Win Some, Lose Many
(Note: if you want a reference to poker lingo, click here.)
On Friday, I played in the Wynn Millions poker tournament. I immediately won the first hand. A good start! It's a 5-day tournament (see https://www.wynnlasvegas.com/casino/poker). First place will take home around $1 million.
I was trying to play conservatively, but I was frustrated at folding the winning hand a lot. Then again, who knew that 35 would flop into two pair or that bottom pair on the flop would turn into a full house?
I don't believe in lucky streaks, but so far things had been going well. I got pocket 6s. I raised from $200 to $700. I got one caller. I thought “If I flop a set, I'll know my luck has changed finally.” The flop was 4♠6♥9♦. I had flopped a set! Only pocket 9s could beat me. I checked. He bet $1,700. I raised to $4,000. Surprisingly, he called. The turn card was 2♣, which I figured couldn't possibly help him. I bet $6,500. Again, surprisingly, he called. Did he have pocket 9s? If so, he should have reraised after the flop. The river card was 5♠. He could possibly have a straight, but he never would have (or should have) stayed in the hand for so long, trying for a small straight. His stack was already half mine, having lost a big pot earlier. I shoved, hoping he thought I was bluffing. He thought for a while but folded. I now had a very big stack.
Here was an exciting hand (even though it didn’t involve me). One of the two biggest stacks at the table shoved, and the other big stack called. One had pocket Qs, the other had pocket As. The board ran out... 6KQ, turning the pocket Qs into a set of queens, now ahead of pocket As. Then a K, turning the pocket Qs into a full house, way ahead of the pocket As. Then another K, turning the pocket Qs into a full house, Ks over Qs, but turning the As into a better full house, Ks over As. The aces knocked out the queens in a nail biter.
Ahhhh... I started losing lots of small pots and was then slightly below starting stack. The worst part was that I'd been folding borderline hands that would have won.
Then I won a couple hands and got back up to starting stack.
I got dealt A♠3♠. One player min raised. I called. Three other players called. The flop was QQQ. All players checked to me. I bet $1000. I got one caller. The turn was 6. We both checked. The river was 3. We both checked. He had AK but my 3 gave me a full house for the win!
I got pocket 2s. The flop was 62K. We all checked. The turn was K. We all checked. The river was 9. I hoped someone had some good hand. I bet $1,500 and got one caller. My full house won. I was then comfortably above starting stack.
I suddenly started losing very close hands. Like my KJ was ahead of J9 until the river: J 10 8 3 9. I lost a lot of chips on that one.
Then I lost a big pot where I rivered the second-best possible hand, a straight to the K, but the other player had the best possible hand, a straight to the A. I thought about this for a while afterwards, trying to decide if this was an error on my part. I had J9. The flop was Q J 10, giving me middle pair and an open-ended straight draw. The turn was 3, which was unlikely to help either of us. The river was K, giving me a straight to the K. We had been betting back and forth, and he bet big after the river card. I knew that he only needed to have an A to beat me, which was reasonable, but 1) he had a bigger stack than me and could be bluffing, 2) he could have a set or two pair and assume that I didn’t have the A or 9, and 3) I had already put a lot of chips into the stack and felt I couldn’t fold and lose all those chips, with the possibility that I could be ahead. Unfortunately, he had the A. I decided this was a borderline call; I could justify folding or calling.
Once again, I was short stacked with about 20 big blinds. I hate being in this position so often.
I got A2 in the big blind. One player min raised. All others folded. I called. The flip was 6A9. I shoved. He called with A8. To make it worse, the turn card was 8. I busted out.
I felt like I’ve been doing something wrong, maybe playing too many hands. But then I went to the Orleans and played in a tournament that evening and decided I’m playing well, but the cards just often don’t go my way. That’s poker.
Evening at the Orleans
On one of my first hands, I got pocket As! Everyone folded to me on the button, so I limped in, hoping one of the blinds would raise, but neither did. One player said something strange to me: “Good luck all in.” This is what people say to a short stack who shoves his entire stack. But I had a starting stack and pocket As, though he didn’t know that. I thought, what a strange thing to say, and obnoxious, as if he could predict that I was going to lose no matter what. Then the flop was K4K. I bet really big and he called. Damn, he probably has a K. Or pocket 4s. The turn card was 9. I tried betting big again, and he called again. Maybe he had a draw of some kind. Otherwise, why wouldn’t he raise me. The river was a 10. I decided to go for broke and shoved. He snap called with K 10 for a full house. How did he know? I had busted out.
So I bought back in. I started well the second time, winning hands and getting a big stack early on, but then started running bad for a while. My stack was about average with 83 players left and 30 players getting paid out of just under 300 players altogether.
Some drunk player guy was moved to my table and started giving me unsolicited advice. Constantly. He wouldn’t stop talking to me even when I originally thanked him, then nodded or smiled, then ignored him. I don’t know why he felt he needed to do that.
One piece of advice he gave me… over and over and over… was to wait until it was my turn to bet before looking at my cards. He said “live players” as opposed to “online players” know to do this. I know that a lot of players think this is the right thing to do, but it’s actually wrong. Their thinking, as this guy stated over and over, is that you give tells to the other players when you look at your cards, so better not to look until after other players have already bet. There are a lot of things wrong with this common misconception. First, if you can’t hold a poker face while looking at your cards, you shouldn’t be playing poker. There are lots of times in the game when you’re going to see cards that affect your hand, and you better be able to hide your emotions. Or fake them. Second, you should look at your cards as soon as they’re in your hand. That way, you can start deciding what to do with them and adjust that strategy as each player bets or folds. That way, when it gets to be your turn, you know exactly what you plan to do, and you can do it immediately or “think about it” and manipulate the actual reaction that the other players observe. And that leads to my third point. If you wait to look at your cards when it’s your time to bet, all players’ eyes are on you. If you’re seeing the cards for the first time, you may have a tell and, if so, everyone at the table will see it. But if you look at your cards when you get dealt them, while everyone else is examining their own cards, you can choose whatever expression you want to show when it's your turn to bet.
This drunk player eventually left the table with a decent stack that got blinded off. The floor manager came over and laughed about it. She said he’s a regular, plays poker and drinks until he gets bored, then leaves. He often leaves personal belongings at the table, so she keeps them behind the desk until he comes back the next day and asks for them. Some poker players lead “interesting” lives.
I knocked out two players with 7♦3♦, a very bad hand. How did I do it? I was in the big blind. Two short stacks limped in, so of course I checked the bet. The flop had 2 diamonds. Both short stacks shoved. I did too and got a diamond on the river, giving me a flush.
But I lost a hand with the very good hand of AQ. The flop was 5JQ. One player made a big bet and another player raised a lot. I put him on QJ or JJ, so I folded, but he showed AQ. Had I stayed in, he and I would have “chopped” (split the pot). However, this demonstrates that power of position in poker. The other player was in a better position because he was earlier in the betting than me, so I folded, assuming he could have a better hand than me. On the other hand, his raise was a risk. If I had QJ or JJ I would have gotten a lot of chips from him.
A really, really loud obnoxious woman just sat at the table. I had been hearing her for much of the tournament, because she liked to scream when she got a good hand. Or a bad hand. Or she saw someone she knew. Or because she was happy. Or sad. Or just about any reason. She was drinking a lot, the buttons on her top seemed to be getting unbuttoned from top to bottom one per hour. She was making a lot of sexual innuendos, getting up to talk to friends, and needed assistance counting her chips. While one or two guys at the table enjoyed flirting with her, most of us found it very, very annoying. Yet, she won hands. You might think it was an act, but it wasn’t. I’ve run int a lot of players like her. They get drunk at the table, and I assume that their play will get worse, but it doesn’t, leading me to make mistakes. I’ve come to believe that some people play so much poker that their play is like instinct. They don’t need to consciously think about it. I’ve come to assume that every player knows what they’re doing, drunk or sober, unless I see a history of mistakes at the table.
Then I won a really big pot. Then I knocked out another player. My stack was very good, with about 60 players left. As I said, 30 players get paid.
Then I knocked out two players at once. There were 46 left.
Then there were 40 players left. The obnoxious guy who busted me out the first time was put at my table. Turns out that maybe he’s not so bad. He seems more cordial and thoughtful. Maybe because he’s really annoyed at the drunk woman. Like the rest of us. He proceeded to win a couple big pots from me, but my stack was really big, so I was still OK.
Then I nearly knocked out a giant stack! His stack was a little bigger than mine, so he has some chips left. I was almost certainly the tournament chip leader at that time.
Suddenly the bubble burst when two players busted out at the same time.
Then I knocked out yet another player! The picture at the top of my article shows my stack. I had so many chips, I had a hard time holding my cards. Eventually the floor manager came over and “colored up” some of my chips. That means she substituted a lot of the $1,000 chips for $25,000 chips.
Then I lost a big pot. I had KJ and raised. A short stack shoved. I called. He had pocket 5s. I got a K, but he got a 5 on the river. But I'm still doing great.
Then there were 20 players left. I lost a big pot when my pair of As was beaten by a pair of As with a bigger kicker.
Then we were down to two tables, 18 players left.
I had A♥8♦. The flop was A♦4♣6♠. I bet. Another player called. The turn was 6♣. I bet; he called. The river was K♣. I shoved, he called. When he turned over A2, I thought we'd chopped. Until someone pointed out that he had A♣2♣ for a flush. I busted out at #10.
I decided to apply my winnings to entering the Wynn again the next day.
Epilogue
At 2 AM, I walked to my car in the parking lot of the Orleans and found the tire was flat. I remember running over something as I got there and heard a bang, but my car seemed OK at the time. The streets around Vegas are all being repaired, which is frustrating and inconvenient. I put on the spare and then needed to get some sleep before tomorrow's tournament at the Wynn. By the time I got home, I was too wired from about 14 hours of straight poker and had a hard time falling asleep.
Back to the Wynn
The next day, I headed back to the Wynn. I won a few small hands right off the bat, then lost a medium one another player raised, I reraised, and he called. I had AQ and flopped AK4. I bet big and the other guy raised a lot. I folded, and he showed me his pocket As.
Without discussing all the hands, I’ll summarize today's play: I could hardly win a hand. It's not that I didn't get good cards, but some other player would get slightly better ones. Finally, I got pocket 6s in the big blind. One player did a small raise and 5 players called including me. The flop was 679, giving me an awesome set of sixes. I checked. One player bet $3,200. Another player called. I shoved for $10K. One player folded. The other called with 78. Odds were almost 4:1 in my favor. The turn was a safe Q, but the river was 10, giving him a straight. I busted out.