**** TJ's Summer 2025 Quest for Poker Glory ****
It’s that time of year again!
This will be my 6th long trip to Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker, and the 3rd trip
Good luck to TJ and all people who have a piece.
It's great to hear you're enjoying work, TJ. I made the mistake a few times when I was still working of staying at a place I didn't like because...reasons.
Work is such a big part of most people's lives, it's really important to not have the stress of work you hate. There's another job out there. Don't anyone feel you're stuck in a job; go look!
Of course, same applies to geography. Don't stick around a place that's not working for you just because.
Good luck. Don't let the preliminary results hinder you. Greg Raymer was on a huge downswing right before he won the main event.
GL TJ Eck!
Posting to subscribe in epic bread!
Good morning!
It’s already 4 am on Getaway Day, and I could barely contain my enthusiasm to BOUND out of bed, and get this day started!
So what’s for breakfast? I only know of one place that’s sure to be open.
Big Night Hawks vibes, this time of day. One of my all time favorite paintings.
Spoiler
There aren’t any Waffle Houses in Las Vegas. I went with the go to breakfast, and DID ask for onions with the hashbrowns.
We’ll have to hope for the Extended Release hashbrowns rungood.
This feast was $18. Once again, I’ll start listing the prices of meals, always before tip (I’m a good tipper).
Next, on the way to the airport!
Through security in about 30 minutes, as the sun rises over gate D1 at RDU international airport.
Got a little more than an hour before boarding starts.
Good thing Moby and I have a great book to dive into!
We’ll see y’all in Vegas!
Safe travels. Go Moby and TJ!
Breakfast at WH prior to boarding a plane.
Bold!
Stay aggressive and good luck!
Landed safely, the flight was uneventful. It actually SPED right by… this book I’m reading is really fantastic!
Obligatory airport I’ve ARRIVED! pic:
Then I cabbed it over to Venetian.
Had a great interaction with the cab driver. He was listening to the old school hip hop radio station, and I revealed my karaoke DJing chops when I flawlessly recited the lyrics to the classic banger Luniz - I got 5 on it. There were discrepancies, because I was singing the album version, which is definitely NOT the radio version.
It was clearly unexpected for him.
The route he took from the airport brought us by the intersection of Flamingo and Koval. This was notable to me, because I happened to have learned from Wikipedia that this is the exact intersection 2Pac was shot at, 30 years ago.
I was hoping to see a mural or something honoring him, but nope, just another fairly nondescript intersection.
Then, right on cue, one of my favorite songs by him, 2Pac - Dear Mama came on.
Makes me think things are aligning my way for the start of a great trip!
Welp. Solves my problem of what shirt to wear today.
Spoiler
Dropped my bags the Venetian valet, then walked in.
Moby likes the fountain and the architecture.
Read my past trip reports if you want to know the reason why I always start a Vegas trip at Venetian.
Then I set off to find the new poker room!
It wasn’t open yet when I was here for WSOP last year, so this is my first time in the new location.
Took me a minute to find it. I was worried it being off the casino floor might cut down on the foot traffic, of drunk casino donks stumbling in and depositing a few buyins. You rather deliberately have to seek out the new room.
It’s a very nice, comfy place. Venetian is (and always was) absolutely in the first tier of Vegas poker rooms.
On my trip last year, I was too full of energy and enthusiasm getting off the plane to sit in a not-great weekday morning card game, and blasted off a couple buyins.
This year, I’m in no hurry, so we’ll skip that part. On the interest list for 1/2 PLO, sipping a free cappuccino in the lounge area while I wait.
In. Good luck! I'm envious.
Project Hail Mary looks great (What's two plus two?). I loved reading The Martian. Different author, but I just started Murderbot, which is fantastic so far.
Project Hail Mary is a fantastic book. Love the author.
I wonder how much run good would spin up behind somebody wearing that shirt while eating WH hashbrowns and washing them down with cowboy cold beer? I'm guessing an enormous amount.
Been working out pretty good so far on my 6th Coors Light and got a 10K check in the mail I wasn't expecting. Karma rungood coming your way
I may have made a serious miscalculation for my Day 1 itinerary.
I got to the Venetian poker room around 10, planning to sit in a 1/2 PLO game and play cash all day. When I got there, the poker room looked pretty empty, and there were only 3 or 4 tables of 1/3 NL running.
That’s fine, I thought. I’ll just put my name at the top of the interest list for 1/2 PLO, and chill while I wait for a game to start.
The poker room gradually filled up as it approached 11, in anticipation of the two tourneys they were running today. The line for the cage, which handled tournament buyins AND cash transactions, got to be a mile long. And all the while, the 1/3 and 2/3 lists moved slowly, while no new cash tables started.
Well, okay, I said to myself. I’m not exactly eager to sit in a weekday morning 1/3 NL game anyway. So I waited. I chilled in the lounge, sipped my complimentary cappuccinos, managed my fantasy baseball teams, and looked at how some of my stocks were doing.
By 2 o’clock, there tournaments were getting down to the alternates. Even though I’d been at the top of the PLO interest list, they simply weren’t opening new cash tables.
With the lists a mile long underneath me, and no signs of movement, I decided to go get some food.
Since I’m at Venetian, I figured I HAD to get some Italian food, at any of the numerous Italian places they have. I was craving pasta.
I went to Trattorio Regiano in the Grand Canal Shoppes, and got the Bolognese Allá Trattorio.
It’s veal, pork, and beef, with pappardelle pasta in a tomato sauce, smothered in Parmesan, of course.
And since I’m on vacation, and eating what I want, I thought why not, let’s get dessert.
You can’t tell from the picture, but I promise there’s a 5 layer chocolate cake buried under all that powdered sugar. With a chocolate ganache.
It was good.
The meal was $54.
Then I made my way back to the poker room.
Still no movement on the PLO list.
Since I’d been chatting with the floor, and they knew how long I’d been there waiting for a game, they jumped me ahead of the 1/3 list and sat me into a game. It pays to be pleasant with people.
But the 1/3 game wasn’t particularly good. It reinforced what I already knew about the state of cash game poker in 2025. There’s no gamble at LLSNL.
It was a very tight, passive table. In a 300 cap game, the only big stacks weren’t splashing around or speculating lightly. The big blind got a walk maybe 3 or 4 times every hour. No fun.
I lost about 170 in 3 hours.
Then, FINALLY, by about 5:30, enough tourney tables had broken so that dealers could be freed up to start more cash games, and they called the PLO list I’d been on since 10.
It took a while to actually seat players for the new game, because the list was so stale from being up all day. We started short handed. But eventually, it filled.
And PLO started off badly for me. I bought in for the max, 1k, and lost several medium sized pots, and kept topping my stack up Eventually, I was in for my entire 2k stop loss.
Then, it finally turned.
I started making some hands, and getting into spots where I had big draws on the flop against short stacks, for 400 or 500 effective. The biggest spot I found was when I check/shoved a turned stone nut straight for 700 effective, and got paid.
I kept grinding, and pushed it all the way back to a little over +1700 for the session. Felt very redeeming.
And again, it reinforces to me that there’s absolute no incentive to play cash NL. It’s either a tight/passive boring time at 1/3, or a 3bet-monkey tough game at 2/5+.
PLO is definitely where it’s at, for any meaningful stakes. No gamble, no future.
Feeling good for myself getting unstuck for the day, it was time to walk to the Horseshoe, and get verified for the WSOP.
As usual, there’s very interesting people watching, and sights to see, when you’re hiking down the heart of the strip at night.
They’re hard at work turning the Mirage into the new Hard Rock.
The Forum Shoppes at Caesar’s always looks busy.
Moby was taking in the iconic fountains show at Bellagio.
Then I arrived at the WSOP!
The blue and gold motif slaps.
And, of course, made for selfies and the ‘Gram:
I waited barely 5 minutes in line to do the in-person verification for the new system we’re using this year, the WSOP+ app. I had already linked my Caesar’s Rewards card, so it was a formality to get my ID and credit card verified.
Everyone who’s actually used this app swears it greatly reduces the friction of buying in, or re-entering.
I put down my bullet for the Monster Stack tomorrow, we’ll see how it goes!
On my way back up to Venetian to pick up my bags, I stopped in the 24 hour Walgreen’s to pick up some distilled water for my CPAP.
Then I took a cab to my Airbnb!
It’s a cozy little studio in the Arts District. The location isn’t great, as there’s a lot of road construction nearby, but plenty of places I can walk to.
I have a little kitchen area, with a full sized fridge:
And an efficient bathroom. Good water pressure.
It’s not much, or particularly glamorous, but I don’t do much in the room besides shower and sleep. Happy to be getting it at about $105 a night, with no resort fees.
So now, bed… then Flight C of the Monster Stack in the morning!
Good luck tomorrow. I bagged the srs $5k which starts at noon, maybe I’ll try to find you if I am there early enough.
Place looks perfect. I love Airbnb and VRBO. Never done in Vegas because of our timeshare, but I've done them all over America and a few other countries.
GL today!
GL in the Monster! If min-cashing it once qualifies me to give advice, just remember how deep and slow the tournament is. You can afford to be be very patient and maybe make more hero folds than usual if borderline spots come up.
