Vegas Trip Report(s!): Fine Dining, Gambooling, and more...

[private joker]

Intro & Poker

I got to Vegas on Thursday July 5, and 2+2er Nate. came to pick me up at the airport. Very swell gesture.

We headed over to the Venetian, where I ate a Nathan's Famous in honor of Chestnut and Kobayashi (I ate only one, and it took about 4 minutes), and we took it to the poker room while waiting for a game. There were zero limit holdem games running there so we gave up on waiting for a 2/5 and ducked over to the Mirage to play some 20/40.

I ran good at 20, Nate. ran kind of bad, then the fish left and we went over to Caesar's. I played a very rare NL session with Nate. on my right. I hate NL. I grinded away tightly for 3 hours building my stack up from 500 to 700. I made one move the entire time (some douche kept raising to 15 PF any time it was folded to him, so after he opened and Nate. called, I made a small raise to 50 with AT and both guys called, then the flop came 7 high so I bet 150 and took it down). Eventually I raised Nate.'s straddle to 40 with AA. A total rock made it 100, I put him all in for 400, and we saw a heads-up flop in an $800 pot -- he had QQ, and a Q came right in the door to decimate my stack back down to 300. I racked up a loser. I hate NL.

Then it was over to Bellagio where we ate at Noodles then played a good 15/30 session where Nate. made an instant enemy of some rich ashole who hated that Nate. didn't chop. They went 8 bets PF with Nate. holding TT and the other guy holding 55. 5 right on the flop.

We met up with several other posters there: Chris Daddy Cool, DaveR, bugstud, stinkypete, goofball, and more. Then Hobbs. landed and met us all back over at Caesar's, where the other guys ate and Nate. and I split off to head back home because Nate. had a big drive to L.A. the next day.

Nate. was staying at a house in Henderson with nath, Superfluous Man, and some other guys I'd never heard of. I crashed there and never actually saw another human being except for some weird kid on the couch one morning who was staring at his computer and said 2 words to me in a monotone voice before his pale skin started boiling from the sunlight I accidentally let in when I opened the front door.

Then a good friend of mine from film school who lives in Vegas got back in town and called me up to invite me to crash with him (he's just south of the strip) in a nice house so I left the den of nerds -- even though I really wanted to meet nath and some of the other guys who seemed pretty cool from the stories.

Prime @ Bellagio

Friday involved a solid session at the Wynn 15 and a mediocre session at Mirage 20 before dinner came. I headed to Bellagio at around 9:30 to meet up with the guys for dinner. This was the plan: Chris Daddy had worked 20k up to 80k in the pits before losing every penny, so his poor fortune meant good fortune for his friends -- in the form of comped dinners.

The Bellagio comped CDC 4 meals at Prime, so 6 of us went to eat there planning to split up the wine & the other 2 meals.

Roll call: CDC, Clarkmeister, DaveR, Hobbs., stinkypete, and me.

This was my first time meeting Clarkmeister, whereas I'd known everyone else before. Even though his first name is not even Clark, he's a swell cat and a very cool customer. Even though it was CDC's meal, the staff at Prime flocked to Clark like he was the biggest whale at the casino, asking him all the questions so we could defer to The Man.

We started with a solid Pinot Noir that I'd give a 7 to. It's been a week so I won't remember hardly any of the labels. When DaveR got a hold of the wine list, the drinking really took off because he knows his stuff. Dining with these guys proved that the stakes of your poker game are often directly proportional to your wine knowledge.

We shared several appetizers including a monstrous seafood plate before my salad arrived -- it was a crab mango salad that was amazing. A spicy chipotle sauce, some shredded fresh crab, and diced mango. Fantastic. Great bread selection as well.

For dinner CDC took advantage of his comp and ordered the most expensive thing on the menu: the 12 oz. Kobe beef steak ($300). He let the rest of us try a piece each, and I almost passed out it was so awesome. I ordered the filet mignon medium rare. Cooked very well, great flavor, overall an 8-9 steak.

DaveR got us a couple bottles of some cabernet that tasted really strong and bizarre before the steak came, but then tasted really good while eating. It was the boldest cab I've had in a while and I wasn't prepared, but by the end of the night I had been won over.

After dinner Clark said goodnight and the rest of us headed over to Wynn to spew off some chips, and goofball met up with us there. Almost everyone was hammered (except CDC, who is allergic to alcohol, bad beat) and sprayed chips like they were on fire. I built 700 up to 1200 then hit a horrendous downswing that involved sick beats (TT<98 on AQ7 flop -- running 9s) and hideous coolers (K7 on a K76 board vs. stinkypete's 66, in a game where one pair was a monster). I got out early but CDC and stinkypete lost a fortune to goofball while Hobbs. and DaveR continued spewing at 30/60.

Delmonico @ Venetian

Saturday started for me with another solid session at the baby-soft Wynn 15, after which I sweated an insane 30/60 game with Clark, DaveR, Hobbs., and CDC that surprised me in that nobody should have been drunk enough to play as loose as they were. CDC never got there, Clark did.

The greatest moment for me in this session was a very sweet, almost poetically humane instant: a frail old woman was called for the 30 game. She cradled a rack of chips in her hand and started weakly stepping over to the table. Little did she know what she was stepping into: every pot was capped PF, most flops were capped, and people were raking in 30BB pots with middle pair. Even young, rich players were in shock at the spewery. And here is this poor old woman about to be devoured alive. But in a serendipitous moment of absolute beauty, something wonderful occured: she waited a few hands, posted her BB, and at that exact moment CDC, Clark, DaveR, and Hobbs. all racked up at once because it was dinner time. It was like this lady was pushed out of the way of a moving bus onto the sidewalk. I smiled inside. I think nobody else even noticed.

The 5 of us headed over to Venetian to meet up with stinkypete and Morello for dinner at Delmonico.

Now if you thought Clark was treated well at Prime, wait 'til you get to a place where they know him... the second we walked up they fawned over Clarkmeister The Regular like he was George Clooney. We got an awesome table in the corner of the front room and immaculate service from Clark's favorite waitress Jen (there was a wager-less prop bet going on about her ethnicity, which I lost).

We started with an inexpensive but fantastic Pinot that Clark was familiar with. Some of the best wine for its money that I've tasted. Appetizers included some barbecue shrimp (that stinkypete hated) and delicious deviled eggs that prompted us to raid the kitchen after the meal for more of them (at $3 a pop).

We moved onto a shiraz wine with a funky label that I didn't care for but it was fine. I started my meal off with the best lobster bisque of my life -- it was a very creamy, unbelievably flavorful bisque where the lobster was forceful but not overwhelming. Warm, delicious, and left me wanting more.

For my entree I ordered the pork chops with bacon-wrapped shrimp. The bacon-wrapped shrimp was a genius invention that had me salivating. The pork was delicious too -- I did not regret not ordering steak, because this entree was a 10. In fact everything about Delmonico (except for the bread plate) was even better than Prime.

The capper of the meal was the cabernet that DaveR picked out. It was a Shafer. of I think 2003 vintage (right Dave?) that not only complemented the meat perfectly, but was gloriously drinkable and vibrant on its own. Among the 3 best cabs I've ever had, easy.

We got a cab Franc later on that suffered from having to compare with the Shafer., so I mostly ignored it.

Dinner was much steeper this time around without CDC's pit losses to stem the tide, but even though I felt a bit underolled it was worth it. An excellent, excellent meal and here's to Clarkmeister for hosting it in style, with a supporting performance by DaveR for his wine expertise.

Epilogue

After dinner, stinkypete finally woke up for good (I think he had crawled out of bed at 9pm and so by midnight was just coming to life) and led us all down into the Venetian pits. Morello taught me craps, but I didn't play because I'm a total nit with no gamble in me -- yes, I was in Vegas for 4 days and didn't drop a penny on table games. I watched CDC, Hobbs, DaveR, and Clark go nuts on blackjack (where DaveR made back some of his poker losses, and even CDC failed to run too bad).

Since I wanted a +EV experience I headed over to the poker room and eventually got into a nice 15/30 game that I broke even at, and had to leave due to tiredness just after goofball showed up.

The next day I only got to play a couple more hours before my flight, so I hit up the Bellagio for a quick 15 session (and DaveR got to sweat me opening 73s and firing on every street to take down a 5-way pot without showdown) and realized that I [censored] hate the Bellagio poker room. Everyone there is a bitchy, whiny nit and the arguments go on for like 8 hands after the fact and nobody ever shuts up and the tables are cramped and the floorpeople suck and everything about it is awful compared to the Wynn, and even the Wynn can't compare to my home-field advantage-loving Commerce Casino.

Where I finally got to play once again last night. It was comfortable being back in L.A. and winning monies, but I do need to make sure that once in a while I have that kind of Vegas experience.

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ED: edited title for others to add in their own trip reports and advanced gambling theories as well.

[traz]

interesting read, thanks for posting.

I can't wait until I'm 21 and head to vegas, and meet some 2p2ers. You also succeeded in making me pretty hungry

[El Diablo]

pj,

Sounds like an awesome trip. I just took a quick trip there w/ GoG. I will follow up later with some more details, but just posting this now to get started while it's still fresh.

Sunday: Dinner at Nine at Palms. Blackjack at palms. Go to Rio and meet durrr and get bag of cash from him to buyin to series and for GoG to play big. Play blackjack at Rio with James282 and Matty and awesome buddy of Matt's, PickyTooth. Go play 10-25NL with James and PT tag-teaming one spot. Double through dude who James is calling Ellen Degeneres.

Monday: WSOP ME all day. Introduce myself to ike and newhizzle, both were very nice guys. Manage to limp to dinner break w/ about half avg stack. Basically, nothing happens. Get short and find AA in blinds twice, no action either time. Flop a set once, PFR calls flop raise, but check-folds turn when third club turns. Get short again and push KJs after big stack opens on button, he has AA, I flop Q92, turn J, but no help. No beats, no real excitement. Decide to play Let it Ride since it is Clark's favorite game and is poekr themed and it's the World Series. Manage to lose about 40 of 45 hands and never make more than one pair. That is very bad for that game. Lose $3k. Vow to never play the stupid game again. Play some blackjack w/ GoG and a guy James knows from AC who is an awesome pit gambler. Take a break to go hang out w/ dealer chick I know. Then back to more gambling. Highlight here was $4k BJ bet by GoG, 11 v. 10, double down and dirty, dealer 5-8 busto, had 10 for 21 anyway, ship $8k win!

Tuesday: Change mind and decide to take one last shot at Let it Ride. Hit a straight flush for $20,000. Go to room and do some work for a few hours. Meet up w/ BK, Matty, and James for BJ. Clark joins us for some BJ and Let it Ride. Then go to Shintaro for dinner w/ GoG, Clark, James, Matty, JV and HiatusOver. Proceed to lose thousands at blackjack. Get into it a bit with pit boss when he wants to update all my player card info when I'm cashing out after losing a few thousand at the table. Picky joins us and James manages to have two drug dealers follow us around for the next two hours. Meet up w/ durrrr, raptor, and chuddo for a drink. James has great convo w/ nice whore who wants to come gamble with us, but someone steals her away. Head back to Rio for more BJ losing. Highlight here is $5k BJ bet by James and GoG, 11 v. 10, double down and dirty, dealer busto again, 10 for 21 again anyway, ship $10k win! Note that both of these big hands by GoG came from his system of starting w/ $100 and letting it ride until hitting table max.

Back to SF Wednesday.

[DrNo888]

Lobster bisque at Delmonico's is the awesome!

[Howard Treesong]

[ QUOTE ]
pj,

Sounds like an awesome trip. I just took a quick trip there w/ GoG. I will follow up later with some more details, but just posting this now to get started while it's still fresh.

Sunday: Dinner at Nine at Palms. Blackjack at palms. Go to Rio and meet durrr and get bag of cash from him to buyin to series and for GoG to play big. Play blackjack at Rio with James282 and Matty and awesome buddy of Matt's, PickyTooth. Go play 10-25NL with James and PT tag-teaming one spot. Double through dude who James is calling Ellen Degeneres.

Monday: WSOP ME all day. Introduce myself to ike and newhizzle, both were very nice guys. Manage to limp to dinner break w/ about half avg stack. Basically, nothing happens. Get short and find AA in blinds twice, no action either time. Flop a set once, PFR calls flop raise, but check-folds turn when third club turns. Get short again and push KJs after big stack opens on button, he has AA, I flop Q92, turn J, but no help. No beats, no real excitement. Decide to play Let it Ride since it is Clark's favorite game and is poekr themed and it's the World Series. Manage to lose about 40 of 45 hands and never make more than one pair. That is very bad for that game. Lose $3k. Vow to never play the stupid game again. Play some blackjack w/ GoG and a guy James knows from AC who is an awesome pit gambler. Take a break to go hang out w/ dealer chick I know. Then back to more gambling. Highlight here was $4k BJ bet by GoG, 11 v. 10, double down and dirty, dealer 5-8 busto, had 10 for 21 anyway, ship $8k win!

Tuesday: Change mind and decide to take one last shot at Let it Ride. Hit a straight flush for $20,000. Go to room and do some work for a few hours. Meet up w/ BK, Matty, and James for BJ. Clark joins us for some BJ and Let it Ride. Then go to Shintaro for dinner w/ GoG, Clark, James, Matty, JV and HiatusOver. Proceed to lose thousands at blackjack. Get into it a bit with pit boss when he wants to update all my player card info when I'm cashing out after losing a few thousand at the table. Picky joins us and James manages to have two drug dealers follow us around for the next two hours. Meet up w/ durrrr, raptor, and chuddo for a drink. James has great convo w/ nice whore who wants to come gamble with us, but someone steals her away. Head back to Rio for more BJ losing. Highlight here is $5k BJ bet by James and GoG, 11 v. 10, double down and dirty, dealer busto again, 10 for 21 again anyway, ship $10k win! Note that both of these big hands by GoG came from his system of starting w/ $100 and letting it ride until hitting table max.

Back to SF Wednesday.

[/ QUOTE ]

Damn. It's reports like pj's and this one that make me love Vegas. The jellyfish at the entrance to Shintaro are waaaaaaay cool.

I resolve to be more organized next year, or later this year for the Bellagio December donkament; looks like I'll be in Italy for next year's WSOP ME.

[Newt_Buggs]

The steak was very good, but the Lobster Bisque was absolutely amazing when I went a few weeks ago.

[yellowsub]

i had the bone-in ribeye at delmonico a week ago, and i really wasnt that impressed, as it was supposed to be their 'signature steak'. my friend's filet was much better imo.

[Chris Daddy Cool]

highlight gambool wise was a $3500 bet in blackjack. got 4,4 vs dealer's 6. split. resplit. double double for $17,500 on the table. didn't get a single good hand, like 13, 14, 15, 16 all the way across. dealer shows a 5 for 11, i'm ready to punch the dealer in the face, she gets a 5 next for 16 then finally a Ten for busto, or as Clark would say THATSATOOMANY!

had fun playing poker the spare moments that i did manage to play some. won a pretty good amount for the hours i played, but unfortunately not enough to turn me into a winner for the trip overall. Clark gives awesome commentary to hands, esp the Poker on TV spiel. "He has zero percent chance of winning. He's drawing dead! Oh no! He got there!"

anyways, blew my brains out playing blackjack in the latter half of my trip.

bellagio was pretty weak sauce in terms of their ability to get me a full comp considering how much action i gave them. i need to do a better job in confronting people in getting sh*t done in my favor. though dinner was fine and good as stated in pj's report.

delmonico was also v good despite my steak being overcooked. i should have had it sent back, but as i was trying to see if i was going to like it or not i had already finished half of it and didn't feel like sending it back. everything else was fantastic though.

i don't understand why clark likes Let It Ride, lost there without much fanfare or excitement. blackjack on the other hand was awesome there and i finally booked a win after my huge losses earlier. THATSATOOMANY!

oh yeah, other highlights of my trips, went shopping a couple times and got kick-ass sneakers from Ferragamo and Dior and some nice shirts.

oh yeah, so the day the iPhone came out i went to the Fashion Show Mall only to find a huge waiting line outside the store at noon. they are not even releasing the iPhone until 6 pm. no way in hell. i call them every day after only to find out that they do not have any. then one day i call them and they tell me somebody returned one and they only had one left. so i rush over to get there and get the very last iPhone in the store. it pretty much kicks ass.

[El Diablo]

CDC,

"i don't understand why clark likes Let It Ride"

Clark lets Let It Ride because he is really just a poker player and is a fraud of a pit player. Sure, he can be good fun at the blackjack table and all, but he really does not love the game nor can he understand how much love it is possible to feel for the game. When it comes right down to it, they are pretty much opposite games. In Let It Ride, when things go bad, you can take back bets and reduce your bet to a fraction of what you had on the table. In blackjack, when things go bad, you find yourself having to INCREASE the size of your wager to sums far greater than you ever intended to wager in the session. Also, Let It Ride is far slower. All of this of course results in a level of insanely quick swings in both directions in blackjack that can be nowhere near matched in Let It Ride, which is pretty much just a full-on retarded game.

[El Diablo]

Clark, James:

I of course was correct that you should double 11 vs an Ace and that you should hit soft 18 vs a 9.