Sunday, November 23, 2008

Almost Hittin' For a 1.000 Percent...

11/23/08

Almost Hittin' For a 1.000 Percent...

You can almost call me Scotty the Greek. I bet 3 football
parlays today, one 6 teamer, and two 4 teamers. I got 5 out of
6 on one and 3 out of 4 on the two others. At least I'm beating
the experts, hehe...

It would have been nice to parlay $40.00 bucks into just about
a $900.00 profit, if they all hit. But alas, the Dallas/San
Francisco game and New York (Giants)/Arizona game, made the
over points. At least it makes watching the games more exciting,
hehe. Money would be icing on the cake.

There's always next week. Anything can happen on any given
Sunday.

I made the picks at the Aliante Casino sportsbook. It looks like
the hype at the casino may be dying down. The poker room only
had 2 tables going at the time, $2/4 and $4/8 limit holdem.

I decided to play some $2/4 limit holdem to kill some time.
I almost doubled up my original buyin of $100.00, after
about 2 hours of play. Not bad, especially with the river rats.
Got lucky on one hand, when my pocket Aces caught up with another
player's two pair on the river, where I hit a better two pair.
That's justice for you. The best hand preflop actually won in
this game. It was good that this was an action flop with 5
players almost going down to the river.

I will have to check out their small buy in tournaments that they
will start this week. It will kind of be like a home game, with
all the regular locals playing there.

Hope I can break my streak of making final table and actually
making the money, lol...

Oh yeah, did that again Saturday morning at Red Rock Casino's
NLHE tourny. Busted 9th out of 46, with pocket Queens against
pocket Kings, preflop. The other player and I actually made
flushes, but of course my 2nd place hand don't win. It paid the
top 5 players, and I was 4 spots away...

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

HORSE Wrangling At Green Valley Ranch...

11/19/08

HORSE Wrangling At Green Valley Ranch...

I've had a hankering to play a HORSE tournament and found a low
buyin at Green Valley Ranch on Wednesday. It's for $40.00 plus
a $5.00 add on, which give you a total of $2,000.00. Not much
to work with, but not a big dent to the bankroll. I can call it
a tuition charge to learn the nuances of the game. Plus, I miss
playing the other poker games, as NLHE can sometimes be a bore.

HORSE is an acronym for the 5 card games you will play throughout
the tournament. H is for Holdem, O for Omaha/8 or better, R for
Razz, S for Seven Card Stud and E for Seven Card Stud/8 or better.

The blind rounds were 15 minutes each. It was also a limit syle
tournament, as opposed to a no limit style.

Anyway, 35 started and they would payout the top 5. To make a
long story short - made it to the top 9 and busted out 9th. I
couldn't get a rhythm goin and was basically at my starting stack
of $2,000.00 throughout the whole tournament. I eventually got
it all in during a round of Seven Card Stud/Eight or better.
I just missed getting half the pot when my low hand of Eight,
Seven, Six, Two and Ace was outkicked by the another player's
hand of Eight, Seven, Five, Four and Two. We both got helper
cards on the river, but unfortunately the other player hit a
great card. I was out, again...lol.

If I had a buck every time I made the final 9, I would be chillin'
in Tahiti, playin' online everyday, hehe...

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

M & M SFC...So Goood...

11/18/08

M & M SFC...So Goood...

Located off the strip at the intersection of Charleston and
Valley View is another tidbit sent from heaven, M & M Soul
Food Cafe.

Photobucket

I've been meaning to check it out since I've moved here, but
every time I've passed it by - I am missing my appetite. Hey,
fried chicken is good anytime, but yo' I wanna make sure my
palate and colon are free for the day.

I decided to stop by there after my trip to the Las Vegas
Municipal Court to pay for the speeding ticket I got at the
end of September. First ticket in years, and it had to happen
during the North Las Vegas Popo's Quest for stops at the end
of their fiscal quarter. Dang, I haven't had a ticket in
years. The last one I had was probably about a good 8 years
ago (the last one before that one was about 8 years before
that). I guess moving violations in about 20 years of driving
(God 20 years already...why God?) is not too bad. Anyway,
I was going to go to court to dispute the speed the cop
clocked me at, but I would still be guilty of speeding. I
believe if the judge reduced my speeding to 45 mph in a
35 mph zone, the difference in the ticket amount was only
about $30.00. My court date was for Thanksgiving Eve, after
130 pm. I didn't want to sit in court for the rest of my
afternoon, getting the same result in my plea of nolo
contendre (pleading no contest to the speeding ticket and
paying the fine). I wanted to check out the courts anyway,
thinking that it would be a quick trip, but of course I was
wrong. I found parking in the city parking structure outside,
got into the Traffic Ticket Payment area and was given a slip
with #B090. I looked up at the screen and it said now serving
#B028.

Shieet!!! 62 more people before me. Shieet again!!! They also
have numbers starting with letters of R, C, and A. Actually
the wait wasn't too bad, I had to wait about 45 minutes and I
was finally called. I was done in about 4 minutes. Plead nolo
contendre to the court clerk and paid my ticket via debit card.

Now, I can get some food. I waited pretty much all day to eat.
I mean, I had some cereal at about 9 am, but it has been about
4 or so hours since that last meal. I usually eat something
every 3 hours, more or less.

Back to the grill again. Okay, I get to the soul food joint and
about half of the patrons look me up. "Haven't y'all seen a
Filipino before - we love fried chicken, sometimes more than
life itself - we are the soul food pioneers of the Far East!".
I thought this in my head - if I actually said it out loud, I
dunno' what would happen. Anyway, I got seated and perused
the menu. "Fried Items may take 20 minutes to complete", dang
it must be good. I'll just save it for next week. I decided to
get a half plate order of the meatloaf with gravy, side of
cornbread stuffing and potato salad. It also came with cornbread
cakes (like pancakes). Waited for about 6 or 8 minutes and the
cornucopia of comfort food got to my table.

Photobucket

I'll tell you - the food is really good. It takes a certain type
of palate to appreciate "comfort food". A good sign of that was
that I pretty much finished the whole order, left about half of
my potato salad on the plate, but that stuff is filler anyway.
The meatloaf had about the right amount of herbs and spices. The
gravy was not too salty, just about right. Cornbread any which
way is good, it wasn't dry - almost like cake, hehe...

The place itself was pretty clean and tidy - kind of surprising,
being in a "Friday After Next" type strip shopping mall.

It is a definite must go. Don't be afraid to take a trip off the
beaten path. I'm tired of buffets anyway...

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Xmas Shoppin' and Ace Queen...

11/13/08

Xmas Shoppin' and Ace Queen...

Played a tourny at Red Rock Casino last Tuesday, Veteran's
Day. I was expecting a bigger turnout, as it was a holiday
for city, county, state and federal employees. The tournament
is actually capped at 40, but only 24 lowly degenerates showed
up to play that morning. I've been meaning to check out this
NLHE tournament for sometime. It's a pretty good format,
you buy in for $100.00, which gives you $5,000.00 in chips.
An additional $5.00 gives you a bonus of $1,000.00 in chips.
So you basically start out with $6,000.00 total. The blinds
change every 30 minutes, which is a pace I like. Plus with
capping the players at 40, you don't have to play like all
day, then bust out with no money. It makes it a little
quicker, plus you get a decent payout. As it was only
24 players to start, top 3 would get paid. Almost like a
408 Poker Tour game, with a couple less payouts. There is
always the chop factor, we could split later on with a couple
more players - well, if I make it that far.

I played my game, and found Aces when I had exactly 10 bets,
I think blinds were $200/400 at the time. What did I do to
double up? I went all in of course. Luckily the small blind
player, picked up Ace/King of Diamonds and called me. The
big blind player folded. We were now heads up. Everybody,
was like why did I go all in with the Aces? Well, I figured
I thought I might get one caller from my position, who would
think that I may be stealing. I was hoping for one of the
players in the blinds, who were the chip leaders at the time.
I got my wish, simple. Hehe...Let me get back to the hand.
The dealer dealt out a King of Hearts, 4 of Clubs and 7 of
Spades. Please no cooler King on the turn or river. The
dealer turned an Ace of Hearts - now I got it locked down.
The river was dealt a King of Spades. Wow, I have top full
house and the other guy has bottom full house. Pretty sick,
but good for me.

Anyway, I won't bore you with further details, I made it down
to the last 7 players. I had about 12 bets and was UTG with
Ace/Queen OS. I decided to make a standard raise to 3 times
the big blind, bets were $500/$1000, with a $100 ante. There
was about $2,200.00 in the pot preflop. Everybody folded
behind, but the small blind and big blind players just called.
Now there was $9,700.00 in the pot preflop. I had about nine
grand in chips left. I felt that if I didn't flop anything
good, I could still have some ammo for the next round of
cards. We still had about 20 minutes left in this round.
The dealer dealt Ace of Clubs, King of Hearts and Ten of
Clubs. Not a bad flop for me. I think if the other two
players had a hand like Ace/King, pocket Kings, or pocket
Aces, they would have reraised preflop. Both of the players
in front of me checked, they looked pretty weak to me. I
thought about the hand, I had top pair, back door flush draw
with my Queen of Clubs and a gutshot straight draw (needed any
Jack for that) - I went ahead and went all in for the last of
my chips. I thought it would win it right there. Boy, was
I wrong...The small blind player immediately called, I was
dead. The big blind player folded. I flipped my hand up and
expected the other player to flip up Ace/King. Nah, he had
King/Ten of Spades - dang two pair. Okay, I need a Queen,
Ace or Jack (9 outs twice). The turn card was dealt a
Seven of Clubs - cool, now I have Clubs, Sevens, Jacks,
Queens and Aces to win on the river (a total of 20 outs,
that's about half the deck to win). Alas, the river was
dealt out a Four of Spades. Gross, I think it was still a
coinflip on the river - could not outluck this guy.

7 out of 24, not bad - not good, no money...lol...

Again, Ace/Queen sucks...

Finished my Xmas shoppin - in two days. God, that's record
for me. I usually finish my Xmas shoppin a couple days after
Xmas.

Well, I'm gonna check out some of the Black Friday sales too,
but that's for personal stuff.

Aliante Station just opened up - another upscale local casino.
Will do my football picks there this weekend. I'm getting
closer - got 4 out of 6 on both parlays last weekend.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Pocket Sixes, Suck...

11/5/008

Pocket Sixes, Suck...

Yeah right, that's the hand I won with at my first NLHE
tournament at Lucky Chances, years ago. Well, it's a monster
heads up. A gamble when you have a raise in front of you,
when you are in mid position. But when you haven't seen the
semblance of at least an Ace high hand in a couple of hours,
those pocket Sixes look like Aces. Anyway, I was short stacked
with about only 5 bets, with blinds at $600/1,200, with a $100
ante. There was about $2,500.00 in the pot preflop. The UTG
player raised the bet to $3,200. 3 players folded in front of
me, I then looked down at the Sixes. I decided to go all in,
knowing I would at least get a call from the initial raiser,
as he had pot odds to call my all in bet.

Sorry for the Tarantino non-linear style of blogging today.
The tournament took place at Caesars, last Monday 11/3/08.
It was one of their Mega Stack NLHE tournys, where the buyin
was $235.00, which gave you starting chips of $10,000.00.
The blind structure was pretty good, as they changed every
50 minutes. A good slow structure, with a lot of poker
playing. 87 players signed up for the event. Top 9 got
paid, where first was $5,400.00, which wouldn't be bad
for a Monday...

I made a key laydown, during the $50/100 blinds level.
I was in the small blind and did not look at my cards yet.
There were about 3 limpers in the pot, when the bet got to
me. I peeled up my cards and saw 2 black Aces. I decided
to raise the bet to $500.00 total. The big blind player
called, got folds from the next 2 players and the dealer
button player called. There was about $1,700.00 in the pot
preflop. The flop came Ten of Spades, Two of Clubs and Five
of Hearts. A pretty raggedy board. I decided to make a bet
of $1,100.00 into the pot. The big blind player raised the
bet to $3,000.00. WTF? The dealer button player went
immediately all in. WTF, again? I tanked for about a
couple of minutes. I kinda' felt that I was beating
the big blind player already, but I could not beat the
dealer button player's hand. What did the dealer button
player have? A set of Fives, A set of Two's? I wouldn't
think a Set of Tens, I think he would have slowplayed
that hand, considering the flop. After some, soul searching,
I decided to fold, I knew I was beat. Anyway, the
big blind player (who I knew I had), decided to call the
dealer button player's all in bet. Oh, another reason I laid
down the pocket Aces, was that the all in bet from the other
player, would have put me all in too. I can't go out of the
tournament with just a pair. The big blind player flipped
up Nine/Ten OS (for just a pair of Tens) and the dealer
button player flipped up Two/Five of Spades (for bottom two
pair). See, I made the right laydown. That's why I hate
getting pocket Aces sometimes, you sometimes feel committed
to playing them to the end, but again it is just one pair.
The dealer turned a King of Clubs and the river was dealt
a Jack of Hearts. I wouldn't have gotten lucky on the two
remaining cards. The big blind player lost and was pretty
much stacked off, he had only about $600.00 in chips left.
Man, that should have been my pot.

I made a decent bluff against the dealer button player, in
the next couple of hands. I had Ace/Nine of Spades on
the button. There were only a couple limpers ahead of
me, so I decided to call the bet of $100.00. The small
blind and big blind players checked. There was about
$600.00 in the pot. The flop was dealt Queen of Spades,
Eight of Spades and 7 of Diamonds. It was checked down
to the the midposition player (the Two/Five of Spades guy),
and he bet out $300.00. I didn't think he had a Queen,
he probably would have bet $400.00 to $500.00, to protect
it from a flush draw. He probably only had a pair of Eights.
I decided to call his bet, everybody else folded.
We were now heads up. The turn came a Five of Clubs.
He now checked and I in turn checked. The river card came
a Five of Hearts. I'm probably going to bluff this
board, if he doesn't bet. He checks pretty weakly.
I peel off $750.00 in chips and bet it into the pot.
He knocks the felt and folds, "Good hand" he says to me.
I rake in the pot, yay!!! Lol...

Another hand where I debated on making a laydown, was
where I played Queen/Ten of Hearts UTG and just called
the big blind bet of $800.00. Everybody folded around and
the small blind player made it $2,400.00 total to go. The
big blind player called and decided to call as well. I had
position and decent pot odds to call with a hand that could
flop well. The flop was dealt King of Hearts, Four of Hearts
and 6 of Clubs. I have a flush draw, hmmm? The small blind
player bet out a third of the pot. I had about a 3 to 1 call,
to try to hit my flush on the turn card. I decided to just
call, as the pot was laying me a good price to hit the
potential nuts. The turn card was dealt an Ace of Diamonds
and now I have a gutshot straight draw as well as the flush
draw, with one card to go. The small blind player immediately
put out a pot sized bet, which essentially puts me all in,
if I call. After thinking about the hand for a minute, I
decided to fold. I still had enough chips to make a few
moves later. I didn't want to gamble, with one card to go
(albeit with twelve outs, if I put the other player on
just a pair of Kings - nine Hearts and three non Heart
Jacks - for flush and straight). I think my mistake in the
hand, was that I should have went all in over the top of his
flop bet and try to make him make a decision for a large
amount of his chips (he had twice as many chips as me at the
time). If he did only have a pair of Kings, I could have
made him fold them on the flop. Maybe he would think, I could
have a set of Sixes or Fours, maybe two pair even. If I did
get called with an all in on the flop, I still would have
outs for the flush draw on the flop and straight draw on
the turn.

Back to the pocket sixes, after my all in, everybody folds
and the UTG player asks how much to call. He's gonna call
anyway, I think, as the pot is laying him about 3 to 1. He
thinks for a good minute - he must have been trying to steal.
Anyway, he makes the crying call and flips up Jack/Eight of
Spades. Well, at least it's a race. The flop is dealt King
of Clubs, Ten of Spades and Two of Hearts. A complete miss
for him. I requested the dealer to just put a Six out
there. The turn came a Jack of Clubs. Jeez...The river
was a 9 of Clubs. Upside down Six, hehe...

Busted out Jordan style, 23rd out of 87. But no, fade away
3 pointer for me this time...

The End...

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Jackpot at the Red Rock...

11/2/08

Jackpot at the Red Rock...

Today I met up with a buddy of mine at Red Rock Casino in
Summerlin. It was a first time for me at this "locals"
casino. For a casino off the strip, it was pretty nice.
That might be an understatement, as it is probably on
par with some of the best on the Strip.

I decided to to check it out on a Sunday morning, as I
wanted to put a couple of football parlay bets. A couple
of ten dolla' bets for a chance to win over eight hunny.
I actually hit have the teams I bet. Don't call me
Scott the Greek yet, hehe...

To kill time there, while watching some football, I also played
some $2/4 limit Texas Holdem. I felt like playing some "no
foldem' holdem", hoping to river some local player in each hand
I was in. I bought in for $120.00, it was for fun anyway, I could
make this last forever at this level. Plus they have a Bad
Beat Jackpot, that all players at the casino (plus their related
casinos) would share in if a bad beat was hit at one of the
poker tables.

Well, whattaya' know, 2 hours into playing, two players at
another poker table at Red Rock, hit Four Kings against a
Royal Flush - Bingo!!! Those players got the big money,
$45,000.00 to the loser and $30,000.00 to the winner of the
hand. There was a total of 306 players at each of the casinos'
poker rooms, so we all got $286.00 for sitting there. Not
bad. I eventually grinded off $25.00 at my stay at seat
10 on table 16, for the 6 hours of play. I was not successful
in putting in bad beats on anybody. I was up and down
for the whole day, with no threat to my original buy in.
Like I said, playing some low limit poker was to kill time,
while watching my picks.

As I mentioned before, I hit 50% of my picks, so no win
there. It's more of a bonus if I hit the parlay and it also
makes me watch the games more intently.

Anyway, I'll be trying to rest up the rest of the night, I want
to enter the Caesar's Megastack tourny tomorrow for their
$200.00 NLHE at 12 pm, I believe.