Vegas Hit and Run Wrap-up

This is a few days late for a trip report, but it sometimes takes a few days to get my strength back. I was in Vegas a total of 34 hours. I did what I could to get the most out of that time.

We had no trouble getting done in Tucson and got to Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport a couple hours early. Being in a rush, I managed to forget my new sunglasses (in the visor), my favorite poker shirt (in the trunk), and to get some money I had lent. I got my colleague, DR, to come back for the glasses that I realized were missing. I didn't find out about the shirt and cash until later. To DR's credit, she got both of the remaining items in the mail to me the next day.

My first-class flight to Vegas was OK. The only negative was the bumpy ride kept the flight attendants seated which means I did not get an in-flight cocktail. I know, this should be plenty of space for your sympathy: _. The plane hit the ground, I hit a cab and was at the TI in no time at all. I took time to get a shower and change of clothes while Brian the Red and Andres the Bold finished their dinner.

I missed AtB on his way to the room for an early bed time, but Brian and I headed for the Venetian Poker Room for a simi-late session of NLE. I think I won about $50 or so before calling it a morning.

After the sun came up, the three of us hit the Starbuck's before cruising back to the Venetian for their noon tourney. I think I lost about $140 while waiting for the tourney to start. That would be the start to a long day of losing poker.

This tourney is $150 to enter (a little steep), but they use 30 minute levels and start with deep stacks of 7500 in chips. I didn't do very well finishing somewhere in the 4th level. I did manage to bluff a certain WSOP final table pro (TB from the Moneymaker final table) off of two hands for pretty good pots. My undoing was taking AK to war against 88. That hand crippled me. The knock-out blow was when my 88 ran into QQ preflop. We both flopped sets, but that made no difference. I played well and still feel good about that. Brian the Red lasted a good bit longer than I and Andres the Bold took 7th place for just under $1k. Way to go, Andres. He was even good enough to buy us dinner.

Once out, I headed to some of the newer poker tables on the strip, namely at Bill's Casino and O'shea's Casino. Both properties are part of the Caesar's empire now. They have plans to connect all of the tables in the system to some mega-beat jackpots, but for now, they are playing $1 NL Holdem (just one blind) and $1-5 spread limit with high rakes and a jackpot drop. I did awful in both places and dropped another $200 before the tourney at the Venetian ended.

I got back to find out that Andres was still playing, so I sat at another $1-2 NL table and continued to bleed chips and cash. I think I got down another $100+ before I decided to take my lumps like a man, half-lit. I ordered a Southern Comfort straight up and texted Falstaff for the number of the best professional drinker I know. Al did not let me down.

My game turned around at that point. I started with a flopped boat holding A2 in the big blind. The flop was A22. I bet $10 and the very friendly gent to my left raised to $25. I re-raised to $50. He re-raised and I said something like, "well, it looks like it's all going in anyway - I'm all in." He called and his Q2 was no good. I hit a few other good hand and got up from that table with about a $240 profit.

After dinner, my next stop was the TI Poker Room where my session went real late and I made back about $150 more before I had to get to the room to get packed. That part went quicker than I planned. I still had about an hour before I had to catch a cab, so it was back to the Venetian for one more quick try.

The table that I drew was super aggressive. I hit a few more hands, and lost a few to make my last $30 of the trip. All in all, I lost about $160 in Vegas which is great since I was down over $400 at one point.

I made the early morning (Saturday now) flight in plenty of time, got a truly horrible seat neighbor, but got home just the same. I'll be home this week for some Dr. appointments, getting ready for a big upcoming trip, and catching up before heading to TX and Vegas(again, this time for the blogger gathering) next week. Then the big trip will be upon me. More on that later.

Have a good week...