Guess the casino, #279

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Answer: Luxor

Guess the casino, #278

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Answer: Treasure Island

Miscellaneous stories and observations from the last couple of nights of poker

1.

I played at the Sahara last night, for the first time in (checking records--hold on a sec) seven months. I was very surprised to find in my buy-in a couple of the chips shown above. In the three years I've lived here, the Sahara has never had even a single commemorative chip anywhere to be seen. I like such little treasures, of course. But I'm left wondering: With all of the events, holidays, conventions, etc., that have occurred in the past however-many years, was "Bikefest 2009" really the most significant one, the big thing that finally caused some executive in the casino to say, "By Jove, we have got to get us poker chips celebrating this"?


2.

While I was playing at the MGM Grand tonight, my friend Cardgrrl was playing in a home game somewhere in the D.C. area. She posted a Twitpic along with this message: "Just win a big hand on this board. Can you guess what I had? Hint: Thanks @pokergrump :-) http://twitpic.com/jbm8o"

The photo was this:



In a text message to me, she confirmed that, yes, she really did have 2-4 offsuit there. What's more, she called a pre-flop raise with it! The pot she won was $80 or so. (They apparently use tournament chips in this game, devalued by a factor of 100.) I have no idea what the action was, or what her opponent held.

I was so proud of her. Naturally, I texted her right back to ask if she is now a believer, and if we would be seeing a conversion-story blog post. Her response: "Ummmm. Let's see... NAH!"

Sigh. She has plenty of evidence. See here, and here, e.g. But some people are just stubborn, I guess. With this refusal to accept the obvious fact that 2-4 is the most powerful hand in poker, I'm afraid that, as I have told her privately, she is good, but she will never become great. It's so sad.


3.

Last December I blogged here about how the MGM Grand had been like Kryptonite to me, but that I had finally broken the curse with a win. A month ago I reported that it was continuing to be good to me.

I'm pleased to say that that trend continues. I have chalked up four winners in a row, averaging $252. I'm still at a net negative because the first few losses I had there (this was mostly back in 2006, after which I stayed away from the place for a long time) were unusually large ones. But the trend is clearly set.

This tends to confirm my suspicion that there wasn't anything really mysterious going on--it was just a result of variance acting all in one direction over a small sample set, perhaps combined, after the first two or three visits, with some subtle fatalism creeping into my mindset and creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. Once those two things are broken, poker can get back to normal. (And, fortunately, for me, "normal" = "usually winning.") In fact, I'm kind of getting to like the joint. All signs point to it becoming a more frequent hangout for me.


4.

One of the small things that will contribute to that happening is that this evening I discovered a different restroom. The most obvious one to use, right by the Stage Deli (incidentally, this is the same Stage Deli that sells wonderful GIANT COOKIES, to which I treat myself every time I play at MGM now), is small, cramped, usually overcrowded for its capacity, and not cleaned regularly enough. Using it has always been a distinctly unpleasant experience.

Tonight it was just too crowded to tolerate, so I decided to go in search of an alternative. Not knowing which way to turn, I just continued in the same direction--away from the poker room past the deli and restrooms. I was rewarded for my adventurousness. (Yes, looking for a different restroom in a casino is what counts as "adventure" in my life. Pathetic, eh?)

About 50 steps past the restrooms you come to the "West Wing Bar." Just walk right through it, enjoying the piano player/singer on the way, and on the other side you will find the bar's own set of restrooms. These are clearly not MGM Grand standard-issue, but designed to go with the bar. The lighting is low. There is actual decor inside--slate gray in the men's--with, of all things, real potpourri in wicker baskets between the sinks. The room is spacious, infrequently used (judging my my two trips tonight), and quiet. It makes for a surprisingly effective respite from the cacophony of the casino floor.

But don't tell anybody else, OK? Let's keep this our private little secret.


5.

On the negative side, the MGM Grand's parking garage is right up there among the worst-designed of such structures in the city. I think it is topped in badness by the ones attached to Imperial Palace and Hard Rock, but it scores a solid third-worst. It's too late at night for me to feel like elaborating, but I'll just say that when I'm driving in it I feel lost, and when I'm a pedestrian in it I feel perpetually endangered by the vehicular traffic. That's not a good combination.


6.

I had a major cooler of a hand last night at the Sahara. I had the top full house, and lost to a straight flush. There were only two exact two-card starting hands that had me beat: pocket 5s to make quads on this double-paired board, and the two cards that would complete the only possible straight flush. So, not surprisingly, my opponent and I raised and reraised each other on the river until we were both all in. I thought he might have the same hand I did, or a lower full house, or maybe even the nut flush. I saw the other two possibilties, but didn't want to fall prey to "monsters under the bed" syndrome. So I lost nearly all my chips.

I'm telling you this in order to comment about my opponent's reaction. First, when I called his all-in bet, I immediately showed my cards, without waiting for him. I don't usually do that, but just felt like it here. He gave me a mild slow-roll by issuing this speech before the reveal: "I have to apologize to you for this, sir." Then he showed the stone-cold nuts.

OK, so that was bad enough. But then he kept trying to assuage me. As he was stacking up the chips, and I was counting to see how little I had left, he called out to me to get my attention, then gave me a "nice hand" kind of table thump. He told me I played it fine and just got unlucky. He smiled and tried to get me to smile back.

Bollocks. I hate crap like that. Just leave me alone. You won, you have the money--can't you let it go at that? What are you, my mother or my therapist, feeling some need to make me feel less bad about handing over my stack? I mean, if he is actually feeling guilty about it (and I see no reason that he should--I certainly don't when I come out on the good side of such clashes), then give me the money back to get rid of the shame. But if you're not feeling guilty, then what's all the BS that seems designed to make you feel less bad about it?

Look, dude, you're not a sufficiently skilled emotional manipulator to be able to make such a loss sting any less than it does, so don't bother trying. Maybe I'm the only person in the world who feels this way, but you're adding to my annoyance rather than relieving it. (I doubt that that was his intention--he seemed like a genuinely nice person.) Besides, it's just not your job to make me feel better.

To add to my misery, it made me think of all the stuff I've read from Mike Caro about being the person at the table that the fishies don't much mind losing to--becoming their friend and confidante and supporter and cheerleader, so that they can continue to put their money in bad and not notice or not mind that that's what they're doing. Which made me wonder, "Is that what this guy is doing for me? Does he see me as the live one here, the one that needs TLC so as not to get mad or despondent and leave the game?" Because if that's what he was thinking, well, it just makes me even more irritated.

So here's my message: Just take the money and shut the hell up about it.

Poker gems, #312

Daniel Negreanu, in ESPN's World Series of Poker Main Event coverage, broadcast September 22, 2009.


I don't think bubbling is a bad thing at all. If you're a bubble boy, that means you've got guts. It's the guys who squeak in the money like little rats--those are the ones who should be embarrassed. The guy who goes out with a blaze of glory and says, "I am the bubble boy," y'know, he should be applauded. This is a guy that's going to make it some day.

Guess the casino, #277

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Answer: Paris

Guess the casino, #276

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Answer: Imperial Palace

Mac King

There are a bunch of magic shows around town. I've seen a few of them, and they're pretty much interchangeable and forgettable. For a long time I assumed that the "Mac King Comedy Magic Show" was another of them. But then I saw some random comment from Penn Jillette about Mac King being the most innovative magician on the Strip. That caught my attention, and I started looking for opportunities to see the show. When Cardgrrl checked into Harrah's on a recent visit, they gave her a discounted coupon for the show, which she passed on to me. Yesterday I finally used it.

The show is really great. Except maybe for the cutting-the-rope trick at the beginning, essentially everything is presented in ways I haven't seen before. He is constantly foiling the expectations you have developed from a lifetime of seeing other magic shows. Because I never knew for sure where tricks were going, they surprised me, and made me wish I had a videotape of the show so I could go back and watch to figure out how things were done. Most magic shows leave me much less curious than this one did.

It is far and away the funniest magic show I've ever been to. The guy is just naturally funny. For example, at one point a female audience member was instructed to keep a few cards secure. She chose to tuck them inside the front of her bra. When it came time for the cards to be revealed, he asked for them back. She seemed a bit unsure of what to do. She tentatively reached toward the top of her shirt, and but then stopped to ask, "Should I take them out?" Without missing a beat, he responded in deadpan, "Just the cards."

At another point, a young woman was told to write her name across the card she had selected. She was a little unclear on the concept, and used the giant black pen to write her name across the BACK of the card. He rolled with it, and had a great time pretending how difficult it was to pick out the right card with the deck face down.

And if you don't laugh when he dons the "cloak of invisibility" and tiptoes around the stage, well, there's just something wrong with you.

I've never seen free tickets for this show, but it was well worth the discounted $10 apiece price, and I would readily go to see it again.

Famous pros' blogs, real or otherwise

Just a quick note to point you to this funny post from Daniel Negreanu's blog, in which he parodies what other well-known professional poker players' blogs actually are like, or might be like if they wrote them. Enjoy.

Something I hadn't heard of before

I use Yahoo as my home page, and the news feed on it has a "local" section. Today it featured a story from the Las Vegas Sun on the one-year anniversary of the opening of the Erotic Heritage Museum, which had somehow escaped my attention before now. Something, well, different to do when you're visiting next time.

Guess the casino, #275

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Answer: Suncoast

Guess the casino, #274

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Answer: Palms

That's the way (uh-huh, uh-huh) I like it (uh-huh, uh-huh)

Mandalay Bay has recently become my default place to play on Sunday afternoons. I have played there four Sunday afternoons of late, booking no losses and averaging $353 per session. This week was no exception, even though it was actually the smallest of my wins.

It was one of those rare sessions in which nearly everything went the way I wanted it to. Because my ex-wife is visiting, I have had to modify my poker schedule to leave more time for playing host. Sunday that meant that I had only three hours to play while she did shopping and window shopping in the Mandalay/Luxor/Excalibur complex.

I hoped to be able to pull in $200 in that time frame, though it wouldn't really be right to consider that a "goal." I know from long experience that one has only limited control over hourly win (or loss) rate in a given session, so it's pretty silly to set specific monetary goals. But $200 was enough that I wouldn't feel like I was hurting my income to have just a short session, so it was what I was hoping for.

The ex arrived back in the poker room five minutes before the three hours was up, and I was up exactly $201, having hit that mark just about three hands before, which was very satisfying. Moreover, I had not had a single difficult decision to make the entire time. Every bluff I ran won me the pot (though that was only three or four). I made only one erroneous river call. I built my stack gradually, with no huge pots; I never won or lost more than about $60 in any hand. The only time my entire stack was at risk was when I was all-in, but I had the nuts at the time, so the risk was minimal--and we ended up chopping that pot.* I used table image and position to get enough respect that I usually won with a raise pre-flop or a continuation bet or check-raise on the flop. Few hands went further, which is why I wasn't faced with any really difficult decisions. In fact, I only lost two hands at showdown. One was the call I shouldn't have made for about $30. The other was when I made a pre-flop raise with some junk, a very short stack moved all in for so little more that I was compelled to call, and I didn't get lucky on him.

Overall, it was the classic Aesop's "slow and steady wins the race." And that, in turn, meant that it was basically stress-free poker.

Days like that are rare, but when they occur, they make me think, "Gee, this is EASY!" Then I usually get snapped back to reality the next time out.


*Here's how I Tweeted that hand. It's worth retelling because it was the only funny (though unintentionally so, on the part of the speaker) thing that happened all afternoon:

Unclear on the concept story: Board is Q8KK. Opponent and I both go all in. We
both show KQ. He says, "I knew I was good unless you had pocket kings."

Guess the casino, #273

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Answer: Hooters

Another reader learns the 2-4 lesson

See: http://six8suited.blogspot.com/2009/09/this-ones-for-grump.html

Cheap stuff to do in Vegas

I won't ever make this blog primarily about Vegasy things, but today's email from http://savelv.com pointed me to this L.A. Times article about things to do in Vegas for under $21. It listed a bunch of stuff I had never heard of before, so I assume it will be helpful to others, too.

http://www.latimes.com/travel/la-tr-vegas21-2008sep21-pg,0,450572.photogallery?track=rss

Lookie what I got!

I got a package in the mail today. My dear friend Cardgrrl had told me to expect something. (Did everybody notice that she changed the title--or, more precisely, the subtitle--of her blog after the big decision of last week?)



It's a hoodie sweatshirt! Yay! I love my hoodie sweatshirts for cold poker rooms.

But look more closely:



It's Grumpy! With my name!

Is that the most awesome thing ever, or what?!

Thank you, Cardgrrl. I love it. Instantly my favoritest sweatshirt EVAR.

Guess the casino, #272

To reveal the hidden answer, use your mouse to highlight the space immediately after the word "Answer" below.

Comment: This one breaks a rule that I had set for myself, which is that features not accessible to everybody would be off-limits. As you might be able to tell, this photo was taken inside of a men's restroom, which puts female readers at a disadvantage. However, for all I know there are the same or similar doors in the women's restroom. Besides, I think you can take a pretty good guess at the casino just from the general motif, even if you haven't personally been inside this room.




Answer: Caesars Palace

Guess the casino, #271

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Answer: Texas Station

Poker gems, #311

Mike Caro, in Poker Player newspaper column, September 28, 2009, pp. 4, 25.


Question 2: Don't players get upset if you make them feel foolish by tricking them?

Yes. You should never deliberately upset opponents.... So, immediately after you've tricked an opponent and won a pot, utter something friendly that indicates you were just having fun. I like to say things that suggest I played the hand badly and simultaneously enhance my loose image, such as, "I was hoping you'd call, because I've been out of line so many times. You're way ahead of me overall, but I'm still trying the same stupid tricks." Just giggle and move on. Your opponent isn't likely to be offended, because you're talking about your bad plays, not how superior you were with this one....

Question 6: If I'm feeling uncomfortable about tricking my opponent, what should I do?

I strongly recommend solitaire.

Shows 'n' stuff (no poker content)

I did some non-pokery stuff this week.

1.

Monday night I got two free tickets to "X Burlesque" at the Flamingo. Tickets came from a subscription service I've mentioned before: http://lv.houseseats.com/ The performers (seven of them, I believe) are unarguably attractive women who hit the genetic jackpot in terms of matching contemporary society's ideals of beauty. But I thought the show was pretty lifeless and dull. I didn't even stay to the end. Not my cup of tea.

2.

Also through the houseseats.com service I scored two freebies for Cheap Trick performing the Beatles' "Sargeant Pepper" album live at the Hilton Tuesday night, in what was once Elvis Presley's theater. You can read more about the show here and read a review of it here. My friend Shamus also wrote about the whole deal here. (I offered him my extra ticket, but, for some strange reason, he didn't put his entire life on hold and fly across the country on 24 hours' notice. Same thing with Cardgrrl. Go figure. And these people call themselves my friends. Ha!)

This was one of the most enjoyable shows I've been to in Vegas. The band did not just do a slavish copy of what one hears on the album, as an unimaginative "tribute" band probably would. Rather, one gets a definite sense that Cheap Trick is playing music that they love, respect, and admire, but doing it their own way. For example, tempi were usually faster than the Beatles played. It's highly evocative of the original, but not merely an auditory copy. Of course, some things just shouldn't be changed--e.g., having a prominent clarinet part in "When I'm 64," and it was delightful to have a live orchestra with Cheap Trick making their major contribution. (Hey, Shamus, while I'm thinking about it, here's an idea: Next time you post a hand history and need some pseudonyms for your opponents, how about "Vera, Chuck, and Dave"?) The whole thing was just a glorious celebration of some of the best music that the rock genre has produced, with the band having every bit as good a time as the audience.

3.

I get a daily email from http://www.savelv.com/, announcing one or two free or cheap things to do in Vegas. Today's was an interesting surprise: An exhibition of dinosaur fossils at the Venetian. It's in preparation for a big auction coming up next month. See details here. My ex-wife is in town for the next week, and we were both kind of interested in this, so we went. You can see my photos here. It's a little odd seeing all these things with estimated bidding ranges attached to them. Usually such things are in a museum, not for sale.

4.

After that, we went to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, also at the Venetian. I had never been there before. I had one free ticket and a $10 off coupon for another ticket, so it cost only $15 for both of us (usual price $25 each). It's OK, but nothing that's worth going out of your way to see. You can see my pictures here. You might even see your favorite Grump (hint: "Make it so"), and/or your favorite Grump's ex-wife (hint: bunny ears). Also, don't miss the last few photos: odd items for sale in the gift shop.