5/28-6/2 Vegas TR: Search for Serenity
I’ve been to Vegas 25-30 times, with all of them focused on fun (bachelor parties, March madness, trips with my wife, trips with my brother, trips with friends, trips for work, WSOP, solo poker trips). I’m heading to Vegas from May 28th-June 2nd and for the first time, I’m not primarily focused on having fun, but rather on finding serenity.
Tragically in late October 2024, a very close friend took his own life. He was an awesome dude and most importantly a great father to his 3 kids. My son is best friends with his kids, our families have spent a lot of time together, and he and I coached little league baseball together. I had no idea he was struggling so much and have felt a lot of guilt that I never had a deeper conversation with him or asked if he needed help with anything. Being with his kids when they found out their Dad passed away was one of the worst moments of my life. We’re trying to help his family with whatever they need and fortunately his wife’s parents have now relocated to be closer to them. This is the 1st time (and hopefully last time) someone close to me committed suicide and it definitely hits way different than any other loss I’ve experienced.
I’ve been to the casino a handful of times this year in hopes that playing poker would be the escape/stress relief that it and gambling have always been for me. Unfortunately the sessions were more frustrating than relaxing. While I would love to blame it on running bad, if I’m honest with myself, I played bad and just wasn’t having as much fun as I normally do. Given this newfound malaise when playing poker, I was going to scrap my annual trip to Vegas.
My wife has seen how much the loss of our friend has impacted me and how the local casino trips haven’t given me that same spark, so she pushed me to book a Vegas trip during the WSOP as she knows how much I love Vegas during that time. So I booked a trip from May 28th-June 2nd and am staying at Luxor as they gave me a few comped nights.
Given that the trip is 10 days away, I wanted to start a TR to get the juices flowing. Promise that my TR will be much more fun than this post as I just needed to get that prologue out there explaining my mindset heading into the trip. I’m going to do my best to stay in the moment when at the tables and enjoy everything that Vegas has to offer!
Will post about my about my poker, gambling, food, and entertainment goals in another post.
Sorry for your loss. I hope you are able to find some solace on your trip.
Vegas can be overwhelming with the sensory overload and craziness, but within that there are also opportunities to unwind and reflect.
Sorry for your loss. I hope you are able to find some solace on your trip.
Vegas can be overwhelming with the sensory overload and craziness, but within that there are also opportunities to unwind and reflect.
Thanks bro-very much appreciate your thoughts. For the overwhelming majority of people, Las Vegas is one the last places they would go to find serenity. But for a small sub set of us, it’s a place of unlimited options where you can escape into cards and eat great food! Very much looking forward to it.
Sorry to hear about the awful news, but glad that you will be giving yourself a trip that will allow you to reset emotionally. While some people might say Las Vegas is an unusual place to do this, everyone has their own happy place for their own unique reasons. Hope the trip gives you peace and happiness.
your wife sounds like a keeper!
hope the trip is fun and an escape and it sounds like you're self aware enough to make ok gambling decisions, even if you're in a funk
any chance you'll play an event while you're in town or is it enough just to be there and be around the vibes?
lastly and just a suggestion but...why not carve out time and budget for a really great dinner at a place your friend would have liked? Maybe on the first night? Splurge a little and raise a glass or two to him both as a fitting goodbye to him and to compartmentalise the memorial part of the trip so you can have fun the rest of the time, as I'm sure he would want you to do
Sorry to hear about the awful news, but glad that you will be giving yourself a trip that will allow you to reset emotionally. While some people might say Las Vegas is an unusual place to do this, everyone has their own happy place for their own unique reasons. Hope the trip gives you peace and happiness.
Thanks a lot bro-genuinely appreciate your positive thoughts. Have been reading your TR and you are a phenomenal writer and story teller. It’s been a great way to get me excited for my upcoming trip. If we’re ever in Vegas at the same time, would love to buy you a drink and hear more stories!
Thanks a lot bro-genuinely appreciate your positive thoughts. Have been reading your TR and you are a phenomenal writer and story teller. It’s been a great way to get me excited for my upcoming trip. If we’re ever in Vegas at the same time, would love to buy you a drink and hear more stories!
Hi Oriole-Lion, I will be in Las Vegas for a portion of your trip. I arrive May 30 and will be there the rest of your trip. Once you have an idea of what your schedule will be, Private Message me and we can figure out a date and time that works.
Sorry for the loss of your friend, may his memory forever be a blessing to you.
Suicide hasn’t impacted me, but it profoundly impacted someone I’m very close to. The only conclusion I’ve come to is that it’s an incredibly difficult thing to process, and everyone does that in their own way, on their own time.
I hope this upcoming Vegas trip will be everything you want it to be!
Have fun, I’ll look forward to reading updates.
your wife sounds like a keeper!hope the trip is fun and an escape and it sounds like you're self aware enough to make ok gambling decisions, even if you're in a funkany chance you'll play an event while you're in town or is it enough just to be there and be around the vibes?lastly and just a suggestion but...why not carve out time and budget for a really great dinner at a place
No doubt-I’m very lucky to have married her and even luckier that she’s stayed with me for going on 12 years and 2 kids!
There seem to be some great lower buy-in tournament options with decent structures at the WSOP, Golden Nugget, Orleans, and Venetian during my trip, so I’m hoping to play in a few of them.
Love your idea of a nice dinner at a place my friend would have liked! Will definitely do that!
Sorry to hear about your friend.
Hope this trip finds you the serenity you are looking for!
I would go one step further and give his family a little stake of your tournament wins.
Good Luck with your trip, do share your tournament schedule so we can cheer you from the sidelines.
Sad news and puts things in perspective, but if there’s anywhere that can help take your mind off it and put a smile back on your face again it’s surely Las Vegas. Good luck.
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Hi Oriole-Lion, I will be in Las Vegas for a portion of your trip. I arrive May 30 and will be there the rest of your trip. Once you have an idea of what your schedule will be, Private Message me and we can figure out a date and time that works.
For sure-will send you a message and we can try to meet up. I saw the other thread where you wanted to connect folks this summer-that is a great idea! Will post in there as well.
Sorry for the loss of your friend, may his memory forever be a blessing to you.Suicide hasn’t impacted me, but it profoundly impacted someone I’m very close to. The only conclusion I’ve come to is that it’s an incredibly difficult thing to process, and everyone does that in their own way, on their own time.I hope this upcoming Vegas trip will be everything you want it to be!Ha
Thanks TJ-appreciate your condolences and insightful words. Everyone that was close with him has replayed the interactions we had with him that week in hopes of finding some clues or reason, but we’re all left feeling more confused, sad, and angry. It really is eye-opening how much you don’t know what people are going through no matter how happy they seem or how idyllic their life may appear. I imagine your friend that was impacted by a similar tragedy struggled with similar emotions. Hope they’re doing better.
Your TR is awesome too and while I’m much more comfortable playing cash games vs tournaments, I’m hoping I can retain/apply some of your strategies in any tournaments I play!
Please accept my most sincere condolences on your loss. Hoping that this trip helps you heal in some way.
Best of luck, looking forward to the report of your experiences.
Don't forget, there's help out there if you feel you need some. Don't be shy about asking.
Sorry to hear about your friend.
Hope this trip finds you the serenity you are looking for!
I would go one step further and give his family a little stake of your tournament wins.
Good Luck with your trip, do share your tournament schedule so we can cheer you from the sidelines.
Thank you-appreciate the thoughts and kind words. I like your idea, but my tournament game is pretty bad. His kids birthdays are coming up in June, so will get them presents whether I win or lose.
Please accept my most sincere condolences on your loss. Hoping that this trip helps you heal in some way.
Best of luck, looking forward to the report of your experiences.
Don't forget, there's help out there if you feel you need some. Don't be shy about asking.
Thanks bro-very much appreciate the condolences and thoughtful words. I haven’t taken the step to see a therapist yet, but will likely do so in the next few months if I’m still struggling.
Am looking to forward to clearing my head and gambling on this trip. Will do my best to share how the trip goes!
My wife has seen how much the loss of our friend has impacted me and how the local casino trips haven’t given me that same spark, so she pushed me to book a Vegas trip during the WSOP as she knows how much I love Vegas during that time.
what a team player. I'm jealous
as others have said I'm sorry for the loss you've experienced. hope you can have an enjoyable experience no matter how the cards turn up for you. I also love a getaway to Vegas
hopefully the odds may be in your favor
No doubt bro-am very lucky! From your TR, it seems that you’ve had clearance for multiple Vegas trips too!
as others have said I'm sorry for the loss you've experienced. hope you can have an enjoyable experience no matter how the cards turn up for you. I also love a getaway to Vegas
hopefully the odds may be in your favor
Thanks buddy-appreciate your thoughts! Enjoyed your TR, but am hoping I run a bit better!
Now that my trip background is out of the way, I wanted to focus on positivity and what I’m hoping to do during the trip, which is now less than 5 days away!
I like to be goal oriented, so will try to lay out my goals, some realistic and some aspirational, in hopes that I can stay focused, hold myself accountable, and leave Vegas feeling successful even if I lose money.
Trip Report Goals:
- post frequently
- finish the TR
I’ve done semi-live TRs the last few years and each time have not finished them, either because I was losing, was too tired to write coherent thoughts, or got busy with life once home and figured it was too late to write the wrap up. This year, I will definitely finish the TR!
Poker Cash Game Goals:
- Play at least 40 hours of poker
- Win at least $2000
- Play at least 2 sessions of 2-5
- Play at 10 different poker rooms
- Switch tables if tilted by results or table environment
- Be more aggressive
Most of these should be achievable. I’ll be in Vegas for just over 100 hours and I would normally aim to be at the poker tables for at least 60 hours. However, as this trip is during the early part of the WSOP and there are so many tournament series around Vegas, I’m setting aside 20+ hours for tournaments. For cash games, I usually play 1-3, but with the Bellagio 2-5 max buy in of $500, I’m going to try playing 2-5 a couple times if I’m winning. With the recent (re)opening of the Caesars and Planet Hollywood poker rooms and counting the WSOP cash game area as a separate room, I believe there will be 16 rooms on/around the Strip.
One of my favorite things about Vegas is not only the huge number of poker games, but also the different “cultures” of each room (lower vs higher buy ins, tighter games with more local OMCs vs looser tourist games, strip vs off strip location, ones with jackpot games vs without, experienced dealers vs temporary dealers, etc.). My game style is much more loose passive (bordering on WTF) vs tight aggressive GTO. I would love to incorporate aggressiveness into my game like 3-betting lighter from blinds & early position and being more willing to bluff raise and even bluff check raise on boards where I should have the range advantage.
Poker Tournament Goals:
- Play at least 3 tournaments including a WSOP one
- Pay attention to hands I’m not in
- Keep track of chip counts at the end of each level
- Get past level 11 in a tournament
- Make it in the money and/or day 2 of a tournament
Even though I much prefer playing cash games, the breadth of poker tournaments all over Vegas during the WSOP is too good to pass up. I’m currently leaning towards playing in the Golden Nugget $300 Mystery Bounty on Thursday 5/29, the Orleans $300 NLH Monster Stack on 5/30, either the Orleans $400 NLH Mega Stack or the Venetian $600 NLH Monster Stack on 5/31, and the WSOP $600 NLH Deep Stack on 6/1.
I’m definitely going to do my best to be more attentive to bet sizing, hand showdowns, and table talk in hopes that I can channel TJ or rppoker and make a deep run. My best Vegas tournament result in the last few years was making it to level 11 in a Golden Nugget Grand Poker Series tournament. So exceeding that performance or even making the money would be a success for me.
Gambling Goals:
- Budget $1000 for table games
- Play craps at Fremont Casino and qualify for dice club
- Try playing ultimate texas holdem, and baccarat
- Make 1 sports bet per day
- Place future bet on Penn State to win national championship
I really should avoid table games this trip, but playing craps during a hot roll is the best adrenaline rush for me when gambling. The anxious anticipation of watching the dice fly and bounce and bounce and bounce while praying they don’t seven out and simultaneously hoping the gambling gods aren’t annoyed by the dice hitting chips, going off the table or landing on the set up. After the rolls where a 7 isn’t rolled, the rush to calculate my bets payouts and quickly decide whether to press up (and if so, which bets). I have an interesting dichotomy with poker vs craps memories as I can still remember bad beats I’ve taken in poker vs my most vivid craps memories are my biggest winners. And yet the results couldn’t be more different as I’m a lifetime loser in craps.
In the event that craps is going bad and I’m not feeling poker, I may try learning how to play baccarat and/or ultimate texas holdem. I was much more excited about the daily sports bet goal before my beloved Orioles are having one of the most disappointing seasons I can recall in my 40 years of die-hard fandom. This painful season is rivaling the bitter disappointments of the 1990, 1998 and 2018 seasons. Not that those are the worst Orioles seasons, but rather the most divergent to what was expected. On the flip side, I’m hoping that my alma mater Penn State can follow in the footsteps of conference rivals Michigan and Ohio State and win the national title with so many returning starters. Will put down a futures bet and hope that I’m twice as happy in January 2026!
Food, Drinks & Entertainment Goals:
- Eat at a restaurant (past favorite or new) once per day
- Get drinks at least 2 speakeasys
- Get casino chip from 2 casinos
- Visit the Gamblers Book Shop
- Ride Tesla loop
- Watch a show at the Sphere
- Watch Lake of Dreams show at Wynn
One of my favorite things about Vegas is the amazing food, drinks and experiences. Whether you’re sun-running and want to celebrate or want to run away from the casino, there are so many fun things to try. I really liked feel wrath’s suggestion on eating at a nice restaurant and am going to expand the goal to doing that every day. I’m not a big drinker, but will try to check out a couple speakeasys for the ambiance and experience.
I love to collect casino chips and have a couple display cases for them (currently 106 chips overall and 58 from Vegas area casinos). I’m hoping to add at least 2 more to the collection and particularly want to play and get a chip from the Orleans and The Strat.
There a few other entertainment or sightseeing things that I wanted to check out if I can break away from the tables! I’ll try to prioritize the Gamblers Bookstore as I’m not sure how many more years it will be there and I love that there is a bookstore dedicated to gambling!
In keeping with the LVL TR tradition, I’ll post shoes and bankroll pic before I leave on Wednesday night.
Thanks again to everyone for their very kind words and positive thoughts. Can’t wait for this trip and to have folks following along!
That's a big one and something that marks one of the differences between my A game and C game. Autopilot can be sufficient to a point, but you never know when those careful observations may prove decisive in a murky spot. There's a strong incentive to stay present and attentive.
That's a big one and something that marks one of the differences between my A game and C game. Autopilot can be sufficient to a point, but you never know when those careful observations may prove decisive in a murky spot. There's a strong incentive to stay present and attentive.
Definitely one of my weak spots, so really want to try and improve that aspect of my game. Also am going to try and take notes in hopes that will help me pay attention more.
