Poker with Lucki Duck at the Treasure Island

Before I could head to my class yesterday I saw my email from Lucki Duck that he would be playing cards and to give him a call so we could throw down during the evening.  So, around 8 PM I head out and eventually find out he is playing at the Treasure Island.
At this point I was already parked and sitting in the lot at Bally's and debated going or not because I really don't feel I'm good enough to beat Treasure Island consistently.  For a small room it has a good subset of regulars who are actually pretty good at the game and with their Get Paid to Play Poker promotion that is running it not only attracts some of the better players, but the bad players are pretty tight and not giving up money either because they are just putting in the hours for the promo.
However I headed over and bought in for $200 while waiting for the quack-quack to bust out of the tournament (foreshadowing) so that we could play together.  My table consisted of multiple very tight people who probably aren't very good but are getting the hours and 2-3 good players mixed in with some bad players with chips who were tight and playing for the promotion as well.  One guy in particular had $700 in reds plus another $500 or so in greens.  By the time I left the reds grew to at least $1200 or so as he seemed to get paid off every time he flopped 2 pair or better.  Granted, some of that was him flopping good at the right time but it was just uncanny how every showdown where he was putting in big money the pot was pushed his way.  Did no body pay attention that when he raised you you needed to play more cautiously?

My evening started out so so as I won a pot and lost a pot, down about $20 overall when I saw the Duck bust out of his tourney (did you think he was going to win after getting to this paragraph?).  I went over and greeted him at the other NL table running and he said he'd put in for a table change.  Luckily the guy to my right busted about 5 hands before Duck came over and we were able to chat it up a bit.

With Duck sitting at the table and us doing some small talk I raised AQ pre and got 2 callers.  Flop came out AJx with 2 diamonds (I had the Ace) and I cont betted every street including the river where the last diamond hit.
Every bet the guy to my left thought about for a minute before putting his money in the pot and I didn't know if he had a weak ace or a flush draw or what he was thinking.  He would just deliberate for a bit and then finally put the money into the pot.  It wasn't until after he called my $50 on the river and turned over AK that I went BLAH and wasn't happy about the hand.  I'm sure I over played it and put too much money in the pot and I will have to learn how to keep my bet sizes smaller while still trying to price out the draw.

A bit later and sitting on a small stack I flopped my second set of the evening in a limped pot and made $10.
Shortly after that I raised pre-flop and flopped my 3rd set of the evening.  I con't bet fairly small compared to the pot and made no money.
At one point I got involved in a pot that would have put me back over even for the evening had I not been so unfortunate to have one of the other two players river top two pair, but I reloaded because I was enjoying the conversation with the Duck and not ready to go home quite yet.

My 4th set of the evening gave me no profit as well.  It was here that I was debating just leaving as I was running well card wise but my stack was not showing the kind of results that it needed to be showing for all the big hands I was making.
Then in a serious of 3 hands the dealer busted two people and I ended up staying a while longer.
Dealer dealt out flopped top two vs bottom set - Top two lost half his chips.
Next hand AA (making top set) vs unknown where loser from last hand gave away the rest of his chips.
Next hand I get AA and raise to 18 pre - get two callers including Lucki Duck.
Flop comes out A8x with 2 hearts.  Duck checks to me and I bet $25, guy to my left calls and Duck pushes when it gets back to him which I have to call.  He has 89 with the heart draw but it never materializes.

Lucki Duck bids me a good night as he ends his evening and I am finally showing a profit after hitting my 5th set of the evening.
A bit later I am in the big blind and get The Dreaded Pocket Kings.  Lady in middle position makes it $10 to go and the attractive drunk girl next to her calls.  Folds to me and I make it $45 to go.
Folds to the original raiser who is thinking about it and checking me out, asks me why so much and the usual then eventually makes the call, as does the other player.
Flop is Ten high with 2 diamonds and I lead out for $50, both players think about it but eventually fold and Pocket Kings hold up for the first time since Rob was in town lol!  Curse Broken or on temporary hiatus?

One of my last hands of the evening where I took my profit under $100 (about read to leave as well) a guy in late position pushes his last $32 and I look down and see 88.
This guy had been playing tight so I guess actually calling here was pretty marginal.  I couldn't put him on only big pairs and I think he would also make the move with AK and AQ, maybe any pair at that point.  His push was after a limper or so as well.  I eventually decided to make the call and he did indeed show AK, but the Ace on the flop bailed him out.

Shortly later I left, still showing profit but my phone was telling me it was going on 2 am.

Here is the weird part - My reception sucked in the TI.  I don't know if it's just Verizon or not but I either had no data reception or was sitting on 1x almost the whole time AND my phone was reading the wrong time like it was in a different time zone completely.  Everyone else was able to do whatever perfectly fine and their phones all showed the right time zone.  When my phone said it was approaching 2 am I called it quits (even though a lady at the table kept saying she had to leave by midnight - I figure'd her watch didn't time adjust).  When I got to the parking garage my 4G was back and by the time I got home I had driven back into my own timezone which now correctly said midnight.  Weird shit, twilight zone stuff, TI messing with me.
However, before I left I asked the desk to check my comps since I know I put in hours a few years ago and never redeemed.  I'm currently sitting at about $91 and will have to check out a good place to eat.  Last time I spent comps there I took my parents to the steak house which was a pretty good meal.
Any suggestions where to eat this time (probably alone)?

Over all, other than when I decide to use my comps, I don't think I'll spend much time playing at TI.  I think they have the best dollar chips of any casino but a 1/3 game with a $500 buy-in PLUS their Get Paid to Play  promotion and the fact that they are looking to bring back a freeroll to try to get those lost players back means that it's a tighter/tougher game on average than elsewhere.  I own't be putting in 60 hours per week to get the max payout and I am currently not good enough to grind with some of those players to show enough profit to make it all worth while.  I'd rather hit up MGM or Mirage or Bally's which all have more NL games going on than TI at any given point in time.  Hell, even the IP runs 2 NL games but draws a much worse caliber of player.

Poker and craps

First and foremost I can't say how happy I am that there was so much participation in the Hooker Posts.  It was pretty damned cool to see a multitude of bloggers take up the cause and churn one out.
Also, thanks to hookers my blog had the most hits it had ever gotten in one day cycle!

Last night I decided to go play a quick session of poker and I ended up at Bally's.  It was a profitable session but it could have been a lot more had luck not prevailed for a couple of guys.

Early in my session I entered a pot in late position with 85 of diamonds and was pretty happy to see a 58T flop.  One person bet out $10 and a few of us came along.  The turn gave a very ugly Q which let J9 get there. 1st player checked and then the 2nd guy bet out $15.  Knowing that I had a few outs and could possibly still be ahead I decided to call the $15.  1st player folded.
River was a beautiful 5 but also put a flush on the board.  Guy bet $25 into me and I raised enough to put him all in (he was a shortie) and he called flipping over his turned straight.  He was not happy to see my rivered boat and he took off as I racked his chips up.
At this point I'm up about $75 or so.

A little bit later I look down and see the RobVegas hand of KK, I'm sitting in the big blind.
There is a raise to $10 and 2 callers back to me.  The raiser and 1st caller both have approx $75 in their stack to start the hand and the 3rd participant had a full stack of somewhere between $200-$300.
$30 in the pot already and I'm perfectly happy to just take it down now I bet $75 (enough to put the 1st two all in if they want to play).  1st guy folds but the 1st caller puts all his money in the middle and the last guy folds.
I quickly flip up my Kings and the guys sighs like "how on earth did you have a bigger pair there instead of AK" and then flips his Tens over a bit dejected.
However, a Ten on the flop sends him into a fist pump and now all the sudden he's happy and talkative again like he played the hand well as he raked in my beautiful chips.

A bit later I got to limp in late position with A5 diamonds and flopped the nut flush on a 67T board.
On the flop a guy bet $10 I called along with 2 others.  The turn was a 9 (non diamond) and the guy bet $10 again and I raised $35 on top of that which he called and everyone else went away.
The river was an ugly 9 and he checked to me and the paired board saw me play like a wimp and check behind.  He flipped up A8 for the turned straight and I missed a value bet on the river, ugh - was not happy about that hand.

Nearing the end of my session I called some small raises with some small pairs and whiffed entirely.
I got QQ all in vs JJ pre (against same guy who got in with my my KK vs TT) and they held up this time.
I got KTs all in vs his buddy for $30 bucks and lost to two pair vs his 64 offsuit.

All in all it was a fun night where I only felt that I made a few minor mistakes and I walked away up for the evening.

Tonight there is a strong possibility that I'll be going out again to play with Lucki duck somewhere and I am looking forward to that.

Today was the 1st day of my Craps classes.
I got to practice cutting my stacks for what felt like an eternity.  My left hand is behind the curve and needs practice so I will be doing that at the poker table tonight.
After 3 years of chip cutting myself and another new guy were lead to a table with a craps layout so that one of us could place bets and the other could make the payments.  We did that for the rest of the class before heading home.
Because we were both a bit familiar with Craps the teacher started putting some more advanced bets on the table for us and started varying the amounts so that we would have to think about our payouts.
Mostly all of this was done so that we could get the order in which everything is done.
Take the losers, pay the winners, move the others.  Take-Pay-Move.
Over and over and Over and over again.  She said she had us doing stuff today that she usually doesn't do until the 2nd week, so that's a boost to the ego.  I felt like I had a good grasp on everything thrown at me today but of course there is room for improvement.
Practice makes perfect and perfection is unattainable.
On my way out she mentioned that she had some good contacts in some big rooms so that after going through the course, when I am ready, I should have a really good shot at a position.  However, she also mentioned that most casino's want people to be able to deal at least two games and I should strongly consider taking up Blackjack as well.

Onward children.  Food, caffeine, Poker.  That is my agenda for the evening.