Poker Trip 01/20-01/24, stayed at Harrahs

This is my first trip report for vegasmessageboard. I previously did a couple for allvegaspoker, but for some reason had a hard time posting this report on there. I figured if I took the time to type this up, I might as well make somebody suffer through it. I've been to Vegas 8 or 9 times. The last few trips have mainly been for poker, which is my love. I don't get too much into poker hands here, but it might bore some non-poker players.
For this trip it was going to be me (PC), Mike M (MM)., Andrew T (AT), Mike G.(MG) and Mike P. (MP), who was already in Vegas a couple days. My wife Di was to come the following day solo. The four of us left Atlanta thursday 01/20 on the first Delta flight in the morning to Vegas. MM, AT, and I had the aisle seats next to each other so we were able to pass around the ipad for a game of scrabble, which I won (brag).
Cab ride to Harrahs featured a pretty obnoxious driver telling corny gay jokes I first heard on the playground. MM made a joke that I was there to play penny slots all week. With that the driver told me about some great penny slot machines I should try, then gave me strategy tips on how to play them. This went on for a few minutes while I was wondering why I took the front seat next to him. Finally I told him I never played a slot machine in my life and probably never will. I don't think he was happy with his wasted speech.
Check in was a breeze since MG had the diamond status so we went to their private check in desk. I was rooming with him for one night since I couldn't get a comp for that night. I got a comp for 2/3 nights, (fri., sat., sun ) when my wife would be with me. Saturday they were charging me $40.00. Deal. The room was good, although I only spent my sleeping hours in it. Comfortable bed, pillow top. Good crapper that worked fine. All I needed really...
We all take the 5 minute walk to our favorite room, the Venetian. The 3 of them sign up for the $150.00 noon tourney, I decide I wanted to play just cash games today. After they sign up we hit the food court for a quick lunch. They go play Pai gow after lunch and I sit down for some 1/2. I buy in for $200, drop down to about $120 then add another $100 out of my pocket. I lose some more until I have A10s on a flop of A,K,10 with about 130 in front of me. I check raise all in against two players. A fold then one guy hesitates and says something and flips over AKh. I can't believe he folded as the dealer takes his cards. Player yells to dealer he called, the other players next to him confirm. Floor comes over and allows cards to be pulled from muck. I'm about to be down $300.00 when a 10 hits giving me the boat. weeeeee... (sorry I don't remember exact amounts, sequence etc. I suck at that....).
I end up losing more on that table, don't remember how or why. I head over to play 4/8 omaha HiLo w/ half kill. I'm not sure what I did there other than kill time, but between the 1/2 and the omaha I'm down $190.00. MM, MG and I head over to the noodle joint by the sportsbook for dinner after 6 hours or so. AT is still in the tourney, which he cashed in (I think 7th or so). Good dinner of bbq pork on noodles. I went back and played 4/8 om for a few hours more and won a whopping 20 bucks.
We call it a night at the Venetian then walk back to Harrahs around 10 or so. We play some table games, I lose $100.00 pretty quickly in BJ then walk around some. MM and I eventually head over to the IP next door to meet up with Mike P., who was playing with a couple local friends he's staying with. We talk to him a bit then MM and I sit down and play some 1/2 at the other table running. I'm up about $70.00 or so, feeling good, then I make probably the worst fold in my life against a fun loving Charles Manson looking guy. I won't give you the whole sequence, but after the river there are 5 diamonds on the board including the A,Q,J. I have the 10. One guy bets $20 into a pretty large pot, I just call (horrible I know, but I wanted the Manson looking guy behind me to call just to get his money, and I was thinking there was still a chance first to act had the K ). Shockingly Manson psycho shoves, which would cost me $200.00 or so if he had the K, and put me in a very foul mood on day 1 of my trip. Original better folded. I tanked, then folded face up. He never showed but MM and I are pretty convinced I screwed up by not calling. I was probably good. Oh well. (again, amounts and sequence not 100% correct, so don't overthink it...)
I call my wife at 2:30 a.m. to wake her up for her flight out of Atlanta that morning, pop a nyquill tablet to help me sleep, then head back to the room, up $60.00. A bit diasappointing because I was ahead about $200 at one point, but a win is a win.
Day 2
I wake up at about 9am to an empty room, MG must have left. I throw my clothes on without a shower since it's MG's room and I was going to get my room in a couple hours. I figured if I'm going to smell bad, I might as well walk over to the IP and play there so I can blend in. I have about a 2 minute wait on the list until I'm seated at a very drunk table. One player was literally the drunkest player I've ever played against. At one point he only had cash in front of him and wanted to make a call for 6 bucks or so. The guy to his left had a stack of dollar chips, so the drunk player thought it would be a good idea to use those for his call. The dealer told him not to touch the other player's chips at least three times. The floor comes over and he does it again completely oblivious to his errors. They let him finish the hand then have someone escort him to the Flamingo where he was staying.
While playing I get a text from MM that he was sorry to hear about Diane (my wife) on facebook. ??????? no idea what he's talking about so I check out her facebook post. Medical Emergency landing in Little Rock for another passenger so she gets delayed an hour or so.
One of my last hands at IP I pulled a nice double barrel bluff after I raised 10Js hearts. The flop was a disaster of A35, all spades. One caller of my poorly thought out cbet of about $35, then I bet $100 on the turn which was something like 8h. The guy just oozed weakness and lost a couple big hands in a row. Nervous two minutes as he sat there pondering before finally saying "I know you're not bluffing" then folding. That's a type of bluff I've rarely, if ever, done.
After a few hours at IP I'm ahead $260.00 then head back to Harrahs to get my room. Good poker room, good staff at the IP. Fun tables both that morning and the night before. I'll be back.
Short wait for check in at Harrahs, I get my room. Lovely view of the heating/AC unit. that's okay. I got the non refurbished room without the flat screens or pillow tops. I could have paid an extra $15 per night for the upgrade, but it wasn't worth it. The bed was fine. The fan in the room was loud and annoying, and the water dripped from the tub, but all in all, it's worth the cheap/free price. No bed bugs. Bonus.
My wife shows up as I'm getting dressed. She freshens up and we're off to the V for lunch. MM, MG, and AT are already there playing the nooner. We walk around some while my wife trys to figure out what she's hungry for. I'm starving and getting frustrated because she looks at every menu around. We finally sit down at "I Love Cheeseburgers" or something on the upper level of the Palazzo shops. Overpriced burger that was decent, not great. Service sucked.
After we head to the V room for some 4/8 O8. Di never played this live. She sits down for an orbit and is bored at the slow pace of the geezers at the table then leaves for 4/8 limit. I stay at Omaha. After a few hours I'm up $40.00 when Di and I decide to walk around some. She's been wanting to go to the Forum shops at Caesar's because she remembered it as being nice back in 1998. We walk around some and realize it's just an overpriced fancy mall. She sees people walking around with those long fancy drinks, and she wants one. We order a MaiTai from some kiosk bar in the middle of the mall somewhere. Travel tip: make sure you ask how much they are before ordering. $39.00. ouch. good drink, we walk around Caesar's sharing it. Towards the end she gulped a pretty good dose of something that made her do a brain freeze dance that was pretty funny.
We then head back to the room and do stuff.
It gets to be time for us to head over to TI. Mike P plays there pretty often and knows some dealers/regulars so he has them set up a 3/6 mixed game for us to begin at 8. Di and I play the 7pm tourney which had 38 entries, including MP and Andrew. After a couple hours the final table is reached with both my wife and me.
I was happy to get there because at one point I was down to only 500 from the original 3,500 starting stack. I was able to triple up 2x and get back in it. When I only had 500 I was playing like I didn't care because I wanted to play the mixed game that was beginning. At the final table Di was short stacked and busts out in 9th. Not bad for only her 2nd Vegas tourney. Her first was back in September where she chopped a 1 table tourney at the Flamingo with a guy. I'm able to get down to the final 3 against some old guy who was pretty bad and a young Asian/Spanish guy, good player. I'm on the button with the short stack and look down at 8-8. Right then they suggest a chop. grrrrrr... I wanted to take my chances with that hand but agree with a 3 way chop for about $390.00, netting about 320.00 after dealer tip. I tipped the dealers $20.00. I'm not sure if that's too much, too little or what.
After the tourney we were both starving, so we took the tram over to Carnegie Deli at Mirage. Huge, huge pastrami sandwich, wife had the egg salad sandwich. Awesome and good service (although I think the one at Foxwoods in CT was better). We send a text back to the the guys at TI to see if anybody wanted anything. MP wanted a pastrami sandwich and matzo ball soup, which we brought him. I sat down briefly at the 1/3 mixed game until Di wanted to head out. She was just watching because she didn't really know the games and didn't feel like learning after the MaiTai. Overall I lose $80 in the game, mostly on the final hand where MP had nutnut on a game of four card double flop.
We head back to Harrahs, I get Di to bed then head down and play 1/2 for a couple hours, losing $60.00 before calling it a night at 3:30 or so.
Day 3
Di got up early and hit one of the 30 or so Starbucks within a 1 block radius. I sleep until 10 or so, then we head down to the Flamingo food court so I could get a slice of pizza in their new food court. no complaints other than the price. $9.50 for a 3 topping slice and a pepsi. nuts. We were going to walk over to Cosmopolitan to check it out before the 1pm Aria tourney I was to play with MG and AT. As we walked by the Flamingo poker room, there was a new 2/4 limit table opening. Not really a fan of the game, but I sit down with her. After 90 minutes I cash out even, then we book over to Aria. Long, long walk.
As for the tourney, $125, 78 players. It was my first time playing in the room and I really liked it. Comfortable chairs. I don't like the lack of cupholders because I'm always paranoid I'll spill my drink. As for the tourney I went out somewhere around 18th when I ran pocket 9s into qq. Q hit the flop, but the turn gave me a gutshot. nope. I was done. Overall I was happy with the way I played.
Two hours into the tourney I was starving. When I was out after 6 hours I was near death. On a recommendation from a guy sitting at Di's 4/8 table, we go eat at Lemongrass in Aria (asian grub). She had some drunken noodle seafood thing, and I had the orange chicken. Great food, cool looking interior, but the service sucked.
After dinner we head over to Cosmopolitan to check it out. Beautiful inside. It's probably the best looking casino I've seen. We didn't do anything other than walk through it, but it was worth the trip.
We walk back to Harrahs to shower and change then head to the V to meet up with the others. I wanted to play 4/8omaha while my wife was to play limit. I get on the list and after 20 minutes or so I get called to the must move game way in the back of the room. When I get there the table is full. The dealer laughs at me and says go talk to the floor. I talked to the kid at the desk and he's baffled. He said some kid took my seat. We walk back while he's calling his boss/superior. After a bit the Asian woman/boss says sorry, he already took a hand so he can't be moved. Back on the list I go. Wasn't really pissed, just shaking my head in disbelief. No biggie. I head back and hang out watching MM play 1/2 waiting for my name. After 10 minutes I get called and told which table I should sit at, which ended up being the main game. I'm about to take a hand when Asian boss lady told me I was sent to wrong table, so I have to move to the must move game. At that point I said screw it and went to join my wife at a newly opened 4/8 game.
For the first hour of the game I'm kicking ass getting great hands so I'm ahead almost $200. I thought it was about to be more when I get AQc and we end up capping it pre. The flop is Q high and I'm betting raising all the way against a couple others. The turn is a 4, pairing the board. I still think I'm good with my 2 pair. Nobody doing anything to tell me otherwise. End of hand, a guy flips over KK, taking a pot for about $170. Stunned me because I don't think he even raised pre. Anyway, after a couple fun hours there I walk away +70.
Next, we walk back to Harrahs to play some PaiGow, which I never really played. I've tried to swear off table games, but I need to give Harrahs some love for future comp possiblities. I lose $60 there then walk over to play 1/2 losing $40.00 after a couple hours. Go to bed around 3.
Day 4.
I wake up around 8:30, shower then sneak down to play paigow some more with MM,MG and AT, not waking my wife. Little by little I work my way up to +$100 after a couple hours. My friends and the dealers mock me for not playing the fortune bonus, but I think it's a waste. At one point I play my hand wrong where I actually had a flush with a wildcard, and was talking out loud about what to do. The pitboss behind me confirmed what I was doing was right. After we flipped up the hands we realized our error. As I played it, it was a push, but the pit boss let me switch it to a winner because he gave me bad advice.
My wife comes down and we decide to do lunch at KGB's (Kerry's Gourmet Burgers) in Harrahs. Not long after I sit down I get a text from MM that the very next hand after I left a lady was dealt a royal flush in the seat I just left, giving her $750.00 on her $5.00 bonus bet. My friends each got $50.00 as well for some kind of sharing thing (I'm new to paigow, not sure how that works). I sent him a text back I was glad for her and she owes me a beer (which she ended up giving $5 to MM for me for said beer). As for KGB, great, great burgers.
On our way out I walk by the paigow table and congratulate the royal flush lady, letting her know I was the sap who walked away. Then we make our way over to the V. As I was walking over there I realized I didn't really screw myself by missing the royal at paigow, but I likely screwed over one of my 3 friends sitting at the table. If I stayed there, the dealer likely would have hit that little button at a different millisecond, then the royal likely would have been delivered to one of my friends at the table instead of the new lady since they made up 3/5ths of the players. Now I was feeling better.
At the V, I sit for a while at the 4/8 O8 game, not doing much but slowly making a profit. I'm about to move to a 8/16O8 game when I scoop two big pots in a row. After the first scoop I couldn't leave for the 8/16 game I was waiting for because I had the kill button, same with the 2nd scoop. I leave the table up $260.00.
I sit at the newly opened must move 8/16O8 game, waiting for the main game to sit with MM. I'm ahead about $80 after an hour or so before I finally get moved to the main game. My name was first on the list for probably 3 hours! I didn't really want to move to the main game because there were some pretty bad players at the must move game, including a non english speaking dude who wanted to go "all in" a couple times. Always a bold move for a limit game. At the main game I lose a small bit, but walk away from 8/16 with a profit of about $16.00.
Di and I now only have a few hours to kill before our redeye flight out that night. We get a comp for some of the hours played and head over to the Grand Lux for dinner with MM. Always good food there. We head over to Harrahs to play some 1/2 and get our bags packed. I sit for about 1.5 hours and walk away up $60.00. Could/should have been more when I flopped a flush but let a guy see the river too cheaply which brought him a higher flush. For the short time I was there two guys flopped quads which won them the high hand bonus of $50.00. Also aces were cracked a couple times for $100.00, but the guys lost money overall on each hand.
We go to the room and grab our bags and all of our belongings, or so we thought. On the drive home in Atlanta on 400N sometime around 6am, my wife wakes up in a panic remembering she didn't get her jewelry out of the safe. Oops. Luckily I never officially checked out and the guys were checking out that morning. I was able to explain the problem to Harrahs and have them add MG to our room so he could get a key and get into the safe. Mission Accomplished: he successfully brought home the cheap, costume jewelry I lovingly bought for my wife.
Overall a good trip. I won about $650.00 or 700.00, ate like a king, drank like a drunk king, and was able to bounce back after my last trip in September where I dropped 2k. I'm already planning my return visit for June, when MM plays his first WSOP event and I officially chicken out at the last minute of my first WSOP event.

 

I liked this report a lot, thanks for posting.

 

Loved the poker TR!!! Im a poker player too and want to thank you for posting this. I am going in June also and Ill be playing in my 2nd WSOP event.

 

Good report. Some funny stuff there. "Blend in with the IP crowd". All in at the limit table, "...always a bold move." :evillaugh

I don't think you're folding the 10 high flush was all that bad. It was genius if the guy would have flip the K. I wouldn't beat yourself up about it.

Thanks for taking the time to write it up.

 

Nice report.....see you there in June as well but I wont be at the WSOP.

I will be hitting up the Binion's Poker Classic, Nugget Grand Poker Series, and Venetian tourneys.

So sick of the snow right now....

 

Thanks for posting always enjoy a poker centered report, good read.

 

Thanks for posting. Your TR was a good read!

 

I enjoy reports on poker also. I am a low limit player and rarely play no limit in Vegas, but like to get a sense of the rooms and the games if I want to make some rare exceptions.
By the way, with just poker play now the CET casinos are giving free room offers. I stayed five nights at Harrah's last trip on poker play at Imperial Palace and O'Shea's and will stay two at Rio next trip (maybe more if they losen up before I go) based on the same sort of play at Flamingo at the 2/4 you don't care for.
I have never played anything at Harrah's or Rio. So you don't have to feel forced to play table games if you play long enough at the poker table.
I was surprised that your room was less than perfect. Try MardiGras tower next time if you did not this time. The rooms were great without upgrade charges.
Thanks for posting.

 

Got home from a Harrah's poker trip last night so I thoroughly enjoyed your report. I'll put together a Poker Report in the next few days or so. And as for Dewey's comments, I'm thinking that the free/cheep rooms make their higher rake playable.

 

I first started chasing the lowest rakes in town until it dawned on me that the local regulars are to be found at those low raked tables, players who often play in the same place everyday and with the same set of cronies, players who never say, "Well, it's only money," or" I just want to see what you had," or " Gotta see the flop."
If a player can do the math on the low rakes, s/he can do it on when to play and when to fold as well.
On a 2-4 table I figure just one loose player or calling station overbetting and building pots easily pays the extra dollar on the rake. Or just one new person to the game who has not even figured out yet that there is a rake will pay the casino take on each winning pot.

IN low limit poker, table selection is key to winning money. I want to be at higher raked games because they will discourage smart opponents. One player on a 2-4 table who calls on the turn and river, when s/he should have known to fold, pays not only for the higher rake, but often for the entire rake on that win.

And daily regulars don't care much about free rooms in Vegas as comps either. That is comp attracts tourists.