Subject: Sgt. Rock 2002 WSOP/Bellagio TR Part I From: "Sgt. Rock" Newsgroups: rec.gambling.poker Date: Mon, May 27, 2002 2:13 PM Message-ID: We've flown in and out of Vegas and Reno 150+ times over the last 11 years, but this was the first time we drove. We left Seattle on April 26, headed South on I-5, and after a couple days visiting family in the San Francisco and San Deigo Bay areas, we drove Mrs. Rock's 2002 Honda into Vegas on I-15 the afternoon of Tuesday, April 30, and got a room at Bellagio. We didn't know if we were staying 2 days or 2 weeks, or what. Turned out we stayed 21 nights. We came to town with a trip bank only a third as big as we brought last year. The plan was that if either of us could run our half of the bank up to $20K in the 30/60 game, then he/she could play 80/160. As soon as we got there and saw how juicy the 80/160s looked, we reconsidered that plan, and agreed instead that either of us could and should play 80 so long as we had the green light from the other. There was slightly less action than last year, but it was still awesome. Last year we sometimes saw five 30/60 games, but I don't think I saw more than four at any time this year. Last year the 80/160 must-move and second must-must-move games started earlier and went longer than this year, but not by much. Last year the 80/160 main game went nonstop for the 3 weeks that we were there; this year it actually broke a couple times between dawn and noon. As soon as we got into the poker room I saw our friend Mr. X, a Vegas local, who told us that: - The 30/60 and 80/160 games had been extremely good since the Series began. Doh. - The card quality was worse than ever, with many color-mismatched cards, particularly in the green decks. - He was suspicious of a certain few visiting LA players in the 30 and 80 games, who might be colluding (signaling best hand), trying to whipsaw players who got between them, and, especially, trying to scope players' holecards from the rail, then signaling their friend in the game, or just walking up to their friend and quietly telling him- in their native tongue- what they had seen. Enforcement of the "English Only" rule is pretty poor at Bellagio. === Tuesday, April 30 - Day 1 I play 30/60 for about 8 hours and lose $1,742, in spite of flopping four Kings. The Europeans are back in force this year, and the French contingent seems to have doubled. All the regulars, many newbies, and more than a few of the French guys brought their wives or girlfriends along. Lots of French conversation in the room, and Americans constantly commenting about how pretty the language is. Language, smanguage. How about the way these guys play? Viva la France! === Wednesday, May 1 - Day 2 I start at 30/60, then try some 80/160, play 14 hours total, and win $3,176. That's more like it. Bellagio Deltas, 2002 vs. 2001: 1. New carpet in poker Room. Was mostly gold before, now mostly black. Just as dirty, but hides it better. 2. Many waitresses, maids and others now wearing badges that proclaim their union affiliation. Once, in the buffet, as the carver was putting the wellington on my plate, he told me, in a thick accent, "We strike in June." I thought my ears had deceived me, and must have given him a puzzled look. So he repeated it. 3. Poker room food comps used to be worth "$10 or one buffet," which made them a great value evenings and weekends, when the buffet is $24.95 or more. Now a comp is good for $15.00, period. Weekdays, the buffet is $14.95 until 3:30pm, so that's about the only time you can use a comp. We'd been accustomed to being generous to the guys with the pencil, getting comps, and doing the buffet pretty much any time we wanted. No more. That really sucks. === Thursday, May 2 - Day 3 (Anniversary: Private E-1 Rock drafted 35 years ago today) I again start at 30, then help start the must-move 80 game. Began at Table 4, in Seat 3, my catbird seat, but couldn't stay long. I was first to move to the main game, where... P.I. Bert open-raises on the button, and I flat call from he BB with Qd Jd. (Shoulda raised? The Professional Poker Player Formerly Known as Phil Tomasello used to rag on me for 3-betting a button steal raise with QJo from the Small Blind. Then, later in this trip, Izmet chided me for NOT 3-betting in that same spot. More I think about it, more I side with Iz.) The board came: A T 4, K, 7 I bet the flop with nothing, but he calls. Then I check-raise the turn, but he reraises, and I reraise; he calls. I guess he had a set and I got lucky. It was about the only time I got lucky in that session. Later than night I got heads-up with Vincente, where I held AJ. He checked the turn, but before I could do anything behind him, the dealer-in-a-hurry put a King on the river. I was breathing, and may have blinked, but otherwise I was a statue. Vince knew I hadn't acted, and told the dealer "Hey, he didn't do anything yet." I guess he didn't like the King any more than I did :-) The dealer's gestures and expression told us that she wished we could just pretend that I had checked, and get on with it. Yeah, right. I had to tell her that "No, we can't play the river; we haven't finished playing the turn yet." The floorman was called and told me to complete the action before we take back the river, shuffle, and bring it again. So I checked, and she shot me a *really* dirty look. Vince laughed. Then she brought a Jack, and I smiled. Then Vince turned over pocket Queens and I stopped smiling. This particular dealer is sort of a buddy of ours, but is fast, sloppy, gabby, and inattentive. She didn't speak to me for a couple days after this. Go figure. Overall, it was a Bad Day at Black Rock. I bought four racks in the 80 game, and cashed less then a rack, for a loss of $6,689. Then I went to bed and slept like a baby. === Fri May 3 - Day 4 The 80 looks real good, but my funds are already low. Mrs. Rock gives me a big chunk of her bank, and I get in it anyway. There is a small and very hyper LA-Vietnamese kid in the game who shows us all the aggressiveness but none of the skill or cleverness usually displayed by his countrymen. In other words, a Megafish. He likes nearly every starting hand he sees. He can't lay down. He makes the strangest moves and bets you ever saw. His stack moves up and down a lot, but he buys and blows off $6K in 2 hours, goes for more money, comes back and blows a few more, goes for money again, but doesn't come back. Pretty much none of the chips he burned landed on my stack. Darn. He was still around 2 weeks later, but I never did play with him again. Double darn. Instead, I hung in, but neared the carpet myself around midnight. Then I bounced back a couple racks, but when it began heading south again, around 4 am, I quit, -$1,871 for the day and -$7,226 for the trip. Shit. This sucks. === Sat May 4 - Day 5: Kentucky Derby Day No Private Showings! I'm playing 30/60 at Table 5, Seat 3, when Mr. Mason Malmuth takes Seat 1. Within a couple minutes I am surprised to notice that his cards are exposed to the other end of the table when he folds preflop. Rather than slide them horizontally to the dealer, he lifts them a few inches off the felt to halfway between horizontal and vertical, then gives a flick of the wrist to send them towards the muck. This is something I see all the time, and it always bugs me. In a game of incomplete information, how can I tolerate it when my opponents unfairly get information that I don't get? Simple. I can't. Sometimes it seems like a guy exposing cards is doing it on purpose, but in this case I'm sure it's just inadvertent carelessness. From a pro. Go figure. I could say something to him, but that would violate my long standing Official Policy of never trying to tell another player what to do. Instead, the next time I see it happen, I immediately point to the cards, and tell the dealer "Show all, dealer-- that hand!" Unfortunately, the guy in the box was the single most inept dealer at Bellagio, and I had to carefully explain to him that the cards had been exposed to the other end, and so I wanted to see them too. He finally understood, and showed us all the pocket fives that had been mucked carelessly. Mr. M. said nothing. Then, two deals later, it happened again! I made the same verbal demand of the dealer. He got flustered, and didn't know what to do, so I asked him to "Please either show me that hand, or call the floorperson." Then Mr. M. said "YES, CALL THE FLOOR! THIS IS STARTING TO PISS ME OFF!" The floorlady came over. Mr. M. demanded that she poll the guys at the other end to ask if they had seen his hand. I told her that I didn't care what they said, or if they were asleep, legally blind, or dead; that the cards had been EXPOSED to them, and so should be exposed to all. The poor floorlady didn't know what to do, so I told her "Look, if you can just arrange for all cards to be mucked face down on the felt, I will shut up and we can just play." She shot me a grateful smile, asked everyone to muck carefully, and went away. All this time I had said not one word to or about Mr. M; rather I had referred to "those two cards," as though they had been exposed by a gust of wind. Oh, but he really was pissed. He probably thought I was taking some kind of shot at him, when I was just trying to put a stop to the exposure of cards. I'm sorry if he took it as a personal affront. It wasn't personal at all. In any case, now he wanted to get me. I was starting to eat the $8 club sandwich that Mrs. Rock had kindly brought to me from the Scarf & Barf, aka "Sam's Snack Shop." At Mirage there is (or was) a rule against food at the table, but there is no such rule at Bellagio. Still, Mr. M. pointed at me and my lunch, and asked the dealer "Is that allowed in here?" Maybe I should have just politely asked him to muck more carefully, and avoided all the hassle. That Official Policy of mine is intended to avoid hassles, but maybe it failed this time. Usually it works pretty good. I don't ask a player to make room for me, or to show me the hand he just showed his neighbor; instead I ask the DEALER to square the table, or to "show all." Mr. M. mucked his hands carefully after that. --- The Mother of All Muckers That's what all the dealers call me. At least I think that's what they're saying. Mucking is the strongest part of my game. Not the timing so much as the execution. If there's a clear path across the cloth between me and the muck, or the dealer's ready hand, then a highly cultivated and carefully aimed flick of the index finger sends my two cards straight there. If the path is blocked, say by chips, I can even do a bank-shot. The dealer doesn't have to reach out to retrieve my folded hand; it's right there at her fingertips. Ask any Bellagio dealer if Sgt. Rock isn't The Mother of All Muckers, and they'll say "Yes!" Or maybe "Who?" --- FTTS No, it's not a new internet protocol. FTTS simply stands for "Fun Things to Say" (in the Hold 'Em game.) FTTS: "You're Not Gonna Check-Raise Me, Are Ya?" Two good ol' boy tourists came into the game, sat down together, and seemed be buddies. These are the kind of sharpies who might double down on hard twelve in a blackjack game, if you know what I mean. Soon I was in a hand where I raised from middle position, the button called, and both of these guys called from the blinds. As soon as the flop came down, the SB mucked his hand. Then BB mucked his hand. Have you ever deliberately mucked your hand when there was no bet to you, and where you could have checked for free? If not, well, surely you've seen other guys make this brilliant play. I myself have been tempted a few times, but have never done it. Imagine the player who ALWAYS mucks, just to save time, if he's gonna fold to any bet, or otherwise hates the board. If that guy ever just checks, you better watch out! When the player in front of me does this I sometimes say the FTTS above. I think this was the first time I ever saw TWO guys consecutively muck like this, so I called for time and asked them: "OK, which one of you guys is going for the check-raise?" --- Sun, May 5 - Day 6 I get in a 30/60 at 11:00am, again at Table 5, Seat 3. Later that evening I open-raise from the SB with KJo, and P.I. Bert calls in the BB. Board comes: 9 9 2, 2, A. I bet flop and turn, and he calls. We both check the river, and I turn over my hand. He mucks. Then THREE guys tell him that the board plays. Floorman Bobba is called to the table, and tells us that, yes, at Bellagio a player can muck and play the board, but only if he declares "Play the board" before releasing. Bert had made no such declaration. Did I give him half the pot? No. Have I ever made so terrible a mistake myself? Sure. Did I try claim "my share" of the pot after I had goofed? No way. Still, Lady Luck must have wanted to punish my lack of compassion, as I suffered a downhill slide for hours, bought a 3rd rack late in the evening, a 4th at 1:00am, and ended -$3,018 for the day and -$10,469 for the trip. Shit. Now this REALLY sucks. === Mon, May 6 - Day 7 First round of the day I open raise Jc Js in late position, but get 3-bet by the BB. Board comes: K 7 T, Q, 4, ALL spades. He bets flop and turn, and I fear the As, but when he checks the river I bet, he calls, then I show and take it. Dunno what he had. Then I get into the catbird seat with a loose Frenchman (pardon the redundancy) on my left. How loose? Would you believe open-limp UTG with 23o? --- FTTS: "Sorry, I Got Excited..." Short handed; 5 players dealt in. I open-raise UTG with As 3s, and Little Tony calls from the BB. I turn the nut flush, but check behind him. Then he bets the river. I accidentally fumble my raise, spill chips all over the cloth, and apologize to him and the dealer. "Sorry, I got excited." He calls. How come they never believe me? --- Playing Slow != Slowplaying I don't slowplay very much, but I play slowly all the time. So many guys seem to want to forcefully splash their bet out there the instant the flop (or turn, or river) hits, or maybe even BEFORE it hits, and I never quite understood that. A display of confidence? OK, fine; thanks for the info. Sometimes I know beforehand what I'm gonna do on the next round, but more often I gotta think about it some. If I act right away when I know, but pause when I'm not sure, doesn't that give them information that I'd rather not provide? Well, sure it does. In fact, this is a concept that was named after me: They call it a "no-brainer." Also, I'm not looking at the board when cards come down. I'm watching my opponents. I don't look at the board until my turn comes. So say we're five handed, I'm fourth, the flop comes, and the first three guys act. The dealer and players expect me to act immediately. They don't realize that I don't even know what's on the board yet. When my turn comes the action stops for a moment, while I look, think, decide, THEN act. Hey, it's not like I'm majorly holding up the game. I'm talking about, on average, a two second pause. One thousand one, one thousand two. Still, this seems to irritate a few players and dealers. To them I offer this advice: Get over it. Just like I got over being irritated by the dealers who gesture impatiently to let me know that it's my turn. I know whose turn it is. I also understand that you deal to lots of players who DON'T know whose turn it is, so the gestures don't bother me any more. Before the flop, I ALWAYS pause for two seconds when it's my turn. It's still quite amazing how often this causes those guys on my left who have already looked at their hands to TELL us what they're gonna do. If you like, you can call that annoying, angling, rude, or a cheap trick. I call it playing poker the best way I know how. --- A Play-Fast guy open-raises from early position, Little Tony 3-bets from the middle, and I 4-bet late with AKo. Flop comes J 4 4 and I bet when it's checked to me, but the opener INSTANTLY raises. Tony folds, and I call. Turn is a blank; bet and call. Then he bets the river even as the dealer is bringing a King, and I call. He shows AJo. Is it too late to raise? --- The button open-raises, Little Tony 3-bets from the small blind, and I 4-bet from the BB with 77. Board comes: 9 9 4, A, 6 Tony bets the flop, I raise, button folds, Tony reraises, and I call. Turn and river are checked around, and he shows me 88. Maybe I should have either mucked preflop, or else followed through on my preflop aggressiveness and perhaps stolen it on the turn or river. I think he might have released if I had bet. --- Miss, I Think You Left Your Motor Running In a CP article a couple years ago, Max Shapiro called them "jigglers." You see them all the time: Players with lots of nervous energy who bounce their knee up and down or otherwise jiggle some part of their body. Sometimes they're at the other end of the table, and you can't see their knee bouncing, but you can see their sleeve or collar flapping back and forth from the exertion. Sometimes, when a guy who's been steadily jiggling suddenly STOPS jiggling, it might even TELL you something. On swingshift I noticed a DEALER who jiggled. Her whole body was bouncing ever so slightly up and down in the chair. Low amplitude, high frequency; almost a vibration. The guy next to me had a sweep second hand on his watch, and we clocked her at 177 RPM, or just under 3 Hz. Now here's where it gets weird. Later, on graveyard, there was ANOTHER female dealer who jiggled in the chair too. This one went front-to-back instead of up and down, and at 174 RPM. Ya know, I really do need to get a life. --- I open-raise with AA, get 3-bet by Jason, and just call heads-up. Board comes: Q 5 3, 8, 5 I check-call the flop, then check-raise the turn, thinking I'm being clever. Then I call his raise on the river and he shows me QQ. Yeah, real clever. --- I limp in the SB with Js 5s after several limpers, but the BB raises. Board comes 4 6 7, 8, 2. Pot gets rather large, but it's a 3-way split. I win $515 for the day. --- (continued in Part II) --- Sgt. Rock http://sarge.virtualave.net Mail To: woodrack AT sarge DOT virtualave DOT net Subject: Sgt. Rock 2002 WSOP/Bellagio TR Part II From: "Sgt. Rock" Newsgroups: rec.gambling.poker Date: Mon, May 27, 2002 2:13 PM Message-ID: <%jxI8.34266$ux5.40039@rwcrnsc51.ops.asp.att.net> (continued from Part I) === Tuesday, May 7 - Day 8 Mrs. Rock is already in the 30 game when I come down, but she's getting ready to go to her local girlfriend's house to have some lunch and do our laundry. I take her seat and play her chips. On most previous long visits it was me who did the laundry, by hand, in our hotel room bathtub. This time it's quite a luxury to access a real washer and dryer. New York Tony is in the game. Happy-go-lucky smokin' and jokin' Amerasian kid with a Fu Manchu, who's already been at the table 24+ hours. He has a mountain of chips, and likes to straddle. Ya gotta love this guy. Tony straddles, I 3-bet from mid position with QTo, and we're heads-up. Board comes: Td 7d 4c, Qs, 5h. He check-raises, then 4-bets me on the flop, and calls my raise on the turn and my bet on the river. He flopped two pair with 74o, so I did need that turn card. 30 minutes later Tony straddles again and I 3-bet again with Qh Jh, flop top pair, he calls me to the river, and I take it. By late afternoon there's a real party atmosphere at the table. It's a diverse mix of young Asians, a couple Frenchmen, and me, the Buddhist-Jew. Lots of action, some rammin' and jammin' (but not too much) and everyone oohs and aahs in unison when a scare card hits in a hotly contested pot, then they congratulate the guy who just sucked out. Then L.T.- The Lieutenant- comes into the game. I call him this in deference to his former US Army Infantry status. I've known this guy for several years, but don't see him too often. You know how they say that in the poker game you should try to get inside the other guy's head? I'm sure that's good advice, but in this guy's case, I have to pass. Don't think I could take the heat. OK, I KNOW I couldn't take it. I mean, this guy is REALLY out there. Still, I like him a lot, and he's always fun to talk to. Hadn't seen him in well over a year, so we were chatting and catching up for a while before this hand came down: One guy limps early, L.T. limps from Button-1, and I limp in the SB with QTo. BB checks, and we see the flop 4-way. Board comes: J Q 4, 6, T I check the flop, and start trying to decide if I'm gonna fold or raise when it gets back to me. I'm pretty sure I won't want to call. Check, check behind me, and L.T. bets. I raise, and the other two guys fold. L.T. says three, and I say four. He calls. Then I check the turn, and he jumps in his seat. Then he bets, and I call. Two seconds wasn't enough this time. I spend three seconds watching him look at the river, then another three seconds looking at it myself. Then I bet. He says "OK, YOU hypnotized me..." in a resigned and weary sort of way, and calls. Then, even as I'm beginning to turn my hand over, but before he can see it, he mucks. I swear. Then he picked up and left almost immediately. I've spent the last couple weeks trying to figure out WTF that was all about. If only I knew just what it was I did, and could add it to my meager repertoire of moves, why, I could dominate any game! --- Frenchman open limps early, and I raise right behind him with Michael and Janet Jackson. He 3-bets heads-up, and I call. I kinda wanted to 4-bet, but his very early position made his 3-bet a little scarier, or so I thought. Board comes: A A A, A, 9. No kidding. Flop: He checks, I bet, he calls. Turn: Check, check. We're both in awe of the board, but my check here was a BIG mistake. River: He checks, I bet, and he calls with Js 9s. All that fun for free. In spite of the brilliant play against L.T. (if only I knew what I did!) I quit -$570 for the day and now -$10,524 for the trip. Mid-session I had been even worse off, stuck two racks, so had hit a trip low point of -$12K. Then I bounced back a rack and a half before quitting. Overall, I'm not happy. The guy that said this game was easy was a lyin' son of a bitch. === Wednesday, May 8 - Day 9 Two maids loudly talking in Spanish just outside my hotel room door wake me up. Face down in the bed, head half on the pillow, I open one eye in the darkened room and am looking at the digital clock on the nightstand, 9 inches from my face. 11:03am. I had gotten to sleep around 5:30. But wait, something is wrong here. I know who I am, and where I am- or where I'm SUPPOSED to be- but it seems that I have somehow been transported to another planet. A BIG planet. The gravity here is tremendous, and it feels like my body weighs about 1100 lbs. I must be experiencing around 5 Gs. Don't panic. I briefly contemplate trying to move, to stir, but decide not to chance it. Instead, I carefully close the open eye. Rest. I need more rest. --- 1:12pm. That's more like it. Now we're down to 1.5 Gs, and who can't manage that? I get up, shower (now 1.2 Gs) dress, and go downstairs. I probably coulda got it down to 1.1 Gs if I hadn't given up caffeine a couple years ago. By this time Mrs. Rock has given me ALL of her starting trip-bank. Does that put her on the rail? No way. Maybe I should mention that while I've been struggling and suffering, she's had zero losses since we hit town, and has, on average, won $744.25 per day. She's re-bankrolled herself with her winnings. Now some guys might feel threatened, or maybe even humiliated or emasculated by a wife who consistently outperforms them. Me? I get down on my knees and give thanks. And another thing. She never looks more attractive to me than when I see her in a game with 9 guys, and she's kicking their asses. Especially when I know most of the guys well enough to know that they know her and fear her. That is SUCH a turn-on. But anyway, now we're telling ourselves and each other, half joking, half serious, that we may have to go home early. The prospect of driving 1150 miles in disgrace is really depressing. So, I set this Recovery Goal: Win enough at 30/60 to give Mrs. Rock back all her starting-bank, and still have a strong buy-in (2 racks) before even thinking about any more 80/160. Or maybe go bust trying. I park it in 30/60 at Table 5, Seat 3. $2,000- two racks- is my usual buy in, but today I only buy $1,900. Why? Simple. I don't have $2,000. By 7:00pm, tho, I have 4 racks in front of me. Two guys come by within minutes of each other, both asking "Hey, Sarge, aren't you playing 80 today?" I point at my stack and tell them both the same thing. "Sure, just as soon as I can make this look like eleven racks." --- I open raise with 22 on the button, and the BB 3-bets. I 4-bet, and take it on the flop. I couldn't remember ever 4-betting with 22 before. I have a good day, +$3,688, and, ever the optimist, decide that this is the turnaround. Those 2 extra hours of sleep did it. === Thursday, May 9 - Day 10: Got up "late" again, at 1:00pm, and started in a 30 game at Table 5, Seat 10. FTTS: "All That Practice Really Paid Off" Alan G. comes into the game and posts behind the button, and the extra blind motivates me to open-raise from the middle with Ad 8d. Didn't work; the guy behind me and all three blinds call. OK, so a second ago I thought I was stealing, but now I'm drawing. Fine. Let the sucking begin. Board Comes: 7h 6c 3d, 4d, Kd Flop: BB bets and three of us call. Turn: BB bets and two of us call. River: BB check-raises me, I reraise, and he calls. I show him my backdoor nut flush, and declare that "All that practice really paid off that time!" I like saying this after an unlikely suckout. "Yeah, I been working on the backdoor for weeks." Sometimes that just gets a blank look, but more often it gets a laugh, though generally NOT from the guy you just sucked out on. Then, if they ask what I mean, I tell them... Me: "Yeah, I learned about poker the same way I learned about sex." Them: "Huh? How's that?" Me: "It's easy. You just lock yourself alone in a room, and practice, practice, practice." --- At 3:00am I'm stuck $1,927 for the day, and give it up. Mrs. Rock's streak ended today. She bought 3 racks and got stuck pretty good, then won most of it back, and ended the day -$460. I made her sleep in the car that night. === Friday May 10 - Day 11: Up at 11:30am and right into a 30 game. For the first couple years I played Hold 'Em I don't think I ever limped in with Aces. Nowadays I probably do it 10-20% of the time, occasionally more, depending on the personality of the game. I'm at Button-2, and I think this was the first time I ever open-limped AA from such a late position. Usually I figure that my opponents know me well enough to smell that rat, but this time the guys behind me were all strangers. Board comes: 9 9 J, 8, Q. I bet flop and turn, and get two callers. Then I check-fold the river. They both have a Ten for the straight, and split the pot. I may never limp again. --- Quack, Quack I open-raise late with 22, but get three callers. Board comes: J J 2, Q, 7. Vegas pro Mike T. bets the flop from the BB, then reraises me, but releases when I raise him on the turn. "What you got?" he asks. "Quack, quack," I reply. Later that evening Jason deals me AA back-to-back. It's been a couple years since that happened to me. Held up both times, too. No limping! I win $852 for the day. === Saturday May 11 - Day 12 This was a fun day. First No-Mercy Percy, the Taiwan Terror, comes into the game and starts straddling. Then Abdul comes in and sits next to me. Having him in the game is no picnic, but it did give us a chance to shoot the bull for a while, and that's always interesting. At 10:00pm they called this game: $800/1600 SEVEN game combo mix. Hell, I don't think I can NAME seven games. Then Tiger123 came by and introduced himself. Great to meet you! I end the day at 3:00am, +$1,414, and now at -$6,497 for the trip. That sounds pretty bad, but I recall how my trip low point was around -$12K, so it feels fairly good. Like I'm in a bad place but moving in the right direction. ==== Sunday May 12 - Day 13 I have a moderate rock and roll day. At 2:30pm I'm stuck a rack. At 2:00am I get AsKs in the SB, and call a raise for 6-way action. I'm still asking myself 2 weeks later why I didn't 3-bet. Anyway, I flop top pair, then make a backdoor flush and drag a big pot. Ten minutes later I get KK, flop a set, and river a boat: KKK22. I end the day at 3:00am, +$1,763. === Monday, May 13 - Day 14: MegaRush. Recovery Complete. Some days everything you touch turns to shit. Other days it all turns to gold. This was one of the golden days. I get up at 11:00am, into a 30 at Table 19, Seat 3, and go on a big rush right away. Percy is in the game, and was a big help :-) By 1:00pm I have reached the Recovery Goal of having enough to pay off my Banker and still have a strong 80 buy-in. I get on the 80 list, but when I get called I don't like the lineup, so stay in the 30, and my rush continues. Soon after that my game got sucky, and I moved to Table 19, Seat 9, just in time for Percy and New York Tony to arrive in Seats 1 and 3, respectively. Not long after that a handsome young Amerasian guy from Montreal came into Seat 10, and we got to talking. Turned out he plays 20/40 on Paradise, just like we do, so we played "I'll show you mine if you show me yours," and exchanged screen names. He was Eddie Dragon, and that made me smile, because we had played together many times, with mutual respect. At 7:00pm I open-limp UTG with 44, because 6 or so players have been seeing every flop. EIGHT players see this flop, which comes 466! There was plenty of action on the flop and turn. Then a stoic little Korean lady bets the river, and by then the 4h 5h & 6h were on the board. I stopped worrying when she only called my raise. She had the flush, but not the str8flush. --- I call a raise with TT in the SB for 6-way action, flop a set, and river a boat against Percy. Big pot. He's not happy. At 9:30pm I have AA and it's capped 5-way preflop. Aces hold up and take down 38 small bets. Next hand I have As Qs, and it's again capped 5-way preflop, capped 4-way on the flop, and raised 3-way on the turn. Bet and called 3-way on the river. The board is Queen high, and my top pair/best kicker takes down 63 small bets. It's a miracle, and I raise my hands, look to the heavens, and quietly say "Thank you, Lord!" Then I complain to the dealer about pushing me chips when I haven't yet finished racking the previous pot, and threaten to call the floorman if his rudeness continues. I also toke him a redbird, and tell him to "Go in peace, my son." Mrs. Rock's girlfriend from Seattle had flown in that day, and we took her to the Coffee Shop around 7:00pm and scarfed down some omelets and pancakes in a hurry. Big mistake. Around midnight, Mrs. Rock complained of a bellyache, and went to bed. My megarush ended at 2:00am, when she phoned me, in a weak voice said that she felt really crappy, and asked me to cash out and come to the room. I had just paid the blinds, but it's kinda like E. F. Hutton: When the Banker talks, I listen. I almost got a hernia carrying 7 racks to the cashier, colored some, cashed some, then rushed upstairs. She felt a little better right away when I got there and told her that I was +$5,389 for the day and PLUS $655 for the trip. But not all better. The distress of her upset stomach was exacerbated a general fatigue from 2 weeks of marathon play and inadequate rest. The day's menu just didn't agree with her, but she was OK after some TLC and much rest over the next couple days. --- (continued in Part III) Sgt. Rock http://sarge.virtualave.net Mail To: woodrack AT sarge DOT virtualave DOT net Subject: Sgt. Rock 2002 WSOP/Bellagio TR Part III From: "Sgt. Rock" Newsgroups: rec.gambling.poker Date: Mon, May 27, 2002 2:13 PM Message-ID: <6kxI8.94774$L76.155216@rwcrnsc53> (continued from Part II) === Tuesday, May 14 - Day 15: Still 30/60 I open-raise from the middle with 55, and Toronto Donna 3-bets from late position. Heads-up board comes: A K 6, 8, 5. Flop: I check, she checks! Turn: I bet, she calls. River: I bet lovingly, and she calls. I tell her "You're not gonna like this," and turn over. How can she not follow-up her preflop 3-bet with a bet on pretty much ANY flop? I finish -$783 for the day. --- Last year we stayed 21 days for WSOP, and I tried to set a personal record. I tried to stay that whole time without ever once leaving the Bellagio. 11 days into the trip, I got a nasty toothache. After a couple days it got so one whole side of my jaw and face was aching and throbbing, especially after any chewing. Then there was a small sharp piece of tooth or bone trying to exit the lower inside gum, behind the back molar, on the right side. I could feel it with my tongue. WTF? I also noticed a very interesting phenomenon. We were playing mostly 80 that trip, heavy action, and whenever I won a nice pot, my jaw pain faded away for a while. No joke. Endorphins? Finally, on Day 15 Elvis just had to leave the building. I cabbed to the 24 hr. Harmon Medical Center just off the strip by Aladdin, and saw a doctor. We agreed that I should see my dentist as soon as I got home, and she wrote an Rx for a strong antibiotic. Then I walked to the Walgreen's by MGM, filled it, ($78 for 14 tabs!) walked to Monte Carlo, and took the tram back to Bellagio. So much for my record. The meds reduced the pain greatly within 24 hours, and completely within 48. I'd had an infection, but the Rx nuked it good. Saw my dentist the day after I got home. By then the tooth/bone wasn't protruding any more, and he found nothing on X-RAY, so sent me home. Two weeks later it popped out again, no pain or infection this time, and I returned to have him find and pull out a tiny bone fragment left over from a wisdom tooth extraction 20+ years ago. It had sat there peacefully all that time, but in the heat of WSOP side action it decided to make trouble. Just like some guys I know. Anyway, this year was my second shot at that 21 days record, but on Day 15 my Banker decided that we needed to visit the 24 hour Korean BBQ just across the strip from the Stardust. I whined briefly about my record attempt, but then made the great sacrifice and took her to dinner. And so, I made 15 days in 2001 and again in 2002. Even if I had made 21 days, it's probably not a record. There's probably some degenerate baccarat whale who lived there for six months or something. Still, I challenge any RGPer, or anyone, for that matter, to top my modest record of 15 straight days inside Bellagio. Anybody? I've got reliable witnesses. Well, witnesses, anyway. Next year I'll make 21. === Wednesday, May 15 - Day 16: Still 30/60, after a *real* good night's sleep. A guy limps in early, I call from the button with KTo, Frenchman in SB calls, and BB checks. 4-way action. Board comes: Th 8h 5d, Ac, 4s Flop: Limper bets, I raise, SB calls, BB folds. Turn: Limper check-raises me, I fold, SB still calling. River: Checked around! Limper has busted flush draw, and tenacious SB wins with 9s5s (pair of fives). Disgusting, ain't it? --- My ex-hero T.C., described in my Feb 2002 "Tripless In Seattle" report, showed up and spent the whole day short stacked and doing miserably in my game. That afternoon Sgt. & Mrs. Rock did the buffet with Mr. & Mrs. Abdul Jalib. Good times. --- Terms of Endearment Mrs. Rock retired early that evening, and later I visited the room to check on her. I found her laying in bed, watching T.V, and eating potato chips. Then, as I gave her a kiss and started to head back downstairs to return to my game, I was struck by the esoteric phrase she chose to bid me farewell. I mean, most wives might then say to their husband something like "Bye, sweetie," or "See ya later," or maybe even "I love you." Not her. As I'm walking out she tells me in a light, lilting and loving tone to: "Play good!" Maybe I did. I finished +$2,686 for the day and +$2,558 for the trip. === Thursday May 16 - Day 17: Cowardice in the Face of the Enemy (Court-martial Offense) Today I finally got back into the 80/160 must-move game, but it was kinda short and the lineup was mediocre. The main game looked great, I was third on the list to move, and the two guys ahead of me were worth chasing, so I tried to hang in. Then my stack moved down half a rack, and I found myself thinking of it in terms of dollars rather than bets. That's not good. In short, I was not psychologically ready to play 80. I kept thinking about how difficult it had been, and what a relief it was, to go from buried $12K to back in the green. Then I realized that I just didn't want to risk getting buried in the 80 again when we were approaching the end of our visit. Bottom line: I didn't want to go home a loser. Just about that time I won a couple pots and was +$90 for the game. I got up, returned to 30/60 and never did play 80 again this trip. I'll be better prepared, and will get 'em next time. Mrs. Rock very briefly played 80 a couple times early in the trip, but otherwise stayed with the 30 herself. FTTS: "I Can't Call You..." Say the button open-steal-raises, and I'm in the blind with big cards. I might shake my head and tell him "I can't call you" with a sad tone, then 3-bet. First couple times I do this, it tends to get a surprised reaction from the victim and the other players. If I've said this and reraised a few times in a session, then I might REVERSE it. I might say it again, and actually fold. That REALLY brings a reaction (relief) from the guys who are now conditioned (Does the name Pavlov ring a bell?) to think that the phrase signals a raise. I been having some fun with this. Caution. Two times I said "I can't call you," and it faked-out THE DEALER! One dealer dropped the deck when I said it, even as I was raising. The strangest thing happened today. I had a guy "conditioned," and had not yet reversed it. Then, when he bet into me on the turn, I said "I can't call you," whereupon HE THREW HIS HAND AWAY! In this instance I really WAS gonna raise, but think about how glorious it will be when the day comes that I say "I can't call you," and really mean it, and the bettor mucks his hand. Now please don't think that I'm forsaking solid play for psychological trickery in some desperate attempt to hike my win rate or cut my loss rate or whatever. I would if I could but I can't. I don't know how. No clue. This whole "I can't call you" thing started as a joke, and just accidentally turned into... well, I'm not quite sure what it is. But when that guy threw his hand away, it REALLY got my attention. --- FTTS: "Six Titties!" A tourist open-limps from the middle. T.C. is back in the game and still short-stacked, still pulling out bills a few at a time, and he raises from the button. I 3-bet from the SB with QQ, but the limper says four. Uh, oh. T.C. caps it, but I'm more worried about the limper. Until I see the flop :-) Board comes: Q 9 7, 9, 7. Flop: I bet out, limper raises, T.C. calls, and I call. Turn: I check-raise the limper, and he calls. T.C. is still calling too. River: I bet, limper calls, T.C. raises, I reraise, limper calls, T.C. folds. You know what I said when I turned that hand over. Limper shows Aces. T.C., whose river raise gave me slight pause and tiny fear that I might be facing quads, announces that he "had pocket Kings and raised the river to see where I'm at." OK, fine. --- UTG raises, and gets four callers, and I call from the SB with Kh Th. The flop comes with two hearts, including the Ace, and it turns out that I'm able to make it four bets and let the original raiser cap it, and only lose one guy. Then another heart on the turn and I check-raise. Bet and called on the river, and I take down 46 small bets. Yes! I quit +$2,126 for the day and +$4,684 for the trip. === Friday, May 17 - Day 18 This day is a complete blank in both my trip notes and (what's left of) my memory. All I got is my daily ledger that says I lost $1,413. Sure hope I had some fun. === Saturday, May 18 - Day 19: Preakness Day FTTS: "I Didn't Know What To Put Me On" I'm not proud of this one. I call a raise from the SB with As 2s for what I thought was gonna be 4-way action, but turned out to be 3-way. How ever many way action, it's probably a flakey call. Most times I feel like I don't wanna play ANY hand that contains a single deuce or trey. This time I felt I should be a little looser, as the raiser was a kinda loose Vegas local, a really nice guy, and maybe a little easier to read and/or manipulate than most. Board comes: J 8 2, 2, 6. I check-call the flop (shame on me!) check-raise the turn, and bet the river. He calls, and when I show them Acey-Deucey, three guys groan, and he gives me the "How could you do that?" look, but just politely says "That's not like you!" "Yeah, I know," I reply sheepishly. "I didn't know what the hell to put me on." Izmet Fekali arrived tonight, and a couple hours later Keith Fichtemaier showed up. I end the day +$1,202. === Sunday, May 19 - Day 20: Slept in until 1:30pm. I open-raise from the middle with 8h 8s, button calls, and TN from LA 3-bets from the BB. Board comes: Tc 8c 7c, 6s, 6c TN bets the flop, then rereaises me, then calls my re-reraise. The button is still in there, calling everything in sight. Checked to me on the turn; I bet, they call. That river card scared the pants off me, but I check-raised anyway (button bet) and took it. Phew! I lose $150 for the day. === Monday, May 20 - Day 21 FTTS: "Keep Looking" I bet the river with a flush draw/straight draw that never got there, because we're heads-up and I think there's a reasonable chance he might fold a better hand. Wrong answer. He calls. So I turn over and open my hand and say nothing. Now there's a 0.707% chance that he might misread my hand and muck, and I don't want to deny him that opportunity. Wrong again. He and the dealer and two other guys keep studying the board and my hand with puzzled looks on their faces. Finally, I tell them to "Keep looking, maybe you'll find something." --- So here I am facing the most dubious lineup I've seen lately. We got Abdul Jalib in seat 7, Izmet Fekali in 8, a tough local pro in 9, and Jim Geary in 10. I'm in seat 3 looking at them, and hating it. The other guys in the game were average, but they weren't loving it either, and half of them were walking half the time. Today only, my friends at the other end have based their game selection on social intercourse rather than expectation. They're having a mini-RGP/ARGE event right there in my game. We're buddies who don't see each other very often, and they want to hang out. But I'm getting ready to go home soon, and want to do all I can to win a few bucks before then. Finally, I can't stand it. I mean, I love these guys (except the asshole in 9), but I get a table change and get into a real game. We can chat on the internet later, I tell them. The move paid off, too. I cashed +$1,289 for the day. === Tuesday, May 21. I want to go home Thursday, or maybe Wednesday, but Mrs. Rock wants to leave today. We compromise, and leave today. Damn, missed that great opportunity to fight Memorial Day holiday weekend traffic. We pay $2,338.05 CASH to settle the Bellagio room bill, and hit the road at high noon. We drive straight North from Vegas, through Ely and Jackpot, Nevada to Twin Falls, ID, then hang a left to Boise, where we grab some grub at Denny's (Yuck. Never again.) and crash at Motel-6 around midnight. Yeah, we'd been tired, but that sure was a beautiful drive. Mostly 75 MPH on 2 lane highway through Nevada; nice weather, sparse traffic, desert, snow-capped mountains, lottsa farms. The big valley just South of Jackpot is really pretty. Every time we drove through a tiny town we looked at each other and asked the same questions: "What the hell do these people do for fun? Do they go play video poker at the gas station and the grocery store? Bet there's a lot of babies in this town, huh?" :-) If I had left Vegas still buried it would have been THE LONG DRIVE FROM HELL. Turned out, though, to be a nice peaceful and relaxing day. I thought a lot about my seventeen thousand dollar swing, and played some mental coulda/woulda/shoulda. What might my trip result have been if I had ONLY played 30? Who knows. Wednesday we head out early, and cut across the NE corner of Oregon, over the Columbia River into Washington, and on through Tri-Cities, Yakima, Ellensburg and Snoqualmie to arrive home mid afternoon. Three things I learned on the road: 1. Cruise control is the nuts. 2. Arby's "Market Fresh" Deli sandwiches are very good. A bit pricey, but worth it when you're hungry, in a hurry, and sick of burgers. 3. When you spend one night at Bellagio in Vegas, and the next at Motel-6 in Boise, it brings you down to Earth, and all the way back to the real world. As soon as we get home our younger daughter shows us a big rock on her finger and informs us that she's getting married in August. Shit, there go my winnings. Stuck again. --- Trip Recap: +10 (kilobucks) mmm +9.845 mmmmm +9 mm m mm m m +8 mm m m m m m +7 mm m m m mmm +6 mmmmm mm mmm mmm s +5.612 +5 m s mm s ss s +4 m s s s s s m s s s s +3 mm s s m s +2 m s m s s +1 m s s m s s s Day-> 1s2 s3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12s13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 s s s s -1 s s s s m = Mrs. Rock s s s s = Sgt. Rock -2 s s s s -3 s s s s -4 s s s s -5 s s s s -6 s s s s s -7 s s s s s s s -8 s s s s s s s ss -9 s s ss s s -10 s s s Sgt. Rock http://sarge.virtualave.net Mail To: woodrack AT sarge DOT virtualave DOT net