Safdar Tournament Poker Bootcamp: Results

[I love this photo of Vegas I took on the strip outside Planet Hollywood.  Rampant overbuilding, sex blatantly for sale, and Salvation Army, all in the same shot.  It's the epitome of the city to me.  -Shabbir]

Though I played a lot of poker, and met a new poker colleague who lives in the Bay area, the Vegas trip
was a financial disaster.  I didn't cash in any of the tournaments I played and over all I lost money playing $2/$4 and $4/$8.  I managed to leave Vegas with $45 in my live bankroll, which I've subsequently put into FullTiltPoker.

I did enjoy myself though, and got a funny story out of it:

I'm sitting at the Imperial Palace Casino (which you should never eat at) and I found myself at a $2/$4 Limit Texas Hold'em table with 6 opponents.  I've got $55 or so in front of me.  One of my opponents says hello to his wife and asks the dealer if she can play his chips while he goes to the bathroom.  The dealer says ok and off he goes.

His wife gets dealt a pair of jacks (JJ) in early position and raises.  I look down at 76 suited and decide to see if I can catch.  The flop comes 752 with no flush draw.  She bets, I raise in case she has Ace-King and might let it go.  She calls, and I think I'm about to spew chips.

The turn comes a Six and I've got two pair.  I'm pretty sure I'm good here, so when she bets, I raise.  She makes it three bets and I raise again and she calls.  The river comes a Ten, and she must think she's good, and I'm pretty sure I'm ahead against most of her range that fits her actions.  I just don't think she'd play a small pair like that, or connectors.  We both bet/raise/reraise each other until her husband's entire $35 is in the pot.

We turn over the hands and the dealer announces play wil be frozen until the husband returns.  He comes back, the dealer explains what happened, and then ships me the pot.  The table erupts in howling laughter.  I can't decide whether I should laugh or cry and do both, pounding my fists on the table with my head on the rail.

The husband and wife walk away arguing while the dealer says, "I would have played those Jacks in exactly the same way."  He didn't tell me when he'll be playing, since that would be an awesome weakness to exploit.