The Fossil does Vegas

[Erimus]

And we are back, not playing a lot lately hence the lack of posts, the last 6 weeks have been testing to say the least, volume has been minimal live and online but this week brought a bit of welcome relief, a smallish cash live, then an 8th position in one of Sky's bounty hunters for a few hundred, making it another small losing month, but tonight I managed to bink a Vegas package on Grosvnor for the colossus game early June, looking at the dates it's likely I will be around for the Apat Vegas event as well.

I was down to 4 bigs and all in with 74, which made a house with 4 left and then The mighty Kings held on the bubble v A4, despite him hitting a 4 then a gutshot on the turn.

Vegas wasn't looking likely tbh this year due to a bit of burnout but for £5 I am pretty sure I will take the opportunity, factor 50 is on the shopping list.

And yes we  are getting relegated but I  have renewed my season ticket for 9months guaranteed pub visits on Tuesday and Saturdays, UTFB.

[Chipaccrual]

Nice one Brian


See you in Vegas !!!!!!

[Scousebill]

Congrats Brian.... See you there, and reading about both of us on the Final table of Colossus will be great...

[Zozzy]

Congratulations Brian. Go smash it in Vegas

[Erimus]

Cheers for the above comments will be trying my best, looking at the structure of the colossus definitely need some run awesomeness in that one, obviously plenty going on elsewhere so que sera sera.

More min cash heaven this week with a 5th on Tuesday for £170 at the G and also gave the new casino in Leeds a bash, this one started badly but ended ok in the end.

Quick report, first bullet was via online so forgot I had bought in so didn't count as real money.

I flopped a set v G Mac who made a straight with 97, I should of folded the river tbh as I put him on AQ all the way through the hand, I was right in the fact he made the straight but not the one I was expecting, nh sir. I used to be good at folding, AQ also got there and he had opened utg.

This left me with 6k which promptly disappeared when KK lost to 86 and JJ was also in the pot so hold here and I wouldn't have to re enter but 86 made 2 pair.

I reentered as someone else was driving and they were still in so fired the second bullet, fast forward to 4 am and I get my last 9 bigs in v aggro button, he had A7 and it held so I finished 17th for £230 again minimal profit but had a chance to run deep but the crucial hand AQ v 84 on a Q84 crippled me and I squeezed into the cash, it was a tired reshove tbh and could of waited to shove into sb and bb next hand, had decent equity pre though, happy with reshove just not the outcome.

I final table bubbled a £55 on Sky tonight but had £85 in bounties so again a min cash received, again got it in good but couldn't do a hold, whatever, it is what it is.

At least the hole we dug in February I have clambered out of and am now standing on the edge of said hole wiping the mud off myself.

Still no info from G regarding flights to Vegas etc, was going to arrange my own but my brother is seeing if he can get time off from work, i can take 1 guest but they must pay for own flight, room will be ok for 2 people. I have contacted Main event travel and they can book any flights I want, brother can only do the 7 days so not an option to extend or go earlier.

He plays a bit but never played in a casino, I will get him to play the Apat game though if he is there, he will just admire the views by the pool I would imagine for the rest of the time.

If he goes will probably get the direct flight from Gatwick with Virgin on June 2, the local flights have one or 2 stops plus any extra days will impact on the bill I have to pay for Susan to be looked after.

Went to see Elbow in Manchester couple of weeks ago, a test run to see if its doable to get down and back for at least one event in the wcoap, would imagine it would be the £200 game 70/30 chance of making an appearance.

Waffled on too long as per, run good, be lucky stay healthy, will be blogging the 5th visit to Vegas so if I disappear for a while I shall return early June.

[Erimus]

A few small cashes here and there online have reduced Aprils losses to a meh whatever so far.

All sorted for Vegas after a bit if a faf about, after I won the package found a really good flight and promptly booked it after verifying Susan's stay, then get an email from said company who can't accommodate her on the first 2 days so promptly cancelled this flight, now I am sweating on a full refund, they have put a partial refund back on card, I have contacted them and because the second flight was with another company that might delay the rest of the refund, I had cancelled within 24 hours so I should get a full refund but am currently sweating that.

Regarding the package won I assumed wrongly that cash would be put into account and I would be responsible for travel arrangements, but it was put into a3rd party agent to sort out.

I eventually found flights for £620 return with stops but prices were varying about on a daily basis quite wildly.

I got Susan sorted with a couple of date adjustments.

Eventually sorted Newcastle to Heathrow to Philadelphia to Vegas landing at 20:30, it's a bit of a long winded route but saved £650 for the 2 tickets required.

It was cheaper to add an extra night and fly home on the 10th rather than the 9th but again it's Vegas/JFK/Heathrow/Newcastle.

I was getting a bit of grief from my brother for not getting him tickets for Elbow last month so offered him a holiday to Vegas for the princely sum of £500 which he duly accepted, he plays a bit of Poker but no experience live, he may join in the Apat game other than that he will be by the pool I would imagine and drinking on the night, and day knowing him.

Some fun hands from the Stockton G this month, won a hand with AA v 8 callers, it actually got to the river with 3 of us left in the hand, how that held I will never know and how 7 people call an utg plus 1 3 bet is again a mystery.

A few games later variance decided because of the above I shall lose with AA twice in 4 bet pots v 64 and 69, all good fun though, water off a ducks back.

I managed an appearance at WCOAP in the hi roller, didn't make much of an impact, it started to go wrong with me 3 betting Utg limp with QJ hearts, then I was min 4 bet from button, I called, 2 hearts on the flop, check call, the king on the turn gave me straight outs, I had put him on a tight range JJ +, AK, so even if he had trips or top pair we still have outs , river was a King, I gave up with 15 bigs behind, Q high was never going to be good here, even if I shove repping the King, I don't think he would of folded given my stack and his, my last 14 bigs went with AJ < 77, home safe and sound by 11:30.

Back to Vegas, planning to play the Colossus on the Saturday afternoon 4pm flight, hoping this is the only tournament I get to play all week, obviously this is highly unlikely so plans are afoot for other games, $50k in a day at Planet Hollywood, ($250) Wynn $100k ($500) and obviously will be trying for a double final table appearance at Apat North American championships.

The G continues to astound  tonight, rejammed over an all in with KJ on a KJ high 2 diamond flop, turn my cards over top 2 not realising seat 1 was still in the hand, he was hiding behind the dealer, he sees my hand and still decides to call  my 20 bb shove with 44, of course he hits, 50p in the tin, fun times, I will accept the penalty the dealer gave me in the next game, charming.

[Erimus]

It's a bit early but started to plan for next months journey to Vegas.

Its my 5th and more than likely my final visit to Vegas currently 2-2 going into the final set.

First the run bad, remember the flight which was booked last month and had to be cancelled, well that ended up costing me £500, my bad for not reading terms and conditions, I ended up having a bit of a twitter spat with BA after they posted something about their new first class lounge facilities at Heathrow, just indicating to them I was so happy to donate the £500 to the first class customers, pretty sure they needed the cash more than me.

Circumstances out of my control  meant cancelling the flight but perhaps I could of been a bit more patient and not book so early.

To be fair they did contact me and I had more dialogue with them via direct messaging than I had with phone and e mail support, anyway over that now, life's too short to get too upset over massive corporations getting one over you.

Planning on the following schedule

Arrive Vegas today 8:30 pm Grosvnor welcome Party at the Linq, hopefully free bar.

Saturday will be acclimating and recovering from previous night/journey, no Poker planned,  going to a concert on the Saturday night at the Brooklyn Bowl next to Linq.

Sunday play Day 1 of colossus, that takes care of the next 4 days as on Wednesday I will pick up the bracelet and the milly.

Thursday I will be going to SR and spending $990000, just so I dont have any hassle taking more than $10k back through customs, sensible I think.

Back to reality, if I bust the colossus, may stay at the Rio to play either a deepstack or a satellite.

Monday playing at the Wynn $100k gteed.

Tuesday, Carls wedding so no Poker, nothing planned but may try and plan a trip out of town.

Wednesday, Golden Nugget for the Apat game.

Thursday Day 2 of Planet Hollywood $100k guaranteed.

Nothing planned for Friday just r and r before flight home on the Saturday or hopefully day 2 of the Planet Hollywood event.

All the above are subject to change depending upon mood and mental state.

As said initially I would imagine this will be my last trip to Vegas, there are more countries offering poker games to visit and Vegas is not cheap.

This trip is a total bonus as I wasn't intending going this year so it ticks 2 more boxes on the list

1 Winning a package and
2 Playing in a Wsop event at the Rio.

I haven't actually played at the Rio before and only been there once to see Penn and Teller so it will be a first on the poker front.

Although we are not down I pretty much gave up a month ago, but actually seen a good game today v City, out of all the games this season it's been pretty anti climatic, only Spurs, Liverpool and Crystal Palace have impressed me the rest of the teams rank average and I won't miss the Premier League, admittedly they won't miss us because we have not been very good, but you support your club through thick and thin, go again next year, one thing the crowds have created a really good atmosphere for a team struggling which has been the best bit of the season.

Anyway waffled on too much as per, got a 12th on Party last night for £175 which slightly reduces this months loses which tbh were not a lot, probably played less than 20 games online and not many live.

Roll on Vegas and a bit of run good.

[Zozzy]

Your Vegas itinerary looks great. I will see you at the Leeds tournament tonight and we will have a catch up. 

[Erimus]

Cheers Craig, nice to see you tonight and as I haven't done one of these for a while a tourney report on tonight's game as it was quite fun for a change, a spoiler, didn't cash but here goes.

Starting stack is 250 big blinds and this beauty starts the action, utg limps, I 3 bet 10 10 from cut off button flats, flop is favourable ( stolen from elsewhere) 8 10 8, check, check, button bets out, utg calls, I decide to min re raise as it looks like they have something, quads the way it's been going lately, moan over, button and UTB both call, turn brick, utg bets I reraise button folds, she tells me she has Jacks after the hand, UTB calls, river meaningless utg bets out, if he has quads Gl to him, I jam he snaps, he has Q8 off suit, cooler ?, maybe but limp calling Q8 deserves it.

We have 60k, decent start, raise KK flop a house with a KQQ flop, get a bit of value with a small bet on the Ace river, 2 full houses, nice start to proceedings, make speculative calls in position with pretty hands, but even though flops give us equity, brick straight and flush draws, seems full houses are the only way to go.

I defend Q10 and guess what, I turn a house but don't get much action, show for the Bantz.

Up to 70k, then  the downward trend started blind on blind with GMac, I have a Q high straight and he has a King high straight, he almost folds as I put an over pot sized bet on the river, repping the flush, after much ohhing an arring, he calls, nice call sir, he is becoming a bit if a nemesis to me lately but it's fine.
 down to 40k after that and a few more losses.

Raise AQ utg, call a 10 big shove, racing v 10 10, flop had a 10 on it, back to my comfort zone of a 20 big blind stack at 800/1600.

I raise 99 utg, probably going with this hand gets to Mr can't fold, won't fold who defends with 67, flop favourable 569,  bet call, turn 8, it all goes in, I call in the 5 for my 4th full house of the evening and we are back to 40 bigs.

The next few levels are not very profitable, having to fold in marginal spots but the action dictated I would need to get lucky, I folded correctly and was never ahead in any of the hands and wouldn't of got there either.

30 left 18 get paid, cut off opens, I look at KK, jam, 18 bigs, shortie behind calls an insignificant stack, cut off calls with AQ, Ace in the window sees my demise, pick up outs for the straight on the turn but see the shortstack who is all in has one my outs.

So after 4 full houses, Kings twice a few nice bluffs I am back on the A1 bemoaning my luck, was a fun game nice to be involved in a few hands and participate in the game without being card dead all night, had a little rant on Twitter then to put things into perspective checked my sons twitter account who is coming to the end of his police constable rotation in Bradford, he has been involved in a foot chase, arresting someone who has threaten to Kill a member of the public, on his last call of the night discovered a cannabis farm in a street house in Bradford and arrested someone for controlling and coercive behaviour.

In summary an enjoyable game for a change instead of the carnage of the G Stockton of which lately have just become a donator, I am not doing anything wrong just variance, and well it's the nature of the beast.

Any of the Vegas visitors got anything lined up to play, (other than chopping the colossus with me)see or do whilst over there, its getting slightly closer and anticipation is growing, thanks for reading run good, be lucky stay healthy.

[Erimus]

Another sweat before the trip, remember the BA fiasco regarding flight refund because of date change re Susans stay, well Tuessday 30th get a call from care home indicating they are currently not accepting any new people into  the home as they currently have a sickness bug going around, they said it's purely preventative and should be ok within 48 hours, they will phone on Thursday to confirm if the booking can go ahead, marvellous, I got a list of numbers in case I had to replan Susans care.

Upshot, they couldn't take her in, tbh I was wary of letting her go in as she isn't too good at the minute, think a week after the event would be long enough but not a day.

Frantic calling around looking for a new place was in progress and luckily I got her in somewhere where she has been before, panic over. It was like hitting the case Ace to make royal flush v Quads, got lucky, long may it continue.

Well here we are for my 5th and more than likely last visit to Vegas got a bit of a journey there, Newcastle > Heathrow > Philadelphia > Vegas, arriving 8:30 local time, would imagine at hotel by 9:15 then straight to Welcome party hosted by G.

As indicated by the first paragraph, all was ok but it's still an extra worry which I could do without.

No poker planned on the Saturday, Champions league match then a band on the night, Colossus Sunday morning and if bust that will see what is about, structure not the best 5k chips 30 minute blinds so will need to get busy early doors, not planning a re Entry but as Grosvnor are paying for one bullet then it seems rude not to have a go.

Plan pretty much the same as above post depending upon mood and general demeanour.

Had a couple of live cashes last month at the G so a slight upturn in fortunes, coming into a bit of form, unfortunately not Winning them but a couple of min plus cashes makes another break even month.

Online very minimal but a 3rd in Skys  8pm bounty hunter for £509 on Sat was a welcome boost to moral and funds.

Anyway just been called to gate for the first leg of journey, Gl me and all the others from Apat in  Vegas, bring it on.

[Erimus]

Here we go then the 5th and final set 2 games all, new balls please.

The trip over was fine, not a massive fan of multi flights but was ok except for a 1 hour delay in Philly and a sweat with the luggage, apparently that got there an hour before us and was left a different place to pick up, we were not told about the new place panic set in as all cases on carousel were collected,found them eventually, missed welcome party but not a problem.

After checking in bumped intoTom and Lucy at the Linq, nice to see a couple of familiar faces, will no doubt see them at the Nugget on Wednesday.

No poker yesterday, just a wander about, buffet breakfast, collected buy in for colossus from main event Rep who kindly took us over to the Rio.

Spent a few hours railing the one drop playing spot the pro watching people exit as their $111,111 buy in exited their lives, did not think it was appropriate to ask for selfies at that moment.

I would imagine exiting  that game must hurt slightly, tbh not a fan of the selfie culture, although a few hours later after happy hour in Brooklyn Bowl and feeling slightly merry,  managed to photobomb quite a few pictures, sigh 55 year old, grow the feck up.

Band seen were called Modest Mouse and would highly recommend seeing if the chance arose.

Strange smell all night, I was later informed by my brother it was weed, me being a bit green and wet behind the ears didn't have clue, lived a sheltered life.

Just woke up and wide awake same time as yesterday, contemplating another gym session like yesterday morning no thanks try and get a couple of hours kip in.

Colossus starts at 10am, updates on twitter Erimus1, if that is unsuccessful may play a Rio deep stack depending on the time of my exit.

Thanks for reading, run good, be lucky, stay healthy.

[Erimus]

First poker event of the trip was the Colossus, this was my first WSOP event,and it was one of the things when I first started playing that I wanted to do, so a tick in that box, handy it was via a package won also another ticked box.

Off to a great start level 1 eventually get AA in v JJ on a 9 high flop so we have some wiggle room and a bit more playability.

The next paragraph is going to sound like a complete whingefest but I promise you it isn't, it's poker its what happens and the amount I have played it's water of a ducks back.

In fact the cards are irrelevant, so I won't put you through that info, after all no one really cares because we have all heard it all before,suffice to say I didn't win a single significant pot after the double. The hands I played all seemed to be second best and draws missing etc, that's  the nature of the beast.

I exited jamming KQ hearts (9bigs) into a min raise from utg who had AA, picked up straight draw outs but nada, nh,gg.

The table was ok, because of the relative shallow stacks and quick structure people played pretty snugly, 3 bets were with value hands etc and most showdowns were big hands v not quite as big hands.

It was an experience but in the end it's just another game in the long run.

I actually didnt mind the 5k starting stack, you know you have to chip up relatively early and build,or you are gone in a few hours to get in another game.

Well done to all Apat players who cashed and who made Day 2 no doubt their exploits will be documented elsewhere, Gl to them.

The 2pm deep stack was cancelled and I had a look around for other games but most would of been late regging with 25/30 bigs so I decide to hop on the beers instead, back to the roadhouse near hotel and took in a few craft beers in the heat, not being a sun worshipper, being a northerner with milky white skin, these were taken indoors in the lovely air conditioning, it's to hot to sit outside in comfort but love the short stroll between air coditioned spots.

I think I am playing the Wynn $100k today, $550 buy in, slightly deeper, starting stack 15k.

I would imagine biggish field, will see what happens, que sera sera, thanks for reading.

[Erimus]

Played the Wynn on Monday, unfortunately nothing too exciting to report,peaked at 21k then a downward spiral, again no spots, pretty card dead, one of those games.

Made a good fold, (note to self must start making good calls), with QQ, guy just min raises my initial raise and I called actually set mining, was never going bust in this hand as imo he only has 2 hands, doesn't even has AK here as in previous earlier spots he has raised 8x initial raise with AK showing both times indicating he doesn't know how to play said hand.

The flop was King high, he just jammed, I open folded Queens, he showed AA, nh, wp.

If he had raised 8x raise as before it all would of gone in pre.

This just delayed the inevitable, A5 into AJ blind on blind in the last hand before re entry ended.

Pondered another bullet, but thought better of it and went to Yardhouse on the strip for another taster session of craft beers.

The night was spent in Osheas playing beer pong with a few of the qualifiers from Grosvnor, inc Joe Beevers who is a top bloke.

Tuesday went off strip for a visit to Hoover Dam , was an interesting day out, seen if before from a previous helicopter trip but actually being there it was pretty impressive.

Made a dash after the trip out to Carls wedding, quite a few turned out and the ceremony was held outside, not like a traditional wedding it was all over and done in 10 mins, Congratulations to both Carl and Emma, pleasure to be a guest.

Made the way down to the sign for group photos then they were off back downtown and myself and a few others made our way to a roof top bar at Paris for more free drinks and food provided by Grosvnor, met a few more pros, W Kassouf, J Kimber and a few people who I know through twitter, streams etc, really enjoyable but tiring day, but I still manage to be wide awake at 4:15, no gym though legs are shot.

It's mad hot here, was 114 degrees at the Dam today, pretty uncomfortable, first world problems I suppose.

Playing the Apat game later today, my brother should be making an appearance, his first live game in a casino, hopefully a few Apat regs will be on his table to calm any of his nerves, should be fun whatever happens, it's a re entry so a slightly different dynamic to normal Apat games, see if I can actually play a few hands today, would make a change, thanks for reading.

[Erimus]

Last day today (Friday), potentially a big one, body clock still all over as I am wide awake and could of done with a few more hours, but red bull may have to make an appearance later.

Spent a lot of Wednesday downtown, breakfast in a Vegetarian restaurant, really tasty and tbh was as enjoyable as the few buffets we have had.

Regged at the Golden Nuggett for the Apat game along with my brother who was playing his first ever live casino poker game.

The queues were out the door for the first 2 levels and think it got 500 plus runners, luckily for you I can't remember a single hand apart from my exit hand which was an 8 big blind shove with 10 7 off suit, I thought it was AK tbh, Pables said he would give me a spin with 77, think he was a bit surprised to be 70% there, sevens held, at least they went to one of the good guys, don't know whether he spun them up or not.

So the Harland family last longer bet went to my brother who was going along quite nicely until he gets it in with AQ v K10 v 88 which if he had won would of set him up nicely, as per the worst hand, apparently the guy had been running godlike and hit everything.

Thanks to Leigh, JP and others at table for advice given, he and I both appreciated it.

Had a nice meal with Tom and Lucy in a quite period of the game, one of the dishes contained Asparagus which I had never tasted before (bloody northerners), but will be buying a few sprigs ?, it that the collective term, thanks again Tom and Lucy I owe you next time.

Headed back to the yardhouse for a few craft beers before sleep.

Thursday came, flipped a coin PH or Wynn, PH won although nearly cheated and went to the Wynn as the card room is absolutely fantastic, but PH started an hour earlier and I was ready to play.

Again hand histories are a blur but this one got me back in the game.

Gobby young American patched up pro min raises, (he speaks highly of me) 3 limps follow I have 9 10 dd in BB with 10 bigs, being the uber nit I am, I shove, I am called ny above guy by KJ, flop J6x 1 diamond, but the flush draw came in by the rear entrance, oh err missus, back in the game.

Made a set of Queens v guy from above, slow played them all the way knowing he would jam river which he did, boomio.

And finally finished him off when I defended 98 suited to a min reraise, he jammed his remaining 10 bigs with Q8, flop was 9 high, I made a straight and he left the table, with a thats f******g terrible man, personally I though it was quite good.

Me and the guy to my right both laughed as we were both wanting to stack him as he was such a t**t, excuse my French by the way.

To cut a long story short made Day 2 with 117k around 25 bigs so in with a fighters chance.

Didn't see AA, KK all day and AK wasn't being kind, but must of done something right, time for the premiums to make an appearance today.

Long day ahead so an early night, nooo, it's Vegas, a few drinks later ended up on the high roller thing with a few of the Grosvnor people including 9 high like a boss, who had us waiting for ages so he could get a $5 discount on ride.

There was a free bar and managed to get 3 JD and cokes down in the 30 minutes the ride lasted.

Back to hotel via In and Out burger, watched them play craps for a while then said goodbyes, most are leaving today but we have the extra night.

So Day 2 starts at 1pm local time, about 100 returning but not in cash yet will have to find that out when get there.

Hopefully run deeper in the above but if not heading downtown to meet Apat people for last night drinks, anyway that went on longer than expected if you are still here, run good,be lucky, stay healthy.

[Erimus]

Well that brings Vegas to end and it was a close run thing but in the end Vegas won in a tiebreak.

Will I be back ?, never say never but circumstances will dictate. I have been over 5x now and although going alone is ok both times when Apat and Grosvnor/Apat/Brother they have definitely been the most enjoyable trips.

The Planet Hollywood game unfortunately didn't go as planned, even though 20 bigs is ok it's vulnerable and you need a hand to double fairly quickly, basically raise folded AJ to a 20 BB shove, may be tight but don't like stacking off with AJ to an unknown, jammed JJ no takers and then couldn't make a move table was full of big stacks and limping wasn't on the agenda.

We were hand for hand for 3 hands and I can grind for days then the bubble burst, jam 88 v utg raise, guy rejams 300k out of turn, think I am going to need to hit a set, original raiser folds up against KK, hit straight outs on turn but alas non forthcoming.

Cashed for $555, so this effectively means only bought into 1 game, Colossus was freeroll, profit from today paid for Apat games so that left the Wynn so -$450 is ok with me, 1 cash in 4 will take.

Fremont street tonight for a meet up with Apat then fly home via New York tomorrow, back in Blighty Sunday pm.

Hope these have brought a bit of the flavour of Vegas over, as I have said on numerous occasions just a keen rec who wins and loses but enjoys the game, thanks for reading, run good, be lucky, stay healthy.