More Cash Game play

The day after , and when I finally awake, I later find myself in the $1 $2 n/l cash game with Mr Moves and Pab.
We had such a laugh, but I dont think that the locals found it very amusing. There was a lot of banter, lots of straddles and re raising blind.
One hand I made the usuall straddle, and told Pab that if he raised me, I was going to re raise him blind. Well sure enough, he raised to around $15 (he was also blind) so I re raised it to $60 (still blind). He says to me I am going to go all in blind, will you call? Yes I replied. So he went all in and I called.
So, both of us blind and a $400-$500 pot, the flop was mostly low cards with a 2. Pab turns over K high and feels quite confident. Then I flip over my cards and find a 2 to take the pot!
All 3 of us were trying to dominate each other and me and Mr Moves got involved in a pot (after I had re raised him on the flop so many times and showed the bluff). This time he flopped an open ended str8 draw and I had a set. This time we ended up all in and he hit the str8.
To cut a long story short, I finally left that game at 9.30am over $1400 up - not bad for a $1 $2 n/l game (max sit down was $300) and as I had alot of chips, I was making it at least $20 to see a flop. The locals got very fed up and continued to donate to me :)
Such a laugh Pab, Mr moves and myself had.
Although I kept telling Pab to go to bed as he was playing his first day of the main event in less than 8 hours.

Well thats enough for now, just got back from yet another $1 $2 n/l session ($200 down this time) am going to bed ready for day 2 of the main event tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

Shuffle up and deal!!

Early to bed (by 10pm) and awake at 6.30am - So totally refreshed for day one of the main event.

I thought I may be a little nervous, but it was the total opposite. I felt VERY confortable, I wasnt star struck, either by other players or by the event itself. All I saw was the table I was playing on.

The first 2 hour level saw me with no cards and I wasnt going to get cute with marginal hands, so I think I was only involved in one flop on my BB that was unraised.

First break came and went, 5 minutes into the next level and boy did i go on a rush of cards. I had AA 3 times, KK twice and QQ twice all in the space of 3 rounds!! Most I picked up the blinds uncontested with the Aces, but had to lay the Kings down on the flop both times, as the flop bought and Ace - to which I bet out and got re raised both times. One of the QQ hands was where I ALMOST took down a nice big pot. I was BB and the guy on the button made it 200 to go , I look down and find QQ - re raise to 600 and he calls. Flop comes 2 7 Q rainbow - and I bet out 800 (trying to make out I had AK and was a continuation bet). I could see he wanted to re raise me sooo bad, but in the end he folded muttering "I know I have you beat but...."
Another hand worth a mention was when I was holding 10 10 on a flop of 8 5 2. Action had happened preflop and post flop, but when the guy re raised me 4000, I was convinced my 10's were no good and he had an overpair so I layed it down - He showed me JJ.
I felt so confident and was on top form managed to get to 14k quite early on, then went on a spree of very very bad plays - calling raises out of position, leaking chips etcc...... and found myself under 8k again -
Disgusted with myself, I got up and went and sat outside for an hour to "cool off" and to regroup - I am 100% sure that if I had not done this I would of definately donked off the remaining 8k.

On my return, I am under the gun with 7-8k ish and find JJ. What to do??? Well I decided to limp, dont hit a J on the flop and fold to strong betting.
Well the guy to my immediate left raised it to 800 (4xBB) and I just felt he had a monster hand (Aces or Kings) but decided to call to see if I could hit my set. The flop came all low cards and I bet out 1200 and he called so quick that now I knew he had Aces or Kings. Well the miracle turn came, a Jack also now making a flush draw. I checked, He bet 2500 and I pushed all in for my remaining 5k or so. He called with KK and got no help.
From there I was up and down between 19k and 12k, couldnt seem to get past 19k and finally finished the day on 14.5k - So day 2 made.

If you said to me, that I could go straight to day 2 with 15k chips I would of bit your hand off!! So all in all very happy with my play (apart from the dodgy spell)

Just like to also say that the bagging process was a complete farce!! Taking over an hour.

Finally Registered

Went to the Rio on Friday to Register, and for those that have never been, the place is HUGE!!!!

Finally found the Ultimate Bet VIP lounge where I collected my "bag of goodies" which for free was pretty good. A sports bag containing 2 pens, 2 vip badges, a black hoody, a black T shirt, a black polo shirt, a black long sleeeve T shirt, an orange T shirt and my favorite an orange/black american style long sleeve footbal top. All with UB logo's of course.

Found the registration desk, and am on table 41 seat 9.

"Other" people were not allowed into the poker room, I had wanted to go in and just get a feel for the room before I play tomorrow. So, after a quick walk around the expo it was back to the hotel.

I had played 2 sessions of hi/lo (only $4 $8 limit) and finished the first session $100 up and the second session $55 down - so still in profit.
No spaces in the hi/lo game but I noticed a $1 $2 n/l game that looked a little juicy and decided to give that a whirl.
Sat down with $300 and quickly turned this into just under $500 which I soon found all in on the turn on a board of 8 4 4 2. I was holding K 4 from the SB and with plenty of action on the flop, I check raised all in on the turn and got one caller - the BB holding 9 4.
Yep river 9 so it was a reload of $300.
Not too many notable hands to mention except running AA into a made set of 2's on a low flop . At which point I decided to retire. A quick bite to eat and in bed by 10pm.

Well it is now 6.40am local time and I am starting to feel very excited, I thought I would feel nervous, but not at all. I think this time will drag now, although I plan to get to the Rio at 11am (hopefully to avoid the main hustle and bustle of everyone else arriving). As for what to do now? I may go to the gym, then the sauna and just relax.

I have seen a few US stars, Freddie Deeb, Layne Flack, Mike the Mouth to mention a few. I did also manage to walk past Brian Wilson, but by the time I had realised who it was, I lost sight of him in the croud.

So far, UB have been very good. And their private party they threw at the Voodoo Lounge in the Rio must of cost an absolute fortune! It was well worth going just for the view as the voodoo lounge is ontop of the Rio (51 floors up) and with 2 outside balcony's was just superb. Excelent food as well.

"shuffle up and deal"...................................................

VEGAS!

Well here at last, but sadly alone (long story, but with 6 kids, babysitters are hard to come by).

Nightmare start. My flight was at 10.45am from Gatwick (Virgin Direct to Vegas), and as it takes approx 2hrs from Cambridge I left at 5.30am. Did not sleep the night before hoping to sleep on the plane.

All was going well, travelling down the M11 , satnav says eta of 7.15) then announcement on the Radio, "M11 southbound closed" Hmmmmm great.

Sure enough it was. 60 mile diversion which went through lots of road works. Finally got to the M25 and wanting to go east, but no, the eastbound join was also closed!! So that meant a 30 mile round trip the wrong way round the M25 - and yep you guessed it, the WHOLE 30 miles was roadworks (15mph at most!!). So now the satnac has eta of 9.15am and getting later all the time. Not the best of times to be on M25 and indeed I did not reach Gatwick till 10.05!!!! Had not phoned home and no time to do so

So there was me, running to checkin only to find a queue of around 300 people. With only 35 minutes before my flight leaves I just walk right to the front of the Queue and check in (dirty looks all round but who cares!)

Through security, I see my gate number of 36 - and also see Gate 36 is closing!!! The board says leave 20 minutes to get to gate 36. 20 minutes?!?!? OMG!!! So off I run again. Just making it onto the plane. Now I knew Charmaine would be worried, but nothing I could do about it, just had to hope she realised I got onto the plane. Would phone as soon as I landed in Vegas

So, covered in sweat, no smoke for the last 1.5hrs and a journey of 10 hours ahead, I settle into my seat with my DVD player and the films I had put onto dvd that morning. I plug my dvd power lead in and look for the electric point but cannot find one. I ask someone who tells me that only business class have electric points. So that meant no DVD's to watch :(

An hour went by and we had not moved, aparantly there was a problem with the baggage so I need not have ran at all.

Finally got away only to have an extra 2 hours added to the flight time to avoid bad weather. I slept on and off but managed to see some of the spectacular views when approaching Vegas. As far as you could see, there was nothning, absolutely nothing!! Baron mountainous wasteland, with the odd lake, surrounded with golf courses and houses.

Landed at Vegas, got to the immigration desk and as I was at the back of the plane, I was at the back of the queue!! 1 hour later, with only 30 odd people infront of me, the electric goes in the airport. Takes around an hour for the immigration computers to get back online. Finally collect my bags and I have to say the immigration at Vegas was superb, no need to unpack any of my items (unlike Reno last year) and I stepped outside and boy!! What a shock!! Now I knew it was hot here, but just didnt realise just how hot! It was litterally like standing infront of an oven with the door open. Tried to phone home on my mobile but for some reason it wasnt working, although I did manage to send a TXT so that made me feel better knowing that Charmaine would now know I was ok. Got taxi to The Orleans, got the internet working and phoned home. Was great to hear her voice - travelling alone does get very lonely especially when you have left your family at home.

I visited the Belagio and watched the likes of Phil Ivey, Tod Brunson, Barry Greinstein playing high limit cash. Then onto Ceasers to play the $100 (with one $100 rebuy) comp as I was told it was the best value tourney in Vegas.
Well, best value? I doubt it. Although at first it seemed great value as you start with 1500 but with the rebuy made it 4500 chips. The blinds was what killed the game 25 50 : 50 100 : 100 200 (with 25 ante) : 200 400 (with 50 ante) : 400 800 (with 100 ante).
300 people enterd which made for a tasty prize pool and I was surviving nicely until the blinds reached 400 800 and with only 7000 chips had one move. This was working ok until i lost a race with AQ vs 99.

Bumped into many people here, not been to The Rio yet, but plan to go there Friday.

Thats all for now..........