Irunit4times Las Vegas Long Weekend Trip Report!
This was my first trip back to Vegas in about 3 years. It had been too long. Now normally I fly to L.A. due to the fact that I fly standby because my father worked for Air Canada for years and I get to go for dirt cheap so long as seats are available. Usually when I go there are never any seats available on a direct flight from Toronto to Vegas and I have to fly to L.A. and drive back. This time however there were seats available on the direct flights to Mccarran so that was pretty great. Because my dad us pretty senior with his years at the company, I am usually above other standby passengers so if there are 5 seats and 10 standbys I am usually pretty safe to make the flight. The best part is it doesnt matter what seat is open, you will get it if your a standby. Lucky me with my dad's seniority, I was first on the list and there were seats open up front, so of course I took that one over the back, first dibbs. The flight left at around 9am local time on Thursday and arrived in Vegas at 10:40am local time. I have never flown into Mccarran direct before so when I got there, and hopped a cab to the excalibur I was amazed and excited at how close it was. I got there in plenty of time to recharge have some lunch and make it to the Aria for the 1pm daily.
I get to the hotel and decide to check in since I want to go and play at the Aria for 1pm, and when I go to check in, the guy at the counter says I have to pay an extra $20 for checking in early. WTF? If a room is available why the hell do I need to pay extra to get into it? Anyways, I had in my mind that I was going to try and slip him a $20 as I have heard and read about many people doing this to get a better upgraded room and if it wasnt possible that they would just give it back. I chickened out and never bothered, and when it was time for him to try to get me to upgrade I just passed and said I will take the standard room. I ended up getting the 28th floor which is the top floor at excalibur in tower 1 which is the older of the 2 towers and I got a room that over looked the strip, or as much of it as can be seen from that hotel.
After settling into the room I decided to head over to the Aria and register for the $150 daily. I was pretty excited to play since I heard such good things about this poker room and the tournaments etc. I get there and register and I am one of the early ones. I get my seat assignment and start chatting with the dealer until start time. 1 pm rolls around and people start trickling in to the tournament, the table fills up and the play starts. There was a mix of people coming for the poker and just some people in town giving it a shot. My table was relatively average, some better players, some weaker players, pretty standard plays, not much 3 and 4 betting going on. Couple people chatting about other games where they are from etc. Anyways, a couple blind levels in and next thing you know I am dealt 66.I limp in from mid position get a couple callers, the button raises and then all blinds and limpers have called up to me so I make the call and so does anyone else behind me. Flop comes 679 2 spades. It is checked to me so I check so I can check raise the original raiser. The Original raiser bets out again, the SB calls, I re-raise to which the button folds and the SB shoves and I call. He turns over 88. He turns the 5 for the straight and I am out within a few blind levels and didnt decide to re-enter even though I could have.
After playing at the Aria, I found that I really did not like the atmosphere there, I thought the seats were pretty terrible and uncomfortable/awkward. I was lined up to play more games there but decided after not enjoying that game that I would play elsewhere instead.
Later that night was the $200 game at the Venetian. I went and I was pretty tired, I played some hands, ended up playing a very loose hand and shipping it on a semi bluff a few rounds in trying to stack up and had a hesitant call, even though it turned out to be behind he hit and I didnt draw out and I was out of that tournament. Looking back I was pretty tired and jet lagged and probably should have just not played that evening game but hey it is what it is. I did however like the games there and liked the chairs and atmoshpere of their poker room so I decided I would play more of their games then. I then decided I would play some cash and ended up making over $200 profit that night. It softened the blow from the tournament losses thats for sure.
Friday I decided to play the 12pm game at The Venetian $20k Guarantee and so off I went. STarted off pretty strong and built a little stack in the first few levels, I was for the most part always around or just over tournament average so I was happy. Next thing I know, player busts and on comes this new player. This guy was from Germany, very happy go lucky guy, could care less about the poker and money, just wanted to drink, gamble and have fun. He had a decent stack and I soon found out how he got that way. He played just about any hand and if a short stack shoved he would call with literally any two cards in his hand, he called 2 all ins in 4 hands with 6-4off and hit both and knocked more players out. He ended up even calling some all ins blind just because he liked the gamble and it was fun to him. It made every player at the table sick to watch it, but I knew because he was on my left, and was like that, I could wait for a premium hand and double up against him, but the hands I needed against him never came. We got down to 2 tables and paying spots were top 12, I believe we were around 17 or 18 players when it was folded around to me in the SB and I shipped it with 12 BB with AK and was called by the BB who turned over A5. Flop came 236. He rivered the 4 for the wheel and that was the end of my night sooo close to the money. I left the venetian and headed back to the excalibur and decided to see if there was any cash games running aud sure enough there was one. It was 1bout 11 or so when I got there and bought in for my $200 and sat down. Table was pretty juicy, but a lof of short handed players buying in for the min $60 at a time. It was pretty easy to push them off ofhands and scoop pots and when I did have it, I got them to the point they were always all in and stacked several of thems a few times. I played until 830 in the morning and decided to call it quits after being up a few hundred bucks.
Saturday I finished up the cash game at 830am and decided to head back to my room for some sleep before the big game at planet hollywood at noon. I woke up around 1 and headed to planet hollywood paid my entry and was immediately seated at a brand new table. It took about 10 minutes before they seated enough players to finally start playing. I started off running my QQ into AA a few hands in which hurt me, and then a few hands later hit quad 66 and got paid off so I was up some. I was steadily above average chip stack by dinner break and then that is when every hand I had I got drawn out on and beat, or was card dead and unable to play a hand. I got to the point where I needed to start bluffing and stealing some pots to survive the blinds and it seemed like everytime i tried, there was a 3 bet and sometimes followed by a 4 bet by someone else which led to my folding. I doubled up at one point and again got hurt when I ran my big hand into another. We were playing until the end of level 15 where they cut for day 2 and could come back sunday and try to make something happen from there. I was about 13 BB when I got dealt 88 in late/mid position and shipped it with 88. I get called and find out I am crushing his 33 until the 3 appeared right in the window and I couldnt hit to save me. I was 15 minutes away from making the cut to day 2 which was a little disheartening because I felt like I was playing well all weekend so far minus the late game at the venetian and I was due to make a cash of some sort. But that didnt happen. After being knocked out I decided to just go to bed and see what tomorrow would bring.
Day 4 sunday, I almost decided to leave on the first flight out after the beats I had taken and had a feeling of being deflated, but instead decided to take the red eye I was originally planning to take. So instead of playing the $150 planet hollywood bounty game, I decided to just have a full cash game day. I decided I would head over to the venetian as I liked there poker room the most so I got there at about noon. I put my $200 on and OMG I felt like calling all my friends as this table was just giving money away. I sit down and there are 3 whales evenly dispersed on my table, 1 on the left, 1 on the right and 1 across from me. I would wait to get into hands with them and then as soon as I hit, just reeled them in and stacked 2 of them and severly hit the other.... Instead of rebuying the whales decided to leave NOOOOO. Oh well maybe more will come. The table turned sooo nitty I got bored outta my tree, every hand was either a 7 way limped pot with a flop, or a $7 dollar raise and scooping blinds. I felt like sitting here for much longer I would fall asleep so I decided to cash out and go have some dinner at about 5:30. I cashed out with $647. Profit of $447. I headed to Guy Fieri's restaurant beside Harrahs and had a GREAT meal. I definately recommend it if in town. After dinner around 6:45 I wasn't sure what to do or where to go since I was planning to leave for the airport at 9. I decided I would just head back to the excalibur and hang out at my hotel and play there until 9 since all my stuff was there and I was going to be leaving from there. I bought in again for $200 and sit down and see 5 guys with over 4 hundred in stacks and one guy with 1k. I wondered if I was at a 1/2 table and if I was at the excalibur. I couldn't figure out why there was soo much cash on this table. Then I started playing and I figured it out real quick. Couple guys are drinking up a storm and every open raise was between $15 and $25. Every pot was a big one, so I just waited until I had a premium and got it in and sure enough, getting paid again. Then I couldn't pull a single hand to play with these guys though I wanted to get into hands with them sooo badly. I cashed out at 9pm for $308 for a profit of $108. I kinda feel like I should have just played cash this whole trip, I went 4/4 on sessions and made a profit of $1002. I only played maybe 15 hours of cash over the whole trip and spent the majority trying to prove my game in the tournament circuit, but still cant seem to break through yet. I know it will come. I met some guys that were circuit players and had a good time overall. I am thinking of going back in a few weeks for the venetian deepstack if I can build my bankroll up enough again.
And that was the end of the trip. I had a blast and really want to head back down for the Venetian deepstack, or any other good tournament series really. Is anyone going down during this event or any others? I would love to go back again and split a room with someone and just have a pure poker fest again, I loved every minute of it.
I only took a couple of pictures. I will upload soon.
I get to the hotel and decide to check in since I want to go and play at the Aria for 1pm, and when I go to check in, the guy at the counter says I have to pay an extra $20 for checking in early. WTF? If a room is available why the hell do I need to pay extra to get into it? Anyways, I had in my mind that I was going to try and slip him a $20 as I have heard and read about many people doing this to get a better upgraded room and if it wasnt possible that they would just give it back. I chickened out and never bothered, and when it was time for him to try to get me to upgrade I just passed and said I will take the standard room. I ended up getting the 28th floor which is the top floor at excalibur in tower 1 which is the older of the 2 towers and I got a room that over looked the strip, or as much of it as can be seen from that hotel.
After settling into the room I decided to head over to the Aria and register for the $150 daily. I was pretty excited to play since I heard such good things about this poker room and the tournaments etc. I get there and register and I am one of the early ones. I get my seat assignment and start chatting with the dealer until start time. 1 pm rolls around and people start trickling in to the tournament, the table fills up and the play starts. There was a mix of people coming for the poker and just some people in town giving it a shot. My table was relatively average, some better players, some weaker players, pretty standard plays, not much 3 and 4 betting going on. Couple people chatting about other games where they are from etc. Anyways, a couple blind levels in and next thing you know I am dealt 66.I limp in from mid position get a couple callers, the button raises and then all blinds and limpers have called up to me so I make the call and so does anyone else behind me. Flop comes 679 2 spades. It is checked to me so I check so I can check raise the original raiser. The Original raiser bets out again, the SB calls, I re-raise to which the button folds and the SB shoves and I call. He turns over 88. He turns the 5 for the straight and I am out within a few blind levels and didnt decide to re-enter even though I could have.
After playing at the Aria, I found that I really did not like the atmosphere there, I thought the seats were pretty terrible and uncomfortable/awkward. I was lined up to play more games there but decided after not enjoying that game that I would play elsewhere instead.
Later that night was the $200 game at the Venetian. I went and I was pretty tired, I played some hands, ended up playing a very loose hand and shipping it on a semi bluff a few rounds in trying to stack up and had a hesitant call, even though it turned out to be behind he hit and I didnt draw out and I was out of that tournament. Looking back I was pretty tired and jet lagged and probably should have just not played that evening game but hey it is what it is. I did however like the games there and liked the chairs and atmoshpere of their poker room so I decided I would play more of their games then. I then decided I would play some cash and ended up making over $200 profit that night. It softened the blow from the tournament losses thats for sure.
Friday I decided to play the 12pm game at The Venetian $20k Guarantee and so off I went. STarted off pretty strong and built a little stack in the first few levels, I was for the most part always around or just over tournament average so I was happy. Next thing I know, player busts and on comes this new player. This guy was from Germany, very happy go lucky guy, could care less about the poker and money, just wanted to drink, gamble and have fun. He had a decent stack and I soon found out how he got that way. He played just about any hand and if a short stack shoved he would call with literally any two cards in his hand, he called 2 all ins in 4 hands with 6-4off and hit both and knocked more players out. He ended up even calling some all ins blind just because he liked the gamble and it was fun to him. It made every player at the table sick to watch it, but I knew because he was on my left, and was like that, I could wait for a premium hand and double up against him, but the hands I needed against him never came. We got down to 2 tables and paying spots were top 12, I believe we were around 17 or 18 players when it was folded around to me in the SB and I shipped it with 12 BB with AK and was called by the BB who turned over A5. Flop came 236. He rivered the 4 for the wheel and that was the end of my night sooo close to the money. I left the venetian and headed back to the excalibur and decided to see if there was any cash games running aud sure enough there was one. It was 1bout 11 or so when I got there and bought in for my $200 and sat down. Table was pretty juicy, but a lof of short handed players buying in for the min $60 at a time. It was pretty easy to push them off ofhands and scoop pots and when I did have it, I got them to the point they were always all in and stacked several of thems a few times. I played until 830 in the morning and decided to call it quits after being up a few hundred bucks.
Saturday I finished up the cash game at 830am and decided to head back to my room for some sleep before the big game at planet hollywood at noon. I woke up around 1 and headed to planet hollywood paid my entry and was immediately seated at a brand new table. It took about 10 minutes before they seated enough players to finally start playing. I started off running my QQ into AA a few hands in which hurt me, and then a few hands later hit quad 66 and got paid off so I was up some. I was steadily above average chip stack by dinner break and then that is when every hand I had I got drawn out on and beat, or was card dead and unable to play a hand. I got to the point where I needed to start bluffing and stealing some pots to survive the blinds and it seemed like everytime i tried, there was a 3 bet and sometimes followed by a 4 bet by someone else which led to my folding. I doubled up at one point and again got hurt when I ran my big hand into another. We were playing until the end of level 15 where they cut for day 2 and could come back sunday and try to make something happen from there. I was about 13 BB when I got dealt 88 in late/mid position and shipped it with 88. I get called and find out I am crushing his 33 until the 3 appeared right in the window and I couldnt hit to save me. I was 15 minutes away from making the cut to day 2 which was a little disheartening because I felt like I was playing well all weekend so far minus the late game at the venetian and I was due to make a cash of some sort. But that didnt happen. After being knocked out I decided to just go to bed and see what tomorrow would bring.
Day 4 sunday, I almost decided to leave on the first flight out after the beats I had taken and had a feeling of being deflated, but instead decided to take the red eye I was originally planning to take. So instead of playing the $150 planet hollywood bounty game, I decided to just have a full cash game day. I decided I would head over to the venetian as I liked there poker room the most so I got there at about noon. I put my $200 on and OMG I felt like calling all my friends as this table was just giving money away. I sit down and there are 3 whales evenly dispersed on my table, 1 on the left, 1 on the right and 1 across from me. I would wait to get into hands with them and then as soon as I hit, just reeled them in and stacked 2 of them and severly hit the other.... Instead of rebuying the whales decided to leave NOOOOO. Oh well maybe more will come. The table turned sooo nitty I got bored outta my tree, every hand was either a 7 way limped pot with a flop, or a $7 dollar raise and scooping blinds. I felt like sitting here for much longer I would fall asleep so I decided to cash out and go have some dinner at about 5:30. I cashed out with $647. Profit of $447. I headed to Guy Fieri's restaurant beside Harrahs and had a GREAT meal. I definately recommend it if in town. After dinner around 6:45 I wasn't sure what to do or where to go since I was planning to leave for the airport at 9. I decided I would just head back to the excalibur and hang out at my hotel and play there until 9 since all my stuff was there and I was going to be leaving from there. I bought in again for $200 and sit down and see 5 guys with over 4 hundred in stacks and one guy with 1k. I wondered if I was at a 1/2 table and if I was at the excalibur. I couldn't figure out why there was soo much cash on this table. Then I started playing and I figured it out real quick. Couple guys are drinking up a storm and every open raise was between $15 and $25. Every pot was a big one, so I just waited until I had a premium and got it in and sure enough, getting paid again. Then I couldn't pull a single hand to play with these guys though I wanted to get into hands with them sooo badly. I cashed out at 9pm for $308 for a profit of $108. I kinda feel like I should have just played cash this whole trip, I went 4/4 on sessions and made a profit of $1002. I only played maybe 15 hours of cash over the whole trip and spent the majority trying to prove my game in the tournament circuit, but still cant seem to break through yet. I know it will come. I met some guys that were circuit players and had a good time overall. I am thinking of going back in a few weeks for the venetian deepstack if I can build my bankroll up enough again.
And that was the end of the trip. I had a blast and really want to head back down for the Venetian deepstack, or any other good tournament series really. Is anyone going down during this event or any others? I would love to go back again and split a room with someone and just have a pure poker fest again, I loved every minute of it.
I only took a couple of pictures. I will upload soon.
Comments
This was my tournament stack at dinner break, browns are 5k, yellows 1k, blues 500, greys 100 and greens 25.
This was sundays stack at the venetian cash game right before cashing out.
And this was my final stack I cashed out at excalibur with right before heading home.
I didnt take many pictures unfortunately so these will have to do for now.
Nice TR tho.