Thank you both for the excellent trip reports.

Enjoy your extra time in Vegas -- and shake off the cooler, don't think you can fold QQ there against someone that aggro (he prob does it with AQ and JJ too). Just gonna run into it sometimes.

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Must be nice. Arrived in Amsterdam while BigWhale gets an extra 3 full days. Just one more flight and 5 more hours and I'm finally home...

I bought a deck of cards at ParkMGM, they are mono-color (all green). is that what they use in the table games?

BigWhale if you play poker and shove with QQ sometimes you will face AA. it's part of the game and you have to deal with it and move on and not let it wreck you emotionally. late in a tourney I got in a 3-way all in PF with a 130K pot KK v AK & AQ and lost.
not saying leaving the table was wrong but just remember that's usually gonna be a winning hand. if you are afraid to lose a $600 stack then fold was probably preferable

Thanks. Yeah, I am not afraid to lose a stack - just look at how I risked my stack with one pair in the hand before that one Plus, I have a fairly unlimited bankroll for these stakes.

In hindsight maybe a rash decision to leave the table, but there in the moment it just felt a bit embarrassing (sort-of) to lose $600 like that. I just wanted to get away from the situation, instead of having to look at the big stack with all 'my' chips. But should probably just have kept on playing.

Oh well, **** happens. I don't regret my play, and like I said in the previous post - have had some nice coolers go my way earlier in the trip. It's a new day today, so let's get after it!

Finally arrived home, close to 24 hours of travel. Super exhausted, will probably write a summary tomorrow or something like that. Was a very fun trip despite all the negative stuff.

i strongly disagree with going all in or fold with the QQ. we have the button and position is very powerful; you admittedly get stacked on that runout no matter how you play it but flat / raise are both valid imo. fold is the worst option of the three.

glad to hear you have a couple more nights to try to get back after it though

Appreciate the reply, and will take it to heart given you play much higher stakes than me. However, don't you think the SPR gets a bit shallow? If I call there is like $300 in the pot and I have $450 behind, so 1.5 pot sized bet behind.

(and yes, would obviously get stacked no matter what on that runout)

After posting the update last night I was exhausted and pretty much went straight to bed. Fell asleep around 10:30pm I think, and woke up way too early (around 6am). I didn't bother hanging much around at OYO, but just got myself ready and checked out.

I will say that OYO has a bit of a different feel to it, the clientele seemed a bit younger (natural enough as I assume it's cheap to stay there), and it's a very small and intimate casino with a tiny gaming floor and a couple of restaurants. But hardly a place I would consider staying myself, as the room was way too dated. Here is a random picture I took just before checking out:



It was a short walk over to Park MGM in the nice morning air & sunlight. Here is a city that, just like Vegas, never sleeps:



They had a room ready for me at Park MGM immediately, which was a pleasant surprise on a Sunday. So I went up there to chill a bit before eventually heading out to play. First tried to get a seat at Aria, but wait list was too long, so headed over to Bellagio instead and played $1-$3 there for a few hours (3 hours and 15 minutes to be precise).

It was a strange session as I felt I played really good for the most part, although not reflected in the result. I started out losing a bit in small pots. In one I raised ATo to $15 over a limp from a fishy Asian player, and a female player who seemed to play decent 3-bet me to $45. I briefly considered 4-betting, but her stack was a bit akward to find a size without being committed. So I chose to just let that one go.

Then I raise 56ss from UTG to $12, and only the fishy Asian calls. Flop comes J-9-8 two clubs and no spades. I think this is a fairly bad board both for my strong UTG-range (although I can have JJ, 99 and 88), and especially for my hand. Didn't see much point in trying to barrel this fairly sticky player off something, so I just checked and folded to a bet of $15.

Also lost a few other small pots, before finding a decent spot when the woman raised to $12 over a limp from the Asian. I am in the Small Blind and find AhQh. I make it $42 to go, and she calls (limper folds). K-5-7 with one heart, I bet $30 and she immediately fold.

Also won a hand with JJ where I raised to $12 pre and got called by the button. Flop is Q-8-6 with two diamonds, I bet $11 and he calls. Turn is Js giving me a very hidden set. I might have gotten a bit greedy here, as I chose to bet $54 (into $50). I just didn't think there was any way he would fold a queen if he had one, but I guess he didn't as he folded quickly.

Random stack-picture:



I picked up some decent hands, and was also fairly active with raising and 3-betting pre. I 3-bet 97hh from SB once over BTN open and got a fold, and I also double barreled 99 on A-J-6-7 and got a fold versus a limper on the turn. Standard fun hand where I use my range advantage on this board to just barrel off.

Also lost a small pot versus the sticky Asian, when I had TP and he rivered a flush, but overall I was a few dollars in profit when the biggest hand of the session comes up. I have raised a ton of hands the last 20 minutes, and probably look fairly aggressive to the table. I then pick up AQhh in cutoff and make it my standard $12, before a young-ish guy in SB - who had seemed a bit loose - 3-bets to $35.

I look at his stack and see that he has around $150 behind. I had kind of anticipated that someone would play back at me, and I do have a much stronger hand here than what I should have in this spot. So I decided to move all-in, although this might be an overplay. But again, it's hard to find a 4-bet sizing that does not commit me. That said, maybe I should have just called in position (see the post above from apricotjello). Maybe I get too eager to shovel money in the middle at times.

Anyway, he called with QQ and held up on a board of K-8-6-J-3 or something, with not a single heart on it. Don't think my play is horrendous, but might be a tad too risky.

Also got involved with the same player a bit later. I still have a very aggressive image when I pick up red AA from UTG. I raise to $12 and get called by young guy from last hand, plus the small blind (a tight player). Flop comes J-9-4 rainbow, SB checks, I bet $20, young guy calls and SB folds.

Turn is an 8, which was one of the few cards I didn't want to see as QT gets there. That said, still think I should bet for value unless I am told otherwise, so I bet $32 (in hindsight too small, would have liked $45 or so better). He instantly jams for around $210, and it's a very gross spot. I ended up making a very tight fold, however I wish I had taken slightly more time with it. Maybe I was too set on bet-folding in my mind (Bart Hanson approves of this concept), but given American player's tendencies to slow-play big hands this was maybe an incorrect fold. That said, I had no reason to believe this player would be pushing super light on me, and the fold is probably ok against most of the population.

I had KK a while later in a spot where a very tight player raised, but unfortunately he folded to my 3-bet. I also had AK once, but got called in 4 spots and whiffed completely (something like 9-8-2 with two clubs, and I had none).

All in all, the result was -$258 USD, mostly due to the AQ and the AA-hand. Certainly not ideal, and I might end up losing all my winnings on these two extra days. But in all seriousness - I don't think so, I think I am playing pretty decent now. I guess I just have to be careful not to cross the line on going too thin in some spots.

Now back at the room and chilling, but will head out to play a bit more this afternoon.

Extended trip results:

Hours Played: 4h 15 min
Won/Lost: - $568 USD
Hourly rate: - $133.65 USD

Random Bellagio Shops picture to close off this post:

After considering my options, I decided to take one more trip down here to play some cards:



Fremont Street was full of people, and the same inside Golden Nugget. It was super packed and you practically had to play 'Frogger' to move through the crowd. That said, I quickly found my location and after waiting for 20 minutes or so I got to join a brand new $1-2 table.



(not the best picture, was 5-6 tables running and not just the one seen here)

My game looked fairly recreational and OMC-ish, with a few exceptions. There was one cute Asian girl, and also one Asian guy (they were not together) who seemed like a really good and active player. From now on only mentioned as 'Crazian' At least I had position on him. He quickly got involved in almost every hand, and also running pretty well and quickly ran up his stack.

I bought in for $400, and a fair bit of these got in play in the first hand of note. I raise 99 from UTG to $10, and get two callers before the Crazian makes it $50 from Small Blind. I call, as nines seem too good to turn into a bluff and too bad to play further for value. Only us two see the flop, which comes T-8-2. All things considered, not too bad. He bets $55 and I think I have a fairly standard call here.

Turn is an A and he surprisingly checks it. However, I do think he would do this sometimes when he hit the card as well, so I just check it back. River comes yet another A, and he bets out $70. Sizing looks awfully value-ish, and I think he is less likely to bluff on a double paired Ace. So maybe I should be able to find a fold here? I didn't, and he showed QQ for the winner.

I won a little bit back with 44, after a player UTG raises to $10 over a $5 straddle. Creative sizing I guess. 4 players see the flop, which comes 4-7-6 with two spades. The straddler leads out $15, Crazian calls, and I make it $75. The straddler thinks about it for a few seconds, then shows QQ face-up, not realizing the Crazian is still in the hand. He does however also fold.

Rather crazy that the player in the straddle only called the raise for $5 more with such a premium, and I was also surprised to see him get away from it post. That said, I don't think I can just call on this board with both straight and flush draws. Plus, I would definitely play some draws like that as well, making the raise balanced enough.

Then lost a few small-ish pots with Ad4d and Ah3h, before playing a hand that annoys me a bit. There is a raise to $11 pre, Crazian calls, and I call BTN with T9dd. Could squeeze but didn't see a huge need for it given my position. Anyway, we are 4 players who see the Q-Q-T flop with two hearts. It checks to me, and I bet small-ish ($16) for some protection with my pair. That said, should probably size up a little bit. BB calls, and rest fold out.

Turn comes with a K, and he leads for $20. Not sure what to make of this, but I call once to see what he does on river. Another Q lands, so I now have a full house. He does however bet again, this time $30. This really should be a fold against this OMC-type of player. But I ended up calling, just in case he is just monkey-betting a T as well for some kind of block bet. He did however have AK for a better boat than me.

Very next hand there is a limp, and then the Crazian makes it $12. I find AKdd and makes it $45, hoping it will look like I am steaming a bit from last hand. No one takes the bait however, as everyone folds.

Then I find 78cc from UTG and raise it up to $17 over a $5 straddle. Only Small Blind calls, also a fairly tight and straight forward player. Flop comes K-Q-J rainbow, no club. I did however decide to bet after he checked, simply because I have such huge range advantage here + get him to fold out a pocket pair. No such luck, as he call my $20 bet.

Turn comes with a irrelevant 5, he checks, and I decided to try one last time. This time I bet $75 (into $79) with plans to shut it down on the river. If he can call such a big bet, then there is no way I will be able to get him off. He does call almost instantly, river is a 3, it goes check check, and his AQ wins the pot.

Random stack picture, think I am already in for $700 at this point:



It would get worse too, as there is a limped straddled pot and I come along with Td7d from the button. Bit speculative, but I have position at least. Flop comes K-T-7 with two spades, and it checks to me. I bet $15, and only one player calls. Turn comes a 2, which as we know never changes anything. He leads for $15, which seems weak to me. I make it $50 (way too small), and he calls. River is the 8s so the flush comes in. To make matters worse he leads for $45, and I groan. This is the same guy who had AK earlier in the full house hand, and he is generally not the bluffing type at all. This is again a spot I could perhaps have folded, but instead opted on a call. He shows K8o that rivered two better pair.

I am now in for $800 and feeling rather bleak about the situation. At the same time the game is pretty decent and I still think there is a chance to at least get some of the money back.

We start doing that when there is a raise to $15 from cutoff, Crazian calls BTN (he had straddled) and I call in BB with KTo. Might not be correct as it's a hand that can give me trouble post. Flop comes J-8-3 two hearts, and checks around. Turn is a 9h, and I have the Ten of hearts. So I now have two draws, and I decide to lead for $40 - which is almost full pot. This is obviously to promote fold-EQ as I have no made hand yet. They both fold.

Then the Asian woman, who was playing fairly tight, raises to $10 from UTG. I am next to act with TT, and decided to just call. She only starts the hand with around $120, but I think TT might be borderline to potentially get all-in versus her stack. Then an OMC surprisingly re-raises to $30 from cutoff. Asian woman calls, and I call. Flop is 8-8-7 two diamonds. Raiser bets $40 after it checks to him, woman folds and I call.

Turn is 9d, so now I once again add both a straight and flush draw. In addition I obviously still have the pair, and my opponent checks. He only has around $130 left, and pot is already $170. So I just move him all-in, and he mulls it over for a few seconds before folding.

I then find AA from UTG and raise it up to $10. The respect is clearly not there, as everyone wants to play with the fish and I get 5 callers. We see T-5-6 rainbow, and I decided to take an unorthodox check here. I thought that if I bet it becomes plainly obvious that I have an overpair, although in hindsight should just bet regardless. Anyway, it checks around.

We see another 6 on the turn, and the Crazian bets $30. I just call to keep his bluffs in, as I think the board is very non-threatening for my hand. A third player also calls, and river comes a 2. Crazian checks, and I decide to go for an overbet here. I make it $210 into $150-something, as I think my hand looks fairly weak and could be viewed as an attempt to just steal the pot. Sadly it does not work, as both fold and the Crazian even shows a Ten before doing so. Maybe I should have reigned it in here and only gone $100 or something to target a Ten, instead of banking on someone being a hero.

One more pot with the Crazian, as he makes it $20 pre from cutoff over an $5 UTG-straddle. Asian woman calls, and I find QQ in the Small Blind. I make it $100 straight, Crazian snap-calls, and woman calls all-in for less.

Flop is not ideal as it comes A-J-T two hearts. Still think I need to bet though to see what the Crazian will do, and there is a small sidepot after all. I make it $65 and he instafolds. Turn comes a glorious K, and I turn my hand up thinking I have won. Not so fast however, as river is a heart, and the Asian woman made a flush with her AJhh. Bit annoying pot to lose, as it was quite big and could have erased some of the losses.

The Crazian then runs a suicidal bluff into an OMC (imo), by trying to represent a 7 on a 4-card straight board. Opponent does however find the call with top set in a $900 pot, and the Crazian loses a lot of his stack. He rebuys and play on for a little bit longer, but eventually leaves the game 30 minutes later. He was a good player, but clearly a bit too maniacal at times.

A short while later I find JJ from early position, and raise to $10 as always. I get two callers, and we see 2-7-8 with two spades being spread out. BB leads right out for $17, however we want none of that. I make it $50 (again probably too low), and get cold-called behind me before BB folds. So clearly his lead was just a 'trying to find out where he is at' type of play.

Turn is a T so we add a gutshot at least. Opponent only has around $120 left, and although I wonder what he could cold-call with, I still think he would have just gone all-in with his strongest hands on the flop. So I move him all-in, and he calls very quickly. River comes a Q, and I turn over my hand not knowing quite what to expect. However, opponent only had 99, so we scoop a fairly decent sized pot with just one pair.

Feeling much better with the situation, I take a quick break and head out to Fremont Street for some 'fresh' air. Now I am only down $100 or so, despite being in for $800.



After returning, I didn't play too many hands but found two interesting spots at least. The first comes when there is a raise to $11 pre, two players call, and I make the call with J6dd from BB. Again too light probably, but at least it's suited. Flop comes Q-6-2 with one diamond, and it checks to the button. He bets $15, I call, and a third player calls behind. Briefly considered raising the flop, however I wasn't sure if this player was capable of folding a Queen.

Turn brings 8d, so we now add a flush draw as well. I check, second player checks, and button bets $20. This is practically 'same bet', which in live poker often means weakness. So I pounce on that, especially now that I likely have a boatload of equity against his hand. I make it $95 to go, and get two folds. So although my PF-call was probably a bit wide, I am happy with the line I took postflop.

Then we find red KQo from mid-position, and raise to $17 over a UTG-straddle. Only straddler calls, and we go heads up to J-T-7 rainbow. He checks, I bet $13 and he calls. Turn is another 7, he checks, and I decided to just check this one back. Not sure if I can get him off a pair here.

River comes a glorious 9, so we make the straight. Even better news is that he leads for $45. I decided on a raise to $107, which I hated as soon as I put it out there. Sure, it will likely force him to call with Jx, however when he leads 75% pot on river there is a big chance he could have trip sevens. So I really need to target those, and I should have made it $150 at least. So that was a mistake I think. Regardless, he makes the call and mucks a bit disgusted when he sees my hand - which to me is further proof that he likely had a seven and that I missed value.
.
That said, it's a pretty amazing feeling to have been stuck over $500, and now have a profit:



Was getting pretty tired, and feeling satisfied having turned things around I just played one or two orbits more before cashing out. Although the profit was small (+$45 USD), I am very happy with my comeback. Once again I think I take some decent lines in many hands, however I should probably have been able to find a few more folds tonight. But I'll take it.

One more day to go in Vegas; hopefully we can make it a winning one.

Extended trip results:

Hours Played: 8h 15 min
Won/Lost: - $523 USD
Hourly rate: - $63.39 USD

Nothing better sometimes than booking a small win after being stuck

Run it up at 2/5 on your last day ?

Quick summary from my part.

Food: Meh. Probably the worst I had in Vegas so far. Pretty much everything was closed, especially late at night. Pretty disappointed with the selection, but I guess we have Covid to blame for that. Was stuck many times between eating at the patisserie at Aria, eating nothing until something decent opens early in the morning or going to Dennies across the road. Usually opted for the second option. I obviously also skipped all the fancy restaurants as I was alone this trip (BigWhale was there, but we were pretty much going separate ways and he is not a big eater so). Two places stood out, Primrose at Park MGM is fantastic and so is the Tekka handroll sushi place.

Poker: Also meh. I played decently most part but had the worst run I have ever had. I lost four pots over $1000 over two weeks, and many smaller ones in brutal fashions. Couple of 2-3 outers, runner-runners, etc. Really enjoyed to build huge stacks tho, and that is something I will have to work on for my future trips - I will have to hit and run the table a bit more often. It did happen a couple of times where I sat down and instantly ran up a huge stack only to lose back to back to back hands and ending up being stuck. So yeah, 3 buyin stop loss and win loss seems reasonable. I will also try and play a bit more PLO, it was really fun but I have to admit I am really lost as it has been more than 10 years since I last played. The tables were insanely good however, played against tons of people who had absolutely no clue about playing and I should have won thousands, but oh well variance is a *****. For example in a 4bet pot vs a guy in a suit and a CES badge who decided to pile in 200 bb on 972r flop with T9o vs my QQ, river T.

Gambling: Ice cold. Was playing blackjack one morning with another random guy at Park MGM and we lost 13 hands in a row for example. I obviously hit the $2k jackpot which helped a bit, but that lasted less than 12 hours. To summarize how bad I ran, and in case you are still reading Leon: MGM has me tracked at -$2000 at Aria and -$3000 at Park MGM on VP alone, so $5000 down with a single jackpot. Not entirely sure how super bad that is, but it does sound really bad on $5 bet.

Vegas in general: Bunch of stuff have changed since Covid. I dont really mind the mask thing, in some situations I actually find it useful (people dont see my face during bluffs or big hands). The restaurants being closed is a different issue however, it is very annoying and really hope it will change for the good. The 20-30% occupancy wasnt really noticable, the bigger poker rooms were jam packed all the time of the day. Another thing that I noticed unfortunately, I guess because of Covid, is the insane amount of homeless people around the strip. I dont really remember it being this bad. Especially the section between Bellagio and Cesars palace.

And last but not least, I was a bit tired and fed up with the bad run and wanted to go home and even said I wont be back for a very long time. And here we are, 1 day after arriving home, and I have an email from my host and I am looking at flights for a 9 day trip from the 20th of March Still a long way to go, and obviously wont book anything yet but there is a chance!

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed it despite the whining and negativity. A dealer at the Venetian explained it perfectly, what is the difference between a puppy and a poker player? The poker player never stops whining

It is under consideration for tonight, but will have to see how I feel.

Currently chilling with some $1-$3 at Ceasars.

Tekka is decent as is Bang Bar (which have good portions for the price). Since you don't seem to have a problem going to Cosmo, I'd suggest The Henry if you're hungry late at night or early morning.


Thanks for the TR. I enjoyed following along. Sorry for the run bad.

My last full day in Vegas for now is well underway - well unless some more absurd flight shenanigans. But hopefully I can actually make it back home this time, although the routing is not ideal. I have a 23 hour (!) layover in London before I can fly home to Malta the next morning. Thankfully UK is one of the more sensible countries regarding Covid-restrictions - and rumor has it they will scrap all restrictions at the end of the month. Anyway, as long as I am in transit for less than 24 hours I don't need a Covid-test to get into the country, so will just book a random airport hotel and chill there/catch up on sleep.

After a fairly lazy start to the day I eventually made my way out of the room and out of the hotel. Proof of leaving:



After taking the tram + some walking, I eventually made my way over here:



Got immediately seated in a $1-$3 game, that was somewhere in the middle regarding game quality. Mostly very tight, but there were 2-3 players there who seemed to have some idea of what they were doing at least. The rest were all just OMCs. Not many interesting hands really, but can quickly run through a few.

First we have a limped pot with the mighty K8o in BB. I check my options, and it comes 8-5-3. I lead for $5 (3-ways) and get called in both spots. Turn is an A, and after SB check I decide to check as well. This could potentially have helped the limping OMC, but he also checks behind. River is another A, and I bet $11 for value. OMC folds, but SB calls and I am good.

Then I raise T9dd to $11 pre, and another OMC calls. We go heads-up to 9-6-5 with two spades. Fairly coordinated board, but I see no reason to not bet so I make it $12. He calls. Turn is a J, and I still think I can go for value here. I make it $25 and he folds.

Also win a limped pot from SB with 98o, where flop comes 5-6-J and checks around 4-ways. Turn is a 7, so I make the straight. I bet $8 and actually get two callers. River is a inconsequential K, I bet $25 but they both fold.



Then I find a real hand in the form of red QQ, and make it $15 over a limp. An OMC calls in MP and the UTG-limper also calls. A-K-4 was not quite what I was looking for, so I decided to just check it over to the OMC after UTG had checked. He bets $30, and I just let this one go. Don't think there is any chance that we are good here, as this is a rather hefty bet for that type of player profile.

A bit later there are a few limps to me and I have AJo (black cards) in BB. I make it $18, get called by a decent player who limped UTG and the OMC from previous hand. We see A-7-5 two diamonds, and I bet $25. Surprisingly enough both of them call. Turn is a T and I decided to bet again. Although I no longer beat AT, I can still get value from A8 and A9 as well as flush draws. I bet $50 and they both fold.

Then lost a few small pots, the most interesting one where I check KTo in BB after a few limpers. We go 4-ways to K-8-2 with two hearts, and I lead right out for $8. A black guy who had played a fair bit of hands since he came to the table call, and the rest fold. Turn is 3h so the flush gets there. In hindsight should maybe not bet again here, but I do make it $17 and he calls fairly quickly.

River is a 2, and I check it this time. Don't see too many hands I can get value from. He bets a fairly hefty amount of $65, and I go into the tank a bit. This guy was caught in a bluff earlier, but I don't see many logical bluffs on this board. He called first to act on the flop, he called turn, and he now bets big on river. He is telling a convincing story, and I have no heart to block the flush. So I ended up making the fold, although it was slightly painful having to do so.

Then the biggest pot of the session came up, which just proves there wasn't a ton of action. I raise AQo from UTG, black guy calls, and a guy who said he had played $5-$10 earlier in the day calls from SB. To his defense though, he said this was way above his comfort level, and he only jumped into that game at Bellagio as it was the only one with an open seat.

Anyway, flop comes Q-3-7 rainbow, and I decided to actually check it. I had checked some flops after raising pre when I got bad runouts, and I had a feeling the slightly spewy black guy would see this as green light. He does however check behind. Turn is a 9, and SB leads out for $25. I considered raising, but ended up just making the call. The black guy also calls. River is a harmless 5, and Small Blind checks. I make it $65, which is only around half pot but it didn't seem like either of them were super strong. They both hemmed and hawed a bit before folding, so sadly no value to be had.

Cashed out after 2.5 hours of play with a profit of $127 USD. Hardly earth shattering, but was mostly satisfied with my play. But there just weren't a ton of action in the game.

Walked outside to get some fresh maskless air on the way back to Park MGM, as the weather was lovely. Here are some random pictures:









Will go out a bit later to play one last session, before the flights home tomorrow. Most likely at Aria, or maybe I will get tempted to try some $2-$5 at Bellagio. Let's see.

Extended trip results:

Hours Played: 10h 45 min
Won/Lost: - $397 USD
Hourly rate: - $36.93 USD

Re: travels. This time for sure!

I've found on long trips, it's nice to have a day or two somewhere along the way to avoid being on the plane for many hours straight. Hope London turns out to be a nice stopover for you.

Thanks. Yeah, in a more normal world this is something I might look into a bit more when traveling to Vegas.

My body is not the best at adjusting to 20 hours of travel non-stop, so having an overnight stay somewhere might make it a bit easier + ensure that one can get into Las Vegas a bit fresher than normal. Let's see for future trips what we end up with.

One last update in Vegas from me, although - like my session - it won't be a very long one. Would normally have played longer and/or maybe even some $2-$5, but have been feeling a bit under the weather last 4-5 days here. Could it be Covid? Don't know, don't care, as I don't need to take a test on the way back home and so far it's just like a regular flu.



For my last session, I went to the Aria and quickly got seated in a $1-3 game. There really wasn't a ton of action in the game, although sporadic bigger pots came about. I was up a bit early mostly through winning tiny pots, before I started losing a bit.

First loss came when I raised JTss to $12 and an OMC in the Big Blind called. Flop is an interesting Q-7-9, giving me a double gutshot. He checks, I bet $15 and he calls. Turn is another Q, which is not an ideal card to keep barreling on I think. So after he checks, I just check it back trying to get there. No such luck however, as river is an Ace that also fills a flush. He leads for $20 and there is not much I can do but fold.

Then a couple of players limp in, and I follow suit with JTo. Normally not a hand I play often, but I didn't particularly think anyone would raise behind. I was wrong, however the raise that came in from the button was only to $8, which is called by everyone and their grandma. We go 5-ways to K-Q-6, and it checks around. Turn is a 3, and it checks to me. I bet $22 with hope to just take it down right here, however the preflop raiser calls. We see another 6 on the river, and maybe I should have fired like $70 here to get him off what is likely not top pair. However, not sure how many good kings I can credibly rep myself. I check, he checks behind and shows the winner with QTo.

Had KK and AKs a bit after this, but both hands won tiny pots. Also lost $12 pre through raising 44 from UTG, but got called in 4 spots and whiffed the flop completely.

Then I make a mistake when there are two limps to me, and I just check my option in BB with KJo. Really need to punish the limpers here and make it $20 or something. The flop comes Q-T-4, giving me an OESD. I decided to lead out for $6, and the second limper calls. He seemed like an ok-ish player that occasionally came in for a raise, but also had the habit of limping a bit tooo much. Anyway, turn is a 5, I bet $16 and he calls again. I think betting twice here was fine, as he called last to act on flop and thus could be wider.

River is a J, so now I finally make a pair. That said, a diamond flush came in so it's not all glory. I check, hoping to get to showdown, but he foils that plan by betting $45. Fairly big for this pot (which is $54), and although I struggled to find logical bluffs something didn't feel right here. I am not sure he would be good enough to bet a single Q here on the river for value, and I have Kd that blocks a fair bit of logical flushes. Then again, what is he calling with twice that he feels the need to bluff with? Not much really - if I think he is likely not valuebetting Qx, then he likely also is not turning a T into a bluff.

In short; I should probably have folded but I ended up calling and he had JTo for rivered two pair.

More trouble against the same player; there is an UTG-straddle for $6, he calls the $6, I complete from BB with Kh5h, and straddle checks. We see K-7-6 rainbow on the flop, and it checks around. Turn is a 5, giving me two pair and I lead for $10. Straddle folds and limper calls. River is Td, filling a backdoor flush that materialized on the turn. That said, I am still going to go for value unless he tells me otherwise. I make it $26, and he agonizes and asks if I made the flush, before saying he has a straight and calling. He had 43s for the bottom end.

I am now down around $150, however was thankfully able to turn it around. It started with UTG limping in, and I do the same right behind him with A8ss. Could potentially raise, but A8 is not super playable in itself. Would definitely have raised A3s-A5s. Another limp follows behind, before an OMC makes it $20 from button. It folds back to me, and I decided to make the call as we both are fairly deep (I have obv. reloaded). The rest folds out.

2-5-3 all spades is rather favorable, as a poker vlogger might say on occasion. I check it over to him, but he quickly checks it back. Not ideal, so I bet $15 on turn after a 6 lands. He calls. River is 7s, which I thought would kill my action, but at the same time the opponent's line could look a bit like AK with K of spades or similar. So I target that hand and go for $71. He thinks about it, but not for too long before making the call. Obviously we are good.



Won another pot with 93o from BB (turned trips), before playing an interesting hand against an UTG-straddle. It folds all the way over to me, and I call the extra $3 with A9o. Straddler makes it $12, which is an odd raise to put it mildly. I was tempted to raise here, but in the end settled on just the call.

Flop comes A-Q-9, which is pretty great as I strongly doubt he is making this sizing with AQ. I check it over to him, and he bets $10. I check-raise to $40, and he calls. Turn is a 6, which should change nothing and I throw out the $100 chip featured in picture above. He thinks about it for a while, but ends up folding.

Then we see an OMC-raise to $15 from UTG, from a crusty old man who has hardly played any hands during my time at the table. I find QQ in the cutoff, and decided to just call. Probably too passive, but both me and the old man was around $400 deep and I didn't want to see a 4-bet from him. That said, this was way too passive from me and it has to be a 3-bet all day long. Two other players also call the raise.

K-6-6 on the flop, and it checks all the way over to me. Definitely need to bet for some protection here, as well as getting value from lower pairs between 6-K. I make it $25, and they all fold. Not too exciting.

As I was fairly exhausted from being a bit sick, I only managed around 2.5 hours of play. I was happy with once again coming back from being stuck a bit, and turning it around for a small +$62 USD win. Not huge, but better than losing.

That wraps up Vegas for me - a trip that became quite a few days longer than I originally had anticipated. But I am happy that I went, and I am decently happy with my play. Certainly not perfect, but I do think I am on to something and that I overall have to be a clear favorite to win in most $1/3 games and similar. But I definitely need to keep working on my game in general, as one hardly need to be a rocket scientist to beat the lowest stake in Vegas.

Will likely post once or twice more in this thread with some final thoughts, results and reflections, either during my layover in UK or when I am back in Malta. Looking forward to getting home, although Vegas is truly magical.

Extended trip results:

Hours Played: 13h 15 min
Won/Lost: - $335 USD
Hourly rate: - $25.28 USD

Fabulous reports. Thank you for taking so much time to do them in such detail.

So kind of you to spend as much time at the poker tables making sure to spread whatever it is you have around as much as possible before you leave. Forget covid and whether you "believe" in it or not. Suppose you have the flu? Why would you knowingly spread that to as many people as you possible could?

I was wondering if anyone else was gonna pick up on that. I also disagree with that mindset.

Not worth arguing about though is it? Def not in here at least. He made his opinions clear on COVID throughout and wore a Let's Go Brandon shirt in public.

Good enjoyable TR so let's focus on that imo.

Fair point / I agree

Man I don’t know. I’m not going to call someone out on the Brandon shirt or expressing there opinions on vaccine mandates in there trip report. They’re letting us in there trip and it’s just bad taste. We have the politics forum for arguing that. However I think Mark is in the right for his calling out BigWhale for his nonchalant attitude about potentially spreading COVID at the tables. Not cool.

If you go play poker while knowingly sick, you deserve to get your ass kicked.