The Best Game In Town (11 Days of Vegas)
I chose this blog's address partly because it was available, mostly because I like the game.
Earlier this summer I was at the Palms with a friend, playing poker. I sat down at the no-limit, as I often like to do, and in the first two hands lost two all-ins in a row. Which I often do not like to do. It's not like they were bad hands either, the first I believe was late position AA preflop against several raises, and the second had me with 16 outs on the flop. Of course, watching those pots get taken gave me That Incredible Sinking Feeling.
Now that I remember, I think a guy sitting across from me said after I got up, "Yeah, but you weren't going to stay anyway." So I spent the next ten minutes thinking about that, and the hand, and then mostly about that guy's statement. I couldn't figure it out. Did he consider my moves poor play? Did he "see this before," in a vision? Or perhaps, was he just, really deep?
In any case, I decided it would not be a good idea to play further, and went for a walk. The Palms is one of the newer casinos, from my point of view. But for Vegas, ~6 years for a casino is middle age. It's still newish though, and still draws the girls, so it's not bad. It basically has a supermarket configuration though, food(slots) in the aisles, other junk along the walls. So without walking very far, I got some fast food, saw if any good movies were playing, and played some DDR.
On the way back to the poker room, I noticed that they had an expansion poker room occupying one of the convention rooms. It was World Series of Poker season, I think, and all the casinos did this then. So I went in, saw what was available, and sat at the 1-2 NL, smaller limits than the other table. Trench warfare; very tight players, bad cards, no confidence, very boring.
Usually at tables like that my head starts rotating randomly, giving my eyes a chance to see if anything more interesting or hotter is nearby. But it was my ears that heard the floor guy and several players discuss "3-6 dealer's choice." If that was what it sounded like, then that would probably be more interesting than waiting in very long lines at say, the airport, or the zoo, which was about the fun level of that particular 1-2 table. So when they started the table I got up and moved there.
Dealer's Choice wasn't exactly what I expected. At first I thought the dealer would call each game before each hand. I like dealers, they see a lot of hands, and probably have a better idea of whats interesting to play than I do. However, in dealer's choice, the button calls the game. But, most of the players's occupations at that table were dealers anyway, probably in town for the tournaments, so it was still good.
We were playing games that I didn't often play due to the texas hold'em craze, and games I had never even heard of. I learned badugie, which is a 4 card low game (lower poker rankings beat higher ones; 2346 beats AAAA) with rainbows (think anti-flush) taking the win. Seven stud, omaha, jacks or better, razz.
I think there's probably a difference between a hold'em player, and a poker player, and a poker player who's good at hold'em. It was nice to realize that.
To be fair, one of the reasons I liked the game was because I was getting lucky more often than usual. This seemed to frustrate the other players, who actually knew the game better but were losing. But at the same time I was learning, and getting better in that single session. But for the other players, it was like reverse-Halloween, where the baby takes candy from YOU.
After a certain point I began calling wildcards when the button got to me, making the kinds of games respectable players wouldn't want to touch with a ten-foot pole. Wildcards are the dirtiest of the dirty, lowest of the low. They are simply depraved games. But it evened the field a little bit, even the dealers took a while to figure out who won.
I probably had more fun at that session than any other time in Vegas. Poker for me can be grueling, and I don't find it fun or worthwhile unless 1) I'm learning and getting better, or 2) I'm there with a friend.
I'll be in Vegas for the next 11 or so days, and I plan to play some of the mixed games. There's a 20-40 HORSE (hold'em, omaha, razz, stud, eight or better) at the Bellagio, but that's a bit high for me. I might try the 10-20 mixed game at the Wynn. Most likely hold'em though.
Sometimes I actually study at the table. I might bring some anatomy flash cards, as penance for this semester. But that's another post.
Oh yeah, and karting this week. There will definitely be a post about that. Maybe pictures.
Earlier this summer I was at the Palms with a friend, playing poker. I sat down at the no-limit, as I often like to do, and in the first two hands lost two all-ins in a row. Which I often do not like to do. It's not like they were bad hands either, the first I believe was late position AA preflop against several raises, and the second had me with 16 outs on the flop. Of course, watching those pots get taken gave me That Incredible Sinking Feeling.
Now that I remember, I think a guy sitting across from me said after I got up, "Yeah, but you weren't going to stay anyway." So I spent the next ten minutes thinking about that, and the hand, and then mostly about that guy's statement. I couldn't figure it out. Did he consider my moves poor play? Did he "see this before," in a vision? Or perhaps, was he just, really deep?
In any case, I decided it would not be a good idea to play further, and went for a walk. The Palms is one of the newer casinos, from my point of view. But for Vegas, ~6 years for a casino is middle age. It's still newish though, and still draws the girls, so it's not bad. It basically has a supermarket configuration though, food(slots) in the aisles, other junk along the walls. So without walking very far, I got some fast food, saw if any good movies were playing, and played some DDR.
On the way back to the poker room, I noticed that they had an expansion poker room occupying one of the convention rooms. It was World Series of Poker season, I think, and all the casinos did this then. So I went in, saw what was available, and sat at the 1-2 NL, smaller limits than the other table. Trench warfare; very tight players, bad cards, no confidence, very boring.
Usually at tables like that my head starts rotating randomly, giving my eyes a chance to see if anything more interesting or hotter is nearby. But it was my ears that heard the floor guy and several players discuss "3-6 dealer's choice." If that was what it sounded like, then that would probably be more interesting than waiting in very long lines at say, the airport, or the zoo, which was about the fun level of that particular 1-2 table. So when they started the table I got up and moved there.
Dealer's Choice wasn't exactly what I expected. At first I thought the dealer would call each game before each hand. I like dealers, they see a lot of hands, and probably have a better idea of whats interesting to play than I do. However, in dealer's choice, the button calls the game. But, most of the players's occupations at that table were dealers anyway, probably in town for the tournaments, so it was still good.
We were playing games that I didn't often play due to the texas hold'em craze, and games I had never even heard of. I learned badugie, which is a 4 card low game (lower poker rankings beat higher ones; 2346 beats AAAA) with rainbows (think anti-flush) taking the win. Seven stud, omaha, jacks or better, razz.
I think there's probably a difference between a hold'em player, and a poker player, and a poker player who's good at hold'em. It was nice to realize that.
To be fair, one of the reasons I liked the game was because I was getting lucky more often than usual. This seemed to frustrate the other players, who actually knew the game better but were losing. But at the same time I was learning, and getting better in that single session. But for the other players, it was like reverse-Halloween, where the baby takes candy from YOU.
After a certain point I began calling wildcards when the button got to me, making the kinds of games respectable players wouldn't want to touch with a ten-foot pole. Wildcards are the dirtiest of the dirty, lowest of the low. They are simply depraved games. But it evened the field a little bit, even the dealers took a while to figure out who won.
I probably had more fun at that session than any other time in Vegas. Poker for me can be grueling, and I don't find it fun or worthwhile unless 1) I'm learning and getting better, or 2) I'm there with a friend.
I'll be in Vegas for the next 11 or so days, and I plan to play some of the mixed games. There's a 20-40 HORSE (hold'em, omaha, razz, stud, eight or better) at the Bellagio, but that's a bit high for me. I might try the 10-20 mixed game at the Wynn. Most likely hold'em though.
Sometimes I actually study at the table. I might bring some anatomy flash cards, as penance for this semester. But that's another post.
Oh yeah, and karting this week. There will definitely be a post about that. Maybe pictures.
posted by joe at 9:57 AM
2 Comments:
My favorite part about Halloween is wrenching the candy bags out of the tiny hands of the unsuspecting children when they come to my door on Halloween. Yum!
Aaron didn't actually have kids taking candy from him because we didn't have any. He wanted to plop scoops of ice cream into their bags, but we probably didn't have ice cream either (he probably ate it all).
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