who cares about the Super Bowl? TR 2/8 - 2/12

Not wrong, just confusing for the dealer to understand. The angle is that you get paid while the dealer doesn't notice it and you correct it otherwise.

The Wynn is obviously nice, but I don't like it... like at all.

As always, thanks Langdon for the TR.

The Wynn is too hoity toity. Great for tournaments but find their cash games too crazy. The food is all way too expensive/high end. Venetian on the other hand has the best food options on the strip from low end to high end. Everything at the Wynn is high end. Venetian has 2 great food courts plus many casual sit down spots as well as world class fine dining. Anyone can find something to eat/snack on at the V which is untrue at the Wynn.

Sorry to derail! Thanks for the TR Langdon I always ebjoy following along!

Sorry, but Wynncore PLO is fantastic!

Thanks as always for a fun TR!

Safe travels back to the tundra. Don't worry, it will be spring soon.

got on the waiting lists and headed to Venetian for one last hurrah. got seated at 1/3, played one hand then got called for 2/3.

Session 6: Venetian 2/3

quiet table. 5 Asian guys. one left and another took his place. one of the white guys was wearing a traditional Asian tunic he got in Thailand. our brief interaction comprised the only table chatter for two hours.

Brad Owen sighting. somebody said "hi Brad, big fan", and he stopped to chat, asked him his name, shook his hand. good dude.

Absolute Nuts guy sighting as well. no fan encounters observed.

1) straddle, call, bb 9-9 I raise, calls
flop 876, almost as good as I could ask for.
turn As, river 8s, third spade on board. not good anymore. I bet, he raises and I fold.

won three hands in a row at showdowns: AT (pair aces), TT > AK, 77 (v JT8 board)

got called for 1/2 PLO but stayed where I was.

2) bomb pot
J♠ 8♥ 6♥ 5♦, pretty bad holding...
somehow I flopped a straight draw on one board that hit the turn, but putting a flush out there. the other board I went runner-runner flush and we split the pot.

saw some goofy light calls. board comes out 425K3r. old white guy with a hat (call him Dave) bets $35. lady raises $50 more, he snap calls with... K9?
think there was another weird one like that I didn't write down.

3) on button I see AA and raise, Dave calls.
flop Q95r. I bet he calls.
turn 2, I bet he calls.
river J, I bet, he beats me into the pot with a snap jam. I call, and he quickly flips over KJ. wait, what?
sad to see Dave leave.
another young Asian dude replaced Dave.

4) bomb pot
Ac Kc 8h 6d
flops: c c c ; J 7 5
I mean when it's going good, it's going good. haven't felt this in a while.
that was all in the first hour.

lost a sizeable bomb pot, I had trips that did not improve and three pair on the other, no flushes on board. I bet $50 and big stack went pot for like $400+ and we both folded so don't know what he had.

after close to 3 hours I was back close to even (little up) they announced a new $3 double board bomb pot PLO game starting up. last night, I like bomb pots, why not?

Session 6b: $3 DBBP

started up just 4 handed. we didn't really want to do that but it is unraked for 15 minutes and that seemed to persuade everyone

5) one of the first hands. not a good one.
on the button, turned a K♥ flush on one board and I had like 3 pair on the other board. the top board is paired and the bottom board has three spades.
the play went bet, raise pot (like $300 all-in for him). stop stop stop nope I call. don't know why, maybe I felt pot committed, didn't even really think about it too long. the other player raised the rest which wasn't much.
we split the small side pot with flushes and the other player had a full house on my flush board so they chopped my $500 in chips.
it was the worst poker hands I've ever played. maybe in my limited thinking I figured only four handed, a full house was unlikely? but they clearly demonstrated strength. maybe it was wishful thinking they were fighting over the same board? it was so bad.
so now I'm shortstacked down $500 in a deep game against players used to playing 5/10 who have enhanced stacks now (my chips). almost right away the game filled up to a full table. why did I leave 2/3?

one of the next hands (still 4-handed), there is little action, I had a set, I check he checks back; not only did I have a set, I also had a straight and I also had a flush, all on one board. I was so tilt blind I didn't even see it. my pair was good enough to take the other board too. but not a very big pot.

I hung in there for about 2 hours, doing okay. lost boat over boat later which set me back but it wasn't a huge pot.

6) finally came to a board where I had K♥ 4♥ , top board has A♥K♣7♥, A♠Q♦3♠ on the bottom. bet, I raised my stack of $100, another player raised over the top, and she held both the other A♦A♣ . I spiked another K♦ but that gave her a full house and I was done. it was bedtime anyway.

Thanks for sharing your experiences.

my original plan was to do a little play at TI; all I had done with my comp stay was a little freeplay VP and one hour of pai gow but I couldn't justify stuffing a $100 in a slot the way things had gone. what the hell losing a little more wouldn't make much of a difference at this point.

**skipping back to a year ago**
walking around the TI casino, a random guy sitting says "hey man, this Dancing Drums machine is amazing, I always win! you should play it!"

**back to today**
I find the Dancing Drums machine and stick in a $20. my very first spin activates some kind of feature and I win a mini ($14). sweet.
I do some more spins, I don't really know what's going on. less than 10 spins later I trigger another feature! this was for free games. first spin triggers additional free games. a few spins later, everything starts glowing and gems start flying and the credits go up and up. by the time the bonus finished I had won over $200!

I cash out after 10x-ing my original investment. thank you random stranger for advising me on this. I'm an alpha papa now.
nothing better than going home a winner.

packed, showered, set my alarm for 4:35am, at the airport gate at 5:15. home around 11am CT. best friend met me at the airport.

we are currently in "first fake spring" period. upper 40s today, the snow is all gone. been a pretty wimpy winter overall

I'm a bit overwhelmed by the Venetian resort. Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, the poker comps are good at like 5 restaurants. Venetian has like 50. and you have to specify which one you want. and that's without Grimaldi's which looks like it's no longer on the list?

thanks, you and everyone for following along. I obviously wish I could share some more winning stories. pai gow sucked for me and my limited poker room play was soured by one embarrassing donation. it didn't ruin the overall experience and I'm happy to have gone, but now I'm subject to Mrs Langdon mocking my gambling "skills"

Is there a good website or app to learn how to play pai gow?

Nice TR, as always. Sorry there wasn’t more luck on Pai Gow.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Great trip, thanks for sharing!

More pictures of best friend always encouraged.

https://wizardofodds.com/games/pai-gow-p...

The vast majority of hands play themselves. A lot of the games have moved to the dealer hand being face up, which makes every hand play itself.

I found out I have no comps whatsoever at Venetian. I always just tossed my old Grazi card to the dealer. I figured he would tell me if it was no good. I guess their system doesn't indicate that on their board.

If you go to the poker desk they will tell you exactly how much you have in poker comps. Since I don't really gamble and primarily play my cash games at the Venetian it is the "only" place I get comps. I always wait until the last trip of the year to cash them in on the wide variety of good eats at the Venetian.

Yes to face up pai gow. Just set your hand correctly. Also, don't expect to get many comps playing that game.

I usually just order tableside with the comps, the burger and the salmon is always absolutely amazing.

I've never eaten at the table. The salmon sounds okay, but I'm not touching a burger with hands that touch cards and chips.

Neither am I, they give you a knife and a fork, they are very generous.

Eating a burger with a fork and knife is sacrilegious to us Americans.

You can always wrap a burger in a napkin, which is what I do 😉

My hands and by long beard disagrees [emoji23]