June 2013 Las Vegas Trip Report - Part II
I was sleeping soundly the morning of Wednesday, June 5 -- my fourth day in Las Vegas -- when I was awakened by the sound of an incoming text message from Man In Black. He informed me that he stopped to play some poker at Flamingo and missed the Caesars Megabeat Jackpot by a half hour. I missed it by about five hours. A free $5982. Dang.
Anyway, I was up and needed to use my freebie two 24-hour Buffet of Buffet passes, so I offered to share with Man in Black. We had buffet #1 at the Flamingo breakfast buffet.
The breakfast buffet there, which I have had before, is actually pretty decent. One of the best parts is sitting in the buffet area that looks out into the garden with streams, flamingos and koi. My Platinum status got us seats right next to the windows. As MIB observed "The caste system is alive and well." A major accident was barely avoided when, using my hands a little bit too much when speaking, I knocked coffee out of the hands of our waitress up into the air, missing me but catching the legs of a comely woman with a killer accent sitting behind us. She was very polite as MIB and I gushed all over her, asking if she was okay. I'd have offered to do a personal body scan to make sure the coffee didn't get on her elsewhere, but I somehow held back.
My usual plan would be to immediately play some $1/2 NL at Bally's, but I was not prepared to hear any happy talk from players who were lucky enough to be at the poker tables when the bad beat jackpot hit. Instead I decided to play at Luxor, where I had had success last trip. Luxor continued to be a great spot for me.
The Luxor poker room was a mainstay for me when I began playing brick and mortar poker. The tournaments are among the worst in Las Vegas (small stacks and huge vig), but the cash games have always been friendly and soft. However, once I started playing at Bally's with its livelier poker room and drunk patrons, I abandoned Luxor. I am glad that I returned. The competition remains soft and you can easily pick out the regs and grinders. Additionally, Luxor has some good promotions that reward regular play there. In fact, I was able to get in enough hours to qualify for a giveaway the next day. Sweet.
After grinding my hours to qualify for free money on Thursday and leaving with a nice profit, I bolted out of the poker room and made a mad dash in my car to head back to Paris so that I could sneak into the dinner buffet just before it closed for the night. I made it with a little time to spare -- buffet #2.
Most times that I have gone to the Paris buffet have been for breakfast. I was pleased to see that there were a number of tasty and healthy options at the dinner buffet. And ... the fact that I went at the end of the buffet meant that there were not crowds to fight.
After a quiet dinner, I decided to head to my poker home, Bally's, for a little night action. One good thing about Bally's: the night action is usually great. I was doing well but had my table disintegrate, forcing a move to either a loud (and I mean LOUD!) rowdy table or one that looked calmer. A quick survey of the tables and my distaste for loud tables led me to choose the calm one. It was a good choice as my stack continued to grow. However, that table also eventually got small and we opted to split up and fill in at the other tables. The rowdy table had lost the two most obnoxious and loud players, so I moved there. Good decision.
I was familiar with two women at the table. One was an attractive (ginger!) woman I played against during a previous session and also a previous trip. She is a decent player and easy on the eyes, so I was comfortable with her at the table. The other person was an Asian woman whom I had played against earlier in the trip. I knew just how to play against her and was not impressed with her skills. The players who were drinking and loud were not that bad, so I felt I was in the right place.
I got few cards for several orbits and folded hand after hand, therefore establishing a tight image. I was able to use that to my advantage to bluff at pots and also sucker players in when I had a good hand. I even got a guy to fold (relatively small pot) with the third nut flush when I bet on the river. The guy said "I know you have me beat. Do you?" Looking down at my lowly 8 to complete the flush, I stated "Yeah - you should fold." Another player said "He wouldn't lie." This nice guy -- of course not! Finally the guy tossed his Jack high flush and said "I believe you." Shazam!
Meanwhile, the Asian woman lost some hands and went on mega-tilt, calling an all-in raise with absolutely nothing, than rebuying several times. It was time to chip up some more! As best I understand, this was not unusual for her.
Our table broke down again and the tilty, wild fun continued. Adding to the enjoyment was my finding a fellow player who wanted to do Jaeger bomb shots, so boom -- the end of the night was littered with some fun. I cashed out sometime after 6:00 a.m. on Thursday and headed back to my room. After a brief nap I got in buffet #3 -- breakfast at Paris -- before my 24-hour pass expired. I went to bed knowing that I needed to get a little sleep because I already had some plans for that day: a dinner with Rob, Lucki Duck (and maybe Mrs. Duck) and Memphis MOJO, and poker that evening with balt999 (Ron -- a dealer at Bally's and a poker blogger). I also contemplated making a trip to Jean if there was time. Thursday looked to be a fun day. Looking back, it was clearly the best day of the trip.
Anyway, I was up and needed to use my freebie two 24-hour Buffet of Buffet passes, so I offered to share with Man in Black. We had buffet #1 at the Flamingo breakfast buffet.
My usual plan would be to immediately play some $1/2 NL at Bally's, but I was not prepared to hear any happy talk from players who were lucky enough to be at the poker tables when the bad beat jackpot hit. Instead I decided to play at Luxor, where I had had success last trip. Luxor continued to be a great spot for me.
The Luxor poker room was a mainstay for me when I began playing brick and mortar poker. The tournaments are among the worst in Las Vegas (small stacks and huge vig), but the cash games have always been friendly and soft. However, once I started playing at Bally's with its livelier poker room and drunk patrons, I abandoned Luxor. I am glad that I returned. The competition remains soft and you can easily pick out the regs and grinders. Additionally, Luxor has some good promotions that reward regular play there. In fact, I was able to get in enough hours to qualify for a giveaway the next day. Sweet.
After grinding my hours to qualify for free money on Thursday and leaving with a nice profit, I bolted out of the poker room and made a mad dash in my car to head back to Paris so that I could sneak into the dinner buffet just before it closed for the night. I made it with a little time to spare -- buffet #2.
Most times that I have gone to the Paris buffet have been for breakfast. I was pleased to see that there were a number of tasty and healthy options at the dinner buffet. And ... the fact that I went at the end of the buffet meant that there were not crowds to fight.
I was familiar with two women at the table. One was an attractive (ginger!) woman I played against during a previous session and also a previous trip. She is a decent player and easy on the eyes, so I was comfortable with her at the table. The other person was an Asian woman whom I had played against earlier in the trip. I knew just how to play against her and was not impressed with her skills. The players who were drinking and loud were not that bad, so I felt I was in the right place.
I got few cards for several orbits and folded hand after hand, therefore establishing a tight image. I was able to use that to my advantage to bluff at pots and also sucker players in when I had a good hand. I even got a guy to fold (relatively small pot) with the third nut flush when I bet on the river. The guy said "I know you have me beat. Do you?" Looking down at my lowly 8 to complete the flush, I stated "Yeah - you should fold." Another player said "He wouldn't lie." This nice guy -- of course not! Finally the guy tossed his Jack high flush and said "I believe you." Shazam!
Meanwhile, the Asian woman lost some hands and went on mega-tilt, calling an all-in raise with absolutely nothing, than rebuying several times. It was time to chip up some more! As best I understand, this was not unusual for her.
Our table broke down again and the tilty, wild fun continued. Adding to the enjoyment was my finding a fellow player who wanted to do Jaeger bomb shots, so boom -- the end of the night was littered with some fun. I cashed out sometime after 6:00 a.m. on Thursday and headed back to my room. After a brief nap I got in buffet #3 -- breakfast at Paris -- before my 24-hour pass expired. I went to bed knowing that I needed to get a little sleep because I already had some plans for that day: a dinner with Rob, Lucki Duck (and maybe Mrs. Duck) and Memphis MOJO, and poker that evening with balt999 (Ron -- a dealer at Bally's and a poker blogger). I also contemplated making a trip to Jean if there was time. Thursday looked to be a fun day. Looking back, it was clearly the best day of the trip.
posted by lightning36 at 3:28 PM
7 Comments:
"I somehow held back"
Such self-discipline.
I didn't know Mojo was also Ron until I clicked on balt999 and end up at pokerandbridge. I learn so much hanging with you.
@Ken P -- Better be on your best behavior or I'm going to have the little Sicilian woman hunt you down and thrash you.
It only gets better? Can't wait.
Let me get this straight. Man in Black woke you up and you actually took him out to breakfast to REWARD him for that? Man, you are way too generous!
And this sentence here: "One was an attractive (ginger!) woman"---I'm wondering what the "ginger" refers to you? Does this attractive woman remind you of Ginger from Gilligan's Island? Or Ginger Spice perhaps? Or did she remind you of the actual spice? Or from playing with her before, did you know her name actually was Ginger?
When the action was on your opponent, and a third party said, about you, "He wouldn't lie"--that's definitely a no-no. Did the dealer warn him (or her) for that? Although that worked to your advantage here, it's definitely not ok for a player to encourage or discourage action like that.
@Rob -- Her husband was at a different table so I didn't want to get TOO friendly. As for the other players's comment ... the table was fueled by alcohol and there was a lot of loose banter going on. It was not that big of a deal with a table like that.
Rob--"Ginger" as a descriptor usually refers to a redhead. Not sure when or how the term developed but it is a more common term now. Not sure if you were unaware of that or just kidding around, but in case you aren't familiar with that term, there it is....
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