BigWhale & brother (feat. MuckPls) does Vegas - 2025 edition (21st-31st March)

Can greatness pls hurry up and find me? I’m dying here.

Also sharing a hilarious story from yesterday, shoutout to Jay who was the best dealer I’ve ever seen (although doubt he will ever read this but anyway).

So I’m playing blackjack at Horseshoe and having some tequila with 3 random dudes, we are having an amazing time, the dealer is great and we are winning so all good.

I hit a big split / double hand and the next hand I push $20 as a tip play for the dealer. Now if anyone has played at Horseshoe they know that the felt has the player spot and right above that is some kind of weird side bet that pays for flushes and straights. So I place the $20 tip above my chips, Jay asks me if it’s side bet or tip (I never played side bet) and I tell him tip obviously.

He then proceeds to deal me a straight, and says ”don’t worry man I got you ”. Calls floor over and tells her that I bet on the side bet but he accidentally pushed my bet behind it. Floor says yeah sure no problem at all and the guy pays me $200 for the straight and the table is roaring. Obviously gave him a $100 tip for it, crazy guy.

If you take care of your dealers, they will take care of you.

That is a nice story, Muck. Good on you to make sure he go recognized for taking care of you.

Whoa, he is an outstanding dealer!

And congrats to Whale for the great tourney finish!

Gym & Flamingos; chill start to the day:

Let's find a game now!

Well done by BigWhale as always, staying alive in those big fields. Personally I busted the circuit event quite early in mostly uneventful fashion. Some times you just don't get anything going in tournaments, especially with the blinds going up every 20 minute.

After having done some decent wagering on both video poker and Buffalo Gold (which was a gallore of two coins but never hitting the third), I decided to max late reg the MGM Grand $130 evening tournament. Buying in two hours later you get 25K chips for the buy-in and 50K more chips for the addon of $100. This means you start with 75K chips at 1K/2K-2K, which, in my opinion, makes it a decent value to do the late reg.

The tournament has only a 15 minute clock per level, and the organization of it is not always the best - especially now that they have many cash tables running as well - sometime they will waste 2-3 minutes before things such as breaking 3 tables down to 2 etc. before they maybe stop the clock. These things matter when you only have 15 minutes per level.

Positive thing though is that the field is very beatable. In fact so much that I made it to the last three players. For sure I had a massive edge over the other two players (sorry, not sorry, if any of them are reading), but the blinds were quite massive then, so after we had traded the chip lead between us for some minutes we decided on a three way even chop. Which amounted to $1475 in my pocket. Can't complain. 😀

Great tourney results guys

Muck….WE BELIEVE! You will return

Also what an awesome dealer

Trip is over for me. Flying out Wednesday evening.

Totally crushed $$ wise ? Or working the next few days and no gambol?

Both actually, have a ton of work and meetings over the next two days and absolutely crushed everywhere so not gonna continue.

Earlier today I went to this majestic location for my first Cash Game session this trip:

Within 5 minutes, I got seated in a new game that was starting, and bought in for $300 (that's the max) in this $1-$3 game. There was a lot of interesting small hands, and also some bigger ones. So let's get to it.

First there are two limps to me in BB and I have A3dd. Should absolutely raise, but as I was just getting settled in I chose to check it. The flop comes K-8-5 one diamond and checks around.

The turn is the 5d, so we now have a flushdraw. SB bets out for $7, I call and the first limper folds. River is Jd, so we make the nut flush. To my surprise, opponent bets $20 which is fairly hefty. He did however look a bit OMC-ish, so unless he has trip fives I don't think he is super strong. Heck, some OMCs would even check 5x here since a flush came in. So I settled on a medium sizing of $75 to not scare him away, but he just folded instantly. Probably just had some weird bluff then.

Then we have KK UTG and make it $12 as always. Both SB and BB calls, and we see the classic flop of A-J-4. SB immediately grabs chips and leads for $30 (quite large) and BB calls. With that action and very few good turncards I decided to just fold. They get it in on a 6 turn and the SB wins with A6 against BBs ATo. The SBs call + lead on the flop is beyond awful, but it made me happy to see that they were willing to put in a lot of money with these marginal cards.

Then UTG (who looked OMC-ish but turned out to be fairly active) makes it $10 from UTG and I have AQhh on the button. First instinct was to 3-bet, but I landed on a call since I thought his range would be fairly tight and I have position.

BB also calls, and we go 3-ways to Q-4-7 rainbow. BB checks, raiser bets $12, I call and BB folds. I was almost tempted to raise the flop against that sizing, but that would probably just scare off hands like JJ and similar. Turn is a 9, he checks, I bet $25 and he folds.

Then there are two limps for $3 and I make it $16 in hijack with QTcc. Button, an Asian player who seems decent, makes it $50 and it folds back to me. I think I have to be disciplined and fold here, which is what I do. I can rather consider calling if QJs or KQs.

An Asian woman then wakes up and raises to $10 from UTG (her first raise). I am on the button with KTdd and decided to call. Same guy from last hand also calls in BB, so we go 3-ways to Q-5-T with the first two in diamonds. It checks to me, and this is a weird one. I flop huge, but also have a pair that need some protection but likely cannot get a ton of value on it's own. So I only bet $11, with plans to potentially 4-bet the flop if I were to get check-raised. BB folds, but the raiser calls.

Turn is a K, and after she checks I make a sizing mistake. I made it $25 (into $55), but I think hands like AK are a huge part of her limp-call range. So I should really size up here to target that, and not be concerned with her lesser hands - which will fold anyway. And fold is indeed what she did.

Overall a good start, but then I started losing some hands. First SB limps in after it folds to me, and it sounded like he had a brain freeze and forgot that we could chop. Either way, I check Q6o in BB. Flop is Q-7-9 two spades, and he leads for $5. Could I find a raise here? Maybe, but I just called.

Turn is 3s so there is a flush out there now. He checks, and I have no idea why I checked back here. I should just bet for value and try to get calls from 7x, 9x, T8, or hands with a spade in them.

River comes a 6, so we suddenly make two pair. He now bets $15, and although I wanted to raise I decided not to. Simply because I don't think he has hands that can call a raise. He either got there with T8, or he slow played a flush, or he is running some weird bluff. That might be oversimplyfing it, but I decided to just call, and he shows 66 for a rivered set. Happy I didn't raise then, but the big mistake is not betting turn and just getting the fold.

Then we have two limps, I make it $17 from cutoff with 66, and the Asian once again 3-bets to $50 - this time from the Small Blind. The rest fold out and I decided to make the call in position. Obviously not deep enough to setmine, but I am getting an ok price and I can't just fold everything besides monsters to this guy's 3-betting range.

The flop comes J-9-7, he bets $50 and I fold. Are there hands I am ahead of still? Yes, absolutely, but I thought it would be very difficult to get to showdown here with not a ton of good turns.

I am now down around $50 after a decent start, and also lose 1-2 more small hands before finding QJcc from UTG. I make it $12, and a new OMC + the tight Asian female calls in the field. So we go 3-ways to J-9-4 one club, and I actually decided to check this one. Might be a mistake though, because although I should have a lot of checks OOP it might not be necessary against this competition.

It checks to the woman who bets $20, and I take note of her sizing as she in another pot where she was weak bet very small. So I just call, and the OMC ends up calling as well.

Turn is the lovely Tc, which means I now have an open-ended straight flush draw (9c on flop) in addition to TP. I checked it though, OMC checks, and the woman moves all-in for $78. I rejam as I only have around $180 left, and the OMC folds out. I am however pretty sure I need to hit the river to win, as it seems likely she has something better than QJ right now.

Hit the river I do, when the 2c lands. I show my flush and she stands up to look at the board before shaking her hand in disbelief and mucking.

I am now up around $40, and stay around there for a long time while being card-dead. Then there is a raise from EP1 (the OMC-looking guy who was active), the Asian calls (he had moved to my right), and I find A7ss in SB. I 3-bet to $55 and take it down, and the original raiser claimed 88 in the process. Nice result which shows how powerful some squeezing can be at times.

Then I find AA from early pos after a limp, and make it $15. A new young guy in 4th pos start fiddling with his chips and make it $30. Weird sizing, but they guy seemed a bit inexperienced. This is likely a big hand, so I 4-bet it to $95. He asks how much it is, then ask me how much I have left, before moving all-in. I obviously snap.

It was the ultimate cooler with AA versus KK, and my hand held up on J-7-2-2-6. We now have a big stack as well:

I did however lose some back in a few hands, we can run through two of them. The first one is when there is a raise from early pos to $13, there are two calls in the field and I have AThh. Definitely squeeze-worthy but I chose to just call this time. We go 4-ways to J-6-2 with two hearts, and it checks around. That tells me that no-one is too strong here, and it's unlikely anyone have TP. The two field-callers did not bet in position despite original raiser checking to them, after all.

So when another J lands on turn I think I have an easy way to win this hand. I bet $20 with plans to increase on river, but we never get that far. The raiser now makes it $75, and it folds back to me. I am confused because I don't think he ever checks a Jack on the flop 4-ways, and a bluff here wouldn't make much sense. So that leaves hands like 66 and 22, which I am drawing stone dead to. So even though his play seemed very suspect I chose to make a very tight fold.

He proudly turns up T8cc, which had a flushdraw + gutshot on turn, and upon seeing that I obviously wish I had called. But I am a bit annoyed that I talked myself out of the hand, because remember what I said above - no one seems very strong on the flop. And if I think the PFR is basically never checking TP on flop, then I must continue in the hand.

One more hand, where there is a limp for $3 and I raise to $15 with AKo. The limper, who had been running super good the last hour, called. This is btw the same guy who had A6o from SB against my raise early with KK. So we can assume that he does not understand what are trouble hands and not.

The flop comes J-7-8 two clubs, which I thought was pretty bad as I have no club in my hand. He checks, and I decided to just check it back. Turn is a Q, and maybe I should have bet here when he checked. But instead I just checked it back again.

River comes a 4 and he now leads $25. This does not make much sense to me, because this guy is not one to value bet thinly. So we can totally exclude a hand like AJ or KJ for example. He could have a Queen of course, but something felt off with the pace of his bet and the sizing. I look to my right and see that he is staring straight at me; trying to look strong. All this tipped me into a call, and I hear the sweetest words in poker: "you got it, good call".

.. except he had A4o which he for some reason decided to turn into a bluff when hitting a pair on the river. It's not fun bluff catching and accidentally lose, but I actually like this call. That said, I played the hand too passively up to then; should absolutely bet turn and he would just fold.

I ended up taking the profit of $312 USD after 3 hours and 10 minutes (thanks to 'MuckPls' who convinced me to download Poker Bankroll tracker). Happy with the result, but I think I was a bit too passive in some hands and really should have won much more. As it was now, I only made a profit because of that massive cooler with AA against KK. And on the table I was sitting at, I should really have been able to win more in "open play" so to speak.

But regardless a good start to the trip on all fronts 😀

Cash Games:

Hours played: 3h 10min
Won/lost: +$312 USD
Hourly rate: $98.53 USD

Tournaments:

Won/lost: +$406 USD (1 played)

Sphere listening to music:

Tradition at Orleans, I always play this one when I'm in Vegas:

Geez, level 6 and only 1 knockout?

I mean it’s a Limit horse tournament so people don’t really have the possibility to bust early.

Wouldn't slow me down.

**** it, it’s Vegas. One more $300 bullet + the Venetian $200 bounty at 6pm today:

Some Bellagio pics:

I’m not looking to get even anymore, just happy if I can win ANYTHING at this point.

Yeah. I've played that tournament. A few levels later it goes from everybody in, to knowing you're playing for your whole stack, particularly in the stud variants.

He’s outstanding for stealing from his employer?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I personally don’t agree with it and was kind of surprised he did it but what can I do.

After coming back from Bellagio yesterday, I started feeling very tired and eventually decided on taking a nap. Slept from like 5pm to 6:40pm, which felt much needed. I didn't feel like venturing very far out though, so I just went over here for some Cash Games:

I got a seat in the $1-$3 game within 5 minutes after arriving, and joined what seemed like a typical Horseshoe-game; lots of limping and people trying to see cheap flops. First hand I play is when I find JThh from UTG and raise it up to $12. I get no less than 3 callers however, and a very bad board in 5-4-2 no hearts. So I just check-fold that one.

A while later there are a lot of limps and I check my BB with K5hh. We go 6-ways to 3-5-5, which checks around. Turn is a T, and after SB checks I make it $7 (a bit too small). I get one caller, before BTN moves all-in for his remaining $41. I make it $105 to push out the caller (there was a club draw on turn), and our hand holds on a 2 river against an unknown hand from opponent (AT?).

Just a few hands later we find black KK from UTG and make it $12. An OMC in hijack 3-bets to $30, which actually felt slightly uncomfortable. However, he only has around $250 in total and I think we just have to play for it all. I 4-bet to $100, and he asks how much it is before just calling.

J-T-6 two diamonds is not ideal, but pot is already $200 and he has $130 left. And I really think that him 3-betting QQ (and calling a 4-bet) is way more likely than him doing this with TT and JJ. So I jam, only to see him call quickly with JJ. Sigh. I don't improve on 7 turn and 2 river, and I have to hand over a lot of my stack to the opponent.

I reload for $200 more and then just 2 hands later see a raise to $10 from a very passive Indian-American woman. BTN calls (another woman) and I have AQo in SB. Ordinarily a 3-bet but I had seen the preflop raiser limp in some hands that definitely should be raised (like 66 and KQ). So I chose to just call, although this might be too passive.

We go 3-way to A-9-T all diamonds (I have none). I check, the raiser bets $20 and button call. Already a slightly uncomfortable spot, but I decided to call once and see what develops. Turn is the 5 of hearts, and it actually checks around. I start to think I might have the best hand, and another Ace lands on the river (As).

With turn checking through I dismiss anyone having a flush, however all worse Aces than mine is going to call a bet. And if PFR got scared on the turn with AK, then good for her. I bet out $75 (into $93) to target hands like AJ and AT, only to see her move all-in. However, it's only $7 more, and I think she might do that even with a few hands that I beat. So I obviously call, only to get shown TT for a rivered full house.

Felt like a weird spot throughout the entire hand, but I don't think I can get away. And I do think it's good that I am trying to go for value on river, and recognizing that the case Ace out there will call a big bet. I guess the only question is if she even raises AJ and AT pre. Having said that, the other woman in the hand (button) will for sure have these hands. So I do think I like my bet here.

So just in the span of 10 minutes we have suddenly lost two big pots and are down a ton. Not fun, and it would not get much better either.

First I make what I think is a stupid bluff, after raising up K9ss to $12 from EP1 (6-handed for this one). An Asian player calls in SB, and we go heads-up to A-T-3 one spade. He checks, I bet $10 and he calls.

Turn is a 6, and after he checks I decided to try one more bet. I have nothing obviously , but if he got sticky on flop with JT or something he will for sure fold turn almost regardless of sizing. So I bet $25, and he seems to hesitate for a bit before calling.

River is a 5, and he checks again. He has like $55 left in his stack, however in game I didn't think I needed to move all-in. I still thought that if he was hanging around with Tx or some silly gutshot like KQo, that he would fold for any sizing. And since I detected some pause on the turn I went for it with a bet of $35. He does however call fairly quickly, and shows AKo...

In hindsight I think I should realize he has an Ace when he calls turn, and save the bet on the river. I assume the hesitation on turn was just because he wondered if he was going to raise or not. Then again, he didn't raise all-in on the river so maybe he was just scared throughout the entire hand. But either way, I shouldn't make many stupid airball bluffs like that.

A while later I raise A4ss from UTG (7-handed) to $12, but get no respect as I see three callers. The flop comes K-5-2 two hearts and no spades. It is a good board for me to bet as I have some equity and these K-low-low boards favor me a lot. However, I thought my image was so bad that I would have issues getting this one through. So I just checked, and it checks around.

Turn comes another 2, and I once again check. It checks to an OMC in MP who throws out $15. My initial read is that this is unlikely to be strong since he checked the flop after I had checked. I think I could honestly make it $60 here and get the fold, but I chickened out since I likel don't have much credibility in game. So I just folded instead.

Then we have a couple of limps, I complete 73ss from SB and BB checks. Flop comes 2-4-6 one spade, and checks around. Turn is the Js, so I now have a 4-flush and a gutshot. I make it $15 into $12, simply to promote fold-equity. If I win with 7 high that is a decent result, and if someone calls it's also fine - I am building up a pot in case I hit.

BB is the only caller, and we see another J on the river. That is a terrible card for me to attempt anything on, so I check and give up. He checks back and show AKss (lol), so I guess I am glad I didn't hit the flush. And I think my execution was good, I just got a bad river card that handcuffed me. When I have the draw it's obviously way more likely that opponent has the Jack on the turn.

More losing, this time with JTdd. I raise to $12 from UTG, and once again get 3 callers. The flop comes K-5-2 again, but this time with one diamond. Maaaybe I can bet here, as there are some good turns and I should have some credibility after having checked similar spots in the past. But as it was I just checked, and folded to a bet that came in behind me.

I did finally win a hand however, when I raise AQo from the button to $17 over 3 limps (a bit too small). BB calls and the Indian woman limp-calls. 9-9-8 two spades on the board, and they both check to me. I do have Qs if nothing else, and I can put pressure on pocket pairs below the board. So I bet $25, and they both fold quickly.

A bit later there is a limp for $3, and I make it $15 from button with KJo. BB calls (a tight OMC) and the limper calls. So we go 3-ways to A-8-3 rainbow. It checks to me, and I ended up betting $15. The OMC in BB check-raises to $30, and I cannot do anyting but fold. I thought he was fairly strong when he called from the BB given how passive he had been, but I also think the board is just too good for me to not attempt a C-bet there.

The Indian woman then puts of a straddle after having become a bit more active recently. We are only 6-handed at this point, and I find KJo again. I raise it up to $20 from 2nd pos and she is the only caller. The flop comes 3-7-7 and I bet $15. She calls, but does so in a way that makes me thin that she is very light here. She is likely defending the straddle just because it's 'hers', and I also think she might peel with A high or a gutshot here or similar.

Turn comes an 8, which seems insignificant. I increase the sizing to $50 to force out A-high hands, and she releases quickly.

But overall I couldn't get much going this evening. I lost two fairly big pots in somewhat cooler spots (although the AQ hand is up for debate), and apart from that just wasn't able to hit many flops at all when raising. So the end result was a disappointing $44O USD after 2 hours and 36 minutes. Not ideal, but apart from the stupid K9s bluff I don't think I played it horribly. Just one of those nights, where especially the KK vs JJ hand was a decisive factor.

Cash Games:

Hours played: 5h 46 min
Won/lost: - $128 USD
Hourly rate: -$22.20 USD

Tournaments:

Won/lost: +$406 USD (1 played)

I would also be remiss if I didn't mention that the thing that always happens strikes again: I am sick in Vegas.

Started to feel a bit weird in my throat yesterday evening and definitely feeling it this morning as well. To be honest, it's not a big surprise. I was feeling rough Wednesday last week, and also a bit on Thursday when I flew out from Malta to London. But then I magially started to feel better, even through those long and grueling travel days and was hoping I had escaped getting sick.

But with hectic days in Vegas (including that brutal tourney night in a room that felt like a sauna) and not enough sleep, I guess it's not a surprise that this happens. Likely I was brewing on something from last week, and the body was not able to fight it off properly.

It is what it is, we will obviously just continue playing and just do what we can with some good medicine to hopefully feel better as soon as possible. It's just very frustrating on a personal level, especially in regards to not being able to work out at the gym and possibly having to play fewer hours than what originally anticipated.

But let's see how it develops; don't feel too bad this morning at least. And yes, I will obviously go out and play and be around people even if I am sick and can infect them, just like people did in the old days. So hopefully that shouldn't be controversial in 2025.

At around 10:30 pm there was only 6 players left, so they busted eventually. I had marginally the shortest stack at that time, but we were in the money and I had more than enough to be a contender.

However, everybody else wanted to do an ICM chop, so I thought fine, whatever, I'm not gonna hold out if everybody else agrees. So I got around $720, which was almost 3rd place money. The biggest stacks got $900 something. Original first place was $2100-ish.

Yup.

They have gummies too.