summer getaway to the 702: TR 5/31 - 6/4
it's my second Vegas trip of 2026. This one was unplanned, maybe even unnecessary. expected to wait until November, but
work-worked until checkout. final comment about Fontainebleu: best shower water pressure I've experienced. heavy/full but comfortable (no sting)
on the way out, drove along this car, probably the prettiest one I've ever seen on the road. it moved and accelerated so smoothly
decided to park at Treasure Island. the attendant asked if I was a hotel guest, I replied "I'm here to play!" so I guess I gotta.
I knew I had a whopping $5 in freeplay, and when I checked the rewards desk she notified me that I also had ten bucks in points play. so sweet, $15 to play with.
flashback to last year, a player at machine next to the rewards desk tells me "you gotta play this Dancing Drums machine, I win every time!" flashforward to February when I put in $20 and won $200.
so today, I'm no dummy, stick a $20 in to start it and sure enough I hit some kind of Minor win!
when I arrive at Venetian my name is called to open a brand new 2/3 table.
Run good! Glad to see some winning at PG and slots. Is the Venetian room hopping? I stayed at the Palazzo last wsop and the room was 100% packed between cash and tournies but there was never a long wait for a cash seat? Can't wait to get out there!
Run good! Glad to see some winning at PG and slots. Is the Venetian room hopping? I stayed at the Palazzo last wsop and the room was 100% packed between cash and tournies but there was never a long wait for a cash seat? Can't wait to get out there!
I opened on the first/only 2/3 table. there's a $800 tourney running with 154 runners in level 7. the room is filling up during the afternoon.
for those interested, bottle filling machine sighting at FB a little quirk about my stay: at registration she asked if I preferred near the elevator or not. I said near. she said "okay I found you a room on 26th floor close to but not adjacent to the elevators."it was 2 doors away from the very end of the hall, about 20 doors from the elevator, around a turn
The Orleans uses the same algorithm. The following trip, I mentioned it. She then said "This room is much closer, just a couple doors away from the elevator". It was halfway down the hall instead of 80%.
There's a car show every Memorial Day Sunday at a strip mall near my house. Walked up there the other day, there was a McLaren parked outside the barriers (i.e., not being shown).
I spent as much time over there as looking at any of the cars in the show.
Totally bizarre opening experience at Palms.
5pm and my room isn't ready. I want to get some wings or something and watch the hockey game but they do not seem to have any sports bar with food. I checked my promos and apparently I won a frying pan. everybody's walking around with frying pan briefcases. so I'm starving sitting in the sportsbook and I can't charge any food to my room because I don't have a room number. decided to make a bet on the Golden Knights, and then Carolina scores like 15 seconds into the game
Out of the frying pan ...
another bizarre moment, there was a fellow poker player from ND I know from tourneys sitting on his motorized scooter in the sportsbook. I went over to say hi, try to be friendly, and it was the most awkward exchange ever. tried talking poker and he said he cashed a WSOP PLO event. I told him I was ready to watch the hockey game and he said something like he doesn't give a f* about hockey
finally my room is ready, I can't handle the smokey sportsbook. by the time I get there it's 2-0, what the hell
I have a lot to say about the poker session earlier, will get to it.
the room is pretty nice. tons of light. beautiful bathroom too
find a nice bar seat at the Serrano Vista Cafe. they have a good menu, 3-course for $30 that looked good. everyone around me had something different that looked good. I ordered the daily special which was a huge steak burrito. it was delicious and definitely huge. came out very quick. the server/bartender Tonchi was one of my favorites, perfect service, attentive and friendly without being overbearing.
was planning on going to Blueberry Hill tomorrow but may just stay on site and eat breakfast here.
what a crazy hockey game.
despite giving up an early 2 goal lead on the road, the VGK win giving me my first ever slip collect
There's a car show every Memorial Day Sunday at a strip mall near my house. Walked up there the other day, there was a McLaren parked outside the barriers (i.e., not being shown).
I spent as much time over there as looking at any of the cars in the show.
A few months ago, the WynnCore had a bunch of McLarens situated in various hallways. I don't know if it was a semi-permanent display or a short-term one.
ugh I did a test run in the hotel room and the Palms WiFi is unusable. I'm not doing anything too challenging and the connection fails constantly. may need to figure out a fix
jumping back to Tuesday afternoon...
walked in just as a new table was opening.
Session 3: Venetian 2/3
- first hand, bomb pot
Turn bet $75, call, raise $200, shove $490, call
shover gets there on the river with full house + flush. that's a $1165 pot first hand.
1 - SB opens, BB I call JTcc
SB had been opening or betting most of the hands early on.
flop JT8ss. he bets, I call
turn Q, he bets I call
river another Q. he bets.
any flush misses. if he had AK then I'm dead. AJ AA and KK also counterfeits me. four bets into a caller, is this automatically AK?
I call. sure enough, AK for broadway.
looking back, too many likely hands beat me. bad call. but this player was the most aggressive at the table and thought he would have gone bigger turning the nuts.
2 - bomb pot: Ah Qd 9h 9c
flop is good: 9J2hh , 873hh. he pots it $90, I call
turn K, brick. he bets again I call
river is another K, and third heart on the bottom. he checks. I shove his $190ish left, he calls right away.
I announce "full house on top and nut flush on the bottom"
glad I topped off earlier
3 - weird moment, I make a semi-bluff bet on the river. nice age 75 Asian guy who had been playing passively, says "$30? hmm, okay." he pushes his cards facedown, dealer takes them, I put my cards forward with a tip chip as dealer gathered the chips to push my way. then the player says "no, I called!" I look over and he had some chips across the line. dealer says "what did you have?" he said K7, dealer checked the top two cards on the muck which matched, and the call was granted. his hand beat mine so I mucked. didn't like it but whatever.
- won a bomb pot with a turn bet. two scoops in a row
4 - bomb pot one hour later: top board has AK7hhh. think to myself come on Qh. sure enough first card I peeled was Qh. next card 5h. also another 5.
I bet. guy who busted but rebought announced pot, $170 ok. I ask how much he was waiting for, was told $200. I wait a few seconds and yell call. but idiot me, there were two others in front of me tanking. they fold. cost myself $170 more (or half of it).
rest went in on the turn. he had a small flush but two medium pair on the bottom and we chopped. a win but disappointing
more surprising dealer things. one of the dealers was brand new, must have been her first day on the job. didn't know how to count the tray. not really sure about anything. surprising that V would hire such a green dealer. good personality though. the next dealer misread the board, took all the cards and pushed an all-in pot to the wrong person (pair of jacks v pair of aces). players all made sure it got fixed.
- there was a huge bomb pot, three ways like $1500, the nice old Asian gentleman misread his hand. they chopped his stack
he kept saying he had a smaller full house, then he said he had a flush (he had neither), I didn't think he had more than a pair but someone said he had a straight
- don't feel too bad for him though, next bomb pot went to the end four ways and he got half.
- howeva, a couple hands later he lost most of it back when he raised a double-paired board with a no good flush. dumb play. but it helped out a guy on tilt getting killed
strawberry julius for some run-good:
5 - ugly hand alert
folds around to button, young tall serious guy opens, I call on bb with 43ss
check dark, flop something like Q93, he bets $20, I call
Jack turn, don't remember action
river 4. I checked, should have bet. I started shuffling a stack of chips. I would snap call any bet. he thinks and tosses out two green and I snap and announce two pair to crack his pocket aces
- won a nice hand with KQ on a king high flop v KJ.
the strawberry run-good worked
6 - last hand, think I was button
I open or call with 87dd.
flop AdTd5c don't remember
turn 6h, gives me open-ender combo draw, bet call
river 4c, bingo. I have the absolute nuts: unlikely backdoor straight.
he bets... $60 or something. I raise to $200. he snap calls.
I'm at my high point and reached my scheduled finish time. I cash out for $809, a profit of over $300 in about 4.5 hours.
finally poker is fun again.
once made a goal to make a $200 bet/raise that gets called and win. this may be the first time unlocking that achievement.
great news you hit the profit button - great stuff
hand 1 you really must check raise big with top two on that board & then you know now for sure, but river has to be a fold when the second Q comes. What does he have that you beat? you even lose to AJ & KJ
with a small overall loss from poker, at this point I believe I'm plus for the trip with the other things.
after the hockey game I tried logging in to work-work for a bit but the connection was so bad and so slow I didn't stick with it for even an hour. gave up and went downstairs.
I hopped on a VP machine to use my freeplay and came away with $50. cashed my sports bet ticket for another whopping +$14.
was near the pai gow tables and sat down at spot 1 on a nearly-full one. two people on the end across from me were the most miserable-looking people I've ever seen. the man had a huge scowl and kept his eyes down pretty much the entire time. thought about snapping a quick photo but opted against it. in my first hand it was a little confusing with many options to push and after showing and rearranging I finally figured it out. the lady across from me (they were not a couple) like yelled and argued that it wasn't a win. the dealer double and triple checked and yes, mine was a winner, the lady continued to bark but it clearly was correct and finally I got my chips. while I did glance around to see if there was an opening at the other table, those two busted and left.
I was up for a while but a couple dealers went on a serious hot streak. I left down $100 but whatever.
it was a good day, overall profitable, my team won, and I even won a frying pan. checked and the box wouldn't fit in my small luggage but just the pan will.
nice 2/3 session! keep it going! that backdoor straight was sweet - nothing better than when you have a massive draw like that and the one card that best hides a nutted draw comes in.
always nice to cash a sports ticket and that's a great price you got at +148. William hill odds way better than betmgm who only had +130
last full day.
woke up early again (6am). went with my computer to the business center but the Internet there was worse than the room. went back up, purchased the upgraded internet, still working like crap. called their support, tried all the troubleshooting, couldn't get on my VPN, eventually I just gave up. talked to the front desk to get the charge removed. had planned to eat on site but was so frustrated with Palms I had to get out.
drove over to old faithful Blueberry Hill. usually busy but was pretty empty and service/food was very fast.
the server asked if I wanted "it" on the grill, didn't quite understand the question as I thought everything was going to be on the grill but apparently she was referring to the muffin. never heard of doing that. it made it much better.
decided to give up and go to Sister's home in NWLV and work there. such a relief to have a reliable connection. bunch of screaming nephews nearby but hey that's family.
not sure what the plan is rest of day. may opt to return to Mandalay Bay for poker after dinner.
corned beef hash. just pan fried.
guess it's a Vegas thing for me. DaNit seemed to mention corned beef hash frequently back in the day
so, dumb comment: noticed at Blueberry Hill they say there's a little surcharge for card payments. figured I'd be helpful and use cash this time.
that made it so complicated and awkward when I wanted to tip. total was under $20, I gave her two bills, she gave me back one, I asked her to break it for me, she gave it all, I tried to give her a few for tip, she said she'd give it to the server...
