It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Las Vegas

I had originally planned to go to Las Vegas this week, but I didn't actually make my hotel reservation until right before I started on the trip yesterday. With a brief stop for lunch, it takes me about five hours driving. MGM Resorts has been generous with its room offers to me, so after staying at Delano in February and Mirage in April, my May trip brought me to ... Excalibur. I had read that Excalibur had improved, so I thought I would give it a shot since it would cost me the least of any Strip hotels.

Impression after one night: Definite improvement! My only problem was that my phone would not unlock my door with the digital key. I never was mailed a QR code, likely because of the last-minute reservation. I got a plastic key at the desk instead.I 

My Stay Well Fresh room is not bad! My view of the Excalibur pools also was a pleasant surprise. 

The casino doesn't reak of smoke like it did years ago, and the entire place seems cleaner ... more like when it opened. So ... if you are looking for a decent but not extravagant room at a great price, Excalibur has my recommendation. 😀

I played an evening session of poker at South Point. The place was hopping on a Tuesday night! I wanted to eat at the dinner buffet first but the line was too long. I went straight to the poker room for $1/2 NL.

The poker room was also packed. Cash games were nine handed and the plexiglass had been down for a couple of weeks. It was nice to feel the return of "regular" poker. There was even a bit of talking among players. I was telling another guy a bad beat story and flipped him a chip. The atmosphere okay. There were no jerks at our table.

I originally was down when I called a $20 raise in middle position with AdJd. There was one other caller. The flop had two diamonds, no Aces or Jacks. The original raiser checked and I checked. The other guy made it $20 and I called. Brick. I checked and the guy went all in. He was a short stack and there was about $150 in the pot. Brick. Down about $100 early on.

Two other hands of note. On the button with AsKs, I raised to $15. Everyone folded except the big blind, who called. The flop had an Ace and a spade, so I led out and he called. The turn was a spade so, with top top and the nut flush draw, I bet bigger. He called. The river was a beautiful spade. I made a value bet and he shoved. Perfect!

In the second hand I had AA. There was a $5 button straddle and  $12 raise ahead of me. I bumped it to $30. The player to my left raised to $60. Now the question was "How much should I raise?" I made it $160 total and he called. The flop was great - low, uncoordinated and a rainbow. I shoved my remaining $180 or so and he called. He turned over pocket Queens and bricked the turn and river. That's the way it is supposed to work.

I cashed out with a nice profit and played slots until midnight hit. There was a long line to get into the Coronado Cafe for the midnight specials, but I was in no hurry.

While waiting to get in Coronado, I became aware that my name was dropped on a Twitch stream, so I joined the chat. Lightning Poker (@lightnin_), an obvious lesser version if the REAL lightning, has invited me to come on his stream -- to duke it out for the title of top Lightning. I have accepted the challenge! More details should be available soon via Twitter (@lightning36 or @lightnin_), this blog, or the faux lightning's Twitch feed.

On to day two in Las Vegas. Poker might include Wynn, Bally's and/or South Point.

Thanks for reading!