David
04-20-2003, 08:51 PM
My wife and I arrived in Vegas about 10:45 Wednesday morning. We went straight to Bally's to check in then headed to Alladin (La Salsa Cantina) for lunch. Decent Mexican food, but not quite like here in Texas. I headed to Bellagio about 1:30 and got on the 8/16 list then went and watched the WPT event for about an hour or so. Went back and still I was way down the list so I headed to Mirage. Immediate seating in the 10/20 so I sat down with a table full of regulars. Very rockish game. I had gotten on the list for 6/12 and after an 15 minutes they called me but I decided to stay in the 10/20 because of 1 loose player. After a couple of hours I was up the grand total of $25 and got back on the 6/12 list and moved there as soon as they called me. I lost $21 in a a little over an hour. Not one single notable hand at either limit. I registered for the limit tourney. I had planned on playing several tournies while in town, but as my ring game play has improved lately my tourney game has digressed. Anyway, about 10 minutes into the tourney I realized I never should have entered (I was falling asleep). I had Q /forums/images/icons/spade.gif J /forums/images/icons/spade.gif in middle position and called preflop. I think 6 people saw the flop. Flop came 9 10 2. I checked and called, turn was the 8 /forums/images/icons/heart.gif , I checked again hoping to check raise and got my wish when blinds checked in front and button bet only to get checkraise by sb and I reraised then button reraised. HMMMMMMM !!! River came a blank, SB bet, only then did I notice that both the 9 and 10 were /forums/images/icons/heart.gif 's. Doh! I lost to 2 flushes, lol. I decided then....no rebuy for me. I lasted awhile longer then unceremoniously exited and headed for bed.
Thursday.....
Did some things with the wife all morning and was planning on spending the afternoon with her, but curse the luck she was feeling a little under the weather and went back to the room and left me with nothing to do so I headed to Bellagio. Got on the 8/16 list and went out to watch the WPT again. About a half hour later they started a new 8/16 game and I sat down. Loose game, mostly tourists I believe. No real notable hands except 1 hand where I was in BB with 63o, four callers and flop came 4 5 K. I bet (???) and all called. Turn was my dream 2 and river was either a 8 or 9 and I scooped in a nice pot. Played for about 3 hours and won a nice $248. Dinner time....Ate at the steakhouse at Bally's, over priced and not that great. After dinner I headed to the Mirage hoping for a 10/20 seat. List of about 3, but immediate seating in 20/40. This is a little over my head but I figured what the heck and bought a rack and sat down. Tough game, but I got a few hands and made a little. Most notable hand I had K /forums/images/icons/spade.gif 10 /forums/images/icons/spade.gif in BB and called a raise from a middle position player who was young and very aggressive. Flop came K 3 6. I checked and called. Turn came 8. I decided I was going to check raise him before the turn card came and he obliged me perfectly and then folded to my checkraise. Good play? I do have to say my reads on players are getting very very accurate lately. Wonder why? I seriously do wonder why, I am putting players on hands lately and have been right an astonishingly (for me) amount of the time. Back to report... After a little while they called me for the 10/20 and I moved over with a nice $180 profit which I then gave back $110 of in the 10/20, lol. There was one absolutely terrible player in this game who took almost every pot I entered with him. He busted my AA with his K4, he busted my KK with his 84. Anyway I lost the $110 trying to bust him, duh. Played 'til about 11:00 and headed to bed.
Friday....
Headed to Bellagio after lunch and got seated in 8/16. Very loose and nice game with 3 players feeding the rest. My strong hands held up and I quit just before dinner ahead $190. We decided to try P.F. Chang's at Alladin for dinner. WOW! Awesome food, awesome service. One of the top meals I have ever had! The honey shrimp? Great! The Mongolian beef? Great! The scallops? Wow! Highly recommend this place! You gotta try the lettuce wraps! Back to poker..... Back to Bellagio, got on the 8/16 and 15/30 list. After about an hour and a half of blackjack I get a seat, about 10:00pm. The rush of rushes happened then. First hand I post behing the button and get QQ, middle position raises and I reraise, BB calls and MP reraise(uh-oh), I call. Flop comes Q77, YES!!!! I drag a huge pot, MP shows AA and BB shows flush. Few hands later I get JJ raise and get 2 callers flop is alll low and I take down nice pot. Few hands later I get AA and drag another nice pot. Few hands later KK and another nice pot. Few hands later AK and another nice pot. So, after about 15 minutes I am up a nice amount. The cards then evened out and I stayed pretty much even for awhile and then a hand came up where a very tight player to my right raised preflop and I had JJ, i reraised and only he called. Flop came 2 5 8 rainbow, he bet, I raised and he reraised, I called. Turn came another rag and he bet. I seriously considered folding here (would anybody fold) but I called. River came A, He checked and I checked, he showed 10 10. Another nice pot. Well, I quit about 12:30 up $560. Nice session!
Blackjack report...
Used the $10 match play coupon at Bally's on a single deck table and ran it to $290 before I quit. NICE! Lost $80 playing at Bellagio while waiting on poker seats. Won $90 while waiting at Mirage.
Craps report....
Crap! lost $80 the only time I played at Barbary Coast.
Sklansky report....
I saw him standing in the sports book Friday night when I was exiting then restroom and decided to see how rude he really was so I walked up to him and said "hi David Sklansky I just wanted to say even if you are rude to me I won't say anything bad about you on 2+2" He laughed and shook my hand. Seemed like a nice enough guy to me. Even if he wasn't I would still read his books.
Roy Cooke report....
Saw him in the Bellagio poker room and introduced myself and he reached out and shook my hand and was very nice.
All in all a great trip (and profitable). Unfortunately it's going to be awhile before I can go back (2 family vacations coming up before the end of year).
Whew.....that's enough! /forums/images/icons/grin.gif
Thursday.....
Did some things with the wife all morning and was planning on spending the afternoon with her, but curse the luck she was feeling a little under the weather and went back to the room and left me with nothing to do so I headed to Bellagio. Got on the 8/16 list and went out to watch the WPT again. About a half hour later they started a new 8/16 game and I sat down. Loose game, mostly tourists I believe. No real notable hands except 1 hand where I was in BB with 63o, four callers and flop came 4 5 K. I bet (???) and all called. Turn was my dream 2 and river was either a 8 or 9 and I scooped in a nice pot. Played for about 3 hours and won a nice $248. Dinner time....Ate at the steakhouse at Bally's, over priced and not that great. After dinner I headed to the Mirage hoping for a 10/20 seat. List of about 3, but immediate seating in 20/40. This is a little over my head but I figured what the heck and bought a rack and sat down. Tough game, but I got a few hands and made a little. Most notable hand I had K /forums/images/icons/spade.gif 10 /forums/images/icons/spade.gif in BB and called a raise from a middle position player who was young and very aggressive. Flop came K 3 6. I checked and called. Turn came 8. I decided I was going to check raise him before the turn card came and he obliged me perfectly and then folded to my checkraise. Good play? I do have to say my reads on players are getting very very accurate lately. Wonder why? I seriously do wonder why, I am putting players on hands lately and have been right an astonishingly (for me) amount of the time. Back to report... After a little while they called me for the 10/20 and I moved over with a nice $180 profit which I then gave back $110 of in the 10/20, lol. There was one absolutely terrible player in this game who took almost every pot I entered with him. He busted my AA with his K4, he busted my KK with his 84. Anyway I lost the $110 trying to bust him, duh. Played 'til about 11:00 and headed to bed.
Friday....
Headed to Bellagio after lunch and got seated in 8/16. Very loose and nice game with 3 players feeding the rest. My strong hands held up and I quit just before dinner ahead $190. We decided to try P.F. Chang's at Alladin for dinner. WOW! Awesome food, awesome service. One of the top meals I have ever had! The honey shrimp? Great! The Mongolian beef? Great! The scallops? Wow! Highly recommend this place! You gotta try the lettuce wraps! Back to poker..... Back to Bellagio, got on the 8/16 and 15/30 list. After about an hour and a half of blackjack I get a seat, about 10:00pm. The rush of rushes happened then. First hand I post behing the button and get QQ, middle position raises and I reraise, BB calls and MP reraise(uh-oh), I call. Flop comes Q77, YES!!!! I drag a huge pot, MP shows AA and BB shows flush. Few hands later I get JJ raise and get 2 callers flop is alll low and I take down nice pot. Few hands later I get AA and drag another nice pot. Few hands later KK and another nice pot. Few hands later AK and another nice pot. So, after about 15 minutes I am up a nice amount. The cards then evened out and I stayed pretty much even for awhile and then a hand came up where a very tight player to my right raised preflop and I had JJ, i reraised and only he called. Flop came 2 5 8 rainbow, he bet, I raised and he reraised, I called. Turn came another rag and he bet. I seriously considered folding here (would anybody fold) but I called. River came A, He checked and I checked, he showed 10 10. Another nice pot. Well, I quit about 12:30 up $560. Nice session!
Blackjack report...
Used the $10 match play coupon at Bally's on a single deck table and ran it to $290 before I quit. NICE! Lost $80 playing at Bellagio while waiting on poker seats. Won $90 while waiting at Mirage.
Craps report....
Crap! lost $80 the only time I played at Barbary Coast.
Sklansky report....
I saw him standing in the sports book Friday night when I was exiting then restroom and decided to see how rude he really was so I walked up to him and said "hi David Sklansky I just wanted to say even if you are rude to me I won't say anything bad about you on 2+2" He laughed and shook my hand. Seemed like a nice enough guy to me. Even if he wasn't I would still read his books.
Roy Cooke report....
Saw him in the Bellagio poker room and introduced myself and he reached out and shook my hand and was very nice.
All in all a great trip (and profitable). Unfortunately it's going to be awhile before I can go back (2 family vacations coming up before the end of year).
Whew.....that's enough! /forums/images/icons/grin.gif