I moved to Vegas seven months ago to play poker
09-01-2018
, 11:20 PM
*** April 2018 ***
Things are going swimmingly since I've come to town. I've more than doubled my bankroll in two months, thanks in large part to the $5k jackpot score. Still, I'm winning in the games and I'm thrilled with the progress thus far.
I reward myself with a cheap watch.
If you remember from the March report, I played a session of 4/8 Omaha 8 at the Orleans. Well I had a lot of fun playing a new game and so I decide I'm going to start putting in some sessions and maybe jump up into the 8/16 game. This plan doesn't go so well and after some bad 4/8 sessions and one bad 8/16 session I decide to scrap it altogether. The O8 bug has come and gone and the price tag was roughly $500.
One nice breezy afternoon I'm walking out to where my truck is parked on the side of the street and I notice that it has dents down the side and a long deep scratch. According to the note left by LVPD my truck was involved in a collision between two other cars and got side swiped. The at-fault party did not have car insurance so I'm sort of SOL. At least it still drives fine and the doors open.
A momentous occasion occurs during this month. Up until now, in order to play at the Bellagio or the Aria, I would have to walk the strip from somewhere like Venetian or Planet Hollywood, where I could park free. Well in April I passed the 75 hour mark at the Bellagio which qualifies me to get the Pearl MLife card. With this card I can park at any MGM property for free. I got a greater sense of accomplishment than I should have for the fact that I never payed them for parking.
On the 8th of the month I'm playing in a 1/2 game at the Red Rock. Its slow and boring and I notice they have two 2/5 games going, a main game and a must-move. I recognize YouTube vlogger Brad Owens playing. With my recently pumped up bankroll I decide its time to dip my toe in the 2/5 waters. I buy in for the minimum of $300 and just chill and watch whats going on for awhile. A couple hours go by and my stack has been up to $500 and down to $200. I get moved to the main game. The stacks at the table are huge. Brad is at this table but he leaves shortly after I sit down. I get felted right away when my pocket nines lose a coin flip. I rebuy for another $300 and lose that in no time. Whose idea was this anyways? Another $300 comes out of the depths but this one comes with fire and fury. I go on an absolute tear. All these Summerlin regs don't know what hit them. When the dust settles and the smoke clears I rack up over $2100 and dance merrily to the cage. I'm feeling myself.
Unfortunately the elation wouldn't last long. News comes in from back home that the family dog of the last 10 years had passed away unexpectedly. Her name was Sally and she and I had become close while I was living with my parents for the last few years. I keep a framed picture of her in my apartment and I was very much looking forward to seeing her the next time I made it home. Leaving her behind when I came to Vegas was tough and learning that she died shortly after I went away was a hard pill to swallow.
RIP Sally girl
For the rest of the month I mixed in some 2/5 here and there and started getting comfortable with the higher stakes. I still bought in for the minimum, mainly because it was working. I'd shoot three or four buy ins at a game and usually run up a nice stack. I remember one night I bought in for $200 at Venetian and ran it up to over $1200 in a couple hours.
Overall in April, although I ran into a few life bumps, poker was pretty smooth and the transition to 2/5 was going rather painlessly.
Bonus pics from the Bellagio and Venetian
Things are going swimmingly since I've come to town. I've more than doubled my bankroll in two months, thanks in large part to the $5k jackpot score. Still, I'm winning in the games and I'm thrilled with the progress thus far.
I reward myself with a cheap watch.
If you remember from the March report, I played a session of 4/8 Omaha 8 at the Orleans. Well I had a lot of fun playing a new game and so I decide I'm going to start putting in some sessions and maybe jump up into the 8/16 game. This plan doesn't go so well and after some bad 4/8 sessions and one bad 8/16 session I decide to scrap it altogether. The O8 bug has come and gone and the price tag was roughly $500.
One nice breezy afternoon I'm walking out to where my truck is parked on the side of the street and I notice that it has dents down the side and a long deep scratch. According to the note left by LVPD my truck was involved in a collision between two other cars and got side swiped. The at-fault party did not have car insurance so I'm sort of SOL. At least it still drives fine and the doors open.
A momentous occasion occurs during this month. Up until now, in order to play at the Bellagio or the Aria, I would have to walk the strip from somewhere like Venetian or Planet Hollywood, where I could park free. Well in April I passed the 75 hour mark at the Bellagio which qualifies me to get the Pearl MLife card. With this card I can park at any MGM property for free. I got a greater sense of accomplishment than I should have for the fact that I never payed them for parking.
On the 8th of the month I'm playing in a 1/2 game at the Red Rock. Its slow and boring and I notice they have two 2/5 games going, a main game and a must-move. I recognize YouTube vlogger Brad Owens playing. With my recently pumped up bankroll I decide its time to dip my toe in the 2/5 waters. I buy in for the minimum of $300 and just chill and watch whats going on for awhile. A couple hours go by and my stack has been up to $500 and down to $200. I get moved to the main game. The stacks at the table are huge. Brad is at this table but he leaves shortly after I sit down. I get felted right away when my pocket nines lose a coin flip. I rebuy for another $300 and lose that in no time. Whose idea was this anyways? Another $300 comes out of the depths but this one comes with fire and fury. I go on an absolute tear. All these Summerlin regs don't know what hit them. When the dust settles and the smoke clears I rack up over $2100 and dance merrily to the cage. I'm feeling myself.
Unfortunately the elation wouldn't last long. News comes in from back home that the family dog of the last 10 years had passed away unexpectedly. Her name was Sally and she and I had become close while I was living with my parents for the last few years. I keep a framed picture of her in my apartment and I was very much looking forward to seeing her the next time I made it home. Leaving her behind when I came to Vegas was tough and learning that she died shortly after I went away was a hard pill to swallow.
RIP Sally girl
For the rest of the month I mixed in some 2/5 here and there and started getting comfortable with the higher stakes. I still bought in for the minimum, mainly because it was working. I'd shoot three or four buy ins at a game and usually run up a nice stack. I remember one night I bought in for $200 at Venetian and ran it up to over $1200 in a couple hours.
Overall in April, although I ran into a few life bumps, poker was pretty smooth and the transition to 2/5 was going rather painlessly.
Bonus pics from the Bellagio and Venetian
09-02-2018
, 05:03 AM
09-02-2018
, 06:02 PM
09-02-2018
, 06:53 PM
09-03-2018
, 09:34 PM
*** May 2018 ***
These days I walk into the poker room like Ali walking into a prize fight. I stare down the lady at the cage until she gives me a rack of chips and then I go pillage and plunder for awhile.
I'm still playing a mix of 1/2, 1/3, and 2/5 but I'm playing more and more 2/5. My strategy of min-buying into the 2/5 games lasts for about a week into May, at which point I suffer my biggest loss since the move. I'm already coming off a loss at the Bellagio and I find myself at the Venetian firing $200 bullet after $200 bullet. After five bullets I decide to buy in for $600. I lose that too. So thats -$1600 on the day. Ouchies. From then on I started buying in for at least 100 bbs and I bounced back pretty quickly.
Remember how my truck got hit in April while it was parked on the street? Well it gets hit again while parked in a nearby area. What the absolute hell?
I start experiencing constant discomfort in my upper stomach. This stresses me out big time. I haven't seen a doctor in many years but this just isn't going away and causes me to lose sleep and stop eating. I end up seeing a doctor and they run a scope down my throat to check things out. They put me on some meds that eventually works things out and I was shortly off the meds. This ordeal caused a lot of lingering anxiety about being alone in a far away city.
Back to poker. I have my biggest winning session so far (not counting the bbj) one night playing 2/5 at the Aria. I win close to $2400 and as a bonus I was playing with vlogger Andrew Neeme and a hand we played made it into his vlog (titled "Rollercoaster Poker Ride"). I doubt you'll guess which hand is me.
The WSOP is about to start up and some dealers I know from back home are coming to town. I meet up with them for food and beers a couple times. They regale me with tales of crazy WSOPs they've dealt in the past. We get to talking about how good the PLO games get during the series and they convince me to give them a shot. I have some experience playing PLO but very little.
Heres the PLO strategy:
1. Buy in for this
2. Keep this in reserve
3. End up with this
A simple strategy and wouldn't you know it worked like a charm. I put in sessions at the Rio, Aria, and Venetian (basically all the places that run low stakes PLO).
The Golden Nugget is running a mini WSOP series and they have a $150k guaranteed tourney with a buy in of $150. I've yet to play a live tourney since I've been here but now is the time. I figure I'll rebuy once if needed and then just run it up and win. That doesn't happen. Three hours into the tournament I bust my second buy in and mope out in disgust. Screw tournaments.
May comes to an end and leaves me excited for the coming influx of players as the WSOP really heats up next month. I wont be playing any tournaments but the cash game lists should be long all over town.
May results:
Year-to-date graph:
Bonus pics
Caesars 2/5
Man lighting his drink on fire
These days I walk into the poker room like Ali walking into a prize fight. I stare down the lady at the cage until she gives me a rack of chips and then I go pillage and plunder for awhile.
I'm still playing a mix of 1/2, 1/3, and 2/5 but I'm playing more and more 2/5. My strategy of min-buying into the 2/5 games lasts for about a week into May, at which point I suffer my biggest loss since the move. I'm already coming off a loss at the Bellagio and I find myself at the Venetian firing $200 bullet after $200 bullet. After five bullets I decide to buy in for $600. I lose that too. So thats -$1600 on the day. Ouchies. From then on I started buying in for at least 100 bbs and I bounced back pretty quickly.
Remember how my truck got hit in April while it was parked on the street? Well it gets hit again while parked in a nearby area. What the absolute hell?
I start experiencing constant discomfort in my upper stomach. This stresses me out big time. I haven't seen a doctor in many years but this just isn't going away and causes me to lose sleep and stop eating. I end up seeing a doctor and they run a scope down my throat to check things out. They put me on some meds that eventually works things out and I was shortly off the meds. This ordeal caused a lot of lingering anxiety about being alone in a far away city.
Back to poker. I have my biggest winning session so far (not counting the bbj) one night playing 2/5 at the Aria. I win close to $2400 and as a bonus I was playing with vlogger Andrew Neeme and a hand we played made it into his vlog (titled "Rollercoaster Poker Ride"). I doubt you'll guess which hand is me.
The WSOP is about to start up and some dealers I know from back home are coming to town. I meet up with them for food and beers a couple times. They regale me with tales of crazy WSOPs they've dealt in the past. We get to talking about how good the PLO games get during the series and they convince me to give them a shot. I have some experience playing PLO but very little.
Heres the PLO strategy:
1. Buy in for this
2. Keep this in reserve
3. End up with this
A simple strategy and wouldn't you know it worked like a charm. I put in sessions at the Rio, Aria, and Venetian (basically all the places that run low stakes PLO).
The Golden Nugget is running a mini WSOP series and they have a $150k guaranteed tourney with a buy in of $150. I've yet to play a live tourney since I've been here but now is the time. I figure I'll rebuy once if needed and then just run it up and win. That doesn't happen. Three hours into the tournament I bust my second buy in and mope out in disgust. Screw tournaments.
May comes to an end and leaves me excited for the coming influx of players as the WSOP really heats up next month. I wont be playing any tournaments but the cash game lists should be long all over town.
May results:
Year-to-date graph:
Bonus pics
Caesars 2/5
Man lighting his drink on fire
09-03-2018
, 10:32 PM
