Quest of a Closet Poker Player

I had an eventful last day in Vegas, but mainly for all the wrong reasons.

I tried to get a late check-out from Caesar’s, but noon was the best they could do.  PokerPeaker had reached out to let me know that he and his wife were going to be in Vegas Thursday, so we made arrangements to grab lunch.  I coerced them into meeting me at the Mirage to eat at my favorite spot in Vegas, Carnegie Deli.  It is similar to its parent spot in New York, and I always try to sneak there if I can.  Dan and Kate were a delight (except for Dan’s Coke spill–foreshadowing for how his kids will behave in restaurants?).  You can catch a photo of the two of us taken by the best looking of the three of us (you figure that out).

I headed to the Mirage Poker Room to  see if I could sneak in a game there.  It was pretty dead, with the $10/20 LHE game on life support (one table).  I trekked back to Caesar’s then decided to head to the mainstay:  The Bellagio.

I’m not sure how long ago they did away with the $1/2 NLHE game there, so it was either $2/5 NLHE or $15/30 LHE.  The $15/30 looked like a bunch of old limit poker players, so I decided to head into a $2/5 game.  I ended up down a buy-in, with the biggest blow being my kings calling an all-in on a 8-6-2 flop.  Hello 4 on the river as the desperate man flipped over 7-5o from the button (I’d made it $25 to go from the small blind).  Down $500 or so, I decided to switch to $15/30 LHE.  The Bellagio is ten-handed for both games, and I slowly drained another $400 or so.  The only real hands of any substance was my jacks running into an aggro’s kings on a baby board and my kings getting four-flushed on the turn.  Otherwise, it was just alot of folding then folding and more folding.

Beautiful.  I’m down $900 with about two hours left before I need to head over to the airport.  After talking to Sweetie, I decide to pick up my few chips and the $500 in bills from the table and leave the Poker Room.  Somewhere in there I decided to do what any logical/desperate man would do:  I head to Blackjack.

Blackjack was my game of choice before poker.  I had a client/friend who would make me sit at the $25 min tables while he bet $100-400 a hand.  I used to wet myself regularly as I would lose hundreds of dollars.  Once, I got stuck $900 only to claw my way to a $400 session as I played through the night until 7:00AM with two Mexican ladies (one with a major mustache).

I decided I was going to put $300 in play and see what happened.  I put some chips next to a solo guy, and he asked me to wait a bit.  I decided to keep looking when I got to the first table next to the lobby with a solo lady playing.   I took the 3rd base seat (the last to act).  I always tried to take 3rd base as it is the most important seat in blackjack.  Put a total donkey at 3rd base, and you can start a riot.  The first dozen hands had my system working like magic:  min-bet (win), increase bet (lose), rinse and repeat.  I used the Modified Stableford Theory of card-counting.  If I saw a bunch of face cards, I would min bet.  If I saw a bunch of small cards, I would increase my bet.  If I felt a blackjack coming, I would min-bet (I think five of my eight were min-bets).

The lady wasn’t too chatty until her two friends meandered over.  I started a nice run as she gave incorrect advice to her friends (I’m not exactly a big fan of splitting sixes).  She left, and an apprentice Mama took the 2-seat (Mama is slang for the older Chinese lady common in poker rooms and casinos).  I went on a mad late rush helped along by some great double down hands that hit along with two eights that the dealer talked me into splitting with a 7 showing (18 on the first card, another 8 led to another split giving me 18 and 19).  Dealer had 17 for a nice scoop.  When I lost my last bet and had to color up, the dealer slid one of the sweetest things you ever get to hold in your hands at the Bellagio:  the $1k chip.

Once again, CC is bailed out by the much maligned mistress, blackjack.  A disastrous day caused by not much eventful was largely erased by a nice run at the tables.

I’ll probably take a nap here in a minute (took the red-eye back).  Have a great weekend.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 19th, 2007 at 7:47 am and is filed under Uncategorized.