Before I start, I’m not going to get into specific hands or strategies because honestly, I didn’t keep track of them. I will be posting the general trip details and how I enjoyed each casino I visited. I usually go to Vegas a few times a year with the wife and friends for couples getaways and normally try to stay at different places. This was a different trip, just the guys and Superbowl weekend at that!!
Trip started out fine, flight to Vegas from Phoenix very uneventful. Love the quick flight, less than an hour we are ready for the weekend!! Landed in Vegas around 10am, grabbed the bags, got a cab and we were off to Harrah’s. Walked into the lobby, it was empty, two people in line in front of me. Got to the counter, tried the $20 trick…. The girl sort of looked around, smiled and said “Sorry, not this weekend”. I understood and she gave me the $20 back. Checked into the room, dropped off the bag changed my shirt and I was off to the Venetian for the $350 DSE!! I got to the Venetian a little after 11am, registered and just wandered around the casino for a while until it was time to take our seats. I immediately fell in love with the Venetian Poker Room. I had never played poker here before since in the past when I come here, I normally only play wherever I am staying after the wife goes to bed or before she gets up and I have never stayed here. The only complaint I have is that the food service was very slow but with an extra 436 poker players in a tournament that started at noon, it was expected. I lasted until right before the second break. Was completely card dead, only got a couple hands to speak of until I finally busted out. The tournament was run really well, and I will absolutely return there to play in it again.
Met the rest of the boys at the Flamingo where they were staying and put $50 on the Suns and Lakers parlay. It was a lock! Suns won by 20, but the Lakers lost to the Carmello-less Nuggets in LA to kill my first sports bet of the weekend. Damn Lakers!
The rest of the night we all drank and wandered around a few places, playing pit games and just did the Vegas thing for a few hours! I hit the Harrah’s poker room late for a bit, only a few tables going, it was an alright place to play since it was right there in my hotel.
The rest of the group sort of broke up and went their own ways so I decided to walk over to the Bellagio to see what was going on there. This would turn out to be one of those “Vegas Moments” that you remember and talk about at poker tables for years to come…. I immediately get sat at a $1-$2 game right behind the podium, that will come into play later, and was not disappointed in the action. There was a young drunk Canadian (YDC) in the 4 seat and I was in the 10 seat. I mention he was Canadian since that too will come into play later. The YDC was so drunk and obnoxious, he actually fell out of his seat about 30 minutes into me being there. I texted my brother-in-law to get over here since there was going to be money to be had! The YDC was raising almost everything $15 preflop and was really aggressive. I figured out real quick though (everyone else did too) that if you pushed back at him with any sort of hand he would fold more often than not. After about an hour, two more Canadian guys sat down in the 8-9 seats and they were pretty cool. We were talking about all sorts of things and I mentioned that I drank a few bottles of water real quick and got a little chilly all of a sudden…. This is where is gets good: The YDC starts yelling at the Canadian in the 8 seat thinking we were talking about him. It got really ugly really quick as F-bombs were being dropped, and threats of “Taking it outside” all from the YDC. The 8 seat just sat there smiling shaking his head. I think his buddy kept him calm. The floor was finally called by The WHOLE TABLE as this was getting out of hand. YDC started slamming chips, getting up and continued to threaten the 8 seat. Finally the floor and 3 security guys showed up and decided that YDC should cash out and leave. They assisted him in racking what few of his chips he had left ( I think this was a factor in his Ultra-Tilt) and walked him to the cage in the poker room. Several minutes later, security was escorting YDC out of the room, but they let him get right next to our table as he continued to threaten seat 8. Then, as he was pointing at him he smacked him in the side of the head!! Right there in front of 3 security guards, all the players in the room who were all watching the show now, and obviously all the cameras. Needless to say, YDC was not seen from again after security pounced on him and carried him out of view. I was impressed the way seat 8 just sat there and calmly told security that he wished to press charges for assault. About an hour later, I cashed out up $160 or so and decided to call it a night.
The next day we decided to play in the noon Caesars Palace $85 tourney. I know a lot of people on here are not happy with the Caesars Poker Room but I have always liked it. I like how it is out of the way and the restrooms are right there and it doesn’t have that “Party” feel when Im in the mood for a serious session. I ran pretty good, but failed to cash. Got knocked out in 32nd out of 123 entries. My brother-in-law managed to last until 11 and got his money back after the last two tables made the agreement to pay 11/10 since the tourney only cashed top 9. The rest of the day/night, we met up with the group and hit PH, Flamingo, for some Roulette, Let it Ride, etc. After a long night, of that, we ended up at the Flamingo poker room for a quick hit. I only played about an hour of $1-$2 before I realized I was really tired and decided to cash out even and go back to my hotel room for some much needed sleep.
Sunday was the “Big Game” or “Football Championship” as it is called in Vegas because apparently the casinos are not allowed to have “SUPERBOWL” parties as the NFL won’t allow it. Whatever! We decided to find a place to plant and watch the game and hope out parlays hit. My father-in-law and a few of his friends were there as well and since they are video poker nuts, they had scoped out 4 seats at the bar in The Piano Bar in Harrah’s around 11am and never moved the rest of the day. The rest of us hooked up with them and took turns sitting at the machines, ordering drinks and tipping the bartenders very well so they ignored the fact that we weren’t playing but one hand every 10 minutes or so. Great Place!! At one point I ran across the street to check into the Mirage Poker Room since I really wanted to play there during the game but it was a madhouse! I was told that there was 26 people on the list in front of me. Sorry AVP, I decided not to wait and go back to Harrah’s to watch with the group. Next, the coolest thing I've seen in years happened.... When the National Anthem was ready to begin, the entire Piano Bar where we were watching stopped, everyone stood, showed respect and you could hear a pin drop the entire time Carrie Underwood was singing!!! It was Absolutely AWESOME!!!! Colts lost and I lost my bet. Oh well, it was a lot of fun and a great experience.
The group wound up back at Flamingo for drinking, pit games again. Won at Roulette again and called it a night.
Monday morning, we checked out and walked over to the Venetian for a quick session before we had to leave for the airport. We got there at about 10am, and they started a new $1-$2 game within a few minutes so we got started right away. Less than 3 hours, a $250 “Hit and Run” profit and we were off to McCarren for our short flight home to Phoenix.
All in all, I came home about $340 down for the whole trip which was mainly while I was playing pit games and betting on basketball/Superbowl. I think my cash games total was about +$250 thanks to the Venetian!! For those of you who were in Vegas this weekend, you know how the weather was… Since it rained mostly everyday, we didn’t really do a lot of walking around casino hopping, I’m saving that for when I come back at the end of March with the wife and a bunch of friends for a wedding.
I am sorry I didn’t meet up with any AVPers this trip. I have a few of you on my Twitter but never got around to any of the places you were at the same time. That’s what happens when you go with a group. Oh well, it was still a great trip!!