Day 2

I think I sleep pretty well and when I wake up I’m almost hoping the alarm clock says noon or something. It reads 9:30am. Damnit! I can’t fall back asleep after trying to. At some point while sleeping I’ve put in some ear plugs and it was a good move. Dale later said it was noisy in the hallway. I guess the walls or doors there are thin. What a bed this was. This had to be the best bed in the history of beds. Any bed that can make you feel like you got a full 8 hours even though you only got 4 is alright with me. And the sheets and pillows were perfect too. I usually hate the extra thick pillows in hotels but this down pillow was something else. I yank the sheets off from the foot of the bed and eventually find the tag and write down all the info. I’m buying one of these I’ve decided. I hit the shower and am impressed with the water pressure. I’m not so impressed when I step into the tub and realize the shower head is blasting me right at chest level. WTF. After having my unintended squats workout/shower I get dressed and call Priya to make sure everything is OK on the homefront. Dale has been missing since I got up and he finally returns my call from the blackjack pits and he's about to head back to the room.

We’re ready to eat and our strategy is to eat a heavy brunch and then big dinner. We love the to eat our dinners at the best buffets in town. Bellagio’s our favorite. Even though the MGM buffet doesn't rank high we need convenience and bulk right now. We burn our $25 food credit plus another $8 of our own money at the MGM buffet and we’re pleased. I start with an egg white omelet with ham, spinach and mushrooms, corned beef hash and 1 link of turkey sausage. They’re just now starting lunch service too and I have some brocollini and grilled pork chops I really thought I’d eat more but I’m not a big eater right after waking up. I finish up with some french toast and coffee. Goood french toast. Dale has the blueberry blintz.

Dale wants to play a tournament and after scanning the listings we decide to try the noon tourney at Excalibur since it’s close and is only $35. As we’re leaving MGM we see their lion habitat and there’s a bunch of people milling around. It’s an enclosed structure made of crystal clear think glass. There’s a couple of trainers in there just sitting down with these lions in there and I whip out my camera half thinking my kids are going to love this and half wondering if I’ll be filming the next Faces of Death video. The lions look too tired to harm anyone. We walk on and out of MGM towards the skybridge that connects MGM to Tropicana across the street and then over another skybridge that connects to Excalibur. This lets you walk right over the Las Vegas strip. It’s a pristine day in LasVegas and it’s almost a shame we’re going to be spending it all indoors. The inside of the Ex is the opposite of outdoors. We register for the tourney and laugh when we see the structure. We start with 300 chips and I think it’s 15 minute levels. Oh well, let’s try and get lucky. There’s about 3 tables and before dealing the dealer fans out all the cards face up for inspection. I ask why there’s 2 cards in the spades suit that are out of order and he ignores me. I’m not liking the vibe in here and I go card dead in a bad way. No way can I afford to just see flops even early on with this starting stack. Dale busts out and at my table maybe 1 guy is gone. I eventually get A8 and decide to call the BB. Then a shortie goes all in and is called by the tables big stack. I’m not deep in chips at all and could have gone all in but it’s just a bad tourney situation. I fold and big stak wins with same hand I had, A8. On very next hand I get A7 under the gun and am short enough to where I shove. I can’t even remember the 2 guys who called me but I hit mid piar on flop and they check down to river. One guy had top pair and I’m out. Seriously, I’ve never been more relieved to bust out of a tourney. I’m tired enough to where I want to go back to the room and lay down. Dale joined 1/3 cash game and I tell him I’m going back to the room.

I walk back to MGM still marveling again at the weather and on the way back to room. The MGM is a huge hotel and really takes up one whole city block. During our whole stay we never come close to exploring even a quarter of it. I stop at the Centrifuge bar in MGM just to check it out. It’s a high tech looking roundish bar area that buffers the poker room from Studio 54. I’m watching this guy play a video poker game that’s built into the bar. I watch him play a few $5 hands and he hits a flush or something that pays him like $400. This looks easy. Before I can give it a try Dale calls me and he's back in the room already. I get back and Dale has just completed a hit-and-run at the Ex. But it wasn't easy. After flopping a set his opp hit a flush but then Dale filled up on the river to double up. We plot out a plan for the rest of the day. We'll rest up, have dinner with Shanks at Wynn after he get out of seminar, and then play a tourney at Treasure Island. I tell Dale I've figured out a way to eat free at the Wynn buffet, now considered the best buffet in Vegas. It's about 3pm and I'm going to try to take a nap. There's no way I'm staying up late tonight because we want to get to our trade show in the morning. I get up around 4:20pm but I've probably napped about 20 minutes really. Dale's up and gone so I call him and he's at a 1/2 NL table at the poker room. The MGM poker room is more of a poker area and is large compared to any other I've seen. It sits in an area that has a lot of foot traffic unlike other rooms and is located near the lion habitat, Centrifuge bar and Studio 54. There are 22 tables and they spread many different games. Even wit that many tables it is spacious enough to walk easily between tables. I'm only interested in 1/2 NL and I get my name up on the plasma screen so I can play a bit before Shanks join us. I duck out to use the restroom and when I get back my name is gone. I ask what's up and the lady says she called me and then gave away my seat. No matter because a seat comes open and she tells me the table #. I go over there and it's Dale's table. I'm sitting between an older asian guy and a younger one. After guaging the table I’m ready to order a drink. A waitress with a british accent asks what I wan and I decide to try and push the limits. Last night I was able to get a Glenmorangie so this time I ask for a McCallan 18 and she politely says "I'm sorry sir there's no way I can comp you that drink. What other scotch can I get you?" I ask for any other single malt and she says they only offer a couple of blended scotches, Red Label and Dewars. I tell her I'm good for now. She returns about 10 minutes later and says they have Chivas available and I order one on the rocks with club soda. My stack is dwindling until I win a moderate pot and I can tell I'm just going to be killing time until we leave. Shanks calls and says he can't join us till 7 or 7:30 so I tell Dale we should just go to Wynn and have him meet us there. I cash out for an $8 loss and ask what the easiest and cheapest way for us to get to Wynn. The cashier says to take the Deuce. It's a bus he says and tells us where to go catch one. It's a nice short walk to the strip and there is a bus stop with several people waiting.

The Deuce is a double decker bus that runs up and down the strip and for $5 you can ride all you want for a 24 hour period. We stand in line and soon notice this crowd is like a mini UN tourism group. There's people from many countries waiting to catch a cheap ride. Some look like they've learned the hard way that you can't walk the whole strip. It's deceptive the way 2 hotels look like they're near each other and then you try and walk between them and realize your folly. We wait longer than we expect but we’re able to exchange some good hand histories on certain hands, how we played them and how they could have been played better. Finally we board the bus and it’s standing room only so we opt to go to the upper deck. Mistake realized when we find out it has a munchkin ceiling and we end up holding the pole in a half crouch. I unveil my plan of how we’re going to eat free at the Wynn. I found out that if you get a player’s card (It’s called the Red Card at Wynn) there and just earn 50 points you can get a free buffet. Wynn is the latest in ultra luxury resort/hotels on the strip and many tourists go there just to walk through it and look around at all it's finery. It's competeing head on with Bellagio and now controls most of the high limit baccarat play in town. But we’re there on a mission and I’ve heard it’s not hard to get 50 points. The Deuce is not the most efficient mode of transport we find and after several stops we finally get there. We head to the Red Card booth and sign up. They inform us that it now only takes 25 points for the buffet AND they are giving us $10 in free play! Ha! Not only will this be a free meal but Wynn will be paying me to eat at it’s lavish spread. The guy tells us we can build points faster by playing slots instead of video poker but I blow him off and tell Dale that video poker looks easy and I’ve heard the machines pay back 99% of what’s put into them if just play a very basic strategy. I just saw a guy earlier at MGM get paid off big without doing anything real special. Slots are for pure gambling. We are men of skill who play no limit hold’em. 5 card draw will be childs play. We get seated at a bank of video poker machines and find out that in order to activate the free $$ we have to put in some of our own $$. Fine. In no time we’ve burned through the free $10 and dip into the $20 of our own money. We each have about 2-3 points by now I think. Hmm, just a bad run of cards really. We’re now getting the hang of it and hitting 3 of kind, 2 pair and an occasional straight. If you don’t get a pair of Jacks or better you have a losing hand. However we get some hands though where we’re totally clueless as to what to do e.g. when we get a pair of sixes and there are 2 face cards too. What do we hold and draw to. Eventually we start asking people around us and their answers aren’t that comforting. One guy I ask who is sitting next to me has his card in and I see he has about 3200 points. I’m at 8 points. Damn, can you just transfer me a few points here or something? By now Shankar’s cab has arrived and he’s watching us and chuckling at our predicament. He’s wondering why we don’t just go pay for the buffet. Well we don’t all have an expense account like you Mr. Shankbags. Did you even have to pay for your cab here? We rode the Deuce. Just be quiet and watch. After I’m down to about $2.50 I cry uncle and my balance reads 11 points. I’m hungry and so is Dale. He has 12 points and has burned through his $20 plus the “free” $10. We look at the time and realize there’s not even enough time to eat a big buffet and be able to make it to TI in time for the 10 PM tourney. The Wynn has won this round, but I might be back. We yank our red cards out of the machines and foot it over to TI across the street.

We find the poker room and pay our $65 to register for the tourney and they hand us each a printed piece of paper giving us our table and seat assignments. We ask where we can get a quick bite to eat and the girl who registered us recommends we go over to Canter’s deli. It’s supposed to be a legendary landmark from Los Angeles and I think I saw it in a Curb Your Enthusiasm episode. I have a $13 reuben sandwich and the rye bread is over-toasted to where it scrapes the inside of my mouth all over and I’m not sure I’m going to enjoy another meal on this trip. Dale’s pastrami on rye looks like a better choice. Even Shank’s $12 gardenburger would have been better. We finish eating in time to get seated at our tables. The TI poker room is set away from the main casino and is along a hallway that leads to the specially built theatre that hosts Mystere, the famed Cirque du Soleil show that has won many awards. The poker room is cozy and I’m guessing drink service here is going to be slow as it's far from the main casino floor. Dale gets seated at my table but in seat 7. I’m in seat 2 which is just to dealers left. Shanks is at next table over. I think there’s about 40 entrants. I get nothing in level 1 and in level 2 I get AQ and raise 3X BB and it all folds to me. Better than losing with it I guess. They have a good structure here in that you start with 3500 chips and levels are 20 min. The dealers keep the pace brisk and enough hands are dealt. A far cry from our regular guys game where it’s a snails pace the whole way through. But it’s a cold deck for me and Dale. There’s these 2 guys to the left of Dale in the last 2 seats who look like players. 1 is a short Japanese guy who is very comfy riffling his chips with his right hand and his friend his a very large guy who loves to stare down those in a hand with him. When he’s played pots he’s played aggressive. I’ve seen the Japanese guy start 2 hands strong, flop good but then slow play it the rest of the way. An Asian guy to my right orders green tea and I order coffee. Green tea, huh? I feel like he’s trying to preserve life and I’m shaving some time off of mine. At the break he tells me he’s played this a few times and the Japanese kid makes it to final table 80% of the time. Shankar is doing well and has more than doubled his stack. After the break my stack has gotten into the red zone and I need to get some chips. I pick up AJ and am about to shove but there’s a big raise before me and my hand shrinks up. After that I capture enough blinds to stay above water. There’s a hand that’s raised by the guy to my left who has raised a few hands preflop lately. Dale re-raises all in and it’s heads up. Dale turns over JJ and other guy has QQ. Ouch. I win some more blinds and an empty seat 2 to my left gets filled with a short, slightly chunky blond girl with shortish hair. There’s still a fair amount of players left because they allow rebuys if there’s room. This is good for the prize pool but tough on me since my stack isn’t getting to avg. stack size like I want it to. I’ve gotten a little more aggressive lately and need to tone down so on this orbit when I am the SB and it has folded to me I just folded to the BB and let him take the pot. On the next hand I have a small queen hand it folds to me on the button. I need those blinds and I move all in. The small blind folds quick and the blond girl counts out what’s needed to call me. She looks at what her stack would be like if she loses and it looks like she’s going to fold but she calls me. She turns over 3,3 and instead of watching the flop roll off I’m just staring at her small pair. I hear a small moan from the table and I look to the center to see that I have paired up on the flop and am in command of this hand as a 92 % favorite. No sooner do I see this than I see a nasty 3 hit the turn. I hear her say “that’s the way it should be”. I end up making 2 pair on the river but it can’t beat a set and I’ve busted out. That’s the way it should be? I look at her and tell her she was not really a big favorite there and she gives some weak answer. What I really wanted to say is “listen you stupid little ___, how many hands did you really think you were very far ahead of pre-flop with your pocket 3s? Just take the chips and STFU or just say 'good game' or something”. But I just get up and even though I’m slightly steaming I say “good hand” not at all meaning it. Shankar is still going strong and I put my name on the list for a 1/3 NL cash game. I walk over and watch Dale who has been sitting in a 1/3 limit cash game and has made a few chips but he says it feels weird playing limit. Even though I’m about to be called for a seat I have the sudden need to get out of this place as the coziness is now feeling slightly claustrophobic. Dale’s ready to cash out and we wish Shankar good luck. We tell him we’re taking the bus back to MGM and to call us when he’s done. We may or may not play some more since we have our show to go to in the morning. The outside exit is close by and it puts us right out onto the strip again. Breathing in the cool desert air lifts me a bit. We walk down past the Mirage’s famed volcano and catch the good old Deuce again. It’s a lot less crowded and we grab a seat in the back. We’re back at MGM quickly and as we stroll in we can hear the thumping music from Studio 54 and it sounds inviting. The poker room is close to the MGM entrance and we go check it out. The list for 1/2 NL is not too long and I figure I’ll play a bit before hitting the sack. Dale gets seated first and just as I get on a table soon after.

Day 2B to be continued.....