Finally an update

Seeing as it's nearly 10am (6pm British time) and Steve is still in bed, I'd say he's recovered from the jet lag better than me. And it means that I have chance to post an update here!

So far played tournaments at Aladdin, Stratosphere and Sahara. No money finishes yet, but fairly happy with the way it's going. These tournaments all move just a little bit too fast compared to what I'm used to, so need to adjust or find one that doesn't move up as quickly.

Here's a rundown so far.

25 July 1pm, Aladdin
$50+$10 buy in for 2000 chips
1 rebuy for $40, 2000 more chips (can be taken any time)
Blinds 20 mins: 25/50, 50/100, 100/200, 200/400, 300/600...
47 players, 6 paid, $1100 for first, $232 for 6th.

My first pot of the trip was won with a mighty ace high. Blinds 25/50, I limp with Ah9h in late position. 2 callers. Flop QJJ no hearts. Both check to me so I bet the pot (150). One caller and it's checked to the end. He'd called with an open ended draw (KTo) and I took it down.

First all in was with 77 and was a re-raise after the player to my right went all in for 750. I stuck about 2200 in the pot to force out any other callers. It worked (although having seen plenty of 4-way all-in action since, I may think twice about doing the same in future!) and it was a classic poker showndown as he held AQ with the ace showing up on the turn.

I took the rebuy at the break taking me up to 3100. Only had 15 BBs but had landed on the button for the start of round 4. Had very little opportunity from then until I saw AK with blinds at 300/600 and pushed my remaining 2700. One caller with KK and the ace didn't appear.

Claire had a much better run in this one, and hopefully she'll post here about it!

The room isn't bad - it's separate to the casino floor in a kind of pod right in the centre. The crowd was fairly young, mostly WPT fans.

27 July 9am, Stratosphere
$20+$2 buy in for 500 chips, $3 dealer bonus for $200 more
1 rebuy for $20 gets 500 extra (at any time).
Blinds 15 mins: 10/25, 25/50, 50/100, 75/150, 100/200...
4 tables - 4 paid
It's early days for the Strat's poker room but this tourney lacks common sense. The first round of blinds is 10/25, which is just pointless. Red (5) chips are used for 15 minutes only and only removed after round 4, and the 15 minute level only gets half way around the table so half the players never even have to use them! Every time there's an all-in, it's for 210 or 195 and the dealer has to borrow red chips from all over the place to make up the right pots. We had one four-way all-in that took over five minutes to dish out (because the first hand of level 3 started with only ten minutes on the timer!). With blinds at 50/100, one player put in a 100 BB using 18 chips - 15 red and 3 green! That's just silly...

Our first dealer, Lulu, had never dealt a tournament before and was getting heat from some of the players that thought they knew better than she did. A card flipped during the deal, she made it the burn and did everything correct. But someone didn't like the flop so started causing a fuss and saying she had to burn three or something.

Also, for some reason they decided to change dealers with 2:30 on the clock before the first break. Makes no sense.

I'd managed to get a bit of a lead early on, up to about 1400. The biggest pot came when I limped with Kh7h in late position (6 players) and the flop came KKJ. There was an all-in raiser ahead of me with a jack, who must have figured that his odds were good enough with only 10 other down cards and 2 kings left in an unraised pot. Not complaining...

On the last hand before the break I saw AQs on the BB. Can't remember the betting on this one, but ended up in a 3-way all-in vs Jc9c and 9sTs. Pretty good, you'd think. Flop comes 9d7s6s, so A or Q in spades no longer works for me. The turn is a delightful Qc and then I'm mortified to see the last 9 in the deck appear on the river.

With 600 chips left, blinds at 100/200 after the break and me on SB straight away I decided a rebuy was pointless for just 500 more. Stole on first hand back with 87o, then thought about it on next hand on button with K2o but decided to wait - of course the SB folded!

Got to see a free flop with 73o on BB and caught 753 with 2 diamonds. SB bet 200 on flop and I pushed for 700. He folded and said he had a 5, so I doubt I'd have got any more and it was a scary board to flat call on. Not completely sure the push was correct with a BB special like that though...

I was sent packing with A9 and tried to steal. Two callers with KJ (for 300) and AQ and the board came JJQ so I had a tiny chance to take the side pot with running 9s and of course didn't do it.

I liked that their blinds start at 25BB and include the 75/150 level but 700 chips isn't enough. Claire suggested we could play this one like a freezeout and take the rebuy at the very start, giving 1200 starting chips and I might give this a try. In fact, I don't think you need the rebuy straight away, but if someone else at the table has a decent win before you do, then you should top up so you can tackle his whole stack. This could be a good strategy for all the single rebuy tournies.

With us both eliminated by 10:30 we walked up the street to the Sahara just in time for the 11am tourney. Will post about that one later!