Vegas Trip Report

I didnt take many notes so this will be
a quick, not so detailed TR.

Arrived in Vegas June 24th.

Stayed at the Imperial Palace.
Comped rooms from my play at
Caesars Windsor. Room was quite
satisfactory for me. Quiet and clean.
No smells and the A/C was cold.
IP maids appreciate good tippers.
Left a huge stash of towels, soaps etc.

Played quite a bit of poker.
Overall, the play was more aggressive
than the typical low stakes tourist filled
games I'm used to. This was probably
due to the influx of players from the wsop.
I think the large number of $1500 wsop events
available this year combined with the large
buy in deepstack events at Caesars and
the Venetian had a lot to do with it.
Talked to a lot of guys at the table who were
in vegas specifically to play two or three
of the $1.5K events.

Some of the games were so aggressive,
it was almost like playing 6max online
rather than a 9 or 10 handed live cash game.

Guys opening pots with Any ace, king or
pair from Any position. 7x the bb, 8x,
even 10x raises. 3bets preflop, 3bets on the flop.

In these capped buyin games, an 8bb preflop
raise denies proper odds to set-mine, and
suited connectors lose a lot of value because
these guys are decent enough to not pay
you off every time you hit. If your cards are dry,
it really limits me with the style i like to play.
To play more effectively, you really need to
loosen up and be a bit of a lagtard against
these LAG and TAG players.

I did run into some softer, less aggressive
games here and there. The games at Binions
and Ballys were pretty soft. Binions pays
$2/hr comps in their poker room. Somehow,
I have $53 in comps there.

Playing at the Imperial Palace and Flamingo,
I discovered that they offer the option of
what they call a "Mississippi Straddle"
(this is not truely a MS by definition).
IP/Flamingo version is a 2xbb straddle
from the button. The action doesnt start
under the gun, it starts with the small blind.
In my opinion, this is absolutely horrible.
Action starts with the two people who
have involuntarily put money in the pot
out of position. Usually the two blinds fold.
A much better protocol would be (like the
Hard Rock does) to start action under the
gun so that the blinds may be enticed into
the pot by other players who limp in,
then give the button straddler last action.

Watched some Beer Pong at O'Sheas.
(http://youtube.com/watch?v=JOYduGqZSRc)
Oh to be 22 again. I probably could have
been good at that game back in the day
when I could stomach shitty draught beer.

Ran into old friends Kim Gies and
Rob Pincombe playing poker at the Flamingo.

At the Venetian, ran into Sonny "The Money"
Rattan, Tom Whattam and Dan Moser from
the Elite Poker Tour (http://elitepoker.ca/).
They were playing a $330 Deep Stack event.

Played a private NLHE tournament
at the Golden Nugget hosted by
http://suitedpockets.net/ . Was seated at
the same table with poker authors
Lou Krieger (http://loukrieger.com/),
Haley Hintze, editor at (http://pokernews.com/)
Lawrence "The Prez" Prezman , Teddy Sevranski, Gianni "VegasRunner" The Scammer (sports betting gurus)
and Ashley Adams (author of Winning 7-card Stud)
who was graceful when i knocked him out of
the tournament. Also there was Frank Wiese (http://eatprofessionalpokerplayersalive.com/)
who wrote a new book on "medium ball" poker.
I went deep, a few spots away from cashing.
Lots of cool free swag from poker site sponsors.

Went to the RIO to check out the WSOP.
Got to railbird the $50,000 HORSE.
Was standing over the shoulder of Chau Giang.
Really cool to see his hole cards and watch
how he played. Even neat to watch the other
players at the table (Andy Bloch, Todd Brunson,
Joe Cassidy, David Bach - the eventual winner, etc)
because you get to see some of the action with
the cards face up in the stud games.

I hit 2 high hand jackpots. Quads at the IP
and a straight flush at Ballys. Lost more
$ drawing to (and missing) numerous other
royal and straight flush draws... than what
these two jackpots paid me.

Had heard many good things so I checked
out IN-N-OUT BURGER for the first time.
Excellent burger and milkshake.
Not a fan of their fries.

Tried Jack In The Box for the first time also.
Not amazing, but superior to McDonalds.

Drove out to Arizona Charlies on Decatur
for some cheap eats. Buffet was $7
minus the half price coupon. Not top notch food,
but cant beat the price. Won a few bucks on
slots on the way out, enough to cover gas
to get there and the cost of the buffet.

Made 2 attempts at getting a Deep Fried
Twinky from Mermaids Casino on Fremont St.
Unsuccessful both times. What kind of a
casino is closed at 1am on a saturday night ?

Had TODAI Sushi (at Planet Hollywood).
Pricey ($30) but absolutely AWESOME !
Huge selection of seafood and sushi.
I wish i had a bigger stomach.

Tried Golden Nugget Buffet for the first time.
Disappointing. Overpriced ($20). Nothing
specifically wrong, just not good value
compared to other buffets. Wouldnt return.

Used several match-play coupons from the
LasVegas Advisor and American Casino Guide.
$5 and $10 roulette, craps & blackjack matchplays
at Plaza, Las Vegas Club, Binions, Hard Rock,
Planet Hollywood, etc. Definitely +EV

Rental car was a Kia Rio. Who knew a 4 cylinder
shitbox could get a mere 18mpg ! ? Gas was
relatively cheap ($0.70/litre), but my 1979 Ford
with a carburated V8 got better mileage than that.

Vegas Saturday

SATURDAY November 8

Late night before, not awake in time for
the AllVegasPoker AVP tourny I planned
on playing. Got up at 1pm. Arrived at the
GOLD COAST Buffet at 2:55pm.
Buffet closes at 3pm for one hour.
Reopens at 4pm for dinner. Played slots
to kill an hour. Anecdotally, the slots seem
to have tightened up a lot. Heard numerous
others throughout the trip mention they
felt slots werent paying out as well as
they had in the past. Burned through - $20
in no time at all. Put $10 in video poker and
milked that until buffet opened.
Drink service on the floor was really slow.
Ordered 2 Crown Royals at a time because
it'd be 20-30 minutes before you saw a
waitress again. Sonny and Tom joined us
for dinner before heading to the WYNN
to play another deep stack tournament.
G.C. Buffet was good as always.
$6 each with ACG.



Next stop, the HARD ROCK Poker Lounge.
Very busy. Nice atmosphere, a little loud
at times. Good dealers, omfy chairs.
$1/hr comps. Tourny going on while there.
Seen JAMIE GOLD, SHAWN SKEIKAN,
THOR HANSON, JEAN-ROBERT BELLANDE.
Also, The Duke of Fremont made an
appearance, shook everyones hand but
didnt play poker. Good session, + $ 247.

Went back to the strip to check out some
of the smaller poker rooms and maybe
find a soft game. BILLS Gambling Hall was
super busy. All 3 tables in the Poker "room"
were full but lots of short stacks.
Hit OSHEA'S, same thing. FLAMINGO poker
room was reasonably busy, but didnt seem
that inviting. Walked over to the IMPERIAL
PALACE. Short waiting list and the floor
said he'd likely open new table within 20 mins.
Good to his word, 15 minutes later we were
seated at new table. Speaking of tables,
they're huge. 10 man rectangular tables
with no drink holders. They had a giant
PINK dye-sub poster of 2 women printed
on the felt. Very distracting and likely to
cause drunks to miss poker chips that
blend in with the print colours.

Poker wise, it was a rollercoaster night
for me. I couldn't close any of my huge
draws all night, 2 royal flush draws,
2 open ended str8flush draws, 1 dbl gutshot
str8flush draw, they left me hangin without
the payday.

Got stacked at one point and had to
rebuild. I was on the good side off
AA vs. KK and set over set 555 vs. QQQ
to rebuild my stack. I finished the IP session
+ $ 220.

Gina hit her first live straight flush.
10 high with 78 of clubs in her hand.
High hand jackpot paid her + $250 bonus
on top of what was in the pot. She finished
the night + $ 340.

Went back downtown for $6 CALIFORNIA
breakfast buffet. Great value. I can eat $6
worth of bacon...lol. - $20 on video poker.
When we came out to the car, it was raining.
A first for me, raining in vegas.

thursday cont'd

Headed back across the street to
CAESARS PALACE to play some poker.
NBA basketball star TONY PARKER and
EVA LONGORIA from Desparate Housewives
were both there playing poker.
We actually saw several NBA players all
around Vegas, they sort of stand out,
but I dont follow basketball enough
to recognize their faces.

Sat down, first hand, I made QUAD SIXES,
got paid +$124 from the high hand jackpot.
Ended the poker session up +$180.
Jeff made a nice +$530 profit, alot of which
came off of Tony Parker's brother.
Not bad for his first live casino cash game.
Gina was kindof card dead but managed
a +$60 profit. Overall, pretty good for a
150 minute session.


Jeff taking full advantage of
the open alcohol laws.

Went back downtown and played some
$1/2NL at the GOLDEN NUGGET.
Was seated at a table with legendary
Vegas comedian VINNY FAVORITO.
Very solid player. He made some really
good laydowns (layed down his set to a
flush, layed down small straight to a
bigger one). He made a big laydown
against me in a $150 pot. I limped in
with AK (as i've been know to do)
and made broadway on the turn.
He layed down a set of 10's on the
river saying "you played that
like you have Ace Fuckin King".
I collected the pot, mucked my cards
face down and unsuccessfully tried to
convince him that he was wrong....
saying "who would limp with AK ?"

Vinny's been the feature at O'Shea's
on the strip for a few years, but just signed
a big contract to play 6 nights a week
at the FLAMINGO. I will definitely
have to catch his show next trip.

Thursday cont'd

Jeff & Gina enjoying Margaritas /Monster Nacho Plate

Since this was Jeff's first time in Vegas,
we made sure drive up and down the strip
and see the sites. Walked through the
FLAMINGO and went to the BELLAGIO
and watched the fountain show.
Went across the street to Jimmy Buffets
MARGARITAVILLE and Jeff treated us to
some delicious margarita's and nachos.
Was better than the last time I went.
They had Jimmy Buffet music and
videos playing, along with performers
on stilts and a girl who slid down the giant
volcano waterslide, into the 400 litre
margarita blender by the bar.

Sunday Night

It would be wrong to visit Margaritaville and
order beer, so I ordered a Red Bull Margarita
and Gina had some fruity margarita that I cant
remember the name of.. Off to see the Lizard
Margarita ?, Who's to Blame Margarita ??
She was disappointed that the margarita
came in a regular glass, not a margarita glass.
Was very yummy though.

The Nacho plate ($10.95) was all I expected
and more, lots of real melted cheese, ground beef,
jalapeno peppers and sour cream. (Not sure
the picture shows how massive this thing was).
Two hungry people had a tough time finishing it,
and we didn’t. Cool atmosphere, giant 7ft
margaritas by the bar, flying bridge fishing boats
turned into tables, good music & great margaritas,
although a little pricey ($8ea)

Wandered next door to the FLAMINGO poker room.
No waiting, seated immediately. Up to 6 tables
of $1/2. Best action of the trip. Wish I found this
room earlier in the week. Very soft play, a few
very loose donkeys. All tourists, no locals.
Great drink service in the poker room itself
(lousy out on the floor).

Playing with "2006 World Series of Poker"
cards. They looked so well used that they
may have been actually used in the 2006 WSOP.

I did get a Crown Royal & Coke that
actually had real Crown Royal and
Coca-Cola in it. The dirty ol' Flamingo
got it right but Bellagio didn’t…go figure ?

One memorable hand comes to mind.

Seat 7 (JJ) open raises to $15.
Me Seat 10 (QQ) calls the $15.
Seat 4 (KK) moves all in for $95.
Seat 7 (JJ) calls.
Me Seat 10 (QQ) Folds.
Board comes rainbow and raggy.
KK Doubles up.
(Seat 5 says he folded 88 as well)

I really enjoyed playing in this room.
The main floor of the Flamingo was
really smoky, but since the poker room
is at the far end by itself, the smoke wasn’t
much of a factor. Played until the game
started to thin out.