Whale (and brother) does Vegas - 2024 edition (8th-17th May)
Hello fellow LVL people,
Better late than never, but starting this thread to document my upcoming trip to Las Vegas. And when I say upcoming, I mean that I am leaving in less than 12 hours from now!
As the title indicates, I will not be alone in Sin City. My brother will be keeping me company, although we will actually not fly there together. I will go my usual route of Malta-London-Las Vegas, while he will be making his own trek from Norway. But we will - if no delays - arrive in Las Vegas only around 30 minutes apart. I am arriving first, and by the time I have cleared immigration etc., he should have landed as well (his final flight is from from LA to Vegas).
I will be staying at Mandalay Bay for the entire trip, and brother will be staying at Delano for the entire trip. So we will obviously be very close to each other while there. I had some decent offers for MB and brother had great offers for Delano, so the location made sense in that regard. Obviously it's on the south end of The Strip, but looks like weather is going to be really hot and not very walkable anyway. So we will just have to rely on taking Ubers or Taxis etc. to get around.
We will also be attending a concert at House of Blues at MB on the 11th of May, so there will be a break from gambling/poker while in Vegas. We have also considered to check out the Sphere one of the days, although not set in stone yet. And given the warm weather, there will also be plenty of visits to the pool etc.
Shoes and roll are above, which as always gives me a reminder that I should buy some new shoes soon. Thankfully the roll is a bit bigger than what is shown in the picture 
I really havent made many plans regarding poker. There might be a bit more tournaments than on previous trips, simply because it's my brother's favorite format & I have had some really good runs in tournaments here in Malta the last year or so. But I will obviously also try to squeeze in as much cash games as possible, and try to be a bit smart with my decisions. Not just in regards to how I approach hands, but also in regards to where I play and what time of the day I am playing. For example, there is probably not much value in joining a cash game at Caesars at 10am in the morning.
Will obviously also play some Video Poker here and there, hopefully running a bit better than what I did in January. But also here the trick is to be smart, both in regards to where I play and what type of game I am playing. VP is actually one of the reasons I chose to stay at Mandalay Bay; as they still (at least from observation in January) have a good selection of machines with not terrible pay tables at my stakes.
Hopefully I can convince my brother to post a bit as well, but regardless I will do my best to update every day with the usual stuff - some pictures, a lot of hand histories etc.
'Only' staying for 9 days, so it's not a super long trip. But will just have to make the most of it. I can't wait 😀
Another FANTASTIC BigWhale TR!
But yeah, that's it for this one. I'll update if I hear anything about my missing laptop
Good news, laptop was turned in to Lost & Found at Harry Reid Airport, and I can pay to have it shipped back. Will sort that out tonight, and then it will start shipping tomorrow.
Other option would be to fly in myself and get it, and as much as I would love that I don't know if it's cost effective.
Wow, that's nice that it's coming back. I get what you're saying about absentmindedness. I've been working on "one thing at a time, don't think about other stuff til this is complete."
Mediocre results so far.
Though I'd be a fan of BigWhale: The Return.
thanks again Whale and I'm happy you had a great trip
agree re the pressure of the live TR - I noticed my posts getting shorter each day when I did one last year and I can't imagin ever writing up so many detailed HHs
Great TR and I’m glad you’ll get your laptop back!
Good news, laptop was turned in to Lost & Found at Harry Reid Airport, and I can pay to have it shipped back. Will sort that out tonight, and then it will start shipping tomorrow.
Other option would be to fly in myself and get it, and as much as I would love that I don't know if it's cost effective.
Probably not, since you can buy a fairly good laptop for $300 US. Besides, you might forget it again, just in a different place.
Yep, it's on the way now. The cost is not far off from what you wrote in an earlier post ($300-ish), but it's more for the convenience than anything else. While I could buy a new - and likely better one - for the same price, it would just be a lot of hassle. Especially for someone who is technologically challenged like me.
Yep, it's on the way now. The cost is not far off from what you wrote in an earlier post ($300-ish), but it's more for the convenience than anything else. While I could buy a new - and likely better one - for the same price, it would just be a lot of hassle. Especially for someone who is technologically challenged like me.
Wow! Three hundred bucks to ship it?
Great trip report, when I see people flying in from overseas like you it motivates me only being a 3 hour plane ride away to do more trips. I often do solo trips but usually just 3 nighters, 9 days would be a long time in vegas alone I suspect.
Great trip report, when I see people flying in from overseas like you it motivates me only being a 3 hour plane ride away to do more trips. I often do solo trips but usually just 3 nighters, 9 days would be a long time in vegas alone I suspect.
Thanks, I appreciate it.
Yeah, when it takes around 20 hours to travel it's just too time consuming and expensive to just stay for 3-4 days and then go home again.
(although I would still have considered it if I found myself with a few unexpected days off or something)
I should probably do more trips to other locations as well, but the temptation of Vegas is too strong to consider these other options 😀
I haven't flown on a plane at all in 5 or 6 years. I might want to for a WSOP event because of a tight schedule. Then I see all this drama about Boeing. It would be just my luck to fly for the first time in 6 years and die in a crash.
Great TR and glad you're getting the laptop back.
I usually don't have trouble with forgetting or misplacing things but a couple of years ago did manage to shut my car boot onto my mobile phone after using the ledge to change my golf shoes.
Somehow the boot shut, didn't damage the phone, and I only realised after a 20-minute drive to the hotel when I went to retrieve my bags from the boot.
Oh, and I did it again a few days later.
