I spent the third week of October Saturday to Saturday in Las Vegas.
This is my 12-th trip, last time was in 2011 so I'm a bit rusty.

No poker from Wednesday to Saturday before the evening as I was at an excellent conference. I'm nearing 60 years now, so I just play poker, eat and sleep. A friend of mine with a total reward diamond card got us a room at the Quad for $500 on the 17-th floor tower 3. (I was hoping for a better property) The trick at the Quad is to cross over to tower 5 to get the quick and working elevators. Noise wasn't bad , air conditioning was noisy, but worked. Room was partially remodeled. It was clean anyway. The Hallway walls and carpeting need some serious attention. But I guess that will happen soon. I hope before its rebranded The Linq. The Casino floor is a dramatic improvement to the old IP. Its nice to be able to walk easily from the Quad over to Harrah's or to the Flamingo. The Linq pedestrian walk from the strip down to Linq road was very convenient for getting to the IGI, where my conference was held. Overall I think I like staying at the Quad now much more so than the old IP, still I'd be happy to pay a little more for a better room.

I took the Bell trans shuttle from the airport and it took exactly 30 minutes, from ticket purchase to drop off. But for my friend that arrived later it took 90 minutes. Thirty is o.k. but ninety minutes would be dreadful. I took the $7 executive shuttle back to the airport and I do recommend that service. I played mostly 4/8 O8 half kill at the Venetian. If another strip property would spread O8 I would play there, but the V is the only option. I played 1/2 NL elsewhere.

Played the $150 daily at the V, but finished only 30/85. I'm not sure what the best under $100 tournament is, the structures all seem too fast, but I did play at the TI 10pm tournament and finished 9/30 and again not in the money.

So my trip ended up with a small loss ($350) mostly do to a low sugar moment when I made a bad decision.

Notes: The V now has button straddle on all it games, including O8, some locals find this annoying. The Mirage seemed busier this year. Flamingo also was busier. I tried real hard to play at the B, but the place gives me the creeps. I don't like the new TI room. I do like playing the late night drunken Harrah's 1/2 NL game, but the room is noisy and has more smoke then the old room. I did not make it elsewhere.

I should just come for a pure poker vacation sometime, and later this year I will.

See you there in early June.

Pics of coffee?

ha.

LOL. I actually don't drink coffee, but next time I'll make pics of tea. But OMT dosen't have the same ring to it as OMC.

Coffee is important. However, one must be careful not to over indulge when on holiday as the acids in coffee can lead to crummy tummy.

There are other options off strip, but if you want to play something other than NL HE then the V is your best choice. The 4/8 O8 is unusually going, and the 4/8 half kill LHE is kind of interesting, more aggressive than the game in my home room, with fairly large pots at times. Taking rake every $20 instead of every $10 helps when the pot is small.

Putting the regs over the tourists once again. I mean i understand in PLO but a button straddle in a 1-2NL game is just dumb.

Yes, although I also think it may be a way to sneak up the rake or inflate the stakes.

You should have heard one of the regs complaining about the button straddle in O8. The game almost became unpleasant. (He was of course the grumpiest reg in the game to start with.)

A grumpy guy in O8?

Yes I know everyone says all the O8 players are grumpy nits. But its not so.
Most of the players were fun. In fact there were only two I dreaded playing with.