Las Vegas Trip Report June 5-12, 2023: Part 2

Thursday, June 8, 2023

I started this morning with one of my favorite things: eating at the South Point Bloody Mary Breakfast Buffet. The SP buffet might not be fancy, but the food is generally pretty good. I took a food porn picture to send to my brother, thundering36, who shared many Las Vegas buffets with me over the years. Jim - I wish you could be here!

While I was eating, a text came in from my friend Norm in Vegas, inviting me to his house for hamburgers and watching the Golden Knights playoff game that night. I replied that I would need to check my schedule for later that day. Suddenly, I felt this overwhelming feeling of fatigue, similar to how I felt when I contracted COVID earlier this year. I went up to my room and hit the sheets. I didn't wake up until later in the afternoon. I texted Norm that I thought my body was punishing me for abusing it so much lately. I thanked him for the invite, but declined since I didn't feel well. I just stayed in my room and began watching the hockey game when it came on. I felt better in the evening, and decided to try venturing out of SP. I picked up RobVegasPoker and drove us to MGM.

My initial table at MGM sucked. One guy in particular made it unpleasant. He talked ... and talked ... and talked. He was bragging about cashing in Day 1 of the Gladiator. I mean, c'mon -- yes, that is a nice accomplishment, but some of my friends have cashed in WSOP events for hundreds of thousands of dollars. I was not impressed. The irritating guy was wearing a cowboy hat and apparently was from Oklahoma. I thought about what Gunnery Sergeant Hartman of Full Metal Jacket would say to him. 😁

Rob told me that his table was fun and that he was sitting next to a fun woman from England. I was able to get seated at his table, which saved the evening. The woman, Emily, was jovial and engaging. Suddenly, I was surprised that the room seemed to be taken over by the sound of Simon and Garfunkel:

"What I dream I had
Pressed in organdy
Clothed in crinoline of smoky Burgundy
Softer than the rain" **

This was a great time to have some fun with Rob, who seemed enamored with her. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Rob, ummm, looking good there. Possibilities?
Rob: She's married
Me: Well, we ARE in Las Vegas.
Rob: Her husband is sitting on the other side of her.
Me: Oh ...

A little later on, I was having some fun with Emily, making her think that I was mad that she intimated that I lied in poker. Imagine!

It was an interesting night of poker. Rob informed me that a vlogger was at the table. I saw his camera up, recording the table play. The vlog is called 4 Bet Blind. The vlogger's name is Will Tinoco. Rob and I have been waiting to see his newest vlog about our night at MGM. Since Will has a long gap between vlogs, we might not get to see much or any of that night.

Rob had been cruising with a nice stack ever since he rivered quad Aces. He almost took a horrendous beat when a player who never should have even been in the hand turned a gutshot straight. My big hand came later when, in a hand with a growing pot, I hit my straight on the river. The initial raiser bet $100 and was called by Will. I only had $141 left, so it was thespian time. After trying to look pained, I threw in my final $141. The original caller quickly called, but Will labored with his decision. It was only $41 into a pot that exceeded $600, but he had a feeling he was just throwing money away. He eventually decided to call, and both players were forced to settle for second best hand. I happily scooped up the chips. As Rob later said to me, "You had to work for your chips." Indeed. Rob and I headed out, hoping for some more run good the next day.

** Lyrics from "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her" by Simon and Garfunkel

Friday, June 9, 2023

I checked out of my South Point hotel room and decided to enter the 10:00am donkament. Everything went right for the player to my left and nothing went right for me. Since I had spewed off a lot of chips, I was looking to chip up. I raised on the button with AsQs. A couple of people who limped in called. The flop was disjointed and nine high. After two checks I shoved to grab the blinds. Much to my surprise, the first caller who checked called my raise. The other folded. The board ran out dry and the other player flipped over A-K. Gg me. 😑

I then decided to play some $1/2 NL before I headed to the Strip or downtown. I was able to speak with Chris Abramski, who was playing cash, for a few minutes. Several hands in once I was seated, I looked down to see A-A in the big blind. The UTG player made a small raise and I raised to $25. He called. The flop consisted of rags. After the turn, we got it all in. It turns out that he originally raised with 8-4 and hit two pair on the flop. What was he doing raising with that in the first place? And calling a $25 bet in a $1/2 game with only the two of us still in the hand?

It was already past 3:00pm, so I decided to drive to Golden Nugget and check in for the final hotel of my visit. I had three weekend nights here. After I parked my car and headed into the Nugget with my luggage, I was horrified to see what was in front of me: a sea of humanity! Checking into the hotel on a Friday afternoon at 3:30pm. Duh. The line just to get into the pool area was really long, and the long line of people waiting to register was unreal. It was the second longest hotel registration line I had seen in my life. 

I asked a hotel bellman if that was the registration area for all towers. He said "Yes. Are you a good tipper? I mean a really good tipper?" I nodded my head. He put my stuff on his cart and took me to the VIP registration area. He said "Do you know how long you would have waited?" I happily handed him a generous tip. I got waited on immediately and the clerk said "Are you a VIP?" I said "He brought me here. I was invited and comped for the weekend." She said "He owes me." I got checked in and happily walked past the , oh ... couple hundred or so in the registration line, got my room, and had plenty of time to get to Tony Roma's inside Fremont Casino to wait in line for the restaurant to open -- and get the $8.99 prime rib special, which I had been wanting to do for over a year. 

Verdict: Pretty good, and an excellent value for only $8.99.

It was time to play some poker at Golden Nugget. I have a really bad history there of taking nasty beats. I was hoping for a change. I was part of a new table that was starting. One guy appeared to be high on something. He was talking fast and non-stop, and when we started playing, made bets that exceeded the type of bets common to $1/3 NL. He ended up bluffing one guy, which really pissed the guy off. Half the table was targeting him. My big moment came when I called a raise with 8-8 (about $425 behind). The flop was challenging for my set: 10-9-8 with two diamonds. I raised about half the pot to see what the others would do. The first player (about $150 behind) went all in. The second player (about $100 behind) called. So I had bottom set on about as wet a board as there could be for my hand. I guessed that one of the two had Q-J, but maybe both were drawing to straights or flushes. Since they both had smaller stacks then me and the pot was growing, I called. The first player flipped over J-7sooted and the second flipped over Q-Q. I was going to need to pair the board. The turn was a Queen, giving the second player a bigger set, and the river was a brick, meaning the guy who flopped the straight held. My stack was still okay with the hit, but that was the high point of my session. As luck would have it, the loud lucksack was catching cards. In fact, he called my button raise with crap when I had AA. He  hit a straight. Needless to say, it was a rather unfun and unsuccessful night. I had a lot more fun playing slots at Golden Nugget. I figured that I had better invest some time in them since my room had been comped for the weekend.

The night ended with a $9.99 corned beef hash special at Magnolia's in 4 Queens. Pretty tasty for a late-night meal.

I took note of a guy who was having a taco salad that looked great. It would be on my agenda if I returned.

Saturday, June 10, 2023

Funny thing: Although this was just a few days ago, I have no recollection of what I did in the morning or early afternoon! Unless I have some revelation, I guess I just slept really late and didn't do much of anything until I went back to Magnolia's for lunch in the afternoon. And yes -- I did get that taco salad, and it was pretty tasty.

I decided to head to Wynn, where I've had very good results over the years. There was a bit of a wait, which was the case almost everywhere, but especially near mid-Strip. However, when I was given my table assignment, I thought I was getting an omen of a tremendous night:

However, a very familiar theme this trip, success was to elude me once again. I was in the middle of one of those run-bad times that just seem to go on forever. None of my open-ended straights would complete. Every time I had four to a flush the fifth card was nowhere to be found. If I had a big hand in position, everyone or almost everyone in front of me had already folded. My aces were crushed two or three times to shitty hands. None of my pairs hit sets on the flop, and boats? Mwahaha! It was that bad. I guess I was paying the price for the fantastic day I had shortly before my Las Vegas trip. The $394 hourly win rate I had that day was exceptional and funded my losses on this trip. Although my table was decent and kind of fun, it again couldn't produce for me. This was certainly not a memorable day.

I headed back to Golden Nugget and spent more time playing slots. My money maker was Rich Little Piggies Meal Ticket. I'd wait for people to fatten the piggies up and then I'd play. The machines paid off for me several times. I also had great fun playing the Discovery Shark Week games. I'm not sure how I finished on those. I was up quite a bit, then skidded at the end. I guess when poker sucks, there are always slots to cheer you up or make you descend deeper into gambling hell!

Sunday, June 11, 2023

After being out quite late playing slots, I awoke just past 6:00am and was surprised to see this text from Norm in Vegas: "Goooood morning. I just sat down ... table 13 at GOLDEN NUGGET!" My response: "6am poker? Wtf? ...😀 Norm had already hit quads for a high hand bonus, so I decided to get on some clothes and head down even though I felt groggy and tired. I believe we call this foreshadowing! I noticed something funny when I tried to look through my reading glasses at the cards. Then I realized: I had apparently only put in one contact lens. One eye could see clearly without the glasses, and the other needed the glasses, Great. I thren made my worst move of the weekend. I was in a pot with one other guy. I had A7. The flop had an Ace and three spades. I had no spades. We went back and forth a little until the river, which was a 7. Two pair. I bet $30 and the villain shoved in a couple hundred. Now, the reality is that this should have been an easy fold. However, being tired, having the screwed up vision, and having crappy sessions for the past few days, tilt took over and I unfortunately guessed that the player was trying to bluff me out of the pot. Needless to say, I guessed wrong and felt terribly embarrassed to have played so stupidly with a friend watching. I had had enough poker for the trip. Norm wanted to play for a bit, so I headed back to my room to sulk and put in my other contact before we would grab breakfast together. I got back to my room to find that there was no second contact lens there. I had somehow lost it between my room and the Nugget poker room. Kind of a fitting way to wind down this trip!

I  headed back down after a while, and Norm and I had breakfast. He saw what a pisser mood I was in and bought my breakfast. It's nice to have friends. 😀 I went back to my room and was going to decide if I should just call it a trip and head home a day early. The reality was that I was fatigued and did not want to make the drive home in that state. I slept some and loafed around for some time. I knew that Rob was at Venetian, so I inquired about us having dinner. When he decided to leave his table, we met at the Grand Lux Cafe. The sandwich special, featuring a salad, half sandwich and a cup of soup was my choice. Excellent meal, as the Grand Lux always seems to deliver.

Now came the big decision: to play or not to play. Rob and I looked at options, and our best was to stay at Venetian. I borrowed some money from Rob (like I was gonna pay a fortune in the Venetian ATM!) and we both got on the wait list. My table had a group of four youngish friends playing wildly. Perfect. Fortunately for me, the poker gods must have thought I'd quit for the trip and they forgot to screw me this session. I got some good starting hands, and the flops were actually hitting me a decent number of times. I scored some decent pots off the group of friends, then had someone three bet my flopped set of Aces. When I four bet, he shoved with a wimpy A-9 that looked like it had no chance until the turn came, giving him a gutshot possibility. Thank goodness it didn't hit, and I scored a nice pot. I did well in more hands, but then the friends left, and I thought it was a good time to take my profits and run. This ended up being my best session of the trip. Thank you Rob!

With a little success going, I could either go back to my room for the night or head back to MGM. Yeah - you know what I did. Back to MGM!

My table there seemed kind of goofy. The players who appeared to be solid were rarely winning hands, but the fishy looking players were sucking out and taking pots. I went down $100, then up $100. I then rivered a boat, which was raised after I bet. Based on the board, I was pretty sure my opponent had a bigger boat, but I called anyway. Stoopid!

I cashed out with a win there, ending my poker for the trip. It has been a few days since Rob and I saw Emily there, but I thought I'd look for her before I headed out. She was at the final table I searched.

We talked for a few minutes, but then it was time for me to head back to Golden Nugget and get some sleep before my drive home. At least the end of the trip was good!

Monday, June 12, 2023

Checking out of Golden Nugget was easy on the television. I hopped in my car and headed out around 11:00am, hoping to get home before dinnertime. On my way, I stopped at the scenic view of what I consider to be one of the most beautiful sites in the USA: just inside the Nevada border before entering Arizona, looking at Lake Mead and the unusual surroundings. The pictures do not do justice to the view.

I made it home with taking two naps along the way. I got home in just enough time to play with my weekly trivia group. I was certainly not sharp for the contest, but hey: trivia is only a game. But isn't poker a game?  Is it like Phil Helmuth once said: "To you, it's poker, man. To me, it's my life."

In a follow-up blog post, I'll talk about my experiences with hotels this trip, staying downtown, Las Vegas traffic, ...

Thanks for reading!