Monday, May 30, 2016

WSOP 2016 Starts this Week!

Orientation was Sunday. The Penn and Teller Theater at the Rio was filled with dealers - and that was only those with last names A-L!  Frank Moreno, headliner at Planet Hollywood stopped by to sing a few songs to kick things off for us and then it was it was the expected mix of rules, things to know and pep talks. We got a pep talk from guest speakers Barry and Allyn Shulman, owners of Card Player Magazine and winners of over $6 million in poker tournament prizes. We were reminded that attitude is "a little thing that makes a big difference" and that the players, generally, are not interested in the dealer's opinion of whatever it is they are discussing. 

So now two days off and then start a six day work week. I guess management figured out that because this is a temporary gig, it is okay to schedule workers for a string of six day work weeks as long as they pay overtime, despite the fact that in the USA the five day work week is standard. For most dealers who have travelled and are paying for housing in Vegas while also paying for housing wherever they travelled from, the six day work week is nice. More money and less time to kill while in Sin City where there are all kinds of ways to spew money. 

Speaking of killing time, with nothing to do but kill time until work starts, I headed over to the Flamingo to play a little $1-$2 No Limit Hold 'em. In typical No Limit fashion I got it in bad and sucked out for a big win. 😎. 

Here's how the hand went:

I had JJ, pocket Jacks, in middle position and raised to $12.  The player next to me, a tourist from Germany, with a large stack made it $25. It folded to the Big Blind who only had $65 total and he put it all in. I figured that if I just called, the German would also and I didn't relish the idea of taking my Jacks against two players but if I re-raised, the German could fold thinking that since I made the fourth raise pre-flop it usually signals Aces .  I thought I also might be able to play an even larger side pot against the German and come out ahead if I lost to the short stack. So I shoved "All In". Since I was obviously trying to isolate the short stack, the German correctly determined that I likely didn't have Aces and since he was holding KK, he wasn't going anywhere, anyhow.

So I said a little prayer to the nonexistent Poker gods for a Jack on the Flop, but it came out K-Q-10 missing my Jacks on both sides and leaving me with an up-n-down straight draw.  After a 4 on the Turn, the River brought an Ace to give me the "Broadway" straight beating both my opponents who were holding AA (the Short Stack) and KK (the German). So I went from about $175 to over $400 one lucky hand. 

According to Barry Shulman's Card Player Magazine Odds Calculator, I was about a 5 to 1 underdog (16% chance to win) in that hand. This is not really a good bet for me as I was only collecting less than 2 to 1 when I win. If I keep making bets like that, it will not be long before I am broke. 

I played about even for the next couple hours and went home with a profit.  

Poker is lots of fun when you get lucky. It's also fun when you can pull off a bluff and steal a pot. Professional poker player Antonio Esfandiari once said, "In poker, over the long term, everybody gets the same hands. The profit is in what you can steal!"

What to do with my Memorial Day holiday?  I hear that Steve Wynn moved and expanded his Poker Room and the new location is now in the Encore next door. I might need to go check it out.