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Venetian Deepstack Poker Tourney Trip 3/15-3/18

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by abner2xday, Mar 18, 2021.

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  1. abner2xday

    abner2xday High-Roller

    Joined:
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    My Trip Report

    Trip Report Preamble:

    I have not been to Vegas (and active on the board) for about 15 years (best I can remember- could be more, could be a little less). The main reason for this is I live in the Seattle area and there are plenty of casino options in the area. Everything from small card rooms with table games to 4 large Tribal Casinos with all the games you want. It just didn’t make sense to spend money on airfare and hotel if I wanted to go have casino fun. So, vacations over the last 15 years were pretty much everything BUT Vegas.

    Why Vegas now? A few reasons.

    1. Big life change for me was getting a divorce and being an empty nester with one kid on his own now and another away at college. Not to get too deep in the weeds with this but it was best for my ex and for me- it is amicable, and we are better for having been married and also for not being married anymore. So, I just wanted to do something fun on my own without having to worry about how anyone else was doing.

    2. Poker is my jam and poker in the Seattle area sucks now. Just as Vegas has seen poker rooms close and others reduce their tables, Seattle poker is just about non-existent now. I used to have 8 card rooms 10-15 minutes from my house. Of those 8, four are completely closed down (all Pre-Covid) and only one of the 4 has poker. The two tribal casinos in the area that had huge really nice poker rooms closed them down. For the places that still have poker, it is filled with regulars running angles and angry gamblers playing with money they should not be playing with and/or playing to get the money they need. It’s not fun playing with people who have their rent money in the pot.

    3. I work in hospital administration. The last year has been crazy for everyone but for healthcare workers and front-line essential workers especially so. For me it’s been work, home and grocery store for a year- staying safe for me and for the patients and staff that rely me to be at work and do my job. Mid-February marked me being fully vaccinated and I felt safe enough to travel- just to get out and do something other than sit at home.

    Basic stats:

    Airlines were giving away flights when I booked. RT from Seattle to Vegas $76.81
    Vegas hotels giving away rooms too and I also had a poker rate: Venetian $89/night before fees.

    Part one coming soon the in replies below
     
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  2. Joe12794

    Joe12794 Low-Roller

    Joined:
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    Can't wait to read!
     
  3. abner2xday

    abner2xday High-Roller

    Joined:
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    Location:
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    Part One:

    Caveat: My report will have several references to my COVID observations. As a healthcare worker I do have responsibilities and practices that are just part of me doing my job well. I knew going on this trip would test me in this regard. I promised myself I would not engage in any arguments over the pandemic and if I felt unsafe for any reason, I would just do my best to remove myself from the situation. That being said, if there is a foot of snow on the ground, people are going to talk about it.

    Preparing for departure

    I was planning on leaving work early on Monday and going to the airport straight from there for a 4:00PM flight. That got derailed Sunday afternoon. Someone on my team called in sick for an overnight shift and the covering person also had to back out. Since I was going to be away for the week, the schedule was already patchworked together. Best option was for me to cover the shift and not make another slew of changes to get it covered. I was planning to pack Sunday evening but that went out the window! It was an easy night at the hospital, nothing too crazy to handle but it was a long day. I got home at 4:00AM Monday and tried to get some sleep. I set my alarm for 9:30 because I had a call at 10:00AM I had to be on but my body said no and was up at 8:30AM. I hadn’t packed yet since I was planning on doing that the night before so I guess it was good I got up “early”. Three calls later I turned on all my notifications that I was gone for the week and headed to the airport.

    Quick word about packing: I am a converted one-bagger when it comes to traveling, meaning one bag for everything. I have a 35L Cotopaxi Alpaca complimented with two really good packing cubes which have two compartments to separate clean from dirty. The backpack is sized just right for under the seat storage and has a lot of great features. One bagging also requires you to have clothes that travel well and are versatile. You can buy some specialty clothing but chances are you have stuff that will travel well (i.e. easy to roll for packing). You also need to be purposeful in what you choose to wear while traveling so you don’t have to pack those items.

    The airport in Seattle did not look especially busy. TSA pre-check was about the same cycle time as regular security but I do like not to have to take off my shoes. My observation about current people traveling by plane: its made up of three groups

    1. People that have to travel for some reason
    2. Anti-vaccers and anti-maskers that just don’t believe or care
    3. People who are vaccinated and just want to go somewhere. I am in this group and ran into a far number of people in Vegas in this group as well.

    My original plane was taken out of service for “maintenance.” They moved us to new gates twice and got us a new plane. We left an hour late but made up some time in air. Alaska did a great job of arranging people with space if they were traveling solo. I had a back row all to myself.

    Landing in Vegas was interesting. Some bumpy air and seeing the new gigantic LED (?) screen on the soon to be open Resorts World from the air. It might be bothersome to guests who are in rooms at the Encore who face that new hotel. It is SUPER bright at night. The airport at Vegas looked deserted. I found the Uber/Lyft pickup area pretty easy but since there were not a lot of people at the airport, I had to wait 20 minutes for a driver actually accept me and a few minutes more to get me.

    Checking into the Venetian was super easy, no line to speak of. I did post about this in the $20 trick section, to recap: $40 to get a Strip View Room and 1:00PM check out. After unpacking, I headed to the Grazie rewards desk to get a card, then to the Poker room to check out the layout and register for the first tournament in the morning. Throughout the trip I did small sessions on various machines. I will post details on non-poker gaming in a future reply. I did a quick session here then headed off to find the In-n-Out by the Linq.

    The whole retail alley by the Linq is pretty cool with a lot of options for food and such. As usual the In-n-Out was busy but they were getting through orders very quickly. I was lucky to find a small table that was free in their patio area.

    At this point, I was really tired between work, not a lot of sleep and traveling. So headed back to the Venetian and called it a night. (This was written just before checking out! Off to the airport)

    Part 2 coming soon
     
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  4. abner2xday

    abner2xday High-Roller

    Joined:
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    Part 2
    I have not stayed at the Venetian before. There are plenty of room reviews to read on VMB and elsewhere, but I will add two things:
    1. The room will never be completely dark because there is a small night light by the stairs into the sunken living room so you don’t have an “accident” navigating the room in the middle of the night.
    2. I just do not get having a phone in the small private room where the toilet is.

    Tuesday morning I had breakfast the Grand Lux Restaurant (aka Cheesecake Factory). Even at lower occupancy at the hotel, this place was very busy. If you were not there before 8AM, you were going to wait 30-45 minutes. I got the sense that even as spacing restrictions were eased, more people at the resort will make the wait the same.

    Played a bit here and there waiting for tournament time (11:00AM). This was the 1B session. Tracking the goings on Twitter…. For these two days events, I was seeing that Day 1 sessions have less players than Day 2. In retrospect, I probably would have flown in super early to catch the 1A session. (Had I done that I would have scheduled myself off call for Sunday at work and would have avoided going in Sunday evening like I did). I think that Day 1 with less players makes it easier to advance. It is a smaller field to wade through (I think they had 220 or so) to get to the end of the day. Day 2 had alternates getting in through level 9 (final total for Day 2 was around 400). That means you have players entering with short stacks taking shots and gambling trying to get going making it harder to rep hands and actually limiting you to the cards you actually have.
    I have posted a semi-live thread here:

    Linked here: https://www.vegasmessageboard.com/forums/index.php?threads/venetian-dsm-2021-event-20.182067/

    But here are some other hands and details:

    At 0/100/300 from the small blind with 5-7 suited. Raise from the high jack with the cutoff and button calling, I am getting a good price to defend and make the call. Flop comes 5 7 10 (?) and I check. The high jack bets out 1600, the two other players fold. I check raise him to 5k. I can see he is clearly surprised and not liking this. I am confident that he does not have a set and put him on a big pair. He tanks for a bit but makes the call. I am praying for the board not to pair. It’s a blank and I bet out 10.5k. He goes back into the tank and ends up folding showing JJ.

    At 300/200/300 I’m on the button with AsQs. There is a raise from middle position to 1100, cut off calls and I just call. I like calling here to hide my hand and I am in position to get away from the hand if I need to without committing any more chips. The flop comes with all low cards with two spades. The initial raiser bets about 2k (I now have him on a big pair) the cutoff calls (he is drawing, has JJ, 10 10 or a set). I got two overs and the nut flush draw. I am not going anywhere and make the call. Turn brings another spade completing my nut flush. The initial raiser bets 5K and the cut off calls. He clearly wants to get to the river. I forget the exact board but if he has pocket J or 10 with a spade he could get a straight flush with the right card or he needs his set to fill up. I make it 15k to go to give the cutoff something to think about. Initial raiser gets upset and goes deep into the tank. He shoves for about 18K and the cut off folds. He shows KK and I show him he’s drawing dead.

    As I posted on the other thread I made it to almost the dinner break. I am happy with the way I played all things considered, having not played poker for over a year. It was OK with the plexiglass, I got used to it real quick. Some players were saying that in the 2 and 7 seats, you sometimes had to look into the angles where two panes came together and made it difficult to see across the table at opponents. No food at the tables really sucks but not the end of the world.

    Overall this is a great tournament with a great structure. The 2nd day went deep into Wednesday night. Of course ,you want to get into the money but that’s a lot of poker hands for $400. It’s a good room which is right near the main casino entrance so its easy to go outside on a break. The room has a good staff with as far as I experienced good dealers. I will definitely go back for a late summer, early fall tournament series if they have one.


    Part 3 soon…
     
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  5. Chrisbeans

    Chrisbeans High-Roller

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    Great trip report so far!

    At the Venetian, I usually move the garbage can (it has flat sides) up against that step light and it masks it up pretty good. It doesn’t get hot, so I wasn’t worried about starting a fire.

    Can’t wait to read the rest!
     
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  6. Basil

    Basil VIP Whale

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    Great report! In a normal year, I'd be out there either for the Deepstack or the Wynn Spring Poker Classic, so living vicariously!

    I got curious, too. And the answer is odd: it's needed in order to qualify for AAA 4 or 5 diamond ratings.

    Anyway, have you played any cash at Venetian? Used to love the room for cash, but my last trip they went over the top on promotions and the rake became ridiculous, including a $3 promo drop!
     
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  7. SimonG

    SimonG Low-Roller

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    I miss live poker, but only enough to want to read about it, not actually play it any more :D
     
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  8. Horseplayer1

    Horseplayer1 High-Roller

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    Is the poker room at Snoqualmie closed? It used to be flush with the regulars running the angles you mentioned, and the rest angry gamblers. Not a fun place to play for middle aged women from out of town, for sure.
    I miss the old days of poker.
     
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  9. abner2xday

    abner2xday High-Roller

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    Yes Sno closed their room. So did Tulalip and Muckleshoot (though that one could reopen but they already downsized it twice)
     
  10. abner2xday

    abner2xday High-Roller

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    I wanted to play cash but with all the tournament tables there were only a few cash tables running and huge wait lists
     
  11. abner2xday

    abner2xday High-Roller

    Joined:
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    Sidebar: I don’t have the full story behind this lonely pirate abandoned on the 33rd floor of the Venetian sometime early Wednesday 1523E796-F1E3-4973-B0C3-A43B25896C26.jpeg
     
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  12. abner2xday

    abner2xday High-Roller

    Joined:
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    Part 3

    This section will cover my non-poker gambling over the trip. I played a little here and there between poker tournaments and meals. Having not been in Vegas for 15 years, I did want to walk around to see how things looked up and down the Strip. I would play a little at some places and move on.

    Craps

    I didn’t play much live craps. A few places on the Strip had $15 minimums but the bulk of the tables were $25. I did find a $10 tables (yes plural!) at the Venetian (mornings of course.) They did stay at $10 for a good bulk of the morning before going to $15 in the afternoon and $25 ats night. I wasn’t surprised to see people playing $25 craps at the Venetian, Wynn, Mirage etc. I was surprised to see really active tables of $25 craps at Harrah’s, Flamingo and O’Shea’s…O’SHEA’S? at 3:00PM! I guess Vegas has changed a little.

    Bubble Craps

    I had never seen a machine until this trip. I consider myself to be a person of reasonable intelligence but f**k me it took a bit to learn how to navigate the options, make bets and cancel bets. “To cancel a bet, touch the area you want to cancel” OK I want to take my place bet off the 5 since that is my new point. I touch 5 and a menu comes up. I touch the chip in the place field and it presses the bet WTF! “No more bets” “PUSH THE BUTTON!” My place bet is now pressed and I didn’t get odds down on the line and there is no dealer to yell at. “PUSH THE BUTTONNNNNNN!”

    Eventually I did get the hang of it but still managed to accidently hit the CANCEL ALL button once in a while and have to try to furiously put all my bets back before Miss Bubble Craps yells at the shooter. It’s not the same as real craps but there are some things I really like about Bubble Craps

    1. People seem to not blame the shooter for going out. The machine rolled the 7 not my new friend hitting the button like its bongo drums. Do funny stuff while rolling a point then immediately going seven out in a real crap game can get players to wish physical and mental harm to come your way.

    2. Since there are no “physical chips”, you can bet smaller increments and still get paid correctly. I placed $6 on 5 to see what would happen and got paid $8.40. If I remember in the good ol days of 25 cent chips, Binion’s and other saw dust joints downtown would pay $8.25. Every other craps table on God’s green earth is going to pay $15 on a on $11 5 or 9 if they didn’t catch it and tell you throw them another red to make it look like $15. Low rollers do not get hit with an extra vig for smaller incremental bets in bubble craps.

    3. The other players cannot see your bets. So if you are betting dark side, using some hedge system, betting minimums etc. No one can judge you and there is no pressure to bet a certain way or amount.

    During one session, some dude started pressing my screen and trying to mess with my bets. After a quick look of initial shock, I gave him the evil eye and he quickly went away. WEIRD.

    At the craps table, I like to set the dice on a hard six before rolling. You can’t set the dice on bubble craps obviously so I settled on pushing the button when there was 11 seconds left. I got tired of Miss Bubble Craps’ nagging and I eventually went to pushing at 16 seconds.

    Electronic Roulette

    Not a big roulette player but wanted to try it out. I haven’t looked it up but I am assuming that triple zeros make the house edge border on criminal. On this machine too, it took a little bit to learn how to place corners, halves or whatever those bets are called. Tried to cancel a single number bet and ended up betting 4 chips. The number HIT! I cashed out right away on that session.

    Stadium Electronic Games at the Venetian

    The Venetian has this really big area with machines you could sit at and play BJ, Roulette, Baccarat and Sic Bo but there were live dealers playing on table up front. The tables were on camera and the camera translated the results to show up electronically on your game. Not sure how it all worked but the deal on BJ looked weird with some Community Card set up. From what I observed, the first two cards dealt were the player’s cards for everyone playing BJ that hand. The third card was the dealers up card then all the subsequent cards were community cards based on what each player decided to do with their cards. I just couldn’t figure out if this changed the overall odds or not.

    Slots

    I am not a slots player at all but I did play somewhat at the Venetian just to build some points and see what offers I get down the road. I am definitely going to play a few poker tournaments in the summer. Hopefully I played enough slots that I get good discounts or something then compare that to the poker rate and see which is better.

    Part 4 coming soon which will cover 2 tournaments
     
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  13. Johnzimbo

    Johnzimbo VIP Whale

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    Like the poker hand details. And I would worry that bottle on the couch was a prank and might not be liquor :)
     
    Annual me and Pete
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  14. abner2xday

    abner2xday High-Roller

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    Part 4

    Wednesday AM I scheduled a massage early enough that it would be before Day 2 of the Tuesday Poker tournament if I made it that far. The Venetian Spa facilities and the staff are top notch, recommended! I had an interesting conversation with my masseuse.

    She let me know that she had been working at the Venetian over 20 years. When the shutdown happened last year, she was furloughed and was very worried about the lost income. She immediately started talking to family and friends and was able to find work at a large grocery chain- less money but better than nothing. When she got back to the Venetian, a lot of her co-workers were talking about how unemployment benefits let them take a much-needed break. She had no idea how it all worked and was a little upset she did not take advantage of it. I did sense that she was also a little proud to have not depended on assistance. I asked her if she was eligible to get the COVID vaccine in Nevada and she said she had just become eligible that past Monday. She did say that she didn’t know when she could go since she was getting very busy at the Venetian. Going forward this is going to be an issue as more and more people become eligible for the vaccines. Not everyone can go on a Friday to have the weekend to recover and not everyone can afford to take a days off to get the vaccine and have a day or two to recover if needed.

    I entered the Wednesday 1:00PM tournament $400 1 day event. 30k chips to start at 30 minute levels. Another good structure, especially for a one-day tournament.

    I do not have a lot of notes here as I got punched out early. One hand I had J9s on the button. I called a standard raise from an early position player with two other callers coming along. The flop brought 2 Jacks and an Ace. We checked it around, I checked here to keep all the players in which may have been a mistake. One or two players might have had an ace and I could have built more value in the pot. I think the original raiser bet the turn and I called and everyone else folded. The river brought the case J and the initial raiser checked. I took maybe too long to figure out the right bet sizing because I talked myself out of a bigger bet and downsized to about a 1/3 of the pot. He called and I showed my quad Jacks. Of all the hands I played the whole trip, this one sticks in my craw. With three other players in on the flop, flopping a set and in position. I should have gotten more value out of this hand.

    I should add here that in all three tournaments I entered I got of to really hot starts and had the biggest stack at my table at the end of levels 1 and 2. This happened mostly on the strength of my post flop play. I was really aggressive in position making good sized bets making other players fold on the turn. I was also lucky to have good hands when a few players looked me up.

    I have this thing where I like to check dark if I am defending my big/small blind going into a flop with multiple players. This got me into a few tight spots and I am going to have to rethink that tactic. It played into how I busted out in this tournament.

    With QQ in the BB, I just called a standard raise coming along with a few other players. With my dark check, the whole table checked behind on the flop (all under cards to my pair of queens). I bet out on the turn when the board paired. Two players folded and I got reraised by the initial raiser earlier in the hand. Now I was stuck because I didn’t know how he was reading my dark check. The raise was three times my bet. Did I want to force the issue with a straight looking board that was also paired? I told myself to look for a better spot and not risk my stack this early (level 3) and folded.

    Not feeling super good about that hand, the very next hand I get QhQd in the small blind. I made a standard raise and got one caller from the Big Blind. We go to a flop of three cards all diamonds including the K. I bet it hard and the big blind called. The turn brings another diamond and I bet it hard again. The big blind then three bets me. I read this as a test of if I have a diamond and how strong is it. I DON’T put him on having the Ad, why would he raise here with the nut flush? The only thing that made sense to me was him holding a Jd or some other Kx combo/two pair. I tell myself only one card can beat me and I push my remaining stack. He did have the Ad along with 3s and I am drawing dead.

    I debated firing a second bullet since it was so early but I did not knowing there was a 6PM bounty tourney in a few hours. I figured I would get another Double Double and some ice cream. Then come back for the 6PM.

    I will have that tournament in another part because I have a lot to write about it and instead will close this part with something that happened at the start of that tournament in the room.

    Waiting for the tournament to start, there was a player talking to two other gentlemen at a table. He had about $3-4k in chips in racks in front of him. Surrounding this group of three were multiple security guards and then two floor supervisors off to the side. It looked like the two guys at the table were NOT Venetian employees. While there were definitely dressed for work, neither had jackets or ties on and did not have name tags on. Maybe gaming commission? The player was clearly upset about something but he was not belligerent. The two guys were definitely asking him questions and writing some sort of report. I asked the dealer at my table if he knew what was going on and he gave me the “don’t ask because I am not supposed to even ask” look. In the end, the two guys gave the player something to sign and it looked like they took the chips away. He left with security trailing him just in case. He definitely was not being escorted off the property.


    Part 5 and wrap up coming Monday
     
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  15. casinokid68

    casinokid68 Caesars Diamond Member

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    Perhaps, but if everyone thought this way, Vegas would not exist. Yes, there are casinos or gambling halls everywhere these days, and I live 15 minutes away from a racetrack casino, and a 2 hour drive to Atlantic City, but I think that most people on here will agree that there is no place like Vegas, even with no shows!! I would rather get on a plane and fly over 5 hours from NYC to enjoy Vegas, then take a drive to the crappy Atlantic City!!
     
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