Day 3

Day 3 was a looonnnng day...

Long but VERY profitable.

After expenses, for the day I am up almost $800.

It all started when we rolled out of bed and headed over to the Wynn for some breakfast and a tour of their card room. When we got there we were disappointed that they only had one 8-16 game going so we decided not to play there. We drove over to the new Venetian poker room and checked it out. It was okay... no 8-16 games as they only play with 1 and 3 dollar chips so they had a 3-6, 6-12 and 9-18 game going. Since the action was so loose and juicy at the MGM the night before, I suggested we head back over there. Stewman agreed and for that I thank him.

We got to the card room around 1:00pm and put our name on the list for 1-2 NL same as the day before. We were excited when they announced they would be starting a new game and we took our seats at the new table a few minutes later.

For the first hour it was up and down, but after about 3 hours I was up comfortably. The table donkey was sitting in seat 1 and he was an action guy. He was a slim, athletic black guy wearing a "Marcus Allen Celebrity Golf Tournament" hat and I immediately thought to myself that he was an ex professional athelete of some sort. Of course, I didn't want to come right out and ask him so casually over a few hours we talked about stuff like where we were from, what school we went to, etc.

Turns out the guy's name was Roy Green and he was an ex-professional football player who spent most of his career playing for the Arizona Cardinals. The guy obviously had money as over the course of the 16 hour session, he re-bought no less than 6 times for $200 apiece.

I made some very overly cautious folds early (folded QQ and JJ with only 1 overcard on the flop), showing my cards each time. I then made a HUGE bluff with 55 into a board of 8 high when an ace hit the turn and he bet out. I pushed in over $200 with just pocket 5s and got him to lay down his second pair. I showed the bluff and raked a huge pot. That put him on tilt and I then proceeded to pick up pot after pot. Before I knew it, I had $1,000 in front of me.

I did take a vicious beat when I picked up AA in a pot with 4 limpers ahead of me. I raised to $17 to go and the girl directly to my left pushed all-in for her last $100 or so. It folded around and I called. she showed JJ and told me, "I have a feeling I'm going to win!" Of course, the board brings K-Q-10 giving her an open ended straight draw on the flop and the magical river brought a 9 to give her the K high straight. Yay.

Stewman was not doing as well as I was and wanted to go get something to eat. I hated getting up from this game, but I knew I had to take a break and get some food.

In the same routine as the day before, I got my chip racks and begin to put them in the rack and I got dealt 99 in second position. I raise to $17 and get 1 caller. The flop comes Q-9-x with two clubs. He checks, I bet out $30 and the guy calls. The turn is an ace and I sigh and drop my head a bit doing my best to show my displeasure. He sees it and moves all-in and I almost beat him in the pot. My set of 9s holds up and now I have almost $1300 in front of me. The next hand (which was going to be my last) I get dealt QQ. I raise to $20 to go and the guy to my left calls (just like yesterday!!). It folds around and the flop comes K-J-10 giving me an open ended straight draw but one over. I have to check to see where he's at and he bets $60. I have to lay it down... not because I knew I was beat, but because I didn't want to take another horrific beat to end my day. I show the QQ and he mucks. He claims he had two pair on the flop but since he never showed, I think it was more like A-J or A-10. I walk to the cage and cash out for $1201 (minus my $300 buy in = $901 profit).

We ate dinner at this nice Itallian place at the NYNY and went back to the MGM to see if Roy was still there. He was, and I took a seat right next to him hoping to take the rest of his money (he had built his stack back up to about $600 in the time I was gone). I was absolutely card-dead though and over 4 hours I dropped my $200 buy-in.

We got back to the hotel around 5:00am and hit the sack. Sinatra is comming to town tomorrow. Gotta sleep.

~NBA~