My wife and I decided to drive to Vegas from SF area for the first time instead of flying. So, we dropped off our toddler at our nanny's eeearly on 12/26. It's a long drive (7.5 hrs), but we broke it up by doing a long run in Bakersfield (about half way) before finishing off the drive. I've determined that the Subway we ate at after our run gave me food poisoning which kept me feeling pretty miserable most of the four nights we stayed. We checked into our suite (easy to come by during holiday season) at Ballys at 8 PM and immediately went downstairs to the poker room. Frequent casino goers, my wife typically loses enough playing blackjack to easily offset any gains I make grinding. However, after months of nagging, I finally convinced her to play poker instead. So, she sat down at the 3-6 limit tables and I sat at the 1-2 NL games. Wow - Ballys poker room has really improved. It's at a really nice new location close to the South elevators and conference rooms. There's a young man managing the poker room who I was very impressed with. Everything is well organized - felt very professional in there. One complaint is that they drop 10% up to $5 (instead of $4), and an additional $1 for the Caesars mega bad beat, but they don’t give out any quad or straight flush bonuses. Anyway, after making periodic check-in visits to my wife's table, I witnessed my wife having a ton of fun getting coached by the other players and winning a little. After several hours, we both cashed out for approximately $100.
The next morning we skipped breakfast (stomach not ready for food) and went straight to Golden Nugget. My wife sat down at a 2-4 limit table and I joined a 1-2 table. I realized quickly that the players, at least this day, were much stronger than the ones at Bally’s. I couldn’t really get anywhere the entire time. GN runs a good promo for doubling bonus hand payouts before 2 PM. The bonuses are progressive so they continue to climb if they are not hit. Some of the straight flushes were paying over $500 – so doubled would be over $1K. Sadly, my wife and I did not hit any bonuses. Shortly after I sat down Gavin Smith joined my table. I had to do a double-take when he sat down because I thought he only played high stakes. He was really boozing quite a bit, but still managed to chip up along the way. Ironically, I never had a hand where we went one-on-one against each other in the 3 hours he was at the same table. Again, my wife was having fun and winning. One interesting policy in the GN room is that you are unable to move to other 1-2 tables when you are already seated. I think they are trying to prevent good players from poaching on weaker ones – this seems to be a common trend in both online and live games. So I had to grind at a table full of other experienced grinders. We cashed out around 9 PM – me -80, wife +120. We drove back to Ballys with the intention of playing more in their room. However, I was feeling too miserable to play so I had to check-in early.
Having to check in early was a stroke of bad luck because the mega bad beat hit that night at Planet Hollywood. All players in the Bally’s poker room were paid $833/ea. We found this out in the morning when we sat down in the room – oh well. This day I logged a 12 hour session. My wife entered and chopped one of the $60 tournaments three ways for $250 and was as happy as a clam. This made me happy because she decided to continue to play poker instead of blackjack. As I was grinding I ran into a couple of coolers that kept bringing me down to my starting stack. I finished the day +100. I met a lot of chess players playing in a national tournament at Ballys. This was enjoyable for me because I used to be an avid chess player. One interesting fact I learned in the Bally’s poker room is that hoodies are not allowed. I witnessed the poker room manager tap two youngsters on the shoulder and asked them to remove their hoods. I like this policy because I feel it makes poker less intimidating for beginners when they first sit down at the table. My wife and I went to bed around midnight and decided we would play at the Bally’s poker room for the rest of our stay.
When we woke up, my stomach was still not in good shape so I skipped yet another meal (I lost 8 lbs on this trip). I logged an 11 hour session and finally made a break through. I found myself at a really soft table and got into an interesting spot. I was SB with $180 behind. Button straddles for $5, and I look down at Ah 9h. I call $5. MP2 raises to $15 and five people call. Flop comes two hearts, no straight draws. I check, MP bets $45 and button calls. I hated this position here because I knew I was getting odds to make the call – so I threw in the $45. The turn. . . a magical Qh! MP tanked and shoved for $200. Button tanked and shoved – he had us both covered. I insta-called all in for my remaining chips and showed my hand. I assumed one of them had a set and needed the board to pair so I pleaded with the dealer not to pair the board. The river comes and pairs a 2. My heart sank. Then, I was shocked when MP shows only two pair, and button shows a lower two pair. I scoop a $500+ pot! That was juicy. Thirty minutes earlier my wife chopped another $60 tournament two ways for $375.
So, despite the food poisoning and missing the bad beat jackpot, we had a memorable trip.