Las Vegas Trip Report Sept 2-6, 2024: Outed Three Times at the Poker Table

 Prior to September 2

It seemed like this day would never come. I had spent a significant amount of time assisting my wife, who was caring for our elderly friend, Sandra. Sandra had made the decision several weeks before to stop going to her twice-weekly dialysis treatments. However, Sandra had made this same decision about three or four times before, only to start back when she started to feel really bad or her fear of dying overcame her. This time, however, she was serious. She lapsed into unconsciousness the third week in August, and we and two care givers were watching her as much as we could. My wife and I had a vacation to Napa, CA planned for Aug 26-29. We were hoping that Sandra would pass before we left. I was actually the last person to see her alive Sunday night, Aug 25. I had given her a sedative and morphine that had been provided by hospice and was watching the Three Stooges, followed by Pulp Fiction. About 11:00pm, I said what I imagined would be my last goodbye. My wife and I had an early Monday morning flight into Oakland. Sometime after we landed, my wife received a text that Sandra was found dead when a neighbor checked on her late in the morning. A huge weight had been lifted off our shoulders. It was time to have fun in Napa! Having nothing planned for Labor Day weekend, a time I traditionally spent in Las Vegas, I made plane and hotel reservations to lock in my trip, which I felt I sorely needed. A tip of the cap to my Australian brother, thundering36, who for several years went out to Las Vegas with me that weekend to celebrate his birthday. I would have to celebrate without him.

Monday, September 2, 2024

The earliest flight that I could get on Frontier was in the afternoon. The day started off well when Alysia Chang texted me to find out when my flight got in. She offered to pick me up at the airport and drive us somewhere for dinner. She did just that, and we met up with Chris Abramski at Tacos and Beer for Happy Hour. After some street tacos and beer, we headed straight to the Venetian, where I was excited to play at the its poker room. It wasn't too difficult to find when coming in from the parking  garage, but Venetian needs to put up better signage. The new second floor poker room, in the Grand Canal Shoppes area, looks pretty spectacular. The blue and white tables and chairs reminds one of another classy poker room in the immediate area. The chairs were all brand new and wonderful, a badly-needed change from the old chairs that had seen their better days. Chris had gotten there before Alysia and me, and doubled up on a flopped straight pretty quickly. Poker is EZ sometimes! I got seated at table 25, and Alysia, Chris, and Las Vegas poker friend Luke Johnston all moved to my table. Normally, this would have resulted in my having a blast. However, there was a woman at the table who was cackling loudly the entire time. I don't remember playing with her before, but interestingly enough, I saw her playing later at night at Bellagio later in the week. She was older, and had short white hair that was parted on one side, reminding me of class picture day from when I was in elementary school. I had nothing against her personally, but her loud cackling was being projected straight at me, causing a massive sound in my hearing aids. I eventually moved to a different seat to avoid listening to her at her maximum volume.

Unfortunately, I was card dead most of the session. Even with a decent starting hand, I couldn't hit a flop to save my life. My play then got sloppy as I was frustrated. The only redeeming part of the session (apart from playing at a table with three friends!)was that a dealer from Venetian, Dustin, approached me and said, "It's nice to meet a member of the Inner Circle," so he had apparently been reading Tony Bigcharles's blog for some time. 

He said that he actually only met Tony once in a casino. I had not been outed at a poker room for a year or two. Little was I to know that this would be happening two more times this trip!

My final hand, I shoved with a pair and was called by the raiser in the hand. He had top-top and I thought I had sucked out on him when I hit two pair. Unfortunately, he also had the nut flush draw and hit it on the turn or river. Meh. I lost my buy-in plus another $100, so the poker was not off to a good start. Could this be foreshadowing? Alysia cashed out and drove me to Excalibur to finally get into my room. Day two would hopefully be much better poker-wise.

Tuesday, September 3, 2024

When the going gets tough, what do you do? You go to your honey hole. For me, this meant Bellagio. It had never been a favorite back in these days when it was so packed with tables that you could barely walk, but I had been having much success there in the past year. Since December, 2023, I had won 11 of the 13 sessions I played there. I had been running really well, and as a few of my poker friends could attest, I was really dominating play there. So yeah, bring it on, Bellagio!

I was first seated at a table with some pretty good players. I quickly learned not to stay in a hand unless it was solid. After about a 1/2 hour of play and a small profit, I decided to request a table change ... and what a great decision that was! The players at my new table all looked pretty new, and I suddenly began to catch a few cards. This was a classic table of no fold me Hold em. People kept calling my raises, and I went n a short torrid streak, winning every significant hand for about 20 minutes. My stack grew and grew. I only remember losing one significant hand when someone turned a gutshot straight. I knew I was behind and called anyway, thinking that the way I was winning, I might just hit the card I needed. Well, I didn't. 😃 I decided that cashing out with a good profit would make the most sense when a few players changed and the table dynamics changed with them. I was now back at even at poker for the trip.

Next stop: Horseshoe. Now, some familiar with me and my blog might know that many years ago, I couldn't lose when Horseshoe was Bally's. Then things turned dramatically -- in the opposite direction. I think it was on my last trip to Las Vegas that I won playing there by sucking out. I am not too proud to accept a suckout, u see. 😁 I was seated at a decent table but wasn't winning many pots as I had gone card dead again. As I was bleeding chips, I took a stand against the table lucksack and doubled up. I left after winning a couple more hands and grinding out a small profit. I had told James "Pman" Urbanic that I would play some poker at Westgate after he started his shift this trip, so it was off to the monorail to Westgate. Thanks to Alysia for loaning me her locals monorail card.

When I got to Westgate, it was shortly after 9:00pm. An earlier tournament was at the final table and a new one had just started. The $1/2 NL game that had been going that evening had just broken up. I said a quick greeting to James and headed back to the monorail  to play at MGM. Long ago, MGM had been one of my favorite and profitable rooms, but like Horseshoe, things had changed. However, I was at a really good table, played very well, and caught some cards. I made a very nice profit to end the night, profiting in four figures for the day which, to me, is pretty good in $1/2 and $1/3 NL. I went to my room with a tired but happy face.

Wednesday, September 4, 2024

I decided that I would first head from Excalibur -- the "dirty castle, ' to Luxor -- the "dirty pyramid," 😀 to put a few bucks in the progressive slots there that cnote_vegas has mentioned in his X posts several times. My victim: the progressive with $173,000+ up top. Not bad for only $.75 maximum/spin. Although I hit some decent hands and could have pulled a profit out of the machine, I was looking for more. I burned my winnings and a little more before deciding to move on. We can always dream, can't we?

Dinner that evening was at Ellis Island BBQ with Alysia, her brother Solomon, and poker buddy NormInVegas. The portions were HUGE, the price very reasonable for Las Vegas (especially if you take advantage of two specials that both decrease the price you pay), and the taste -- excellent if you like your BBQ sauce sweet. I will definitely go there again.

After dinner, Norm and I headed for Bellagio. As we were at the desk to check in, I saw that we were standing next to three ol' tyme poker bloggers: Grange, Poker Peaker, and Bad Blood. They told me that Dr Chako has left Las Vegas earlier that day. Talk about  a living time machine. 😝

I was seated at a table and soon afterward was joined by Norm. Things went haywire quickly. I lost chips and was not having fun. I was doubting my ability to win in the game and wanted to change tables, but I didn't because Norm was there. u see, this was therefore all HIS fault, of course. 😀 At the end, I jammed to a raise (stoopid stoopid) with pocket 8s. My opponent called. I thought I sucked out on the river when I binked an 8, but he flipped over his cards to show that he flopped a set of 10s. Bad decisions by me, baaaad poker. I headed to the sportsbook for a break. After checking social media and whatnot, I decided to buy in again. That was, in retrospect, a mistake. The session was so bad that I can barely remember anything about it, except that I ran top-top into Aces. I'd had enough for the night. I tucked my tail between my legs and headed for the slot machines. On the way, I was stopped by a guy who said "You're lightning, aren't you?" Hmmm ... who could this be? I had a nice conversation with a guy named Lewis. He said that he had played poker with TBC many years ago at Suncoast. I guess he had continued to follow Tony's blog, thus the familiarity with me. I texted Tony later that night to see if he had an idea of who Lewis was. He had no recollection of him. Sometimes the ol' memory isn't what it used to be. 

Thursday, September 5, 2024

I decided that my final full day in Las Vegas would be relaxed. I made plans to meet Chris Abramski at MGM at 4:30ish to be seated in time for its Thursday Night Football promo. I decided to take it easy that day. I had lunch at Buca di Beppo in Excalibur and had a fine looking and tasting antipasti salad. 

I got to MGM about two hours before the 5:20pm start of the game and was seated at an interesting table. My rivered flush lost to a rivered straight flush. One player called a short stack all-in with ... 3-3os -- the dirty diaper! Things just weren't going well for me despite being at a table with a few obviously weak players. Hell - maybe some players thought I was a weak player! I couldn't hit any flops and got suckered into losing a huge pot when I should have known better. I was missing every draw and playing poorly. It's bad when you can feel yourself playing badly. After a few player changes, I was sitting next to a guy who appeared somewhat familiar. He asked me where I was from. I responded Phoenix, but originally Chicago and Illinois. He then said "You're lightning, aren't you?! Damn -- the third time this trip! I said "I don't know him" and smiled. He said his name was JT and that he was a local. I donked off the rest of my chips and left at halftime. Back to the slots where I was having decent success. By the way Chris Abramski, what the hell ever happened to you?

Friday, September 6, 2024

Final morning in Las Vegas. I checked out of my hotel at 11:00am and decided on lunch at Hooters in Oyo. However, I guess my thinking cap wasn't on. I headed from Excalibur toward the Tropicana, not expecting everything to be completely blocked off. No easy way to get past Tropicana to Oyo. I decided to grab a sub at Jimmy John's in the Excalibur food court. Now, I know a lot about Jimmy John's. I've been to the first Jimmy John's store. The headquarters for Jimmy John's was in my town in Illinois. Heck -- Jimmy John used to live a mile away from me. Everyone store I've ever been in has had the famous Jimmy John's freaky fast service ... except the one in Excalibur. I'm guessing it is not a franchised store since you can't find out much info about it. The lackadaisical young guy who has been there almost every time I've gone was there was working. I attempted to order an original #3 Totally Tuna sub. "Sorry - we are out of tuna." Ummm ... okay. Then I tried to order an original #5 Vito. "We are out of pepperoni." Seriously? I said that I'll get my lunch elsewhere and headed to Buca. The pasta sauce there is dull, but hey -- at least I could get lunch there.

I caught a Lyft to the airport and had a little luck there. I had been assigned a middle seat of my Frontier flight back home, but the person in the isle seat didn't show. The 40-minute flight home was unremarkable except that we got in too early and a plane was still at our gate. I quick pick up from my wife and I was home by dinnertime.

Epilog

Looking back, I really enjoyed my meals and poker with my friends. That is always the high point. I did really well on slots. Although I didn't really mention them in my report, I won on several and had a blast doing so. I have new respect for the Frankenstein machines that I previously disdained. The poker? Well, I had an exceptional day on Tuesday. However, for the other sessions, I either was card dead, missed most draws, or played poorly. Sometimes that just happens, I guess. I was in a bad funk and got impatient. At least my Tuesday poker wins and slot wins through the five days covered most of my poker losses, leaving me down a puny buy-in for the trip. The end result is that I had a good time, played poker and slots, and it didn't cost me too much what with cheap Frontier flights and a cheap room at the "Dirty Castle."

A special thanks to NormInVegas for the ride from Ellis Island to Bellagio and to Alysia for the airport pick up, a few other rides, and use of her monorail ticket. It's nice to have friends who live in Las Vegas. 😀

I probably will not return for at least a month, maybe several due to this year's F1 race. In the meantime, I have a colonoscopy scheduled soon, a trip to Greece at the end of the month, and in October, possibly a trip with TBC to get him to visit his mother and son. That could be really interesting.

Thanks for reading! 😊