Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

Tikay, not sure if you saw my mention on Twitter, but really enjoyed reading your blog for the first time. I read the one about the ruling and the arsewipe of a CR, but question if you can bother to answer it...

Who was you more pissed off with

- Guy who went all in when after next card
- Guy who asked for ruling
- Or the CR, who seemed a bit off

Top work on blog

Thanks Aaron.

I have now done 17 Blogs so far this trip, I've been pleased with one or two of them, but it's always nice to get feedback, thank you. Not too many flop stories or Hand Histories in them though......

They are very much NOT aimed at blondes though, & it's important to bear that in mind, I just spam them here to get some "easy" clicks.

I don't get paid per click, but I have set myself a click target for the trip, & I find I am better if I have a goal to aim for.

The market they are aimed at are purely Sky Poker, plus potential new sign-ups, & recreational players, but mainly, those who can only dream of going to Vegas, & I try to give them a feel of what Vegas is like.  That's the basic idea, hence the eclectic range of subjects, it's trying to do the vicarious thing.

As to your "pissed off" question, the top of my range for being pissed off at a poker table is about three minutes, which was why I left the table to go buy myself some "calm-down therapy", in the form of a sticky bun. I returned & was just fine.

Who was I most cross with?

The kid who called for the ruling? There is a need to be tolerant of some, many even, of the lads who spend half their life in front of a computer, they don't have very well developed social skills or manners. If you tried to explain etiquette or ethics to him, he'd not even know how to spell either. Best just to accept, it happens.  I don't much enjoy the company of these sort of people, but to be fair, I don't expect they much enjoy mine, either.

The CR? I assume you mean the "Floor", or TD, yes? He was very loud, & very rude, there was no call for either. But remember, their default "client" is an arsey & immature cock like the kid in question, & speaking to them in measured tones is a kite that won't ever fly. So you can understand why his default setting was stroppy, loud, rude & disrespectful. He was just doing his job. Badly.

The lad who caused the problem. Well to recap, he acted out of turn, & due to our relative stack sizes, it removed my options to play the hand optimally, & as intended.  This occurs a lot, when internet players transfer to the Live game. They cannot make these mistakes Online, it is impossible, so they need to be a little more careful when playing B & M poker. It DOES make a massive difference to the play of a drawing hand when someone acts out of turn, it completely ruined my plan of attack & deprived me of my entire range of options.

I did not call a Ruling on him, but in my view, when that happens, they should be SEVERELY punished, (made to sit out 2 or 3 LEVELS), or even disqualified. I'm perfectly serious about that, it is the ONLY way they will learn. His carelessness may have cost me the Tourney, & that's plain wrong. And the end result was that I got warned, & he got off without even a word of censure. Go figure. If I took poker seriously, I'd be as mad as hell about that whole scene. As it is, I was just a bit cross.

Note, by the way, that given he got away completely free for his transgression, others will do it deliberately. Some peeps will do anything to gain an unfair advantage, the poor souls.

I must say, he apologised for his action, then shoved on me next street. Class act that. I really try not to waste my mental energies on people who think that way, we will never ever reconcile our views.  We never spoke further during the Tourney though, he got a bit cooey-wooey, but I had sulk-mode engaged. I dont really want to talk to people like that if I can help it.

[Karabiner]

Thanks for a lovely return on my token %age of you Tony, you really did us and yourself proud.

I would have been more than delighted for you to play the $3k tourney and the ME as a super-spin-up especially when you're running like the bloke who keeps crushing Usain Bolt.

I've enjoyed your bloggage too, can't wait for the one upcoming featuring your noon tee-off in the DTD golf day

[tikay]

Blurry photos? Not me Sir, oh no. Sorted.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

Spotted at the Rio Cash tables last night, premiership quality PHA Poster "Honeybadger", hopefully ignoring the instructions on the litter bin.

My favourite PHA who i don't really know. Tikay, in your 1500plo8 run, how do you feel about your bustout hand? I'm new to the game, and mainly play online low stakes, relying on my overall tournament strategy, and an ok knowledge of equities to get me by. Are high only hands all they are cracked up to be? Fantastic blog, and great run, i used to dislike you on Sky, but its more the show not meeting my tastes than anything personal. I have a lot of free time in the next week, and a lot of it will be reading this diary!

Thanks Adam.

How did you come up with such an unpronouncable alias?! Does it have some hidden meaning?

I'll deal with the PLO8 part for now, if I have time after I've put together today's Blog, I'll then comment on the TV Show. 

Are high hands over-rated? (In PLO8 I assume you mean).

No, not in my view, in fact quite the opposite. We have more chance of winning BOTH pots with Highs, & after all, the game is about "scoops". Low hands - if they hit - mostly only give us half, (even quarter or 6th) unless big & multi-way. Sort of "half at best", unless we are low on low.

My bustout hand? I've agonised on it, as you can imagine. It has to be seen in context, too. 

2 tables, 12 players, I THOUGHT it was an 8 man Final, in fact it was a 10 man final.

It would not be a bad thing for next door if I could final.

All the big stacks were on the other table. My table had one huge stack (to my immediate left), one medium, & 4 shorties. I covered the other three shorties.

I had 11.5 Bigs, having just been badly outdrawn a few hands earlier. I wanted to "bounce back" quickly, & the Table was ultra passive.

11.5 Bigs sounds ridiculous to be considering a raise/fold, but this is Pot Limit, & I COULD have raise folded. I could get by as long as I had a "re-pot" in my stack. (No lolling please....).

It was my Button, & I had K-Q-J-10, with Diamonds. Too big, too nitty to fold, on the Button, surely? I did consider a limp, but then I'd have to call if he raised. Nope, don't much like that, given my stack.

I made it 2.5 Bigs, & the big-stacked BB re-potted. It was a clear fold, or get the lot in, only those 2 options. In High Only, it would be a no-brainer, go for it.  If my man was only "low only" or a thin high, I had loads of cards to hit.

I had seen this kid play good low hands very strongly. Part of my thinking was that he might just be doing this - with a bullying stack, you CAN play low only hands like that, to apply pressure on shorties.

I dwelled for fully 2 minutes. Go for it, or give it up, & leave myself one last chance of a re-pot later?

6 handed, the Blinds come round fast......

I was very focused on making the Final with a playable stack, rather than my usual wimpish creep into the Final with 3 Bigs. So many people were thread & Twitter railing me, I wanted to do them proud. I truly believed I could finish top three if I could find one more 2xup.

Eventually I just thought, the hell with it, let's gamble.   

He turned over a hand which was my worst nightmare, a genuine two way hand, & he had me crushed at the top end. He had A-K-2-x.

The door card was an ace, sigh, the next card was the 10. Well hello.......but it blanked,

I chatted it through with Flushy last night. I believe he has played 8 or Better before.

His view was that....

1) The hand itself was a mis-step.

2) The decision to go for it, get a playable stack, go for the win, was correct.

I think he was probably correct on both counts.

It was maybe the most enjoyable 2 days poker I can recall. I ran very good. The field was, as Camel suggested, not very 8 or Better savvy. I believe I COULD have got top three.

I don't play so much Live Poker these days, & even less 8 or Better, which is my favourite, & probably best, game. I'm also "quite old", so there will not be many more or better chances to make a WSOP final, especially given variance & all that.

So, brave face apart, yes, it pinched a bit when I reflected afterwards. 

But for balance, I ran good throughout, so I can't have any complaints.

My main aim, when I began the tourney, was to preserve my "100% WSOP Cash(es) record". Singular hitherto..... I ticked that box, & was thrilled to, that was the initial target. I may be unique, 2 WSOP Events, 2 cashes - 7 years apart!

Overall, it was all a wonderful thrill for me, I can't recall having so much poker fun in years.

Deep down inside me, I want to return next year & play 2 or 3 "8 or Better" WSOP Events, & maybe even the WSOP-E one. That's what happen when we bink - our imagination runs away with us, & we think we are the dogs bollox.

[The Camel]

Very interesting post.

I would think the WSOPE PLO8 field would be a good deal tougher than the WSOP field.

[tonytats]

I turn up at the taxi stand at the nugget Monday night 630 pm ( not am !) ,the valet asks me where I'm going ,I reply ,to see the local base ball team ,area 51 I believe quite near here ? Yes sir he says ,I go a lot and take my kids Monday night is 1$ food night ,Wednesday night is 1$ beer night ,so there's a game on ? ,I inquire ? Yes sir he says  ,in the taxi I get to cash man fields ,get there there's 2 pickup trucks n a bit of tumbleweed in the car park ,I ask the taxi driver is it at another gate ? He barely speaks English ,and only mumbles so we drive round to be told by 2
 groundsmen ,no game till Wednesday 4 July party fireworks the lot

So I return to the nugget 20$ poorer

[tikay]

Today's Blog is now up.

Sick.

Channing & Brammer.

Stormwater Drains.

Obscenity.

http://bit.ly/MXXt2y

[rfgqqabc]

Spotted at the Rio Cash tables last night, premiership quality PHA Poster "Honeybadger", hopefully ignoring the instructions on the litter bin.

My favourite PHA who i don't really know. Tikay, in your 1500plo8 run, how do you feel about your bustout hand? I'm new to the game, and mainly play online low stakes, relying on my overall tournament strategy, and an ok knowledge of equities to get me by. Are high only hands all they are cracked up to be? Fantastic blog, and great run, i used to dislike you on Sky, but its more the show not meeting my tastes than anything personal. I have a lot of free time in the next week, and a lot of it will be reading this diary!

Thanks Adam.

How did you come up with such an unpronouncable alias?! Does it have some hidden meaning?

When i first joined Blonde i was in two minds whether to reveal my actual name or not, as I was looking at becoming a serious cash game regular in DTD, and wanted to give away as little as possible. I just mashed keys  in the end, in order to avoid a name linked to any of my online accounts/real life name. As it happens i became good friends with the regulars there, and in turn posting and becoming part of the community became more important than any cyber warfare.

Interestingly i won a H/L turbo today, and whilst it was a complete flip fest, I had a lot of fun. I'd gone on a bad run in H/L after my initial heater, so had a downer on the game, fortunately i ran better today!

I learnt by watching a friend who only really had hu experience, and some cash games experience, so we both had to do some work to adjust to the online freezeouts. He won back to back 22 f/os and i had a 2nd and a win later that week. Its a great game and fantastic value online, i can only imagine how good the WSOP events are, maybe next year. Thanks for the advice with the high hands, its something i used to avoid, but i ran a few equities today with KKxx and it certainly surprised me how well it did. Kinda obvious its less likely to be a scoop when there is a low, definite plus.

Good luck in any other events you play

[Machka]

The following have now been paid (amounts as above) by Bank TX, & should receive immediately.

Aaron

Methuselah

Mere

Phil Q.

Received thanks.

We were all settled before this trip.

It's been very exciting logging in each morning before work and in the evening after to see the latest results.  And you really produced some results this time!

Looks like you had a great time playing while we had a great time virtually railing.

Win-Win situation.

Hope some of your form rubs off on the Sky Poker guys arriving anytime now.

[bobby1]

I've just read the very nice things you wrote about me in your Blog Tony but I have to correct you slightly on one part of it.

I have never ever had three times the average chips with 25 left in a comp in my life :-).....in fact the way my first 4 days have gone here I am thinking of hiring a hooker later and asking here how much it will cost for her to listen to 60 minutes of bad beat/bad play stories, knowing my luck it will be treble time coz its a bank holiday.

[JaffaCake]

Nice post Tony, sounds like you've loved the playing over there, it's always nice when u get reminded there's still plenty of value around. Flushy is ofc right about your bust hand and playing ftw, but I would have thought if ever u were gonna crawl into a final with 8bb, it would be a WSOP final, tis so exciting and a feather in your cap, something good to blather on about in the telly too. Stacks are still playable down to like 5 or 6 bb, esp when u have shorter stacks on your tablle. Just have to do it next year now instead. Have read all your blogs, enjoying the. Partic like when u compare your performance in a tournament to how a racing paper reports a horse's performance, think everyone should do that for every comp

[DaveShoelace]

What's the reason for Sky moving from channel 865 to 861? It seems like nothing has been put in the old 865 slot, so I cant see why they would do it. You must have a great telly reason for this that most likely will wow us mere mortals.

[DesD]

What's the reason for Sky moving from channel 865 to 861? It seems like nothing has been put in the old 865 slot, so I cant see why they would do it. You must have a great telly reason for this that most likely will wow us mere mortals.

861 is the first slot on the Gaming & Dating electronic programme guide, so this move stops a competitor coming in and swiping traffic. 

I can't recall, but assume 861 was owned by some interactive gaming channel who were no longer using it and got fed up of paying the fees to retain.

All standard.

[DesD]

What's the reason for Sky moving from channel 865 to 861? It seems like nothing has been put in the old 865 slot, so I cant see why they would do it. You must have a great telly reason for this that most likely will wow us mere mortals.

861 is the first slot on the Gaming & Dating electronic programme guide, so this move stops a competitor coming in and swiping traffic. 

I can't recall, but assume 861 was owned by some interactive gaming channel who were no longer using it and got fed up of paying the fees to retain.

All standard.

After a little research.....

"From Thursday 31st March Gala TV will no longer broadcast on Sky Channel 861. In order to continue to offer the best online bingo experience, we’ve decided to focus our attention on further enhancing Gala TV on galabingo.com."

Clearly didn't work and I'm not surprised as it was one of the worst produced gaming channels on tv, surprisingly.

[TRIP5]

I couldnt be more made up for you Pops!!!!!!

#SuperProud

I'll retain my little fingers worth across the board should you decide to have a final dabble before you return home so pls keep hold of my returns for now...

Also, a big squeezy, well deserved, hug for Jeeves please.. he's been amazeballs this year!!

xx