Still More Poker Results

Here's my latest update. Lots of ups and downs, but still ahead.

• Plaza, sit-n-go, super fast tournament, 1st place
• Binion's, 11pm, fast tournament, 4th place
• Plaza, sit-n-go, super fast tournament, 1st place
• Planet Hollywood, 2pm, fast tournament, no cash
• Sahara, 7pm, fast tournament, no cash
• Plaza, sit-n-go, super fast tournament, no cash
• Binion's, 11pm, fast tournament, no cash
• Binion's, 11pm, fast tournament, 1st place
• Planet Hollywood, 2pm, fast tournament, no cash
• Sahara, 7pm, fast tournament, no cash
• Plaza, sit-n-go, super fast tournament, no cash
• Binion's, 11pm, fast tournament, no cash
• Plaza, sit-n-go, super fast tournament, 3rd place (no cash)
• Saraha, 7pm, fast tournament, no cash
• Binion's, 11pm, fast tournament, no cash

This is a bigger streak of no cashes, but the game has variance. More to come, I'm certain.

Kevin: high school bud and fellow poker player

My buddy from high school, Kevin, came down to visit me over the last couple of days. Though Kevin has played a lot of poker in his life, he has not ever done so at a casino, and so I was ready to introduce him to some good games here in Vegas. But the first order of business was playing heads-up in the hotel room at the Plaza, as we had missed the good tournaments due to his late Wednesday arrival. We went 2-2 for the night, and given my stellar heads-up record in the recent past, I thought that he was ready to give Vegas a run for its money. We started at the Plaza sit-n-gos. $40 and 10 people, most of which don't know much about how to play poker well. I remember a particular situation where a guy to my left kept commenting on "floating" an opponent for an attempted bluff on a later street, and the kinds of cards that you want to have in the hole to do so. Mostly, I thought he was full of it and himself. I was ecstatic to have him acting behind me, as I thought I could induce some stupid errors. With the action folded around to me, I made it 300 to go with 50-100 blinds on the button. I held the: [!diamond_three][!club_three] which is not a hand that I really care to see a flop with, but it is definitely a good button raise hand to attempt to steal the blinds. Mr. Sklansky, as we'll call him, went all-in. For those without the poker math prowess, Unless he's holding a 2 or 3 in his hand, I'm no better than about 50% to win the pot, and if he's holding an over pair, I'm about a 4 to 1 dog. I folded, but I showed my pocket pair. He flipped over:

A-D, K-D

which is a classic poker race. I felt that I could outplay him at a future time by showing how tight I play, and he explained to me the David Sklansky "gap theory" in tournament poker, which is that one needs a stronger hand to call than to raise, and that I shouldn't want to gamble in that situation. I was well familiar with that theory, as it is pretty much page one of any tournament poker book, but I decided not to reveal that. Anyhow, on the next trip around on the button, I had the:

A-D, 8-D

which isn't a stellar hand, but since the action had been folded around, I raised again. He immediately went all-in, as I suspected he would do, but he did so very, very quickly, which led me to believe that he was going to do it no matter what I did, like it was rehearsed. I called immediately as well, as I had rehearsed exactly that scenario in advance, and I figured he'd be more risky since he knew I could lay down pairs. He knew he was in trouble, and he flipped over the:

T-S, 6-S

Nice hand, bucko. A re-raise with a hand without much possibility of winning. He actually outflopped me with a 6, but I turned an Ace, and after internally thinking about justice, he left the table. I said, "Keep reading those math books," at which point the entire table started laughing, including the dealer. When it was 3-way, Kevin, this other guy, and I were left, and we all had a similar number of chips. I ended up flopping bottom two pair while the other guy flopped top two, and I was out after pushing all-in. Kevin ultimately took second place, as the guy drew out on his top pair, open ended straight draw. Kevin and I then hit two other tournaments that night, and neither of us did well in either. We played some more heads-up in the room, and then we watched Poker After Dark until we were both unconscious. The trip to the airport was a doosy this afternoon. We left about an hour and fifteen before his flight, and we then hit a wall of traffic when a hottie rear-ended someone in the opposite lanes. Every desperate guy in Vegas had to take a look in our direction. Ultimately, we pulled up to the terminal when there 47 minutes before his flight left, but he made it. Awesome.

Video Games and Mental Anguish

Poker is a brutal game. Those who play regularly already know. You much do constant math, attempt to guess at your opponents' range of hands, guess what your opponents think you have, look for any any every tell you can, etc. Brutal. And sometimes a good, educated guess will come up wrong. Most of the time, with careful study, I can beat my opponents, but on the days that I cannot, I can become disheartened. So I took a day off.

After doing my weekly round of laundry, I decided to play this old-school computer game from the late 90's called The Pandora Directive. It is one of those humorous detective games that forces you to observe and interact with the environment. It is good for honing the mind without stress. After a while, I turned on the television, and some cheesy commercial caused me to re-evaluate life and the purpose of this trip. When my goals were to make such-and-such amount on this trip and I'm coming up way short, what is my purpose? I have all of my expenses covered with poker earnings plus a little, but what are my opportunity costs? What is the meaning of life? I love reading Daniel Negreanu's blog at fullcontactpoker.com, and this particular entry came to mind on what I was experiencing:

http://fullcontactpoker.com/poker-journal.php?subaction=showfull&id=1204894481&archive=&start_from=&ucat=&

Luckily, a talk with Michaela greatly encouraged me, and I went to a late night tournament at Binion's and took first. This time, I took it without a chop. Things were just going my way again. After a string of losses, it is easy to wonder if poker is a game that is consistently beatable, and the answer is that it isn't. Weaker players beat me by collectively playing draws which eventually hit, and stronger players can outplay me. Either way, it is difficult. My results are still way in the positive, but the "making money with poker" is not something that comes without a lot of hard work and repeated attempts. Although this is a vacation for me, it is also an attempt to make money in a different, more non-conventional way. Mental struggle is just part of the experience. Professional gamblers have a tendency to be addicted to puzzle solving. My playing poker is no exception. I need to combine a player's past patterns with card, chip, and position plays with my own card, chip, and position plays, which is to say that poker is very situational. When I am not playing poker, I've been working on solving the Rubik's cube (especially before bed), and my new fastest time is 1 minute 18 seconds. I was able to do a second one at 1 minute 38 seconds, so it probably wasn't a fluke. Yep, I'm bringing nerdy back. How's that for a blog entry filled with a bunch of random thoughts? Thanks for bearing with me.

Kyle, Melissa, Traci, Geoff, and Steve

Simultaneously I had a bunch of friends and one family member visit me. My Kansas City karaoke buds (Kyle, Melissa, and Traci), my cousin (Geoff), and his friend (Steve). First, on Friday, my cousin Geoff and Steve arrived. We headed straight to the sports book where Geoff was making some parlay bets on multiple things that may or may not occur during a hockey game. It was also a good opportunity to get some free drinks. God bless Vegas. We then walked the strip to the Venetian and ate at a great place there, after which I headed home.

Then, on Saturday, my three friends arrived, and we started out at the Hilton pool, which is a great place to begin in Las Vegas. Kyle and I actually hopped into the "heated" pool (about 65 degrees, I'm guessing), and after some relaxing, Kyle decided that the temperature and wind outside was too much, so he hopped out of the pool. I remained, and after about five minutes, I happened to be looking in the lifeguard's general direction, and her large, collapsed shade umbrella with long and heavy metal pole fell off her stand and conked a girl directly on the head without so much as a sound warning. The lifeguard didn't even respond, but other lifeguards ran to her rescue and she seemed to be alright. After speaking with her later, I discovered that she didn't even ask for an upgraded suite or anything, as she said she had drank so much that she didn't really even feel the large bump on her head.

Then, while Steve was at a Van Halen concert (the David Lee Roth version), the rest of us went to Smith and Wollensky, an upscale steak place. Geoff had seen this waiter named Ken pull off some wacky Chris Farley imitation in the past (and he even claimed it was "life changing" in the email he sent me afterward), so we decided to request this waiter as well. Hilarity ensued. This guy did one heck of a Tom Foley, motivational speaker imitation, but mostly he was combining his comedy with his obvious love of Traci. He hit on her the entire time, but used his comedy as a way to make it funny. And it was. I haven't laughed that hard in a very long time. He even knocked over one of the wine glasses, and yelled, "Son of a..." I wish we could have the entire event on camcorder, as it was as good or better as any show in Vegas. If you come to Vegas, request Ken. It is worth the $45 steak price. Oh, and make sure you get the Macaroni. He does shows around the country, and you can check him out at kenasfarley.com.

Since the night is never complete unless karaoke is involved, we headed to Ellis Island, a shady little off-strip location near Bally's. Traci wowed the audience with some SWV, Kyle sang a song I never heard before, and I (predictably, perhaps) did "Baby Got Back." Melissa and Geoff watched as the three of us outperformed the competition.

The next day, Kyle, Geoff and I played in a couple of poker tournaments, and Geoff placed in one, but Kyle and I just lamented our losses. On Monday, Geoff headed out of town, and after wishing his sister, Anna, a happy birthday, I headed over to the Hilton to hang out with the rest of the gang for the day. It was a much needed break from poker. We headed to In-N-Out Burger. My excitement and hunger got the best of me, but as we were pulling into the entryway, we noticed that two cops were just sitting in the exit, and a van immediately in front of us just came to a stop, so there was no way to get in. The van was waiting on an SUV, and after I got annoyed (about 1.3 seconds), I went ahead and laid on the horn. Oops. That's when I noticed a 700-point font on the side that said: SHERIFF. Note to self: "Stop honking at the police." Traci told me that I received several glares from all the police involved, but luckily I was able to enjoy my burger without handcuffs. We then went atop the Stratosphere, where we talked about the recent suicide jump rumor and the strange spike lightning rod system. I believe we went back to the hotel, grabbed some food, and headed to the airport. I'm so thankful my friends have been out here to make this a pleasant trip.

More Poker Results

Despite the numerous visits from friends and family, I've done my best to play poker and post internet blogs (even though you all are letting me know loudly that I haven't). I haven't done as well in the last few days on the poker scene, but here are the results:

• Fitzgerald's, 12pm, fast tournament, no cash
• Planet Hollywood, 7pm, fast tournament, no cash
• Binion's, 8pm, medium-slow tournament, chop 1st place
• Planet Hollywood, 2pm, no cash (see story below)
• Sahara, 7pm, fast tournament, no cash (but friend Cory took 3rd)
• Venetian, 12pm, slow tournament, no cash
• Caesar's, 3pm, fast tournament, no cash
• Binion's, 11pm, fast tournament, no cash
• Planet Hollywood, 2pm, fast tournament, chop 1st place
• Binion's, 11pm, fast tournament, no cash

At one of the Planet Hollywood tournaments, at which I have been doing quite well, I made a couple of mistakes. To set the story up, I must tell you that a few of the poker rooms around here don't have a large cupholder for drinks, and since I am bringing Vitamin Water and G2 in bigger bottles, I often don't have anywhere to set my drink but on the floor. Well, I was in the middle of sipping my beverage when I was dealt: [!club_ten][!spade_ten] I promptly set the Vitamin Water on the table, and I raised in earlier position. A guy in late position raised me, and after putting him on a couple of high cards, I thought I could weather an all-in if I was wrong and take his chips if I was right. After pushing all-in, he promptly did so as well, and he flipped over:

Q-H, Q-S

Oops. After seeing the results, my hand clipped the top of the bottle somehow (those who know me will be very shocked), and the entire contents of the wide-mouthed bottle dashed into my lap. Yummy. Sticky Vitamin Water coursing down my legs and crotch. Jealous? It would have been nice to make a graceful exit, but after losing the hand, I still had chips, and I proceeded to push any ace or king all-in until I had my original chip stack back! I then attempted to be discreet and ask a waitress for a towel. She had to ask why, and then in a semi-loud voice she announced, "What? Did you have an accident?" (Giggles from most of the poker room) I busted out shortly thereafter. Luckily I was in a place where the young and hip go, so walking through the casino halls toward my car with a large stain was entertaining to say the least. I attempted to cover it up with my backpack, but I'm pretty sure that most people knew. I smiled and moved on to the shower at the Four Queens hotel without passing Go. Needless to say, I'll be more careful about my beverages, and possibly even consider using the ones the casino supplies, which fit nicely into their petite cupholders. Ah, the fun.

Calling Station 54, Where Are You?

Calling stations are players who see most or all flops, call a lot with weakness on the turn, and river a lot of strange hands. I love them, though many poker players become very frustrated with these types of players. Many beginners think that they should win a lot of money on hands where they are the favorite, but they overvalue their hands, and so they get snapped off a bunch by these fellows. I'd rather lose a couple of hands to these calling stations, but win a bunch on my really strong hands (like 2 pair or better). Last night I was playing the 11pm tournament at Binion's. It is a good tournament, as the fields are weaker, and finding players to give me their chips is usually not a problem. This young chap started to call any bet pre-flop, and usually called a post-flop bet, no matter how big. I had seen him do some flamboyant raising as well, and in those circumstances, he was usually on a bluff. I called his all-in bet on the river with A-K high, and he deflated after he showed A-8 high. And he was doubling people up by calling bets on the river with A high several times. This became my mission: to play a pot with this guy and flop a monster. I knew I'd get paid off.

In no-limit poker, speculating with lesser hands is often a good thing, especially in later positions after you have seen all of the action ahead of you. Mr. Calling Station (we'll call him CS for short) called in middle position (shocking) and I called from the button with:

5-S, 4-S

I turned to the guy to my left and told him, "I'm hoping to flop a monster here." And I did:

6-H, 3-H, 2-S

The nuts. A made straight. There were two hearts on the board, so I needed to protect my hand, but this was a great situation to get this guy's chips. He promptly bet, and I assessed his stack. I knew he would at least call if I raised, but I didn't want to push just yet. I raised about half of my stack, and he pushed all-in. I instantly called. He flipped over a set:

3-C, 3-S

That gives him 7 outs on the turn and 10 on the river to make him a full house (any pair on the board has me beat by the river). That gives me about 64% chance to win the pot, which is a lot less than I would have hoped, especially seeing how he was paying off people with Ace high previously. Well, the turn and river brought:

T-D, T-H

And I was out of the tournament. The best laid plans...

The Weaker Players

Something inside of me wants to win badly when I sit at any poker table, and my natural instinct is to attempt to control the action and push the issue. Most poker players who attempt to make their living have gone through similar emotions, and the first goal is to learn to control them. For example, I often like to find the other poker players at the table who are skilled, and I like to pick on them and be especially tricky, I guess to prove that I am better at poker than them. Unfortunately, they know the drill, and I get picked off sometimes. The better players to exploit are not the talented players, but those with known tendencies. Although I switch between tight-aggressive and loose-aggressive modes, depending on my table and chip stacks, I generally have learned that straight-forward poker with adjustments to individual players (especially in position when I can act after the player) is a must.

• The Ueber-tight Player: I bet a lot when they check, and I raise a lot when they bet. Of course, they'll start to notice that tendency and begin to grow frustrated with me, but instead of playing back at me, they often play even more tightly hoping to snap me off. I have usually backed off by then, or at least at the sign of first resistance.
• The Calling Station: My favorite. They call all the time, so they cannot be bluffed, but they will pay you off huge when you have the nuts or a good made hand. I value bet and value bet and value bet some more.
• The Former Jock: Also known as the Ball Cap Kids (which I blogged about previously), these guys attempt to steal a bunch. Re-stealing with an all-in is a good bet most of the time against this type of player when you sniff a bluff, but I often don't have the heart to push all my chips into the pot, so I simply re-raise. This usually accomplishes my mission. These guys usually talk a bunch and wince a lot, and they usually aren't very smart.

When I am playing well, I exploit these kinds of weaknesses, and they are everywhere. Though the fields in Las Vegas have gotten a little tougher than the last time I was here, they are still very weak at the levels which I play. I'll tell you about my attempted exploit in my next blog. Oh, and it went badly.

Adventures in Vegas (from the non-poker side)

As I haven't had much of a chance to post recently (mostly because getting any kind of reasonable price on internet is difficult), I thought I'd give you a heads up on the recent happenings. Cory, Tomiko, and I took a trip up the Stratosphere tower. Although they opted out, I chose to take a cruise on the three extreme rides at the top for a measly $14 more. Anyhow, the view was at the same time vertigo-causing and awe-inspiring. The rides, dubbed Insanity, X-Scream, and Big Shot, are very cool to the ride enthusiast. Rather than attempt to describe the rides, take a search on youtube for them... There are many examples. Very, very high. Thank goodness for engineers. My brother, Zach, also took a trip out to Vegas this week. Our first order of business was yet another park: The Circus Circus Adventuredome, a complete amusement park indoors (similar to the Mall of America). There was a roller coaster with a couple of hoops, several "4-D" movies complete with water squirts and pokes in the back, tons of arcade and carnival games, and a water ride that will soon be torn down to make way for yet another roller coaster. All in all, visits from family and friends have been a very good time.

The Poker is Outstanding!

Game selection. That is what winning in poker is all about. If you don't choose a good game, you are bound to lose. If you have a choice between playing poker in Kansas City and playing in Las Vegas, you should choose Las Vegas. Tourists are bad, and there are so many of them! In Kansas City, there are definitely some bad players who play in typical cash and tournament games, and generally I pick on those people, as the good players are always trying to outplay me. In Vegas, I am one of the better players at nearly every tournament I play in here, and I rarely feel like the fish. As the famous quote from Rounders goes:

"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."

Well, I've started to have an epiphany. I am a really good quick tournament player, but only a mediocre slow tournament player, as the fields are so much better in the slow ones. For those who don't understand the parlance, a quick tournament is generally over between 3 and 6 hours, but a slow tournament can last between 8 hours and multiple days. My results speak for themselves. So far on this trip, I've played in the following tournaments and these results:

• Binion's 11pm, quick tournament, 1st place outright
• Venetian 12pm, slow tournament, no cash
• Caesar's Palace 3pm, quick tournament, no cash
• Venetian 8pm, slow tournament, no cash
• Venetian 12pm, slow tournament, no cash
• Caesar's 3pm, quick tournament, chop 1st place
• Binion's 11pm, quick tournament, no cash
• Caesar's 12pm, slow tournament, no cash
• Caesar's 3pm, quick tournament, no cash
• Binion's 11pm, quick tournament, break even bubble deal
• Planet Hollywood 2pm, quick tournament, chop 1st place
• Treasure Island 11am, quick tournament, no cash
• Caesar's 3pm, quick tournament, no cash
• Binion's 8pm, slow tournament, no cash
• Venetian 12pm, slow tournament, no cash
• Venetian, sit-n-go lightning fast tournament, no cash
• Orleans 7pm, fast tournament, chop 1st place

One of the dealers at Planet Hollywood saw me recording my winnings and table information, and he told me that I was a pretty good fast tournament player (and I agree), but that I should avoid trying to play in the bigger tournaments (the slow ones, which generally have a LOT better players) until I've mastered the smaller ones and gotten better. That sounds pretty reasonable, and so I'm definitely going to be playing more of the faster tournaments where I have quite a bit of success, and save the slower ones until later. Tournaments already have so much volatility in them as-is, and the results of one don't really mean much. But the cumulative winnings are key. I tried to play in the slower tournaments too early, and I got slapped by better players. Patience, and building a bank roll one game at a time is the key to poker success.

Worm: You know what always cheers me up?
Mike McDermott: No, what's that?
Worm: Rolled up aces over kings. Check-raising stupid tourists and taking huge pots off of them. Playing all-night high-limit Hold'em at the Taj, "where the sand turns to gold." Stacks and towers of checks I can't even see over.
Mike McDermott: F*ck it, let's go.
Worm: Don't tease me.
Mike McDermott: Let's play some cards.
Worm: Yes!

The Sleeping Facilities

So, the night before I headed out for my cruise with Michaela, I got a phone call at about 10pm from the guy from whom I was supposed to be leasing my condo. He said that his homeowner's association wouldn't let me into the gated community, as no renters were allowed. This was evidently the result of the association finding the advertisement that I found. Very, very unfortunate. I spent that entire night Hotwiring, Kayaking and Pricelining (thanks to Bryan Cox for teaching me about these wonderful services). After a bunch of work (and no sleep prior to the cruise), I found the following locations that would total about the same amount as the condo:

• Fitzgerald's (first week or so)
• Four Queens (four days)
• Plaza (the rest of the time)

I had stayed at the Plaza before, and it was fine, but the other two were unknowns, and all I had to go on were reviews from various travel sites. When I arrived at my room at Fitzgerald's, I found the wallpaper to be peeling and the carpet to be a little faded, but it seemed fine. The casino isn't much, but it is directly on Fremont Street, which is actually a preferable area than the strip if you ask me. Everything is much more accessible. Except for the parking garage. Back in the days of the dinosaurs, insects like dragonflies got to be about 3 feet wide, but there was a practical limit to their size, as ultimately their exoskeleton would weigh more than their wings would support. Well, this parking garage is the same. It is a very large and tall structure, crammed into a very small amount of land surface area, but is all support and driving surface, and only about 10 cars can park on a level. And it twists up and up and up until finally I can eek into some very small and crowded place. It is laughable, really. At least it is free. Inside the casino, there is a McDonald's and a Krispy Kreme. Ah, fat accessibility for all of the Fitzgerald's customers. But nothing compares to the In-N-Out Burger that is just up the street. I finally got to eat at one, and let's just say McDonald's doesn't even come close...

The long, long drive to Vegas

Well friends, sorry for the late postings, but I'm just finally getting settled in Vegas after an entertaining drive (to say the least). My plans were to drive to my cousin Geoff's house in Avon, Colorado, Tuesday, stay the night, and then continue to Vegas the next day. With my Garmin GPS to help me navigate, I started the long trek from Kansas City. It would be nine hours to Geoff's. Since I hate stopping for gas, and I'm very smart, I decided to coordinate the timing of my "distance to empty" gage on my car and the nearest gas stations on I-70 so that I could stop as few times as possible. I picked a small town. It would coincide with *about* 10 miles left on the tank. I picked the wrong small town. BP station closed. Oops. I kept driving. 9 miles to Oakley. Oops. Sputter, sputter. Put, put. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. I used to pride myself on never having run out of gas. Those days are long gone. As I started the long three mile walk to Oakley, a car with a bunch of stuff in it and a small Mexican lady pulled up to ask if I needed help. I figured that if she was violent I could overpower her, but she seemed like a nice person, so I went ahead and violated my no hitchhiking rule. After climbing in the car, she explained that her name was Elana, and that she had just broken up with her cheating girlfriend. I explained my situation, told her where the next gas station was, and we drove off. Then, as we're going 70 miles per hour, she explains to me that she had been drinking, and an open bottle of vodka sitting in the cupholder was there as evidence. Good times. We made it to the station, and after paying $9 for a small gas can (they love to rip off dumb people) and filling 'er up, I hopped back in the car. We got back to my car safely. She asked if she could use my phone. I agreed, gave her some cash as a thank you, and I was off to Geoff's, albeit 40 minutes later than usual. I hung out with my cousin Geoff and his wife Jen, and we chatted for a while. In the morning we had breakfast, and then it was off to Las Vegas, baby! The canyons west of the skiing areas in Colorado are quite beautiful. I had never ventured this far west in an automobile, but I'm glad I did. But then Utah happened. Drab desert with strange mountainous formations. Desolate but pretty all at once. The "no service stations for 106 miles" sign said it all. After another eight hours that day, I whipped around a corner on I-15, and there she was. A beautiful sight indeed. The all-too-familiar Las Vegas strip could be seen from quite a distance. Every time I see it, it seems more developed. That's because it is. After carrying in a lot of stuff to my room at Fitzgerald's, I settled in. I then started scouting out tournaments on Fremont Street, where I have spent a lot of time in the past. I settled on an 11pm tournament at Binion's, and I ended up winning. Outright. Some old guy wanted no part of a deal, so I just took his money. And two other guys. But I got lucky at the final four people. I won all of these races (my hand listed first):

K-C, Q-C vs 6-C, 6-S
K-H, J-D vs A-D, 4-D
K-D, Q-C vs A-H, 6-D

And victory! Yeah! Each one of those hands took out one player. The last one was against another math whiz computer programmer type, so I was glad to have survived it in one piece. So, a great start to the Vegas trip!