Vegas Oct 4 – 8

The primary reason for going to Vegas we to run the St George, Utah marathon on Oct 6th, but I picked up a foot injury in August and wasn’t able to make the run.. So, what to do with an airline ticket and 4 days in Vegas….

This was my 3rd trip to Vegas to play poker and I usually stay 4-5 days. During my previous 2 trips I was even(trip #1) and up about $400(trip #2). I was down about $220 for this trip.

Played 10 tournaments and a few cash games. I was down $220 for the tournaments (see below) and was even for the couple of hours of cash games that I played ($1/$2 and $1/$3 no limit at PH and Flamingo).

The Caesars 7:00 PM $150 buy-in has an excellent structure with $5000 chips and 40 min blinds. The players are, for the most part, pretty solid making the all-in with a rag-Ace less of a factor. The dealers are strong and service was excellent. They start the tables with 10 players reducing to 9 when the tournament is down to 3 tables.

The Planet Hollywood games are definitely a step down with regards to player quality and structure, but the cardroom, service, dealers and management are great. Overall PH is pretty good, but given a choice I’d step up to the Caesar/Venetian $120+ levels for the longer blinds and deeper stacks.

I stumbled into the Excalibur tournament by accident while walking around one morning. This was the most painful hour that I had in Vegas. Half the table had never played before and the starting stack was so low along with 15 minute blinds making the only real play was all-in after the 1st blind. Given the number of rookie players we saw only one turn before the blinds went up and I was out on KK with a called A-rag all-in ---- thankfully….

I was planning on playing the Venetian 8:00 PM game, but I was trapped on the South end of the strip and didn’t think I would be able to make it in time, so I thought I’d give the Harrah’s 7:00 $100 buy-in try. The cardroom is somewhat outdated compared to PH, Caesars and certainly the big rooms. The dealers were nice enough, but the tables were crowded and it wasn’t very enjoyable. I really wasn’t into the game and was bemoaning the fact that I gave up Venetian for Harrah’s and was out of the tournament pretty quick.

I don’t go to Vegas with the idea that I’m going to come home a big winner. I go for some quality play and hope to break even for the week… A big bonus came my way when I was complaining to a dealer (Richard) about the CardPlayer’s inaccurate tournament schedule and he gave me the URL to this site (thanks Richard). I like this site with the updated schedules, room reviews, trip reports and forums.

Next trip will be in the Spring and I will probably play Caesars, Venetian and possibly a small game at either the Wynn or Bellagio…

All-in-all I had a great time and loved the play.

(10/4) Caesars 3:00 - $70, 6 paid, finished 9th out of 40
(10/4) Caesars 7:00 - $150, 9 paid, finished 11th out of 80
(10/6) Caesars 7:00 - $150, 9 paid, finished 18th out of 89
(10/7) Caesars 9:00 - $70, 6 paid, chopped 1st out of 45 for $655 (only cash ;) )
(10/6) Excalibur 9:00 - $35; this was like playing with a bunch of 5th graders…
(10/5) Planet 7:00 - $120 (8/43), 6 paid
(10/6) Planet 10:00 - $60 (20/41), 6 paid
(10/6) Planet 2:00 - $60 (8/89), 9 paid
(10/7) Planet 2:00 - $60 (8/65), 6 paid
(10/7) Harrah's 7:30 - $100, out early