Quick Trip Report - Vegas 6/1-6/3

[uclaben]

This is going to be real quick, just a few observations from the weekend. Got in to the Rio late Friday night, immediately hit the craps tables and shot a 7 my first roll. "That's a good start," I said, smiling as the dealers paid off my $25 pass-line bet. "That just cost me $1,800," T.J. Cloutier replied. "Real good start."

Yah, whatever man.

Got tired of burning money in the pit, and made the trek over to the poker barn on the other side. The line for the next day's tournament literally stretched around the block - just ridiculous. Got in and put my name on the list for a few games. I was third on the list for 10-20 O8, I think, but when I walked over to that table there were two seats open, so I just sat down. This was no anomaly: they are not calling the list. They're just not. If you want to play, go to the board and find your table number, then sit down. Whatever.

The O8 game was fun, especially because I have no idea how to play Omaha. Luckily, it doesn't appear that anyone else does either, or at least they don't know how to take advantage of a bad player, because I wasn't really getting abused. Great table, tequila shots, straddles, etc. Left more or less even about three hours later and sat down at a 20-40 hold'em game. And...that table was awful. Took me one round to decide that I needed no part of that tight-aggressive game with exactly one donator. Let's call it a night.

Got up the next morning and immediately hit the craps tables (sense a pattern here?). Lost lots and lots more money, and this time I couldn't even stick it to T.J. Cloutier. Oh well. Over to the Bellagio, put my name on the 15-30 list. Fast forward three hours and another $500 or so in the pit, and I get seated. The B was a total mess - interestingly, the floor was actually doing a fairly good job. There really isn't anything they can do; there's just too many people and too little room. In any case, I got into a good game and found some great luck and cashed out three hours later +$1,175. Worth the wait, I guess.

Paris buffet, then back to the Rio for more O8! I know that a couple of you guys at that table are 2+2ers...was a fun game, didn't break until 6AM. More luck and less skill and I won a nice sum again. Of note at the Rio: some of the dealers were excellent, and some really had no idea what they're doing. Definitely a mixed bag from what I saw over 10 or so hours of play. Floor isn't so much bad as they are nonexistent. The cash game section was really just alright...lots of limits running, but the action wasn't really spectacular. The tournament, OTOH, appeared to be in total disarray - glad I wasn't involved with that. At one point we had a marked card scandal at our Omaha table, as every ace, deuce, and trey in both of our decks appeared to have thumbnail indentations. Whether this was actual cheating or just a coincidence, I couldn't tell you...the marks were not particularly flagrant, but it did appear to be only low cards. The floor gave us a generic message of concern but did not appear to be particularly bothered by the issue. Whatever.

That about covers it. Cliff notes: fun Omaha and awful hold'em at the Rio poker barn (irrelevant sample size). Good game and bad wait at the B. Too much craps.

I'll be back this weekend, lol.