sorry, this isn't a post about Timor's Vegas adventures, but just an update on my progress towards 20k partypoints this month.

For those who didn't read my previous post or forum thread, this translates to at least $1666 and hopefully a high place in the top250, although the current promotions at Titan mean a lot of germans are doing the same thing as me, so I'll probably end up a few places below my first expectations. The temporary rankings should be displayed soon, so I'll have a pretty good idea of how many points I really need.

 (More)

Time for another update. At the moment I'm having a bit of a hangover from a party at Tryst yesterday so nevermind the potential lack of quality from this post ;)

So far the cash tables have been fun, it seems that level of play has gotten a bit up in comparison with the first few days, but I'm still profitable, made about 600$ (which isn't an awful lot, but better than nothing). Straddling is really comon and combined with the fact that some players buyin for 200BB's+ at the MGM, I'm sometimes effectively playing 5/10 instead of 2/5.

Yesterday we went to the Rio again to watch the featured table play in front of our eyes. Scotty Nguyen was right in front of us. Odd enough, we didn't hear the word "baby" more then 5 times. You can't count on anything these days.

We went to the PartyPoker viplounge as well, where we had a PS3 and DVD player to our disposal, along with some free food and beverage. I also got a bag with tshirts, a longsleeve and a hoodie in it.

...Meh, I'm gonna stop writing for today. I'll do more when I feel better. :p

P.S. If you see how big the average portion of food here is, it's no wonder America is the country with the most obesity in the world.

Finally the time has come for me to write my first post, it took me long enough.

Most of you know me already, so there is no need to introduce myself in detail. I'll just tell you something about myself. I am a former coach and handjudge of the German community (which I still like to do, when I have time). For 2 months I have been the admin of the English community, working together with SoyCD. In the past, I mostly played NL SH up to  NL $400. In the last few weeks I've started to play FL SH up to $5/$10, which is a lot of fun due to the very bad opponents. When I find time, I also like to play tournaments.

Last Sunday, I played the Sunday million on Poker Stars and finished 40th, worth $2,2k. After the Battle of the Donkeys came to an end I concentrated completely  on this tourney. I opened up a thread in the forum and updated it whenever something interesting happened. Swiss, Cannel, Cardbender and VinoKom posted in this thread to support me. Swiss and Cannel stayed with me all night long till the end. Special thanks to both. I had a lot of very important hands in the tourney. But the hand I would call the key hand was the following: I had Ak in UTG and raised to 100k (I had 800K). A mid stack with 400k moved all-in and I called. He had 77, I didn't improve and lost the hand. I was down to 400k instead of being up to 1.3 million. But that happens, of course. Before that hand, I won every coin flip and never got sucked out. The hand I finally busted with was ATs in the SB. I pushed for 9 BB and got called by AA. Unfortunately I didn't suck out. To win a tourney your really need a lot of luck.

Aside from poker, things are going pretty well. I like my job a lot and have a nice place to live. I've started playing golf. I really enjoy this sport. But it's pretty hard to learn. I am still working on my drive.

That's it for today.

Yours,

TribunCaesar 

 My day started pretty hectic: We had to check out from the Luxor and go to the MGM, where we would stay the rest of our visit. Packing for that, I came to realize that I had forgotten my contact lenses for my right eye (luckily my "good" eye). Searching for some place in Vegas where they sell contacts, we got stuck in traffic pretty bad. Finally we arrived at the Fashion Show Mall where they were supposed to have 'em, but American legislation stated that I had to go through a medical examination first. Didn't have time for that, so back to the Rio and playing with one eye was basically what I was destined to do.

So, we went to the Rio. It started off pretty strange: I had received a card from the registration desk which said that I would start in "poker room", "table 1, seat 1". Thinking that this was a mistake, I went to ask for more information, but as it turned out, I really had to be where the card specified. Some Americans suggested that I could sell this card on ebay, getting a good price for it. Lol.

My plan was to start off tight preflop and aggressive postflop, pretty standard. I didn't get dealt a lot of hands, but those I played I mostly took down the pot or at least I splitted, sometimes with good hands, sometimes with bluffs. Blinds were rising fast compared to the blinds, as expected, and so I had to become more aggressive in late position to take down some pots preflop. One time I got caught: I raised with Ad6d from the hijack and CO pushed all in for half my stack. I knew he had me beat, but I was getting such a good price that I had to call. He shows AJ and I double him up. After 2,5 hours I got moved to another table where my first hand was KK and immediately doubled up against an UTG raiser with 77 who made a pretty loose call with 77 after I reraised all in preflop. Everyone said that it was a nice way to start off on this table. Couldn't agree more. Overall, the majority of the players didn't seem to be all that skilled, so I should have an edge. One guy even went all-in blind UTG with 10BB. Clearly he was not getting enough hands to play ;)

After the 2nd break we got moved again, this time we got to sit in the same room where the featured table was. From time to time we heard some applause in the background, I think it was the HORSE event (final table) playing but I'm not sure. The blinds had skimmed off my stack and I was down to 2800 chips when 100/200 with -25 antes kicked in. Entering push or fold mode, I shoved with QdQs UTG and got a call from a tight player who showed AA. Given my and his table image I immediately suspected a big hand when he called, but luckily a beautiful Qc came on the flop to save me from busting. I doubled up and the AA-guy lost the rest of his stack 5 minutes later when the chipleader raises As4s, he pushes with AK and the board goes A2424. Poker can be a cruel bitch, having the best hand 2 times preflop and busting is clearly frustrating. He took it with grace, so hats off to him.

After that, I doubled up with AK vs AJ where I flopped the nut straight with TJQ. Turn brought another Q so it gave me a little stress because he had 4 outs now, but luckily my hand held up. Unfortunately I couldn't steal a lot of blinds because there was a German shortstack to the right of me who kept pushing. Love thy neighbour ;). Another big addition to my stack, with 200/400 blinds and -50 antes, came when I raised AK UTG and SB shortstack pushes for about 2 times more with 44. I spike an A on the turn and for the first time in a couple of hours my stack is more than 20BB.

I didn't enjoy it very long though, as you can read in the blogpost under this one. I agree it was probably a break-even call (needed ~30% equity to call and Pokerstoving gives me 29~31%, depending on chipleaders range) so I might as well just have folded, but my reasoning was:

- Chipleader/BB is laggy (see A4 hand) and is bullying a lot.

- If I fold, I only have 8BB left and I have to double up again soon anyway

- If BB has unpaired overcards, there's a decent chance the shortie has some cards that the BB needs to spike.

- If I win this hand, I have 17k chips and I'm in very good shape to survive this aggressive blind structure for the remaining of the day. I read in a 2+2 post that this tournament actually gets better in blind structure starting from day 2, so my aim was to reach day 2 with a good stack or bust out in the process.

Ah well, better luck next year. Overall, I was happy with the way I played and I think I did pretty well, so I wasn't really disapointed for busting. To make my day a profitable one nonetheless, I went to the MGM cash tables (2/5) later that evening. First 90 minutes were pretty boring because I literally received 4 playable hands that didn't hit. After that, things went fast when I doubled up (unfortunately with only 75BB) with a set of 9's vs a flushdraw and TPTK on a 3flush board, both against the same player. People here at the table are jovial but usually bad (at best breakeven players online imo), and I think if I win some more the coming days I'm gonna use a little bit more aggressive BRM and take a shot at the 5/10 tables. Net profit: +355$ after 3 hours of playing.

Some pics:

The tournament actually went pretty well for me, winning some preflop all in-clashes and making some aggressive plays, until I got sucked into a pot (blinds 200/400, -50 ante, stack 7600) where a shortie pushes 2800, I have TT and flatcall, leaving 4800 behind. The BB, chipleader and a loose and aggressive player, puts me all in. After thinking for a while I decide to call, but I guess it's a pretty marginal one which I might as well could fold reasonably. Shortie shows KJ, BB shows JJ and I'm in pretty bad shape, which results in busting out right before lunch time of the first day as something like 680th out of 2600+ players. Pretty good result for my first live tournament despite not getting into the money.

Played some cash game at the Rio as well yesterday, and the level of play is really low: limp/folding, buying in for half a stack and check/calling full houses on the river and the like. Nevertheles my evening was breakeven, mainly due to a straight getting rivered all-in 3way for a full house. 

 I'm going to post a more extended update + pics when I have more time. Now I'm going to eat a late dinner and perhaps hit the cash tables at the MGM, where I arrived today. And after that, I'm probably going to sleep for a long time as I haven't been able to catch more than 7 hours of sleep the last week or so. And yes, for a lazy ass like me who needs 9 hours a night, that's too little.

Greetings from Vegas. 

P.S. Horror> I didn't use the 20$ trick, the woman at the Luxor desk actually proposed herself that I could upgrade for 20$. So I guess they're already so used to it that they ask for it themselves ;)