Las Vegas Trip Report - Part 4: Man In Black, Mr Subliminal and the Royal Flush
As my Las Vegas trip began heading toward a conclusion, there was still time to get away from The Strip one last time. My brother and I decided to head a little south on Monday (Dec 3) to check out some places we had never been. First stop: South Point Casino.
South Point seemed like a pretty nice place, in my opinion. I liked the fact that there was an openness to the casino. I certainly did not feel cramped in there at all. We went for the lunch buffet, which we thought was probably among the best values we had experienced this trip. The chefs seemed to go the extra mile in terms of creating food a little different than standard Las Vegas buffet offerings. I thought that the fish dishes were particularly creative. While at South Point I got a tweet or text message from TBC. He was upset (naturally) when he found out I was at South Point. Of course, I had already verified that he had left Las Vegas, and I had no idea that he was only a short drive down the road since, of course, he never told me of his secret hiding place.
We bummed around South Point for a bit, playing a few slots, then headed toward the M Casino. What a nice place! We once again bummed around on the slots and then headed back to The Strip.
I had a tentative plan to meet up with Man In Black for dinner. I gave him some options and we decided to grab one of my local favorites, the steak special at Ellis Island. Aside from the inexpensive steak, the Ellis Island special also includes a beer from its micro-brewery. And yes -- it was the best beer that I had while in Las Vegas. Better yet, MIB and I joined the slot club at Ellis Island and both came out winners playing with casino money! After some great conversation, I dropped MIB off at his place and headed back to Harrah's.
While at Harrah's I saw that I got a message from Mr Subliminal, whose blog I have followed for several years. I was hoping to meet him my last trip to Las Vegas, but I misplaced his phone number and was unable to get in touch with him on my extra "sick day" of the trip. We arranged to meet at the Venetian poker room.
Keeping cognizant of Mr Subliminal's frequently mentioned homelessness, we went to the back of the poker room to chat, availing ourselves of the free coffee. He was pretty well versed on the old-time bloggers, and we had quite a nice time sharing a little blogger gossip. Mr Subliminal tends to keep things on the down low, so therefore I do not have a picture of him to publish. Unfortunately, there just was not time for him to show me his makeshift home in the famed Las Vegas underground second city. Maybe next time.
Mr Subliminal had to leave (probably staying just one step ahead of the Venetian security force) and I decided to play a little $1/2 NL poker. The Venetian poker room has just never been a great place for me. Aside from once winning a SNG to get into a deep stack event, I have never liked Venetian, mostly due to the d-bags I seemed to always have at my table. But ... I was there and thought I'd give it another try for at least an orbit or two.
My table seemed okay, but a guy at the end who had a big stack decided to put me to the test. He re-raised me once and I folded, but I vowed to not get pushed around. I played some solid poker, caught some cards, and was having a good time. At some point an Australian named Simon joined the table, and he made some loose calls, especially as the number of Fat Tire dead soldiers increased. That led to my biggest hand of the night. I raised with Ah-Qh and was called by Simon. The flop had an Ace, 10h, and a rag. I raised and Simon re-raised. I told him "I don't believe you for a minute" and called. Actually, I was concerned that he played Ace-rag and hit two pair (but the way he was playing he might have been on a naked bluff), but I figured I had outs. The turn was Kh. I raised and Simon again re-raised. I had him covered by quite a bit and just decided to shove and take my chances. He called. The river: Jh! This was my fifth Royal Flush -- two online (True Poker and Bodog) and three b&m (two at Bally's Las Vegas and now this one). Looking back at how the hand played out -- and I wish I had written down the details re stack sizes, bets, etc -- it really came down to not believing his story, or just not giving a crap since I was running hot that night, it was my last night, and I had been having crappy luck most of the trip. But ... I won, and now had a pretty hefty stack o' chips.
The game continued on and I continued to do well, but then some players at the table changed and the dynamics also changed. One funny thing is that a guy sat down who was apparently hopping from table to table, sitting in on hands and leaving before the blinds got to him. At a $1/2? It was fitting when he got noticed and fled the poker room, for he had been a dick to Simon, who everyone wanted to keep happy since he was drunk and spewing. When the hustler came to the table, Simon was rambling on in a friendly fashion and called the guy "friend." He looked at Simon and said "I'm not your friend." Sheesh -- exactly the kind of d-bag I usually run into at Venetian.
I cashed out with a very nice profit and headed back to Harrah's to catch a little sleep before my late-morning flight.
All in all, I had a fun but unprofitable trip. Next potential trip to Las Vegas: Super Bowl Sunday.
South Point seemed like a pretty nice place, in my opinion. I liked the fact that there was an openness to the casino. I certainly did not feel cramped in there at all. We went for the lunch buffet, which we thought was probably among the best values we had experienced this trip. The chefs seemed to go the extra mile in terms of creating food a little different than standard Las Vegas buffet offerings. I thought that the fish dishes were particularly creative. While at South Point I got a tweet or text message from TBC. He was upset (naturally) when he found out I was at South Point. Of course, I had already verified that he had left Las Vegas, and I had no idea that he was only a short drive down the road since, of course, he never told me of his secret hiding place.
We bummed around South Point for a bit, playing a few slots, then headed toward the M Casino. What a nice place! We once again bummed around on the slots and then headed back to The Strip.
I had a tentative plan to meet up with Man In Black for dinner. I gave him some options and we decided to grab one of my local favorites, the steak special at Ellis Island. Aside from the inexpensive steak, the Ellis Island special also includes a beer from its micro-brewery. And yes -- it was the best beer that I had while in Las Vegas. Better yet, MIB and I joined the slot club at Ellis Island and both came out winners playing with casino money! After some great conversation, I dropped MIB off at his place and headed back to Harrah's.
While at Harrah's I saw that I got a message from Mr Subliminal, whose blog I have followed for several years. I was hoping to meet him my last trip to Las Vegas, but I misplaced his phone number and was unable to get in touch with him on my extra "sick day" of the trip. We arranged to meet at the Venetian poker room.
Keeping cognizant of Mr Subliminal's frequently mentioned homelessness, we went to the back of the poker room to chat, availing ourselves of the free coffee. He was pretty well versed on the old-time bloggers, and we had quite a nice time sharing a little blogger gossip. Mr Subliminal tends to keep things on the down low, so therefore I do not have a picture of him to publish. Unfortunately, there just was not time for him to show me his makeshift home in the famed Las Vegas underground second city. Maybe next time.
Mr Subliminal had to leave (probably staying just one step ahead of the Venetian security force) and I decided to play a little $1/2 NL poker. The Venetian poker room has just never been a great place for me. Aside from once winning a SNG to get into a deep stack event, I have never liked Venetian, mostly due to the d-bags I seemed to always have at my table. But ... I was there and thought I'd give it another try for at least an orbit or two.
My table seemed okay, but a guy at the end who had a big stack decided to put me to the test. He re-raised me once and I folded, but I vowed to not get pushed around. I played some solid poker, caught some cards, and was having a good time. At some point an Australian named Simon joined the table, and he made some loose calls, especially as the number of Fat Tire dead soldiers increased. That led to my biggest hand of the night. I raised with Ah-Qh and was called by Simon. The flop had an Ace, 10h, and a rag. I raised and Simon re-raised. I told him "I don't believe you for a minute" and called. Actually, I was concerned that he played Ace-rag and hit two pair (but the way he was playing he might have been on a naked bluff), but I figured I had outs. The turn was Kh. I raised and Simon again re-raised. I had him covered by quite a bit and just decided to shove and take my chances. He called. The river: Jh! This was my fifth Royal Flush -- two online (True Poker and Bodog) and three b&m (two at Bally's Las Vegas and now this one). Looking back at how the hand played out -- and I wish I had written down the details re stack sizes, bets, etc -- it really came down to not believing his story, or just not giving a crap since I was running hot that night, it was my last night, and I had been having crappy luck most of the trip. But ... I won, and now had a pretty hefty stack o' chips.
The game continued on and I continued to do well, but then some players at the table changed and the dynamics also changed. One funny thing is that a guy sat down who was apparently hopping from table to table, sitting in on hands and leaving before the blinds got to him. At a $1/2? It was fitting when he got noticed and fled the poker room, for he had been a dick to Simon, who everyone wanted to keep happy since he was drunk and spewing. When the hustler came to the table, Simon was rambling on in a friendly fashion and called the guy "friend." He looked at Simon and said "I'm not your friend." Sheesh -- exactly the kind of d-bag I usually run into at Venetian.
I cashed out with a very nice profit and headed back to Harrah's to catch a little sleep before my late-morning flight.
All in all, I had a fun but unprofitable trip. Next potential trip to Las Vegas: Super Bowl Sunday.
posted by lightning36 at 10:46 PM
11 Comments:
i thought u didnt seem interested in knowing where i was, which is why i didnt mention i was in Jean. actually i was CLOSER to the M in Jean than i wouldve been if i was in downtown las vegas.
hmm, i wish i could meet mr subliminal and find out who he is, im sure he could tell me a lot about surviving and social agencies. for as bad off as i am, things can get much worse than they are now. some of u are rooting for it even and are assholes, i'm glad u arent one of them. I am glad i know enough about BJ to still have a room each day.
i would like to meet him, but sure wouldnt be comfortable visiting the underground city, probably a lot of murders there that are never discovered. maybe its what happened to Gary Myers years ago. also known as robert-st john. u see when i was homeless, since i was about the only one not on drugs or alcohol, i was too scared to be around others who were homeless, so id hide out and sleep in rich areas behind churches to avoid others.
the guy trying to avoid blinds was probably also homeless, or at least very broke, and in desperate need to not lose, would explain why his mood was so bad. i get the same way, but of course havent done that to avoid blinds, its too much hassle and work.
Nice meeting you finally. Glad to hear that you broke the Venetian hoodoo with a successful run at 1/2. Speaking of running, I managed to outfox the posse of security guards on my tail by hiding in a gondola. Till next time ....
Of course, great story again!
Tony: "I am glad i know enough about BJ to still have a room each day."
I knew that McDonalds story was true! I just knew it!
Awesome story about the Royal Flush, congrats. But it was against an Australian named Simon, huh? That's interesting.
Back in my 2/4 limit days, I lost a hand to a Royal Flush when I had Aces full of Jacks. The guy who hit the Royal was an Australian. It is one of the earliest posts on my blog. I don't know for sure, but for some reason the name Simon comes to mind there. I know I remember an Australian named Simon, I just don't know if the Australian in my story was the Simon I remember. Was this a relatively young guy (by our standards?). Wouldn't it be something if the same guy who beat me with a Royal lost to your Royal well over a year later???
Simon looked to be in his 30's. He was in town for a bit -- some type of professional media gig, I believe.
I've encountered the same type of d-bags the few times I've ventured to the Venetian poker room. The last time I played there I made a call of a sizable bet on the flop with top pair-top kicker and wound up sucking out on the river when I hit a better two pair than my opponent had flopped. He groused on and on about how bad I was and how he would have had my whole stack if I hadn't gotten lucky. I tried to ignore it and he just wouldn't let it go, so I asked the passing chip runner for a rack and announced, "If only you could have kept your big mouth shut all of these chips would still be here for the taking from my terrible play. Now they're leaving and the rest of the table can thank you for scaring off this fish...asshole."
Too bad you didn't have a camera to get a shot of the Royal!!
Great fun getting the royal! I've never had one in live play. Must get lots of oohing and aahhing.
The last time I was at the Venetian, I hit a Royal in hearts and got paid on the turn but not the river. Too bad they don't have special pay-outs there. But you are right about the d-bags, including one of the poker room managers. He came into the Orleans on one of my earlier trips. he was drunk as a skunk and accordingly thought his shit didn't stink. I made a good bit off of him before he went stumbling and mumbling. I don't mind the jerks, especially when they over-estimate their skills. Still want to hang out with you in LV some time. Good write-up!
if u dont fucking do something about all the spam anonymous comments, everyones gonna stop reading. very annoying when u are sent auto emails for every spam comment as a subscriber
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