!st Trip to the Strip

Thursday morning Helen sent me to the Strip for the first time this winter. She wanted to organize the apartment, so by 9 a.m. I was making the 8-mile drive east to Las Vegas Blvd.

I parked at Bally's and checked out the poker room action. One table going and a waiting list of 3, so I opted to keep walking over through Bill's Gambling Hall, the Flamingo, O'Shea's and into the Imperial Palace.

The IP has relocated and revamped its poker room. All new table felts are nice, but the chairs still need upgrading. They are very basic, just a notch up from folding chairs. But one nice comp the IP offers is freshly baked cookies free of charge to players. Every couple of hours they bring out a huge tray of cookies which get munched by many players.

I was able to get into a 1-2 No Limit game immediately, buying in for $100. I settled in and didn't do much playing early on. Lots of bad starting cards K-4, Q-6, 8-3, etc. Finally I got a few good cards and won a couple of pots. There were really only two hands that deserve mentioning.

The first occured when I was dealt 5-5. With this type of hand I usually try to see a flop cheaply. If I hit the trips, I bet, but if I miss the flop, I'm usually out of the hand. This time the flop comes A-2-4 of mixed suits. So I have an inside straight draw and dominate anyone with the 2 or 4. My only concern is the Ace. So I bet $20 and everyone folds, except the player to my immediate left. He calls and we see a J turn card. I again bet $20 and he calls. The river card is my third 5. I bet $30 and the guy to my left goes all-in for his last $50. I call and he shows his Ace, feeling like a winner.

I show my fives and the guy gets irate. "What an idiot. How can anyone stay with that hand," he stomps around and mutters under his breath. I'm kind of tickled by his tantrum, knowing that I made a strong play. This guy thinks he's a poker whiz, but he's really not as sharp as he thinks he is. I raked a pot of over $100 on that one.

I played for almost 8 hours, including one very long dry spell. At one point I counted 22 hands in a row that I got crappy starting cards and didn't see a flop. It's not always easy to be patient, but you can't start playing weak hands just to be playing. That gets expensive when you lose $10 here, $15 there trying to make something happen with a Q-8 or J-9. Even if you hit top pair on those hands, you could lose a lot to a bigger pair.

The second memorable hand came when I looked down and saw both red Aces in my hand. It was the only time I had A-A all day. Anyway, I bet $15 when it came to me and got a couple of callers. The flop came J-10-2. Thinking I had the best hand, I bet $25 and all folded except a guy at the far end of the table who called. The turn card was another J. I bet $40 and the guy at the other end called. The river was the final jack - giving me a full house with Jacks full of Aces.
With three jacks showing on the board, I assumed the other guy had a 10 or maybe two 10s. Either way, I had him dominated. I checked, hoping to induce a bet from him and it worked.

He shoved all-in for $130 and I called, putting in my last $60 or so. My heart sank when he showed K-J giving him quad Jacks.....

The only consolation was that the IP has a special deal where if you lose with pocket aces, (they call that Aces Cracked) the IP pays you a bonus of $100. That took out some of the sting and left me with more chips to play with. Overall for the day, I lost $47, not bad considering I was really card dead for so much of the time.

About 5:30 I headed home and stopped by the middle eastern market to pick up dinner - fresh pita bread, hummus, tabouli, lebni, and kalamata olives. Helen and I enjoyed that meal, one of our Vegas favorites. While I was out, Helen was really busy at the apartment - getting things organized in the kitchen and bathroom, washing all the dishes that had been in storage. She also spent some time talking with Anna on Skype and Scott by phone.

Today Helen wants to cut my hair and I may make a return to the IP poker room or maybe Bally's poker room. There's money to be made in both of those rooms, which have a reputation for being the easiest games in town with the least sophisticated players. So our LV adventure will continue...