Mid-Life Crisis Escape to the 702, TR 5/11 - 5/15
gonna preview this with an extended personal story.
Last time we talked, I reported it was time to s* or get off the pot
Where you gonna put the cash on the return trip?
Good luck bro-very much looking forward to the TR! Love the goals you laid out.
It's 96 degrees in Dakota right now. getting to Nevada won't be much of a weather change. yeah getting propositioned is a little tongue-in-cheek joke, pun intended. wouldn't ever pay for sexual favors but getting noticed would be flattering. and part of the fun in Vegas. maybe I would pay for a little escort around town. gets lonely.interesting to read the comments about limpin
Just walk through Caesars palace in the middle of the night, I get stopped at least 20 times haha. Especially at 2-3 am.
smooth flight, left on time, arrived early, but wait like 15 minutes for drawbridge operator. I hate waiting for anything. no luggage, walk to taxi, easy ride. quick checkin, on the list for Venetian, seat ready for me when I arrive.
Session 1: Venetian 1/3
it is an unusual feeling for me but 1/3 at Venetian felt too small. the table wasn't terrible or great, but was not intimidating and didn't play as big as I'm used to back home. there was a ton of limp calling and almost zero bet and take it. even on re-raised pots there was almost always a call. everybody kinda played face up and I didn't see any bluffs.
- an open, call call call call, on BB I raise KQo to $30. original raiser tanks, and calls.
flop T62. I c-bet $25. he again tanks, then calls.
I check dark turn, don't think he hears, or he just tanked again. turn is 8. he bets and I fold.
- bomb pot: AQT6ccss, ace on both boards and a 6, I lose out when a straight hits both boards. I'm off to an awful start.
- I open with QJ, lots of calls
flop AKQr. I check, there's a bet and call, I fold.
ten on the river. f
I add $100, now in for $400
- I limp in cutoff with A5. button raises, only I call.
check dark, flop 544. she bets $25 I call.
turn J, checks
river 5 for a boat. I bet $40 and she snap calls, and then shows frustration "you rivered me!" definitely bet too small but at least I got paid.
- I open button AQss. bb raises, I call.
good flop: A86ss. I bet $25 he snap calls
double barrel turn, calls
river Js gives me nuts again. I triple barrel and he slams his pocket kings to the muck. decent pot got me out of the hole.
had a good final half hour. at 2am the promos end and the table broke up and I was ready to be done anyway. nice rebound and I cashed out for +$237 in 1.5 hours. don't have life stats ready but seems like first night is always a losing session for me so getting a win early on is a welcome start to the trip.
for the record, I think I did limp 3 times in late position. bad loss early, good win later, folded flop the other. it was a pretty passive table.
getting back, my room lock battery was dead so I had to wait a while to get that resolved and back into my room. gave me a few minutes to type this up though so not too inconvenient.
Well done on the win.
I think the limping works at these loose/passive tables if you are comfortable post flop -- and you seem to be. It's better than bloating the pot w/ a marginal hand and getting three or four callers. Value bet, value bet, value bet; bluff the right players; win money 😉
bed was comfy and the blinds kept the room dark but after 3 hours am unable to sleep anymore. some old ladies talking across the hall kept me up too. toss and turn for another hour but I'm showered and dressed by 7am.
strolled down to the casino and played pai gow for a while. won $50 in like an hour and half. so far so good.
found the wolves buckets slot game that won for me at Park, and this one had all three buckets pretty full. put in my $50, added another $100, another $100, another $100... finally triggered red bucket bonus to cover about half my losses.
but those pink and green bucket were still full and not getting bigger. I hit three owl bonus icons, nothing. even hit 3 green owls, nothing. fed the machine another $100. got all the way down until finally, I triggered both the pink and red buckets. this gotta be good, right?
bonus was for like 4x spin. I was so mad. in for $450, hour later out for $23... and a TI commemorative coin souvenir. gee thanks.
reminded that I hate slots. but hopefully the bean counters notice and take pity on me
headache so back up to try to nap but not so successful. eventually gave up and typed this up.
Argh. One of my pet peeves. I don't understand how people can be so unaware of their surroundings as to jabber out in the hallway.
Take that **** in your room and close the door, nobody else in the place wants to hear you.
nap was futile. on my way to lunch I saw the pool sign and figured since I'm like an hour early I'll change and go for a swim. didn't last long though because it was hurricane strength winds. after like 15 minutes they kicked everybody out because the furniture was blowing everywhere and it wasn't safe.
when I returned to my chair my shirt was gone. not really a surprise but what the hell. looked everywhere for like 5 minutes. finally I asked the lady at the towel desk and in a miracle, she pulled my shirt from the under the desk. someone found it against the back wall or something. thank heavens, no one wants to see my pale white fat belly walking through the casino.
lunch at the Grand Lux. don't like spaghetti but I wanted chicken parm and was hungry enough. it filled me up.
Love a Grand Lux pit stop! The Venetian location used to be my go to post-score late night celebration spot back when their poker room was still by the escalators. On more recent trips I've been hitting the Palazzo location, which feels a little less crowded most of the time. Diverse menu and everything has been pretty solid from my experience. Prices tend to be reasonable by Vegas standards.
the day is far from over but I'll cut to the chase: it's been a real kick to the balls. my worst Vegas $ day ever
- lost over $400 in slots chasing a bonus which ended up being nothing
- busted Wynn $200 poker tournament
- busted Wynn cash for $400
- dropped $200 in pai gow at Wynn
if that wasn't enough, blustery winds cut my pool time short
and that's all before 4pm
here's the cliff notes to the car crash
Session 2: Wynn $200 daily
Level 2
- I open with JT, next player min-raises. I call with some others
Jack high flop (J65). I check, he bets 6000. I call.
turn is brick (2?). he has 11k behind. I check and he shoves, and I fold.
Level 3
win a little pot with pocket aces
- open to 1k, call, with a 12k stack QQ I raise to 4k, several calls. I'm planning to shove any flop without ace or king.
flop is low, I shove and take it down, and I'm back over starting stack...
but not for long.
Level 4
AT < AJ on ace king flop and I am out. probably dumb. think I opened and he raised pre, I check raised on flop, and I shoved river and he snapped.
Session 3: Wynn 1/3 1:40
much different game than last night. lots of big stacks. lots of aggression. standard open is $15, raises to $80 preflop.
- open, I call K7ss, several calls
755scc, he bets I call
Kc turn gives me two pair but lots of clubs. he checks I bet $80, he calls
Qc river (fourth club). check check. he has red 6-5 for trips. a bet probably would have knocked him off.
- hour later, same guy (very active, very aggressive) opens, only I call in bb with 88.
flop T66 he bet I call
turn is K, don't remember action
River is T. he bets $40. I tank, then call.
he shows KK. lol
my stack continues to shrivel, eventually I lose AJ > QQ.
I wander over to the Wynn casino. sit down at pai gow for $50/hand. go up $100. they bring in a new deck and I do not win another hand. I lost 6 hands in a row without a win. especially without playing the side games, how do you lose $200 at pai gow??
think that's my first ever losing pg session
so um yeah, fun day
I've had my share of brutal days.
Don't chase the losses and try not to let outcomes affect you emotionally. Money will come and go in poker. Sometimes it's just our turn to lose.
If you're not in the right head space, maybe take a break from gambling for the remainder of the trip and just focus on enjoying other aspects of Vegas. No shame in that.
If you decide to jump back into the fray at some point, it would probably be wise to tighten up in some of these spots. There's a fine line between playing scared and not having sufficient respect for what other people at the table are doing. Playing a tight ABC game and thinking through the opponent's decisions while we're making our decisions can help us avoid some of these spots. For example, I think we just fold AT vs. a pre-flop 3-bet if we assume our opponents are mostly 3-betting strong hands. We can also probably just fold K7s against a pre-flop open. Stepping out with these medium hands will inevitably lead to some very difficult post-flop decisions.
If we want to streamline our process, we can play a very tight range of premium value with some pure bluffs mixed in so that when we bet we either have extreme value or extreme air, which makes subsequent decisions much easier than when we are playing big pots with medium showdown value.
my sister's in-laws were having a gathering for the family and I was invited to join. had previously said no thanks I have plans but suddenly the idea of getting away for the evening sounded like a good idea.
BiL's parents have a brand new home on the edge of town. it's pretty nice. having wagyu burgers, birthday cake for the babies, and Golden Knights hockey on TV.
definitely the fifth wheel but I can handle that
Dogface's poker advice is smart -- and doubly so when you get in aggressive games like the one at the Wynn. Tighten up your calls vs 3bets and you'll lose less with second best hands.
The good news is 1/3 games are way more like the Venetian game you describe. Hang in there and run better tomorrow!
took the rest of the day off. dinner with my sister's family was awesome. best burgers ever had. got to play with my nephews who were celebrating their #2 birthday
usually don't share people pictures but this one was pretty cute
Tough day yesterday, here's hoping for better today.
Pai Gow is tricky. Can't remember the last time I won playing it, although the house edge is supposedly only 1.81% on the face up version which seems to be everywhere now.
I'm going to fight back a little though.
about K7s, I was on button, the guy who raised early did so with 6-5, I had seen him play very loose earlier, I hadn't played hardly any hands at all, and then I flop a pair with backdoor flush draw (2 pair which improves on the turn).
this is not the worst play I've ever made and it didn't kill me. if I had of bluffed the river I probably could have gotten the fold, but I thought two pair had showdown value. only shared like 3 hands from that session because I was playing very tight.
the tournament, sure, I was representing AK on a AKX flop but he apparently wasn't going to fold AJ. think in tourneys you have to pick some spots and get lucky or make your own luck. I'm not too upset about that one.
Sorry to hear about the bad day. Was super pumped with your initial post about the winning session to start the trip.
As others have said, we’ve all been there with days when you just can’t win. Great idea to get away and spend time with family-your nephews are super cute! Am sure it meant a lot to your family that you were able to celebrate their birthday.
Keep your head up and keep fighting once you get back on the tables. Looking forward to reading about your comeback!
I'm going to fight back a little though.
about K7s, I was on button, the guy who raised early did so with 6-5, I had seen him play very loose earlier
I probably like the hand more as a pre-flop 3-bet semi-bluff than as a flat that's almost guaranteed to play a flop. I'm not a solver guy, but I think 3-betting some of our weakest calling range is a concept solvers like. In the case of K7s, we have some relevant card removal (block Kx) and some escape hatch possibilities if we get flatted. We have an easy fold if we get ripped on. That makes it a pretty good bluffing candidate, but we don't actually want action with the hand. K7s doesn't love many flops in a deep-stacked cash game (77x, 456, second nut flush candidates). I think it's a class of hand that will bring more headaches than joy when we try to see flops with it.
yes, I think K7ss is better as a 3bet too
either way...get em Langdon. Comebacks are what make us special
