Day 2... · 3:45pm Jun 3rd, 2017
Well, the story of my play yesterday was the story of pocket queens--they hated me. I lost $200 on a cash game when I got all-in with pocket queens against pocket fours and a four hit the board for three of a kind--meaning I lost a hand I started a 4 to 1 favorite against. So instead of doubling up to $400, I ended up busting out and walking away.
Later, I was playing the daily $235 tournament at the Rio and not having much luck, my hands not hitting except once when I caught pocket aces and ended up with a full house, increasing my chip stack by half for it. It was about four hours in when I was in the big blind, my chip stack at 11000 (starting stack is 15000; average at that point is somewhere around 22000) and the blinds at 300/600 and thus starting to sting. The guy to my left in the "Under the gun" position (first to the left of the big blind, and thus first to act during the deal) made a minimal raise to 1200 and got four callers before it got around to me, last to act in the big blind. I look down at my cards (I never look until action is on me) and see... A-K suited. "Big Slick" in poker parlance, and definitely a raising hand most of the time.
I need chips, and there's over 7000 in the pot at that point. Seeing an opportunity to pick up some dead bets, I move all-in with my remaining 10000+ in chips. Minimal raises like the first guy did are stupid as a rule because they don't discourage anyone from calling, and I've seen people make them with everything from drawing hands like J-10 suited to small pairs all the way up to pocket aces.
That surprises him, and he does hesitate. He's knows by now that I don't generally do that without a really good hand. Nevertheless, he calls, and shows... pocket queens. Everyone else folds. It's a classic coin-flip 'race' between a lower pair and two overcards. However, it's not quite a coin flip as he's starting with a 53-45 percent advantage on the hand. Five cards are dealt. I don't catch an ace or king or my anything of my suit. His queens hold up and just like that, I'm done.
I don't regret the move. I don't regret the way I played either of these hands, both involving pocket queens. By rights I should have won at least one of them. The odds I'd lose both is around 10%. But... clearly not my day. That ended my play for the day, down another $435 for a loss of $910 total on the trip--nearly half my $2000 bankroll with three days of play remaining. Certainly time enough for things to turn around, but... yeah, yesterday was a bit of a gut punch. Nothing you can say except "that's poker" and walk away for a bit, clear your head, dust yourself off, and try again tomorrow.
And now that it's tomorrow? I'd like to try the Aria or the Venetian, the problem is it's the weekend and they're both running deepstack tournaments right now. That means that they're running tourneys with high buy-ins, doubly so on the weekends. Cheapest tournament available at either place is $400. Cheapest tournament once again is the daily deepstack at the Rio for $235, unless I want to try the smaller tournaments at Ceasar's Palace for $150. I'll have to think about it...
I wouldn't do it if I were in your position, mate.
Poker confuses me. But the general gist of it was, didn't do well, try again next time?