The Mirage was my pile of chips

Sunday started out rather uneventfully. Ate in the Teahouse at the IP. Had the buffet in the café mainly because of the omelet station being empty. The sausages were cold though and the guy wasn’t there to cut me a hunk of the beef they were carving so I left not quite as happy as I wanted to.

I intended to play some poker today but didn’t quite know when. I started the day by walking up to Wynn to check it out. Looked like a bit of a wait to play 4/8 so I played some blackjack instead. From there I walked down to TI to play some Pai Gow poker but found each of their tables full. That sucked. That is one of my favorite places to play but it wasn’t to be on this day.

So I headed over to the Mirage to play 6/12. I love the game here. Enough loose players to feed on and make some money. I had to wait a bit before they got a new table running so I sat in a 3/6 game. I find these to be a joke as everyone seems to call and suck out in the end. I played on the tight side for a bit. Won a nice pot with A K. I raised it up and had 5 callers. Flop came K K J. Normally I would just fire away at this pot. I never slow play in limit, but the correct action bounced into my little brain just before I threw the chips-keep the others in the pot! I checked hoping someone would make a bet. It check around. Turn was a J. Nice card. Not only does it give me the full house, it probably is the nuts. I bet it out. I get excited when the next guy puts chips out and then announces raise. My heart is beginning to pound now as I think of the big pot I will be taking in. However, the dealer now says the raise won’t stand. He says it is a string bet. WHAT?!?! I disagree and am about to say something when I realize it would give me away. I didn’t agree with the ruling at all. He placed the chips in front of him; he didn’t push them out. He announced what he was doing, though after he placed the chips. My huge pot was gone as the others folded. No chance to raise here. River was a rag. I bet it again. This time I noticed my hands were shaking. Shit! This happens to me once in a while, usually when the first pot I win that day happens to be huge. My first reaction is to look around to see if anyone noticed. Doesn’t appear they did. Sadly, the other guy just calls and shows his set of jacks. They push the pot my way but the Poker Yips are in full swing. I try to stack the chips with both hands but that isn’t working. The right hand is a tad steadier so I use just that one.

I can’t help but wonder why this happens. It doesn’t happen every time I play, just usually when I haven’t eaten anything. I find it embarrassing mostly. But now I look to use it to my advantage when it occurs and is noticed. To help myself out, I have also started to get bets ready at all times so as to not shake as much. When I would play on Monday and Tuesday, I wouldn’t have this problem at all. Strange.

Soon after winning that pot, I would go to a new must move 6/12 game. Interesting group. A very aggressive Asian guy, a milder Thai guy who dealt there. A New Englander who didn’t like the aggressive play of the Asian. And two old guys. A couple of hands after we started, they moved 3 guys to the main table leaving us 6 handed. I didn’t mind that much. The Asian was still there and I knew I could get some chips off of him. Which I did. But soon I would be moved to the main game as well.

This table wasn’t that tough. There were only a couple players that concerned me. The old Chinese lady with the huge stacks of reds played very little and only bet when she had something. The guy with the S.O.D shirt seemed solid, and the guy with the Godsmack shirt, who was the best player at the table. It also didn’t hurt that every time he had a pocket pair, he flopped a set. The rest of the cast was a number of players coming and going, feeding the game money. The New Englander was there too and soon the aggressive Asian would come in.

I would have done very well here if I hadn’t run into Godsmack twice. Both times I had A K and flopped top pair. Each time he held a flopped set . Brutal. Other times I limped or raised and took down small pots or saw a flop that missed me. Before I knew it, my buy in had dwindled down. I won a good pot with A Q and gave it all away when I overplayed A K. Overplayed? More like played it like an idiot pissing away my last $48 to a flop set of 7s.

During this game, a rather obnoxious guy came into the game. He was like a lot of the others that had cycled through. They would sit down, play every hand, go through a buy in or two and leave bitching and moaning about the cards. This guy was different as he was not only losing, but was being schooled by Godsmack. He started saying very sarcastically how poker was “a game of skill, not luck”. Every time he made this snide comment he was talking to Godsmack. What he didn’t realize was he was predictable. He played every hand, always betting if it checked to him whether he had a hand or not. Godsmack picked up on it, I did, as did S.O.D. I was happy to see him rebuy but I never got that good of a hand to play against him with. Only took down small pots.

Though I lost this time around, the 6/12 game at the Mirage is still juicy. There is nothing stopping me from doing it again, yips or not.

Just as I was fishing up, Easycure came up to me. If I wasn’t starving, I would have hopped into the 3/6 game he and his buddy were playing. I am sure we could have set that table on tilt. Instead my belly called and I had to answer. Little did I know that his bounty would bring some nice luck on Monday.