There's A Grrouchie In The Housie!

With apologies to Dr. Suess for the headline.

Our trip to Vegas has been fun the last couple of days. We've made several shopping trips as we discover more items that we need. Items that were packed in the suitcase that American lost on Saturday. But, they continue to assure me that they are doing everything possible to locate our bag. Right. I feel better already.

Ms. Duck and I headed over to the Pinball Hall of Fame on Monday morning. I worked at an arcade to help pay for college years ago, so seeing some of the vintage machines again was like visiting an old friend. I couldn't get Ms. Duck to play any of them, but I blew thru $5 worth of quarters in a hurry!

From there we headed over to the Orleans to get a bite to eat and play a little video poker together. I was playing on a Bonus Poker penny progressive machine ($1 a hand) when I hit four aces with a queen kicker on the original deal. It was worth $170, but what was really exciting was that I could toss the Q and draw. If I drew a 2, 3, or 4, the payout jumped to over 800 big ones. The draw? A king.

Ms. Duck joined me and just a couple minutes in was dealt a full house, dueces full of tens. She was ready to take the $7 payout, but I stopped her and told her she should toss the tens and try for quad twos. The payout was $80, but if she hit quads with an A, 3, or 4 kicker, it jumped to over $400. She tossed the tens, and the first card out of the shoot was an ace. That's the kicker she needed. The second card? The fourth lucky duck! (See what I did there?) I knew the ducks wouldn't let me down! Because of her kicker, she won almost $420. Not bad for a penny machine.

A few minutes later, she got four aces with a 9 kicker for $160. Just like me, if she could have hit a 2, 3, or 4 on the draw, the win jumps to over $800. Unfortunately, she drew a Q. To help make up for it, she hit quad sixes a few minutes later for another 50 bucks.

From the Orleans, we headed over to Walgreens at the Venetian to pick up my meds (also lost by AA) and then headed over to Treasure Island to play some cards. I entered a $50 tourney with 18 runners and finished in sixth or seventh when I pushed K-Q from middle position for 5 1/2 BB. I ran into A-K and hit my Q on the river, but my opponent had already paired his ace, so I was drawing dead.

I had been in contact with grrouchie, who had agreed to come meet me and toss a few cards. He was already there when I busted from the tourney. but we had never met, so I didn't know what he looked like and sat down at the table next to his. He came over and introduced himself a few minutes later and I was able to get a table change, with the seat next to grrouchie open, so we had the opportunity to visit for a couple of hours while we were pitching cards.

I have to agree with Rob's take on grrouchie. He's anything but a grouch. A soft spoken, low key guy, we got along famously. The only fault I could find with him was the fact that he's a Steelers fan. Oh well, nobody's perfect!

I kept getting marginal hands for most of the session, K-4, J-5, A-3, etc, and spent most of the time mucking hands. I used my tight image to buy a small pot with 6-7 soooted. I open raised 3 1/2 x the BB and got two callers, both of which I had position on. Both opponents checked a king high flop and folded to my c-bet.

The big hand of the night involved myself, grrouchie, and one other player. I limped with 7h-8h and grrouchie popped it 6 x the BB to $18. When there was a call in front of me, I decided to take a look at the flop, hoping it would hit me hard. I checked the Ah-9h-8x flop and grrouchie c-bet $25, getting another call from the player to his left. This wasn't a surprise, as this particular player was pretty much your classic calling station. With my middle pair plus a flush draw, I thought my best play was to go ahead and shove my $125 stack. I figured I had 12 outs (9 hearts and three eights), so even if I got called, I still had a decent chance. Plus grrouchie might have K-K and just be throwing out a feeler bet. When he called, I knew he had paired his ace, but what I didn't know was that he had pocket rockets, and I only had half as many outs as I thought. The turn and river didn't hit for me and grrouchie collected a nice $300 pot. I always hate to lose big pots, but I'm glad it was to a fellow blogger.

BTW, my birthday is in October grouch :)

Yesterday, we drove out to the M Resort and played for a while and then spent the rest of the day at Planet Ho. I made back most of the $250 I dropped at TI the night before, walking away with a $170 profit in the $1-2 NLHE cash game.

I was the BB on my very first hand. The UTG player raised 5 x the BB to $10 and was 3 bet to $30 by the player to his left. It was folded around to me and I peeked down at A-K. Since I had no reads on the players, I mucked big slick and was rewarded when the UTG player shoved. UTG +1 showed pocket queens and folded, with UTG tabling K-K. Wow, what a start!

I picked up a nice pot when my pocket fours turned into a set on the flop. My opponent didn't show, but I have to assume he had two pair.

A little later, I checked my BB with 8-9 off. A 4-8-9 was just what the doctor ordered! There was a flush draw, so I placed a pot sized bet, hoping to discourage any fishing. Three of us saw another 8 on the turn. WHEEEE! I bet out again and both opponents stayed with me. The flush got there on the river and I value betted, but didn't get any customers, so I guess the other players were on straight draws, for which they paid a high price.

Heading out to the Gambler's General Store today to pick up three blackjack felts for our casino party company. Some of the felts we have are getting a little worn, so it's time for an upgrade. After that we'll probably either head downtown or out to one of the "locals" casinos off the strip. Hopefully, I'll have some big wins to report!

Till next time, win the flips.