Tuesday, March 06, 2012

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.

30 comments:

  1. I will be accompanying you since you owe me dinner this week. Besides you know I pay in sexual favors. Have a good day at school.

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    1. I have yet to determine when or where I'll be spending my comp - So "we'll see" is your best answer :-P
      I also have 100+ at MGM and I think i'm down to about $50 at Harrah's properties now.

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    2. I don't give a rat's tail where we go. So long as there's ribs and sex.

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    3. LOL I knew I liked Carmel!

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    4. Here's a synopsis of the first year of our relationship. Wake up have sex. Go to work come home eat. Play videogames have sex. Sleep. Perfection!!
      I'm happy being fed, getting sex and getting sex.

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    5. She's sex-centric and I've got a very low Libido - i'm sure that's partially why we didn't work.
      I didn't care if we had sex or not most of the time.

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    6. Ribs and Sex, huh? Where is this restaurant again?

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    7. Rob, if only there was such a place!!

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    8. You know, this place could exist in Nye county!
      I think we have a money maker

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    9. I am all for ribs and sex! ;) No, not with you Grouchie!

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  2. Just an FYI, I still feed the fish up top...

    Anyway, once I figure out what all the terms mean, I will probably find even more drama in these posts (which I love because of the drama...yeah, I watch some of the poker on TV too lol).

    Simple question that might not be a simple answer: what makes a good poker player?

    Splitter

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    1. Splitter - I as well feed the fish almost every time I open the site.
      I have often gone in and redesigned the site using the new Dynamic templates that they have and my fish wouldn't transfer over and thus I have just kept this one.

      Your question does not have a simple answer so I will ponder it to the best of my ability.

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    2. Excitedly awaiting your response to this.

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  3. One heck of a great promotion for locals ... if you want to play in the room. Yeah, we we know that those type of promotions tend to nit up the tables something fierce. That is why I prefer Ballys -- loose play with the high hand jackpots -- for the slot player part of me!

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    1. I'm with you man - I prefer promo's like High Hands that cater more to the tourists.
      Also, it's interesting to note that with this promo they probably have games running more often and longer but it's still only 2 tables deep.
      I'd be very interested in seeing how much the promo helps the room in all reality.

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    2. I've heard that although the promo started out like gangbusters, it's not going that well anymore and will likely not last past March.

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    3. Yeah, people are realizing that playing 60 hours tight boring poker and draining yourself isn't worth it in the long run for the $10/hour when you could make more than that elsewhere probably.

      I don't know as I don't follow the promo because TI has not had good games regularly in 3+ years I think (just my opinion).

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    4. You can make money in ANY game... you just need to adjust. If it's a nitty table then your stealing blinds and making old people angry, that sounds like a fun night to me!

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  4. It's fun to put a face with a name. no photos?

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    1. Unfortunately neither of us took any - So - No photos.

      However, if Lucki Duck wants to provide one of himself I'll do a bad photoshop and work my way on the to the pic too heh!

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  5. Nice write up. "Dreaded Pocket Kings" huh....even as a label. Sounds familiar. I guess hooker stories ain't the only trend I started! Glad you broke the Rob-pocket Kings curse! Good going. If I get to it I think I have a story about pocket kings from the past visit that I can blog about.

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    1. I threw that label in there just for you Rob!
      Thought You'd enjoy the cross-reference to your affinity towards them lol.

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    2. Maybe we should team up on a joint, "Dreaded Pocket Kings" blog???

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  6. Have you seen tony's new fansite?

    tonybigcharles.com

    grinding dem machines

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    1. I have and I think it's quite interesting.
      I like how they summarize his sessions - how they have a huge page of different quotes from him on various topics. This is the website that I wish existed for the past 10 years as he has been blogging and using forums to chronicle his existence.

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  7. Back in the early days of AVP it seemed like everybody on there regularly played at TI. So back around 2006-2008 when I was making two trips a year to Vegas I stopped by TI hoping to run into Las Vegas Michael, Yappy Dave, or OD. Every single time I went there they either had no games running or a short handed game going that was getting propped by dealers.

    I never stayed to play. It was the most pathetic action I saw at a strip casino aside from maybe the old Paris room. I much prefer MGM, Ballys, and Planet Hollywood (my favorite in its old location by the door).

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    1. Back then is right when I moved to Vegas and because of AVP I actually had started playing at the TI a good amount. This is how I met LVM, Yappy and OD as we played together a TON during that time. South Point Perry was there a lot as well (those are the only 4 people whom I learned the names of, but recognized a collection of the others).
      The dealers were great and the room was well run and at the time I loved the $500 buy-in and the unlimited straddle!
      However, after a ton of hours I showed myself still negative 2 buy-ins while I was showing profit elsewhere so I decided to stop playing there and move on to greener pastures!
      It was great to play with people who I was getting friendly with on a regular basis, but it was better to go elsewhere and win a few bucks as well.

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    2. I think it's pretty dumb that TI offers 1/3 and not 1/2. Why the hell would anyone play 1/3 in a small, not very popular room when you can take a free tram to the Mirage next door and play 1/2 in a much busier room? Not to mention all the other nicer, bigger, busier rooms that offer 1/2. It's brain dead in my opinion.

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