Last Vegas: A music and poker TR Oct 9-13

Good luck, I look forward to reading along

Good luck! As a late-30s New Yorker who has seen Cursive several times, has a 2025 baby, and got into poker during the Moneymaker boom, stopped around Black Friday, and returned to the game in recent years, it was a little eerie reading your post haha.

Thinking about Vegas with 2.5 days left of work to go...

My WSOP was cut a bit short by life events this June, but I did make day two of the Colossus and finished 800th-something. I almost got back my three bullets too!

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Ha! I'm sure there are at least a few of us out there. I am looking forward to the music as much as the poker -- Cursive's first two albums are what drew me to them so it'll be great to see them played cover to cover.

Shoes and roll. Less than I bring for WSOP but will cover a couple tournament bullets and any 1/3 and 2/5 cash games I might stumble into.

I always bring running shoes and workout clothes to Vegas. Never use them. Did so again this time though highly doubt that trend will change.

Thursday, Oct 9: Flight out leaves at 7:30pm from JFK direct to Vegas. Things are smooth besides the mile we have to walk to our gate and the line all out the door at the Chase lounge. Instead we obtain our first of many overpriced meals from the Amazon carry out and we are off.

Beyond the bit of turbulence, we get our first bit of rungood with zero issues on the flight. No Vegas welcome pic, but we're thru the airport, in a cab and to the Horseshoe without issue. I had waited to check in to see if I could try to get a nicer room from the desk, but it's 11pm and there's a line so I use the kiosk and get my 5th floor room quickly. I am missing years past when I had Diamond and stayed here at the WSOP in what's now the Versailles tower with a view of the fountain. But this will do.

Need some food and venture toward Paris. This hallway is very sad with no WSOP, I must say.

End up at Bobby’s Burgers for an overly fried chicken sandwich and onion rings (overpriced meal #2 of the day).

I should probably go to bed since it’s 3am ET but hey, there’s a poker room in my hotel, so we might as well take advantage and get some hands in. I see their 11pm $100 tournament has 11 runners (ends up with 12) and probably will probably not hit the $1k guarantee, but I decide not to play something that’s raked close to 30% and has the blinds jump from 1k/2k to 2k/4k after late reg ends when I’d only get 20k in chips.

Instead we take seat at one of about five $1/3 tables going.

Second hand there’s a button straddle and we look down at KK. Make it $20, get a caller. Cbet JT8cc and win the first hand. Unfortunately, that’s the high water mark of our session.

The table had two decent capable players and 4-5 older limpy-cally loose passive types. But those guys kept playing back at me, which is never a good sign.

One questionable hand: I tried to make it $10 UTG with A7cc but there was a straddle so it was ruled a call (I think $10 is a valid raise tho?). Goes 5 ways and flop is KcJc8h. I check, old guy co bets $15 and bb makes it $35. We’re playing $300 effective, so I make the call.

Turn 9h and he bets $20. There’s $105 in the pot so I have direct odds to call and I don’t know that I can make him fold.

River is the Qd, putting a 4 liner out there. Villain bets $30. I was very tempted to make it $110ish or more, but I’m not sure if he’s betting tiny because he’s got a hand that wants to get called or he’s scared and will fold to a raise. Also I block his missed draws (not that I need to be playing GTO here). I fold and he proudly turns over AK, which he overlimped 5th in. Still not sure the bluff raise would have worked.

Later we’re $250 effective and make it $10 UTG with JTcc. Get called by the LJ, one of the younger guys who seems decent.

$24 pot, flop T95r. I bet $20, which I had thought was 2/3 but is closer to pot (a sign that playing after midnight following a cross-country flight not the smartest thing in the world). Villain calls.

$64, Turn 2s, putting a flush draw out there. I check here as this is one of my worse Tx. Villain quickly checks back.

River 7s, completing bdfd. I bet $35 (I don’t love this size…think I should either block $20 or go like $45-$50 to target bluff catching 9x or pocket pairs.) Villain thinks for a few moments and makes it $85. Now as I said this villain was capable, but I block his most obvious bluffs here QJ/KJ, and don’t block any spade combos. Plus hero calling vs river raises is generally not a good idea at $1/3. So we fold.

Only other memorable hand I raise first villain’s limp $12 with A6dd (he limped AK but also had shown down limping bad hands). He calls and bb calls. Pot $36 885r, x, x, hero bets $15, limpy-cally guy calls.

$66, turn 2d. Maybe I should shut down here but I can potentially make 5x and pocket pairs fold, along with other junk he might have floated. Bet $30 and he has two stacks of chips in his hand and puts one down to call.

$126, Ah river. He taps the table with his fist like he’s annoyed, which I read as being honest (oops!). I decide to bet small to get a crying call from his pair and bet $50. He calls, and I say, “Sorry I got lucky” and turn over my hand. He flips over 98o. “No raise?” Nice hand, sir.

It’s now 1:30am and the tournament behind me already chopped. In for $400, out for $164.

I am tempted to blow the rest of it at blackjack or pai gow but decide getting some sleep and try again tomorrow.

Day 1 totals:

Cash games: -$236
Tournaments: $0
Gambooling: $0
Overpriced meals: 2

$10 is definitely a valid raise when the straddle is $5, so that sounds weird.

This hand is a great example of how people's bet sizing (probably mine as well) reveals a lot about the strength of their hand. The guy was probably sh*t scared by the river, but didn't want to check and face a bigger bet.

But I agree that people who overlimp (!) AK might not be all that eager to get rid of it to a river-raise. Maybe it could have worked if you jammed, which would not be an insane sizing since the pot looks to be $180 or something. But jamming when you hold the blockers for a missed draw is seldom a good thing, even if you picked up something on his sizing.

Good Luck for rest of trip 😀

This is exactly what it was, and I did pick up though didn't act on it. Would he have called? Later in the session he got into a 3-bet and 4-bet raising war with top two on a Q98 vs a pretty obvious straight, so maybe/maybe not?

More on today's poker in the morning, where I lost a whopping $5 over two sessions.

Day 2: Friday, Oct 10: Took my time getting up but grabbed an overpriced Starbucks across the street at Cromwell and took in all the signs of F1 construction (no Bellagio fountain this trip).

I forgot how nice it is to be in Vegas when it’s not 100+ degrees every day. Went to lunch on the Vegas promenade at Off the Strip outside the Linq, which has a nice bar spot outside. Got my first rungood of the day when the bartender offered me a free Proper Twelve whiskey neat after she poured the wrong one for someone else. Not the worst way to start off the day.

Food here is always 6-7 out of 10 but it does the trick for a quick lunch. The first band I wanted to see at the music festival downtown played at 6:15 so I went over to get a quick session in at Planet Hollywood first.

The room is way out of the way on the 2nd floor, which is definitely gonna hurt random foot traffic compared to where it used to be (I always had fun playing there), though it’s a nice birdseye view of the casino floor. And the room itself is quite nice, with spacious tables. I hope it will manage to grow.

Nothing too exciting to report. Eventually got into one of the three 1/3 games going and lost $105 in a 90-min session. Only notable hand was when I iso’d AThh to $12, got 2 callers, and the SB open jammed $63 into a pot of $36 on T85ddh. I call, he turns over AQdd and gets there on the river.

There was a refreshing drizzle on the walk over to PH. When I got in the uber to go downtown at about 5:15 it was a bit of rain. When I finally made it downtown, the skies opened up with a full-blown thunderstorm. This was a new look for Vegas for me!! Thankfully found some cover, and after a 90-minute delay the show started back up.

The venue, the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center, it outdoor with astroturf, which got quite wet and squishy in the rain. No matter, Cursive was great, playing their debut album cover-to-cover and a 5-song EP that followed it. Good times for entering-middle age folk like me.

I had a couple hours before Minus the Bear, so I went over to Le Thai, which I’ve read good things about on this forum but had never visited. Thanks to all who have recommended it – I quite enjoyed it. Got the “famous” short rib fried rice (forgot to take a pic!), and honestly wanna go back to try some other dishes like pad see ew and some curries. We’ll see if that happens Sunday.

I had just enough time to go into the Golden Nugget, across the street from the venue, for an hour-long poker session. I’d never played there so figured it’d be a good time to knock it off my list. Took 15 minutes to get a seat but we made back the $100 in a quick 40-minute session by playing ABC poker and betting value hands. EZ game.

Minus the Bear (who played until almost 12:30am because of the delay) was also excellent (if you are a fan of 90s/2000s alternative and have never heard of these bands highly recommend checking both of them out). They also played a 20-year-old album cover to cover and then some other older stuff. The rain was worth waiting out for it.

Considered jumping into a late night game back at my hotel at Horseshoe, but instead decided a 20-minute blackjack session was probably better before getting some sleep. And managed to break even, which is basically a win.

Today we have a Horseshoe $250 tournament on tap (with a slightttly better structure than the dailies) and we’ll see what other poker we get into before our friend LV gets into town.

Day 2:

Cash games: -$5 (-$241 total)
Tournaments: $0
Gambooling: $0
Overpriced meals: 2

Day 3, Saturday Oct. 11: Started the day making a walk that is too hot to do in the summer: to Ellis Island Casino.

I started collecting $1 casino chips like a decade ago and have a collection of 120+. I’m missing just two from the Strip, Downtown and “near Strip casinos” — Ellis Island and Palace Station.

I’ve stayed at Horseshoe several times before but never wanted to make the walk to Kovalt in the summer heat. But this morning is a reminder of why October is such great Vegas weather (here’s looking at you, Covid 2021 WSOP). When there’s not a thunderstorm, of course.

Got the chip and found this highly amusing game that you can apparently bet real money on.

Back to Horseshoe, we decide to fire the 11am $250 $10k guaranteed. I show up a bit before noon in level 3 (200-300) with a 30k starting stack. The blinds are 20 mins through 8 levels of late reg then go up to 30 minutes. Not terrible.

Table has four older gentlemen, two Germans, and two women. We basically don’t win a hand before the first break a half hour later, dropping to 25k. Then we get a double up at 600bb with 55 as the third limper in what becomes a 5 way pot. 865r and BB, a 30-something woman, leads out 3k into a 3.6k pot. The bet size tells me she likes her hand, but can have many hands worse than mine, make it 9k with plans to shove non 7,4,9 turns. She thinks and calls, Turn is a deuce, she checks and we put in our last 15k. She calls and turns over 86o. Clean river and we effectively double (covering her barely). She rebuys and sits back down in the same seat (4 tables were going).

Chip up some more at 1k bb opening KJo to 2.1k off 49k. Get two calls and the bb jams his last 4k. Have to call and we go 4 ways (one villain in side pot covers us, the other we cover) to a flop of K87r. Make a tiny bet of 3.5k into a 17k pot but it gets the folds I’m looking for and beat A5o to chip up to 69k.

Stack is 62k at the end of late reg. The tournament gets 49 runners, missing the $10k guarantee by $200. Eight spots pay. Doubt they mind too much. Eight spots paid and $592 min payout, $3.1k for first.

Only interesting hand at 1.5kbb level is raising a limp in bb with 93o and getting an insta-muck.

Chip up to 96k with 99>88 calling a 35k rejam (17bbs). Then we get into our most interesting hand of the tournament at 2kbb. The German who has the biggest stack at the table (he was splashing around before late reg ended but has tightened up a bit) opens from early position to 4.5kbb and we just call bb with KhQd.

12.5k flop 776dd. X and villain checks back.
Turn 5h. We bet 3.5k, villain thinks for a bit and calls.
18.8k pot, river Jd. With the third diamond I think this is a good bluff to try to push him off 8 high and make it 9k … trying to make it big enough to feel value but not so big when we lose. He calls with ATcc for ace high and wins.

I think my bet on turn is OK – it’s our board and I think we bet a lot for a small size, though maybe KQ is too high up to bluff. The river though is too small — I should be making it at least 2/3 and probably closer to pot or even bigger.

When we get down to two tables and 18 left an older British gentleman makes it 7k, 3.5x off a stack of 50k. I see AA for the first time on the trip with about 75k in the SB and debate my sizing. I go 24k and villains calls, putting 50k+ in pot and he’s got about 20k behind. Flop is Q96hh and I could get cheeky and check or bet tiny but opt to just put him in. Insta folds.

We’re at 100k at 3kbb when the other table knocks out two players down to 12, and I get moved from the BB to the other table. Things go downhill from here, with a combo of unplayable hands and rising blinds playing 6-handed.

We lose a third of our stack tangling with the big stack, who is over 200k though hasn’t been too active yet. He raises LJ/UTG 2.5x to 7.5k and we look down at Ako. Too deep to jam 30bbs with the ICM considerations (I think), so we make it 18.5k. He quickly calls and we see a flop of T33r. I have a massive range advantage here with a tight 3-betting range against the big stack. I go 10k into 41kish and he jams out a stack of 5k chips. Yuck yuck. Maybe I’m supposed to call here but I think I have a lot of better hands to do that with (all the overpairs and some ATo), and AKs or AQs that actually has a back door flush draw. I decide to fold with 65k left rather than try to hit what’s likely a 6-outer vs something like 88.

BB up to 4k and we try to wield a short stack. Get a couple jams through in the blinds, and lose one more to get down to 11 players, 3 off the money. The final table will combine at 10 players (which will give us way more time to pick spots with 15bbs) … but we get AQo in the HJ vs a 10k open from 2nd biggest stack in LJ, and that’s just always a jam. He shows KK, we turn a Q but it’s GG. Alas, tournament poker pain at its finest.

Fortunately I lose just as LV’s flight is landing. So the focus switches from poker to low-stress, low-stakes gambling, free drinks and some food. We take a stop at the Giordano's bar outside Horseshoe for some apps, then work our way up the Caesars properties playing blackjack and the virtual roulette games that have become so popular in all the casinos (this is my friend’s favorite form of gambling). I also place an ill-considered homer moneyline bet on the Sharks to beat the Ducks at +110…we were 50 seconds from that cashing but oh well.

Dinner at Sushi Roku. Often a stop on our Vegas trips and always solid. We do the izakaya tasting menu which was a solid mix of bites, and their take on an old fashioned.

From there, we decide to keep the buzz going and head through some more (and nicer) casinos for more drinks and gambling. We eventually get back to Planet Hollywood for a nightcap and one more run at blackjack, where $300 turns into $620. I’ll take it to make up for the MTT earlier.

Sunday is gonna be chill, some pool time and more music, not sure about poker.

Day 3 totals:

Cash games: $0 (-$241 total)
Tournaments: -$250
Gambooling: +$320ish
Overpriced meals: 0 (2 total...Roku pricey but I wouldn't say overpriced for Vegas, though I'm used to NY prices)

Unlucky in the tournament. Seems Horseshoe now has this $250 tourney every Saturday, which is interesting although I am a broke nit who thinks daily tournaments have become way too expensive in general.

Also, great play with the 93o above 😀 That's exactly the kind of hand you should do this move with; something that plays so bad post-flop that it's better to just raise and take it down pre and not having to play it post.

Not sure what position we're in (sounds like one of the blinds?), but this seems like such a close spot pre. We still have to deal with ICM considerations post-flop, so when we 3bnai it's probably going to be tougher than normal to realize our equity here oop against the big stack. I'm probably jamming (and calling myself an idiot when I lose a flip and bust), but 3bnai seems totally reasonable and maybe better than jamming against passive/straightforward villains. As played, your flop line looks right.

Yeah I think this runs every Saturday. I prefer it to the $100 15-minute shovefest ... actually getting 30-minute levels for a daily is nice.

Important information I left out, whoops! I was the button.

If I'm bb or sb I am definitely more inclined to just shove here with AKo. In position on button we don't have shoves this deep with the ICM...although I wonder if his 2.5x changes that compared to the 2x that's used in GTO Wizard's ICM solutions. Something I might experiment with in HRC once I'm home.

Day 4: Sunday, Oct. 12

No poker today, just pool, music, food, drinking and gambling. Still a great day in Sin City.

The Horseshoe pool is closed for the season (a little annoying it is done so soon), but the Flamingo is a short walk away and open, so that's a good place to start the day. Again, I'm coming to realize October is a great month in Vegas, the weather is warm but not unbearably hot. The drinks are still overpriced, but it's a pool in Vegas, so that's just inevitable.

Before heading back to the music festival downtown, check out the Bottled Blonde, the new spot that opened next to Ole Red in the Horseshoe promenade facing LV Blvd and the Bellagio fountain. The rooftop is a nice setup, though the sunshades were needed to block the afternoon sun. This will be a prime viewing spot for the F1 race (and you'll pay for it to be there, I'm sure.)

Made a stop at Palace Station for my last Strip-adjacent $1 chip (lost the hand of blackjack to obtain it, same as Ellis Island).

Back downtown Cursive's second set playing the Ugly Organ was even better than their first on Friday.

Met up with LV at Oscar's in the Plaza for dinner, which is a steakhouse we've never tried before but a five-minute walk from the venue. Great atmosphere on the outdoor patio. Food was decent, ordered the 9oz rib cap (no pics again, oops!) though it's priced more closely to the Strip steakhouses than the $19.99 prime rib often advertised downtown.

Went back to the concert for the headliner, Jimmy Eat World, who was solid and a great end to the show. I'm a fan, but these guys weren't the reason I flew to Vegas for the festival.

Ended the night back at Planet Hollywood, with a couple of blackjack sessions (-$200, +$100). It was still pretty busy for a Sunday night at 1am, though I'm not one to compare to prior years.

Up today: Hotel check out, Venetian $400 1-day and we'll see how long we're in town. I've got refundable points flights booked for 4pm, 11pm and 7am Tuesday (this is probably not a healthy way to book travel), so all options are on the table.

Day 4 Totals:

Cash Games: -$241 total
Tournaments: -$250 total
Gambooling: +$120ish (+$200ish total.) I had designs on keeping closer track of this. It's not really happening.
Overpriced meals: 3 (1/2 point pool drinks, 1/2 point steakhouse)

Good luck i hope its going weel

I hope you get to cancel the early flights instead of the later one.

that is a kinda funny way to do it, but if it works and you don't get bit then way to go

Horseshoe seems to really have thrown in the towel (pool towel?) regarding their pool situation. Apparently they have switched to only keeping the pool open during weekends when it's actually open for the season. Disapponting how Caesars are constantly trying to be as bear-bone as possible regarding their amenities these days.

PS: You can use the pool at Paris as well, which will be a shorter walk than Flamingo I assume.

That's unfortunate, as I quite like the Horseshoe pool, even if it's kind of no frills. And good thought about Paris, though Flamingo really is no trouble to walk in the fall.

any report/update from this?

Day 5: Monday, Oct. 13: Well, at least we got some swag

Back home now after making my Monday night redeye. And while we didn't extend our trip to a Day 6, we made the most of our last day in Vegas (even if we lost money in the process).

Woke up Monday morning for what was most likely my last in Vegas, ready to play the $400 Venetian bounty tournament and then...well we'd just see where the cards take us.

We took our time checking out of the room at 11 and then walked over to Alexxa's for brunch. This meant I wasn't starting the tournament for level 1 at 11:10am, but that was fine by me. This has often been a morning breakfast spot before WSOP events and did the trick again, solid 7/10.

We see off LV who is on his way to the airport, and take our bags with us to the Palazzo for the tournament. I played several times in the old Venetian room but not in the new spot. Can't say I love how removed it is from the casino but it's definitely a nice room.

We sit down with 10 minutes left in level 4, blinds at 300/600 and a 40k starting stack. The buy in is $400 with a $100 bounty on each player. At the first break we just cancel the 4pm flight and prepare to take the 11:40 Delta tonight, unless we win this tournament.

We lose a small pot right away and hang around 30-35k until we get our first tricky spot @1k bb. We have 35k and open UTG9 with TT. We get two callers from bigger stacks who have been playing pretty loose with the bounties, then the button, and older gentleman playing about 27k, 3bets to 9k. Before it gets back to me, the BB thinks and cold 4bet jams for also about 27k. (He covered btn though not sure he knew this in the moment.)

This feels pretty gross, and perhaps with the bounties I'm supposed to just stick it in, but I decide JJ+AK is the range here and fold. It feels like best case I'm flipping against two hands, probably dominated by one, and if I do jam, one of the bigger stacks may shrug call too and try to win three bounties. So I fold and the button quickly calls, turning over AKs. BB turns over ... 99. Alas. I've gotta run this but I still think the fold is OK or at least close -- happy to hear disagreeing opinions since it's a bounty tournament. (Yes, I would have knocked them both out.)

Onward, chip up to about 43k at 1.2kbb when we look down at AKo on the button and make it 2.5k. BB who covers us and has played a lot of hands but not overly aggressive makes it 6.5k. Nothing to do here but jam. BB thinks for probably longer than necessary and then calls with QQ. Flop is low cards but three diamonds (we have the Ad). River is the Jd and we survive and double.

A little later on, same villain above is in the SB with about 10k. A big stack in EP raises and we have AKo in the CO. I decide to flat here to try to keep in the SB and get the chance to win a bounty, and he does come along, though the hand checks down and we win. I ma happy with this line, b/c if SB puts his whole stack in we can then rejam and play for a big pot and the bounty. And I guess it makes me look nitty/passive when I show down the AK, although I think it was pretty clear what I was doing.

Chip up some more to 120k. Raise AThh in CO to 2.5k and get called by both blinds, one with 75k and one the only player at the table who covers us. 8.7k pot, flop JT8xxh, and it checks around (I could bet here but this feels like a good hand to slot into the checking range that can call bets on the turn.)
Turn 7h, putting a 4 liner out there and giving us a flush draw. X's to us again and bet 1/3, 3k. SB clicks it to 7.5k. This feels nutted but we have the nut flush draw so never folding. But river is a brick 6 and we fold to a 15k bet.

At 1.6kbb, a Spanish guy who is playing laggy (and in town to play the bigger Wynn events) with 100k effective raises UTG to 3.5k. We have AJo in HJ and make it 10k. The BB doesn't see the raise and calls the 3.5k, before trying to take it back and told he cannot. So he tosses in 10k, too.

32.4k, Flop T42ddx (we have Ad). X X we bet 8k, spanish guy calls.
48.4k turn 7c. Feels like a good spot to barrel and fold out underpairs and other floats that have equity against us. We can bluff diamond and broadway rivers unimproved. I bet 15k and he quickly calls.
78.4k River is 5s. He checks a third time, but I don't think this is a good hand to bluff jam blocking his missed draws. Check back and lose to 99.

Late reg ends with 80 entries and 36 remaining. 10 spots paid.

We tangle with the Spaniard again who's built up a big stack now, over 200k. He's the most capable player at the table so perhaps this was not a good spot to pursue, but we flat his 4.5k CO open at 2kbb in the BB with A7ss.
12k Flop 665dds. X he bets 3k and I x/r to 8.5k. This feels like a good bluff candidate with three to a straight, three to a flush and two overs, although thinking about it now Ad7x is perhaps a better candidate.
He calls, and we get 4s on the turn which is a perfect barreling card. Bet 16k into 29k and he folds.

At 2.5kbb we win our first bounty rejamming 88 vs a HJ open with about 20bbs, winning the flip against AK.

At 27 remaining we get moved tables. Just play small pots getting up to as much as 145k, until we're down to 15 players when this unfortunate spot comes up. At 3kbb, CO opens 6.5k off of 78k. We're on the button with 130k and look down at AdAs.

Debate my sizing here but <30bbs and with ICM I think I can go 5bbs to 15k. Maybe this is too small, but it gets him to make the call.
37.5k (SPR of 2) and flop is 963hh. X I bet 8.5k, villain calls (In hindsight I think this is too small and I should just make it a 2-street hand on most blank turns, so can size up to 15k to jam turn).
55k (SPR is 1) turn Kh. The flush gets there and this is a card we barrel a lot, so I go quarter again for 15k.
Villain thinks and jams for 55k. I am not thrilled with this spot and gonna be behind a lot, but I don't think we can fold here. He can do this for value with worse and probably some bluffs with a heart. Of course, he turns over the flush T7hh (this is not a preflop call in chipev, let alone covered 5 off the money. But I digress..).

Blinds immediately go up to 4kbb and we're down to 42k. Get QJss in lj and stick it in, running into AK in BB and we do not improve. GGs in 15th, a bit short of the money yet again.

Pretty annoyed at the turn of events and take a walk outside for a bit. I debate whether to go play cash, eat at Yardbird or try to find a turbo tournament that'll finish before I have to go to the airport. I see the Bellagio has a $150 with 20 minute levels that started at 5 and had 6 runners to start with. That seems perfect and I go back inside, cash out my $100 bounty chip and grab my bags to uber back to Bellagio.

Drop my bags for a 2nd time and go into Bellagio a little after 6 to find the tournament is still in level 2 (which means it started more like 5:30 than 5pm). I'm pretty hungry at this point so I get a slice of pizza at Snacks before sitting down at the end of level 3.

I'm the 9th player to enter the tournament, and so they put another chair at the table.

Woo boy, this is a whole different environment. About 3 of the players haven't played in a live tournament before and need to be explained the ante. My first hand gets into an extended argument about change and whether the dealer took a bet from a player twice. It has a home game feel for sure -- quite different after coming from the Venetian where most of the players in the Monday tournament were reggy.

While I felt I could hold my own at the V, here I'm certainly the most competent and capable player. But 9 handed that doesn't mean much. Lots of limping. I open ATo in EP and get 5 callers. Gonna have to make a hand and get value from it to really chip up.

Thankfully we soon split into two tables when a 10th person reg's the tournament, and I'm able to maneuver more 5 handed. Only one player is knocked out in the first 6 levels before the break, but unfortunately another solid player max late reg's in his place. The tournament has 11 total runners with a nearly $800 overlay, so two spots pay, $1300 and $700. I'm pretty happy with the situation, even if I'm getting a little nervous about the time as the clock ticks past 8pm.

The other great thing is the Bellagio is giving away swag for the tournament anytime there's a field goal or touchdown in the Monday Night Football game between the Commanders and the Bears. I win a pullover -- probably my best rungood of the trip.

We get down to a final table and begin to lose players. I chip up some but not getting any real spots to try to double and get a big stack (I had stopped really taking notes on hands at this point). When we get down to 4 handed I lose two pots to the competent player to my right and get short. There's another player just as short as me with about 25k at 4kbb. I've got about an hour before making my flight becomes problematic.

Turns out I didn't need to worry: I get AJo and jam sb into the other short stack's bb, which he calls with A7ss. It's a great spot to knock him out and get some breathing room ... until there's a 7 in the window. That's all she wrote, and we are out short of the money again.

It's about 9:30 which is more than enough time to get to the airport and make my Delta flight and cancel the 7am Tuesday backup. I buy an upgraded seat to comfort plus to get my own row on the redeye, which was definitely the right call as that section is very empty:

Some random end-of-trip thoughts: My live tournament runbad continues — my ROI is very negative for live MTTs, though the sample size of about 35 is so tiny that it's basically a meaningless statistic. I had hopes of turning that curve around this trip, but it was not to be. Still, the fact I got in any more poker tournaments at all is a small win, even if I'm down money.

Vegas did not feel dead to me by any stretch. I can't judge if traffic is down year-over-year as has been reported, but the casinos and restaurants were crowded by my untrained estimation.

Not sure when I'll be back, but I'm glad to see Caesars and PH have re-opened their poker rooms and hope that trend continues. One of my favorite parts of being in Vegas is all the different places you can play, and the consolidation had been concerning. I still didn't make it down to Mandalay Bay's room -- for a future trip, I suppose.

Thanks for reading along! This was fun to write and didn't take too much time out of my mornings. It was also really helpful in encouraging me to take notes on my hands, which now I have to be able to review. Til next time!

Trip totals:

Cash games: -$241
Tournaments: -$700 (+1 Bellagio pullover)
Gambooling: +$200ish
Overpriced meals: 3

Your ears must have been burning!

Sounds like a nice trip, you just needed a bit more luck in the tournaments and it could have been very profitable. I am not in love with the line you took with the AA-hand at Venetian, although I have a feeling the guy would have called even if you made it 20k or whatever.

Crazy that the Bellagio-tourney only got 11 entries; wonder how long they will try to run tournaments if they are constantly getting small fields like that.