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Weekend trip with the wife, Oct 10-13, Golden Nugget

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by Twan Trienekens, Oct 18, 2014.

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  1. Twan Trienekens

    Twan Trienekens Newbie

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    My Trip Report

    Hey y'all! My name is Twan and I'm from Holland. Last weekend me and the wife flew out to Vegas during our 2014 USA vacation on the east-coast, for a weekend of sun, fun, drinks, pools and poker. On the east-coast we did a tour from Boston, Portland, Québec, Montreal, Niagara Falls back to Boston, and a whole lot of places, visits and sleeps in between. Great loads of fun, but as we both are super big Vegas enthousiasts, we absolutely needed to fly out during this trip.

    As we had a rental car from Boston it made the most sense to bring it back there and avoid a high one-way-fee of (at least) $250. Plain ticket prices from other airports in between Niagara and Boston were not any better to make that fee back, so therefore our trip starts on Friday the 10th in the morning, just outside of Boston, in the Sonesta Es Suites in Burlington Mass.


    Friday October 10

    We awake in our suite at the Sonesta Es Suites and prepare the suitcases for our flight. After two weeks of driving around from place to place and living from the suitcases, they needed some adjusting.
    Breakfast is included with a stay at Sonesta, so we fill-up on eggs and bacon before heading to Logan Airport at around 9am. We booked flights with Virgin America and we fly from Boston to LAX and on to Vegas.
    We say goodby to our rental car (Nissan) at Alamo, take the shuttle and we immediately go to check-in to drop the bags. Pay the $25/suitcase and head for the security check, which leads us directly into our gate where we need to sit and wait for another hour, without anything to do. Fortunately there are restrooms and a bar, but nothing more. This is easy and quick on one side, but if you have time to kill you may want to think about going thru security later.

    Flight is good. There is a fair amount of tv channels free-of-charge which you can watch during flight, drink service is good and their safety video is tha bomb! Got us immediately in the right spirit about our trip. Also the lighting in their aircraft (purple and pink colours) really set a cool mood.
    Change-over in LAX is smooth. Grab a burger at Burgerking before we take-off for a short flight of 45 minutes. Both flights were booked to max capacity, probably due to the Columbusday holiday.

    Grab a cab without any waitingtime and it brings us to the Golden Nugget were we arrive at about 5.30pm.

    It's out 5th time staying at the Golden Nugget and our 4th time in de Rush Tower. We love it there, downtown in general, but we are huge fans of the GN.

    At check-in we are told that we are getting a complimentary upgrade to a Gold Room in the Rush Tower on the 24th floor, without trying the $20 trick. Not really sure why we got it, didn't bother to ask, but we like it and take it.
    Needed to wait about 45 minutes before room was ready so dropped the bags and went into the casino to feel the vibe. The place was absolutely packed. Their annual beerfest was going on, but also there were soooo many people there that we got extremely exited. Don't know why, but there is something about a busy casino, with all the tables filled, people happy, screaming, slot machines beeping. The pokerroom had many tables going (I like!) so we had the best time, doing nothing and just waiting. Got a couple of drinks and went to the room.

    Some issues with the keys not working properly in the elevator and at the door. After switching keys 3 times we finaly got into our room. A beautiful big room, and a high birds-eye view of the FSE. Loved it.
    Went back down to eat at Claim Jumper, got the Chicken salade (loved it) and wife got some pasta, also great.

    Spend the night playing at Binions and the Nugget, mainly on slots, and lost about $50 while filling up on rum-and-cokes. After wife went to bed I played in the Golden Nugget late-night poker tourney ($65) but couldn't get anything going yet. But that would change later the weekend.
    Went to bed at around 3 in the morning, feeling a good buzz from the rums and the overall idea of just being back at our favourite spot.


    More to come.
     
  2. Twan Trienekens

    Twan Trienekens Newbie

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    Saturday Oct 10

    We awake at about 8 in the morning, which is a decent sleep in Vegas. As my wife has a Gluten allergy she has brought her own breakfast buns and some peanutbutter cups, so I go out to get myself some breakfast. I march over to the Subway at the Plaza hotel and get a 6 inch black forest ham sandwich, some chips, a cookie and chocolate milk. On the way back I stop at the Starbucks and get a Latte and a Tea for the wife and go back to the room where we both eat and hang out a bit.

    As today is the second day of the Golden Nugget beerfest, which was going to be held at their pool, I decided upfront to reserve us both chairs at the Golden Nugget Hide-out Pool, which opens at 10. We go there and see that it was a good decision, as all of the available regular chairs had been taken and people were already leaving the area because there were no chairs available. We got our chairs and went into the water to relax a bit, did the slide thru the sharktank and relaxed a bit. My wife can stay at the pool all-day but after laying in the sun for more then 10 minutes I get restless, knowing that cards are being dealt nearby. So at 11 I head over to the poker room and sign up for the tournament.

    First hand I play, I get dealt KK and double up to 8K in chips . Then I simply are left out of the game for the next 3 levels into the break. Get dealt anything up as high as J-4, and nothing better. So my stack stays the same and I am at 7K chips when I take the $40 add-on for an additional 4K chips.
    I continue to bleed chips right to the point when I have 6K left, there are about 7 players left in the tourney with 5 being paid, and the antes up to 4000 and 2000. I push all-in with Q-6 suited, best hand I had seen since the KK, and double up. Next hand I get A-10 and manage to get a straight and double up again. Next hand I get JJ which becomes JJJ at the turn and win another big pot, which takes me to 2nd place in chips. The hand after that we break the bubble and I am in the money! We loose another 2 players in about 5 minutes to the big stack who has me covered 3-to-1 when he proposes to me if I want to equally chop place number 1 and 2, for about $548. I insta-approve and walk away with a nice profit after about 3 hours of playing.

    I find the wife, show her the chips, get a big smile, and we hang around the pool a little bit. At 3 pm we leave the Hide-out to shower and change, so that we can go to the Strip to cash in some of my MyVegas awards.

    We take the cab to SLS and head for the monorail station to collect our 2 all-days passes, and use them to go to MGM. At MGM we collect our free buffet passes and get into the line just before 6 and just before the lines grew incredibly long. The buffet was fine, nothing great or special, but it was good enough for us. But we will never go there for normal prices, not worth it.

    We play some slots and loose about $50 before heading to NYNY, to collect our 2 rollercoaster passes and ride it. Our 6th visit, never rode it before. It was great, but bumpy and it got me a bad bruise on my shoulder. However, as we are thrill-seakers, we might do this again in the future.

    Go back to MGM, take the monorail to Linq and went to see the High Roller and the new district there. Love it, great vibe. But didn't feel like paying $60 for us two to ride the wheel. Might do that in the future maybe... but only if the price is right (or if we are up a lot...)

    Took the monorail back to SLS and checked it out, as the last time we were there (in 2009) it was still the Sahara. The ceiling is strange, has an old Eastern Europe Industrial feeling to it. Don't know if it's finished as-is, or if they are going to do something about it. But this didn't feel good to us.
    Played a little before cabbing it back to Freemont Street.

    Bought the wife a foodball strawberry cocktail and went inside the Nugget to shoot some dice. Played about an hour before loosing our buy-in of $100 and got some good, strong rum-and-cokes. Wanted to play some more poker, but as I had already signed up for the big GN 9 am $5K guaranteed tourney, choose to go to bed and be fresh in the morning.

    After two days, gambling wise we were up about $200 after the poker tourney chop.
    So far sooooo good.
     
  3. Twan Trienekens

    Twan Trienekens Newbie

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    Sunday Oct 12

    After waking up and showering, I kiss my wife and head out to the Plaza to grab a sub at Subway. I eat there and after that take a walk to the Golden Nugget Pokerroom to play their $5k guaranteed tourney. About 65 entries, so a good turn-out.
    First hand, get dealt KK and double up to 20k+ in chips. After the start of yesterday I was hoping that it was not going to be the same thing again, but unfortunately it turned out to be just exactely the same. Took the $40 add-on and played a long time, till about 3 when I busted out in 11th place, with 8 places being paid, without getting any big hands above 10-10. 6 hours of play, and only seen rubbish after the first KK, kinda put me in a pissed-off mood. Went to see the wife at the Hide-out and stayed with her till about 4.30 when they shut down the pool for a private party.

    Went up to the room to shower and change, as we had diner reservations at Vic&Anthony's at 7pm. Wow. Just simply, wow. Absolutely wonderful. Okay, prices are a bit steep, but still think it was worth it. Had the 12oz Filet Mignon, while the wife had the lamb chops. Perfect. Left a big tip, as this was by far our best dining experience ever.
    Our waiter, Ben, was the best.

    Went outside after diner and went to all the giftshops, saw 2 show on the overhead, played a bit at Binions, when the wife said she had seen enough and wanted to go to the room at about 10.30.

    I played the GN 11pm tourney and chopped for 2nd place, for a $215 payout, so won back my buy-in from the morning. Three placed paid, was in bubble boy position for the last hour or so, while bleeding chips. Finally got some cards, got lucky once, stole some blinds and managed to get into the money, along with the other short-stack player, while we saw the Original 2nd-in-chips bleed and bleed and bleed, until I finally called his all in with AK against his AQ and knocked him out.
    After his bubble, the three of us remaining had the chipleade take 1st (had 3x the amount of chips as both of us combined) and we chopped number 2 and 3 evenly.

    So, 2 pays out of 2 tourneys. Not to bad at all.

    Hang around the craps tables, watching and drinking, but not gambling myself. One more day to go, and wanted my bankroll to stay up for poker.
     
  4. Twan Trienekens

    Twan Trienekens Newbie

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    Monday Oct 13

    We pack our suitcases and check-out from the room at about 9 am, leaving all of it at the bellboys. Pick up some breakfast at The Grille, some sandwich and a big cinnamon bun (huge thing, very very huge. Almost pie-size)

    Wife went to the pool again and joined her for a bit, but did not want to go in because we were traveling at night and did not want to smell after chloride on the plane all night. Went to the pokerroom at 11 and played the tourney. This may have been my best tourney ever. I must have been chipleader from minute 2 right up to the moment we were going to the final table. It seemed that every other hand I got a big pair (had AA twice, KK twice, AK multiple times, AQ/AJ/A10/QQ/JJ/QJ several times) and I just could not loose a hand. Even the hands I played and didn't get any callers, I showed them my hand, just to keep showing I wasn't bluffing a bit. I kicked out 3 players, crippled several others and had about 40K in chips when we got to the final table. Hand continued to come at first, with AA and KQ coming in the first three hands, kicking out another player.

    But then it seemed that my luck had run out. I still got strong hands (K-10 suited clubs, and Q-J off) lost them to the number 2 big-stack and another fairly big stack guy, and suddenly was in danger with 3 placed paid and 7 left.
    It came to 5 players and I got A-J with about 4 big blinds left and went all-in. Got called with A-Q and lost the hand, went out. The remaining four immediately discussed paying the bubble and agreed, which made me the last player out without getting paid.

    So there you go. Best tourney of my life, best cards I had seen all weekend, played my best poker and got respect from all players, and ended up empty handed.

    Went out to see the wife at 2 pm, not feeling good anymore about playing cards and just wanting to go back to the airport to go back home. Feeling miserable about that tourney. However, the wife was still comfortable at her chair, sipping a drink, soaking up the last couple of sunrays and didn't want to go yet.
    So I went back inside an signed up for 1-2 NL, and got 5th on the waiting list. Damn it... Maybe that is another sign to not play anymore.

    I stood at the rail watching a game of 1-2 with people playing pots of over $100 as if it was nothing, building stacks up to $1K and I didn't feel realy comfortable and was getting ready to call it quits in my head, when suddenly an announcement came that they were opening a new table of 1-2 and my name was with the 9 people.

    I took $140 out of my wallet, which was all what was left of our bankroll and winnings, after the meals, room charge etc etc and took my seat.
    It was a friendly table, with about 5 players on my left from Hawaii with some of them I had played in some tourneys already. One of them was at my table the night before with all the crazy and big hand hands. So maybe that helped me a little bit, and my confidence went up.

    People were buying in up to stack of $400 but I just had $140. Playing easy, and would only play the big hands.

    First hand, I flop a straight which stays and I win a good pot of about $70, third hand I double my stack by winning with QQ against QJ with another Q on the turn. Then I sadly loose with QQ against AA (very well played by the guy) and am back at $140.
    Somehow I manage to get back to $300 again just before 4 pm and I had agreed with the wife to go change at 4.30, so I decided to play until the Big Blind + 1 hand and leave. I don't get any more cards and ask for a rack after my BB, announcing last hand.

    I get dealt KQ off, and wait what happens. 1 player raises to $12 and 2 callers. I call.
    Flop comes out A-J-10 with 2 clubs. BINGO!!!
    Check, check, bet of $25. I call, fold fold.
    Turn card is a low card, not pairing the board, or giving a flush draw.
    Player bets out his remaining stack of $70+ and I call with the nut straight.
    River is another low card, but the 3rd club so I fear the flush for a second.

    Dealer askes us to open the cards and he shows 2 pair, and I show my flopped straight and take the $220+ pot.
    I give the dealer $10 tip, make some high-fives and fist bumps with the Hawaiians, and go to the cage and change my $430 in chips to cash.
    What a way to end the trip.

    We change our clothes, grab a cab to the Airport, grab a burger and fly back to Boston.

    We had an absolute blast again. It is soooo unfortunate that flying from Holland to Vegas is rather expensive and takes sooo long. But after this trip, and the way I played poker and how things worked out, I really wished there were ways to go more often. I like playing live so much better, but here there are hardly any games.

    So who knows, I need to find me a way to go back there asap. Until then, I hoped you enjoyed this report and I will talk with you guys on here.
    I will try to add some pictures later on, but now, I will just go to bed :)

    cheers!!
     
  5. jamesxnj

    jamesxnj VIP Whale

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    Great read ! Thankyou!
     
  6. PayTriple

    PayTriple VIP Whale

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    Thanks for the details of your poker games it made your report exciting!
     
  7. aaisack

    aaisack VIP Whale

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    Nice report. Congrats on the wins. I really need to start working the live poker games back into the grind.
     
  8. Dewey089

    Dewey089 VIP Whale

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    wow! I rarely read a trip report with so much poker and you took us right to the table with you. You have a great memory for cards. Clearly you are very good player. Nice wins.
     
  9. abraxis

    abraxis Low-Roller

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    Very much enjoyed the poker recap!
     
  10. sybgal

    sybgal VIP Whale

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    Fantastic report! Glad you had some good luck playing poker too!! Thanks for sharing with us.
     
  11. Royal Flusher

    Royal Flusher Savvy Gambler

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    Very much enjoyed your report. Nice win on the last night!
     
  12. zignerlv

    zignerlv VIP Whale

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    Nice report. One thing is for sure after reading this, your wife must be the tannest woman in Holland right now!
     
  13. veldje

    veldje Newbie

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    real nice report, en idd in nl weinig live poker ;)
     
  14. REELmoneySlotFan

    REELmoneySlotFan High-Roller

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    Hey Twan my fellow Dutchie,
    As I already said on the Dutch Vegas forum: Great TR and what a great weekend of poker in Vegas. Up to the next one......March 2015 maybe?????

    Frank
     
  15. Twan Trienekens

    Twan Trienekens Newbie

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    Hey Frank,

    Would love to, but am afraid that the renovation of the house will take the "Vegas budget".
    But who knows... we shouldn't have gone last year, let alone this year... :)
     
  16. REELmoneySlotFan

    REELmoneySlotFan High-Roller

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    Ahh just take a year extra for the home renovation. Do a little in 2015 and a little in 2016 and plan an extra trip to Vegas.........Would be great if we got the Dutch crew all together in Vegas next March :)
     
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