Las Vegas Roundup

Well I have been unable to get all of the images off of my phone but have a couple from a previous visit so they will go in this round up.

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Places to play Poker

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Well virtually all of the casinos now have a card room (which just shows how this great game has taken off, it was only a few years ago that they were closing the card rooms as they weren't profitable to the Casinos).

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I only visited a few poker rooms on this trip, listed as follows:

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Tropicana, MGM Grand, Ceasars, Venetian and Binions.

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I have to say that my favourite, if only for the opulent surroundings and not necessarily the game, has to be the Venetian. The room is light, airy and the tables large and uncramped. The seats are also leather, padded and fully height adjustable. You can get a back and neck massage at the tables for those long sessions for about $10 and the drinks waitress is always on hand. The games are not that fishy though with most players having a fair understanding of the game, and there are definitely a few locals that ply their trade there.

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If you want late night drunken, cash splashing action then it has to be the MGM grand. After 10pm there always seems to be about 4-5 $1/$2 NL tables running along side a couple of $2/$5 NL, they also have bigger limit games. The room is a bit cramped and is dull and gloomy, but you should be concentrating on the cards here because the action is frenzied at times.

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On the tournament front Binions weekends are my favourite with the $10,000 guaranteed tourneys starting at 2pm, they have approx 100 - 150 runners, and what better place to play than the original home of World Championship Poker. My experience of getting to the final table here last year and coming second is one of the highlights since I started playing poker.

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Entertainment

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There is no shortage of things to do in the "City that Never Sleeps". One thing you must do is see some of the freebie shows and attractions. These are put on at regular intervals by the casinos, just ask one of the dealers they will give you the currnet timings. You will need to plan seeing them though as walking from casino to casino is very time consuming and tiring.

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A list of must see freebies are listed below:

The pirate ship battle of the sirens at Treasure Island

The volcano eruption at The Mirage

The Belagio fountains

The Venetians canal system (its even on the second floor of the building!)

The animated fountain at Ceasars Palace

The Freemont Street Experience light show (downtown)

The lake and waterfall at The Wynn

The Mardi Gras at the Rio

The Rainforest Cafe at the MGM Grand (you will probably have to buy a drink but they do great breakfasts)

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If you are going to pay for entertainment then you must see one of the spectacular shows. The best I have seen is the show at the MGM Grand put on by Cirque de Soleil called KA. It isn't the cheapest but I defy anyone to come out of there astounded and thinking that it was the best money they have ever spent.

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Shopping

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On the strip there are a number of shopping malls associated with the casinos. Again the Venetian is very attractive with its indoor canal system, but also go and see the Arabian village at Planet Hollywood (and watch the rain storm there that happens every hour). This place is indoors!!!

Also get a taxi to the retail shopping outlet just past the Airport outside the main centre, it has great offers on Levi's, Wranglers, Hilfiger, Nike etc etc.

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General Tips

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Remember that everything anyone does for you as a service you will be expected to give a tip. So taxi drivers, waitresses, cleaners and most importantly dealers all get a tip. General rule of thumb is 10-15%, except dealers.

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It is considered courtesy to tip a dealer after you have won a hand (or you can tip them at the end of their session if you wish). I tended to follow the following rules:

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1. If I stole the blinds then I wouldn't tip, but would ensure the dealer got at least $1 before they left the table if this was the only action I was involved in.

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2. Regular sized pots I won I gave $1 a time.

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3. Large pots tip anything up to $5

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Just use your discretion and give what you feel is merited at the time. These tips make up the majority of the dealers earnings, but over tipping (on top of the casino 10% rake) can make it difficult to show a meaningfull profit.

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Don't ever pay full price for a drink (unless you are in a restaurant). Just sit down at one of the many fruit machines (preferably a 1c machine) and put in a dollar. Call over the cocktail waitress, order your drink (absolutely any drink you want), give her a $1 tip (drinks are free whilst playing the machines), play your dollar out or cash out any winnings and move on.

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And finally don't try to walk everywhere. Taxis can be found at any casino lobby and should be able to take you virtually anywhere in vegas for $20 - $30.

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So thats about it, if anyone is going to Vegas soon and has any other questions just send me a comment and I'll try to help.

So now for a round up of my poker expenses whilst holidaying in Vegas this year:

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Cash Game Buy Ins - $3530

Cash Game Returns - $3579

Multi Tourney Buy Ins - $170

Multi Tournay Returns - $0

Total Profit / Loss - $121 loss

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Keep it Tight!

Jet Lag and Technology do not mix !!

Well I have been back in England for 5 days now and I am still waking up at 4 in the morning and falling asleep in the afternoon. There has however been an upside to this. I haven't played online at this time on a Saturday and Sunday morning before (well not sober anyway) and the action is surprisingly good. If you want to catch tired, drunk and still drinking players at the tables then this is the time to do it.

It is just like being around a poker table at the MGM Grand at 2 am, just after a wedding party of rich relations have finished their celebrations, dipped into their full pockets and sat down to play this easy game that they have watched on TV once. The added benefit online is that you can switch off the constant chat (which would be a nice feature for them to fit at the MGM when you are faced with a table full of inebriated Tony G wannabies staring at you).

So I will be logging on again at this fruitful hour in the future.

"Pictures" I hear you ask again! ......... "Damn Technology" I reply (or words to that effect).

Cannot get my mobile talking to my PC. The futures dull! The future is without pictures!

Will keep on trying, but if I can't get it working then the round up of the Vegas trip will have to be without visual aids.

For now all I will do is post Novembers final poker playing figures (this includes the Vegas trip)

Multi Tournaments - -$255.40

Sit n Go's - $10.50

Cash Games - $187.98

Bonuses - $112.20

Novembers Profit - $55.28

So for now

Keep it Tight!

November 26th 2007

So we get to the final full day of my 2007 Las Vegas trip. Poker wise it has been a bit of a let down, but the rest of the city and the break has been great. To be honest I have not played as much poker as I usually do this trip. What I will do is post a general Vegas post to highlight what I think are the do's and don'ts of Vegas.

So the morning started with a re visit to the Venetian card room. Len and Dave wanted to enter the $150 mid day buy in tournament. There were about 40 runners in this, starting chips of 7500 and 30 minute blinds. A very good quality tournament for Vegas. Len made the final table of this tournament but went out when his dominating KJos went heads up against KTos on a K high board. Of course the ten hit the river and the tens remained to be Lens bug bear for the holiday.

I didn't enter the tourney but played a $1 / $2 cash game. Second hand in I was able to get into a pot with 77 in the SB. The flop came down 37A with the 3 and the 7 being hearts. I put in a small bet and was re raised by the under the gun player and then this was re re raised by a mid position player. I loved this action and firmly believed I was ahead. The under the gun player then acted out of turn and called this re re raise (flush I thought). She was forced to leave her bet there whilst I contemplated my next move. Putting her on a flush draw due to the flat call I decided to raise it up and get head to head with the mid position player who I put on the ace. I bet an extra $100 into a pot of what was now about $60. The UTG player folded and the mid position went into the tank. After being prompted by the dealer he pushed all in having me covered, I instantly called. He had 2 pair A7's. My set held up and I was firmly ahead for once.

The session went nice and smoothly after that and I was able to increase my winnings by making a few nice hands and good calls (calling my ace weak kicker in the BB after a bet of $50 on the river by my opponent into a $60 pot when the flop paired my ace and getting my read right).

Once I was nicely ahead I decided to finish my poker playing for the trip and leave on a positive high with at least one winning session of note.

So from there on it was relax, have a drink and go to see the Phantom of the Opera that evening.
The show was excellent, they had apparently spent $45 million on the set and it showed. The sound of the orchestra combined with the excellent performances of the actors and special effects gave it the air of watching a tv programme rather than being at the theatre. Anyone visiting Vegas should at least see one show.

That's all for now, I will put a summary post of the trip up shortly (after my jet lag subsides) along with a few photo's.

For now here was the days wins / losses:

Buy Ins - $200

Cash Out - $525

Profit - $325

November 25th 2007

I saw the comment about having no photo's. My camera went faulty at the beginning of the holiday so all my photo's are on my phone, I'll put a gallery up when I get back to England.

Today was tournament day, Binions, the home of Poker. They have a great tournament at the weekends and is a must for any tournament player. It is a $70 buy in with $40 one time add on in the first 3 levels, and yet it has a guaranteed prize fund of $10,000. If you win you then get entered for their Tournament of Champions which is run on the first Sunday of every month, so it is worth booking your holiday to cover this just in case you get lucky on the Saturday before.

I ended up going out mid field (about 145 players entered) after I was damaged by someone going all in on a flush draw and I called with chips to spare, confident that this was the fact holding top pair Aces. My read was good but I didn't lose to the flush draw, the other player hit runner runner 6 and 7 for 2 pair.

Len went deep into ther tournament going out in about 20th place and went out pushing all in with AK, and getting a call by a player with TT. A ten came on the flop and it was all over.

We then went back to the Tropicana for a cash game. This was an excellent opportunity to fill my wallet. There were about 3 people who had been drinking all day and were struggling to see the cards through their drunken haze. They would call bets of $20 with a board low pair of 3's. I just had to make sure not to try to bluff these calling stations, all I had to do was hit a few flops. This was the flaw in my plan, I sat for 2 hours and watched their chips go to all other players but I could just not hit a flop. Even the cards I passed didn't hit the board, not even any draws. Sad, sad, sad ... so another loss today.

Here's the stats:

Cash Game Buy In - $450

Cash Game Cash Out - $343

Tournament Buy In - $110

Tournament Cash Out - $0

Profits - $-217

Until Later





Keep it Tight!

November 24th 2007

Well over half the holiday now gone and I have yet to hit a very profitable session.

In fact quite the opposite. I played terrible today. Possibly a mix of frustration and the fact that I had so many low pairs I just did not know what to do with them. The session was again at Ceasars $1/$3 NL.

One notable hand where I played completely out of character was when I looked down at 8d8s. There was a pre flop limper who raised $25 on the BB after I had limped in mid position. He had done this sort of bet before when he was holding AQ so I put him on a similar holding, either small pair or AJ, AQ, AK etc. I decided to take a punt and called. The flop came down 7d9sTs. As first to act he put in a bet of $20 into a $65ish pot. I saw this as weak and went over the top all in (massively overplayed I know, and is an example of how poor I was playing). He thought for a while then called showing AsJs for an overpair, flush and gutshot straight draw. He didn't fill his flush but hit an A on the end. In hindsight I would have been better flat calling his continuation bet then betting it on the turn if he slowed down, but however I played it I was still no better than 50/50 really.

One buy in down I continued. The small pocket pairs kept coming and I tried to get back some sort of composure, but still felt I was playing badly. I had some respite when my 77 in the BB hit a board of 772 giving me quads. No one wanted to bet this flop after my check, the turn came an A which really killed any action I was likely to get and I raked about a $15 pot. I did get the house high hand jackpot for 7777 though for $89.

I then got back some of my losses when my pocket KK hit a K on the flop and fill to a full house on the river after the guy who beat my 88 called my final round all in holding a similar hand to the one he had before.

Although I made a loss today it feels like a win.

I didn't play any more poker after this and ended having an early night to see if I could wake more fresh and alert the next day.

Here are the figures:

Buy In - $400

Cash Out - $333

Profit - -$67

For now

Keep it tight

November 23rd 2007

Today we returned to the shopping mall to pick up our new suits we saw yesterday. I didn't realise but the knock down price I quoted yesterday actually included a free shirt, tie and suit cover; this place just gets better and better.

Pokerwise I played in the afternoon for about an hour and a half at the MGM again. The table was tight but was beatable with a couple of visitors who had no idea of how to play. To give you an idea one player was faced an early position $6 raise pre flop and called in mid position. Along came 3 other limpers into the pot. I can't remember the exact board but basically when 3 players got to showdown the original calling player held AA and was complaining about how he never wins them, of course I wasn't going to be the one to educate him. I then played back in the Tropicana to kill an hour or so and I also had an evening session at the MGM and played early into the morning.

I have to say that the cards are still not falling for me and I am winning most of my hands with weaker holdings than the board shows. I just hope I hit a bit of a card rush before I go home and win big one day. But you can't push this game around, all you can do is take the opportunities as they arise.

So for the figures today:

Buy Ins - $600

Cash Out - $724

Profit - $124

Bye for now

November 22nd 2007

Today was shopping day!!

If you ever get out to vegas you have to go to the retail shopping mall just on the outskirts of the city. Here you can buy clothes, shoes, watches, cameras etc all at great knock down prices.

The added bonus this trip was that there is an extra sale on due to Thanks Giving. Just to give an example on prices.

Levi Jeans - £10 - £15
Calvin Klein Shirts - £5 - £15
Hugo Boss Suit - £150 or buy 2 and get one free

On the poker front we didn't get to play until about 7pm. Len & Dave wanted a poker tournament so we went back to Binions where I set up in a new table for a cash game. The play was pretty unremarkable and started only 6 handed. Then the table filled up and I was able to play for about 1/2 hour before I was moved to the top table.

Now this is where you have to be careful if you play at Binions because last time I was here I didn't see this going on. Basically there were 4-5 of the players on the top table that were entrenched in their position, all sitting on stacks of between $500 and $1000 (from an initial max buy in of $200). These all chatted with each other freely and obviously played together on a regular basis, the local pro's.

I sat for about 1/2 an hour and realised that if it was raised into an un open pot then unless the opposition had very good cards they would fold. If there were already limpers in the pot and it was raised then there would be 3 - 5 players in the pot with you ready to snap off any continuation bet. In my opinion the only way any chips were likely to be won by myself would be if I had great starting hands that held up or to play value hands and hope to hit a better monster hand than someone else. These are the sorts of tables I will get up from on line to find better pickings and this is what I did as I felt there was no value continuing here. If I were a rich visitor who doesn't play much poker I would probably lose a stack of money her, lambs to the slaughter.

If anyone has an idea on how to play these types of tables give me a clue, but I was happy with my decision to leave.

I then came back to play at the MGM Grand. The action here was a complete contrast, it was fierce and quick, possibly due to the Thanks Giving alcoholic celebrations.

I got involved in a few pots and ended up slightly ahead but I will definitely be returning to play here as this has been the best venue for action in the cash games.

So now just for the days figures:

Buy In's - $400

Cash Outs - $440

Profit - $40

Until tomorrow

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Keep It tight!

November 21st 2007

If the poker demons had ascended to possess the souls of my pocket kings earlier this week, then today the Angels of the felt flew down in an attempt to exorcise these evil spirits.

Playing at the Venetian $1/$2 I once again looked down at KK on the button. I raised it up to $12 and got a call by the BB only. The flop came down KdTd3c. I bet about 2/3 of the pot and the BB called. The turn came an A spades. I loved this card but was also afraid of the flush draw. I pushed in a pot bet and the guy thought for a while before calling. The river came down a nice 7 clubs. I pushed in my remaining chips and he reluctantly called showing the A diamonds and I scooped the pot with my set. He informed me he was also on the flush draw so those demons are still trying their hardest to drag down my big pocket pairs.

We signed up to see the Phantom of the Opera at the Venetian while we were there, so a full review of that will be posted once we have seen it on Monday. The tickets for this event were $122 so Dave in his usual fasion decided to see if he could get his ticket for free by putting $100 on the high numbers on the roulette. He won, then took out his $100 stake gave me and Len $50 each from his profit to make into $100. Len did this easily on the Blackjack, but I lost mine on the roulette (surprise surprise eh?). So now we had $100 between us that was freerolling. Dave picked it up and put it on the middle third of the roulette, and hey presto he had $300. So we all got a kick back and now our tickets only cost us $22 each. Bet this is going to be a good show for just £11.

I then had a little game at the Tropicana and gave $30 of my earlier profits back, damn top 2 pair was beaten by a set - oh well keep it going eh?

I am going to take some pictures tomorrow and get them on the blog so check back.

So just for the days stats:

Buy Ins - $380

Cash Out - $552

Profit - $172

Until later

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Keep it tight!

November 20th 2007

Today was a day for reflection and to build some of the confidence back that had been knocked out of me yesterday. I have managed to draw a few conclusions and writing this blog has helped me to do that.

My usual game is very tight and very cautious, so I think. The table I was playing at Ceasars Palace yesterday was allowing me to steal alot of pots though. This must have given me quite a loose aggressive image in the later stages of the game. In my mind however I was still that tight aggressive rock. If I am playing a loose aggressive player myself I more than likely will go into trap mode, waiting for a good hand and trying to hit big letting them bet into me or will hammer back on top pair decent kicker. I think my opponents identified this stealing nature in my game and looked in hind sight to have adapted in their own way to get me. It was I who failed to identify that my image to them was quite different from my image to myself. And this, as well as the fact that the cards fell quite nicely for them helped in my downfall.

I only played in the Tropicana today. I started the day with a $50 freezeout with a $10 one time add on. The tournament didn't last long for me as I ended up losing all my chips in the second level to Dave when my pre flop raised AJ hit the J on the turn and the A on the river to give me 2 pair, but was beaten by Daves straight filled by the A on the river; the cards falling harsh and not giving me any respite from my immeadiate poker pain.

I then took a break and went into a cash game with $200. I went below $100 so bought in for another $100. Then the guys returned from yesterday, the ones I gave my respect to and left the table. Well one of these guys who sat to my left yesterday sat to my left again today. His tactic (and I now know is one of his few only tactics) is to straddle the blind of a tight player, i.e. ME!

What this does is blind raise the BB under the gun to twice the amount, in this case the straddle is $4. If anyone limped behind then he would re raise the limpers, thus finding out if anyone has a very strong hand. So I decided as the cards were not being kind I would play without cards against this guy and try to use my tight image from yesterday against him today. He had taken a couple of hits earlier in the session so he was down to about $60.

The first time he straddled I looked down at A7 off suit. The button and the small blind called the straddle as likewise did I. As predicted he raised all in for his $60. The button and SB folded (as he wanted them to) but to his surprise I didn't. I thought for a while then called. The community cards were dealt (I completely missed) but he paired the T of his 9T off suit, he showed me his cards to win the hand and I folded mine to comments of his asking "did you have AK?"

Now this confirmed alot to me, he didn't have a monster. He was re raising sub standard hands, blind and out of position, andmy tight image was there with him. From now on all I had to do was let him straddle my BB, I could flat call and he would do the raising for me. Whats better I could act last after all of the pre flop limpers had made their decisions.

So when I looked down at KQ of clubs in the BB and he had straddled I was prepared to call any bet of his. I called his straddle as had 2 other players. He raised about pot size (about$15), and I flat called after all the limpers had folded (making the pot about $45).

The flop came down 4 clubs 5 clubs 7 diamonds. I stuck with my letting him raise plan and checked it to him, after all a free card wouldn't be too bad a result. He quickley threw in $30, I thought for a little while and announced all in.

He looked shocked, thought for an age, muttering how he would love to call but eventually folded. This slowed him down a bit, he straddled once more after that as I called, he raised, I called and then bet the flop regardless.

So although my figures show a little down today (due to the multi tourney buy in) I have made a great moral victory against someone who I thought was a better player. I suppose it just takes a bit of figuring sometimes.

Cash Game Buy In - $300

Cash Game Returns - $340

Multi Tourney Buy In - $60

Multi Tourney Returns - $0

Net Profit - $-20

November 19th 2007

When I started this blog I said I would make it a true and honest report on how to win or lose money at this great game.

Well today was certainly a lesson in how to lose that money.

I could therefore make this post one of moans of bad beats and how unlucky I have been but I am not yet sure that is the case.

The day started with my usual $200 buy in at the tropicana for an afternoon session. The table was great fun and I certainly played my normal game. I cashed out at a loss of $100, mainly due to my KK (which I held 3 times in the session) not holding up. Once I had to fold it in the face of what I thought must have been a set, or just very good play by my opponent. And twice when it went to showdown against the short stack and the short stacks won. The rest of my game I felt I played well and didn't have too many dramas or tough decisions to make. I also am happy about the fact that when 3 players decended on the table (locals I recognise from playing here last march) I realised I was going to be outclassed by these sharks and left with what was left of my stack in tact.

After an afternoon break Dave and Len wanted to play a tournament at Ceasars Palace so I thought I would go along and join the cash tables there. This has got to be one of the best card rooms on the strip. It is light and airy and the full ring table is a 9 player max which gives lots of space to relax and play.

Ceasars only hold their minimum game at $1/$3 with a max buy in of $500. I bought in for my usual $200 and played fairly solid. After approx 2Hrs I had got my buy in up to about $375 and should have cashed out there and then, but Len and Dave were still in the tournament and I was having so much fun on a table that I was beating. This was to be the mistake of the day as my hard earned profits were to be blown apart.

The full $375 went on a hand where I held top set KKK. Yes it was those kings again but not in the pocket this time. I held KJ suited on the button and was able to limp in for $3. When the flop came KKT (no helping suits) I put a pot bet in. This was re raised and I re re raised only to be faced by an all in by my opponent. I was looking at a call $195 into a pot of what was now about $550. So I was either facing K with a better kicker, K with a worse kicker or TT. I ruled out TT as the player I felt would not have limped in pre flop as he was first to enter the pot after a couple of early position folds. So now I felt I was facing a 50/50 decision on a nearly 3-1 proposition, I liked those odds so gave the call. He did hold TT and the monster pot was his.

I re loaded another $200 and played again for another 1/2 hour or so building it to about $250 when I got 78 spades in the BB and it limped around to me. The flop came 2d7h8h. I pot bet and got heads up with one caller. The turn came a Kc and I pot bet again to be re raised ... I pushed all in and he spent an age wondering whether to call. Call he did holding K8 for a better two pair.

At this point, tired and stunned I decided to call it a day for today.

Lessons to be learnt ....

I am not too sure just yet, my mind is still spinning and I am still wondering about what my table image was and whether that induced some of the play I fell foul to. Should I be folding top set? Should I be pushing all in on bottom 2 pair?

Who knows?

If it were right to fold in those two costly positions then I may well have saved myself somewhere in the region of $200 - $300. But I am supposed to win sometimes in those positions too. I would like some comments.

So time to pick my self up, dust down and back into the fray. I am limiting my buy in to just $200 tomorrow. I don't feel like I'm tilting but just in case I will just try to pay more attention to the game and play my normal strategies.

So until then here are those horrible figures:

Buy In - $500

Returns - $0

Profit - -$500

Until next post

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Keep it Tight

November 18th 2007

The flight to Vegas was great and the time went reasonably quickly, it is just impossible to sleep on a plane so knew I was going to be very tired on arrival.

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The view of the Vegas strip as we landed though soon got the adrenaline going and tiredness took a back seat as I impatiently wanted to get to the hotel and buy in to my first cash game.
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2 hours after landing I am in my hotel room at the Tropicana (thats the night time view above from my hotel window). After a quick freshen up I head down to the poker room for a Budweiser and a game of cards.

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I initially buy in for my $200 at a full ring table $1/$2 blinds and sit to play and assess the players. The Tropicana is not known for its tough games although you do get one or two locals taking advantage of this who can play a bit. First impressions were that there were no dangerous players at the table. There were however 2 people who were loaded with cash, limping into every pot and calling any pre flop raise with trash. This was an ideal situation it was just going to be a wait to see who would get their chips.

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I managed to get into 3 big pots with the gentleman loaded player holding the middle card to a straight 3 times, only to amazingly get the pot split all 3 times as he held the same middle straight card.

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I then proceeded to make an ill advised re raise on the same gentleman holding 88 on a board of Q72. I wanted him to fold but was expecting a call, so when he re raised me all in for a further $130 I had to give him credit for a better hand and folded. This I know now on reflection was a very bad play as I shouldn't be trying to put moves on a serial caller - noted for my next session.

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All these antics following another $100 top up left me down $150 on the session after 2 1/2 hours. I was contemplating cashing in after the next round of the table when to my joy I looked down at KK in the SB. All the serial limpers came into the pot so when it got to me I decided to give it a big pre flop raise of $12 knowing that at least one of the cash laden callers was going to go with me holding a weaker cards whilst the rest should get out of my way. So I wasn't too chuffed when one of the tightest players 2 to my left announced a re raise to $24 after his initial limp. Not surprisingly every one got out of the hand (even the cash laden callers) and I was left heads up. Now I am not folding KK to anyone so decided to give it a hefty re re raise of a further $50 (pot size approx $160) .... Mr Tight just called, OK so now I don't have him on AA, I just didn't want an A on the flop. The board came out JJ6 with 2 hearts (and I didn't have a king of hearts). Having about $150 left behind me I put in about a $100 bet which he thought for a while then put me all in for the rest of my chips. I insta called with my last $50 or so. How relieved I was when I saw his QQ (also with no hearts), the K's held up and I had gotten back to just over my total buy in of $300. I took a couple more rounds of the table and managed to steal a small pot using my new found image of having the goods and decided to cash out $22 in profit.

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Dave and Len entered a $50 freezeout. Dave came 2nd for $200 after a deal on how the $720 prize fund should be distributed amongst the final 3 players.

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So there ended the first day in Vegas. Ready and geared for some games the next day I retired to my room for some much needed shut eye. I will report my daily wins and losses so the figures for today are below:

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Buy Ins - $300

Returns - $322

Profit - $22

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So until tomorrow ...

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Keep It Tight!

VIVA LAS VEGAS!!!

November 17th 2007

As I said I had a little treat for myself this month and that is my annual trip to Las Vegas.

This time I am out here with my two good friends Dave Smith and Len Beck. Dave is an ultra aggressive player who likes to play big stakes. Len is more of a cautious player who still has a little bit of gamble, and this works for him. I'm probably the tightest of the 3 so it will be a good mix of game play.

I hope that I will be able to post the days activities and profits / losses here daily.

Game plan for the week.

1. Cash games, cash games, cash games .... I have been before and know I can beat the $1/$2 games more than I lose. Due to the slower nature of live games I will remain seated until I either make a reasonable profit, start to get tired and lose concentration or my stack gets to half 100BB (whichever happens sooner).

2. At the end of the day I will take my net winnings (if there are any) and half them. Half to play more cash games the next day, half to build a multi tourney pot. The smallest multi buy in worthwhile is about $120, so if half of one days profits is not enough to buy into this then I will carry it over to the next days profits and so on until the multi pot is big enough for this buy in. If I lose on any given day the multi pot will remain frozen where it is.

Of course this plan is open to daily tweeking if needs be.

The game play started today when we travelled to London and stayed over the night before our flight.

We fired up the laptop and had a 3 way share on some SnG's. We played 2 $55 buy in 10 man tables (coming 2nd in one for $150). And 2 $55 6 man tables (coming first in one for $200 win).

More tomorrow of our arrival and first game news.

Keep It Tight!

October has been and gone ... hope builds for November

Well October has finished and it has seen me make the biggest monthly profit of the year.

Total profits = $881.75

This was made up from the following figures:

Multi Tournaments + $12.50
Sit n Go's - $7.50
Cash Games + $677.73
Bonuses + $199.02

This is my 5th consecutive month at making a net profit on my poker play.

November so far has not started too well. Its much like how it is when you open a new toilet roll, you pick and pick at it and just when you think its got started it all splits apart again.

Still onwards and upwards hopefully, plus I have a special poker treat for myself in store ... more in the next post.

So for now ...

Keep It Tight!

My Biggest Online NL Holdem Pot to Date

I thought I would post the hand history to the biggest pot I have played on line to date. It came early on in a poker session this October after having won enough over the last few months to move up to the $1/$2 blind levels from the $0.50/$1 blind levels.

I must admit it did get the heart pumping ... especially as I had just moved up to this level and didn't want to be forced to move back down again. My thoughts from the hand as I remember them at the time and now in hind sight are written in red.

Hand P4-52047410-108, Started at 18/10/2007 12:05 (EDT)

Table 'Seabrook': $2-$2 No Limit HE (Real)

Seat 0: reinholzer ($205.60 in chips)

Seat 1: tohRudi ($150.80 in chips)
Seat 2: Vivi120894 ($20 in chips)

Seat 3: sobo1953 ($50.20 in chips)

Seat 4: GTheJester ($195 in chips)

Seat 5: GMAYC ($214.75 in chips)

Seat 6: Banderaszx ($204.85 in chips)

Seat 7: kemona120178 ($133.15 in chips) (on the button)

Seat 8: rdnman ($198 in chips)

Seat 9: pkh123 ($147.40 in chips)

***Blind Round***

rdnman : Post Blind ($1)

pkh123 : Post Blind ($2)

Dealt to GTheJester:

"Looking down at 99 I didn't want to see too much pre flop action so was happy for it to fold around to me. Then I had the decision to call or raise. I opted to call because I had very little information on the players yet to act, so was playing it as a fit or fold hand."

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*** Pre-Flop ***

reinholzer : Fold

tohRudi : Fold

Vivi120894 : Fold

sobo1953 : Fold

GTheJester : Call ($2)

GMAYC : Fold

Banderaszx : Bet ($8)

kemona120178 : Fold

rdnman : Fold

pkh123 : Call ($6)

GTheJester : Call ($6)

"The raise from Banderaszx concerned me at the time because I had no read on his raising requirements; i would now be out of position for the rest of the hand and it would be very difficult to continue after the flop if I missed my set and there were overcards. I was pondering a re raise before pkh123 called but would more likely have let this hand go. However pkh123's call meant that if I did hit my set I was more likely to get paid off to the correct implied odds, so I continued to call with my fit or fold strategy".

-

*** Flop ***
-

pkh123 : Check

GTheJester : Bet ($23)

Banderaszx : Call ($23)

pkh123 : Raise ($139.40) All In

GTheJester : Call ($116.40)

Banderaszx : Raise ($173.85) All In

GTheJester : Call ($47.60) All In

"Woo Hoo I hit my set .... then the reality of the flop set in. Was I facing a better set? Was there a flush draw out there? I thought that pkh123's check showed he was weak in the BB and put out a pot bet to deny any flush draw odds. I didn't want this pot to get too big right now and would like to get it to heads up. When Banderaszx called I suspected AK (with spades of sorts), or a flush draw. pkh123's all in was screaming JJ or straight and flush draws. I elected to call in the hope that Banderaszx would come along to create a side pot (which he did) so I may at least have a chance to cut my losses if I were already behind. Then the heart started pumping and I started praying"

-

*** Turn ***

-

-

*** River ***

-

"The last two cards were a blur, had someone just set up their Aces and I was convinced the flush had hit. Goodbye $200?"

-

*** SUMMARY ***

Pot: $545.25 Rake: $3

Board:

GTheJester bet $195, collected $535.40, net $340.40 Shows

(three nines)

Banderaszx bet $204.85, collected $9.85, net -$195 Shows

(a pair of Kings)

pkh123 lost $147.40 Shows

(a pair of Queens)

-

So I won the hand but can't help feeling that I got very lucky. Had I re raised pre flop the ensuing action would have meant that I would have had to dump the hand. My game plan went well until the flop came down, after that all of my reads were wrong and the pot escalated so quickly all I could do was get my money in.

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But hey, I won the hand and Octobers funds were gladly boosted.

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I would love to hear your comments.

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So until next post.

-

Keep it Tight!

The year so far!

At the start of the year I decided to see if I could win at poker, so on January 1st 2007 I created a poker log to record every single game I played. Be this on line, at the casino or just with my mates.



My poker spread sheet logs the buy in amount, cash returns, poker sites played, bonuses earnt etc. It has now grown quite complex and I intend to post it to this site at the beginning of the new year so that everyone can see my 2007 results and follow my progress through 2008.

This log is used to manage my bankroll and aid in game selection - I will post a more detailed explanation of my banking methods in future posts for you to comment on.

One thing it has highlighted however is how important bank roll management as well as game selection is in being a winning player.

Up until June 2007 my intention was (and still is) to use my winnings to work my way up the blind structures. I was basically treading water with my poker profits at stakes of $0.10/$0.25, $0.25/$0.50 NL blinds and couldn't see any way of making money at this great game.

Then I decided to delve into my log to see where my winnings were going. From the log I could identify the sites I was winning on as well as the stakes and game type I was successful at.

I was basically playing too many multi tournaments with too little return, and should have been concentrating on full ring cash games to fund the rest of my poker game selection.

So since June I have made a renewed effort to clear a regular profit, and with my top cash game blinds of $0.50/$1.00 NL I was averaging approx $300 profit per month. This month I have managed to work my way up to the $1/$2 NL level (interspersed with drops back to $0.50/$1.00 no limit). I need more of a sample to assess my profits including the $1/$2 level but going on the October results it looks promising to be a substantial increase on my previous profits.

Admittedly at these levels I am never going to make a living playing poker, but that is not the goal at this stage. I will post more about my immeadiate goals later but for now I will continue to play in an effort to go onwards and upwards.

So for now ...

Keep It Tight!

Let me introduce myself ...

This is the first post (of what I hope will be many) to discuss and share my poker experiences with others interested in the poker world.

I will be sharing the highs and lows and some of the successes and failures in my quest to make some money (and possibly some fame ... "Dream ON!") by playing this great game.

So about me ..... I am 37 years old, live in the UK and until recently was working for myself in the Building Controls Industry. A while ago I made the decision that I was going to get out of the rat race and spend a little time pursuing my interests of which poker is the main one. Now is that time.

I have been playing poker for about 2 years now, both live and online and have had a little success along the way.

My poker screen name is GTheJester but sometimes takes the form GJester, G_Jester etc.

I play a number of different poker sites for a number of different reasons, all to be explained as my game plan unfolds.

I just want to say that this is not just going to be a self indulgent look at my poker game. I want it to be the truth about how to win (or lose) money by playing poker.

Well thats the quick intro over with, now to sign off, play some poker and create the next installment.

Until next time.

Keep it Tight!