From Vegas to Vagus and Back Again ?

I returned last Monday after 9 days in the capital of poker. That’s easily the longest trip I have made there, but it still seemed to end all too quickly.

After the disappointment of a relatively early exit from the Main Event, I was in a bit of a daze for 24 hours or so but eventually found myself able to return to the baize – I played the $180 8pm at The Venetian for a third and final time. This time I played much better and went on to virtually bubble – out 21st with 18 paying.

However, I did not feel upset as I was very happy with my game and at that stage almost everyone was short-stacked relative to the blinds. Mind you, it still ran on for another 3 hours, at least. The first payout rungs were hardly more than your money back but 1st place paid an impressive $6,500 or so. No doubt that kept the game interesting.

Afterwards, I decided to continue with my plan to play through the night – this seems to work well as an antidote to the long flight ahead.

I considered venturing into $5/10 – it was still the holiday weekend so I got the impression there were plenty of weak players around – but instead settled on another spin at the $2/5.
This time, I stuck to the water & diet coke – and later to chocolate milk (someone else ordered it and I liked the sound of it !)

As expected, it was a pretty soft game and although I was probably tired by the end of a 10hour session, I was well ahead and had never felt in much trouble. Towards the end I was of course playing pretty deep so I stayed out of trouble – laying down Kings on the flop for example when my raise to $200 was re-raised to $500 (he had flopped 9s and 7s).

Also letting go my three 9s with an Ace kicker when the board also paired the Ten on the turn and there was strong 3-way action (T-6 had made Tens full by then).

So, a good ending to a good week.

I am unclear even in my own mind whether I achieved my objective of cashing in a tournament. Clearly the answer to this depends on whether the super-sat win counts as a cash. I think it does, on the whole.

I believe I would have had a winning cash week had it not been for the free drinks. As it was, with the strong finish, I was about level (poker-player-speak for somewhat down). In tournaments, I obviously laid out a lot for returns that can only be measured in experience and further education as a player.

As usual, LV felt somewhat like home with so many familiar faces, and many unfamiliar but friendly ones. I handed out probably 2 dozen of my new “H-bomb” cards – who knows where the legend of the H-bomber may spread as a result.

The flight back was not a conspicuous success – well, I successfully returned home without incident of the insurable kind, but I wasn’t best pleased when Virgin said I had the wrong kind of ticket to upgrade (if they had said there were no upgrades, that would have been OK, but the implication was that there WERE upgrades but that my Gold Card and zillion miles were no match for the words of wisdom written on a scruffy piece of A-4).

The flight itself was somewhat delayed, and accompanied throughout by 100-decibel screaming from the young passenger in the seat behind. Still, I think the all-nighter did help to some degree and I grabbed a few hours sleep and dreamt of Aces & outdraws & all the other good stuff.

I awoke to hiccups (mine, not the 3-year-old’s) which stayed with me for 72hours, before eventually disappearing as quickly as they came. Karen printed some stuff of the internet about this and I learned that irritation of the Vagus Nerve is sometimes the cause.

Vegas also has its irritations, but I’ll be glad to return there just as soon as I can to be exasperated and entertained all over again.