"Stealth" Las Vegas Trip Report -- Part II

After being out so late Wednesday night, Thursday morning was largely lost in getting a few hours of sleep. After that, I hit the Gold Coast buffet and planned to head to Rio to catch a shuttle to The Strip. However, when I saw the shuttle at Gold Coast that could take me to the Orleans, I jumped on it. This would be the day that I would finally play at Orleans. I had always avoided playing there, hearing that I would actually be one of the younger and less crabby players at the table.

I am happy to report that I had an excellent time playing $1/3 NL at Orleans. The locals at my table were fine and appeared to mostly be good players. One young agro guy sat down on my right. On a fun hand, I led out under the gun for $12 with A-A. Unfortunately, call ... call ... call ... call ... and then it got to the agro guy (about $100 behind), who declared "all in." Talk about manna from heaven! I decided to just call in hopes of getting one other person in the pot. Everyone folded, however, and my A-A faced off against J-J. The aces held, and I was feeling pretty good ... until my K-K got flushed by a woman who appeared to be a pretty good player -- and was hitting almost every flop. I finally decided that I wasn't going to be making money there and caught a shuttle back to The Strip.

The shuttle dropped us off at the Forum Shops. The weather had turned pretty cool, and my shorts and t-shirt were just not quite cutting it that night. I headed to my honey hole, the Mirage. I sat next to a friendly local who, after chatting with me for an hour or so, proceeded to tell me how each of the locals at the table play. Shazam! After getting up some, I began just treading water and decided to catch a late dinner. I knew that AC was playing in an Omaha tournament at Orleans, so I decided to see if she would bust or go head toward a victory. Unfortunately, she busted out, then drove us to Firefly Tapas Kitchen & Bar. What an excellent choice -- especially since Firefly had a reverse happy hour from 11:00 p.m. until 1:00 a.m. However, the parking area was a little sketchy, and we were confronted by a thin woman who claimed that she was pregnant and who wanted to do a crappy clean-up job on the car for money. She even said that we shouldn't worry about her doing anything to the car. Yeah -- right! We briskly walked into the restaurant and were hoping that she would be gone when we got out.

After some great food, we decided to call it a night. AC drove me back to Gold Coast and I got to bed with the hope of getting some sleep for a big final day and a half.

Friday, February 19 would be my last full day in Las Vegas. After getting up in the morning, I got a phone call from The Poker Meister. A nice long talk about poker strategy and pros playing in the Baltimore area got me ready to check out of the hotel. Additionally, several texts from regular texting buddies PPP and Rob had me rolling on the floor. And once again, AC provided transportation, but first, a trip to a local sushi bar...

 for some tuna poke ...

salmon skin salad ...

and sushi.

With the main course down and with plenty of time on our hands, we headed downtown. There was one place I knew I had to visit: Mermaids. It was time to channel my inner 3dollarbag.

AC looks on in horror as I enjoy my sweet treats

And then it was time to check out my final hotel. Since I spend little time in my room when I go on poker trips by myself, I hate to spend much money on hotels. Friday night in Las Vegas usually means big bucks on The Strip, so I opted for a motel just off The Strip that received decent ratings on tripadvisor.com. Strangely enough, a couple of days before the trip I could not find this motel on the usual site, the Comfort Inns website. AC told me that she went past the area the day before but did not see the Roadway Inn. We found out why: it had been sold and was being converted to a Siegel Suites Extended Stay. It was already in kind of a sketchy area between Wynn and the Convention Center, but additionally had construction going on all around and remodeling of the hotel also. It looked creepy.

Yikes! I was kind of scared to even get out of the car! AC then asked "Do you want to sleep on my couch tonight?" and I quickly accepted. We dropped off my stuff at her place, and then while AC went out to engage in some Blood Bowl action, I took the monorail (another first in Las Vegas for me!) to Harrah's and headed to ... where else -- Mirage.

The table I was at was okay, but I wasn't catching any cards and I knew that winning money would continue to be difficult there. I switched to a table that seemed to have one or two drunk guys, and voila -- a heater started. In my first big hand, I called a raise with Ad-4d. About five of us were in the hand at $12 apiece. The flop was 4s, 2d, 5d. There was a raise and an all in. Even though none of my flush draws had been hitting, I knew this pot would be big and I called for about $100. There was another all in, so anticipation was high. I rivered 10d and scooped a nice pot. Poker is EZ sometimes! A few hands later, I called a raise with Ah-8h. The flop was all hearts. Boom!

A guy who had a lot to drink was getting aggressive, and I kept catching cards. At one point he made a $21 raise. Looking down at A-Q, I called. The flop was Queen high. The turn -- an Ace! Another decent pot.

After several players left and/or were felted, it seemed like I needed to get out of the game and catch the monorail before it shut down for the night. I cashed out at 2:20 a.m.

I would have had a bit more, but it was my last night in Las Vegas and I was generous with the tips I was giving to the dealer who kept feeding me excellent cards. I caught the monorail with a big smile on my face.

Saturday morning AC and I had salmon omelettes at a local restaurant, and then it was off to the airport. After getting into Chicago, I decided to take a detour and visit my Mom and thundering36 before heading home. While heading back home I saw the road that would take me to Harrah's Joliet. Nah, I decided. It looked like it was finally time to go home.

So ... I had a great trip, won money and had an excellent time. Many, many , many thanks to AC, who not only shuttled me around, but provided great company for several meals and even put me up for my final night when my hotel situation got messed up. It is certainly good to have friends in Sin City!

It is beginning to look like my next Las Vegas trip will tentatively be June 12-17. My original plan was to take my son to celebrate his college graduation, but it looks like my wife might also be able to go. It looks like it has all the making of another excellent trip!