I got into Vegas yesterday, and saw a poker player before I’d even checked into my hotel. I stopped at my favorite Whole Foods on the planet (on S Las Vegas Blvd) and saw Antonio Esfandiari eating a sub, haha!
For dinner, Collin and I showed up at our favorite sushi buffet in the Premium Outlet area—only to find out that it had been turned into a giant Michael Kor’s within the last year. Instead of eating purse leather for dinner, there was another Makino’s not too far away. Since I don’t eat rice or sauces with sugar, when I go to a sushi buffet I usually only eat one thing: salmon sashimi. I’ve yet to find good sushi in Mexico, so I made extra sure to get good value on the price of admission!
Collin was amused by my buffet plate:
Then I went to walk around the strip with some poker friends I’ve had since just after I turned into a full time player. We ended up playing 3/6 limit at Bally’s, which was the first time I’d played limit hold ‘em live. Something about playing live always gets my heart pumping in a way that playing online rarely does, even when playing low stakes cash with a glass of Glenfiddich in my hand!
The most interesting hand:
UTG limps
UTG+1: I raise with JJ
HJ calls, SB calls, UTG calls
Flop: 2s2d3s
Checks to me, I bet and only the SB calls.
Turn: J
Despite this being likely to be a small pot, I can feel my heart beating faster, haha! I bet, and the SB calls.
River: As (completing the flush draw)
SB checks, I bet, he raises…Since that player had been very passive, I was surprised (but happy to get check raised). We made it to the point where I had 5-bet him, and I realized that I didn’t know if betting was capped when heads-up on the river (it’s not)! See, I told you it was my first time playing limit hold ‘em live!
If he had raised again instead of calling, at that point I would have begun to think about the number of bets I wanted to get in, but I had seen this player overplay a flush on a paired board before—which is what he ended up having! The fun thing about playing with $1 chips was that I felt like I had just won a really massive pot, haha.
I ended up about $70—small potatoes, but more than enough to pay for the manicure I’m planning on for later. As a fun bonus, I knew the very nice cashier from Twitter. Next, I really want to play the game that I’ve been studying and learning online for the month and a half leading up to this vacation- FL08.
