Low Stakes, High Society (August 1st-6th, 2025 - Las Vegas Trip Report)
If you haven’t seen my shitty writing by now, I mostly post Tales from the Small Blind, a long-form writing project with
Let’s go back to what we know. $1/$3 Bellagio. Let’s make a dent towards coming back.
Exploited the image from an early bluff that was called down to make several times that back. We aren’t even, but we are getting there. And more importantly we are playing well.
Time for a quick nap before Loud Luxury tonight. Will throw some hand histories up here during dinner.
Okay, 4-hands that explain the picture above. Part of it was capitalizing on an over-aggressive image, part of it was having some absolute punts land in our lap.
Hand #1
$6 NL double-board bomb pot - 6 handed, we have 44 on the following boards
422 rainbow
K♠T♠7♠
Second to act, we check. And behind us a $25 bet sees 2 callers. In hindsight, likely pulling one board, our goal should be to keep people in, not push them out. But we shoved, and 11 minutes later, all 3 had folded. Nobody was competing with the top board. Lesson learned.
Hand #2
We raise the CO to $12 with pocket Queens including a diamond. All three players behind us call.
The flop comes J♦T♦4♠. It checks to us, we bet $35, and only the BB calls.
The turn is fairly clean, a 7♣ and we follow it up with an $80 bet when checked to. The BB jams for $190, and we’ve called before the all-in button lands. The BB flips over J9o and we hold.
Hand #3
We had declared “one more orbit” when we get tangled up with a rec in town for DEFCON. He had been the only one straddling, VPIP’ed near 100, showed up with air frequently, and he called us down with a better ace-high early on in our 90-minute session.
I raise to $10 with Q♦4♦, and our hacker friend calls in the SB.
On a flop of J♦7♦4♣ we are determined to build a pot or win it now, and c-bet pot, $20. The SB calls, and the pot is $60 going to the turn.
The turn comes the A♠, and again, it seems like a decent semi-bluff spot with the flush draw. We bet $40, when checked to, and the SB continues along.
$140 in the middle on the river, and we see the A♣. Terrible for us, but a great bluffing card, and a great time to bluff decently large to get any jacks to fold out. We bet pot, the SB flashes a jack, folds, we show the bluff and the SB is not a happy camper.
Hand 4
The very next hand, our announced last hand, we raise to $10 with KK, the cutoff, and our hacker friend, on the BTN, both call.
On a flop of J22, we bet $20, and the CO and BTN both call.
The turn comes an off-suit 8, we bet $60, and the CO raises to $140. Once the button folds, we snap jam for $220 effective, and the CO snap calls, showing J6. We fade the 2 remaining jacks and hold.
Quietly SouthPoint is giving the average low buy-in tourney player every reason to be there (not an ad bc I don’t really like playing their tourney’s that much). Decent structure, consistent numbers, diverse cash options after you bust, multiple daily tourney’s, competent dealers, free parking, the 15-30 buy-ins that strip properties are missing during weekdays to hit the gtd haven’t disappeared, they are likely at SP.
Sitting on 20BB the LJ min raises, BTN calls, and we have 66 in the BB. I’ve studied this spot in GTOw. I know it’s a jam. I know it’s especially a jam against these two V’s who are opening wide and over-folding. Sure enough the BTN didn’t immediately snap with JJ, but obviously found a call and we were out. Against a villain who’s thinking for even a single second with JJ it w
Lol @ the button only calling the original raise with JJ, and then tank-calling vs a 20 bb shove. Live poker 😀
Fun report so far. I hope the wife had fun. (I am "the wife, " but I'm the one who plans the trips and plays the most poker.) Keep up the cash 😉
Thought: Is the lack of bodies in Vegas due to foreigners not wanting to come to America? Seems reasonable.
Last day of the trip, a cash puts us back in the black. Back at the $200 Aria daily. Threw some action on the Dodgers, Astros, and Rays, if we bust early we may find a comfy chair to sweat that out.
Still not operating at 100% from last night. I only drink a few times a year, so a few sneakily strong drinks ruined what little sleep we got last night after getting back from Omnia.
Loud Luxury was bad enough last night I wish I didn’t go, and I’m saying that as someone probably in their top .01% listeners. The same mashups they’ve played for years poorly mixed into mediocre tech house. If there’s any other EDM fans on here they’re probably going “but that’s okay, you’re going to Loud Luxury to hear their music, not them pretend to DJ”. Apparently nobody told them that, they only played three of their songs, and that’s if you count the Sunroof remix.
Vegas tourism is down, for various reasons, but this is also just one of the slowest times of the year in Vegas overall.
Fun report so far. I hope the wife had fun. (I am "the wife, " but I'm the one who plans the trips and plays the most poker.) Keep up the cash 😉
Thought: Is the lack of bodies in Vegas due to foreigners not wanting to come to America Seems reasonable.
I’m foreign and the costs rising across the board is definitely a part of why I’m going less often - used to be pretty much every year and I think I’ve been once since 2019 - when I went twice
US$$ is stronger against my currency too, which compounds it, but Vegas has got way way more expensive since I started going regularly 12/13 years ago
Well, we HAD 30k off 20k starting. Then the wheels started to fall off the wagon. Had 3 hands where we c-bet a board that smashed our range but missed us only to get check-raised.
Then we get to the two hands:
At 200/400/400, I raise it to 1.5k over a limp on the BTN with A♠J♣. The SB and BB call.
On a board of J74 rainbow, we throw out a bet of 2k when checked to us, both call.
11k in the pot, the board pairs with a 7 (still rainbow) and the SB, a newer player, leads out for 3k. The BB tank folds, and we call.
The river comes an 8 and she leads for 6k into 17k. At first I thought I had a bluff-catcher, but what beats us here? Overpairs shouldn’t be flatting from the SB pre. Maybe some A7? 44? 89? I think it’s close.
We call and get shown AA.
We fall down to 10k, and build it back up to 17k over the course of the level.
Then at 300/500/500, UTG limps, and we raise the CO to 2k with Q♦J♠. The BTN jams for 6.1k, announced and all-in card in front of him. The SB (newer player) tries to call my 2k. She didn’t speak much English and appeared to have interpreted the dealer’s explanation as she was forced to call the all-in. She does, and we make a call as well.
~19k in the pot it comes J♦T♦4♣. When checked to we rip it in dry for half the main pot. The SB folds, and the BTN turns over AJo.
That’s how we have 10k off 20k starting coming back UTG to 400/800/800. Can still turn this around.
And we’re out, in somewhat heartbreaking fashion. We navigate the short stack up to 14.7k at 500/1000/1000.
The LJ limps and we have A4o in the SB. It’s a weird spot, but I think a flat is fine. The BB, who’s on a heater, checks it back.
4k in the pot the flop comes AK4 rainbow. I check, praying for a bet, and the LJ obliges for 3k. I debate the jam, but think on a rainbow board maximizing the amount two-pair can make is optimal. We call, the BB calls.
13k in the pot, the dealer puts out a 5, and we check and pray. It goes check-check behind.
The river comes a 3. This is where I think I should have just jammed for value, but I got tricky and bet small, 4k. The BB raises small, but an effective all-in once the limper folds. 6k to win a pot of 33k? Surely he can’t have it again.
The BB flips over 52o, a gut-shot on the flop who got a free card on the turn and caught up.
Going to end up down $450 on poker and $250 on gambling on the trip. Considering how bad we played Monday, I’ll take it.
In the coming days, I’ll post some broad strokes takeaways on how I played, lessons learned, and some changes I made mid-trip that should help aid us going from poker as a grind to a hobby pursued for enjoyment. But for now, it’s time to bury our face in a bowl of ramen before heading to the airport.
And we’re out, in somewhat heartbreaking fashion. We navigate the short stack up to 14.7k at 500/1000/1000.The LJ limps and we have A4o in the SB. It’s a weird spot, but I think a flat is fine. The BB, who’s on a heater, checks it back. 4k in the pot the flop comes AK4 rainbow. I check, praying for a bet, and the LJ obliges for 3k. I debate the jam, but think on a rainbow board
Pretty sure I just jam here on the flop, praying that the lowjack have an Ace and won't be able to get away. Especially since he bets 3k into 4k on the flop, which seems pretty strong.
Definitely jamming on that flop, sorry :( Those are minimal losses for Vegas, so well done 😀
