IP Poker - Best Hand Ever!

Wednesday morning I headed down to the Strip to play poker at the Imperial Palace where they recently installed some new bonuses for high hands.

Prior to Monday, the IP only paid $200 for Royal Flushes - nothing for straight flushes or four-of-a-kind. Now they offer $250 for Royals, $100 for straight flushes and $50 for quads. That's money that comes from the casino, in addition to any cash won in the pot.

I got there about 10:30 and within the first 45 minutes got the best hand I ever had - ever!
I looked down at my hole cards and found 8-8. Five of us matched the $2 blind and saw the flop of 8-J-8. I FLOPPED QUAD 8S... I played it cool, hoping that someone would make a straight or flush and just called when a guy bet $10.

The other three hands folded, so I was head up against a German tourist, who bet $15 when an Ace hit the turn. Again, I merely called, not wanting to scare him away and hoping he had something like A-J for two big pair. The River was a 4, not much help either way. But my opponent again bet $25, and I immediately put him All in with a raise to $50. He hemmed and hawed, but finally called and I flopped over my 8s.

With the $50 bonus, I won over $120 in this pot. Not my biggest pot ever, but the highest hand I've ever had. I've had quads two other times - deuces and treys.

Unfortunately, that was the highlight. In fact, when the dust settled, I gave back all my profits and actually lost $40. Some bad luck on the river, combined with not walking when I was up about $80 was a big mistake. Though I only lost $40, I felt like I lost a lot more since I was up almost $100 at one point. AAAAArgh!!

On the way home I picked up Capriotti's sub sandwiches - a pastrami for me and a turkey sub for Helen, who spent the day on the phone with friends, online, sewing and watching some TV.

Today I need to do some grocery shopping, banking and gas up the car. Maybe I'll try some local poker at Red Rock (where I've never played) or Suncoast. And so our LV adventure continues...