It has been way too long since my last post. What better way to resume than a Colorado/Vegas trip report.
Colorado was business as usual. Booze, weed, some work, no poker this year. Vegas was Vegas. We got there at 2pm after leaving Colorado at 5am (record time!) and our rooms weren't ready. I walked over to Silver Sevens and dropped $100 in the pit at blackjack. That night I drunkenly stumbled into Planet Hollywood and played some of the worst poker I've ever played. I remember no meaningful hands from the session, other than I was playing stupid hands I had no business playing and getting appropriately punished for it. I ended down about $200.
Night 2 I decide to skip the poker. I'm way too high and drunk, watching the College World Series at the Tilted Kilt trying to keep myself from upchucking my dinner all over the bar. I got to meet the son of Detroit Tigers legend Chet Lemon at the bar, and chatted with him about baseball for a while, which was a treat. After dinner I started feeling better, and we talk about finding a craps table. I try to put in one craps session a year with my boss just for fun. We made it to the Linq, threw down $100, and after what seemed like a while, I walked away with almost $500. We Uber'd back to Silver Sevens, and lost about $200 back, but still ended the night up over $200. Every year I learn just a little bit more about the craps lingo. I'm getting the hang of it.
Night 3 I decide to head to Fremont Street with my co-workers. I like Mickie Finnz because there are often bands playing 90's alternative rock there, and was not disappointed. After dinner, instead of walking around Fremont again, I decide to put in my first session downtown. The only Bravo place in the area is Golden Nugget, so that's where I go. I find out it's uncapped which is intriguing, but in the interest of bankroll management, decide to go with $200. I was sitting next to a mid 40's hipster looking dude, who ended up being some of the best table conversation I've ever had. On top of that, I crushed it. There were some pretty big whales at the table. Here is the hand of the trip:
A couple limps to me and I wake up with A
5
in the CO, and decide to make it $11. My hipster buddy in the SB min 3-bets me to $25, two limpers call, so closing the action with decent relative position I decide to take a flop. We're all pretty deep at this point. I think I'm somewhere around $400, and am covered by most of the table.
Flop ($100): Q
3
2
We check to the hipster, and he makes it $45. First whale limper raises to $100, second one folds, and now I'm in a fun spot. Anything I do here looks super strong. Hipster is a solid player, so he can't love one pair no matter what I do. The whale likely calls a jam if I do it. While I wouldn't hate getting it in heads up against either of them here, I tend to err on the side of trying to make my hands before getting it in unless I really feel like I have good fold equity. I'll admit these may be spots in my game where I need some more study to really figure out the best EV. Both jamming and calling are clearly +EV moves here, but I decide to call. Hipster next to me realizes he is in a tough spot, and thinks briefly before folding.
Turn ($345): Q
3
2
4
I hit both draws for good measure. Whale snap jams on me, I snap call, and she's drawing dead with Q9!?! I left the session up about $700 for one of my bigger wins in a while.
At the end of the night (round 2am) I Lyft it back to the hotel. I opt to save $5 by choosing the share ride option. It quite clearly picked up a working girl. I'm 95% sure the only reason she was in the car was to solicit me. She tried, and if I was a weaker man, I may have succumbed.
My wife showed up for night 4, and hit $500 on a slot, so this is turning into a lucrative trip. The rest of the trip I binked another $250 at craps, dropped $50 more at blackjack, and probably another $80 or so in slots.
I did get in two more small poker sessions even with my wife around. One was at Mandalay Bay, where I got a quick $200 double up picking up KK, 3-betting, jamming a wet board, and fading lots of outs. I played another session at the Flamingo where I dropped a bit over $100 when I picked up K
J
on a Q
Q
9
flop. I played it aggressively, but the other guy had A
T
so thankfully nothing hit (turn was an A, river a K, so we both had enough SDV to end the hand).
Overall a highly productive trip. I had tons of fun playing poker. My only semi-regret was not jumping into some bigger games. I probably would've moved to 2/5 if there had been a table at the Nugget. I'm getting back into the regular grinding here in Michigan, so I think I will be able to keep this thread a bit more up to date.