First off, I want to thank Photoc, LVM, and all of the others who have made this site available through the years. Living in the midwest playing 80% in St Louis, 15% in Louisville or Tunica, and just one or two trips to Vegas a year make this very helpful to keep track of what is going on in poker fantasyland.

Actually, even if I wasn't a poker player, I would read the blogs on AVP just for the characters. I only briefly met or played with LVM, Yappy, and the OD out of the 60 or so longtime regulars of AVP. However I feel I know Grange/Mrs Lederer/AlaskaGal/TBC/Clem and others just from reading on this site. A made for TV show could easily be done with some of you! Now that I think about it, it is fun to think of what actor would play some of you...So thanks to you all too for making it 'interesting' to read!!

As for this trip, here was the plan:

*Hang out with old dealer/floor friends at TI and run over friendly tourists playing 1/3.

*Mix it up with the local 2/5 daily grinders at Venetian and play what I consider the toughest game I have ever played (in that room, at that level. so why play it? See below)!

*Check out the Mirage room as I was staying there and this was the first time I could see what old friend Chris Coffin had changed.

*See if there were any women in Vegas anywhere to 'look' at. Yep, there were. Lots.

Instead of a day to day deal in this monstrosity of a trip report, I will just hit each poker room one by one...

MIRAGE

Man what a difference a manager can make. Chris Coffin has made the room fun again. I stayed (didn't sleep) 7 nights there and the place was buzzing all day/night. The one area of concern was that the dealers are really old school compared to every other room I play. They are not friendly at all for the most part. They are professional, technically sound, not rude, but just not talkative or friendly. I also know most are well over 55, and have been dealing for a long long time. I'm sure most were there when Reese/Brunson/Forrest etc called the Mirage home pre-Bellagio years. That is cool, but personality sometimes counts does it not???

Speaking of personality, yikes the morning players are nasty. They are there for one thing and one thing only....Aces Cracked. They looked at their two cards, hoped at least one had an 'A' on it, and just hoped they can somehow lose so they can win $75 or $150 in the promo. I am an 'old 42', but I was the youngest on the few mornings I sat through that hell by at least a couple decades. They even had me cursing and drinking prune juice by hour 3 with 'em on the second day.

Of note with that fun bunch was I blew through 9 bills in 48 minutes one morning which has to be a record for a 1/2 or 1/3 game for me. Well, maybe not. Quickly tho, just to show how the poker gods can giggle at some of us after being up all night, here are the hands:

St Louis good guy=K/K
Old Vegas bad guy= A/A

A/K/3 flop...7 turn...J river Bye $260

Prune face then has the bright idea to say "I guess you know I was hoping to get my aces cracked".

St Louis good guy= A/A
Really dumb Chicago guy= K/K

4/7/K flop...9 turn...9 river Bye $340

DeflatedSt Louis guy= K/K
Just some dude at the table I wish would get bit by a dog or something= A/8 of spades

4s/9s/Kh flop...2d turn (allin/call)...and yes Qs on river for nut flush. Bye $330

Now here is why I didn't care after about 9 seconds of disbelief each time. Yes guy goes all in with air and hits on one... yes we both hit sets on flop on one... Didnt matter. First my brother was there at the table witnessing all the above having the time of his life, and writing them down to make sure he could needle me for years. Second, Chris Coffin was talking to me on one of the hands, and got to see one of the other two as well. Third, as a result of having a set of kings cracked twice within an hour and pocket aces cracked to boot, Chris decided there, on the spot, to do a different bad beat for the room after saying, "Man Paul, those were some tough beats. I think after seeing that I need to change some things".
Thanks Chris for your thoughts.

Good stuff=The bounty tourney was well run on the Friday night I played, and more than anything else, I was very impressed with the floor personnel. Chris Coffin is the man, always was, and still is. But this time I got to meet Mark and Carrie and Marushka? and was very impressed. It may not mean a lot to some players, but I put floor attitude/player treatment very very high on my priority list on where to play. Nice going Mirage staff!!

Speaking of fantastic floor staff...

TI

This is still my all time favorite room as far as comfort level, and amount of money won per hour at a low NL game. For those of you who are looking for a place to play when you come to Vegas, I cannot say enough good things about the room/dealers/staff. They will spread whatever you want, have great turnouts for low buy in tourneys, and will treat you like a king.

AVPer TI Poker/Troy and AVPer Asian Dave are two of my favorite people in the poker world due to their professionalism, but I saw very little of them this trip. Instead I spent a lot of hours with Jeff, Kurt, and Rich both dealing and on the floor. It was also great to see two of the local poker knockouts/sweethearts Michelle and Megan. As far as players go, it was fun pickins. Nice profit and good times. I also got to mix it up with some newer 'TI regulars' who I will call Bill Murray lookalike Jim...mr hothead taxi guy Ward...and one of the best human beings on the planet, retired dealer Rick. Rick, you have a friend for life. They aren't quite OD and Yappy from years past, but they were fun during the 3-6am timeframe. Oh, and you still owe me Rich...

Venetian

Whereas I have the time of my life relaxing, joking, playing hyper aggressive poker against easily readable/scared money/lesser competition at the above two rooms at 1/2 or 1/3, the 2/5 at the Venetian is the main reason I come to Vegas. It is just plain outstanding high level poker most of the time. It forces me to constantly shift gears, and makes me realize how you must constantly learn more --no matter how many thousands of hours you already have in your background. They are tough. I believe I am a very good player. But I am always in the bottom three at a table there just because the others are playing full time, and I am not at this point in my life. It makes a huge difference at that level in many areas. I took a small loss after session 1, and a decent win on session 2 while there, but more importantly, it allows me to play real poker against really talented players.

I don't know if I would play there regularly if/when I live in Vegas. 2/5 would definately be the level I would play so I will put it out to you guys to answer that for me. I cannot stand the Bellagio even tho the game was easy compared to the V, and have never played the Wynn 2/5. As a guy who plans to be there a lot more in about 7 years, it is fun to think about!!

I met with a lot of daily regulars and learned a lot from them both on lifestyle, and playing styles. I also ran into my hometowner Dennis Phillips and had a good chat about the St Louis poker community. He is a guy I hope you all root for in bigger tourneys. Very classy and very charitable.

The Venetian was packed the two days/night I was there. I have never seen anything like it in the past. I am blown away by the V floor who never once got flustered and were always on top of every player move/table opening. Very impressive with the huge expansion into the casino area they did to an already massive poker room.

Finally a few notes on the restaurants while in town. A big shout out to Delmonico Steakhouse at the Venetian, and my new alltime favorite waitress Jennifer. Absolutely fantastic experience and it will be a repeat visit from now on. If you like catfish at all, the catfish bites at BB Kings restaurant at the Mirage were great. Isla at TI is still fantastic mexican food also.

I skipped a few really big winning hands, and me getting upset at a table which I haven't done in years while at TI, but I have put most of you to sleep by now.

So with that-- may you suck out on your friends, may your real hands hold up against unknown villians, and may you avoid cranky old guys and their pocket aces.

AceTenGuy from St Louis