Short trip and a Holy S**T! Moment

Error. Don't you hate it when you eff up and hit the wrong button while writing? Do I continue or start a new thread? First world problems combined with no dexterity and possible dementia.

Okay. See comment section below.

 

I normally take my time and write a detailed trip report, but this will be short (for me) and not necessarily sequential as I didn’t take notes. Things will be out of order, sort of like my alleged mind.

My friend Glen accompanied me for four nights on my dime as he and many others this past year went above and beyond helping me as I experienced numerous medical issues and procedures. We left our homes for Vegas at 4:30am to make our flight and I am still exhausted from living the Vegas lifestyle with very little sleep.

Glen and I played in numerous “push and pray” (short) poker tournaments and lots of 1/3 cash games. Glen played $5 craps at Ellis Island and at the Downtown Grand.

Now let’s just get the amazingly good news out of the way. We both came home with more money than we left with and paid cash for virtually everything. We’ve taken occasional gambling trips together since our first LONG bus trip to Reno back in the day when Glen was slim and my hair was red. (I’ve never been slim.) After paying cash for everything – meals cabs, etc., we both came home with more than $1k over our initial bankroll. It may have taken us decades to accomplish this feat. It can be done! Who knew?

Were we such skilled poker players that opponents shook in our presence? Hell no. We were flat out lucky. Not LUCKY; just lucky.

For instance, I absolutely killed it on a coupon run winning almost $200 from my LVA coupons chiefly by doubling down on my $50 coupon at The D when the dealer busted. You know those $10 free slot play coupons? Thank you Plaza, et al. for extra $10-$15. I played $5 craps for a short while with Glen at the D and when my $150 winnings dwindled to $85, I scooted and Glen played on.

A tall young woman who may have been 22-23 years-old who was playing with her father in her first craps game as other family members watched. She would hold the dice, concentrate, make a face, then roll and hit a winning number. Gotta work on pulling a face while rolling as that may be the secret to winning craps. I was there only for her first roll before I made my coupon run. Glen said that her second roll was even longer. Much longer. Dammit! Why wasn’t I there? Oh, yeah. Coupon run.

When I returned to the Downtown Grand an hour or so later, I pulled Glen away from his beloved craps and Heinekens after I saw him give back a some winnings. He wasn’t pleased but later thanked me knowing that he would have stayed and lost his winnings. History tends to repeat itself when it comes to Glen, beer, and craps. Anyway, he had a great win with a $100 or $200 buy-in while making only $5 pass line bets with odds, a come bet, and some minimum place numbers. Probably because he was betting for the dealers about every other roll, one of them increased his line and come bet odds without asking. Good on Glen and that dealer.

I’ll post some photos and a few stories, then get to my Holy S**T moment.

Soft-Core Food Porn
We didn't have any fancy schmancy meals, Since y'all like food photos, I took a few.

Beijing Noodle No. 9 at Cesars


Giordano's

Pro tip. Don't starve yourself then scarf down Fettuccini Alfredo with chicken and broccoli on you first night in Vegas when your are starving after a long day, because if you do, you ain't gonna sleep.

Westin for breakfast

Need a sugar high to start your day? Their sexy French toast is good start. The tasty berries make it a health food.

What the hell is this doing here?

When you're playing poker and faint with hunger, you dash to the nearby convenience place near the poker room and grab a small sleeve of nuts. This was my first Bad Beat at poker. These suckers cost $5.45.

Oghuman and me

Oghuman hosted ("hosted" is a classy word for for picking up the tab) at Caesars. Og, thank you so much. Seriously. It was such a joy talking with you. I hope that we can meet again. I might even "host."

Our friends, Ian and Glen

Ian said something to the effect that I looked like family. Then he showed me a photo of himself in his younger days and damn, we could have been brothers, nearly twins. Handsome guy, that Ian

Gaggles

I caught @Gaggles where all the cool guys "hang out." (See what I did there?) Recognizing him proves that I didn't always look at photos of his wife.

@mjames1229

We met up at a poker tournament at the Sahara that he suggested on VMB. What a nice guy! And he looks exactly like his avatar, clothes and everything. I really enjoyed the Sahara tournament and chatting with him across the table. I didn't enjoy the guy directly to my left who took all of our chips. I think we were better players; I know that the guy to my left had better luck. Grr.

Michael "Something-or-other"

You meet the most interesting people at the poker table. This friendly and well spoken young fellow sat across from me at Caesars. We started chatting and I learned that in four years his YouTube channel that he started with incredibly old, cheap equipment now has over 980,000+ followers and he's hoping for 1 million. His channel is Everything Always. Talk about being the right guy at the right place at the right time. He thought he would get "kicked out" of YouTube for using something from Marvel/Disney. Instead, they let him use all of their licensed material (good advertising) and he just returned from being flown out and put up at a Hollywood red carpet viewing of a soon to be released movie. A real rag-to-riches story for a guy who is, if I recall correctly, twenty-nine. I am certainly not in his target audience, but I'll check his channel occasionally. Sorry for knocking you out of the $100 tournament, but since you won $5,300 at roulette on our potty break, I'm really not all that sorry.

 

A few more photos

Starting off first cash game with a short buy-in of $200 to test the waters. I got ahead and hoped that it would be an omen of things to come.


Glen in his element – Heineken in hand and chips in the rail. I now notice the guy looking at me. I don't think he liked me taking this photo.


Glen's "color up" after I pulled him out of the craps game. A truly nice win for us low rollers.

A little poker talk in the next three paragraphs. Not into poker? Move along. It won't take long.


I had a nice cash game win at a 1/3 game at Caesars before coming home. Into the game for $300 and out for $800+. Atypical, but very nice.

I thought that I had a photo of the Wednesday evening tournament where we somehow both got onto the final table. That is the one tournament that I should have won. I had the most chips in the tournament when we combined tables and I was looking to knock out other players to ladder up. I had stolen some blinds, then when I was under the gun I found an unsuited Ace-Queen and made a bet that more than covered the blinds and enough to give other players pause before calling. To my surprise, the only other guy with a big stack pushed All In. What the What!? We had been on another table and I saw him make some moves. I went into the tank briefly and decided that we were flipping if he had a pair and if he had a suited Ace, I would dominate. Moreover, I thought that HE thought I might fold and he would have more ammo to come after me. Besides, my hand was strong. Very strong.

I called. He turned over King-Nine of clubs. A Nine came on the flop. [Insert dirty word]. Shortly thereafter, a young guy who was low stacked and the next big blind suggested a chop (split the price money), and I was all for it as I was getting ready to be on life support. The chip leader ~ who should have been me, dammit! agreed to take a bit more than the split. Glen and I got $582 and we had a lot of fun.

I lied. One more poker thing. There was not one A-hole on any poker table where I played. Love Vegas poker.

Now for What the Holy S**T

I was in line to get onto the escalator in front of The Cromwell to head toward Bally's. There were two women in their late 20s with a tough-but-clean, no nonsense look about them in front of me. To my left were two guys talking to a man taking a break in the shade who had been carrying one of those backpack reader boards for the illuminarium. They seemed to be smiling as the reader board man turned, possibly to get a flyer, and the guy in the white shirt took a few quick steps, wound up and slugged him hard as he could to the side of the head.

The man’s glasses flew off and he face-planted on the sidewalk, dazed or knocked out. One of the women if front of me yelled, “No!! Not cool!!" and started toward the commotion. Very gutsy. I shouted something like “Stop it!” and saw two guys at the front The Cromwell in some type of uniform. I thought they might be security who had been just around the corner where they couldn’t see what had happened. I yelled, “SECURITY!" Ponting, "Those guys just sucker punched a man!” The two guys made for and got on the escalator to cross Las Vegas Boulevard. The women went to the downed man. The guys in uniform did nothing. I shouted at them to stop those guys and they just looked confused. Then it dawned on me that they were maintenance.

I grabbed my iPhone and tried to take a photo. They were too far away for a clear shot. One guy was staring daggers at me. I waked closer and zoomed my phone. The guy staring at me dropped his bag and reached into it and started to come up with something black in his hand. I was sure it was a gun, but I didn’t stay to make sure. I ran into The Cromwell looking for security. Of course, none were there. I looped the tables and eventually looked outside and all seemed peaceful. The reader board guy was standing and the women were gone. I went south on the strip looking for police but couldn’t find any. Were I not shook up, I probably would have called 911 as soon as entered the casino. Below are the guys.


I hope this TR works as I made numerous Boo Boos posting it. I'm blaming my doctor taking me off caffeine and alcohol. I sought second opinions and finally found one who said I could infrequently have both, and that is the truth.

 

Glad to see DTG and Ellis are still $5 during the week. Did you say you play $5 craps at the D? If so, that is a new one on me?

What was your favorite place to play poker? I've only placed at MGM Grand, but always looking for somewhere new.

Good shot of the pasta. I always get pizza at Giordanos, but might try something else next time.

 

Someone that uses Twitter should tweet Metro a link to this thread with the photo https://twitter.com/LVMPD

 

The holy shit moment sounds a bit crazy. Any idea what caused the guy to throw the punch?

 

Craps at the D were $10 on the couple of mornings when I walked in. They may have been $15 later in the afternoon, but I can't recall.

Poker ~ My favorite place is anywhere with good games. That said, my favorite place for my last four trips has been Caesars, cash and tournaments. In the cash games you can find a lot of recreational players (like me!) who sometimes have money to burn (unlike me). I've always found a friendly vibe at my table and the room in general. Once there was a problem with a guy on another table and the floor was on it forcefully and immediately.

Another plus for me is that Caesars has a reasonable rake and no jackpot drop. As for their tournaments, I would have shunned them in the old days as they have 20 minute levels and the blinds go up pretty fast, especially in the mid-to-late stages. I've a strategy for that tournament that, while probably bogus and stupid seems to work as I have cashed in over half of the tournaments that I've played there. Gotta love that. A couple of times when I didn't use it, like once this trip, I didn't cash.

Another poker room that I like for cash and tournaments is South Point thanks to folks here like @mjames1229 pointing me toward it. The last few times that I played there, however, the games were filled with regulars who knew how the other players played. Nice enough men and women, but off-putting.

After playing the noon Sahara tournament, I really liked the room, the management, and the dealers who I saw. Relaxed and comfortable is my assessment. It's a small room and I doubt that there are many pros or locals there – yet.

 

Same guy got all my chippies, too. A few hands before my all-in with AQs (and a dwindling stack) he beat someone with 44 and flopped a 4. When he made a big bet, I made my move and he called me with... 44... and got a 4 on the flop.

He did that ALL. DAY. LONG.

I am glad that Manchester City lost that game. At least a little Karmic Payback for knocking us both out.

 

Yeah, South Point - for having a great room - is filled with regs who all know each other and seem to play each tournament every day. I had played the Omaha-8 tournament the previous day at South Point, and I am not even hinting at collusion, but rather everyone at my table knew everyone else and their moves and they all seemed in concert with how the tournament is played. It definitely wasn't a tourist tournament, and when I tried to play "my" game, I seemed to be called by every player on every street and would get crushed on the river.

 

Yes. I would win a little then give him my winnings. I had top and bottom pair and he had top and middle pair. I had a pair of 6s, he had a pair of 7s. I had top pair with a good kicker and he had top pair with a slightly better kicker. And so it went.

 

No idea at all.

 

Holy Shoot @booker that was a fun read. Cool VMBers, poker pals, wins, and crime. Quintessential Vegas.

Seriously, glad you are safe, bad stuff out there.

 

Glad to see DTG and Ellis are still $5 during the week. Did you say you play $5 craps at the D? If so, that is a new one on me?

What was your favorite place to play poker? I've only placed at MGM Grand, but always looking for somewhere new.

Good shot of the pasta. I always get pizza at Giordanos, but might try something else next time.

$10 at the D is rare, so glad you caught it.

I've always wanted to play at South Point, but we are usually only there for an hour or so. I'll give a chance. I normally dodge Caesar's properties, but I'll give them a go for poker.

I played in my first tournament at the Beau Rivage in March. It was a Turbo tournament, got 16 out of 53, so I was happy with that. Played online yesterday in a BetMGM tournament. Went out 2nd out of 26 ($10 entry, $91 cash out). Both games I went out with pocket rockets. What are the chances right? I'm a recreational player just looking to kill time while the wife plays slots or the tables are $15 and above.

Thanks for the info.

 

Nice report! I was hoping your big moment had something to do with you winning though!

 

awesome report.. hope those cheap shot artist get caught.

 

Good trip, good report, thanks Booker! I come for the poker, did not disappoint. I play a fairly loose aggressive style most of the time and I seem to have PTSD about putting my tournament life on the line with AQ in any spot. I knew what was coming as soon as you started telling that one!

 

Gaggles
View attachment 248381
I caught @Gaggles where all the cool guys "hang out." (See what I did there?) Recognizing him proves that I didn't always look at photos of his wife.

I definitely remember this but it was blurry. How day drunk did I appear?

 

You kept saying something about getting to the airport in 2 hours or something and wondering how you would get there. Day Drunk? Pretty much. It is good to see that you made it. It was within a few minutes of seeing you that I met up with the baddies.

 

We poker players all have starting hands that often kick us in the butt. A-Q is at the top of my list.

 

AK for me. Maybe its because I try to play it "right", then the 259 badugi flop makes me think I'm still good... and its all downhill from there.