Subject: Las Vegas Trip Report - January 25-29, 2002 From: mperrypuzz@aol.com (BongCrosby) Newsgroups: rec.gambling.poker Date: Fri, Feb 15, 2002 6:31 PM Message-ID: <9436e5ad.0202151831.12397dc9@posting.google.com> Trip Report - January 25-29, 2002 (Cross-posted at alt.vacation.las-vegas) In Which Our Heroes Manage To Do Nearly Everything Wrong, But Still Have A Pretty Good Time. Warning: what I don't remember accurately may be fiction. Thursday, January 24 I'm feeling pretty lousy at the moment. I've been looking forward to this trip to Las Vegas for nine months (got to watch some of the WSOP last year); unfortunately, my bronchitis has been knocking at my door: "Hi, Mike -- remember me?" I convince my office manager to let me take the last two hours off and visit my doctor, who pills me up. I tell him my vacation plans, and he heartily recommends a couple restaurants as LV is one of his frequent vacation stops. He advises no drinking, since some of the medications he's prescribing apparently don't mix well with alcohol. Several minutes after I leave his office I've forgotten the names of the restaurants -- one of them begins with "China" and I suspect it's not a fast food "China," either. I'm scheduled to leave from Baltimore early evening on Friday, connecting in Minneapolis and arriving in Las Vegas around 11:00 midnight. I got a ridiculously low price on Northwest -- $138 round trip! -- so spending a few bucks on a hotel room Thursday night wouldn't bust the budget, and it would give me all day to try and hop a standby flight with the hopes of getting out to LV early. It was supposed to be a Super Bowl in Vegas trip, but the changing of the dates from January 27th to February 3rd made it a Conference Championship Games in Vegas trip. Friday, January 25 The 6:30 a.m. flight to Minneapolis was undersold but they told me that they had only five available seats on the early flight from Minneapolis to Las Vegas; it would be a crapshoot as to whether I could snag a seat. There were also a couple other flights before my scheduled flight; at the worst I'd spend a day at the airport. Waiting in Minneapolis, I am elated to hear the words "Standby passenger Mike Perry please report to the check-in counter." Yessssss. +EV. I get to Las Vegas around 11:00 a.m., nearly a full "day" ahead of schedule. Definitely worth the effort, although I do enjoy arriving in Las Vegas at night as it's fun to see the lights of the city a considerable time before you actually arrive there. I look for the Las Vegas Limo area, but apparently miss a corner or something and wind up in the taxi queue; six up-and-down rows, each of which feels like the length of a football field. The Mirage had a fairly low weekend rate, $109 per night, and coupled with the two free nights I got at Wagerworks, it made the complete price very economical. The powers that be at the Mirage sent me an e-mail informing me that I could bypass the normal check-in line, and I was soon in my room. Nice room; clean, with a goodly amount of towels and "stuff in little bottles." First bad beat: my room was on the second floor in the west wing; I had a nifty view of a wall. The first thing I did was take a nap. Bronchitis takes no prisoners. I didn't do much the first afternoon, preferring to walk around the Mirage and just soak up the atmosphere. I wandered around the casino and checked out some of the action in the poker room. I went back to the room around 8:30 to wait for my friend Tom, arriving around that time from Maine. I had some credit on Southwest Airlines that was in danger of expiring; I told him if he wanted to join me out there all he had to do was pay the overrun, and so Tom's trip actually cost less than mine, around $65 for the bus from Portland to Providence, and then another $40 for the flight from Providence to Baltimore to Las Vegas. Tom got to the room around 9:00, surprised to see me. I told him about the standby, and he called me lucky. I'd take exception to that, since I've never left Las Vegas a winner. I've won occasionally at Foxwoods and Atlantic City, but LV has shrunk -- no, make that obliterated -- my bankroll every time I've been there. Still, it's a wonderful city, and I love it out there. Tom said he was going to play some poker, but first he wanted to know about the sleeping arrangements. He asked this because I snore like a chain saw. When I lived in Maine and "the boys" would go on our sporadic road trips, I'd often wind up with a pillow in the face. (Tom devised a new strategy for this trip: instead of hitting me with a pillow, he turned the volume of the TV as high as it would go. I don't know what the folks in the other rooms thought of that, but we never heard any complaints.) Since I had napped earlier, I was feeling somewhat better. There have been times when the bronchitis has made me feel quasi-suicidal ("God -- when's it going to END?) but I think I was high from just being in Las Vegas. Tom said if I wanted to go down to the casino, he'd try and get a few hours sleep. I wandered around the casino again, playing a few slots and a few table games. I think I finished down around $30 that first night. I got back to the room around 5:00 a.m.; of course, Tom wasn't sleeping but buck naked on the john. If seeing a nude 40-something year old guy on the hopper at 5:00 in the morning doesn't qualify as a bad beat, I don't know what does. Tom and I walk the Strip and grab a midnight snack at Barbary Coast. We play a little Caribbean Stud and Tom does well enough to wind up nearly $100 ahead. As we're walking through the casino, there is a to-do at one of the Let It Ride tables: we look at the table, and there's a guy sitting there with a dazed look on his face: his three cards were the Q, J and 10 of clubs -- and the A and K of clubs were the dealer's cards. Nearly 15 minutes later as we're walking back, the same hand is still on the table. I guess these guys roll the tape over and over again to make certain there's nothing funny going on with a winning hand. We hear later that out of a $35,000 win, he tips the dealer $100. Saturday, January 26 I went to bed and Tom went down to play some poker. I reminded him about the tournament at the Luxor at 10:00, he said depending on how he was doing he'd either come back to the room and get me, or if I woke up early enough, to meet him at the poker room. I slogged through about three hours of sleep, woke up completely unrefreshed, took a shower and met Tom in the poker room. I told him that we had time to eat and to go back to the airport and rent a car (coupon from Las Vegas Advisor) before the tournament; we figured that two taxi rides back to the airport would cost us about half the cost of a rental, so it was worth it to rent a car for the remaining three days. 21 players in the tournament; Tom flopped a set and got chased down on the river by a straight and was out around 19th; I never had much in the way of cards but survived to fourth place & took home a small profit. One point late in the tournament, I thought I had a better hand than my opponent; that wasn't the case but I sucked out to stay alive. Given the amount of profanity I direct toward my computer screen when I play online poker, it was nice to be on the opposite side. Later, playing at the Mirage, I thought it was going to be one of those "poker gods look favorably upon Mike" type days. I sit in at the 3-6 table, and the dealer tells me that it's my big blind if I want in. Sure. I pick up my cards and see the 10-9 of diamonds. Not terrific, but we'll see what happens on the pre-flop betting. Checked around, and I checked. Flop comes down 6-8-2 -- all diamonds. "That could have been worse," I thought. I bet and got two callers. Turn card is the 7 of diamonds. My first hand on the table, and I hit a straight flush. Well, then. I bet, and get a raiser. The third player folds, and I raise. He reraises, and I'm thinking "Ace of diamonds." I reraise, he calls. River is a face card rag; I bet. Ace raises, I reraise, and he comes back at me. Not realizing the Mirage's 4-raise policy, I call. He shows the Ace of diamonds, I lay down the 10 and 9 for the straight flush, and the other guy goes "Aaaaaaaaaa." One of the other players looked at him and said "What else could he have had?" So I'm up $60-$70 after the first hand. It would be nice to say that the wins just kept coming, but that wasn't the case. As if to balance the scales, I get absolutely nothing for the next two hours and give just about all the profits back. I win a couple small pots, and cash out about $30 ahead. At another table, Tom does somewhat better than me: if I recall correctly, he won about $60 at his five-hour session. That evening, we thought about going to see Bad Company at the Palms, but spending $45 per ticket seemed a wee bit expensive. There was a coupon in the Advisor coupon book which was good for 50% off "your first experience at the Palms," but reading the fine print on the back indicated that the coupons weren't good on weekends. I played some slots and went up to the room; Tom continued playing poker. Sunday, January 27. The big day. *Our New England Patriots playing the Steelers for the AFC championship. Not as good as being in Las Vegas for the Super Bowl, but a reasonable substitute. I played some morning poker and it was almost like "dŽjˆ vu all over again." I catch a flush my first hand and, like yesterday, spend much of the next couple hours giving it back. After about three hours of playing, I cash out about $25 ahead. I track down Tom at another table. I don't recall whether he finished that session ahead or behind, but it wasn't notable either way. We tackle brunch and then head for the sports book. Bets placed: New England to score over 14 for $25; the game over 37.5 for $25; Patriots + 9 ¸ (?) for $50, and another $50 on the Pats for my cousin back home. Hedging my bets, I take the Steelers to win the Whole Enchilada for $50 at 13-5. Tom's a pretty gregarious kind of guy; he alternates between charming and totally obnoxious. He wasn't being nasty, but there was a Steelers fan and his girlfriend sitting next to us. Whenever the Pats would make a good play, he'd look right at the Steelers fan and yell an atta-boy. I polished off four Captain Morgan and Cokes in defiance of my doctor's advice. I know, I know -- I'm a madman. After the game, Steelers fan tells me that he thinks I'm a pretty good guy but Tom's a real censored. Dumb Move of the Day: Tom and I each put $100 on the Rams to cover. Stupid Rams. Nearly Smart Move of the Day: Tom and I each put $20 on a parlay; we take the Patriots to win AND the Eagles to win. My heart was doing a tap dance when the Eagles got the ball back with about 2 minutes left near mid-field, but they couldn't pull it off. The $40 bet would have cashed out at $910. Stupid Eagles. I head back to the room and call my cousin to ask him what he wants to do with his windfall. We convince each other to put our respective $50 on the Patriots to win the Super Bowl, not believing for one second it will happen but when you're a New England native, your teams don't make the Big Show that often. (I still have the ticket in my wallet.) We talk for about 15-20 minutes, and I am somewhat surprised to see that the long distance call ate up most of the profits of the Patriots bet. Sunday night, I lose all semblance of sanity and proceed to waste over $200 in one slot machine. I was doing break-even or a little better on the nickel machines, but the quarter machines were eating me alive me. I decided that I absolutely *needed* to get one bonus round at the "nine lines, five coins" level. About midway through my THIRD $100, I hit, but I didn't do very well on the bonus round. You only have to hit me on the head with a hammer seven or eight times before I get the message. Stupid Mike. Mike's Friendly Advice Tip: if you buy a Las Vegas Advisor membership, when you get the coupon book look for the coupon that offers a 2 for 1 buffet at the Fremont -- and BURN IT. Monday, January 28. I'm scheduled to leave late evening today; Tom's flight leaves at 6:30 Tuesday morning. I have Tuesday off, and I'm seriously considering extending the vacation by a day. Northwest's ticket change policy is a flat $100 fee; I'm not down so much that it's a bad decision. I'm starting to get over the bronchitis and think that another day in LV would be perfect. I make a decision: I decide to wait until the afternoon before making a decision. Tom and I hit the Bellagio for brunch thanks to the freebies from WagerWorks. Although I'm a basic meat-and-potatoes guy, I'm not anxious to try the boar. The Bellagio's buffet is first-rate, and there appear to be several endangered species at the serving stations. I know pizza isn't on the top of the list for buffets, but I've never had better pizza at a buffet. Tom and I head back to the Mirage; he decides he's going to do a marathon poker session before he has to leave in the morning. Tom's not a bad hold Îem player; if he has a fault he's a bit too social. He loves to joke and goof around, and will play hands he has no business playing. He wound up playing about 12 hours and dropped quite a bit of cash. I called Northwest to change my return flight from Monday evening to Tuesday evening. Confession: I love Omaha 8, but apparently I suck reeeeeal bad at it. I've won more often than I've lost at Foxwoods, but I've played a bit online and have done awful nearly across the board. (Online poker rant: is there something about having A-2-3 in the program that calls for a high flop? I swear that every time I have A-2-3 in Omaha 8, the flop comes down J-10-9.) In about two hours, I drop nearly $200 at the five and dime game. My sorriest hand was where my nut-nut after the turn turned into second nut-second nut on the river; of course I got·.nuttin'. I went back to the room to catch a few hours; Tom showed up about 4:00 a.m. to start packing for his trip back. We spent around $80 for the rental car, and in the three plus days in Las Vegas we used it to: drive to the Luxor for the tournament; drive to the Hard Rock for a little sightseeing; drive to the Bellagio for lunch; and drive downtown to see the Fremont Street Experience and the Fremont's buffet. That made the cost of the rental car *slightly* more expensive than taking the bus. After Tom hits the road, I grab a few more hours of sleep before having to check out. Tuesday, January 29. I decide to check out of the room around 10:00, stopping by the slot club first to see if my slot session of insanity was worth anything. The casino host decides that since I've dropped an entire mint's worth of nickels into the slots, they'll comp me for one night. Cool. The Mirage also has a program where they give you 10% back on the amount of points you've earned on your card. I've earned somewhere around 450 points (at $15 per point, that's a heck of a lot of nickels) and they hand me a voucher for $45. I hit the check-out line and experience my first bad non-gaming incident: somewhere along the line, the Mirage seems to have mucked up my WagerWorks reservation. After an endless wait, they decide to do the noble thing and credit me for the rooms. So I actually got four nights for the price of one. I don't know whether they'd consider this a good business move, but I'll definitely stay at the Mirage next time around. I play hold 'em for a few hours and cash out around $60 up; I guess if you'd grade my poker playing I'd get a B, B, B, F and B, with that orful Omaha session bringing down the cume to an F. J But I give the Mirage an "A".