Eating Las Vegas has been raving about Namaste Indian Cuisine, right next door to Lotus (which is truly awesome). I haven't tried it yet, but if Lotus is too crazy and you like Indian it looks like a decent backup.

http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/18/14791...sine-Las-Vegas

And I'm impressed by your Day Seven report, which might be first ever 2+2 TR to use an actual literary device! Exciting! Keep `em coming.

just want to say im officially moving to vegas in 60 days and im pumped about it

Great Read Mooremoney19. Your writing style is excellent like everyone else said. If I make it down there this weekend I will look for you in a game.

Yes...Amazing writing, very compelling and interesting. I am making my first trip to Vegas in a few weeks and reading your TR's are getting me extremely excited and anxious. GL the rest of the way, and I look forward to your next post.

Stepping in to subscribe. Best TRs I've read in awhile.

Day 9

Just stopping in to wish everyone a happy new years. After talking to some locals (and Vegas NYE regulars), the consensus is that roaming the strip is a better experience then paying to get into a club tonight.

Yesterday was a pretty disappointing day at the office. Venetian was packed, there must've been 6 2/5 games running. Everywhere I turned 1,000 dollar pots were being raked in with one pair and A high. Yet somehow I get stuck at the senior citizen table. I've never seen more pots chopped between the SB and BB in my life.

I really would love to talk about some hands, but in 7 hours I don't think I played a pot with more than 300 dollars in it. Come to think of it I don't know if I even witnessed any hands bigger than that. Grinded up to a high point of 950 (500 buy-in), but slowly and painfully donated 150 back to the senior citizen fund.

Went to the miracle mile shops afterwards and did some shopping for new years eve. Bob Sherman might be my new favorite store. I was there so long that the girls in our group were growing irritated. Afterwards, I stopped in at Guess and bought a $100 dollar watch. Black band, square face, pretty nice watch. Too bad I never got to wear it. While eating at Earl's Sandwich (I think that's the name) with my watch bag at my feet, someone walked by and snatched it from me. Some people are just unreal. I guess I just have to be more careful.

We planned on going to LAVO at the Palazzo later in the night, but the line was an hour and a half so we walked across the street to JET instead. Speaking of, does anyone know how much it would take to get to the front of a line like that? One of my buddies, a vegas regular, suggested we all try giving the bouncers a 20. I personally thought they would've laughed at us.

Jet was a real good time. After dancing with a girl from Houston for a solid hour she asked me if I wanted to grab a shot at the bar. Sure, why not. It was considerably hot on the dance floor so I ordered two waters and two shots. That'll be 53 dollars. Excuse me? Fiftten dollars? No, fifty three. The bartender shows me with her hands to make sure I'm not confused. It's funny to me the disparity in this town between drinks for those who are gambing, and those who are not. No middle ground. You're either drinking patron and grey goose for free, or paying 53 dollars for well Vodka and water.

Anyways back to poker. I'm confidant enough in my game right now to get back in the 5/10. If there are 3 games running again today, like there were yesterday, I'm going to give it a shot at the V. Here's to ending the year on a good note...


P.S. anyone else following this Mike Leach saga? What the hell was going through his mind when he confined a player with a concussion to an electrical dungeon. Someone should lock him in a closet.

give the floor a redbird and ask for a table change imo

Yeah, this "never ask for a seat change" rule is kind of like lighting money on fire if you actually do follow it and never switch seats or tables. Sometimes moving is the right call to get position on someone or be a spot where you can play a lot of pots with bad players. And table changes go back to the basic notion that good table selection is almost as important as playing well. Sitting with a miserable table of nits vs a great game with money flying seems to be the dumbest thing I could possibly imagine if you are trying to make a profit in poker.

Yeah my refusal to switch seats does not apply to tables. I put myself on the list to switch to the table with the two droolers but I was late to the party. The list was already 9 people deep. But believe me, never again will I put myself through a table like that.

ill be in vegas from sunday-thursday. im 21 also. wanna meet up?

99% of the time, 10 or 20 bucks will skip you to the front of the line as long as youre not a dooofus about asking.

Give money, say something like "seriously this table is killing me, id really appriciate it if you could find an open seat somewhere else."

Great read until Leach comment. You must have not heard the real story.

absolutely loving this thread.

more moore!

gl at the tables and if you play roulette, bet red (fyi)

As seems to be the trend round this thread, I just want to stop in to say that this has been a great read thus far.

I look forward to the rest of your Trip Reports. How long do you have left in Vegas?

ez game

Loving this TR. Hope you get some run good

Been following your story, nicely written. If the poker ship sinks, at least you have a little character to get ya by. What's next?

You're writing is really good, easy to read and flows naturally. Did you study creative writing?

Day 10

It’s the morning of the 2nd. I roll over and look at the clock. There’s really no purpose in looking anymore. I know what it’s going to say. 9:30. I wake up every morning at 9:30 after I drink here. On New Year’s eve, went to bed at 3:00. New year’s day went to bed at 8:00. Last night went to bed at 2:00. All three days I’ve woken up at 9:30, feeling progressively ****tier. The old man at the craps table has a theory on this. He says you can’t sleep cause they pump oxygen into the room through the vents. I need to close those damn vents.

The booze filled days and sleepless nights are really catching up to me. I don’t want to work out in the morning, don’t want to write in my blog. Consequently, I’m sure it’s hurting my poker game. I never understood what people meant when they say they can’t do Vegas for more than 3 days. Before my friends arrived, I’d been here for 10 days and felt like I could do another ten months. Then I started drinking. Top shelf liquor, shot after shot. I don’t really like getting drunk all that much, but I wanted to make sure my friends were having fun, especially after they spent all day just waiting for me to finish poker.

I’ve got another friend coming in today. I’m gonna have to find a way to entertain her without drinking because my body can’t take anymore mornings feeling like this.

New Years Eve I ended up at the Venetian, ready for some 5 10. There were 3 games running and I got in the must move right away. First real hand I get involved in, I make it 50 after 1 limper in MP with TT. CO, BTN, and seemingly clueless player in BB call. Flop JJ2. BB leads for 80. I call. Turn is the 4. This time he bets 160 and I peel again. River Q. We go check check and my TT is good.

The table seems to be pretty solid. Other than 1 fish, the seats are filled with rocks. I’ve definitely noticed the difference between 2/5 and 5/10 games that I didn’t believe existed. The weak 2/5 players are passive and allow their opponents to control the size of the pot. The 5 10 players make way less mistakes. Even those who play exploitable usually play on the over-aggressive side which isn’t the easiest to play against, especially when playing 5X over your normal stakes.

A little bit later I play another hand with T T. 1 limper to the CO and I make it 60. Clueless player calls. Flop comes 267 and he leads for 70 with 400 back. I make it 200, he calls. Turn 2 and he check calls all of his chips. The river brings a Q and I flip up my cards. 2 seconds. 5 seconds. 10 SECONDS. Finally he flips up JJ. Are you ****ing kidding me? I want to yell at him for being SUCH a douche bag, so inconsiderate, but I can’t. He didn’t mean to slowroll, he’s just clueless. The Asian to my left and internet pro in my right, talk about what a dick move that was, trying to console me. I shake my head.

I get switched from the must move down a couple hundred bucks. Only 1 familiar face across the table. The big guy with the WSOP bracelet for a card protector. “Who does that?” I hear coming from my right, referring to the bracelet. “I mean come on, wear it, I’ll understand. But why would you ever put it down on the table?” I nod in agreement. I tell him it would be like a golf pro carrying around his trophy from last week’s tournament every time he hits the links. He starts laughing. “Perfect analogy.”

We continue chatting. Guy’s name is Brad. He tells me he manages money in the Cayman Islands. I know enough to know I probably shouldn’t ask any other questions. Brad’s up a good chunk of change and he’s awesome to sit next to. Very friendly, very funny. He shares some stories about Vegas, and I tell him some tales from college. He seems interested; I guess it brings him back a few years.

Brad losses a medium sized pot to an inferior hand that caught up. “Ahhh, good hand sir.” I’ve realized that Brad is everything I want to be as a poker player. In a day and age where protecting ego’s seems to be more important than making money at the table, Brad is the exception to the rule. He’s the anti-live pro. He plays well and understands strategy, but he takes it for exactly what it’s worth, a game. No need to berate a bad player or lecture a fish. He just enjoys the game and does what he can to get the money in best.

A couple hours of basically no action on my behalf and finally I pick up a premium hand. Tilting guy in MP opens for 60. I look down at KK. I haven’t 3-bet once all day, so reraising in this position feels like a pretty transparent strategy. I call as does the BB. Flop comes K75 rainbow. Bingo. Original raiser bets out pot. It seems unlikely that he has a K so I just call. BB calls too. Turn brings a Q and tilting regular bets out pot AGAIN. Maybe he has AA. I think for about 5 seconds and put the remainder of my stack across the middle, roughly 1000 all day. He calls off the remaining couple hundred and shakes his head as I flip up KK. He shows QQ. The ultimate cooler. A 2600 dollar pot, the largest of my trip. Easy game.

I don’t get involved in any more noteworthy pots for the day and leave up 1300 dollars. But before I could leave for the day I notice my man Brad involved in a huge pot. He has AA. About 4,000 dollars make it into the middle on a J turn. His opponent flips up JJ and rakes in the monster pot. Brad is livid. He spends the next 20 minutes, telling this player how bad he is from across the table. It’s truly awkward to sit next to him. Guy’s an *******. An hour ago I was basically anointing him the American Gandhi. My true poker hero. It’s funny how winning and losing can mask the true character of a poker player. At times, I’m sure, I’m guilty of the same crime. It’s easy to be friendly and engaging when you’ve made a couple thousand dollars playing cards all day. It’s those who can hold that demeanor throughout the cold cards and bad beats who are genuine good people in my book. I’m starting to wonder if I’ll ever witness that at a poker table…

The post-Christmas win streak is in full effect. No losing sessions yet. Back in the 5 10 and confidant with my game. Up close to 3,000 for the trip and ending the year on a great note. Things would change drastically, however, in the next day and a half. I’ll elaborate on that later tonight when I have more time to write. For now I’m off to the B for some 5 10.

It’s those who can hold that demeanor throughout the cold cards and bad beats who are genuine good people in my book. I’m starting to wonder if I’ll ever witness that at a poker table…

So true.

Keep doing your thing! Are you going to stick with 5/10

A+ Trip report, keep 'em coming!

But do you like to get the daily news?

Great post, hope things are ok, if off to B can't be too bad

My favorte TR i have read on here in a LONG TIME. GL sir i hope u get some run good @ the 5\10

Matt, just wanted to say I love this thread and enjoy your writing style. What was your major in college again?

I like the comment about "people show their true colors when the chips are down". Good observation.

Hope all goes well with your adventure.