It took me until July this year to make it out to Vegas, but I finally went this week. My short, two-night trip got off to kind of a bad start, when I played $1/3 no-limit at Caesar’s Palace for a bit less than an hour, and somehow a guy folded KK preflop to my 4-bet because he knew I had AA. I’m just too tight.
Then I entered a tournament at Caesar’s for $110. I was actually doing quite well in the beginning, and I built up a sizable stack that was above average. Then nothing happened for quite a while, and I was forced to shove AK preflop from the big blind against a button raise when I had about seven big blinds remaining. Luckily, he had KJ, and I doubled up. Just two hands later, I had AsKs on the button with about 32,000 in chips, blinds 1,000/2,000. I raised to 5,000 after everyone folded to me, and the big blind, an aggressive guy, 3-bet to 14,000. Since I opened from the button, he doesn’t have to have a super-premium hand, so I went all-in, and he called. We turned up our cards, and he had 99. The flop was K2K, and I breathed a sigh of relief. The turn was a 7. The river was… a 9. And so I got knocked out by a 2-outer. I think I almost cashed, even. Would’ve been my first tournament cash, but I guess it just wasn’t meant to be.
Then I dabbled in some $2/5 for the first time. I played for about two and a half hours, and I was up about $350 at one point, but things just never got back on track, and I quit while I was ahead $36.
The next night, I finally had some better luck. I’ll admit I was playing super-tight since I wasn’t used to these stakes. And basically, I flopped sets way more often than I should have.
On an early hand, I had $200 in front of me, and I limped from the cutoff with 22 after a couple of people limped in ahead of me. The big blind raised to $25, and I called the raise, while everyone else folded. The flop was J72 with two clubs. He bet $60, and I called. The turn was an offsuit A, and he said “all-in,” so of course I called. He flipped over QQ, and the river was a blank, so I doubled up early.
Later on, I raised to $15 under the gun with KK. Everyone folded to the small blind, who raised to $50. I had about $380 to start the hand, and the small blind was playing pretty tight. I figured if I 4-bet then I would be committed and basically get a 5-bet only from AA, and folds from everything else. Plus, I had this weird gut feeling that he did have AA. So I just called. That’s not great logic, I know. He checked dark (why, I don’t know), and the flop was KJ9 with two hearts. I bet $65, and he check-raised to $200. I’m obviously never folding, and I only had $260 or so left, so I just went all-in for about $125 more, and he of course called. The turn was a 9, and the river was a blank, and predictably, he had AA and was quite upset. So that was a $750+ pot I won out of pure luck.
A while later, I picked up JJ in the hijack after everyone folded. I raised to $15 with about $600 behind. The button and the big blind both called, and the flop was KJ2 with two hearts. I’m telling you, this whole flopping sets thing was working out great for me. The big blind checked, I bet $30, and the button folded. The big blind called, and then the turn came a 2. I’m of course really happy to see that card, and I bet a small $50 into the $105 pot. Surprisingly, he check-raised to $150. There’s no way he has KK here, so either he has a hand like A2 that he thinks is good, or he has 22 and wants to get more money in the pot. Or that’s what I figured at the time, anyway. I just called, since I didn’t want to lose him if he had A2. The river was an offsuit 9. He checked, so I knew I was good. I bet $275 into a $405 pot, and he instantly called and showed A2. And that’s how I got lucky once again to win a $950+ pot.
I wound up winning over $800, despite spending three hours in a tournament I didn’t cash in. So it turned out great. I just hope my luck continues next time…