Vegas Trip Report

As I said in the previous post,  I won (chopped really) Venetian Event 12 for $16.5k.  First was $24k, 2nd was a bit less than $15k and 5th was only $5.9k when we made the deal.  I was fine playing it out as I felt I was the best player remaining, though there were 2 other decent players too.  And, of course, I had over 40% of the chips in play.  But logic told me to take the deal as my ICM was ~$15.7k.  They initially offered me $16k but I said I needed $16.5k and they quickly agreed.  Think I got a good deal.

Basically I came back to Day 2 with like 8th most chips out of 33.  I had a really good table draw as I had a really passive woman on my direct left and the spew box chip leader 2 to my left.  So while he had a lot of chips, he was truly terrible and no threat to put me in any tough spots.  I quickly ran my 150k stack up busting 2 short stacks and winning a big pot vs. the chip leader described above and had in excess of 300k. I was 3b a ton and floating, putting a lot of pressure, etc. and picking up a ton of chips without showdown. In fact, during the time it took to go from 33 to the 24 pay level I doubled my stack and was chip leader once we were in the money.  Here is a fun one where I actually cold 4b jammed and picked up 65k or so in chips:

Folds to HJ who opens to 12k at 2,500/5k/500a, CO calls, BTN then 3b to 32k with like 70k behind.  I am in the SB with ~400k+ and I wake up with AQ.  We are like 2 away from the cash so I figure their calling ranges are super tight.  BTN is a competent, observant player so I think he can squeeze with a lot more than just premium hands.  So I rip it in.  HJ and C/O fold rather quickly and BTN tanks a bit and folds 99 face up.  Just standard big stack poker but felt easy and just picked spots really well.

Finally we got the final table and I had just under $1M at 6/12,000/2ka level.  Pretty deep stacks really. Average was probably around 450k but me and another dude represented ~2/3 of the chips in play. Obviously this means the remaining 8 players only had about 1.2M between them.  Several shortstacks busted and we got 5 handed right before dinner break.  At this point the stacks had flattened out a bit though I had increased my stack to ~1.25M.  The next biggest stacks were ~700k and the 2 shortstacks had about 400k or so each.  I ran the numbers at dinner and although I wasn't really going to ask for a deal I was prepared to listen.  Had pretty much decided if I could get more than my ICM (which was considerably more than 2nd) I would likely take it.  Deal was offered to me at $16k, I responded I needed $16.5k and they snap accepted (probably could have squeezed a few more $$ out of it).  So with the biggest stack I was officially the winner of the event and obv got the most cash.  FWIW, the 2 shortstacks really took a terrible deal IMO.  The breakout was :

16.5k, 14.75k, 14.75k, 9k, 9k

Essentially they took between 3rd and 4th place money to lock it up with no ability to ladder up at all.  They were pretty fishy and clearly had no concept of ICM which I had calculated for them as being ~11k.  The two middle stacks clearly got the best of it IMO.

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Anyway, I busted the Millionaire Maker in rather undramatic fashion.  I got short and ended up having to shove 10bb at the 75/150 level...here was a quick recap I did for a few people that had bought small pieces of me:

Quote:

Lost hand 30 min in T9 flop A99 ch to me in LP I bet 250 into 300. 1 call. Turn 5 I bet 600 into 800 he call. River J he weak leads 400. I tank a bit and call...K2 Then 10mins later I turned straight, rivered a flush on paired board and paid off small to rivered boat of 9T4K9ddd. I had QJdd. So basically was down to like 2k chips in first level. Grinder to middle level 4 (75/150). Shoved 10BB BTN with KQo...BB said he had his favorite hand and I knew it was over JT>KQ

Hand 1 the river is a fold.  Just didn't do it.  Hand 2 not sure I can ever fold in that hand.  Hand 3 I obviously want that call with 10BB left.
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Didn't play anymore MTTs and played mostly the 1/2/5 PLO game at the Venetian.  Game was very good with a $1k buy-in and probably 50% of the hands having a $10 BTN straddle it played more like a 5/10 PLO game (or at least a 5/5 game).  Didn't play a ton of memorable pots as I won a ton without showdown. Did win this hand which illustrated the value of position:

Quote:

Flop was K56r and ABC nit led into 4 people. His range is KKxx here most of time IMO. I had 3467. I considered raising but we were 500+ BB deep and I think on certain runouts I can win unimproved. Turn was J and he pots again I now know he has KKxx for sure. Pot was like $600-ish with 900 effective behind. River was 9 he check...I bet $425 and he puke folds. Right player, right spot, in position, etc.

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So it was a profitable trip for sure.

Cash games +$3.5k
MTTs ~+$12.8k
Expenses ~-$2.5k

Will be playing a bit of cash at MD Live over the next week as my wife and kids are out of town.  Probably going to use this newfound cash to try and stick at 5/10.  I have beat 2/5 rather handily over a pretty sizable sample (in excess of 750 hrs).  I will play lower, however, if 5/10 isn't good or I just want to relax and not grind it as hard.  We'll see how it progresses.