The Return of the Talking Cat - 5th WSOP Trip Report (33rd? trip to Vegas lifetime) 6/7-6/14

Also, I didn’t post pics of the room. I always stay at WynnCore these days, so I didn’t take many, but for the early check in I got, and a very decent view, I’m very happy with the room as always. About 2100 for the week with all taxes, resort fees, and early check in fees and view mod. I did get 1-2 comp nights I believe thanks to my degen tendencies.

This AM after what I’d term a very average first nights sleep, I crabbed coffee and avocado toast, as I’m going to hit the gym and maybe the spa facilities after. The avocado was very good, nice citrus flavor on some fresh sourdough bread but no diced radishes , no protein at all, and hard to eat. Also 15 bucks or whatever. Myeh, give it 6/10.

After the gym, may head out to the dispensary, and place a bet at the sports book on the Stanley cup game tomorrow night which I’m going to. I think it’s going to be a cash game grind of some kind today, just not sure where and what yet.

That's what's great about freezeouts - you have no choice.

Good choice. Bobby's Burgers is very meh. Johnny Rockets in Horseshoe is much better as burgers go. Expensive, tho. 20 bucks but it does include fries.

So, we head down to the gym to find out the whole spa and gym facilities on the encore side are closed for renovation. Not sure how I missed that but that’s annoying. No wonder my rate was so good this week lol. They also are closing Jardin, which was my go to spot for breakfast. As I said though, every trip is different and this will continue to push me out of my routines and try some new spots!

First it’s to the makeshift gym that’s setup in a ballroom. I’ve never worked out in a ballroom, first for everything. We hit the weights and do some uphill walking.

After that it’s shower and off to planet 13 for some catnip supplies.

Mike Tyson ear chew gummies? Lmfao

Then we go to the Peppermill for breakfast. In all my time in Vegas I can’t believe I’ve never been. It’s a cool experience , and the servers are very cute, the service is excellent and the food is solid. Give it an 8.5/10. Very solid spot!

Now we are up in the $ 600 TOE mix tourney at Aria

After consuming Mike Bites, would you be immune to prosecution if you bite someone's ear off?

lol good one - I’ll tell you this, they are fast acting and pretty strong. I’m going to be biting something soon, likely pizza

20K of 30K at the first break. So card dead so far and just barely able to chop a few, take a couple small ones down - hopefully we get a little heat in the next four levels otherwise it’s gonna be a short day. In the meantime, a little post catnip snack.

Very average slice at money line - decent dough and sauce flavor, pepperoni are nice, but too think and a bit too floppy. Better than sbarro and the grocery store but not by much 6/10

Wynncore nicest regular hotel room on the strip IMO and not even close. FYI they have poker rooms rate you book thru poker room that sounds better that rate you paid by a slight amount. 169 weeknight and 209 Fri/Sat before fees if I remember. For next time…

You are free to bite off someones chip stack!

I played the TOE as well. Glanced around once or twice, but don't think I spotted you.

Hope you ran better than I did!

Sadly, we busted early in Level 8. I was soooo card dead and when I had a decent hand, I either didn’t make my draws, or just ran into it. The first hand I played in triple draw was almost 4 levels in and started with 2347 made an 8 and lost to a wheel. Just one of many examples of being dead, then picking something up, and then losing.

Pardo is a baller, he don't need no discounts.

While true, doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy them !

So after busting the TOE, I sit down for our first proper cash game session of the trip and it’s 2/5 NL at WynnCore. It’s a new game, we buy in for 1K and we like the look of it. Two young, well of Asian gents who just came from Baccarat with 10K each sit down albeit to my left, and two older gents both who are loaded sit down to my right. The other two seats are filled with recs also who look more like the typical tight/weak passive. Basically it’s A+ game conditions.

Despite this, sadly I continue to be card dead, or whiffing in big spots, not flopping any sets, not making any draws, even when I’m getting great odds to do so, and then on top of that, when we finally get dealt AA it gets cracked in a huge multiway 3 bet pot where I’m good until one of the villains makes two pair on the river. I was down about 700 in the game after that spot, and I decide to top off to the max. We grind hard, win a few small ones, and ultimately the two Asian kids to my left leave, and then one of the other recs leaves, and the game really slows down, even the old guys are playing tighter now, and they have moved to my left. Time to cut my losses after a 4 hour session we leave down 500.

Starving since I haven’t had anything since that slice of pizza at moneyline so we head to Wazuzu. We get our favorite Crystal Dragon roll, and we also go Beef and Broccoli. Food is great as usual, and the service is better than usual, they were faster tonight and so we really enjoy. Give one of my all time favs a 9/10 for this effort.

We head back to the room to watch the rest of the knicks game - even though I’m originally from NYC, I’m not a Knicks fan but they appear to be an exciting young team. Then it’s time for some sleep with the plan to wake up and hit PLO downstairs overnight around 2 or 3am.

Trip totals so far:

Sunday:

-$500 MTT entry
No cash game, no pit

Monday:

-$600 MTT entry
-$500 Cash game
No pit

So off to our typical start, $1600 in the hole, but it’s very early, I kept trying to manifest a profitable start for literally the first time in like five years, but alas, here we are. More to come after the night shift tomorrow morning!

I am manifesting a turnaround for our favorite cat!

Wazuzu is one of my favorites in Vegas.

Even though the results aren't what we want, I appreciate you taking time for this TR.

Impressed that you went for a long tourney day after the cross-country flight! Before I started my trip I was disappointed that I would be getting in too late to play anything on my travel day, but after getting here I'm not sure if I would have been up for it even if I'd arrived earlier. I'll be keeping that in mind in the future as well.

Starting to play passively and passing on spots always seems to be my first sign that I'm off my game too, whether I'm getting tired or feeling disappointed/cautious after losing a chunk of a good stack. Coffee can only do so much.

Still plenty of time to start running better!

That’s the beauty of the Wynn. Nowhere else will you get the same amount of pit players and recs with money dipping their toes into the poker games, both cash and tournaments.

Thanks Dog! I enjoy doing them and glad you enjoy reading. Still plenty of trip left. Good things coming!

100% - that or the old Greyhound - also a popular fire starter!

Agree with ALL of this! 100%. It’s a mental game just as much as anything.

So after a sort sleep of about 5 ish hours, we pop up out of bed and head downstairs. There are 3 PLO (1/3) going and so we grab an open seat in one for 1K. The session is going OK, win some , lose some, then I take a couple nice pots of the most active player at the table to chip up to about 1400 when the following hand occurs:

We are dealt: QdJx10d9x on the button.

The straddle is on to $10. An active young villain who covers us opens over the straddle to $35. He knows what he’s doing, playing an all around solid game for these stakes.

Folds to us and we make it $105 to go. All others fold back to the original V who opened over the straddle and He then clicks it back with the 4 bed to pot. We call.

Pot is something like $500 and we have 1100 ish behind.

Flop:

AdKd2x

He bets 300, and we know this is only going to end up one way. We’ve seen him be agreeable to running it twice to so we pile it all in. He obliges. Hes got a set of Aces with nothing else working for him, and NO diamonds in his hand.

Pot is $2900 ish effective.

We agree to run it twice and we brick BOTH run outs.

FELTED for our 1K buy in and profit. What can you do my friends. That’s PLO.

Since we actually ended up playing about 6 hours, we shake it off and go grab a coffee and take a long walk to Siegel’s bagels - a place I’ve heard a lot about but once again, have never been!

We get a bacon Egg and cheese on a sesame bagel. It’s delicious. Place is huge, clean, great service, decent prices. 9.5/10 would highly recommend.

We know it’s time for a break. Purrrfect time for the Spa.

We grab a 100 minute massage with a female therapist who is very cute, and gives the cat a proper rub down. We use all the facilities available (sauna, steam room, hot tub, and showers) and we feel like a new person.

I think I’m going to take a break from poker with the Golden Knights Game coming up tonight. We have a $500 dollar bet on that, and I want to enjoy the game and I’m feeling physically good, and so maybe some food, a nap, then drinking and smoking to enjoy the game and my sports bet sweat.

More to come….

Sometimes when things aren’t going well you need a few small wins to reverse the momentum….so, we put 100 dollars in a buffalo gold slot machine lmfao but we hit it a bit right off the bat and run it up to 300 and change before walking with a 200 dollar profit.

Then to Mo Mummy (lolz) we immediately draw the mummy out and with only 100 in and 10 dollar spins the bonus game brings us 378 dollars we fire back down to 300 once again and we take another 200 in profit.

Then, to face up Pai Gow! We buy in for 500 and we get as high as 1200 betting 50 and 100 a hand. We grind out a 500 dollar win!

Somehow, we find 900 dollars in the matter of 2 hours and we are headed to the golden knights game being down 2100 dollars on the trip instead of 3000. Literally, our first profit of the trip. Is this a sign, that the tide is beginning to turn?! Stay tuned for more….its on to Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Let’s get a knights win, and a win on our $500 dollar money line bet and keep this going!

I'm no mathematician, but sounds like you need to play more slots and pit games. 🙄

Bring out your inner Leon Cat!