Tipdrill's trip report: 2/19-2/23 WSOPc

Not sure if this will get the love 2+2 gives, I'm honestly still trying to feel out my audience on these forums.

I apologize ahead of time for the poker terminology.

Here's my most recent TR for the 2+2 forums.


Not much has changed since last TR, still 24, still play 1-2 and 2-5, still a level 7 on the degen scale, same job with part time MBA etc. It’s been stupid cold in WNY, consistently below zero for weeks at a time, and I cannot wait for some Vegas sun.



2/19
Arrive around 4:30 at LAS. Grab a cab real quick and head to the MGM. Check in line was short, was able to request a strip view without $20. Drop the bags, shower and change. Check the sports book for some bets and head to the poker room. My buddy arrives around 930 and I didn’t feel like heading to the Aria or Bellagio. I swore off the MGM poker room in my last TR but whatever nothing else to do, trying to avoid the pits. Nothing major besides my last hand…run 10 10 into 9 9. Sick right? FALSE. Flop is 10 9 9. We get it all in and boom -$300. So much for avoiding the pits, head to craps donk another $200 off on a cold table. WOW, great start to trip. It’s about 730, head to the hotel bar and just say eff it, I’ll just drink…greyhounds until my friend arrives. Sip my first greyhound and damn, pretty good. Still bored and don’t feel like going back up to the room. I see these two hot girls sitting a seat away drinking and playing some BJ. I’ll be honest; I’m an outgoing person but not the type to hit on every girl that walks by. I ask what they’re drinking and get them another round with a GH for myself. They were real receptive and we hit it off great. I tell them my story I hear theirs’ and I tell them my friend is arriving soon. My boy shows up, I give him the keycard and tell him to hurry back. A and R wanna chill the rest of the night. R wants to ride the roller coaster at NYNY A wants to gamble and continue getting plastered. My friend gets changed real quick and all four of us head to NYNY to meet amused. (this point I am about 7 drinks deep). Meet up with amused, I think we drink more and attempt to ride the roller coaster? Thank god the thing is closed. Someone says Aria and we head over there.

A: really cute face, brown hair, blue eyes, rocking body she looks amazing in the black dress she was wearing.
R: not really my type still hot though, taller blonde shorter hair also very fit.

Note: this is where it all goes downhill real quick.

Walk to Aria, A is pretty twisted and kinda falling over. We continue to drink more and finally get to the GAMBOL. Attempting to teach the girls craps, I think I donked another 300 after an abysmal roll. Nobody learned anything and we keep drinking at the bar. After the bar, we head to the BJ table…and like a drunken idiot I put A in for $200 because she’s too fine. I think amused left at some point but I’m not sure. Just like craps, horrible run and there goes another 2. We head out to PH for food. As we head out, we take a bunch of pictures in front of the Buddha. As we walk out, A puts her arm around me and naturally I reciprocate. There’s some fuzzy details after but all I remember is getting close to her and she says, “What if I told you I had a BF?” just got 2 outtered on a dry board with AA. DAMNIT. My buddy and I grab earl and the girls ask if they wanna go to that POS bar in front of PH. We say no and part ways. Remember waking up at the MGM next morning and that’s about it.

2/20

WOW, I wake up and I feel absolutely awful. My head hurts, clearly dehydrated and realize how much I blew my first night in Vegas. Not good especially since I plan to play event #1 at noon. Take a long shower and get dressed and head to starbucks for a Lime refresher; kinda helps and I proceed to chill in the sports book with my friend. Miami +3? Sounds good I’ll take it. Banking on Westbrook not having a huge return game. Golden state -1.5? sounds reasonable add that to the parlay as well. After I place my bets, we get on the monorail and head to caesars. I get there way to early and end up donking off another hundo on the roulette wheel. NICE! Head back into the poker room and wait for the tourney to begin. Unfortunately, there are no major hands to talk about. Pretty standard payoffs in normal situations. First hand, was dealt QQ raised 6.5 bb. 3 callers to the flop. Bunch of bricks, I raise ¾ of the pot and take it down. Flopped an opened straight draw with 6 7 suited. Call a small bet on the flop, turn is checked, river completes the nut straight. I check, button raises about half the pot, I min raise back. He tanks for a little and eventually calls. After that, extremely card dead and wasn’t able to play any type of hand in favorable positions. Busted in about 230 out of 432. After I bust it’s about dinner time and my friend wants some Mexican and we agree on Tacos and Tequila at Luxor. For the price the food wasn’t bad at all. We head back to the MGM sports book and check on our bets placed earlier in the day. Miami is crushing and Golden state hasn’t started yet. My inner degen comes out and I eye up the “first to 15pts bet” oh boy…my friend decides to bet Houston first to 15 for $50. I think about betting the same way for $100…but there’s no way I’m betting against Steph, Klay and David Lee. I take GS to score 15 first for $100. We head up to the room to watch the beginning of the game before heading to the Hofbrauhaus. After a poor display of first quarter offense I squeak out the first 15. Head to Hofbrauhaus for a few german brews then later meet up with amused for…the rhino. Rhino was solid. We were lucky enough to grab prime seating with a table and just enjoyed the scenery while smashing greyhounds. All 3 of us got a few dances but nothing private, spent the minimum and decided to call it a night. Get a cab back to PH, grab some earls and part ways back to our rooms.

2/21

Woke up and felt a lot better compared to morning one. Chugged some water prior to passing out. Anyways standard stuff, head down stairs for a quick breakfast at starbucks and check the sports book. I hit up my friend from home for recommendations he gives me some crazy games I’d never pick but what the hell, I drop $20 on the 3 teamer he picks(CHA -3.5, ATL +4, Cavs +8.5). I also ML parlay NYK, TOR, Portland and Chicago. My buddy has only been to Vegas one other time and wanted to check out freemont. I agree for the change of scenery. Ahh good old freemont, a completely different world down there on every level. Not much to say here. Had a solid roll in craps only to donk of the winnings on a horrible BJ table. Walked around and drank some then donked another 200 on pai gow. Hit the bonus on the first had with a boat but all cold hands after. Decided we have had enough of the “Freemont Experience” and take the bus to the monorail station and stop at the flamingo to walk to the Bellagio. I tell my buddy how nice the book is over there and he’s very interested in checking it out. He also has a few NBA parlays working. Arrive at sports book and get comfy in the awesome chairs they have over there. All of our tickets are looking good so far. I check the poker list and put my name down for 1/3 and 2/5. Both lines look real bad, at least 15 people deep on each. The first half of the games keep me busy then my name is called during half time. Now for some 1/3 NL…won a few quick pots nothing to stellar. One hand still sticks out in my mind…not sure if this is gonna ruin my cash game reputation but here we go. BTW, during this cash session both my parlays got busted in the same 2min span when ATL and NYK blew their leads, anyways onto the hand.

I’m UTG and raise up to $15 with QJ. MP(Asian dude gelled hair tight leather jacket) min raises to $30. Everyone folds and I call.

FLOP:
A 8 J

I lead out for $60. He calls slowly.

TURN:
4

I check. He checks quickly.

River 8

I bet $100. As soon as he goes in the tank and sighs I know I’m good. I put him on 99 or 1010. He folds and tables up QQ.

Based on his actions I thought my read was solid and there’s no way he can call $100.

Book a modest winning session in 2hrs of +$200.

Hit up amused and check on his progress and we decide to meet up with Max and Katana at Holsteins later.

My friend and I head back to the MGM and chow some WGP for some cheaper eats. Meet up with Amused at PH. I roll craps for a little and double up in about 15mins off a hot roll then head over to Holsteins, DAMN good milkshakes! Also very nice to meet MadMaxLV for the first time, real cool dude. Finish up the milkshakes and meet up with Jstarda and his crew. Walked around the MGM and NYNY then decided to call it an early night. Lotta drunken fools on the NYNY craps tables.

2/22

Final day.

After keeping it super sober last night and a great night’s rest, my friend and I agree to walk the strip a little and chill at the Venetian for our last day. Before leaving we both bet cuse +6 at the MGM. Forgot to mention something from last night, after catching up with Katana, the conversation ended with the “Don’t Pass” is where it’s at on the craps table. Valued his advice but didn’t take any action last night. Once we made it to the Venetian, we walked around the shops upstairs. For you 49er’s fans or football fans in general. Joe Montana was signing jerseys and taking pictures in the sports store. Pretty cool to see a living legend. Anyways, after the Montana sighting we head back to the gaming floor. Time to test Katana’s advice. Being a craps degen for good amount of time, I figure its best to find an empty table so I don’t have to keep passing the dice after 7ing out. Just my luck, empty table right near the cage. Nothing to major to write about here, did score a +300 after about an hour. Some dude bought in for $500 and had to reload. Met a very nice younger couple from Minnesota chatted with them for a little. Two girls from Texas rolled up, trying to learn the game. Being a finance/business major in undergrad, the DP does make more sense, it’s hard to argue with basic math and probability. However, there was a lot less excitement, which didn’t really bother me. Color up, and do a drive by through the poker room to check on amused in the 1600 event. Doing well as usually. Grab some lunch in the food court, with my friend and get the urge to hit the craps table again. Toss out my garbage then find a different table. To not tap into my profits, I just buy in for $85ish (what was left over from breaking the $100 at lunch). $20 on the DP, point is a 6. Not great but whatever, back it with $60. Immediate seven out. NICE! This happens 2 more times and cash out around 300? Wow great day for the Don’ts; shout out Katana. After the cash out, we look at the time and see it’s about 230. We immediately look at each other and agree to get back to the MGM to watch the Duke vs. Cuse game. Get back to the MGM and post up at the new bar, TAP. Really legit spot for watching games and conveniently a stone’s throw away from the sports book. I can’t imagine the scene during round 1 of MM; dudes probably sprinting back and forth from the book to TAP the entire day. Order a Lagunitas and some wings to start, eventually make my way to a turkey burger later. I don’t need to recap the game, but damn SU let that one go. Thanks Boeheim for costing everyone their bet. We did get the push though. We leave the bar and cash our tickets. Head back up to the room to chill. Didn’t realize it until we get upstairs, my friend is really sick. Volume puking for days, I guess that’s what 2 yard dogs and 7 blue moons later will do to ya. Beat: he’s gotta jump on a plane in about 4 hours. He naps it out and I try to go round three for the Don’ts at the MGM. Not good at all…find an empty table and start shooting roll a 10 for the point, excellent, max odds, let’s do this. Roll about 5 times then 4-6. WTF. Keep the dice. Roll a 5, max odds. Next roll, 4-1. DAMNIT. Take a break walk around and come back to a different table. Wait it out until it empties out. Get the dice again. Some dude and 2 chicks barely over 21 roll up to the table, left to the stick man. Standard situation; guy knows craps, girls are wasted and wanna learn. The guy and I swap rolls back and forth and overall lost another $200. Best part; the dude was betting the pass and a few numbers, he was rolling well and making money really fast. Every time he rolled the pass off, the one girl would calmly ask, “Is that good?” “Yeah, I just won X amount of money!” Then the girl proceeded to let out a joyous yet screeching yell. I look to the stickman and give the eye roll to each other. The guy continues to roll hot and the same delayed screeching yell continues. Even though I’m down this session, her delayed reaction to the whole thing was hilarious. Good for them though, enjoy hakkasan for free tonight. I head back up to the room wish my friend a safe flight back to MSP. Get in grind mode and meet up with amused at flamingo and head to Bellagio. Amused grabs some food while I sit 2-5. Table is pretty stiff maybe 2 gamblers. Was dealt some nice starting hands but got nowhere with the respective flops or position I was in. Don’t remember the betting/action but I did catch one of the “gamblers” at the table while holding the nut flush for a $350 pot. I rack up and announce I’ll be back in a few hours. The session is cut short, b/c the only way to conclude LV is…the rhino one time. Get the in the Limo. We get dropped, tip the driver $15 and I look at the bouncer while holding my bag, “Yeah I’m going to need to check this.” For obvious reasons poker players carry bags/satchels/backpacks. I had some Bellagio chips, chargers, headphones, old ass ipod etc and something else. Before opening, bag to check its contents…the one bouncer goes, “you gonna be studying in there or what?” Before I can even answer. He sees the spiral notebook and marketing book for my MBA program. We both laugh, I get escorted to the coat check and drop my bag off. WOW this place is PACKED. SOP for the 2+2ers and the rhino; amused and I do a few rounds of greyhounds. Seating is very scarce. We make our way to the bar in the front and find 2 empty chairs. Passed a pit full of middle aged couples just straight chilling on some bottles, NICE. Nothing seems too appealing, we get approached by 2 girls, one honestly looked like Arianny Celeste. However, we just got there and turned them away. Half an hour goes by, I eventually give in to this dime Asian girl. No details necessary; I left happy, she was awesome. Meet up with amused and cab it back to flamingo. We grab some Johnny rockets and just hang out. While chatting and reflecting over the trip with some drunk food, I get sad as I literally board a plane home in about 6 hours; I frickin love this city. We finish our food, I wish amused the best and head back to the Bellagio to grind out my remaining hours in LV. It’s about 3am and damn this place is empty, 2-5 is full and there’s a few spots open at the 1-3. Due to the time limit, I take the 1-3 seat. Good table dynamic, few grinders, few drunks, few gamblers.

4 Major hands:

Flop top set with QQ against AQ we get it all in on the Q high flop. Turn comes a 3rd Club to give him a flush draw. Black 4 on the river. Little sweat there.

Same kid a few orbits later. I have AA, he calls a $21 preflop with jack 8 off. Flop comes J X X, I bet $40, he min raises back. I jam it, he snap calls... A on the turn. J on the river.

I have As8s on the button. UTG raises 12, half the table calls including myself.

FLOP:

Ac 10d 4s 2 checks, then UTG raises $20…I call with 1 other.

TURN: Ks 2 checks, then UTG raises again to $40. I call, BB and SB fold.

RIVER: 7s UTG bets $150 with a $200 behind. I put him all in. He tanks and eventually calls and shows 10 4 off… okay…

Max was watching this one…feel free to confirm/correct details.

I have Q J in late position and limp the flop with a few others.

FLOP

JJ3 rainbow. Sick.

Early position bets $25, I smooth call everyone else folds.

TURN:

6 still pure rainbow.

Original bettor rips $50. I smooth call again.

River:

K?

He rips $80, I debate about re-raising…however it is a limp pot and he could very well have a boat here with any J combo. “I can’t fold this, you have the boar sir?” he responds, “No, just a big kicker and flips over AJ. Sweet.

Wrap up the cash session with a profit of +660. Gather my stuff, and head toward valet. I see an empty roulette table…and decide wtf, one more bet. I take a $20 out and ask the dealer to put $10 on the 17 and 20; my fav numbers. He complies and lets the ball rip, while spinning I exclaim, “You hit one for me…$40 tip my man.” “haha okay sir, sounds good.” A few seconds later, he says “looking good man…” I peak at the wheel and he’s right…ball’s right on schedule then stops…32…for the roulette degens ITT, you know what I’m talking about. Walk away immediately as I do not need to tap into my session anymore. Cab it back to MGM, shower and gather my stuff and head to LAS. Get to my terminal and say to myself, I cannot wait to come back.

Thanks for following guys. I should be back in May/June. Would love to meet more LVLer’s on my next trip, haven’t met a bad one yet. Run good people!

 

Exactly the type of trip report I like. Heavy on the gambling, poker, drinking, and strippers, light on everything else I could care about.

 

What is in a greyhound?

 

vodka and grapefruit


sweet trip, ive yet to see a nice Asian at rhino, maybe I need to go more often LOL

 

Thanks for the feedback I'll post another when I make it back out for the WSOP and VDSE.

 

Here are some pics from the recent trip:



Bellagio 1-3 session in for 3.



Cleared both.



Greyhound



Brew house



MGM View. Semi-strip view?

 

Officially locked in for June 11-17 will be doing some room hopping based on comps. Will add to this TR probably with less detail and more pictures.

 

My kind of TR! Loved it, go back to vegas soon!

 

Thanks man, hate to admit the degeneracy will be kept to a minimum next trip in June. I'll be out there for some poker events and such. However, the Rhino, bottle service and chasing women is always in play.

 

Good read. Sucks about the chick having a bf.

 

“What if I told you I had a BF?”

Feel like a shit test, in a town like LV I would go with something along the line of don't sweat it we are just kicking it and having fun, I would move them to a different venue and build up rapport and kino, press it again if she dig you, she will jump ship BF or not.

 

I did respond, "Good! I would be seriously concerned if you didn't have a boyfriend!" She was that fine....

But yeah, a lot of other people said the same thing. I won't make the same mistake twice, 20 more days tho...

 

Great report! I used to frequent 2+2 but haven't played poker in over a year. Nice to see a poker heavy TR.

 

I'll try to do another for the next trip, I have a few tournaments lined up so hopefully I'll be reporting a huge score.

 

Couldn't have said it better myself.