month before I touch it.

-Does anyone have random tidbits on what one should bring for a long trip to Las Vegas? I have a feeling I am going to forget something important. I'm going to call up Avis early next week and get a price quote for renting a car as a 21 year old. I also need to wire money to the Rio. It is finally starting to hit me that Vegas is very soon, and I'm getting quite antsy.

May Results

May went down as my best month to-date, even excluding the big tournament score. I am really happy that I backed up the MTT win with a great month in cash games. I feel like a lot of people, both poker players and non-poker people, have given me undeserved respect for getting lucky in one tournament. For me, this helps validate the new-found respect I've gotten. It also shows me that I am still hungry to play, regardless of whether I am winning or losing lately.





Goals for June:
-30K hands online
-Play 50+ hours of live cash games in Vegas
-Play $2500 6 handed WSOP event; possibly $5000 6 handed event; use $1-2K in satellite buy-ins to try to qualify for main event
-Attempt to interact with the female race
-Begin learning PLO
-Keep working out while in Vegas

I also booked my first big live win last week. There is a small stakes home game near me that I've attended periodically for the past two years. There is one other player there who makes good money grinding online, he is a young LHE player who plays everything from 15/30 to 50/100 limit. I decided to challenge him to a 5/10 NL heads-up match, knowing he probably wouldn't decline, even though he never plays heads-up NL. We each brought $3K with us to the match. He played very aggressive, but was too loose on all streets and I was able to take advantage. A few coolers and 2 hours later, the match was already over and I won all the money. It feels great to book a nice win live. It also helps a lot to have a decent-sized live roll to bring to Vegas now.