A post-COVID trip to Sin City for poker, poker and probably more poker - Nov 8th - 26th (SEMI-LIVE)

MB has limited hours but has opened again. Not been down there yet but will probably try and play one session at every Strip casino and as many off-Strip that I think is worth it (definitely SP, probably not Red Rock, Santa Fe or Boulder Station).

 

When I was booking my trip, and had the mishap with Sonesta, the one night I was really struggling to get anywhere was Saturday 13 November. Rates were just wild for some reason, I am putting it down to the original plan that Travis Scott was supposed to be playing at DayNVegas or whatever it is called but obviously he got pulled at the last minute after the tragedy he was involved in recently, and RIP to those lost in that tragedy.

Because of this, I ended up having to basically overpay Harrahs for one night. $179 plus tax, plus resort fee is a bit expensive, but it is a Saturday and the Chiefs are in town this weekend, sadly. So after getting up and packing (and posting), I walk to Harrahs with the bags and check them with the bell desk as sod paying to check in early to a room I'm barely gonna use. Dump those off and head back to TI to charge the phone and do the final pack of what I'll need for the day before checking out and heading to Caesars to play. Call ahead and there's already 17 on the list when I get there but it moves quite quickly and I'm only waiting 20 minutes before I get into the game.

Looking back at my notes on the game I called the first 4hrs of it the "make good laydowns when it matters" game. Raised it up with A-K and got one caller. Flop is A-Q-2 with two spades and I bet 20 when checked to, only to see him raise to 50 very quickly. I call with the plan of folding any non-king turn. The turn is the 6c and he bets 105. I lay it down and he shows me A-Q. Next hand a field player raises to 15, guy to my right calls and I call on the button with A-J. Flop is J-5-4 with two diamonds and the raiser bets 25. Both of us call. Turn is the Qs and the raiser goes all in for 45, which the next guy instantly calls. I figure I am beat and fold. Raiser has K-K and caller gets there with Q-T diamonds as the river is the 9 diamonds.

I won a few small pots and go grab a slice of pizza before coming back to the table and losing another hand where I raise J-J and get one caller, flop an overpair but board runout is horrendous and I lay it down on the river to a big bet, leaving me with 225 of a 400 buy in and reload. By this point it is 4pm and I need to go check in so I leave my stack on the table, check in at Harrahs and get back before they pick me up for taking too long. Just. Wish I hadnt though, as a few hands later I raise 9-9 to 14 and the guy to my right makes it 35. I call and the flop is T-8-6. I check, he bets 50 and I have a decision to make. My stack is around 190 so calling isn't really an option here as my stack to pot ratio isn't great. His range of hands includes overpairs and ace high hands such as A-K, A-Q etc. I mull it over and eventually decide on a jam, he has Kings and calls, and I don't improve. GG.

Headed back to the room, got the bags delivered, did the bookkeeping and headed back out for food. Why I chose White Castle is beyond me but I did, and it was horrible. I don't get the hype at all. Moved on to the Venetian and was quickly in a game there despite the massive list it seemed, I put my name down, rolled a cigarette, smoked said cigarette and as I got back to the cardroom, got called. I dont have many notes from this game but this session was the opposite of the other one. I won very few pots but they were large ones, however the most ridiculous pot of the night was when I raised to 11 with K-K, and a guy at the other end of the table who was silent as a mouse and I hadn't seen play a hand 3-bets me to 25. I 4 bet to 70 when it folds back to me and he goes into the tank before 5-betting me to 200! What to do here? Well tbh although it took me forever to do so, it was an easy decision. When he 5-bets me to 200 rather than going all in, as I quite clearly only have 230 behind, he is telling me his range is made up of three particular hands - pocket Aces, pocket Kings and Ace-King. That's it. I can rule out every other type of hand - he would call with pocket queens and jacks, fold tens and below, and probably fold all other hands. People just don't 4-bet here very often, in fact I think its the first or second time I've seen it happen in the entire week. As I have two of the kings, it makes it a lot less likely to be kings, I reduce the chances of him having Ace-King as there are less combinations of those, so I decide it has to be Aces and fold. He doesn't show, and doesn't say a word, but later on after he leaves it's pretty clear from the other people at the table that it was obviously aces vs kings and I made the right fold.

I did say this day was the "make good laydowns" day, didnt I?

Thankfully after that I got a full double up when a middle position guy raises to 13 over a limper. I call on the button with 9-8 of hearts and we see a flop of Jh-Td-3h. He bets 20 and I call. Turn is the 6d and he bets 45, I call. River is the 7c and he snap moves all in for more than my remaining 147. I call instantly as I have the nuts and he shows a cracked set of pocket jacks. Hopefully this is the turnaround! I play for a couple more hours before tiredness hits and I rack up for 425, a profit of 125 on the session. Overall I'm currently down $950 over 30hrs of play roughly so it's not too bad - a long way to go yet though and hopefully the variance will change and I can get back into the green.

Plan for today is to post this then walk to Ballys with the bags whilst it's quiet before getting some food and into another game whilst waiting for check-in to open. After this I'm done with moving and Ballys will be my home base until I leave, so hopefully I can settle down and just get on with more playing over the next 12 days before heading home with hopefully more money in my pocket than I came with!

 

Bravo! This is truly engrossing and I read it slowly to ensure I could visualize every hand as you reported them. I appreciate posts with this level of disclosure. As painful as the losses are, they make for a much more interesting gambling story and I can share that much more in the joy of your victories when you achieve them.

 

Was going to say SP should probably be on the list.

 

Note to self: NFL Sundays are not how I remember them. Granted, this may be because one - I'm older, and two - I'm solo on this trip whereas every other time I've been in Vegas in NFL season I've been with friends, at the bar, ordering Corona NFL (that's "no fecking lime because fruit does not belong in my fecking drink!", RIP Ger).

Anyway, after that maudlin moment, back to yesterday's recap. I walked the bags from Harrah's to Bally's and that was considerably easier than I was expecting if I'm honest. Come out of Harrah's through Carnival Court, head through Linq, past Flamingo and Cromwell on the outside as its easier to drag bags on the pavement rather than the carpet, turn left at Cromwell down Flamingo Rd and instead of heading up the escalator, walk down to the Cromwell main entrance where there is a crosswalk that takes you directly to Bally's front door, missing the bazaar that is just awkward with luggage. Dropped them off at the bell desk and went back to Harrah's to catch the end of the Sao Paulo GP with a cherry danish and yet another jelly doughnut (there's a theme developing here...) before checking out online and heading back to Caesars for more poker.

It's nice to finally report on a session that went well. Early on it folds to me in the cutoff (so for the non-poker players, this means three players left to act after me, the button, small blind and big blind) and I raise to my usual $11 open with 9-5 of diamonds. This is probably one of the worst hands I will raise here, but it is suited, can make straights and I will have position advantage after the flop. The big blind is the only caller and we see a flop of 9-6-5 with two hearts. He checks, I bet $16 and he calls. The turn is a gorgeous 9 of spades and we both check. The river is the queen of clubs and he leads out for $35. I think for a short time and raise to $120. He calls and my hand is good versus his flopped straight.

Win two more small pots by betting on a 9-6-6 flop with two hearts holding pocket tens and everyone folding, and flop top set on a K-9-3 board with pocket kings in a raised pot, but all board cards are the same suit so I have to fastplay it and again they all fold. At this point my stack is around the 530 mark. I blind down/miss a few hands for the next hour before I raise pocket jacks to $12 out of a $470 stack and two players call. We see a Q-J-9 flop, again all the same suit, and it is checked to me. I bet $25, a field player folds, and the small blind raises to $100. I call, hoping the board will pair, but the ten of spades on the turn slows everything down. We both check and see the queen of spades hit the river, pairing the board. He quickly moves all in and I instantly call, showing my hand straight away as is my preference when I think I have a winner, I hate the posturing/slowrolling that happens in these games. He's visibly frustrated and pounds the table as he holds 9-9 for a worse full house and I scoop the $500 pot, putting me at $720.

Normally once I've doubled my stack I'll leave, but it didn't feel right to hit and run at that point as the table had been pretty good, plus I was experiencing the positive side of variance for once so I stayed for a bit and lost another 50 over the course of another hour to cash out at $670.



Headed over to Bally's to check in and ended up getting into a bit of an argument over their nickel and diming policy which I found ridiculous. Apparently their computer systems now calculate the early check in fee to the second and the desk agents claim to have no power to remove this. I got there at around 2.10pm and they wanted to charge me some stupid figure like $22.74, like it had been calculated and was going down by a cent every 3 seconds or something stupid like that. I'm sure someone here can work the formula out. I told them where to shove it and headed for a slice of pizza in the food court to kill time. Grabbed my bags from the bell desk afterwards and waited until exactly 3.00pm to check in.

Apparently Bally's don't have smoking rooms any more, apart from one floor, and when they do, they book it out for conventions because, you know, screw the regular full pay travelers. Not helping yourselves here. At least the woman at the desk was able to honour one request for me - I am in the Resort Tower and requested a room not facing the Flamingo Road, because I like to sleep. I got that, at least, but jeez Eldorado, if you want people to come back to you and not MGM, then stop being penny pinching. It's not a good look to regular people like me. I'm almost tempted to stop playing here and focus solely on MGM properties depending on how my poker play is calculated, but I'll have to sit and do some math.

Get into the room and if I'm honest, it's a lot better than I was expecting. Very decent size, fridge, separate sink (but no coffee maker, so failing to see the need for the separate sink) and a full bathroom. The only thing missing is a tub, and a decent view. Can just about see the pool and Ellis Island, and Hilton Grand Vacations. Get myself unpacked and settled and head to the Rio to play. End up taking the bus because by the time I'm ready to leave, everyone is converging on Allegiant for the NFL game between the Raiders and the Chiefs, and rideshare prices are super high. Sadly for me, there were no decent games at the Rio so I hang there for a couple of hours watching an old friend play on Day 6 of the Main Event, and catch up with some other old work colleagues before heading out and back to the Strip before the game finishes and rideshare prices go drastically up. I hit Earl of Sandwich for another Earl's Club, naturally, and head to Caesars for another session.

This one didn't go so well, I was completely card dead and my tip counter shows I won two hands that weren't raise and takes. I didn't lose any hands of note though and just kinda dribbled off $85 in blinds and calling raises with small pocket pairs that kept on not connecting with the board. Tiredness eventually hits and I made my way back to Bally's at around midnight, crashing at 1am, having had my first profitable day of the trip. I'm down with that, as the kids would say!

 

Pic Dump (there's only a few)

WynnCore from the TI room in the daytime.


West Las Vegas in the day.


Walking across the bridge from V to TI


Apparently I bought myself some sunglasses:

 

Ocean One for breakfast - at the bar, naturally. No point taking up a table as a solo...

 

I guess no real opportunity to say "But they were SOOTED!". Following....

 

Nope, no opportunity at all I'm not one for rubbing it in or trash talking to be honest. Hate that part of the game. I'm just there to enjoy myself and try and make the table happy and entertaining to keep the fun players coming back.

On that note, the next update should be interesting...it's the first time in a long time I've left a game because someone else on the table is bad for the game, but full details to follow in the AM!

 

Right. Yesterday. Yesterday was supposed to be one of the most boring days of the trip - the day after the Raiders play the Chiefs so everyone is hungover, the atmosphere is down, it's quiet in the AM, I dont know what it was but it just felt like yesterday was going to be a boring day when I set out for breakfast after posting in here, grabbing a shower etc, the usual morning stuff that I'm pretty sure you don't want to hear 17 times during this TR.

Was a bit undecided about where to go for breakfast so headed to Miracle Mile and eventually settled on Ocean One. Now I have a slight issue when it comes to the options for breakfast in Vegas, in that I do not eat eggs. I'm sure I've mentioned this before but I don't like eggs, full stop. The problem I have here is that unless I'm hitting fast food joints or off strip little cafe's, every damn option on the strip has g-d eggs in. It's either eggs with bacon, or eggs with sausage, or breakfast burrito with egg...I'm glad I am just an asshole who doesn't like eggs rather than having an egg allergy because that would be horrendous. I ended up finding it easier to just have a load of sides and combining them, so my breakfast consisted of bacon, sausage links, breakfast potatoes and a biscuit with CTUG. Gotta love that CTUG, I can't get it over in England.

Had a look at the lists and none of them looked good so decided to head over to Aria for more of the same, 1/3 Texas Hold'Em, and after what felt like a long wait, but actually wasn't that bad, I got seated at the worst table I have ever sat at in Vegas, although you would not have thought it when I first sat. It seemed like the perfect table. Few grinders, couple of young guys, and the obligatory old guy drunk out of his mind and just donating to everybody. And I mean everybody. He was calling blind preflop, betting with no pair, calling down with one out, in summary he was a dream to play with. The slight problem was that the guy just would not shut up. Ever. He was loud, belligerent, but generally just harmless. He was out to have a good time and was doing so, and I was just sat there ready to take his money, and when I found two black Aces and raised to 14 over one limper and he called, along with the limper, dollar signs were going off in my head. The flop was K-K-9 with two clubs and the limper bets $20 into two of us. Uh-oh. I can narrow down his range here. He never does this with a draw knowing that the drunk is still in the hand, therefore he either has a King and is drawing the drunk in, or he has a 9 and is setting his own price. In order to keep the drunk in, I call this bet. Unfortunately the drunk folds.

The turn is another King and although this narrows down his range, it doesn't change things much, it just means he has more 9s than Kings. He checks and I'm in a tough spot. I can bet, but if he check-raises then what? Do I call even though this polarises him to the last King? Given that this is early on, I decide to be cautious and check back, only to see the case King on the river, counterfeiting both our hands. He checks and I check back, not seeing the point on betting when I am never getting a call as I block A-9 with my Aces, and without an Ace he isn't putting any more money in the pot. I win the hand as he flashes a 9. Thinking back on this I think I have to bet the turn here, and if he check-raises then call down, rather than the cautious line I took. Ah well, we learn from our mistakes.

It then goes completely wrong through no fault of my own. After the hand above, the drunk goes for a smoke and he can be heard on the other side of the room when he's winning on the slots. However, once he comes back, he plays a couple of hands, and he's a bit louder and slower this time but it happens. He tries to order more booze but the waitress cuts him off and to be honest he took it well, drinking his water and carrying on, but then the guy to my left disappears for a hand. I think nothing of it and he returns, but 20 seconds later the floorman appears and kicks the drunk out of the game! WTF? Anyway it turns out that the old reg had complained about the guy, saying he was too loud and too slow? Jesus! What more do you want in your game? Now I'm one of two guys at the table depending on my mood. I'm either quiet if I'm tired, or I laugh it up and joke around to try and create a good atmosphere, especially when there's a fun player in the game and I'm trying to keep them there. The old reg says to me "I just want a solid game" and I actually turn round and say to him "oh, so you just hate money then, because he was money and you just got him kicked out!" I shake my head but whatever, let's play. Asshole.

I then lose a monster hand which I forget to take notes on, but from memory I raise T-T and the Norwegian guy in Seat 2 calls. The flop is 2-3-4 rainbow and he checks, I bet 25 and he min-raises to 50. I call and the 3 turn brings two diamonds, and he bets 65 which I call. The river Q saves me and I tank-fold to a 100 bet - he shows me A-5 of diamonds for the flopped wheel and I think I lost the minimum. During this a player arrives to replace our friendly loud drunk and he immediately gets into a hand with the Norwegian where the Norwegian raises UTG, he calls next to act and the Norwegian bets every street on 5d-Qd-Qc-2c-9c. The Norwegian, on the river, says "You're good, I have jack-high, I missed my flush", or words to that effect, and the new guy won't show his hand until he sees the Norwegian's cards. He won't even let him muck, no, he HAS to see those cards. Obviously the Norwegian gets pissed but shows J-3dd, and only then does the new guy, who is being a complete prick, show his hand.

Two red Kings. Are you g-d kidding me?! Then he goes one better. He doesn't bother to tip the dealer, asks how long he can leave the table for to go eat without getting picked up, and is told that the best time to go is just after a dealer down change as Aria picks you up after two downs. He leaves for food not 3 hands later when the dealer changes. After witnessing this, I was done. Picked up and left down 100. Managed to somehow leave without calling out the 8 seat for being a complete prick, and decide to head to Walmart as with the fridge at Bally's, I need more water and Gatorade. Pick up some more snacks as well, and also decide to grab some cereal and milk along with single use bowls and spoons, as this should save me about $150 over the next few days plus means I can eat earlier and be in better shape when playing. I also feed the nicotine habit (sue me, I smoke tobacco!) and head back to Bally's to unload the groceries.

Eventually head to the Linq to find a restaurant and end up in Favorite Bistro. I do not recommend. I had a fried chicken sandwich and it was dry as hell. Hit Venetian after that and play for a few hours, winning a decent hand with 4-5 of diamonds that flushed on the turn, made a set of jacks and got paid, had Aces and won a small pot, but to be honest I never went above 450 and never went below 300. Just one of those sessions. It was interesting though in that between 8pm - 2am the Venetian have a high hand promo, if you have the high hand in the 30 minute qualification period you win $300. Our table won the high hand twice in a row! Sadly, it wasn't me. Decided to rack up with 415 in my stack when I realised I was way too tired after going to raise to 11, completely misreading my chips and raising to 7. Head back to Bally's for 12 midnight, decline the offer of marijuana whilst having one last cigarette, and pass out not long after.

 

What do you mean by: the a-hole won't let the Norwegian muck? If it's just the two of them left in the hand, and one folds, why would either of them need to show their cards? I have no reason to question your assessment of his demeanor, but I don't understand why the a hole wouldn't "let" the Norwegian fold, nor why the a hole would need to show his kings. If the Norwegian surrenders the pot, isn't it over?

 

The Norwegian declared jack high and eventually showed the jack of diamonds because the other guy wouldn't do anything other than signal to see the cards. Once the jack of diamonds is shown, the a-hole knows there is no way the Norwegian can win the pot. He still insists on seeing the other card and waiting for a few seconds before turning over his kings.

 

Sorry I just realised I wrote hearts when I meant diamonds in the original post. Fixed.

 

Great trip report, can I ask if you had, or are having, a (recommended) day 3-5 covid test now you are in the US?

 

I did not get a Day 3-5 COVID as I did not meet the criteria, I have had (and recovered from) COVID within the last 90 days and entered the US with a Documentation of Recovery, and it is advised not to get a test as there is a higher likelihood of a false positive.

I did get an antigen COVID test before I flew, which came back negative, and regularly took antigen tests before travel, which all also came back negative.

 

Spent most of the afternoon at MGM Grand. Lost money, but not much.

Of note, after dinner I had to walk from Luxor to Bally's and took the route Luxor - Excalibur - NYNY - Park MGM then tram to Bellagio - Ballys. Park MGM was easily the casino with the least number of patrons, both wandering through and gambling, despite there being a VGK game on tonight. I was surprised by this considering its the only smoke-free casino on the Strip. I wonder if it will stay that way.

 

Isn’t that flop check raise flop bet always a sign of strength? I mean I have no idea these days, especially against a Scandinavian.

 

It is and it isn't. Obviously player dependent, but so far on this trip I've seen it done with the nuts, but also stuff like top pair and a flush/straight draw, or even top pair top kicker. It certainly helps me narrow down his range though.

The one street on that board I don't like is the turn. I should just fold there once he bets 65. The three is a very good card for him and a very bad card for me, because now all I am beating is his top pair hands and he doesn't have many of those compared to his two pair hands, of which most just made a FH, or his other already made monsters.

 

Yesterday can go and take itself, and sit in the bin. Pretty much everything that could go wrong, did!

It started out pretty well, a nice relaxing morning posting on here and chilling out online, before eventually attempting to leave the room and find a game at around 11.30am, and this was where everything started to go wrong. I left the room and upon checking the Bravo app (app which shows what poker games are available in real time in most casinos in Vegas) decided that lists were way too high and I was headed to MGM, and the best way to do that was to, gulp, take the Monorail. So I headed to the Monorail. Bought my ticket, inserted it in the machine, and...it rejected it? Erm, what? Tried it again, and no-go, kept going through as normal but the barriers weren't opening. Tried it a third time and the damn thing now starts saying "expired ticket" Are you having a laugh? Thankfully there was an attendant nearby and after explaining the situation, she opened the barriers and I headed upstairs...only to see the damn train leave. Great.

It was whilst I was waiting up there that I had a horrible realisation. I didn't have my face shield. I'd left it in the room. Are you kidding me? I knew, deep down, that I couldn't go anywhere without it so I had to abandon the monorail trip, leave the station, wave goodbye to my $5 single ride ticket and head back to the room to get the shield. Which I did. Head back to the room via the lifts and as I'm waiting for the lift, I clean my sunglasses and manage to snap one of the lenses off them. Completely snap off. Yep, today is not my day. Hit the room, dump the sunglasses, grab the face shield and head out to MGM, giving up on the Monorail and walking to MGM. Get there at around 12.30pm and straight into a game.

My notes on this session tell me that despite what appeared to be a very easy table, with the simple strategy of raise the good hands over the limpers and fold if any one of them shows aggression, I couldn't get going with anything. The only hand I had in the first hour was when I raised to $11 UTG with A-K, and a tight player in the small blind made it $35. I just called for some reason (probably because aggression normally meant strong and a 3-bet normally meant monsters!) and we saw a J-4-2 rainbow flop. He bets $100 into the $70 pot and I get out of the way - he shows me Aces. I hover around the $200-$250 mark for an hour before raising to $12 with K-K over 1 limper, two players call before the limper makes it $55. I jam my $220 in the middle and the two players fold, the limper thinks for ages before folding J-J face up.

This puts me back to $300 and I dribble down a bit paying blinds and limping the odd speculative hand in position before raising 7-7 to $10 in middle position. The SB does a tiny 3-bet to 25 and I am the only caller. The T-9-8 flop with two hearts is interesting though, especially when he checks, as I can now confidently say he has A-K or a suited A-Q as he would bet all his overpairs on that board. I therefore bet 30 to try and get him off it - he calls. Hmmm, interesting. The Q turn, however, ruins my day. I'm only beating A-K now, four of my outs have gone as I can now only make the straight with the 6, but he checks behind again. This makes it more likely to be A-K but I check back, as he only has around 75 left and he is the type of player that once he's put in half his stack, he feels obligated to do the rest. The river is a Jack, putting a straight on the board, and he snap-shoves his $75 into the middle. Well played sir. I fold face up and he shows me the expected A-K.

The only other hand I noted was when I limp behind a limper with 8-7 of diamonds, the button limps and the SB makes it $17 to go. I am the only caller, but the button doesnt see this and exposes his hand, A-K unsuited. Ruling is that his hand is live but stays exposed. The flop is T-9-3r and I bet my straight draw when he gives up and checks. He grimaces and folds. I lose one more hand when I call a raise with A-T of spades and fold on the 8 high flop, with the raiser showing me A-8 unsuited, and eventually rack up my remaining $195 for a small loss of $105. As I'm racking up, I plug my portable charger in and it shows me it has 3 bars left. Five minutes later its as dead as a dodo. Great. Another thing to replace whilst I am over here.

Decide on food and as I have a MyVegas reward for Diablo's Cantina at Luxor, I head over there. Order the Chicken Enchiladas and a side of fries, no beans. It was okay, but not great. The rice and fries were nice but the tortilla wasnt great and the green salsa sauce over the tortillas was...interesting, to say the least. Got a bottle of Fiji to go to make the check over $40. I think if I'd paid full price I'd have been disappointed, but for $21 after the comp it was edible. Tipped $15 and headed out to get the tram back to Excalibur, with the plan of heading back to the room...only to find the tram was closed. Lovely. Seriously, Vegas, will you just reopen everything? There's enough people here to justify it!

I then take the long walk back through Luxor to Excalibur (no walkways working in the direction of Excalibur either), cross over to NYNY and walk outside to Park MGM. Grab the tram at Park to Bellagio and walk through Bellagio to the bridge to Ballys before heading back to the room. Chilled out for a bit before deciding on Caesars for the evening session, get packed up, leave the room and...forget the face shield. AGAIN. Realise as I'm downstairs in the casino so hit a VP machine with $20 using Royal Flusher's Rules of Parlay (found here: https://www.royalflushervegas.com/2014/05/strict-rules-of-parlay-rules.html) whilst having a smoke, and don't make it to 50c. Head back to the room to get the damn face shield and just don't bother leaving again. The exhaustion had caught up to me and I felt pretty crappy so stayed in and progressively felt worse during the night. Hit the sack at around 1am.

 

I've certainly had similar Vegas days. Looking forward to more poker stories. And to quote Mike Sexton, ""May all of your cards be live, and may all of your pots be monsters."