Whale does Vegas - 2025 birthday-ish edition (23rd Nov - 2nd Dec)

Maybe I am jaded as we have always managed to use VIP check in. And with wife a Platinum, we cut the lines when needed for most things. So only place I really hit the crowds is the casino floor and even there, ime, away from the main casino entrance walkway, it isn't bad. But maybe we have just been lucky. (I also tend to mostly avoid that walkway anyway.)

It was just a funny wordplay from someone (me) who doesn't even have English as my first language. So there is no point in putting too much stock into it 😀 All I indicated was that Bellagio always seems super crowded to me. But I am looking forward to staying there regardless.

I will just add that I loved Frogger! (And the analogy.) Always makes me think of the bowling alley arcade and George Costanza.

Forgot you wish you a (early) Happy Birthday! I hope you have a great day and even better celebration in Vegas!!!

Your prior reply was fine. This particular request was directed at the person saying read my post but their post contained no details or info.

I liked the word play fine. But just never experienced it as bad as you have. But since t was n your post about your room thought maybe there was something about the hotel that was frogger like.

Still best b day wishes. Prolly be there just after you. Depends n wifey.

Good luck on your trip, unless you're in the same pot as me.

I'm far too embarrassed to post my shoes OR my bankroll.

I'd never seen London from the air, at night. That's a nice picture.

Safe travels. Run well. Welcome to USA#n tomorrow.

Have a great time!

Oh no, Whales' first few days are at the Shoe. He wouldn't play in a promo-laden game like that, would he?

Safe travels, friend!

Have a fun trip!

I still love London. Albeit I haven’t lived there in 25 years

Hehe, I will probably play a session or two there, so if you see a bald guy with glasses and a terrible accent at the table - ask for a table change 😀

Update from 36000 feet or similar, we are on our way to Las Vegas. Currently passing by the Faroe Islands (!) with 8h30min to go.

Will be interesting to see how chaotic the aftermath of F1 is, and how many games that are going next week. But should hopefully be a lot of action during Thanksgiving weekend.

I might also enter a $300 1-day tournament at Venetian on Thursday, since I am likely plus-EV and some bigger-ish tourneys are fun.

Just gotta get through 8 more hours in the air first.

The thought of losing all my money to Whale scared me off, so I'm not driving in today.

Actually, there are some things I need to take care of this week, so my plan now is to get there Wednesday morning. That's three fewer days than my original plan, so theoretically I should come home with more money.

After 10 hours in an airplane seat, the above sign is a beauty to see 😀 The flight from London was pretty chill though, and although it feels a bit long at times I am not completely exhausted.

I breezed through immigration in 15 minutes and got a taxi to Horseshoe. Used the self check-in kiosks, which had no line, and got a room assigned:

I am used to getting rooms at Horseshoe that looks pristine, however this one is actually lacking a bit in the cleaning department. I see some visible dust, and there is also a spot on the carpet that they definitely should have tried to remove. But hopefully they will take care of it tomorrow.

The window is also very dirty, which is a bit sad as I have a great Sphere-view!

Anwyay, feels amazing being back in Las Vegas as always, and I can't wait to wake up tomorrow a bit refreshed and start playing poker! Tonight I will just relax though, maybe play a bit of Video Poker and try to stay awake for a few more hours before going to bed.

Did you fly Upper Class? How was it?

Most importantly, have a fun trip and run well

Haha, no. Economy Classic, row 52. But the good thing is that the couple next to me had issues with their in-flight entertainment screens, so eventually the flight attendants just moved them to another row. So I had the last couple of hours with the entire row to myself if nothing else 😀

Thanks! I will try to play well, and hopefully can run decent as well.

Good morning from Las Vegas! Woke up 3am with a headache but slowly starting to feel better.

Great view from elevator lobby:

Starting the day with a quick session here:

Go Whale go!

This will be a quick update, because I did not play a long session at Horseshoe. But there were some interesting spots, none more so than the first hand of note.

I have won two small pots and are up like twenty bucks, when I find AdKh in hijack and raise to $12. An Asian player calls on the button and an OMC calls in BB. The flop comes Ah-7h-9s and after BB checks to me I bet $20. Could go higher since any A or flush draw will call, but with me holding Kh I didn't think I needed to fear the flush a ton. Button calls and BB folds.

Turn comes with the 4c, which shouldn't change much as far as I am considered. I bet $50 to target worse Aces, only to see opponent practically min-click it to $105. I didn't love the situation as I could be dead against sets, but I also didn't think I could fold for that sizing. So I call with plans to probably check-fold if he jams river.

That is until the Kd hits the river. I have top two pair, and decided to move all-in in front for $181 (into $290). I basically reasoned that I will not be able to fold against his jams anyway, but I also needed to prevent him from making some kind of nitty check back with two pair. And if he has 77 or 99, then so be it. I wasn't gonna check-fold anyway, so might as well get max versus worse two pair.

He goes into the tank, but quickly says that he don't think he can fold before flipping up A4 of clubs! So he turned two pair and I rivered him. The dealer quickly informs him that you're not really allowed to do that while thinking, so the player turns his cards back over again and thinks for another minute. Eventually he comes to the disappointing decision of fold. I was a bit sad to not get the call there, but it was obviously nice to get a bit lucky on the river.

Unfortunately the above stack picture became the highlight of the session. The game was not terrible, but I was somewhat card-dead and also lost some small ones.

First I raise KQss from 3rd position over a limp, and a grinder-looking guy right behind me calls. BB also calls, while the limper folds out. The flop comes T-9-2 no spades. This one felt close as I have a gutshot and two overs. But I decided to check after BB had checked, and then likely call a bet (I would have bet myself if there was one spade on the flop). The grinder looking guy bets $17, BB fold and I call.

Turn is a 7, which I thought was a really bad card as I don't even beat 87 anymore. I check, ready to give up, only to see opponent check back. So we get a free card in the form of another T. With me checing the flop I don't think I will ever get credit here on this card, so I just check and give up. Opponent checks back and win the hand with AJo. Meh. I guess I could have started a bet on the flop and won it, although I don't hate my reasoning.

I lost another small pot versus the same guy when he limps UTG and I just check 87o from BB. The flop comes K-9-7 and after I check he bets $6. With a pair and wrapping around the two bottom cards, this seems like a trivial call. So that is what I do, and Th comes on the turn, completing a heart flush. I check, and he checks it back fairly quickly.

River comes with 8h so we make two pair, but there is 4 to a flush out there. But I think he will have very few flushes when he checks back turn, and if he has a King he will call a bet. So I throw out a small sizing of $7, which opponent quickly calls. I turn over my hand expecting it to be good, but he has JTo with the Jack of hearts. That was a bit surprising to me.

Then a new semi-active OMC raises to $7 from UTG. I have 88 in EP1 and could maybe pounce on small sizing, but decided to just call. The guy behind me 3-bets to $35, and BB cold-calls the $35. The original raiser also calls, which gives me practically no choice here. I just have to call $28 more into a pot that will be $140, and flopping a set here would be massive. It was not to be however, as it came K-T-3 all clubs. I have none and UTG leads out for $100 after BB checks. I quickly fold.

I cashed out a bit later with a profit of $51 USD after 1.5 hours of play. Nothing massive, but I'll take it. Felt like it could have been much more, but although I could have maybe been slightly more aggressive in two spots I think I played reasonable.

I then made it over to Target to do some grocery shopping, and I saw this one on the way back:

(Norway qualified in style for World Cup 2026, so a summer trip to watch a game or two is definitely under consideration)

Not 100% sure what I will be up to next, but I am sure we can find something fun to occupy the time with. It's Vegas after all 😀

Hours played: 1h 30min
Won/Lost: + $51 USD
Hourly rate: +$34.00 USD

I really like this play and the reasoning you did. I need to incorporate that better myself.
I guess it didn't completely work out as he folded but it was a good play

Looked up 2026 WC sites, did not see Vegas.

Still, don't let that stop you from coming over and giving us a TR. I imagine there will be some gambool wherever the Vikings are assigned.

1 session played, 1 session won. If I did that I'd probably go home with the win.

After basically waking up around 3am this morning I crashed and burn after the previous update. Went to bed and took a 2 hours nap, which felt glorious.

Feeling a bit more refreshed, I decided to head over to Caesars Palace. On the way there we passed the entrance for the newly opened 'Bottled Blonde':

The reason I went to Caesars was actually to take a crack at their $100 2pm tournament. This one did however get way fewer entires than I had anticipated, with a total of 12 participants. Looking at the brightside though, we didn't quite reach the $1000 guarantee which means there was an overlay.

I was pretty card-dead in the beginning but won a decent pot when a cute young-ish girl raised pre to 1200 (at 200-400). I found AK two spots behind her and 3-bet to 5100 which was enough to set her in (she was down to 4500). She called it off with AQo and I won on the (J-T-7-5-T) runout.

I also won a few other small pots here and there and went to the first break (after 6 levels) with 28500 chips. I took the $50 add-on for 15,000 extra chips, which meant that I would come back to 43500 (43.5 bb).

Thankfully the poker room is now back in it's former location:

After the break I folded a bit more, before a mid-30s guy raised to 3500 (at 500-1000-1000). I found red KK two spots behind him and made it 10,000. He almost immediately jams for around 30k and I obviously snap. He has a hugely overplayed KTss and when the board bricks out I can collect this nice pot and suddenly have 75k in my stack.

After another shortie busts shortly after we are only 4 players left, and I believe top 2 got paid (although I can't confirm it). I am really liking my chances now, as the competition is not overly tough and I have a lot of experience with short stack play when the blinds start to escalate heavy (as they do in these Caesars dailys).

Instead I run into a very unfortunate spot. It stars with the chip leader raising to 5000 pre (1000-2000-2000) from the button, and he is a late 30s guy who have been running super well despite being a somewhat fishy player. He has mixed between limping and raising pre, mostly having good hands when he has raised from what I have seen.

I have 99 in BB and decided to just call. We are 'only' 37 bb deep, but the other two stacks have like 30k and 15k so I didn't particularly feel like going to a preflop war with the one guy who can knock me out. The flop is a beauty, with T-9-7 rainbow. I considered leading but checked it over to him, and he obliges with a wager of 6000. I check-raise to 21k, only to see him almost click me back with a raise to 42k (!).

What on earth is this? At first I was briefly afraid that he had a straight, but then I thought the chances of that are microscopical. This guy would likely just limp middeling hands like 86 or J8, and I thought the only combos of these he would raise would be the suited ones at times. So him having a straight feels almost impossible to me, and although he could have TT that would just be a massive cooler. But I think it's more likely that he just has a huge pair and is going crazy with it, based on the player type and what I had seen from him so far.

So yeah, I move all-in, he snapcalls, and he shows up with J8dd for the nuts. The board does not pair and I have been eliminated from the $100 Caesars daily in 4th place. Very frustrating spot, but even now an hour later I have no regrets about my play. I don't think I am deep enough to even consider folding a set here, and I stand by my analysis in that this player type would not show up with a straight very often here. But he did this time, and that was bad news for me.

I am getting a bit tired again now, but will force myself out to play a bit more cash so that I don't go to bed super early again. Updates to come.

Cash Games:

Hours played: 1h 30min
Won/Lost: + $51 USD
Hourly rate: +$34.00 USD

Tournaments:

Won/Lost: - $150 USD (1 played)

Sometimes it's just a cold deck. Sucks when it happens 4 handed.

Tomorrow is a new day.