Moop in Vegas...again
It's been almost exactly 7 years since I last did a trip report, but I'm finally back in Las Vegas and ready to grind.
Nothing significant has really happened since 2018, I still grind part time but has obviously tapered off a lot as the games gradually got worse/more private at any stakes I was interested in. Nowadays I play a lot smaller and mostly for fun, but the intention is that grinding for a week here should cover some costs if nothing else.
I'm in town to watch two Boise State Broncos games on consecutive weekends, with a week in Vegas in between, then off to Arizona to see my beloved Seattle Seahawks play for the first time since 2015.
Stayed at the Flamingo on Wednesday for a night after driving up from LA, played two small sessions (Aria 1/3 +61, MGM 1/2 +215). Will be staying at Excalibur Sat-Mon, then Plaza Mon-Fri.
Hoping to play a tournament or two but my only real goal is to play one session at every live card room of note in Vegas this week! Might not happen though, the Nugget is my favourite card room and MGM being uncapped at 1/2 means I've got an uncapped option both downtown and the Strip. I love super deep low stakes games because people end up in situations they're not comfortable with, and I think exploiting that is one of the best facets of my game.
Good luck me
Link to first thread (November 2017)
https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/108/l...
And here's some photos from the one night in Vegas & the trip up to Boise
Wynn WPT series starts this week. Could be something to play/see.
Enjoy the trip.
That blue field should be banned [emoji23]
Can you even see the ball against that backdrop when you’re in the stands?
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Posting to Subscribe in Epic Bread.
GL OP!!!!!
Just waiting for my rental car now and then off to Excalibur.
I've divided up the rooms like this, don't mind how they're described (obv Orleans/Boulder aren't downtown but I'll hit them the same day as Golden Nugget). Going to try and hit one group per day, but again I can easily get comfy and stay in one place!
I've divided up the rooms like this, don't mind how they're described (obv Orleans/Boulder aren't downtown but I'll hit them the same day as Golden Nugget). Going to try and hit one group per day, but again I can easily get comfy and stay in one place!
Love the idea of hitting up all the rooms (sadly fewer and fewer around) in and around Vegas. I should do the same one time. GL!
PS: Believe you are missing Poker Palace on your list 😀
Next time I'm able to head out to Vegas for more than a few days I'm definitely hitting up as many casinos as I can for poker.
I'll try to take down some ****ers McLovin style, with some ruthless stacking!!!
GL OP! GO GO GADGET!
Alright, first trip report coming tomorrow morning when I get up. In the meantime here's proof of every room I've played in so far:
Plan tomorrow is to hit Boulder, Santa Fe and or Southpoint during the day, then the Orleans $200 at 6pm if I don't go to the Golden Knights game. If anyone's gonna be around, shoot me a DM!
I'm in for the TR! You're gettin' around!
Moop hasn't even logged in since 12/3. I hope you're ok buddy.
Vegas claims another.
check the tunnels
Yeah the wifi down there was terrible, took me 2 months to GPS my way out.
Apologies for not getting around to writing the report, I had the most boring and uneventful 4 days of poker I've ever had and lost all inspiration to cover it. Didn't play a pot bigger than 200bb in over 30 hours, crazy stuff.
However the trip itself was great fun and I want to write it out for future me to look at ala my 2017 trip, so I'm gonna work through the camera roll and my memory and try and share what I did enjoy about December in Vegas.
I've got one last trip booked for April where I've got 4 days to see if I can enjoy poker again. Got some plans to try and mix it up and definitely want to document it as I go this time!
I'll begin recapping tomorrow.
In the meantime, have some more football pics instead from Boise State winning the Mountain West championship vs UCLA and the Seahawks beating the Cards in Phoenix, extending my streak of watching my teams win in the USA to 21 straight ��
Alrighty, sorry for the delay.
Had 5 days in Vegas this time, the recap is going to be more of my experience as a whole and hopefully not too negative (I did have a good time despite everything I'll probably complain about haha). I'm going again in April so this is kind of a mini diary to lead into hopefully live blogging that one.
DAY 1-2 @ Excalibur
Broke my rule of not staying on the Strip because Excalibur was really cheap for Saturday/Sunday nights. Have always had a soft spot for this property because I stayed there on my first trip to Vegas with my wife, the poker room was where I first got to play in Vegas and Dick's Last Resort was a restaurant I really wanted to go to as a kid when it was the WCW Nitro Grill.
Always have to get a photo.
Anyway, I immediately realized I'd made a mistake when I went to check in. It was 12.30am after I had picked up my car and the mile walk from the parking lot to the check in desk felt particularly brutal.
Then I saw the line.
They had one desk open and 40 people waiting to check in, at 12.30am on a Sunday. What the hell is going on? Long story short, I got my keys at 2.15am, trudged across the casino to the Resort Tower, got to the 14th floor and realised the keys don't work. ****.
Another trip downstairs and 30 mins later, I got in bed and fell asleep. Please don't do this to yourself, book off strip or non casino. Seriously.
At least the sunrise was nice, with a romantic view of the Buca Di Beppo outdoor seating and the side of a castle. Just like I'd always dreamed.
Headed off onto the Strip determined to play some poker and was pleasantly surprised by the nice weather in December. Headed down to Mandalay Bay for my first session of 1/2.
Games were pretty much what I expected; 300 max buyin but only a couple of stacks over 100. Decided to play a couple of hours just to see what happens but was the only player raising preflop and as a result I only played only two pots of note;
Hand 1
Limps, Hero opens EP A3cc $10, 3 callers
Q42 cxx bet $15 call call fold
Q424 cxxc bet $20 call fold
Q4247 cxxcc bet all in $40ish called by 77 and lose
Hand 2
Older guy playing $300 as well opens $15 UTG, 2 calls, Hero calls BTN 76cc, both blinds call ($90 pot, most villains have less behind)
456ccx checks, UTG bets $50, I make it $155 to commit, everyone folds
Have no idea what he plays like that, prob just had AK and derp blasted it but whatever, good result. Racked up a small winner and headed off to Bellagio hoping for more action.
Unfortunately it didn't come, got a bad 1/3 table and couldn't get anything going. Think I raised A9hh and got chk call chk call chk chk on AA832 by AK and thought alright low stakes is dead in Vegas lol.
Headed over to Horseshoe to check out the WSOP room, haven't played here since it was Bally's and was pleasantly surprised by the room. Good stuff and well run.
Action was a bit better here but was tired and ran card dead so decided to call it early, would have liked to play longer but could tell I wasn't in the mood. Won the only significant pot of the day when I opened 12 AKcc, got 3 or 4 callers, someone bumped it to 80 and folded QQ when I jammed. Probably should have called the week of poker off at this point and saved myself time to go explore tbh! Was definitely a sign of things to come.
This view on the walk back definitely raised my spirits though. As withered as the strip is as an attraction, it sure is pretty.
Will update on the Plaza portion of my trip next! Thanks for reading
Broke my rule of not staying on the Strip because Excalibur was really cheap for Saturday/Sunday nights. Have always had a soft spot for this property because I stayed there on my first trip to Vegas with my wife, the poker room was where I first got to play in Vegas
We need the Excalibur poker room back! 😀
Why didn't you check in on the MGM app btw, instead of being stuck for 2 hours in a check-in line?
We need the Excalibur poker room back! 😀
Why didn't you check in on the MGM app btw, instead of being stuck for 2 hours in a check-in line?
See this was the most frustrating thing- MGM app wouldn't recognize my passport or Aussie drivers license to allow me to, whereas the much maligned Caesars system at Flamingo worked first time with my Australian license (which I assume it shouldn't) and let me up to my room via the automated machines.
Has anyone else managed to use the MGM app checkin successfully as a foreigner? Curious to know.
See this was the most frustrating thing- MGM app wouldn't recognize my passport or Aussie drivers license to allow me to, whereas the much maligned Caesars system at Flamingo worked first time with my Australian license (which I assume it shouldn't) and let me up to my room via the automated machines.
Has anyone else managed to use the MGM app checkin successfully as a foreigner? Curious to know.
Yeah, I am Norwegian and have never had any issues checking in with the MGM app.
That's super frustrating. It might have been a temporary problem on the night then, as pretty much everyone I spoke to in line couldn't use the app for various reasons either.
Going to write part 2 today!
When are you going in April?
I'll be there from the 17th and fly out on the 26th. Have five days with my wife & some friends in town for WrestleMania (ex-wrestler, looking forward to seeing a lot of people I don't get to) then 22-25 during the NFL Draft I'll be grinding poker hard while watching the draft for my dynasty league analysis. Please let my boy Ashton Jeanty find a home at the Raiders one time 🙏
Part 2
Alright, finally found time and mental energy to write. Let's get back into it.
Was feeling a bit sick in Excalibur & from the 20 degree weather swing from Boise (predictably) so checked out early around 8am and decided to go for a drive out to Summerlin & Red Rock Canyon to get some fresh air.
I'm a cafe owner & make a loooooot of coffee, but I will never find a better refresher than this stuff. Chocolatey, smooth, just beautiful. Followed it with a Trader Joe's green juice and felt miles better, so decided it was time to give Red Rock's poker room another crack.
1/3 playing 500 deep is a cool change, was a lot more splashy and wild than the strip games I played the day before. Unfortunately couldn't get anything going yet again, made one bad river call getting like 7 to 1 with TPTK vs an idiot I could have avoided if I was on my A game. Headed off to check in at Plaza.
First chance I've had to drive one of these big dumb American muscle cars and it was as fun as expected. Really want one of these back home but fuel is expensive and I don't drive nearly enough to make it a regular pleasure anyway.
Jumped in the Golden Nugget, historically my most profitable casino poker room and honestly my favourite in general. You'll never know what you're going to find, either a table of all <$200 stacks or 5 4 figure stacks. Great stuff. Won a couple of hundo and decided to just have a night on Fremont since it's been years.
Finally had a chance to check out Evel Pie. Amazing. Instantly my new favourite spot down there. Two slices and a Jameson Orange on ice for $20 incl tip and I was on my way.
Still love the canopy downtown after all these years. Such a unique feel to everything down there.
Tune in next time as I play a tournament!
Awesome! Great pics.
We will be there April 26 - May 3, so will just miss you.
