"Stealth" Las Vegas Trip Report -- Part I

Things had not been great for me lately. The governor and legislators in Illinois have caused numerous problems for almost all higher education institutions in the state. I had to tell some people in my department at work that they might lose their jobs. My mother-in-law's dementia has worsened to the point that she is now in a nursing home. The weather was cold and snowy. What better time to head out to Las Vegas! This is the beginning report of the trip I called my "stealth trip."

Oops - not that "Stealth"

As always, I waited until the last minute to pack. Then it was off in the cold and snow to Chicago to catch my flight on Monday morning, January 15. After lucking out with nobody in the middle seat on the flight out, I got my private Uber driver to pick me up at McCarren and take me Flamingo, where I would stay for two nights, to check in.

Alicia "AC" Chang and unidentified Uber customer

We stopped to pick up some food from where else but ...

Loaded up with food from the gods, we stopped off to make a delivery to a hungry soul:

Michelle just waiting for the In-N-Out

After eating, it was finally time to play some poker. First stop: Flamingo, which has tended to be a bad place for me in the past. It did not disappoint. I kept getting low pocket pairs and calling raises. Surely I would hit a set and win a nice pot. Ummm ... no. I had several nice flush draws, and surely I would catch a card to hit the flush and win a nice pot. Ummm ... no.

I made my way to Bally's and  couldn't seem to do anything right. I got few cards and when I did, they were always counterfeited. I always claim to want to get to bed at a decent time on my first night in Las Vegas. This time I really did get to bed earlier than usual, licking my wounds from the disastrous first night in Las Vegas. Things had to get better, right?

One interesting note from the first night: the friggin' Wyndham reps were all over me. I usually go to Las Vegas by myself and don't get bothered by the timeshare people. However, walking around with AC, the Wyndham reps thought we were a couple and were on us like ants on a fallen picnic hamburger. What a pain in the butt.

Tuesday started out with a freebie brunch at Paris. Caesars Entertainment Corp has a great promotion currently going on in Las Vegas: get 50 tier credits, get a free buffet (Caesars Bacchanal not included). 50 tier credits = three hours of poker. Sweet! After stuffing myself like the glutton I am, I texted my brother, thundering36, to rub it in. He asked me if I had eaten a crepe yet. I hadn't, but still had some room in my gizzard for this awesome treat:

As always, thundering36 could be counted on to give an appropriate comment: "I hate you!!!!!" I guess a strawberry, raspberry and blueberry crepe with whipped cream, powdered sugar and raspberry sauce will do that to some people.

I played some more poker at my old "home," Bally's, and still was going nowhere. The only bonus was having a nice chat with Bally's dealer and good guy Ron -- balt999. I played some $1-1 NL at The LINQ and the run bad continued.

I finally decided to go to the place that had been really good to me the past trip or two: Mirage. Surely I could do at least a little better there? Well, ...

Ding -- we have a winnah! The biggest pot I won was when I raised with J-J and got several callers. The flop: 10-J-A rainbow! I knew that I was vulnerable if someone played K-Q, but that wasn't going to stop me. One player actually laid down a set of 10's after I pushed, one had two pair and one didn't show. The turn was a blank and the river was a King. I thought I was dead. However, no Queens were in play and I scooped a huge pot. Shazam!

I cashed out and went to join AC, Michelle and Kristi, who were playing at The LINQ. AC posted this picture, which she captioned "lightning's angels:"

One gets the feeling that more than a few drinks were consumed prior to the picture!

I decided to buy in for $140 at this $1/1 NL game. The first hand I was dealt A-Q and called a raise. The flop was Ace high, and the initial raiser pushed the rest of his $100 stack. I decided to call. It turns out that he had A-J and shipped his hundo to me. Sweet! I played several hours and ended up with a decent profit. After such a poor start to poker, I dug myself out of my hole. Things should only be going up from here, right?

On Wednesday morning, I packed up and had my Uber driver take me to Gold Coast. Thanks, Boyd Gaming, for the two comped nights at Gold Coast. As I checked in, I had to tweet out this picture of my room to 3dollarbag and ShadyStevePoker:

Yes -- the guy who grew up in the 60's and 70's who has yet to partake of the evil weed gets assigned room 420. Shazam!

For lunch, AC and I went to a place I had been wanting to try for several years, Ping Pang Pong. A look at some of the great dim sum:

After lunch, it was time to head back to the poker table. Destination: MGM. I made a nice profit there when I called a raise with 8-8. The flop had a King and two small cards, and I just didn't believe the initial raiser. My gut told me that he bricked and was trying to push me off my hand. He raised the flop and I called. The turn seemed to be inconsequential. He raised again and I called. The river seemed to be another brick. He put out a big raise, which certainly stunk to the high heaven. He either had me all the way and played me for a sucker or else I was dead on in my read. I called. Bingo -- his A-Q was no good. Woot woot!

I headed down to Harrah's to get in a quick session before dinner with AC and Michelle at the Rio buffet. Yes -- another free buffet, courtesy of poker. The session at Harrah's was less than successful, after which we were off to Rio. Afterwards, Michelle and I got in a session at Bally's.

The session at Bally's had a couple of disasters. A shorty was all in with K-K and I called with A-A. King on the flop. Shit. And finally ... finally ... I finally flopped a set -- 6's on a board of 4-5-6 rainbow. One would think that I was good. I raised and was re-raised. The villain obviously flopped the straight. I called the raise with the hope that I could pair the board. No luck. I checked and the villain raised big, and at that point I had to just let go. Bah! What had potential to be a great session ended up being disappointing. At least I did have good intuition in heading back to The LINQ for the midnight ticket drawing since I had about a dozen tickets in the hopper from the previous late night session. One of my tickets was pulled, giving me a free $100. Can't argue with that! I returned to Bally's afterwards. At about 5:00 a.m. I decided to call it a night. After a cab ride to Gold Coast, it was time to hit the sheets and dream about crushing some more poker before the trip ended.