Day 1b of Wolffhounds Vegas Tour Nov 13-16 (w/BigE and Lama)
Sorry this is so long.
Not surprisingly if you don't sleep, you don't miss your wake up call. We found the airport no problem, loaded up on some pop and water and climbed onto Northworst Air flight 1191 due to take off at 8:30. Turns out...after boarding at 8:10...we took off around 9:30 a.m. Originally they claimed it was due to no ground crew...an hour later they said they were cleaning out the shitters cause it was a long flight.
We had seats c,d,e. So, the flight down served as Blackjack Lessons from Lama for E and I. We managed to play for a good couple of hours and got in a ton of hands. It served us well soon after we landed. BigE and I were planning on playing tons of poker, Lama prefers Blackjack. Turns out we played a bunch of both.
We hit the Imperial Palace around 11:30, quickly pre-checked in, finding out that the 3rd person and cot hadn't been added to the room. A call to Vegas.com needed to be placed later and all should be well (BS).
BBB....Beer Buffet and Blackjack soon followed...it was nearly a 1/2 hr in Vegas before beer 1...thankfully, only 10 minutes more for beer 2.
Around 12:30 I hit the Blackjack tables with Lama after the buffet with BigE watching. Imperial may be a dump, but, the beers come quick and the waitresses are hot. The beer flowed along with the Blackjacks and 3 hours later I was up about 8 beers and $40.00. Not a bad start. BigE had watched for a while before heading upstairs to tackle the 2-4 game. I followed around 4:00 figuring that $40.00 was 40 bucks and time to buy into my first live B&M $2-4 game.
I signed onto the waiting list, checking out the players and soaking in some of the mold and mildew that is the Imperial Palace Poker Room. Its not really a room...its actually a hallway...but, WTF...i know where the escalator, bathroom and the waitress is...I'm in Poker Heaven.
Using advice from PF.ca members/posts, I bought in for $80.00...took a deep breath and reminded myself...you can do this.
The table of 10 had as many as 4 other Cdn's at it through the next 10 hours or so...along with a wild mixture of vacationers.
I will say, the first 7 hours or so was pretty enjoyable, your typical group of guys wanting to play a TON of hands...the corpse in Seat 6 (seriously, the gentlemen was already dead...just no one told him) played 100% of the hands...which was fine with me, as in Seat 4 I figured this would work out well. UTG +1 solid guy from Leemington raises, I look down and see QQ...sweet...as I know Corpse is calling as well, I raise...6.00 to go to the pale guy in seat 6...he calls, folds around to the BB and UTG...both call. Flop comes J82 all rags. UTG1 bets, I raise, Corpse calls...of course he does, UTG calls as well, 3 to the turn.
Turn is a 4 all rainbow...this game is FUN. UTG checks, I bet, call call. River K...not my favorite card. UTG bets, I call, Corpse calls.
UTG shows TPTK, I show QQ...but the winner is.....J4o in Seat 6...calling 3bets cold preflop with a hand only Lamb of John would love. God bless him...hopefully he sticks around.
I make several more weak tight plays…turns out tight/passive/pussy should be added to poker tracker. My mind was saying one thing…my hands just wouldn’t reach the chips and pull the trigger. I was having a blast, but, not playing well. This is a feeling I carried with me the rest of the weekend.
The rest of this session is unremarkable, i take down a few pots get back to +$5.00 see some crazy sh*t and just try to get settled into the B&M game. I struck up a few conversations with Seats 10(belfast phil) Seat 1 Casey from Ohio and the Cemetery owner in Seat 3. All good sh*ts. I play .50/1.00 and some 1/2 online...playing 2/4 was a concern...i felt relaxed...turns out I was just really drunk.
It was as great start that was going to end shortly, it was pretty close to 11:00 Vegas time…I had 1 ½ sleep the night before, way too many beers and was up $45.00 so far…time for bed…no burnout on this trip. I had checked back in with Vegas.com and they confirmed the cot and 3person was looked after…sweet, I’m off to bed…BigE had left about an hour earlier after improving his stack quite a bit.
Tripping into Room 1390…¾ of the way through a pack of Marlboro Lights and a case of beer I am greeted by two large lumps situated in the middle of each of the beds…no cot in site. %&^, I could kill them both. Both lumps had the pillows under them…the buzz saw was running…this must be a sign…the Gods want me to play more poker…so, in a drunken waddle back to the poker room I go.
I get my seat back, Leemington is gone…Casey is still there, gone to is the corpse. Maybe he expired. Replacing them was the greasiest mid 50 wanna-be-player (slicked back hair, unbuttoned shirt…huge bling cross a-hole I’ve ever met (turns out he was out done by, only a ½ hr later) who had a constant need to help everyone with their hand. There was now an 60’ish lady to my right…classy looking, name was Silvia. She could play too…and took my chips…I’m in EP with 810h, the table has been pretty passive and at least 7 to the flops…I call…6 limpers including Belfast Phil and Silvia.
Flop comes 984, 2 hearts….Silvia checks, Phil bets (this could mean anything, dude LOVED to bet), Silvia calls, I call. Turn 8. Sweet….trips…still 2 hearts…I like this. Siliva checks, I bet, Phil raises, Silvia re-raises, I call and Phil calls…wft does she have?…river J no heart. Silvia bets after check raising the turn…I call, Phil Calls, Phil shows a weaker 8…I’m thinking I’m good…Silvia had quietly turned over her pocket 9’s…full boat. NH and a nice pot. 2 others joined the game. Another Irish dude from Toronto..even had a rock card protector with a coin that said “luck of the irish†on it along with a big angry looking could be gang member. I wouldn’t normally point out the Irish part but…here comes a 300pounder with a 2005 WSOP hat on. With a heavy accent Belfast Phil says “welcome to the game†as he had to all new players…Phil was having fun, wasn’t an ass and was sincere…to which Tuna responds with “buddy, if you can’t speak English…don’t talk to me again!!†Silvia grabs her chips and quietly moves off the table and requests a change. There’s a few “whoa’s…buddy, he said welcome to the game…†to which Tuna responded with…I don’t understand people who don’t speak English…if you aren’t America…don’t F’ing talk to me. (warning 1 for the Tuna from the floor)
The next hour was perhaps the least enjoyable time I have ever spent around a poker table. I’m accustom to the ballbreaking/BS’ing etc that can be found at Bristol Street and the other KW games. That is fun. The racial slurs, threats and BS that took place for the next while was not. Toronto Irish dude and I lasted till this hand. (in the passing hour Tuna tried to explain to me why I was really American and not Canadian after all…as well as bickering every hand with slick and phil.) Casey was back and in Silvia’s seat 2 and the BB. 4 to the flop including Tuna in 5, slick in 9 and Phil in 10.
Tuna raised pre-flop, all 3 called. Flop was QK9 two spades. Casey bet, Tuna raised,
Slick looking angry at Tuna calls, Phil calls, Casey re-raises, Tuna caps, Slick slams down his call, Phil folds.
Turn X, bet, raised, re-raised, cap. Slick did no raising and stared down Tuna every bump. River brick…bet, call, call. No flush, board did not pair. Casey shows a flopped str8 with J10d, Tuna shows a pocket Queens for a flopped set and slick freaks out at Tuna…screaming at him about how he was trying to draw cheap to his flush and WTF was Tuna doing raising with only a set…learn the F’ing game slick says…Belfast Phil had passed out during the hand (he was passing out in between hands he was playing…they continued to bring him Gin/Tonic) but woke to the shouting…and he took up Slicks side quickly against the Tuna. Toronto Irish dude and I left the table as the floor finally came back…what broke out now was a battle of 5 year olds crying…he said this…he threatened me etc…he said it first.
It was around 3:00 a.m. Vegas time…I was smashed…and had enough of this game…I was up $3.00 during the return session…whooooopee…1 day, 10 hours of poker and I’m 8 to the good. Along with the 3.00/hr comps from Imperial, my 40.00 in Blackjack money…and about 20 beers. It was a GREAT day. God I love this town.
BigE gave up a pillow and I settled in for an enjoyable sleep….until I heard Lama get up at 4:30 a.m…excellent, another hour ½ of sleep…time for some Ceaser’s (its a breakfast drink you know and Blackjack…Day 2 has begun lets rock.
Bankroll- $776.00 + 100 in Wally bucks.
Not surprisingly if you don't sleep, you don't miss your wake up call. We found the airport no problem, loaded up on some pop and water and climbed onto Northworst Air flight 1191 due to take off at 8:30. Turns out...after boarding at 8:10...we took off around 9:30 a.m. Originally they claimed it was due to no ground crew...an hour later they said they were cleaning out the shitters cause it was a long flight.
We had seats c,d,e. So, the flight down served as Blackjack Lessons from Lama for E and I. We managed to play for a good couple of hours and got in a ton of hands. It served us well soon after we landed. BigE and I were planning on playing tons of poker, Lama prefers Blackjack. Turns out we played a bunch of both.
We hit the Imperial Palace around 11:30, quickly pre-checked in, finding out that the 3rd person and cot hadn't been added to the room. A call to Vegas.com needed to be placed later and all should be well (BS).
BBB....Beer Buffet and Blackjack soon followed...it was nearly a 1/2 hr in Vegas before beer 1...thankfully, only 10 minutes more for beer 2.
Around 12:30 I hit the Blackjack tables with Lama after the buffet with BigE watching. Imperial may be a dump, but, the beers come quick and the waitresses are hot. The beer flowed along with the Blackjacks and 3 hours later I was up about 8 beers and $40.00. Not a bad start. BigE had watched for a while before heading upstairs to tackle the 2-4 game. I followed around 4:00 figuring that $40.00 was 40 bucks and time to buy into my first live B&M $2-4 game.
I signed onto the waiting list, checking out the players and soaking in some of the mold and mildew that is the Imperial Palace Poker Room. Its not really a room...its actually a hallway...but, WTF...i know where the escalator, bathroom and the waitress is...I'm in Poker Heaven.
Using advice from PF.ca members/posts, I bought in for $80.00...took a deep breath and reminded myself...you can do this.
The table of 10 had as many as 4 other Cdn's at it through the next 10 hours or so...along with a wild mixture of vacationers.
I will say, the first 7 hours or so was pretty enjoyable, your typical group of guys wanting to play a TON of hands...the corpse in Seat 6 (seriously, the gentlemen was already dead...just no one told him) played 100% of the hands...which was fine with me, as in Seat 4 I figured this would work out well. UTG +1 solid guy from Leemington raises, I look down and see QQ...sweet...as I know Corpse is calling as well, I raise...6.00 to go to the pale guy in seat 6...he calls, folds around to the BB and UTG...both call. Flop comes J82 all rags. UTG1 bets, I raise, Corpse calls...of course he does, UTG calls as well, 3 to the turn.
Turn is a 4 all rainbow...this game is FUN. UTG checks, I bet, call call. River K...not my favorite card. UTG bets, I call, Corpse calls.
UTG shows TPTK, I show QQ...but the winner is.....J4o in Seat 6...calling 3bets cold preflop with a hand only Lamb of John would love. God bless him...hopefully he sticks around.
I make several more weak tight plays…turns out tight/passive/pussy should be added to poker tracker. My mind was saying one thing…my hands just wouldn’t reach the chips and pull the trigger. I was having a blast, but, not playing well. This is a feeling I carried with me the rest of the weekend.
The rest of this session is unremarkable, i take down a few pots get back to +$5.00 see some crazy sh*t and just try to get settled into the B&M game. I struck up a few conversations with Seats 10(belfast phil) Seat 1 Casey from Ohio and the Cemetery owner in Seat 3. All good sh*ts. I play .50/1.00 and some 1/2 online...playing 2/4 was a concern...i felt relaxed...turns out I was just really drunk.
It was as great start that was going to end shortly, it was pretty close to 11:00 Vegas time…I had 1 ½ sleep the night before, way too many beers and was up $45.00 so far…time for bed…no burnout on this trip. I had checked back in with Vegas.com and they confirmed the cot and 3person was looked after…sweet, I’m off to bed…BigE had left about an hour earlier after improving his stack quite a bit.
Tripping into Room 1390…¾ of the way through a pack of Marlboro Lights and a case of beer I am greeted by two large lumps situated in the middle of each of the beds…no cot in site. %&^, I could kill them both. Both lumps had the pillows under them…the buzz saw was running…this must be a sign…the Gods want me to play more poker…so, in a drunken waddle back to the poker room I go.
I get my seat back, Leemington is gone…Casey is still there, gone to is the corpse. Maybe he expired. Replacing them was the greasiest mid 50 wanna-be-player (slicked back hair, unbuttoned shirt…huge bling cross a-hole I’ve ever met (turns out he was out done by, only a ½ hr later) who had a constant need to help everyone with their hand. There was now an 60’ish lady to my right…classy looking, name was Silvia. She could play too…and took my chips…I’m in EP with 810h, the table has been pretty passive and at least 7 to the flops…I call…6 limpers including Belfast Phil and Silvia.
Flop comes 984, 2 hearts….Silvia checks, Phil bets (this could mean anything, dude LOVED to bet), Silvia calls, I call. Turn 8. Sweet….trips…still 2 hearts…I like this. Siliva checks, I bet, Phil raises, Silvia re-raises, I call and Phil calls…wft does she have?…river J no heart. Silvia bets after check raising the turn…I call, Phil Calls, Phil shows a weaker 8…I’m thinking I’m good…Silvia had quietly turned over her pocket 9’s…full boat. NH and a nice pot. 2 others joined the game. Another Irish dude from Toronto..even had a rock card protector with a coin that said “luck of the irish†on it along with a big angry looking could be gang member. I wouldn’t normally point out the Irish part but…here comes a 300pounder with a 2005 WSOP hat on. With a heavy accent Belfast Phil says “welcome to the game†as he had to all new players…Phil was having fun, wasn’t an ass and was sincere…to which Tuna responds with “buddy, if you can’t speak English…don’t talk to me again!!†Silvia grabs her chips and quietly moves off the table and requests a change. There’s a few “whoa’s…buddy, he said welcome to the game…†to which Tuna responded with…I don’t understand people who don’t speak English…if you aren’t America…don’t F’ing talk to me. (warning 1 for the Tuna from the floor)
The next hour was perhaps the least enjoyable time I have ever spent around a poker table. I’m accustom to the ballbreaking/BS’ing etc that can be found at Bristol Street and the other KW games. That is fun. The racial slurs, threats and BS that took place for the next while was not. Toronto Irish dude and I lasted till this hand. (in the passing hour Tuna tried to explain to me why I was really American and not Canadian after all…as well as bickering every hand with slick and phil.) Casey was back and in Silvia’s seat 2 and the BB. 4 to the flop including Tuna in 5, slick in 9 and Phil in 10.
Tuna raised pre-flop, all 3 called. Flop was QK9 two spades. Casey bet, Tuna raised,
Slick looking angry at Tuna calls, Phil calls, Casey re-raises, Tuna caps, Slick slams down his call, Phil folds.
Turn X, bet, raised, re-raised, cap. Slick did no raising and stared down Tuna every bump. River brick…bet, call, call. No flush, board did not pair. Casey shows a flopped str8 with J10d, Tuna shows a pocket Queens for a flopped set and slick freaks out at Tuna…screaming at him about how he was trying to draw cheap to his flush and WTF was Tuna doing raising with only a set…learn the F’ing game slick says…Belfast Phil had passed out during the hand (he was passing out in between hands he was playing…they continued to bring him Gin/Tonic) but woke to the shouting…and he took up Slicks side quickly against the Tuna. Toronto Irish dude and I left the table as the floor finally came back…what broke out now was a battle of 5 year olds crying…he said this…he threatened me etc…he said it first.
It was around 3:00 a.m. Vegas time…I was smashed…and had enough of this game…I was up $3.00 during the return session…whooooopee…1 day, 10 hours of poker and I’m 8 to the good. Along with the 3.00/hr comps from Imperial, my 40.00 in Blackjack money…and about 20 beers. It was a GREAT day. God I love this town.
BigE gave up a pillow and I settled in for an enjoyable sleep….until I heard Lama get up at 4:30 a.m…excellent, another hour ½ of sleep…time for some Ceaser’s (its a breakfast drink you know and Blackjack…Day 2 has begun lets rock.
Bankroll- $776.00 + 100 in Wally bucks.
Comments
Nice Story, keep it up.
If you're confident with your game, check out the Wynn. Lots of fish, but also some good sharks. Identify them early on and you should be okay.
Be warned though, 1-2NL will rarely mean a 3xBB pre-flop raise. Expect 5-6x. MGM is the same, but more people limp...plus there's more drunk people due to the bars, shows and concerts all ending around 12am, some noise from the nearby bar... Anyhow this is a good recipe for a tight player. You only have to win a couple hands an hour. Lots of money floating around in their 5-10 game too. I might move up to it next trip, I want one of those stacks.
Now while I've only played tournaments at Aladdin, I'm told it's a fairly soft 1-2NL game. The dealers there are excellent, seats are comfortable, tables are good. Though since they all talk you could get a dealer calling out your hands pre-showdown. Just toke him(or her), ask him not to do it again.
Luxor.. the room is small, cramped, seats suck, tables are small, though it's rail to rail felt. No racetrack. Probably a lot of fish though... all their noon tournament players are very novice.
Excalibur room is big, though I find the casino is one of the smokier ones. Haven't played there yet though.
Good luck, looking forward to your next report...
I made a point of telling myself enjoy it, play smart, if you lose don't get upset take it all in it may never happen again. I still sat down literally shaking with $100 in chips at my first live $2/4 Vegas table...I quickly made friends 10 minutes in when I said 'Hey, wtf does it take to get a drink around here?' I mean this was Vegas....I had been here about an hour (watched Wolff and Lama play BJ but was a chicken shit and didn't play) but now I was at a table and dammit I wanted a drink, then I fell in love the first of many times when I finally saw a dark goddess heading my way with a tray, she had to be beautiful I wasn't drunk yet! Shortly after I had my first of many, many cold MGD's god they were good!
I play a tight game, I mix it up by playing tight-weak, tight-aggressive, and more often, tight-scared or tight-stupid but tight is right, right Mario? But this was different, this was Vegas, I told myself to mix it up and my first session I did. Like Wolff said, minimum to the flop was usually 5-6 so I was playing suited connectors down to 45 or 56, a lot of J9, JT, suited Aces. Raising pre-flop only had one outcome and that was making the pot grow it certainly did not scare anyone out. The table I was at was excellent, it was full of fun-loving easy going tourists...none of what Wolff saw thank God! I actually felt very comfortable so I relaxed, nothing great happened for the next few hours, just kind of coasted but I played well and believe I made the right moves I wasn't up but I wasn't down.I found myself beside a guy that lives in the US south of Quebec, he was a Habs fan so I HAD to make a table change, seriously he was very nice but for some reason I did change tables...not sure why, perhaps to get closer to my nubian goddess, it must have been her magic spell (read: beautiful breasts) that made me move...but either way I found myself beside the Habs fans buddy on another table, go figure...but he was even cooler because he was drinking dark beer, a Killian, it was ok, tried 2 or 3 and went back to MGD! I also had my first look at the dead guy Wolff spoke of, funny thing, he/she was two to my right...I thought it was a lady the whole time, so did half my table? We never found out for sure as half the table said Miss the other half Sir...I believe Wolff when he says it was a guy....and he was dead or very close to it, I swear I saw a midget behind him/her moving his/her arms with a stick and besides Wolff is a trained investigator, he knows!!! Immediately to my left was a short, loud, fun, old Italian dude who yelled whenever he said something and would call everything, just what I wanted!!!!!! I was sitting at the end of the table breaking even but having a helluva hard time seeing the cards, I think the tables at the IP are about 10' long and they have special flood lights that put a glare on the cards so it makes it hard to see. I spot opened up across from the dealer and I quickly moved, it was a good move! I now found myself to the right of a couple from Australia or England or some place where they speak funny and oddly enough colluded like crazy, I mean they would talk about their hands and discuss who had a better shot, one would stay in and the other would fold, the dealers were none the wiser...and I really didn't care because they were brutal at everything but rebuying. The dead guy was still calling everything, which was good, he never hit and to my right was the loud italian geriatric and a very pleasant older lady, quiet and sharp, she and I proceeded to take most of the tables money. The card gods were good to me, I got to draw cheaply and hit, my big cards were holding up and I looked down to see I had more then doubled up!!!!! I was sitting on over $200. I felt great, tired, drunk, calm, and up money and my lovely MGD serving goddess was making many trips to my table, life is good.......but I was getting tired...I thought I might head up to the room, it was shortly after 10:00 pm LA time and we'd been up since 3:00 am. That was when Wolff came over and said 'man, don't get up if you're killing a table, have a tea and take their money'. Tea? wtf is Tea? They serve Tea in Vegas....I really never thought of ordering something without alcohol...but hey it was good advice, so I beckoned to my nubian goddess for a hot tea with Lemon, hey if your gonna be a pussy and order tea may as well go all out and add the lemon, my nubian goddess didn't even flinch on my order!!!! Two teas and a water later I was down about $25, tea sucks! But I realized I had hit a wall so IÂ cashed out my $175 and headed for the room, gave a good luck to Wolff on my way out and day 1 was over for Big E. I must say not once did I feel out of place, or out played at the $2/4 table, the money I lost was on mistakes I made....and I knew it....as Wolff said the brain was screeming this and my hands did that...but all in all a great start to a great trip. I fired up the chainsaw on the way back to the room..there were many logs that needed sawing!!!!! I must say...walking through the casino shortly after 11:00 pm LA time is fantastic, the headlights were beautiful, I don't think I made eye contact with one single women..there was no need everything worth seeing was a foot lower!!!!!
1b starting roll $998
current roll $ 1073
p.s. I did notice no cot when I hit the room as well...so I did crash as far over on the bed as I could so Wolff would have a spot to crash with a maximum buffer, my apologies for spilling over into the centre of the bed!
pp.s The dealers I thought were ok for the most part, although they did make mistakes on calling the top hand (more to come on that later) I always put my cards face down in front of me and called my own hand so it never hurt me. One interesting play tho, it was a big pot down to heads up between the English/Austalian/Heavy accented colluding MF and some young pimply face dude who bet the river, collusion man called saying I have a straight but did not show his cards, the young dude mucked his cards to the dealer in disgust and then collusion man says 'oh, no, I guess I don't have a straight, sorry.' I laughed my ass off...poor kid...lesson learned...I always made sure I saw the cards before a muck because that was mucking brutal!!!