Last Minute Dash to the 702 - TR 11/3 - 11/7

And the price was?

Was it lunch or dinner? I have $25 in comps there, I think.

dinner, $80

Session 6: Bellagio 2/5
this is the first time I've ever bought into a cash game for $500

I dropped about $100, won a small amount back with QQ

- open in CO with 77, four callers
flop 753r. guy donks for $55. I raise to $120, and he folds. maybe I lost value, but the stressfree scoop is nice anyway

new dealer came and I suggested a bomb pot and everyone agreed

I stayed there for an hour, none of the players made a single statement of conversation. I requested and was granted a table change, taking about +$65 over.

some drama percolated when Player A made a $110 river bet and got called by Player B. B waited to see. A showed one 5 (paired the board). B says "don't you need to show two to win?" A didn't like that, B lays down Q (+something) for top pair. A got mad "you know you beat a pair of 5s, what are you doing"... B says I wanted to see what you have, etc.

- I limped with KQ. flop came queen high, short stack jammed the turn and I called, I flipped my cards immediately and beat his QJ or whatever it was.

new dealer came and I suggested a bomb pot. they all looked at me with blank stares. I started to explain but it was a waste of energy. referring to Player A, B says "maybe you should write it out in crayon for him so he can understand"

- in sb I call an open with AJcc.
AQ2ddd... 9... big bet, all in for more, all in for less, call
river T
we had set of 2s vs straight to king vs 8 high flush

I was getting very sleepy and yawning repeatedly so it was time to go. I stayed between $400 - $680 through the session and cashed out for a non-loss of +$22 in about 2.5 hours. again, I held my own, got some bluffs through, and didn't get in trouble. overall, much less enjoyable experience than 1/3, although I did have some friendly chat with guy on my left.

Thanks

I just can't understand people and why they can't behave... It's not that hard to be kind, or at least not be an a-hole.

And thanks for all pics and text!

I've heard of Tulsa King (clips crop on my Insta for some reason) but I'd never heard of Lexi Mather so it's an educational thread on many levels 😃

Nice job on the slot hit!!

I read about Lexi a little bit in the vlogger thread, I watched one of her videos before and she doesn't come across as a great or endearing person.
I was only around "Bob" for a little bit. and he just wasn't very pleasant, and he mistreated the dealer for his own mistake on an incredibly trivial matter. and it stuck out because it was the only person I saw the entire trip be rude to the dealer, or be overall unpleasant. every other "person with a known name" I encountered was so gracious and friendly.
maybe just a tournament thing, maybe he was having a bad day. but I certainly wasn't disappointed to see him get knocked off our table

OMG that's a lot of food! I'd probably need to starve myself all day to eat just half of that! It all does look delicious, though...maybe smaller servings!

Enjoying the TR!

wanted to sleep til 9 but woke up before 8 unable to fall back asleep.
one more half day of play. while it is still active, the trip results so far are good. not a big sample size at all of these, but...
poker: winner at Wynn, Resorts World, Bellagio, Mandalay Bay
winner at Pai Gow, winner at slots, winner at Blackjack
my only "losing" category is tournaments (one try)
feels like I'm still working off that buffet from yesterday, so don't know what food I'm eating today. may just grab something at the airport this afternoon.
MB has a good thing Thursdays so plan is to go promo hunting. doesn't open til 11 so a there will be time for mild degening first

Sounds like both players were d!cks. Unless there's a history of slow-rolling between these two, just show your cards, let the dealer push the pot, and move on to the next hand.

yeah, I could have skipped the brisket on the first plate, the made-to-order street taco was way big too. I shouldn't have had and didn't finish the ice cream. overall I admit it was a personal challenge to see how much I could comfortably eat
at like 3pm this was my only meal of the day.

packed and walked to the casino. they had Ultimate Texas Holdem going for $10 min and thought that might be fun for a bit
first hand I got AJhh, lost that. couple hands later got JJ, "flop" had KQ and dealer caught a Q.
played 20 minutes and lost $160

slid over to Pai Gow, I played there for about 40 minutes. only me at the table. went well. one funny hand: dealer got quad fours, I got quad aces! but couldn't beat low-hand 8-high so chopped.

so yeah, I played Pai Gow for 40 minutes, about $30/hand, and managed to cash out for a $245 profit. I even tipped the dealer like $15. so I covered my UTHE loss with a profit on top.

took a taxi to MB. I think the driver milked me a little by going th Strip instead of Dean Martin, but it was still cheaper than Uber.

Session 7: Mandalay Bay 1/2
so Thursdays they have regular high-hand (quads+), hourly high hand (jacks full+), aces cracked, and random seat drawing promos going. it made for a very different type of game. if you get a pocket pair you only raise to like $5 max. I opened JJ to $4 in mp and didn't get a match (terrible play). if you have a good but non-qualifying hand you can open whatever you want, and if people call you know what their range is. everybody was chatty and happy. there was not much action but it was the most fun poker session I can ever remember having.

- QQ: rivered flush and she had the ace. what are the odds of that

- 88: flopped a set, he flopped a flush, no help

- AA: limps to the river, I bet like $6 and everyone folds. that was my chance at the wheel spin

despite the fun game I was down about $100 with no real hopes at making it back so I moved from the morning poker club table to a slightly more serious table. unfortunately I got card dead. no more pocket pairs, no suited connectors.
I had to leave at 2:00 and even with four tables running there was not a single high hand... until my last hand. there 3 aces and a queen on the board, I had a king, he had pocket queens for the full house.

overall my worst regular session of the trip, losing $320 in 3 hours. so that kinda sucks, you want your last game to be a good one, but at least I am coming home with much more cash than I started with.

caught an Uber and for my first meal of the day got a Dunkin Donut and a Philly steak sandwich. flying home now. will do a little conclusion later on.

Sounds like you had a great trip!

checked my favorite machine on the way out. green bucket is pretty full.

I did not stop to play (probably would have had better luck than UTH!)
I may be the only person to play that machine this week.

I think she's more famous as Lexy Gavin.

Most I've ever bought into a cash game with is $800. Many moons ago. Over 200 of them I think. It was the min buy-in at the Wynn 5/10, and it was the must move. I won a pot from Joe Awada, who was semi-famous on tv at the time. I turned a straight. I left when it was my turn to move. All the guys at that table looked mean, so I took my $240-ish and left.

Still a no from me.

So glad you had fun and won money -- nothing better in Vegas!

Concluding Review

two reasons I decided to go this week: experience the NAPT at Resorts World, and to escape the onslaught of election week. and no of course I couldn't totally avoid it but I was distracted enough with other stuff that it wasn't in the front of my mind and I didn't need to care. would have been depressing to follow at home with my wife. NAPT was cool to see and be a part of, even for a short time. was so impressed with the organization of it and the whole staff and dealers that made it a totally enjoyable experience. they had a ton of tournaments but other than the $5K Main and the ladies event, all the tourneys were pretty small field.

I like Park, I like playing at Park, I like how close the hotel rooms are to everything else in the resort, if you are willing to brave the open air I like that they have a heated pool during the "off" months. I didn't visit the fitness center despite bringing clothes for it. the unusable wifi from the hotel room is kind of a problem when I want to work from my laptop. the walls are thin and sound carries; the neighbor pulling the chain to open the blinds felt like they were in my room and I heard every chain link move, and the neighbors had their TV on and it was loud in my room. but the shower was fine and the bed was comfy and I wasn't in the room much for anything else. can't remember ever staying all four nights in Vegas at the same hotel.

my favorite poker room is still without a doubt Resorts World. the dealers are elite and the staff is great. the location sucks and that limits the number of games, but still in all the times I've been there the game has always been good. I hear they say 6 hours of cumulative play on your players card gives you free parking. I hope it carries through to the new calendar year but the staff would probably put it on my card if I ask. the room borders a hallway so you don't get wafting cigarette smoke and bad as other places. I think I heard the dealers say they would be introducing promos soon.

I played at Wynn and Bellagio for just a couple hours. Wynn is also elite. I found the Bellagio dealers to be unengaged and not too friendly. and since the room is adjacent to both the casino floor and the sports book area and a restroom, there was a lot of unpleasant smoke. I like how they serve watermelon juice. like Wynn.

the fourth place I played was Mandalay Bay. generally I like the space. the primary reason is 97% of the player field is visiting tourist recs. most of the dealers are good, but several of them consistently hassle about the blinds. I hate that. I'm not a noob, I'm relaxing on vacation and socializing, might be taking some HH notes for the TR. the old black guy from the South, Wayne bugs the hell out of me. for years now. I think for daytime games it is a good place with their room promos, although I was unable to capitalize my last couple trips. $2/hour food comps is higher than other places, and I should have enough banked for a good meal next time.
speaking of comps I didn't get to Venetian this time and probably missed getting $3/h. is the room better than Bellagio?

I think I'm doing better at live poker. I'm not a GTO grinder pro, I'm there to have fun and not lose tons of money. I only got mixed in a big pot couple times, when with 88 I flopped a full house and got paid; lost when I turned a set of threes vs turned flush. couple other nice wins with a set of deuces and pocket aces. pretty slow and tight the rest of the time. tried to be smarter with my bluffs and after some failed experimenting early I did better later on. only got shown a bluff maybe once. did buy-in to 2/5 again for the second time and not intimidated finished on the right side. honestly I've busted like 7 straight poker sessions in Dakota and outside of tourneys I haven't lost much in Vegas for a while.

I played several hours of Pai Gow and my last session put me up about $250. only played one hand of BJ with a match voucher. played 20 minutes of Ultimate and lost a billion. I'm 0-2 in quick fashion at Ultimate in Vegas. played slots sparingly and hit a nice jackpot early in the trip that eased any financial pressure.
overall, even after punting about $500 my last half day I went home with over $1000 more cash than I came with.

I like buffets and finally splurged at Wynn. it is really good. I don't like crab or cold seafood, and they didn't have any hot seafood (like my favorite food steamed lobster tails). but there was almost an unlimited variety of everything else. I don't even know what my strategy would be for next time. but I do expect a next time. the rest of my dining was not really noteworthy: didn't have much extra time and ate out of necessity and it wasn't a priority.

hired an Uber to and from airport, to and from Resorts World, and to my sister's house. got a taxi from Park to MB, and taxi probably would have been cheaper to RW too. may have saved a little compared to renting, but it also kept me from venturing off Strip to eat.

Allegiant was smooth and uneventful. both flights arrived early. happy with it.

I used 3 myvegas rewards: slotplay, BJ matchplay, and comp room at Park. the funny thing is, after I booked my comp room and made it home, the comp room reward was still in pending status and I could cancel it for a reward point refund. the same thing happened last trip with my wife at Park! they've got a bug in the system.

anyway, that's my trip, 4th of the year. got some relaxing in, managed to work about 10 hours to reduce PTO usage, and won back my flight and rooms costs with profit to spare. wife and kids can't get mad or laugh at me. came back safe without losing any stuff. absolutely smooth in virtually every way. did get a little sick (a cold) but that's kinda expected.

looking ahead, I already have another trip planned for the end of January! used Allegiant points to cover the flight cost and rooms booked already. still have a play bankroll.

thanks for following along to the TR, which was a very standard one for me. I enjoy keeping these as a journal. gets tiring, but especially when I'm on my own it keeps me occupied. can't wait to go back!

This made me laugh.

Thanks for the trip report. Enjoyed it.

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thanks for the trip report and I'm glad you enjoyed your vacation

Thanks for the TR-was a fun read! Looking forward to your next one!