I went to Vegas last weekend, and there was, as there often is, an overabundance of food. I also gambled a bit. And unfortunately, the casino gods just weren’t with me on this trip.
One session of poker was memorable for all the bad luck I was having. This was at a $1/3 no-limit table. It was a limped pot with maybe 5 or 6 limpers, and I had JT offsuit in late position and joined in. The flop was 987 with two diamonds. One guy bet $10, the guy to my right min-raised to $20, and I 3-bet to $60. The first guy folded, and the second guy called. The turn was an offsuit J, and he checked. I put him all-in for his last $90 or so, and he called. River T, and I chop with the guy who had 87. Well, I suppose I was fortunate that an 8 or 7 didn’t come. But still, I felt like I got robbed of half that pot.
In another hand, there were four limpers, and I had 55 in the big blind and checked. The flop was K95 rainbow, and I bet $10. Two people called. The turn was a Q, bringing a second heart to the board. I bet $30, and they both called again. The river was an As. If my hand was good on the turn, it was good on the river. I bet $75, hoping for a call. The first guy folded, and the second guy called, somewhat reluctantly. I was pretty sure I had the best hand and turned over my set. But, to my surprise, he turned over KK for a flopped set of kings. I was completely surprised by that. He limped in after someone else preflop, which makes no sense at all. It’s understandable he’d slowplay the dry flop, but then when the turn came, I guess he was afraid of JT or something? I cannot understand why he didn’t raise at any point. I suppose I lost the minimum, but that one hurt.
I had been sitting at the table for a while, and with all the limping and raising, the big blind wasn’t getting a walk. Wouldn’t you know it, I found myself in the big blind, and everyone folded to me, and I had AA. The one time I wanted someone to raise my big blind, and nobody did.
Basically, my entire trip was kind of like that. I didn’t really pick up any good hands, and when I did, I couldn’t get any action, or I got beaten by a better hand. But I managed to end up down only about one buy-in. Well, that was just in poker. Blackjack was even worse, I managed to lose $200 in less than an hour at a $10 minimum table. Things were just not going my way on this trip. But it was still fun.