Bored, so writing up a trip report.

Landed yesterday afternoon. Staying at the Hotel, Mandalay Bay. Checked in, grabbed a Fat Tire in the lounge and chatted with some friends.

Saw Chael Sonnen (UFC fighter) walk by with a hottie. Looking forward to watching the fights on Saturday, though I have no idea where I'll be watching them as of yet. I have a friend who's working the fights, hoping that he can score me a badge or something just to watch what they do during the prelims.

Played 1/2 at the Mandalay bay for a bit. I'm a nit, so I won't get into many details, but I thought this hand was played strangely...

EP open limps, I limp in MP with 108. Small blind and big blind come along. Pot is $8.
Flop is A84
Checks to me in position, I bet $7. SB calls, everyone else folds.
Turn is 8
Checks to me, I bet $15, SB calls
River is 9
Checks to me, I bet $15, SB calls and shows AK?? I win with trips.

Anyways, after a semi-bad run of cards after that, I end up getting in the last of my stack in a raised pot with AQ (TPTK) against a flopped set.

Trip Total: -$100.

Head to the Wynn for the buffet. Delicious! We sit around and trade Vegas stories, and then a few of us hit the Wynn poker room. How abysmal. The table we're at is absolutely boring, the lighting is strange in there, and there's someone smoking cigars at the rail.

This cooler comes up while we play ($1/$3):

2 players in EP limp in, button raises to $15, I call from the SB with A6, BB folds, others call. Pot is $62-ish.
Flop is 1066
It's checked all the way around.
Turn is K
I bet $15, everyone folds to button, who calls.
River is 8
I bet $25, button raises to $50, I shove for remaining stack, button calls with 1010.

Ouch. I re-buy and get back about 50$ before we decide it's time to quit.

Trip Total: -$150.

We head back to the Mandalay Bay to play their poker room again, and it's way more upbeat. The table is talkative, there's a mix of some solid players and absolute gamblers on vacation. One guy won't fold pre-flop and his stack is moving up and down like a rollercoaster. He cracks kings with J-2, nearly felts me with K2o (against my 10-2o on a board of 228KQ), but i'm able to win a little bit of cash by flopping big and having him bluff into me on several occasions.

Played until about 2am, and decided to call it quits, even though the table was so juicy. I raised big pre-flop with AKs and AQs near the end of the night, and got 5 callers each time and missed completely, so I decided it was time to pack up my winnings, get some rest and play again tomorrow.

Trip Total: +$50.

Hoping to have more cards go my way this week.

If you're looking for feedback on the hands:

1. on 10s8s hand, bet more on turn like $20-25, bet way more on river like $40-45.

2. on Ac6c, SB flat is kinda meh. As played, flat river raise. No one in 1/2, 1/3 is raise/calling a 3b on the river with less than a flush.

Bet and donk bet your big made hands when many are seeing the flop, and usually fold non-nutted hands to rr's and cr's on turns and rivers.

indeed... you could have stacked that guy more than likely.

bet like 50 on the river in hand one. c'mon man

don't care what you say about my play.... said i was a nit. it is what it is.

day 2....

hit the mandalay bay 10am tournament, out with AA early on, no worries... played cash for a bit (+130$, nit central flopped boat, villain shoves with trips), moved on to Burger Bar for Ranger IPAs. angus with pesto is uber-dank.

head to Por for more Ranger IPA on draft then MGM poker room for a second. Table is absolutelyl terrible, so we move oon.

Total: -135$

played mandelay bay pre tourney and won small amount of cash.

lost track of time... vegas is like that. i dont' care what people say about how i play. good luck to those who come here. good luck to those that care.... i don't. i play to have fun. gratz if you play better. regardless, having fun, no atm fees (yet), winning, and looking forward to superbowl. put some cash down on giants, reo's was tonight and i'm bombed....shouldnot have played 1/2 tonight, cuz i lost allmy winnings, but that's' how it goes..

hit quad 4s last night for some extra cash and even got some PLO going at Mandalay but it was shortlived....


after tonight, prob down about 200$ on the weekneend,..... planning on killling it tomorrow... too drinky tooo drunky to continue tonight.

you must be a winner. he could have hearts, or weak ace. who limps with AK suited? i want a call from a4. you're better than me. go team.

Fine but at least bet more than what you bet on turn c'mon!

I'm sorry but you play really bad. Got nothing to do with being a nit.
But i do hope you catch a heater and wish you a good time!

Ps. Don't know many nits who play 10-2 off

Why is everyone being such a nit picker about the strat? It's a trip report in LVL not a HH for LLNL. Atleast that's the way i took it, go on OP, don't worry about the strat.

How are the rooms at mandalay? Making my first vegas trip in march and am staying there. $20 trick work?

Been having a blast. Mandalay is such a great casino for Super Bowl weekend. I don't know where I left off, so I'll recap the last couple of days (of what I can remember).

I was pretty hammered last night (which I'll get to later on), so completely disregard the last posting.

I crushed playing poker on Friday. Everything was going my way. Started off at the 10am tournament, was playing great until my aces were cracked (all in on flop of K-10-5, villain shows K-9 and spikes a 9 on the turn). No big deal, still felt good, so moved over to cash while my buddies kept playing.

Played 4 different 1/2 cash sessions for the day. Didn't document any big hands, sadly, but ended up $460. This is huge, considering last year I crushed the tournaments here (up $1600) but dropped it all playing cash (mostly at Venetian... damn that Omaha).

Hit the Burger Bar... that place is great. Ordered the typical Angus Burger, medium, with pesto, fantastic. One of the best burgers, and best experiences so far in Vegas. Drank a Ranger IPA, which was delicious.

We had a very late dinner at the Voodoo Steakhouse in the Rio. The steak (topped with fois grois) was perfectly cooked and very tender. The view from up there (60th floor) was breathtaking. Sweeping views of all of Vegas, service was good, our group was group of 16 were happy and looking forward to a night out on the town.

I went downstairs hoping to play some 1/2 at the rio, but once i found the room, I was a quite disappointed. The lighting was off (it wasn't bright, something that i think can make/break a room), it was kinda crammed into the back corner of the casino, and i waited about 10 minutes just to hear my name called. I scoped out the tables and didn't see anything significant for action, so I just bailed. hit the gift shop and grabbed a wsop magnet (couldn't find much else to show for saying i hit the rio lv), and headed back to mandelay.

kept it an early night (4am) playing 1/2 at mandalay and then went to bed. heard some great stories about the strip clubs the next day.

and then it all came crashing down....

great start to the day, went to the Pub in Monte Carlo and drank several amazing beers. The Speakeasy Big Daddy IPA is nothing but a 10. crisp, clear, and tasty. Had an early dinner reservation at Reo's, Caesar's, so headed back to Mandelay and limo'd it there.

Reo's was decent. I ordered the Veal Parm after hearing the amazing reviews, but wasn't impressed. Wish i had gotten something else for that price. Caesar's, to me, just brings back so many great and funny memories from past visits, so I was really excited to rage it up there.

We went to the Munch Bar (next to the pussy cat lounge) and started with a Lodden Thinks. My friend who went 8 for 8 last year on them got crushed, as we asked the waitress on combined ages, combined weights, # of people getting a "HJ or better" in the casino, etc.

So much fun... until the shots came. I had 2 too many, and started to lose my mind. Went back to Mandelay and saw 400$ instantly disappear from my wallet into someone else's stack.

To anyone from that table reading this... sorry. And you're welcome.

Sunday, I awoke with the worst hangover I think I've ever experienced in Vegas, a contact lens jammed up in my eye, and a quite untasty dry mouth that I still can't shake.

I finally made it downstairs, got a starbucks, and hit the poker table. I made the decision before sitting down that I wasn't going to say a word and keep my head down, playing only premiums.

It's a new table, guy on my left is a maniac. Buys in max, plays every hand for 15 to 45$ raises, and shoves on each flop. Drops f-bombs like it's a home game, but laughs after he loses. First hand i play junk cards, flop a flush draw to his bottom 2 pair and don't catch. There goes 100$. Next hand I play is AQ, i raise 10, he puts in 60, i shove and he snaps. flop top pair and he mucks. keep in mind that he's playing EVERY hand. and he doesn't limp. he raises only. he pulls out his stash and it's like 10k. it's a poker players dream. you can actually watch the whole table salivating.

anyways, several hands later, he's straddling, and I'm in the BB with 2 red aces. jackpot. 6 people limp, i complete (knowing full well he's gonna raise), he makes it 40$ to go. everyone folds to SB who calls, I ship, he snaps, SB calls. he flips 99, board is K high, SB mucks and I take it all.

Superbowl is about to start, so i have to leave, sadly, or i'll get the evil eye from my friends. we're only about 20 yards from the poker room, so i get to check back in on him. the table is sitting with probably 7k (of his money) and he keeps re-buying. he finally leaves just after halftime with 5k in yellow chips and probably 2k more in cash (this is NOT money that he won there, just what he had in his pocket). this is honestly the sickest thing I've seen in awhile, and a GREAT reason to come visit Vegas.

After reading lots of 2+2, i think i've gotten ALOT better at table selection, though maybe worse at playing poker (considering the hate posts here). I'm finding that it doesn't take much work to get seated, take a moment to scan all of the tables (looking for a "fun" table) and asking for a transfer. something that I will make sure to do every time I come back.

So, now here i am, game's over, everyone here is happy and a little richer (they're all NY fans), and I'm headed downstairs to hit some pub in the city center that my friend swears is gonna be good.

I'll def play a little more, but I'm up, which is always a good thing.

Write more later. Oh and to the person who asked about $20 -- the Hotel at Mandelay Bay is only suites (i think 3 types) and I have the cheapest one, since the 2 guys i was supposed to be staying with had to bail at the last minute, leaving me to pay for the room. I also checked in with a group, so I didn't talk to the girl, but I do want to try the $20 next time. Good luck with that.

The room is great - 1 bedroom with 2 beds and huge master bath, and a living room area with couch, desk, and smaller bathroom.

Let's hope my luck continues, and the adventures keep flying at me...

Awesome trip report! Nice to see someone who actually treats Vegas like Vegas.

I am familiar with that feeling after a night at the 1/2 Vegas tables... Good times! Moar!

I really dig your beer choices OP, I'll need to wander down to the Pub at Monte Carlo later this month it sounds like. Nice table on Sunday too!

Cool, no problem. Keep up the trip report. More IPA strat, less poker strat it is.