mtdoak's memorial day vegas report!

[mtdoak]

My First Vegas Trip Report!!

Day #1

Made my way out to Vegas early thursday morning. Got checked into the Trop (mistake #1, staying at the Trop), hit the lunch buffet (mistake #2, eating at the Trop), and headed over to MGM Grand to check out the poker room. No even mid limit games (highest they were spreading was 4/8 with a half kill), walked the strip for the first time down to Bellagio. Sat down in 8/16, a decent enough table, one drunk guy who liked to remind everyone "this is his FIRST week playing poker" very loudly. He was pretty awful, tried to Bluff two much, raise junk hands alot. He got angry at me for calling his raise in the BB with Q9 and flopping trip 9s vs his pair of Tens and later for calling him all the way down with AK high when he was bluffing away chips like no tomorrow. I played a 5 hr session or so, left +400. Went over to ESPN Zone to watch the Edmonton game. Came back later that night to play more 8/16, a big list, played some 4/8, got up and left and went to bed.

Day #2.

Got up next morning, hit up the MGM Buffet, made my way to the Wynn for some more 8/16. Had a hard time keeping the table together, for awhile it was me, 3 locals, and a chip bleeding asian tourist. I was about to get up and leave when this hand happened: QJo UTG, 5 handed. Table is very tight passive, so i raise, local cold calls, tourist, in the BB, figures out how many chips to put in and calls. Flop comes AKx rainbow, i lead hoping to win the pot outright, intending to call one raise. Local flat calls, tourist calls. Turn is a beatitful ten, completing the rainboy i bet, local insta-raises, him and i go back at fourth for the 4 raise cap, tourist is NOT folding. River is an A, i check/call, tourist calls, Local shows big slick, i muck my straight, tourist shows an underpair. I am not leaving this seat. Table fills up, eventually, alot of tight passive locals and 2-3 just bad players. Tourist goes on a sick heater of runner runners, alot of the locals are playing poorly against him/tilting, trying to bluff him, sitting right next to him I have learned to read him like a book. He has a huge stack built up, probably a little over 1k from like 200 or so. I end up getting stuck like 600 or so at one point, but came back to stuck around 160 or so. I really wanted to stay, but the Buffalo game was about to come on, and I know I wouldn't be able to concentrate at the game with the hockey game on. So i leave. After the game, i headed over to the Mirage to play some 10/20. Another rough night, lost around 150 or so, left at 3 am-ish.

Day #3.

Slept real late, got up, met Mahanic over at Ceasars for some 4/8. Played for about an hour, lost a big pot when I raised QQ UTG, got 3 bet by an unknown who had get to get out of line. I 4 bet, he calls. Flop comes T97, i bet, he instaraises, i call. Turn is Q, i bet, he raises, we go back and forth for 5 bets. I figure he has overplayed TT. River is a non pairing blank, i bet, he calls. J8o. I say some not so nice things, nick reminds me about tapping on the glass. I get my revenge on my last hand, which I straddle. J8o donk 3 bets, lots of cold callers, i call. I look down and see the pleasant suprise of AJ. I flop top two pair, check raise the flop, trapping a big field for 2 bets, and get paid off by 5 people the next two streets and MHIG. I leave, up $50 or so. I head over to the Mirage 10/20. Not a bad table, guy next to me is drunker than a skunk and playing pretty poorly. Some locals, some tourists, a good mix. Once again, i get stuck a buy in quick. This is getting old. I go on a little run after spiking a duece on the river for a boat. I hit the Mirage Buffet with my $15 comp. I end up leaving up +350 after being stuck $650 at one point. I officially declare myself the comeback king. My favorite table story of the weekend. Young, aggressive, hot asian chick (my favorite kind) sits down. She is playing well, but getting hammered, she's in the 7 seat, i'm in the 9 seat, an old guy in the 4 seat keeps sucking out on her. She isn't very happy. She has a little dark red ceremic buddha she is using as a chip cover. Finally, she has 77 on a 9744 two flush board. Her opponent, another, early 30s asian woman, tight passive, is all in. Hot young asian girl says "I'm 100% to win", the river, of course, is the case 4. She throws her little ceremic buddha against the wall behind the dealer, curses very loudly and takes a walk. After my mirage session, i head over to the bellagio for some more late night 8/16. A fantastic table, espically with one old well off southern guy who kept trying to bluff his way into pots and was drinking Coors after Coors. I took down a big pot with Pocket 7s right after he left, but my lingering cold forced me out of the game early. Thank you jesus for Nyquil ($12 bottle of Nyquil, woo)


Day #4. I decided to sleep in today (thank you nyquil!), i head to the Mirage to play some more 10/20. After waiting 30 minutes for a seat, I sat down. Again, I get stuck a buy in rather quickly. This is getting old. Nothing really eventful happened, Though, i DID have a fantastic table image since I tried a few moves that didn't work out. Right read on the players card, wrong read and how he would react to being check raised. i ended up being stuck 200 or so when I had to leave to watch the Sabres OT game vs the Canes. After Carolina lucked themselves into an OT win, I headed over to the bellagio to an 8/16 game. After being stuck at a very tight 4/8 game for about an hour, I finally got moved to the 8/16 table. Things did not work out well for me here. Was losing with overpairs, sets, etc. Again, I got stuck a buyin. This is when i started ordering drinks. Lots of drinks. Being the self-proclaimed comeback king, I, of course, came back. My 1/2 of drunk play where I didn't play that bad, I was just loud, really loosened the table up. I ended up with some MONSTER pots. As I sobered up, few people noticed and I played some of my best poker in Vegas. Knowing when and who to push off hands, i ended up taking a profit off that table and stuck around 60 or so for the day.

Day #5, Final Day

After hearing rumors of great games going on at the Mandalay Bay because of the Mandalay Bay WPT event. I decide to check out the games around 10 AM. Predictably, there are nothing but satielletes going on. I decide to hit up the bellagio. No 8/16 open, but there was a 15/30. I decided to take a shot. Not high above my roll, but the highest stakes i've ever played live. I sit down and promptly get stuck a buy in. What a pattern this is. But, being the comeback king, won a massive pot in a 4 bet preflop pot was 5 ways with QQ. I flopped a Q, and the fun began. God I love red chip 15/30, such massive pots. From then I picked up a few medium sized pots and losing very little. I ran it up to 1600 (+600 for the session) at a somewhat tight table, and I decided to call it a weekend. Overall, I netted a little over 1k for the weekend, covering my entire trip and a little more. I hung out at the sports book, with some friends, and caught my evening flight.

I heart vegas. Really, I do. I doubt I'll ever play in the detroit card rooms again. If I ever decide to play full time, I will seriously consider moving out there for 3-6 months and really take it all in.