Waiting for games... or how 2-4LHE ate up hours of my poker playing time (little poker)
Annual "Guys Trip" 7/24-7/27. Drove in Sunday afternoon and went to the airport to pick up our buddy flying in from MKE. His plane was late so we headed out of the airport to the closest/ easiest casino to get in and out of- Terrible's. To waste time played the Wheel of Fortune machine and checked out some futures bets. Down-$20.
Picked up our buddy and headed to the Wynn. This hotel is fantastic. From the minute they knew our name, that is the only way we were greeted. The Valet and Bellman greeted us well, complimented us and engaged in better than average chit chat and were quick and prompt. Up to our room in minutes to open the door, hit the button and all the lights come on and the floor to ceiling curtains opened revealing the eastern mountains and a look down at the pools.
After taking in the scene we headed out and bought the Buffet o Buffet's 24 hour pass for the Caesars (Harrah's) properties. We were not dissappointed by PH the first night and Paris at brunch, but Rio has definitely lost some of its buffet luster.
We headed out to Jokers wild only to have missed all the poker action. We played some craps there, but overall the scene was dead.
Over to MGM as it is getting past midnight. Put our name on the 2/4LHE list and after an hour we were getting tired and left to sleep.
Highlights from day 2 were getting beers at the bar at Ellis Island with the American Casino Guide coupon for 4 free ones. These aren't dinky, but full size pilsner glasses. The brew is good too.
Finally we ended up at Terrible's and they had a 2-4 game going. The only highlight was that no one got punched. There are some real idiots that play there who believe they are good, but don't even know basic etiquette. There was nearly a fight over who must show first at the end of the hand. I played very tight and ended the night up $1. My buddy did the same and won$50.
Next day we tried O'sheas for the 1-2NL, but the reviews that claimed drunked college boys didn't hold up. There were actually a bunch of old guys there and frankly I now know why most of the people on this board avoid that place. It is awful.
We headed to the IP but the tourney was still going with 2 tables and only the NL game was going. We put our name on an interest list for 2-4LHE and finally after an hour the floor made a loud speaker announcement that they were trying to start a game. You would think he would have done that when there were 4 of us on the list. After about 20 minutes we left.
On the drive over to MGM we decided to try Terrible's again and were surprised to see only 1 table of 2-4 going and a bunch of guys hawking the place waiting for a seat. I asked the floor to open a new table with the 6 on the waiting list and my 2 buddies and I. It took about 10 minutes for approvals and we were into it.
First hand of the table was a big one with my buddy hitting his straight on the turn holding the AK. I won the second hand with pocket 8's. Two hands later I won again with A10 making the straight. The night looked good for us. Overall the table was pretty weak (especially since I was able to win). Tight again was very profitable. I only played top hands and typically won with them. I also slowed played a lot of top hands because aggressive play typically was folded around. Bluffing wasn't an option. I was able to build a number of pots by slow playing pocket AA's, Big slick and other pocket pairs.
Hands of note- I was dealt pocket pairs of red fours and the two blacks came out on the flop. Checked around. I bet in on the turn and had 7 callers. Bet in on the river was raised with 2 callers and I reraised and had one caller. At no point did my hand not look like the nuts.
Second hand of note is on the button when I tipped my hole cards to reveal Ac5c. Flop comes 2c4c9d. My first thought was gut shot straight flush and second thought was "High Hand of the Day Bonus $200". Each day Terrible's has a free promotion where the highest hand above quad jacks wins $100. If no one wins in 24 hours it moves up to $200. It checked around so I bet. 7 callers. Next card is the 3c. I hit my straight flush and the high hand. My buddy knew something was up because I started shaking. He immediately folded. It 4checks around and then a raise. 2 checks and I re-raise. 3 folds, the original raiser calls and 1 more caller. Runner on the river and it checks around to me, I raise and get one caller. When I flip the cards I yell "$200" to which most of the table looks confused as there is probabaly around $60 in the pot until I follow up with "high hand of the day" and the table erupts in excitement. The floor came over and verified and told me I could pick up the money the next day if no one gets a higher hand.... It held up. We kept playing for an hour and a half and with my tight and not really aggressive style I went up over $100 and then donked off enough to have a $60 win.
The next day we got out of Dodge with prize money in hand for a nicely profitable trip.
Looking forward to going back in December for the LV 1/2 marthon Dec. 4. They are running the strip at night!
So you stay at the Wynn,but go to Terrible's,O'Sheas, and IP to play 2/4 LHE??? If u stayed at the IP you could afford to play 2/5 NL at the Wynn....
Yeah, what am I missing here? I always chalk up the smaller, older, dumpier places as "locals only" and figure they know what they're doing or at least know each others' style, leaving the tourist at a disadvantage. Play at any of the strip mega-hotels and you'll get mostly on-line players but maybe too some people shotgunning it, after tipping a few, to see if their tried-and-true raise from the Big Blind style will pay off.
So is it that CheapoVegas coupon book that drove you to these places for free beer and shrimp cocktails? Because "bluffing not an option" kind of turns the game robotic. Hey, we all know what we're doing - let's watch all 10 of our chip stacks get simultaneously drained for 3 hours by the rake/tips.
We typically stay at the dive hotels, but we had a comped room at the Wynn.
I am not what you would call expert at poker in general so finding weak locals rooms makes it easier for me to win. Biffo99 is right in that the game is robotic. If you don't make your hand on the flop, typically it is time to get out. I am not into high intensity since this is my vacation time and I haven't spent the time to really learn how to play NL nor do I think I would be good at it. Notice this doesn't take much skill. If I had better poker skills, I might start going to some bigger rooms with bigger money. Finally I have always been a lowstakes guy so over the years we have hit places like Joker's wild, Terribles, excalibur, slots'o'fun and poker palace so that we can have some fun and not need a large bankroll.
Ok,comped room(my kinda of room),I get it now...I was trying to figure out why u would spend so much on a room and then low-roll gambling......we like to low-roll rooms and medium-roll gamble...i will be staying at the IP(comped) next trip..
nice report, going in November and have started playing limit holdem myself, hope i can hit a jackpot