Poker Trips 2024 / 2025

Great trip report. I am not much of a mixed games player. But you made it look exciting with your reports.

You are not only good with mixed games, but also good with sports picks and betting.

Also a fellow pool enthusiast.

Is it ok to reach out to you for your picks of the day?

Yup. In the old days I used to stay at Stardust I could check their book, the Circus Circus book, and across the street for the Riviera book.

It's the Vegas flu, an unidentifiable coughing thing that gets almost everyone that flies and many that don't. Next time load up on the vitamin C before the flight as a prophylaxis.

thanks for the TR. Vegas is a great place for a working getaway.
nice that you got some wins early to take the edge off for the rest of the trip.

Fantastic trip report. Really enjoyed it. I have become really interested in triple draw since watching some of the WSOP broadcasts. I’d like to ,earn the game. Any tips where you can play online for very low stakes to learn the game and its flow? Any good books/study materials you might be able to recommend?

Saw this in another thread.

AZ Mix Series

Glad you enjoyed it and are looking to get into triple draw.

Pokerstars play money site would be a good place to learn cheaply. You can buy like a million play money chips for only $2.99

Reading materials - Negreanu’s chapter in Super System 2 or Dylan Linde’s book Mastering Mixed Games

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Looks like some fun tournaments and never been to Arizona but maybe next time. Taking a non-poker family vacation at the end of April.

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Glad you enjoyed it.

Hmmm maybe I should look into selling picks [emoji23]

In all seriousness though my picks outside of these reports would be pretty hard to do.

A lot of the time I’m betting info as I know the market is going to move so you only have a matter of seconds to get down.

I also bet a lot of 2nd halves and live which again doesn’t lend itself to giving out to others as the numbers are constantly changing.

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Great recommendations, thank you! Can’t wait for your next TR.

Okay we’re going to make one last trip before the Series.

Back to Vegas on Wednesday for a week to play 5 WSOP circuit tournaments at the Horseshoe.

And thinking ahead to the series. I want to play quite a big schedule so will be selling some action and wanted to know what people thought of this.

Rather than selling at a 10% mark-up I thought I’d sell at 0 mark-up but take 10% off the top of any cashes up to x amount to cover expenses. (x amount would be just enough to cover flight and hotel)
Good idea or better just to sell at 1.10 straight off the bat?

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Just sell at 10%

I am in for 10 for sure, if you promise to throw in some sports picks 😀

The NRL (Australia) and RFL (England) are trying to gain a foothold in the States, hence the games at Allegiant that weekend. Think NRL have done it before, this time the RFL joined in with Wigan v Warrington (I think).

Not sure it will catch on but NFL teams could learn a lot from how to tackle properly :p

Also, thanks for another great TR (have started following you on Twitter but don't be alarmed!)

Thanks for the explanation. Good for them, trying to expand their reach. If the NFL can play games all over the world then why can’t rugby league?

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WSOP - Circuit Horseshoe
Pregame

So this is the encore we hinted at and will definitely be the last trip before the WSOP so let’s see if we can finish in style and put a ring on it.

Normally these circuit events are pretty much all NLH with 1, or at most 2 other tournaments. So when I saw the schedule for this one contained 5 non-NLH ring events I couldn’t resist.

I originally booked this trip before we took the last one as a Wednesday to Wednesday, but now that I know the 40 O.E. game runs every Wednesday at the Wynn I extended it to Tuesday to Thursday so I can play that game twice.

Changing the flight was no problem, but as I’d booked the no frills lowest fare again they charged me $200 for the change. Two and a half big bets, hopefully we’ll make that back in the game.

We couldn’t manage to extend the hotel though. Our base for this trip will be MGM Grand where I again got some comped nights from MGM rewards and was the most economical of their hotels averaging out at around $100 per night all-in.

When I rung them to add the extra night and arrive a day earlier they said they were sold out. I thought Vegas was in a downturn? How the hell does the biggest hotel in town sell out on a Tuesday of all nights?

So looking for an alternative for the first night, to my surprise I found I had a comped night at the Horseshoe. Only the $55 resort fee to pay. That will do nicely.

So that’s the logistics. What have we been doing since we got back from the last trip?

Well we finally shook off the last of the Vegas Virus and have been popping vitamin tablets like smarties to try and avoid getting it on this trip.

We booked another billiards tournament. This time the world team championship. It’s a good format for booking as all the matches have an equalizing inning meaning they can end in ties. This allows me to offer 3-way markets with a higher theoretical hold instead of the usual 2-way.
Results went our way and we had a very nice tournament. Satchel full.

Liverpool’s luck ran out in the 2nd leg of their tie against PSG, getting knocked out on penalties. It only bothered us as a fan, not a bettor, as we bet the under which was a winner. We also had a winner with Atletico Madrid, again in the Champions League, but gave some back on the Europa League and the Tennis at Indian Wells.

What really made our week betting wise though was that we had a large position on Rory McIlroy to win the Players which he accomplished with a Monday finish, appropriately on St. Patrick’s day.

Normally I won’t get involved in the tournament winner market until Saturday or Sunday but just happed to throw $100 on pre tournament. Always nice to have a 15/1 winner. We had some bigger bets at shorter odds over the weekend as well.

So interesting sports betting spot. Our position ahead of the playoff was:

McIlroy +$5,000
Spaun -$1,200

What to do? Let it all ride? Hedge a little to cover our exposure or hedge more and even out the profit?

Market average pricing for the playoff was:

McIlroy -160
Spaun +140

So -150 / +150 with no juice which is 60% / 40%

I made it 70% / 30% so clearly -EV to hedge. In fact if I trusted my numbers the +EV balls to the wall play would have been to press and bet more on Rory.

Of course that’s not factoring in things like bankroll management or psychological factors. So in the end I decided not to bet more, but not to hedge any either. Hedging is for gardeners.

When Spaun hit it in the water at 17 it was over and we start the week $5k to the good.

Elsewhere we’re always at the stadium when there’s a game on.

The two fútbol teams from Medellin currently sit 1 and 2 in the table. They clash for the first time this season next Sunday which I’m gutted I will miss.

Got wet watching Medellin last night which doesn’t help us any in trying to avoid getting sick again.

So scene set. Wheels up tomorrow. LFG !

Do poker chips count as declarable currency?

(Guessing they do so will take just under 10k including the chips anyway)

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I actually wonder. Theoretically they are casino property and (I'm 99% certain of this) TECHNICALLY aren't supposed to be taken off property. Oddly, they can also be collected and traded privately but have no cash value and under federal law cannot be used to purchase goods and services outside of the casino.

IF that's all true, theoretically you have 5 worthless yellow disks, not 5k.

Of course, we know government gonna government and they'll rule it in whatever way works out best for them if it comes to that.

Partially relevant sidetrack. About 5 years ago, a couple of enterprising young tournament players took a few k of tourney chips off the table at a weekly $300 and then used them to pay for prostitutes at a nearby knocking shop, persuading the hookers that the chips were cash and not tourney chips

They managed to do this twice until the girls went to the cage to change to cash and were given the bad news. To their credit, the casino honoured the amounts and then set up a sting. Sadly the young lads now have a life ban at their local poker room!

Yea good luck arguing that with a customs officer though.

One trip to Vegas I flew in from the UK with a connection in Minneapolis.

I had a mix of pounds, euros and dollars. I worked it out to about $9,800 using tourist exchange rates.

Even though when asked how much I was carrying I replied $3,000, they still decided to search me for some reason.

They counted the cash and converted it using the mid market rate and of course it came to more than $10,000.

They kept me in a room for over an hour almost causing me to miss my connection.

Eventually they told me I had a choice. I could pay a $500 fine or they would confiscate the lot. No choice at all really. It was near Christmas time. I’m sure they had a few drinks with my nickel.

Ever since then I’ve always declared when I’m carrying more than $10k and never had any problems.

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Heard that one before, didn’t know the casino honored the chips though. Very nice of them.

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Yeah, I don't think I'm buying that the casino honored them. Unless feely's vouching for it, I'd believe him, but some 3rd hand story, I ain't buying it.

Definitely happened at my casino (the Star Sydney) and um…I am aware of the knocking shop. Second hand info but one of the two lads banned was a guy who played my main game

I was told that the casino honoured the chips but can’t prove that