razzzz

So after bombing out of the 3k NL event i decided to play the $1500
razz event. Quickly the NL event started off ok, as in the first 30
minutes i didnt bust ! Then a key hand develops. Blinds 50-100,
early pos raiser to 350, and 3 callers. I have AK in the small make it
1950 (out of 6k). And the first person folds, the 2nd callers, calls ?
Now this person has commited 40% of their stack. Flop comes
k-j-2. I pretty much put the person all in who goes all in , with
Js, so ghey ! Down to under 1000 chips i get back to 4k, with
my new table having hellmuth and devilfish. I decide to re-raise
a button raise who looks weak, with KQs, who calls with decent
odds with a7 , and i dont hit.

So off to play the razz. The first few levels of a limit event
are slow torture. But i learn as i go along, that playing
speculative hands against even the donkeys is not
that profitable. So i ran my 3k stack to 6200 by the end
of the day, slightly under average.

Day 2 i busted a short stacked todd brunson, before
all my good hands ended up in smoke, as is the case with
razz ! 6-4-2, 6-4-3, razzed out. Busted out in 70th,
which was very disapointing.

Anyway whats good in vegas. The crepes , nutella crepes.

Horses for Courses

After getting so close in the FT qualifier to play the 50k horse. Naturally I assumed i could play horse (wat do they say "assumptions are the mother of all fuckups")

So i entered the 5k horse event against some of the best players in the world and a few

randoms. At dinner i was up to 15k , up 50% of starting stack in limit is pretty good!

However after dinner it all went pear shaped, 4 card flushes

with low draws in studd didnt come thru, trips lost to str8ts

etc etc. And perhaps there were a couple of spots where i didnt need

to gamble, but it was disapointing after what i thought was going

to be my day. In the end i busted just before the day ended, even

tho most of the ppl still remained. An aussie still is in, after being

short stacked, and has made a good comeback so may be i could have hung

around and waited and waited , tho frankly i doubt it . At least i got

to play against Doyle, even if he schooled me in one pot.

Yep, maximum !

What in Vegas costs a $100 a minute and lasts 15 minutes ?

Interesting question ? Youd hope after spending that kind
of money youd be reasonably satisfied. However unfortunately
the answer is the $1500 plo event.

So early on i limp on with a speculative hand , against a big
blind not sitting in. 3 others limp in. I have A-9-10-2 suited.
Ok thats a bit junky, but thats the how i play PLO... badly !
Well not that bad usually. Anyway flop comes Kc-j-8c I have the
nut flush draw + str8 draw (7 or Q for the nuts). I bet the pot
the guy raises me. After thought i consider him to have JJ
or 88 or may be may be a wrap draw. I re-push representing
KK , he thinks and goes if you have KK you have me beaten then calls.
The board pairs on the turn and im out. Whoops, oh well,
tomorrow is the horse. At least im not playing scared, im hoping
the limit will limit the damange. And may be there are things in
vegas at a $100/min that are better value?

Are you black or white ?

Some ppl know I like to bring up the fact im "black" as
to why I cant swim well and when Im on a rant how
the racial minorities need to group together to fight
the white opression. Of course im not really serious, but
ppl often say, "your not even black!"

Well today whilst playing blackjack at Paris, there
were 2 african american women playing and a younger
african american female dealer. Even tho i was wearing
a hat, after a while of playing they
thought i was african american or a mixture , 1/2 black 1/2 other.
Then i said i was sri lankan in origin, and they were like
oh, we were only talking to you because they thought
I was "african american" . Then they started laughing, I didnt
get it. So may be im not black, but i can be confused for one ,
or perhaps im just confused.

Also my accent apparently is english, must be the "posh"
adelaide accent. No one assumes im aussie, i dont look
aussie, i dont speak aussie according to the americans.
Some quasi looking black english speaking person. Freak !

Very nice , how much ?

According on how to fit into the vegas scene and not to act
like a dork there are some fundamental rules according to
the style show:

1. Dont say "vegas baby, vegas ..." This phrase was popularised
in the movie swingers. I prolly dont say this when im vegas,
but when talking to people before coming here, i can think
of at least a couple of times i slipped it into conversation, but
i was being funny !

2. Dont wear sunglasses in a club ! Unless ur blind apparently
wearing sunglasses in a club is not cool. Hmm im sure it was
cool in adelaide in London when i did it , perhaps not...

3. Girls in vegas are not either strippers or hookers. So when
they walk past, saying "very nniiice, how much" , probably is
inappropriate. But may or may not be funny.

Tho prolly the funniest comment of the day came from benjo,
on the female poker players. "would you rather sleep with
kathy liebert or antonius". He rationalised patrick
anotinus has more money, weird , who things along those
lines...

Extremes - plus or minus 45

As the weather is starting to heat up , my poker results
are turning ice cold. In fact I think there is an inverse
relationsip. Currently the weather is more than 40 degrees, and the poker
losses have slipped below 40k. Oh well wat can you do ? Get a new job ? haha

Todays event was the 5k NL. All the good players were playing,
and my table was pretty good considering, as only Nam Le was there,
and also some other guy who plays 100-200NL tho I didnt know
who he was. I started off trying to see some cheap flops and connect,
but everything missed. When I bet someone would call with a gutshot
and outdraw me. Gradually my chips almost 1/2ved. I managed
to win a pot finally with a5 under the gun flopping 2 pair, and later
a donkey pushed all in over the top short stacked with AQ against my
AA and i was back in it up to 11k . (starting 10k).

Then tuan le, got moved to my table, with a lot of chips.
He was playing quite a few hands, and was pushing ppl
around. I didnt get anything, and a raise with 3-4s didnt end up to good,
as i bet a 10-10-9 flop and got re-raised. I had aroudn 8k when the following
hand came up just before the 2nd break. Tuan limped in, somone else called,
I called with 3-4 spades on the button, and the blinds came in. The Flop
came J-6s-2s. He bet 800 in about 1200pot, I could have called here, but
he would bet a range of hands that he would prolly fold here if i raised, plus
i had a big draw, and i could push out the other players. I made it 2400, and
he called quickly. The turn came a red 4. Giving me a pair. I put him on something
like j10 , qj or may me a big flush draw like k-10spades. He checked and I pushed
my remaining 5k chips in. I figured I would do this with a set or KJ, and he would
fold a medium j or prolly a higher flush draw. Tho even if he called with the flush draw,
I had now turned a pair so i would be ahead. If i check he may bet big with
a missed flush draw on the river, and I wouldnt know where I was. He thought
about it for a while and ended up calling with j10. I had 17 outs , of course
it came a blank. I was happy with the way i played that hand the rest of it.
I was a bit disapointed he called with j10 there, coz my image had been
tight, and I had only showed Aces and barely played that much. If i had a better
jack he was drawing almost dead.

Oh well, i hope it doesnt get much hotter.

Other stuff in vegas

Seinfeld moment, was in the open air carpark at the rio looking for
our friends car. There were 4 of us, wondering around, but
we didnt end up splitting up. I actually needed to go to
the toilet, and I didnt have my public urination pass ! Luckily
we did find the car within 10minutes.

Walking around vegas, you get lots of mexicans handing out
cards for "girls". Interestingly they guarantee the girl to your
room in 20 minutes ? Are these girls just driving / being driven
around in cars waiting for a call ? Surely the petrol costs would
blow the margins. Tho i guess nothing in vegas is really much
further than 20 minutes away, still it takes me 20 minutes
to walk from my room to the next casino along. Perhaps
they are on roller skates, is it like pizza hut, not here in 20minutes
and its free?

Phil hellmuth won bracelet no. 11, I think I can play his style, that
means i should be able to at least win one.

I was listening to my french roomates ipod during the last event.
Its interesting to listen to someone elses taste in music , tho there
was a lot of overlap on my ipod. Except the french music and the
heavier stuff. He did have motivational tracks on there, tho i chose
to skip over them, may be next time ill try and listen to one. Then
he had some hanibal audio book thing, listening to hanibal stories
isnt ideal when someone on ur poker table is tilting you...