Time to post my long-overdue report from my trip to Las Vegas last weekend.
We flew out Saturday afternoon, and I had my first SouthWest experience. I didn't notice much of a difference from other airlines, other than the whole cheaper thing, and getting to pick your own seats. The flight attendants didn't have cigarettes dangling from the corners of their mouths, and there were no chickens in coops under our seats.
We land in Vegas 20 minutes after we took off (with the time change); pretty sweet. I'm still tickled every time I land at the airport, and you get right off your plane to the sound of slot machines. I noticed that they're catering to "developmentally challenged":http://feralboy.com/photoalbum/photos/20050110_vegas/IMG_0426.jpg people now, which is nice. Bit of a pain to find our hotel shuttle bus, but eventually we get on and make our way to Palace Station.
First order of business is to get some food. Off to the buffet, which was sub-par at best, but for only $7.99, you really can't beat it.
Then it was off to the strip for some gaming. The first place we went to was the Excalibur, which somehow feels like a sleazy Disneyland with its castle theme. I sat at a $2/6 spread-limit table for a little while, and it was as good as advertised (although there was "no fight":http://taopoker.blogspot.com/2004_12_01_taopoker_archive.html#110304710577342822 while I was there). They had a thing there that if your pocket aces got beaten, you got to spin the "money wheel", and could win anywhere between $20 and $230 cash. Too bad that never happened to me. They had strange tables, with a wooden border where you would stack your chips, if anyone took theirs out of the rack, which they didn't. I found that highly annoying, and it slowed the game down as people tried to get chips out of a full row. I only was there for less than an hour, sitting in the 10s closest to the dealer's right, and got only one or two playable hands, but there were 6-8 people limping in to see every flop, hoping to hit a big hand. I raised from MP with pocket 10s once and got no callers. Another hand I had QJo, limped in and flopped middle pair. A woman with about $200 in front of her in the 8s bet, and I raised. I wound up making a straight on the river, beating her pair of queens. When I got up I was up about $20, which was fine. I wanted to go back, but never quite made it.
Next was the Luxor, which had a small poker room, maybe only 6-8 tables. I sat at a $2/4 which had some of the drunkest people ever at the other end. Apparently they had been there for a good part of the afternoon into the evening, drinking a lot and playing crazy; capping the raises at every opportunity, etc. They were so loose that it was a shame that I got no playable hands for the hour or so I was there. -$20.
Then it was back to Palace Station for Kim to play bingo. I went into their poker room, which was jammed. I put my name on the list for $4/8, and sat at a $2/4 table to wait. There were the oldest people in the world at my table, and each hand took about 5 minutes as people took their heart medicine or something before making a move. I won one hand before I moved (K-10o which turned into 2-pair), and then I slid over into my $4/8 seat. The structure was pretty cool, because small blind and big blind were $1 and $2, respectively. So, you could limp in for $2, or raise it to $6 pre-flop. That made it pretty cheap to play tight and wait for a good hand; no more expensive per orbit than $2/4.
I played pretty cautiously early on trying to gauge the skill level of the table. I won one decent pot betting into two other players with K-10o (again) with an A and Q on the board, as well as 3 clubs. Guess that was scary enough to make them go away.
Next big hand I had KK, raised pre-flop and got 3 callers. The flop is a rainbow of low cards; perfect for my hand. I bet out, and get 2 callers. Turn is an ace, which I'm not happy about at all, but I fire my $8 out, the 5s folds, and the 7s directly to my right raises. I make a crying call. He checks the river, and I check behind him. Jackass had A9o.
Near the end of my 2 hours being there I get AK of diamonds and raise. 2 callers, and a K and a diamond on the flop. Wahoo! Betting and getting called by the 3s. Turn and river are both diamonds, giving me the nut flush. One last bet and a call, and the other guy had AKo, so I scoop a healthy pot. Finished up for the night up $40, which wasn't bad considering I didn't play many hands.
Next day (Sunday) we made our way over in the morning to the Rio to drop our bags off and get some food. We went to the "World Buffet", which was $25 a person and fantastic.
It was fun to try and see how many different continents you could get on one plate. Look, I've got sushi next to mashed potatoes next to some General Tzo's chicken!
We rolled out of there and made our way to the CES. It was a giant clusterfuck trying to get on the shuttle bus, pick up our passes, and get into the show. Once finally inside we saw some neat stuff, although I didn't get to the TiVo booth. Apparently there are these things called "plasma TVs", which will be really hot in the near future.
Back to the Rio, and time to check out their newly opened poker room. You would think since they're hosting the 2005 WSOP they'd be a bit more on the stick, but the room was barely a month old, and the tables were old tables that had been refurbished. Apparently they're building some huge new building out by their convention center just to house the WSOP.
Anyway, when I got there there was only one game going, a $3/6 with a bunch of die-hards playing. 2 couples that wanted to play showed up, so we got a new dealer and started a new table.
1s - Kinda hot woman with a big rack
2s - Her husband, who fancied himself a fantastic player
3s - A guy in a baseball cap who actually knew what he was doing, sorta
4s - Relatively tight asian guy. By relatively tight I mean he was the only guy (besides me) that wasn't in every single hand!
5s - Me
6s - Saucy older asian woman. Big hair, big fake jewelry, and very sweet.
7s - ??
8s - Fat wife. Part of the 2 couples that showed up.
9s - Fat balding husband.
10s - Jay from NYC. Old-ish guy (sort of "Dennis Farina":http://imdb.com/name/nm0001199/ -looking) who sold karaoke supplies or some such nonsense.
This was the greatest table ever, and I wasn't able to take advantage of it. It was 8-handed to almost every flop, as loose-passive as you could ever hope for. The problem was I got hardly any cards to play. I mean I was in some sort of statistical black hole where I kept getting 5-10 offsuit, Q-3 offsuit, etc. Finally I'm in late position and peek down at AQo. Raise and get 6(!) callers. Flop has a queen, and I'm feeling good. I bet the whole way, and callers keep dropping off until the river, when a 3 gives fatty in 8s a set. I didn't really mind, because a few hands later I get Q10o in late position, limp in and see a Q-3-7 rainbow flop. I figure it's time to get aggressive with this table. Fatty in 8s bets, gets 3 callers and I raise. Fatty calls, and other callers fold. Turn is a beautiful 10, giving me top 2 pair. She bets, I raise, and she calls. River is a blank; she checks, I bet and she calls. She had Q-3 and flopped two pair, but it was a worse two pair.
Next interesting hand I get AQs in EP and raise. 6(!) callers. Flop is Q-2-x. Turn is a 2. I bet, 4 limpers folds, and 2s raises. Uh-oh. I call, and the river is another 2. Now I'm fucked. I check, he bets, and I call. He flips up (drum roll, please), "The Hammer":http://72off.cjb.net/! Oh, "cruel irony":http://feralboy.com/log/archives/001289/!
At this point I'm down $70, which is amazing considering how juicy the table is. Then I start to get a few hands. KQo, which I raise and get 3 callers. Flop is K-Q-x, giving me top two pair. I bet, 8s calls, everyone else folds. Turn is a 3. I bet, she calls, and now I'm worried about her having a set again. River's a blank, I bet and she calls with A-3o. Hahaha!
Very next hand I have pocket 4s, and flop a set. Huge pot!
I finish the session up $115 and go to have some dinner, then back to the tables. I get a different table this time, with some new faces. Slightly better play at this one, as it's only 6-handed to every flop instead of 8. I sat tucked into the corner of the 9 seat, next to a guy who groused about every hand he didn't play that would have flopped an unlikely straight, and a very drunk asian man who didn't know where the hell he was.
At some point a guy who just won $1000 playing roulette came and sat in the 7s, which gave us some action for awhile. He quickly pissed away $100, including the last $20 that he played about 3 hands raising the whole way without even looking at his hole cards. And he won 2 of the 3!
I blew one hand completely. I was in the small blind, and had K-9 of hearts. There were 6 limpers, and I completed the bet. Flop has 3 hearts, and I could feel my eyes doing that old WB cartoon thing of turning into cash register dollar signs. It checked around to the button, who bet. Here's where I screwed up. I raised, when I should have just smooth-called and let the rest of the table call as well. There was realistically only one card out there to worry about; the ace of hearts, and I wouldn't be able to put in enough raises to get someone with that card to folds, so all I did by raising was announce my made flush, and scare everyone off. Next time I'll think a bit more about what I'm trying to accomplish; if I'm trying to protect my hand, or let other people make 2nd best hands. A few hands later I had KK, and had it hold up.
I'm in LP(Late Position) and see 4-8 of diamonds. 4 limpers, so I'm getting decent odds to try and have a big hand. Flop has 2 diamonds in it. There's a bet from early position, I raise and get 2 callers. Turn no diamond, and it's checked around (using the free card play! I learned stuff from books!). River is a diamond. Guy to my right bets, and I just call, hoping for an overcall from the 5s. 5s _raises_, and now I figure my baby flush just got beaten. "Oh, shit" I say. 8s calls, and so do I. 5s made a straight, and 8s had two pair. "What was that about 'oh shit'?" the 8s laughed as I scooped the pot.
Towards the end of the night 3 young guys who were all dealers at the "Canterbury":http://www.canterburypark.com/ (which is a huge card club in Minnesota(?)) showed up. The one guy was kind of a smug prick, doing all kinds of "chip tricks":http://pokerchiptricks.com/, and wearing mirrored shades and a visor. C'mon, dude.. it's just a $3/6 game.. what kind of "tells" are you going to get off of a bunch of loose drunks that will call with anything? Turns out he was a "prop" player for the Canterbury most of the time, which means that he played at tables to fill seats. Apparently the difference between a prop player and a shill is that he played with his own money, not the house's. So, he was actually like a professional poker player, which means I needed to get out of there, especially considering I was down about $70 for that session.
One of the last hands I had was pocket 8s. Flop was Q-Q-6. I bet (figuring I'm going to call a bet it's better to bet than call anyway), get 2 callers. The magical 8 comes on the turn, giving me a full house. I bet, and get one caller. The river is the 13 of purple horseshoes(I totally stole that phrase from some 2+2 forums discussion, btw), and I bet. Last caller folds, and I show my house. Finished that session down $5, so +$110 for the night.
Our last day we had some time before our afternoon flight, so we checked out of the Rio and headed to Treasure Island (now just "TI") to check out their buffet, which was slightly cheaper and almost as magical as the Rio's. Took the tram over to "the fucking Mirage":http://imdb.com/title/tt0128442/quotes, and I check out a $3/6 table. The action was good, but nothing can compare to the joy that was the Rio the night before. I was only sitting for a half-hour or so (Kim quickly lost her money at roulette), won one hand with a flopped set, and walked out up $20.
We went over to the forum shops at Caeser's, which was pretty damn impressive. Lots of walking around, and lots of expensive crap.
We had just enough time before catching a cab to our flight to the airport for me to go back to the Mirage for a short while. I sat at a different table, lost with my pocket 10s on one of the first hands, and the time approached for me to leave. I waited through one last orbit, and then pulled the most awesome move from UTG(Under The Gun, first position after the blinds). Yep, I tossed "a live straddle":http://archiveserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=&Number=838502&page=&view=&sb=5&o=&fpart= out there (For those of you that don't know, a straddle bet is raising before you even see your cards. It's totally stupid and will lose you lots of money in the long run. But it was Vegas, baby, Vegas), and got 2 callers. While the flop is coming I actually look at my cards... A-6o, not too shabby. Flop has a pair of jacks and a 3 or something, and I bet it. Both guys fold, I turn over my cards triumphantly, and skedaddle out of there.
Flight home was uneventful, and I slept like the dead that night.
I definitely need to go back sometime in the near future and do nothing but play poker at some of the juicier spots I found, namely the Excalibur and the Rio. I think with some more time and some slightly better cards (see stats below), and I should clean up.
Some stats for the cards I saw.
Times getting KK: 2.
Times getting 10-10: 2.
Times getting AKs: 1.
Times getting AA, QQ or JJ: 0.
