What, liking cannoli means I’m not a guy? ��

Now that I’m back and rested, I’ll pick up my slack in here. Writeups coming shortly, and I appreciate feely holding things down on his end!

These two sentences pasted back to back made me lololll

Monday was pretty relaxed for me, which actually turned out to be the theme of the week. Last year, BigSkip and I had found a little sports bar called Blondie’s that had really great and cheap breakfast burritos. He wanted to go back and I was more than happy to oblige. On Sunday he mention that he’d gone back and had some breakfast tacos even better than the burrito, so we were stoked to get in on that. Unfortunately, it appeared that some of that must have been weekend brunch only, so Skip went back to the burrito, gf got some sausage breakfast tacos, and I had steak and eggs.

Still very tasty and under $20 apiece? Solid Strip value, honestly.

After that, we wandered south a bit, through NYNY and back through Park MGM and Eataly, where we had those cannolis. Came back to Aria, where it was time to find the pool. I’d never checked out a Vegas pool, but I’d reserved some lounge chairs for Tuesday and thought I’d like to see what the setup was like.

It was an incredible day. Drinks expensive as hell, of course, but the weather was amazing, company was good, people watching was perfect.

Midday we wandered back inside to throw some money away on slots, and feeling a little hungry, we stopped at the patisserie in Aria which we’d walked by often and everything looked amazing. We didn’t want to spoil dinner at El Dorado later on, but something was needed.

A couple of fancy juices, some monkey bread, and a chocolate croissant did quite nicely.

I made the mistake of not getting any good pics at El Dorado, but like fw I had the chicken and steak fajitas. Guac was phenomenal, and on Skip’s (and the server’s) recommendation, had a cucumber margarita to wash everything down.

Next stop was downtown, and feely covered most of that. Here’s my obligatory Vegas Vic pic.



I’ll second that the balancing/juggling performance was absolutely amazing. Skip asked the gf to give him a tip, I think because he’s afraid of carnies? Later on, we’d pass a man holding a python for people to touch, and Skip said he hates snakes even more than carnies, but only one of them is legal for him to kill ����

Sat $10 blackjack at the Nugget, which, in addition to the bonus games, had a little spot for a spin the wheel feature if you were dealt a blackjack. The dealer told us we should play it, but when we declined, we were told it was mandatory. Ahhhh, so it’s $12 blackjack. Got it. Anyway, feely got a couple spins, I was barely treading water, so we called it quits after about an hour? Feely entertained our driver with stories about a guy he knew getting busted at a brothel by his wife after he’d used his credit card there, and we said goodnight.

I appreciate the info I needed to make decisions for my flight!

And spoiler alert: the shoes will play a role later in the TR.

* fiancé … a week before his wedding. (which was cancelled immediately)

Ahh my bad, thought she was fiancé at the time of the indiscretion but wife when she found out.

I also forgot to mention that I didn’t book a large enough car after dinner, and feely, Skip, and I were basically giving each other lap dances in the backseat. Oops.

Had some trippy dreams last night, courtesy of the cheap scotch from Aria and a few generous pours of bourbon when I got back to my room

I spent 90 mins at the pool this morning and I’ve come to Bellagio where I’m currently playing some 2/5. I briefly considered the $600 NLH at Aria but I can’t do it to myself.

Forgot to take a pic of the Turkey Club from Snacks which hit the spot quite nicely

Plan for the day is to settle in here for a while and see how I feel. I’m tempted to buy myself a nice dinner somewhere to mark my last night and I might also can down to the Fashion Show Mall to see if I can pick up some small gifts for the family

So I might do that in the late afternoon and then play an evening poker session

Also, there’s a Milfy Latina masseuse at the B who is driving me and my hangover to distraction and she will almost certainly get some of my money…and to be honest anything else she wants

Bonus shots of pup. He popped up in a few of my dreams last night

I

quoting for an enjoyable bit of swashbuckling wordplay but methinks your opinion of the scabbard is disproportionate to the size of the dagger

The last thing that leaves a fighter is his self belief

wonderful retort
now take it to heart
losses in mirror may be smaller than they appear

I’ve found that the quality derived from the massage is directly proportional to how young and hot the masseuse is

Annoying session at Bellagio. Such a nitty table and I had a lot of great starting hands that only took down the blinds or ones that connected with the flop that got no callers

Only hand of note was I defended bb with J9hh to a raise and a call

Flop was J10 5hh I check raised the $30 c bet to $120 and opener called

Turn was an offsuit 9 and I bet $200 and she called.

River was another 10 and I had to check back and lost to AJ

Ended the short session -240.

Went to Fashion Show Mall and bought the kids some new Crocs as well as a load of (super expensive) little bits and bobs that the girls can decorate their Crocs with.

Walked back through Palazzo and Venetian and it confirmed that I think the decor of those casinos and particularly all the marble and high ceilings, makes it my favourite property in Vegas. Wynncore is too gaudy for me, Bellagio not my taste at all and while I like Aria and Cosmo too, I think the V&P win it for me.

I decided to return to Yardbird for my last indulgent meal of the trip. I fought all my instincts which were telling me to get the fried chicken again and I order the St Louis Ribs, a side of Mac & Cheese and a glass of red. Was all excellent

Currently waiting to get on a table at Venetian

Agreed that Venetian is my favorite property aesthetically speaking. Cosmo also up there, though obviously a very different vibe, but yeah V just does it imo

Yeah, might be time to ask whether it is worth it and just stick to cash?

I've never played tournaments. And while I would understand the rush of getting towards the money bubble / going deep / final tabling / possibly binking, the majority of the time it seems like complete brutality.

There's a guy on the first page of PG&C who's a pro (Redsox), and he does a nice honest write up of his experiences at the WSOP. IIRC, he had a fairly deep run last year at the Main Event (top 100 I think?). This year after his first stint at the WSOP, he played 100 hours of tournies, in for $31.1K and our for $4.7K. I just don't get how you could submit yourself to that time after time (and even moreso as a rec, unless you have that type of money to burn).

I also still remember the tournies giraffe that Bart Hanson posted a few years ago. Just a downslog of inching down and down and down and down into the abyss until after years (decades?)... bink! And now he can claim he's a winner at tournies. But without that big bink (that most don't get) it seems pretty daunting, especially for non-experts. Whereas so long as you select the proper steaks for your cash game skillz, just an easy peasy 45 degree angle up line.

Ggoodluck!G

I hate tourneys with a passion. I have found my life much more enjoyable without them. The emotional scars run deep. I still remember my last live bustout hand from 20 years ago where the late great paul mcgreil nuked me by gettting lucky.

I find tourney poker and plo to simply be way too life tilting for my mindset.

Couldn’t be bothered to wait for a table at Venetian after dinner last night so I went back to the room and called the family and did some packing.

Headed out to Aria to play some cash. First hand on a new table I managed to get a guy to put all his chips in with A4cc on

KQJ 9 3cc

I had K10cc.

We ran it twice and two baby clubs ran out both times! So that was fun

Guy racked up a few hands later and after that table was super nitty. All recs, all limping, no stacks above $500. I table changed and it was a ‘be careful what you wish for’ scenario. 7 regs, all super deep, all engaging in wizardry

I didn’t have the heart to play for long and racked up -350

Played some slots and drank some beer and called it a night at 1am

Went to the pool this morning to catch some rays and hopefully head back home with some colour that will carry through the depths of Winter.

Then packed up and checked out and headed to Aria. Unfortunately there’s a big PLO mtt today so no cash tables. I withdrew my comp $$ and headed upstairs to Salt & Ivy where I sat at the bar and had some brunch. I forgot to take a photo but it was an extremely forgettable breakfast - eggs sausage hash browns and a coffee. Fortunately it was free but I wouldn’t be rushing to go there again

Have headed to Bellagio where I’m in a 2/5 game until about 4.30 when I need to grab my bags at Vdara and head out McCarran

Tuesday:
Before we flew in, I’d reserved some pool lounges for today, not knowing it would be completely unnecessary. Regardless, we decided after all the walking we’d done the last couple of days, that doing even more nothing wouldn’t be bad. The weather all week was (relatively) cool, highs around mid-90s, and just perfect for hanging outside.


After we got our spot set, we hit the patisserie for some coffee and breakfast sandwiches, which I forgot to take pictures of. After a few hours of chatting with randoms and overpriced cocktails, we headed inside for some pizza and beer at Moneyline, next to the sportsbook.


I love me some cup and char pepperoni. Bartender recommended these ciders, both of which were very good and honestly a nice change from what we’d been drinking earlier.

We stayed at the pool until 6 or so, finally feeling like moving around again. We walked north to Bellagio, taking in the conservatory along with everyone else on the Strip at that moment.



Even with all the people, it felt really good to be in and around something somewhat natural. They do a really good job, everything is beautiful and smells amazing. Just some really great and detailed work with live and cut flowers and plants.

Then we headed to Caesars, taking a tour of the floor before gf went to sit at slots while I sat 2/5 for the first time of the trip.

Really only one hand of note, the first hand I played. HH for the luls:

500 effective
V (utg+1) has played all 3 hands I’ve seen since sitting. I’ve folded all 3.
H opens AQo to 15. V and 4 others, including the blinds, call.
$85, flop AK5 rainbow. Blinds check, I bet 60. V raises to 160, everyone else folds, I call.
$420, (AK5) turn 5. I check, V bets 70, I call.
$560, (AK55) river x (I want to say 8 but don’t specifically recall. Was raggy anyway). I check, V says “100?” I confirm that’s what he’s betting and call.
He shows K5.

Talked about it with feely, just hating how I butchered it. But I’m a bit rusty. He thinks I could have gotten away on the flop, that V could have flatted AK. In the moment I didn’t think he’d have AK but I definitely should have believed him. A5 certainly possible. Anyway, I sat for probably 3 hours and left down ~560 after recovering most of that loss.

Only other entertainment was a 60-something white guy spouting percentages and pot odds and who lit into an opponent who went runner-runner with a naked A on AJ4(sss)4A when dude claimed to have flopped the nut flush. He left about an hour in and then I ran into him at the bar where the gf, who had tired of slots, was sitting with a drink. He was clearly tilt drinking and still pissed off hours later.

So far, I suck and the games suck, but we’re having fun away from the tables so that’s a win.

Adrenalin charged moment. Was enjoying a luxurious massage at the table from an extremely strong and talented young Latin girl when I got an sms that my flight to L.A. had been delayed 4 hours. Which would be a problem as I have a connection to Sydney

Tried to call United but lol at anyone answering the phone so grabbed an early cab to the airport. To their credit the woman at the desk was really helpful and she booked me on an Alaska Air flight that should allow me to make my connection.

Celebrated with a beer and by far the worst meal of my trip next to the gate at the Village Pub. Fried Chicken and home fries. My God it was disgusting

currently waiting to board

Good luck making your connection!

What a PITA.

i know exactly where the village pub is located but thankfully haven't had to eat there. friends had breakfast a month or so ago and it didn't look THAT bad, but i was too busy getting a hand pay from the buffalo slot machine right next door to know for sure.

safe travels.

I think there was a pic of a chick on the post I replied to. Thot it might've been a selfie.

You are funny when you get fired up dude. Discusting meal lol.

I know. That was the joke *shrug*