Tommy's Last Day in Vegas

Since I had decided to take today off from poker, and it was Tom's last day in town, I figured I would just follow him around.

We got a late start and then headed to the Rio.  He was going to play one last sng.  So, I jumped in one.  $125 buyin (with a 4 way $60 last longer).  I did not play forever.  Like the first 40 hands.  Then, with 725 left it folds to the old guy who mentioned the little player fans they used to have at Binion's to avoid smoke.  Ok, he's been playing for awhile and knows what he's doing (and it probably too tight).  He raises.  The foreign guy next to me who took the majority of my chips in my sng yesterday jams.  He's tight.  I look down to see AQo.  Wow.  But, after a very short tank I muck.  Foreign guy has a very limited range there and seems very strong.  Sure enough, old doctor calls with 77 and loses to KK (and yes, an Ace came and I would have tripled up).  By the time it's three handed, I finally steal from the sb a couple times and get one walk.  The foreign guy and I have between 1k and 2k and the other guy (who knows sng strategy and organized the last longer) has the rest, around 6-7k.  I'm being very patient.  I get it in with A4 v. A8 once and manage a chop.  I chip up a little and so does foreign guy.  He shoves from the small blind and I call with 88.  It holds up against his KQo, and he's left with 100.  He's all in on the button in the next hand, I call the bb and we check it down.  I win both pots with J5o that paired the J.  I now have 5100 and last longer guy has 4900.  We immediately agree to chop everything 50/50.  So, I make 680 (+495).  Nice.  Takes the sting off yesterday.  A couple of sidenotes.  One, that 88 v. KQ ends up to basically be a coinflip for $680.  Glad I won.  And, two, patience pays off in these things.  I know it's correct to play very loose late, especially with a tight image from early, but there's still room for risk aversion.

We leave the Rio and head to Venetian.   We check our comps and go to the Grand Lux.  Great meal and then onto the sportsbook to sweat our Rangers RL bet.  They have to win by 2.  Down 2-0 for much of the game, they leave two on in the bottom of the 7th.  Then, they load the bases again in the bottom of the 8th.  Cruz comes to the plate.  We've seen him do it before.  Can he jack a slam?  No, but he works a walk, and now it's 2-1 with the bases still loaded.  Gentry hits one deep that the LF seems to misplay.  It turns into a base-clearing triple, and we're good.  4-2.  Tom's yelling and we're high fiving.  Good times.  Sheppers (who?) comes in to work the 9th.  He looks shaky but gets two outs.  Then, of course, he gives up a meaningless home run that was out by about a foot and the Rangers win 4-3.  F bombs ensue.  Tom really does run bad.  I blame him.  The good news is that the Reds game went under, so I still made money for the day.

We stop back by the house to chill then head out to the club.  Good times.   Hit up Roberto's on the way home and now it is time for some zzzzzzzz.

I'm planning to go to the PPA Town Hall tomorrow, but I'm not fully committed to it.  Would also like to see "Ted" and have talked about going to see Marcy Playground at Mandalay.

Later.