Justin A
09-15-2004, 11:12 PM
I've got some time now to write a Vegas report, and let me start by saying it was a blast.
I drove up with three of my friends on Thursday morning, and for the sake of brevity for the rest of the story, their names are Brian, Damien, and David. We stopped and ate some Del Taco at a mini-mart, and I decided to by a beer just so I could get carded. Of course the moron at the register doesn't card me so I'm left with a 32 oz. Miller High Life that I didn't really want in the first place.
We checked in at the Riviera, and got all dressed up in nice shirts and coats. We headed to the Bellagio, where the drink service at the race and sports book was excellent. I lost $4.50 betting on the horses.
See my other post for an account of my meeting Phil Ivey while I was there.
Walked over to the Cheescake Factory at Ceasars' for some good eats and some more drinks. At this point we all went out to hop in a cab, and we decided on the Spearmint Rhino because no one felt like waiting in line to get into a club.
The women at the Rhino were beautiful, and naked. Brian sprung for a couple lap dances, and they all chipped in to get me one. I wasn't all too thrilled with it because I'm happily engaged, but it's hard to think about that when there's a couple of large boobs in your face. Strip clubs are a very sureal atmosphere.
3:30 rolls around and we head back to the Riviera. Brian and Damien head for the rooms, while David and I walk over to the Sahara for some small stakes Hold'em. We each drop about thirty in three hours or so, and finally go to sleep.
The next afternoon we headed across the street for Slots-A-Fun casino, home of Subway and $3 blackjack. I was the big winner with a $20 win, and I'm wondering how I should invest the money when I decided to blow most of it on the roller coaster at New York New York. Great coaster, but a bit pricey at $12.50 per ride.
On to Excalibur for some real poker. This time I sit down at the 1/2 100 NL game for about three hours. A combination of shitty cards and shitty play sees me drop $240 and I decide it's time to go get drunk at Mandalay. David is now addicted to poker, and he stays there playing in the 1-3 hold'em game and we don't see him until later that night.
At Mandalay we threw down some bets on our area of expertise, baseball. We all play baseball in college, and we win two of three bets at $20 a pop, with the third one missing by a hair (it was a three bet parlay). The drink service sucks, as you need to come up with complimentary drink passes to get drinks. Luckily we became friendly with a high roller sitting near by who hands us a stack of them.
We head back to the Riviera to meet my fiance Laura, who has just flown in. After she gets ready in the room and I've taken some shots of Jaeger, we head to the Beach, where we have some VIP passes from I don't know where. The club is fun, and eventually we head back for some sleep.
Saturday we basically do the sight seeing thing, and visited almost every casino on the strip. We spend quite a bit of time at the Bellagio sports book, and once again we win almost all of our bets on baseball games. I had a $20 bet that I put on the White Sox at +180, and they win by 7. Beautiful.
Two girls that David and Brian know join us for the night, and we have some delicious food at a Cafe in Paris. I share a bottle of wine with Laura, and I can tell it's going to be a long night. The two girls are underage and don't have ID's, so we're forced to just wander the strip. We stop by a Tequila Bar at Bally's for some margaritas, and then to a mini mart on the strip for some 32 oz. Bud Lights. We somehow end up in a limo, and go to the Luxor for a 3:00 AM meal, and my personal pizza was excellent.
Sunday is pretty low key, I sit down for a few hours at a 3/6 limit game and manage to lose $70 even though I never once made or called a big bet. We went to Aladdin for the buffet, and it was absolutely awesome. Best meal I've had in a long time.
We headed to the Flamingo for some karaoke at Islands bar, and I sang "People are Strange" in my best Jim Morrison impression. Brian and David pussed out and didn't sing, but it's probably a good thing because they suck anyways.
I convinced everyone to go downtown to the Western with me, because it's the shadiest casino I know of. We walked in and played some two dollar blackjack. I had a three dollar bet out, and won a double down. Just as the deal was discarding, the pit boss runs over and starts screaming something about the dealer screwing up. They actually call surveillance about a $6 bet and make me wait five minutes before they finally pay me. Good times and good laughs at the Western.
That's pretty much it, we drove back the next morning. I've gotta hit up Party Poker to make back the money I lost.
Some poker thoughts:
Each and every one of the games I played in were much much softer than the games at Party. Had I stayed and played longer I think it would have been very profitable. The no limit game was much softer than the one I'm used to at Sycuan in San Diego. This probably has to do with more tourists than ever sitting down to play some poker.
Justin A
I drove up with three of my friends on Thursday morning, and for the sake of brevity for the rest of the story, their names are Brian, Damien, and David. We stopped and ate some Del Taco at a mini-mart, and I decided to by a beer just so I could get carded. Of course the moron at the register doesn't card me so I'm left with a 32 oz. Miller High Life that I didn't really want in the first place.
We checked in at the Riviera, and got all dressed up in nice shirts and coats. We headed to the Bellagio, where the drink service at the race and sports book was excellent. I lost $4.50 betting on the horses.
See my other post for an account of my meeting Phil Ivey while I was there.
Walked over to the Cheescake Factory at Ceasars' for some good eats and some more drinks. At this point we all went out to hop in a cab, and we decided on the Spearmint Rhino because no one felt like waiting in line to get into a club.
The women at the Rhino were beautiful, and naked. Brian sprung for a couple lap dances, and they all chipped in to get me one. I wasn't all too thrilled with it because I'm happily engaged, but it's hard to think about that when there's a couple of large boobs in your face. Strip clubs are a very sureal atmosphere.
3:30 rolls around and we head back to the Riviera. Brian and Damien head for the rooms, while David and I walk over to the Sahara for some small stakes Hold'em. We each drop about thirty in three hours or so, and finally go to sleep.
The next afternoon we headed across the street for Slots-A-Fun casino, home of Subway and $3 blackjack. I was the big winner with a $20 win, and I'm wondering how I should invest the money when I decided to blow most of it on the roller coaster at New York New York. Great coaster, but a bit pricey at $12.50 per ride.
On to Excalibur for some real poker. This time I sit down at the 1/2 100 NL game for about three hours. A combination of shitty cards and shitty play sees me drop $240 and I decide it's time to go get drunk at Mandalay. David is now addicted to poker, and he stays there playing in the 1-3 hold'em game and we don't see him until later that night.
At Mandalay we threw down some bets on our area of expertise, baseball. We all play baseball in college, and we win two of three bets at $20 a pop, with the third one missing by a hair (it was a three bet parlay). The drink service sucks, as you need to come up with complimentary drink passes to get drinks. Luckily we became friendly with a high roller sitting near by who hands us a stack of them.
We head back to the Riviera to meet my fiance Laura, who has just flown in. After she gets ready in the room and I've taken some shots of Jaeger, we head to the Beach, where we have some VIP passes from I don't know where. The club is fun, and eventually we head back for some sleep.
Saturday we basically do the sight seeing thing, and visited almost every casino on the strip. We spend quite a bit of time at the Bellagio sports book, and once again we win almost all of our bets on baseball games. I had a $20 bet that I put on the White Sox at +180, and they win by 7. Beautiful.
Two girls that David and Brian know join us for the night, and we have some delicious food at a Cafe in Paris. I share a bottle of wine with Laura, and I can tell it's going to be a long night. The two girls are underage and don't have ID's, so we're forced to just wander the strip. We stop by a Tequila Bar at Bally's for some margaritas, and then to a mini mart on the strip for some 32 oz. Bud Lights. We somehow end up in a limo, and go to the Luxor for a 3:00 AM meal, and my personal pizza was excellent.
Sunday is pretty low key, I sit down for a few hours at a 3/6 limit game and manage to lose $70 even though I never once made or called a big bet. We went to Aladdin for the buffet, and it was absolutely awesome. Best meal I've had in a long time.
We headed to the Flamingo for some karaoke at Islands bar, and I sang "People are Strange" in my best Jim Morrison impression. Brian and David pussed out and didn't sing, but it's probably a good thing because they suck anyways.
I convinced everyone to go downtown to the Western with me, because it's the shadiest casino I know of. We walked in and played some two dollar blackjack. I had a three dollar bet out, and won a double down. Just as the deal was discarding, the pit boss runs over and starts screaming something about the dealer screwing up. They actually call surveillance about a $6 bet and make me wait five minutes before they finally pay me. Good times and good laughs at the Western.
That's pretty much it, we drove back the next morning. I've gotta hit up Party Poker to make back the money I lost.
Some poker thoughts:
Each and every one of the games I played in were much much softer than the games at Party. Had I stayed and played longer I think it would have been very profitable. The no limit game was much softer than the one I'm used to at Sycuan in San Diego. This probably has to do with more tourists than ever sitting down to play some poker.
Justin A