Tales from the tables - Halloween trip 2009 III

Wednesday morning continued

The hi rolling Asian could not stand prosperity. He came out of the VIP room ten minutes later with a hang dog expression on his face, and asked me if I could "do it again" for him with his last $3000.

To be honest, much as I like the fun, I felt his action was a bit of a distraction for me and my pittance betting, but of course I agreed nonetheless.

Example, soon he was down to his last chip, and I was playing two hands. He placed his $1000 on the first spot, with my bet nestled on top. The second spot had my bet only. The dealers need to know whose money is on the spot and who will be playing the hand at all times - especially when players are pooling.

So he kinda took over this hand with no one realizing it or objecting. So the dealer looked for his hand signals, not mine. After drawing a card, he thought for a while and asked for another. As soon as he did he balked and said NO NO I don't want it. But the 2 of hearts was already on the felt.

He waived off further cards - I had no idea what had happened as we are not allowed to peek at each other's cards technically - especially when Big Brother and his minions are all around the table like a sherrif's posse. (But it sure felt like he had accidentally hit a "made hand")

Seeing that two on my right fostered a bad feeling about my own hand as I was looking at 6-3, and the two would have been made to feel right at home.

Sure enough the next card was an 8 and I stopped at the death level of 17, noting a 19 was there for me if his deuce had been left in the deck.

All the cards were now exposed. Dealer had 18. I lost. Hi roller had 19, having accidentally hit on 17 and drawn my 2.

So I won $50 on his spot, he won his $1000, but I lost $150 on my own (where I had been pressing stronger cards)

Finally, to get to the point of the story, as soon as he left the table, the supervisor came over to the dealer and told him to give me $100 from his tray - explaining that if I had been playing both spots myself (as I had been till then) I would have lost the first hand and won the second.

Nice touch by the Venetian - I had not complained one word - but they were looking out for me.

Earlier in the day, my travel companion had insisted we go downtown to the legendary Fremont Street - where you can still see those same casinos they flashed in 60's and 70's movies. It's too bad everyone I bring to Vegas wants to do this - I don't think there is much endearing about the area - not when you have been poshed beyond belief at Wynn, Bellagio, Encore, Venetian etc.

So I amused myself for an hour at a saloon/casino called "The Fitz". You know these places are of a different standard when you buy in for $200, and the dealer takes his time inspecting each and every $20 bill to ensure they are not fake !

I ran up my stake to $475 and had serious concerns about their ability to deal with this at the Cashier's Cage when it came time to cash out. Yes, they actually did call down to the blackjack pit to confirm it really was me and I really did win these chips honestly before they released the money to me. LOL.

There was also an ill fated foray into the Deep Stack poker tournament at the Venetian on Monday. A two day event with a strong field of 117 players, and a nuts shrivelling entry fee of $1080. First placed was around $33,000 and thirteen players would cash.

I was flush with my winnings from Sunday's poker tournament and decided to parlay the money into a bigger cash by playing with the big boys and girls. Hah - they kinda had me for breakfast and dinner !

The quality of play in this event was an order of magnitude better than the Sunday tourney at The Wynn - it felt like I was on my heels the whole time - to be sure - a great poker experience and if I want to improve, I have to play in stronger games - but the cost of tuition can be pretty high!

I actually lasted till 9.15 pm - when the field was down to 31 players, and the average stack size was around 60,000 chips. I had always been below average stack size the whole day. T'was much harder to take down decent sized pots when I finally got cards, (can you spell TELLS ?) and in general most of the players were playing small ball poker.

So I had around $47,000 in chips with the blinds at $800 and $1600, and the antes $200 per hand. I picked up A8 suited in hearts in mid position, and opened for $5000 - which was the norm at this table. It usually attracted only one customer per hand, as the pots got large pretty quickly.

All folded to the small blind who made it $10,000 to go. He had my stack well covered. Still, with position, and needing to bet only a further $5000 to stay involved in a $23,400 pot I naturally called and got to see a flop of JH 3H JC.

SB checked. I was not sure of my best move. I could check and look for a free card. I could bet and try to guage where he is at in the hand. I decided to check. Keep it as small as possible. Next card was the heaven sent 8 of hearts, giving me the nut flush, however this was a dangerous board.

SB checked. I bet $15,000 and he insta shoved all in. His stack had me covered, so if I am wrong here I am about to become a railbird. Still, what does he have? Pair of jacks? (I'm dead)

Jack and a high kicker? (I am ahead)

Pair of 3's ? (then he flopped a full house)

Pair of 8's (then the free card I gave him just matured his hand into 8's full of jacks)

Jack 3 or Jack 8? (then he has a full house - but I don't believe he would reraise me pre flop with either hand)

A high heart flush of his own? (Maybe H KQ?)

Anyway, I am told good players always try to define their opponents' range to help them with such decisions. This entails looking far deeper than I just described above. It entails going back to each key moment in the hand and determining what range of hands your opponent could have for those particular actions (and then mapping those hands against the hands that are relevant to the situation at hand)

Fine and dandy - but I have a decision to make, and many of these decisions are made at the end of the day with less than perfect information, and may also rely on a combination of instinct and hope.

Besides, most importantly, I was pretty much pot committed - a fact my opponent must have realized when he shoved me all - in. That is, I was priced in to call almost regardless. To fold would have decimated my stack size down to $22,000 - definitely a step in the wrong direction.

Though I would fold in such a situation if the cards screamed at me to do so - i.e. if I truly believed I was drawing dead - but here I felt I had a shot.

So all in all, I decided to take my last stand here and now and called.

The guy turned over AJ suited in spades, and well whaddaya know - I am ahead with one more card to come.

Of course, Texas Hold ' em is a seven card game - you can't tell the dealer to stop after the turn - just cause your ahead of your opponent.

So out came the river card - the Jack of diamonds - aaaaaaargh ! Busted by quad jacks !

You might think I was sickened by all this. I mean nine hours of play for naught, not to mention my wallet was lighter by $1080. But no. First of all, you have to remember that shit like this is happening all around the room all the time. We do it to others; we see it done to others; and it happens to us.

Maybe there is no such thing as a "bad beat" - it's really just another term for a lower percentage outcome to manifest - he did have his chances on this hand - several outs. An Ace, an 8, a 3 or a jack were all good cards for him. I just needed the river to be anything but those cards.

So I was almost serene as I wandered away from the poker area over to the DD BJ game at the other end of the casino with one goal in mind. Get back my tournament entry fee !

Happy endings ! I cashed $600 before calling it a night (It had been $800 at the end of the penultimate shoe, but the final shoe started off weak and I did not want to dial back to zero profits.)

Next morning, I went down to "the office" again and cashed another $1000 heads up with one of my favorite dealers.

One day I should write an entry about dealers I like and pay me; dealers that kill me seem to enjoy doing so (and so I don't like to play them); and dealers I have become friendly with but cannot play them as they are gifted winners for their bosses.

Anyway, I have no complaints about this trip - other than I really did not play enough sessions of blackjack considering how well I was playing. I took time for long walks, a swim, a hot stone massage, a show - Terry Fator - it's true the guy DOES have talent, and some fantastic meals.

Best of all, I fought the cigarette demons successfully during the entire trip - an important step in my late found journey to better health and common sense.