Where do I start? At the beginning of course. Another couple and my wife and I headed to Vegas last Saturday for a week of gambling, drinking, and being tourists. Note that drinking and gambling were separate as they do not mix well if you want to make money.
Based on feedback from various sources, response from the forum was appreciated, and research I had done online, my fishing choices were narrowed to the Luxor and the Excalibur and I was staying at the NY NY. Can you believe there is a casino in Vegas that does not have a poker room? Yup, the NY NY is sans poker room. Unbelievable.
We left Tampa at the butt crack of dawn and were in Vegas at 1:00 Vegas time. Got ourselves situated in our rooms, kissed the wives goodbye, and headed over to the Luxor. My plan was to play limit first, see if I could generate a positive flow of income, and then tackle the no limit tables. When the poker manager said he had two seats at two different tables for 1-2 available, I quickly pulled a $100 from my wallet. As he grabbed 20 $5 chips, I realized that I was heading to a NL table. Too late to back out now.
The stack sizes varied from less that a $100 to at least $300, and I was a little outside my comfort zone. For those of you that don’t know my story, like most people, I have played various versions of poker since I was a kid, but did not start playing hold em fanatically until after a trip to Vegas last August. Since then, I have started a weekly home event in which we play low stakes limit cash games and no limit tourneys. Knowing that 100 hard earned dollars was sitting in from of me, and could be gone with one wrong move, my stomach was jumping around a bit. I know that $100 is not a large some of money, in fact, I had come to Vegas with the knowledge that my wife and I would probably go through at least a grand gambling as we were there for 7 days.
Back to poker, and sorry for the tangent. So, I had been playing for a little while, not really catching any cards, when I caught a pocket pair. Color me thrilled when I make a set on the flop, and a full house on the turn. Color me more thrilled that I have a player across from me sitting with two pair and betting as if he has the nuts. I cold call him on the flop and re-raise him all in on the turn. I had to sweat out the river card when he calls and turns over pocket kings, but the river is a blank and I now have $180+ sitting in front of me. FYI, I would have had no problem leaving right there and then. J Sandman 1, Random Vegas guy 0.
With a larger stack in front of me, and a goal to leave with a profit, I began to play even tighter. I am pretty sure aggressive play would have netted me more money, but it was my first day in Vegas, and I was ahead! Twice I got up to see how my buddy was doing, and I was on the verge of leaving the table when I was dealt pocket 10s. Now this is where I believe hours of online play and the weekly home game helped me tremendously. The flop came out 10 blank 10. Flopped quads in Vegas! Yeah baby! Now, how do I make some money? You gotta love aggressive poker players. I check/call the flop, I check/call the turn, I raise/get re-raised/and re-raise all in on the river. And I now have $400 sitting in front of me! Sandman 2, Random Vegas Guy #2 0. Ok, now I am really ready to get the hell out of dodge! But, guess what, the Luxor pays out a high hand an hour at $150. I have to stay to collect that right?
Unfortunately, some guy hits a jack high straight flush with 15 minutes to go in the hour to wipe my high hand away, and I give back $40 on a flush draw. A $200 swing in mere minutes. I hang out a little bit longer and cash out with my profits and a big smile.
FYI, this is just day one of 7 in Vegas. Let me know if you want me to keep writing about the experience and I will be happy to oblige.
Excellent report and yes indeed keep on posting. I am going to vegas for the 1st time in September and of course ANY info ( not just the poker ) is helpfull and much appreciated. Many forum players make trips and never post of their experiences which is a pity as I am sure their are many who think they can go there and crush the tables, to break even on a trip is sweet but to come away in profit is sweeter.
Ok, so part I entailed my first few hours in Vegas and a profit of a couple hundred dollars. Part II will cover the next two outings, and not so much success.
Day 2 found me inquiring about the SNG at the Luxor. I really did not have that “I want to play poker” attitude going that day, and I should have listened to my inner self. However, I sat down to play. It was a $53 SNG in which 70% of the $50 went to the prize money, and $3 increased your stack from $800 to $1,200. The rounds were 15 minutes, the blinds started at $25 - $50, and they doubled every 15 minutes. The typical SNG lasts just over an hour. Compare all this to my home games in which everyone starts with $6,000 in chips, and the rounds are 20 minutes. I tend to play pretty tight, but I knew I would have to make a move early if I wanted to survive. However, I never got the chance. First I could not catch a single playable hand. (My definition of playable and your definition of playable are probably different, but the majority of what I saw was not much better than 72 off suit. When I would see a face card and want to make a move, I had someone raising 5 times the big blind before me, and I would fold away. When the action was checked or folded around to me, and I decided to play my trash, would normally pick up the blinds uncontested. However, the blinds were moving to fast. Before I knew it, I was down to 10 BBs. Then 6 and I had to move all in. Picked up a few more blinds, and finally got called by the chip leader. His Qs held up against my Krags, and the tourney was over for me. I can honestly say, this is probably the first time I was upset leaving a table. Not because I lost, but because I could not play. Tourney started at noon, and it was 5 in the afternoon before I was civil to my wife and friends. (Subtract $53 from my previous winnings, and I am still up $180)
The next two days found my buddy and I playing limit. My goal each day was to make $100 and head over to no limit with my profits. Didn’t happen. The first day was a dream come true. We had a steady flow of people that have played a little poker, but think that a pair is a good hand. However, I was never able to take advantage of it. Since these fish will call you to the river and are too ignorant to fold, you have to make sure you have the goods right. When would I have the best hand? Going up against the one or two people that knew what they were doing, and they would check call me at best or just fold on any raise I made. Still funny to think back to some of the comments we heard:
·But I had a pair
·Oh, does that beat me
·I don’t have anything, I just wanted to see what you had
FYI, this was at the Harrahs and while the wait staff was not the best to look at, they were by far the friendliest and fastest.
So, to recap:
Day 1 +$230
Day 2 -$50
Day 3 +13
Day 4 -$7
Day 5
Ok, so the SNG had been a bust. (More luck than skill as the blinds move so fast) Harrahs had been break even, which was not bad for 6+ hours of entertainment, but not what I had wanted to accomplish.
So, my buddy and I headed to the Excalibur on Wednesday morning. They were pretty much dead, and we had to wait for a few minutes to get a 1 / 2 or 1 / 3 table up and running. I could not buy a hand if my life depended on it. If I was sitting with AK or AQ or AJ suited, the cards would come out a different suit. If I was dealt a low pair, all face cards would appear. If I was dealt 3 5, I would fold and 3 3 5 on the flop. On top of all that, this table would not fold to any bet, and two attempts at stealing pots ended up with lost dollars. The only thing that saved me was my stomach, as I decided I would rather go eat than give away any more money. And yes, I lost money. $70 to be exact, bringing my winnings all the way down to $116. Ouch!
That night we headed over to the Rio to show our friends the Parade in the Sky and to stretch the limits of our stomach at the Carnival Buffet. FYI, best buffet in Vegas. Once the show was over, my buddy was really pushing to go play some no limit. He too was not doing so well in limit, and wanted to play at the home of the WSOP. I begrudgingly agreed, as I was fearful of the talent pool in place like the Rio. Much to my happiness, we were first in line for a new table. One of my biggest fears going to play no limit in Vegas was sitting down at a table in which everyone’s stack was bigger than mine. I bought in for $200, which was pretty much the norm. (1 / 3 if I recall) I think one person bought in with $100. My buddy and I sat on opposite ends of the table (I took seat 2, as my favorite seat, seat one was already taken), and it is the first time we did not let on that we knew each other. To my right was a young kid, to my left a guy in town for a conference. As I had expected with better competition, this table was a bit more aggressive, at least early on. The kid to my left started firing at the pot on the very first hand. Lucky for me and the rest of the table, he was called and beat on the first two hands. After he reloaded for another $100, he calmed down. I would have hated to seen what would have happened if he had won those pots.
I had only been sitting for about 10 minutes when I got dealt my new favorite hand, pocket 10s. The flop brought two sevens, and the turn brought a 10. I had raised and been called on the flop, and I had raised and been re-raised on the turn, so I went all in, not expecting to be called, but definitely wanting to take the pot, which had over $100 in it. The guy did call me and turned over a flush 7s full of 4s, which lost to my 10s full of 7s. Wow! What a rush, and in retrospect, how crappy that would have been if I had lost. Unlike the guy I beat, who re-loaded, I would have walked out down $200 after only 10 minutes of play.
I stuck around for another couple of hours, only playing premium hands. Won some, lost some. Shortly before I called it a night, I had a nut flush draw against a slow playing pair of aces. Good news for the Rockets holder, but my flush did not hit, and I donated about $70 in his direction. The moron check called all the way to the river.
I left the table with $400, bringing my profits to just over $300. Even though I would be in Vegas another day, I decided to take the profit and make it my bankroll for online play.
All in all, it was a blast, and I can’t wait to go back. I eat, breathe, sleep, poker, and I look forward to playing against you on the felts.
I host a weekly home event and write up a recap each week. Not only do I like to play poker, but I like to write about it as well. Allows me to relive all the fun.
I did forget to mention, and this is directed to the guys, that the outfits worn by the servers at the Rio is by far the best out of all the casinos I have been in.
And for the ladies, I am told they have male servers as well.
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Success in Vegas! Part 1
