I wake up at 9AM which is not acceptable after hitting the sheets at 06:30. I make an Ibuprofen, Vitamin C and Lormetazepam cocktail that knocks me on my ass again till about 11:30. Much better. There is hardly a better feeling then leaving your Vegas hotel room on your first day after a refreshing shower with a wallet full of cash. It makes me want to high five the housekeeping ladies on the way to the elevator.
I make my way to the poker room where I see the VPC flew halfway around the planet to take each other’s money. There is a seat open but why the hell would I sit down at a table where Bozzie, Hugo, Jelzo & Wum are playing? Everybody already had breakfast so I make my way to Planet Hollywood’s Earl of Sandwich on my own. That’s probably the thing I like the most about the VPC. We are a group but no one gives a f*ck if anyone goes their own way.
With freezing temperatures back in The Netherlands it takes very little time to get used to the lovely ~ 75 degrees here in Las Vegas. This city sure looks sexy in the sunlight. If you don’t look to close, that is. On my way to Earl of Sandwich I’m reminded numerous times that Vegas brings out the scum of the earth as well. Staying at a fleabag hotel like Excalibur doesn’t help with that matter. I took me ten Excalibur steps to realise this was the last time we tied to save a buck while booking the trip. Four stars and upwards from here on.
I actually can’t believe I only discovered Earl of Sandwich last trip. I could have breakfast here every day for the rest of my life. The size of the sandwiches is pure perfection. I go with The Italian this first morning. Finger licking good.
After breakfast I make my way to Caesars to check out the new poker room. I like the new room. The staff is ridiculously friendly. The room doesn’t like me to much though. In the very first hand I get all the money in with 44 on a 466 board only to see the lovely 0% equity behind my name. I reload and after about three hours I cash out a $ 60,- loser. I try to print a free buffet voucher but the Total Rewards card needs a PIN which I don’t have. The Total Rewards desk at Caesars is crowded so I try again at Planet Hollywood where things are handled swiftly. I receive a new card and my free buffet voucher but I’m pretty sure that is going to go to waste.
I make my way back to Excalibur since the five of us - Hugo, Iebus, Jelzo, Wum & me - are grabbing are cab to Orleans at 17:00. Baars and Damvic are going to visit Steel Panther who play at Mandalay Bay’s House of Blues. I always wanted to play the Friday night tourney in Orleans but never got the chance. The boys are going for dinner at TGI Fridays. Due to my late breakfast / lunch I’m not hungry so I sit down for some pre-tourney 2/4 Limit Stella Artois drinking.
The tourney starts us off with a 12,5k stack and a total of 167 entries are made this Friday night. My direct neighbour is someone that I have seen on every trip to Vegas so far. It’s former Binions tournament director Paul Campbell who joined Aria two months ago. Jelzo busts within the first orbit. Iebus and Hugo don’t last too long either. Wum and me are steadily battling our way through this soft field. With about 30 players left UTG ships eight bigs and I re-ship AQo from the cut-off with about 30bb. SB tanks forever before calling with AKo. The flop shows a very handsome queen and I now have decent chips. I don’t celebrate suck-outs because I’ve been on the other side of the table more times than I care to remember. I just stack the chips and mumble ‘unlucky sir’. Villain however proceeds to stare at me for at least twenty minutes as if I spit his momma in the face. What is wrong with these people?
One interesting hand occurs where I get semi unlucky. We are just ITM at a ~ 125k average. I - 200k - open AKc UTG for 2,5x. UTG +1 - semi hot chick with 400k - insta calls and the BB follows suit. I c-bet 50% on a 6h 7h 7d flop. UTG +1 again insta calls. SB folds. Turn is 6h 7h 7d (9d). UTG held a speech about how much she hated the AK call by the SB in the suck-out hand earlier from a ‘protecting your stack’ point of view. I think I’m looking at a range of mostly over pairs and some AK & FD combo’s. With the ‘I hate the AK call’ in mind I go for maximum pressure and over shove the turn. She tanks forever and calls. Not good. I expect to be up against Jacks or Queens here all day. Instead she tables AQd. River brings the 9c and let me tell you Joe Stapleton; not everybody loves a chopped pot. There could have been plenty of worse rivers of course but things would have looked pretty good if I nailed this ~ 60+% equity shot.
I go card and spot dead as the structure of the tournament becomes less sexy. One thing I don’t like about the tourney clock in Orleans is the fact that it shows the ‘chop value’ all the time. With 14 players left - Wum min cashed – pay-out is like $ 270,- when chop value is at $ 1100,-. This influences decisions too much especially with people openly suggesting chops at the other table. When the unofficial finale table of ten is reached its 3AM and we decide to look at the numbers. I’m 9th in chips with 92k and blinds about to go to 8/16k. The tournament director runs the ICM numbers and I would get $ 840,-. Everyone but me agrees to a chop. I declare I need 1K to make a deal since I’m not giving up a shot at the 4k first price for less. 10th place pays ~ $ 400,-. One dude is very eager to make to a deal happen and suggests he will throw in a C-note to make a deal happen. The chip leader doesn’t really want to chop so this thing could go south very fast. I take the $ 940,- and call it a night. I’m a little conflicted about it but taking 5th place money with < 6BB isn’t too shabby with ten players left. I guess.
After the tourney I show Wum what a Vegas bowling alley looks like before we make our way back to Excalibur where we dust off some dollars at the roulette before heading to bed at 5AM. Not because I’m tired – I’m not – but because the Aria daily starts in six hours…
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