Introduction

Hi I’m TonySoprano9. You may remember me from such trip reports as:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/10...05/?highlight=

And:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/10...07/?highlight=

(won't list more, but there are some if you want to use the search function)

More excited than usual for this years trip as last year I had to miss the entire WSOP due to work, (Euro2016 and Copa America Centenario) but with no major soccer tournaments this summer (sorry US soccer fans, the Gold Cup does not count) we’ll be renewing our annual quest to win monies and take a shot at binking a bracelet in the city of sin.

Glad to get out from behind the desk for 2 weeks.



The gambling bankroll is currently attached to a drip and is feeding the life roll due to extensive remodeling of the Soprano mansion, but we have managed to keep some out of the long reach of Carmela.



Our home away from home for the trip will be the Aria for the first week then Vdara for the second week. We will mainly be playing 2/5/10 PLO at Aria and plan to play 3 bracelet events at the Rio.

Shoe pic and listo. Vamos.

Subbed!! Glgl
Sorry we didn't overlap trips this year

B

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Subbed! Looking forward to another great TR from Mr. Soprano! Keep an eye out for Uncle Junior though, I heard he might be in town for the WSOP as well

Subbed. Good luck!

Subbed!

Subbed. Always enjoy your reports, best of luck.

Bubbed

Day One - Monday June 19th

Early start this morning with a hangover after my team won the Colombian Soccer league title last night. There was still music and street parties when I had to get up at 5am (today was a holiday here)

To give you an idea this was the furor in the stadium last night when the teams came out.



We also added to our bankroll thanks to Atletico Nacional.



Raining in Medellin





Copa decided to change times on their flights from Medellin to Panama, so I couldn't take the 3:30pm I originally booked as they moved it to 4:30pm for some reason which meant that I would miss my connection. The 1:30pm is completely full so my only option was the 9:30am flight which now leaves me with a 6 hour layover in Panama. Not ideal.

What’s one to do with 6 hours to kill in an airport?

Eat bad food:



Shop:



And start a trip report for 2+2. You’re welcome.

It was also raining in Panama.





Definitely not raining in Vegas although these are not the sort of headlines you want to be reading when you are getting ready to board your flight.



Managed to land at McCarran without the plane melting thankfully. Daily Mail being sensationalist as usual. Fake news.



My taxi driver from the airport was a real jerk. He looked like the Somalian pirate from that Tom Hanks movie, Captain Phillips. He said there was construction on Tropicana so it would be better to take the freeway. LOL. I quickly shot down that idea. To be fair one lane was closed on Tropicana but the delay was minimal at this time of night. Throughout the ride he was constantly chatting away to someone on the phone in a foreign language while driving which I think is rude and unprofessional. Fare ws $23.90. I gave him $24. Obviously no tip. He opened the trunk and didn’t help lift the suitcases out and then proceeded to slam it shut. Maricon, should have asked for my 10c change.

On check in at Aria I’m slightly annoyed to only be given a room on the 4th floor. When I protest I’m told they are absolutely full and there is nothing else available. I’m slightly dubious, on a Monday night? But whatever. It is what it is.

Standard room:









Tomorrow Stud/8 at the Rio.

subbed!

Day Two - Tuesday June 20th

Woke up and headed down to spend a relaxing couple of hours by the pool. Prudently, with copious amount of factor 50 sunblock on to combat the sweltering heat.


Temperature in Celsius. Think it was about 115 Farenheit.



I’ve had the myVegas facebook game running in the background whilst working for the last couple of weeks or so and redeemed some of my points for a free lunch buffet at Aria. I’m certainly glad I didn’t pay; overcooked meats, stale looking fish, no fresh pasta. Not impressed.













So off to the Rio to play event #40 – 7 Card Stud 8 or Better.







My table included James Woods, the actor. He’s a down to earth normal guy, but one other guy at the table wouldn’t leave him alone and kept pestering him with questions to which he replied. I like talking about showbusiness about as much as Tom Brady likes talking about football on a Monday morning. Just leave the guy alone and let him play poker. The guy kept on at him so I eventually put him out of his misery and busted him.

I was going okay and had gotten my initial 7,500 up to about 13,000 when two guys made wheels on me in the space of a few hands at the 600 – 1,200 level. They were spots when I also had a good hand and had to pay them off. Second best sucks. That pretty much decimated my stack and I was out soon after.

Back to Aria for a late supper at Five50 and then headed to bed.

Day Three - Wednesday June 21st

Woke up and went down to the poker room around 12pm. There was already 20+ people on the list for 2/5/10 PLO so played 1/2/5 PLO while I waited.

I guess if you're going to run bad its better to do it at the smaller game which has a max buy-in of $500 as I proceeded to dust off 3 buy-ins

It was a good game, I was just stone cold.

First buy in:
Early position raiser to $15. 6 callers. Im on BB and find Aces double suited. I pot it. Same 6 callers LOL. Flop 9-5-2 rainbow. Looks safe, I pot for pretty much all I have left and turns out the guy who would become my nemesis for this session called $80 pre with 9853 badugi and his two pair crushes me.

Second buy in:
I try the bare Ace play on a flush board and am called on turn and river by a 9 high flush

Third buy in:
I have nut straight on turn and get it in with my nemesis who's called with just a 10 high flush draw which of course hits on the river and is good.

After that decide its not going to be my day and head to the pool.

Meet some fellow British players in the evening for dinner and drinks at Brio in Town Square. A few laughs and jokes was just what the doctor ordered to get rid of the bad poker day.



Ricotta filled pasta in a tomato and vodka sauce with pancetta. Delicious.

Day Four - Thursday June 22nd

Another frustrating day unfortunately. Got seated early on in a 2/5/10 PLO game but was really card dead and the few hands I did get totally whiffed the flops.
I called it a day after 3 betting pot $220 pre with AAxx. Multiple callers. Flop 226. I shove my remaining stack but of course someone called off $220 pre with A2xx and has hit his miracle flop. -$2,000 after 6 hours play.

Lunch at Burger Lounge and other random pics from Aria.

Awesome TR so far Tony! Hope the luck turns around asap. Thanks for putting in the effort.

Gotta admit it feels weird seeing pics of Aria after not visiting even once this last trip after staying there my last 9 times straight before that. Miss that place!

Day Five - Friday June 23rd

Woke up around 11am feeling energized after getting a good 10 hours sleep.

Go down to the poker room around 12pm to find the waiting lists are already 20-30 players long. Sigh. But I see dealers sitting at empty tables. A glimmer of hope perhaps?
Are you going to start some new games? I ask.
No, they're for the tournament. came the reply
What sort of braindead ******ed cardroom management is that when all the waiting lists for cash game tables are 20,30,40 people long? (They have a separate area for tournaments during the WSOP)
I just reply thank you without adding my 2c and wander off in search of something to eat.

Random shots taken from the bridge between Cosmo and PH.







I see PH has got the monopoly on old lip synching tarts





We eventually arrive at Panda Express. Orange chicken and Beijing beef.



On returning to the Aria poker room I wait a bit more and am eventually seated in a 2/5/10 PLO game at about 2pm.

Run good trying to return but still not quite happening. I call a raise pre with A567 (suited A obv) and see a rather favorable flop of 347rainbow and manage to get in 1k effective with the guy who cracked my aces with A2xx yesterday.
I assume he's got a set. We go twice. Top board pairs the 4. Bottom board no change. He flips over 47xx LOL. His two pair got there for a chop. Luckily for me we went twice.



Not really hardcore chip porn but its above my starting stack which didn't happen at any point over the last two days so I'll take it.

I'm picking up small pots here and there and seem to have a good table image which I use to make a couple of bare ace plays successfully.

The game wasn't the best so I moved into the other 2/5/10 game which was running but a couple of the spots I moved for left not long after (one of them with about 7k) and the game became even worse than my original one.
I called it a day with a profit of +$640 after 8 hours play.



My reward for grinding out a win. 2 scoops mint chocolate from Jean Philippe.

Early night tonight in preparation for the Monster Stack which starts at the unseemly time of 10am ??? Good luck to all the 2+2ers playing it.

Thanks. Glad you're enjoying it.

Everytime I want to write a trip report, I seem to run bad and lose motivation to document. Appreciate the great work, and just run better. Cmon....

Day Six - Saturday June 24th

WSOP Event #47 $1,500 Monster Stack about to begin:



Monster stack, monster field and a monster payday for someone, but unfortunately not me. I ran my Jacks into Aces. Villain raised, I 3 bet, he called. Flop all rags, all spades. I have J Spades. I shove my remaining stack and he's happy to call with pocket Aces with A spades to boot. Obviously I never hit a 2 outer on anyone and I'm on my way out the door.

Back at Aria we go to work trying to recoup our tournament buy-in. This pot helps:



I think I made a loose defense of my rock with 3468 and am very happy to see a flop of 57J giving me a monster wrap. Get it all in for $800 effective with Villain who's on tilt and has called off with only top pair? We go twice and i make straight, straight to scoop. That's more like it



Better chip porn today but unfortunately this is the high point. I lose some smaller pots and just as happened yesterday the live ones leave and the game becomes bad. Not wanting to racial profile but Asian players on the whole seem to be better than average, so when I suddenly find 5 of them on my table its time to call it a night. Can always recoup the rest of the buy-in tomorrow. +$610 after 4 hours play.

Day Seven - Sunday June 25th

Woke early with the intention of going to the pool at 8am but thought I'd pass by the poker room first to see what the 2/5/10 PLO game was like. It looked okay and by chance a seat opened up when I was there so I sat down.

The game was actually great. A couple of players on tilt and a lot of loose action. Way better game than last night. I probably played a bit too loose with them early on which led to losing my first buy-in but I knuckled down after and chipped back up picking up small pots here and there.

The beneficiary of all the gambling was the Norwegian player on my left who seemed to win every big pot which swelled his stack to over $10k. Meanwhile I'm grinding for grocery dollars.



I was also keeping an eye on the golf having bet Spieth to win prior to the final round.



His play was somewhat erratic which allowed Berger to tie and force a playoff but Spieth came up trumps in sudden death holing out from the greenside bunker for the win.

So +$1,000 on the golf and +$680 for the poker session which lasted 7 hours meaning I eventually made it to the pool around 4pm.





It was very hard to swim with people standing around everywhere in the pool but I managed to get in a few lengths in a roundabout way.

Dinner at Carbone in Aria. Really liked the place. Great atmosphere with Sinatra and other old classics playing in the background and the food was really good, although a little on the pricey side.





Veal parm with spaghetti al pomodoro.



Shame I'm not at home. my dog would love that bone.

Thanks for sharing! Great TR and I hope you run deep or snag one of those bracelets.

I been thinking about going out there for the WSOP for the last several years but just haven't made it. I thought about playing some of the 2PM Rio Daily deepstacks but looked on Bravo the other day and it looked one of them was still going at 8 AM PST! Seems like they last quite a while for a 1 day tourney.

Thanks.

Yes the daily deepstacks draw a lot of players and last well into the next morning.

Day Eight - Monday June 26th

So onto the 2nd week. There's just one tournament I want to play this week which is the Stud8/Omaha8 event on Thursday which gives me 3 days first to grind cash games.

I also have to change hotel today, although not going very far, just next door. I check out of Aria early and take my bags over to Vdara and check in there. No room available just yet so leave bags at the bell desk.

Back over at Aria it seems the 2/5/10 PLO didn't run the whole night but we get a new game started around 8:30am. Its not a good game. Very tight on the whole with a lot of pots folded all the way around to the opener.

I do however manage a full double up early in the only hand of note in the session. I say full double up which for me is $1,000 as thats what I buy-in for. The game permits a $2k max buy-in but $1k is plenty and my bankroll doesn't allow for more at this time.

In a rare multiway raised pot we see a flop of 3-4-K with two clubs and hold 5679 with two clubs giving us a wrap and small flush draw. We bet $150 into the $200 pot. The original raiser makes it $500, folds back to us and we push all in for $1k. He calls. We go twice and make a flush on top and straight on bottom to scoop. His set of Kings goes into the muck.



Happy to see the first $1k chip of the trip in our stack. This was really the only hand of note I won and I rack up 4 hours later +$1,140

Back over at Vdara my room is ready. Standard Parlor Suite with kitchen and sitting areas:









33rd floor with a view. FU Aria





Pool not as nice as Aria so I'm thinking I'll just continue to use the Aria pool for the rest of the week as all you have to do is show your room key which i still have



My rate at Vdara includes a $30 per day dining credit which I can use either at Vdara or Aria. As Vdara doesn't really have any restaurants I head to Aria for dinner in search of a steak. Unfortunately Jean Georges Steakhouse is closed for remodeling so I give the French Brasserie Bardot a try.





The bread is a mini baguette and comes in its own paper bag. Nice touch.





Steak Frites. 9oz Filet medium rare with au poivre sauce. For me its only okay. The steak is a little bland and the frites are over done.

After dinner I play a little poker winning another $100 but my heart's not in it so head back to the room to watch a movie. I'm getting old. In bed by 10pm most nights now, and happily so.

Enjoying the TR. Hope you keep that momentum going. What part of Colombia are you from?

If memory serves I believe he's American, living in Medellin (from the Medellin thread in Travel).

That's what I was thinking. Makes it rough to try and play a bracelet event the next day if you go deep or to the final table!

Originally from England, now living in Medellín.


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