spoody
11-04-2003, 08:38 PM
Trip Report. Bellagio
As everyone knows, the hotel and casino are beautiful. They have remodeled a lot of the rooms. You must pay more for a Lake/Fountain view, but it is worth it…ask for the bed to be on the North side of the room so you can sit in bed and look at the Eiffel Tower while in bed. The new rooms look nice, but they are WAY too dark. They have barely any lights and its hard to see things like if you have to iron something….they really need to fix the lights. The spa is great but the spa attendants are not nearly as friendly and helpful as the guys at the Mirage. At the Mirage they will make a fruit or protein smoothy for you, but at the Bellagio they won’t…they say it’s a health code thing. But the workout equipment is better, so it’s probably a wash. I do recommend the facial for everyone. My wife and I both had a massage and a facial…I gotta say the facial is better. 1 hour of them working on your face, hands and feet is pretty sweet. You look great after the thing too…The Bellagio facial is the best, they assess your skin when you get in there and then they do what they feel is most beneficial for you. Kind of expensive $120+, but worth every penny…keep in mind that any spa treatment makes the workout room free ($25 normally).
Here are the restaurants we ate at and our ratings….I gotta say they are all highly recommended, but with a special bump to noodles for the dim sum.
Noodles @ Bellagio: Asian Noodle/Soup/Rice Shop – Fri/Sat/Sun they do Dim Sum over lunch. This is the best food in Vegas. The dim sum is awesome. Unless you live in NYC or San Francisco, you are not going to find anything as good as the dim sum here. We ate it all 3 days they offered it. They also make excellent noodles soups, rice dishes..etc. Everything is top notch and not too expensive. A big giveaway at how good this place is, is by the fact that everyone eating in there is Asian.
Nectar @ Bellagio: This is a highbrow New England American style restaurant with things like Fish and Chips etc. Very good. My wife and I both had the F&C along with a Ceasar…it was all excellent.
Olives @ Bellagio: Todd English’s Mediterranian restaurant (he has one in Boston). This is another favorite of ours. The Fig and Priscuitto Flat Bread and the Mushroom Flatbread are both sooo good. Olives is best when you can sit outside on the deck and watch the fountains. You may have to wait for a table, but it is worth it. Order one of the flatbreads as an appetizer…by the time you get through the bread, tapenade, olives and the flatbread you may be ready for dessert, but the entrees are very good too.
Nob Hill @ MGM: This is owned by the guy who started Aqua in both SF and Bellagio. Continental menu, excellent but expensive food. We had both the Fondue and the plate of Meats, cheese and olives for starters (we only had an hour before La Femme started so we could not do the tasting menu). Both were very good. For the meal I had the Tuna Carpaccio and my wife had the Tomato soup with lobster sandwich…both of these were from the starter side of the menu. My tuna was good, but the soup and sandwich were insane. I would make a special trip just to eat that again. I just wish I wasn’t so full from the fondue and bread that I had gorged myself on.
Taqueria Canonita @ Venetian: SW/Mexican food. This is some of the better SW food I have eaten. Keep in mind I live in MN, but the Empanadas are excellent. The soups and salads are all done extremely well. The chips and salsa are great too. We always have lunch once on every trip and have never been anything but thrilled with our meal.
The Shows: We have seen Mystere and O, so we decided to try La Femme. Rated highest by USA today. This is the exact same show they have at the Crazy Horse in Paris. I guess they rotate the dancers in every 6 months or so. The women are all perfect…almost look like exact copies of each other except for slight breast size variations…No silicone allowed! All are very attractive and classically trained ballet dancers. They are topless the entire time and go bottomless, but they all wear a v shaped patch over their ultra private area that looks like hair…but since we were in the 3rd row you could tell. No matter, it was very sexy and worth going to see with your honey. It is not offensive unless you are a prude….but then what are you doing in Vegas? It’s not too expensive either.
Now on to the gambling:
My wife likes Let it Ride, so that’s what we play together. I think it is fun too. I am sure the odds are pretty bad, especially on the $1 bonus bet, but we are definitely up in our Let it Ride careers. We were down probably $800 over our trip when I hit a 4 of a kind (224 and then 22 on the flop) I won $1400 on that one hand. Add that to the Blackjack loss, Craps loss, video poker loss, we broke even or even won a little. I won $300+ playing poker, so we ended up somewhere between $300 and $500.
Poker – Beautiful room. Most tables (around 30?) are on the main level and then there are about 5 that are separated above the floor by a couple of steps and railed off. Reminds me of a 1960s split level house with the elevated family room. There was a list of about 10-15 people for every holdem game from 4-8 to 30-60. The longest list was usually 4-8 or 8-16. The Bellagio has 2 different areas to check in for games – they may actually have another super high limit check in area, but I am not sure. Right when you enter there is the stand with the1-5 and 6-12 stud list along with the 4-8 and 8-16 holdem. In the middle of the room is the higher limits of 15-30 and 30-60 holdem along with the 20-40 Omaha8 ½ kill game and the bigger stud game. I was most interested in playing 15-30, but the list was quite long every time I checked in. I ended up with my name on all Holdem up to 15-30, usually I would wait about an hour for a spot in the 15-30 game, and then right after I got in, there would be no list and they would be constantly broadcasting that 15-30 was open. I still got to play mostly 15-30 after starting at either 4-8 or 8-16 while waiting for a spot to open.
There are locals at every game, every level. Many of the locals seem to fancy themselves pros, now I guess because they are winning a some money and they play all the time they could be considered a “pro,” but I found over half of the locals to be super tight, and quite passive in their play. They would wait for just the real big starter hands and play them strong only if they flopped something. Of course, some locals were good and knew what they were doing, but all in all I was unimpressed with the locals play. But even if only half of the locals were tough, that was enough to make the games tougher than what I usually play against in MN. The better locals where the younger players – many seem to be Asian men and women. They would hammer the pot constantly and you needed to plan on a lot of reraising if you wanted to muscle in on a raggedy flop.
I would say ½ of the players at every one of my tables were from Vegas. I sat next one guy named Yusef at the 15-30 table who plays every day. He was good. Tight, Aggressive…good. I guess he is going to law school, while half retired after making money from real estate…probably only in his 40s. Met another guy who was having some bad beats, but definitely knew what he was doing, who played all the time, but was opening a Quizno’s in town and was going to be working non stop in a few weeks. Sat next to an older gentleman from Laughlin that was constantly talking about drinking green tea for the polyphenols and eating special eggs with omega 3 fatty acids. He was trying to peel one of his special hard boiled eggs for like a half hour, but it wasn’t boiled right so the shell was glued on to the white of the egg and wasn’t coming off. Every time it was his turn he would have to clean off one of his hands and then peek at his cards before he folded (he folded every time while messing with his egg). He moved seats 4 times – this is something I noticed the locals did all the time, they keep moving seats.
The main difference in the play in Vegas compared to my normal cardroom (Canterbury in MN) is that there is more raises and aggressive play on every round. The moves to take over the lead in a pot are “1-more.” So if you can win a pot at home with a bet or a raise, you will run in to a raise or reraise many more times. I found the best time to steal a pot was on the turn with a checkraise or raise against 1 or 2 others. The games would swing from wild to passive and then back to wild minute by minute. The biggest pots were both close to $700 in the 15-30 games. Both were very similar with a raise preflop to 5 players, 1 bet on the flop down to 3 players, and then on the turn bet, raise, reraise, fold, reraise, reraise, reraise, reraise… and then bet call on the river. Both big pots were set over set (AAA v 999 and KKK(me!) v 888) with each player hitting the set on the flop and then slowplaying, but once the turn hit, it was lights out. Other big pots were sets beaten by straights and of course the random lamo river flush beating a couple of big hands. I was on the winning end of the Kv8 set battle and a flopped broadway straight (KJ)AQT v set of Ts, but on the wrong end of a Set of 7s v low straight hit on the river. I had AA once and won an OK pot against a very good 30ish Asian lady. Had KK 3x and won the big pot but lost 2 other pretty big pots to Ax. Lost with QQ 4x, once to KK with a nothing board (that hurt). Won only once with QQ and JJ both times stealing the blinds. Big Slick was probably a break-even hand for me only because I was able to muscle my way to a pretty big pot after I had AK of spades…I had rereraised and we ended up with 3 people to see the flop. Flop was QQT with 2 hearts, Very good 30s Asian woman bets, Florida-Bachelor-Party-Soon-to-Be-Married called, I raised and both called…after a 2s on the turn check-check and I bet and both call, finally a 8d on the river and check,check I bet and both fold….Nice! I never remember flopping a flush once, at least not to where I could show it down. I flopped a broadway straight twice once with AK and the other with the KJ.
I thought I played well, but probably played too aggressively most of the time. It’s pretty easy to get in to the mood of hammering away at the pot when others are in there doing the same thing. The problem is, you hammer away and can end up with a good portion of your stack out in the pot, and you are praying that the river will help you or at least be a scare card for your opponent. I guess because I walked away up about 1BB per hour of play (+$330 or so for about 11 hours of play) I should be happy though.
One other note, very strange how they allow racks on the table, and they let new players in to the games between the blinds and the button…I have never seen that.
A couple of other anecdotes:
First night playing – Halloween, 15-30 10PM. A few extremely attractive 20 something women walking around in a bumblebee outfit and an angel outfit. Yusef the soon to be lawyer, semi retired, local half pro on my left, Jason from Boston to his left. I am in the 7 seat. 5 seat is a tourist who is playing any ace and winning a ton, he walked out with $1100 after starting with $500…the guy was rivering everyone, including me. I sat down with $500 and was up to $900 in about 4 hands. I then proceeded to lose my $400 in wins and another $300 over the next 2 hours. I had another $500 in bills sitting on the felt under my small pile of chips just in case. 60ish Asian Lady with big sparkly glasses sits in the 10 seat and wins her first 2 hands. She then is in 3 hands in a row with the tourist in the 5 seat and loses all 3 on the river, she was down to half of what she started with. So she moves seats to the 3 seat. Lady loses a couple of hands and moves again. This time she sits right next to me in the 6 seat. I turn to her and tell her that because she moved next to me, I was going to raise her every time she bet or raised (I was kidding of course and said it in a joking way). She told me not to. Well the very next hand I look down at AK suited. Button is at the 2 seat. UTG is 5 seat and he limps. Lady next to me raises and, I reraise and she gets mad and says “why you do that?” I told her it was because she was sitting next to me I had to raise. 3 see the flop of Axx. The UTG any ace tourist bets (Ok he has an ace again), Lady raises and I reraise…now Lady is getting pissed. She tells me I cant win this way, and I just laugh and tell her I have to do it….all call. Turn is Q. UTG bets again, Lady folds, I raise and UTG calls. River is a 9. Bet call…My AK gets pimped by A4o when the guy flopped 2 pair. Ouch. Lady laughing at me telling me I got what I deserved. Next hand I look down at KK…hmm running hot here. Lady open limps, I raise her again. She asks me again why I don’t like her, and I tell her I do like her, but that I have to raise her every time she bets…its just one of those things. 4 see the flop. Flop K84 BB checks, lady check, I check (decide to slowplay), 1 seat checks. Turn is a blank. BB bets, Lady folds, I raise, 1 seat reraises, BB folds, I reraise….ended up with 6 or 7 raises – I am trying to remember this the way it actually happened, and I was not sure about the unlimited raises when heads up versus when you started with 3 people but they dropped out after only making one preliminary bet…so maybe it was really 5 bets total, but I was sure it was more than that…it sure seemed like we could have gone on and on raising and it was only when the 1 seat finally called that the reraising was over. So, the 1 seat finally says good hand to me and calls the 7th or so raise. River is a T and he checks I bet and he calls…KKK over 888. Nice big $6-700 win. Next hand I have 77, Lady raises UTG, I reraise her again...Boston Jason calls, 1 seat calls and Lady calls. Lady laughs at me but maybe is beginning to understand I have actually had some good cards. Flop is junk with a 7. 2 sets in a row! Lady bets I raise this time. Boston Jason calls, 1 seat folds, Lady folds. Me and Boston. Turn is a Jack, I check, Boston Bets, I raise, he calls. River is a junk low card. I bet, Boston raises, I reraise like an idiot, he reraises me, I reraise him again like a total idiot, there was some confusion about how many raises there were, and I misunderstood him to say call. I guess he wanted to reraise me again, but there were like 4 people trying to figure out whose turn it was and what the raise was. So thinking it was called I flipped my cards over. Boston told me I was beat, and he was going to reraise me, but I told him I would only call….he said no big deal and showed a straight. He had flopped a double belly buster holding 57h…I could not believe he would cold call 3 bets with that, but he was steaming a little and wanted to play. Oh well, I ended up down about 2 hundred that night, but enjoyed myself. A little buzzed from the beer, I went to bed at 1AM.
Next afternoon: Sit in a 8-16 waiting for a 15-30. I end up winning about $200. I did play against a Bellagio dealer who writes for Card Player, cant remember his name, glasses, shiny jacket on. I NEVER beat him once. He best handed or out muscled me out of every pot we played, probably 6 or so hands over 2 afternoons. My wife comes to watch. I am sitting next to a 40ish attractive woman with gray short hair and stylish clothes and glasses on, Claire. Tells me she is a local and plays 3-4 days a week. We start talking and she tells me she designs and sells jewelry. I ask her if she has any on her and she pulls out a bag of 3 different necklaces. I ask my wife if she likes any of them, she likes one a ton and puts it on and goes to the bathroom to see what it looks like. I ask Claire how much and she says 70 bucks. My wife comes back and really likes it, so I slide 3 green chips over to Claire and she slides one red back…done. Now the lady on Claire’s left in interested and proceeds to buy the other 2 necklaces off of her. In 5 minutes Claire has made $200+ on her necklaces. They were very nice and my wife got about 10 compliments from people during the rest of our trip. The play was pretty basic, I did flop QJT holding AK. Took a guy for a lot…too bad it was only 8-16. I did loose a lot on my QQ to KK, but still, up $200 and a necklace was not bad.
Football Sunday: Sit in a 4-8 game waiting for 15-30…Last 3 or 4 hours to play before the Vikings game. Asked if I want to post, I say yes. Have not even looked at may hand when UTG has raised and 2 callers come to me, I don’t have any chips yet and just make a thumbs up sign like a total jerk and raise it, one more cold call, back to UTG who raises again, I make the thumbs up sign again and we cap off before the flop…I have not even looked at my cards yet. 87o…hmm, smart move tough guy. I have chips in front of me now and have to pay in my post and raises. Flop comes 886! UTG bets, call, call RAISE, call UTG Reraises, fold call RERAISE call call call. Turn 7! I think I like my hand. UTG bets again…what does he have..AA? All in call I raise, call call. River a 3. UTG bets again, skip all in, I raise, fold, UTG calls. I show him my boat and he mucks and all in has AK. I win a pretty good pot in my first hand at 4-8 and then they call me for 15-30. One hand, one crazy start, and off to play 15-30. Before I left the 4-8 table the guy next to me told me he liked how I played so aggressively. I told him I got lucky and was kind of a stupid play, I then moved to the toughest table I had played so far. I sit at the 15-30 and see a tough crowd…sometimes you can just tell. I decide to really play smart and not play too aggressively after the flop. Play my best poker, start with $500 and end up with $960. Seemed to bluff at the right time, hit a few hands at the right time, and fold at the right time. Probably 6 of the 10 were locals. We played at the one single table in the corner in the path to the sportsbook/bathroom right under the High Limit area. I like the spot. My wife came and watched me win with my AA, and bluff a big pot with nothing but AK. Bachelor Party to my right starts talking to my wife. She asks him if he was a good boy during his Bachelor trip, and he said no. I’m not sure she liked that…but I think he was kidding. Boston Jason sat down at our table and told me he was way down. I get up about 5 minutes before the Vikings game and am happy to walk away with more money in my pocket that I started with. After watching the Vikings game I wished I had stayed at the poker table.
I also went and met Linda Geenen who writes the www.pokerworks.com (http://www.pokerworks.com) website. She was very nice. I never got to play at her table, because she works 7pm-3am and I only played late one night.
I never saw any of the really big players at the big-big tables. Spoke to Tomer for a minute…really nice guy. Saw the Russian dude from the 2002 WSOP playing in a bigger game. But I missed when all the regulars were playing in the 1K-2K game. I would have enjoyed seeing them play a little bit.
All in all a great trip…up $300+ in my poker, up about $200 more for the other table games. Down a ton from eating really nice food and staying at the Bellagio, but a great time and worth every penny.
Spoody
As everyone knows, the hotel and casino are beautiful. They have remodeled a lot of the rooms. You must pay more for a Lake/Fountain view, but it is worth it…ask for the bed to be on the North side of the room so you can sit in bed and look at the Eiffel Tower while in bed. The new rooms look nice, but they are WAY too dark. They have barely any lights and its hard to see things like if you have to iron something….they really need to fix the lights. The spa is great but the spa attendants are not nearly as friendly and helpful as the guys at the Mirage. At the Mirage they will make a fruit or protein smoothy for you, but at the Bellagio they won’t…they say it’s a health code thing. But the workout equipment is better, so it’s probably a wash. I do recommend the facial for everyone. My wife and I both had a massage and a facial…I gotta say the facial is better. 1 hour of them working on your face, hands and feet is pretty sweet. You look great after the thing too…The Bellagio facial is the best, they assess your skin when you get in there and then they do what they feel is most beneficial for you. Kind of expensive $120+, but worth every penny…keep in mind that any spa treatment makes the workout room free ($25 normally).
Here are the restaurants we ate at and our ratings….I gotta say they are all highly recommended, but with a special bump to noodles for the dim sum.
Noodles @ Bellagio: Asian Noodle/Soup/Rice Shop – Fri/Sat/Sun they do Dim Sum over lunch. This is the best food in Vegas. The dim sum is awesome. Unless you live in NYC or San Francisco, you are not going to find anything as good as the dim sum here. We ate it all 3 days they offered it. They also make excellent noodles soups, rice dishes..etc. Everything is top notch and not too expensive. A big giveaway at how good this place is, is by the fact that everyone eating in there is Asian.
Nectar @ Bellagio: This is a highbrow New England American style restaurant with things like Fish and Chips etc. Very good. My wife and I both had the F&C along with a Ceasar…it was all excellent.
Olives @ Bellagio: Todd English’s Mediterranian restaurant (he has one in Boston). This is another favorite of ours. The Fig and Priscuitto Flat Bread and the Mushroom Flatbread are both sooo good. Olives is best when you can sit outside on the deck and watch the fountains. You may have to wait for a table, but it is worth it. Order one of the flatbreads as an appetizer…by the time you get through the bread, tapenade, olives and the flatbread you may be ready for dessert, but the entrees are very good too.
Nob Hill @ MGM: This is owned by the guy who started Aqua in both SF and Bellagio. Continental menu, excellent but expensive food. We had both the Fondue and the plate of Meats, cheese and olives for starters (we only had an hour before La Femme started so we could not do the tasting menu). Both were very good. For the meal I had the Tuna Carpaccio and my wife had the Tomato soup with lobster sandwich…both of these were from the starter side of the menu. My tuna was good, but the soup and sandwich were insane. I would make a special trip just to eat that again. I just wish I wasn’t so full from the fondue and bread that I had gorged myself on.
Taqueria Canonita @ Venetian: SW/Mexican food. This is some of the better SW food I have eaten. Keep in mind I live in MN, but the Empanadas are excellent. The soups and salads are all done extremely well. The chips and salsa are great too. We always have lunch once on every trip and have never been anything but thrilled with our meal.
The Shows: We have seen Mystere and O, so we decided to try La Femme. Rated highest by USA today. This is the exact same show they have at the Crazy Horse in Paris. I guess they rotate the dancers in every 6 months or so. The women are all perfect…almost look like exact copies of each other except for slight breast size variations…No silicone allowed! All are very attractive and classically trained ballet dancers. They are topless the entire time and go bottomless, but they all wear a v shaped patch over their ultra private area that looks like hair…but since we were in the 3rd row you could tell. No matter, it was very sexy and worth going to see with your honey. It is not offensive unless you are a prude….but then what are you doing in Vegas? It’s not too expensive either.
Now on to the gambling:
My wife likes Let it Ride, so that’s what we play together. I think it is fun too. I am sure the odds are pretty bad, especially on the $1 bonus bet, but we are definitely up in our Let it Ride careers. We were down probably $800 over our trip when I hit a 4 of a kind (224 and then 22 on the flop) I won $1400 on that one hand. Add that to the Blackjack loss, Craps loss, video poker loss, we broke even or even won a little. I won $300+ playing poker, so we ended up somewhere between $300 and $500.
Poker – Beautiful room. Most tables (around 30?) are on the main level and then there are about 5 that are separated above the floor by a couple of steps and railed off. Reminds me of a 1960s split level house with the elevated family room. There was a list of about 10-15 people for every holdem game from 4-8 to 30-60. The longest list was usually 4-8 or 8-16. The Bellagio has 2 different areas to check in for games – they may actually have another super high limit check in area, but I am not sure. Right when you enter there is the stand with the1-5 and 6-12 stud list along with the 4-8 and 8-16 holdem. In the middle of the room is the higher limits of 15-30 and 30-60 holdem along with the 20-40 Omaha8 ½ kill game and the bigger stud game. I was most interested in playing 15-30, but the list was quite long every time I checked in. I ended up with my name on all Holdem up to 15-30, usually I would wait about an hour for a spot in the 15-30 game, and then right after I got in, there would be no list and they would be constantly broadcasting that 15-30 was open. I still got to play mostly 15-30 after starting at either 4-8 or 8-16 while waiting for a spot to open.
There are locals at every game, every level. Many of the locals seem to fancy themselves pros, now I guess because they are winning a some money and they play all the time they could be considered a “pro,” but I found over half of the locals to be super tight, and quite passive in their play. They would wait for just the real big starter hands and play them strong only if they flopped something. Of course, some locals were good and knew what they were doing, but all in all I was unimpressed with the locals play. But even if only half of the locals were tough, that was enough to make the games tougher than what I usually play against in MN. The better locals where the younger players – many seem to be Asian men and women. They would hammer the pot constantly and you needed to plan on a lot of reraising if you wanted to muscle in on a raggedy flop.
I would say ½ of the players at every one of my tables were from Vegas. I sat next one guy named Yusef at the 15-30 table who plays every day. He was good. Tight, Aggressive…good. I guess he is going to law school, while half retired after making money from real estate…probably only in his 40s. Met another guy who was having some bad beats, but definitely knew what he was doing, who played all the time, but was opening a Quizno’s in town and was going to be working non stop in a few weeks. Sat next to an older gentleman from Laughlin that was constantly talking about drinking green tea for the polyphenols and eating special eggs with omega 3 fatty acids. He was trying to peel one of his special hard boiled eggs for like a half hour, but it wasn’t boiled right so the shell was glued on to the white of the egg and wasn’t coming off. Every time it was his turn he would have to clean off one of his hands and then peek at his cards before he folded (he folded every time while messing with his egg). He moved seats 4 times – this is something I noticed the locals did all the time, they keep moving seats.
The main difference in the play in Vegas compared to my normal cardroom (Canterbury in MN) is that there is more raises and aggressive play on every round. The moves to take over the lead in a pot are “1-more.” So if you can win a pot at home with a bet or a raise, you will run in to a raise or reraise many more times. I found the best time to steal a pot was on the turn with a checkraise or raise against 1 or 2 others. The games would swing from wild to passive and then back to wild minute by minute. The biggest pots were both close to $700 in the 15-30 games. Both were very similar with a raise preflop to 5 players, 1 bet on the flop down to 3 players, and then on the turn bet, raise, reraise, fold, reraise, reraise, reraise, reraise… and then bet call on the river. Both big pots were set over set (AAA v 999 and KKK(me!) v 888) with each player hitting the set on the flop and then slowplaying, but once the turn hit, it was lights out. Other big pots were sets beaten by straights and of course the random lamo river flush beating a couple of big hands. I was on the winning end of the Kv8 set battle and a flopped broadway straight (KJ)AQT v set of Ts, but on the wrong end of a Set of 7s v low straight hit on the river. I had AA once and won an OK pot against a very good 30ish Asian lady. Had KK 3x and won the big pot but lost 2 other pretty big pots to Ax. Lost with QQ 4x, once to KK with a nothing board (that hurt). Won only once with QQ and JJ both times stealing the blinds. Big Slick was probably a break-even hand for me only because I was able to muscle my way to a pretty big pot after I had AK of spades…I had rereraised and we ended up with 3 people to see the flop. Flop was QQT with 2 hearts, Very good 30s Asian woman bets, Florida-Bachelor-Party-Soon-to-Be-Married called, I raised and both called…after a 2s on the turn check-check and I bet and both call, finally a 8d on the river and check,check I bet and both fold….Nice! I never remember flopping a flush once, at least not to where I could show it down. I flopped a broadway straight twice once with AK and the other with the KJ.
I thought I played well, but probably played too aggressively most of the time. It’s pretty easy to get in to the mood of hammering away at the pot when others are in there doing the same thing. The problem is, you hammer away and can end up with a good portion of your stack out in the pot, and you are praying that the river will help you or at least be a scare card for your opponent. I guess because I walked away up about 1BB per hour of play (+$330 or so for about 11 hours of play) I should be happy though.
One other note, very strange how they allow racks on the table, and they let new players in to the games between the blinds and the button…I have never seen that.
A couple of other anecdotes:
First night playing – Halloween, 15-30 10PM. A few extremely attractive 20 something women walking around in a bumblebee outfit and an angel outfit. Yusef the soon to be lawyer, semi retired, local half pro on my left, Jason from Boston to his left. I am in the 7 seat. 5 seat is a tourist who is playing any ace and winning a ton, he walked out with $1100 after starting with $500…the guy was rivering everyone, including me. I sat down with $500 and was up to $900 in about 4 hands. I then proceeded to lose my $400 in wins and another $300 over the next 2 hours. I had another $500 in bills sitting on the felt under my small pile of chips just in case. 60ish Asian Lady with big sparkly glasses sits in the 10 seat and wins her first 2 hands. She then is in 3 hands in a row with the tourist in the 5 seat and loses all 3 on the river, she was down to half of what she started with. So she moves seats to the 3 seat. Lady loses a couple of hands and moves again. This time she sits right next to me in the 6 seat. I turn to her and tell her that because she moved next to me, I was going to raise her every time she bet or raised (I was kidding of course and said it in a joking way). She told me not to. Well the very next hand I look down at AK suited. Button is at the 2 seat. UTG is 5 seat and he limps. Lady next to me raises and, I reraise and she gets mad and says “why you do that?” I told her it was because she was sitting next to me I had to raise. 3 see the flop of Axx. The UTG any ace tourist bets (Ok he has an ace again), Lady raises and I reraise…now Lady is getting pissed. She tells me I cant win this way, and I just laugh and tell her I have to do it….all call. Turn is Q. UTG bets again, Lady folds, I raise and UTG calls. River is a 9. Bet call…My AK gets pimped by A4o when the guy flopped 2 pair. Ouch. Lady laughing at me telling me I got what I deserved. Next hand I look down at KK…hmm running hot here. Lady open limps, I raise her again. She asks me again why I don’t like her, and I tell her I do like her, but that I have to raise her every time she bets…its just one of those things. 4 see the flop. Flop K84 BB checks, lady check, I check (decide to slowplay), 1 seat checks. Turn is a blank. BB bets, Lady folds, I raise, 1 seat reraises, BB folds, I reraise….ended up with 6 or 7 raises – I am trying to remember this the way it actually happened, and I was not sure about the unlimited raises when heads up versus when you started with 3 people but they dropped out after only making one preliminary bet…so maybe it was really 5 bets total, but I was sure it was more than that…it sure seemed like we could have gone on and on raising and it was only when the 1 seat finally called that the reraising was over. So, the 1 seat finally says good hand to me and calls the 7th or so raise. River is a T and he checks I bet and he calls…KKK over 888. Nice big $6-700 win. Next hand I have 77, Lady raises UTG, I reraise her again...Boston Jason calls, 1 seat calls and Lady calls. Lady laughs at me but maybe is beginning to understand I have actually had some good cards. Flop is junk with a 7. 2 sets in a row! Lady bets I raise this time. Boston Jason calls, 1 seat folds, Lady folds. Me and Boston. Turn is a Jack, I check, Boston Bets, I raise, he calls. River is a junk low card. I bet, Boston raises, I reraise like an idiot, he reraises me, I reraise him again like a total idiot, there was some confusion about how many raises there were, and I misunderstood him to say call. I guess he wanted to reraise me again, but there were like 4 people trying to figure out whose turn it was and what the raise was. So thinking it was called I flipped my cards over. Boston told me I was beat, and he was going to reraise me, but I told him I would only call….he said no big deal and showed a straight. He had flopped a double belly buster holding 57h…I could not believe he would cold call 3 bets with that, but he was steaming a little and wanted to play. Oh well, I ended up down about 2 hundred that night, but enjoyed myself. A little buzzed from the beer, I went to bed at 1AM.
Next afternoon: Sit in a 8-16 waiting for a 15-30. I end up winning about $200. I did play against a Bellagio dealer who writes for Card Player, cant remember his name, glasses, shiny jacket on. I NEVER beat him once. He best handed or out muscled me out of every pot we played, probably 6 or so hands over 2 afternoons. My wife comes to watch. I am sitting next to a 40ish attractive woman with gray short hair and stylish clothes and glasses on, Claire. Tells me she is a local and plays 3-4 days a week. We start talking and she tells me she designs and sells jewelry. I ask her if she has any on her and she pulls out a bag of 3 different necklaces. I ask my wife if she likes any of them, she likes one a ton and puts it on and goes to the bathroom to see what it looks like. I ask Claire how much and she says 70 bucks. My wife comes back and really likes it, so I slide 3 green chips over to Claire and she slides one red back…done. Now the lady on Claire’s left in interested and proceeds to buy the other 2 necklaces off of her. In 5 minutes Claire has made $200+ on her necklaces. They were very nice and my wife got about 10 compliments from people during the rest of our trip. The play was pretty basic, I did flop QJT holding AK. Took a guy for a lot…too bad it was only 8-16. I did loose a lot on my QQ to KK, but still, up $200 and a necklace was not bad.
Football Sunday: Sit in a 4-8 game waiting for 15-30…Last 3 or 4 hours to play before the Vikings game. Asked if I want to post, I say yes. Have not even looked at may hand when UTG has raised and 2 callers come to me, I don’t have any chips yet and just make a thumbs up sign like a total jerk and raise it, one more cold call, back to UTG who raises again, I make the thumbs up sign again and we cap off before the flop…I have not even looked at my cards yet. 87o…hmm, smart move tough guy. I have chips in front of me now and have to pay in my post and raises. Flop comes 886! UTG bets, call, call RAISE, call UTG Reraises, fold call RERAISE call call call. Turn 7! I think I like my hand. UTG bets again…what does he have..AA? All in call I raise, call call. River a 3. UTG bets again, skip all in, I raise, fold, UTG calls. I show him my boat and he mucks and all in has AK. I win a pretty good pot in my first hand at 4-8 and then they call me for 15-30. One hand, one crazy start, and off to play 15-30. Before I left the 4-8 table the guy next to me told me he liked how I played so aggressively. I told him I got lucky and was kind of a stupid play, I then moved to the toughest table I had played so far. I sit at the 15-30 and see a tough crowd…sometimes you can just tell. I decide to really play smart and not play too aggressively after the flop. Play my best poker, start with $500 and end up with $960. Seemed to bluff at the right time, hit a few hands at the right time, and fold at the right time. Probably 6 of the 10 were locals. We played at the one single table in the corner in the path to the sportsbook/bathroom right under the High Limit area. I like the spot. My wife came and watched me win with my AA, and bluff a big pot with nothing but AK. Bachelor Party to my right starts talking to my wife. She asks him if he was a good boy during his Bachelor trip, and he said no. I’m not sure she liked that…but I think he was kidding. Boston Jason sat down at our table and told me he was way down. I get up about 5 minutes before the Vikings game and am happy to walk away with more money in my pocket that I started with. After watching the Vikings game I wished I had stayed at the poker table.
I also went and met Linda Geenen who writes the www.pokerworks.com (http://www.pokerworks.com) website. She was very nice. I never got to play at her table, because she works 7pm-3am and I only played late one night.
I never saw any of the really big players at the big-big tables. Spoke to Tomer for a minute…really nice guy. Saw the Russian dude from the 2002 WSOP playing in a bigger game. But I missed when all the regulars were playing in the 1K-2K game. I would have enjoyed seeing them play a little bit.
All in all a great trip…up $300+ in my poker, up about $200 more for the other table games. Down a ton from eating really nice food and staying at the Bellagio, but a great time and worth every penny.
Spoody