MuckPls and BigWhale vs Vegas (01/13-01/27)

hope he has better luck the next time

Enjoying the thread as well and the effort you guys puts into it.

Just wanna chime in on the big loss that Bigwhale experienced at Bellagio. Totally understand the feelings, its not fun those nights where you feel like you hit a brick wall. However, after a while you will be able to zoom out a bit and probably you will learn from it and become a better player.

Every single time ive had a record losing session, or feeling more down after a session on the drive home, it have made me a better/stronger player. You develope your risk tolerance, how much beat you can take and still keep going (Rocky yeah), and you learn to appreciate the winning sessions with good runs even more.

For example a couple of very bad losing sessions eventually got me to get rid of my 3 buyin stoploss a few years ago, simply because i didnt need it anymore. I can keep going after losing 5 buyins if the game is very good, or i simply make a decision to quit if/when i cant play +EV poker anymore.

Keep it up and you will bounce back stronger than ever.

Yes, I wrote even in one of the earliest post that I wanted to play some more $2/$5. Didn't work out as planned, but it's not because game was significantly tougher. Just made one terrible mistake + got a bit coolered in one of the last hands.

(Although with lowest full house on J95T9, I am not beating many proper value hands, TT is also a hand she could very well have played that way).

Today has been nothing but running around. Woke up super early as usual and headed to Bellagio 2/5 as I didn’t want to walk all the way to the Aria in the rain. Sat down at a fairly good table and 5th hand in got KJ in on QT23A vs a confused young girl holding A7o for a full double up. Game then broke a couple of minutes later, so nice quick profit.

Then moved over to Vdara where I had a 50 minute massage booked. I arrived 30 minutes early and had the entire spa for myself which was amazing (especially since I slipped on my way into the jacuzzi and fell face first into the water hahaha). Massage was amazing and much needed

Then Aria and Cesars Palace for some shopping, and now just chilling and gathering energy for tonight’s game.

Aria NFL display:

Also picked up these bad boys at Urban Necessities:

Some of you may remember the exact same shoes from a TR a couple of years ago. Sadly I left them out and my dog ate them:m/destroyed them so needed to buy a new pair as I absolutely loved them. But damn, $700…

Some VP while waiting for 1/3. Sadly broke dead even.

Woke up today much later than MuckPls as always, and after a lazy morning I made my way over to Aria. The plan was to play quite a long session if possible.

Accidentally deleted my hand history notes from the game, but I do remember the most important ones very well. First a cool hand where I raise QTss to $12 and get calls from BTN and BB. Flop comes 3-8-8 one spade, and BB checks. Seems good enough to start a bet on, so I make it $16. They both do however call.

Turn is a red K, and it checks to me again. I want to represent this card, however I don't need to do it on the turn. So I check, with the plan that if BTN checks back (surely has no 8 or K then) and BB checks river (same applies), then I can bet it. First part was accomplished when button checks back.

River is a red 5, and BB checks. They have both capped themselves, and I have an easy bet. I make it $55 and they both fold. Obviously if button bets turn or BB leads river, I will just fold. But it played out exactly as I hoped, which made it a great bluffing opportunity.

(bought in for $400 since I am busto)

Then I raise A3ss to $12 from cutoff, and get calls from both blinds. Flop is K-7-8 two spades, and after it checks to me I bet $15. Small Blind calls, before Big Blind check-raises to $45. He only has around $150 back, and I briefly debated reraising. However, he has to be fairly strong to check-raise this board. I went with a call instead, and SB folds.

Turn comes a 2, which is not a spade, and he bets $50. Getting an ok price, but not really good enough - especially as only $100 left to win on the river. So I have to fold.

Then I find AJhh in cutoff a round or two later, and obviously make it $12 again. A fishy/loose Indian calls on the button, and same guy from last hand calls in BB. Flop is Q-7-4 two hearts, and BB surprisingly leads for $30. As he only started hand around $200, I thought my hand was good enough to get all-in against him. After all, these leads are often just a draw or some kind of top pair. So I raise to $105.

The Indian on the button then goes into the box for a long time. I was in seat 9 and he in seat 1, so I can't see his face but he seems very unsure on what to do. Finally he announces 'call', and BB folds after having thought about it for a little bit.

Turn is a black 5, so no improvement at all for me. I had seen this player show up with some very speculative hands pre, so two pair is not out of the question. However, surely he would have jammed those on the flop? So I am hoping he was just being sticky with a Queen (he was likely the type to), or maybe some kind of straight or flush-draw. So I jam all-in, only to get snap-called. River is not a heart (a black 9), and he shows 74ss for two pair. Interesting call pre I guess.

I honestly think I played the hand ok, but it certainly didn't result in any profit for me (turn-bet was for his remaining $205). I am down over $300, and can feel the negative thoughts from yesterday creep in. It's a risky play, sure, but to hit once in a while would be nice.

Then there are two limps for $3, and I make it $18 from the button with AKo. Only first limper calls, a very fishy Asian player. Flop is A-9-3 two hearts, and he leads into me for $25. I raise it up to $75, as he doesn't have a ton behind and he is bad enough to where I think can get called by worse. He thinks and calls.

Turn is a 8, putting two flush draws out there. He jams in front for $110, and although he surely could have some two pair Ax-combos I still snap-call. River is a J, and he shows A6o for just one pair. That is a huge donation coming my way, and helps to recover the losses from the previous hand a lot.

Indian cashed out one hand after he doubled against me (great etiquette), and the fishy Asian left after I stacked him. In their place a couple of grinder-looking guys came in instead, and table was suddenly much worse. That said, I managed to win some small pots and are suddenly only down $80 or so.

Then I find KQdd from UTG, and raise to $12. One of the new grinder-guys call in EP1, before SB (a young guy) makes it $41. He immediately says that he didn't see the call, and would have made it bigger if he did. Either way, I think this hand is way too pretty to fold in position, so I call. Grinder-guy folds.

(I checked this against a chart later, and KQs is actually only a 25% call and 75% fold in this spot - pretty surprising to me).

Flop is T-9-4 one diamond, and he bets $55. I considered floating in position, and maybe I should have given I have two overs and three outs to the nuts. I ended up folding, but I think this was too nitty. Honestly, I could even see raising here as an option, although probably better to call to not get blown off equity. So if I could have this back, I would for sure call.

Then one of the grinders makes it $8 pre (he made a lot of these small raises) in Hijack, I call on the button with 33, and both blinds call as well. Flop is 3-6-2 two clubs, pretty nice. It checks to me, and I bet $20 which is a tad bit too small I think. Only BB calls, and we go heads-up to an 8 on the turn.

He surprisingly leads for $35, and I have to raise this bet as the board is way too coordinated to slowplay. Sure, he could have 45s or something from BB, but then so be it. I make it $130, and he starts talking out loud (never a good sign, always leads to folds). He says it smells like a draw, but that he will wait for a better spot - and flips up TT. Very passive line pre with that hand, he should definitely have squeezed it pre. But I guess most people are getting too good these days to stack off with just one pair, although he is very underrepresented and he had seen me push a draw very hard in a previous hand.

After that hand I was only down $50 bucks, and that was also the end result after 2 hours and 45 minutes. The game was just way too grinder-heavy for me to stay in it, I thought.

------

After grabbing some quick & unhealty food at Posh Burger next to the poker room, I decided on a whim to head out to a random location. This is a good hint of where we are going:

I made it over to Mandalay Bay, who actually have moved their poker room right to the front of the casino when you come down the escalator from the tram. Interesting. They had 3 games going, no list, and I immediately jumped into one that was very OMC-ish. Not ideal, but I always enjoy trying to give the OMCs fits with raising pre and not letting them limp every single hand.

Not many interesting hands, but will run through three of them. I was a bit down in the beginning through seeing some cheap flops, but nothing crazy. Then I find 9Thh from UTG and raise to $10 (this is a $1/$2 game). I will note that we were only playing 6-handed this hand, but the table filled up shortly after. I would be much more restrictive with this hand from UTG in a full ring game.

BB is the only caller, and we see 2-7-8 one heart. He checks, I bet $11 and he calls. Turn comes 3h, so we finally have one of my favorite spots; overbetting with huge draws but no showdown-value. He checks, I bet $47 into $43, and he folds.

Then a while later there are two limps and I find A5cc on the button. We make it $12, and both limpers call. A-Q-6 two spades, and after first limper checks the second one bets $15. Bit weird, but my hand is not strong enough to raise. I call, and the third player folds.

Turn is a 9 not filling any flush, and he checks it to me. One of these weird spots where I can check behind, but just in case he was leading with a flush draw (setting his own price), I didn't want to check back and let him realize. Betting also makes it easier for me to get to showdown on the river - I can just check back instead of facing a bet in front. So I make it $26, and he calls fairly quickly.

Plan was to check back river, except it was a 5. He checks, and I really hope he has a decent Ace that he was playing passively pre. I slide out $100 (into $111), and he tanks and calls with ATo. No good Sir, and although I got lucky on the river I like my line and plan here as well.

One fun limped pot as well; I am in SB and throw out one extra dollar with 56o. 5-way limped pot, with Q-7-6 on the flop. It checks around, and another 6 lands on the turn. I have trips, but decided to check it once more as clearly no one has much here. It checks around again, and river comes an A. Perfect card, as these OMCs love to limp Ax. So I bet out $15 into $10, and the most OMC of all of them snap-calls so fast that I wish I had bet $30. He has A2o that he had limped in, and my trips obviously beats that.

Game was so OMC-ish and passive though, that I decided to just take a profit of $135 (2 hours play) and go back to the room to relax a bit and update this thread. I can certainly find better games on a Sunday evening, which is what I will do shortly.

The Castle:

Home base:

Cash Games:

Hours played: 34h 45 min
Won/lost: -$903 USD
Hourly rate: -$26.0 USD

Tournaments:

Won/lost: -$200 USD (1 played)

Nice job Whale

NFL display at Aria:

Sat next to BigWhale for a while at 1/3 until I got it in with KQ on QQ6 vs AQ for 1.1k and lost. Took $600 to blackjack for the rescue and I’m happy to say that it once again worked out:

I can do the HH since MuckPls doesn't like those. Not sure if the pot was $1.1k though, more like $800-$900 ?

MuckPls $15 from hijack with KQo
Button calls $15
BB calls $15

Flop ($46): Q-Q-6 two hearts
BB Check
MuckPls bets $20
Button calls $20
BB checks-raises to $80

MuckPls raises to $220
Button folds

Big Blind then agonizes for ages, and takes at least a minute before making up his mind. He clearly indicates he doesn't like it, but says that if he doesn't have 66, then he should be ahead. He then jams, and turn over AQo, which holds up. MuckPls obviously snap-called the jam, which was for not much more, maybe $100 or so?

Extreme nit-roll from the BB, who should high-five the dealer and get it in there much sooner than he did. I would have played the hand the exact same way as MuckPls did; piling money in on the flop against the Big Blind who could have a ton of worse Queens defending in that spot - and likely not be good enough to fold one.

UL - on to the next one!

was waiting for you to reveal that bb was bigwhale all along 😀

You've had some real nice runs at BJ. What kind of table are you sitting at?
have you had any big BJ loss?

Well done to both of you. MuckPls, do you follow a BJ system?

BigWhale, $700 for a pair of shoes? I guess it's not the money loss at poker that bothers you, but just not winning 😉 (I shop at Good Will and spend my money on food, wine, and travel!)

I bought the shoes, not BigWhale.

For bj: I don’t count but I do play perfect strategy.

3/2 $50 or $100 table. Surprisingly only had winning sessions so far.

Ah. Those shoes must be incredibly comfortable! And considering how you run (pun), you can treat yourself 😉

Cool on the BJ. Where is the 3:2? I thought most on the strip were 6:5 now. Is it just the higher-limit games at certain casinos?

They have 3/2 everywhere, including Aria, but at nights it’s usually $50 or $100 min.

Edit to add for some context:

I’ve been absolutely CRUSHED the past years on blackjack, down around $15k or so in Vegas. So these runs this trip are amazing but only evens it out kind of.

I had 650 starting the hand and cashed out 150 so was exactly 500 each from the two of us + the side pot.

But yeah cooler, nothing to do there. Doesn’t really matter.

Gambling stats so far:

This does not include a $1500 loss at Caesars obviously, only MGM properties.

Plush cash game:

Obviously insanely happy to be up 10k with 5 more days to go of the trip. Couldn’t ask for more.

Or actually there is one small thing. If the elevators at Caesar’s would work and I could get back to my room that would be absolutely amazing!!

Holy cow, what a run!

nice, I wish I was able to withstand a -$1500 session.
nice job and hope it continues for you. this is much more fun to follow than last time haha

For yesterday evening's session, MuckPls inspried me to try out Aria again. The game I played in earlier that day was pretty meh, but I assumed it would be much better in the evening.

After making the short trek over from NYNY, I only had to wait around 10 minutes before getting a seat. The game didn't look amazing at first glance, but I bought in for $400 and folded for two orbits while noticing how the others played.

A few players had left so we were down to 6-handed when I decided to raise JTo to $12 from second position. Small Blind (a fishy player) called, and a woman around 50 years of age called in the BB. I had already seen that she was playing somewhat loose, but she seemed to have some idea of what she were doing and could potentially be some kind of semi-pro at least.

The flop comes J-5-3 two clubs, and after they both check to me I make it $17 for value with my top pair. SB folds, while the woman in BB check-raises to $55. Given what I had seen so far I didn't' think this raise had to be nutted, so I call in position to see what develops. Turn is a 9, and she quickly checks it. I debated on once again taking control of the pot (as I have talked about before), but decided to check this one back.

River is a Q and she checks again. Doubt she is very strong, but there is not many hands I can get value from. So I just flip over my hand, instead of forcing her to show. She mucks.

Then I lost a hand back to the same player, which I think I could have won. I raise 99 to $12 from UTG, and get a call from the same two players as last time, exept this time they are in position. Flop comes K-T-7, and I decided to check. It checks around, and we see an 8 on the turn. I check again, cutoff checks, and the woman bets $40 on the button. Pot sized wager, and my first thought was to raise as I didn't think this represented a whole lot, but I called with the reason that I likely could not represent J9 for example from UTG.

However, if I think about this more deeply (as I failed to do until after the hand), she is never checking a K in position on the flop, so she is very capped to Tx. She could have ran into a set of eights on the turn, but would she bet pot when two players clearly have shown no interest in the hand? I don't think so. I really wish I had these thoughts before considering my turn-action, and not after.

River is a 3, it goes check-check, and I lose to JTo. Definitely a hand that I could have won, especially since I can still represent hands like AA and KK on turn, for example. I wouldn't slow play them like this, but she doesn't know that.

The same 3 players again in the next spot; the fishy guy limps for $3, she makes it $15 right behind him, and I find KQcc on the button. I make it $45, and they both fold quickly.

Then there is a limp for $3, and I make it $15 on the button with AQss. Small Blind and Big Blind calls, while the limper folds out. Flop comes J-7-6 two spades, and they check to me. I bet $15, which is small, but I obviously do this to have options if a raise come in. I can either call, or consider 4-betting and playing my draw hard. That said, I will also choose other sizes at times. Both opponents folded in this instance.

I am dragging in a couple of small pots here and there and am up around $80 or so. The woman then leaves the table, and is replaced my a guy that looks a bit like a miserable grinder. He also buys in for the max + raises his first hand to $15, which is a good indication that my assumption was correct.

(am I a grinder when I am in Vegas? I guess. Do I look miserable? Probably sometimes, but hopefully not too much).

MuckPls then informs me he has requested a table change as his current table is bad, and where does he end up but straight on my right. He joins the table, so we ended up playing together for maybe 1.5 hours or something? I considered table changing away from him, but never really found the energy to do so. That said, the game was pretty bad with most players having some kind of idea on how to play (the one fishy guy got stacked a bit earlier). So I should have asked for a change.

MuckPls puts out a straddle in one of his first hands, and I find 55 right behind him. We are only 7-handed, so I raise it up to $20. The new grinder-guy does however make it $100 on the button, and I can't defend against this huge sizing OOP. And my hand is not strong enough for a 4-bet, so I just fold.

A bit later I find a great spot, when the same grinder guy raises to $15 from CO, an active guy on the button calls, MuckPls calls SB, and I have KJcc in BB. Great squeeze-spot, and I raise it up to $85. They all fold quickly, and we take it down. My hand is certainly playable enough to just call as well, but this seemed like such a great spot when 2 players have a very capped range.

I then go card-dead for a long time, and the game in general is pretty dull and uninspiring. Then there is a limp for $3 from a new player, the active guy mentioned above (not the grinder) raises to $10, MuckPls calls SB, and I call BB with A6dd. Briefly debated 3-betting, but landed on a call this time. Limper also calls.

Flop is A-5-9 one diamond, and checks around. Turn is a 7, and MuckPls leads for $25. I call with TP and gutshot, and the rest folds out. River is an 8, and he checks. I wanted to bet $76, then changed my mind and went for $66 instead. In hindsight should have chose another sizing, as I do have a 6 for a straight after all. But as it was, MuckPlus turned two pair and probably felt obliged to call, which he did.

Not much happened after that hand either. Was very card-dead, raised A8cc once against the active guys limp, but flop came T-9-6 no clubs and he lead straight into me for $25. It was tempting to call since I actually have parts of that board with a gutshot, but I decided to be sensible and save the calls for when there is a club out there. So I just folded.

Not a ton of value in the game, so I left after 3 hours and 15 minutes, plus $156 USD. I'll take it, and I am generally happy with almost all of the lines I took while playing.

Seems MuckPls have already beat me to it with a picture of the SuperBowl-display at Aria. Looks pretty cool however:

Today is my last full day in Vegas, but at least plane does not leave until 10:30 at night tomorrow. So there are still some hours left to do some good work at the tables.

Cash Games:

Hours played: 38h 00 min
Won/lost: -$747 USD
Hourly rate: -$19.7 USD

Tournaments:

Won/lost: -$200 USD (1 played)

Brag: AA vs KK at Bellagio for full double

Beat: currently locked out of room as elevators are not working

Variance: not too sure.

I guess that's one advantage to a lower floor 😉

I lost 13 or 14 buy-ins in a row on a 3 day weekend. That trip was amazing, I never improved to a pair or better with the cards in my hand. I started keeping track after the second buy-in.