So Very, Very Tired

Oh man Oh man Oh man…I think my body is about to give up. I don’t think I’ve ever been this exhausted. I feel like I could just crawl into a grave and sleep forever. But I have a lot of caffeine flowing throw me, so I am both awake and tired. I feel like I want to sleep but I can’t.

What brought this on? A little town called Vegas.

I’m flying home Monday night with a stop in Vegas. When I get there they announce that they overbooked the flight and were offering a refund plus $200 in flight vouchers, a free flight the next day and a free hotel room in Vegas. I figure that I have class at 2:30 the next day so if I take a morning flight I can catch my class. Of course, I still have a paper to finish for the class that’s due on Tuesday.

So I get to the Doubletree Inn, check in, and then catch the next shuttle to the MGM. I decided to have a plan of working my way through the limits. I start at 3/6 with $100 and when my name is called for 4/8, I’m at $180. And then the slaughter begins.

I should first point out that I was playing mostly great. There were times where I made a few questionable decisions and a few where I made some stupid ones, but overall I was outplaying everyone. Of course, with this run, outplaying means making big folds. Here is a prime example:

A guy in 2nd position limps, a TAG in the CO looks like he wants to raise, but when he sees the guy limp he decides to call, the SB calls and I see AA in the BB. I already put the TAG on a decently narrow range by his actions; he had a hand worth rising in late position, but not worth raising a limper. I was thinking QJ/JT, 88 and lower. I decide to not raise so that the other two players are easy to play with and maybe I can trap the TAG. The flop comes KQ3, 2 diamonds and I figure that this is a good flop to get the TAG to come along. I bet out, UTG+1 calls and the TAG raises. SB folds and I put UTG+1 on the diamond/straight draw (or maybe just a Q or something stupid) and the TAG on KJ. I opt to try for the check-raise on a safe turn and try to drive out the UTG+1. The turn is a blank and it’s checked around. Motherfucker, the TAG pulled a free card play. The river is a non-diamond A and I bet out. The UTG+1 calls and the TAG raises. I look at him for a second and fold face up. UTG+1 calls and the TAG shows JT. Those were the kind of hands and laydowns I was making. I didn’t make one incorrect laydown.

So I’m getting beat-up from suckouts and around 4 AM it gets to be 4 handed. The other players are horrible, but I just can’t get a break. When we got to 3 handed, I would get hands like A8 on the SB, button limps, I raise and everyone calls. Flop is J85 all spades (with no spade in my hand) and I bet on the flop, a J turn, and check fold a non-spade Q on the river. The button was calling all the way with KQ, no spade. That was the kind of play I was up against that the cards weren’t cooperating with me.

I eventually bust out when my Q8 can’t outrun another Q8 that flops a flush.

I will admit that I made some bad plays that cost me a few bets (I was on a few cups of coffee and a few Jack and Cokes), but I immediately recognized what I did and was able to mostly avoid my mistakes. There was one hand in a 3-way put when I flop a straight with Q9 on a KJT board where I should have just folded on the flop. I came very close to folding in several points in the hand and finally did when it came running 9s and saw AQ lose to pocket 10s. People even remarked that I looked like I wanted to fold before I actually did. The big mistake was calling a raise on the river when the board paired, but the pot was too big that I just thought that folding was a big mistake. I think that there were 20+ Big Bets in the pot at that point.

I could go on and on about hands that I ended up playing well or the adjustments that I made that no other player at the table would even consider (like stealing from a passive player who played tight post-flop, but like to limp when the BB played very TAG and would fold most hands to a raise).

So I’m tired and cranky and somehow I made it home today and finished my paper on the plane and found a place to print it out and went to class. And just to finish my bitchfest, my friend said he’d pick me up at the Airport but backed out this morning and I had to take public transportation. And I HATE public transportation when I’m tired.