I've got internet access in my room and a little time to kill each morning, so I figure I'll just put this in its own thread and update daily.

Thursday, Day 1:

My very early flight arrived half an hour early, and the shuttle was super fast, so I found myself at the Tropicana by 10:30am. I left my bags at the bell desk, grabbed some food, and meandered over to MGM for a little 1/2NL.

The table was pretty solid; skill-wise, I was in the middle of the pack if not a little lower. I got seriously outplayed in my first big pot with trip kings + a broadway gutshot vs. made broadway. I got lucky on the river and made my gutshot for a chop. I played pretty TAG, got value from my few good hands and stole a couple of small pots. When my phone rang 3.5 hours later to inform me that my room was ready, I was up $20 and very happy with that, considering that misplayed hand and the general skill level of the table.

I checked in, rested a bit, then went back to MGM. After a sandwich at the sports book cafe, I returned to 1/2NL. There were several big stacks at my table, a couple of horrible fish, and a couple of average players. There was also a Swedish uber-LAG who had a big stack, something like $700. The seat to my right had about $600 in chips and no player - when he eventually returned, he turned out to be a solid, friendly local. We chatted for most of the evening, and we mostly stayed out of each other's way as there was a lot of easier money on the table. However, for some reason he decided to pay me off when I picked up KK on his BTN. I reraised him pre, bet pot on a semi-wet flop, and he finally gave up when I bet the turn. After the hand, he asked me, "Would you have folded your overpair if I shoved the turn?"

It didn't take long to identify the Swedish guy for the player type that I aspire to be; a donkey-crusher. Extremely loose preflop, very solid postflop, and getting huge value out of every single hand. He was running hot, and by the end of the evening he took about $1700 off the table. I never played any substantial pots against him; he was on the other side of the table and I never hit a reasonable hand against him.

I played my usual TAG game and slowly built my stack. The any-pair-is-good fish at the table had no clue, so I was playing 100% value against them, while c-betting and making occasional small steals against the smarter players and the see-every-flop fish. TAG ABC, and it was working.

Biggest pot of the night: I saw a flop with 44 and five players. The flop comes 433 (whee!), I bet and get two callers. Turn 8, I bet again, one fold and one call. The call came from a fishy player who had slowplayed a couple of good hands earlier. River 7, I bet once more, fish raises BIG, and I throw up in my mouth a little. At 1/2NL, the fish never raise like this without a big hand. While it's possible, I find it hard to believe he makes this raise with the straight or a hand like A3; it really smells like he's got a boat too. I make a crying call, he shows 43 for the smaller flopped boat, and I scoop a $400 pot.

By 11pm, I realized that I was pooped and not able to play my best poker anymore, so I cashed out and headed back to my room with almost $400 profit for day 1. I tipped the cashier for good karma.

Friday, I'll be playing in the Aria 1pm tourney and finishing the night with more 1/2NL at MGM or Bally's.

Looking forward to more reports

Run Well

GL

Sarge

Not much Home Poker content (Unless you view Vegas as a giant Home Game), but looking forward to hearing more.

Awesome...field reports!

Looks like you are approaching the same as I would. Just be prepared to be trapped by a big hand or tested by a big bluff. But I mean, it's poker...what can you do?

Of course he knows you are playing TAG and likely had a big pair. You'll get some genius who will try to push you off your hand...or show you the nuts. Wishing you good skill making the right decision, either way.

May that over-full occur many times!

Yeah, but c'mon, it's Schmendy. Where else does this thread belong?

Nice! It's depressing that 1/2 would be a solid game at 11am on a weekday. NL is ruining poker. Stop eviscerating our fish! Bring back Fixed Limit!

Something I observed (and by no means a large sample size) is that play is often tougher in the evenings, especially at places like Aria. I theorize it's due to a few factors. One is that the locals casual players (the folks who work in gaming all day and want to unwind for a few hours before going home) don't play on the strip. Another is that the family man tourist money is there during the day while the wife is shopping, and he's over-playing trying to hit his big score in the few hours he's given permission to play before going out to dinner and a show.

The holla balla crowd tend to sleep during the day and go prowling in the evening. As you get later, past 11pm or midnight, most of the casual money is completely gone, and all that's left are the semi-pro sharks.

Anyway, your experience may be different, but keep an eye out for it. Don't be afraid to leave a table (or a casino) once the dynamic changes. Just because it was juicy six hours ago doesn't mean you can still crush it. Don't chase that $150 you lost from your peak; this is a different table now.

Make sure you do!

You almost heathened your way out of a pot- you must believe in TPo4!

.. during the week?


Many moons ago, this is what I remember of the Strip:

Morning to mid-afternoon: local low-limit rocks playing for the jackpot.

Late afternoon to mid-evening: Tourists start coming in, retiree rocks start going home, ballahs start trickling in near the end.

Late evening to early morning- stuck fishies still there, but tourists starting to head to bed. Late night sharks swimming about.

Glad you're enjoying it. Yeah, it's not HP, but where else am I going to put it? Nobody outside of HP cares.

Friday, Day 2:

I woke up this morning and wanted to stretch my legs, so I beat leather from Tropicana to Imperial Palace, where I had a phenomenal breakfast at Hash House a Go Go. It was probably the best chicken & waffles I've ever had. After breakfast I wandered down to CityCenter, looked around for a bit, and registered for the 1pm 100+25 tourney at Aria.

T8000 chips with 30 minute levels, starting blinds 25/50. Right off the bat I had a bad feeling. My starting table had 5 aggro-monkeys, 2 rocks, 2 solid players, and me. I picked up QQ early and got reraised by an unknown. He bet the J-high flop and shoved the T on the turn for nearly all of my stack. I'm beating nothing but AK, so I fold, and of course he shows me AK. He does the same thing twice more and busts out the third time. Apparently AK unimproved is the nuts in a tournament.

I picked up QQ twice and AA early on, then the cards got cold and I never recovered. I ended up busting out in level 6, about 40th of 77. I was a little too tight, still in the cash game mentality, and I didn't adjust for the horrible play of a couple players at my table. I ended up putting my 8BB stack in on a button blind steal after folding for two orbits, got called by the newly arrived table sheriff in the BB with J7o - he spikes a J and I go home. Oh well.

Frankly, I didn't enjoy the tourney much. There was so much blind aggression and so little thought from many players, and it became a luckfest a lot sooner than the structure would lead you to believe. The better a NL player I become, the more I seem to prefer cash games over tourneys.

More walking, a quick dinner, then back to MGM for 1/2NL. I sat down about 6pm to a mixed table - again, one donkey-crusher with about $900 on the table, a couple of solid players (probably locals, they didn't talk much), a couple of decent but not great tourists and locals, and a couple of fish.

I got a little more aggressive than last night, clashing with the donkey-crusher several times. I lost about $100 bucks to her repping a BPP vs her top pair on a 9-high flop; she just refused to fold. I got it back and then some with Ax vs her KJ on a two-spade board with an ace and a jack. I had started the hand with about $400, and she told me that she was hoping to river the flush and would've doubled me up if it had come. Dangit.

After she and a couple others had left, a few players sat down who seemed to have more online experience than live. The giveaway was the consistent raising to 3BB + 1BB per limper; nobody does that at live 1/2. I ended up winning the blinds with my only AA of the night, because I failed to adjust the size of my preflop raise and I scared everyone away with a 5BB raise from MP.

My two big pots of the night:

#1 - I raise my BTN with A9s, and the fishy player in the BB nearly jumps out of his seat when he looks at his cards. He min-raises, I'm thinking big pair but decide to call and see a flop. I flop trip nines and let him bet it all the way. After I call his river shove, he shows pocket kings and is stunned to see my trips.

#2 - I call a preflop raise from the blinds with pocket fives, four players go to the KQ5 flop. I bet my set, and the new player to my left calls while the other two fold. I bet every street, including the river 5 that gives me quads, and he calls off his stack with top two pair. Again, that stunned look of "How can my hand be no good?"

KK was the awful hand of the night for me - cracked three times by the same player with Ax, and an ace comes on the flop every time. Fortunately I got away fairly cheaply all three times, but it was frustrating as Hell.

After about 6 hours at the table, I was a little tired and started playing too loose preflop and c-betting too much. I donked off about $100 before I got it back under control. I shifted back into TAG mode, and got paid back when I hit a couple of hands after a stretch of card-dead folding. All in all, another $400 profit for an 8 hour session. I'm considering just skipping the tourney tomorrow and playing cash all day.

The non-poker highlight of the day was watching Freddy Krueger chase a drunk tourist down the sidewalk in front of Harrah's. The tourist tripped and fell, dropped his glass (which shattered everywhere), and made a "nyaah nyaah" face at the now-hatless murderer who had been chasing him. It's the first time I've every seen Freddy at a loss for words.

No one ASKED you, go away!


yes, it should be in B&M, but we're giving Schmend our group luvvvv right now, so shaddup

OP

How does the Trop look after the $180 million in renovations? If you could post some pics that would be great. What type of room are you staying in?

One more thing, isn't the V's DSE going on right now?

My room is very nice; I'd say it's quite comparable to my room in the Mirage last year. I'm staying in a Deluxe room in the Paradise Tower, and it's got a comfy king size bed, big screen TV (not that I'm using it much), and a view of the Strip from Excalibur south. The staff has also been great, though I haven't interacted with them much since check-in.

The Trop advertises "best in class" rooms, and I'd agree. I paid just a little more than what I would've spent at Excalibur, and I think it's a much better room. I'll try to post a few pics later.

Yes, it's the tail end of the series this weekend. I had wanted to play the regular Venetian nooner, but it's not running now, and the DSE buy-ins are a little above my roll. So, next time.

Thanks, the Trops a little too far South for me, however, it could be an option for friends who don't play poker. Good Luck on the rest of the trip...

Saturday, Day 3:

I slept late, had a quick breakfast at 'wichcraft (MGM), then took the monorail to IP to check out their room and maybe play somewhere other than MGM. Unfortunately, at 12:30 they had only one table of 1/2NL running with a waiting list of 3, so I passed.

I walked down to Bally's, and showed up at the desk just as they were starting a new table. The table started out promising - obvious tourists who looked uncomfortable, jackpot chasers, a couple of average players, and a couple of good players. I was playing somewhat tight; I won a couple of small pots but just stuck close to even for a while. The player on my right befriended me, telling me that he wasn't very good, asking my advice about how he played certain hands, chatting about the other players, etc. He seemed friendly, but I had a feeling he might be playing me a bit, trying to get me to "be nice to my buddy" in case we got in a hand together. He also knew more about the game than he let on, though I saw him make some horrible decisions like calling off his stack with a gutshot (which, of course, he hit).

I was incredibly card dead, and as the afternoon wore on, I was stuck, frustrated, and starting to tilt. The jackpot chasers had left, the softer tourists had busted, and the seats had been taken by some better players and some maniacs. The game was still okay, but nothing was happening for me. I was raising one or two hands an hour, and each time I got 4-5 callers and had to fold to action when I missed the flop. I donked off a few bucks trying to make something happen by limping junk, but quickly realized what I was doing and got it back under control. I made three moves the entire session and got caught all three times repping the hand that my opponent actually had. It was brutal, and I was stuck about $450 at one point. I finally managed to catch a couple hands and recoup some losses, and I left the table down $300 after six hours.

I took a walk, ate dinner and cleared my head, then returned to MGM. My 1/2NL table was much better than the one at Bally's. I got the usual mix of gamblers, fish, and decent locals. After a seat change and a couple of new arrivals, I really hit my stride and was playing my A++ game. I picked off a bluffed flush with bottom set, then a few hands later made a good read-based river bluff and showed it, which later won me a big pot with QQ vs TT. In that hand, Villain knew I was tight, but the bluff I showed earlier had planted the seed of doubt. He was talking me up through the hand trying to get info, but his questioning gave his hand away. I knew he had exactly TT. The board was low, he called my turn shove and missed his two-outer.

My last big hand of the night played out against a short stack and a good player who was a little tilty. He'd had some frustrating bad beats, including getting AA cracked twice, and a little bit to drink. The hand starts with an EP raise that gets three calls. I'm in the SB looking at pocket kings, and I repop. All three call, so the pot is $100 going to the flop. Flop comes K-high all diamonds, I like my top set but hate the monotone board. I bet, tilty guy calls, and short stack shoves. Tilty guy still has a substantial stack but I cover, and I shove. He snap calls; he had the case king and A. Short stack turns over a made Q-high flush. The board runs out blanks, short stack triples up with his flush and I take a side pot big enough to give me about a $100 profit for the hand.

Not much later, our table gets shorthanded and breaks. I'm moved to a table with a few tired tourists and a few grumpy, aggressive looking degens. I see a couple of free hands, then rerack, say, "I'm not feeling it, guys," toke the dealer and cash out. In a few hours at MGM, I recouped my losses from earlier in the day and squeaked out another $125 in profit. At this point, I feel no desire to play anywhere else; MGM has been very good to me.

I've been tipping cashiers this trip, and I think Larry was right about the good karma.

Great TR. Keep it up.

How do these games compare to the FL cardrooms?

Sweet!

OK, fine.

You guys are right of course - big group hug to The Schmender.

Still enjoying the TR.

So far the MGM games have been pretty comparable to weekend games at the Daytona Beach Kennel Club, where I occasionally play - a mix of good & bad players, with plenty of soft spots. I avoid DBKC during the week, as the reg-to-fish ratio is higher, the games are tougher, and the 2-hour round trip is impractical when I have to work the next day.

Schmendy, where are you? Trying to break Laak's record?

Good reports - keep it up.

Sarge

Schmendy!

nice work man!

this thread reads like an outline for what i want to do in april. keep it up, thanks for the "fishing report".

Agreed, awesome TR so far... more more more!

Sunday, Day 4 (and, um, Monday too):

Sunday was my last full day in Vegas, and I had thought about renting a car, driving to Red Rock, Fry's, and In-N-Out Burger, then trying my hand at 3/6 or 4/8 FL. But I had been having so much fun playing 1/2NL at MGM that I went into full blown degen mode. I walked into the poker room at 1pm in the afternoon, and finally dragged back to my room at 9am Monday morning: 20 hours later. It was a blast.

I got stuck hard pretty early. My first orbit, I ran KK into a set of fives on a safe looking board and paid off like an ATM. Not two orbits later, I ran AQ into TT on an ATxQx board against the same donkey villain, and I paid him off again. Of course, he ended up spewing my chips to the rest of the table, busting out, then getting in an argument with the dealer that almost got him booted from the poker room.

I rebuilt some of my stack, then ran into a new but seemingly solid player with yet another 55 > AK on an A5x flop. He got three streets of value: cha-ching! I was really overplaying top pair hands and not spending enough time thinking about why my opponents were trying to get all my money in the pot. The worst fish had busted from my table, I was stuck about $250, and I had a horrible (but well-deserved) table image, so I asked for a table change. I got a wink & a nod from one of the good players; he was telling me that it was the smartest play I had made all afternoon.

I got my new seat, ordered a sandwich and my fourth or fifth Red Bull, and shifted gears hard. The table was better, with a tight thinking player on my left and some LAGs on the other side who were okay but playable. I played a solid TAG game, thought about every single chip that went in the pot, and took a player's stack with a set of kings. I bet the T-high two-heart flop about 2/3 pot, made a tiny bet on the turn king that screamed "I have a flush draw and want a cheap card!" then shoved the non-heart river. Villain (in position) called me to the turn with a T, then rivered two pair and called my shove. When I showed the kings, I got a "Holy crap!" and mad respect from a couple of the players on my end of the table. Nobody had me anywhere close to that hand.

There was a maniac donk with a huge stack (about $750 when I sat, though it had been around $1000 before I got there) who I could never get a piece of. He built a big pot every single hand he played, just mowing people down with big bets - I had no choice but to wait for a hand and let him get me in, but it never came. Well, the hands came, but not to me; he ended up donking off all his chips to the rest of the table and going to bed.

But as the night wore on, the drunken tourists started crawling back to their rooms, a couple of super-aggressive sharks sat down at my table, and it got ugly. I was getting a lot of marginal hands, and they were putting pressure on me every single time I put a chip in the pot. I bled away the chips I had won back and more, and was ultimately stuck about $500. The sharks were hitting cards, making good reads, and extracting every single penny of value out of every single hand they played. It was a sickening display of what really good players can do to players like me.

About 12 hours into the session, I had $100 dollars in front of me, which was the last of my daily stop-loss, and the weak-tight fuse in my head just blew. I said to myself, "It's my last night here, I'm stuck and playing scared - screw this." I stopped thinking about the money, started listening to my reads, and pushed back. I doubled up with a semi-bluff shove that caught, pushed another flush draw hard against a set (I missed, but villain checked his set on the river because of my strong line - he said he was worried about an overset). A few hands later, I rivered kings up against the same player who slowplayed AA and let me catch up cheaply. One of the sharks called me a bingo player, and I played it up jokingly. And honestly, I did get lucky. Villain played the aces like middle pair, and my incorrect read said TPWK was good, so I called him down and sucked out.

But in spite of my occasional mistakes, my game was the best it had been all day. I opened up against the tighter players at the table, showing them good hands and bluffs and keeping them off balance, and a couple of the sharks left for 2/5. My stack went up & down because of the number of hands I was playing, but I didn't care. I was playing solid poker and putting pressure on the other guys instead of letting them put pressure on me. I was having fun, I had rebuilt my table image, and I was taking advantage of it.

The table started to dwindle, and eventually we got short-handed, then broke. A couple of players at the new table were just waiting for an opening in the 2/5 game, and play was really tight. Hardly any chips were moving; there wasn't going to be a big pot until somebody got coolered. The 2/5 players left one by one, we got short again, then the early morning players started to wander in and fill the table. I continued to play hard, winning & losing small pots but not really going anywhere. I was around $450 but went down to $250 after losing a few small pots and then a bigger one with KK < 88, AIPF and an 8 on the river. I worked my way back up to $375, stuck $225 for the day, and finally dragged myself away to shower, eat, and pack for my afternoon flight. It was truly an awesome night of poker, and I really solidified my cash game and identified a number of areas that I need to work on.

After checking out, I took the shuttle to the airport early, only to find out that my flight is delayed. So I've got about 3 hours to kill; thank goodness for free wi-fi.