Whale (and brother) does Vegas - 2024 edition (8th-17th May)

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Whale (and brother) does Vegas - 2024 edition (8th-17th May)

OP
1028 posts · member since Jun 2008
2yr ago

Hello fellow LVL people,

Better late than never, but starting this thread to document my upcoming trip to Las Vegas. And

07 May 2024 at 05:07 PM
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TJ Eckleburg12 avatar
3603 posts · member since Oct 2007
2yr ago

Another FANTASTIC BigWhale TR!

OP
1028 posts · member since Jun 2008
2yr ago
by BigWhale

But yeah, that's it for this one. I'll update if I hear anything about my missing laptop

Good news, laptop was turned in to Lost & Found at Harry Reid Airport, and I can pay to have it shipped back. Will sort that out tonight, and then it will start shipping tomorrow.

Other option would be to fly in myself and get it, and as much as I would love that I don't know if it's cost effective.

golddog avatar
3182 posts · member since Feb 2013
2yr ago

Wow, that's nice that it's coming back. I get what you're saying about absentmindedness. I've been working on "one thing at a time, don't think about other stuff til this is complete."

Mediocre results so far.

Though I'd be a fan of BigWhale: The Return.

feel wrath avatar
6313 posts · member since Nov 2010
2yr ago

thanks again Whale and I'm happy you had a great trip

agree re the pressure of the live TR - I noticed my posts getting shorter each day when I did one last year and I can't imagin ever writing up so many detailed HHs

5 posts · member since Dec 2021
2yr ago

Great TR and I’m glad you’ll get your laptop back!

4441 posts · member since Dec 2005
2yr ago
by BigWhale

Good news, laptop was turned in to Lost & Found at Harry Reid Airport, and I can pay to have it shipped back. Will sort that out tonight, and then it will start shipping tomorrow.

Other option would be to fly in myself and get it, and as much as I would love that I don't know if it's cost effective.

Probably not, since you can buy a fairly good laptop for $300 US. Besides, you might forget it again, just in a different place.

Sheep86 avatar
772 posts · member since Nov 2009
2yr ago

Thanks for the great TR...

by BigWhale

For studying, I listen to every single 'Crush Live Poker' podcast, and just hearing Bart Hanson repeat the same concepts over and over in my ear really helps. I do watch occasional videos as well, not as many as I should though.

...and this tip. 👍

MuckPls avatar
997 posts · member since Sep 2015
2yr ago
by pig4bill

Probably not, since you can buy a fairly good laptop for $300 US. Besides, you might forget it again, just in a different place.

The stuff on the laptop + passwords and everything else is probably worth much much more than the laptop itself.

4441 posts · member since Dec 2005
2yr ago
by MuckPls

The stuff on the laptop + passwords and everything else is probably worth much much more than the laptop itself.

They can ship it to you, right?

OP
1028 posts · member since Jun 2008
2yr ago
by pig4bill

They can ship it to you, right?

Yep, it's on the way now. The cost is not far off from what you wrote in an earlier post ($300-ish), but it's more for the convenience than anything else. While I could buy a new - and likely better one - for the same price, it would just be a lot of hassle. Especially for someone who is technologically challenged like me.

4441 posts · member since Dec 2005
2yr ago
by BigWhale

Yep, it's on the way now. The cost is not far off from what you wrote in an earlier post ($300-ish), but it's more for the convenience than anything else. While I could buy a new - and likely better one - for the same price, it would just be a lot of hassle. Especially for someone who is technologically challenged like me.

Wow! Three hundred bucks to ship it?

OP
1028 posts · member since Jun 2008
2yr ago
by pig4bill

Wow! Three hundred bucks to ship it?

Yes, but keep in mind it's going from Las Vegas to Malta, which is hardly just around the corner. So far it's scheduled for delivery on the 23rd. And it's suitable punishment for being that careless and nonchalant with things.

1 post · member since Aug 2005
2yr ago

Great trip report, when I see people flying in from overseas like you it motivates me only being a 3 hour plane ride away to do more trips. I often do solo trips but usually just 3 nighters, 9 days would be a long time in vegas alone I suspect.

OP
1028 posts · member since Jun 2008
2yr ago
by Lee2k

Great trip report, when I see people flying in from overseas like you it motivates me only being a 3 hour plane ride away to do more trips. I often do solo trips but usually just 3 nighters, 9 days would be a long time in vegas alone I suspect.

Thanks, I appreciate it.

Yeah, when it takes around 20 hours to travel it's just too time consuming and expensive to just stay for 3-4 days and then go home again.

(although I would still have considered it if I found myself with a few unexpected days off or something)

I should probably do more trips to other locations as well, but the temptation of Vegas is too strong to consider these other options 😀

Langdon avatar
1815 posts · member since Jun 2019
2yr ago
by BigWhale

I should probably do more trips to other locations as well, but the temptation of Vegas is too strong to consider these other options 😀

yeah once I tried going to Vegas I've flown there 10 times since 2018 and anywhere else... twice?
(and one of those two was fly to LV and drive to SoCal)

4441 posts · member since Dec 2005
2yr ago

I haven't flown on a plane at all in 5 or 6 years. I might want to for a WSOP event because of a tight schedule. Then I see all this drama about Boeing. It would be just my luck to fly for the first time in 6 years and die in a crash.

170 posts · member since Jun 2007
2yr ago

Great TR and glad you're getting the laptop back.

I usually don't have trouble with forgetting or misplacing things but a couple of years ago did manage to shut my car boot onto my mobile phone after using the ledge to change my golf shoes.

Somehow the boot shut, didn't damage the phone, and I only realised after a 20-minute drive to the hotel when I went to retrieve my bags from the boot.

Oh, and I did it again a few days later.

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BigWhale
2yr ago
by BigWhale

But yeah, that's it for this one. I'll update if I hear anything about my missing laptop

Good news, laptop was turned in to Lost & Found at Harry Reid Airport, and I can pay to have it shipped back. Will sort that out tonight, and then it will start shipping tomorrow.

Other option would be to fly in myself and get it, and as much as I would love that I don't know if it's cost effective....

BigWhale
2yr ago

Might as well give some final thoughts about the trip while at it, in no particular order:

Mandalay Bay:

- Very underrated property. Rooms are really nice and spacious, especially the gigantic bathroom.
- Unlike some other properties, house keeping were on point and seemed to be hard at work every single day.
- Pool complex is effin' amazing, and the biggest plus about this hotel in my opinion.
- Only tried the poker room once, but they seemed to have some action most of the day at least.
- Their crap shoot tournaments also seemed to have surprisingly big fields, often around 30 entries or so.
- Big drawback is the location. Free tram to Excal is great, but you still end up taking a ton of Ubers to go anywhere.
- I am also not a big fan of the distinct scent they pump on to the casino floor, although I did get used to it eventually.

Vegas in May:

- Amazing weather, 30+ Celcius (that's 86F or higher) almost all days.
- Very crowded and lots of people everywhere. Even MB was semi-crowded at times.

Poker in general:

- Despite being just a few weeks before WSOP, there seems to be a lot of games going almost everywhere.
- Lots of fishy opponents, even if you obviously run into some grinders, like that one evening at Aria.
- Unless playing daily tournaments, you are however unlikely to find tables without at least one other decent player.
- Even playing mostly daytime games, there was surprisingly decent action in most my games. Never really had those crusty OMC games where nothing happened.

My own poker play:

- One glaring mistake first, I play too many short sessions and not enough long ones.
- This takes away too much time, as I have to move from one location to another, and might also make me tired more quickly.
- As always I struggled with some bet sizes, in addition to having the proper discipline. Both in regards to when to reign it in, but especially in isolating limpers even more than I do.
- In short, I need to be a nightmare to play against more often and attack weakness with even more frequency than I do - not give people cheap flops.
- I am however very happy with some of my more creative lines, using board texture to push people off hands and finding occasional good bluff spots.
- And although not perfect in all spots, I did manage to keep my composure and cool a bit better than at some other trips. Still too many spots where I get frustrated with myself though.

And a couple of other random bullet points:

- I should have tried even more rooms, but Wynn always had a long list every time I checked, and Resorts World often had few games going.
- I was very happy with my tournament play, and really should have had more than 1 cash in the 4 played, if not for some bad luck.
- Should maybe have tried one of the deeper tournaments (Aria, RW, or a Venetian one), but I like my edge even in the fast-paced ones.
- Apart from the last 2 days I went to the gym every day before that, which is not too terrible I guess.
- Generally running pretty bad at Video Poker this trip again, but lol sample size. That said, I hit my second Royal Flush, which was fun!
- And I actually ran decent in the few slot machines I played (only Quick Hits and Buffalo for low amounts), so can't complain too much overall.
- I didn't play any $2/$5 this trip, simply because I didn't feel like I had to. And given how I struggled against some $1/$3 grinders at Aria one evening, probably just as well.
- Overall I don't think 42.5 hours cash game play over 9 days is good enough however, should have been closer to 50 at least.

Overall a really fun trip, even though I really think I could have played much better in some spots and won even more money. That said, there is really only one spot where I am pretty sure I gave away too much money, which is the J3 vs JJ-hand at Golden Nugget. I should have realized that when an OMC opponent min-raises river against an overbet, he has a better full house than me 99% of the time.

The trip felt really long, and for what ended up as a solo trip I think I did a reasonable job at occasionally relax at least. But time flies so insanely fast in Vegas, and I don't think I ever will get over that slightly stressed feeling I have when there. Even though I am semi-disciplined about taking time for other stuff like gym & pool, I am always looking at the clock stressing a bit about when I can be in a game etc. But this ties back to what I mentioned earlier; I need to be better at staying longer in games and playing more hours when I am there. That take care of the problem itself; if I know I am going to stay for 6-7 hours there is no stress even if I am not in a game until 2-3pm or whatever.

I really hope I can squeeze in one more Vegas-trip this year as well, quite possibly around the same time that MuckPls goes in October. I am pretty sure that my brother would like to join too, since he didn't get to go this time around. So even though I enjoy solo trips, it would still be even more fun with some company next time around. That said, one always meet people to talk to around the poker table at least, and I like that I at times managed to be semi-sociable with opponents this trip.

One last thing; I do enjoy writing these TRs and I want to thank everyone for the nice comments along the way. I don't always take the time to reply to everyone, but I do read them all and it's very motivating to see how much people enjoy the detail I put into these. And as I have mentioned many times before, it's always very fun for me to bring these up again and re-read for myself a few weeks (ok, who am I kidding - a few days) later when I start missing Vegas and want to go back etc.

That said, I have strongly considered maybe taking a trip where I don't post while in Vegas, and only make a TR when I get home - like Leon does it for example. It takes at least 1 hour, if not more, for every single post with all the hand histories etc. And that is a lot of time that I could otherwise use for other stuff. I do think it would be nice to not have that 'pressure' of posting every day while in Vegas, so it might be something that I try out in the near future. The alternative is obviously to cut down on hand histories and only do 2-3 from each session, which could be a reasonable solution as well I guess.

But yeah, that's it for this one. I'll update if I hear anything about my missing laptop, but otherwise that concludes another fun and slightly profitable trip to Vegas. But for someone who is as passionate as I am about poker, I really need to start playing even more in upcoming trips. Even though I enjoy other stuff in Vegas too, this trip really hammered in for me that poker is what I am really there for. So we need more poker going forward.

Until next time....

BigWhale
2yr ago

Waking up in Vegas is always a great feeling, although it's with a tingle of sadness today as it's time to go home. The flight back to London leaves tonight at 8:20pm, and I will be home in Malta on Saturday evening (local time).

But before we think about that, let us recap an interesting day of poker & Vegas. I started off the day at the Mandalay Bay pool, before heading out to play. My first destination was here:

I joined what was actually a somewhat lively game, with a drunk woman around 50 and her husband at the table, in addition to a very splashy young Asian kid who was in Vegas for the first time.

I won my first hand when there was a straddle to $6 on the button by the woman, and one player limped in. I made it $21 in the hijack with A7hh, and get calls from the straddle + the limper. K-5-2 one heart seems fairly harmless to me, so after limper checks I bet $30 and get two quick folds.

Then UTG limps for $3, and I chose to limp behind with 44 (limping or raising are both fine). The young Asian raises to $20 from cutoff, BB calls, first limper call, and I obviously call as well. Flop comes T-6-3, and actuall checks around. Turn is another T, and BB now comes out with $25. Not much I can do then I think, so I just fold along with everyone else.

A while later there is straddle, and I find QJcc in hijack. I make it $20, only to see the Asian kid 3-bet to $60 from SB. It folds back to me, and given what I have seen from him so far (extremely active), I chose to make the call in position. We go heads-up to A-Q-8 all spades, and he bets out $40. Not an amazing spot, but in position against a small bet I chose to call and see what he does.

Turn is another spade, the 9. Opponent now checks, and I was slightly unsure about this one since many high spades are accounted for. However, I can easily have a hand like KsQx or similar. So this is a great situation for yet another 'Crush Live Poker' concept - the variable turn sizing (which is not very variable at all). I bet $65, and the Asian fold immediately. So he was clearly out to lunch in this one.

I win a few small pots more, including having AA once from UTG. I made it $15 simply to get more money in there, but for once everyone at the table just folded. Huge disappointment given how the game had played so far, but not much to do with that.

I win another one from the Asian a while later as well, whe he straddles UTG. I find QJo in cutoff and make it $20, and he is the only caller. Flop comes 3-7-7 two spades, which seems quite harmless. He checks, and I make it $15. He calls, and the prettiest card in the deck (As) lands on turn.

He checks again, and I thought I could represent this card. And unlike in other spots this trip, where I have checked behind to bet the river, I didn't want to do that here. This guy will surely pounce on weakness if I check back, regardless of what he holds. So in this spot it's better to just bet, and my sizing of $35 got the job done.

I also win a small pot 3-betting QQ, before a weird spot came up. I raise A6cc to $12 from 3rd position, and a new player who seems very recrational makes the call (he took the seat of the woman, who had left). SB and BB also call, and we see 6-2-3 two hearts, one club. Both blinds check, and I decided to bet $25 for some value & protection. The first guy does however call, while the other two fold.

Turn comes 2h, so the flush gets there. I decided to check, due to positional awareness (he called my bet with 2 players left behind him) and the flush getting in. He does bet, but only $30. Although I had trouble coming up with any bluff - maybe a reason to fold - it still felt a bit weak to me.

I made the call, and river comes another 3. So we have 6-2-3-2-3. I check, sort-of expecting this to go check-check, but he actually bets again. $50 is the amount this time. I took a lot of time with it, because from what I have seen from this opponent so far I strongly doubt he bets 88 for example on the river, or maybe even a flush. To me his line feels inconsistent with what he is representing, but the problem was that I couldn't really find any logical bluff. So I begrudingly folded, and I guess we'll never know.

Also lose the next hand, when I raise JJ to $12 and get calls from cutoff and BB. Flop comes A-K-9, BB checks and I decided to check as well. The button, who is new to the table and looks a bit OMC-ish, immediately bets $25. I chose to fold here, although in hindsight I didn't think enough about the board texture and how he is fairly capped at having only one pair most of the time. So maybe I could have blasted off on this one, although it would obviously have been risky.

The spewy Asian eventually also left the game, and it started to become much tamer. So I decided to go find a better one, and left with a $45 profit after 2 hours and 45 minutes of play. Bit of a strange session, where I thought I did some decent stuff but didn't get any really huge hands against the splashy players when they were present. I also lost a few hands (the two above) towards the end, which made it only a small winner.

I crossed the street over to Linq Promenade to find some food. The location for that can be seen in the second picture below:

Also had to briefly stop by the Flamingo habitat, while checking Bravo and deciding on where to play.

I wanted to head to the Wynn, however their lists looked very long on PokerAtlas when I checked, and I didn't want to head all the way out there and get stuck waiting for a long time. So instead we took a shorter walk over to the casino which is pretty much opposite of this one:

GG WP to Mirage. Although it's not a place I have spent a lot of time at, it's truly an iconic casino. And it will be a bit sad to no longer being able to dream about Vegas and the f**king Mirage!

(TR will continue below)...