Day 1

I flew out of Chicago on Sunday morning without a hitch and landed in beautiful Las Vegas around 11 AM. This was my second trip to Vegas and my first solo trip, as a buddy couldn’t go at the last minute. I was actually excited to explore all of the poker rooms without having to worry about somebody else. So I landed Sunday morning and began my poker playing adventure. Just for reference, I consider myself a solid TAG player who is pretty good preflop but could definitely use work on my postflop game. Overall, I am an above average player but certainly not great.

I checked in at the MGM, my home base for the brief, 3 day trip. My room wasn’t ready yet, so I checked my bag and headed straight for the poker room. This was my first time playing at the MGM and as I found for the next three days, I absolutely love this room! Everything is top notch and while I’ve heard others complain about the racetrack around the table, I surprisingly found that I liked it. MGM is a really efficient, action packed room, especially if you like a more lively experience. You feel like you are in the middle of everything, so if you prefer a quiet, secluded room, this is definitely not the place for you.

I sat down for some 1 / 2 NL action and sat with $200 (always the case unless noted). My table was pretty average and I won a couple of medium sized pots without any showdowns. Both of those pots were not remarkable, but both times my bets forced a LAG player to fold and I could sense him getting ready to play back at me when the chance came. A few hands later it did as I limped into a 5 way pot with 79s in LP. The LAG was the button and limped. The flop came out 9 7 3 with two clubs. The BB bets out and I come over the top for ~40. LAG reraises me to 80 and I ponder for a moment. While I was worried about a set, I thought he was much more likely to be pushing with a marginal hand and possibly a flush draw. So I pushed him all in and he instacalled, which of course scared me. But when he flipped over his 93o I had him dominated and he failed to improve. I played a few more hands, but then my room was ready, so I decided to get up with a nice start to the trip. I finished this session up $373.

I had the Grand Tower room at the MGM and it was nice, pretty standard. I was 27th floor with a great view of the strip and close to the elevator, as I had requested, so they did a fantastic job in that department. After dropping my stuff off (I just picked my bag up at the bell desk – the phone line was busy for about 15 minutes when I tried to call), I decided to head north on the strip to check out another room.

I stopped at Planet Hollywood to check out the action in the room. I was very under whelmed with the room itself, although the management was very nice and personable. I got seated in a pretty juicy 1 / 2 game, and sat quietly for a while. I then picked up AA in EP and raised to $10, getting three callers. The flop came out Q 10 x rainbow and bet out $40. A short stack in MP reraised all in to $70 and the action came to me. For $30 into a ~$150 pot I called and he flipped over 77. Seemed like a strange choice given that he wasn’t going to push me out of the pot for $30, but I was obviously glad to get his money in the middle. The 7 rivered giving him the pot and he immediately began apologizing. No worries though, that is the game and even those two outers have to hit once in a while. I cashed out down a disappointing $80 at this table, but I wanted to make it to the 7PM Headhunter at TI.

From here I headed up to TI, signed up for the tournament and decided to grab something to eat before the tournament. I went over to a little Mexican place in TI called Isla and it was fantastic. I sat at the bar, ordered the Original Margarita and Rock Shrimp Ceviche. The ceviche was delicious, they comped my margarita because I was playing video poker, and I won ~$20 on video poker which paid for the appetizer and tip. Truly a great experience and I will definitely be back. They also serve chips and assorted salsas with the food, which were also very good. A little gem here if you enjoy Mexican cuisine.

I then went back to the poker room for the tournament. I must say, this was one of the better tables I played at in Vegas. All of the players at my table seemed to have a pretty good idea of what they were doing, although playing at only one table in the tournament; I can’t really say whether or not this is the typical quality of play. I lost about half my stack on a hand where I limped in LP with J 10h. A lot of checking on a 997x rainbow, I bet out and got one caller. River came the 8, completing my straight and I bet. The EP caller comes back over the top with a little more than a min raise. I fear the boat with his check raise, so simply call and he tables 97 for the boat. I was pretty happy to get away from this with half my stack left. We then had Danette join us at our table when she completed her shift and it was very nice to meet and talk with her, and a couple of other nice people at our table. Short stacked I finally pushed in LP with AQc and got called by the BB with AKs, and you can imagine how that ended. Overall, I had a very nice experience at TI and planned on stopping back, but as Vegas goes, I didn’t get there. Very nice room and people though, I will certainly return in the future.

After my head rolled, I headed back to MGM for a final session of the night as I was getting tired. Getting up at 4:30 AM in Chicago will wear you down by the time night arrives in Vegas! At MGM, the table was once again pretty average. We had a lady at our table that clearly had never played a live game before and a few of us were hoping we could land her $100. I was the lucky one as I limped in MP with 33 and hit my set on the flop. She called my bets all the way to an all in on the river and showed her A9, for top pair. I almost felt bad and then remembered that “It’s immoral to let a sucker keep their money” and felt better. OK, I never actually felt bad, but I probably should have, she was pretty terrible. After this I got pretty tired and could feel my play slipping, so I cashed out up $98.

Day total, including tournament fees: +$266
(Poker only in totals, I did extremely little other gambling and essentially broke even on it)

Day 2

I woke up early on day 2, after sleeping from 2-7, for a perfectly solid 5 hours. I decided to check out the Imperial Palace 8-11 AM aces and kings cracked promo before the Noon Venetian tournament. This is obviously a bad time to check out this room as the only choice was 2 / 4 limit, which is fine considering the promo. There were two tables going, both filled with old locals who knew each other and kept all action to a minimum. I feel like I need to give the IP another chance as this is probably the worst time to play in the room. The management was extremely nice and I’m sure a late 1 / 2 session would provide a much better atmosphere. I got kings once but they held and I cashed out up a whopping $8. I couldn’t flee this game quickly enough. My only other complaint was that the table was wobbly, however that happened.

At this point I went up to the Venetian to play in the noon $150. We had 107 players and I was extremely impressed with the room, as I expected to be. Tables, management, and dealers were all fantastic, and it is a much quieter room for those who prefer that type of setting. We started with 7500 chips and thanks to a guy pushing all in with AK against my AA; I was a little over 17,000 at the first break and the leader at my table. After the break I started folding constantly as I couldn’t get even a marginal hand to play. A massive stack was moved to our table, who had ~50K in chips. Shortly after his arrival, I picked up AA in EP. At this point I was a little over 15K and the blinds were 200 / 400 with a 25 ante. I was UTG and raised to 1600, with folds up to the huge stack who was in LP. He smooth called as did the BB, to my surprise. The flop came 678 with two hearts. The BB checked and I bet 4000. The big stack came back over the top for 5000, the BB folded and action was to me. I was pretty perplexed: I couldn’t put him on the straight with the preflop call, I thought an overpair was possible, a set was possible, and a flush draw less possible. I had only seen him play a few hands, so I didn’t have a good read on how he would play this. I decided that there was a significant chance that he put me on two high cards with a continuation bet, so knowing that a call would leave over 2/3 of my chips in the pot, I pushed all in. He flipped over 77 for the set, the second time that my aces had been bitten by sevens early in the trip. I would appreciate any comments on how I played this hand both pre and post flop. I don’t really think I would have changed anything looking back, although I could have gotten away from it on the reraise post flop. Any tips for the future would be appreciated.

After this I needed a little break from poker so I made some sports bets and relaxed for a while. I eventually made the trek back to MGM and sat down in the evening for an extended session (around 7 hours). This was definitely the best table of all my MGM sessions. A bulk of us stayed the entire time, including two nice guys from Kentucky, a TAG local female, and a TAG guy from Ohio. Although the table was tough, it was a good game and I enjoyed the challenge, so I didn’t request a table change. I will briefly explain one hand as I think it plays into the mindset of the TAG female when we got into a hand. Against the TAG guy from Ohio I raised with AK preflop and the flop came rags. He bet ~25 on the flop and I reraised to 60. After some time he folded, and although I rarely show, I tabled my AK. He had a piece of the flop, I don’t remember what exactly, but this happened about 30 minutes before this hand came along. I was in MP and landed KK. I raised to 12 and the TAG female reraised to 36 on the SB. It folded to me and I didn’t want to reraise as I thought it would give her to good of a range on my hand, so I called hoping to see no A on the flop. So there are two to the flop, which came a 10 high rainbow. She instantly bets 75. I feel like she was making this bet regardless of the flop, so I reraise 100 on top. She pondered for quite a while, before finally folding and tabling JJ. I respected her game/play on this hand, so I showed her my KK. I think she strongly considered calling, partially due to the show of AK on a similar hand earlier. These were two of the only times I showed, as I don’t like to give out the information, but I felt like it was the right thing in this case. After quite a few drinks (Sierra Nevada primarily) with the Kentucky gentlemen, I finally got tired and at a solid table, I didn’t want to waste away my stack with bad play. After a long 6-7 hour session, I cashed out up $85 and headed to bed.

Day total, including tournament fees: -$57
Trip total: +$209

Day 3

This was my final full day in Vegas as I was scheduled to fly out at 6 AM the next day. I booked no hotel for my final night, so I was set to go straight through the night and head to the airport around 4. The day began easily enough, with a nice breakfast at ‘wichcraft in the MGM, eating the bacon, fried egg, and bleu cheese sandwich recommended to me and it did not disappoint. I then took the monorail and went to the Venetian to cash in my sports tickets from the previous day.

After that I decided to head out in search of a good 1 / 2 game, which at that time of the day can be tough to do. I stopped at the Mirage thinking that I would give that room a try. There were only a few tables going and they looked to be full of rocks. In addition, I saw 60ish waitress with a noticeable limp. I don’t even have a joke here. I decided that this wasn’t the place for a guy like myself and quickly ducked back out the front door. I proceeded to meander down the strip, it was a beautiful morning, sunny and in the low 80’s. I eventually made my way back to the MGM, where the poker room called me during huge chunks of my trip. In retrospect I wish I had tried a few more rooms, as I initially planned, but I was so happy with the room I just kept going back to it. I suppose it is a good thing that I found a room I like as much as a home base.

They opened a new 1 / 2 table shortly after I got on the list (I don’t think I waited over 5 minutes the entire trip – the MGM does a fantastic job opening new tables) and sat down. There was a group of 4 younger guys who were very good, TAG players which made the table somewhat tough initially. I lost $100ish on a hand with QQ to 88 when the villain hit his set. I ended up putting him all in after he reraised me after the flop, I probably should have gotten away from it at that point. Eventually, those guys left and I was left with one of the softest tables I have ever seen in a live card game. This was an extremely frustrating session for me. We had several calling stations, several players who had clearly never played a live game, and some others who were decidedly average. This was the time that I went card dead and at a table like this, you cannot bluff. We had a larger, older gentleman who went on a run like I have never seen. He was an absolute calling station and had no problem calling bets all the way to the river with a gut shot or second pair. He didn’t do it to me, as I just couldn’t get into many pots, but he began chasing hands down on everybody else. He bought in for $200, lost it, then bought in for $100 more. About 3 hours later he was cashing out for $1300! He was absolutely atrocious and was catching ridiculous hand after ridiculous hand. It was really priceless to see the smile on the jolly old guy’s face. Despite my inability to get a hand, I stayed at the table hoping to take a good chunk of his stack but it was to no avail. His wife eventually made him cash out at $1300. I suppose this is a good thing because he will always remember that session and it should keep him coming back to the tables. I had no memorable hands in this session and certainly did not play my best game. I ended up angrily cashing out down $277.

At this point I just needed a break from poker so I grabbed a meal and decided to play a little blackjack. I played at a $25 table, got up about $200, set aside my initial buy in and played until I was back to even. I figured a nice even session and clearing my head was just what I needed before I dove back into poker for the night.

I eventually headed back to the 1 / 2 table, yes, once again at the MGM. During that first rough session I began drinking rather heavily and then at night, I once again ran into my friends from Kentucky. This session gets a little hazy due to the quantities of Sierra Nevada and Makers Mark consumed. I ended up playing for about 7 hours and met some more nice guys, one who lived in Vegas and another driving to Texas after just completing his year at law school. The table was pretty standard as far as skill goes, and I hovered a little above my buy in for the entire session. The only hand that sticks out was my very first hand, when I got AA before my chips even arrived. I immediately began big verbal bets and I think it threw some players off as I got a call after the flop that I probably shouldn’t have. He eventually folded, which was a nice start to my final session. No other hands really stick out and I ended up cashing up $82.

Day total: -$195
Trip total: +$14

I wondered the MGM for a while longer, playing some video poker and such until it was time to catch a cab to the airport. Around 4 AM I headed out and caught my flight back to Chicago. Unfortunately, I couldn’t sleep on the flight and by the time I got home I wasn’t even tired anymore! I don’t think I would do the no hotel the final night again, instead I think I would book the hotel another night and just fly out mid afternoon the next day. I finally arrived home, with just $150 less in my wallet than when I left, which included all food, cabs, travel. I was quite pleased as I passed out after a long night.

I was very happy to check out the rooms, as I only played the Flamingo, Excalibur, and TI my first time in Vegas. I am happy with how I played and managed to be up $289 in cash games, which was pretty good, especially considering I am not all that experienced in live games. The two tournaments didn’t work out, but I will probably continue to play one or two each trip out there, always trying to catch one of the noon Venetian tournaments. If you managed to make it through this entire report, I both applaud you and give you a questioning glance (don’t worry, I would have too). Good luck to those going soon and I can’t wait to get back. Vegas baby, Vegas!