Day 2 in Vegas

Las Vegas, Day 2 - Wednesday

Wednesday morning I wake up and go downstairs to check my bank account... -69.23???????

I called my bank and found out that Treasure Island had placed charges on my card for incedentals or something like that. Eric Barbaro had informed me that nothing would be charged to my card until the end of the trip. I called him up and he got me hooked up with the right people to get that charge taken off. By the end of the trip, my room ended up being free of charge due to the amount I was wagering at the blackjack tables. I wouldn't have minded those incedental charges had they wited til the end of the trip becuase I got paid on Friday. I had money in hand, but was worried about my bank situation and didn't want to play anything until I got that taken care of. Treasure Island faxed my bank with a release form and the situation was completely taken care of. Whew!!!

Time for another poker tournament...

Josh and I enter another poker tournament at Treasure Island at 11 AM. Josh gets busted out fairly early and watches me play for the next couple of hours. The tournament was only paying 3 money spots and I got kinda short-stacked with 4 players still at the table. I pushed all-in with AJs and am called down by one of the big stacks. He slams his cards down on the table...97o!
It wasn't a horrible play on his part...sure he was behind, but he wanted me out. I'm out in 4th place and have nothing to show for playing... other than learning that Treasure Island is trict about speaking English only during play. A German gentleman and his girlfriend were at the table and speaking German back and forth to each other constantly. The dealer lectured them about the "English Only" policy.

Time to try out tournies at another casino...

Josh and I walk about a mile up the strip to the Aladdin. I played my butt off in this tournament. People were scared to play back at me and rightfully so. This allowed me to pull off a couple of bluffs pre-flop and a few later during hands as well. I kicked butt at the final table as well and had a massive chip stack when there were 8 of us left. I had pocket Kings and raised a decent amount pre-flop...I get re-raised by a guy with less chips than me he has A7s (hearts.) Two hearts on the flop and then a 4th heart on the river gave the guy a flush. I still had a lot of chips and played extremely tight until I was guaranteed cash. I built my stack back up quite a bit and was dealt pocket Kings again. I push all in and am called by the same guy that called me last time....this time he has A7o. The bastard hits a 7 on the flop and another 7 on the turn. He just barely had more chips than me...so I was out in 4th place. This was a much larger tournament than I had just played at Treasure Island, so 4th place took home a nice chunk of change... a little over 300 bucks. Josh busted out early on in this tournament as well, so he had to watch me for another 3 hours or so from the rail.

We head back to Treasure Island to play in the 7PM tournament. This tourney was paying the top 4 spots and Josh and I both make it to the final table. We were down to the final 5 players and I had a massive chip lead. Josh was seated to my left and was the short stack. Action is folded around to us in the blinds. I look down to pocket 3's and push all-in. Josh says, "Me too. I'm all-in". He flips over A7, I believe (can't remember exactly.) Anyway, it doesn't matter because my 3's held up. I knocked Josh out and went on to knock another player out as well. The other two remaining players kept catching cards against me and eventually an Asian guy, who happened to be an off-duty poker dealer at Treasure Island, called my all-in with KJ while I held A9. He catches a King on the turn and I need an Ace on the river to stay in. No Ace falls and I'm out in 3rd. Another nice pay day!

I ran into some sour luck at the blackjack table. The starting dealer was a middle-aged woman... wearing too much lipstick. You could tell that she hated her job. I should have gotten up, but proceeded to lose everything I made from the poker tournaments that day and then some. I was pissed at myself for not getting up. By the end of the night I was actually down a couple hundred bucks for the trip, but tables would soon turn in my favor...


...TO BE CONTINUED...