Mid-Life Crisis Escape to the 702, TR 5/11 - 5/15

Thanks for sharing your experiences.

[QUOTE=Langdon;58985967]lunch at Cheesecake Factory today...didn't really talk to me at all. spent first part talking to guy on my left ("a regular", few times a year)..[./QUOTE]

You had lunch with mrbaseball and didn't say hi? 😉

You had lunch with mrbaseball and didn't say hi? 😉

We will need a step count to confirm if it was him 😉

post concert, after playing briefly at Planet Hollywood, I walked over to Bellagio and sat down for 2/5. Dealer David could get through at least 5 hands during the time the PH dealers completed 1.

I had a Trooper/Rice moment
- utg opens, I'm next with 9-9 and am the only call
flop J42. he picks up five red chips and taps for a check. it's the 100% weakness tell. I bet $20 and he folds.

I was doing pretty well. after like 45 minutes I was up about $150.

- pocket aces beat by A4 on a 93295 board. I bet the river, he raised and I called.

- couple hands later: open, call, I jam like $150 with pocket jacks, and get beat by KQ.

so in about an hour of play (PH & B) I got aces cracked and lost with jacks twice
it was a rough night
took an uber back

woke up last day, weather was nice. packed up and went swimming. checked out of FB, then played a little blackjack. doubled down twice on 10 and lost both times.

lunch at Cheesecake Factory as previously mentioned. then headed over to Bellagio for one last session.

when I arrived a new 2/5 game opened up

first hand all in call for a $1000+ pot

Young Crazy Rich Asian (ycra) gets in a hand heads up, AK5 flop, goes all in, gets snapped
he loses AK > A5

ycra opens, call, raise, call, ycra raise to $280, all in, all-in, all-in
KK > AK > AQ
ycra had AQ

a few hands later, open, call, ycra raise $80, all-in, he calls with ace high, all-in guy wins with AK

one hour in and ycra is in the game for like $2200

- I open AQ $15. next guy raises $40, sb raises $140. I fold

- straddle. I raise K9ss, next guy raises $70.
I called but had to fold flop.

I won a couple small pots, don't know if I ever even got to a showdown. after a couple hours it was time to get a taxi to the airport and I cashed out for a small loss.

as one last bad beat, after three successful flights the TSA confiscated my can of shaving cream gel

Ouch. So sorry for everything that last day :(

Post Trip Review

part 1, everything else

the highlight of the trip was clearly seeing Josh Groban in concert. it was my first time in the CP Colosseum, my first time seeing a concert outside the reoccurring daily Vegas shows, and really my first big concert anywhere. it was better than anticipated, and I would have paid to see it again. love his voice. along with his own songs he also sang some others like Skyfall, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Pure Imagination, and Shape of My Heart. I loved it.

next top aspect was Fontainebleau. it is such a a beautiful luxurious resort. the pool area is really really nice. I've wanted to stay there since first visiting in May 2025 and it exceeded my expectations. don't know if I got a teaser offer for a better than standard room but it was stunning. I would pay more to stay there again.
the location is not horrible. it is a short walk to Venetian, Wynn and Resorts World, and not too far from Caesars Palace and Bellagio. closer to Bellagio than Mandalay Bay is (and Luxor). it is right next to Peppermill Tacos El Gordo and Tacos Pastor.

for number three: I've played several sessions at V previously but this was my first time spending much time at Venetian, and I really really like Grand Lux Cafe. it will be a regular stop for me here on out. also like their 2/3 game.

finally, I had a good time seeing my relatives. was definitely a fifth wheel and wasn't even planning to go til day of, was the only one who didn't bring a birthday gift for my baby nephews, but getting away from the Strip to take a break and have some home grilled burgers and cake was nice. really was the best burger of my life.

glad I didn't make any significant plans to watch Golden Knights hockey because they were awful and disappointing in the two games during my trip.

Treasure Island is a good home base hotel. I like the location and it's not a bad resort. in 2025 I've stayed there four nights and eaten zero meals on site. if there's a fifth night I'll give them some business somewhere.

part 2, so what went wrong and why

think the week got off to a rocky start because I tried being "AP slots" git and it went awry immediately. I chased a bonus and even when I hit it I got burned for over $400 loss my first morning. still mad that I triggered two bonuses together and it only won me about 3x spin. didn't even like slots beforehand.

I had planned for my second Win-at-Wynn Day Wednesday, but then I went there Monday for a tourney, cash game, and a table game first. all three bombed within a few hours. despite a bit of success in the last few years I have come to the realization that I do not enjoy playing poker tournaments. even in a good room like Wynn. think I will take tourneys off future trip itineraries barring a last day hail mary bankroll containment plan.

so yeah my first day I lost hundreds in a slot, bombed a tourney I wasn't very interested in to begin with, lost hundreds in pai gow, couldn't catch any traction at cash game, and ruined my Wynn experience for the trip. didn't go back after that.

next thing that went wrong was I let a lot of poker profits flip upside down. Tuesday night at RW was up $3-400 and it just trickled away to a $400 or $500 loss. Wednesday at Venetian I was up about $3-400 and later found myself in a $300 hole before leaving with a single digit win. Wednesday night at Bellagio I had an early +$200 head start before getting aces cracked and then jacks cracked to send me home early. should I just hit and run with a "small" profit in the middle of a juicy game? is that just variance?

didn't play optimally, I admit that. need to fold to big raises more. did make a few great hero calls but I made a few more bad calls.

went immediately from a big high (concert at CP) to two short poker sessions that killed any positive momentum. would have been better to just go home happy.

played three sessions at Venetian (two 2/3), two sessions at Bellagio (2/5), one at Resorts World (1/3), one at Wynn (1/3), and one at Planet Hollywood (1/3). all -$ except V.

my favorite places to play poker in Vegas are Wynn, Venetian, Resorts World, Bellagio and Mandalay Bay. would play at Aria, South Point or Red Rock if it's convenient. I don't need to play poker anywhere else. Park MGM is my favorite for other casino games.

due to bankroll going sideways I missed out on a few better dining plans. I skipped Wynn brunch buffet and didn't get a nice meal at Fontainebleau. wish I had enjoyed FB earlier in the trip before setbacks. that being said, I didn't eat poorly. most of my meals were from poker comps (and a CF coupon). paid less than $100 in dining for four days in Vegas.

didn't play a lot of pai gow -- three sessions, finished -$300 total. lost like $60 in twenty minutes of blackjack.

after profitable trips 2/24, 5/24, 7/24, 11/24 and 1/25, this was a financial setback and killed my appetite for poker and Vegas. my midlife crisis is over; back to right where I was.
see you hopefully in early 2026.

You profited 5 trips in a row and lost money on this one while playing other games besides poker, you also asked if you should hit and run with a small profit in a "juicy game". I would say you shouldn't go back to LV until your mindset, expectations, and perception of reality related to taking trips there has changed

thanks for the condescending douchebag comment

Yes, ALLNITSGOBROKE, completely unnecessary. You need a new mindset for life.

Thanks for the TR. That FB pool looks nice. RW similarly has like 5+ pools. Not sure about the umbrella situation, as all but one were closed due to high winds when I went.

I think it's OK to hit and run when your bankroll is such a major issue, especially in a game that you already don't feel comfortable in. Building your bankroll with a side hustle or whatever where the money doesn't come from household money and is dedicated to poker would be better, but I know that's easier said than done.

I definitely recommend seeing more concerts anywhere, not just Vegas. Lots of bands from your youth and even mine are still touring, and it's a great experience as you know.

yeah I have a few side hustles for this purpose. "financial setback" was probably hyperbole; I'm fine but burning through over $2K of my dedicated cash was unpleasant. it was what I could afford to lose and I lost it all.

In spite of the financial result, there was a lot to like about your trip. Thanks for taking the time to write it up!

Apologies if this comment doesn't apply, but I don't recall how experienced you are with AP slot play. It has been quite a while since I have played any, but when I was active it was my observation that players who weren't aware of the positive entry point very often began playing when the game was still -ev. Often quite -ev.

All that to say that if you aren't certain of the correct entry points, you may want to wait a bit longer to begin play. Sometimes that means that another player beats you to a particular machine. From what I understand there are a lot of APs chasing those games these days.

Looking forward to your next trip and TR!

Wasn't meant as such at all, was meant as sound advice. You won 5 out of 6 trips to Vegas and you're still complaining, most people who visit and are recreational players or just go for recreational purposes period would take that W/L ratio any day when it comes to traveling and risking money. You gambled and played casino games where obviously the house has a edge as opposed to playing purely poker and again are complaining about having 1 losing trip out of 6. I don't know your skill level but im guessing you have a edge against atleast some SSNL lineups. As far as pondering leaving a "juicy game" because you booked a small profit then yeah your mindset does need a adjustment when it comes to poker if you ever hope to become even halfway successful at it because as long as your playing well and not fatigued you should be trying to get in as many hours against those types of lineups as possible since you won't be playing in lineups that good all the time! If you're that much "scared money" then you probably shouldn't be playing in the first place until you have a big enough roll that you are comfortable enough cuz you'll never have anywhere near the winrate you're hoping to achieve even just playing on the side for some extra money.

Jesus dude, seriously **** all the way off bringing that take in here.

It was a great TR Langdon, despite the results, and I’m glad you shared it and we got to read about it.

Ignore the haters, who wallow in their own misery and only vomit out opinions like this to make people less likely to post about their travels and adventures.

Most keyboards have a return key.

Langdon, you just keep doing you in your trip reports. The most recent TR was perfectly fine.

@langdon:
Great TR, sounds like you had fun, thx for sharing

@allnitsgobroke
Read your comments twice, thinking now you actually were trying to help, although your style/tone def could use some „adjustments“ ;-)

Disclaimer: I’m new here, don’t know any of the guys, not taking sides

I have taken about 15 trips to Vegas since 2018 with about 10 TRs on here, all similar in scope and style, and a stranger comes on here and grasps on to a couple lines of frustration in my post-trip notes and tells me that I shouldn't come to Vegas if I'm not bankrolled to play the game professionally.
and then doubles down on my reflective rhetorical questions about about whether to hit and run.
I did not run away from "juicy games". these statements were written later. I hung around in these "good" games trying to wait out prolonged run of card-dead, basically playing as long as I could stay awake or had somewhere else to be.

Don’t sweat it bro-if you had a fun trip, don’t worry about what someone else says!

I enjoyed your TR and like the way you navigate Vegas.

As someone that has gotten smacked around on some Vegas trips, it takes a little time to shake it off and then I’m looking forward to the next trip.