Sgt. Rock 2002 WSOP/Bellagio TR Part II
Sgt. Rock
===
Tuesday, May 7 - Day 8
Mrs. Rock is already in the 30 game when I come down, but she's getting
ready to go to her local girlfriend's house to have some lunch and do
our laundry. I take her seat and play her chips. On most previous long
visits it was me who did the laundry, by hand, in our hotel room
bathtub. This time it's quite a luxury to access a real washer and
dryer.
New York Tony is in the game. Happy-go-lucky smokin' and jokin'
Amerasian kid with a Fu Manchu, who's already been at the table 24+
hours. He has a mountain of chips, and likes to straddle. Ya gotta
love this guy.
Tony straddles, I 3-bet from mid position with QTo, and we're heads-up.
Board comes: Td 7d 4c, Qs, 5h. He check-raises, then 4-bets me on the
flop, and calls my raise on the turn and my bet on the river. He
flopped two pair with 74o, so I did need that turn card.
30 minutes later Tony straddles again and I 3-bet again with Qh Jh, flop
top pair, he calls me to the river, and I take it.
By late afternoon there's a real party atmosphere at the table. It's a
diverse mix of young Asians, a couple Frenchmen, and me, the
Buddhist-Jew. Lots of action, some rammin' and jammin' (but not too
much) and everyone oohs and aahs in unison when a scare card hits in a
hotly contested pot, then they congratulate the guy who just sucked out.
Then L.T.- The Lieutenant- comes into the game. I call him this in
deference to his former US Army Infantry status. I've known this guy
for several years, but don't see him too often. You know how they say
that in the poker game you should try to get inside the other guy's
head? I'm sure that's good advice, but in this guy's case, I have to
pass. Don't think I could take the heat. OK, I KNOW I couldn't take
it. I mean, this guy is REALLY out there. Still, I like him a lot, and
he's always fun to talk to. Hadn't seen him in well over a year, so we
were chatting and catching up for a while before this hand came down:
One guy limps early, L.T. limps from Button-1, and I limp in the SB with
QTo. BB checks, and we see the flop 4-way.
Board comes: J Q 4, 6, T
I check the flop, and start trying to decide if I'm gonna fold or raise
when it gets back to me. I'm pretty sure I won't want to call. Check,
check behind me, and L.T. bets. I raise, and the other two guys fold.
L.T. says three, and I say four. He calls.
Then I check the turn, and he jumps in his seat. Then he bets, and I
call.
Two seconds wasn't enough this time. I spend three seconds watching him
look at the river, then another three seconds looking at it myself.
Then I bet.
He says "OK, YOU hypnotized me..." in a resigned and weary sort of way,
and calls. Then, even as I'm beginning to turn my hand over, but before
he can see it, he mucks. I swear. Then he picked up and left almost
immediately.
I've spent the last couple weeks trying to figure out WTF that was all
about. If only I knew just what it was I did, and could add it to my
meager repertoire of moves, why, I could dominate any game!
---
Frenchman open limps early, and I raise right behind him with Michael
and Janet Jackson. He 3-bets heads-up, and I call. I kinda wanted to
4-bet, but his very early position made his 3-bet a little scarier, or
so I thought.
Board comes: A A A, A, 9. No kidding.
Flop: He checks, I bet, he calls.
Turn: Check, check. We're both in awe of the board, but my check here
was a BIG mistake.
River: He checks, I bet, and he calls with Js 9s. All that fun for
free.
In spite of the brilliant play against L.T. (if only I knew what I did!)
I quit -$570 for the day and now -$10,524 for the trip. Mid-session I
had been even worse off, stuck two racks, so had hit a trip low point of
-$12K. Then I bounced back a rack and a half before quitting. Overall,
I'm not happy. The guy that said this game was easy was a lyin' son of
a bitch.
===
Wednesday, May 8 - Day 9
Two maids loudly talking in Spanish just outside my hotel room door wake
me up. Face down in the bed, head half on the pillow, I open one eye in
the darkened room and am looking at the digital clock on the nightstand,
9 inches from my face. 11:03am. I had gotten to sleep around 5:30.
But wait, something is wrong here. I know who I am, and where I am- or
where I'm SUPPOSED to be- but it seems that I have somehow been
transported to another planet. A BIG planet. The gravity here is
tremendous, and it feels like my body weighs about 1100 lbs. I must be
experiencing around 5 Gs. Don't panic. I briefly contemplate trying to
move, to stir, but decide not to chance it. Instead, I carefully close
the open eye. Rest. I need more rest.
---
1:12pm. That's more like it. Now we're down to 1.5 Gs, and who can't
manage that? I get up, shower (now 1.2 Gs) dress, and go downstairs. I
probably coulda got it down to 1.1 Gs if I hadn't given up caffeine a
couple years ago.
By this time Mrs. Rock has given me ALL of her starting trip-bank. Does
that put her on the rail? No way. Maybe I should mention that while
I've been struggling and suffering, she's had zero losses since we hit
town, and has, on average, won $744.25 per day. She's re-bankrolled
herself with her winnings. Now some guys might feel threatened, or
maybe even humiliated or emasculated by a wife who consistently
outperforms them. Me? I get down on my knees and give thanks.
And another thing. She never looks more attractive to me than when I
see her in a game with 9 guys, and she's kicking their asses.
Especially when I know most of the guys well enough to know that they
know her and fear her. That is SUCH a turn-on.
But anyway, now we're telling ourselves and each other, half joking,
half serious, that we may have to go home early. The prospect of
driving 1150 miles in disgrace is really depressing.
So, I set this Recovery Goal: Win enough at 30/60 to give Mrs. Rock
back all her starting-bank, and still have a strong buy-in (2 racks)
before even thinking about any more 80/160. Or maybe go bust trying.
I park it in 30/60 at Table 5, Seat 3. $2,000- two racks- is my usual
buy in, but today I only buy $1,900. Why? Simple. I don't have
$2,000. By 7:00pm, tho, I have 4 racks in front of me. Two guys come
by within minutes of each other, both asking "Hey, Sarge, aren't you
playing 80 today?" I point at my stack and tell them both the same
thing. "Sure, just as soon as I can make this look like eleven racks."
---
I open raise with 22 on the button, and the BB 3-bets. I 4-bet, and
take it on the flop. I couldn't remember ever 4-betting with 22 before.
I have a good day, +$3,688, and, ever the optimist, decide that this is
the turnaround. Those 2 extra hours of sleep did it.
===
Thursday, May 9 - Day 10: Got up "late" again, at 1:00pm, and started
in a 30 game at Table 5, Seat 10.
FTTS: "All That Practice Really Paid Off"
Alan G. comes into the game and posts behind the button, and the extra
blind motivates me to open-raise from the middle with Ad 8d. Didn't
work; the guy behind me and all three blinds call. OK, so a second ago
I thought I was stealing, but now I'm drawing. Fine. Let the sucking
begin.
Board Comes: 7h 6c 3d, 4d, Kd
Flop: BB bets and three of us call.
Turn: BB bets and two of us call.
River: BB check-raises me, I reraise, and he calls. I show him my
backdoor nut flush, and declare that "All that practice really paid off
that time!" I like saying this after an unlikely suckout. "Yeah, I
been working on the backdoor for weeks."
Sometimes that just gets a blank look, but more often it gets a laugh,
though generally NOT from the guy you just sucked out on. Then, if they
ask what I mean, I tell them...
Me: "Yeah, I learned about poker the same way I learned about sex."
Them: "Huh? How's that?"
Me: "It's easy. You just lock yourself alone in a room, and
practice, practice, practice."
---
At 3:00am I'm stuck $1,927 for the day, and give it up.
Mrs. Rock's streak ended today. She bought 3 racks and got stuck pretty
good, then won most of it back, and ended the day -$460. I made her
sleep in the car that night.
===
Friday May 10 - Day 11: Up at 11:30am and right into a 30 game.
For the first couple years I played Hold 'Em I don't think I ever limped
in with Aces. Nowadays I probably do it 10-20% of the time,
occasionally more, depending on the personality of the game. I'm at
Button-2, and I think this was the first time I ever open-limped AA from
such a late position. Usually I figure that my opponents know me well
enough to smell that rat, but this time the guys behind me were all
strangers.
Board comes: 9 9 J, 8, Q. I bet flop and turn, and get two callers.
Then I check-fold the river. They both have a Ten for the straight, and
split the pot. I may never limp again.
---
Quack, Quack
I open-raise late with 22, but get three callers.
Board comes: J J 2, Q, 7. Vegas pro Mike T. bets the flop from the BB,
then reraises me, but releases when I raise him on the turn. "What you
got?" he asks. "Quack, quack," I reply.
Later that evening Jason deals me AA back-to-back. It's been a couple
years since that happened to me. Held up both times, too. No limping!
I win $852 for the day.
===
Saturday May 11 - Day 12
This was a fun day. First No-Mercy Percy, the Taiwan Terror, comes into
the game and starts straddling. Then Abdul comes in and sits next to
me. Having him in the game is no picnic, but it did give us a chance to
shoot the bull for a while, and that's always interesting.
At 10:00pm they called this game: $800/1600 SEVEN game combo mix.
Hell, I don't think I can NAME seven games.
Then Tiger123 came by and introduced himself. Great to meet you!
I end the day at 3:00am, +$1,414, and now at -$6,497 for the trip. That
sounds pretty bad, but I recall how my trip low point was around -$12K,
so it feels fairly good. Like I'm in a bad place but moving in the
right direction.
====
Sunday May 12 - Day 13
I have a moderate rock and roll day. At 2:30pm I'm stuck a rack. At
2:00am I get AsKs in the SB, and call a raise for 6-way action. I'm
still asking myself 2 weeks later why I didn't 3-bet. Anyway, I flop
top pair, then make a backdoor flush and drag a big pot. Ten minutes
later I get KK, flop a set, and river a boat: KKK22. I end the day at
3:00am, +$1,763.
===
Monday, May 13 - Day 14: MegaRush. Recovery Complete.
Some days everything you touch turns to shit. Other days it all turns
to gold. This was one of the golden days. I get up at 11:00am, into a
30 at Table 19, Seat 3, and go on a big rush right away. Percy is in
the game, and was a big help :-) By 1:00pm I have reached the Recovery
Goal of having enough to pay off my Banker and still have a strong 80
buy-in. I get on the 80 list, but when I get called I don't like the
lineup, so stay in the 30, and my rush continues.
Soon after that my game got sucky, and I moved to Table 19, Seat 9, just
in time for Percy and New York Tony to arrive in Seats 1 and 3,
respectively.
Not long after that a handsome young Amerasian guy from Montreal came
into Seat 10, and we got to talking. Turned out he plays 20/40 on
Paradise, just like we do, so we played "I'll show you mine if you show
me yours," and exchanged screen names. He was Eddie Dragon, and that
made me smile, because we had played together many times, with mutual
respect.
At 7:00pm I open-limp UTG with 44, because 6 or so players have been
seeing every flop. EIGHT players see this flop, which comes 466! There
was plenty of action on the flop and turn. Then a stoic little Korean
lady bets the river, and by then the 4h 5h & 6h were on the board. I
stopped worrying when she only called my raise. She had the flush, but
not the str8flush.
---
I call a raise with TT in the SB for 6-way action, flop a set, and river
a boat against Percy. Big pot. He's not happy.
At 9:30pm I have AA and it's capped 5-way preflop. Aces hold up and
take down 38 small bets.
Next hand I have As Qs, and it's again capped 5-way preflop, capped
4-way on the flop, and raised 3-way on the turn. Bet and called 3-way
on the river. The board is Queen high, and my top pair/best kicker
takes down 63 small bets. It's a miracle, and I raise my hands, look to
the heavens, and quietly say "Thank you, Lord!" Then I complain to the
dealer about pushing me chips when I haven't yet finished racking the
previous pot, and threaten to call the floorman if his rudeness
continues. I also toke him a redbird, and tell him to "Go in peace, my
son."
Mrs. Rock's girlfriend from Seattle had flown in that day, and we took
her to the Coffee Shop around 7:00pm and scarfed down some omelets and
pancakes in a hurry. Big mistake. Around midnight, Mrs. Rock
complained of a bellyache, and went to bed. My megarush ended at
2:00am, when she phoned me, in a weak voice said that she felt really
crappy, and asked me to cash out and come to the room. I had just paid
the blinds, but it's kinda like E. F. Hutton: When the Banker talks, I
listen. I almost got a hernia carrying 7 racks to the cashier, colored
some, cashed some, then rushed upstairs.
She felt a little better right away when I got there and told her that I
was +$5,389 for the day and PLUS $655 for the trip. But not all
better. The distress of her upset stomach was exacerbated a general
fatigue from 2 weeks of marathon play and inadequate rest. The day's
menu just didn't agree with her, but she was OK after some TLC and much
rest over the next couple days.
---
(continued in Part III)
Sgt. Rock
http://sarge.virtualave.net
Mail To: woodrack AT sarge DOT virtualave DOT net
Bob Morgan
Mrs. Rock is the best 30/60 player I have played with in my life.
However, she does have a tell that is 98% accurate, if she is in the pot
with you, she has a real hand and will usually kick your ass. She is great
at reading opponents.
Enjoyed your brief :-) reports!
c ya