maxev Live TR Having my Vegas sandwich and eating it too 8/18-8/20

It does look rather nice but so dead.

Same at my dealer but the driver one time was complaining to me that they are cheapos and tip like 10% only. I was like wait I'm supposed to tip more than 10%?

 

When I was a driver, I'd be...less than thrilled by a $1 tip on a $10 trip. But hey, to each their own.

 

Triggered the bonus and the Kraken within the bonus.


And unleashed her! (Well, I think it’s a her.)

Did I land the Major?

Spoiler

No Major but better than credits or Minor.

 

Text received right after, so off to poker and now sitting in 1/3 shorthanded.

 

Well I'd tip more on such a small fare. At least $2 or $3 min tip for everything. I just ain't tipping 20% on a $30 fare for a 10 minute ride.

 

Oh a spoiler button! Interesting. I didn't know VMB had spoiler tags. cc: @ColoVegPlayer

 

You think I have the mental capacity to use spoiler tags when I'm posting my bonus-less slot results in my TR?

Spoiler

I don't

 

Not playing my best. Feel out of my element here. A bit nervous when cutting chips and betting (maybe also because I’m bluffing).

Maybe because it’s brighter than normal card rooms. Or because someone is standing behind the player to my left and he can see cards and what I’m typing right now. Or because I can’t put my phone on the rail so one hand is always holding the phone. Illinois table rules, and poker is swept up into being defined as a table game.

That was the same when Joliet had their poker room but it was worse because you couldn’t even text or be on the phone unless you were away from the table.

 

Sundays through Thursdays from noon to midnight, every hour awards $500 to the high hand.

This past hour, Aces full of Queens took it down. Not even quads.

C’mon quads!

(Now I’m thinking the room might clear out at midnight. )

 

Just as I typed that, a tight guy two to my left hit quad 5s.

I have 50 minutes to get a higher hand to beat him.

 

Guy in the 9seat overplayed his AA on the flop… I missed preflop action, but on the flop 774o a bet into him, he calls, someone else raises 3x, then AA guy goes all-in.

It’s a 1/3 game. What else could the 3x guy have?

He calls and shows T7s for a big double-up.

9seat tries to remain calm but he scolds him on his bad play (I’d say 9s made the bad play) and says his stack won’t last the hour.

 

He rebuys and loses that, then rebuys again and that brings me to my 53s hand.

He’s UTG+1 and raises preflop $20. Guy next to me calls, I have no odds at all to…

I call. Straight flush, you know. Which would beat quad 5s guy for the high hand.

The rest fold and flop is 663 with one spade.

9seat bets $50, guy next to me folds, and I should really just…

I call. He has $40 behind.

Also he’s been spewing chips and overvaluing Ace high.

Runout doesn’t help me and he asks if I have a 6. He shows his QQ.

I have to look to be sure I didn’t get some runner straight or flush.

I basically gave him a cdu (courtesy double-up) preflop. Now to get it back!

 

Quad 5s guy started being chatty but then high hand was called. His hand beaten with a straight flush.

Then he goes to battle with another guy on a board of 977x9.

He had 10-10, other guy had 10-9.

He lost all his chips and lost the high hand. Not his day.

 

How it started:



How it ended:


poker: +$429

My friend was up $62 at another table.

I’d say the players were above average than people I’m used to playing, and because of that I could get away with more bluffs.

I did a hero call on the river from another guy who checked the flop, check-called the turn, then bet out 2.5x pot on the river. No flush draws or straight draws so it polarized him pretty strongly. Either he had a great hand like a set on the flop or a complete airball.

I called with the turned top pair and the dealer called out straight when it wasn’t a straight. He had AQo and both our hands would’ve made a straight, but he just had Ace high.

A couple people were surprised I called, but if they replayed how it went down and thought about how he played in past hands, it was the right call.

There was another interesting hand against the same guy that I’ll post about tomorrow.

 

My friend was at another table and asked if I wanted to eat. We agreed on leaving at 1230am. Many other times, if we’ve been at a great table, we’ve renegotiated the time to leave. Sometimes we’ve stayed out all night to where we have Sunday brunch in the 7 Stars Lounge (back when they had brunch).

I saw him in the line to the cashier, then blinds came around right at 12:30am, and I was out.

We went to the only food place open — Mian — and both ordered the teriyaki salmon.



I had $16 in points plus $4 from $1/hour of poker, so used all $20 toward the meal.

Then offered my friend $15 if he’d drive me home. We’ve done this a countless number of times from Horseshoe , but from Rivers, I’m not really on his way.

He said nah, keep your money.

In the past, I’ve had to stuff money in his glove compartment to help pay for gas/tolls.

This is the same guy who would get my mail every month or so while I was hotel hopping in Vegas. I’d repay him with a lunch or dinner.

My Rivers freeplay is $200 twice in August. Hmm… what if you’re here after midnight like we were?

I play one hand, and the freeplay is there!

$200 freeplay converted to +$235.



Man, what a profitable excursion.

And thankfully, my name was called before I had a chance to play more slots.

I didn’t burn them entirely by no-playing but basically did a hit and run.

Here was the Kraken slot profit: +$433.



In total, Rivers profit is +$1262.

Why can’t it be this way at Joliet or Vegas?

 

On the drive back, we approach a Baskin-Robbins/Dunkin’ combo and my friend calls out that Dunkin’ is getting their new shipment of fresh donuts, and you can tell because the rack is full. And also the cute girl is working tonight. (He’s done this many times before in the middle of the night.)



We park and ask about the donuts, but she says they’re not the fresh ones he’s thinking of, but fresh ones from the kitchen.

I then start thinking about ice cream and how my favorite Ben & Jerry’s just rarely is a good price anymore. Here it was at CVS:



I’m thinking about a $25 ice cream cake that I can take into work tomorrow, but that would mean carrying it in the record heat through crowded subways.

I ask about the quarts and she says $10.99 each. I ask if there’s a discount for two, and she says $5 off.

I keep asking.

Can I instead get a quart from one of the flavors in the case? Yes, but it’s $12 and no discount.

“What if I said please?”

Okay, roll your eyes all you want, but I think she may have done something. She said it was out of her hands, that she has to scan to ring it up.

I went with the two quarts from the freezer. My friend went a fresh kitchen donut.



She packed it in a big Dunkin’ bag, and when I got home, I had a few spoonfuls of the mint chocolate chip to celebrate the win.

Another friend in our group (who lives in Vegas now) would always text us a photo of an apple juice after a poker session, meaning he had a winning night and his tradition was to celebrate with apple juice. Maybe I’ll start up Rivers again and text pictures of Baskin-Robbins ice cream.

 

On the $10 trip how much would you make and how much would Uber make?

 

No more boats in Hammond.

You gotta make a trip to Rosemont/Rivers!

I wasn't in the area when it was boat time, would've loved to have experienced that.

I did ask for a limo to the airport for a 7 Stars Retreat, but they wouldn't do that.

And on weekends it fills up. Additional tables in the high-limit room with $100 min. Don't know the rest!

I usually tip in cash so they know it's from me and as a way to squeeze out 5 stars to boost my rating -- does this gambit work?

I've been wanting to use it for awhile!

 

Maybe someday. I haven't been to Chicago since 2005. Family's not happy.

Boats were cool. But really, the thing anyone missed from that era was a restaurant called Phil Smidts... People drove hours to get there. It was a destination.

 

Trying to recollect an interesting poker hand last night against the player to my right.

He's SB and I'm BB with 9h6h.

Folded to us, and he calls and says let's run it. There was never any chopping, and this was the first time it folded to the blinds.

There's also a high hand and bad beat jackpot going on, and usually you would say "flamingo" to signify you have a possible jackpot hand (because if you stated anything about a jackpot, it could be disqualified if you won).

In Cleveland, I played a game where the word was "cheeseburger."

There's all sorts of state regulations about this, such as having a cell phone on the rail, which I did and then removed. If a jackpot occurs and any of their rules are violated, they don't pay. There've been cases where everyone is excited that they won (a bad beat could be a percentage to the loser, a percentage to the winner, and the rest of the table share a percentage), then the casino reviews the tapes and sees a phone on the rail, then disqualifies. I've also heard stories of players self-excluding, and they also don't get anything (I don't know where the money goes though...).

I check.

Flop is 8-10-2 with one heart.

He checks.

Inside straight draw and backdoor flush for me, but figure I could just take it if I bet small. But if I end up hitting something...

I check.

Turn is 2h. Two hearts now, giving me a flush draw and straight draw.

He checks. I bet $10.

He throws out a black chip.

The dealer starts to give him change and he pauses as if confused and says, "Wait, I bet $100."

This is a typical angle that players will do, knowing the one chip rule that if they throw out a chip (even a higher denom than the bet), it's a call. But it'll mess with the other player into thinking he has a bigger hand than he does, and would usually allow a check back on the next street.

It's an honest mistake if you're new to the game, but these players have been around for awhile. Can't play a player!

River is 5h. Now have a flush but far from the nut flush.

Without hesitation, he bets $40.

I glance at his stack. I do this move occasionally, knowing I'm being watched, even though I try to get a sense how much people already have going into the game. Likewise, I'll sometimes look at my cards again even though I already know what I have. For instance, if the flop has two or three clubs, I'll look at my hand again even if I know I have the Ace of clubs or two clubs. This would almost say I'm checking to see if I have any clubs. At this low level, most players aren't even looking at other players preflop/flop, but these players seemed pretty good. Generally though, I try to do the same things in every hand and not try to Hollywood it up.

He has about $150 behind.

I expected a check, but now thinking the river helped him as well and he could have a bigger flush. Maybe 8 or 10 with two hearts.

Was he really trying to check-raise the turn?

$40 is bigger than the $26 pot. Why bet so big if he wants a call? (This is the same player who would later overbet the pot 2.5x with Ace high.)

But also, if he really wanted to check-raise, why $100 to a $10 bet?

Thinking if he has a higher flush, he should be worried about a sneaky 2 that's easily in my range.

Could he have the 2 himself? I discounted that because of the the check-supposed raise angle.

Could he have something bigger, like 88, 10-10, and he filled on the turn? Seems he would've raised in that case, even if he said "let's run it" and is going for a high hand.

Still couldn't think that through because of what he did on the turn.

I put him on something like 87s or J10s (discounting 98 and 10-9 since I block the 9), something that would work for a high hand. Or more a complete miss and he doesn't want a call.

Because of his sizing, I'm pretty sure I'm in the lead and there are no boats hiding.

I could call, or...

I push. (I wouldn't have pushed if he had more chips, but I would've raised to $100.)

He calls pretty fast and says, "You have a boat?" and shows A2 with no hearts.

Oops. He turned trips after all and was legit trying to check-raise.

The thought that it was a mistake never entered my mind.