5/27/05 @ Trump

I went to the Trump Riverboat Casino in Gary, Indiana Friday night for some live poker action.

I'm definitely glad I checked it out. Thanks go out to DP for the info and recommendation.

My brother and I got there around 9:15pm. Per DP's advice I called when we crossed the Indiana border and got put on the waiting list. I put myself on the list for 6/12 and my brother on the list for $200 Max NL. Calling to get on the list was crucial. It was crowded. It's a good size room, however, bigger than I expected and it was alive.

I was seated at 9:30pm in the 3 seat. My brother was seated about 10 minutes later. So all in all not a long wait time so I'd recommend anyone to call ahead to get put on the wait list. They will keep you on the list for up to an hour after you call. So you basically have to get there within the hour and check in after calling. This seriously cut down our wait on this Friday night.

I sat down right as it was my big blind and posted. First hand dealt.....AA. It was raised by a player in MP two players in LP called two bets cold, the small blind called, I re-raised, an EP caller called two more bets, and everyone else called for 6 players to see the flop. The flop was Jack high with two clubs. SB checked, I bet, and everyone called. The turn was a rag. The SB checked, I bet, one MP and one LP caller with the SB dropping. Three to the river which brought the 3rd club. I checked, MP bet, LP called, and I called. MP raked the pot hitting his flush at the river holding AK of clubs. LP showed pocket Queens. I mucked my Aces and thought to myself......."self....if this is how the night is going to go I'm in trouble."

So my Aces were cracked on hand number one. 6 people saw the flop with several calling two bets cold. This is how the night would go. 6-8 people seeing the flop was a regularity. The funny thing I learned later that night was my brother was dealt AA on his first hand as well (crazy) and his were beaten by a rivered flush as well. Except it cost him a little more as it was no limit.

A couple of hands later I was dealt KK and they held up for a nice pot. The table was very very similar to the online 2/4 tables. There were 4 solid players. There was two loose passive players. One ROCK.......and one LOOSE AGGRESSIVE player. Luckily for me the loose aggressive player was seated immediately to my right. He was frustrating the hell out of the two players sitting immediately to his right. He would raise every street sometimes and after the river show down NOTHING........And he would say in his thick oriental accent, "I got nothing!" It became a joke at the table. The thing that started to piss me off about him is he wouldn't show down his hand at the end......He'd wait to see what you had first before deciding to show or muck. Even when I called him down. The dealer had to get involved a couple of times and ask for the players to show their hands.

A couple big pots I won were when I turned the nut flush holding A4s out of the blinds and when my pocket ducks flopped a set although I didn't show them down because the only player left at the river laid his hand down to my river bet.

I played until 1:10am and cashed out up $247. It was definitely a good time and I will defintely be going back. I'm looking at a possible trip again this Friday night but will have to wait and see. Unfortunately my brother didn't fare so well. I told him I didn't like the max $200 NL game with blinds of 2/5 giving you only 40BB from the start to work with but he loves the NL game and will probably stick with it.

We shall see. Overall, my first $6/$12 experience was fantastic and it will be my limit of choice for awhile while visiting the Trump. I'm curious if there's a big difference between the 6/12 and 10/20 as far as skill level goes.

Haven't played much online.....cleared the Party bonus Saturday night. Will be having out of town guests getting in tonight through the weekend so will get in little to no time online this week.

Good luck to all. Hope everyone had a happy and safe holiday weekend.

Baz out.

$6/$12 Live

Tonight I'll be heading off to Trump Casino for some $6/$12 live poker. My brother will dip his toes in the $200 max buy-in NL game. The blinds for the NL game are 2/5 which seems high to me. That's only 40BB with the Max buy-in. We'll see how it goes. This will be my first 6/12 action and I'm looking forward to it. The only limit lower is 3/6 and I'm guessing it's a donk fest. 6/12 will probably play similar to the 2/4 and 3/6 online. I don't know for sure......merely speculation. I won't be afraid to change to the 3/6 games if it's not a good game and the 3/6 looks to be. My old man isn't going to make it this time as he's afraid we'll be out all night which we very well may be depending on how it's going. That's the thing about going to the boats or a local "live" casino with someone else or a bunch of people. If you're sitting in a good game and doing well while one of your buddies gets hammered and is broke early I always feel bad and tend to get up from the game earlier than I would have otherwise. That's one of the great things about Vegas........there's a room not too far for your partners in crime to go up to if they aren't faring so well.

I played some more 2/4 last night working on clearing the Party reload. Have about 125 hands to go and I am down about $90. So basically if I brake even over the next session I'll brake even overall with the bonus. Most of it is due to Tuesday night where I lost close to $150 total. I played horrible. Reminder......When I get check raised or raised on the turn by a previously passive player my hand is no good. Release my hand!

I am definitely envious and wishing I was able to make it to the blogger gathering next weekend. I'll be looking forward to all of the write-ups and stories that are sure to come from it.

Til next time.
Baz Out

Live Poker Friday

It looks like I'll be heading to Trump Casino in Indiana for some live poker action Friday night with my brother and maybe the old man. They spread limit and no limit hold 'em along with the occasional stud/Omaha/etc......It will be my first trip there and I'm looking forward to it.

Any Chicagoland/Indiana bloggers out there drop me an e-mail if you can make it Friday night.

I'm trying to decide between playing no limit which has a min/max of 50/200 with 2/5 blinds or staying with my bread and butter limit and deciding between 3/6 or 6/12.

Here's a question........If I normally 4 table 2/4 online wouldn't one table of live 6/12 be an equivalent bankroll? I believe 3/6 live (being the lowest limit they spread) will be and tends to be the most varience ridden. I can't believe they don't have a limit between 3/6 and 6/12. Oh well.

We shall see what happens. It'll be a nice kick off to the Memorial Day weekend.

Baz Out

Rake Back?

Looking to get feedback from anyone that gets rake back from any site they play on.

What site are you signed up through? Or is it with a single person affiliate?
Are these sites actually just single people that set up a site?
Are you happy with it?
Has anyone ever contacted a site they are currently on (Party Skin) and get added to or changed to an affiliate for rake back purposes? It seems that they would rather do this than lose your business.....no?

I feel like I'm missing out on some money and have been checking out reviews of rake back sites. I have been considering registering at Full Tilt anyway and figure why not sign up through a rake back deal. If I end up playing half the time there and half at the Party skins I'll at least see some rake returns from the play there. I definitely want to take advantage of the $600 deposit bonus and think that over time they will be a major player in the online poker room world.

Additional thoughts?......Ideas?

Hope all is well.

Thanks in advance for anyone's thoughts and input.

Baz Out.

Vegas Trip Part 3 (Final Part)

Monday morning came fast with a phone call from my parents for dinner early (around 7:30am). They wanted to meet for breakfast and my Dad, brother, and I planned on going to a tournament or two so we wanted to determine which one (or ones) to go to. We hadn't been able to talk to my Dad about it previously due to the surprise so we had a little catching up to do. Over breakfast we talked about our options and settled on checking out the 11am tournament at the Sahara. I had heard good things about the structure in relation to cost and wanted to check it out.

At 9am we got to the Sahara by way of the monorail and signed up for the 11am tourney. It is $42 for T2000 with one $20 rebuy that you can take anytime during the first hour which gets you T1500 more. So for $62 you get T3500 with the blinds starting at 25/25 and going up in 20 minute levels. A great structure for the money in comparison to what else I saw out there.

While we waited for the tournament they had one 2/4 game going with 3 seats available so me, my Dad, and my brother sat down. Three players at the table had been there all night. Two were buddies and they were feeling REALLY good. They were still putting down Corona's and Budweiser's one after another. The second guy was an oriental fellow and wasn't drinking but would fall asleep for whole orbits at a time. They simply folded his hands. Once in awhile he'd wake up......Play a pot......and usually won it which brought about more razzing from the two younger drunk guys. It was a fun light-hearted table and we had a good time playing while we waited. I sat to the left of a dealer that was playing until he had to be on for the tournament (or until someone else wanted a seat). His name was Paul and someone had called him from beyond the rail while we were playing. The one young drunk kid thought he heard the guy say 8-ball and gave him a sideways stare.....with a big smile.......and said, "Eight ball, eh, I see how it is". We all started cracking up and he was known the rest of the time we were there as 8-ball. So if you're ever at the Sahara and have a dealer named Paul......Call him 8-ball and see if he remembers that day. He's a very nice guy and I can't say enough good things about the staff there at the Sahara and how they ran their tournaments. Nothing eventful happened in the 2/4 game and I cashed out as the tournament approached up $25.

During the 11am tournament there were around 40 players that day. I simply got no cards what so ever. Every time I got a small or mid-pocket pair I didn't hit my set and the flop was a monster action flop with Aces and Kings everywhere. I doubled up when I got fairly short with 55 that held against AK and then dwindled from there. I re-bought before a card was dealt and was happy to start with the full alottment of chips. Some people did this while other waited until they went bust or never re-bought if they were happy with their chipstack. My Dad, brother, and I all sat at different tables and we all busted out one after another within 10 minutes of each other with me being the last one in. We enjoyed it very much and as we walked to the monorail decided to definitely come back to the 7pm tourney. If we had really been thinking we would have signed up before we left but we weren't.

My brother got off at Bally's and my Dad and I continued on to MGM to play more poker (it was around 3pm). My brother had been getting hammered at the limit games and wanted to take a break. My Dad and I got to the MGM and got seated quickly at two separate 4/8 tables. My table was a rock garden and no one was having any fun whatsoever. I played there for maybe 45 min. to an hour before getting a table change to my Dad's table as there were several people there with monster stacks and it seemed really action oriented the couple times I walked over. Boy was I right. I got the seat immediately to the right of my Dad which he was pleased with due to the fact that he knows how aggressive I play. There were two ladies in seats 8 and 9 that had stacks of chips in addition to a rack each. The guy immediately to my right also had a huge stack but what I didn't know (and wasn't thrilled with later) was that he had pulled two racks off the table in addition to what he had. I'm not an expert but aren't you required to keep the chips in play and on the table (visible?) until you cash out and get up? Anyway....This game was action packed and the two women bled their chips away with my Dad and I getting a good chunk of it. They played any Ace and any face sometimes catching and taking a good size pot down but more times than not losing by getting out kicked or running with their top pair to the river on a coordinated paired board to get hammered by a straight, flush, or full house. It was unbelievable.

We did not want to leave that game but my brother was waiting on us to go back to play in the Sahara's 7pm tourney and we didn't want to disappoint. So we reluctantly cashed out at 5:30pm with each of us tripling our buy-ins. My brother called and said......what else.....The monorail was broken down and he was grabbing a taxi and would meet us at the Sahara for dinner before the tournament. So that's what we did.....Grabbed a taxi and headed to get a bite to eat.

The 7pm tournament had the same structure (they all do) and had 95 entries. I played a solid game and went out around 10:15pm 23rd. My Dad didn't fare so well and was planning on heading back when my brother and I started increasing our chip stacks and he wanted to stick around to root us on. Mine took a nose dive when my pocket 10's got a ten on the flop to go along with a K x and ran into someone with slightly less chips than I and slow played pocket Kings on the flop giving them the pot with trip Kings over my trip 10's. I had the blind plus T25 UTG and went all in blind losing knocking me out. The good news was my brother was stacking some chips and reached the final table being top 3 in chips. He played a nice tight game and let several players get knocked out but failed to change gears when it got down to 7 or 6 left ultimately getting knocked out 5th when he got aggressive and ran into a bigger hand. It was a nice run for him though and he was very pleased with his play. I'd definitely recommend the Sahara tournaments for anyone looking for a great structure with a LOT of chips for the money and a friendly staff. I'll definitely play it again when in town.

Tuesday May 3rd was our final day and we wanted to make the most of it. My Dad had spent the majority of time with us boys playing poker so he was going to spend the afternoon with my sisters doing some -EV gambling. But the ladies were spending the morning at the pool so that meant we could get some poker in prior to their plans. We went to my new favorite Vegas poker room......MGM. It was 8am and they did not have a 4/8 game running so I put my name on the 4/8 list and sat in the current 2/4 game. The 2/4 game had an oriental guy that had three racks of white sitting in front of him with at least another racks worth stacked he was playing with. He straddled everytime he was UTG and raised from late position many times in the dark. I don't know if he had won those chips or bought them but in an hour and a half he had lost it all and had reached into the well for more. Unfortunately I didn't get any of it. It was a typical wild 2/4 game and my Dad didn't fare well at all practically busting out and bailing by 10 am heading back to catch up with the girls.

I moved to a new 4/8 table with $5 less than my $100 buy-in at 10:30am. At 12:45pm I cashed out down to $65. There were two guys that saw just about every flop AND CAUGHT. It would have been worse but my cards were worthless for the most part.

I made it back to Bally's where I found my Parents and sisters playing craps and roulette. I jumped on the craps table and in 15 minutes dropped another $75 as the table cooled fast. I jumped on the roulette wheel with my other sister and the $25 that survived the craps table losing all but $8 of that. I then stopped by the poker "room" to see what games they had going. They had several 2/4 games and a 3/6 game going. They had a list as well and were looking to start a 1/2 no limit game. I put my name on the list and pointed to the blackjack seat I was sitting in. I played Blackjack for 30 minutes before they called the names for the no limit game. I broke exactly even.

My brother had been whining that he sucks at limit and wanted to play no limit so I kept telling him to play a 1/2 No limit ring game. I called him to let him know they were starting one and that we had seats available and he said he was heading over to give it a shot. It was 2:30 pm and we had to head to the airport around 4:30 pm. I cashed in for the max of $200 as did my brother. We were seven handed to start with and gained an 8th before too long. I sat in the 1 seat with my brother in the 10. There was an older gentlemen in the 9 seat who called 1/2 and full pot sized bets with next to nothing.....Bottom or middle pair. Another guy played alot of hands but didn't get to showdown more than a couple of times. He showed down monster hands those couple of times but couldn't have had monsters every time unless he was on the biggest rush of cards ever. I played tight aggressive poker and cashed out at 4:30 pm up $70. My brother cashed out at 4pm pretty much even......FOR HIS TRIP. He won the majority of it on one hand. It was around a $600 pot that saw raises being called by 3 people pre-flop. Three people stayed to see the turn after a pot sized bet. Then there was a large bet followed by one caller and they lost one. The river brought the third of a suit and I thought my brother got ran down by a flush when the old man pushed his last $60 in to go all-in. My brother thought for several minutes before stating he had to call based on the pot size (and what the old man had been showing down up to that point). He took it down with his pocket eights to go along with a third 8 on the flop.......The old man had top pair weak kicker. It was a sweet pot and I was happy for him.

Everyone that goes to Vegas for the first time I always wish they win or at least come close to breaking even. Then you're hooked for life. If you lose I think you'll come back if you got some gamboool in your blood but you might not rush back. If you win I think you'll come back with too big a chip on your shoulder thinking you can win and "pay for your trip" everytime. It's always nice to win or break even as your time to get the airport approaches. That's what my brother did. Good job man!

To my Dad: Happy 50th Birthday! I had a blast playing poker with you in Vegas. That semi-regular poker trip to Vegas your talking about......let's set it up! Hope you had as much fun as I did.

Sorry for the lack of specific hand details. I took notes to the best of my ability and will work on better details for future trips. I kind of get in a zone while playing and at a break or something I jot down times, amounts, and what I can remember of hands which is usually very little.

I also put some money on some horses for the Kentucky Derby. In a field like they had this year it's anyone's race so I always pick 2-3 long shots and 2 mid-range odds horses I think have a good shot. I put $10 down on each to win. My horses this year were:

High Limit
Afleet Alex - 3rd
Giacomo - 1st
Closing Argument - 2nd
Going Wild

Closing Argument actually went off at 72-1 by race time so that would have been that much sweeter but I wasn't complaining at the $500+ win. Gotta love the Derby.

If you made it this far.....thanks for stopping by.

Baz Out.

Vegas Trip Report Part 2

Sunday morning around 10:30am I fought to shield the sun from my eyes as I stirred from my poolside slumber. The desk had told us early check in was at 11am but my thoughts were this had to be close enough and headed to see if a room could be had. The front lobby was bustling with people that had flown in that morning and the check-in line was growing fast. As I waited in line I noticed a few people leaving the counter with room keys........A good sign. I had been told to ask for a room in the North tower as they were nicer. I had been told to try the $20 tip trick for an upgrade. At that point, all I wanted was a room with two beds. A place to call home for a couple of days. By 11am we were checked in. We received a room in the South tower. It was a good size room but nothing special to note. We finally were checked into a room and that was all we really cared about at that point. My sisters did a rotation to put their pool gear on and were able to save their pool side lounge chairs. Their plan was to stay there resting for the afternoon. I showered, feeling refreshed by my poolside nap and the fact that I had a bed to get into.....eventually. My brother was out cold by the time I was done cleaning up so I left him a note to call me when he got up. I was heading for the MGM and their new poker room.

1pm Sunday I made it to the MGM's newly opened poker room. I was immediately impressed with it's size and the space between the tables. There is more than enough room and you definitely do not feel cramped. They could actually add several tables and still leave plenty of room for comfort. It's basically shaped like an arc with the cashier in the middle and they try and hold all limit games on one side with the no limit games on the other side. They have a table up top overlooking the sportsbook for high limit games that may come together. There was a waiting list for 4/8 so I put my name on it and took a seat in a 2/4 Kill game that had an opening. I cashed in for $100 and had doubled it by the time 2:30pm rolled around and my name was finally called for 4/8. I moved over to the 4/8 game and continued my steady climb. One particular hand stands out during this game. I was dealt AQs on the button and raised two limpers. The BB called as did the limpers. The flop came 9 Q 4 with two of my clubs giving me TPTK with the nut flush draw. It checked to me and I bet with the BB calling along with one of the limpers. The turn was an offsuit duece and it was checked to me again where I bet and was called in both spots. The river brought the 8 of clubs giving me the nut flush. This is where it gets interesting. The BB leads out so I immediately figure he's got the King and second nut flush. The MP limper calls and I raise. The BB re-raises me and we lose the MP limper. I re-raise him back and he re-raises me again with little hesitation. I re-raise him back and he re-raises me AGAIN! At this point I pause, double check the board to be sure I didn't miss a straight flush possibility, peek at my hole cards to be sure I didn't misread my hand and was sitting with the Ace of spades instead. I did in fact have the nuts and re-raised him back. This happened a total of six times from start to finish before he simply called. The table was into it and couldn't wait to see our hands. He actually beat me in turning over his hand and had the 6 and 7 of clubs giving him a baby flush one card from the straight flush. I turned over the Ace high flush and he just shook his head and I dragged a monster pot. I couldn't believe what had just happened. He re-raised me six times with a baby flush! Needless to say I was fast falling in love with poker at the MGM. At 5:45pm I cashed out with a little more than 4 times my buy-in.

6pm Sunday night the Monorail was broken down with a sign that read it will be open at 7am Monday. So I walked back to Bally's from the MGM.......It wasn't the last time this happened either. I don't get it. They spend gabillions of dollars on this monorail system which is quite nice when working.....I don't ever remember the monorail being broke down when it ran between MGM and Bally's. Why all the problems now that it is extended to the Sahara?

7pm Sunday evening was Siesta time. I napped hard until 9pm and it was much needed.

9:45pm we caught the limo to the airport to surprise my Dad for his 50th birthday. He had no clue we were there and Mom told him she got the limo to pick them up as part of his birthday trip. The driver was let in on our little surprise and went inside with one of those signs to snag them. We waited inside the limo for them.....Waiting for the moment to spring the surprise. While we waited another limo pulled in next to us. It wasn't unusual because there were several in line. All of a sudden eight, how should I say, larger women came up to it with at least two suitcases each. I looked at my brother and said, "there's NO WAY they're all getting in that same limo." The poor driver struggled stuffing their luggage in the trunk piece by piece and tying down the lid and they piled in one by one. Two of the larger ones played a quick game of rock/paper/scissors to see who got to take the seat up front and after some maneuvering and shuffling around they were off. I couldn't believe it but they all fit. I wouldn't say comfortably but they seemed to be having a grand 'ol time already.

Finally my parents were on their way out and they were beaming and excited.......My Dad excited to be in Vegas and my Mom the same with the addition of knowing that we were waiting in the limo and Dad had no clue. My brother had cracked the door on the opposite side we thought they'd come to as it was getting pretty damn hot in there while we waited and wouldn't you know my Dad headed to that side which was opposite of the way they came. I said, "He's coming your way." My brother pulled it as closed as he could while ducking down to stay out of view as my Dad grabbed the door handle and pulled it open while joking with the driver. His initial look was stunned as he saw us sitting there and we yelled surprise and happy birthday. He was truly surprised and couldn't believe what he was seeing as he climbed in and saw all of his now grown children sitting there ready to spend a couple of days in Vegas with him. It was priceless. Once back at Bally's they checked in and since they were out of "regular" rooms for the night they put them in a suite for the first night which was in the North tower and really nice. We talked for a short while and then made our way back down to the casino to do some gambling for a little while.

1am Monday morning I was sitting at a $10 minimum blackjack table and dropped $200 by 1:40am. I lost $120 on one hand where the dealer had a 6 showing and I split my 7's. I got another 7 and split again. I got another 7 and split again getting a 4 this time which I doubled down. I ended up with eight bets out when all was said and down between splitting and doubling down. My highest total was 18 which I wasn't thrilled with especially when the dealer turned over a 5 under that 6 and of course hit that 11 with a face card for 21. It was brutal. I then had to make my way to the craps table at 1:45am to drop another $240 on $5 minimum craps by 2:30am. It was time to get some sleep.

Next part will find us entering a couple of Sahara poker tournies with some ring game action and a straddler at MGM.

Baz Out.

Vegas Trip Report Part 1

Saturday April 30th seemed like it simply dragged on and on. We were leaving for Vegas baby and that time seems to never get here quick enough. I was traveling with my brother and two sisters our Dad had no clue we were going to be there. We were surprising him for his 50th birthday. Mom had surprised him with the trip to Vegas to celebrate this milestone in his life and we thought it would be awesome to be there as well. After a clearance through Mom we made plans and couldn't wait for the day to arrive. It was finally here. Originally it was just my brother and I but it didn't take long for my sisters to join the fray. We had all gotten the same flight which was good. We were supposed to get into Vegas around 9:50pm Vegas time. I made reservations at the same hotel my parents were staying so we could all be at the same place.....Bally's. I had never stayed there before and am always up for trying out a new hotel. When making the reservations Saturday night was double what I could get Monday night for and quadruple the Sunday night rate. After some discussion with my brother we decided not to make a reservation for Saturday night and simply wing it. My brother works third shift so he's used to staying up all night anyway and I remembered countless times I've gone to Vegas, dropped my bags in the room that first night, and didn't see the room again until well into the next morning. It was also my brother's first time in Vegas which would make everything that much more heightened once we got there and he started exploring and checking things out. When my sisters were added to the mix several days later I told them about the plans and offered to reserve us a room for Saturday night as well now that there were four of us sharing the cost. After some discussion we left it as it was and decided to see what happened. So that's how we left it and now it was finally April 30th and we all gathered at my sister's house waiting for the car to pick us up for the airport. The car and flight were on time and we were off on our Vegas birthday surprise adventure.

Upon arrival we took a cab to Bally's and checked our bags with the bellman. Even though we had no room to check into I was walking abnormally fast due to my excitement of being back in Vegas. We took a quick look around the casino floor at Bally's and found the "Poker Room" to be nothing more than an area slightly seperated from the floor with a couple of velvet ropes and a podium with a small cahier window in the back. It was also in a noisier area of the casino which I didn't like. Since it was my brother's first time in Vegas and we had ALL NIGHT to kill we decided to walk around to some neighboring properties to take a look around. I loved the idea because I was looking forward to seeing the Bellagio's new remodeled poker room. I have to say I wasn't overly impressed with the Bellagio's new room. It is big and looks very nice. I'm not sure how many tables they have but I'd guess 27-30. The problem is everything looks crammed together. In the 5-10 minutes we railbirded I saw several people's chairs bumping into the chair of a person sitting at the table behind them. And the cocktail waitresses looked to really be battling these chairs to get from table to table to serve drinks. That's not a problem for Doyle and the rest as they have a nicely enclosed area with several tables. I could see Barry Greenstein playing what I guessed to be a mixed game and a new table was starting with Jennifer Harman in there as well. It was, after all, Saturday night around 11:15pm. I'm sure there were others in there I would have recognized but simply couldn't see. It definitely was packed and even though I planned on playing there I new I didn't want to wait on the wait list for that night......Even though I had ALL NIGHT.

We didn't stray too far before deciding to split up for awhile and do whatever we deemed appropriate. My brother and I headed straight to Bally's "Poker Room" and told the ladies that's where they will be able to find us. I was hoping to find a 4/8 game going but all they had was 2/4, 3/6, and 1/2 No Limit running. It was 12am and the 3/6 list was several people long while there was immediate seating at 2/4. My brother and I sat 2/4 immediately and were pumped to be playing live poker in Vegas. The session was uneventful for the most part. I lost the majority of my buy-in by 3am with the norm being 6-8 people seeing flops. I learned that I didn't like playing at Bally's on a weekend night with the live music just across the table game area in the bar. It was sooooo frickin loud you couldn't hear a thing. My brother lost a little but fared slightly better than I and it was then our sister's hunted us down and we did some more walking around.

We found ourselves at the Imperial Palace from 3:30 - 4:30 am. I love to play poker but also love to gamboooool it up with blackjack and especially CRAPS. I've payed for many a Vegas trip on Blackjack/Craps winnings..........don't get me wrong......I've lost my share as well.....But getting on the right craps table is an awesome feeling. My one sister loves to play craps as well and the other one is learning. My brother doesn't have a clue how to play and I really believe he is more confused after the trip and me trying to teach him than he was going into it. Maybe that says something about my teaching? Anyway.....$5 Craps at IP was brutal and I dropped $200 in that session which I didn't realize was going to be the norm for me this trip at the 'ol craps table.

5am Sunday morning I tried like hell to sweet talk a cute asian lady at Bally's to let us check in giving her the full sob story and making up a bunch of shit to make it really good. No luck.

6am Sunday morning we were eating breakfast at the Sidewalk Cafe picking out who had just gotten up for breakfast and who was STILL up for breakfast. It was obvious where we fell. At this point we were thouroughly exhausted. If I was by myself or with my brother only I probably would have been playing poker still but I felt bad that my sister's didn't have a room to go to if they wanted so we decided to go check out the Wynn.

7:20am Sunday morning we were at the Venetian and I lost $10 in a Jacks or Better 5 cent machine when I really just wanted to sit down. I lost another $10 in a 25 cent Double Diamond Deluxe slot machine but we had recouped enough energy to finish the walk to Wynn. I thought along the walk how I had stayed up all night so many times before without much thought or problem and why this time was so brutal. The differences: Little to no alcohol this time versus A LOT of alcohol the other times and having the OPTION of going to your room. There's something to be said for knowing you have a place you CAN go to versus knowing that you have no place to go for awhile.

7:45am Sunday morning we finally made it to the Wynn and it was.......In a word.....Nice. I wasn't overly impressed. Maybe it was the fact that I had been up all night and was exhausted but it simply felt like Bellagio to me. Of course, I guess it should in a way since it was Mr. Wynn who built both but I really thought he would seperate himself from that "feel" and go a totally different direction. In my opinion......He didn't. The poker room was very nice but smaller than I thought it would be. There was no seperation for Daniel's high limit area other than a small riser to a seperate table (or it could have been tables). There were only 4 tables going this time Sunday morning. A 4/8, 15/30, 1-2NL, and 2-5NL. There is no maximum buy-in for there no limit ring games which I thought was interesting and I think will fail miserably in the long run but they are trying it. They have a shuttle to the monorail from Wynn but it either wasn't running at all, wasn't running yet that morning, or we missed something somewhere because we couldn't figure it out so we caught a cab back to Bally's. The best $5.60 I spent yet up until that point. Once back we set-up a limo to pick up my parents at the airport that evening through VIP services.

Approximately 8:45am Sunday morning I visited my first pool EVER in all of my trips to Vegas. It was at Bally's and while the sign said POOL CLOSED........The door was open. My sister's and I each made our way to a lounge chair and slept until 10:30am. I'd wake up once in awhile and have the strange feeling like someone looted me while I slept.......tap my pocket to be sure everything was present and accounted for......Then fall back fast asleep. People gave us strange looks as they came to the pool in their suits......Us in our jeans with no shoes or socks and various non-pool wear tops. It didn't matter.......We were tired. I loved the pool for that hour and 45 minutes.

The next Part will find us getting a room, more poker in my new favorite Vegas poker room, and more.

Baz out

I'm Back

I'm back from Vegas and it was a BLAST! Unfortunately I am also back to work first thing this morning after getting in at 2:30 am last night so a trip report will have to wait.

Some things to come.......

First night and no room......
The Wynn.....
My first visit ever to a Vegas pool.....
Poker......
Random betting.....
-EV games craps and blackjack.....
Birthday surprise.....
Sahara poker tourney......
The straddler......
More Poker......

Til then.
Baz Out.