Trip Report-Reno

This past weekend was my first "gambling" trip in quite some time. I've went to Vegas last year but it wasn't really a trip where I did a lot of gaming. I spent most of my time sightseeing and eating expensive dinners with friends.

In any case, I finally had a chance to play in a few decent cash games. I played 3 sessions equaling about 6 hours. The venues were Grand Sierra Resort and Harrah's poker rooms. I played in three tournaments and my success there was not so good. Busted on first hand at Harrah's on Friday but made my buy-in back in cash game immediately afterwards. Second tourney (Sat am @ Grand Sierra) I made to 11th place after my brother Mike took me out. Sunday AM tourney, my other brother Matt took me out with a "full boat" on the river. I caught my King high flush on that same river...lol oh well tourneys were not my strength this time.

Anyway, back to the cash games. With the total investment into tourney's being $160 I more than made up for my poor showing with over $1200 in winnings in the 6 hours I played in the cash games. Here's the scoop on each session (Poker only)*:

Session #1: Grand Sierra Resort Poker Room $1-$2 NL Hold 'em
Buy-in: $50 Bankroll: $200
Winnings after 3 hours of play: $390
Bankroll: $590

Session #2: Harrah's Poker Room $1-$2 NL Hold 'em
Buy-in: $100 Bankroll: $490
Winnings after 1 hour of play: $300
Bankroll: $790

Session #3: Grand Sierra Resort Poker Room $1-$2 NL Hold 'em
Buy-in: :$150 Bankroll: $640
Winnings after 2 hours of play: $590
Bankroll: $1230

I actually came home with only $700 after the following:
1) $120 losses at Blackjack tables
2) $100 loss @ three-card poker table
3) $100 losses @ video poker/slots
4) $100 loan to desperate relative.
5) $110 food/drinks/gifts

So if I took out the first three I would still be over a grand for the weekend.

I like my ROI for the poker alone, but due to the lack of a running cash game during the day I didn't have the venue to make any more money playing poker. That's probably my biggest complaint about Reno in general. They only have the NL cash game running after 6:00 or 7:00 pm due to lack of players. Most people in Reno are old people who want to play those bizarre cartoonish "slot" machines that make stupid noises when you win a $1. All of the poker rooms in Reno seem to always have single $4-$8 limit hold 'em table running all day but that's a very different game that I am not used to. I am pretty sure that most card rooms in Vegas will run NL cash all day 24/7.

I had a nice haul for my first all gambling weekend...anda mere 6 hours of cash game play...My hourly rate for the sessions was $205 so I figure if I can average $~$150/hour a full day's worth of cash game play (8 hours) I could pocket $1200. Not bad if I could keep that up. Anyway, I had fun and that's what counted the most. I look forward to another trip.

I will write another post with the key hands shortly.

Thoughts

After a few mediocre sessions I have decided that I need to step back and analyze my play as of late. I feel I am becoming predicable and easy to read to many of my regular cohorts. My focus and concentration has definitely been poor the last few games as well. Desperation and fear are valuable tells. The people I play with are all good players and will pick up on these things.

Anyway, I have taken a few days off from playing to read and evaluate my play. Although I haven't necessarily played horribly, I can definitely improve. I think I've been an open book lately and people have been exploiting that.

I am off to Reno to play in the casinos for a few days. We'll see how my play holds up there.

More soon.

A great read...

There are times when I have hunches and "a feeling" about a hand that my opponent may be holding. "Luckily" I have been correct about those hunches 80-90% of the time. Unfortunately, 50% of the time it's after I've already folded. LOL.

But there are those epiphany's that come along every once in awhile where it reminds you why you love to play this degenerate game so much. I had one of those the other night.

I have A-8 of hearts. I bet out my standard raise. all fold except L. The flop comes Kh-4c-Jh I bet out again and L calls. Turn comes some other non-heart rag. I check, L checks. The river is a spade of some sort so I check and L bets the pot...I think about it and realize that he is, in fact, drawing to the same flush that never came to me...so I call. L has Queen high....I wish we both would have caught the flush...then could have made a run at winning that game.

Making that read reminded me of how I need to play. I need to be patient, play my position, don't chase, figure the odds and make good decisions. Don't slow play down or let fear rule what you do if you have a decent hand. But do think about what the other players did (betting/tells) before you make decisions and what kind of players are you involved with.

Position
Players
Payoff

I'm Magically Donkelicious!!!

Well I managed to make it to the final table but busted out in 6th out of 25 last Tuesday night. I had to re-buy too!!! Hate that shit!!! I was not on my game at all but I take some solace in my finish. My head was so not in the game that night. Daydreaming, losing focus, making plays at the wrong time...donkerific!!!

I managed to out draw someone to catch a boat, I tripled up with a boat on the river to make it to 6th...but overall I was just playing so badly...just not my night. I was in a terrible mood. All the stress from Michele's accident, cat's being sick, lack of physical activity just took it's toll on me. I should be fresh and well-rested by this Saturday's game.

That's all for now. I will have a report on the next few tourney's and cash games next week.

P.S. Bankroll down $200 due to Vet's outrageous fees...friggin' rip off.