This will be the 2nd time I’ve posted a trip report on AVP – the last time was the epic 3 part “Stubby the Grinder and Me” which was mostly dedicated to poker since it was a guy’s only trip. This report however will have a lot less poker content and focus more on all the things that keep enticing me to return to Vegas, poker included. Since coming to Las Vegas for the first time in 2005 for my 40th birthday, I’ve had her sink her claws into me and drag me back for what would be my 9th trip to Sin City. With all of the previous trips being between 2 and 4 night stays, this trip was going to possibly push the limits of my bank account and liver with a week long adventure. This time I would be joined by my lovely wife and our friends Dan and Cindy with two of my wives girlfriends joining us for the last half of our stay. Two guys and four party girls … I could be in trouble.

The trip started with a nice flight out of Great Falls on Allegiant. Landing at McCarran pretty much on time around 7:30pm we hopped into our prearranged limo to take us to the Monte Carlo. While it certainly costs more to take a limo (around $65 one way from the airport compared to $20-$25 with tip for a cab) the time you can save waiting in the taxi line (I’ve had to wait over ½ hour before) along with the crap shoot you take when it comes to the personality and odor of your cab driver, I’ve found it to be money well spent. Also it’s a nice way to pamper yourself and kick off your vacation in style and the limo drivers are pretty accommodating too. We stopped for a quick photo op at the “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign on the Las Vegas Boulevard and then the next stop was the beautiful Monte Carlo.

On each of my previous trips I’ve stayed at different hotels. This was the first time we were going to stay at a place we had been to before. For me the Monte Carlo is the Resort that I’ve felt the most comfortable at. So what am I saying? If your middle age and middle income the Monte Carlo may be the place for you. It’s fancy enough to make you feel a little bit like a high roller but without breaking the budget. If you drive a Mercedes and your jeans cost more the $200 then stay at the Wynn. If you’re in your 20’s and like to go clubbing you might want to check out The Palms. If you’re from Hawaii apparently you like the California downtown (strange but true). That’s the beautiful thing about Vegas … there’s something for everyone.

After checking in and cleaning up, it was close to 9:00pm before we hit the casino floor. Since the first night was a bit crazy and there wasn’t any poker played I won’t bore you with the details, mostly since I can’t remember them (it’s like someone slipped me some roofies). All I know is I was in 13 different casinos drank over a dozen beer and didn’t get to bed until some time after 4:00am … and somehow I ended up with a tiger in my bathroom!?!?

Monday morning came way too early but with plenty of water and Ibuprofen consumed I was able to recover sufficiently to get into my first poker action of the trip. I headed down to the Monte Carlo Poker room to check out their 9:00 am tournament. I was warmly greeted by Jim who I assume is the day shift manager who was very inviting and went out of his way to make me feel welcome. Unfortunately there were only 6 people signed up for the tourney. They gave us the option to take our money back but everyone agreed they wanted to play. It was actually a nice relaxing way to start the morning, no pressure, friendly players and entertaining dealers. Nothing too notable happened; we got to heads-up with me having a good chip lead on 2nd place. He suggested the idea of a chop but I politely declined saying I had nothing better to do then to be playing so “let’s play it out”. A few hands later I was able to take him down for a small but satisfying win. 1st prize was only $155 less the $50 buy-in for a net gain of $105. Woo Hoo!

Late in the morning we took the “Deuce” downtown for a quick trip to Fremont Street. Since it was still light out the freak show hadn’t started yet so it was fairly uneventful. We played some slots and few hands of blackjack which reinforced what I already knew, slots are a waste of money and blackjack is rigged. I mean what is the probability of the dealer drawing five cards to 21? Because it seemed that it happened way too much for me to accept as a mathematical likelihood. After a quick nap back at the hotel (if 2 ½ hours is quick) my wife decided she had come down with a “bug” and felt it best to call it a day. I, however was feeling refreshed and I caught up with Dan and Cindy for a bite to eat and we headed over to Planet Hollywood to check out the action. They decided to go see Peep Show with Holly Madison and her baby bump but I thought it might be a little weird to go solo, so now was my chance to get some cash game action.

Since I don’t really like the location and atmosphere of the PH poker room I thought I’d head back to the Monte Carlo check on my wife and see if I could get into a 1/2 game there. Now just as background I’ll let you know my poker experience, lots of online play, around 20 small live tournaments with 4 or 5 cashes (one win in 70 runner event) and maybe 5 hours of cash game play (mostly 1/2 no limit) but I’m strictly a low roller. Check on wifey, sound asleep. Go to Monte Carlo Poker Room, Monday night and there’s only one limit game and one no limit game with a waiting list going. Give them my phone number and wait around ½ hour for the text that never came. I can’t wait anymore so I decide to dive into the shark tank and head over to Aria.

A nice advantage of staying at the Monte Carlo is it is very close to the Aria Poker Room. In fact I would hazard to guess that I could get to the Aria Poker Room from my room at the MC almost as quickly as some people staying inside the Aria Resort. I have read a lot of great reviews of the room here on AVP so felt that it was a place I wanted to try out, maybe just not on my first cash session of poker of the trip. But fate had brought me to this point so meet it head on I did. I waited for 5 minutes before a seat came open, wondering if I should call it a night too but the floorman’s announcement over the PA sealed my decision. My strategy was simple, buy-in for a little, squeeze tight as a nun’s knees and only play premium cards. In the past when playing 1/2 I would usually buy in for $100. I know better players like to buy in for the max. to increase their upside potential but my lack of experience encourages me to decrease my downside potential so given that mind set and this was a 1/3 game, logic dictated I should buy-in for $150 (50 big blinds) right? So that’s what I did and as I sat down with my tiny stack I swear I could see fangs on some of the sharks who eyed the fresh meat. The only stack smaller then the one I had was the guy at the other end of the table who would reload three more times in the next two hours for $200 a pop. Most of the rest of the players had anywhere from $300 to probably $1200 in play and other then a couple players all were 15 to 20 years younger then me.

I had barely taken my seat when the first two cards were dealt to me, they could have been pocket Aces for all I know because I think I made a motion of looking at them but they hit the muck faster then you can say “suck out”. My first welcome to the table came about three hands in when I was on the Big Blind and UTG straddled which I quickly folded. Herr Uber aggressive German guy continued to be one of the few people who straddled and of course it was always on my BB. However, I think it may have worked to my advantage in the long run because it helped build some pots on a few that I ended up winning and in one gratifying situation when I raised his straddle, he re-raised to which I pushed and he folded. To be honest I can’t even remember what I had but it was must have been a strong pocket pair but it felt good to smack the shark on the end of the nose and see it swim away.

After about 1 ½ hours Mein Straddler left to play some PLO which started a series of seat moves that I haven’t seen before in my limited experience. First the guy to my right moves to my left, ATM from the other end moves to my right and the new player taking his spot is bumped twice to the ATM’s old spot. Shortly after another guy goes bust and guy to my left moves two spots down and ATM moves to my left. Thinking about it afterward I took a few nice pots off of both guys who were on my right so maybe that’s a odd compliment for the way I played since they didn’t want me “punishing” them anymore, at least that’s the way I like to think about.

By this time I had almost doubled my stack so I was sitting with close to a respectable $300 in front of me when I made my only big mistake of the night. I’m in the BB when aggressive, huge stacked young guy raises, SB who is a woman who has been playing very solid and was obviously an experienced player calls. She had been two to my right but now with an empty seat between us we share the blinds. I look down at K 10 and decide to call the extra $9 into a $27 pot. Flop comes A 10 3, and SB checks and I figure she’s missed but I check my 2nd pair expecting the original raiser to bet out making it easier for me to fold. To my surprise he checks. Turn comes K – yikes I’ve got two pair, now what? SB checks and so I bet thinking for sure SB is done and maybe the young guy will go away seeing how tight I’ve been playing. To my relief he folds but hold on a second SB calls, I thought she was done. River brings a 3 to pair the board. Damn! She bets $60. I didn’t think she had the Ace figuring she would have bet out after the flop to see where she was so maybe she had a King too but she was playing the paired 3’s as her second pair but I had the 10’s. I really couldn’t see her playing with a 3 for a set. There was no flush out there and so maybe she had QJ and had hit a gut shot straight which would just be bad luck for me. I convinced myself she had a weaker two pair - K’s and 3’s and called, of course she had an Ace for a better two pair and I lost a $100.

After a couple smaller loses, I was back down under my buy in when another young guy takes the seat to my right and starts throwing his chips around. Given that the night before was catching up with me and the new player I decided to take that as my cue to head home. Not a win but down $15 isn’t a disaster either. At least it showed me that I could play with these guys and in the end I wasn’t too intimidated. Still up $90 for the trip.

After an early night and a good sleep I awoke Tuesday morning refreshed and excited to play some more poker. Let’s try the MC 9:00am tourney again. This time my buddy Dan is able to drag himself out of bed and join me for the tournament. This time we got about 9 players and the odd thing is this group seemed to be the worst of the bunch of players I saw, yet I went out in 7th when I pushed short stacked with pocket 5’s and ran into Dan’s AK which hit. Hopefully, he could use my chips to better use then I did.

This tournament did however provide me one of the more interesting hands I saw all week. I was out of the hand but two players - loose aggressive Cowboy and ex Mullet wearing tourist bet and call to see the flop that comes K5x. Cowboy bets and the Mullet calls. Turn is a blank and it goes check – check EXCEPT before the dealer can deal the river Mullet tables his cards face up to reveal KQ. Dealer stops for a bit to discuss it with the floor but he hasn’t mucked so play continues. Now here is where it gets hilarious. The river pairs the board with 5’s. Cowboy thinks for a couple seconds knowing full well that Mullet has a two pair, Kings and 5’s with a Queen kicker and he goes all-in. Now it’s over to Mullet and he starts to think but you can tell that he has no idea where he’s at. He is smart enough to know that Cowboy knows what his hand is and that he has just gone all-in but that’s about it. He makes a speech about “Stupid is as stupid does” and calls for the rest of his chips. What a dummy right??? Nope! The Cowboy who is sitting next to me mutters that he didn’t think he would call and shows his K 10 to loose the hand. $50 buy-in, no cash +$40 for the trip.

The rest of Tuesday and all of Wednesday were spent doing Touristy stuff. Tuesday afternoon we headed over to the Orleans for some bowling and beers (yes bowling) which was a ton of fun and then stuffed ourselves at the Buffet for $8.99. I’m not sure how everyone in Vegas isn’t 300lbs given the abundance of cheap food in the city. We wandered around the Orleans, took a peek at the fairly busy poker room that looked to be filled with lots of locals and lost some more money to those ridiculous slots and fixed blackjack tables. I will say this though; the Orleans is quite a nice Casino, especially if you’re on a budget. It offers lots to do and see and anywhere else in the country you would be happy to have it nearby to go visit … too bad it’s in Vegas and off the strip. It’s like the pretty girl from the small town in Nebraska. When she comes to Las Vegas she just doesn’t shine so bright anymore.

Tuesday night we went to see the Criss Angel Believe Show at the Luxor. One word … AWFUL. I should say I’m not a Criss Angel hater, in fact I quite enjoyed his television show in the past but this had few of the elements that made Mindfreak entertaining. What I can’t “Believe” is that Cirque du Soleil would allow their name to be associated with this show. I’ve been to four other Cirque shows in Vegas so I guess I was expecting a little more wow – but there was none. In terms of the magic – I’ve seen David Copperfield who was much more entertaining, has more stage presence and while he does talk a bit about his past he’s not like Angel who I swear spends half the time just telling you how great he is. It got to the point of being almost embarrassing as he was literally telling the audience when to applaud. Save your money.

Wednesday lacks any poker so you can skip it if you want but we all got up early and rented a car to do some touring around. We jumped into our Dodge Avenger from Avis (which was a fun little car) and headed out to Hoover Dam. We got there early enough to beat most of the bus tours which was a big plus, because when we were leaving around noon the line up to enter the visitor center was up the stairs and standing in the 95 degree heat. I’m sure you can look online to see what the Dam Tour is all about but I will say I’m glad I finally got out there to see it in person. It was well worth the trip.

On the way back into the city we decided to stop at the Fiesta in Henderson to grab a bite to eat - $5.99 buffet – I’m not sure how much more of this my intestines can take. We also did a little gaming but the whole atmosphere was a little depressing when you’re 46 years old and one of the youngest people in the place. So we didn’t stick around long. Since we only had the car for the day we thought we’d use it to get to some of the places that are little more out of the way. We went shopping at the Premium Outlet Mall, checked out the Rio and the Palms and finally had a late night bite at In N’ Out Burger; since the 4000 calories I had earlier in the day weren’t enough. After that it was back to the Monte Carlo to have a few beers and then Mr. Toilet and I had a niiiice visit.

Thursday morning I got up early again to play the 9:00 am tourney at the Monte Carlo. It was a fun mix of tourists but it still only had 11 runners. I just played some solid poker nothing fancy, picked on the weak players, got a little lucky and by the 5th level prepared for the all-in fest. Once we got down to three players the chip leader was some young guy who just got in on the redeye from Minnesota. He offered up a chop to pay 3rd (only 1st and 2nd were in the money) and this time I probably would have taken it since we had a Cabana booked by the pool for the day I wanted to get there. Of course the other guy refused right away. So a few hands later I took him out and chopped 50/50 with the Minnesota Kid. $198 win, less $50 buy-in, up $188 for the trip on poker. Time to get my tan on!

After collecting my winnings I joined Dan, who had busted out earlier in the tournament, and our wives who had already settled in to our cabana by the pool. I’m not normally a lie on the beach kind of guy, but given our hectic schedule up until that point of the trip it was nice to schedule a rest day. The cabana was a nice splurge too. For $400 we got the cabana that comes with a fridge, couches, tv and private sitting area. In addition you also get a $200 food and drink credit served to you by your own waitress in a bikini. So practically it only costs the extra $200 since we were going to eat and drink that much during the day anyway along with all the eye candy a guy could hope for. I don’t know if it was all the sun or the two buckets of beer but by 6:00pm I had to go back to the room for a nap. Relaxing is tough work.

Friday morning and I thought I might as well try my hand at the Monte Carlo tournament again since it seemed to be paying off. Once again there were 11 players including a number of faces I recognized from before including Dan and the Minnesota Kid. Along with a few new faces like the fellow Canadian who moved to Las Vegas in the 90’s to play hockey and never left and the airline pilot who was the heaviest drinker at the table at 9:00am and seemed to tell a lot of drinking stories. I won’t say what airline he flew for but let’s just say I won’t be flying to the largest state in the union anytime soon. This is one of the great things about playing poker in Vegas, is all the characters you meet and the stories you hear. I played my same strategy of picking my spots and getting lucky and was able to get to heads up once again, this time with the hockey player. We agreed on a chop and I walked away with $148 win after buy-in once again. Up to +$336 for the trip.

I kept trying my hand at the penny slots and $10 blackjack and was actually able to walk away with a couple winning sessions. Nothing huge $25 here $65 there but the tide seemed to be turning. That night we went back to Fremont Street since that is really the best time to see it in all its bizarre glory. Between the live music playing, the light show and the abundance of gaming options we always enjoy spending time downtown. If you like nostalgia, one of the best places to get your “Old School” Vegas fix is on the 2nd level at The D (formerly Fitzgeralds) with the coin fed slots and the newly restored Sigma Derby game. If you don’t know what Sigma Derby is, it’s a game with miniature model horses that run around a little racetrack, no video screens here. Odds are posted on the board and you place your bet on the horses to win and place. It’s super simple to understand and great fun as a group of you and your drunken friends stand around and scream at the tiny jockeys. (Wait a minute - aren’t all jockeys tiny?) Fremont Street also offered up another win on the penny slots and at the blackjack table, so I began to rethink my previous cursing of them both.

Saturday would see the last of my poker action for the trip. Once again I took a run at the Monte Carlo 9:00am. This time it had its largest field with 14 players on two tables. Unfortunately for me my third cash in a row was not to be when I busted shortly after the break in about 7th spot in a set over set hand. Oh well, can’t win them all. Down the $50 buy-in but I was still up $286 on poker for the trip. Apart from the winning, I have to say that the Monte Carlo is one of my favourite small poker rooms in Las Vegas. From the design to the management but in particular the “Ladies of the Morning” who deal the game. Mary Jane, Holly, Chana and Debbie made the experience relaxed and fun, a great place for beginners.

That night we went over to the Venetian to see the Blue Man Group. I’d heard mixed reviews about the show but thought we’d give it a try since Allegiant Air had a pretty good deal on tickets. We got to the V early enough to grab a bite to eat at the Grand Luxe Café which I would highly recommend. It has a fancy feel to it with an extensive menu yet the prices were very reasonable. I think the six of us all had a drink and ate everything from seafood to a ribeye steak for $205 including tip. After supper it was a short stroll over to the Blue Man Group Theater. Unlike Criss Angel, I was totally impressed by the show they put on. It’s funny, and amazing; and it made it even more special that two of the girls were asked to be part of the show.

After the show we meandered back to the Monte Carlo, but not wanting to call it a night just yet I finally got into the 1/2 game at the poker room there. The floor gave me a choice of two tables to sit at. First I look to the right and see a lot of grey hair and water bottles then I look to the table on the left; some young guys with big stacks, a couple Asian players and a woman with drinks all around. That looks like the action table so that’s where I head. Sure enough it doesn’t take long for my observations to be confirmed, about half the table is playing loose and aggressive and the other half is playing fairly tight. Coincidentally the looser players are generally to the left of me and the tight players are to the right. It’s probably not the ideal position to be but I hoped to use it to my advantage if I could.

One of the better hands I won was from the BB with A7 of clubs. One of the loose players raises to $10 UTG, two loose players call, SB folds so it’s back to me. $8 into a $33 pot … easy call. Flop comes AJ5, two clubs. I check knowing UTG is betting no matter what. Of course he bets, $20 and it goes fold, fold which was pretty surprising give the chasing that the other players had been doing prior to this hand. Given my flush draw, and the top pair and the fact UTG could be playing anything it was another easy call for me. The turn is off suit 7 giving me two pair and the nut flush draw. Figuring he’ll bet out again I just check, to my surprise he checks behind. The river is the 10 of clubs … Bingo! Normally I would bet out here to make sure I try and get some value out of the nuts but felt there was no way this guy would check it down. Sure enough he bets out $30 which felt like he must have some value in his hand. So I just had to figure how much more he would call when I raised. So I went with the simple math and just doubled his bet and raised to $60. He thought for a few seconds and called asking if I made the straight as he showed his set of 5’s. He seemed quite surprised to see my flush and went off to his loose buddies how I was playing like a donk. Oh well maybe I was but I was the one raking in the $200 pot.

Unfortunately, I lost some of those hard earned chips back to him when my own set of 5’s had to be folded after a 4th diamond came on the river and he went all in. A few more hands and a couple small loses and I decided it was time to get while the getting was still good. So my last session of the trip gave me a profit of $139 for a total win on the week of $425. Not bad I figure for 10 to 11 hours of table time. My only regret is that I didn’t get into more cash games. I think the way it worked out, playing tournaments in the morning with the tight players and running over them a bit and cash games at night with the loose players and tightening up and picking my spots turned out to be a profitable strategy. We’ll have to see if it works out the next time I’m in town.

Sunday morning came fast and between sleeping in and getting packed up left little time for gaming. Although the penny slots did give me $45 back. So with a nice run of winning blackjack late in the trip I probably ended up a little bit on that game and with a few positive cashouts on the machines meant I was probably only down $100 or so on the slots. So the final result is that my gambling efforts provided a small profit for the week. Not enough to pay for the trip but it sure makes it a lot more fun to go home with a win. We checked out at noon, hopped in our limo for the ride to the airport and started planning our next Low Rollers Adventure in Wonderful Las Vegas!

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