Vega$ Trip Report - Part 1

Wow, what a trip. Got home late last night and caught up on reading about 157 blog entries by other writers, so I'm just now getting started.

Anyway, the Good Doctor Mondo and I landed safe and sound and got checked into the MGM with no fuss at all. From the moment of landing, CK and I were trading text messages trying to figure out where or what blogger stuff was happening on Thursday. Of course, most were landing on Friday/Saturday, so in the end, by the time I showed up in the MGM poker room (after a truly wonderful burger at the Studio Cafe that was actually worth the $13-14 cost), CK was already there playing 1/2, and seemed to have a good amount of the table's attention.

Anyway, CK did a pretty good job of describing the two hands we got into it with one another. Funny thing about the AA hand is that, yeah, I was worried about her having a Q, but also thought that she'd fire out on just about any river to represent strength. I think if it were anyone but her, maybe I lay down on that river, but I just couldn't get it out of my mind that she was just trying to push a known blogger out of a pot, because it would have been the WPBT tour thing to do.

Well, I very much enjoyed playing with her, and was bummed to see her buy-in gone. CK is every bit as much fun to be around in person as in an online tournament.

In the end, I *was* crushing the table, but gave back about 1/2 my profits in a couple of bigger two pair hands, but ended up about 2/3 of a buy-in on the night. The Good Doctor Mondo made a few bucks at 2/4 limit, and more importantly, was having fun. I made it a short night, because the Caesar's Mega Stack was the next day, and I wanted some real sleep. And boy, was I glad I did.

Woke up really early on Friday. Knowing the turnouts of the first couple of events, I was expecting long lines, and I still needed a Caesar's players card. Well, duh. By 9:45, I'm already there and registered, so I donked off about $100 playing a 1-3 game that was not playing large at all, and then jumped into the tourney. I've already posted that I ended up going out 39th of 582 (for a relatively small cash), but here's a few fun facts.

a. Only had AA and KK once each in the tourney, and both in the very first hour.

b. Had QQ three times, and all three brought significant chips to my stack.

c. Had AK twice, and both times had to fold to very ugly board/flop raises or 3-bets. (more on AK later)

d. Fantastic structure. Antes didn't start until level 7. However, they start getting really pricey by levels 10-11, in comparison to average stack sizes.

e. Very top heavy payout structure. 54 of 582 paid, so less than 10%. Even so, only the top 36 even got an amount at least 2x the buy-in. Buy-in was $340, and 45th-37th paid $508, 28th-36th paid about $590. 1st, however, was a nice $49k and change.

f. I ended up playing for 14 hours, and didn't get moved from my original seat until we were down to less than 60 players, during level 11 or 12, when they broke down to six tables. Moved twice after that. One other player from my original table was still there, too.

g. On the very bubble, I 3-bet shoved AKo from late position, and was actually okay with losing that hand, but when asked by the original raiser, I told him I was equally okay with a call or a fold. I know that's how people become bubble boys, but of the 55th left, I couldn't have been better than 50th or 51st in chips at that time.

h. Only played two hands post flop where I was significantly behind. Once was just after the bubble, when I shoved KQ soooted UTG. (I'd previously folded KQ UTG last orbit before bubble broke.) Called all in by small blind who had AKo, and I hit straight on turn. The 2nd time was my all out hand. With a miniscule M, me having 1% of chips in play (39 players left), 15 minutes before the end of Day 1 play, and the blinds crawling up my ass, I shoved A6 sooted early, and a big stack overshoved AK. Picked up flush draw on flop (when he paired), and paired my 6 on the turn, but missed an 11 outer on the river. Was my shove okay in that spot, given the situation? Was I underestimating my need to try to double up in that spot in the tournament?

What do you think? Should I have folded pf and been willing to show up 12 hours later for Day 2 with an M no greater than about 2 (assuming I didn't get a big hand in final 12-13 minutes? Or was the shove okay in that spot, knowing I was likely behind to any other A, and have little equity. If I hit my outs, I'm up to about 200k, and have a real chance at being competitive early in a Day 2. Anyway, I gamboooled and lost, and went to bed.

Some of the most fun was calling the Good Doctor Mondo with updates, which she was sharing with her 2/4 table. The whole table back at MGM was kinda cell-phone railing me. That felt good. And texting CK with updates. I wish I could have given better news at the end.

Okay, enough for now. Will blog Saturday's ugliness and monkey tilt later today, or tomorrow.