VPC Went Vegas 2018; The Trip Report
01-22-2018
, 05:32 AM
That’s right! It’s THAT time again. The VPC is about to embark on its sixth Las Vegas journey. Fourth one to be documented on this lovely Las Vegas Lifestyle section. If you don’t know us click below to read our previous trip reports.
VPC Went Vegas 2009 (Dutch);
VPC Went Vegas 2010 (Dutch);
VPC Went Vegas 2012 (English);
VPC Went Vegas 2014 (English);
VPC Went Vegas 2016 (English);
All caught up? Good. Vamos!
VPC Goes Vegas 2018; The Intro.
Sometimes I wonder why no one from our VPC fellowship ever amounted to anything when it comes to poker. The reason however is quite simple; ego’s. Why is it that poker that it brings out the ego’s in men like nothing else? Sure, there’s an unhealthy amount of testosterone floating around any VPC activity but poker brings out the absolute worst in us. I’m confident an argument about sleeping with each other’s better halves would be settled with less bloodshed than even suggesting someone misplayed a turn.
Here’s an example. Bozzie and me playing a peanuts buy-in pub tourney few months ago. I’m not even in the goddamn hand. Bozzie 3-bets from his 25bb stack, C-over bets a flop that smashed villains range and tank folds to a shove leaving himself like 8 bigs. For some reason that makes me want to stand up and hit Bozzie in the face with a rusty shovel. Why? It’s not my money. It’s not my pot. I shouldn’t care less. Yet, it tilts me to no end that Bozzie is quite happy with the way he played his hand. I tell Bozzie that if he ever sells pieces to a tournament again to please be sure and NOT call me. The b*tch fight is on.
I’ve always put in the most work off the felt by a landslide. I forgot more about poker theory than any other VPC remember knows. Talent wise I probably wouldn’t make top three of our small group so it’s a shame none of the other members ever really gave it a go. With a different approach and mind-set who knows what could have happened. Ah well, f*ck it.
So, how has poker been over the past two years anyway? Mostly sh*t. As always poker sort of fades away from me after a Las Vegas trip to only grab my attention again when a new edition appears on the horizon. I was lucky enough to bink the hotel and flight money for the upcoming trip end of 2016 during a tournament in Belgium that we visit yearly for mostly piss-up reasons. About six months prior to this year’s Vegas trip I decided saving spending money would be boring so I might as well invest it in poker. Since I’m mostly a break even player I’d expected the winnings to be around the total amount of buy-ins somewhere around January. Well, not so much. We didn’t break even and with a roughly 40% ROI it looks like I’ll be running up a tab with our good old friend; the mutual savings account.
Anyway, let’s have a look at our upcoming trip. I ended our 2016 trip report with some good advice for the future me:
Few changes are going to be made for the 2018 trip though. For starters; no more US lay-overs. Next trip is going to be Dusseldorf / Amsterdam to London and a direct flight to Vegas. We got shafted on both ways this time. That isn’t happing again. Second; no more budget hotels, Mirage and upwards from here on. Third; I like that I stayed on this part of the Strip but it’s back to the other side in 2018 for sure. Fourth; we added an extra day to this year’s trip but since I can’t handle Vegas more than five days anyway there is no point in doing that again. This trip took eight vacation days and that is too much. Fifth; sleeping pills that have full grow rhino on the ground in less than 30 seconds.
Surprisingly enough I took most of my own advice to hearth. We indeed forked out some extra cash for decent flight’s. No more Air Canada shenanigans. We’ll be flying out of Germany’s Dusseldorf International midday on January the 26th. A small jump towards London lines us up for a direct flight towards Las Vegas. We’ll be staying at The Dirty Bird aka The Flamingo for seven nights. Sure, that could be considered a sh*thole but we took it over Treasure Island – which was cheaper – because of its perfect location and the poker room that has way more action than the single rake-back grinding table at TI. It will be a Friday till Friday trip once again so less vacation days go up in flames.
To start off with some very bad news. Fratie will – once again – not be on the menu this year. Apparently some pink haired bird in Denmark swiped left on Tinder and our boy has followed her to the end of the world. Or Berlin in this case. Word on the street is our boy is still breathing and working hard on his new life goal: growing a full blown German old-skool porn moustache.
Six usual suspects are on board for the 2018 trip. Brother in law Hugo will obviously be part of the crew as is our forever 37 year old bar owner and degen Baars. Somehow we couldn’t get rid of VPC Diva Damvic while the Vegas Filthy Few miraculously keeps its three remaining members; Iebus, Bozzie & Hamid (me). If you’re familiar with our trip reports these gentlemen don’t need any further introduction. If you’re not familiar with our trip reports; WTF!?
FLTR: Baars, Bozzie, Iebus, Hamid, Damvic & Hugo.
An introduction is in order for the new faces that accompany the VPC this year. Last trip’s newbies Jelzo & Verkus Wum were carefully reviewed and unanimously given the boot. However, the VPC is always on the look-out for new talent so we bring in two prospects for the 2018 trip.
Mark ‘Oppie’ op het Veld.
If I had to make a list of people that would never join a VPC Goes Vegas trip Oppie would be on top of that list. Well, second place behind Fruithof obviously but you know what I mean. Oppie is a 44 year old family man and IT specialist that looks very much like a 44 year old family man and IT specialist. Some serious mid-life crisis action caused this Stu - The Hangover - lookalike to tag along. Oppie is no Vegas Virgin as he visited the promised land twice before. Once on his honeymoon. Once with his parents. You can see the fear growing in Oppie’s eyes as the trip gets closer but I have a feeling Oppie might surprise us all if that build up midlife frustration gets downloaded on to the Vegas nightlife.
Tim ‘Hoebol’ Hoezen.
Hoebol (35) was scheduled to join the 2016 trip but some unforeseen circumstances caused him to pull out last minute despite having us rearrange that trip about five times to fit his schedule. FFS. Hoebol is one of the many that is triggered by our Vegas stories and is actually buzzing to be on board for this one. He will be entering a commercial airplane for the first time in his life which has him running around town like a virgin on prom night. Hoebols relation to the VPC is being kindergarten friends with brother in law Hugo and a much appreciated donator in our monthly cash game.
With our Vegas Bucket List nearly checked off not to many irregularities will be found in our usual Vegas routines. We’ll be up and running Friday around 9AM and I’ll probably show Hoebol around a bit before joining the regular first night poker / roulette / blackjack drinking binges. Saturday will be Aria’s $ 240,- tourney for most although you can expect Baars, Oppie and Damvic to show their faces at the AVN Expo in The Hard Rock Hotel. Baars had an amazing time at the 2014 Porn Expo and almost forced us to book the trip during this year’s AVN weekend.
NSFW
Saturday night we’ll swing by Hakkasan to see our boy Tiёsto perform. I wanted to do the Omnia Nightclub in Caesars Palace but when Dutch DJ royalty takes the stage in Vegas you simply show up and overpay your respects. On Sunday I’ll try to cure my hangover and Hakkasan bar bill with mixed games in the Orleans. Some Omaha Hi / Lo cash games and the 7PM HORSE tourney are most definitely on the to-do list.
We’ll fit in a day to wonder around the Downtown area and probably do a Casino Crawl if we see fit. I plan on doing some TopGolf at MGM and have a cocktail in The Mandarin Bar. Food wise we’ll be on the lookout for some great Sushi (Naked Fish) and Rollin Smoke BBQ is on the wish list.
Being a Trooper97 fanboy I’ll probably swing by the Westgate on Thursday night to say hi. We also have our minds set on ‘An Intimate Evening With Carlos Santana’. Baars and I visited that show in 2014 and it was pretty epic. Hugo missed the show back then when one of his specialties – needlessly busting tournaments – failed him that day and has made it one of his primary goals for this trip.
So, we are off to Vegas this Friday. The report will be typed up afterwards as always. You can tag along following some updates on the good old Twitter.
Enjoy!
VPC Went Vegas 2009 (Dutch);
VPC Went Vegas 2010 (Dutch);
VPC Went Vegas 2012 (English);
VPC Went Vegas 2014 (English);
VPC Went Vegas 2016 (English);
All caught up? Good. Vamos!
VPC Goes Vegas 2018; The Intro.
Sometimes I wonder why no one from our VPC fellowship ever amounted to anything when it comes to poker. The reason however is quite simple; ego’s. Why is it that poker that it brings out the ego’s in men like nothing else? Sure, there’s an unhealthy amount of testosterone floating around any VPC activity but poker brings out the absolute worst in us. I’m confident an argument about sleeping with each other’s better halves would be settled with less bloodshed than even suggesting someone misplayed a turn.
Here’s an example. Bozzie and me playing a peanuts buy-in pub tourney few months ago. I’m not even in the goddamn hand. Bozzie 3-bets from his 25bb stack, C-over bets a flop that smashed villains range and tank folds to a shove leaving himself like 8 bigs. For some reason that makes me want to stand up and hit Bozzie in the face with a rusty shovel. Why? It’s not my money. It’s not my pot. I shouldn’t care less. Yet, it tilts me to no end that Bozzie is quite happy with the way he played his hand. I tell Bozzie that if he ever sells pieces to a tournament again to please be sure and NOT call me. The b*tch fight is on.
I’ve always put in the most work off the felt by a landslide. I forgot more about poker theory than any other VPC remember knows. Talent wise I probably wouldn’t make top three of our small group so it’s a shame none of the other members ever really gave it a go. With a different approach and mind-set who knows what could have happened. Ah well, f*ck it.
So, how has poker been over the past two years anyway? Mostly sh*t. As always poker sort of fades away from me after a Las Vegas trip to only grab my attention again when a new edition appears on the horizon. I was lucky enough to bink the hotel and flight money for the upcoming trip end of 2016 during a tournament in Belgium that we visit yearly for mostly piss-up reasons. About six months prior to this year’s Vegas trip I decided saving spending money would be boring so I might as well invest it in poker. Since I’m mostly a break even player I’d expected the winnings to be around the total amount of buy-ins somewhere around January. Well, not so much. We didn’t break even and with a roughly 40% ROI it looks like I’ll be running up a tab with our good old friend; the mutual savings account.
Anyway, let’s have a look at our upcoming trip. I ended our 2016 trip report with some good advice for the future me:
Few changes are going to be made for the 2018 trip though. For starters; no more US lay-overs. Next trip is going to be Dusseldorf / Amsterdam to London and a direct flight to Vegas. We got shafted on both ways this time. That isn’t happing again. Second; no more budget hotels, Mirage and upwards from here on. Third; I like that I stayed on this part of the Strip but it’s back to the other side in 2018 for sure. Fourth; we added an extra day to this year’s trip but since I can’t handle Vegas more than five days anyway there is no point in doing that again. This trip took eight vacation days and that is too much. Fifth; sleeping pills that have full grow rhino on the ground in less than 30 seconds.
Surprisingly enough I took most of my own advice to hearth. We indeed forked out some extra cash for decent flight’s. No more Air Canada shenanigans. We’ll be flying out of Germany’s Dusseldorf International midday on January the 26th. A small jump towards London lines us up for a direct flight towards Las Vegas. We’ll be staying at The Dirty Bird aka The Flamingo for seven nights. Sure, that could be considered a sh*thole but we took it over Treasure Island – which was cheaper – because of its perfect location and the poker room that has way more action than the single rake-back grinding table at TI. It will be a Friday till Friday trip once again so less vacation days go up in flames.
To start off with some very bad news. Fratie will – once again – not be on the menu this year. Apparently some pink haired bird in Denmark swiped left on Tinder and our boy has followed her to the end of the world. Or Berlin in this case. Word on the street is our boy is still breathing and working hard on his new life goal: growing a full blown German old-skool porn moustache.
Six usual suspects are on board for the 2018 trip. Brother in law Hugo will obviously be part of the crew as is our forever 37 year old bar owner and degen Baars. Somehow we couldn’t get rid of VPC Diva Damvic while the Vegas Filthy Few miraculously keeps its three remaining members; Iebus, Bozzie & Hamid (me). If you’re familiar with our trip reports these gentlemen don’t need any further introduction. If you’re not familiar with our trip reports; WTF!?
FLTR: Baars, Bozzie, Iebus, Hamid, Damvic & Hugo.
An introduction is in order for the new faces that accompany the VPC this year. Last trip’s newbies Jelzo & Verkus Wum were carefully reviewed and unanimously given the boot. However, the VPC is always on the look-out for new talent so we bring in two prospects for the 2018 trip.
Mark ‘Oppie’ op het Veld.
If I had to make a list of people that would never join a VPC Goes Vegas trip Oppie would be on top of that list. Well, second place behind Fruithof obviously but you know what I mean. Oppie is a 44 year old family man and IT specialist that looks very much like a 44 year old family man and IT specialist. Some serious mid-life crisis action caused this Stu - The Hangover - lookalike to tag along. Oppie is no Vegas Virgin as he visited the promised land twice before. Once on his honeymoon. Once with his parents. You can see the fear growing in Oppie’s eyes as the trip gets closer but I have a feeling Oppie might surprise us all if that build up midlife frustration gets downloaded on to the Vegas nightlife.
Tim ‘Hoebol’ Hoezen.
Hoebol (35) was scheduled to join the 2016 trip but some unforeseen circumstances caused him to pull out last minute despite having us rearrange that trip about five times to fit his schedule. FFS. Hoebol is one of the many that is triggered by our Vegas stories and is actually buzzing to be on board for this one. He will be entering a commercial airplane for the first time in his life which has him running around town like a virgin on prom night. Hoebols relation to the VPC is being kindergarten friends with brother in law Hugo and a much appreciated donator in our monthly cash game.
With our Vegas Bucket List nearly checked off not to many irregularities will be found in our usual Vegas routines. We’ll be up and running Friday around 9AM and I’ll probably show Hoebol around a bit before joining the regular first night poker / roulette / blackjack drinking binges. Saturday will be Aria’s $ 240,- tourney for most although you can expect Baars, Oppie and Damvic to show their faces at the AVN Expo in The Hard Rock Hotel. Baars had an amazing time at the 2014 Porn Expo and almost forced us to book the trip during this year’s AVN weekend.
NSFW
Saturday night we’ll swing by Hakkasan to see our boy Tiёsto perform. I wanted to do the Omnia Nightclub in Caesars Palace but when Dutch DJ royalty takes the stage in Vegas you simply show up and overpay your respects. On Sunday I’ll try to cure my hangover and Hakkasan bar bill with mixed games in the Orleans. Some Omaha Hi / Lo cash games and the 7PM HORSE tourney are most definitely on the to-do list.
We’ll fit in a day to wonder around the Downtown area and probably do a Casino Crawl if we see fit. I plan on doing some TopGolf at MGM and have a cocktail in The Mandarin Bar. Food wise we’ll be on the lookout for some great Sushi (Naked Fish) and Rollin Smoke BBQ is on the wish list.
Being a Trooper97 fanboy I’ll probably swing by the Westgate on Thursday night to say hi. We also have our minds set on ‘An Intimate Evening With Carlos Santana’. Baars and I visited that show in 2014 and it was pretty epic. Hugo missed the show back then when one of his specialties – needlessly busting tournaments – failed him that day and has made it one of his primary goals for this trip.
So, we are off to Vegas this Friday. The report will be typed up afterwards as always. You can tag along following some updates on the good old Twitter.
Enjoy!
01-22-2018
, 12:10 PM
No Fratie
..nothing in life to look forward to other than his possible Vegas return in 2020..
02-07-2018
, 04:22 AM
VPC Went Vegas Day 1: The Boys Are Back In Town.
As I leave the house this Friday morning to get our VPC Goes Vegas show on the road I’m basically officially homeless. I will not be returning to my house once we get back. As of February first I’m no longer the owner of property where I lived for over a decade. I’m hardly sentimental about the whole ordeal. At the end of the day it’s a pile of bricks. I got a good deal on the house and have bought a much better looking pile of bricks that I will start paying for as per April first. I’m not too excited about the two months in-between that I’ll spend partially at my in-laws and mothers place but it is what it is.
All the homeless worries are for another time because for the next eight days only one thing really matters; Viva Las Vegas! The best week of every two years is finally here so let’s get going. First stop of the trip is Belfeld. Residence of both Hugo and Hoebol who I’ll pick up for our short journey to Dusseldorf International. My mother temporarily lives with Hugo and my sister while her house is being remodelled so I left early to leave time for coffee. During that lovely cup of coffee we get entertained by Bozzie who is in a full blown tilt frenzy at Dusseldorf Airport already.
As per usual Bozzie booked the trip very last minute due to him being a pussy. We had already removed this Filty Few Member from the Vegas 2018 WhatsApp group when an act of god and a boatload of empty beer bottles caused Bozzie to join last minute. Expedia conveniently forgot to forward his booking to British Airways so when he tried to check in this morning they had never heard of him.
Expedia...
If you think Expedia steps up the service level when they co-ck up like this you’re very much wrong. Bozzie was told to book another flight and send them the bill. Best of luck to ya! First options were ~ € 2500,- flight packages which is a bit risky if you have to advance the money for a shady travel origination with tons of small letters and feck you clauses. Eventually he found a reasonable priced flight option but he had to make an 11 o’clock flight towards Londen City Airport and battle his way thought the entire London Subway System - carrying suitcases - to reach London’s main airport; Heathrow.
While our trip towards Dusseldorf is a breeze Iebus is living on the other end of the spectrum. I had conveniently suggested to pick up Hugo & Hoebol so that Iebus could deal with VPC loose cannons Damvic and Baars. While we meet up with the 4.4 decade year old Oppie in Dusseldorf and quietly have some breakfast after check-in, Iebus is struggling in Venlo to get Baars into his car. As always I need to start my Vegas journey’s with a Run Good Tequila so I walked into Baars his bar on Thursday night after a lovely Sushi dinner with the misses. Upon hearing Baars his plans for the night – party till 7, clean the bar till 8 and then pack his suitcase – I knew Iebus was in for a treat.
Run Good Tequila with Baars.
Obviously Baars is nowhere near ready when Iebus pulls up 15 minutes after the agreed departure time. When they finally hit the freeway around 10:15 Baars realizes he left his astma inhaler at home and they have to make a U-turn. To top things off they catch a traffic jam and their parking company appears to have vanished when they pull up in Dusseldorf. Even Damvic is in a slight panic right about now sending out texts like ‘What’s the gate number. EVERY MINUTE COUNTS!!!’. About five seconds after Damvics text Baars sends out a message as well. It’s a video of golf cart crashing into a tree. God, I love that man.
Brokeback Clubbin’
With five minutes remaining the three Stooges storm into the gate. Baars is irritated that Iebus rushed him packing this morning which caused him to forget his shoes. He’s also unhappy about the parking situation that caused a four minute delay and now there is no more time left for coffee. My man.
We have about 3,5 hours to kill in London Heathrow so we pick a decent restaurant for food and beers. I love the British but Jesus they just about cook the sh*t out of everything. The burgers and steaks at The Curator are piss poor to the point of uneatable. Luckily the beers taste like heaven so times flies while we make fun of Bozzie who now joins our direct flight towards Vegas instead of flying through Chicago.
We paid a decent amount to be able to fly these British Airways direct flights towards Las Vegas. A respectable airline I assumed. Well, not so much. BA had dug up their oldest bird. An absolute sh*t show of a plane. No USB. No leg space what so ever. Their ‘latest releases’ film section contained Jurassic Park and Die Hard 1. A horrible 10 hours and 13 minutes to endure. Baars and I share middle seats and look at each other every 10 minutes and without saying a word we exactly know what we mean; “Why do we put ourselves trough this misery to go and burn so much cash?”.
All things end. Also the terrible ones. After touchdown in Vegas we get separated a bit at customs and somehow Bozzie, Oppie, Baars & I are way ahead of the rest. We obviously don’t wait up and jump into the first taxi in sight. The driver doesn’t tunnel us as requested and drops us off at Flamingo in less than ten minutes. No lines at check in so I we are in room 12008 unpacking our bags in no time. A very quick shower and off to the casino floor wheels spinning as always. ATM -> Poker room. I put my name on the 1/2 list and get a seat rather quickly.
I always think that the first hand I pick up in Vegas is an indication of how good the trip is going to be. It has always been way above par. I remember it being KQh and ATh from previous trips and this time we look down at the queen of hearts and the queen of diamonds. This gonna be good. UTG made it 12 dollars to from a short stack. Folds to me on the button and I make it 35. UTG sticks it in and we call. The flop brings a king and an ace so we aren’t to confident but villain shows unimproved nines and we scoop.
After ten minutes Bozzie shows up at the poker room and I walk over to tell him how much this city loves me. Felt a poor soul on the first hand. Good times. I sit back down in the SB and look at AKs. A new UTG opened to 12 again and it’s folded to me. I don’t 3-bet vs. UTG opens much especially from the SB and villain only has like 120 behind. I flat and the BB comes along. Flop comes 24K rainbow. BB leads for 20 and UTG makes it 60. Yuk. Don’t love the situation but can’t really see how we can get away here. I stick it in. BB folds. UTG calls and shows rockets. So much for the Vegas love.
After about an hours the entire VPC is up and running. Everyone but Baars, Damvic & Oppie are playing poker. Around 11 o’clock I see Hoebol on the rail having just dusted off his first Vegas dollars. I cash out a small profit and take Vegas virgin Hoebol for a spin trough the city. We make our way towards Planet Hollywood and roam around the Pleasure Pit for a while before crossing the road towards The Cosmopolitan. Hoebol been talking forever about a cocktail he saw Andrew Neeme drink in one of his first vlogs. You need to eat small fruit of some kind that numbs the senses before you drink the cocktail. Does Hoebol know the name of the bar? Nope. Does he know the name of the cocktail? Nope. Great. We grab a slice at Secret Pizza and I try to find the cocktail vlog but Cosmo doesn’t offer free WiFi. All bars in Cosmo are packed to the rafters so we have trouble finding a good spot. I ain’t standing in the middle of nowhere with some sort of girly cocktail so we give up on the plan rather quickly.
We get Hoebol an MLife card at Bellagio and make our way towards Caesars for some more poker. I sit down and see one of the favourite characters from The Trooper97 vlogs; masseuse Kelly. There's something sparkling about that girl. I hope Trooper lands her one day but let’s face it; our boy would be punching well above his weight if he closes that deal. Hope he does it though. The table at Caesars is full of drunks that give everyone but me some of their money.
Around two in the morning we make our way back to Flamingo were we are greeted by some sad faces. As mentioned in the introduction there is an unhealthy amount of testosterone floating around any VPC activity. That includes going to bed first on the opening night. Some of the boys were hoping we were sound asleep and they didn’t have to be the first one to call it a day. The eight of us play roulette till 04:30 when Oppie finally breaks and stumbles off drunk as a lord. When everyone is done I put my money on the 14 and obviously bink on the first spin putting Iebus on tilt. I run so good on the roulette wheel it’s borderline criminal at times.
Head hits the pillow somewhere at five in the morning but I feel like it three in the afternoon. Sleep is needed though as we grind the Aria tourney in six hours and go see Tiesto in the evening. Good times ahead. The boys are back in town
The Boys Are Back In Town
As I leave the house this Friday morning to get our VPC Goes Vegas show on the road I’m basically officially homeless. I will not be returning to my house once we get back. As of February first I’m no longer the owner of property where I lived for over a decade. I’m hardly sentimental about the whole ordeal. At the end of the day it’s a pile of bricks. I got a good deal on the house and have bought a much better looking pile of bricks that I will start paying for as per April first. I’m not too excited about the two months in-between that I’ll spend partially at my in-laws and mothers place but it is what it is.
All the homeless worries are for another time because for the next eight days only one thing really matters; Viva Las Vegas! The best week of every two years is finally here so let’s get going. First stop of the trip is Belfeld. Residence of both Hugo and Hoebol who I’ll pick up for our short journey to Dusseldorf International. My mother temporarily lives with Hugo and my sister while her house is being remodelled so I left early to leave time for coffee. During that lovely cup of coffee we get entertained by Bozzie who is in a full blown tilt frenzy at Dusseldorf Airport already.
As per usual Bozzie booked the trip very last minute due to him being a pussy. We had already removed this Filty Few Member from the Vegas 2018 WhatsApp group when an act of god and a boatload of empty beer bottles caused Bozzie to join last minute. Expedia conveniently forgot to forward his booking to British Airways so when he tried to check in this morning they had never heard of him.
Expedia...
If you think Expedia steps up the service level when they co-ck up like this you’re very much wrong. Bozzie was told to book another flight and send them the bill. Best of luck to ya! First options were ~ € 2500,- flight packages which is a bit risky if you have to advance the money for a shady travel origination with tons of small letters and feck you clauses. Eventually he found a reasonable priced flight option but he had to make an 11 o’clock flight towards Londen City Airport and battle his way thought the entire London Subway System - carrying suitcases - to reach London’s main airport; Heathrow.
While our trip towards Dusseldorf is a breeze Iebus is living on the other end of the spectrum. I had conveniently suggested to pick up Hugo & Hoebol so that Iebus could deal with VPC loose cannons Damvic and Baars. While we meet up with the 4.4 decade year old Oppie in Dusseldorf and quietly have some breakfast after check-in, Iebus is struggling in Venlo to get Baars into his car. As always I need to start my Vegas journey’s with a Run Good Tequila so I walked into Baars his bar on Thursday night after a lovely Sushi dinner with the misses. Upon hearing Baars his plans for the night – party till 7, clean the bar till 8 and then pack his suitcase – I knew Iebus was in for a treat.
Run Good Tequila with Baars.
Obviously Baars is nowhere near ready when Iebus pulls up 15 minutes after the agreed departure time. When they finally hit the freeway around 10:15 Baars realizes he left his astma inhaler at home and they have to make a U-turn. To top things off they catch a traffic jam and their parking company appears to have vanished when they pull up in Dusseldorf. Even Damvic is in a slight panic right about now sending out texts like ‘What’s the gate number. EVERY MINUTE COUNTS!!!’. About five seconds after Damvics text Baars sends out a message as well. It’s a video of golf cart crashing into a tree. God, I love that man.
Brokeback Clubbin’
With five minutes remaining the three Stooges storm into the gate. Baars is irritated that Iebus rushed him packing this morning which caused him to forget his shoes. He’s also unhappy about the parking situation that caused a four minute delay and now there is no more time left for coffee. My man.
We have about 3,5 hours to kill in London Heathrow so we pick a decent restaurant for food and beers. I love the British but Jesus they just about cook the sh*t out of everything. The burgers and steaks at The Curator are piss poor to the point of uneatable. Luckily the beers taste like heaven so times flies while we make fun of Bozzie who now joins our direct flight towards Vegas instead of flying through Chicago.
We paid a decent amount to be able to fly these British Airways direct flights towards Las Vegas. A respectable airline I assumed. Well, not so much. BA had dug up their oldest bird. An absolute sh*t show of a plane. No USB. No leg space what so ever. Their ‘latest releases’ film section contained Jurassic Park and Die Hard 1. A horrible 10 hours and 13 minutes to endure. Baars and I share middle seats and look at each other every 10 minutes and without saying a word we exactly know what we mean; “Why do we put ourselves trough this misery to go and burn so much cash?”.
All things end. Also the terrible ones. After touchdown in Vegas we get separated a bit at customs and somehow Bozzie, Oppie, Baars & I are way ahead of the rest. We obviously don’t wait up and jump into the first taxi in sight. The driver doesn’t tunnel us as requested and drops us off at Flamingo in less than ten minutes. No lines at check in so I we are in room 12008 unpacking our bags in no time. A very quick shower and off to the casino floor wheels spinning as always. ATM -> Poker room. I put my name on the 1/2 list and get a seat rather quickly.
I always think that the first hand I pick up in Vegas is an indication of how good the trip is going to be. It has always been way above par. I remember it being KQh and ATh from previous trips and this time we look down at the queen of hearts and the queen of diamonds. This gonna be good. UTG made it 12 dollars to from a short stack. Folds to me on the button and I make it 35. UTG sticks it in and we call. The flop brings a king and an ace so we aren’t to confident but villain shows unimproved nines and we scoop.
After ten minutes Bozzie shows up at the poker room and I walk over to tell him how much this city loves me. Felt a poor soul on the first hand. Good times. I sit back down in the SB and look at AKs. A new UTG opened to 12 again and it’s folded to me. I don’t 3-bet vs. UTG opens much especially from the SB and villain only has like 120 behind. I flat and the BB comes along. Flop comes 24K rainbow. BB leads for 20 and UTG makes it 60. Yuk. Don’t love the situation but can’t really see how we can get away here. I stick it in. BB folds. UTG calls and shows rockets. So much for the Vegas love.
After about an hours the entire VPC is up and running. Everyone but Baars, Damvic & Oppie are playing poker. Around 11 o’clock I see Hoebol on the rail having just dusted off his first Vegas dollars. I cash out a small profit and take Vegas virgin Hoebol for a spin trough the city. We make our way towards Planet Hollywood and roam around the Pleasure Pit for a while before crossing the road towards The Cosmopolitan. Hoebol been talking forever about a cocktail he saw Andrew Neeme drink in one of his first vlogs. You need to eat small fruit of some kind that numbs the senses before you drink the cocktail. Does Hoebol know the name of the bar? Nope. Does he know the name of the cocktail? Nope. Great. We grab a slice at Secret Pizza and I try to find the cocktail vlog but Cosmo doesn’t offer free WiFi. All bars in Cosmo are packed to the rafters so we have trouble finding a good spot. I ain’t standing in the middle of nowhere with some sort of girly cocktail so we give up on the plan rather quickly.
We get Hoebol an MLife card at Bellagio and make our way towards Caesars for some more poker. I sit down and see one of the favourite characters from The Trooper97 vlogs; masseuse Kelly. There's something sparkling about that girl. I hope Trooper lands her one day but let’s face it; our boy would be punching well above his weight if he closes that deal. Hope he does it though. The table at Caesars is full of drunks that give everyone but me some of their money.
Around two in the morning we make our way back to Flamingo were we are greeted by some sad faces. As mentioned in the introduction there is an unhealthy amount of testosterone floating around any VPC activity. That includes going to bed first on the opening night. Some of the boys were hoping we were sound asleep and they didn’t have to be the first one to call it a day. The eight of us play roulette till 04:30 when Oppie finally breaks and stumbles off drunk as a lord. When everyone is done I put my money on the 14 and obviously bink on the first spin putting Iebus on tilt. I run so good on the roulette wheel it’s borderline criminal at times.
Head hits the pillow somewhere at five in the morning but I feel like it three in the afternoon. Sleep is needed though as we grind the Aria tourney in six hours and go see Tiesto in the evening. Good times ahead. The boys are back in town
The Boys Are Back In Town
