Scandis in Vegas - a March Madness TR (03/25 - 04/05)
04-05-2019
, 03:21 AM
04-05-2019
, 05:59 AM
I am usually getting on the plane and sleeping on the way home. But I sleep pretty well on planes and don’t have near the time zone change you do. And overall I am in complete agreement with getting rest while in Vegas making the experience more enjoyable.
I also miss the days I could say “I’m not 20 anymore!” like it wasn’t painfully obvious. :-D.
Congratulations on a good last night and safe travels. Thanks for the TR!
04-05-2019
, 10:37 AM
04-05-2019
, 06:30 PM
make sure you drink at least $55 extra in booze on the flight
04-05-2019
, 06:55 PM
Thx everyone! Currently cruising somewhere above SFO on the A380, 10 hours to Frankfurt and then another 5 hours to Malta.
Did the second best thing instead of booze, decided to play VP at the airport in Vegas and maybe win back the $55.
Brag: played an extra 2 hours of VP
Beat: lost $400
Variance: they didn’t charge us for the bags
Next post from Malta with pictures!
Thanks for following.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
04-06-2019
, 02:02 PM
Landed in Malta a while ago, exhausted obviously but the trip went fairly smoothly.
Some pictures as promised...
Bellagio fountains from the room in HD:
Hummingbirds at Flamingo garden:
Utah / Zion NP:
The only wildlife we saw during the hike:
That is pretty much it.
Some pictures as promised...
Bellagio fountains from the room in HD:
Hummingbirds at Flamingo garden:
Utah / Zion NP:
The only wildlife we saw during the hike:
That is pretty much it.
Last edited by MuckPls; 04-06-2019 at 02:14 PM.
04-06-2019
, 06:19 PM
Also back in Malta, after taking a day in Norway to recharge batteries before going home. Quick summary of travel below.
Not as inspiring as seeing the "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign at McCarran:
Not as inspiring as business class:
That said, the travels went without a hitch and didn't feel too brutal to be honest. Managed to sleep a bit here and there as well, which always helps.
---
Before going back to real life on Monday (work etc.), let me try a quick summary. First let us take a look at my pre-defined goals, and whether I reached them or not:
- Work out a lot. Not gonna promise every day, but enough to somewhat limit the effect of food intake. ** COMPLETED ** Should probably have been even more diligent about it, but went 5-6 times at least
- Visit Topgolf (brother is an avid golfer, I can on occasion hit the ball). ** COMPLETED ** Only went once, but really enjoyed it.
- Take the High Roller for some scenic view. ** FAIL ** Just never got around to it. Will have to put it on the list for next trip.
- Play at least one of the 8-game tourneys at The Orleans. Tradition by now. * COMPLETED ** Played it once, and I almost made it into the money, with a 9th place finish with 6 getting paid. Bit frustrating, but mostly happy with my play.
- Play a decent amount of VP, in a much more correct manner than during my solo trip last November. ** COMPLETED ** Probably even played a bit too much at times, as it's very easy to commit a $100-bill or two into the machines. Bit scary how addictive the game can be, even for a non-degen like me.
- One cash game session of at least 7 hours. ** FAIL ** I was well on course, but cashed out after 5 hours and 15 minutes at Bellagio last Saturday. Could easily have made it to seven, but wanted to take profit.
- Minimum one trip Downtown, hopefully two. ** COMPLETED ** Only one trip though, would have liked to gone twice but was a bit too lazy with it. Also not happy with my result at Golden Nugget, although only have myself to blame in the last hand.
- Swipe Tinder, likely without any ounce of success. ** COMPLETED ** I did swipe, and not much success came out of it. That said, it certainly wasn't the main focus on the trip, and I willingly flaked a bit on a few matches.
- Play at one off-strip casino that I haven't tried before (thinking South Point or maybe Red Rock or GVR). ** FAIL ** I just never took the time to do this. That said, it was the goal I was most relaxed about and thus it was easy to put it in the background. But will make a mental note to do it next time around.
- Relax, hopefully with a lot of pool visits (weather permitting) and massages. ** COMPLETED (SORT-OF) ** I did relax more and did some other stuff besides poker, but probably not even enough. It's so easy to get antsy in Vegas, and wanting to be out there doing something non-relaxing.
---
As for poker results, I am actually pretty happy this time around. I turned an $800 downswing early in the trip around to over $800 profit on cash games, and I generally felt I made much better decisions than previous trips. Still make too many mistakes obviously (such as two river-calls costing me $320 USD), but on the whole I felt much more aware during hands and avoided stupid spews with little equity.
For future trips I should look to improve my bet-sizing on later streets (turn and river), go for better value in some spots, and find even more ways to attack weak fields with aggression pre and post. And by that I obviously don't mean silly bluffs, but rather recognize better who is way too nitty and can be blown off one pair etc. There are many of those player types in the games!
Tourney results were fine, only played 5 tourneys and most were small "rinky-dink" tourneys with 20 min blinds and very weak competition. One cash (3-way chop) is probably even better than expected then, although should definitely have gotten one deeper tourney in (Aria or similar).
---
Other impressions:
* The trip seemed to go by super-fast. After arriving thinking there is ample of days to do everything, time just flew by and suddenly the last day was there.
* As always in Vegas, it's hard to relax. Days go by fast (as allured to above), and there seems to never be enough time for all the tourneys and all the cash games one want to play. Although on vacation, maybe some more structure/plans in advance for each day could be an option.
* MGM Signature was a super nice hotel, but on average maybe a bit too far from the action. Although it's only 5-6 minutes from the room to the Monorail, it's still quite a trek to get to for example Aria, Bellagio or Venetian. For next trip I will probably look for a more central location.
* Weather was really nice, but maybe a few weeks too early for perfect pool/chill combination. On some days it was a bit windy and cold in the air.
* That said, the action around the poker tables was on average pretty good with tons of bad players. Clearly the weeks around March Madness are really good for poker.
---
To conclude, I enjoyed the trip a lot even if it (as always) felt a bit incomplete in some areas. But that just means more things one can do next time around!
Definitely going back to Vegas sometimes soon, I guess we just have to see whether "soon" means later this year or next year. As of now I have no plans, but 2+2 will obviously be a part of it no matter when I go the next time.
Once again, thanks to everyone who has been reading and commenting.
/O
Not as inspiring as seeing the "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign at McCarran:
Not as inspiring as business class:
That said, the travels went without a hitch and didn't feel too brutal to be honest. Managed to sleep a bit here and there as well, which always helps.
---
Before going back to real life on Monday (work etc.), let me try a quick summary. First let us take a look at my pre-defined goals, and whether I reached them or not:
- Work out a lot. Not gonna promise every day, but enough to somewhat limit the effect of food intake. ** COMPLETED ** Should probably have been even more diligent about it, but went 5-6 times at least
- Visit Topgolf (brother is an avid golfer, I can on occasion hit the ball). ** COMPLETED ** Only went once, but really enjoyed it.
- Take the High Roller for some scenic view. ** FAIL ** Just never got around to it. Will have to put it on the list for next trip.
- Play at least one of the 8-game tourneys at The Orleans. Tradition by now. * COMPLETED ** Played it once, and I almost made it into the money, with a 9th place finish with 6 getting paid. Bit frustrating, but mostly happy with my play.
- Play a decent amount of VP, in a much more correct manner than during my solo trip last November. ** COMPLETED ** Probably even played a bit too much at times, as it's very easy to commit a $100-bill or two into the machines. Bit scary how addictive the game can be, even for a non-degen like me.
- One cash game session of at least 7 hours. ** FAIL ** I was well on course, but cashed out after 5 hours and 15 minutes at Bellagio last Saturday. Could easily have made it to seven, but wanted to take profit.
- Minimum one trip Downtown, hopefully two. ** COMPLETED ** Only one trip though, would have liked to gone twice but was a bit too lazy with it. Also not happy with my result at Golden Nugget, although only have myself to blame in the last hand.
- Swipe Tinder, likely without any ounce of success. ** COMPLETED ** I did swipe, and not much success came out of it. That said, it certainly wasn't the main focus on the trip, and I willingly flaked a bit on a few matches.
- Play at one off-strip casino that I haven't tried before (thinking South Point or maybe Red Rock or GVR). ** FAIL ** I just never took the time to do this. That said, it was the goal I was most relaxed about and thus it was easy to put it in the background. But will make a mental note to do it next time around.
- Relax, hopefully with a lot of pool visits (weather permitting) and massages. ** COMPLETED (SORT-OF) ** I did relax more and did some other stuff besides poker, but probably not even enough. It's so easy to get antsy in Vegas, and wanting to be out there doing something non-relaxing.
---
As for poker results, I am actually pretty happy this time around. I turned an $800 downswing early in the trip around to over $800 profit on cash games, and I generally felt I made much better decisions than previous trips. Still make too many mistakes obviously (such as two river-calls costing me $320 USD), but on the whole I felt much more aware during hands and avoided stupid spews with little equity.
For future trips I should look to improve my bet-sizing on later streets (turn and river), go for better value in some spots, and find even more ways to attack weak fields with aggression pre and post. And by that I obviously don't mean silly bluffs, but rather recognize better who is way too nitty and can be blown off one pair etc. There are many of those player types in the games!
Tourney results were fine, only played 5 tourneys and most were small "rinky-dink" tourneys with 20 min blinds and very weak competition. One cash (3-way chop) is probably even better than expected then, although should definitely have gotten one deeper tourney in (Aria or similar).
---
Other impressions:
* The trip seemed to go by super-fast. After arriving thinking there is ample of days to do everything, time just flew by and suddenly the last day was there.
* As always in Vegas, it's hard to relax. Days go by fast (as allured to above), and there seems to never be enough time for all the tourneys and all the cash games one want to play. Although on vacation, maybe some more structure/plans in advance for each day could be an option.
* MGM Signature was a super nice hotel, but on average maybe a bit too far from the action. Although it's only 5-6 minutes from the room to the Monorail, it's still quite a trek to get to for example Aria, Bellagio or Venetian. For next trip I will probably look for a more central location.
* Weather was really nice, but maybe a few weeks too early for perfect pool/chill combination. On some days it was a bit windy and cold in the air.
* That said, the action around the poker tables was on average pretty good with tons of bad players. Clearly the weeks around March Madness are really good for poker.
---
To conclude, I enjoyed the trip a lot even if it (as always) felt a bit incomplete in some areas. But that just means more things one can do next time around!
Definitely going back to Vegas sometimes soon, I guess we just have to see whether "soon" means later this year or next year. As of now I have no plans, but 2+2 will obviously be a part of it no matter when I go the next time.
Once again, thanks to everyone who has been reading and commenting.
/O
04-06-2019
, 06:29 PM
thanks again. Totally agree with Signature and MGM in general. Just takes too long to get places
04-07-2019
, 05:40 AM
04-07-2019
, 10:24 AM
Hahahahahahahah, nice.... #openthedoor
04-07-2019
, 10:26 AM