Thx sir! What have you been up to lately?


My favorite rooms in Vegas for cash atm:

Wynn/Resorts World
Aria
Paris/WSOP
Caesars
Bellagio


Resorts world has a complimentary soda/water/coffee machine, a water bottle refill station, and is the nicest and cleanest (given that it’s the newest)


You have 2 hours after you call in for Aria/Bellagio - I would capitalize on that if you play in those rooms.


Paris/WSOP cash was solid. I would log in a session there just for the experience.


I also would start your session before 10 am or after 10 pm if you can.

7 months?


That’s fascinating sir

bought two Taytay albums and beat Doom 2. In other words, livin the dream!

much appreciated! I've been hopping on Bravo a bit and it seems like lists start pretty early, so will aim to play early on the days that I play. I hit Resorts World and the Win on my last stop and feel like they're a cut above the others. Will plan to log a sesh or two at the WSOP as well.

I like your style sir

On the subject of waiting lists for cash games at WSOP-


Here are some screenshots of waiting lists taken at a random time during my second trip:

I came home couple days ago from a 2 weeks Vegas holiday at Aria. The ridicilous waiting lists at the cashgames basically ruined our trip. I thought wsop coming to the strip was a good thing,seems like i was wrong unfortunately.

Vegas strip coudnt handle all the people. Yuge lines for everything. Food,coffee,poker. I was on megatilt several days. The cash lists have been big before during wsop too,but nothing close to the mess this year. Getting a cash seat at Aria,Bellagio or Wynn was almost impossible multiple days.2-3 hours of waiting was totally standard-**** off jesus. Also the games was at an alltime worst,even during my November trips earlier years the games was way better. I guess the main reason is that the fish gets bored waiting for ages for a seat-they give up and finds something else to do. And who can blame them?

Way way too many of the pokerrooms tables is being used for donkaments everyday,wich had the result of the cashgame demand being off the charts. Many days it was 130+ players on lists for both 1/3 and 2/5 NL. PLO lists often 50 players deep with max 2 tables going.

This is gonna be the last time i go to Vegas during the middle of wsop/during the Collosus week. Its just pointless to use so much of my time awake just to try and get a seat in a shitty game filled with tight backpack grinders.

Also what a ridic noiselevel 24/7 at the Aria,good god. It felt like living in nightclub all day long,both me and my friend got totally exhausted in the end and could bare wind down at night in order to sleep.

Sorry for the rant/not sorry

Sent fra min SM-S901B via Tapatalk

Thank you, mr petrucci.


I appreciate the rant and I encourage people to share their experiences, like this, in here when relevant.


Maybe I’ll circle back to this post jf I gain some inspiration or whatever when I have more downtime!

I’m not talking to anyone in particular - but I notice a lot of individuals throwing shade at pros and using them almost as a scapegoat to avoid taking accountability for their subpar skillset/mental game/ decision making. This happens to foreign pros, especially.


Obviously, there is a distinction to be made between grinders/ weekend warriors/ wannabe pros/ aspiring pros/ PH types and true professionals.


Poker professionals were always once recreational players. The opposite is rarely true. For this reason alone, it’s often ironic and amusing when recreational players unfairly criticize pros for a lack of self - awareness at the table. Just A+


The average person making comments like this would almost undoubtedly act significantly more selfish/ be way worse for the game if they were grinding in a casino several days a week/playing poker for a living. Which brings me to my next point.


While I’m aware that there are far more non pros than pros, even at mid stakes in 2022 - over 99% of the egregious behavior/bad etiquette I see at the poker table (outbursts, rudeness towards dealers, berating players, etc) is from non professionals.


These people absolutely know better, many of them just expect to be catered to/do whatever. These are people that play poker 5 hours a week on average over the course of a year? If that?


Imagine how much accumulated tilt and emotion these guys would have if they were forced to grind out a healthy win-rate on full-time hours.


I’m sure current live pros can relay something similar. This post has absolutely nothing to do with me and it’s obviously not in my best financial interest to alienate recreational players in any capacity - but I’m friends with many pros and feel like something needs to be said. I think most people can respect/appreciate that.


Cheers!

For anyone wondering how to deal with wsop lines like that -- find a way to get a Caesars diamond card and play at Caesars rooms (this year is CP and Paris). You skip to the front of waitlists and almost always get seated within 10-15 mins, plus are basically guaranteed a seat if any new game starts. It's not fair, but take advantage if you can.

--

I think the topic above about scapegoating/negativity regarding pros is pretty interesting. As a poker player, you have completely no obligation to anybody regarding your conduct at the table, your play, etc. as long as it's within the rules of the game. But as a live pro, it's on some level part of your "job" to try to keep the game environment good, act certain ways, and so on. Euro pros in particular are often criticized for neglecting this part of playing live, which is to some extent justified I think.

However, I completely agree that people often are redirecting some other sort of feeling when criticizing these players. It is a personal issue if it bothers you to play against a quiet guy just sitting there thinking about his decisions and trying to play good poker. Some tables will have a more serious vibe these days and that's something you'll have to learn to deal with (or, if not, tablechange!). Poker is getting harder, players are getting better, and one should probably be reflecting on their own game if struggling rather than blaming some players just trying to play decent and actually earn money.

I 100% agree with all of that.

Very well said!

Part 1: Airport/Plane Photo Dump



line to board





wild to be in a double decker plane





quantity over quality itt





dinner




i like purple

vibing over the atlantic ocean








snack




meal 2




touchdown

gifts for relatives




im not surprised at all




I’ll eat whatever, so this was pretty good





home sweet home

I personally find it fascinating to hear about what things/different places were like back in the 80s when my mom was growing up in India.


A lot of this stuff is brand new!


Part 2: A Trip to the Grocery Store


big cereal fan





oh yeah





not bad, not bad

Part 3: sights around the town


a look at the scene










rickshaws are cool AF











dog living its best life

Part 4: animals around town

Part 5: shopping with my best friend for life (sorry boys)


7/10






🥻





they all look the same imo

Did you grow up with Hindi or any of the local languages, or straight English in the house?

If so, remember any of it?

Hey, what’s up Dr. Garick! How are you and the wife~


What have you been up to lately?


Playing cards any?

I grew up with a healthy mix of both.


At home, it was mostly English, but I was much more connected/involved with religion for most of my childhood than I am now. For example, I was vegetarian until I graduated high school. The local language/Hindi is how I communicated in those environments, like with relatives.


I now understand why my growing up the right way was so important to her. I can appreciate her sheltering me from many of the things she did.


The list of reasons I adore my mom is so long that I could write a book. The last time I was here was over a decade ago, and my selfish takeaway was the same.


How does someone ever make it out of here?

Unsurprisingly, many of the people my mom grew up with haven't left. It's a humbling realization that I would have fallen into that category had I been raised here.


My life would be completely different and the amount of sun running I would need to do what my mom did is inconceivable.


I enjoy it out here because my mom gets super happy/excited. But I'm traveling here and have the luxury of buying whatever I want for maximum comfort - not living here.


There has been much advancement, and things are better than they were. I can't imagine how worse things were in the 80s/90s.

Maybe I'd be able to survive out here or in various parts of India present day as a working professional or as an app pro.


As a student, it would be a miserable experience in many places. I would be sick all of the time.


Even if I thrived, I would still be drawing extremely thin at making anything of myself growing up here.


I can't speak for everyone, but I know I've always taken sanitation, clean water/air, internet, and resources for granted.

The suburb I live in is very heavily dominated by East Indian (at least that is the term I grew up with, although I believe the term nowadays is South Asian, although I'm also not exactly sure what all that encompasses), making up about 2/3rds of this suburbs population.

My wife is Greek, and she recently learned that our immediate East Indian neighbour spent 14 years in Greece, so they had a chat in broken Greek in the cul-du-sac. Said it was a very strange experience that she had never encountered before.

GknowszeroHindiG

Well, thanks. Just heading in to my second year on faculty. Wife has been kicking ass at Irish Dance competitions. Heat and humidity are brutal in Lolabama.

Sadly, no cards. Poker is illegal in this dumb state. I might get down to Fl to play in the next few weeks.

Lots of challenges in India for sure. It's doing better for some, but still takes some rungood to thrive. A friend of ours married a physician from India, and he's not able to practice in the US. He was able to find a research job, but after the wedding he had to go back to India to apply for permanent residency in the US. So many hoops to jump through.