Vegas Trip = Poker

I wish I could fill this report with all of the different and wonderful things I did in Vegas, but I actually spent this trip mostly in the Excalibur poker room.

I arrived around Noon on Sunday, March 29th. and grabbed a shuttle to the NYNY where I was staying. No big problems with the trip to the hotel or the check in. I decided to take the monorail up to the North end of the strip. Stopped at the Hilton for a while and played some JOB VP. Did OK. Tried the buffet. It was fine. Really liked the oysters. Headed on up to the Sahara and walked back down to Slots of Fun, Rivera, and further South. Tried some craps at the Rivera. I had never played craps before and tried a system I read about on the interned. finished down about $30 after a few hours. Stopped at Casino Royale, Harrahs, Bally's, etc. Played some slots drank some beers and generally had a good time.

I had come play some poker so the next day I headed to my favorite poker room at the Excalibur. I know the electronic PokerPro tables there are hated by some but I really like this room. The hosts are friendly, there are always interesting and friendly people at the tables, and I always do well there.

The EX offers a 9 AM tourney with a low $20 buy in. The top place always pays around $500. I entered on Monday and manged to take first for a $477 pay out. Now, I usually do better at the cash tables then the tourneys but this trip proved to be the opposite. The next day (Tuesday) I entered the 9 AM tourney and took down first again. We chopped the pot and I came away with $387. I was on a roll so I entered the 1 PM tourney and (with some really lucky draws on the flop) managed to take first again. Another chopped pot and I took away $363. Of course you can guess the rest of the story. I did lousy in the tourneys for the rest of the week but was happy about my total wins of $1,227.00.

All I did on this trip was play in the EX poker room. If I wasn't in a tourney I was playing at the cash tables. The cash tables were not friendly this time. I kept getting a lot of bad beats on the river. There were a couple of times that I made bad plays, but mostly I believe I made the right move but the wrong river card fell. Anyway, I was actually pleased that I was just down $40 on the cash side of my poker experience and was able to come away with over $1,100 of total winnings.

The best part of the whole trip - at the Monday morning tourney I was setting next to a young man who was having some difficulty learning how to use the touch screens on tables. I was helping him and asked him where he was from. He responded in broken English that he was from France and didn't know much English. As we played the tournament when he won a good hand I would give him a thumbs up. We began laughing at bad beats together. Later on that day he came and sat down at a cash table with me and this continued. On Thursday he came up with his wife and asked if it was alright if she took a picturesque of him and I. Of course it was. Later that day while I was playing at a cash table he came up and gave me a token that looks like a coin. He said that he wanted me to have this for making his first American poker experience a fun one. I really think this is the nicest thing that has ever happened to me related to poker. Actually, it is much nicer than winning a tournament.

Looking forward to my next trip and my next poker experience!

 

Thanks for the report. That token was great. You will remember him forever.

 

Nice little story about your new friend. Thats one thing I love about Vegas. You always get to meet new and interesting people. Congrats on the poker winnings.

 

Nice writeup. Win money, meet new people, get a great story to tell later. All trips should be like that!

 

Good for you for being that lucky. Did you make anyone mad? lol SOunds awesome though...I'd be happy winning just 1.

 

Thanks for the post. Congrats on the tourney wins.

later, GVJ