BigWhale & brother (feat. MuckPls) does Vegas - 2025 edition (21st-31st March)
Hello people,
I can't believe it's been 6 months since I have been in Vegas, and we cannot let that go on for much longer! I will fly to London on March 20th after work, relax at a hotel there overnight, and then fly direct from there to Las Vegas on Friday the 21st (just in time for March Madness).
My brother will finally join in as well; he actually has a business trip to the US coming up in a few days, so when he is done with work he is already in the country. He will also head out to Vegas on the 21st of March.
A late addition to the trip is also 'MuckPls' who said YOLO and booked his own trip as well. I'll let him post the details on his end.
With this being the middle of March, and MGM having slashed my previous reasonable offers, it was not super easy to find cheap hotels. As of such, I have to stay at 3 different hotels to take advantage of the comp nights I had available (although I have to pay full resort fee). I will be staying at:
- Excalibur (2 nights)
- Flamingo (4 nights)
- MGM Grand (4 nights)
That said, it won't be too much stress to switch between the hotels. For MGM properties I can obviously check in and get digital room keys through the app. And for Flamingo I will just show up early and pay the (ridiculously high) early check-in fee to avoid gigantic lines.
It's March Madness time in Vegas when we are there, so I have high expectation of there being a lot of games to play and hopefully some good action as well. But regardless, it should be a fun and hopefully profitable trip. I will come back with some more thoughts + picture of shoe and bankroll in a few days.
As always, you guys can expect a lot of hand histories as well as random pictures from my end. Hopefully I can get brother to post a bit as well. And MuckPls will obviously also contribute with his own degen stories 
This is only the first of many trips to Vegas for me in 2025, but we can get back to that later. I am regardless stoked for the trip, and it will be nice having someone to share the excitement with as well!
Nice, a Vegas TR! I’ll keep it short for now and update later when I have more time.
Plan:
- Fly in late on the 20th of March
- Staying at NYNY until the 26th
- Room booked until the 27th but fly back home the 26th.
- ?????
- PROFIT!
I have a TON of work and meetings on Friday and Monday-Tuesday in Vegas which leaves me the entire weekend and a bit of Wednesday to go crazy.
Plan is simple, play as much cash at Aria as humanly possible, eat good food and stay away from pits / VP.
Always in for a BigWhale TR. Bonus Muck only makes it better!
Safe travels, looking forward to shenanigans.
I'll be in Vegas the 19th-22nd for March Madness. Catch you guys in the poker streets.
With this being the middle of March, and MGM having slashed my previous reasonable offers, it was not super easy to find cheap hotels. As of such, I have to stay at 3 different hotels to take advantage of the comp nights I had available (although I have to pay full resort fee). I will be staying at:
- Excalibur (2 nights)
- Flamingo (4 nights)
- MGM Grand (4 nights)
That said, it won't be too much stress to switch between the hotels. For MGM properties I can obviously check in and get digital room k
CET generally allows online check-in I think, and the keys will be spit out from a kiosk? I don't know for certain about Flamingo tho.
It's March Madness time in Vegas when we are there, so I have high expectation of there being a lot of games to play and hopefully some good action as well. But regardless, it should be a fun and hopefully profitable trip. I will come back with some more thoughts + picture of shoe and bankroll in a few days.
Lots of games, which also means long lines, so you'll want to be sure you have poker room phone numbers.
Everyone raves about game quality but I seem to be the only person ever to visit Vegas during March Madness to encounter nothing but bad games.
As always, you guys can expect a lot of hand histories as well as random pictures from my end. Hopefully I can get brother to post a bit as well. And MuckPls will obviously also contribute with his own degen stories
This is only the first of many trips to Vegas for me in 2025, but we can get back to that later. I am regardless stoked for the trip, and it will be nice having someone to share the excitement with as well!
Cool. Wish I could visit Vegas because of another event there, but I can't get off work.
IN
Looking forward to it!!!
I hear EPT is going to Malta in October. you gentlemen going to participate in that?
GL fellas. Always IN for your TRs.
Whale, I have two thoughts:
1. I have stayed at the Flamingo many times. Flamingo check-in can be miserable because their kiosks aren't working as consistently as other CET properties like Harrah's, but occasionally I've been able to bypass the line by just hitting the kiosks and feeding them my driver's license/reservation number/whatever. When it works, it saves a lot of time. I recommend trying that first at all CET properties instead of waiting in line. If you are trying to check in early, one option is to dump the bag with the bellhops down the escalator (tip $1), go do whatever, retrieve your bag after 3PM at your convenience (tip another $1), and then check in. That way you can avoid any fees for accessing the room early, provided you don't actually need to physically be in the room.
2. Your trip lines up with the WSOP-C at Horseshoe, so if you want a little World Series preview then it might be fun to fire an event. I played one event there last year in March. The structure and venue quality won't match the actual WSOP, but it's a good opportunity to get some reps against the local regs.
Good luck guys, will be following along.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Whale, I have two thoughts:
1. I have stayed at the Flamingo many times. Flamingo check-in can be miserable because their kiosks aren't working as consistently as other CET properties like Harrah's, but occasionally I've been able to bypass the line by just hitting the kiosks and feeding them my driver's license/reservation number/whatever. When it works, it saves a lot of time. I recommend trying that first at all CET properties instead of waiting in line. If you are trying to check in early, on
I didn't have any issues with the Flamingo kiosks last time I stayed there, so hopefully they will work. I can obviously just dump the bag with bell desk if I have other plans yes, but from memory the check in line at 3pm is gigantic. So if I go that route, it's probably best to wait until 6-7pm before actually checking in.
Thanks for the tip about WSOPC, I actually was not aware of that! Will go check the schedule now 😀
looking forward to it boys
GL, except against us. We are staying at Horseshoe from March 23rd to April 6th, so we might meet at the tables. At the very least, I need to check this TR frequently to see if there’s anything about drunken old Finns donating their hard-earned money at low-limit poker.
GL, except against us. We are staying at Horseshoe from March 23rd to April 6th, so we might meet at the tables. At the very least, I need to check this TR frequently to see if there’s anything about drunken old Finns donating their hard-earned money at low-limit poker.
Perkele!!! Come to Aria!
I am in. Good luck!
That said, it won't be too much stress to switch between the hotels. For MGM properties I can obviously check in and get digital room keys through the app. And for Flamingo I will just show up early and pay the (ridiculously high) early check-in fee to avoid gigantic lines.
Always up for a Whale & Muck TR! Best wishes!!! Play well & run good.
As for Flamingo check-in, you may want to consider checking in virtually. I did so a week ago, and it went smoothly. They sent me an email & text early the day of check-in, I confirmed a few items after clicking the link, and then at 3:30 I was able to get my room keys via the kiosks to the left of the registration counters (while noticing the long line waiting there). There's a bank of ~6-8 kiosks, and while several were in use, there were still one or two open when I arrived at the allowable 3:30 check-in time.
*********** Now that I've read the WHOLE thread to date, I see this has already been addressed. Sorry for the redundancy.
Finns & PLO, story checks out 😀 Will be on the lookout for someone with an even more extreme Scandinavian accent than me!
Not possible, surely? 😃
Enjoy, I'll sadly miss you by a couple of weeks - I fly out to SFO on 31st March myself to drive the Pacific Coast Highway then spend 3 days in Vegas at the end on 12th April.
Time is flying fast, only 3 more days until I am on my way to Vegas. Technically only 2 days actually, because I will be flying over to London on Thursday evening straight after work.
I actually forgot to include shoes, but here is a partial roll picture, along with casino cards, a Venetian $25 chip that I found in one of my hoodies after last trip, and some vouchers from Aria (including a $75 one) that I have to cash-in. And by cashing in, I obviously mean to gamble them on a Video Poker machine 😀
Don't really have too many plans for Vegas really, but there is a good chance that me and my brother ('Enhanced' on here) will enter the €250 WSOP-C tournament at Horseshoe on Sunday. Thanks to 'DogFace' for the tips about this series! Only 20 minute levels, but the structure is very slow and I have a lot of experience with similar paced tournaments from here in Malta.
Cash Game wise, I will just feel it out and see how it goes. But I have a very good feeling about this trip, as I can feel my thought process getting better and better when I am playing here in Malta (although I mostly play tournaments here). So hopefully I can replicate that to the cash game tables, while at the same time use the knowledge that I am familar with from 'Crush Live Poker'. During my last trip (October 2024) I might have pushed the envelope a bit too far in regards to running some bluffs, so I will keep in mind that most Vegas players don't really float super wide in bigger pots etc.
And although I will try to find some good games, I will also make it a mission to play a lot of different places. Since rooms at The Strip are getting fewer and fewer, I want to ensure that I try other avenues as well. In other words, get in sessions at places like South Point, The Orleans, Red Rock, Resorts World (obv on the strip but it's been a while since I played there), heck even Westgate if I can find a game. And I will obviously play at least once (or more) at Golden Nugget as well.
At least this trip report will get a lot of variety, since 'MuckPls' will likely spend 90% of his time at Aria 😀 And to be fair, I will obviously hit up all the traditional Strip rooms as well for the most part.
Will also fire some tournaments along with my brother in addition to the one mentioned above, plus obviously find time for the gym, some swimming if nice weather, Video Poker and whatever else. Time will go way too fast and there is not enough hours in the day, but I will do what I can to get in a good amount of hours (for me) of play.
I will try to get my brother to post a bit as well (he will surely post some big hits on Buffalo Slots or something 😀 ), and obviously both me and MuckPls (when he is there) will post daily updates.
My next post will likely be from London on Friday, but 'MuckPls' will be in Vegas from Thursday evening.
Time is flying fast, only 3 more days until I am on my way to Vegas. Technically only 2 days actually, because I will be flying over to London on Thursday evening straight after work.
I actually forgot to include shoes, but here is a partial roll picture, along with casino cards, a Venetian $25 chip that I found in one of my hoodies after last trip, and some vouchers from Aria (including a $75 one) that I have to cash-in. And by cashing in, I obviously mean to gamble them on a Video Poker machin
There will actually be a ton of variety from my side as well, as I am playing the South Point bounty tourney Friday afternoon and probably the Venetian bounty as well Saturday afternoon.
Other than that I have no idea in terms of plans. Land, convert my $375 free play into at least $100k, retire.
