Day 1 5/4: Why didn’t somebody tell me how much fun this town is!

Some history…I played poker as a kid years ago, but nothing since until online poker about 2 years ago. I’ve been a break-even to semi-winning player, mostly losing money in tourney entry fees and not getting in the money. I am up overall in my bankroll at low limits, mostly playing 1-2 and some 2-4 online.

I set up a trip to Vegas with a buddy of mine (who I converted to the dark side of poker addiction from chess…he’s now an online player too) for 5/4-5/8 to play hold’em 2-4 and test ourselves.

Got to Vegas about 5:30 PM from Atlanta on Thursday 5/4 and went thru the Disneyworld line to get a cab. Sorta appropriate since Vegas is the adult Disneyworld. Reports of about a 30 minute trip through the line are indeed accurate! Got to our hotel (Luxor, although we would spend less than 20 hours in the room over the next 4 days) and immediately headed out to GAMBOOL!

We didn’t like the looks of the Excalibur room, even though I had read many reports on the fishy nature and ease of entry for first timers like us. We were kind of hungry (flew from the east coast so it was after 9 PM body clock time) and decided to try the first restaurant we came across at Excalibur, unfortunately we chose their excuse for Italian food. WARNING: Avoid this restaurant. I wish I could remember the name, but I forgot it (purposely!) after trying to eat the excuse for food they served. This might also explain why my first session in Vegas turned out the way it did (hint hint).

Went down the strip to Paris as we heard the room wasn’t bad and that the scenery (read cleavage) was outstanding. Both of these are true. The room was not populated (at 2-4) by sharks, but more like your touristy type just playing some poker. The scenery (read cleavage) was indeed outstanding as well (our server was Vicki…9 – 9.5).

Started playing 2-4 at 9 PM (midnight body clock time) and played until 4:30 AM (7:30 AM body clock time, when I’m normally at work). First hand ever dealt in playing live cards: Big Slick off suit. Lot’s of limpers and I’m the cutoff. I raise, everyone calls who already limped. Flop comes A K 8 unsuited. I bet, most call. No one else improves and on my first hand in a real live poker room I take down a pot that puts me up over $30 to the good on my first hand! Who says poker is hard !

I’m an extrovert by nature so I kept chatting up the table, as I had read that people don’t mind losing money as much to a friendly guy and it seemed to work, except that the friendly guy spent the next 7 hours and 28 minutes losing the $30 plus another $70!

One memorable hand was when the dealer, prior to turning over the cards for the flop said, “Only 8 to see the flop this time”. Cracked me up! It really is true that 2-4 live is so much looser than 2-4 online that I had a hard time believing what was happening. People cold calling two raises with nothing. People raising with nothing. Calling stations calling down trip Jacks (pocket Jacks for the set) and just calling me down without raising to get the pot. Amazing stuff.

Ended the 7 ½ hours down about $70 and kept reminding myself this is the short run and bad beats are your friend. Phil Gordon says in his book that bad beats are the sign that you are playing the right hands. The bad beat is your friend. Still a little hard to take the loss though and when my buddy and I walked back to the Luxor (he was down $80 for the session) we talked about the long run and that this was only one session. Even with that though I was wondering if maybe I don’t know what I’m doing and that maybe I really do suck at this game. Oh well, tomorrow (actually only 4 hours later) would be another day.

On the way back to the Luxor I got the full Vegas experience as I got propositioned by a hooker (looking for one more customer I guess). It made the evening complete and I got to bed (sans hooker) by 5 AM.

Day 1 Totals: Down $70

Day 2 5/5: Got up at 9 AM (sleep is highly overrated in Vegas, right?) and went down to the Luxor room until my buddy woke up. I played for 90 minutes and ended up $22! Yeah! A winning session. Maybe there is hope for me after all. Nothing remarkable hand wise just good solid poker. Highlight of the session was when somebody misspoke and the dealer says, “You have to be careful there, that’s a transitive verb.” That got a laugh from the table.

Went back up to the room, collected my buddy, had breakfast and we went over to the Aladdin for their 1 PM tourney. The 20 minute blind structure seemed a little more forgiving than the other 15 blinds in most tourneys, but even then, after the first hour the M’s are so low all-in is usually the only move you can make. However, you could tell most people had no clue as they would have a stack of 500 with blinds at 100-200 and just limp in. It all was happening just the way I have read from others.

I busted out about halfway through when I went all in with an M of 3ish with 66 and the big blind called me with 88 and I didn’t improve. However, my buddy made it to the final table and in his first tourney (77 entries) he finished 6th and won $240! The good news is that he took me out to dinner and we went to Mon Ami Gabi at Paris and it was outstanding. Thank goodness I remembered the positive reviews I had read on this site and we just walked in for dinner with no reservation on a Friday night at 6:00 PM with no problem. Great food and great service-highly recommended and get the French Onion Soup-phenomenal!

While my buddy played the tourney I checked out some other rooms. I walked to Bellagio and saw their room, which was pretty busy on a Friday afternoon. No 2-4 and I was not ready to try 4-8 after the big losing session the first night and then busting out of the tourney. I also looked at Caesar’s and the Venetian and neither room had 2-4 going. I think it bears mentioning how really far apart these casinos are from each other. I got a tan from just walking around the strip!

I finally stopped at the Flamingo and played about an hour and a half in their room. Nothing great or terrible, but it wasn’t a fun group of people like at Paris the night before and there were at least 3 guys over 70 at the table. Either tourists or locals, but they all played like rocks. I had to leave when my buddy called after finishing the tourney and I was glad to leave as the servers there…well let me say this, my table had a 70 plus year old dame shuffling around with a special tray to keep her drinks from falling off the tray onto the customers. Awful stuff as part of the experience for me is the scenery (I may have mentioned that before). Broke even for the session.

Went back to Paris poker room, but no Vicki tonight, (still good cleavage though!), she must have been elsewhere in the casino. Had to wait for the 2-4 game, but eventually got into the game and played for 6 ½ hours. Most memorable hand: I had AA in late position. It’s raised to me and I reraise and a couple of people cold call the two raises. An Ace (not a heart) comes on the flop with a heart and a blank. I bet it and get calls. Turn is a heart, I bet and get called. River is a heart, I bet and get called and lose to the big blind who cold called the two raises with 2-5 of hearts.

I bought in for $100 and at one point was down to $40, but left a winner after 6 ½ hours and was up $81! Coming back! Totally exhausted after 4 hours of sleep in last 48 hours and had to get some shuteye.

Day 2 Totals: Luxor +22, Tourney -$60, Flamingo Even, Paris +$81 = Plus $43 for the day
Trip Total: Down $27

Day 3 5/6 (Kentucky Derby and De La Hoya-Mayorga Fight): Didn’t bet on either, though if I had I would have won some good coin betting De La Hoya. Started the afternoon off at the MGM poker room. I have read lots of good reviews of the place and everybody mentions the marble edge of the poker tables. I thought it was fine and had no problem with it. Played for 6 hours there but it’s not closed off from anything and gets pretty loud with the nightclub next door. I didn’t really like the atmosphere that much and the dealers for the most part were not as friendly as some of the dealers at Paris.

At one point I had less than $10 left and bought $40 more, which was a good thing because in that hand while waiting for the chips I was able to use the invisible chips that were coming to win the hand and get back about $25, which put me on a run all the way up to $151 by the end of the session (+$11 overall). One really good dealer in their room was Emelie, very fast, fun and pretty damn attractive. We were there the second to last day of their poker room manager who will now be at the Palms, so I don’t know what, if any, effect his leaving will have on this room.

We left to try and get to the Sahara 7 PM tourney, but we left at 6:10 PM and couldn’t get down to the Sahara in time. We had trouble getting a cab on the strip and it just got too late so we bagged the tourney and went to Paris for another marathon session after grabbing a burger at Fatburger. If you like really greasy food with very little atmosphere Fatburger is your place. Not recommended.

Played at Paris for 9 hours and at one point was up $40 and then lost all the way from $140 down to $40 left. Built it back up to $124 and was able to leave up $24. Most memorable hand I’m dealt is AA vs. local hero to my right who’s been playing over a year since being transferred to Vegas (for his job). He seemed like a good guy at first but as the night wore on he just had to demonstrate his ‘superior’ poker knowledge to everyone. Pointing out their “tells”, criticizing poor play when he would get sucked out on, etc.

Back to my AA. Preflop local hero bets, I raise, others are still in the pot until it gets back to him, he reraises, I reraise, everyone else folds and local hero asks dealer if since we are heads up is there a cap on number of raises and I think the dealer said no. He reraises, I reraise and he finally starts to figure out that I might have something and caps the betting. I bet and he calls the rest of the way and neither of us improve. I flip over the aces and he flips over the kings and I drag the $50 plus pot. Sweet.

Funniest part of this is he had been such a pain in the ass that when his KK got run over by my AA a couple of people laughed and actually applauded. Can you say tilt! The other funny thing he said was how good he was at hold’em since he was up $2000 after playing for over a year in vegas. The guy killed!

Left Paris about 4 AM exhausted again and asleep by 5 AM.

Day 3 Totals: MGM +$11, Paris +$24 = +$35 for the day
Trip Total: Up $11 (finally)

Day 4 5/6: Wake up, get breakfast and get to the Sahara in time for the 11 AM tourney with another 20 minute blind structure starting at 25, 25 blinds with 1 rebuy and reentry. Third hand I get AQ hearts, I raise, guy directly to my right hangs with me along with another guy. The flop pairs my A and also shows a 10 of hearts, K of clubs and a 4 of hearts. I bet and get raised all in. I’ve got so many outs to the a straight and the nut flush (along with the rebuy) I call and so does the other guy. I’m figuring, “Great! I triple up and cruise to the final table”. Ah, slow down there buddy. I don’t improve and the raiser’s pocket pairs trip up and I’m left to rebuy for 1500 (initial chips are 2000). So now I’m short stacked compared to the rest of the guys and I just keep hanging in until the break when everyone else at the table rebuys and most have 3000 or more chips to my 1400 at that point.

Things are not looking good for our hero. My buddy busts out about half way through and somehow I last through the second break. After the third break I get AA and go all in with an M of 3 or 4 and get called by a similar size stack who has AQ. I double up and get through the third break. Fourth hour starts with two tables with less than 8 people each. I double up again and make it to the final table. However, they only pay out 7 positions.

At this point someone suggests a deal of splitting the pot for everyone, which would have been $250 each. The two big chip leaders wouldn’t go for it so we continued. Pretty quickly 10 and 9 bust out. I then say we should pay something to the guy who finishes 8th. Everyone agrees to have the 8th place guy get his buy-in back and we continue until 8th place busts out. Yeah baby, my second tourney and I’m now in the money! But not for long. Two hands later I get big slick suited and the second chip leader goes in for more than my stack. With blinds 3000/6000 and a stack of 22,000 there’s really no decision so I call. He flips over QQ, I don’t improve and I’m out in 7th place. I win $106 minus my $60 buy-in and rebuy for a net win of $42. Not great, but still felt pretty good to get in the money in my second tourney.

My buddy had gone over to Treasure Island so I hooked up with him and played with another good group at TI. Nice room, by itself, but not actually in the casino but located by the shops. I think this may negatively impact the traffic they could generate in the long run. On Sunday at 4 PM they only had one 2/4 and one 1/2 NL going. Nice room, smoke free as a separate room with a computerized board and tables with auto shufflers (BTW, I could really tell the difference in number of hands with auto shufflers vs. without. Love the auto shufflers!). Met some guys on a bachelor party weekend who were from Boston and had a good time with them and in two hours won $51.

Most memorable hand was against my buddy. I’m UTG and he’s the BB. I limp with 10 10 (not my favorite hand). A couple of limpers and my buddy stays as he’s the BB. Flop comes 7 3 4 unsuited. I check, it checks to my buddy who bets and I raise, callers fold and my buddy calls. I continue to bet it down and he calls it down and I take the pot when he shows a 7 with a J kicker. He said he was so tired from lack of sleep that his thought processes were not very clear and his vision was getting fuzzy so I took him to dinner and paid (or rather he did since I won so much of his money).

Dinner was at Francesco’s in TI to try and enjoy some good Italian food. Pricey, but very good food. My buddy then said he wanted us to go to a show. He had researched and said we should go to see the Crazy Girls show at the Riviera.

***Warning to Females-sophomoric male sex stuff to follow***

"Vegas wouldn’t be complete without t!ts", he said. I’ve never been to a strip club or any kind of show with nudity so my perspective is a noob, no doubt about it. We had front row seats and at one point in the show I got poked in the eye with a nipple the women were so close! For a guy who likes cleavage this show had it going on with the wonders of plastic surgery on display. I also got my new hold’em card marker…a replica of the female butts that are bronzed outside the Riviera. Very classy, I know. Now back to Poker.

***Sophomoric male stuff now over***

Went back to the Luxor (by cab) to finish the evening with some more hold’em, grab some sleep and get on our planes back to reality on Monday. Played four hours at Luxor and I had the most memorable hand of my life and probably for most of the people at the table. The guy to my left said he’s been playing for decades and never had it happen to him.

On with the story (as if you couldn’t guess where this is going). I’m dealt 10 Q of clubs in early position. Table is so loose I limp in (I was also up over $50 at this point after being at the table a little over an hour) because most hands had 6-7 in preflop and the crazy limpers were limping in with stuff like 9-7 offsuit from any position. Flop comes A K 5 of clubs. I’m dealt the nut flush and I think I’ve got to get 2 more cards in case I can get a J of clubs for the Royal ($100 Jackpot for a royal flush with 2 in the pocket). I check 1 guy bets, someone else calls and so do I. Turn comes with the most beautiful card I’ve ever seen-Jack of clubs---ROYAL FLUSH!!!! 1 guy bets, another folds, I raise and the other guy folds. I show the Royal and the table goes nuts! Good sized pot of over $40 plus the $100 bonus. Unbelievable peak moment playing poker on my 4th day ever playing live hold’em in a casino.

Thirty minutes later my buddy gets four of a kind with only 1 in the pocket and collects a $20 jackpot. We finally quit at about 3 in the morning as the table breaks up and I leave the table up $151 PLUS the $100 jackpot to end my vegas excursion up $251 on my last session!

Day 4 Totals: Sahara Tourney +$42, TI +$51, Luxor +251, Crazy Girls-Priceless = +$344 for the day
Trip Total: Up $355 (up $255 without the jackpot bonus, a one-time event).

Final Impressions: After everything I had read on this site I had high expectations, but tried to keep them in check because I didn’t want to be too disappointed when I got my clock cleaned. I brought $1000 to Vegas and left with a new bankroll of $1355. I had a great time and one of the most enjoyable 4 days of my life. Playing live is sooo much better than online I couldn’t believe how much I enjoyed it. The challenge of playing the people was just phenomenal.

The experience was so great I have already looked into how to get back for a weekend in June. I will fly out right after work on a Friday, get into Vegas by 7 PM and play until the wee hours, sleep a few, play all day Saturday, get into the Caesar’s tournament (which was not being held due to the WPT events at Mirage while I was there) and sleep a little Saturday night and then play until I take the redeye back to Atlanta and go to work on Monday.

For anyone who has not gone to Vegas to play against real live people…What the F are you waiting for? GO! GO NOW!