My first "adventure" occurred at the airport on Monday when the TSA screener noted that my driver's license had expired at the end of November. After a moment of horror on my part, he told me that I would be allowed to travel but that I would be subject to special screening, which meant getting patted down (a new "first" for me) and having my carry-ons searched thoroughly. As expected, I passed the screening. Then my flight was delayed for a little over two hours because, and I quote, "The plane is broken." "Broken" must be a technical term in aviation. Another aircraft was brought in from somewhere. The flight itself was turbulant, but I finally arrived in Sin City about 11 hours after leaving home.
After getting settled in my room at Harrah's, I headed across the street to the Mirage to play some Omaha H/L. There was a wait list, but after watching the table for a while I decided to come back another time. I went to Harrah's poker room, looked at the board, and much to my delight saw "Mixed Game" with a table number. Wow, just what I was hoping for! This was a $4-8 FL game, with 8 hands each of HE, Omaha H/L, Razz, 2-7 Triple Draw, Omaha High Double Flop (actually a double board game), and Badugi. I had never played Badugi before, or FL Omaha high for that matter, but what the heck. Played for about 4 hours (the last hour or so was just Omaha High Double Flop to keep the game going). Harrah's caps the rake at $2 for this game. It's a loose, moderately aggressive, friendly game that I recommend highly. Last evening when reading some posts on ChipTalk.net I discovered that ChipTalk.net's Mwhitey was there, too (we're everywhere!). This game only happens on Monday evenings; several of the regulars are dealers. Harrah's is also starting to run a HORSE tournament on Monday night around midnight, which is about the time that the ring game usually breaks up, but the tournament didn't happen this week. While playing in the mixed game, I found an older-style Harrah's $1 chip that I wanted for my collection, along with a limited edition $5 7/4/06 chip.
Tuesday featured a walking tour/chip run of the end of the Strip. Stops included the Venetian ($4 drop chip), Wynn, Riviera, Circus Circus, Slots-A-Fun, Treasure Island, and O'Shea's. Played $1-2 NLHE at TI for a bit but it wasn't a good game. Then I went to Harrah's for some $1-2 NLHE, and finished up with $1-2 NLHE at the Mirage. Unfortunately, Tuesday was not my day.
Lost a big hand with KK on an uncoordinated rainbow flop when Villain called T7o for a pair of sevens, and riverred a set. Argh! Rrealizing that these games are loose, suckouts happen, and pot sizes are difficult to control, I thought that in order to mitigate big hits, perhaps buying in for a smaller amount might be a good idea. I ended with a little blackjack, which was profitable, and one spin on a nickel slot machine (yes, it's true, one single spin) that hit for $82; it was nice to finish the day on a positive note.
On Wednesday I went to the Mirage to check out the Omaha H/L situation again. I signed up on the interest list and decided to play some $1-4 spread limit 7-card stud. Because there are no antes, this is rumored to be a tight game. Well, if that isn't the understatement of the decade! After an hour or so I gave up on stud, took myself off the interest list for Omaha, and walked over to the Bellagio to watch part of Day 1A of the WPT Doyle Brunson Classic ME. After picking up some $1 chips from the cage, I headed to the tournament area. I was surprised to see that the tournament was held in an open area on the general casino floor, and not in a separate room. Both this area and the regular poker room were very crowded with the tournament itself, satellites, and the regular cash games. I watched Table 48 for a while (Johnny Chan, Jonathan Little, and Dan Harrington were at that table). During the break I approached Harrington, Chan, and Gavin Smith to request autographs. All three graciously obliged. Johnny Chan looked at the Bellagio chip that I handed him, laughed out loud, and exclaimed "A buck? Is that all I'm worth?"
Back in my room, I read an article in
Card Player Magazine by Ed Miller, "A Foolproof Strategy for Wild Games," in which he discusses the advantages of low buy-ins in certain games. Because I don't have much experience in NLHE ring games, I thought his advice made sense for me personally and decided to give it a try, as I had been thinking along this line anyway. No Omaha H/L game at the Mirage (how disappointing), no mixed game at Harrah's or the Venetian--I checked them all again. Played $1-2 NLHE at the Flamingo and won a little.
Thursday afternoon found me back at the Bellagio for a little more railbirding. BTW, watching a big tournament in person is so boring. Not only can you not see the hole cards (of course), but with rare exceptions you can't see the board cards either. Most of the conversations are inaudible from the rail (I could hear Mike Matusow from about 10 feet away, but not Barry Greenstein or most of the other people at the same table). What struck me was the the overall quiet and serious tone -- none of the outbursts or other loud displays or antics that we see on TV, which could be because of the lack of TV coverage, or maybe it's because that doesn't go on much during the early levels. During the break I added three more autographed chips to my collection: Barry Greenstein, Alan Cunningham, and in one of the highlights of my trip [long pause for dramatic effect], from the man himself, Doyle Brunson. Sweet!
OK, enough with the tourist stuff; let's play some poker. I had heard that the games at Planet Hollywood were relatively soft, so that's where I headed next. Played $1-2 NLHE with some very weak players and pulled in my share of the feast, but the table broke as soon as the weak players busted out. After dinner I headed back to PH. Played for an hour at a fun $1-2 NLHE table when a Pot-Limit Omaha (high) game started up. Blinds of $1-2, Buy-in $100-$500. Hmm, not much experience here, either, but I thought, let's give Ed Miller's suggestion a try. If I stack off $100, I can either rebuy or give something else a try. At first I felt like the fish but in fact couldn't have asked for a better game. Most of the guys at the table bought in for the max. They were there to gamble, and chips were flying. During this session I won my biggest cash pot ever. WOOT! I called a pre-flop raise to $12 with Ac5cKQ. Six players saw flop of J93 (two clubs), and four of us ended up all in (I was the last one to go all in). The turn was a red 4, but the river 2c gave me the nut flush. The guy on my left explained that I should have folded after the flop because he had me crushed with his set of nines.
Friday was supposed to be my last full day in LV. I had originally planned to go downtown on Friday, but had had a sore and scratchy throat that was getting worse every day and decided to cut out everything except actual poker. Because the best games were at night, I slept all day and headed back to PH in the evening. They had a $2-4 HORSE game going. Most of the players knew each other through FCP. They were young, had been drinking, and were used to playing online at much higher stakes. I thought that I could beat this game, but the cards didn't cooperate. After a while it was playing like a $10-20 game as the betting was capped on every street. Just as I thought about moving over to a NLHE game, a PLO game started, which of course I joined. Most of the players were the same as in Thursday's game. I stacked one guy twice, both times with aces full. Although I played much later than I had intended (who does that in Las Vegas?), it was another very profitable evening.
My cell phone rang at 6:30 a.m. on Saturday but I couldn't find it in time to answer the call. American Airlines left a voice mail to let me know that my flight had been cancelled and that they had rebooked me for an 8:30 a.m. flight on Sunday. Huh? Well, that news certainly woke me up. Long story short, I extended my hotel for a day and asked AA to put me on a Sunday afternoon flight (I am so not a morning person), figuring that if I was going to pay for another night at the hotel, I wanted to play some late-night poker without having to get up at the crack of dawn. With all the arrangements made, I had breakfast, took more cold medicine, and slept for the rest of the day.
Saturday evening found me back at PH looking for another PLO game. I played NLHE for a couple of hours (small win) until the time had passsed for a PLO game to get going.
Then I headed over to the Venetian, hoping to find a mixed game. Unfortunately, all they were spreading was HE, but this was my last opportunity to play there so I sat down at a $1-2 NLHE game. I ran into a situation where I would have been better off had I bought in for more (couldn't bet enough to protect KK after the flop), but I felt as if I was off my game anyway and left after an hour with a small loss. While I was there, one of my dealers was ChipTalk.net's own Deuces Empty (a top-notch dealer, BTW). I must add that the poker room at the Venetian is spectacular. Definitely the classiest room I've played in. It's roomy, the tables are fabulous, the chairs are very comfortable, and when you request a bottle of water, they bring you Fiji water. The max rake is $4 and there is no additional buck dragged for a high hand jackpot. They also have what is probably the best comp rate at $2/hr but I didn't play long enough to take advantage of that. I finished the night with an hour of $1-2 NLHE at Harrah's; it was a tough table but I managed a small win that put me up for the day.
Sunday: Checked out, had an ice cream soda at Giradelli's (yummy), went through special security screening at the airport, and had an uneventful trip home. Just the way traveling should be. Even considering that I was sick for much of the week, it was a great vacation. I played a variety of poker games, gained some valuable experience in NLHE ring games, picked up some fabulous mementos, added chips to my collection, was out of contact with my office for an entire week, and won enough money to pay for the entire trip. A great week, indeed!
Now for the rest of those 2,211 new posts that I missed...
RIP Tomb1...
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