CliffsNotes Of My Vegas Trip: Spewed chips at the craps tables on multiple occasions, played some of the best poker I've ever played (including a third-place finish at the Golden Nugget's daily AM tournament), had two hot streaks at the blackjack tables, hit the one big bet I put in at the GN's sportsbook on the C's, met two sets of ladies who were quite friendly and weren't the type who I had to pay, and drank *a lot* of free and not-so-free drinks
trip report
Here’s a trip report – I tried to remember more poker hands, but I’m just awful at that (shows you the kind of player I am). Nothing real exciting, but it was fun, and I’m glad I went:
Day 1
Arrive at PDX on a 5:30pm flight to McCarran, that should arrive around 7:30pm. It’s 4:40pm so I sit at the bar in the terminal and get a sandwich and beer to pass the time. Around 5:15pm I decide to head over to the gate and there is *no one* there, apparently I’m the last one to show up for the flight. I get my aisle seat in the second to last row of a 737 and grab ahold of the armrests like my life depended on it. Take off goes well and I don’t die (yay!). I grab my laptop & headphones asap and load up Death at a Funeral (the original, non-Chris Rock version). Funny movie, really weird that they made a remake so soon and seemed to have used the *exact* same jokes for it. I contain myself and don’t make a scene when the jokes come around. Landing was bumpy, but oddly I find that part of the flight to be fun – it’s the long, uneventful middle portion that I dread.
I get out of the airport and grab a cab to the 4 Queens via the freeway, after the cabbie tells me it’s more expensive ($34) but quicker. I get into the room, drop my shit, change and head out to Fitsgerald’s as I read the poker players are particularly awful there. I find the poker area, and while I’m sure the players are awful regularly, there are none present. Off to the Golden Nugget! I buy in for $200 at the $1-$2NL and work my stack up to about $600 over the next few hours. No exciting hands, the players are pretty poor and I don’t even try to disguise my hands as it doesn’t seem to matter. Only big loss of the night came when my QJ got rivered by Q10 after getting it all in on the turn of a xJJ board. Met a few cool people at this table, two dealers (I think) from the Hard Rock were to my right and not only offered action but were fun to chat with. I told them I’d make a $1-$2 game at the Rock the next night that they said would be fun, but I ended up backing out. Walked away at 3am as I was barely awake. Took the long way back to my hotel, through a blackjack & craps table – nothing exciting, aside from when the craps table decided to crap when I had a passline bet as well as 2 come bets (all /w full 10x odds) working… Ugh. Tried to get a young lady from Alberta I’d been chatting with to join me for a drink, but it didn’t happen. Sleep.
Day 2
Wake up at 7am, partially because that’s what I do (no matter how late I hit the hay) and partially because the f’ing curtains in the room don’t quite close all the way letting a “welcome to heaven” type beam of sunlight right onto my face. I pretend that I’ll fall back asleep for a bit and then resign myself to starting my day. For the first time I kind of check out the room – it’s fine, but that’s about the best I could say about it. I head into the bathroom & realize two things: first I’d forgotten TSA tossed my toothpaste back in Portland (too many ounces) AND the room didn’t come equipped with any shampoo or soap. Superb. I call the housekeeping folks and let them know, but decide to take a quick shower so I can go get breakfast.
Take a short walk and hit up the breakfast place right inside Golden Gate. Food is good, although the staff behind the counter seemed to be arguing the entire time I was there which kind of took any kind of joy out of eating breakfast, alone, at the Golden Gate.
Head back to my room, picking up toothpaste along the way and do the morning routine properly.
I decide to check out the strip, as it’s supposed to be colder Wednesday and who wants to walk around in the cold? Take the “deuce” to the strip and walk around for awhile. The amount of construction going on is insane. At some point they will build so much that they won’t be able to fill all their rooms… Heh. Even having been to Foxwoods (which, I believe is the largest casino in North America) many times, I was really taken aback by the size of these establishments, Caesar’s Palace in particular. I really dug the escalators outdoors to access the walkways. Shot some more craps at Venetian and played some LHE in their poker room, but wanted to get to a sportsbook before the C’s game tipped at 5:00pm as I was planning to make a pretty large play on the Celts.
Head back to downtown and to the book at GN. Put my bet in, head back to my room to relax for 30mins or so – post in CW’s thread, order a bottle of Merlot for later, and head out to 777 to watch the game….
Arrive at 777 and seat myself at the bar on the far side of the room, with a pair of ladies on each side. After a solid steak, a few 23oz IPAs, and some solid banter with one of the girls on my right I’m finally feeling really good about the trip. I’m leaving at the same time as the two girls, and since they were craps-virgins I invited them back to GN where I was going to hit the tables. Had a good time, got more drinks into me, more drinks into the ladies -- BUT hold up wait a minute – they’re heading home, as both have to “work in the morning” which I assume was code for “we need to find a cooler place and a cooler guy than you to chill with” – fair enough.
I login to the Rx to talk some shit about the utter beatdown the C’s are giving the Heat, contemplate where D-Wade will be next year, and decide to sit down at a $1-$2NL game to finish off the night.
Roll into the 4 Queens around 3:30am after some more blackjack on the way home and I’m out.
Day 3
Wake up at 7:30am, again. Watch sportscenter 2 times to catch up on anything I may have missed the night before, shower up and head out. The buffet room at Main Street Station looks pretty nice, so I headed there for breakfast – pick up a bunch of fruit and some biscuits & sausage gravy… 4 glasses of cranberry juice & I’m ready to go.
Head over to GN for their daily $65 NL tournament. 2 tables, and I make it down to the final 4 after playing a pretty ABC game. Would’ve been in better chip position, but my KK got clipped by a moron’s A7 after he called my all-in preflop. Whatever. Oldguy loses to a flopped flush, after calling bet after bet on every street has some choice words for the winner… Crazy. Would’ve made my trip report to describe this old guy getting stomped, but it didn’t happen. Down to 3 and I'm the short stack. I get my stack in /w JJ but lose to the big stack's A10. Collect $260 for my troubles and head back to the 4 Queens…
Hit up a blackjack table /w $200, and after staying essentially even for an hour I hit a great run and am up to $500. Take out $400 and lose the $100 left on the table before walking away. Decide to check out Benny’s Bullpen (I think it’s called?) – nice atmosphere at this place, grab a few beers and some food.
Head back to the 4 Queens, pick up my bag and take a cab to McCarran via the Strip.
Flight home is pretty bumpy, but I just kept my headphones on & watched another flick I’d downloaded. Get home, feed the cats, make some calls and have a great night of sleep.
Here’s a trip report – I tried to remember more poker hands, but I’m just awful at that (shows you the kind of player I am). Nothing real exciting, but it was fun, and I’m glad I went:
Day 1
Arrive at PDX on a 5:30pm flight to McCarran, that should arrive around 7:30pm. It’s 4:40pm so I sit at the bar in the terminal and get a sandwich and beer to pass the time. Around 5:15pm I decide to head over to the gate and there is *no one* there, apparently I’m the last one to show up for the flight. I get my aisle seat in the second to last row of a 737 and grab ahold of the armrests like my life depended on it. Take off goes well and I don’t die (yay!). I grab my laptop & headphones asap and load up Death at a Funeral (the original, non-Chris Rock version). Funny movie, really weird that they made a remake so soon and seemed to have used the *exact* same jokes for it. I contain myself and don’t make a scene when the jokes come around. Landing was bumpy, but oddly I find that part of the flight to be fun – it’s the long, uneventful middle portion that I dread.
I get out of the airport and grab a cab to the 4 Queens via the freeway, after the cabbie tells me it’s more expensive ($34) but quicker. I get into the room, drop my shit, change and head out to Fitsgerald’s as I read the poker players are particularly awful there. I find the poker area, and while I’m sure the players are awful regularly, there are none present. Off to the Golden Nugget! I buy in for $200 at the $1-$2NL and work my stack up to about $600 over the next few hours. No exciting hands, the players are pretty poor and I don’t even try to disguise my hands as it doesn’t seem to matter. Only big loss of the night came when my QJ got rivered by Q10 after getting it all in on the turn of a xJJ board. Met a few cool people at this table, two dealers (I think) from the Hard Rock were to my right and not only offered action but were fun to chat with. I told them I’d make a $1-$2 game at the Rock the next night that they said would be fun, but I ended up backing out. Walked away at 3am as I was barely awake. Took the long way back to my hotel, through a blackjack & craps table – nothing exciting, aside from when the craps table decided to crap when I had a passline bet as well as 2 come bets (all /w full 10x odds) working… Ugh. Tried to get a young lady from Alberta I’d been chatting with to join me for a drink, but it didn’t happen. Sleep.
Day 2
Wake up at 7am, partially because that’s what I do (no matter how late I hit the hay) and partially because the f’ing curtains in the room don’t quite close all the way letting a “welcome to heaven” type beam of sunlight right onto my face. I pretend that I’ll fall back asleep for a bit and then resign myself to starting my day. For the first time I kind of check out the room – it’s fine, but that’s about the best I could say about it. I head into the bathroom & realize two things: first I’d forgotten TSA tossed my toothpaste back in Portland (too many ounces) AND the room didn’t come equipped with any shampoo or soap. Superb. I call the housekeeping folks and let them know, but decide to take a quick shower so I can go get breakfast.
Take a short walk and hit up the breakfast place right inside Golden Gate. Food is good, although the staff behind the counter seemed to be arguing the entire time I was there which kind of took any kind of joy out of eating breakfast, alone, at the Golden Gate.
Head back to my room, picking up toothpaste along the way and do the morning routine properly.
I decide to check out the strip, as it’s supposed to be colder Wednesday and who wants to walk around in the cold? Take the “deuce” to the strip and walk around for awhile. The amount of construction going on is insane. At some point they will build so much that they won’t be able to fill all their rooms… Heh. Even having been to Foxwoods (which, I believe is the largest casino in North America) many times, I was really taken aback by the size of these establishments, Caesar’s Palace in particular. I really dug the escalators outdoors to access the walkways. Shot some more craps at Venetian and played some LHE in their poker room, but wanted to get to a sportsbook before the C’s game tipped at 5:00pm as I was planning to make a pretty large play on the Celts.
Head back to downtown and to the book at GN. Put my bet in, head back to my room to relax for 30mins or so – post in CW’s thread, order a bottle of Merlot for later, and head out to 777 to watch the game….
Arrive at 777 and seat myself at the bar on the far side of the room, with a pair of ladies on each side. After a solid steak, a few 23oz IPAs, and some solid banter with one of the girls on my right I’m finally feeling really good about the trip. I’m leaving at the same time as the two girls, and since they were craps-virgins I invited them back to GN where I was going to hit the tables. Had a good time, got more drinks into me, more drinks into the ladies -- BUT hold up wait a minute – they’re heading home, as both have to “work in the morning” which I assume was code for “we need to find a cooler place and a cooler guy than you to chill with” – fair enough.
I login to the Rx to talk some shit about the utter beatdown the C’s are giving the Heat, contemplate where D-Wade will be next year, and decide to sit down at a $1-$2NL game to finish off the night.
Roll into the 4 Queens around 3:30am after some more blackjack on the way home and I’m out.
Day 3
Wake up at 7:30am, again. Watch sportscenter 2 times to catch up on anything I may have missed the night before, shower up and head out. The buffet room at Main Street Station looks pretty nice, so I headed there for breakfast – pick up a bunch of fruit and some biscuits & sausage gravy… 4 glasses of cranberry juice & I’m ready to go.
Head over to GN for their daily $65 NL tournament. 2 tables, and I make it down to the final 4 after playing a pretty ABC game. Would’ve been in better chip position, but my KK got clipped by a moron’s A7 after he called my all-in preflop. Whatever. Oldguy loses to a flopped flush, after calling bet after bet on every street has some choice words for the winner… Crazy. Would’ve made my trip report to describe this old guy getting stomped, but it didn’t happen. Down to 3 and I'm the short stack. I get my stack in /w JJ but lose to the big stack's A10. Collect $260 for my troubles and head back to the 4 Queens…
Hit up a blackjack table /w $200, and after staying essentially even for an hour I hit a great run and am up to $500. Take out $400 and lose the $100 left on the table before walking away. Decide to check out Benny’s Bullpen (I think it’s called?) – nice atmosphere at this place, grab a few beers and some food.
Head back to the 4 Queens, pick up my bag and take a cab to McCarran via the Strip.
Flight home is pretty bumpy, but I just kept my headphones on & watched another flick I’d downloaded. Get home, feed the cats, make some calls and have a great night of sleep.
