K 9 Poker
by admin
For this trip I stayed at the off-strip Rio hotel, the home of the WSOP. This was towards the end of the Series, just before the start of the Main Event. It turned out to be a very reasonable place to stay during the Series, but there would be no point in staying there any other time unless you were interested in cabbing it everywhere. 
The Tournament of Champions and the $25k buy-in event were going on while I was there so there were a lot of recognizable players in the room. Let's see, off the top of my head: Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanue, Nick Shulman, Barry Greenstein, TJ Cloutier, Jennifer Harman, Mike Matesow, Ivan Demidov, Howard Lederer, Joe Hachem, Johnny Chan, Huck Seed, Bertrand Grospellier, Scotty Nguyen, Antonio Esfandiari, Jimmy Fricke, Phil Hellmuth and Mike Sexton. You get the idea. I even had last year's Main Event champ, Joe Cada, in line behind me at the Starbucks one day.
On that note there is nothing like a trip to America to make me feel reasonably thin. Even though I am at least 40 pounds overweight, when it comes to America, and Vegas, and the poker cohort, I am very definitely below average in the girth department. I had one other funny observation along these lines. This year's WSOP bracelet sponsor is a company called OnTilt. They were marketing a line of clothes that had some very cool artwork and logos. There was one shirt I particularly liked so I asked them if they had any XXL or XXXL sizes. “Sorry sir, XL is our largest size.” I checked it out and even for an XL it was a very slim fit. Stupid. They go to all this trouble to design and produce a line of clothing, and to sponsor the WSOP, only to eliminate 70% of their potential customers.
The WSOP setup at the Rio is impressive to say the least. There are about 400 tables in two huge rooms, along with several “feature table” and “TV table” setups. There is a main-stage area that is used for daily bracelet presentations along with areas for bracelet events, low and high stakes cash games, and constantly running satellites. There was a vendor area and a temporary “poker kitchen” serving a good variety of grab-and-go foods including Chinese, Mexican and pizza. Most people opted for the quick food rather than eating at the table which is a definite plus as far as I am concerned.
The Rio also ran a daily non-WSOP $200 deepstack event which proved to be very popular attracting 400-700 people on a daily basis. It was deepstack and slow which seems to be all the rage these days. The day I played in it there were 568 players resulting in a top prize of over $22,000. I went out after 7+ hours in about 150th. I played with Al from Victoria and we had a 20% cross-book on each other. Unfortunately he went out before I did so neither of us made the money.
Al was there with Mike, another good friend from the old Victoria Poker Masters days. They were staying at the Orleans but we ended up meeting everyday while they were there. We even made a trip to the storied Golden Nugget in old town Vegas. They have a nice little 8-10 table room with a very unusual uncapped 1-2 game. Apparently there was a game last week with over $100k on the table! At first I thought it was “rocks and regs” but it turned out to be a pretty soft game and resulted in one of my biggest wins. It was fun to finally see the Nugget. We walked through Binion's as well but there was only one table going so we moved on.
Of the 400 or so tables at the Rio at least 100 are set aside for cash-game action, and at peak times most of are running. They regularly ran 1-3, 2-5, 5-10, PLO, mixed games and something called “Big O” which was an Omaha game where each player was dealt 5 cards instead of 4. Larger games like 5-10-25, 25-25, 25-50 were also common, as were limit games as high as 100-200.
The 1-3 and 2-5 games allowed for a regular straddle or a button straddle. At first the button straddle drove me crazy, but in the end it didn't really bother me. I thought it was a poor idea to introduce a gimmick like this in an environment that was stocked with rookie dealers and players who rarely, if ever, play where a button straddle is allowed. There were constant screw-ups, mostly with players acting out of turn. Even though it was allowed in all the 1-3 and 2-5 games, i played several sessions where very few, if any players, actually did it. The players who did do it very rarely exercised their option to raise, or conversely they were raised out of the pot by some aggressive player in middle or late position.
In spite of my general disdain for the button straddle, it resulted in one of the largest pots I ever won, and for that matter one of the greatest hands I ever played. I was in the cutoff and the button made it $10 to go. 8 players ahead of me called the $10 and I woke up with 99. I thought about popping it right there but decided to smooth call hoping to get a raise out of the button, or to flop a set and take it from there. Well, the button made a very weak raise to $40. I don't know what he though this would achieve, but EVERY SINGLE PLAYER called the $30 raise and when it came around to me i had the same choice—pop it now, or smooth call and see what the flop brought. I decided once again to smooth call. The flop came down 2-2-4 rainbow. It checked most of the way around until one player three positions back of me muttered something and bet $125. It occurred to me at this point that I might actually have the best hand, but with several players left to act i decided to just smooth call. The big blind who I had pegged as a fish called as well but everyone else folded. The turn brought another low card (below a 9) and the first player checked. At this point i ruled out trips or a full-house and thought he was just taking a shot with is first bet, maybe with 55, 66 or the like. I had about $300 left and decided to commit it. The only thing I was worried about was that the big blind might have 1010, but even then I thought an all-in bet might get him off it. He ended up shipping his last $250 or so and the first guy shrugged and shipped his last $200. Before the river came down the big blind asked me if I had a made hand—I responded “sort of” and he revealed his AK. The river came blank and the first guy flipped over 45 for a lower two pair. I tabled my 99 and got several gasps and comments from the table as I scooped the $1400+ pot. Saweeeet!
I also used the button straddle to pull off the biggest bluff of my life. It was a 2-5 game so I made it $10 to go on the button. I got 5 or 6 callers so when it came around to me I decided to pop it. It was a predetermined move so my cards were somewhat irrelevant. I was going to represent a big hand no matter what so I popped it to $85 thinking I would take it down right there. Much to my surprise the big blind re-popped it to $250, and all the other limpers folded. I gave off a few false tells showing strength, and immediately and confidently shoved all-in. I had the guy covered for his last $600 or so. He thought about it forever. He obviously had a big hand. I was shaking in my boots because I basically held nothing--84off. Finally he came to his senses and put me on the AA or KK that I respresented. He muttered something like 'dammit, I am folding queens' to the table and through his hand into the muck. I slid my hand over to him and told him to have a look if he wanted. He took a peek at my 84off and just about exploded. Since the hand was exposed the dealer flipped thm over quickly to show the table. After that his story was that he folded AQ, but I would be my life it was QQ. AQ would not have re-popped and would have been an insta-fold for sure. That move got me a lot of action for the rest of the session.
I had one odd situation late in the trip where the dealer mistakenly shipped me the pot even though i was not the winner. i had already mostly stacked the chips when i realized what had happened. my pocket 8's had been counterfeited and the other player won the pot with a J high kicker. I said 'hold on dealer, that was not my pot.' i reconstructed the betting and shipped the correct amount to the winning player. He was a bit drunk and had no idea. Was I too honest? I got accolades from the table but oddly enough the winner of the pot didn't so much as say 'thanks.' oh well, i would still rather be honest than have this on my conscience over the sake of a few bucks ($110 to be precise).
I would say overall my run of cards was average, although unfortunately it was a bit front-loaded. Historically I average one set of flopped-quads per one week trip, and this time i had them on the very first night, within the first hour of play, actually. The first night also marked my one and only full house (flopped or otherwise) which definitely seems a little slim for a one week trip. I was fortunate enough to flop a set on MY VERY FIRST HAND of the trip! Contrast this to one other trip where i was 4 days in (50 plus hours) before hitting my first set.
It seemed like i had an average number of sets, as well as an average number of pocket AA and KK. I cannot remember my aces getting cracked all, but i did have to fold a flopped set of Kings on one hand when the board came four to a straight and my opponent very clearly had QQ giving him Broadway. I picked up AA one night on the very last hand of my session and felted some poor kid for $560. This was a table-breaker so don't accuse of of hit and run :) As far as sessions went, this trip was marked by shorter stints and less hours of play overall. I played lots of 3-4 hour sessions, never more than 12 hours at a time, never more than two sessions in a day, and never later than 3am. I ended my first session, which was definitely a min-heater, after only 3 hours. It just felt good to put a $700+ win in the books on the first night and then to get a good night sleep.
The Clackamas County Sheriff's Office K9 Units are using their custom challenge coins for fundraising - what a great way to celebrate working K9's, and help support your favorite charitable causes! Visit clackamask9.org to support them - they sell the coins individually, or in a complete set!
K9 Poker Chip
The Tournament of Champions and the $25k buy-in event were going on while I was there so there were a lot of recognizable players in the room. Let's see, off the top of my head: Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanue, Nick Shulman, Barry Greenstein, TJ Cloutier, Jennifer Harman, Mike Matesow, Ivan Demidov, Howard Lederer, Joe Hachem, Johnny Chan, Huck Seed, Bertrand Grospellier, Scotty Nguyen, Antonio Esfandiari, Jimmy Fricke, Phil Hellmuth and Mike Sexton. You get the idea. I even had last year's Main Event champ, Joe Cada, in line behind me at the Starbucks one day.
Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, K9, Unit, 10641, custom poker chips, military poker chips. K9 romeu Poker Player Profile, k9 romeu Online Poker Rankings and Internet Poker Player Stats on pokerstars. King Nine is a good looking hand in the game of poker, thanks to the King edge. But it is almost always advisable to lay this hand down to avoid a mess later. When suited, K9 can be an attractive hand to hold but not so practical to play with. There is a 70% chance that there will be an over card on the flop and then you might feel the heat. K9 is a marginal hand at best. There are some situations where you might play it: - In LP at a very tight table if nobody has entered the pot - In a limped multi way pot where you are getting good.
Other than the poker, the trip got off to a terrible start. I woke up the first morning to a moderately severe gout attack (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gout). I would characterize it as a 7/10--very painful and very difficult to walk. Had it had stayed that way or gotten worse, I would have been confined to my room until it improved. A 10/10 attack pretty much makes it impossible to walk, and can literally make a grown man cry. Believe me, I know--I've had them. Anyway, I hammered the gout with medication and iced it as much as I could for the first three days. I was pretty much hobbled for the first few days of the trip but towards the end it began to subside. Luckily there was ample action right at the Rio, so i was able to stay and play there for pretty much the entire trip. I almost rented one of those Shoprider wheelchairs. No problem, I would have fit right in with the lazy and the obese. Good old America.On that note there is nothing like a trip to America to make me feel reasonably thin. Even though I am at least 40 pounds overweight, when it comes to America, and Vegas, and the poker cohort, I am very definitely below average in the girth department. I had one other funny observation along these lines. This year's WSOP bracelet sponsor is a company called OnTilt. They were marketing a line of clothes that had some very cool artwork and logos. There was one shirt I particularly liked so I asked them if they had any XXL or XXXL sizes. “Sorry sir, XL is our largest size.” I checked it out and even for an XL it was a very slim fit. Stupid. They go to all this trouble to design and produce a line of clothing, and to sponsor the WSOP, only to eliminate 70% of their potential customers.
K9 Poker
As I am well aware, gout is exacerbated by alcohol, and by beer in particularly. This caused me to pretty much abstain from drinking for the entire trip, other than the first night—before the attack—and the second to last night, once it had subsided. Not the end of the world I suppose, but it was not what I had planned for leading up to the trip. I do love having a few beers, listening to music and playing poker :). Turns out it was just as well. The drink service at the Rio was hit-and-miss and the beer selection was limited. A further insult was that beer was only available in plastic cups. Not exactly the best for a beer connoisseur like myself. Under normal conditions, with a desire to drink and better mobility, I may have been inclined to leave the Rio altogether and play/stay elsewhere.The WSOP setup at the Rio is impressive to say the least. There are about 400 tables in two huge rooms, along with several “feature table” and “TV table” setups. There is a main-stage area that is used for daily bracelet presentations along with areas for bracelet events, low and high stakes cash games, and constantly running satellites. There was a vendor area and a temporary “poker kitchen” serving a good variety of grab-and-go foods including Chinese, Mexican and pizza. Most people opted for the quick food rather than eating at the table which is a definite plus as far as I am concerned.
The Rio also ran a daily non-WSOP $200 deepstack event which proved to be very popular attracting 400-700 people on a daily basis. It was deepstack and slow which seems to be all the rage these days. The day I played in it there were 568 players resulting in a top prize of over $22,000. I went out after 7+ hours in about 150th. I played with Al from Victoria and we had a 20% cross-book on each other. Unfortunately he went out before I did so neither of us made the money.
Al was there with Mike, another good friend from the old Victoria Poker Masters days. They were staying at the Orleans but we ended up meeting everyday while they were there. We even made a trip to the storied Golden Nugget in old town Vegas. They have a nice little 8-10 table room with a very unusual uncapped 1-2 game. Apparently there was a game last week with over $100k on the table! At first I thought it was “rocks and regs” but it turned out to be a pretty soft game and resulted in one of my biggest wins. It was fun to finally see the Nugget. We walked through Binion's as well but there was only one table going so we moved on.
Of the 400 or so tables at the Rio at least 100 are set aside for cash-game action, and at peak times most of are running. They regularly ran 1-3, 2-5, 5-10, PLO, mixed games and something called “Big O” which was an Omaha game where each player was dealt 5 cards instead of 4. Larger games like 5-10-25, 25-25, 25-50 were also common, as were limit games as high as 100-200.
The 1-3 and 2-5 games allowed for a regular straddle or a button straddle. At first the button straddle drove me crazy, but in the end it didn't really bother me. I thought it was a poor idea to introduce a gimmick like this in an environment that was stocked with rookie dealers and players who rarely, if ever, play where a button straddle is allowed. There were constant screw-ups, mostly with players acting out of turn. Even though it was allowed in all the 1-3 and 2-5 games, i played several sessions where very few, if any players, actually did it. The players who did do it very rarely exercised their option to raise, or conversely they were raised out of the pot by some aggressive player in middle or late position.
In spite of my general disdain for the button straddle, it resulted in one of the largest pots I ever won, and for that matter one of the greatest hands I ever played. I was in the cutoff and the button made it $10 to go. 8 players ahead of me called the $10 and I woke up with 99. I thought about popping it right there but decided to smooth call hoping to get a raise out of the button, or to flop a set and take it from there. Well, the button made a very weak raise to $40. I don't know what he though this would achieve, but EVERY SINGLE PLAYER called the $30 raise and when it came around to me i had the same choice—pop it now, or smooth call and see what the flop brought. I decided once again to smooth call. The flop came down 2-2-4 rainbow. It checked most of the way around until one player three positions back of me muttered something and bet $125. It occurred to me at this point that I might actually have the best hand, but with several players left to act i decided to just smooth call. The big blind who I had pegged as a fish called as well but everyone else folded. The turn brought another low card (below a 9) and the first player checked. At this point i ruled out trips or a full-house and thought he was just taking a shot with is first bet, maybe with 55, 66 or the like. I had about $300 left and decided to commit it. The only thing I was worried about was that the big blind might have 1010, but even then I thought an all-in bet might get him off it. He ended up shipping his last $250 or so and the first guy shrugged and shipped his last $200. Before the river came down the big blind asked me if I had a made hand—I responded “sort of” and he revealed his AK. The river came blank and the first guy flipped over 45 for a lower two pair. I tabled my 99 and got several gasps and comments from the table as I scooped the $1400+ pot. Saweeeet!
I also used the button straddle to pull off the biggest bluff of my life. It was a 2-5 game so I made it $10 to go on the button. I got 5 or 6 callers so when it came around to me I decided to pop it. It was a predetermined move so my cards were somewhat irrelevant. I was going to represent a big hand no matter what so I popped it to $85 thinking I would take it down right there. Much to my surprise the big blind re-popped it to $250, and all the other limpers folded. I gave off a few false tells showing strength, and immediately and confidently shoved all-in. I had the guy covered for his last $600 or so. He thought about it forever. He obviously had a big hand. I was shaking in my boots because I basically held nothing--84off. Finally he came to his senses and put me on the AA or KK that I respresented. He muttered something like 'dammit, I am folding queens' to the table and through his hand into the muck. I slid my hand over to him and told him to have a look if he wanted. He took a peek at my 84off and just about exploded. Since the hand was exposed the dealer flipped thm over quickly to show the table. After that his story was that he folded AQ, but I would be my life it was QQ. AQ would not have re-popped and would have been an insta-fold for sure. That move got me a lot of action for the rest of the session.
I had one odd situation late in the trip where the dealer mistakenly shipped me the pot even though i was not the winner. i had already mostly stacked the chips when i realized what had happened. my pocket 8's had been counterfeited and the other player won the pot with a J high kicker. I said 'hold on dealer, that was not my pot.' i reconstructed the betting and shipped the correct amount to the winning player. He was a bit drunk and had no idea. Was I too honest? I got accolades from the table but oddly enough the winner of the pot didn't so much as say 'thanks.' oh well, i would still rather be honest than have this on my conscience over the sake of a few bucks ($110 to be precise).
I would say overall my run of cards was average, although unfortunately it was a bit front-loaded. Historically I average one set of flopped-quads per one week trip, and this time i had them on the very first night, within the first hour of play, actually. The first night also marked my one and only full house (flopped or otherwise) which definitely seems a little slim for a one week trip. I was fortunate enough to flop a set on MY VERY FIRST HAND of the trip! Contrast this to one other trip where i was 4 days in (50 plus hours) before hitting my first set.
It seemed like i had an average number of sets, as well as an average number of pocket AA and KK. I cannot remember my aces getting cracked all, but i did have to fold a flopped set of Kings on one hand when the board came four to a straight and my opponent very clearly had QQ giving him Broadway. I picked up AA one night on the very last hand of my session and felted some poor kid for $560. This was a table-breaker so don't accuse of of hit and run :) As far as sessions went, this trip was marked by shorter stints and less hours of play overall. I played lots of 3-4 hour sessions, never more than 12 hours at a time, never more than two sessions in a day, and never later than 3am. I ended my first session, which was definitely a min-heater, after only 3 hours. It just felt good to put a $700+ win in the books on the first night and then to get a good night sleep.