I'm a single malt man myself. Talisker FTW!

Day 4 part 2:

After lunch I was still stewing a bit over the 7c10c hand mentioned above (more thoughts really welcomed on that ).
I wasn't really in the mood to play more poker but ironically my girlfriend was, so I sat back down with her (managed to get both of us on the same table again).

Bought in for $140.
First hand, I was dealt 66 and called a raise to $7 in late position.

3 other players to the flop and we see AQ6 rainbow (ding-ding-ding ).
Checked to me, I bet $15 and there are two callers.
Turn is a Q for AQ6Q.
Checked to me, I bet $30 and only one caller.
River is the disgusting A for AQ6QA .
Other player checks and I check.

Other player has A9 and I lose a pot of ~$130.

Fortunately the other player was my GF so that made it easier!
It also explained the check on the riverwhen she effectively had the nuts.

I topped up for $60 more and nothing went particularly right from there.
I think a lot of it was just not being in the mood and playing badly.

My final hand involved me donking off ast $60 with pocket tens against a tight lady to my right who fairly obviously had a higher pair (QQ FWIW).

I cashed out and so did my GF. Fortunately she was $103 up (from a $100 buy-in).

I was a bit annoyed since the two sessions for the day had produced a $253 loss for me and put me in the red for the trip.
Also I had not played very well or enjoyed it very much!

We went for a walk down the strip in the afternoon sun and that quickly picked me up. Popped into Flamingo for some $10 blackjack and I managed a $40 profit vs. her $30 loss (the syndicate is still up $10!).

Then went to the cocktail/smoothie place on the LINQ.
http://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/squeeze-las-vegas

Turns out you can just order any of the smoothies and add alcohol, so my 'spirits' were restored with something random + Jameson.


After this we wandered along to Paris and used the 2-for-1 voucher (from American Casino Guide) for the trip up the Eiffel Tower replica. A bit boring relative the real one but got a couple of photos:




Then went to the much recommended Mon Ami Gabi.
The atmosphere was nice but the food was merely OK.
She had the muscles and I had the steak-frites.
The muscles were overcooked and the frites were so thin that they were more like someone had opened a bag of crisps/chips and chucked them on the plate.
Never mind, we've already had some good meals elsewhere thanks to 2p2 recommendations.

Afterwards we walked back up the strip and sat down at the Flamingo $1/$2.
I was in for this:



...and out for this:



+$87, to recover some of the losses from earlier in the day.
This was largely due to a hand where I had QQ and a very loose player at the other end of the table called every street with 88.

Unfortunately my girlfriend could not continue her cash game profits and lost her $100 buy-in.

Graphs:

FTC but not FTW (for the cabinet but not for the win).

Nice screen-name, Mad Men is great. I stayed at Palazzo couple years ago, nice place. With a 4k BR I would play higher than 1/2, or at the very least buy in for more than 120. But I guess I can't fault you for wanting to start out slow and ease into things.

GL

Yes, Mad Men is very good.
Half of the bankroll is for expenses (particularly when the GF is there!), but even so, I agree.
Trouble is that I feel pretty uncertain playing 100 BBs, let alone if I double up and am playing 200+ BBs.
Most of my experience is turbo tournaments - my cash game "needs work". E.g. what do I do in the 2 pair spot? What do I do with TPTK when someone solid raises me?

It's a work in progress, although I do gradually buy in for more as the week progresses.

I don't think you played the 2p 7T hand too badly. His sizing on the flop is really suspicious and makes me think he has a hand he really wants action with and is trying to lure you in (he has 89 or 66/77 quite a bit I think, though T6/67/flush draw plus either pair and/or gutter are in his range too, and maybe a bare T if he's the type to "raise to find out where he's at"). It's such a small raise that I think you need to call, and I wouldn't fault you too much for just getting it in and praying at this stack depth either, though I think in a limped pot that is too spewy a play.

On the turn, I think your analysis in a later post is right (fold>raise>call). River fold is ok, esp since the K counterfeits your hand, but tbh since the fd missed it doesn't change all that much, so if you fold that card, turn fold is probably best.

Also, no offense, but your "chip porn" pictures are a little pathetic.

Here is an example of a proper "chip porn" pic:

Is this yours? If so very nice. What TR was it from?

How did you finagle the discount?

There is no German grease gun. The grease gun is American. There IS a German submachinegun, the MP-40.

Also... pics of chick in 6 inch heels with a machine gun.

Unfortunately not mine. It's from this thread of a guy who was busto a year ago and had to get staked for LV live games, and now plays in Bobby's Room.

They told us about the discount after we made our first order.
Apparently 50% off all orders after the first one (our first one was a $5 kettle ).
Maybe it's on all the time?! The discount doesn't apply to the ?$5? delivery charge though.

Looks like you're right about the gun. I think she used the m3a1 greasegun then.
I thought the greasegun was the mp40 from my the days I used to play the game Day of Defeat, presumably my memory has let me down.
I think it's in shot on one of the pictures of me firing FWIW.

I would love to put pictures of her on here because she is gorgeous (far too good for me), and would get the thread lots more attention!
However she doesn't want me to (which is fair enough).

I know. If only there was a "hand head in shame" emoticon.

They get a bit better, although nothing approaching your one.

I can only hope that my pathetic ones help put the good ones in context.

Or, I could use photoshop on mine to boost the interest levels?

Thanks for that. Still torn between going all the way (whether calling or raising at some stage) or folding turn - both better options than I took!

Now for Day 5:

Got up and hit the gym - pretty small given the size of the hotel, but it was quiet and clean and had most of the stuff I wanted to use.
Meanwhile my GF checked out the shops in Venetian/Palazzo and found some shoes which, whilst being 50% off, still represented about 3 buy-ins.

For lunch we went to a mexican in Venetian called Canonita.
I really like the food here (have been before) and the mojitos aren't bad either:



FWIW you can get a 15% off voucher by picking up the discount booklet for Grand Canal shoppes + Fashion Show Mall.

From here I was dragged along for some more shopping (I have got away pretty lightly so far this trip), before we sat down for a last session at the Venetian $1/$2.

We had different tables this time, so I didn't have to have to sweat her hands.

I was staying pretty tight despite not getting many hands.
Stayed above water by c-betting every flop I did see.

On one of those occasions, I picked up AJo in late position, raised pre- and then then c-bet a missed flop against a one other player.
He tanked and then said "why do you buy-in so short?".
I said "maybe I'm not very good" with a smile.
He said "I wouldn't buy in if I wasn't good enough."
I smiled, thinking to myself "Yeah, everyone here is brilliant at poker."

TLDR - he folded.

As the session went on the hands got worse and my nitty reputation was magnified.
A lady in early position open raised to $11 for the 3rd time in 5 hands, and someone in midposition called.
I was in the small blind and decided I was going to try and steal this pot, given my reputation and the action so far.
I peaked down at my cards and saw the "could be worse" Jh8h.
I raised to $30 and the lady laughed and folded, then the other player called.

Flop was AKJ rainbow.
This is all over my perceived range, right?
I bet $45 and the other player tank folded.
I showed my cards and people were pretty surprised/amused.

I know this is not very impressive by most people's standards but I rarely bluff at $1/$2 as people's main weakness is calling too light, so I enjoyed this one.


Ended up cashing out a small but satisfying +$34 when my girlfriend came over to say she was done.

Fortunately she also ended her last session up (+$16).
This was largely thanks to a 2 on the river towards the end, when her opponent had AK vs. her A2 (all-in on the turn on an ace high board).
I am sure her opponent enjoyed the fact that the rest of the table celebrated the pretty beginner winning the pot.

This rather pleasingly gives her a profit for the trip... of $2.
I think that's pretty damn cool for someone who has only played a couple of times in my home games.
In contrast, I was down $60 overall... although as we went to the front desk, I cashed out $33 in comps for the Grand Lux breakfast tomorrow, and $80 worth of poker rate room charge reduction.

We headed over to Bellagio for another good meal at Noodles and then there was just time for one final picture from our room at the Palazzo:

Day 6 - part 1:

I realise I have probably been a bit TL;DR so I will *try* to make it a bit briefer from now on.
Thanks for bearing with me!

My girlfriend is heading home today and we are checking out of Palazzo.

At the checkout I am pleasantly surprised to see no mention (or inclusion) of the resort fee.
I think this has to go down as a pretty big result on the awkward $20 bribe at check-in.
Good strip view and now $140 of resort fee removed.
Had to remind them to take off the 2 days of poker room rate but they did!

Our final meal was lunch at Delmonico, after all the 2p2 recommendations.
We shared the $52 steak plus a couple of sides:



Steak was very good and even managed to use the Palazzo app to get ?15?% off.

After that it was an emotional goodbye and then the wait for my friends to get in for EDC (aka big rave in the desert).

Poker graphs from the first half of the trip:



Plan from here is to step up on the poker and (to some extent) partying...

Day 6 - part 2:

I was persuaded to go to XS (no food beforehand because "eating is cheating"):



Apparently we absolutely had to have our own table too:



To be honest clubs aren't really my thing.
After a couple of hours of sitting there drinking vodka I was drunk and bored.
So I popped in somewhere near for a break:



First $1/$3 game of the trip.
In for $180, pretty drunk, cannot remember anything about any of the hands.
Out for:



$323 total for +$143. Green chips ITT!!!!!!!!

Went back to XS and by now it was rammed*:



Can't remember much else about the night to be honest.
Edit: Oh... Avicci was playing.

*full/crowded in case this is an English phrase

lol good phrase edit. rammed has more of a sexual connotation to us yanks. :P

Day 7 - part 1:

Woke up and had a look at my friends' room. Pretty good view!



Four of us headed over to Grand Lux for lunch, and while they went to a pool party, I decided to trek along the strip and see some of the other poker rooms.
Started at Harrah's, where the game quickly became shorthanded with button straddles every hand.
Decided that wasn't my sort of game so cashed out my $11 profit.

Next stop was Planet Hollywood, where I bought in for:



And cashed two hours later for:



Nice $160 profit.
I was helped in one hand where I c-bet the flop and turn with pocket fours against an OMC at the far end of the table.
I was about to give up the river when instead it gave me a third four to value bet instead!
Lucky boy...

I was struck by how deep people bought in.
You can see in the second pic three stacks above $500.
At least two players bought in for more than $500 which I thought wasn't allowed?
Anyway, a good run of 5 profitable cash sessions to put me in profit for the trip.

Nice TR, Dick! Thanks for sharing.

People actually wear jackets in the middle of the desert in the summer to go to a crowded club?

How long did your experience at battlefield last? I checked out the website and it looks like fun but it would suck to pay so much money and have it be over fairly quickly. Do you get enough bang for your buck?

If it's a 1/2 game at PH, the max buy in is 300. Those people that sat down with 500+ are likely from other tables where they've been playing

Thanks for the support!

BV lasted as long as you want the bullets to last.
IIRC:
2x7 with the pistol
3x7 with the rifle
2x25 with the SMG

And you can spend time talking about the weapons and reloading.

For me this was probably about ?15 minutes?
Not long I guess. You could take your time with the aim and take longer.
It was worth it for me, but then I can't fire guns in my country. Plus it's like losing one decent sized pot!


I'll just wrap up Day 7...

Day 7 - part 2:

After the positive result at PH, I headed back to TI to meet up with the other lads.
We used up one of our free buffet vouchers there.
Wasn't great but it was edible and the price was right...

My friends then went to queue up for the shuttle bus to EDC (turns out it takes 2.5 hours each way ).
I popped over to Mirage to tick off another poker room.

Bought in for my standard $140 and was not able to continue the "hot streak".

The only hand I made notes on was this one when I was down to $92.
Limp in EP with 8d9d (probably pretty bad given my stack and position!).
On the button an older gentleman raises to $12.
I call (also bad) and flop comes A66dd.
I check and button bets $20.
I shove for my last $80 (to be honest, mainly out of frustration / desperation, but also to push him off high pairs and maybe weak aces).
He tanks and interrogates me for a bit and then folds what he says is a weak ace.

In any event I lose the rest of the stack later on.
Still in the black for the trip (just).

Yeah, except they looked like they came with exact amounts, straight from the front desk. But probably I mistook that, and also it's not like it mattered to my me - I'm always the effective stack.

Rifle was 3x8 (I have one).

Yeah, these places are mostly geared towards the Euros, Brits, and hosers that pretty much can't have guns of their own.

They do have some of the newer ones that are only available to dealers or cops, and some of the outrageously expensive ones (mini-gun is $400k for civilian version) that appeal even to jaded Americans.

This is how naïve I am - how much would those bullets cost?
pistol bullets - 64 @ 25c?
rifle bullets - 24 @ 50c?
Or is it 10x cheaper than that?!

Day 8:

Spent the afternoon at Encore Beach Club:



Pretty crazy.
Lots of good looking people wearing very few clothes... and water.

Also crazy was the cost of buying drinking water when it's 110 degrees.
$16 for a small bottle.
The burger I had was less than $20.


I have periodically been playing video poker.
Today I got the closest I have ever got to a royal flush:



3 cards lol. I'm right not to hold the small pair?

Then I got 5 of a kind in deuces wild which paid surprisingly little:




After dinner, I had the evening to myself again and decided to try the new room at Ceasar's:



Nice room but it was $1-3 with everyone button straddling.
I find this pretty annoying. Surely if you want to play bigger then play $2/$5?
The UTG straddle is "alright", but the button straddle is ridiculous as the blinds have to act first, plus choosing to be the button straddle is much less of a disadvantage than UTG straddle (possibly even advantageous?).

Players at my table seemed decent too and I got nothing going, eventually cashing out a $135 loss.

Bellagio was full, and waiting list long.
Decided to wander down the strip.
Nearly went into Aria but decided to try Monte Carlo instead as I thought it should be softer (less of a reputation for poker so more casual players?).

It certainly felt like there were some bad players there and it was a pretty fun atmosphere.
One player was visibly drunk, another kept showing me his cards (even after I told him), and there was one OMC who seemed to play pretty "obviously".

One hand against OMC I had JJ and raised pre-flop.
I continued on a Queen high flop and he called.
Same again on the turn so I was pretty sure he had a queen.
On the river was an ace and I decided to bomb it, which he sigh-folded.

TLDR: Bought in for $140 and cashed out for:



$130 profit which was pretty satisfying given that the Caesar's loss was a similar size.

You can see from the picture that the tables had a very annoying sunken wooden bit around the table.
If you put your cards there, then you couldn't get you get your hands underneath them again!
That's why some players struggled to guard their hands.

Graph:

Pancakes.

Needs more bubble.

J/k lol. Good pics!