Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

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Those O8 games at the Orleans...

Eight people limp.

We see a flop.

One bet. Six callers

Turn

One bet. Five callers.

River.

Check it down.

Everyone turns their cards over.

Everyone looks at all the other cards. Stand up, obviously, squint and raise glasses.

Everyone sits down.

Now, either one of two things happens, depending entirely on the dealer:
1) the dealer informs the table that seat 2 has won the high with a flush and seats 4 and 7 split the low.
2) the dealer lets the players sort it out for themselves and distributes the chips as instructed, irrespective of whether it's correct.

It's the best poker game to watch when learning the game. Working out the two sides of the pot with 20 cards to choose from is a skill worth learning.

A perfect summary of an O8 game at Orleans.

On a bit of a tangent here, but was it you a while back that suggested I should watch the Aaron Hernandez documentary on Netflix? Well I spent a pleasant hour in Barnes & Noble yesterday & managed to buy the book version, "All American Murder". Fabulous read, I simply can't put it down. Very well written, but by way of an oddity, the Chapters are very short - 97 Chapters in a 390 page book is most unusual. I write longer sentences.

Aaron was a huge NFL star in the making, had a $40 milly contract with the Patriots, & then things went badly wrong. A tragedy in so many ways. I'm returning to Barnes & Noble today to try & get a book about Michael Vick, which is a similar story in many ways. I don't derive any pleasure from seeing these young lads have their careers destroyed, not at all, but I do find it fascinating.

It's been a bit of an eye-opener for me to realise how many NFL lads go wrong, & end up doing drugs, mixing with gang culture or running with bad sorts & getting in trouble. Made me wonder if the Premier League footballers might eventually go the same route? I know there are a few bad eggs in the English PL, but I'd be surprised if there were many. 

[Karabiner]

Loving your waffles.

Those half kill games can be great fun.

When you say the other players were old and grumpy does that mean you were the young upstart?

First up, thank you to everyone who commented, both on here & WhatsApp. When time permits, I enjoy trying to write, but there's no doubt a bit of feedback adds that feelgood factor, & at least I know someone is reading.

Starting with young Ralph, pretty sure I was the youngest at the table, & by some distance. There was a huge argument yesterday, started by a typically aggravating octogenarian. One of his cards flipped over as it was dealt. We all saw it - 6 of diamonds. A little Vietnamese chap, completely inoffensive sort, was first to holla - "exposed card!", Dealer nods, no problem. But now the recipient of the exposed card kicks off because he thinks it's none of the Vietnamese guy's business. A typically meaningless argument about nothing. Floor are called & everyone was shouting at each other for 15 minutes solid. Pretty ridic really. Old people, huh? It was like 8 Red Dog's at the same table, nobody would yield an inch.

And yes, Half Kill games are enormous fun. I've never seen Kill or Half Kill games in the UK, and have no idea what games they apply to - is it only 08 & the other split pot games? And  - sheer guess this - but did you first encounter Kill games during your Canadian odyssey? I'm guessing Limit poker is or was the norm in the USA & Canada at the time. It's pretty big now if the Orleans is any guide, there are always 15 or 20 Limit cash games on the go.

The only time I ever played a kill/half kill game was in 2005 at The Palms after my one and only all too brief WSOP ME appearance.

It was $4/$8 holdem and had some wonderful characters in that game which was apparently peak Palms era according to dealers I spoke with on subsequent Vegas trips. There was one ex-Broadway actor called Vinny who wore the most atrocious Elvis-impersonator type wig, but he had the most hilarious way of insulting people without offending anyone. He was a true Damon Runyan type of NY street-smart guy and just superb company.

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Here's the original 'photo featured on the book cover. Such a powerful photo once you know the backstory.

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[tikay]

Whilst it is enjoyable as described above. Would be good to hear of some arse ripping or whatever it is you specialize in when you’re in Vegas please x

Ahh, Mr Vinni.

For age-related reasons, I've moved on from arse-ripping. These days, it's more a sort of gentle exploratory probe.

[tikay]

Good fun though. The Venetian is SUCH a lovely room to play in. As almost always, Mr & Mrs Shulman were in attendance.

Any of you that have played at The Venetian will be familiar with Mrs Shulman, aka Allyn, wife of Barry, the Cardplayer.com owner. She was/is co-owner of Cardplayer, & is their Attorney. Decent player, won a WSOP Bracelet in the Seniors around 12 years ago for ~$600,000, & won a big Deepstack Extravaganza affair for over $300,000, so knows her way round the table. I happen to like her very much, a view not widely shared, but she does strike quite an imposing image with her posh shades, long blonde hair, menacing cleavage & opinionated views.

It did quite amuse me though the way she casually slung her $700 Versace scarf over her chair in such a way that everyone could see it. To be fair, I do the same with my Tesco scarf.  

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'Menacing clevage' I have to admit I lolled

Ha, Mr Spangles, all sorts are popping out of the woodwork.

Listen, when a 70 year old woman with a push-up bra & half an acre of cleavage gets in your face, believe me, it's scary. You never been in a Golf Club Locker Room on Gentleman Seniors Day? Not nice, not nice at all.

You see much of the Fen Flouncer these days? Go to the sane Gym, perhaps?

[tikay]

The great thing about the USA is the abundance of bad food. Salad? I doubt they've even heard of it. The only problem is I'm becoming increasingly like Mr Creosote.

There's a story & a road trip behind each of these photos, but I'll wear out the Welcome Mat if I go on too much, so just the 'photos for now.

They were mostly taken in Diners in various far-flung parts of Nevada. The exception is the dreadful burger, which was at The Rio (RIP).

Diners are just so wonderful - but it's important to sit in a booth. And the booth seating is almost always red leather for some reason.

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[KarmaDope]

And yes, Half Kill games are enormous fun. I've never seen Kill or Half Kill games in the UK, and have no idea what games they apply to - is it only 08 & the other split pot games? And  - sheer guess this - but did you first encounter Kill games during your Canadian odyssey? I'm guessing Limit poker is or was the norm in the USA & Canada at the time. It's pretty big now if the Orleans is any guide, there are always 15 or 20 Limit cash games on the go.

It's any Limit game. Doesn't work in any other type of NL/PL. I know at Orleans in the LHE games the kill is activated if you win two or three pots in a row (think its two) but not sure how it s activated in split pot games.

http://www.poker-vibe.com/poker/terms/kill-pot/

[doubleup]

The kill or half kill is sometimes, often?, set off by the size of the previous pot. I played it is a complete mug in the mirage in the late nineties. I was about to bet the river when my opponent in the hand, who had previously announced that he was leaving, pushed my bet back and said - "I have nut nut - I trapped you".

It took me a while to work out that the extra bets would have made it a kill pot and he would have been forced to put in the extra profit as a blind bet in the next hand and possible be caught up in something costing him more, when he had planned to leave.

Also add me to the "I approve of this waffle" list.

[redsimon]

Any more poker tournaments planned or is it the train stage of trip ?

Love the food pictures and the Orleans stories certainly bring back many good memories

[tonytats]

Salad was bloody expensive though.

Whoever went in a wimpy for a salad ? 😋😋😋
The wimpy in peterborough has sadly gone but last time in kings Lynn there was one

[tonytats]

but I just enjoy playing live poker, riffling chips, “snapping” the corners of the cards, tossing discards in the muck in a cool fashion & generally chilling with like-minded folk.


I think this is why I still make the occasional buy in 😂😂😂

Also for the characters you meet at the table either in vegas or Luton

[RED-DOG]

It only seems like I won't give an inch because you're always wrong.

[tikay]

Testing, testing.

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Ha, 19 years into blonde's life, I've just managed to post on it using my 'phone for the very first time. Incred.

[tikay]

Today we shall mainly be:

Flying from Las Vegas to Santa Barbara

Swimming in the Pacific Ocean

Catching the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner for the 3 hour journey south along the coast to Los Angeles.

FlyAway bus from Union Station to LAX

Fly back to Vegas.