I just can't stay away from Las Vegas these days. My latest excuse was a wedding. My girlfriend's co-worker was getting married in the chapel at the Imperial Palace, so I made the drive up I-15 for the fourth time in six weeks.

As usual, we waited until the last minute to book our room. This was not only due to laziness; it can also be a good way to get a great deal. I have gotten some ridiculous rates using an app called Hotel Tonight. The only catch is you have to wait until noon on the day of your stay to book the room. We knew we wouldn't get anything too cheap on a Friday night, but this particular weekend — the last weekend in July — was just outrageous. I'm not sure exactly which conventions were going on, but I surmised there was some kind of basketball tournament in town because there were towering young men wearing basketball jerseys all over the place.  

Even the IP's rate was well north of the $150 mark. We were finally able to find a pretty decent rate at the Stratosphere using Hotel Tonight. All we did there was sleep, and the room was good enough. I didn't visit the poker room, nor did I even look for it, because we planned to spend most of our time in the IP-Harrah's-Venetian part of the Strip, where most of the wedding contingent was staying. As I didn't really know any of these people, it gave me a perfect opportunity to play some 4-8 at Venetian while she hung out with her friends.

As I was walking to Venetian I happened to stop by the Palazzo poker room, and I saw an interesting poker tournament in progress. The first thing that struck me was the quiet — it was eerie. Forty or fifty people were sitting down playing poker, and thirty or forty more were standing around, but no one seemed to be saying anything. The only sound, other than the distant noise of the main casino, was the occasional clattering of chips. But even that seemed muted, as if nobody was riffling their chips.

As I got closer, it became more surreal. They all seemed to be having animated conversations, but I could not hear them. They were gesturing wildly when I realized... oh, duh. That's sign language.

From what I could gather after a quick conversation with a floor person, this tournament was part of some sort of convention for the hard of hearing. I thought it was really cool and I was intrigued, but not intrigued enough to stay and find out more about it. I had gambling to do.

This was my fourth time at the Venetian a month, and my last time in the "old" room. Apparently this place will be even bigger when the renovation is finished (it was already the biggest in Vegas).

Generally the games have been good, but I don't like the fact that I'm starting to recognize a lot of the players. Some of them are nits. They're easy enough to play against but not very easy to abuse for big money. Some of them are much more of a threat. Maybe they're not huge winners, but they're aggressive enough to be dangerous.

I played in two games — the must move and the main game — and both were tougher than I would have expected on a Friday night on the Strip. A combination of less-than-optimal play, better-than-average competition and worse-than-average cards really did a number on my stack. Toward the end of the three-hour session I flopped quad sixes and got action from two other players, one of whom turned a full house. I dragged an enormous pot and still ended up a $40 loser. The ladyfriend was done visiting her friends and it was time for a much-needed meal break. I cashed in some poker comps and had a nice meal at the Grand Lux Cafe. (Venetian is currently offering $2 an hour in comps.)

After dinner, she met up with some more friends, which allowed me to come back to the poker room. A couple of her friends enjoy watching poker on TV and playing home games, so they rail-birded for a while until they got tired of watching all the folding. 

After a while I was moved into a juicy main game. I did not recognize a soul at this table — a good sign — and one young man was drinking straight double-shots of Patron. Somebody asked what Patron was, and he explained that it was a brand of "ToKillYa."

Mr. ToKillYa, as you might expect, was a bit of a wild man, the kind of guy who will bet bottom-pair-bottom-kicker on the flop and then show it to you when you fold (yes, he did that to me). Despite this, he was an affable enough guy, and he could apparently hold his liquor. And best of all, he had about $300 in chips in front of him when I sat down.

This is an absolutely perfect guy to play limit hold'em poker with. Don't let anybody tell you anything different. When you get a table with one or two of these guys mixed in with some loose-passive types, buckle up and enjoy the ride. You might be the victim of some crazy suck outs. But then again, THIS might happen:

I'm in earlyish position, old guy to my right has just limped in and I look down at Ah7h. This is a pretty standard limp in a typical loose-passive limit game, but having ToKillYa on the cutoff does present the potential problem of paying two bets to play a small ace out of position. I limp anyway. The guy to my immediate left limps and it's folded to ToKillYa, and whadaya know, he raises. Button calls, old guy calls, I call and we see a flop of:

Qh Th 6d

...Giving me the nut flush daw plus an overcard. I feel good enough about this flop that I'd like to check-raise ToKillYa and hopefully trap two more players for two bets each. Old guy checks. I check, guy to my left checks and ToKillYa does indeed bet. Button calls, old guy calls and I raise. Guy to my left folds, the others call and we see a turn of:

2h

Yahtzee! Old guy checks. I bet. ToKillYa raises. Button calls two bets cold. Old guy calls to put himself all in. I raise, ToKillYa raises and the button calls two cold again. I cap it at five bets, both of them call, and the river is a....

Card.

I'm pretty bad at remembering the river when it's a blank. All I know is it doesn't pair the board or put a possible straight flush out there, and I lead out. ToKillYa tanks for a second and says, "I'm raisin'."

Yes, that really happened. The button calls two cold AGAIN. I three-bet, they both call, and I spend the next 10 minutes stacking up about $260 in $1 chips.

Everybody showed down, even after I fast-rolled the nuts, so I got a quick look at their cards. ToKillya, if I'm not mistaken, had Kx of hearts for the second nuts, and I'm pretty sure the button had the third nuts; Jx of hearts. Obviously the button was in a pretty tough spot when ToKillYa three-bet the turn, but man, that's a lot of money to lose without ever putting in a bet or raise. Old guy had 66 for a flopped set and was therefore the only one with a chance to beat me, but he was all-in by the second turn bet.

I won a few more nice pots, but no more from ToKillYa. Not long after the flush hand, he racked up his remaining $150 or so and left, leaving a half-full glass of Patron in his cup holder.

About an hour into the session, I was sitting there with $600 stacked up to my chin ( I bought in for $200). And then the girls came back, all wide-eyed. It's safe to say that I looked like a total bad-a$$ at that moment. Of course, I knew the truth: When you have the nuts and get a chance to put in multiple bets on multiple streets against multiple opponents, you'd have to be a complete doofus not to win a sh--load of money.

But in this day and age of televised poker, most lay-people seem to think it's really a game of pure skill. I didn't do too much to dispel that notion when the girls asked me about my session, but I did admit that a nice chunk of my winnings came from a guy who was drinking straight "ToKillYa."

This was only a one-night trip; the wedding was the next day and we headed back that night. I'll be back on Labor Day with a friend for two nights of pure poker degeneracy, which I'm sure will make for some good TR fodder. We're thinking about playing at the Orleans, and I may take a shot in the Bellagio 10-20 if I'm properly rolled for it. If you have any other suggestions for good limit hold'em action in town, let me know in the comments. So long for now.

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