A Mackem in Vegas (Part II)

It's safe and gets the food down until I get a glass of wine at the poker table.

Yep, especially where I am from the water is basically spring water from source of which they also bottle and sell. Though Some places in Vegas use a filter or something than it's drinkable.

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yeah a glass of water at a restaurant won't kill you. or bring a bottle of water with you

A woeful Wednesday and a Tranquil Thursday

Got another cheap Uber down to Venetian early on Wednesday, so early in fact that I had to wait until more dealers came on at 10am to get onto a new 1/3 table, #37, the same as yesterday.

Unfortunately the results would not be the same and I managed to lose with a flopped str8 (89s) on a JT7 board to 72s held by the table lucksack, who had already hit a 2-outer to outrun a flopped full house and then flopped a set against AK and a second NFD on an A86 board to almost triple up. (Turn was a T, river a 7. Sure. Okay).

I also butchered a bomb pot in the manner I would usually silently judge people for; I get dealt AA28ds and flop bottom two pair on the top board of K28 and the NFD on the bottom. Obviously the bottom two is worthless but frustration at not winning a hand for two and a half hours kicks in and I stupidly bet 15 on the flop when it's checked to me and then shove when a new player raises to 80.

He has top set on the top board and - of course - the dealer puts out a heart on the turn and river on there as well, instead of the bottom, and he makes a boat with J3.

Decided to take a break and for some reason I thought Sahara still had a poker room and took a stroll down there, but obviously it has been closed for a while. The good news though is that I checked out a suggestion that their pool is free for anyone to use and the guy on the door said it was true, so I'm probably going to head there on Friday.

Wandered back up the Strip and the siren call of $2 draft High Life called me into Slots of Fun, where I slaked 3 beers in record time while working through $50 on an old Deuces Wild machine.

Carried on to Resorts World where I can report disturbing news - the Poodle Burger I enjoyed a lot last year has gone up in price from $17 to $21; an increase of 23% in a year and the fries were not the nice crinkle cut ones either. 😮

Bit of a worrying site when I came out and continued heading south as a woman in front of me crossed a major junction against the lights. Usually I'm all for that as a Limey in the US but she then continued walking ON THE ROAD instead of getting onto the pavement at the lights.

Thankfully she made it safely to the Fashion Show Mall and finally got off the road.

And so to the tranquil Thursday.

After the best night's sleep of the trip by a long way (after watching a few downloaded episodes of The Diplomat on Netflix), I head out early to make the most of my $30 day pass for the pool at Mandalay Bay.

Google Maps claims it's a 54-minute walk but I don't know who they get to measure these things - it takes me 37 without even trying. The route takes me past Allegiant Stadium and although I posted a few pics last year, tough **** here's another one (Go Raiders!!!)

It's nice and quiet so I grab the lounger nearest to the camera in the West Lagoon. Only this pool and the Lazy River are open, the main Moorea Beach club (pictured below) with its wave pool is closed.

Had a lovely relaxing day and even managed some elegant swimming (inside joke) in the pool, which is only 3ft 6in deep but surprisingly wide and swimmable before it got a bit busier with a few kids as the day wore on. Bar didn't serve food, despite having food on the menu, but grabbed some inside and splurged $13 on a Modelo when I got back 🙄

I know some people come to Vegas and play waaaayyy more poker than me and are not bothered about pools etc; but for me they are an important part of the trip. With jet-lag usually meaning early starts and long days, it's so nice to get out in the sun for a few hours, especially at this time of year when the weather is absolutely perfect. I think there's definitely been a lesson learned if I come back at a similar time next year - research into which pools remain open will be essential.

Plan for Friday looks like being Sahara pool during the day and a $150, 20k guarantee tourney back at Orleans at 6pm.

Yeah, I try to get pool time every day when I’m in Vegas too.

And for you as someone living in the UK…being somewhere outside and going back with a tan are critical components…particularly when you’re staring down the barrell of a long dark winter

pool time is good.
I'm surprised the lazy river is open

I agree with this, and always try to find time for pool and/or gym most days in Vegas. Although most pools will unfortunately be closed when I go again in a few weeks (TR incoming!).

Mandalay Bay pool complex is awesome; definitely my favorite of those I have tried in Vegas. Too bad you didn't get to enjoy the wave pool though.

Can’t wait for your TR. Where are you staying?

Picture doesn’t do it justice but quite a nice Vegas sunrise this morning

Great pictures!

I have a trip planned for Thanksgiving. Are you going to post where you'll be playing? (So I can play somewhere else)

you can come play with me and take my money instead pigbill

Hey everyone. Sorry for the lack of updates but not been too much to report.

It's my last full day in town but I've booked the hotel for tonight (via Trivago again) so I don't have to check out at 11 and then have to kill time until a 7am flight on Wednesday.

Plan is to check out the new Caesar's room early on and then probably play at Venetian again.

Anyway, back to Friday and, as BigWhale had suggested and my own research confirmed, the pool at Sahara is indeed free for anybody to use so I headed down there for opening at 10am and got a pleasant surprise as I didn't realise it was kind of a mini Stadium Swim. (Screens were not blurry IRL, just a phone camera glitch)

Pool is incredibly narrow but still a nice place to cool down.

Music occasionally had an attempt at a Halloween theme and was blissfully 10x quieter than Stadium Swim so I enjoyed a relaxing few hours with a couple of $10 beers before getting an Uber back to Orleans in time for something to eat before the tourney at 6pm.

Opted for a pizza in Bailiwick, their kind of gastropub, and it was pretty solid, as was the cheapest wine on the menu (14 Hands, Cab Sauv - I actually wanted the Malbec but they were out - at $7 a glass it was a bargain)

On to the tournament and I was cruising for a few hours until the inevitable card dead period when it mattered. I took notes of every hand after the break and had planned on posting them all here, but looking at them now there's loads more than I expected to so I won't bore you with them all. Suffice to say it was a stream of unplayable crap and I alsowasn't happy when our table broke and I was moved into UTG on the new table, having just paid the blinds on the old one.

Couple of key hands: There's an EP raise and I shove AKs over the top from the BB. EP raiser has J7hh, (interesting), flops two hearts and of course turns a flush. I manage to get one double up with 77 v A9o but eventually lose with QTs v K7o (I shoved UTG and as BB he pretty much had to call; flop was KTx). Out in about 35th place with 29 paying from more than 200 entries.

Took it easy on Saturday but still managed to have an 8-team college parlay lose thanks to Boise State shi**ing the bed against Fresno as double-digit favourites.

Quick add:

Sahara pool closed for the season Sunday so I paid for another $30 day pass at Mandalay Bay on Monday and the place was packed.

Top tip: Don't bring food from the hotel into the pool and then decide it's a good idea to throw a french fry to one of the pigeons wandering about. Suddenly it was like a scene from The Birds as about 20 of them swooped down in expectation of more food to come.

Unfortunately I was sat next to the dumbass responsible (he was also English and I think had smuggled in a bottle of Jack Daniels to put into his Pepsi). Nice work dickhead.

Nice turnout for the tournament. Was it the friday nighter or the Sunday one?

Friday night.

nice report about Sahara pool.

Posted a couple of pics of the Caesar's room in the separate thread if you want to take a look. Must admit I thought it was going back to the old, old location on the other side of the Sportsbook, but obviously not.

Got there 25 mins after it opened and there were no games going, with 2 or 3 people waiting by the looks of it. No real surprise at that time of morning perhaps.

Didn't fancy waiting so headed over to Grand Lux for a Short Rib Eggs Benedict. Short rib was delicious, egg seemed a bit watery and I think it would be better on muffins rather than the potato cakes, but otherwise solid.

Headed up to the poker room and got sat in a new 1/3 NL game within a few minutes. First hand is a DBBP and I have Ac7c6d2h but there's not a single club on either board so I'm done with the pot. Top board is AK4r and the bottom is 99J.

It gets checked around to an Asian lad in seat 7 who bets 30 and he gets one caller from seat 6. Turn puts a King on top board and a blank on bottom. Seat 6 checks and 7 bets pot and gets called.
River is an Ace on top board and another blank on bottom. Both players have a 9 for trips on the bottom but that one-outer Ace on the top (I had the other one) gives Seat 7 trip Aces to beat Seat 6's trip Ks and he scoops.

Next hand I have TT UTG+2 and raise to 10. Seat 6 shoves his remaining 55 and Seat 7 flats while still raking in his chips.

How do I play it? Call, shove for $194 or fold?

Any input appreciated....

I’d re-shove.

I don’t play a variance-averse style though.

As long as you’re completely emotionally neutral to any outcome of a flip vs the stack that has you covered, it’s fine.

Where is it?

Yeah, theoretically seat 7 isn't strong enough to shove himself, but it's Vegas, so who knows?

If you stand facing the Sportsbook it's to the left. It's old location, but not the old, old, old location I was obviously thinking of.

This is an easy shove for me.