vegas poker trip report
So the wife and I went to las vegas last fall and i finally got around to writing up a bit of a poker trip report.
We saw a few shows (rat pack show again, of course), ate at some amazing restaurants, and I got in one awesome craps session where i was the only player at the table and i got on a very nice long roll and pocketed a nice pile of black and green chips.
anyways, this being a poker trip report, and not a overall vegas trip report, on to the poker…
i played all no limit, the poker hosts will always push you to limit. i think they make more rake or something on limit.
but when i walked up to any room, the host always asked if i was looking for a seat at a 3/6 limit game.
i always said “no, i don’t play math, i like to drink. put me on the no limit table” 
Bills Gambling Hall:
i had the most fun, and won the most, at bill’s gambling hall. they played a $1 no limit. only one blind of one dollar. plus they have cracked AA or KK jackpots during the day.
when you play there, make sure you bet on the pig races. (they have, or at least did have, a slot machine next to the poker table that had a big screen with pig race bonus round that all the poker players would pick a pig and bet on).
table was right next to the front door and only a $20 min buyin, so people would walk in, buy in for $20 or $40 and then play stupid, hopefully give it to me, then leave. NEXT!
drink service was very good there. most of the people were either kids who watched too much WSOP and thought they were awesome or beginners that thought they should try it out with that low of a buy in and only one $1 blind, with a couple of drunk locals thrown in. dealers were good too.
Golden Nugget:
played a lot at golden nugget – very nice, played 1/2 there. game didn’t play that cheap, tho. half the table bought in for $200-$300, and the other half the table had stacks of over $1000, one lady had at least $4k-$5k and the $300 buy-in stack next to me and i were figuring this dude at the other end of the table had at least $10k in front of him. those people had big watches, too. i’m talking watches the size of connecticut. they were talking about playing in bellagio’s $10/$20 game so i don’t know exactly why they wanted to play a 1/2 game, but maybe they just were slumming or something.
limping and then a raise to $9+ with at least 2 or 3 callers was standard preflop. did 4-5 hour sessions starting at about 11pm for a few nights. got a breakfast comp for me and the wife after each one. i held my own against the regulars and decent players, but at least once per night i had some random schmuck utter what came to be my most hated phrase: “what the hell, it’s only money” and then proceed to call my huge bet and flip over a worse hand and then proceed to suck out. oh well, that’s poker.
i must have looked like i played really tight at the nugget, cuz once i was one off the button and everyone limped for the $2 so i bumped it up to $25 hoping to steal or at least thin it out and steal with a c-bet on the flop. everyone folded around to one of the huge $1k+ stacks, a guy with a watch the size of connecticut, and he reraises me to $75 or something like that. i think for a few seconds, and then say i fold, and the guy gets all big headed and flips a KQ and says to me “you can’t wait around for AA all day, buddy!” like he’s the king of bluffing or something. i look back and say “yeah, i know, i should play more hands” and i flip over a J4offsuit. the look on his face was classic.
oh, and golden nugget thinks that Hennessey is a normal brandy comp drink, so that was nice.
other places i played:
planet hollywood:
very nice poker room. played 1/2 while waiting for the tourney and doubled my $200 buy-in after watching this guy buy 2 pots and then calling his all-in bluff. most everyone there thought they were a lot better than they were. then i did the 1am tourney there, busted out in the middle. was pretty schnookered by that point.
fitz:
played one tourney, busted just before bubble. wasn’t too impressed with that joint.
binion’s:
played one tourney, busted in middle. was a cool 5 way allin with 4 people busting out, tho, so that was interesting. i was shortstacked on the small blind and i had 4 people go all-in in front of me. i had to call with my Jd 10d. heck i would have called with a 2 and a kleenex. when the hands got flipped, there was a KK, AK, AA, and 99. obviously, the 99 hit a 9 on the flop and won. just like on the internet! a couple of diamonds came on the flop so i had a really good shot at quadding up and then making the money, but that third one just never came. oh, well.
the steakhouse on top of binion’s is really good, too.
plaza:
played 2 of the $40 one table tourney’s. came in second on the first one and won the second. worst players i found in vegas were at that place in that tourney. i overheard more than once, “that’s not what would happen on my playstation game”. funny story: you can chop the prize once it is down to 3 people, and in the second one i played, it ended up with 2 of us left and i could tell this was his first time ever playing in a casino. he had me about 4 to 1 in chips, like 100k to 25k or something like that. and i offer to chop the pot 50/50 with him right then. he’s like “no way, i’m totally going to win!” and his friend (who looked like he knew a bit more what he was doing and had busted out in like 7th or something) says to him, “dude, take it, or this guy’s going to crush you”. so, the guy refused my chop offer, i just said, “okay, don’t say i didn’t offer” and about 3 hands later i had evened out the chip stacks and he then proceeds to ask me if i want to chop. i said, “sorry, you had your chance” and then about 3 hands after that i won the entire thing, and the guy’s like, “whoa, i should have taken that chop”. heh heh. that was awesome.
imperial palace:
eh, not so great. crappy room, really. drink service was slooooow and it seemed to take them forever to get me on a table in a mostly empty room.
i did hit a 4 A’s on the video poker there while waiting for a table, so that was good, but i still probably wouldn’t go back there anytime soon.
excalibur:
i was going to play at the excalibur, since i’ve heard that was the softest game in town, but they had all computer poker there, so i didn’t play that. can stay home to play poker online if i want to play on a computer.
luxor:
played a little cash game there, 1/2. but the tables were mostly all full. and the wait list was really long. but the people playing looked like a lot of fun. lots of jager flowing. which is the best place to play i finally got in one night, but i got put at a table of fuddy duddy old men for the first hour, then got moved to a fun table and proceeded to get hammered on free shots. one dude at the other end was buying your choice of patron or jager for anyone in a hand with him. i think i about broke even there, kind of a blur, so not sure.
well, that’s it. ended down for the trip, but had a load of fun and learned a lot, so it was a good time.
maybe, someday soon, i’ll get my rear in gear and post a overall vegas trip report.
