Vegas #2: freakin' insanity at Wynn

Geezus, I have no idea where to start. I'll try to keep this a reasonable length, but it was an unbelievably crazy day and I want to tell it right.

So I get to Wynn just before noon and get added to the 10/20 NL list of interest (no game started yet). I just into a 5/10 game for a bit and pretty much break even. This somewhat crazy aggressive asian kid sits down at 5/10 just before 10/20 starts. He moves to 10/20 when it starts, and so do I.

I was in seat 8 of 9 players. In seat 3 was Lamar Jordan from the Oakland Raiders. He was the ultimate calling station. Pretty much any two cards for any raise pre-flop and would call pretty much every bet on every flop. He was watching 24 season 2 on his portable dvd player the whole time. Hilarious. Evidently he's a Wynn regular and one of the biggest cash game draws so I was lucky to get an early seat at this table.

Early on I limped with K9 suited in the cutoff. Limped around. Flop was QJT two hearts. Checked to me, I bet $80, BB calls, rock calls, older asian dude calls (no reads), and asian kid calls. Turn 6, no heart. BB fires out $380, rocks calls, old asian thinks a little as counting his chips and calls, asian kid calls. I make a huge raise to $2100. I figure I might get someone along for the ride, the pot is already big, and I need to chase out the heart draws or give them terrible odds to call. BB thinks for a while and makes an obviously big laydown (I thought it was 89 probably), rock folds, old asian goes all-in for another $300, young asian thinks for a long time and folds Q6 after saying I'm probably on a combo draw (terrible read). I think I'm winning and just hope for no heart. River is a blank, old asian dude says "nuts" and flips over AK. So, he limped with AK pre-flop. If I had any read on this guy I would have been more cautious, but I just didn't know he was the type to limp with AK pre-flop. The BB said he folded K9 and I believe him, he was a solid player and said he figured he was chopping at the very best and was worried about the asian. Oh well, bad start. Down to about $2,500 in chips from my starting $5,000.

A while after that, as I was considering getting more money from my hotel across the street, I got AA in big blind and raised to $220. 4 callers! Flop came A93 two hearts. I think a bit and bet $500, Lamar calls, old rock raises to $1400, I jam all-in for $2500. He has 99 and I overset him which is great, but I'm cursing inside that I didn't have more chips because he had at least 10k.

THEN, the action REALLY begins. Reckul from PokerStars sits to my left. He's a 21 year old kid (who doesn't come off as a "kid" since he's very confident, aggressive, and good). He just finished winning the WSOP $5k heads-up event. Then shortly after Elky from PokerStars sits in seat 4 next to Lamar. Absolute freakin' maniac! He raised between $250-$450 pre-flop every other hand. It was insane. Often the asian kid of reckul would re-raise to $900 or $1000 or so. This is 10/20! I couldn't even see a flop for hours. I am an loose aggressive player and these guys turned me into a rock! I had no choice as my bankroll doesn't warrant tangling often with these guys.

Anyway, shortly into it, I raise A4 (to see a flop you HAD to raise and hope not to get re-raised or else Elky would just raise to $400) to $140, few callers including Lamar. Flop is A43. I bet $400, Lamar calls. Turn Q. I bet $1200, Lamar calls. River Q. Damnit. I have to check, Lamar checks and shows A2. Gah. At least I still chop. But if the river is a blank I would have doubled up. Annoying hand.

Then for the next 5 hours these guys go at it like i've never seen in my life. It was insane, there is no other way to describe it. I dwindled a little below even for hours. I couldn't hit anything on the few $250+ raises I called and didn't get many hands to re-raise. It was so dangerous to bluff re-raise or make any sort of bluff on the flops. I managed to pick up $1k here and there to stay alive. Jammed all-in with AK suited once and picked up $1.5k since the asian kid decided to fold JJ.

I eventually decided to get the rest of my Vegas bankroll and just take a shot at this game. I don't know if this was wise or not, but I figured I wouldn't see a game like this very often. So, I took a break and walked to the hotel and got another $3.5k. There had already been at least 10 pots between 15k - 25k, and I wanted to have as many chips as possible if I ever picked up a hand.

You should have seen some of the battles between reckul and elky. These guys are sick. Reckul is awesome, elky was good too, but playing very recklessly and tilty at times. There was this one hand where Reckul called a $1,300 bet from Elky on the river with 34 (no heart) on a 4-heart board of AJT42. Elky had 45, no heart, and they chopped. This wasn't a big pot compared to most, but still an insane call.

I had stayed alive around $8k for a while. Then came my big hand. I raised KK to $280 pre-flop under the gun. I got about 5 callers. Flop was J76 two clubs. I have K of clubs. I bet $900, Lamar calls, Elky raises to $2500, fold to me. I have no idea what to do, Elky could have anything including a draw. The problem is, I know he knows I have an overpair, so it smells fishy. I could go into analysis for hours, but I decide to jam all-in. Lamar says "you stole my move" and folds, Elky calls and shows J7. God. I pictured myself having to get money from Reckul for an online transfer, walking away with my tail between my legs, and grinding it out in 5/10 and small tourneys the rest of the trip. Turn is 4 of clubs giving me a flush draw and about 15 outs. RIVER IS A KING!!!!! WOOOOOOO! Finally, finally, finally. Definitely the biggest suckout of my life, and the biggest pot of my like. 17k. Given the context of this game, I can't say I made a bad play and reckul said he'd do the same thing in my position all day. So, unlucky flop, VERY lucky river! :)

After that I take a break and walk around a while and try to get my wits about me back. I realize how lucky I got and how close I came to going busto with my Vegas bankroll in 2 days. I feel a little foolish about this, but when you get a chance to take a shot, I think you have to do it. It wasn't my entire bankroll, just my Vegas roll. But trust me, I didn't want to scrounge more money from an online transfer, so this was sweet.

But, now I have 17k and am still covered by half the table! So, I knew if I kept playing I had to be sharp.

I think I'm going to play the Venetian $340 today with Angst and it starts in 45 minutes, so I don't have time to write more. But, trust me, there is MUCH MUCH more story to come about yesterday (including the new biggest pot of my life), so I'll post more next chance I get.

Peace!