*** TJ's 2024 WSOP Trip! ...That Might Turn Into A Move?

Is there anything on the Strip resembling NY or Brooklyn pizza? I haven't seen it.

Mulberry Street Pizzeria in Resorts World is aiming for a NY type of vibe.

I've had it a few times and it's been a little hit-or-miss for me.

Haven't found a great pizza spot in LV yet. I'd say Evel Pie is probably my favorite.

There is a place, its name is escaping me in the moment. I think my pal knows, I'll ask him later.

Maybe not exactly, but Secret Pizza at Cosmo is decent.

I like evel too, just a little pricy imo

Yeah, I like that place. A 2p2'er guided me to it. I thought someone had said they closed, though.

Ironically, when I lived in the Bay area, it was easy to get. There were some SF-based chains (lots of people in SF think they have to compete with NY for some reason) that opened stores all around the bay area, so you could get close-to-NY-style even in a place like San Jose. Which is very unlike SF.

Isn't it also downtown? I like pizza as much as the next guy, but I'm not going downtown to get it.

I was there last week. Also, if you see anyone eating pizza at Cosmo or carrying a pizza box, that is where it's from.

Coming back from the pool I laughed at a group of people at the lounge area by Beauty & Essex eating secret pizza and drinking champagne. I was a little jealous.

The secluded vibe and general ambiance surrounding SP is what makes it especially good.

not directly on the strip, but the metro pizza inside of ellis island (flamingo and koval) has quality pies, and they do 2-for-1 on slices and pies on thursdays and sundays.

Great report. Just wanted to say thank you for your effort.

Thanks, everybody. These TR’s are as much a way for me to document my vacation, and remember the ups and downs.

Wanted to give y’all an update on my professional development journey.

I had already decided by the end of my trip that I’d be staying in North Carolina at least another year. But it IS true that while I didn’t have a written offer, I had another opportunity I could pursue in Las Vegas.

Once I got back, I had a long call with my direct boss. I told her I went to clinics within our company in Las Vegas, and interviewed with the director of operations there. I said I’m considering a move, and that he assured me he starts his nurses out at $2 more than I’m making now. I added that I hadn’t made up my mind yet, and it’s a big decision… but I wanted to be open and transparent with her, to give her a chance to match, and make the best possible offer she could make to keep me here.

A few days go by, and she asks me to send her an email detailing my reasons for considering a move to Vegas, and exactly what was offered to me. She said she needed that, to forward on to the compensation team and HR, so she could be an advocate for me.

I wrote the email, and truthfully said I didn’t receive a written offer. I talked about our broader conversation, where he told me I’m qualified, and could do whatever I wanted with our company wherever I wanted to work. I simply said that the DO told me he starts new nurses there out at $2 more than I’m making, and he could try to get me more based on my experience. I finished by saying it’s a big decision, and I hadn’t made up my mind, but since I had this real opportunity, I wanted to see what my current employer would do.

A few days later, my boss was at our clinic, and she asked me to stay late, to sit down and talk about it. She said she sent my email to the VP of HR. They agreed that if I was going to consider a cross country move, only being $2 apart wouldn’t really be a huge factor as the difference maker for staying or going. She said it really comes down to, what do I want to do? And that there would be moving expenses, and a different cost of living adjustment for being there.

She then took this opportunity to go over my yearly performance review. I’m dependable, I’ve helped out a lot, and I’m well regarded by my coworkers, so I earned a strong performance review. On the merit of that basis, I earned a raise between 2-3% for this year. So in the end I didn’t quite get a $1 raise… I got a 98 cent raise. Lol they just couldn’t come up with two extra pennies, that’s a bridge too far.

Then we talked about our company’s clinical advancement program. If I’m just trying to maximize my comp here, this is a program my company offers to develop and retain talent. In addition to clinical hours, I need to complete some online learning, and do a project, and then I advance to the next level. The guidelines say that’s good for a raise of at least 3%, and not more than 5%. It’s something I’ll definitely pursue, as it would make me even more marketable if I ever decide to leave.

So I didn’t get the $2+ raise I thought I was worth. But my little adventure networking in Vegas DID cause them to get the lead out of their ass, and speed up the process of getting me my performance-based raise I had already earned.

Since moving to Vegas this year was never a realistic option, (for family circumstances and not professional reasons), I guess this is an acceptable outcome.

That seems like good news, in kind of a roundabout way. Hope things work out well for you.

Since this thread is now my de facto poker blog, thought I’d share that I’m making a weekend warrior trip to Cherokee this weekend, for the WSOP Circuit stop!

Like I talked about in my previous trip report, Harrah’s Cherokee in western NC is the only venue on the WSOP Circuit that gets FOUR stops a year, in between the main WSOP in Vegas every summer. The reason it does so well is that it’s basically the ONLY casino of any size in the Southeast, not counting Florida or Mississippi.

It runs over two weekends, with a slate of tourneys every day. The biggest tourneys, though, are the weekend events. The final weekend is the $1,700 Main Event ($1.5M gtd), which I haven’t played.

My favorite tournament is the $400 mini-Main ($750k gtd), which takes place over the first weekend. There’s 4 starting day 1 flights, then play down to a winner on Sunday. Perfect for a little weekend poker getaway.

The structure isn’t great, compared to what we see during the Series in the summer. 25k starting chips, 30 minute levels (45 minutes on Day 2). …Certainly not DogFace approved. But it’s the best I can do for anything within reasonable driving distance of me, so here we are. I’m expecting 2,400 - 2,900 entries total, with about $130k up top.

I’ve got a perfect 4 hour Hardcore History podcast on Alexander the Great to catch up on, for the 4 hour drive to Cherokee. Check in to the trusty Econo Lodge, my preferred hotel, then head over to the casino for Flight A, which starts at 4 pm today!

I’m willing to fire up to 3 bullets at this, one bullet a day, to find a Day 2 bag. Bagging is NOT easy in this tournament, only about 5% of each flight bags. In the meantime, I’ll spend my time playing PLO cash.

So let’s treat this like my experience at the Colossus: find that bag on the first bullet! I’m getting on the road now,

Let’s get it!

Go TJ go!

I was in Cherokee River Valley in Murphy a few weeks back. I think you're talking about the other Harrah's?

Wasn't there long; passing through town, directions to the grocery store took me near the casino, so I thought I'd try a new room.

Room was just opening for the day at 10 AM, so we were 5 handed. Seemed like a nice enough room, though I felt the chairs sat too low. Only stayed a little while, just to add a chip to my collection.

Hah. Good luck!

I do prefer the slow/deep events, but 30 minute levels can be fun too.

Looking forward to great results from you. Good luck.

Arrived safe, checked in to the Econo Lodge, then headed over to the casino and bought in ten minutes into level 1.

This should be the smallest flight of the 4 day 1’s… but since I was able to get the time off approved, I want to maximize my chances at getting a Day 2 bag, and fire as many bullets as it takes.

Kicking off a great weekend of poker, and I didn’t even have to book a flight!

Let’s goooooo!

Well that was quick… busto early in level 3, not even making the first break.

Not only could I not get anything going, I literally did not drag a single pot after sitting down. The structure is even less forgiving than I thought: only 20k starting chips, not 25k.

That means it really limits your options if you make mis-steps in even minor early pots. I don’t think my decisions were particularly bad… just didn’t make anything.

I went broke shoving my last 28bb in position over a cbet with a draw, where I didn’t realistically have any fold equity. So I got my stack in bad, drawing to 9 outs from the flop, which I didn’t hit.

I resisted the urge to rebuy and jump back in during level 3. For a not-great structure, I want to start with lots of big blinds, when the worst players still have chips. One bullet a day is a good plan, so we’ll stick to it.

I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, so I headed outside and got some chicken fried rice from the Thai food truck. It was pretty alright:

Now I’m gonna head over to the main poker room, and see what the PLO looks like.

Won’t make it a late night, though. I drove 4 hours to get here, so I’m worn out from being in the car all day.

And tomorrow’s a brand new day, with TWO more flights to choose from!

I got into town around 4 pm, and hit my Day 1 stop loss by sundown… so that’s not ideal.

I’m reminded of my own, prophetic words: “Whatever you do, don’t get buried on the first day.”

After eating, I headed over to the poker room, where there was a 10 person list for 1 table of 1/2 PLO (500 cap), and a 3 person list for 2 tables of 5/5 PLO (300 min, match the stack max). Not wanting to wait, I put myself on both lists, and got called for 5/5 PLO first.

I bought in for 700, which seemed like plenty of big blinds for the game. But other than one hopeless shortstack hero nursing a $150ish stack, I was the shortest by a lot… with two stacks over $7k.

There was also a button straddle practically every hand, so the game played even bigger than that. Still, I’m confident in my game, so I played tight and studiously observed my opponents.

Miss some flops and don’t continue, then I played an interesting hand. Button straddles to 10, a 7k stack makes it 35, a couple calls, and I call with QJT9 double suited. With a hand that connected that could flop hard, I could consider 3betting, but I’m not looking to get a ton of money in with little fold equity and small edges… especially as the shortest stack.

5 of us see the flop of J-9-6 rainbow, so I have top two, open ended to the nuts both ways, AND both back door flush draws. PFR continues for $135, and I pot it to 500something, to be committed and basically all in.

Button looks like he wants to call, but folds. PFR thinks about it a while, and folds. Button says “I would have called if I knew you were folding!” PFR says “maybe I don’t fold, and pot it back if you call!” and everyone laughs as I drag a nice pot.

As they were thinking about it, and most of my money was in, I was strangely at peace. I didn’t have the nuts (running into a set would have been most unfortunate), but I figured if anyone wanted to play for stacks, I had so much working, and this game can be so sick sometimes, that I’ll come out ahead often enough for it to be profitable.

I wonder if calling could have been better… but I think that’s outthinking myself. In position on the bettor, it’s better to put my own money in, rather than calling off on other people’s terms.

Another hand: button straddles to 10, I’m in the big blind with AA52 with nut spades. I could raise here, but I hate being first in early position, even with AAxx, which completely misses often enough in this game. Anyway, the straddle goes unraised, and six of us see a flop of 8h-5s-3s.

So I have nut spades, a gut shot to the steel wheel, to go with the best overpair and a 5, for whatever that’s worth. I lead for $60, one call, and the OTHER 7k stack makes it $200. I’m out of position, but with so many nut outs, I called. Other guy calls too.

Turn is an off suit ten, check check to the raiser, who goes 500 now. It feels so gross to have this much nut equity, but I don’t want to be committing stacks unless I’m making the bets, and giving others the chance to fold. So I release, other guy folds too.

I suppose I could have come over the top on the flop… maybe not terrible, but certainly feels high variance.

The hand that made me pick up the rest of it was when I made a bad river payoff with trips top kicker on a board where all the straights and flushes missed. I was up against the case trips who rivered one of his kickers.

The more I think about it, the more I think my hand is basically a bluff catcher, as I’m only beating busted draws. Maybe he gets to the river that way… but I think for his sizing, and my read on the guy, it was fat value, and I’m beating nothing in his value range.

After that I picked up the rest of it, saying this game plays too big for me. And I headed to 1/2 PLO.

The 1/2 PLO game was much better. More multi-way flops, and more social, with people chatting about football and baseball.

It’s a true 1/2, with no $5 bring in or each blind being counted as 5 for the pot.

Still, I ran pretty bad, eventually got stacked, and said that’s enough for one day.

I call a raise from the cutoff with QQ22 with diamonds, and hit the wrong set, the deuces. I just flatted the cbet in position, and he turned the bigger set. He made the nut flush on the river, which thankfully I did NOT pay off. He showed the turned top set with nut spades, so I called a big turn bet drawing to one out. I HATE making little sets in Omaha! …But I was trying to make the top set! So it goes.

I went broke on the turn with top two, a nut gutshot, and back door clubs with a 1-out straight flush draw… and got called by bottom set, who drilled quads on the river. So I guess I had 15 outs, initiative, and position… but missed them all, and that’s just how this game goes sometimes.

So I limped back to the Econo Lodge, to call it a night earlier than I would have liked.

Splurged for the king bed this time, which was $12 a night more than the double full. But I saved $8 a night by booking early and making it non refundable, so it’s a wash.

So it didn’t go how I would have liked for Day 1. I’m undeterred, and focused on playing good poker tomorrow.

We’ve got a fresh flight in the morning! I’m gonna get a good night’s sleep (on my LUXURIOUS king bed, lol), and get my mind right for a long day tomorrow.

And if I play any cash, it’ll be 1/2 PLO, not 5/5.

Got a good night’s sleep, then went to Waffle House for a good breakfast.

Firing bullet number 2, let’s go!