I always enjoy reading trip reports as I love Vegas, so figured I would give back to the community. This was probably my 18th trip to Vegas, was there from Aug 13-19.
Tues Aug 13 – arrived around 5:30 in a direct from the Midwest. Quick and efficient cab line and my brother and me were off to Bally’s. We stayed comped at Bally’s on the 13-16 and then comped at the Quad 16-19. $20 trick got us a nice upgrade and we were off to Ceasars for some ½ price apps. Ate at Sushi Roku (good food, good size for ½ price apps). If you like sushi a nice little meal. Also ate at the Palm for apps, had the mini-crab cakes, lobster sliders, and bbq meatball sliders. Only got 3 of each, small portion size but tasty.
Played at Bellagio from 9-1 then Ballys from 1-3. I didn’t write down any hands as I played almost 80 hours during the week (I play LAG, so I was involved in many hands), but will recap my general impressions. The game at Bellagio was good. A good number of tourists who played loose and were willing to stick in money. The dealers at Bellagio throughout the trip were very unimpressive. Saw several mistakes in this session and my other 2 where the pot wasn’t counted right, button moved improperly, and also had to be called to attention many times as they simply weren’t paying attention. Several even said sorry my mind was elsewhere. I realize the job can be a grind and boring, but it also pays decent and if you don’t like it then leave. Bally’s game was decent, had a few grinders there. I do like the new room location, less noise, less smoke, but still easily seen and accessible to the casino floor and foot traffic. Also, when people bought in most bought in for $100 as opposed to Bellagio where most bought in for $200-$300. This is why I do like the Bellagio game better, more $ on the table and deeper stacked. Overall, won $300 on the night so a good start.

Wed Aug 14 – Slept in and went and got a sandwich at the food court at the Venetian. Played the noon tournament there, they had like 45 runners. Same situation with the dealers in the tournament, had to call out missed antes, wrong moved buttons, and miscounted bets. There also was a player in the tournament who would hide his big chips. Only 2 dealers called him out on it of the 7-8 who passed through our table. Whenever he won a decent pot, there went the big chips hiding again. The play overall was not good in the tournament. At the final table, there was only 1 player at the table who I felt was solid. Most players were opening for 3 to 3.5 bb, or folding to 3 bet jams when getting 2 or even 3 to 1. Finished in 5th for $200 profit after my A6 suited shoved from the sb lost to the bb QQ (he had 11 bb to start the hand). My cutoff shove of k9 for 10 bb ran into the same player’s AA and that was it.
After tournament brother and I ate at Bally’s steakhouse. We had never eaten at Vegas steakhouse before and had vowed to do so this time. We chose this one based on price and reviews. The restaurant does have a retro feel, which was fine by me. The food was spectacular. We had scallops to start which were literally melt in your mouth, caprase salad, and the 18 oz NY Strip. I like my steak with no pink, and I can always judge a good steakhouse in that a well done steak is still very tender. Steak was AWESOME!. Price was decent (with desert it was like $110 each). After I had to go laydown as I had the meat overload.

Thurs Aug 15 – Woke up from my 3 hour steak nap and played Bally’s until 5 pm. Grinded the long session, the dealers were solid. Much props to Don (nightshift dealer) who dealt from 3-9 straight with just a 10 min. break without any problems. Game as you might expect was action filled till about 8 then was a typical daytime game with tourists slowly dropping money. After the 13 hour session headed to Todai for a sushi buffet. Love my sushi and they always have a great variety there. After went and played the Aria 7 pm tournament. The structure was awesome in this and field is so so. Much more skilled than the Venetian field. Had something occur to me I never have had happen before in 10 years of playing lots of poker. In level 3 I called a raise with 44. We take the flop 4 ways. Flop A 4 3. We get it all in 3 ways on the flop. We all flopped sets. Someone looked it up and said it was 229,000 to 1. If someone could verify that would kind of cool to see. Had a decent stack, like 25k towards the end of level 4, when I ran QQ into KK in a blind vs. blind spot. Down to 9k get it all in on the next level, 200/400 when I shove over a raise and call and run into 99 and 88 with my AK. No luck and I am out. After a long day of poker head to bed. Won about $200

Fri Aug 16 – Played an early session from 6-10 at Bellagio. I struggled to sleep a lot of the trip. It was literally like on TV with monsters being shown every hand. I am not joking in a 90 minute stretch I saw 8 sets get turned over and countless other straights. Lost about $200. Check out of Ballys and head to the Quad. The Quad is in the middle of their makeover. The new entry way and lobby I really liked. However, the elevators still suck, and the rooms and towers are still the same. While it is free (and I have stayed here before) it seems like the deterioration of the actual hotel part is getting ridiculous. The stains and odor of the hallways and elevator was ridiculous. Unless they do a remodel here, probably not going to stay there again. I had stayed at the old IP probably 5-8 times prior, but the place really is getting worse. The room itself was fine though. Head to California Pizza Kitchen for some lunch (Sicilian pizza is awesome) and then go play the 1 PM Aria. Turnout was good, had about 115 runners. Got down to mid 30s when I went through a bad 20 minute stretch with the blinds 400/800 and 600/1200. Had about 20k at this point when this 20 minute stretch happened. All of this action was preflop. Chop a 28,000 pot with 99 vs. A3 on a QQ555 board. Lost a 26k pot with AK vs A10. Got my last 15k in preflop with 10s vs AQ for 32k and lost. Just didn’t run good when needed, a very important part of tournament poker. After I met my brother at Bally’s where we both late registered for the shovefest tournament going on. We joined with blinds 400/800 and about to go to 500/1000. There were just 7 people left (had like 13 total). Start with 5k in chips. I shove A8 and AK and pick up blinds. Blinds now at 500/1000, shove A9 from SB and win, then shove AJ from button and chop a pot with A10. Then shove over a raiser with QQ and run into KK. Needless to say in a hyper turbo tournament I had big hands out of the 10 or so I saw, and busted out quite quickly.

Went and ate at Hash House. We split a salad and burger knowing how big the portions are. Paid for it with comps which is always nice to eat for free. Played at Harrah’s at night from 9-3:30. The new room is in a better location for foot traffic, but it is really loud. Still good action on a Friday night, won a few hundred, but with the tournament losses and Bellagio loss ended the day down $200.

Sat Aug 17 – Woke up early to go watch Arsenal play at the Venetian at 7 am. The sportsbook screens are so sick there. So big, but so clear, it really is unbelievable. After a disappointing Premiership opening day loss (cost me a $50 sportsbet) headed back to Quad for a nap. After a nap walked to Ellis Island. This was another one of the things my brother and I had never done and wanted to try. After signing up for the card and printing the coupons we played the $10 freeplay. I won $30, so a nice free meal. The steak dinner was ok. The salad, green beans, and fries were all good. The steak was not seasoned and not cooked great. Edible but not great. The beer was good, and for $8.99 it was a good deal.
Went to PH to play. Played from 3:30 – 3:30. Won $20. Game fluctuated throughout the night. A lot of weekend grinders here along with a lot of drunks. Table selection was key. Also, the drunks tended to not buy in for much which makes it hard to win much $. I ran pretty cold throughout the day. Also lost my only other sportsbet $11, when the Rams lost to the Packers in the preseason. Being a Packer fan I didn’t expect them to do much in a preseason game, and they didn’t. Just turned out the Rams were worse. Ate at Earl of Sandwich at like 11 pm for a mid poker game break. Food was good, and with all the comps was free.

Sun Aug 18 – Woke up for the $20,000 Ceasars freeroll. The tournament drew like 220 people, top 40 get $500. You had to play 20 hours in 2 weeks to qualify. The tournament is a hyper turbo which was to be expected. I busted out with AQ against AK. After that went and placed $400 worth of season over under bets at Venetian, Mirage, and Harrahs. Went to Bellagio and was in a game by noon. Played until 8. Won big, $1200. Big pot was I raised KJ after 4 limpers to $23, we take the flop 5 ways. Flop Q 9 3 rainbow and we check around. Turn is a beautiful 10. Donk Asian lady leads for 23, I make it 83 and she calls. Now I have about $75 in chips sitting on top of $400 in $100s. River is a 5 brick. She goes all in right away and THEN says, oh I didn’t see the bills. Well I didn’t hesitate to call and the dealer reveals the bad news to her. She throws a fit, but it doesn’t matter. $1100 pot coming my way. I continue to run well. She leaves around 7, and my brother and I stick around another hour before leaving. The game from like 4-7 was literally one of the softest games I had seen for awhile. It was usual for the pot to be limped 8 ways. Ate a comped Bellagio buffet. Always love eating at the bar, saves so much time and you get great service. The crab legs were spot on, and it was nice to see they had added some different food in the past year. Played a nighttime session from 10:30-3:30 at Bellagio, lost $300. Was flop dead for a long time, and playing a LAG style that leads to a bleading of $.

Mon Aug 19 – Checked out of IP and headed to Grand Lux for comped breakfast. After breakfast played 4 hours at the Venetian. Game was good, loose and only 1-2 grinders (who played tight and not a LAG style). Won $100. Went to California Pizza kitchen and then it was time to head back to reality.

Overall – won $1,100 after food expenses (didn’t put anything on the CC, paid for everything in cash). And I still got $400 in sports bets outstanding.

Impressions – Dealers are either burned out, or getting sloppy. Saw well over 20 mistakes in 80 hours of play, which equates to a dealer making a mistake every 2 hours. That is just not good. Would definitely do the Bally’s steakhouse again. The level of play is stuck in neutral for most players, not having improved much since 2011. I think with the lack of online poker for the most part and also just the overall popularity of poker not being as high, people just have slowed down and are holding steady in their play instead of improving. That is fine by me as I still read a lot on poker, still play a lot online, and am always trying to get better.

Hope you liked my first report, any feedback/discussion is welcome.