Vegas trip report (short version)

[Ulysses]

Poker went well. Blackjack didn't.

[JoeU]

Great report! Nice hand you played there in that 8-16 game (or was it 80-160?). And remember, splitting tens isn't the best play with the dealer showing a 9. Don't do that again! /images/graemlins/grin.gif

Joe

[george w of poker]

its a good move but only if you expect to get rockets on both after splitting.

[Clarkmeister]

So these Martians,,,,they come down and give you money, right,,,,,

[Paluka]

Ulysses you left out the part where you busted your face open on the furniture.
I won 2k in that 2-5 game, by the way.

[SinCityGuy]

[ QUOTE ]
Poker went well. Blackjack didn't.

[/ QUOTE ]

Just say "NO" to continuous shuffle machines. /images/graemlins/mad.gif

[SinCityGuy]

[ QUOTE ]
Great report! Nice hand you played there in that 8-16 game (or was it 80-160?). And remember, splitting tens isn't the best play with the dealer showing a 9. Don't do that again! /images/graemlins/grin.gif

Joe

[/ QUOTE ]

Before I retired from blackjack, I just loved splitting 10's against a dealer six when the count was +5. Boy, did that P.O. the ploppies. "He's taking the dealer's bust card!"

[J.A.Sucker]

... and then they say "do you want to do it again?"... and I'm like "of course!" Then Ulysses kept pushing the button, and the money was gone.

Ed Miller is Poker's Foremost Authority on craps.

[Ulysses]

So, I get to Vegas. I get in late and head straight to the blackjack tables. I gamble for a while and soon a couple of my buddies have shown up, then noted poker authority Ed Miller, Coilean, and Sucker show up. Noted poker authority Ed Miller and Sucker join the game while Coilean observes. Finally, we convince Coilean to join the game. He pulls out a roll of what looks like about $62,000 and slowly pulls off a single (as my buddy Barry referred to them the whole trip) "hundski." There's some winning and some losing, and finally Coilean is down to about $15. At that point, he pulls out another $100, "just in case." I mention to Coilean that he can actually pull money out of his pocket if he needs to double or split. Things go well and soon he has a nice little stack of red. At that point, I realize that Coilean really doesn't know anything about table games. "Hey, Coilean, you can put that bill back in your pocket if you want!" We grow tired of this and head over to the craps table, where noted poker authority Ed Miller has a nice roll to win everyone a few bucks. Back to blackjack, where I have my only winning blackjack session of the trip. The drink of choice is Glenlivet neat (on the rocks for noted poker authority Ed Miller), countless number of which are consumed. We get bored again and decide to finish off the gambling with the foolproof roulette system (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Number=592837&page=&view=&sb =5&o=&vc=1) I picked up from Terry. The plan was simple. Start w/ $50 and take it to $17,000 in three spins. Sucker and Coilean pile their chips on top of my winning picks, but unfortunately the wrong number comes up. Sucker and Coilean call it a night. Noted poker authority Ed Miller and a couple of friends head out w/ me to an adult establishment. Within minutes, numerous scantily clad beauties start fawning over noted poker authority Ed Miller. We spend some quality time there then I head back to the casino where I manage to find $1200 on the table with me holding 20,20,19 and the dealer holding 6. In fact, this exact situation occurs twice and both times the dealer manages to show a ten underneath and pull a 5. Good times.

[Ulysses]

I collapse in my room, sometime around noon I think. Sometime between 5 and 6pm I wake up. There were less than 20 Glenlivets consumed, so while I'm not feeling great, I'm not feeling tremendously bad. While contemplating this, I find myself laying on the floor and my head hurts. I touch my head and my hand looks like it has something on it. I rub my other hand across my forehead and now I realize it's covered with blood. I walk into the bathroom and find my face covered in blood. Luckily, it's just a small gash on my forehead that's bleeding like crazy. I manage to stop the bleeding, but I'm unable to definitively identify the culprit. I'm pretty sure it was the TV cabinet that attacked me, but the wall also looked a little suspicious.

After all this, I head downtown. Paluka is running over a PLO game, which he informs me he has never played. I head over to the Nugget where Clark, Coilean, and Sucker are trying to get a 50-100 going. I don't want to play limit w/ them, plus I'm still reeling from my huge blackjack losses, so I go eat w/ a friend. After eating I decide to meet up w/ the guys later, but right at that moment they call a 2-5 NL game. So, why not? Paluka wanders over and jumps in the game but nothing very exciting happens. I only play one hand of significance, which I'll post over in PL/NL. A little while later, Tommy Angelo wanders by to say hi and then noted poker authority Ed Miller shows up. Clark decides it's time to do some drinking and we head over to the Monte Carlo for some action-filled 4-8. Sucker and I terrorize one table until we get moved over to Clark's table along with Coilean, noted poker authority Ed Miller, and a couple of their friends. We then proceed to have a very lively 4-8 game. There were plenty of, uh, unorthodox hands, but I think the game can be best summarized by the fact that on one hand (some players were innocent bystanders caught in the middle) the dealer actually had to announce "No live straddles this hand." Many, many drinks were consumed by all at a rapid clip. And then, for reasons I'm not exactly sure of, the floorman came by and changed the game to 2-5NL. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm....

[Ulysses]

So, in a 4-8 game in Vegas, somehow you end up w/ quarters. WTF do you do with those? Well, Vegas locals tip the dealer w/ them. But Sucker and I put them in a cup and collect them to play slots. And let me tell you one thing. If Martians fly down in a little spaceship and offer to give you 95 coins, take it. If they give you the option to pass on that for another offer, don't do it. They are tough negotiators. If for some reason you go with the second offer and it's now only 75 coins, cut your losses and take it even when they give you the option to consider another offer. 'Cause like I said, Martians are good negotiators.

[Ulysses]

So now we're playing some no-limit poker. A few interesting hands. One guy who managed to catch quite a few hands vs. these morons (me, Sucker, Coilean, Clark, and noted poker authority Ed Miller) in the 4-8 game, manages to catch a few hands here as well. Then he raises Sucker all-in for $400 or so total w/ Ace-high. That one ended badly for Sucker; I'll let others elaborate. I played a fun hand a little later, which I'll post over in the PL/NL.

So, after the poker, Coilean, noted poker authority Ed Miller, and I head to the roulette table to collect our rightful $17k. Unfortunately, this time we actually read the rules and there's something about min bet of $10 and max bet of $100 inside. We ask what that means and find that our suspicions are correct - that's the max you can put on a number. This is terrible, as we need to put $490 on a spot for our system to work. Good thing we didn't hit the night before. We almost leave, then decide that we might as well collect the easy $2450 by hitting twice. I place my numbers and somehow Coilean is not as confident in my picking this time and picks different numbers. This lack of unity is punished by the ball missing us both. And with that we called it a night.

[Ulysses]

Head out to the pool and a couple of friends of mine have made friends w/ a bachelorette party. Nice. Hang out there for a while and then head over to the Bellagio. I sweat Sucker for a hand and he makes a bad play then recovers w/ a very good play to make his bad play maybe not that bad after all. I see The Mason playing in an 80-160. I sweat him from the rail for a hand. Pre-flop, action comes to Mason. He quickly, nearly imperceptibly, glances left and right, then mucks. Nice hand. I try to play some 30-60 or 10-20NL, but the lists are too long. I grow tired of waiting and don't want to tangle w/ The Mason in the 80-160 available, so I head back to meet up w/ my friends, who have arranged drinks w/ the bachelorettes. After that, we head over to Delmonico's for a great steak dinner w/ my buddies, Sucker, and Coilean. After dinner, I have a huge dilemma. Clark has called to inform me that Tom Vu is in the 50-100 at the Nugget. But we have also been called by these new bachelorettes as well as another bachelorette party (that we actually did know), all of whom are converging on the Hard Rock. OK, no dilemma, really. Tom Vu will have to wait 'til next time. So I finished the trip w/ a night of partying and gambling at the Hard Rock and staggered my way back to San Francisco on Sunday. It was great meeting and playing w/ a bunch of great guys. Looking forward to seeing you again soon.

[Ulysses]

Nugget NL hand (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=676302&page=0&view=collap sed&sb=5&o=14&fpart=1#676302)

Monte Carlo NL hand (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=676339&page=0&view=collap sed&sb=5&o=14&fpart=1#676339)

[Nemesis]

how old are you guys? I'm 21 and i wanna head out there sometime this summer =)

[offTopic]

[ QUOTE ]
Poker went well. Blackjack didn't.

[/ QUOTE ]

In this series, and some of your other posts, I've appreciated the up-front chronicling of trips to the land of -EV gaming.

Variance is your friend, and there's more to life than EV.

Anyway, if poker was half as fun as craps, I'd be playing twice as much poker! /images/graemlins/grin.gif Nice report...

[haakee]

Man, that's the opposite of my last trip. Blackjack went well, and the guppies in the best 30-60 game ever took two racks from me. bad beetz and I won more than that back from the Hard Rock BJ tables though.

Oh, and the official name for when you wake up and have an unknown injury on your forehead (or anywhere else) is UDI for "unidentified drunken injury".

[Coilean]

Yes, I suck at blackjack. It's a good thing I'm lucky at poker. Stay away from Vegas, I was drunk every night you were out here /images/graemlins/tongue.gif.

[bad beetz]

I had a udi when I woke up on Ulysses floor after having lossed $200 in a NL game played with pennies the night before. I thought coming over the top for $200 with AQ was a nightmare, but it happened in real life, which is worse.

My elbow was bleeding. I learned later that I had tussled with Ulysses in the street, for what I don't know. I probably said something about his mama. Ulysses' Mama is so fat, I yelled "cool-aid," and she came bustin through the wall like, "Oh-Yeah!"

[Legend27]

"I'm pretty sure it was the TV cabinet that attacked me, but the wall also looked a little suspicious."


That's some funny stuff. I hope when I'm in Vegas next week I don't stay where you stayed. Sounds dangerous.