Sunday, July 27, 2014

A Brief Poker Interlude During Mrs. lightning's Trip Report Posts

After having my blog for so many years, I was surprised to suddenly see that family members wanting to write guest posts. My youngest daughter recently wrote a post about our trip to Anime Midwest, and now my wife (inspired by Rob?) is completing an epic three-part vacation report. There was a dearth of gambling on my most recent trip to Las Vegas, but I did get in a few sessions of poker.

Were they memorable? Only two were.

I played a couple of sessions at Harrah's, one at Mirage, and a few more at Bally's.

Harrah's moment: Playing against two players who seemed to be quite poor, I raised with A-Q spades. One of the poor players, who had a stack about equal to mine (~$150), pushed all in. The other player, with a stack ~$90, went all-in. I had no confidence that either had me beat, based on the play of the previous hour or so. I called. I was up against 10-10 (original all in) and A-J (shorty). Jack on the flop ... Meh.

Mirage: I was tempted to get in one of the remaining spots for the Mirage 11:00 a.m. tournament, but I had plans to get lunch with my wife after she finished sunbathing. I got seated at a new $1/2 table. I was never up or down more than about $50. The table started out as nitty as they come, then got a little better as some younger players entered. The play was okay, but the vibe was not nearly as friendly at my favorite place, Bally's, or Harrah's, which seems to be a pretty friendly place. My session ended when I had to pick up my wife from an Urgent Care center, which I am sure will be featured in part three of her trip report.

Bally's: I had a few sessions where I lost part of a buy-in. My play was okay, and I unfortunately missed on some huge draws. I was amazed at how great starting hands or connecting on the flop eluded me. Then ... things changed ...


I had one of those sessions that I seemed to have on a regular basis in the past. I caught some cards and had some other players call off their chips with draws or lesser hands. Suddenly poker at Bally's was what I remembered: bliss!

And then came the payback.

I went to Bally's to play a daytime session and was happy to see blogger balt999 (Ron) dealing. Now , Ron is a great guy -- superb poker dealer, accomplished tournament player, and just a really nice person. However, I seem to crash and burn when Ron is around. Do I play differently? I don't know -- maybe.

I was busted twice when Ron was dealing. The first time, I totally missed a straight possibility, and of course, one player at the table had the exact stealth hand to take my chips. On Ron's next down, I ran pocket Jacks into a set of 8's. Now I know that these hands were totally on me, but when Gianna deals, I do well (see photo above). Just having fun with you, Ron!

The slots at the Caesars properties seemed to be uber-tight this trip. Willy Wonka was not my friend. I played very  little sweet sweet video poker, and I came out on the negative side at the poker table.

So ... this was not a successful trip for poker and gambling in general. However, it was a very nice vacation with my wife, possibly opening the door to her accompanying me in future summer trips to Las Vegas.

You win some, you lose some: that is usually what Las Vegas is about. I can't wait for my next trip!

11 Comments:

Blogger angerisagift said...

any omaha??????????????/

6:01 PM  
Blogger Memphis MOJO said...

My session ended when I had to pick up my wife from an Urgent Care center

Oh no! I hope she's okay.

6:41 PM  
Blogger angerisagift said...

WHEN is thunder going to do a guest post?????????

8:24 PM  
Blogger ~Coach said...

I don't think that you were in horrible shape on the A Q hand, but I also think that you're a better player than to basically have to 'flip' for stacks against two opponents. Sorry, I'm not much of a poker guy, and I was expecting to find something about anime or desert vacations here... ;)

10:42 PM  
Blogger lightning36 said...

@ ~Coach -- The evil gambooling side came out that hand. I felt like "what the heck, let see how my luck is running." Sort of like playing a slot machine at the poker table.

10:57 PM  
Blogger Rob said...

I inspired the Mrs to blog? I'm honored, but how? Because I make it look so easy?

Since Mrs L is around to write up these vacation reports, I assume the trip the urgent care was resolved well.

Tough sessions. Stay away from Ron. He's your version of the dreaded pocket Kings. Meet him for a meal or a drink, but don't join him at the poker table, no matter which side of the table he's on.

11:10 PM  
Blogger angerisagift said...

is the reason MRS L had to go to urgent care bcuz she almost blew a blood vessel when she saw u call an all in with AQ?????????????? she was like 150 preflop in a 12 NL game. BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!! blood pressure off the charts

12:05 AM  
Blogger lightning36 said...

@ anger: My instincts were right: I was ahead of one and flipping with the other. Right or wrong, I have a saying that I try to live by: "I didn't come to Las Vegas to gamble like a pussy."

12:09 AM  
Blogger angerisagift said...

so if u had the pockets 10s and was called by those 2 hands would u say that was a good call to the winner????

12:35 AM  
Blogger cokeboy99 said...

This just makes me look forward to my trip to Vegas with my wife, her first trip.....coming up in 5 weeks!! Of course, my solo trip in December is what I'm most looking forward to, due to the fact that it will be nonstop poker with a little sportsbetting and table games mixed in....lol Maybe sometime we can figure out a way to get to Vegas at the same time!!

10:44 PM  
Blogger The Poker Meister said...

Get 'em next time, Mr. Lightning!

8:58 PM  

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