Back in Vegas! TR: 8th - 15th Feb
02-13-2016
, 04:52 AM
02-13-2016
, 11:26 AM
So unfortunately Ivey bottled it and was a no show 
So me and Dan go for breakfast at the Aria cafe to use more of our comps. We both got 8 hours sleep last night and actually woke up at a decent time in the morning, it looks like our body clocks have finally got used to Vegas time (Just in time for us to leave). I went for the healthy option this morning and had French Toast with cream and jam, it's the first time I've ever had French Toast and it was good, I will be a regular customer.
After breakfast we head back to the card room. Dan jumps into a $2/$5 game and I put my name on the waiting list for $1/$3. While waiting for the seat to open I go and watch the table in the corner of the room. At first I didn't really understand what was going on but turns out the game was $3/$6 PLO but they dealt two boards...So PF action like normal and then deal two flops, two turns and two rivers. Seemed like a pretty crazy game and the very first hand I watched a guy made a straight on one board and a Royal Flush on the other! Not a game for the faint hearted I think. Pretty sure I've seen the guy who got a Royal Flush on TV as well but can't remember his name.
After a while my seat opens up on the table with Ben. At this point I am still in the hole for the trip at poker so it was time to put in a good session. I also had on what Dan called the 'Get unstuck jumper' but unfortunately I quickly lose $50 in some boring hands after taking my seat.
Get unstuck jumper:
They're building a burger bar next to the Aria poker room which sounds like a great idea but at the moment there seems to be quite alot of building work going on and loud drilling at 9am while trying to play poker and get unstuck isn't ideal. After maybe 20 mins or so of drilling I decided to leave and try somewhere else. Stuck $45 for the session, meh.
Takes some balls to wear a camo suit haha
But tbf I am wearing something which looks like a Christmas jumper in the middle of February so WP.
I head to Planet Hollywood to see if there was a good looking game going. I walk in and could see one guy with a big stack (maybe $2k), normally when I see someone with a big stack like that I assume they're a good player. The only seat open on the table was to this guys direct right so I watched to couple of hands to see if he was good and if it was worth sitting down or moving on to a different Casino. First hand I watch he calls a guys $50 shove pre with T5o and gets there. "Floor! $300 chips please"
.
Turns out the big stack guy was from Israel and coming off a 50 hour bender. I've got a fair bit experience playing with Israelis in Malta (They often come over to play Poker). And let's just say I've never played one who isn't a massive fun player (No offence to anyone)
. A few guys at the table told me he'd done a fair bit of sucking out to build his stack to $2k. Blinds $1/$2, fairly early on I get ATdd and it's folded to me. I raise to $12. Israeli calls on the btn and the SB calls. Flop is T83cc. Checked to me and I cbet $25. Fun player calls and SB folds. Turn is Ts (
). This guy had been quite bluffy from what I'd seen so I gave him a little rope and checked. He bets $50. And I shove for like $225 total. He tanks for a while before mucking 63o face up, acting like it was a tough fold, as if he was folding Kings pre haha. As soon as the seat opens up I move two to this guys left.
At PH at the moment they're doing a splash pot promotion where every hour they let the btn on the table pick either $25, $50 or $100 chip from a bag which is then added to the next pot. As it happens I was the BTN on the splash pot hand and 'one timed' the $100 chip. So $100 is now dead in the middle. Blinds are $1/$2 and someone open raises to $40 haha, fish calls and this old guy who had literally just sat down at the table 3bets to $100. I muck my 94o. BB cold calls the $100, first raiser calls and fish calls. $500+ in the middle before the flop. Flop comes KJ2r. Checked to the old 3bet guy who ships for $200. BB calls all in for $150. First raiser goes all in for $260 and the fish who has everyone covered calls as well. 4 way all in with over $1k in the middle. Board runs out bricks, old guy tables AK the other players table AJ, KT and AT so AK scoops.
Picture doesn't really do it justice how big the pot was:
I jokingly say to the old guy, "wow, what a first hand, welcome to the table". The old guy instantly picks up 3 chip racks and proceeds to rack up his chips and tells the dealer he's leaving. So he sits down, wins a $1k+ pot on his first hand instantly hits and runs, what a scum bag. A Vegas local at the table said "Wait a minute, you shouldn't of even been included in the hand, to be included in a splash pot hand you need to be dealt into the hand before, call the floor". Floor is called but the old guy honestly couldn't leave with his chips fast enough and pretty much bolts out of the Casino before the floor arrived but not before insulting half the table and calling the Vegas local a "long haired piece of ****". At this point the table is fuming at what just happened and when the floor does eventually arrive they review the security tapes and agree that the guy should never of been dealt in the hand, they say that they can't do anything about the money lost in the hand but as good faith they'll give us another $100 splash pot the next hand which I think was a fair ruling. 30 mins had passed by the time the guy had hit and run and the ruling and a few new players had entered the table. Floor said that only players who were in the splash pot before were able to take part in this ad-hoc splash pot hand and to make it fair to everyone in the hand they will high card for who is the dealer button. First card off the deck is the As which as I was in seat 3 meant I had to be BB in back to back hands, which was slightly tilting but I guess worth it for a 5 player hand with $100 dead in the middle. Anyway a guy open raises to $100 and takes it down (I have J4o in the BB). The Vegas local was telling me that apparently you actually have some players who go around abusing the splash pots and waiting to jump into games just before they happen. I'm not sure if this old guy was doing that but either way he had zero class.
I'm doing ok at this point and I'm up my morning Aria losses and a little more. Folded to Israeli guy who limps, Vegas local with big stack limps from the HJ, I limp CO with KTcc, SB limps and BB checks. Flop is Ts 7c 3c. SB, BB and fish check. Vegas local bets $10. I decide just to call IP and with the fish still in the hand didn't want to do anything stupid. SB folds and BB now check raises to $40. Fish now cold calls and Vegas local folds. Back round to me and I call again. Turn 9d. BB (who is a middle aged woman) bets $75 and fish folds. I call again (Club one time!). River is a 2d, sighs. She bets $200 and I fold. She shows 9To. Maybe I should just be going crazy on the flop? Not sure.
After that I was down for the session and pretty annoyed. I was getting ready to leave when I heard some guys on the table saying that PH are running a promotion at the moment where if you play 3 hours of poker you get a ticket to the $35 PH buffet. At this point I'd already played around 2 1/2 hours so I got straight on the nit train to Buffetville. While I was waiting to clock my 3 hours in this hand happened:
2 limpers including the guy from Israel. I have red 9s on the btn and raise to $15. SB cold calls and first limper also calls. Guy from Israel re raises to $40. I decide to call on the btn. SB and limper also call so we're 4 way with $160 in the pot. Flop is KQ8hh which is not great for my hand. It's checked to the Israeli fun player but he surprisingly checks, I check back. Turn 7s. Checked to the guy from Israel and now he leads for $90. You know that feeing in poker where you're sure you just have a guy beat? Well I had it pretty strong here and had some live reads on him as well. I wasn't 100% sure about the guys behind me still to act but I didn't think they'd check big hands twice and fold out alot if I call the $90. I call the $90 with my under pair and both other players quickly fold. I have about $150 left in my stack going into the river. My plan on the river is to call almost any card if he ships but I was hoping for a brick on the river, if the river is a Th etc it's not a easy call. River is 9c (Makes things easier ) and he ships. I snap and he shows A6o weee. Almost a full double up and back in the game 
At this point I was getting hungry and had clocked well over my 3 hours needed for the buffet. I asked the PH floor how long I had if I left the table and they said a hour so I leave the chips on the table and go to the buffet.
Buffet was decent, I'd say on the same level as Aria tbh and even better that it was free
I only took 45 mins for the buffet and returned to the table feeling good and ready to crush. At first I was pretty confused when I got back into the poker room. The table I was playing on was empty and just my chips remained there. Apparently while I was at the buffet the fun player decided to leave the game which almost instantly killed it haha. Or maybe I was the fish and they thought I'd gone I cashed out $340 profit, felt good to get a winning session in.
Dan had been playing in the $2/$5 game at the Aria the whole time so I went and met him there. On his table was this guy dressed all in black with about $6k infont of him. Dan got off from the table and told me this guy was just insanely on a different level good and was crushing the game. The guy was a little strange though and Dan had tried to start a conversation with him but got very little back so after that Dan was worried for his life haha. When you play in the Aria you swipe your loyalty card when you sit down at the table and your name is displayed on the screen next to the dealer. Dan was next to the dealer and noticed that this guy's name on the screen was just 'XXXX' which added even more mystery to him. From then on we just called him the Terminator. Dan said when the Terminator first sat down two other people were in a pot and there was a big bet on the river. The guy in the hand tanked on the river for around a minute and even though the Terminator was still just counting money out of his wallet to buy chips he called the clock on the guy...
Dan was saying the $2/$5 game was very reggy and tough. At one point on the table there were 7 good Vegas regs, one midstakes Italian online grinder who was over in Vegas grinding for 3 months and one weak player. Dan took this as a learning session though as I guess you can only really imporve by playing better players. It did make me laugh when he said the weak American player had asked the Italian pro how much smaller the Eiffel Tower is in Vegas compared to the one back in Paris
After Dan finished up we headed to the shopping mall next to Planet Hollywood. I told myself I wouldn't buy anything and almost left my money back at the hotel room to avoid temptation. Very first shop we go in I see a really nice Ralph Lauren jacket and snap buy it (Good control Tom). We didn't shop for very long and just headed back to the room.
By this point I was getting a little tired and decided to have a nap while Dan grinded some more $2/$5 downstairs. I got up around 1am and we decided to go to Buns and Shakes in Cosmopolitan, I'd looked on the site and it said it closed at 2am so we headed that way, only to find that the bar is open until 2am but they stop serving food long before We head back and just grab a couple of Five50 pizza slices in the Aria (Pizza is great though, solid 9/10 pizza).
I'm feeling fully awake now and ready to grind some more but Dan is a little tired and unsure what he wants to do. We head back to the hotel room so I can pick up some cash and head back to PH to grind some more. Dan lays on his bed and I think he's gg but after about 10 seconds he shouts "I'm coming with you!" and jumps up haha.
We head to PH and sit on separate tables. Very first hand I get 9Tss, raise it up, get a bunch of callers and see a QJ8cc flop. Manage to get three streets of value from a guy with AK when the turn is a A. A couple of hands later I three barrel bluff a guy with AJo (I can't seem to stop bluffing with that hand). So after maybe 4 hands I'm up about $200. A seat opens on Dan's table so I move over. It was pretty apparent that this was going to be an action table. PH allow you to do some cool straddles and stuff in the game. You can either UTG straddle to $5, BTN straddle to $10 or straddle in any other position to $20. There was a drunk guy with a big stack who was straddling to $20 every single hand. Dan got pretty unlucky this session and was five outered on the river by this guy for a $800 pot. He also stacked off with a over pair v drunk fish's bigger over pair. He was stuck $750 fairly quickly and instantly regretted getting off his bed and coming with me. He left after that and went back to hotel room. The game was great though so I kept playing a little longer and grinded out more smallish wins. But in the end I was sat with $700+ and the drunk guy was covering me so I decide to lock the profit up and leave while I was a winner. I cashed out $410 profit which officially means I'M OUT OF THE HOLE! The 'get unstuck' jumper dream is alive.
I don't want to jinx it as I have three more days to grind but Vegas when you're winning is my favourite place in the world. I still like it when you're losing but I'd say it's 10x better when you're actually making a profit. I feel sorry for Dan though, he's back to down for the trip again now after climbing out the hole a couple of times already.
FYI..Before I said that the PH card room isn't in a great location, it's very noisy etc. The dealers told me today that it is actually moving more into the Casino next week which should hopefully be better.
New Card room location:
Anyway, off to bed now...sorry for the huge amount of text at the end.
So me and Dan go for breakfast at the Aria cafe to use more of our comps. We both got 8 hours sleep last night and actually woke up at a decent time in the morning, it looks like our body clocks have finally got used to Vegas time (Just in time for us to leave). I went for the healthy option this morning and had French Toast with cream and jam, it's the first time I've ever had French Toast and it was good, I will be a regular customer.After breakfast we head back to the card room. Dan jumps into a $2/$5 game and I put my name on the waiting list for $1/$3. While waiting for the seat to open I go and watch the table in the corner of the room. At first I didn't really understand what was going on but turns out the game was $3/$6 PLO but they dealt two boards...So PF action like normal and then deal two flops, two turns and two rivers. Seemed like a pretty crazy game and the very first hand I watched a guy made a straight on one board and a Royal Flush on the other! Not a game for the faint hearted I think. Pretty sure I've seen the guy who got a Royal Flush on TV as well but can't remember his name.
After a while my seat opens up on the table with Ben. At this point I am still in the hole for the trip at poker so it was time to put in a good session. I also had on what Dan called the 'Get unstuck jumper' but unfortunately I quickly lose $50 in some boring hands after taking my seat.
Get unstuck jumper:
They're building a burger bar next to the Aria poker room which sounds like a great idea but at the moment there seems to be quite alot of building work going on and loud drilling at 9am while trying to play poker and get unstuck isn't ideal. After maybe 20 mins or so of drilling I decided to leave and try somewhere else. Stuck $45 for the session, meh.
Takes some balls to wear a camo suit haha
But tbf I am wearing something which looks like a Christmas jumper in the middle of February so WP.
I head to Planet Hollywood to see if there was a good looking game going. I walk in and could see one guy with a big stack (maybe $2k), normally when I see someone with a big stack like that I assume they're a good player. The only seat open on the table was to this guys direct right so I watched to couple of hands to see if he was good and if it was worth sitting down or moving on to a different Casino. First hand I watch he calls a guys $50 shove pre with T5o and gets there. "Floor! $300 chips please"
. Turns out the big stack guy was from Israel and coming off a 50 hour bender. I've got a fair bit experience playing with Israelis in Malta (They often come over to play Poker). And let's just say I've never played one who isn't a massive fun player (No offence to anyone)
. A few guys at the table told me he'd done a fair bit of sucking out to build his stack to $2k. Blinds $1/$2, fairly early on I get ATdd and it's folded to me. I raise to $12. Israeli calls on the btn and the SB calls. Flop is T83cc. Checked to me and I cbet $25. Fun player calls and SB folds. Turn is Ts (). This guy had been quite bluffy from what I'd seen so I gave him a little rope and checked. He bets $50. And I shove for like $225 total. He tanks for a while before mucking 63o face up, acting like it was a tough fold, as if he was folding Kings pre haha. As soon as the seat opens up I move two to this guys left.At PH at the moment they're doing a splash pot promotion where every hour they let the btn on the table pick either $25, $50 or $100 chip from a bag which is then added to the next pot. As it happens I was the BTN on the splash pot hand and 'one timed' the $100 chip. So $100 is now dead in the middle. Blinds are $1/$2 and someone open raises to $40 haha, fish calls and this old guy who had literally just sat down at the table 3bets to $100. I muck my 94o. BB cold calls the $100, first raiser calls and fish calls. $500+ in the middle before the flop. Flop comes KJ2r. Checked to the old 3bet guy who ships for $200. BB calls all in for $150. First raiser goes all in for $260 and the fish who has everyone covered calls as well. 4 way all in with over $1k in the middle. Board runs out bricks, old guy tables AK the other players table AJ, KT and AT so AK scoops.
Picture doesn't really do it justice how big the pot was:
I jokingly say to the old guy, "wow, what a first hand, welcome to the table". The old guy instantly picks up 3 chip racks and proceeds to rack up his chips and tells the dealer he's leaving. So he sits down, wins a $1k+ pot on his first hand instantly hits and runs, what a scum bag. A Vegas local at the table said "Wait a minute, you shouldn't of even been included in the hand, to be included in a splash pot hand you need to be dealt into the hand before, call the floor". Floor is called but the old guy honestly couldn't leave with his chips fast enough and pretty much bolts out of the Casino before the floor arrived but not before insulting half the table and calling the Vegas local a "long haired piece of ****". At this point the table is fuming at what just happened and when the floor does eventually arrive they review the security tapes and agree that the guy should never of been dealt in the hand, they say that they can't do anything about the money lost in the hand but as good faith they'll give us another $100 splash pot the next hand which I think was a fair ruling. 30 mins had passed by the time the guy had hit and run and the ruling and a few new players had entered the table. Floor said that only players who were in the splash pot before were able to take part in this ad-hoc splash pot hand and to make it fair to everyone in the hand they will high card for who is the dealer button. First card off the deck is the As which as I was in seat 3 meant I had to be BB in back to back hands, which was slightly tilting but I guess worth it for a 5 player hand with $100 dead in the middle. Anyway a guy open raises to $100 and takes it down (I have J4o in the BB). The Vegas local was telling me that apparently you actually have some players who go around abusing the splash pots and waiting to jump into games just before they happen. I'm not sure if this old guy was doing that but either way he had zero class.
I'm doing ok at this point and I'm up my morning Aria losses and a little more. Folded to Israeli guy who limps, Vegas local with big stack limps from the HJ, I limp CO with KTcc, SB limps and BB checks. Flop is Ts 7c 3c. SB, BB and fish check. Vegas local bets $10. I decide just to call IP and with the fish still in the hand didn't want to do anything stupid. SB folds and BB now check raises to $40. Fish now cold calls and Vegas local folds. Back round to me and I call again. Turn 9d. BB (who is a middle aged woman) bets $75 and fish folds. I call again (Club one time!). River is a 2d, sighs. She bets $200 and I fold. She shows 9To. Maybe I should just be going crazy on the flop? Not sure.
After that I was down for the session and pretty annoyed. I was getting ready to leave when I heard some guys on the table saying that PH are running a promotion at the moment where if you play 3 hours of poker you get a ticket to the $35 PH buffet. At this point I'd already played around 2 1/2 hours so I got straight on the nit train to Buffetville. While I was waiting to clock my 3 hours in this hand happened:
2 limpers including the guy from Israel. I have red 9s on the btn and raise to $15. SB cold calls and first limper also calls. Guy from Israel re raises to $40. I decide to call on the btn. SB and limper also call so we're 4 way with $160 in the pot. Flop is KQ8hh which is not great for my hand. It's checked to the Israeli fun player but he surprisingly checks, I check back. Turn 7s. Checked to the guy from Israel and now he leads for $90. You know that feeing in poker where you're sure you just have a guy beat? Well I had it pretty strong here and had some live reads on him as well. I wasn't 100% sure about the guys behind me still to act but I didn't think they'd check big hands twice and fold out alot if I call the $90. I call the $90 with my under pair and both other players quickly fold. I have about $150 left in my stack going into the river. My plan on the river is to call almost any card if he ships but I was hoping for a brick on the river, if the river is a Th etc it's not a easy call. River is 9c (Makes things easier
) and he ships. I snap and he shows A6o weee. Almost a full double up and back in the game At this point I was getting hungry and had clocked well over my 3 hours needed for the buffet. I asked the PH floor how long I had if I left the table and they said a hour so I leave the chips on the table and go to the buffet.
Buffet was decent, I'd say on the same level as Aria tbh and even better that it was free
I only took 45 mins for the buffet and returned to the table feeling good and ready to crush. At first I was pretty confused when I got back into the poker room. The table I was playing on was empty and just my chips remained there. Apparently while I was at the buffet the fun player decided to leave the game which almost instantly killed it haha. Or maybe I was the fish and they thought I'd gone
I cashed out $340 profit, felt good to get a winning session in.Dan had been playing in the $2/$5 game at the Aria the whole time so I went and met him there. On his table was this guy dressed all in black with about $6k infont of him. Dan got off from the table and told me this guy was just insanely on a different level good and was crushing the game. The guy was a little strange though and Dan had tried to start a conversation with him but got very little back so after that Dan was worried for his life haha. When you play in the Aria you swipe your loyalty card when you sit down at the table and your name is displayed on the screen next to the dealer. Dan was next to the dealer and noticed that this guy's name on the screen was just 'XXXX' which added even more mystery to him. From then on we just called him the Terminator. Dan said when the Terminator first sat down two other people were in a pot and there was a big bet on the river. The guy in the hand tanked on the river for around a minute and even though the Terminator was still just counting money out of his wallet to buy chips he called the clock on the guy...
Dan was saying the $2/$5 game was very reggy and tough. At one point on the table there were 7 good Vegas regs, one midstakes Italian online grinder who was over in Vegas grinding for 3 months and one weak player. Dan took this as a learning session though as I guess you can only really imporve by playing better players. It did make me laugh when he said the weak American player had asked the Italian pro how much smaller the Eiffel Tower is in Vegas compared to the one back in Paris
After Dan finished up we headed to the shopping mall next to Planet Hollywood. I told myself I wouldn't buy anything and almost left my money back at the hotel room to avoid temptation. Very first shop we go in I see a really nice Ralph Lauren jacket and snap buy it (Good control Tom). We didn't shop for very long and just headed back to the room.
By this point I was getting a little tired and decided to have a nap while Dan grinded some more $2/$5 downstairs. I got up around 1am and we decided to go to Buns and Shakes in Cosmopolitan, I'd looked on the site and it said it closed at 2am so we headed that way, only to find that the bar is open until 2am but they stop serving food long before
We head back and just grab a couple of Five50 pizza slices in the Aria (Pizza is great though, solid 9/10 pizza).I'm feeling fully awake now and ready to grind some more but Dan is a little tired and unsure what he wants to do. We head back to the hotel room so I can pick up some cash and head back to PH to grind some more. Dan lays on his bed and I think he's gg but after about 10 seconds he shouts "I'm coming with you!" and jumps up haha.
We head to PH and sit on separate tables. Very first hand I get 9Tss, raise it up, get a bunch of callers and see a QJ8cc flop
. Manage to get three streets of value from a guy with AK when the turn is a A. A couple of hands later I three barrel bluff a guy with AJo (I can't seem to stop bluffing with that hand). So after maybe 4 hands I'm up about $200. A seat opens on Dan's table so I move over. It was pretty apparent that this was going to be an action table. PH allow you to do some cool straddles and stuff in the game. You can either UTG straddle to $5, BTN straddle to $10 or straddle in any other position to $20. There was a drunk guy with a big stack who was straddling to $20 every single hand. Dan got pretty unlucky this session and was five outered on the river by this guy for a $800 pot. He also stacked off with a over pair v drunk fish's bigger over pair. He was stuck $750 fairly quickly and instantly regretted getting off his bed and coming with me. He left after that and went back to hotel room. The game was great though so I kept playing a little longer and grinded out more smallish wins. But in the end I was sat with $700+ and the drunk guy was covering me so I decide to lock the profit up and leave while I was a winner. I cashed out $410 profit which officially means I'M OUT OF THE HOLE! The 'get unstuck' jumper dream is alive.I don't want to jinx it as I have three more days to grind but Vegas when you're winning is my favourite place in the world. I still like it when you're losing but I'd say it's 10x better when you're actually making a profit. I feel sorry for Dan though, he's back to down for the trip again now after climbing out the hole a couple of times already.
FYI..Before I said that the PH card room isn't in a great location, it's very noisy etc. The dealers told me today that it is actually moving more into the Casino next week which should hopefully be better.
New Card room location:
Anyway, off to bed now...sorry for the huge amount of text at the end.
02-13-2016
, 01:32 PM
So now that Poker is back on track it's time to get the Tinder grind going. A friend from the UK told me to use his opening chat up line which "Never fails"...
And then nothing...
Let's just say the chat up line is currently at about 0/10 success rate. His theory is now that this opening line only works with English girls haha.
Anyway, please post your best/funny opening chat up lines. All the ones which are posted will be used on real Tinder girls and I'll report back on the success rates. GL
And then nothing...
Let's just say the chat up line is currently at about 0/10 success rate. His theory is now that this opening line only works with English girls haha.
Anyway, please post your best/funny opening chat up lines. All the ones which are posted will be used on real Tinder girls and I'll report back on the success rates. GL
02-13-2016
, 04:10 PM
Do you like dogs?
"Yes"
Great! I have a wiener dog that needs to go for a walk.
"Yes"
Great! I have a wiener dog that needs to go for a walk.
02-13-2016
, 08:11 PM
02-14-2016
, 03:02 PM
Ugh...It's never a good feeling waking up and seeing this on your arm and not really remembering how it got there:
But let's start the day from the beginning. So I go to sleep around 4:30am and by 6:30am I am wide awake again. Jet lag is still screwing me over. This morning I think the thing that actually woke me up was a baby in the room next door crying (Remind me to never ever have kids)...Dan is still fast asleep so I get up, have a quiet shower as not to wake him, put on my new coat (which is size small btw, the first time I had a 'small' anything, gotta love America) and head out for the day. My first stop was the Aria Poker room to say bye to Ben. He had tilted me and Dan a little bit this trip but the guy had flown in to see me and play poker with me so the decent thing to do was to say bye and have a safe flight etc.
Ben and the guy with a unreadable poker face:
So I say bye to Ben and head to Planet Hollywood for brunch. I clear my comps out that I'd made the previous day and have my free holiday turkey.
The game at PH didn't look that great so I decide to go and give Caesars Palace a go. Now that I'm in the green for the trip it's time to put up a buffer and try and get this free trip! Arrive at Caesars and buy in for the max:
I like the Caesars Palace poker room. The staff seemed good and the chairs you sit in were probs the best I've used in Vegas so far. The Poker room has a very sportsbooky feeling too it as well, with Sports TV on, pictures of famous sports moments on the wall and the giant sportsbook just outside. Not a huge sports fan tbh but it seems to attract lots of fun players to the tables.
One bad habit I have at the moment is using my phone at the table when I have folded. At one point a few months ago I would be looking at my phone from the time I fold until the time it was my time to act, not having a clue what happened in the hand previous. Has to be a massive leak. At the start of the week I said to Dan if he ever saw me at the table on my phone I had to pay him $1. So far I've only paid him $1 but he has gone easy on me, the real number probs should of been $20+. But I am trying to focus more when I'm not actually in the hand.
I played really well this session I thought, got some good cards but made some good plays as well and overall just had a really good control and feeling over the table. Also was dealt AA twice and both times they held up in small pots By this point Dan had woken up but decided to stay at the Aria and play $2/$5, we had CUT booked for 7pm that night so decided to stay grinding where we're and just meet later and head to CUT together.
When some people go on vacation and this is the view they see:
When I go on vacation this is the view I end up seeing:
Haha
In the end I finished the session up $140. Found out it's actually all Caesars properties which are running the 'play 3 hours get a free buffet promotion' so I claim my free buffet voucher which expires in 48 hours so will be used tomorrow most likely. So I leave Caesars and walk back to Aria to meet Dan and to start getting ready for the night out. As I'm walking out of Caesars I see this:
Pretty tilting as me and Martin on the last trip probably wasted at least 7 hours of the trip walking to and from the Venetian and Planet Hollywood and this Earl being in Caesars would be a lot closer. Guess we know for next time!
I arrive back at Aria and I've still got about 40 mins before I need to start getting ready so I take my seat at a poker table for a quick session. Pretty early on it's limped UTG, some guy raises to $10, guy to my right calls, I call on the btn with 44, guy in the BB calls and the UTG limper calls. Flop is Q42r (Weee). It's checked to me and I bet $27 and just the Asian guy in the BB calls. Turn 7s which brings a backdoor flush draw. One thing I've been working on is keeping track of sizes of pots and betting based on that. So when he checked, I bet $80. The old Tom who didn't track the size of the pot probs bets $45 there I think. Now he jams for like $200ish total and I snap. River Jh and he mucks his hand. Well at least that's CUT paid for tonight Another thing I've noticed about Vegas poker is that people string bet alot, slowly dropping chips into the pot, putting a big stack of chips in and taking some back etc and the cardroom seem very relaxed on it. Almost every session I would see at least 10 times something would be classed a string bet in Malta/UK but in Vegas it's fine. Anyway, it was time to get ready I end the quick session plus $215.
Dan had a pretty swingy day at the tables. He started by winning $160 on his very first $1/$3 hand to being stuck $800 at $2/$5 (Got it all in with JTdd v AKdd on Jc Qd 2d flop, board ran out and the river was a T to give AK a straight). In the end he finished the session plus $15 which he happily accepted after being stuck so much at one point.
A couple of small random things that tilt me about the Aria. I get static electric shocks off everything (Does anyone else get this in Vegas because Dan said he doesn't) but for me the lift buttons and door hands shock me every time. I almost jumped 10 feet in the air the other day when I put my empty bottle of water in the bin and mistakenly touched the metal bit. The other thing is the lifts make me feel sea/car sick. I've never felt this in a lift before but in the Aria I feel like I want to vom everytime I take the short lift journey. So after I leave the poker room I head back to our room to get ready, after getting shocked twice and feeling sick in the lift I get back, shower and iron my shirt.
We walk to CUT, the strip was rammed and pretty tilting but with views like this you can't really complain.
We arrive at CUT and take our seats in the restaurant. The waitress asks Dan for his ID but doesn't ask for mine which was pretty tilting as someone at the Poker table earlier in the week guessed I was at least 30 This is my 5th time at CUT and each time I am blown away with the food and service. We went for pork belly for starter and then the tasting of New York which is pretty much three bits of different steak, including a 2oz Japanese wagyu which is just unbelievable.
Not flipping for this one:
CUT was as good as always and well worth it as a once a trip treat. After CUT we decided to head to the Stratosphere bar for some drinks at the roof top bar. Dan had never been to the top of the Stratosphere and I would definitely recommend if you've never been. It's also free to the top if you say you'll be drinking in the lounge. When we got to the lifts they were all shut down and we were told we had to come back a bit later (turns out someone was smoking in a toilet at the top which set the alarms off and shut down all the lifts...). So we grab some drinks at the bar in the Casino and after head back to the lifts to take the ear popping 107 floor trip to the top. The views at night at the top of Stratosphere are just unreal. You really forget how BIG Vegas is when you just stay on the strip but when you see all the lights you realise that the size of the thing, most of which has only appeared in the last 60 years. It's also crazy to see where the lights just stop and then there is total darkness because you realise that is just the desert back there and Vegas really is just in the middle of no where.
Starting to look a little worse for wear
After a few drinks in the bar we get a taxi to MGM and Hakkasan. We'd met a club promoter earlier in the week and without asking he messaged me earlier that day to say that he'd added our names to the exclusive guest list and it would be free entry for us. The 'exclusive guest list' wasn't so exclusive after all with just about everyone going into the club on it, it was free entry though. So after going through more security than you do at the airport we get into the club. When you enter the club you can either turn right or go left, upstairs to a different area, not knowing which way to go we just followed the 'right is always right' approach and went to right. We enter this pretty small club/bar which is totally rammed, we slowly snake our way around and get to the bar to get some more drinks. It turned out this was the Hip-hop bar. We didn't really like the music all that much and with no where really to stand due to how busy it was we decided to head out and see what the club up the stairs was like.
The club up the stairs was alot bigger and was the main club of Hakkasan. It was still proper packed though and the music was so loud you couldn't even shout into each others ears (I sound like such an old man). We grab a few more drinks here. The club is pretty balla, lots of people getting table service, beautiful girls everywhere you look dancing on the tables etc. Every so often they would bring a giant bottle of something out to a table, the bottle would be brought out by 5 models all with flags and signs saying 'G' and the bottle would have a sparkler in it, unsure of the cost of the bottles but guessing they're not cheap. There was a guy who must of been around our age at the best table in the bar which was directly opposite the DJ. He was surrounded by models, he'd ordered a bunch of these G sparkler drinks and at one point the DJ stopped the music, more models came out of the back holding signs that said 'Scott' and everyone was chanting "Scott, Scott, Scott" No clue who the guy was and most likely it was paid for by Mummy and Daddy but seeing stuff like that does give me motivation to smash life up. We head to the packed dance floor for a little dance. A few times models on the platforms above would come out and just start throwing bucketfulls of $1 notes into the crowd. I said to Dan that this was his chance to be up for the trip
(Can't see it in the pic but the girl in the pink dress on the right probs had the best bum I have ever seen)
The music was good and at one point they even put on Oasis. Being a DJ has to be one of the best jobs in the world and I have actually already booked to have DJ lessons when I get back to Malta. At about 2am we decided that we'd had enough and left deafened and a little lighter in the pocket for the night but overall a pretty awesome time! Got back to the room and fell asleep in my shirt and trousers.
One more full day of Vegas left! Time to get those numbers in.
Cheers for reading.
But let's start the day from the beginning. So I go to sleep around 4:30am and by 6:30am I am wide awake again. Jet lag is still screwing me over. This morning I think the thing that actually woke me up was a baby in the room next door crying (Remind me to never ever have kids)...Dan is still fast asleep so I get up, have a quiet shower as not to wake him, put on my new coat (which is size small btw, the first time I had a 'small' anything, gotta love America) and head out for the day. My first stop was the Aria Poker room to say bye to Ben. He had tilted me and Dan a little bit this trip but the guy had flown in to see me and play poker with me so the decent thing to do was to say bye and have a safe flight etc.
Ben and the guy with a unreadable poker face:
So I say bye to Ben and head to Planet Hollywood for brunch. I clear my comps out that I'd made the previous day and have my free holiday turkey.
The game at PH didn't look that great so I decide to go and give Caesars Palace a go. Now that I'm in the green for the trip it's time to put up a buffer and try and get this free trip! Arrive at Caesars and buy in for the max:
I like the Caesars Palace poker room. The staff seemed good and the chairs you sit in were probs the best I've used in Vegas so far. The Poker room has a very sportsbooky feeling too it as well, with Sports TV on, pictures of famous sports moments on the wall and the giant sportsbook just outside. Not a huge sports fan tbh but it seems to attract lots of fun players to the tables.
One bad habit I have at the moment is using my phone at the table when I have folded. At one point a few months ago I would be looking at my phone from the time I fold until the time it was my time to act, not having a clue what happened in the hand previous. Has to be a massive leak. At the start of the week I said to Dan if he ever saw me at the table on my phone I had to pay him $1. So far I've only paid him $1 but he has gone easy on me, the real number probs should of been $20+. But I am trying to focus more when I'm not actually in the hand.
I played really well this session I thought, got some good cards but made some good plays as well and overall just had a really good control and feeling over the table. Also was dealt AA twice and both times they held up in small pots
By this point Dan had woken up but decided to stay at the Aria and play $2/$5, we had CUT booked for 7pm that night so decided to stay grinding where we're and just meet later and head to CUT together.When some people go on vacation and this is the view they see:
When I go on vacation this is the view I end up seeing:
Spoiler:
Haha
In the end I finished the session up $140. Found out it's actually all Caesars properties which are running the 'play 3 hours get a free buffet promotion' so I claim my free buffet voucher which expires in 48 hours so will be used tomorrow most likely. So I leave Caesars and walk back to Aria to meet Dan and to start getting ready for the night out. As I'm walking out of Caesars I see this:
Pretty tilting as me and Martin on the last trip probably wasted at least 7 hours of the trip walking to and from the Venetian and Planet Hollywood and this Earl being in Caesars would be a lot closer. Guess we know for next time!
I arrive back at Aria and I've still got about 40 mins before I need to start getting ready so I take my seat at a poker table for a quick session. Pretty early on it's limped UTG, some guy raises to $10, guy to my right calls, I call on the btn with 44, guy in the BB calls and the UTG limper calls. Flop is Q42r (Weee). It's checked to me and I bet $27 and just the Asian guy in the BB calls. Turn 7s which brings a backdoor flush draw. One thing I've been working on is keeping track of sizes of pots and betting based on that. So when he checked, I bet $80. The old Tom who didn't track the size of the pot probs bets $45 there I think. Now he jams for like $200ish total and I snap. River Jh and he mucks his hand. Well at least that's CUT paid for tonight
Another thing I've noticed about Vegas poker is that people string bet alot, slowly dropping chips into the pot, putting a big stack of chips in and taking some back etc and the cardroom seem very relaxed on it. Almost every session I would see at least 10 times something would be classed a string bet in Malta/UK but in Vegas it's fine. Anyway, it was time to get ready I end the quick session plus $215.Dan had a pretty swingy day at the tables. He started by winning $160 on his very first $1/$3 hand to being stuck $800 at $2/$5 (Got it all in with JTdd v AKdd on Jc Qd 2d flop, board ran out and the river was a T to give AK a straight). In the end he finished the session plus $15 which he happily accepted after being stuck so much at one point.
A couple of small random things that tilt me about the Aria. I get static electric shocks off everything (Does anyone else get this in Vegas because Dan said he doesn't) but for me the lift buttons and door hands shock me every time. I almost jumped 10 feet in the air the other day when I put my empty bottle of water in the bin and mistakenly touched the metal bit. The other thing is the lifts make me feel sea/car sick. I've never felt this in a lift before but in the Aria I feel like I want to vom everytime I take the short lift journey. So after I leave the poker room I head back to our room to get ready, after getting shocked twice and feeling sick in the lift I get back, shower and iron my shirt.
We walk to CUT, the strip was rammed and pretty tilting but with views like this you can't really complain.
We arrive at CUT and take our seats in the restaurant. The waitress asks Dan for his ID but doesn't ask for mine which was pretty tilting as someone at the Poker table earlier in the week guessed I was at least 30
This is my 5th time at CUT and each time I am blown away with the food and service. We went for pork belly for starter and then the tasting of New York which is pretty much three bits of different steak, including a 2oz Japanese wagyu which is just unbelievable. Not flipping for this one:
CUT was as good as always and well worth it as a once a trip treat. After CUT we decided to head to the Stratosphere bar for some drinks at the roof top bar. Dan had never been to the top of the Stratosphere and I would definitely recommend if you've never been. It's also free to the top if you say you'll be drinking in the lounge. When we got to the lifts they were all shut down and we were told we had to come back a bit later (turns out someone was smoking in a toilet at the top which set the alarms off and shut down all the lifts...). So we grab some drinks at the bar in the Casino and after head back to the lifts to take the ear popping 107 floor trip to the top. The views at night at the top of Stratosphere are just unreal. You really forget how BIG Vegas is when you just stay on the strip but when you see all the lights you realise that the size of the thing, most of which has only appeared in the last 60 years. It's also crazy to see where the lights just stop and then there is total darkness because you realise that is just the desert back there and Vegas really is just in the middle of no where.
Starting to look a little worse for wear
After a few drinks in the bar we get a taxi to MGM and Hakkasan. We'd met a club promoter earlier in the week and without asking he messaged me earlier that day to say that he'd added our names to the exclusive guest list and it would be free entry for us. The 'exclusive guest list' wasn't so exclusive after all with just about everyone going into the club on it, it was free entry though. So after going through more security than you do at the airport we get into the club. When you enter the club you can either turn right or go left, upstairs to a different area, not knowing which way to go we just followed the 'right is always right' approach and went to right. We enter this pretty small club/bar which is totally rammed, we slowly snake our way around and get to the bar to get some more drinks. It turned out this was the Hip-hop bar. We didn't really like the music all that much and with no where really to stand due to how busy it was we decided to head out and see what the club up the stairs was like.
The club up the stairs was alot bigger and was the main club of Hakkasan. It was still proper packed though and the music was so loud you couldn't even shout into each others ears (I sound like such an old man). We grab a few more drinks here. The club is pretty balla, lots of people getting table service, beautiful girls everywhere you look dancing on the tables etc. Every so often they would bring a giant bottle of something out to a table, the bottle would be brought out by 5 models all with flags and signs saying 'G' and the bottle would have a sparkler in it, unsure of the cost of the bottles but guessing they're not cheap. There was a guy who must of been around our age at the best table in the bar which was directly opposite the DJ. He was surrounded by models, he'd ordered a bunch of these G sparkler drinks and at one point the DJ stopped the music, more models came out of the back holding signs that said 'Scott' and everyone was chanting "Scott, Scott, Scott" No clue who the guy was and most likely it was paid for by Mummy and Daddy but seeing stuff like that does give me motivation to smash life up. We head to the packed dance floor for a little dance. A few times models on the platforms above would come out and just start throwing bucketfulls of $1 notes into the crowd. I said to Dan that this was his chance to be up for the trip
(Can't see it in the pic but the girl in the pink dress on the right probs had the best bum I have ever seen)
The music was good and at one point they even put on Oasis
. Being a DJ has to be one of the best jobs in the world and I have actually already booked to have DJ lessons when I get back to Malta. At about 2am we decided that we'd had enough and left deafened and a little lighter in the pocket for the night but overall a pretty awesome time! Got back to the room and fell asleep in my shirt and trousers.One more full day of Vegas left! Time to get those numbers in.
Cheers for reading.
02-14-2016
, 03:09 PM
02-14-2016
, 03:18 PM
Something else I forgot to mention but found quite funny. So we're in CUT on the Venetian wifi. I wanted to see who was playing at Hakkasan that night so try and go on the site and get this:
Hakkasan blocking people from Venetian internet going onto their site. Doesn't seem very smart? Sure there is a reason..
Hakkasan blocking people from Venetian internet going onto their site. Doesn't seem very smart? Sure there is a reason..