&quot;What? I Always Dress This Way!&quot;

This session took place during EDC, 2015. For a recap of EDC 2014, see here. There wasn’t that much new for EDC this year, just more of what I reported on last year. Not that that’s a bad thing, but it means I can’t really do an entire post about it. Trust me, I saw a lot of attractive young ladies (emphasis on young) revealing various parts of their bodies in, well, let’s just say, some interesting ways.

I passed one such lady on the way out of the Men’s room and I wish I could better remember her outfit. It was bizarre, but because of the line she had, I almost completely forgot what it was. I mean, it was some kind of bikini-type outfit, maybe had some fur. I think this gal also had some body paint and something odd in her hair that stood out. So, it probably wasn’t just from the amount of skin she was showing (which was plentiful) that I must have given her a “WTF?” look. Also, this gal seemed a little older than the average EDC girl you see.

Anyway, she obviously noticed the bemused look on my face and she said directly to me, as she passed by, “What? I always dress this way.”

Anyway, this was the day after my Day 2 at the Golden Nugget tournament (see here) and I decided to not play another tournament so soon after the grueling (but successful) experience of the two-days at Golden Nugget. So it was late afternoon when I got into a cash game at MGM. There were a couple of guys at the table who were in town for EDC and just killing time waiting to head back for the Saturday session. They complained about the parking over there—they said when they (tried) to leave the venue at 5AM that morning, it took them nearly three hours to exit the parking lot! Yikes. I don’t think I could have survived that with my sanity intact.

There was an older couple at that table, and they asked the two guys what the attraction of EDC was. One of them explained, “There are lots of beautiful women there. Some of the most beautiful women in the world…..there’s like 50,000 beautiful women there.”

The guy added, “I mean, how can you resist a place with 50,000 beautiful women? Now do you want to go?”

The older gentleman was not exactly the target demographic for EDC. And he replied to the guy, “No…..I already have my own beautiful woman,” pointing to his wife. Ahh, very sweet. Bet that guy got some that night.

The EDC attendee continued. “There’s 50,000 beautiful women there….and only 40,000 STD’s. So that’s pretty good odds, right? You got what…a 20% chance of not getting an STD!!”

We all got a good laugh out of that, and then he said, “You know, they say, ‘What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,’ but that’s not true with an STD.”

The two EDC guys left, presumably looking to hit on a 4 to 1 shot. There was this older Asian man who played a hand extremely odd that almost led me to make a bad play later in the session. On the earlier hand, there was no raise and four people saw a flop of Ace-Ace-Jack. It checked around. The turn was a deuce and it checked around again. The river was another Jack and again, no one bet it. One player showed King-high, thinking that based on the action—or lack thereof—that was probably the best hand. But the older Asian man turned over Ace-rag for a full house. Huh? How does he go three streets without betting? And also, since there was only $8 in the pot, he didn’t qualify for a drawing ticket. If he had bet $2 and gotten a call, he would have gotten a ticket. Or he could have bet more, hoping to make a little money with his boat. The player next to me and I couldn’t believe he never bet.

So a while later I raised to $8 with Ace-3 of spades and had three callers, including the older Asian man. The flop was great, Ace-high with the other two cards being spades. I bet $20 and only the Asian gentleman called. The turn was a red King and we both checked. The river was another low non-spade. This time the guy led out for $45. I almost folded. This guy hadn’t bet a boat on the river earlier, so he seemed like an unlikely candidate to be bluffing here. I figured he had an Ace and his kicker almost had to be better than mine. But I thought it over and decided it was worth a call—it just wasn’t a big enough bet to get me to fold top pair. I made the hero call. He said, “You’re good, I have nothing.” Actually he showed his hand and he did have a pair of 4’s.

Sometime after that, I called $7 with pocket deuces and it was five of us seeing the flop. I caught my set, but the flop contained two clubs. The preflop raiser checked and I was second to last to act, so I bet $20. Only one player called—he was not the preflop raiser and he had checked in front of me. The turn was a second 5, and I checked behind him with my boat (I was still in the mode of slow-playing monsters, something I need to correct). There was a third club on the river and this time he bet out—$40. I made it $100. He called without much thought, but folded when I showed my full house. Since he knew about the drawings, he must not have had a flush or he would have shown it for the ticket.

I raised to $8 with pocket Kings and had three callers. The flop was low and no one called my $25 c-bet. Note: I only included that hand here to remind everyone—especially myself—that I can win with the dreaded hand.

On the button I had Ace-King off. The guy I just mentioned—who paid me off for my deuces full hand—opened to $15 and I called. It was heads up. The flop was Ace high and he led out for $25. I called. He led out for $50 on a blank turn and I called. He checked the blank river and I checked behind him. He showed pocket 8’s, unimproved.

I’d like some feedback on that hand. There was a guy at the table who I’d played with a lot who was visiting from Europe and I heard him say once that he was trying to get good enough to become a pro. He was talking to some buddies who were just watching. He said, “Some guys just don’t want to lose.” In other words, I played that hand too meekly.

I can see his point, but on the river, I can’t help thinking that if I bet, I’m only going to get called by a hand that beats me. Wrong-headed? I would have bet if he had checked the turn, but he showed strength firing a second bullet. And yeah, I could have raised his flop bet. But I’m thinking I don’t want to make the pot too big with just a top pair hand where I have lots of showdown value. I know this is something I need to work on.

Anyway, after a long, long day of poker, I finished up over $200 and I settled for that.