Ongoing VP TR, PART 2!
Hi all, apparently my previous thread may have gotten so long that it's causing issues for the website. So, here is a ne
Hey, it was a great run, and a fantastic result…. Even if it seemed dissatisfying in the moment.
Rest of Day 2
D and I look for a craps table. All the regular ones at Encore are full, we walk back to Wynn and it's crazy crowded/loud. I'm sure the minimums are ridiculous too, not that I got close enough to see. As I get older I've definitely become more of a curmudgeon- I get easily irritated at crowds and noise. The deader Vegas is, the better as far as I'm concerned. Of course there are certain exceptions to this, for craps my ideal is 2-3 players other than me. That guarantees we'll have shooters if need be, and if we go on a good run there'll be positive energy.
Anyways, since we can't find a craps table I belly up to a VP machine. Lose 2k pretty fast, then get back to even with this-
Of course, I'm just getting started and I'm still wide awake, so I keep going and lose 3k before finally coming to my senses and not putting too much of a damper on what objectively has been a good day.
Day 2 result-
-16k gambling (counts the 5k add on), +20k free credit (yet to be converted)
Overall- -27k (-7k)
Day 3
I sleep HORRIBLY. I popped melatonin but it did absolutely nothing. I just tossed and turned all night and replayed key hands from the tourney in my head. It was so stupid bc I know I either played every spot right, got lucky right up until the end, or both. I literally have no regrets, so why am I replaying hands???
I went to bed after 1am and finally just got up at 5:30am. I'm horribly tired, I know I can take a nap later but still. I head downstairs.
You can see the table set up for the 19th hole viewing area at the bottom of the pic. It's open again today for the celebs' second round. Not sure I'm going back today.
OK, so here's the plan. I'm going to wash the free credit first. I need to know EXACTLY where I'm at going into this last full day. If I end up well up obv I can play with freedom. If I have a bad conversion rate, I'm still scared money. I decide to play multiline quarters to try and smooth the variance out.
Start.
Washed 3k for my friend, result- About 5/6 payback.
Result for me- over 100% payback, and over 100% payback overall.
OK, so at this point I'm effectively -7k for the trip. I decide I'll fire 3k for this AM bullet.
Hit this very early.
After that, the wheels came off. I donk off 3k at multiline SO FAST. No premiums, huge droughts of 30+ hands where I can't even get a paying pair, etc. I move over to UX and blast off another 2k in lightning quick fashion. WHY THE F are the machines so cold???
I rage walk to Encore to look for a craps table. Walking to the Encore kills time, right? Craps is slower than VP, right?
Walk up to an empty table. Buy in for 2k- PSO, PSO, PSO, 1 number then out, PSO. 5 rolls. Might have lasted me 3 min. Definitely took longer to walk over and back than the amount of play I got. I rage quit, grab my chips and don't tip a dime. WHY THE F are things so BAD???!!!!
I head upstairs, dejected. Stuck 6.5k for the AM, 13.5k for the trip.
The decision
I'm sitting in the room waiting for D to get up. My brother is actually in town and is going to join us after breakfast. I ABSOLUTELY HATE THIS TOWN AND CASINO RIGHT NOW. D and I briefly talked yesterday about the possibility of cutting this trip short by a day- this was before the tournament, of course, and I had to assume the worst and that I wouldn't get anything. From D's POV, he would have been fine with it bc he's literally not gambling with his money at all, he's just here to keep me company and honestly I suspect he's been bored at points.
So with that as the context, I take stock of where I'm at-
- it's all risk at this point. I took my shot and missed/semi-hit.
- I'm still down 5 figs, with a full day to go
- everything is cold right now
- I'm tired and tilted already. A full day of being scared money and probably getting more tilted sounds absolutely awful.
With that, I snap decide to change flights and get a 3pm flight out of this F'ing place. It cost 200$ total, we both got great seats and the instant I made the switch I felt a huge weight off my shoulders. Sometimes you just gotta know when to throw in the towel. Literally best decision I made all trip.
So, having now made that decision, I decide to just enjoy the remainder of the day. We head to breakfast at Terrace Pointe Cafe.
Forgot to take pics of the food! I built my own omelette.
My brother joins us as we're finishing up, he's going to watch me and D play dice.
We find a table at the Wynn- I refuse to go back to Encore and lose anymore to that same table/crew that eviscerated me early this AM. Good choice- we actually find multiple good rolls, and I personally got the best one of them all! I got my 9 up to 1000 from 50 starting. We played for at least 2 hrs, and at the end-
In for 2.8k, out for 7.2. First winner of the trip!
Brother is hungry and D could eat. We head to Red 8, might as well use up this food comp. Totally forgot to take pics. After food, we say goodbye to my brother and I head back to the multiline machines for one last hurrah. I've played 6k hands so far- dealt quads is about 1:4000. It's now or never, but I'm also aware a) I'm seriously under-quadded over the last 20k hands, AND b) the machines don't know, care, and the math doesn't have to "even out".
Good start.
I'm cycling hands as fast as I can. I actually get a lot of play out of the machine, I must have cycled at least 1.5k hands. AND, NO DEALT QUADS! That pic was actually the only handpay of the whole session. On the one hand, it was certainly an above-avg session given the amount of play I got. On the other, I just cannot find a monster these days. I end up giving back 3k and decide to just call it. There's just no win here.
Cash out all my chips and tickets, head upstairs to finish packing, and we're done.
How many of these pics have I taken on the way out, stuck 5 figures from when I came in?
Day 3 result- -5.3k
Overall- -12.3k
Dealt quads, 5 digit hits, etc- ZERO
Postscript- I was so happy to get back home. I was able to relax and bask in the fact that I got out of there with my bankroll mostly intact. I'm happy I went, I had to take my shot and objectively it did come in, just not all the way. I'm seriously considering making 48hrs my new normal from now on. When it's good, I'll be really happy to lock in a win. When it's bad, I'll be more than overjoyed to GTFO. But no matter the result, I've been to Vegas so many times now all the non-gambling things are just "ho-hum". Always the same food. Always the same crappy sleep quality. Always the same long periods of trying to kill time, being scared money etc- which begs the question, why am I taking 3 days off in Vegas when I spend half the time trying to kill that time? So dumb.
In the end-analysis, 48 hr trips will be better for my bankroll and psyche. No more "WTF am I going to do for the next few hrs now?". Less walking around like a zombie bc I'm so sleep deprived. I'll have a very limited time to enjoy myself and I know I'll make the most of it, and if it's bad I'll be less exposed.
So, that's that. Live to fight another day!
Great trip.
Also a great call to cut it short when it’s no longer fun. That’s an important skill that takes a lot of self awareness to successfully execute.
You have no idea how many times I’ve sat in my room tilted out of my mind and looking for flights back to Europe next morning. But never pulled the trigger. Also I sometimes find it insane that I go for 2-2.5 weeks at a time, it gets to you easily.
Yep, sounds as if you made the right decision. When you're not having fun, and losing, Vegas can be a bad place to be.
As I get older I've definitely become more of a curmudgeon- I get easily irritated at crowds and noise.
I just tossed and turned all night and replayed key hands from the tourney in my head. It was so stupid bc I know I either played every spot right, got lucky right up until the end, or both. I literally have no regrets, so why am I replaying hands???
1) I am sort-of the same, as although I like to see Vegas busy and thriving I much more enjoy playing -EV games in the morning when the casino is quite empty and there is not a lot of noise or distractions.
2) Because that is what every poker player does 😀 There is a tournament series here in Malta this week and I have been playing pretty much every evening after work. The hands are really churning around in my brain when I go to bed, and it can be hard to reset and think about something else.
Postscript- I was so happy to get back home. I was able to relax and bask in the fact that I got out of there with my bankroll mostly intact. I'm happy I went, I had to take my shot and objectively it did come in, just not all the way. I'm seriously considering making 48hrs my new normal from now on. When it's good, I'll be really happy to lock in a win. When it's bad, I'll be
so much wisdom in this
Curmudgeon - such a great word. I’m the same. My least favorite days in Vegas are Fridays and Saturdays. Give me a quiet Monday or Tuesday every time.
As Whale says, the tossing and turning and replaying of hands at the expense of sleep is an unwelcome side effect for most poker players.
Curmudgeon - such a great word. I’m the same. My least favorite days in Vegas are Fridays and Saturdays. Give me a quiet Monday or Tuesday every time.
As Whale says, the tossing and turning and replaying of hands at the expense of sleep is an unwelcome side effect for most poker players.
I don't remember ever replaying routine hands messing up my sleep when I played for a living. Bad beats and questionable spots, sure. Had plenty of times I had trouble sleeping bc I was amped up from a big win. But routine hands? It was weird.
Couldn't you just go play poker?
Kind of a long, complicated answer. Having grinded so much in the past, I don't consider playing "serious" fun at all. So there's never a world in which I pick poker over craps/VP from a fun perspective.
Winning money obv is always awesome, but since I was a limit specialist back in the day I have to assume I'm not a favorite in any game big enough for me to care about. I'm not going to grind for a potential 500-1k win. But if I play bigger (D and I played 10-20 PLO w/ a rock at the Wynn in past TRs) I'm probably not the favorite. Something about losing money to other humans is way worse than donking it off to the casino to me.
So I can either grind at a game I can't win much money at and be bored doing so, or play a game that I'm probably going to lose at and lose money to people vs a faceless -EV machine. I'd rather pass on either choice.
That said, I did consider playing poker this past TR just to slow things down, and like I said D and I did it on prior trips so it's not totally off the table. So far, my forays into mixed have been quite fun, and crucially I feel like my "card sense" and adaptability make me a natural in the mixed games. The weirder the better IMO. At some point I'll join Tony in the 80-160 at the Bellagio and we'll see what my tune is then after those sharks abuse me...
You could always play a mid-stakes LHE game at Bellagio - although it takes some effort to get there from Wynn. If you played 40/80 the stakes would be big enough to maybe be fun.
You could always play a mid-stakes LHE game at Bellagio - although it takes some effort to get there from Wynn. If you played 40/80 the stakes would be big enough to maybe be fun.
40/80 was my primary game back in the day! Ahh, back when there were routinely 4-5 tables running and no question you'd get a seat quickly. Last I checked (it's been a while), they had one game running and long wait times. Have things gotten better? Last thing I need is to get on the list, sit around for hrs at another property, donk off money bc I'm bored and don't even get properly rated for it 
From WAY TF back in the day. Last session I played at the Bellagio 40/80. In for 1.5k, out for ???
Stacks of chips is what made limit so fun.
1.5k is a short buy for 40/80! Yes, the 40/80 rarely goes this time of year and only 1 or 2 games of 20, but come the WSOP there will be 2 each of 20, 40, and likely 80 as well (based off of me watching Bravo last year).
40/80 was my primary game back in the day! Ahh, back when there were routinely 4-5 tables running and no question you'd get a seat quickly. Last I checked (it's been a while), they had one game running and long wait times. Have things gotten better? Last thing I need is to get on the list, sit around for hrs at another property, donk off money bc I'm bored and don't even get pr
I've played the 40 outside of WSOP as recently as early this year, but it's definitely possible to show up and not be able to get in a 20 or 40 game. OTOH, I know that pay tables might be worse at an MGM property, but if you're going to otherwise be playing craps or VP anyway, you can give them your phone number and they'll text you when your seat opens, so it provides a natural stopping point for you and then you're set for as long as you want to play cards.
Plus, you can call in ahead of time to get on the list, and if you time your arrival with when the game typically starts (~11am IIRC), you can probably secure yourself a seat.
1.5k is a short buy for 40/80! Yes, the 40/80 rarely goes this time of year and only 1 or 2 games of 20, but come the WSOP there will be 2 each of 20, 40, and likely 80 as well (based off of me watching Bravo last year).
I'd definitely play 80 if it went.
Plus other humans hardly ever offer room and F&B comps.
Or, if they do, they're not likely to be people who you'd take up on the offer.
I've played the 40 outside of WSOP as recently as early this year, but it's definitely possible to show up and not be able to get in a 20 or 40 game. OTOH, I know that pay tables might be worse at an MGM property, but if you're going to otherwise be playing craps or VP anyway, you can give them your phone number and they'll text you when your seat opens, so it provides a natura
Right- like I said, I actually don't want to find myself in a situation where I'm waiting for a seat at the Bellagio, get bored and end up playing the same casino games I would anyways at the Wynn, while generating status at a secondary casino/not generating at the Wynn. What a waste that would be.
Right- like I said, I actually don't want to find myself in a situation where I'm waiting for a seat at the Bellagio, get bored and end up playing the same casino games I would anyways at the Wynn, while generating status at a secondary casino/not generating at the Wynn. What a waste that would be.
I feel like an enterprising set of LHE grinders ought to find a way to migrate a 40/80 game to the Wynn poker room for you!
I'd play HU!
Thanks for another good TR. Have you ever considered a mini TR at your local casino? I know you post the big wins there but I think everyone would enjoy a one night summary if it isn't too much of a pain. You could even post some food pics.....even if it's only McDonalds breakfast lol. Just a thought to keep the thread going in between trips
