Las Vegas Invasion Trip Report
I last saw compuease, Itsame and stpboy at the Venetian on Wednesday, so I was looking forward like others to reading the trip reports of the forum invasion of Las Vegas. The buzz on the Strip was about a Milton Rock dominating his tournaments and a HBK playa dominating his cash game tables. 
I will start off the trip reports with my first day details.
On the morning of departure, I found out that I can check in online at Southwest.com and print my boarding pass. westside8 picks me up at 3 AM and I give him a $38 coupon for the airport parking, and found out that he was way ahead of me and had already done everything I did.
Unlike my WSOP trip where I got free massages from US Homeland Security at the airport as two different guards searched me for Weapons of Math Destruction, we quickly made it past the checks and had a lot of time at Buffalo Airport. This airport seemed a lot nicer than the Toronto airport, as westside8 was able to access the Internet for free and recharge in a hi-tech station. There were also big leather chairs, so after I tried to make progress with pkrfce9's SNG book, I became sleepy and took a nap in the comfortable chair.
Southwest is better than Continental, Delta and Northwest Airlines. The leather chair was comfortable and it wasn't as cramped. Southwest has a weird system of not assigning seats, so seating was first-come first-served depending on your boarding pass number. Unlike other airlines where there was no food available at all and I had to look for food in my carry-on to keep from starving, Southwest provides free snacks and drinks. The flights were not full so there was an empty seat between westside's aisle seat and my window seat.
We land in Las Vegas early. My luggage is nowhere to be found, so I check with Southwest and it seems that somebody had taken it out of the carousel and put in aside. We wait for stpboy to arrive from Detroit. Instead of taking a $6 shuttle, we decide to take a taxi. I tell the driver to avoid the tunnel, as it can cost as much as $40 just to go the Strip. Our cab fare was $19 on Tuesday morning, and $14 on Monday afternoon going back to the airport. The second driver was very honest and friendly and gave us his business card, so I will try to call him next time I need a cab in Vegas.
stpboy goes to the HBK hangout at Harrah's, while westside8 and I check in at Imperial Palace. I do the $20 trick and we get upgraded from the Capri "hooker room" to a Deluxe room with a nice corner view. It is non-smoking and has a view of the swimming pools of IP and Flamingo Hotel. A lot of people don't like staying on the 13th floor, so we get that lucky floor. I request the quiet side instead of the one facing Harrah's where there is loud outdoor concert late at night and where we may get peeped on by somebody's Facebook camera.
The Deepstack Wars
I quickly walked across the street to make it in time for the Caesars Palace Mega Stack Series $235 event at noon. I ask to be put in a satellite interest list, but there had not been a single satellite held since the series started.
I talked to the Tournament Director of Caesars Palace during the first series in July and it was great to see that three of my suggested improvements were implemented. The tournament information screen was better. Instead of the cost per round more than doubling from 400/800 to 600/1200+100, an additional level of 600/1200+0 was inserted for Level 7. Players were given the choice of finishing the tournament on the same night instead of automatically ending at 2 AM and players being forced to come back the next day at 2 PM. In addition, CP increased the starting stack from 7,500 to 10,000 chips for the $235 events, which is probably the best value I have seen.
Unlike in the summer when Mega Stack was drawing more players until the Venetian caught up by increasing its starting stacks, CP badly lost the heads-up war this time against the Deep Stack Extravaganza, which had 3-4 times as many players every day. For example, the $340 DSE event on November 13 had 406 players while the $235 Mega Stack event I played on the same day only had 83 players! Even though CP offers more play, Venetian dominated for the following reasons: players wanted a bigger prize pool and were willing to pay a higher buy-in, players prefer the Venetian over the CP poker room and employees, and Venetian had automated shufflers, stunning waitresses, free meals, shirts, caps and premium drinks.
At the beginning of a Mega Stack event, a player asked the plain CP waitress for Bourbon and Coke. He asked which brand of Bourbon they had and she wasn't sure, so he mentioned all the brands starting from the premium down to the cheapest; the waitress eventually got back to him and said the brand, but nobody had ever heard of it. I don't drink alcohol while playing poker as I become sleepy sooner and order a free energy drink instead; CP only has Sobe served in a glass full of ice, while Venetian has Red Bull, sugar-free Red Bull and Rock Star, all served in the original can.
Anyway, I was card dead on the November 11 event. My best hand was 8-8, which was also my bust-out hand when my short stack ran up against J-J. IGHN after 2 hours and 45 minutes. I was surprised that 48 out of the 122 players had already busted before me.
Satellite King or Donkey?
With no satellites at CP, I headed to the Venetian. One of my goals on this trip was to see if I can also be successful at satellites in Las Vegas. Several Fallsview players basically said that I was a luckbox to have won WPT satellites, so it was time to see if I was just another "hometown hero" who would go broke when he goes to Las Vegas and takes on the real satellite kings.
The Venetian satellites started at 8 AM until 2 AM. If you finish in the final two out of ten players, play ends and you both win the same prize. For the "$300 satellites", the buy-in is $80 and each of the two winners get $300 in lammers and $40 in cash game chips.
At least one of the savvy players would start a "last longer" pool of at least $20 each. Just like joining a rake-free satellite, joining a last-longest pool is a no-brainer as it adds extra money with no rake. The two winners of each satellite were almost always part of the pool. I preferred a third-place pool like we did at Fallsview so that the bubble boy would get something instead of nothing. However, as I found out later, third place was the least likely place for me with the Venetian format, so I just stuck with the last-longest pool. I was much more likely to finish last than third, so next time, I will also organize a first-out pool. I became the default pool organizer, and players would throw their bills at me as soon as I sat down!
Satellite #1: I join the last-longest pool of $180 total. My total cost is $100 ($64 buy-in + $16 fee/rake + $20 last-longest). There is an all-in and I have a dominating hand of A-K vs. Kh-Jh. The board is
:10c :3d :ts :3h
There are only three Jacks (or less) left in the deck that can beat me. One of the gorgeous Venetian waitresses with legs that just won't quit gives me my free Red Bull. The river is
:jc
First one out, 10th place, dead last.
Satellite #2: I pay the $100. I have J-Q in the SB and call with multiple limpers. Board is
:jc :jd :10h :9c
I go all-in on the turn. My opponent has
:jh :7d
and calls. Once again, only three cards (7) can beat me. A Venetian blonde bombshell waitress had just taken my order of pomegranate juice. The river is
:7s
Out. A :fish: had already been eliminated, so I improve to 9th place instead of last.
Satellite #3: I donate the $100. I chat with a fellow Canadian and he mentions the painful fact that I am now in for $300 and I could have just bought in directly to the DSE tournament. :-[ A "satellite king" at Fallsview is a satellite donkey :fish: in Las Vegas. Eighty five minutes later, I make it to the final two and I win my first satellite ever in Las Vegas. Unlike silly Seneca Casino,
there are obviously no taxes on satellite wins. There was only one player who refused to join the last-longest pool and he didn't win, so the two of us winners split the $180 pool and we both gave the excellent dealers a tip.
WTF is a lammer & why would somebody give 100% cash for it?
Lammers are tournament entry chips. I used the 3 $100 lammers I won plus $40 cash to play in the $340 DSE event the next day. I wondered before why WSOP players were willing to exchange their cash for lammers with no discount, but players treat lammers the same as cash game chips. Satellite winners would ask to trade a $100 lammer for $100 cash and there would be a taker, including myself. On my final day of satellites, I had over $1,000 in lammers left and I was able to exchange them for 100% value. At the Venetian, their lammers don't expire, so they can be used for any future satellite and tournament, including another DSE in February 2009.
In contrast, the satellite vouchers used at Fallsview are treated very differently. They expire by the WPT event, so players who didn't have time to use the thousands of dollars worth of vouchers that they had won were SOOL. Players with $1,240 vouchers would offer them to me for only $1000 and $460 vouchers would be offered to me for $400.
Satellite #4: All ten players join the $20 last-longest pool so the two winners will get an additional $100 each. After getting 3-outered in my first two satellites, I win the next two. This one lasted only 65 turbo minutes. Me like satellites and start to have delusional fantasies of moving my family to Las Vegas as a pro.
Satellite #7: I didn't win the next two satellites, then after midnight, I play my seventh satellite. Seven players participated in the $20 last-longest pool, which is the lowest of the satellites I played so far. With two of the three players left as part of the pool, if one of the pool participants was the bubble person, then it means that the remaining pool participant would win the entire $140 pool without any split. The shortest stack asked me to split the pool, but since I had more than half the chips and giving up equity like that is a cardinal sin for me, I politely declined and explained why. She did end up as the bubble girl so she got nothing. I alone won the $140 pool so it was my biggest profit yet in the satellites. I noticed that her boyfriend/husband was railbirding her and was staring at me after she lost.
Satellite #8: While taking a nap in the next satellite table beside the dealer, the psycho railbird goes right to my ear and threatens me, "We're going to remember you!" I was shocked that I just got threatened in a casino with the dealer right beside me. I was already on a first-name basis with the tournament director, so I informed him of what happened. He spoke with the railbird and although the guy was the only unhappy person in the room and never smiled for the next 24 hours, he at least didn't bother me again. Except for this one person, it was a lot of fun playing with everybody else all week; most players were easy-going and friendly.
Summary: On the first day of my trip, I won 3 out of 8 satellites. One needs to win 2 out of every 8 of these satellites to make a profit, so the extra win was great.
Even though I didn't play my first satellite until 4:40 PM, I got to play eight satellites on my first day. I never got to play that many satellites in one day at Fallsview, but the Venetian is much more efficient in running satellites, and there was not much wasted time from the last hand of a satellite to the first hand of the next satellite.
I will start off the trip reports with my first day details.On the morning of departure, I found out that I can check in online at Southwest.com and print my boarding pass. westside8 picks me up at 3 AM and I give him a $38 coupon for the airport parking, and found out that he was way ahead of me and had already done everything I did.
Unlike my WSOP trip where I got free massages from US Homeland Security at the airport as two different guards searched me for Weapons of Math Destruction, we quickly made it past the checks and had a lot of time at Buffalo Airport. This airport seemed a lot nicer than the Toronto airport, as westside8 was able to access the Internet for free and recharge in a hi-tech station. There were also big leather chairs, so after I tried to make progress with pkrfce9's SNG book, I became sleepy and took a nap in the comfortable chair.
Southwest is better than Continental, Delta and Northwest Airlines. The leather chair was comfortable and it wasn't as cramped. Southwest has a weird system of not assigning seats, so seating was first-come first-served depending on your boarding pass number. Unlike other airlines where there was no food available at all and I had to look for food in my carry-on to keep from starving, Southwest provides free snacks and drinks. The flights were not full so there was an empty seat between westside's aisle seat and my window seat.
We land in Las Vegas early. My luggage is nowhere to be found, so I check with Southwest and it seems that somebody had taken it out of the carousel and put in aside. We wait for stpboy to arrive from Detroit. Instead of taking a $6 shuttle, we decide to take a taxi. I tell the driver to avoid the tunnel, as it can cost as much as $40 just to go the Strip. Our cab fare was $19 on Tuesday morning, and $14 on Monday afternoon going back to the airport. The second driver was very honest and friendly and gave us his business card, so I will try to call him next time I need a cab in Vegas.
stpboy goes to the HBK hangout at Harrah's, while westside8 and I check in at Imperial Palace. I do the $20 trick and we get upgraded from the Capri "hooker room" to a Deluxe room with a nice corner view. It is non-smoking and has a view of the swimming pools of IP and Flamingo Hotel. A lot of people don't like staying on the 13th floor, so we get that lucky floor. I request the quiet side instead of the one facing Harrah's where there is loud outdoor concert late at night and where we may get peeped on by somebody's Facebook camera.
The Deepstack Wars
I quickly walked across the street to make it in time for the Caesars Palace Mega Stack Series $235 event at noon. I ask to be put in a satellite interest list, but there had not been a single satellite held since the series started.
I talked to the Tournament Director of Caesars Palace during the first series in July and it was great to see that three of my suggested improvements were implemented. The tournament information screen was better. Instead of the cost per round more than doubling from 400/800 to 600/1200+100, an additional level of 600/1200+0 was inserted for Level 7. Players were given the choice of finishing the tournament on the same night instead of automatically ending at 2 AM and players being forced to come back the next day at 2 PM. In addition, CP increased the starting stack from 7,500 to 10,000 chips for the $235 events, which is probably the best value I have seen.
Unlike in the summer when Mega Stack was drawing more players until the Venetian caught up by increasing its starting stacks, CP badly lost the heads-up war this time against the Deep Stack Extravaganza, which had 3-4 times as many players every day. For example, the $340 DSE event on November 13 had 406 players while the $235 Mega Stack event I played on the same day only had 83 players! Even though CP offers more play, Venetian dominated for the following reasons: players wanted a bigger prize pool and were willing to pay a higher buy-in, players prefer the Venetian over the CP poker room and employees, and Venetian had automated shufflers, stunning waitresses, free meals, shirts, caps and premium drinks.
At the beginning of a Mega Stack event, a player asked the plain CP waitress for Bourbon and Coke. He asked which brand of Bourbon they had and she wasn't sure, so he mentioned all the brands starting from the premium down to the cheapest; the waitress eventually got back to him and said the brand, but nobody had ever heard of it. I don't drink alcohol while playing poker as I become sleepy sooner and order a free energy drink instead; CP only has Sobe served in a glass full of ice, while Venetian has Red Bull, sugar-free Red Bull and Rock Star, all served in the original can.
Anyway, I was card dead on the November 11 event. My best hand was 8-8, which was also my bust-out hand when my short stack ran up against J-J. IGHN after 2 hours and 45 minutes. I was surprised that 48 out of the 122 players had already busted before me.
Satellite King or Donkey?
With no satellites at CP, I headed to the Venetian. One of my goals on this trip was to see if I can also be successful at satellites in Las Vegas. Several Fallsview players basically said that I was a luckbox to have won WPT satellites, so it was time to see if I was just another "hometown hero" who would go broke when he goes to Las Vegas and takes on the real satellite kings.
The Venetian satellites started at 8 AM until 2 AM. If you finish in the final two out of ten players, play ends and you both win the same prize. For the "$300 satellites", the buy-in is $80 and each of the two winners get $300 in lammers and $40 in cash game chips.
At least one of the savvy players would start a "last longer" pool of at least $20 each. Just like joining a rake-free satellite, joining a last-longest pool is a no-brainer as it adds extra money with no rake. The two winners of each satellite were almost always part of the pool. I preferred a third-place pool like we did at Fallsview so that the bubble boy would get something instead of nothing. However, as I found out later, third place was the least likely place for me with the Venetian format, so I just stuck with the last-longest pool. I was much more likely to finish last than third, so next time, I will also organize a first-out pool. I became the default pool organizer, and players would throw their bills at me as soon as I sat down!
Satellite #1: I join the last-longest pool of $180 total. My total cost is $100 ($64 buy-in + $16 fee/rake + $20 last-longest). There is an all-in and I have a dominating hand of A-K vs. Kh-Jh. The board is
:10c :3d :ts :3h
There are only three Jacks (or less) left in the deck that can beat me. One of the gorgeous Venetian waitresses with legs that just won't quit gives me my free Red Bull. The river is
:jc
First one out, 10th place, dead last.
Satellite #2: I pay the $100. I have J-Q in the SB and call with multiple limpers. Board is
:jc :jd :10h :9c
I go all-in on the turn. My opponent has
:jh :7d
and calls. Once again, only three cards (7) can beat me. A Venetian blonde bombshell waitress had just taken my order of pomegranate juice. The river is
:7s
Out. A :fish: had already been eliminated, so I improve to 9th place instead of last.
Satellite #3: I donate the $100. I chat with a fellow Canadian and he mentions the painful fact that I am now in for $300 and I could have just bought in directly to the DSE tournament. :-[ A "satellite king" at Fallsview is a satellite donkey :fish: in Las Vegas. Eighty five minutes later, I make it to the final two and I win my first satellite ever in Las Vegas. Unlike silly Seneca Casino,
there are obviously no taxes on satellite wins. There was only one player who refused to join the last-longest pool and he didn't win, so the two of us winners split the $180 pool and we both gave the excellent dealers a tip.WTF is a lammer & why would somebody give 100% cash for it?
Lammers are tournament entry chips. I used the 3 $100 lammers I won plus $40 cash to play in the $340 DSE event the next day. I wondered before why WSOP players were willing to exchange their cash for lammers with no discount, but players treat lammers the same as cash game chips. Satellite winners would ask to trade a $100 lammer for $100 cash and there would be a taker, including myself. On my final day of satellites, I had over $1,000 in lammers left and I was able to exchange them for 100% value. At the Venetian, their lammers don't expire, so they can be used for any future satellite and tournament, including another DSE in February 2009.
In contrast, the satellite vouchers used at Fallsview are treated very differently. They expire by the WPT event, so players who didn't have time to use the thousands of dollars worth of vouchers that they had won were SOOL. Players with $1,240 vouchers would offer them to me for only $1000 and $460 vouchers would be offered to me for $400.
Satellite #4: All ten players join the $20 last-longest pool so the two winners will get an additional $100 each. After getting 3-outered in my first two satellites, I win the next two. This one lasted only 65 turbo minutes. Me like satellites and start to have delusional fantasies of moving my family to Las Vegas as a pro.
Satellite #7: I didn't win the next two satellites, then after midnight, I play my seventh satellite. Seven players participated in the $20 last-longest pool, which is the lowest of the satellites I played so far. With two of the three players left as part of the pool, if one of the pool participants was the bubble person, then it means that the remaining pool participant would win the entire $140 pool without any split. The shortest stack asked me to split the pool, but since I had more than half the chips and giving up equity like that is a cardinal sin for me, I politely declined and explained why. She did end up as the bubble girl so she got nothing. I alone won the $140 pool so it was my biggest profit yet in the satellites. I noticed that her boyfriend/husband was railbirding her and was staring at me after she lost.
Satellite #8: While taking a nap in the next satellite table beside the dealer, the psycho railbird goes right to my ear and threatens me, "We're going to remember you!" I was shocked that I just got threatened in a casino with the dealer right beside me. I was already on a first-name basis with the tournament director, so I informed him of what happened. He spoke with the railbird and although the guy was the only unhappy person in the room and never smiled for the next 24 hours, he at least didn't bother me again. Except for this one person, it was a lot of fun playing with everybody else all week; most players were easy-going and friendly.
Summary: On the first day of my trip, I won 3 out of 8 satellites. One needs to win 2 out of every 8 of these satellites to make a profit, so the extra win was great.
Even though I didn't play my first satellite until 4:40 PM, I got to play eight satellites on my first day. I never got to play that many satellites in one day at Fallsview, but the Venetian is much more efficient in running satellites, and there was not much wasted time from the last hand of a satellite to the first hand of the next satellite.
Comments
The satellites are definitely run much better there because they have the one desk controlling those games specifically.
No other satellites running at all anywhere period.
he's still there?
No.
Day 2 - Attack of the Satellite Queens
I have QQ in the first 25/50 level of the Venetian DSE, but ran into quad 2s, so the flush that I ended up with is no good and I have less than half of my 12,000 starting chips. I survive for almost three more hours, then I have to go all-in with a pocket pair and get called by a player in late position with only A-10, but IGHN.
While there were hardly any women in all 3 tournaments I played, there was a lot higher percentage of female distractions in the satellites. I won my first satellite on Wednesday, together with a friendly pretty blonde who was a local.
My 3rd satellite had a buy-in of $130 and together with the last-longest bets had a total prize pool of almost $1,300. There were 3 tough female players, including two multiple winners. Let's call one Janet and the other Alanis, who is a beautiful, stylish brunette who would be the dream girl of many poker players, and she attracted a lot of attention throughout the week. I made it to the final 4, but unsurprisingly, so did all 3 ladies. The dealer was also female, so I was outnumbered 4-to-1! I doubled up a couple of times and there was a lot of girl-on-girl all-in action, and in the end, Alanis and I came out on top!
WSOP finalists Dennis Phillips and Kelly Kim are spotted in the room and we wonder if they're going to play an $80 satellite. My 5th satellite had the distracting waitress & girlfriend that I posted about in stpboy's report. I win my 3rd satellite of the day.
After I declined Janet's invitation to a late satellite so I could rail compuease, it was Janet and Alanis who won that satellite. Alanis and I ask each other how many satellites we've won and we both have six wins!
Day 3: The Variance Strikes Back!
- I lose my first two satellites, then I walk to Caesars Palace for the noon Mega Stack event.
- Made it to the final 30, but my KK got cracked by 44 and I am out after almost five hours.
- I walk to the Venetian and sign up for both satellites and cash games. I get seated in the high-stakes area and notice gobboboy. The most beautiful player I have yet seen in the poker room is to my left - let's call her Britney. Then the most beautiful dealer I have seen in the room sits down, and there is a third blonde in the table. The men bust out or leave like flies. After I donk off some chips to Britney and she raises me yet again, I yell, "Seat change!" and position myself to her left. There are only five players left in the -EV table, but as usual, nobody asks about a rake reduction until I do, then it is halved to $2. I won some pots from the men and the other blonde, but never against Britney. When I was called for the next satellite, I cashed out a small profit. I lost the next 2 satellites, so I had failed to cash in 7 straight satellites.
- The 7 PM Venetian tournament that some forumers had wanted to play was cancelled due to a charity tournament. The rake is 27% of the $140 buy-in and only 33% goes to the players' prize pool. Just when I was learning not to get distracted by the same Venetian beautiful waitresses, a whole new set of models were hired for the event. A satellite player would say, "Look at that voluptuous pirate girl", and I would hurt my neck doing a 180º insta-turn and say, "There be treasure in them thar hills!" >:D I won this final $130+ satellite, which was the most distracting of the day.
Day 4 - Revenge of BlondeFish, November 14
- I won my 1st & 3rd satellites ($130+).
- I noticed Britney walking into the poker room, but when I performed my duty of taking a closer look, >:D it was a different but equally beautiful new player - let's call her Christina A. She played in my satellite #5, and I won it.
- I made money in my final satellite of the night due to winning the $300 last-longest pool.
Day 5 - The Tommy Vu Menace
- Tommy Vu plays a satellite but is out early. He eventually won the DSE Overall Points Leader bonus for $6,000; he had a 1st, a 3rd, and a 19th place.
- Won only 2/12 satellites. Jose Canseco & Christina were in the final $240 satellite that I played and with them joining the last-longest pool, the total prize pool was almost $2,800. I won this critical satellite, so I have a perfect satellite record when there's a distracting blonde!
Day 6 - A New Game
On my last full day, I wanted to concentrate on playing cash games.
- Bill's Poker Room: $1 single blind; rake $5+$1 max., 10%; $20-$200 buy-in; $2/hr comp. I got my Aces cracked to win the $100.
- Binion's 1/2: rake $3+$1 max., 10%; ~$100 minimum buy-in with no maximum!?
- Golden Nugget 1/2: $100 min. buy-in with no max! I used a free $10 coupon from CardPlayer and turned my $100 buy-in into $319 in 35 minutes!
- Venetian: made the mistake of playing past 4:30 AM when I was sleepily playing my "C" game.
- I went to the Riviera buffet. With the closing of the Paris and Tropicana poker rooms,
- My final dinner was at the Venetian's Grand Lux Cafe, which is my favourite Vegas restaurant to date.
Day 7 - Return of the Forum Roommates
- After we have our final buffet at the Venetian, westside8 goes shopping, while I go to ...
- MGM: rake $4 max., 10%; free Rhino energy drink; cash out a profit.
- On the return flight to snowy Buffalo, I agreed to a prop bet with westside8 on whose luggage would come out first, and since I am a lucky ducky, I won!
- Filling up on gas is a lot cheaper on the US side. There are numerous accidents, but westside8 safely drives us home.
Summary: donked off over $800 in 3 deepstack events, but did okay at cash games and especially distraction-filled satellites.
You're welcome!
Pretty sure this is the first-ever 0ev game BF has participated in his life.