Team PokerStars Online Member's Nit Adventures in Vegas
02-28-2013
, 06:12 AM
I have spent countless hours and nights in lvl just lurking and devouring all those awesome trs and blogs. I love them all - served ballerstyle, pokerheavy, twitteresque, with or without pics (or shoes).
This forum is pure inspiration to me so I kind of felt bad everytime I returned from Vegas myself being to lazy to post a tr on here. I have done a ton of tr's and tweets (@xflixx) about my previous trips but most of that was in German and part of my current job. So I decided to finally quit my lazyass read-only mode and start contributing. Hope I can give something back to this awesome forum.
Few words about myself so you know what to expect from this tr:
I'm a 31 yrs. old German online grinder, married, huge nit at both poker and life, but very happy with both, going to Vegas about 2-3 times a year. I love playing cards in Vegas and hate crappy German casinos because of the insane rake, bad service and overall bad atmosphere. I enjoy going to Vegas so much I accept that I have to start my trips from about 4+ stacks behind (I play 2/5) for flight/hotel/food/shopping expenses. I have been using a separate poker/vegas USD roll to cover for everything on my trips and as long as that doesn't shrink to a size which doesn't allow me to go anymore I will keep flying over here.
Since I'm not into partying or fine dining this tr is going to be about poker only. Hope it's not to boring, but just in case I will post a ton of pics from my twitter in chronological order. You can then read this thing as a picture story by skipping the text if you like.
To live up to my word here's the first one with a view from our upgraded Go room at the Flamingo - and it even has shoes.
This forum is pure inspiration to me so I kind of felt bad everytime I returned from Vegas myself being to lazy to post a tr on here. I have done a ton of tr's and tweets (@xflixx) about my previous trips but most of that was in German and part of my current job. So I decided to finally quit my lazyass read-only mode and start contributing. Hope I can give something back to this awesome forum.
Few words about myself so you know what to expect from this tr:
I'm a 31 yrs. old German online grinder, married, huge nit at both poker and life, but very happy with both, going to Vegas about 2-3 times a year. I love playing cards in Vegas and hate crappy German casinos because of the insane rake, bad service and overall bad atmosphere. I enjoy going to Vegas so much I accept that I have to start my trips from about 4+ stacks behind (I play 2/5) for flight/hotel/food/shopping expenses. I have been using a separate poker/vegas USD roll to cover for everything on my trips and as long as that doesn't shrink to a size which doesn't allow me to go anymore I will keep flying over here.
Since I'm not into partying or fine dining this tr is going to be about poker only. Hope it's not to boring, but just in case I will post a ton of pics from my twitter in chronological order. You can then read this thing as a picture story by skipping the text if you like.
To live up to my word here's the first one with a view from our upgraded Go room at the Flamingo - and it even has shoes.
Last edited by Flixxx; 02-28-2013 at 06:29 AM.
02-28-2013
, 06:22 AM
Part 1 - Preparations & Journey
This trip was a spontaneous thing. My last trip dates back to November 2012 but I had to cancel in the middle of my stay due to a medical emergency. That left a kind of bad taste behind and I wanted to get rid of that as quickly as possible so I asked some poker buddies of mine if they would join me in February. Nobody wanted to go and I dropped the idea pretty quickly cause I didn't want to go on my own. Next day I saw a facebook message from my buddy Steve saying "Vacation granted, let's book." so I went on swoodoo, found a cheap BA flight from Düsseldorf to Vegas via London-Heathrow, decided to book Flamingo for $50/night due to its location and booked a nitty cheapass economy rental car with Dollar. Steve could only stay for 7 nights total so I had to book 3 nights for myself, 2 of them right at the beginning.
In true nit fashion I decided to book... the Quad, of course! Figured that 20 bucks a night incl. tax and no resort fee would be a good deal. In my memory that place wasn't all too bad after all. Stayed there on my very first trip to Vegas like most nitty Europeans do and was fine at the time cause I had nothing else to relate that place to. Boy, my memory sucks.
On to the travel:
When I got to the airport I was shocked. Everything covered in snow outside and the displays were flashing "annulled" near many flights. That trollface Ronald McDonald sitting at the display didn't really encourage me...but then I saw that my BA flight was still scheduled and on time.
I proceeded to check my bags in, got some nitfast (breakfast for nits) at McD and ordered an espresso macchiato at Starbucks. I order that a ton at the tables and 50% of the time I have to explain what it is (espresso with a little milk foam on top). Needless to say I always get that "lol europeans" face by most of the other players and waitresses.
Then proceeded to spill that espresso all over my trousers - well played, Sir.
When I got to my gate I was still a little worried about my flight being on time due to the snow and ice.
At first I was like...
...but then I got on the plane...
...and managed to nit it up literally with some free food on the short flight to Heathrow.
Arrived at LHR 14:30, plane to Vegas leaves at 15:00. Heathrow is f***ing huge and I needed to get from Terminal 1 to Terminal 5 which takes you about an hour alone.
Took me some time until I realized that I had an extra hour due to the change in time zones. Before I got on the plane I livened
up some of my British memories with a double decker bar from Cadbury. I somehow always got the impresson that this Cadbury guy must own Britain cause they offer his chocolate at every corner.
Via seatguru I managed to reserve a good seat in the back of the plane where I had tons of space for my stuff and my legs. Seemed like the guy behind me tried to also take advantage of that. Should have accidentally dropped my bag on his foot.
Off to Vegas!
Watched "7 Psychopaths" and "Trouble with the curve" along with some stuff on my ipad.
Nits also love free food of course:
10 hours later we finally landed.
I proceeded to immigration, got through quickly and was finally back in Vegas!
Coming up next: Checking in at the Quad and my first poker session
This trip was a spontaneous thing. My last trip dates back to November 2012 but I had to cancel in the middle of my stay due to a medical emergency. That left a kind of bad taste behind and I wanted to get rid of that as quickly as possible so I asked some poker buddies of mine if they would join me in February. Nobody wanted to go and I dropped the idea pretty quickly cause I didn't want to go on my own. Next day I saw a facebook message from my buddy Steve saying "Vacation granted, let's book." so I went on swoodoo, found a cheap BA flight from Düsseldorf to Vegas via London-Heathrow, decided to book Flamingo for $50/night due to its location and booked a nitty cheapass economy rental car with Dollar. Steve could only stay for 7 nights total so I had to book 3 nights for myself, 2 of them right at the beginning.
In true nit fashion I decided to book... the Quad, of course! Figured that 20 bucks a night incl. tax and no resort fee would be a good deal. In my memory that place wasn't all too bad after all. Stayed there on my very first trip to Vegas like most nitty Europeans do and was fine at the time cause I had nothing else to relate that place to. Boy, my memory sucks.
On to the travel:
When I got to the airport I was shocked. Everything covered in snow outside and the displays were flashing "annulled" near many flights. That trollface Ronald McDonald sitting at the display didn't really encourage me...but then I saw that my BA flight was still scheduled and on time.
I proceeded to check my bags in, got some nitfast (breakfast for nits) at McD and ordered an espresso macchiato at Starbucks. I order that a ton at the tables and 50% of the time I have to explain what it is (espresso with a little milk foam on top). Needless to say I always get that "lol europeans" face by most of the other players and waitresses.
Then proceeded to spill that espresso all over my trousers - well played, Sir.
When I got to my gate I was still a little worried about my flight being on time due to the snow and ice.
At first I was like...
Spoiler:
...but then I got on the plane...
Spoiler:
...and managed to nit it up literally with some free food on the short flight to Heathrow.
Arrived at LHR 14:30, plane to Vegas leaves at 15:00. Heathrow is f***ing huge and I needed to get from Terminal 1 to Terminal 5 which takes you about an hour alone.
Took me some time until I realized that I had an extra hour due to the change in time zones. Before I got on the plane I livened
up some of my British memories with a double decker bar from Cadbury. I somehow always got the impresson that this Cadbury guy must own Britain cause they offer his chocolate at every corner.
Via seatguru I managed to reserve a good seat in the back of the plane where I had tons of space for my stuff and my legs. Seemed like the guy behind me tried to also take advantage of that. Should have accidentally dropped my bag on his foot.
Off to Vegas!
Watched "7 Psychopaths" and "Trouble with the curve" along with some stuff on my ipad.
Nits also love free food of course:
10 hours later we finally landed.
I proceeded to immigration, got through quickly and was finally back in Vegas!
Coming up next: Checking in at the Quad and my first poker session
02-28-2013
, 06:45 AM
Hi Flixx!
I don't know if you remember me, but I sat with you at a 1-2 game at MGM last summer in Vegas. You were just about to leave Vegas and I had just arrived. I remember you telling me your buddy had final tabled a $1500 bracelet event (I think) and it turned around your entire trip, and you were happy to go home unstuck! ... I had just turned 21 and had flown in from Australia just the day before... You added me on Skype and I regret not following up your acquaintance by keeping in touch via Skype - I'm rubbish at that... lazy like you! haha
Anyway, it's 2013 and I'm living in Vegas now! Great to see you make it out here reguarly, maybe we could catch up next time you're here?
Loving your TR, you're an entertaining writer! I know you know your audience, writing for your German poker website (iirc?) Also, love all your photos! Keep the updates coming!!
I don't know if you remember me, but I sat with you at a 1-2 game at MGM last summer in Vegas. You were just about to leave Vegas and I had just arrived. I remember you telling me your buddy had final tabled a $1500 bracelet event (I think) and it turned around your entire trip, and you were happy to go home unstuck! ... I had just turned 21 and had flown in from Australia just the day before... You added me on Skype and I regret not following up your acquaintance by keeping in touch via Skype - I'm rubbish at that... lazy like you! haha
Anyway, it's 2013 and I'm living in Vegas now! Great to see you make it out here reguarly, maybe we could catch up next time you're here?
Loving your TR, you're an entertaining writer! I know you know your audience, writing for your German poker website (iirc?) Also, love all your photos! Keep the updates coming!!
02-28-2013
, 08:14 AM
02-28-2013
, 02:14 PM
02-28-2013
, 02:33 PM
02-28-2013
, 03:13 PM
Part 2 - My first night in Vegas
Coming out of McCarran I took a deep breath of fresh and well-tempered Vegas air...boy did I miss that. Weather and temperatures sucked big time in Germany so I found the 60 degrees here pretty welcoming.
Now I did something that may seem kinda contradictory to my nittyness:
On the bus to the rental car station I quickly prepared a tipping roll with a good amount of freshly printed karma dollars from a German bank planning to give them out to all the people who are nice to me. First on my list was the rental car bus driver who loads/unloads your baggage. They are usually really nice and helpful but nobody seems to be tipping them.
When I got dropped off at the rental car station I was damn tried, exhausted and hungry so I hoped for an empty Dollar counter. Well I guess standing in line is the fate of a nit booking economy cars and declining upgrades ofc (nit beat no.1).
Got into my KIA an hour later and made my first stop at Wholefoods on the way getting some more espresso macchiato (dont need to explain that here, yay!) and some food.
Finally made my first drive along Las Vegas Boulevard, looking at the all the night lights and hotel giants, passing the sign, feeling home.
Just like the Dollar counter the Quad desk punishes nits with another long waiting line (nit beat no.2). Check-in took me only half an hour though and I at least managed to get a room in the 3rd tower which doesn't have construction noise - at least I didn't hear any in the 2 nights I slept there.
My room looks a lot better in this picture than it actually was but I can't really complain at all. I was absolutely fine sleeping here for 2 nights:
Nit beat no. 3: had to buy $10 interwebs the first night since I arrived too late to go and buy an USB stick.
On my first night in Vegas I can never seem to get any good amount of sleep at all. Time zone changes, the long journey and all that adrenaline mess up my sleeping schedule completely for the first few days.
It was 10pm, I did an internet and tried to sleep but realized that I couldn't even though I was tired - standard. So off to teh pokerzzzzzz!
I crossed the street and headed towards Caesar's while enjoying the snapping sound of the Mexican paper slip gang and jumping my way into the poker room on that funny moving walkway. Kinda missed all that too. Sat down in a 1/3 game to get into the groove of slow live pokerz and prevent myself from spewing off too much money already on the first night...it's definitely always the most dangerous night to grind for us Europeans!
I got on a table with my favorite Caesar's dealer Han Solo. I find that guy hilarious and always enjoy playing at his tables - off to a great start as it looks!
First noteworthy pokerhand came up which I feel I misplayed with regards to river betsizing:
I opened 6
5 to $10 after it was folded to me on the hijack (what an irony, you nits are supposed to limp in livepoker!) and get called by the BU and BB. Both were pretty young and tight players (table change!) so flopped pretty much the nuts on K
7 2 with my backdoor flush and straight draws. I bet out $20 into ~$30, got called by the BU only.
I naturally fired again on the J for $55 which got snapcalled - so I prayed for diamond or a heart that I could at least potentially bluff.
I already saw the dealer put out a diamond, but it was the K...kinda meh card but I bet $120 anyway (those internet kids always bet way too big in livepoker) and got a long tank by BU which made me feel comfortable about my hand.
When he finally said "You got a boat?" and called with the A 7 I realized that $120 is a huuuuge bet in 1/3 which probably won't get called by worse too often. Decided to call it a night and finally get some sleep. After doing another internet I finally managed to.
Up next: First 2/5 Session at the B
Coming out of McCarran I took a deep breath of fresh and well-tempered Vegas air...boy did I miss that. Weather and temperatures sucked big time in Germany so I found the 60 degrees here pretty welcoming.
Now I did something that may seem kinda contradictory to my nittyness:
On the bus to the rental car station I quickly prepared a tipping roll with a good amount of freshly printed karma dollars from a German bank planning to give them out to all the people who are nice to me. First on my list was the rental car bus driver who loads/unloads your baggage. They are usually really nice and helpful but nobody seems to be tipping them.
When I got dropped off at the rental car station I was damn tried, exhausted and hungry so I hoped for an empty Dollar counter. Well I guess standing in line is the fate of a nit booking economy cars and declining upgrades ofc (nit beat no.1).
Got into my KIA an hour later and made my first stop at Wholefoods on the way getting some more espresso macchiato (dont need to explain that here, yay!) and some food.
Finally made my first drive along Las Vegas Boulevard, looking at the all the night lights and hotel giants, passing the sign, feeling home.
Just like the Dollar counter the Quad desk punishes nits with another long waiting line (nit beat no.2). Check-in took me only half an hour though and I at least managed to get a room in the 3rd tower which doesn't have construction noise - at least I didn't hear any in the 2 nights I slept there.
My room looks a lot better in this picture than it actually was but I can't really complain at all. I was absolutely fine sleeping here for 2 nights:
Nit beat no. 3: had to buy $10 interwebs the first night since I arrived too late to go and buy an USB stick.
On my first night in Vegas I can never seem to get any good amount of sleep at all. Time zone changes, the long journey and all that adrenaline mess up my sleeping schedule completely for the first few days.
It was 10pm, I did an internet and tried to sleep but realized that I couldn't even though I was tired - standard. So off to teh pokerzzzzzz!
I crossed the street and headed towards Caesar's while enjoying the snapping sound of the Mexican paper slip gang and jumping my way into the poker room on that funny moving walkway. Kinda missed all that too. Sat down in a 1/3 game to get into the groove of slow live pokerz and prevent myself from spewing off too much money already on the first night...it's definitely always the most dangerous night to grind for us Europeans!
I got on a table with my favorite Caesar's dealer Han Solo. I find that guy hilarious and always enjoy playing at his tables - off to a great start as it looks!
First noteworthy pokerhand came up which I feel I misplayed with regards to river betsizing:
I opened 6
5 to $10 after it was folded to me on the hijack (what an irony, you nits are supposed to limp in livepoker!) and get called by the BU and BB. Both were pretty young and tight players (table change!) so flopped pretty much the nuts on K 7 2 with my backdoor flush and straight draws. I bet out $20 into ~$30, got called by the BU only. I naturally fired again on the J
for $55 which got snapcalled - so I prayed for diamond or a heart that I could at least potentially bluff.I already saw the dealer put out a diamond, but it was the K
...kinda meh card but I bet $120 anyway (those internet kids always bet way too big in livepoker) and got a long tank by BU which made me feel comfortable about my hand.When he finally said "You got a boat?" and called with the A
7 I realized that $120 is a huuuuge bet in 1/3 which probably won't get called by worse too often. Decided to call it a night and finally get some sleep. After doing another internet I finally managed to.Up next: First 2/5 Session at the B
02-28-2013
, 03:49 PM
02-28-2013
, 05:32 PM
02-28-2013
, 11:24 PM
03-01-2013
, 02:00 AM
03-01-2013
, 04:10 AM
Part 3 - My first 2/5 sessions
After a pretty short night's sleep I got up fully motivated, did a little workout, ironed the trousers that I spilled the coffee over and went for breakfast at wholefoods.
Picked up an USB stick at cricket and was off for my first 2/5 session at the B. I was way more focused today, ordered my espresso macchiato and picked up some pots. Doubled through a shorty with Aces, then played a weird hand a against an older gentleman who had just sat down:
I opened K
K
in EP to $20, everyone folded to him in the BB, he called and announced "check dark" while knocking the felt and staring me down. Not sure what that meant, so I just put him on a range of 22+ that I would put most tight elderly guys on. Flop came T T 3, I bet $25 and he snapcalled kocking the felt again and repeating "check dark". I opted to valuebet another $55 against his pairs on the innocent 5 turn and he snapraised to $155 to which I nitfolded rather quickly figuring that these guys are never bluffing - and with this whole checkdark line I even figured he might have decided to play Aces tricky that way.
He was then informed that his 5/10 seat was ready and took off...which left me kinda worried I might have folded the best hand here against someone who didn't take the stakes serious. Would be interested in what you guys think about the spot - you might have much more experience with these types of players than I do.
Still the session went pretty well for me and I managed to book a decent win.
In the afternoon I went to visit my buddy Dieter who runs a German brats n burgers restaurant on Charleston Blvd. I tried his burgers this time which were really good - had the currywurst last time already. We had a good time catching up and talking poker like we always do. Check out his place if you are around and tell him I said hi
Later that night I toured the northern part of the strip - which I think is the most beatiful part with all the nice hotels like the Mirage, the V and the Wynn.
Stopped at the Mirage, signed up for 2/5 and played a little 1/2 doubling through another shorty after 3betting him with AK vs his AQ. He decided to spazzshove on K75ss against my small c-bet, drawing semidead.
Since 2/5 didn't get started I moved on to visit the new TI poker room which was empty, so I made my way to the Wynn to play some more 2/5. Didn't get into too many good spots there and finished after an hour or so breaking even when I got really tired.
On my way back to the Quad I suddenly got really hungry so I decided to take a detour to pH and take a late night snack at Earl of Sandwich. While eating and wandering around the casino I crossed the poker room and decided to jump into a 1/2 seat...but with another half hour of being carddead and jetlagged I wrapped up the poker day after finishing my chicken avocado sandwich.
Got on the interwebs quickly talking to the wife and then finally found a good night's rest.
Up next: Buying new shoes and more 2/5 at the B!
After a pretty short night's sleep I got up fully motivated, did a little workout, ironed the trousers that I spilled the coffee over and went for breakfast at wholefoods.
Picked up an USB stick at cricket and was off for my first 2/5 session at the B. I was way more focused today, ordered my espresso macchiato and picked up some pots. Doubled through a shorty with Aces, then played a weird hand a against an older gentleman who had just sat down:
I opened K
K in EP to $20, everyone folded to him in the BB, he called and announced "check dark" while knocking the felt and staring me down. Not sure what that meant, so I just put him on a range of 22+ that I would put most tight elderly guys on. Flop came T T 3, I bet $25 and he snapcalled kocking the felt again and repeating "check dark". I opted to valuebet another $55 against his pairs on the innocent 5 turn and he snapraised to $155 to which I nitfolded rather quickly figuring that these guys are never bluffing - and with this whole checkdark line I even figured he might have decided to play Aces tricky that way. He was then informed that his 5/10 seat was ready and took off...which left me kinda worried I might have folded the best hand here against someone who didn't take the stakes serious. Would be interested in what you guys think about the spot - you might have much more experience with these types of players than I do.
Still the session went pretty well for me and I managed to book a decent win.
In the afternoon I went to visit my buddy Dieter who runs a German brats n burgers restaurant on Charleston Blvd. I tried his burgers this time which were really good - had the currywurst last time already. We had a good time catching up and talking poker like we always do. Check out his place if you are around and tell him I said hi
Later that night I toured the northern part of the strip - which I think is the most beatiful part with all the nice hotels like the Mirage, the V and the Wynn.
Stopped at the Mirage, signed up for 2/5 and played a little 1/2 doubling through another shorty after 3betting him with AK vs his AQ. He decided to spazzshove on K75ss against my small c-bet, drawing semidead.
Since 2/5 didn't get started I moved on to visit the new TI poker room which was empty, so I made my way to the Wynn to play some more 2/5. Didn't get into too many good spots there and finished after an hour or so breaking even when I got really tired.
On my way back to the Quad I suddenly got really hungry so I decided to take a detour to pH and take a late night snack at Earl of Sandwich. While eating and wandering around the casino I crossed the poker room and decided to jump into a 1/2 seat...but with another half hour of being carddead and jetlagged I wrapped up the poker day after finishing my chicken avocado sandwich.
Got on the interwebs quickly talking to the wife and then finally found a good night's rest.
Up next: Buying new shoes and more 2/5 at the B!