Reno Trip Report

I haven't posted in a few months for a few reasons, most notably the monster swing in my cash game. I've logged 13 losing sessions out of the last 14 and have had to shift my game to limit poker to try and stop the bleeding. I'm in one of those downswings where everything I touch turns to shit, and it's getting infuriating. It's one thing to just not get cards, it happens to me a lot. It's another entirely to be flopping straights, flushes, and boats and getting squashed. In order to get away for a little, I agreed to help move my friend Greg (the proprietor of The Biggest Little Poker Blog in the World) to Reno. The plan was to drive him across country and then fly back to Cleveland. We left Sunday morning and drove to Hammond, IN, home of the Horseshoe Hammond. The room in Hammond is OK, it's roughly the size of the poker room at the Hollywood (old Argosy) but it's not as well run. The brush put me on the list for $3/6 and I was 6th to get a seat. They decide to open a new table and call the first 10 except me. I walk up and ask why I wasn't called and they tell me I'm not on the list, despite my name being on the board. I finally get the seat anyway and piddle away a few hours. I run mostly even, treading water. The only really big hand came when I got dealt J-10 in mid position. I two bet it, guy behind me three bets and I cap, three of us take a flop. Flop is A-K-Q two clubs. I lead out, guy raises, and all three of us cap the flop. Turn is a 10, which irritates me but since it isn't a club I keep firing, all three of us cap the turn. River is a blank and I fire again and get two callers. The guy across from me has AK for two pair and the other guy had J-9 and made his gutter on me for a split. I whiled away some more time before we had to leave and I ended up stuck $60 or so (plus $40 for a much needed massage).

On day 2 we drove from Hammond, IN to Council Bluffs, Iowa, where there is conveniently another Horseshoe. After checking in I headed to the very anemic poker room. There were only two tables running, a $1/2 and a $3/6. I got on the $3/6 and got a seat within a half hour or so. I immediately started running very, very bad. I was getting big hands (AK, AQ, pairs, etc) and either missing flops completely or losing to idiotic hands. For example: I two bet preflop with K-10 from the button. Flop K-10-8 one club. Guy across from me leads out, I two bet it, four people call. Turn 6c. Check to me, I bet, all call. River 2c. Checks to me, I bet, all of them call and the little old lady with J3 clubs wins with a flush. She called two bets cold with no pair no draw on the flop and got there, AND she didn't raise when she made the flush. That lady played every hand all the way, never folding. It was unreal. She kept reaching in her purse for another $100. I flopped a straight with K9 (board Q-J-10) and lost to a guy who slow played AK. It got comical, and I began to just bleed chips. Every hand I made lost to some bizarre suckout. I got down short and decided not to rebuy. I had about $26 left when I got dealt AQ. I two bet it and got instantly three bet by a guy who limped UTG. I four bet him and he called. Flop was K-10-4 offsuit. I bet, he raises, and we cap. Turn Ah. I put my last in and he calls and shows 2-6 hearts. River? Heart of course. He backraised me with 2-6h, capped with me on the flop with no pair and only runner runner hearts, and got there. Disgusted, I left. Greg sat down there after me and mentioned that they were talking about the guy from Cleveland who kept getting mushed.

Tuesday was a rough day for us. We left Iowa early and had to drive 15 hours to Salt Lake City, UT. The drive was particularly grueling because I was in a U-Haul the whole way. There's literally nothing to see in Iowa or Nebraska until you get really close to Wyoming. Wyoming is a beautiful state, and the views are awesome. I would definitely like to return and drive through it when I have time to stop and look at everything. We did stop at a place called Point of Rocks, WY. It was along the original pioneer stage coach trail to California. It's a one square mile town whose main purpose is the power plant located in it. It's also home to the Almond Stage stop, a stagecoach stop from the 1860's. After we left P-O-R, we headed deeper into the mountains. We arrived at Salt Lake City after sundown, and due to Greg's schedule we couldn't hang around to see anything. We stayed overnight and then packed up for the 9 hour run from SLC to Reno. On the way out of Utah we saw the salt lake and the salt flats they race on. Along the roadside in the salt flats people leave messages in stone formations, or plant beer bottles upside down in the salt in patterns. Mostly love messages or people's names. As we entered the mountains again we got caught in a rainstorm, and I was amazed at how awesome mountain rain is. Everyone should get to do that, it's just beautiful. The drive to Reno went by pretty quick, and we arrived about 2pm on Wednesday.

Once Greg was unloaded we headed over to the Peppermill. Greg had a suite booked and it was loaded. We had a giant bathroom with a jacuzzi, a shower with two shower heads, and soap made with blood orange that made me smell like a fruit salad after I showered. I headed down to the $4/8 and bought in for $200. I played for an hour, not winning a single hand. I flopped huge hands (straight flush draws, etc) and bricked. One example: I raise preflop with AKc. Flop comes 8-9-4 two clubs. Aggressive 'tard at the end of the table (whom Greg said resembled Andy Hillstrand from Deadliest Catch) leads into me. We cap on the flop, and I slow down when I brick the turn. River is also a brick and he shows pocket 6's FTW. After that horrendous beating I decide to take a break and play some video poker. I didn't want to go get more money so I just drop $10 in the machine and play .05¢ a hand. Around hand #10 I get A-Q-J-10 of hearts. I draw the Kh for the natural royal, the fucking atomic bomb of video poker hands. Had I played the $2.50 max instead of the .05, I would've cashed out with $4,000. I got up and moved to another machine near the poker room, where I proceeded to make two more royal flushes (both with wild cards) and cash out. I sat down at $2/4 and ran it up to $310 over the course of the night, finally things were turning around and I was up for a change. The next day I played a little more $4/8 before I had to go to the Reno airport. Of course, winning streak over and I got squashed again. I turned trip 10's with an A and lost to a guy with J-8 who made his gutshot on the river. I was in the BB with 5-7, flop comes 5-5-7. I check and of course no one bets. Turn K. I check, no one bets again. River? K. Guy with K-3 bets into me and I have to pay it off. Etc, etc.

The plane ride back was uneventful save for a wild eyed asshole who tried to storm the jetway onto our plane at O'Hare. He came running up and just tried to barge down the ramp without even showing a boarding pass. After three guys stopped him they discovered he was a first class passenger who thought he was missing the flight. I finally got in at midnight on Thursday and have been sleeping it off since. It's going to be a little while before I play any more cash poker, I need to get past this horrible luck I've been having. I hope to get back to Reno again some time next year, I'd like to spend more time exploring the $20/40 limit game there.