BigWhale & brother (feat. MuckPls) does Vegas - 2025 edition (21st-31st March)
Hello people,
I can't believe it's been 6 months since I have been in Vegas, and we cannot let that go on for much longer
Thanks for all the detail Whale - glad you booked a small winner and hope you had fun!
Quick question…why do you feel you want to size it up on Q77 with AQ?
That feels like a spot you want lesser queens and smaller pairs and A high to call and you have an A so you’re bout really worried about a K
I’d bet smaller on the flop and then go heavy on the turn
Thanks 😀 I am actually not entirely sure why I thought that in time. Maybe because there was a flush draw on board. But I probably did a pretty poor job with most of my posts, and didn't make them interesting enough. There is just not enough time in the day to give them the detail they deserve, as it takes way too long to write them up.
As a general concept though, we should exploitatively sice up on most flops with value, and then size down on turn. People are much less likely to fold on the flop than on the turn, and if we keep our sizing in check we can get them to call there as well.
This is especially good if you have something like KK on a board of (Q-6-2-9) or something like that. We unblock TP, and all pocket pairs between 77-JJ will also call at least once regardless of sizing. So we can bet bigger on this imaginary Q-6-2 flop, and then smaller (relatively speaking) on turn to hopefully ensure that they stick around with very little equity.
(sadly I didn't encorporate this well at all during my trip, hopefully next time)
I had the offer available but it was together with a booked stay, and for such a short trip I just didn’t see it being worth it. Also my comps at Caesars sucks, I honestly don’t know why. Every single trip I stay + gamble like crazy. Last year I lost 10k on blackjack and another 4 or 5k at UX and when the offers were updated they were like here is a 2 day comp at Flamingo and $
Ouch. Wow, that's a sad cry from the offers they used to give! My husband lost ~$5, 000 in BJ one night and we got a huge two (or three?) bedroom suite at Caesar's with six-person dining table, pop-up TV at the end of the bed, etc., for three nights.
I had the offer available but it was together with a booked stay, and for such a short trip I just didn’t see it being worth it. Also my comps at Caesars sucks, I honestly don’t know why. Every single trip I stay + gamble like crazy. Last year I lost 10k on blackjack and another 4 or 5k at UX and when the offers were updated they were like here is a 2 day comp at Flamingo and $
I can understand getting short-changed at blackjack - could be a pit boss not paying attention. But at vp, that's weird. Unless the losses on individual trips were small. But I have noticed that the best comp offers come after wins. They want that money back. A friend of mine won like $2500 in a slot at Venetian, and he said he kept getting comps for years afterward.
One final post from me, as I made it safe and sound back to Malta on Tuesday evening / Wednesday morning. No travel issues on the way back, although the Virgin flight from Las Vegas to London was quite a bumpy ride for the first 3-4 hours. But I lucked out and had an entire row to myself, which was great for being able to relax a bit more.
Just wanted to do a quick summary as I am known to do. First of all, I am very happy that I actually made it to Vegas in the first place. With the entire Heathrow Airport in London shutting down on the 21st of March + my flight getting cancelled, it didn't look too promising for a while. Thankfully 'MuckPls' put the idea in my head of going through Dublin, and I was actually able to find flights for the day after. So even though I ended up losing 24 hours of Vegas time (and almost my entire stay at Excalibur), it was still well worth it.
Speaking of hotels, here are my impressions:
* Excalibur: Only had around 15 hours here. Room was however not terrible, dated but seemed very clean. I did however wake up a lot from the noisy Air Condition, and ended up turning it off around 4am in order to be able to sleep a bit longer. Casino floor was huge, but seemed pretty easy to navigate. I didn't end up taking time to try out the pool and the gym, but I had a look at the latter and was impressed with the equipment. Will probably stay here again in the future, especially as they will now get an upgrade on their funiture (they will get the old funiture from the MGM Grand rooms).
* Flamingo: Highly underrated in my opinion. The 'Flamingo Room' is spacious and bright, and seemed very clean as well. Property itself is easy to navigate and the location is very central. The gym is decent, the pool was a bit small however but not terrible. And as soon as the construction of the new pool area is complete, I am sure it will be pretty great.
* MGM Grand: Highlight of the trip for me, as both me and 'Enhanced' got one of their newly renovated rooms. Really stylish look, big bathroom, a mini fridge in the room (rare for MGM), and the hallways and everything looks and smell fresh. The property itself is huge, but often very lively and they do have a poker room even if it's a bit dark and dingy there. The poker room actually have their own 'Poker Cage' now for purchasing and cashing out chips. Gym is small but has good equipment, and the pool area is very big. Although we actually never made it to the pool here, as the weather started getting colder and windy the last couple of days.
Ultimately though, I do think the best way to go is to just book one hotel and stay there for the entire trip. It's not always as easy for me with my offers, as it tends to get quite expensive if I try to book a property for more than 7 days. But even though changing hotels are a pretty smooth process, you can still end up losing 2-3 hours of your day from the entire ordeal from start to finish. So at least for shorter trips I will try to avoid changing hotels as often as I did for this trip.
Poker wise, I did the same mistakes as I always do - I am moving around too much and not playing enough longer sessions. To be fair, it's partly because I like it like that, but I also need to be more strict with myself and push myself to have days where I put in one proper long session. I also think that such a strategy is better for optimizing your time in Vegas, which needs to be considered when you only have X amount of days and are not able to take 10+ trips a year (although I would obviously love to).
Having said that, I am very happy with most of my play this trip. I backed down a bit on some of the more extravagant bluffs that I pulled last year, and I think that had a net positive for my results. The feeling at the tables was one of control, and although I might have been a bit too tight in some spots I still don't think that's a terrible strategy. Furthermore, I also found some really good bluff spots that all worked out well. If I only had been a bit more disciplined and avoided stacking off with some hands (especially KQs and QQ at MGM Grand one day), the trip could easily have been a $1500+ winner instead of only around $900 on Cash Games.
In a weird way, it almost felt 'too easy' at times playing against people who are still stuck in the same old patterns and are very easy to read with their betting sizings etc. That said, I immediately noticed a big difference in skill in the one $2/$5 session I had. So I am not going to delude myself thinking that I would be able to beat those stakes easily. I just need to put in more reps and become more comfortable with that level I guess, and then eventually I will find tendencies to exploit there as well.
I also cashed both tournaments that I played, and although both ended up with slightly disappointing finishes it was still a good confidence booster before this summer. I was painfully close to a WSOP-C Ring and a really good payout in the $250 1-day event at Horseshoe, but ultimately I am happy with the way I played both tournaments. You just need a bit more luck and good timing with the cards in the end stages, and I didn't quite have that. But obviously a Jeremy Becker or another tournament crusher would have been able to find the spots that I don't find. So there are still things to improve in regards to my late stage tournament play.
-EV gambling was fine, I obviously didn't win overall but the loss was not terrible in any way. I don't gamble for huge amounts and I am good at setting a stop loss for myself. So let's just hope that whatever I wagered on VP and slots will give me some reasonable offers for the future at least.
Overall Vegas was amazing, exciting, exhausting and all the usual things. I did get a bit sick again, but thankfully it was really mild and I will say I was mostly fine the last 2 days of the trip (and completely fine now). So it didn't hinder me much, but it's as always a good reminder to not exhaust myself too much after long travel days and adjusting to huge time difference. But as a general thought, I wish that I had exhausted myself more and been a bit more ruthless in regards to playing long hours and optimize the days even better.
The plan is to go back for my first ever WSOP this summer, and I have pretty much decided on a specific time frame. Although I might make some slight adjustments, depending on the offers I have. The plan is obviously to make a TR from that trip as well, although I might do like 'rppoker' and post it after I get home. It already takes up way too many hours in the day to post regularly, and after long tournament days I can only imagine I will have even less time & energy to post in real time. But I will decide when that time comes.
But as always, Las Vegas is fkn awesome and I am already longing to be back as soon and as often as possible.
Thanks Muck Whale and Enhanced for the thorough trip report! Very much appreciated from those of us who only make it out once a year and are slowly counting the days to wsop.
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Just a quick summary from my end too:
This trip was a disaster from start to finish. I remember telling Whale before booking that I have a pretty bad feeling about the entire thing and part of me really don’t want to go. It’s a short trip, it’s work related and I’ve been on an absolutely massive soul crushing downswing for the past 5 months now live and online.
I pulled the trigger last minute with expensive flights, stupidly long layovers and a bankroll not worth mentioning and it ended up being exactly what I expected or feared: a tilt fuelled disaster. This is my first out of 15 or 16 trips where I didn’t have a single winning day the entire trip.
I ended up playing 25 hours of $1/3 and lost $1250:
I also lost at all things gambling related. I lost on UX, blackjack and even roulette the last 2 days. I lost $500 at Venetian, $1000 at Caesars and the below at MGM properties:
This was also the first trip in probably 10-12 trips that I didn’t win a single jackpot despite almost $14 000 coin-in which is INSANE really.
When I got home (or even before leaving) I promised myself that I am done with Vegas for a while, at least until I can recover a bit and enjoy it for what it truly is.
But then I thought it through and decided that because of work and other reasons I will just stick to the October plan and will go for almost 3 weeks and will just stay away from anything gambling related and just crush the absolute **** out of 1/3.
It was a fun trip overall, had some great food, met up with some great people and played some poker but overall a very frustrating one.
And I get it, variance is a bitch and I’ve been running pretty insanely over the past 2 years or so, but still disappointing when you get hit like that.
Thanks for following, back stronger October 3rd with PLO friend!
Just a quick summary from my end too:This trip was a disaster from start to finish. I remember telling Whale before booking that I have a pretty bad feeling about the entire thing and part of me really don’t want to go. It’s a short trip, it’s work related and I’ve been on an absolutely massive soul crushing downswing for the past 5 months now live and online. I pulled the trig
Sorry you got hurt. We talked a little bit about this already via DM. It's amazing how sometimes you just KNOW you're going to get F'd. ALL the signs are there- delays/expensive flights/not really feeling it/etc etc etc. Yet we still go and, AMAZING, we wind up... getting F'd. It's like the universe is punishing us for daring to buck the trend.
Speaking of variance, you'd think every once in a while there would be a trip where all the signs are there that we're going to get F'd BUT somehow we run pure. But that never happens.
Sorry you got hurt. We talked a little bit about this already via DM. It's amazing how sometimes you just KNOW you're going to get F'd. ALL the signs are there- delays/expensive flights/not really feeling it/etc etc etc. Yet we still go and, AMAZING, we wind up... getting F'd. It's like the universe is punishing us for daring to buck the trend.Speaking of variance, you'd think
It really sucks and makes us question why we go in the first place. I remember writing to Whale during the trip that I had 15 or 16 premium trips with multis on 10-line UX and missed all of them. But obviously with no multi hold one ace and land 3 more without a kicker.. you know it a billion times more than I do how brutal and cold a UX session can be, and it’s especially brutal when people around you print in every game they play.
Sorry about the lousy results. But kudos to you for doing a trip report from start to finish when nothing is going right. It's easy to provide updates when it's all rainbows and unicorns. Writing about and sharing the flip side of gambling joy is informative and honest.
Small little bump: just booked June 12-25 for WSOP. Will create a TR once we get a bit closer, and Whale is most likely joining similar dates
Hoping to do the $500 Salute to Warriors on Jun 15, with +/- days fore and aft, I hope. Would be great to share a drink or meal!
Hoping to do the $500 Salute to Warriors on Jun 15, with +/- days fore and aft, I hope. Would be great to share a drink or meal!
Yes we will both be playing that one. And obv up for drinks/food, let me know!
Also if there will be any 2+2 meet-up like previous years that would be fun
Im totally down to get a meet up going.
I’ll definitely be in town June 12 - July 1. Toying with the idea of coming back again for the Main…
Looks like most people will be in town that last 10 days or so in June.
I’ll send out pm’s once we get a little closer.
Red Chip will probably have their usual meetup. Doesn't mean the Friends of Scandi Poker Players can't have their own.
Im totally down to get a meet up going.
I’ll definitely be in town June 12 - July 1. Toying with the idea of coming back again for the Main…
Looks like most people will be in town that last 10 days or so in June.
I’ll send out pm’s once we get a little closer.
Sounds awesome, I arrive on the 12th in the evening and plan to just chill, take it easy and do some work until the salute the warriors event on the 15th. So any time for me either before or after.
Small little bump: just booked June 12-25 for WSOP. Will create a TR once we get a bit closer, and Whale is most likely joining similar dates
Feels good to see you book another trip. Looking forward to your trip report.
I leave Vegas the 13th (the evening flight to London with BA) after a 2 week stay.
Feels good to see you book another trip. Looking forward to your trip report.
I leave Vegas the 13th (the evening flight to London with BA) after a 2 week stay.
It’s time to get revenge on Vegas!!
terrible take. he's not stealing anything from an employer. it's a casino. Muck was playing a game. dealer was doing him a solid and went though his boss first.
Muck says he's had a rough week of gambling, consider it like asking the front desk if they can take anything off the bill
He called over his boss and lied to him.
So he’s lied to his superior and stole from his employer.
Good catch
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He called over his boss and lied to him.
So he’s lied to his superior and stole from his employer.
Good catch
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Epic bump. Either way, I didn’t ask for it or approve it or anything like that. It happened automatically. It’s such an insignificant amount, I don’t care either way.
F Y I:
Get up to a 7x Tier Credit Multiplier (5x Slots/7x Tables) at any Las Vegas Caesars Rewards resort. Swipe your Caesars Rewards card at a kiosk during the promotion period. Valid JUNE 23-27. Max Tier Credits is 25,000.
Doesn't seem to be tied to any room booking.
Yeah it’s probably different for different people. Either way, they could offer me anything, I won’t give them a single cent of action until they are AT LEAST on par with MGM comps. Right now I am only getting mid-week comps at properties like Flamingo but base comps only, nothing extra. It’s not bad as such but nowhere near as good as MGM.
