Maldini's Vegas Trip Report part 1.

[maldini]

My first trip to Las Vegas and my first trip report. Part 1. I hope someone finds it interesting. Very little poker content.

My buddy (John, we’ll call him) calls me up one nite and wants to go to Vegas. He has just quit his job and has several free weeks before his new one. I’ve been running well in my local $1/$2 NL games and am not busy at work, so I jump at the chance. He has a 9-month-old baby so needless to say his wife is not thrilled that he’s choosing to spend ¼ of his free time with me in Vegas. I’m not entirely clear as to the reason(s) that she hates me. Was it the drunken trip to Lake Charles from Houston at 2am? That one deserves its own trip report. Maybe it was the back-to-back times that I came in from Austin and we had a poker game at their house until 8am followed by the 14-16 hours at the local titty bar for “lunch”? Naturally, everyone but me leaves the poker game by 2-3amish. Regardless, I know he’s paying a price for this one so we better have fun.

We go Sunday Nov. 13th through Thursday, Nov. 17th. I lament the fact that I may be missing out on some weak weekend action but decide that if I’m not a favorite against the average weeknight player at the strip, I’m better off finding that out sooner rather than later. We elect for a no frills, straight poker trip. I believe that I can pay for my trip if I can get in 40 hours in 4 nights. I’ve never tried to play poker that long and have a notoriously bad attention span so it’s a bit of a gamble. For me to play well, I decide to treat this trip like a pro would. This means that I have to consciously drink in moderation (or hopefully, not at all) (yea, right) and stay clear of the strip clubs and table games. I also plan to stay at a table when I’m a favorite no matter how much I’m up and leave when I’m an underdog no matter how much I’m up or down.

We book Excalibur for all 4 nites for an average of $70/night. In retrospect, I think someone with knowledge can get equal or better rate somewhere else and I gotta assume that somewhere else (anywhere else) is better than Excalibur. We get to the hotel about 10pm and head str8 to the poker room. The hosts appear disinterested in our arrival and the one I talk to, who is announcing seats over the PA, is Asian and about 95% unintelligible. He gives me $200 in white chips and tells me there is a seat open at $1/$2. Man that seems like a lot of white chips.

-Are yall out of reds?
-No, you want $1/$2 right? That’s limit.
-Wow, you have $1/$2 limit? That sounds horrible. I’m nearly broke but I don’t think I could sit at that game. No I want NL.
-Oh, we only have 2 tables of $1/$3 NL and they are full.
(i THINK that's how it went. im guessing what he was saying and total conversation time was over 2 minutes.)

So we head of to MGM. Everyone raves about the room and it lives up to expectations. It’s very nice and spacious with good host/dealers. I quickly discover that the waitresses are awful, but maybe that’s not a bad thing. I take that as a sign.

I’m a little nervous when I first sit down. I currently play about 15rs/wk of NL with a rake and good dealers, but I’ve never played at a casino and am not sure what to expect. I’m in seat 9 and immediately take notice of the table coach in seat #2. She is a dealer at one of the nearby rooms. She was the only person at the table with shades on.

Note to table coaches: Don’t be this person. It adds no value for you to critique all the action. The bad players tighten up but also become aware that you can bet or raise with nothing. The good players can sit and figure out how you play by your comments.

It takes less than an orbit to feel confident and decide on a strategy. There are a couple of decent players but everyone else is about as bad as the worst few that I play against regularly. I’m limping with everything anywhere near the button. I,m raising only to isolate the weakest players and/or steal the button. Trying to play small pots until I get something big. Everything goes well and I leave after about 4 hours. The table had completely turned over and I didn’t want to sit there and figure out the deal so I leave to go check on John. He had stopped by my table an hour before to tell me he was heading back to Excalibur. He was down $800 playing some $1/$2 NL and some $4/8 limit. Huh? How does that happen? Granted, he’s more of a tourney guy but still…

BTW, Not sure that I’ll be mentioning many specific hands. I have the memory of a mosquito so the hands would not be accurate except for the general idea. Generally, the play was weak, I hit some good hands but nothing crazy happened and my stack was never in danger or threatened. +$150.

I go to Excalibur and get on at the $1/$3. John is at the next table. The table is harder but not by much. 2 of the above average players have no money and are really tight. Only 1 good player and 3 or 4 bad players are slinging chips around. Confidence is high. Nothing memorable happens to me for about an hour or 2. Seat 5 tries to switch to the other game and is told that he cannot without alerting management. It’s like 5am, doubtful that there is a big waiting list to play. We resolve it by having John switch with him. This may be my biggest mistake of the trip. John is completely [censored] canned and playing 80% of the hands, usually for a raise. He was not this drunk when he left MGM. After about 5 hands of him going all in at some point in the hand and everyone folding, I jokingly tell him from across the table that he better be careful, he may get looked up one of these times. He gets AA on the button the very next hand. It looks exactly like a button raise, a K flops and John makes a ridiculous all-in overbet. The worst player at the table hands him like $250 with K8o. What?

We combine to one table and my night goes right in the toilet. I get it all in with KJ on a J high flop against one of the worst players I’ve ever seen. I bet out and he went all in. I think for a while and call. Funny thing is, as soon as I say “call” he says “that’s what I like to hear, baby!” and proudly slams down QJ. He rivers a Q. Ouch. A few minutes later a raise comes from UTG to my immediate left. He’s an older white guy so I assume from minute 1 that he’s tight. A few callers are in and I call with 10-9. Flop comes Q-10-9. I’m praying for the old guy to have an overpair. I bet out pretty big, he goes all in over the top and John goes all in too. [censored]. Now what do I do? John could have anything. I honestly don’t know if he can see the board at this point. Every time a player throws out 3 reds, the Asian deal says “fiftee”. John squints and says "WHAT? $50? Wow”. He’s killing me and everyone else. He’s too drunk to stack his chips. He’s staggered away from the table twice to cash in chips without anyone seeing him but me. I call. The old guy turns over AQ. John turns over trip 9s. Ouch again. Not much more happens and I leave down $300 for the nite. John is down $100 (yes, he made $700 completely trashed) but got a free escort back to the room by 2 sweet and thoughtful security guards.

more to follow (unless I get flamed all to hell). i havent written the rest so let me know how i can make it more palatable and i will see what i can do.

Haven't seen anything to flame you on yet. It's actually a good read... please continue.

One thing though, paying an average of $70/night Sun-Thur at Excalibur is just wrong. Next time stay downtown at Binion's for like $39/night. Much better atmosphere than Excalibur.

[NoRiverRats]

So far so good...a gang of us are off to Vegas next Friday and are staying at MGM but we heard that Excal NL is super soft, so more about game texture would be nice. Other than that, keep it comin'

[maldini]

yea, it is. i played about 20-25 hours there. more to follow. plus drunken play at binions and attack of the downtown busdriver

[SheridanCat]

Nice report so far. I look forward to reading the rest.

That your friend is a ratholing scumbag isn't your fault, so I'll flame him instead.

Regards,

T

[ThaHero]

Very good read, and I'm waiting for the rest. You actually left for Vegas on my BDay.

[DrCool]

Good report. We might have crossed paths somewhere. I was in Vegas the 14th-18th. Played at MGM, Wynn, Ballys, and Mandalay throughout the week. You were probably one of the guys that took my money. hehe

[maldini]

hum. of those i only played at MGM. sunday nite for about 4 hours the table against the interior wall near the cage and opposite the waitress area. i played the same table wed nite for 2 or 3 hours too. left shortly after a big guy with $1500 in front left.

[MisterKing]

I like it -- good report & keep it coming.