who cares about the Super Bowl? TR 2/8 - 2/12
2025 was bad overall year capped by my second big losing Vegas trip of the year after Thanksgiving. I decided to take 12 months off poker overall and suspend any future Vegas trips for a while.
well that sure didn't last long. one month after returning I booked a flight, and within 24 hours I had hotel reservations set for four nights the following month.
expected to come sometime, so after Christmas I looked at my schedule of commitments and made a chart of every potential Allegiant flight with prices from January to June. one round trip stuck out under $100 and that was this week. then at New Year I got an email offer for bonus points with the airline and booked it right away.
while I am no longer the penny-pinching nit-roller (I have had trips before with < $300 bankroll), I am sharp enough to set myself up for good deals. may still be introductory teaser offers but Treasure Island still seems to love me and gave me another comp stay so I'll be staying there for the third (or fourth) trip in a row. and after getting offers for awesome stays in 2023 and then nothing for 18 months, I got some comp night offers for Red Rock, which is my favorite resort in Vegas, and they fall perfectly within this flight schedule. so just like my Nov/Dec trip, I am staying at RR and TI for no charge.
I need a car to get to-and-fron Red Rock and with Autoslash I found a good offer for a 2-day pickup at airport/return to TI. I got this last time too. last time there was a change in the price and charges from offer/booking/ confirmation, so I was ready for it and took screenshots. sure enough, the amount in the confirmation was $50 more than the "offer" so I promptly notified them. Autoslash resolved it again and the new cost to me with Hertz is better than expected.
so cheap flight, free hotel, cheap rental car. why wouldn't I go?
after making the plans it occurred to me... checked the calendar and sure enough my flight will arrive in Vegas a few hours before Super Bowl kickoff. will likely watch the game from inside a poker room. maybe someday the Vikings will play and I'll care a bit more. in the meantime there's a good chance the QB they gave up on last year will be playing this time.
In for a Langdon TR, as always.
To answer the question posed in the title, I cared a little until the locals tried to move the ball to the middle of the field for a GW FG.
While it's possible they will win Sunday, I like their chances a whole lot less now. Don't care about any of the other teams.
To answer the question posed in the title, not really.
no
Most people. It usually involves friends/family getting together and making some tasty food.
But I also didn't care enough to look and will be in AC that weekend for a Josh Johnson show.
Best of luck Langdon!
Well I care about the Super Bowl, but I also like reading trip reports. Good luck!
I want to see a pic of you with Rice, best poker dealer in all of Vegas, both throwing up his famous “three” fingers sign.
posting to subscribe in epic bread, GL OP!
Always in for a Langdon TR!!
I'm in for shenanigans!
title question was meant to be rhetorical yet it seemed to foster a bunch of engagement so yeah, I appreciate the comments already.
have not played any poker since last Vegas. have worked dealing several events though. gotta tell you about one.
a tourney dubbed "ND poker state championship" happened for the 18th time. this is a $100, four flights, max 3 entries (state law caps $300). majority multi-entered, there were 615 entries, like 156 made Day 2. okay...
45th was min cash for $150. 11th got $300. so only like 7% cashed at all and it is likely that only about 12 total people didn't lose money (excluding dealer pre-tip).
top 5 payouts were 1475/ 2500/ 4500/ 9000/ 20000.
it's the most ridiculously structured tournament I've ever seen. 615 entries, 11th place gets 3x buyin, 1st gets 200x. dealer pay sucked too. thankfully this is the last year it is being run as there are a couple organizations that run much better events.
fortunately I have worked several better events recently to contribute to a trip playroll.
back to the trip report preview and speaking of tourneys, for years now I've said I hate playing tournaments... what the hell I'll buy into a Wynn tourney right off the plane. the last two times I've played a holiday tourney at Wynn I made the final table, including Super Bowl Friday 2024, so let's find out if it is a repeatable trend. will watch the Super Bowl from Wynn.
after that actually this trip may not have a lot of poker. Monday (first full day) is planned to be a no-poker day, and I don't think I've had one of those in Vegas since like trip #2. my poker plans on Tuesday and/or Wednesday are cash games at Wynn or Venetian. I am not messing around with other rooms. limiting my play to one to three sessions should allow me to worry less about stretching my bankroll, and I'd rather stick with my favorite rooms than find myself in some crappy nitty game with bad service.
have been considering applying for a poker dealer job in Vegas and hopefully interviewing/auditioning while I am there. but while dealing as a side hustle is good and I enjoy playing occasionally and during vacation trips, not sure spending all my working time dealing in a casino would be a good life choice. maybe if I were single.
I almost didn't open the thread because of the title. LOL. I couldn't care less about the Super Bowl (or American football in general for that matter). Glad I was board and noticed you were the author 😉
I'm in. I hope history repeats itself! Dealing would be fun, but I agree maybe better if you were single -- mainly because of the hours for me. However, if you can make enough and enjoy it, why not? You can still play -- and so much insider info!
As far as I know both Aria and Venetian are constantly hiring dealers. The downside is that none of them are full time.
Are you married with kids? Is the plan to move the whole family to Vegas if you got a good dealing gig? What’s your main job now?
Are you married with kids? Is the plan to move the whole family to Vegas if you got a good dealing gig? What’s your main job now?
yes married with kids. the kids are strongly against moving from NDakota. I have a job that puts us in lower middle class but doesn't have a ceiling or career growth. we own a small home and in this economy Mrs Langdon cannot justify moving.
dealing full time would likely be a bump up in pay and eventually the family would move. but not sure it's worth giving up my current job that is at least stable. the Trump administration very recently set some policy that strongly negatively affects my wife's career so that's additional uncertainty.
yes married with kids. the kids are strongly against moving from NDakota. I have a job that puts us in lower middle class but doesn't have a ceiling or career growth. we own a small home and in this economy Mrs Langdon cannot justify moving. dealing full time would likely be a bump up in pay and eventually the family would move. but not sure it's worth giving up my current job
Well, it's good that you're freerolling the job interview/search on the trip. I've seen many times where myself and/or friends were fairly certain that a job situation was stable, but corporate stuff was going on behind the scenes, and a situation became very unstable very quickly. Having backup possibilities in the pocket is a good thing.
Take the kids to Vegas and let them feel the warmth -- maybe then they will want to move 😉 LOL!
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Super Bowl (my reference point) is tomorrow which means 1 sleep til Vegas. my life does not revolve around Las Vegas but there are few things that I look forward to more and that I actually count the days down than these trips. I appreciate Mrbaseball's trip report last week that pumped me up. weather has been weird back home: we got the arctic freeze (whole country got a nasty dose of winter at the same time), then this week we had record high, followed by a few gloomy days. looking forward to some consistent sun in the desert.
had originally planned to take a full break from poker in 2026. then it was playing just like 1 session this trip. it's now looking like buy into a tournament right away, then will play cash hopefully long sessions on days 3 and 4. have not played any poker since last time in Vegas but have been able to work dealing a handful of times to build a decent playroll for the trip.
along with watching some poker vlogs to prepare and get in the spirit, I also found some pai gow vlogs. one high-roller guy reports he lost $6000 in one Vegas trip playing pai gow and the low-roller player has losing PG streams like 10 videos in a row. so I got work to do!
did apply for a poker dealer job opening but no responses. PH closing likely doesn't help. don't think moving to Vegas to deal full-time would fit my life right now anyway but did entertain the idea. we're staying in Dakota until my youngest graduates in 8-9 years. guess my semiannual jaunts will continue and have to suffice. she's smart; encouraged her to skip a grade or two. she has no interest in that LOL.
flight delayed. foggy as hell this morning
Let’s hope Travel run bad = Vegas run good
