It’s our last night here and I’m turning in early. I played $15/$30 Hold’em at Bellagio from 2:00-8:30. It was a really strange game. The table was crazy when I first sat down, very loose-aggressive. The lineup was constantly changing though. After the wild players left, things got pretty tight for a while. Not incredibly tough, but tight. Bad players came and went for several hours until the game became shorthanded. We spent a lot of time passing the blinds around the table, either chopping or stealing them. It was surprising to find the room so slow on a Saturday night. I assume things picked up after I left, but there are usually long waiting lists at that time of night. I was hoping for more action, but I can’t complain. I left with a $550 profit.

Time for me to rest up. I’ll post some more thoughts about the trip in the next few days.

-Matt

My trip is going well thus far. We got into town on Wednesday around 5:00 PM. After dinner, I went to the Bellagio and played in the $8/$16 Hold’em game. The game was soft, but I was card dead for a while. Fortunately, I got on a rush and finished with an $80 profit in just a few hours. I played at the Bellagio again on Thursday. The game was $15/$30 and not too much tougher than the $8/$16. There were several old Asian people gambling it up. The difference between bad players in low-limit games and bad players in mid-limit games is that the mid-limit players are more aggressive. They’re a little tougher to play against, but they will pay you off well if you hit a big hand. In my experience, there’s a world of difference between $15/$30 and $30/$60 though. Players in the $30/$60 games seem like maniacs, and many of them are, but they are very aggressive and play fairly well after the flop. My guess is that a very good player could make more playing $15/$30 and experience fewer swings. Anyway, the Bellagio has had some good games. I hope they’ll stay that way.

I decided to play $3/$6 Hold’em at Caesar’s Palace after midnight. I had won $650 at the Bellagio earlier that day and wanted to protect my win. I’m sure I would make more money in the long run playing $15/$30; but since I’m on vacation, I want to stay relaxed and not be stressed out by the short-term luck factor. Plus, it had been a while since I had played in a game full of really bad players. I got off to a very bad start, losing more than half of my $100 buy-in. I won a few big pots toward the end of my session, however.

The guy two to my left was straddling every time he was under the gun; he pissed way a lot of money in the process. On one hand I was in the small blind with AQs. The guy straddled and got a bunch of callers. I decided to just call. When it got back around to him, he three-bet and everyone called (I probably should have made it four bets, but I pussed out). I flopped a boat, Queens full of Aces, and won a big pot from an unlucky lady holding QJ. I finished that session a $95 winner. Not too bad.

I would be playing more poker, but I’ve got lots of other things to do with my Dad and step-family. I’ll still be playing at the Bellagio today and probably tonight as well. I’ve also got all day tomorrow. Expect a follow-up post soon.

-Matt

I’ve been crazy busy lately.  I have to finish two long-overdue papers so I can go back to graduate school and get my Master’s Degree.  I know I promised a post about Poker Tracker, but that will have to wait.  My papers should be finished by next week.  After that, I’ll start blogging and posting on the forum again.

I’ll be in Las Vegas from the 11th-15th.  The Main Event will be going on, so the action should be good.  I plan on spending most of my time at the Bellagio playing $15/$30 Limit Hold’em.  My hope is that the fish who have busted from the Main Event will stick around for the cash games.  Unfortunately, they’ll probably spend most of their time at the NL tables.  Still, there should be plenty of loose-passive and weak-tight players in the $15/$30 game.  I’ll bring my computer and write about my trip.  Hopefully I’ll do well and have something to brag about.

 -Matt