BBC Z's Oct 13th - Oct 16th Las Vegas Trip Report (w/ hork42 & buddy) - Day 4
Day 4 – Slummin’ it Downtown.
I wake up from my first real sleep while it’s dark outside around 10:15am. Checkout is around Noon. Kevin walks in the door around 10:30 and says he needs some sleep. We let him have the room as we checkout what action is going on around us. Stardust has one game going on that doesn’t look too good, we go over to Circus-Circus and they have one table going but only one seat. We go to the Riveria and find another very crappy poker room. It’s just in the middle of the floor beside the sports book. There is only table going, but two seats. Its 2/4 limit. We sit down and proceed to play some pretty horrid poker. I get 5-bet (Vegas standard is a bet and *4* raises so getting surprise 5-bet happens a lot) with 3 opponents on the flop with the nut flush draw against two sets, my flush misses (Damn you K7s) and I’m down around $50 for the thirty minute session. Hork and I agree that we can’t play 2/4 anymore after sitting comfortably at 4/8. Its about noon or so and as we’re cashing out we get a call from Kevin. He’s awake and will meet us at the stardust.
Side story: I’m up from the table and standing beside the cashier/brush/floor getting cashed out when Kevin calls. There is a sign posted that says “No Cell phones in the poker roomâ€. I wasn’t paying attention but Hork tells me later that the cashier guy was yelling at me to put the phone away. I can’t say I quite understand no phone calls while waiting in line to leave the poker room. Are they scared I’m getting extra help about what denomination of bills I want? Anyway, we go back to the stardust to pickup Kevin. Hork wants to redeem himself in the $70 single rebuy tourney at Binions, so off to downtown we go. I tell Hork there’s no way in hell he’s going to last two hours this time and offer a double or nothing bet. He takes the action. At least I have my sure thing bet again.
I can say I was definitely under whelmed with downtown. It’s pretty small and pretty much only four casinos. In all fairness, anything is small when you compare it to the strip. We walk around Binons and Hork registers. I decide to walk around and see what Freemont street has to offer. Kevin comes along with me. I order one of those 99c strawberry margaritas that seemed to last for an hour even though the cup appears microscopic. It’s very thick and very rummy. We go into the golden nugget and notice they have a new sign ups get $10 in slot tokens promotion. We sign up and head over to the 100 play jacks or better machine. Its $5 a pull but a pat royal is worth $40*100. Kevin goes first and wipes out in 8 hands. You are supposed to get a pat hand around 30% of the time so a little bad luck for him. I sit down and proceed to run my total from $10 to $29 with pat trips that turn into a 4oak 10/100 times. I consider my crappy luck with poker and take the money and run. If only I really did run.
We walk into the Four Queens for a little $2 blackjack. I’m burned out from Holdem and Kevin doesn’t know basic strategy so $2 is perfect for us. As we walk to the table, I see a game I never thought I’d see live: Blackjack Switch. (See WizardofOdds.com for a description). Anyway it’s got a 0.05% House Advantage when I play it online at the casinos so I thought it’s an awesome way to tell some time while making practically even money bets. I drop $100 in around 30 minutes betting $5/spot. Kevin leaves to go play at Binions. I curse my rotten luck when I realize that the “Four Queens†version of blackjack switch actually has a 1% house edge because you can’t switch your cards before the dealer checks for blackjack. Oops. I drop another $50 before I decide that’s enough for me.
Sadly, my gamble bug hasn’t been squashed yet. I recently learned how to play craps online but have never had the opportunity to play live. I’ve made quite a bit of money playing the casinos online, so I thought since I’m in Vegas, why not toss down another $100 on the table and play the pass-line along with full odds. At the queens’ full odds is 5x with a $5 minimum bet. A thirty dollar bet is quite a breakthrough. I yell at the laptop when I lose a $5 tournament online. Anyway, I plunk down my money on a guy who would take the dice, rotate them so that the number he needed to shoot was face up, and then toss them like 20 feet in the air. His first point is 4. Ugh, of all the numbers I have to bet on its $30 on a 2 to 1 shot. Just as a curse my luck and start thinking about why I decided to play craps, he shoots the dice “off the ceiling†and bam, hard four. I collect my green chips and let out an audible “YES!†along with fist pump on my $60 win. I place the next bet and he make 8 the point. Next toss is a 7 and bye bye money. New shooter misses their point and I’m back to a little below even. I consider leaving, but I’m the next shooter. I’ve never had the chance to toss those beautiful cubes, so I can’t leave now. You got to bet on yourself, right? I establish 9 as my point. Toss a 4, Toss a 6, Toss an oh so close 8 (because all I’m looking for on the dice are a lot of pips and I know I’m close) then I crap out with a horrid 5-2 7. I should have bet the ‘don’t pass’ line. I leave down another 60-70 or something and now I’m pissed. I thought to myself, “All the big time poker players have craps addictions, so why can’t I?†Down around 400-500 on top of the cost of the trip. Not exactly the scenario I was looking for when I was the wide-eyed optimist on the first day.
I leave the 4 queens and go check on Hork in the tournament. It’s been about an hour and change. Just as I approach the table, I see Hork getting up and the dealer awarding his chips to another player. “Well at least one of my bets was a winner†I tell myself as I console Hork on his bust out. Kevin and Hork sit down at the only 3/6 table in binions. I think about playing, but I’m still pissed about my horrid pure gamb00ling performance, so I decide to walk around a little more. Plus, I didn’t want to be the third TAA at the table. In retrospect, it would be nice to push Hork around like I did at the Wynn.
I walk to various casinos signing up for god knows what and kill more time. Around 4pm I decide to play poker but the nugget only has 2/4 going while Binions has 2/4, one 3/6 and one tight 4/8 game. I choose to sit at the 2/4 game that played like a 10/20 game. It’s pretty tight and only around 3-4 to a flop. The players were annoying. I play breakeven poker and leave after a few orbits to wander aimlessly around again.
It hits around 5 and I’m sick of downtown. There’s nothing to do. I got back to the nugget and decide to play some crappier 2/4. I decide that my problem this weekend has been playing with neatly staked rows of chips, so I Godzilla my stack into a mess and order some beers. As I’m sitting at the table I realize how to sum downtown in a single sentence: “It’s where the old people go when they can’t keep up with the wild and crazy kids in their 60s at the Stardustâ€. Eventually I get a call from Kevin that he’s leaving the 3/6 game and Hork comes over. Kevin sits down at 2/4 for a few orbits, Hork signs up for a card and plays his free $10 in 30 seconds. Kevin leaves the 2/4 table and proceeds to drink 3 beers while playing 1c 1 hand video poker right beside the waitress bar.
It rolls to around 7:45pm and Kevin starts freaking out that we’ll miss our flight, (My flight was 11pm, theirs midnight). We pile into the boat mobile and head off the airport.
And so ends my first trip to Vegas. I dropped around $500 in frivolous gambling and crappy poker cards. I probably drank $500 worth of alcohol in that time though, so maybe I can convince myself that it’s a breakeven trip.
If I had to do it all over again, I’d PACE MYSELF. There’s no need to go crazy in the first two days of a four day trip. Towards the end I was so tired that I don’t think I enjoyed myself as much as I should of.
So, who wants to go to Vegas now that you know what to expect?
I wake up from my first real sleep while it’s dark outside around 10:15am. Checkout is around Noon. Kevin walks in the door around 10:30 and says he needs some sleep. We let him have the room as we checkout what action is going on around us. Stardust has one game going on that doesn’t look too good, we go over to Circus-Circus and they have one table going but only one seat. We go to the Riveria and find another very crappy poker room. It’s just in the middle of the floor beside the sports book. There is only table going, but two seats. Its 2/4 limit. We sit down and proceed to play some pretty horrid poker. I get 5-bet (Vegas standard is a bet and *4* raises so getting surprise 5-bet happens a lot) with 3 opponents on the flop with the nut flush draw against two sets, my flush misses (Damn you K7s) and I’m down around $50 for the thirty minute session. Hork and I agree that we can’t play 2/4 anymore after sitting comfortably at 4/8. Its about noon or so and as we’re cashing out we get a call from Kevin. He’s awake and will meet us at the stardust.
Side story: I’m up from the table and standing beside the cashier/brush/floor getting cashed out when Kevin calls. There is a sign posted that says “No Cell phones in the poker roomâ€. I wasn’t paying attention but Hork tells me later that the cashier guy was yelling at me to put the phone away. I can’t say I quite understand no phone calls while waiting in line to leave the poker room. Are they scared I’m getting extra help about what denomination of bills I want? Anyway, we go back to the stardust to pickup Kevin. Hork wants to redeem himself in the $70 single rebuy tourney at Binions, so off to downtown we go. I tell Hork there’s no way in hell he’s going to last two hours this time and offer a double or nothing bet. He takes the action. At least I have my sure thing bet again.
I can say I was definitely under whelmed with downtown. It’s pretty small and pretty much only four casinos. In all fairness, anything is small when you compare it to the strip. We walk around Binons and Hork registers. I decide to walk around and see what Freemont street has to offer. Kevin comes along with me. I order one of those 99c strawberry margaritas that seemed to last for an hour even though the cup appears microscopic. It’s very thick and very rummy. We go into the golden nugget and notice they have a new sign ups get $10 in slot tokens promotion. We sign up and head over to the 100 play jacks or better machine. Its $5 a pull but a pat royal is worth $40*100. Kevin goes first and wipes out in 8 hands. You are supposed to get a pat hand around 30% of the time so a little bad luck for him. I sit down and proceed to run my total from $10 to $29 with pat trips that turn into a 4oak 10/100 times. I consider my crappy luck with poker and take the money and run. If only I really did run.
We walk into the Four Queens for a little $2 blackjack. I’m burned out from Holdem and Kevin doesn’t know basic strategy so $2 is perfect for us. As we walk to the table, I see a game I never thought I’d see live: Blackjack Switch. (See WizardofOdds.com for a description). Anyway it’s got a 0.05% House Advantage when I play it online at the casinos so I thought it’s an awesome way to tell some time while making practically even money bets. I drop $100 in around 30 minutes betting $5/spot. Kevin leaves to go play at Binions. I curse my rotten luck when I realize that the “Four Queens†version of blackjack switch actually has a 1% house edge because you can’t switch your cards before the dealer checks for blackjack. Oops. I drop another $50 before I decide that’s enough for me.
Sadly, my gamble bug hasn’t been squashed yet. I recently learned how to play craps online but have never had the opportunity to play live. I’ve made quite a bit of money playing the casinos online, so I thought since I’m in Vegas, why not toss down another $100 on the table and play the pass-line along with full odds. At the queens’ full odds is 5x with a $5 minimum bet. A thirty dollar bet is quite a breakthrough. I yell at the laptop when I lose a $5 tournament online. Anyway, I plunk down my money on a guy who would take the dice, rotate them so that the number he needed to shoot was face up, and then toss them like 20 feet in the air. His first point is 4. Ugh, of all the numbers I have to bet on its $30 on a 2 to 1 shot. Just as a curse my luck and start thinking about why I decided to play craps, he shoots the dice “off the ceiling†and bam, hard four. I collect my green chips and let out an audible “YES!†along with fist pump on my $60 win. I place the next bet and he make 8 the point. Next toss is a 7 and bye bye money. New shooter misses their point and I’m back to a little below even. I consider leaving, but I’m the next shooter. I’ve never had the chance to toss those beautiful cubes, so I can’t leave now. You got to bet on yourself, right? I establish 9 as my point. Toss a 4, Toss a 6, Toss an oh so close 8 (because all I’m looking for on the dice are a lot of pips and I know I’m close) then I crap out with a horrid 5-2 7. I should have bet the ‘don’t pass’ line. I leave down another 60-70 or something and now I’m pissed. I thought to myself, “All the big time poker players have craps addictions, so why can’t I?†Down around 400-500 on top of the cost of the trip. Not exactly the scenario I was looking for when I was the wide-eyed optimist on the first day.
I leave the 4 queens and go check on Hork in the tournament. It’s been about an hour and change. Just as I approach the table, I see Hork getting up and the dealer awarding his chips to another player. “Well at least one of my bets was a winner†I tell myself as I console Hork on his bust out. Kevin and Hork sit down at the only 3/6 table in binions. I think about playing, but I’m still pissed about my horrid pure gamb00ling performance, so I decide to walk around a little more. Plus, I didn’t want to be the third TAA at the table. In retrospect, it would be nice to push Hork around like I did at the Wynn.
I walk to various casinos signing up for god knows what and kill more time. Around 4pm I decide to play poker but the nugget only has 2/4 going while Binions has 2/4, one 3/6 and one tight 4/8 game. I choose to sit at the 2/4 game that played like a 10/20 game. It’s pretty tight and only around 3-4 to a flop. The players were annoying. I play breakeven poker and leave after a few orbits to wander aimlessly around again.
It hits around 5 and I’m sick of downtown. There’s nothing to do. I got back to the nugget and decide to play some crappier 2/4. I decide that my problem this weekend has been playing with neatly staked rows of chips, so I Godzilla my stack into a mess and order some beers. As I’m sitting at the table I realize how to sum downtown in a single sentence: “It’s where the old people go when they can’t keep up with the wild and crazy kids in their 60s at the Stardustâ€. Eventually I get a call from Kevin that he’s leaving the 3/6 game and Hork comes over. Kevin sits down at 2/4 for a few orbits, Hork signs up for a card and plays his free $10 in 30 seconds. Kevin leaves the 2/4 table and proceeds to drink 3 beers while playing 1c 1 hand video poker right beside the waitress bar.
It rolls to around 7:45pm and Kevin starts freaking out that we’ll miss our flight, (My flight was 11pm, theirs midnight). We pile into the boat mobile and head off the airport.
And so ends my first trip to Vegas. I dropped around $500 in frivolous gambling and crappy poker cards. I probably drank $500 worth of alcohol in that time though, so maybe I can convince myself that it’s a breakeven trip.
If I had to do it all over again, I’d PACE MYSELF. There’s no need to go crazy in the first two days of a four day trip. Towards the end I was so tired that I don’t think I enjoyed myself as much as I should of.
So, who wants to go to Vegas now that you know what to expect?
Comments
Great read though BBC, thanks for the reports.
too funny! All 4 days were a great read...Wolffhound and I are off to Vegas next week, hope to have some equally entertaining stories when when we gt back!
BigE.
Perhaps we can hook up in Vegas, we'll be at the Imperial Palace!!!!