Kicking off 2025 in the 702: TR 1/26 - 1/30

GL and have fun. I stay at Excalibur sometimes. It's not glamorous, but it's functional and has a certain kitschy charm.

I'm with you on the comps. I'm mostly a CET guy and they don't throw good offers my way because I don't gamble big on slots or pit games. It is what it is. These venues know where their bread is buttered, and it's not at the poker table. We are the unwanted stepchildren of the gambling world.

In terms of the 1/3 or 2/5 debate, I'll throw out the idea of starting in 1/3 and moving up if you have good sessions. I'm 95% MTT vs. cash, but that's how I've handled a lot of my recent poker trips. I'll carve out a modest budget for the smaller games and then if I hit some type of result I'll jump into some bigger stuff. It's a way of protecting your downside while still having the potential to play higher. Any tournament or cash session can function as a satellite if you want it to.

IN!

I’d also echo that in my experience, there’s a big difference between the average 1/3 table and the average 2/5 table in Vegas. Not to say it’s unbeatable, or no fish… just have a plan for increased preflop aggression. Know which kinds of hands you’ll defend vs 3bets, and which you shouldn’t.

Always in for a Langdon TR! GL, run well, have fun.

Good idea, South Point tourneys are great value!

If you want to play slightly higher stakes, you can consider the $2/$3 game with $600 max at SP. I played in it once, and it didn't seem overly tough or full of grinders. There was a fair bit of OMCs as well.

I'm in. Run well and have fun!

I'll be there at the same time (1/26-1/31) staying at Venetian. They a have a deepstack series running then and that is mostly what I will likely play.

pre-trip warm up

North Dakota has several poker tour companies, and I side-hustle as a dealer for Roughrider Poker Tour, which is by far the best one. New Years at an Indian casino is their biggest event of the year, and after a very profitable series a year ago I've been looking forward to this one, especially as a fundraiser for my Vegas trip.

each night there were like 5 cash games of Big O running, maybe one or two holdem. RPT at Spirit Lake Casino is likely the biggest Big O room in the country. rich farmers buying in and rebuying for thousands at a time. these folks in the Northern Plains love five card poker.

left Sunday late afternoon and hit some dense fog. craziest thing I've ever driven in. could not see the road for over an hour. fortunately this is the boonies of North Dakota on a Sunday night and there wasn't hardly anyone or anything on the road. for the 3 hour drive arrived after the kickoff tourney started (wasn't planning to deal anyway). as this was a work trip, only brought a little bit of play money. think I have a streak of busting 10 straight sessions in Dakota (cash and tourneys) so I've been in a bit of a slump. for my one turn to play, could either max-late-reg the $200 tourney or play cash game. chose the latter.

bought into 1/2 holdem for $200 to test the waters, which was no more than half stack of everyone else. the players that usually kick me around were not at the table and many of the ones sitting were clearly inebriated so I had a bit more courage.

- literally my first hand: I open UTG KQss, a raise to $20, 3 calls
Q57dds check I check, check, old man bets $75, holy smokes am I going to lose my whole stack in the first hand KQ v AQ? I call
heads up, turn is another 5. I check, he downbets $35, I call
river 9, I lead for $40 he calls. I flip over KQ, he looks frustrated, flashes a Q and mucks.
I double up immediately

- few hands later I call an open from my right with A3hh, several calls
J73ddh gives me bottom pair, I call $25
turn A gives me two pair. I call $50 and guy on my left calls too
river T. he checks, I bet $75, call, early aggressor fold. he announces an Ace, I have Aces Up to win another big hand.

- get a $130 river bluff through on my missed flush to claim another nice pot
after less than one hour my stack has grown from $200 to $900. in a 1/2 game

- an open and call, in SB I look down at TT and raise to $30. pair of calls
nice flop: T86hhs
turn is third heart, 5h. don't remember action
river is gin, another 8 giving me top boat. she bets $55. Merry Christmas. I raise to $200, a little too quickly. I immediately wish I had of waited and thought about it for a bit. but she tanks in for two minutes as I try to act nervous. she makes the call for the rest of her chips and I scoop.

at about 90 minutes I was up to around $1400. mostly folded for the next hour, and cashed out for +$1075 in 2.5 hours. don't think I lost a single showdown. my losing streak ended in glorious fashion.

better payout than 7th/184 for the tourney
so my Vegas vacation is basically paid for even before dealing a hand.

Nice session!

pre-trip part 2

the main event tournament was 4 flights over 2 days starting at 9am. I got a couple hour break before the second ones but basically 8:45am - 12:30am both days with only a couple 10 minute breaks throughout. had up to like 18 tourney tables going at a time. unlimited reetry, and there was a double (or triple) bag bonus people chased too, so more than a few players had 5-10 total entries, which is crazy to me. but they came to play poker so they did. when they busted they would go burn more money at Big O or slots. 1,235 total entries (not too shabby for northern North Dakota), 134 bagged/paid, 21 doubles and 1 triple.

pretty much smooth sailing for me, I didn't have any physical issues like last time when I had problems with my right arm, wrist and neck, so I'm getting better as a dealer. things started getting crazy toward the end of the final flight, which crossed over the New Year. players were getting very drunk, but at least happy drunk. I finally hit "the loud table", where they been doing some "guess the flop and buy the table a round" props. the guy in seat 3 got so wasted he was completely nonfunctional. I had to explain the action and his blind/call options every round while the seat next to him moved his chips. and this was in like level 11-13. seat 4 was the most obnoxious player I encountered last year but had enough chips and enough crap was going on around him that he wasn't terrible. guy in seat 9 was also pretty drunk and very loud, with a piercing laugh that rattled my brain. I got stuck at this table for about an hour and a half until the TD came over and I basically begged to be cut.

well whaddya know, after my visit last summer and getting a players card I finally got a useable email offer for Treasure Island. called and booked a couple nights, so now I can skip Excal and MGM altogether and stay across the street from Wynn.

I don't know much about TI other than free parking, Mystère, Gilleys and Frog, and a smokey casino.

Do you recall if any of them are dailies as compared to multi-day?

One of the greatest features of any Strip casino, and I think they're unique in this regard - an attached convenience store. Also a pretty good steakhouse with reasonable prices, although I haven't been there in quite a few years.

https://www.cardplayer.com/poker-tournam...

I stayed at TI a couple times last year primarily for location. It's real handy to both the Venetian and the Wynn which is where I like to play more than the other end of the strip as I am atrracted to the tournies.

It's clean and rooms are typical for LV. Attached CVS is nice but nowhere in LV is very far from a CVS or Walgreens. None of the food options there excite me although thy do have a Popeyes. All my favorite eats are across the street at the Venetian.

Most of them looked like $400 dailies. Might be a 2 day later in the week when I am there but not planning on anything other than 1 day events.

pre-trip part 3

the weirdest hand I've ever seen while dealing
at like 600/1200/1200... we are at the turn, heads up. player in seat 1 bets 11k. seat 2 shoves for 18k total, and immediately flips his cards over, showing A9ss for no pair flush draw. wait what?? seat 1 looks at it, looks at the board, it has been established that it is his action and option to call the raise. he mutters, "well, I think I have 6 outs..." then calls with J6dh no pair. the guy in seat 9 points out "actually you have 4 outs". river is a brick and ace high wins. what is happening

the casino has a small pit with a few table games, one of which is Ultimate Texas Holdem, which has been my nemesis. but I sat down anyway during a break and actually went on a mini-heater. registered a $55 win, my first time not losing at the game in like 7 tries.

later on I moved over to blackjack. hit a stretch where I got dealt 15 vs dealers 10 like six hands in a row, it was unbelievable. every time the dealer got a 4 5 or 6, they went runner-runner 21 or 20. it was worse than a slot machine: I literally had no chance before I even started. that was $100 I'll never see again.

stop me if you've heard this before: I'm never playing blackjack again!

pre trip part 4 (final)
time for another interesting story

after being cut from from dealing on Tuesday night (New Years Eve into Day), and learning that call time Wednesday was 10:45am, I put my name on the holdem cash game list. finally a seat at the one holdem table opened and I sat down with $300. what are we playing, I ask. "5/5 no limit holdem." too late to pussyfoot or object, I kept my poker face on and acted natural as I sat down in a deep game I am not rolled for surrounded by stacks of $800+. let's catch lightning in a bottle.

the game got very interesting right away when a man with lots of face piercings and huge ear plugs and giant headphones and dark sunglasses sat down. we'll call him Kyle. he was fuming "this has been the worst week, I've run so bad in the tournaments, I'm here to win it all back." he bought in for like $1000 and sat down in seat 9 extremely intoxicated. the first hand he raised from $5 to $85. one or two later when he was on the button he straddled for $100. what the hell am I doing in a game with a $100 straddle?

may have been this straddle hand, another player (Adam) raises to like $300, and Kyle calls. flop was something like KT3r. bet, Kyle shoves all in, and gets snapped off for like $700. Adam flips over AK, and as another T comes on the river, Kyle shows T4o. Adam and I look at each other with a puzzled look of disgust as Kyle starts talking trash. Adam reloads for like $2000. Adam is one of the wealthiest players I know (and a great player); last year he invited my friend to Vegas for March Madness and paid for it all, that kind of rich. money doesn't mean much to him.

not long later, another hand, something like, bet raise call call, more bets and raises on flop multiway, and on the turn we have something like a $4000 pot with Adam on a straight draw, other player on a set, and Kyle with two pair. Adam wins all of Kyle's chips, tips the dealer $200 (means I'm getting a cut of that too thank you), racks up and goes to bed. Kyle talks more slurred trash about him hit and running, Adam doesn't care (he's got championship day in the morning) and neither does anyone else.

Kyle announces "hold my spot, I'll get more money then be back" and the rest of us are happy to hear that. he comes back and reloads for $2000.

the game obviously becomes everyone against Kyle's stack. another player Ted gets involved (they do know each other). every preflop is going raise, reraise to $300, call. then all in on the flop. and Kyle wins. or it gets to the turn or river and Ted is forced to fold. Ted reloads like 4 times. Kyle is playing any two cards, slowplays a set of aces. at this point he just has a pile of chips in front of him, falling asleep between hands, dealer has to explain his blind or his option to call/raise literally every turn. he sifts through his pile looking for chips and clumsily fumbles a few blacks and greens into the middle. he did make a few folds but VPIP close to 95%. the dealer got him a water bottle early on and even opened it for him but he never took a drink.

you may notice I am never involved in any of these hands. this is literally a dream scenario, a drunk angry ATM is at the table, and I am completely card-dead for three hours. one time I get pocket 4s and they hold for a double up, another time I am able to hold with QR for a scoop, but other than that I have almost no opportunity to take advantage. one time I open A4hh, and the guy to my left (a fellow dealer) raises to like $200 and I have to fold (he has AK). it was unbelievably frustrating. said buddy on my right went from $200 start to $1300 with lots of pocket pairs and I got nothing.
I'm in a 5/5 game with a maniac and my stack never gets above $300 or below $130 for three hours. that's hard to do.

eventually Kyle's chips have been distributed around the table and he is out. he leaves a figurine and claims he will be back with more money. it's nearly 4am and the floor advises that the boss reminds us dealers are expected at 10:45am and I cash out for -$167 session. it was very entertaining but ultra tilting; had a hard time falling asleep.

I did deal a few levels at the main event before my table was cut and I got moved over to the Second Chance tournament. did not have a big turnout like last year and I got an early cut but that's okay. apparently the right people won and tips were good because the dealer rate turned out to be $40/hour.

combined with my poker win from the first night and it was a very profitable NYE week and I have a good bankroll for Vegas

In mid-July it's very nice to be able to stay indoors.

Great updates 👍

I love Big O so thanks for mentioning that it’s so big at Spirit Lake. I’ll travel anywhere if I even get a whiff of some Big O games, so I’ll definitely have to come to North Dakota some day.

It’s big in Blackhawk and Virginia too now, but let us know if you see it anywhere in Vegas while you’re in town!

I'll be interested to hear how Treasure Island is - not sure I've ever seen/heard anything about the rooms

I can tell you how it was a few years ago, but Phil Ruffin is a notorious cheapskate, so who knows how worn it is. It was built as a little sister to the Mirage, and the Mirage was Steve Wynn's flagship when he built it. The rooms, however, were not that special. Not especially large and not lavishly furnished, although there was nothing wrong with them. The nice ones are the Executive suite, which has 2 bathrooms and a fridge. When it was built, a fridge was a huge luxury. Unless it's a weekend or holiday, they aren't much more than the regular rooms, a comparative bargain.

The rooms are fine. ((I stay there during G2E if I am attending that trade show at the Venetian. )

The food is standard offerings, although Gilleys has had an edge in my view.

Parking is accessible, plentiful, and a plus if you'll have a car.

this trip is important because while it's been just a few months since my previous getaway, in the next five months things will most certainly be different for me personally, although nothing is presently official. will be with the same company, but the situation must change. and that's all pretty exciting.

1) a new regional manager position was just created for Texas. that's probably two levels above my current position but feel I present a pretty good case for myself in the application. not aware of anyone else pursuing it and my boss's boss (who I have conference call with every week) is the hiring manager. that would be in Dallas at a starting salary about 2.5x my current wage. I'd give that about 19% chance.

2) the local operations manager in Bismarck is retiring in a few months. that is a position (in other locations) I've been pursuing for over a year. while my current office is in the same building it's not a direct promotion as we are different departments and he's not my manager, but within the company it's a logical next step. expressed interest to the regional manager and meeting him next week to discuss it. starting pay is like 1.7x my current pay. that would keep things consistent for my family. I'd give that about a 62% chance.

3) if those brick out, we will move to Oklahoma next summer. wife and I qualify for Tulsa Remote program and we've each been offered $10K to move there. I would continue in my current role there for the next 12 months. we've got a nice little situation in Dakota and the family likes it, but we are on an island far from everything, I hate our house we've outgrown and everything is breaking down, and I gotta get out of this cold tundra. don't get paid enough to stay here forever. two of my kids are changing schools next year so if ever a move were to happen, this is the time. already convinced my wife and one of her best friends is in OK too. the program offers a free trip to visit and we'll go out in March.

so yeah, Dallas in a promotion, stay with a promotion, or Tulsa. that is the situation. if option 2 wins and we stay in Dakota I will make a strong effort to move homes.

(despite having a couple nights booked at Golden Nugget next summer still,) in all likelihood this is my only Vegas trip of 2025. and I expect to make it a good one.