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

Dayum! Wish I had known that a week ago.

Why would you bet against the Aussie?

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😃

I really should have known better. They have that quality of punching above their weight like the USA teams of old.

Turkey the classic team that plays pretty without actually doing anything.

Yep,

I got got by both turkey and Switzerland yesterday lol - those were in my mind, the biggest locks out of my 5 bets with the Knicks being the long short. Gotta love sports betting!

There is that sound……

It’s the sound of the AC unit blowing steadily in my quiet hotel room as I look out over the city and the mountains. It’s a familiar sound, that I notice throughout the week but even more so on the last day of the trip as I’m reflecting on things and getting ready to pack up to head out.

Even with all its ups and downs, I love Vegas, I love poker, and I love this trip. It seems to be one of the few things that keep me sane and balanced in an otherwise very conventional life with a lot of responsibilities.

I get to be myself, enjoy my solitude and battle against some of the best, all while taking in the scene and watching the show.

Usually on the trip there is a moment of perfection, or reflection (sometimes both). It’s a moment where I get to truly be in the moment, take a picture in my mind, I just feel incredibly grateful for the opportunity to do stuff like this.

That moment came very early for me this year. It was on the first day, when I got into the hotel, unpacked and looked at the schedule. I knew it was going to be a fun week no matter what, and if I could get a good distribution and run at expedition the sky would be the limit. Sadly, we got a really bad distribution all week, save for our one tourney run where we caught enough heat to at least make a deep run and an FT. This week was very bad not only card distribution wise, but in all in situations.

I got felted several times where I finally flopped a set and someone’s flush draw or straight draw got there, situations where we just could boat up ourselves etc. mostly though, it was the lack of playable hands that lead to what ended up being a break even cash game week which for me, is pretty unusual and it usually props up the overall trip results.

Outside of that though, we had great food, a great hotel room, we tried some new places (Good Pie, Peppermill, and Siegel’s bagels) - all three were awesome.

We did NOT get in and out, we did not step up on the bellagio tram/city center tram platform which is so unusual for us. We didn’t play in Bellagio AT ALL, which is typically my honey pot and where I have best results. I honestly didn’t have the energy to round the rooms like I normally do, given how involved in the MTT scene I was this week. Also, with resorts world closing, that was our second favorite room, and I spent a lot of time in there, and it was very profitable. I fear next time, I may have to try going back to Venetian, because I need another “north strip” room for cash games. It’s annoying to take cabs to Aria and Bellagio frequently depending on game conditions. I also know the action is soft at MGM and golden nugget, but 2/5 isn’t always running, and it has to be a big, wild 1/2 game for it to be worth it to me.

Sorry I did t run into anyone, or have time for meet ups. It’s always a balance between seeing old acquaintances and familiar players out here and staying on the grind, and being selfish with your time. I did get to see some of my home game circuit players, and some friends happened to be out at the same time, which was nice.

This AM we racket up our last early morning sessions

Coffee & Blackjack: + 400 (it was an up and down shoe and thanks to some great split and double situations at the end, we walked away with some profit.

1/3 NL - 2/5 was full and this 1/3 game with an open seat was pretty dead but we were able to stack one shorty for 150 ish, win some dead pots no one wanted , along with a very nice straight over lower straight with a deep stacked villain where I was able to get about 300 out of him. Ended up racking a 500 dollar win in just 2.5 hours.

I decide we were not going to do what we usually do, and take 1K or something to the roulette wheel and try to go insane right before the airport lol. Roulette was plenty good enough to me this week, and so let’s not push it and give back profit.

Packing up now. Hope you enjoyed these initial trip reflections, and coming along for the ride. Trip totals coming when I get back - and tally up the rest , but we did come in profitable, maybe like 1500-2000. Will have to see when I double check everything one more time.

Great trip, thanks for sharing!!

Great trip and great reflection. Thank you for sharing! Save travels.

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Knicks +180 [emoji44] what are they doing over there at Wynn? Great price.

And I know exactly what you mean about there’s always that sound of the AC machine.

I know Tony - I wish I had bet more tbh , but always easy to say.

Also funny, when I was writing the AC line, I actually had a feeling you specifically would get it lol - not exactly sure why lol but good read by me I guess 😉

Great TR. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you for the excellent TR! Safe travels back to catland.

It was fun to be a part of your trip report, vicariously!

Hope the folks at home are missing and eager to have you back.

Love this. Succinctly captures why many of us who do this, do this.

Thanks all for reading along and for your kind comments. I've finally settled back into reality from the trip which really took a toll on me physically. Usually when I go out, I do get on SOME kind of schedule, and then save my all out all nighters and long sessions for shots at the Wynn Turbos late in the trip, with not a ton of MTT play early on. This time, I opted to try to bag and tag in the $500 freezeout coming right off the plane, which while exciting, and I cam just 50 spots or so short of the money, I was totally exhausted right before, and after dinner break and I did not play my A game at all, and this cost me a cash and a potential bag for sure. It also got me off to a rough start for the rest of the week. Monday and Tuesday, my play and performance really wasn't there. Lesson learned for next time, I really need that first day to chill and try to get a good sleep/rest and settle into the schedule.

Next year, I'm going to try to sell Mrs. PardoG on an extended trip of at least an extra 3 full days. Maybe come in Thursday night, and then go until the following sunday. This would give me an extra weekend at the cash tables, when the games are much much better, and would give me time to prep for a more rigorous tourney schedule should I want to go that way. We'll see what happens.

I went over hands from the end game of the Wynn 1100 PLO, and tried to see if any of the spots I folded or gave up on post flop would have positioned me better for the final table had I made a different decision. I really don't think there were many if any. There was one hand that really got on my nerves, but I think I had to let it go, despite the very good pot odds, but after thinking about the player, the table talk, and reflecting on it, maybe I was wrong. Either way, it's neither here nor there because 2 of the big pots I lost when I had about 550K which was average stack with about 12-14 players left, I had to fold, and I was lucky to chip back up a little before having to eat the blinds short handed a couple times going into the FT which left me heading into the FT with 300K at 10K-25K/25K so only 12BB. Had those couple of pots gone my way, I'm heading into the FT with 750-1M and more like 30-40BB and an actual playable stack to ladder up much more significantly if nothing else, and likely get in a good spot to make a run. it is what is is I guess.

When I go back to last year, I fcked up TT at the final table (mostly due to fatigue playing 20 hours straight that day/night) when we were 6 handed, and it led to my demise. That was on me. The year before, I played as well as I could, ran OK, and just got unlucky when we were 4-5 handed to not get action on some premiums then get sucked out on a couple times when 3 handed by the shorty etc. So essentially, out of the three final tables in the past 3 years at WynnCore, only one of them I feel like was really "my fault" in terms of not being able to win it outright. I am proud though of making my first PLO final table. That was a achievement unlock for the year as well.

I am going to go back today and catch up and read up on everyone else's reports. Tried my best to follow along while I was out there and comment when I could but lot of reports this time of year. GL all and until next year!

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks Pardo!

I really enjoyed your report. Like you I’m gonna go back and reread in detail when I get home - so difficult to do that when you’re here and writing your own one

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I can officially confirm the following:

1. The run good of Strawberry Julius is real
2. If you buy into DDS using a $50 Bill, there is a good chance you will be in the money (87/638 left tonight!)

A FISH ON A HEATER BABY!!!

Took me a while to get to tree fiddy. I'm slow. So I'll follow along at my own pace.

At first look I thought that was cranberry sauce, so I will also follow along at my own pace.

Really appreciated reading this. Reminded me of the old days. 😀

Blast from the past!