Two Plus Two Newer Archives - Vegas Trip Report - New Year's

First time flying into Vegas. Used to live in LA, now in SF. I have to say, flying is so much friggin better. My friends were driving in from LA the next day so I would be alone the first night (Thurs). Wasn't sure how much the cab ride would be to Mandalay, so I thought I'd give the shuttle a shot. Bad idea. $5, which is pretty high, and then I had to wait about 10 minutes for the bus to load up and the driver to show up. He makes a stop at MGM to drop off a guy, then turns around and heads north from east of the strip. In another 5 minutes, we're at some small hotel off the strip, I decide this is way too gay, and just take off. It's near some strip's rear parking lot, and I get lucky and catch a cab. $10 for the cab. Summary - the shuttle is a RETARDED way of getting people around the strip. Who the hell thought up this nonsense? Of course, I'm also an idiot for not finding out about where it goes beforehand. Idea: Wait at the counter where you buy tickets and ask if someone wants to share a cab, if you're cheap. If you're not cheap, just get a frickin cab.

Check in was a breeze. I booked through the poker room, something like $650 for 3 nights. Not too bad. Got to the poker room around 9 and was able to get a seat immediately in a 4-8 game. I played here once before a couple years back and I was reminded how gay the 1-2 blind structure was when we took a 3-handed flop with $6 in the pot minus 2 quarters for the rake. Quarters? Oh gawd. Bet-fold-fold, it was, pretty much. Oh Lord, 15 hours of this??!?! I was able to get in a 2-4NL game pretty soon, though. Played for a bit, lost about $150, got a little drunk, then decided to mosey on back to the room. Unfortunately, some $25 blackjack tables cornered me and stole another $350 from me.

I try the 4-8 the next day, not any better. But I did hit a jackpot with AAAA for $98. I move over to the 2-4NL again, and this time, I get a pretty good table. I'm working a tight image, something rather new for me, but it's pretty neat, actually. Folks keep betting into you but always lay it down to turn raises, auto-bet everytime you check, etc. I'm working a $400 stack when this hand comes down. One of the 2 big fish who has me covered calls my $15 raise (AsQc) in the blinds. Flop comes AKJ with two spades. I bet 25 and get called. Turn comes Ts, he leads out for $50. I raise to $200, thinking 1. we've both got Q's and I'm freerolling, 2. he's got a set or 2p and hopefully he'll call off his stack $150 at a time, even if a fourth spade hits, 3. he'll call and check the river with a weak flush. He calls, and goes on all in on a blank river. I call and he shows me KJ. Well played, buddy.

I decide to check out the 2-4 and have a little fun. There's only one $2 blind. It seems Mandalay has to do everything different. More on that later. I try playing without looking at my cards, just the suits and the pips, until the turn or river. Somehow, I end up winning a couple hundred bucks. I brought some red chips from the NL game, and the dealers look at my stack and ask if I won a jackpot or something. I say yeah, this morning, and then realize what they mean. What, like I couldn't have won this??? One hand, got two spade face cards and cap it preflop with about 5 players. A jack high flop hits, and I go a couple bets before I peek and I realize I misread my hand, and it turns out I have two black jacks. I think the average pot was bigger in this game than in the 4-8, sad to say. I straddle one hand, and get another kid to do it a few hands later. By then, the dealers changed. So this guy posts a $4 straddle and I try to raise to $6. The dealer tells me I have to make it $8. We're both going, WTF, but neither of us give a damn anyway. Straddler 3 bets and we take the flop for $12 bucks each. Straddler then leads on the flop for $2. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I check it out later with the floorman and he confirms it's $8 to raise a straddle, and now I got the dealer berating me for daring to question her call. Here's another rule at Mandalay. If you act out of order, your action stands. E.g., P1 leads for $100, P3 doesn't see that P2 has cards, calls the $100. If P2 raises to $300, P3 has to call $300 or forfeit the $100. I've actually seen that enforced.

I had a word or two with a floorman and dealer about this stuff, but then I see their side of it, too. Their tables fill up promptly, with the local nits, angle shooters, and what have you. They keep dropping $4 a hand, the manager gets to stroke his ego by doin' it his way and thinking everyone else is wrong. Guess all I can do is get the word out to any informed poker player out there to stay the hell away from this room.

More to follow.