+115 @ The Mirage

On the last weekend in October the Annual Cal Poly Math Grad Student reunion takes place in Las Vegas. The name is a touch presumptuous because the invite list only consists of six or seven people who were getting their master's degree in mathematics around 1994-1997. The event is in its fourth year and due to a variety of reasons the participants this year only included Elsa Medina, Kristin Holland and me. We shared a hotel room and while I could go on at lengths about all the adventures of the weekend, I'll remind the reader that "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" and only relate my poker adventures.

The board at the Mirage poker room was long when I arrived on Friday afternoon and it was over an hour before I took seat. Before too long Mr. Guy Johnson sat down at my table as well. We were close enough to chat during the game and it made for a more enjoyable night. I don't think that we were ever in serious contention for the same pot. There were a couple loose players at the table and I just kept cool and waited for some cards. My big hand came in an unlikely form with Q,6 offsuit while the big blind. The flop came Q,Q,_. When the river gave the case Q, I was looking at the best hand I had ever had in a poker room. Sweet! One of my callers asked that I show him the case queen and I was happy to oblige, especially because while waiting for a table I watched him flop K,K,_ when he had pocket kings. A few hands later Guy made four of a kind with pocket 5s. That was three quads in less than two hours. I played later that night at the Mirage, again at the same table as Guy. The table was fun and the most memorable event for me was the husband who almost got to play at the same table as his wife. Guy has the full story.

Saturday morning I sat down at a new table to find, much to my great delight, that five of the players were there to feed the table. Three of them were buddies and one of their friends was a pretty good player. With A,6 suited in late position I called and the flop came A,A,K. When the turn showed 6 I then raised the initial better and got a half table of callers. The river was a blank and I bet. My boat stunned the three callers and I was very happy that a big slick hadn't arrived to slap me around. These fellows got another big shock just a few minutes later when my big blind K,4 combined with a flop of 4,4,K to take a nice pot. Kristin and Elsa rounded me up a short time later and we went off to some of our Vegas adventures. I was back to the Mirage on Saturday night and once again sat with Guy. It would have been nice if I had played in the company of strangers because I'm chagrined to admit that he watched me feed nearly $80 into the table in less than an hour. I clearly misplayed a couple hands, but I also had problems with catching cards on the board. As an example, with big slick suited in late position I raised and got 6 callers. But the flop missed me totally and after a bet on the river I mucked my hand. Matt Damon's line in Rounders "Listen, here's the thing. If you can't spot the sucker in the first half hour at the table, then you ARE the sucker" didn't exactly apply to me because I was able to identify that I was the sucker almost instantly. Why I didn't get up is a mystery. But finally I announced to my fellow players that I was happy to have fed the table, and I trundled off to bed.

-33 @ The Commerce Casino

Once again, I didn't have much in the way of cards. I had a total of 4 pocket pairs in 4 hours of play; TT, 99,88 and 22. This is compared to a fellow who had KK three times in an hour. Despite the lack of cards, I was able to pretty much hold my own. I took a pot with two pair when there were three to a flush on the board, and my 2,5 offsuit (I was big blind) became a straight draw. I made it on the river, but as you would imagine, the cards were so sucky that the pot was pretty small. A nut flush that I made with runner runner also didn't pay off very well. I don't think that I badly misplayed these hands, but I'm sure that I could have gotten some more money into the pot somehow.

Even though the cards weren't very interesting, the table was. I was sitting next to a wonderful 75 year old lady and her son. She usually plays 1-2, but her son convinced her to move up to the "big" table for a few hours. She was quite darling. At one point when we both were out of the hand I mentioned that I didn't mean to but I could see her cards. She thanked me and said "My son always tells me I open up too much". She was better for a couple hands but then went back to her old ways.

Nathan, on the other hand, was a bit annoying initially, but his antics grew on me. About 30 years old, Nathan was a compulsive talker and sometimes he was quite funny. Like the time when someone threw his cards down pretty violently Nathan quipped "There's a lot of anger at this table". Nathan would also tell the dealer what cards he wanted, either in his hand or on the flop. "I'd like K,J offsuit this time dealer". "On the flop please give us A,A,6". This went on for nearly two hours and he (of course) kept missing. People will not remember that, but instead remember the time he got it right. He asked for a 3,3,2 on the flop and it came 2,K,3. He said "That was close, but I'd like another 3 now" and the turn came up 3. What did he have in his hand? Yup, you guessed it, 3,2 and his boat took the pot. This flustered a couple people, and even the wonderful old lady sitting next to me snapped "Will you be quiet!" on the next hand when he started stating his desires for the flop.

+115 @ The Commerce Casino

After the last couple bad nights I was feeling a little shy about going to play again, but since it was payday what better way to celebrate the check then by gambling it away? I made my way down to the Commerce Casino and was sitting down by 5:30. Unlike the last time I played there, I ended up at a nice table. Not too crazy, not too much turnover, people who occasionally
chat some but not too much...but the most amazing thing was that nearly two and a half hours passed before someone called for a new setup. Wow! I have to admit that I considered calling for a new setup at one point. Right before 7:00, the super jackpot hour, I recalled Mr. Johnson
saying that the first thing that happens after a jackpot is the house checks that all the cards are there. But in the end I decided that I didn't want to be the kind of guy who calls for a setup.

Back to the cards. It was a good night overall, not only with the cards but also my play. After deciding the previous night that I didn't know how to play poker, I went back to Winning Low-Limit Hold'em and re-read some sections. It was clear that I wasn't thinking about the odds enough even in the low-limit games so it was time to change my play. No longer would I limp in by calling in late position with my pocket tens. That's a raising hand. I tried to be more aggressive, and keep better track of the number of bets in the pot. I still have a long way to go, but I'm learning. Oh yeah, I also took some advice from Phil Hellmuth's book and tested the flop by betting. An example of this was when I had pocket K in middle position. I raised and 5 people came along. The flop came T,T,4. It was checked to me, and I bet. When there wasn't a re-raise, that suggested to me that no one had a T. Maybe they thought I did. The turn gave us another T. Once again I bet and a few people stayed in, but no one re-raised. The river was a blank. No one called my bet and I took a good pot.

The hands that held up for me were two-pairs. I took 4 pots with them. K,10 was one, A,Q was another, but the funnest one was 8,7 as big blind when the flop came K,Q,8. With any action I would have bailed, but it was checked all around. Hmm...I guess no one has a K or Q. The turn brought a 7 and I started betting. The river was a blank and I continued my betting and took the money from the two callers who stayed with me to the end.

While that was a good hand, the most exciting hand of the night was pocket Q in early position. I raised, was re-raised, and both of us worked to cap the pot. Three others came along. The flop was Q,J,_ and my bet was raised by the fellow who worked to cap the pot with me. We only got three bets in this time though and a couple folks dropped out. The turn was a J. I bet and he called. I figured that pocket J would have been worth a re-raise, so I felt good about where I stood. The river missed us both, and after a bet and a call he turned over a Q,J. A good hand, but my boat was just a little bit better.