Situation:
3rd time to Vegas for the narrator ( 25 yrs old) and the two older poker friend, the other young is a Vegas virgin.
We went from Geneva, Switzerland on the 6th of January till the 13th. The youngs found a nice deal of 1400 $/pers for flight with BA Geneva-London-Las Vegas and 7 nights in Golden Nugget in Downtown, older pals found something close to that, but Geneva-Washington-Las Vegas.
Anyway what a feeling to go all together to the Geneva airport on the morning, and saying to each other “ok, 9pm tonight in Golden Nugget Hall!!”.
After a funny ten hours flight in the last row of a Boeing 767 (row 53!), we checked in and found the two older pals (TOP) in the Hall, as jet lagged as us.
Once again, older smarter, they went to bed. My friend and I decided to directly test cash Game ½ NLHE. He did better than me who didn’t have any card to play with, or playing them badly, and finished with a nice 5$ profit, in opposite to me -65$.
After a sleep of 4 hours we got up because of the excitement to be there, and went play 2$ blackjack by waiting for the older to wake up.
Ok let s make the story short, we did this nearly all morning.
First tournament: Binion’s 2 pm 5k guaranteed where the four of us did nothing, no big hands to speak about also.Anyway the best structure for these king of Buy in in Vegas.
The day after, we tried the Sunday tournament of golden nugget with 10k and 30 min levels. Lot of agro who were just there to rest after long cash game session and waiting to go back to cash. No results also, instead a classical hand that occurred early: I’m in BB with starting stack and KQo, and be raised to 450 on my 150 BB by EP, everybody folds, I call. Flop is Kxxr, I check, he bets 650, I raise to 1600, he quickly reraises to 3400……and I fold, him saying that he had AK……Thoughts?
Same day, played the fitzgeralds two table shove fest, and one of the TOP made third place for 3x his buy in, a good beginning for him. I was in top 6 but too bleeding chips and tried to bluff-shove this friend which called me on the turn with ace-high and hold up….
The day after we did some cash game at Bill’s, really soft and funny especially during Aces-cracked promotion, and finished up or even.After that we tried the 2pm tournament at Bellagio 10k 25 min 125$. Structure not bad, but to let rebuy for the first 4 hours mean nothing, there was maybe 40 real players, and was finally 90 entrants, with guy rebuying 10k and blinds 400/800/100…one of the TOP made a nice 5th place for 350$. I was 2/3 from av. stack till I was sucking out with AJ vs AT, slightly covering him. I was let with 1bb left in this shovefest and was SB. Everybodyfolds I jam BB check and we discover together that I Have 88, flop set and I triple up because of antes….next hand on the button,one of my friend opens, I have AA and jams, he calls with KJ, flop KQJ, turn x, river Q, ouf….I finally go out when I jam/steal from button and be snapped by AQ on BB…..
The day after, back to the binion’s where I made a nice 5th place for 280$, finally ITM.
Then the day after we did some cash at Bills, then went to the Gun Store for some swiss/US relaxation, and after eating a marvelous steak at Gallagher’s for my birthday, went for doing the 85$ 7.5k 20min tournament at Caesars.
BTW I often read on your site that most of AVPers are finding Venetian poker room the most beautiful poker room, but honestly find the Caesar’s greater (as long as you have a goretex hoodie!!).
After beginning badly, I double up and go back to a bit more starting stack on a flip-coin, and grind to 15k. Then I catch 99 on sb, blind 300-600, one late call, I raise to 2300, just the limper calls. Flop is 9-10-2ccx and I donk bet 2300, he shoves and I snap, he turns JQo….turn 8, river 8……wow it was close. Then I begin to bleed chips since it turns to shovefest and I ‘m card dead. Then I’m on BB, everybody till sb who shoves after long hesitation, I call with A5 and he turns over 59, and I’m now at 30k with 9 players left, 6 paid and average stack around 22k. Then a strange hand occurs:
I’m on BB with 30k, everybody folds to SB with around 65k who just calls. I look down at J8o and check, hoping to catch a miracle. Flop is QTxr, he surprises me by checking and I check too. Turn is a beautiful 9 and he bets 5k, I raise to 13k and he quickly calls. River is a seven, he checks and I shove my remaining 15ish, he tanks for about 2 min and make the call, and muck when he sees my straight. I’m good now and finally made to the final three when we agreed for a deal of 600$/each. Eventually the guy that doubled me up with my straight told me later that he was slowplaying QQ, flopped and slowplayed his set and simply couldn’t fold it on this board….thoughts?
After some last cash game more or less even and a last Fitz tournament that my Vegas virgin friend won, we went back to Geneva with a lot of experience and stories to tell about.
However we come back in September, trying doing better.
On my side for the whole trip:
Poker: -70$ (not bad for me for playing about 8 hours/day during this trip and being not a great player, especially in cash game)
Other bullsh*** (black jack, slot, roulette):about -500$.
Food, drinks, cabs etc.: about -600$.
Conclusion: next time to Vegas, better playing cash game than all other casino table games while waiting for a tournament.
Thanks for reading