Vegas Adventure - Part I
After an uneventful flight our plane landed in Vegas around 12:30 and we quickly proceeded to catch a cab to the 4 Queens on Freemont Street. I have only been to Vegas one other time, where I spent the days walking the strip and the nights visiting the likes of the Luxor, New York New York, The Excalibur, The Bellagio, and the MGM. I knew we were not going to be on the strip and I had prepared myself for a scene far worse than what we experienced. While the 4 queens was no 5 star resort, it was certainly clean and friendly. I probably would not bring Mrs. Sponge there to stay, but as a trip for the guys this would certainly suffice.
So, now we are checked in and my cousin, who has made this “poker trip” before, hustles us over to Binion's to sign up for the 2:00 NL tournament. It wasn’t much longer and I was sitting at my first casino table playing live poker. I must’ve had gills flapping early on in the tournament I was so nervous. I simply observed the table play, kept quiet and learned as we went.
Buy-in $70
Blinds increase every 20 minutes
259 entries
The dealers were very friendly and helpful (the tournament director is another story, more on him in future postings) and explained to the betting rules and etiquette. Early on I got a big confidence boost by winning two hands with pocket Kings and taking down a couple of players. This boosted my table image and my action dried up for a while. I was able to use it to steal a few blinds though and I was feeling very good about myself and my game. This wasn’t so scary after all.
The second dealer was awful, she looked relatively new and while dealing her third hand she dealt me a Ks face up, she continued to deal and just gave me another card. Unfortunately my hole card was a Qs and the replacement was a measly 4c. I was too pissed to remember what the board cards were. It was not until later that I found out that this is the standard dealer practice because it happened more than once (Binion's has some dealer “issues”).
That deal was nothing compared to the table next to us. During one of the hands, there was a three-way all-in. When they flipped the cards over two over the players had Ace high spade flushes. This would not be odd, except that both of the players had the Ace of Spade IN THE POCKET. Yeah, that’s right, a deck with two Ace of Spades. They ended up counting the hand and chopping the pot between the flushes. The third player (who had two pair) ended up losing and getting knocked out of the tournament. I know they would have been giving me either a refund or a hell of a lot of comps…
I got moved to a new table just before the third break along with my cousin and we ended up sitting right next to each other (he was on my left). We were able to play a few hands before the break (and another increase in blinds), he was short-stacked and the big blind put him all-in (he did not win). After the break I sat down and found that the dealer button was two spots to my right. WTF? So I am the new guy at the table (and Vegas for that matter), the dealer has been changed and nobody remembers where the button was except me (my cousin is gone, remember?). This is my first tournament, first live poker in a casino, and now I have to argue with the players at this table and the dealer about button position. I ended up putting up a weak argument and eating it. I paid another 1200 in blinds and 150 in ante’s and now my moderate stack was weak after that f-up.
I was visibly flustered and it cost me dearly on the very first hand. Being the Big blind, I already had 800 in the pot, I was raised another 800 while holding J7os and ended up folding. My stack was now very small and I should have called the bet, but I wasn’t thinking straight and folded. It was not long after that that I was eliminated. A very bad end to what started out as a great first tournament experience.
Out of 259 entries, I went out 39th. I don’t want to be sour grapes but if that blind fiasco had not happened, I feel like I would have made a least a run at the money. What I did gain was the confidence that I was certainly not playing out of my league.
So, now we are checked in and my cousin, who has made this “poker trip” before, hustles us over to Binion's to sign up for the 2:00 NL tournament. It wasn’t much longer and I was sitting at my first casino table playing live poker. I must’ve had gills flapping early on in the tournament I was so nervous. I simply observed the table play, kept quiet and learned as we went.
Buy-in $70
Blinds increase every 20 minutes
259 entries
The dealers were very friendly and helpful (the tournament director is another story, more on him in future postings) and explained to the betting rules and etiquette. Early on I got a big confidence boost by winning two hands with pocket Kings and taking down a couple of players. This boosted my table image and my action dried up for a while. I was able to use it to steal a few blinds though and I was feeling very good about myself and my game. This wasn’t so scary after all.
The second dealer was awful, she looked relatively new and while dealing her third hand she dealt me a Ks face up, she continued to deal and just gave me another card. Unfortunately my hole card was a Qs and the replacement was a measly 4c. I was too pissed to remember what the board cards were. It was not until later that I found out that this is the standard dealer practice because it happened more than once (Binion's has some dealer “issues”).
That deal was nothing compared to the table next to us. During one of the hands, there was a three-way all-in. When they flipped the cards over two over the players had Ace high spade flushes. This would not be odd, except that both of the players had the Ace of Spade IN THE POCKET. Yeah, that’s right, a deck with two Ace of Spades. They ended up counting the hand and chopping the pot between the flushes. The third player (who had two pair) ended up losing and getting knocked out of the tournament. I know they would have been giving me either a refund or a hell of a lot of comps…
I got moved to a new table just before the third break along with my cousin and we ended up sitting right next to each other (he was on my left). We were able to play a few hands before the break (and another increase in blinds), he was short-stacked and the big blind put him all-in (he did not win). After the break I sat down and found that the dealer button was two spots to my right. WTF? So I am the new guy at the table (and Vegas for that matter), the dealer has been changed and nobody remembers where the button was except me (my cousin is gone, remember?). This is my first tournament, first live poker in a casino, and now I have to argue with the players at this table and the dealer about button position. I ended up putting up a weak argument and eating it. I paid another 1200 in blinds and 150 in ante’s and now my moderate stack was weak after that f-up.
I was visibly flustered and it cost me dearly on the very first hand. Being the Big blind, I already had 800 in the pot, I was raised another 800 while holding J7os and ended up folding. My stack was now very small and I should have called the bet, but I wasn’t thinking straight and folded. It was not long after that that I was eliminated. A very bad end to what started out as a great first tournament experience.
Out of 259 entries, I went out 39th. I don’t want to be sour grapes but if that blind fiasco had not happened, I feel like I would have made a least a run at the money. What I did gain was the confidence that I was certainly not playing out of my league.
posted by Sponge at 10:49 PM
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