Regaling my first trip to Vegas at 21..

[Lawrence Ng]

Can't sleep tonight..much on my mind so I thought I would regale a story of my first trip to Las Vegas.

7 years ago, I was a very young and cocky man. It was my 2nd year into poker, and my first profitable year going into the breezing spring months. The glamour and glitter of Las Vegas kept oozing through my veins as I had turned 21 the previous November and had been aching myself to get down to Las Vegas to test my true skills amongst some of the bigger limit and NL games offered.

The WSOP 2000 was fast approaching. It was already early May. I sat at home on a bright Sunday afternoon and decided that right then and there I would head down to Las Vegas. So I head down to the local travel agency, book my tickets and within 5 days I was off on my first flight to Nevada staying at the 4 Queens with my $6000 which happened to be my entire damn bankroll.

I still remember the entire trip like it only happened yesterday. I landed around 10:30 pm and wouldn't you know it rained. As if I don't see enough rain here in Vancouver already. Well the rain was very short lived. So I arrive in Vegas, by myself with my bankroll and the sky's the limit!!

11:00 pm My first stop was at the 4 Queens, but unfortunately I didn't have a room till the next day booked so instead I just dropped my bags off at the front desk and took a cab to the Bellagio.

12:00 a.m. I arrive at the Bellagio. Immediately I go over to the High stakes manager and request my name be put down for the $30-$60. I don't know what I'm doing. I've never played 30-60 before. It was 3 times higher than what I was use to. Well 15 minutes later I get a seat in a 9 handed game. The game is good. It's my kind of game. Loose-semi aggressive. Some fat guy in seat 1 who's drunk keep raising pre-flop and a very sharp cool lady in seat 3 keeps 3-betting isolating him. I'm in seat 6. 3 hours later I'm up about $1000 and feeling good because the Vegas pros as good as they are realize I'm not as fishy as they think. I played till about 8 a.m in the morning as the players hardly moved since Mr. Raise-a-lot just wouldn't stop pumping pre-flop. But I was getting really tired because one hand I called a 3-bet with 6-7 suited and got lucky and flopped trips.

9:00 a.m. It was time to head back to the 4 Queens and feel great being up around $2k after only 1 night. I take a shower, head to bed around 9:30 a.m. (thank god my room was ready) and doze off till about 5 pm. I wake up, head down and walk around the area to build up a bit of an appetite.

5:30 pm. I walk into Binions to check out what's going on and they have some super-satellites running for the Big One. Upstairs they have 1 table satellites going, some big PL and NL games going and I think the ladies 7 card stud game going as well. The room is packed with people so I leave.

6:30 pm I head over to the Bellagio's again and line up for half an hour on their buffet. It was worth every minute and dollar as their buffet was oh so good. Being super full and not wanting to sit down I decided to walk around a bit and that's when I stumbled onto something called Craps. I ask the pit boss how the hell do I play and he politely and slowly guides me. And so started my love for craps. I dropped $300 there and decided it was time to make my way back to the Bellagio poker room, but noticed that the list had a mile line up so instead I opted to head down back to Binions.

9:00 pm and Binions is packed. The super satellites are finished and I head upstairs to see what's going on. There's still 1 table satellites going on and I decide to take a shot. $1000+20 in cash to the lady and I've got myself T1500 in chips. So here I am, never ever played in a satellite before. Never played in a tourney before and sitting in a $1000 satellite for the Big One. At the time I did not know anyone on the table, but sitting two seats left of me was Habib - a world class player and two seats right of me was Howard Lederer. Long story short, I run great on the cards and am chip leader throughout and wind up heads-up with this very friendly Vietnamese guy on my right who is dying to play in the Big One. So I cut him a deal as I have 60 percent of the chips and he has 40 percent. I say, "you give me $5000k + 10% if you place in the money and I will let you have the seat." He agrees.

1:00 a.m. I'm hungry - really hungry. Up $6000 in 2 days and I am starving so I head downstairs and grab a horrible Binion steak sandwich. It tasted horrible, but had to do.

1:30 a.m. Now after being hungry I'm bored again. I don't feel like playing cards because the satellite took a big drain on me. So what else does a guy do at night when he's not gambling. Yep, you guessed it - Crazy Horse 2!!!

2:00 a.m. The best strip club ever. Period. I love this place. It's oozing with women and silicone. For a 21 year old with raging hormones I thought I went to heaven. Spent too much here, but never regretted it.

5:00 a.m. Tonya (stage name?) and I get back to my place. She's a cute, 5 ft 8 Korean stripper. Spent too much on her too, but hey I have needs!!! Oh and if you don't know what I'm talking about, use your imagination.

7:00 a.m to 3:00 p.m. sleep. Slept like a baby that second night thanks to Tonya.
Love you baby and I miss ya.

5:00 pm after working out a bit in the horrible gym at 4 Queens I'm off to the Mirage for dinner..err my breakfast..whatever. The buffet is not as good as the Bellagio's but the waits are shorter and it's pretty good still.

7:00 pm. After a taste of some NL type poker, my blood is flowing for more. Back to Binions I go. I look on the list. $25-$50 PLO. I'd played some $5-$10 Omaha twice, but never PLO. There's two seats open. They're playing with chips and cash. Wow, chips AND cash. In vancouver, all the casinos only let you use chips. We can't use cash. So it was very funny for me to see. I decide to play and buy in for $3000. So here I am, noob kid, pretending he's some hot shot poker player playing $25-$50 PLO. Needless to say I'm getting my ass kicked and drop my $3000 within about 2 hours. I learned hard and well here that 2nd nuts ain't no good in PLO.

The rest of the trip is pretty mundane and standard, win a few here, lose a few there. All in all, I won about $1500 on this trip. I got lucky, very lucky. I took a lot dumb chances, but at the time I felt really alive. Emotions running through me like never before and to this day it still lives in my memory. There were many highs and many lows. The first Vegas trip for me was like the first kiss I ever planted on my first girlfriend. You never forget it. Every year I go down usually once or twice, but no trip is ever the same as the first.

[Sponger15SB]

Nice story Lawrence.

You said you only had $6K when you went down there (well you did win $2k the first night), but then you decided to enter a $1k satalite to the WSOP? Did you think at the time this was a good idea?

[The once and future king]

"So I cut him a deal as I have 60 percent of the chips and he has 40 percent. I say, "you give me $5000k + 10% if you place in the money and I will let you have the seat." He agrees. "

Surprised he agreed to that.

[Stinglikeabee]

Now that's what I call an awesome trip report/ 21st birthday.

[BottlesOf]

Cool report. But 7 years ago the 2000 wasn't fast approaching [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

[SmileyEH]

I really want to make my first trip to vegas something like this too lol. I won't turn 21 until my senior year, by the time spring break comes around I will be up to my armpits in [censored] with thesis work. Going to vegas with a couple g's in my pocket will be just what I need.

Great story Lawrence!

-SmileyEH

[SuitedSixes]

[ QUOTE ]
She's a cute, 5 ft 8 Korean stripper. Spent too much on her too, but hey I have needs!!! Oh and if you don't know what I'm talking about, use your imagination.

[/ QUOTE ]

That brings back memories of my 21st. Except she was my girlfriend (but not for much longer), not a hot Korean stripper, and we were in Laughlin, not Vegas. Well, my "needs" hadn't been met in some time, so when we go back to the room, and she asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I told her, and she replied, "Ok, but make it fast." Which had never been a problem.

I have always been SO good with the ladies.

[Lawrence Ng]

Hi Sponge,

Now that I look back at it, it was probably a horrible idea. But at that time, it was a bankroll, not life savings or my rent money so I guess it wasn't that bad of a choice. I have never played poker for a living and do not need to depend on it to support myself.

So if I had lost that $6k in Vegas, I guess I would have restarted all over and built another one up.

I don't regret doing it, even if I did think I lost. The lust and lure of the big game at the time combined with my youth really got to me.

[Lawrence Ng]

LOL, this is what happens when I'm falling asleep typing.

Yeah, the year was correct. I went down in 2000. So it was only 4 years ago. 7 is the number of years I've been playing cards for. So since I was 19, which is the the legal age here. [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

[Photoc]

[ QUOTE ]
I won't turn 21 until my senior year,


[/ QUOTE ]
Highschool?