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Old 07-14-05, 07:53 AM
DoubleG6 DoubleG6 is offline
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: California
Posts: 13
The Palms NLHE Summer Series

In this entry, I would like to continue sharing my WSOP 2005 experience.

With little success at the Satellite tables of the WSOP, my good friend ShakeNBake and I decided to play some live action poker at the Palms Casino. Although their poker room was not as impressive as others, the Palms did offer several big hand jackpots which made playing there a bit more rewarding than other casinos which do not offer any jackpots at all. For example, on a previous trip to the Palms, I had flopped quad 2's and was paid a handsome $250 not including the pot I raked. We had also planned on playing their Summer Series events which had low buy-ins and rewarded the winner with a nice chip set as well.

I joined a $4/$8 game as Shake hit the slots. Right off the bat I knew that I was not going to get much action at this table. Most of the players were on the tail end of their 15 hour sessions and the others looked so tired and weary. Slim pickings I suppose at 5:30am. I tried to induce the action by raising every hand I entered and even straddling the blinds when I was under the gun, but the fish weren't biting today and I was quickly up a whole $20. I glanced over at the action at the $2/$4 table and was about to suggest that we head back to the Rio when a group of young guys strolled in looking for action. I requested a table change but the staff never got around to moving me over. Shake, however, did get to play with them and he had the pleasure of taking them for about $200.

I cashed out my remaining $40 after suffering some bad beats(2pair on flop and other guy rivered a gutshot) and walked over to the No Limit section where I bought into a $500 max buy in table. I bought in for $200 and figured to play only pat hands, but my plans quickly changed after about a round when I realized that these players were not strong at all and most of them overbet pots trying to steal. So I mixed it up and quickly doubled up my stack. Then I hit my big hand. I called in middle pos. with QsJs then the button raised to $25. BB calls and I call looking for a playable flop. Bingo flop! Ks10s9d. BB checks, I slowplay, and the button fires out $45. BB takes about a minute to call and I call right behind her. 3h on the turn was great for me but the BB liked it a bit too much and fires out $70. I did a little hollywood and reluctantly called the bet. The button mumbles to himself and then raises to $145! To my delight the BB calls and I go all in. I figured that if I can fade the nut flush draw and pairing the board, I could win a potential $800+. To my surprise they both fold! and I raked in $495. That win put me at about $755 and I won a few more small pots and cashed out with about $825. I checked on Shake and he had managed to maintain his $200 profit and we both headed to the tournament room where some satellites were about to begin.

I busted out fourth in the one and only satellite we played, but Shake managed to chop the $500 reward when he got heads up. We bought into the $200 +$25 w/ 1 optional rebuy starting at 10am and discussed some hands we had played during our 3 hour live session. The tourney started on time and 78 players made the frist prize money a little over $13,000. I won many pots early which paid for my blinds and antes during the later rounds. Short chipped and desperate, I made my move with AK vs. A10 and managed to win. I got QQ on the very next hand and called an all in and won that too. 3 hands later I won another pot with KJ when I flopped 2 pair and turned the boat with the J and the other player holding AJ. Counting my chips at the break, I had mounted a comeback working my $125 to a decent $2200 in chips. With the starting chipstack at $1000 and about 35players remaining the average stack stood at about $2235. The hand which ultimately led to my demise was good ole' Big Slick Suited when I set a player with about $1400 all in. He pondered for a while and decided he would gamble. I was behind from the start when he flipped over 66 and I never improved. A few blinds later I took my last stand with Little Slick (AQ) of hearts. My opponent had 99. I left the tourney a disappointing 25th. Shake lasted a little longer busting out 15th. Since they only paid 9 spots, our pockets were a little lighter on the way out.

This entry had a lot of boring poker in it and I apologize for that, hopefully I can share some of the other touristy things we did in Vegas but we had a mission, Big money now and fun time later. Next time I'll talk about our last chance tourney at the WSOP, meeting Johnny Chan, Phil Laak, Jennifer Tilley, and my Phil Hellmuth moment.

Last edited by HPG ADMIN; 05-16-13 at 01:26 AM.