Vegas Road Trip Report (Long w/W. Newton Content)

As posted below, I hit the road with my soon-to-be-ex-boss to go to Las Vegas. We have talked about going there for a while, but have never been able to schedule it. Now that I am about to move on to other ventures, we figured it would be a good time to go, so we did on one day notice. I get to Las Vegas often enough, but my boss hasn't been there for a long time and hasn't seen the new places. Accordingly, my poker hours were relatively short, but the trip was a good time.


Since we didn't plan, there were no hotels with rooms for a reasonable price. So I found a two-bedroom suite at Emerald Suites for $139 a night. I was a bit worried, as places that rent by the week and month can be interesting in Las Vegas. But the place seemed OK, and turned out to be quiet and clean. There were some suspicious people about, but it was a Las Vegas rental, so there you have it. I have had worse Las Vegas experiences.


We checked in then went down the strip to look around. We went through a bunch of casinos that he hadn't seen doing nothing in particular. Ended up eating dinner at Drai's at the Barbary Coast, for no good reason. It was solid mediocre and only somewhat overpriced. We checked the menu at the other restaurant @ the BC they brag about - Michael's. Unless someone can convince me otherwise, that place has to be a joke played on the marks who eat there. I mean, they have normal dishes on the menu for double or triple high-end prices. I mean they get 2x or 3x what Mortons-Ruth's Chris-Delmonico-etc... charge for steak. Flambe rack of beast served tableside for 2 for 150 or something idiotic. Stupak was there in the corner with somebody, so it must be good though, right?


Anyway, after dinner we headed back to the Bellagio. Mason got to see my first hand in 15-30, but I don't think he paid any attention. Which is fine because I mangled the turn and looked like an idiot, but saved a bet I would have lost anyway. Bad play can save a bet sometimes. I said hello to Mason a minute before the hand, but I don't think he remembered me. Which is understandable since he met me once for like 30 seconds while he was in a game a couple months ago. I didn't re-introduce myself, so I am the one to blame, not Mason. Then Mason came by and talked to the guy next to me in the game for a minute. I posted behind, and picked up a hand I could 3-bet an early raiser with. We got heads-up, the flop was blanks, I bet and was looking good, then just totally dogged the turn when a scare card came. Gaaack. That's the proper word for it. Really. River came, I was snapped off. A bet wouldn't have forced the other guy out, but I was still an idiot. I hope Mason missed my play due to his conversation with the guy next to me. That was one I wanted to put a shroud over. I won a little in the game though.


The next day I played for a pretty long time in the 15-30. I was totally out of tune and managed to make a lot of bad moves at the wrong time. On one occasion I put a sweet steal attempt on the worst player in the game, and almost won the pot, but he was not to be fooled of course. I got stuck in the hand and the only way I could win was to attempt a steal which I set up with my stellar (facetious warning here) play earlier in the hand. The odds of it working compared to the payoff were OK, and he agonized for about an hour before calling. The game deteriorated after I was stuck of course, when a couple of the weaker players left. It was aggressive, with some pretty tricky/good players. I should have tried to change tables, but figured maybe they'd get some other players. We did. Seat open. "Cissy, do you want that one?" Great. So Cissy Bottoms comes over and plays a bit. She apparently didn't think the game was so hot either since she moved after just a little while. If she thinks the game stinks, so do I. Besides, we had to go to see Wayne Newton. So I ate my loss which I kept to less than a rack with my brilliant play. No, not the small pair isolation play I pulled on the most aggressive player at the table after not playing a hand for an hour that so intimidated the table that two people behind called three cold so I could put heat on the A-K-9 flop with my sevens. The other brilliant play was what kept my losses manageable. After the hand the aggressive (and competent)guy asked if I had folded my king? LOL. Had I only had a king.


Anyway, on to Wayne Newton. My boss has musical taste that runs from Beethoven, Mahler, Bruckner all the way to Bach and Mozart. Tchaikovsky is something nice if you want a simple tune to hum without any complexity. He hates stuff like Wayne Newton. So of course he wanted to go to Wayne Newton to see the worst of Las Vegas. And Wayne was bad. I saw him maybe 10 years ago in a similar spirit of seeing something so prototypically Las Vegas. Wayne impressed me with how hard he worked and that he really did put on a good show. But now it's like watching a pitcher with no arm or a fighter who is past his ability to defend himself. He has totally lost his voice to the point it is unbearable to watch. He still works very hard and tries to put on a good show, but he just can't do it. He can play the instruments and do the Wayne Newton schtick for the 68 year old ladies from Nebraska, but he can't sing a note. He tries to cover by having the back up singers do more and keeps his own singing to a minimum, but it wasn't enough. The show went on too long, which is a tribute to the effort he puts forth, but made things worse. I could say that a guy got two bets out of me by doing a Wayne Newton impression, but that wouldn't be quite accurate. He is Wayne Newton and he still does the Wayne Newton bit. He just can't sing. I wish they would have him lip sync. It would be great then. The real show of course is the people. You head down to the lagging part of the strip and hit the Stardust. Which has always been a somewhat down-market place. Not the worst, but not the nicest place. Then you add Wayne Newton fans. They no longer bother to dress up at all, which surprised me. We put on jackets to go, and I expected the pre-baby boom era folks to do the same. But they wore their bermudas and Rockports and brought Cheetos in to eat. I wanted old geezers in suits and their wives fresh from the Chat 'n Curl with a bouffant. But everyone's just a fannypacker at the Newton show now. You gotta try to stay current or it's just a slow death I suppose.


The funniest event of the trip occurred when we left the Bellagio the first night. We valet parked much earlier at the Monte Carlo and took the tram back. We got on the nearest car as it was about to leave. A woman was on it alone, and there was a strange feeling in the car. I figured there would be a bit of tension or at least standoffishness when there are two guys and one woman in a tram car at 3:30 am. But she started talking to us, which was a big red flag. First, what woman would want to talk to us, right? Next, what woman wants to ask questions at 3:30 am in a tram car. She wasn't dressed outrageously or anything, so there was some doubt. But we were kind of cringing when the inevitable question came about whether we wanted some entertainment. We quickly but politely declined. The rest of the tram ride was kind of bizarre. Etiquette books don't discuss how to handle the situation that came about. So we just had the ride-the-elevator-and-look-at-the-numbers-and-don't-look-at-anybody strategy working. It worked, we disembarked and went our separate ways as soon as the corridor at the Monte Carlo would allow.


But that story has a final chapter that Emily Post neglected as well. The next day we were in the self-park area at Bellagio. We were dealing with a crisis that came up as soon as we left of course. We had to get a cell phone out of the car and were staying in the garage, by the elevators, to use it where we had a good signal. So my boss is talking to someone back home about the latest disaster and I am there listening to see if there's anything we need to discuss. Who should get off the elevator but the gentlewoman from the previous evening along with a guy who looked kind of bizarre. What's the etiquette here? She saw me, I saw her, I smiled, she smiled, the guy didn't notice. I think she got more than two bets out of him.

another gr8 one from a top barrister,,,hey i think you are saving it up for wsop...i plan on playing the stud/he 1500 buy-in fri may 17...if i cash, or if i don't , and the wife still has her job, i may do the big one, hey, you cannot take it with you...gl...say hi to hdpw..gl

Who should get off the elevator but the gentlewoman from the previous evening along with a guy who looked kind of bizarre. What's the etiquette here? She saw me, I saw her, I smiled, she smiled, the guy didn't notice.


I have a friend who's a psychologist. And of course, some people are sensitive about it being known they see one. So she might find herself standing right behind a client at the grocery store, or at the next table at a restaurant or something. And she completely ignores them until/unless they make the first move. In which case they can chat, whatever.


Your situation would appear to be somewhat analogous. If she smiles at you first, then you smile back. If she looks right through you, you do the same.


Regards, Lee

Let's be clear that I had no doctor/patient relationship with this lady. :-)

rofl@a woman thinking she was gonna get paid by a poker player in the first place

loved the ending about getting the 2 bets out of the guy...hahaa very nicely handled by ya too...


etiquette for the gal on the tram. shes a person too. its ok to yap with em. even though ya declined the offer, ask her if its a slow night...haha i yap with those gals up here at any chance. it can be quite a conversation. theyre usually amazed your asking them anything other than the obvious...they can be fascinating people. and they can be total idiots too. there just makin a living. like the concession stand workers....kinda.....haha


nice post...


b

i cant wait to say that to one...


sorry honey...im a poker player...haha


good one

High Desert Poker Man,


Interesting trip report. I like the ending.


Good Luck


Mark

Show the gal due respect. She just wants to make both ends meet hahaha.