Vegas Trip Report

Tues Nov 3:

Flight out was on time, but crowded and very warm.
Another great airfare deal, $63 each way plus tax.

Arrived in Vegas approx 4pm. Picked up the rental car,
a Chevy Aveo. Budget car for sure, manual windows
and locks. No cupholders, WTF ! Only 30,000 miles
but rattles galore. First bet of the trip... will this car
reach 50,000 miles before being scrapped ?

Made our way to the RIO. Fast, smooth check-in.
Room 1622 was big and clean. In room safe, fridge,
couch and granite writing desk were nice features.
Beds were acceptable but nothing to write home about.
Less than expectation. Rooms were complimentary,
so no complaining from me. Starbucks located at the
elevators on way up to rooms is a plus, although line up
was often lengthy.

Very hungry so went across the street to the Gold Coast.
Quality of the buffet was less than previous trips.
Hard to beat AYCE for two for about $12 (with 241
ACG coupon). Used ACG $5 match play on roulette.
Ran that up to +$15 and quit.

Drove to the 99¢ Store to stock up on snacks, beverages,
vitamins and toiletries. -$20 but worth every penny.
Save a lot of money buying stuff like gatorade/energy drinks/
protein bars there rather than $3 each at 7-11. Feeling very
tired so headed back to the RIO to have some mindless
slot machine fun and sleep. +$18

Wed Nov 11:
Up before 7am (a vegas first for me). Wanted to
make it in time for breakfast at the South Point.
Used 241 POV coupon. $7.51 for two of us.
Nothing amazing, but left very satisfiied. 7.5/10
Poker room was totally empty at 10am. Slots were
very tight, ate my $20 bill in no time. No rewards/offers
for new club signups. They did have $5 blackjack
and craps tables open early.

Went to the Venetian for a dose of $1/2 NL holdem.
Pretty good action just ran bad $-160.
Gina had a good session. +$305

Headed downtown to Main Street Station for some food.
MSS is generally considered the best buffet downtown and
didnt disappoint. $11.88 for 2 with ACG. Good hot food. 8/10.
-$20 playing video poker.

Walked over to Binions and played some Pai Gow
for 2 hours. -$10. Binions poker room wasnt too
busy so we sat down and played for a bit. I saw a
4-way all in pot worth over $900 and no one showed
the nuts. Finished +$50.

Hung out on fremont street and watched the light show.
Had a 99¢ deep fried Twinky and a deep fried Oreo cookie
from Mermaids. They were as disgusting as they were cheap.
Mermaids was packed with drunk kids under 25. I'm sure
they love these nasty greaseball treats.

Back to the RIO poker room for a couple hours before bed. +$86
Thurs:
Drove down to the Silverton Casino. Their buffet is no longer open for breakfast or lunch during the week.
Kinda disappointing.
Went to the Orleans buffet instead.
Food was hot and flavorful. 9/10

Next stop, the Monte Carlo poker room. Only 1 table
of $2/4 limit holdem going. Put our names on the
interest list for $1/2 NL and sat down at the limit table.
Didnt take long, couple of orbits before the NL table
started up short handed. Got hit over the head
with cards, wish I could get cards like that with
a full table and deep stacks. +$110.
Good drink service, strong cocktails :)

Went to check out Caesars Palace poker room.
Not sure why, its been pretty disappointing the
last couple visits. Their Bad Beat Jackpot was
at $210k with quad 3's qualifier. - $200.

Back to Silverton for dinner. A little early,
so did some browsing at the Bass Pro Shop
on the other end of the casino. Stumbled across
a demo setup of Nintendo Wii Fishing.
Havent really played video games since i was
a teenager, but had a riot. Thursdays is hawaiin
themed buffet (one of Silvertons primary clientele).
$21.61 for two (ACG) including free mai tai's,
which were totally delicious. 8.5/10

No better way to spend an evening in vegas than
at the Venetian poker room. Another bad run of cards
for me. Had to lay down top set with KK on KJT flop
and a Q on turn. Later, my KK ran into AA, all in preflop.
Ended the session -$200.

Fri:
Slept in a bit and Checked out of the RIO.
Went to Terrible's Casino for a cheap and easy breakfast.
$8.64 for 2 with ACG. 5.5/10. There were lots of machines
that were shut down or malfunctioning. Not sure what that
means. Casino was busy though.

Checked in at Imperial Palace around noon. Room 1669 was
pretty typical of other rooms at the IP. A/C wasnt super cold,
probably would have to change rooms if it was mid summer.

Headed up the street to the Mirage. Decent room, good drink
service. +$19 Posted Rake is $1 per $10 in the pot ($4max)

Dropped by the Orleans to kill some time and play some slots.
Very busy. Shitty drink service.

Went to dinner at Makino for sushi. Its close to the RIO,
just north of Flamingo Rd. on Decatur. Excellent sushi,
sashimi. Dessert and hot food ok, the rest was Fantastic.
9.5/10

Back to the IP to play some poker. I continue to run bad.
Had 3 sets cracked in 45 minutes. Had JJ beat by T2,
all in on a flop of T73. Finished session -$300.

Walked down to the Flamingo poker room. Had 83 in sb.
Flop 832 with two clubs. utg+1 calls my donk bet of $10.
Turn is 7clubs, i check, he bets $30. I insta-muck face up.
utg+1 tables 83off, same hand. I guess my poker's not at
a high enough level to put an early position player on 83o.
Only other hand I played, I have TT in small blind.
Cut-off raises to $10, i call. Flop is 963 rainbow,
I check raise all-in. Opponent shows QQ. -$100.

Walked down to Balleys. Made up some lost ground.
Stole some orphaned pots, and somehow made AK
into a winning hand. +$425

Sat:
Drove downtown for lunch buffet at the Fremont Hotel.
$11.85 for two buffets with coupon. Improved since
last visit. All the food was very hot. Ate my monies
worth in smoked salmon alone. 8/10

Went across the street to the Golden Nugget.
Lost 2 short stack buyins of -$100. Bad players,
just got unlucky.

Played Pai Gow over at Binions for a couple hours.
Was ahead most of the time but left -$50 because
of a sick run by dealer.

Binions poker room was a little better to me.
+$320 mostly because of one hand i slowplayed.
Limped with JJ in middle position. Board came
KJQ 9 9. Opponent shoved on the river with his J9.
Basically got me back to even for the day. Had dinner
at Binions Cafe (downstairs at the back, near
Bennys Bullpen). Prime Rib dinner with potato,
veggies, and hearty soup for $9.95. For two of us,
the total came to $19.73 with drinks after $3 players
club discount (used comps earned playing pai gow).
Highly recommended, great hot home cooked type food.

Went back to Imperial Palace for more poker.
Fast drink service, but they tasted brutal.
Note to server: most people who drink Crown Royal
can distinguish it from Jack Daniels.
Witnessed one of the most brutal procedural rulings
by a floor manager ever. After the flop, the dealer
prematurely swept in the board cards, thinking that
all players had folded to a players bet (but there was
still a player with live cards yet to act). Floor is called.
He gives the player who has yet to act the option to
1) fold and forfeit the pot, or 2) call and turn over both
hands to see who wins (has the best TWO CARD HAND,
no board cards). IMO, the stub was not fouled and was
easily retrievable. The 3 flop cards were KNOWN and
retrievable from the muck.

The most fair thing to do would be to recreate the board
and continue. The least fair option is to decide who wins
based on who had the best starting hand. I offered the
supervisor example of flopping an open ended
straight-flush draw with suited connectors, versus an
opponent with pocket 22. While the 22 technically has
the best two card hand, the open ended straight flush draw
is a 70% fave ! Being the smart ass I am, I requested that
the floor spread a No Flop Holdem game, winner is decided
by their starting hand. He declined. Ended the session +$65

Walked next door to Harrah's poker room. -$174
i got stacked twice, taking two tough beats.
Also had KsQs on JsTs3h board, got it all in,
was called by 99, LOL. No help.

Went over to the Flamingo. +$25.
Regulars/locals started rolling in at 2am.
Game got real tough quickly. Starting at 4am,
all of the high hand bonuses double. Would have
like to stick around for that, but the game sucked.

Back to the IP. Played some video poker before bed, +$11

Sun:
Strolled by Tix4Tonight at Casino Royale on our way
to breakfast. Picked up 2 tix for the Cirque de Solei
show Mystere, $58 each incl service charge.
Also got 2 vouchers for $14.95 ($5 off) for
Todai Sushi at Planet Hollywood. Walked across
the street to Treasure Island to pick up the tickets,
always a good idea to p/u early to get first choice.
Got some nice seats in third row.

Drove to Silverton for sunday champagne brunch
2 for $18.36 (ACG). Some nice smoked salmon and
stuffed crab. The french toast was tremendous.
Desserts were A+. 9/10.
Hit the bathrooms on our way out. Saw an elderly man
stealing a large quantity of paper towel. He managed
to conceal them well and evade security on his way out.
Another vegas first !

Decided to give the Stratosphere a try.
1 table of $1/2 going plus about 20 players in a tournament.
Started playing shorthanded at a must-move table before
playing at the main table. Very friendly and social game,
lots of laughing and jokes, lots of $2 limping
(just the way i like it) with generally bad/weak players.
Example: there was an all in raise-fest on a JJ622 board.
Two players show a 2 and third player mucks.
Played from 3-5pm. Finished -$8. Placed some futures
bets at the Strat sports book. I got a couple tickets for
my nephews christmas stockings. $5 on Montreal,
$5 on Calgary to win the Stanley Cup.

Headed back to the room at IP to freshen up and
relax for a half hour. Back to the Harrah's poker room.
Plenty of weak players, just couldnt get dealt many
playable cards. +$40.

Walked up to TI for the Cirque show. Pretty amazing.
I see why Guy is a billionaire. Cant get enough poker
so we went next door to the Mirage poker room.
The room was busy but seemed poorly organized.
Got seated at an outer table by the sportsbook,
very smokey, almost unbearable. Didnt stay too long. $+26

Mon:
Had lunch at Todai Sushi $34.43 for two.
Pretty decent, but not amazing. 8/10

Downtown to the ElCortez. Free slotplay, played Deuces Wild
video poker, cashed out +$5. Thought about playing the $1-6
spread limit poker game at the ElCo, but owner Jackie Goeghan
wasnt playing so I headed to Binions instead. About 2:15pm,
only 3 tables running, no one moving so I had to wait.
Somehow I had my seat given away while i went to the
washroom (away 3-4minutes tops). Dealer/floor lady didnt
seam to understand what the words "Lock Up" that were
written next to my name meant. I told the guy who
was at the desk when I left, that I'd be right back so please
lock up my seat. He apparently went on break but wrote it
on the sign up sheet. Took another half hour for a seat
to open up. Didnt take me long to realize that 7-8 of
the players at the table were good, i left after 15 minutes
with a $4 profit. Basically, a total waste of the afternoon.

I did learn something though.....
Monday afternoon is a bad time to buy drugs on Fremont.
Walking along the Fremont Street Experience on my way
back to the ElCo, I saw 5 people tweeking hard.
One guy wearing a shirt and tie was preaching to an
invisible congregation. Testify ! Another was trying
to take a shower fully clothed in the bushes. When the
sprinklers failed to give him adequate (any) water,
he got on his knees and demanded that they turn on.

Back to the Mirage for some early evening poker.
First table was tough, too many skilled players, asked for
a table change before the end of the first orbit.
Was granted one quickly. New table was much softer.
Ran into one of the worst dealers ever (#1?).
Her name was Rachel, a puffy eyed bleach blonde lady
of 55+years. She did her best to tilt me with her total
incompetance. First hand she dealt, she collects the bets
and makes a pot before the action is complete.
Big blind raises and there's total confusion as to
who has how much in the pot. Overall, slow as fuck !
Slow dealing, slow counting the box, slow following
the action. Later, she pushed a pot to Ace high
when there was full house on board. I managed to play
my 'A' game the entire trip so far with the exception of
a couple hours of 'B' game play when i was tired late.
This dealer drove me to drink...lol
I started feeling pretty good in no time.
There was a 35 year old couple that wandered into
the poker room from the sportsbook. I could hear her say
" I don’t think we're allowed in here" as they sat down
on one of the couches by the big screen tv.
I leaned over and said with a totally serious face
"someone's going to ask to see your ID in a second".
Before the panic spread from the woman’s face to the
rest of her body, I let her off the hook with a big roar
of laughter. Turns out they were from Ottawa, first trip
to vegas, so we had a long chit-chat about where to go,
what to see and do. Cocktails ! Left +$86

Got a $20 comp from the supervisor. Not too hard to
get if you ask. Went to the BLT Burger restaurant
inside the Mirage. Ordered 2 Angus burgers, 2 fries
and 1 shake. $40 ! Pretty steep. The comp ticket
took a bit of the sting out, brought it down to
fair market value. 7.5/10

Off to Harrah’s for an hour of poker. +$40
Watched Monday Night Football.
Steelers win, therefore do I. +$20.

Back to the IP poker room. Another sketchy floor ruling
(same supervisor). Guy to my right had the clock called
on him (lol) by a feeble 80yr old man. Old guy wasn’t in
the hand and dude barely got 30 seconds for his decision
before the supe was called over. I objected.
I wasn’t in the hand, but the guy deserved more time.
It was for his whole stack ($200+). I don’t remember
the exact cards on the board, but it was coordinated enough
that any thinking player would need some time to analyze it.
I asked the floor what amount of time should pass before a
clock is called. His reply…”the time it takes for me to
walk over here”. I said “ so if I call the clock on someone
the moment its their turn and you get here 5 seconds later,
they have a total of 65 seconds to decide or their hand is dead ?”
......Yes ! After the hand was complete (buddy timed out
and was folded) I told the old man, “No disrespect sir,
but you better make your decisions instantly or I’ll be
calling the clock on you every hand.” Despite attempts by
several players at the table to get him to stick around
(and continue donating), he and his wife left after
another orbit to spread their miserable attitudes elsewhere.
The room was super cold, but at least the Corona’s
were coming frequently. Another table broke and
3 aggro kids with big stacks joined our table.
Killed action from the weak players. Left after two orbits.
Ended the session +$100. Late night snack at the Cafe at
Bills Gambling Hall. $5.95 Steak + Eggs special. Pretty good
value. Seat by the door, not sure if the whole restaurant
was smokey or if it was just because of our proximity to
the casino floor.

Tues:
Last day, so up early. Hit the Harrah’s Café for
breakfast at 10:30. Didn’t seem like great value.
2 eggs, hashbrowns, 3 strips of bacon,
toast, coffee, (x2) came to $28.06 + tip.
Used harrah’s points to pay since it
seamed like a rip off paying cash.

Walked up to the Venetian. Played poker for 2 hours.
-$18, not much action, pretty nitty. Made the last of
my sportsbook wagers -$40 (until they win).
Got a good price on Pittsburgh to win the Superbowl 9/1

Went back to the IP to get the car. Car Gone ! Car Gone !
Looked everywhere, no car. Took a while to realize we
somehow walked back to the IP from the Mirage last night.
Walked over to the Mirage to get our "stolen" car…lol.

Drove down to Balleys. Got a good view of a young woman
flashing her bare crotch going up the escalator. Yeah Vegas !
Played poker and drank a lot of Corona’s for 3 hours. +$110.

It was nice having the IP room comped for an extra night,
there was no rush to check out. Went back to the room to shower
and relax for a half hour before having to leave.

Hit the Gold Coast buffet one last time for some quick eats.
$12.50 for two using ACG coupon.

Refueled the car ($-23 for the week) and took the shuttle to catch the plane.

A totally great trip, didn’t bring home stacks of money,
but had as much fun as I’ve ever had.

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.