*** 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