My brother in law came to my house to sleep over so that we could get out by 4 am and make it to the airport for the early 6:30 flight. We did not sleep. We drank a good amount of beer, maybe got two hours of sleep. Ready to go! Flight in was good, short layover in Chicago, terrible poker movie on the flight in to LV (Lucky You – how about Crappy You).

Anyway, we decided to forego the nap and get right to Binion’s (we couldn’t check in at the Nugget yet, and my twin brother was playing the 10am at Binnie’s. I sit down at a 1-2 NL table with very little wait. I bought in for 200 and played pretty well. I had two flopped straights in the big blind, one of them held up. Caught pocket fives and flopped a set – decent pot. It was a must move table, I had to move to the main table where the average age was 68 years old. A couple of hands in, I’m in the BB, get Q4os, able to check. Flop comes 4 hearts, 4 diamonds, 2 hearts. I check, V1 bets 12, V2 raises to 26, I re-raise to 50. V1 folds, V2 calls it. Turn is K of hearts, putting 3 hearts on the board and none in my hand. Check check. River is Jack of clubs, he checks. I figure I have to see where I stand, I bet 50 (I know, really bad week bet into this pot). V2 raises all-in, which is about the size of the pot. I think, think, think. Decided I wasn’t as afraid of the flush as I thought, and I called. He turns over 10-4 os, and MHIG. I played this hand about as badly as I could and managed to almost double up. I had another hand where I had JJ in middle position and all of the betting happened preflop. Again, played it badly, but they held up. I ended cashing out with $508 for a profit just over 300 bucks. And that’s with mediocre play on my first day in town. Love the cocktail service, waitress was probably really hot about 25 years ago. Amstel Light? You’ve got to be kidding me.
Went over to the Golden Nugget to check into the suite. Two-bedroom suite was amazing. And with four guys sharing the cost, couldn’t beat it. Decided to play downstairs – hard to get a NL game going in the middle of the afternoon, but they pulled one together – I think they focus on the tourneys at the Nugget. Anyway, first hand I’m dealt (I bought in for 200) is AA. Flop is AQ7. Unfortunately the other person in the hand with me is my brother in law and he is holding AQ. Didn’t want to bust him. But I doubled up on the first hand. Played for a bit longer, ended up cashing out with 310. Lesson learned – don’t play with your friends.
Friday night, after a nap, we decide to check out downtown, get some food – Went to the Chicago Brewing Company – it was pretty much forgettable food, but I liked the beer. Then I bought a football shaped cup and drank all of it. My friend Andy got carded. He’s 28. That was freaking hilarious. The beer footballs held four full bottles of beer. Fast forward to Saturday morning – I have no business feeling as good as I do.
We decide to do the 10AM Binions tourney – I played terribly, out in the second round. My brother in law finished in fifth place, could have done better, but there were all-ins on every hand. The chip leader would put any two cards all in. Yikes.
I played some craps – donated about $45 bucks to Binions.
We then take a cab to MGM Grand cool poker room. I didn’t mind the tables, I did mind my stupid play. I dropped about $150 here, but really enjoyed the game – played for hours and enjoyed about 5 Amstel Lights. And the waitresses were eye candy (or so I thought – more to come). My two big hands were AA vs. KK – my aces actually held up. I also had a Jack high straight in a 500 pot – but it chopped. Oh well. I made some real donk moves, like calling down when I had TPTK against an obvious over pair, stupid things like that. I also played a sit and go at MGM. Don’t do this. It’s a terrible value and a terrible structure. Save your $60 for anything else, like stippers. We then decided to get drunk and go to Hooters for dinner. I’d tell more, but I don’t remember. I think we dropped by Dick’s Last Resort, and I think I was really loud and obnoxious. I also think Sunday morning was really tough.
Sunday, did the Binion’s tournament again. Didn’t cash again. Played a cash game dropped 200 more. Big loser hand was aces up against a flush. Played badly, deserved to lose the money. Here I’m all upset, because I just am playing terribly. Took a break, watched some UEFA soccer game on TV, took a nap. We decided to take a cab to the Venetian. This is by far my favorite poker room on the Strip so far. Why? The play was tough, which I didn’t really mind because I can be patient. But it’s a comfortable room, the staff was great, and remember when I said the MGM Grand waitress were eye candy. Compared to the Venetian, MGM has 5s and 6s. Holy crap. I really enjoyed this. Anyway, I ended up at a table with my brother in law again. I learned my lesson and tried to stay out of his way, and it probably actually helped me be more selective as to the hands I played. There was no collusion going on (I’m not a cheater) but I played less hands than I probably would have. Anyway, I went about 2 hours without a hand I could actually play. I called a small raise with pocket 4’s and hit what I thought was the jackpot – flop is 4 7 3 rainbow. I bet, BB raises, I push. He insta-calls – with 5 6. Flopped the nut straight. Wonderful. To add insult to injury Jon informs me he folded A 7. I’m down to 6 outs on a tough day, and I look to bust out for a second time in one day. Turn card comes – 3. That’s right, I sucked out a full boat and doubled up. Then I went on a run for about 20 minutes that was sick as can be. I was dealt both black aces and flopped a set, but there were 3 hearts on the board. I went after it so as not to allow any one to catch up. There were either no hearts or the Ace was enough to scare them off. Next hand, both black aces again. SAME EXACT CARDS. Flopped another set. The guy in the hand with me was really predictable. And by that I mean everyone at the table knew how we was going to play every hand. He would routinely raise pre-flop with 25-30 dollars when the standard table raise was 10-12 dollars – if he had big hands, he was winning 7 bucks with them. Anyway, I didn’t raise preflop, he does, I check raise and he calls. The rainbow flop comes with the set, I check into him. He comments “did you get those aces again?” I said something along the lines of “wouldn’t that be something.” He BETS INTO ME. I loved it. Flat called. Ended up filling up on the river, he bets all but 20 of his stack, I push, HE FOLDS. Why put all but 20 in? Oh well, another monster. Cashed out with another 300 in profit to get me about even for the day.
Monday, last day – back to MGM Grand. I played for about 9 hours, and loved it. Fun table, played a couple of hands poorly, which cost me, but the last hand was the killer. I am in the BB with AK of hearts. I raised and got 4 callers. Flop comes 346 with 2 hearts. I bet back into it, chase away two players, get one call, one raise. I reraised at this point about a hundred dollars. Now I figure the first caller will fold, and I’ll be heads up – no – he pushes. HUH? The original raiser ALSO pushes. So here I am with about 130 left and already well over 1K in the pot, and I like my number of outs. I call, I’m up against – V1 – I never found out – he mucked and walked away. V2 – pocket sixes. I failed to improve, leave down 300 for the afternoon, about even for the trip in poker. Really disappointed with the outcome of this hand, but I think I played it OK.
Anyway, this report got REALLY long. Sorry about that.
Here are my take home points
1. Golden Nugget was a great place to stay, OK to play poker.
2. Binions has a good poker operation, the players really aren’t that good.
3. Liked the MGM Grand and Venetian. MGM had weaker players overall (Lot’s of conventioneers it looked like) and the V was just spectacular.
4. Beer in a football tastes better than beer in a bottle.
5. I will be back ASAFP