Delphin goes to Vegas (7/1 - 7/5)

[Delphin]

I'll be staying at the Aladdin for four night beginning on Friday. I'll post a full report when I get back. I plan to play $1-3,$2/4,$2-6,$3/6,$4/8 and some $1/2NL. I will probably check out Aladdin, Excalibur, Imperial Palace, Luxor, Mandalay Bay, and MGM.

If you see a guy with a buckeye (large nut) as a card protector, it's probably me. Give me a 'sup bro'.

[PanchoVilla]

I too will be there. Probably at the MGM late Thurs-Sat nights. Sun-wed will be at the Rio, mirage, bellagio. I used a chip that is from my wedding as a card protector. I too would respond to sup bro.

Pancho

[felson]

I'll be at the Wynn from Friday through Monday.

[Delphin]

My first time to Vegas and it was great. I was there for 4 nights at the Aladdin with my wife, two other couples, and a couple single guys. Only one of the other guys plays poker, so I split my time between poker and spending time with my wife and the group. All in all I spent about 24 hours a day playing, mostly 3/6.

7/1/2005

Got into Vegas around mid-afternoon and our friends' luggage got lost. The airline will bring it to the hotel when it turns up. One of the couples that was supposed to arrive at the same time is stuck in Phoenix. We'll meet them at the hotel later. We take a limo from the airport to the Aladdin, where we are staying. On the way we get our first view of the strip. The limo driver informs us it is 111 degrees outside according to the car's thermometer, which he admits can be +/- 1 degree. After getting checked in, we grab a late lunch at the Zanzibar Cafe in the Aladdin. Philly Cheesesteak, yum!

It's 4 in the afternoon, and one couple is still on their way from Phoenix and the other couple is waiting on their luggage. My poker playing friend (Ryan) and I decide to check out the Aladdin poker room. We see there is 3/6 and 1/2NL available and both get seats at separate 3/6 tables. Several players at the table are eating fresh baked cookies, but we apparently have missed them. The room is smoke free, the chairs are reasonably comfy, and there is sufficient room between tables. The dealers are friendly and efficient, although not every table has shuffle machines. The room seems very beginner friendly, and I don't have to post a blind to be dealt a hand when I sit. I start with a rack of white. The game is soft, and everyone seems to be friendly and having fun. Two hours later I cash out $210 and go to find everyone for dinner.

We decide to hit the La Salsa Cantina in the Desert Passage (shopping mall in the Aladdin). The food isn't bad, even by the standards of a group from Austin, TX. The premium margaritas are not the best I've had, but they do the trick. We take a walk after dinner and check out the strip at night. New York, New York has a good piano bar that is a lot of fun, and the Bellagio fountain show is pretty entertaining.

By Midnight, Ryan and I are looking to get into another game. We head to the Imperial Palace. I hear they have soft games, sandwiches and cookies, and $3 an hour comps. After spending forever looking for the poker room, we find it. There is a 2/4, 3/6, 4/8, and 1/2NL. We grab two seats at the 2/4 game. The crowd here is not what you would call glamourous, but the game is easily beatable. There are sandwiches and cookies, as promised and we get comped $3/hr although it takes a day for it show up on the card. I cash out up $65 after two hours and we head back to the hotel.

7/2/2005

We decide to check out the South end of the strip in the morning after spending a couple of hours at the pool. After seeing New York, New York, Excalibur, Luxor, and Mandalay Bay we decide to try the spread limit game at Excalibur. The game is 1-3 spread limit (they also had 2-6 and 1/2NL). There are two maniacs sitting next to each other at our table who always seem to be reraising each other. I don't know if they were colluding or just hyper-competitive with each other, but every pot with the two of them get capped on most streets. I suffer a few beats on the river and cash out down $60 after about two hours. We head back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.

Dinner Saturday night is at the Fiore Steakhouse in the Rio. We actually went for the seafood buffet, but the wait is well over two hours, so the Steakhouse will have to do. We get sat in a private room and have a fantastic dinner. From the wine to the lobster bisque, to the sorbet before dinner and the main course, everything is great although this place isn't cheap ($75 each).

After dinner we split up again. Ryan and I go to play at the Aladdin while the rest of the party heads to Rain at the Palms for dancing and drinks. I run hot and cold for about 4 hours and finish exactly even.

7/3/2005

We decide to spend the afternoon checking out the MGM room. I've heard good things and I'm not disappointed. The tables and chairs are really nice. There is a marble rail around the table for stacking chips and the shuffle machines are in use at every table. There is a computerized wait list and getting sat is very efficient. They start up a new 3/6 table for us, and for the first hour, the table is a short handed rock garden, and I don't have the cards to play many hands. As the afternoon wears on, the table fills up and loosens up and I hope to make back the couple stacks that have been blinded away on cold cards and missed flops. I get hit over the head preflop with the deck for the next 4 hours and hit some great flops, but lose way more than my fair share to rivered hands. KK goes down 4 times in a row in 4 hours. One time was after hitting a K high rainbow flop and betting hard the whole way only to lose to the runner runner flush. My buddy Ryan beats my nut flush with a full house, and I lose in a boat over boat hand as well. I get AJo four times in late position and release when it misses the flop (I don't pf raise 6 limpers on the button with AJo, right?). At one point I'm all in for the last chip I plan to spend for the day (down $250). Luckily I win that huge pot and things turn around for the last hour or so. I get back up to 100 at one point and eventually cash out 77 (down $173 in 6 hours).

We have dinner at the Excalibur 'Tournament of Kings' dinner show. The show is very family oriented, but it comes with dinner, which is good and you get to eat it with your hands. The show is a little hokey, but has good effects and some decent jousting and swordplay.

At the end of the night, it's back to the Aladdin. I sit from 11:00 until 1:00 in a 3/6 game. There is a cute girl with big breasts hanging out of a low-cut blouse running over a table of drunk guys, flirting and egging them on ("I win with 69 again, my favorite hand"). She has easily 600 chips on the table. The table is loose and has a few overaggressive players. For my two hours of trouble I walk away $154 richer and feel much better about my bad run at MGM earlier in the day.

7/4/2005

Start the day with the Monday morning $40 tournament at the Aladdin. Breakfast is provided (doughnuts, muffins, and coffee). The blinds go up every 15 minutes and stacks start at 1500 with 25/50 blinds. I bust out in my first big blind hand.

10 players with T$1500
Hero has 5 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]9 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] in the BB ($50)
4 limpers, hero checks
Flop (T$200) 9 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]8 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]2 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]
Hero checks,EP bets $100, MP folds, SB calls, Hero calls
Turn (T$400) 9 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]
Hero checks,EP bets $200, SB calls, Hero raises $600, EP folds, SB calls [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]
River (T$2000) Q [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]
Hero checks, SB bets $250, Hero calls

<font color="white">SB has JTo for the rivered straight</font>

I'll stick to online tourneys where I can start with more than 30x the big blind, but at least I can say I tried it.

I'm in and out of the Aladdin for the rest of the day. Up $148 in 3 1/2 hours during the early evening and then back around midnight. I buy in for a rack of white into a 3/6 and after a great run, I switch to 1/2 no limit for an hour. The game is a mix of seemingly solid players and relatively clueless ones. I play super tight, since I didn't really bring the bankroll for NL and my limit game is much stronger. I play 3 hands in an hour (KTo in an unraised pot from the BB and TT and AA). I end up with $285 after getting all in with AA against 88, and winning the TT hand (details later).

I played 22 hours of limit for a net of $310, mostly at 3/6 which gives me a BB/hr of about 2.35. If I include the tournament and no limit play, I was up a total of $389 over about 24 hours of play. I lost $20 on slots, $20 on craps, and $20 on roulette.

The trip was fun and I finished up for my first poker experience in Vegas. Couldn't ask for much more. [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

[Delphin]

A few other things. I did finally get some of the hot fresh cookies in the Aladdin poker room, and they were fantastic.

I didn't mention dinner at Tsunami in the Venitian. They serve a mix of sushi and chinese food. The mongolian beef was excellent. Their signature drink (The Tsunami) is a fish bowl filled with pinapple juice, rum, 151, and some other stuff. It's 25 dollars, but the whole table can drink off of it and it does the trick! We also tried some pear infused sake, which was served cold and was definately the most pleasing sake I've had (usually tastes like hot vodka).

[Delphin]

One hand from the 1/2NL table. The villain has a large stack and a maniacal image. He raises to 10 about every other hand preflop (often blind) and seems to always follow up on the flop with a pot sized bet, which more often than not takes it down.

Hero ($160)
Villain ($300)

Hero has T [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]T [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] in SB
Villain raises to $10 blind UTG, one caller in middle position, folded to Hero, Hero raises to $30, Villain look at cards and calls, MP folds
Flop ($72) J [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]J [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]5 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]
Hero checks, Villain bets $40, Hero raises all-in ($130)

<font color="white">Villain folds</font>

I am a little worried about getting a call from AJ or 55, but I think that I'm ahead here more often than not against Villain's hyperaggressive style. Thoughts?

[Sandstone]

[ QUOTE ]
We also tried some pear infused sake, which was served cold and was definately the most pleasing sake I've had (usually tastes like hot vodka).

[/ QUOTE ]
The hot sakes are the crappiest crap that ever crapped.

The premium imported sakes (which get served either cold or at room temp depending on the sake) are amazing, however.

[Badboyy]

This was a great trip report. I had fun reading it.