Vegas Trip Report

[Kurn]

My business trip to Vegas was almost a month ago (June 11-15). Since my return, no action here, but what the hell, might as well post it here just in case. I have no desire to post it on 2+2.

Arrived at The Wynn on Tuesday afternoon. Grabbed all conference materials for the team, checked out our booth location, then met my boss for dinner at The Cave. Tapas style food. Pretty good, wine list a bit expensive and a waiter who went for the big ticket right out of the gate, offering Cabernets at $45, $65, and $120 PER GLASS. My boss opined that he wasn't that drunk yet and settled for a $15 Zin. I chose a Gulden Draak, a live Belgian Trippel ale, about 11%. Not much else that night, long day of travel and 2 long work days ahead.

Next day was all day setting up followed by a welcome reception in the exhibit hall in the evening. After that we retired to the bar adjacent to the sports book to watch game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals. Classic game despite the Bruins losing, but playoff hockey is the nuts regardless. He put a c-note on the Pats to win the Super Bowl (pre the fall of Hernandez) and we both took a $20 flyer on Bo Van Pelt to win the Open (he's sponsored by our parent company) at 70-1. Alcohol will do that.

Thursday brings another long day on the show floor. We go to dinner that night at The Country Club (a steak house located where the Wynn and Encore come together, joined by the 3rd member of our team. After that, the boss, who is a bit of a poker player himself, wants to gambler, but knows he's too tipsy for poker, so the three of us hit the pit. He sits at a roulette table and goes on a pretty good run, making about $1,200 in a hlf hour at a $15 minimum table. he cashes that out and we head to the craps table, where he buys the chips and turns betting control over to me (I've discussed basic craps theory with him) knowing that my "system" will lower the house edge to under 0.5%.

So there we are, at a $10 minimum table, I'm playing $10 don't pass, taking 2x free odds, and working only one additional number at the same rate. I proceed to go on the sickest craps run, not only being the player, but that I've ever seen as well. In a little less than an hour, we're up another $1,200. He takes half the winnings and gives myself and Raj (the 3rd team member) $300 each. I talk him into quitting while he's ahead. Now I have a little extra for poker the next day.

Now for poker.

The next day, I pack up our materials to ship and at about 2 PM I grab a cab and head over to the Rio.

I manage to get to watch the $2,500 Stud event go from 10 players to the final table. Michael Mizrachi appears to be running over the table when I leave, but I see later he ended up 4th.

I end up playing 1-3 NLHE for about 4 hours, ending up down $36. Two hands were memorable for me.

hand 1: Villain is an older player (OK, not older than me, but in his 50s). He's noticed me twice raise preflop and check the flop and fold to pressure on the turn. Both cases were nasty board textures with more than one opponent. The 2nd time he shook his head at me and said something less than complimentary.

I get TT in the HJ and open raise to $12. folder to villain in the BB who calls.

Flop ($25): K-4-2 r - check-check (his eyes light up)

Turn: 7 Villain bets $20, I raise to $65. Villain tanks for about a minute and a half and reluctantly (it seems) folds. He mutter something about "keep playing aces like that", so as the pot is pushed to me I show one of my tens. He gets a bit pale and takes a walk for the next couple of orbits.

Hand 2: Villain in this hand is a 20-something who seems to know how to play. In the 90 minutes he was at the table, he's been active, raising every time he enters a pot, and he looks like someone who knows how to play a bit. A few orbits before he'd been getting into a leveling war with another 20-something who was a serial tanker, annoying almost the entire table. Villain is in MP 2 to my right. Effective stacks $275

I get 8 8, again in the HJ

Villain open raises to $10, I flat, folded to the BB who calls. ($31)

Flop: A J 8

BB checks, villain checks, I bet $25, BB folds, villain checkraises to $55.

Now if this was Bovada $25 NL 6 max, I'd probably shove. If this was what I thought was an average 1/2, 1/3 opponent, I'd probably shove. In this case, I really thought that his range with weighted towards hands where he was behind. My thought was that he would have called my bet with a flush or a bigger set and waited to make a move later. Not wanting to push him out, I called the raise.

Turn: ($141) - 8

Well, if my read is right, that just killed the action, but he bets $65. Now I'm in a quandary. I think he's good enough that if I just call, it will look too strong to him and he'll shut down on the river, but how much of a raise will he call. I think it over for 30 seconds or so and finally decide that unless my read was totally off, he's not putting one more chip in the pot, so I decide to maximize my win if I was wrong and he has AA or JJ, so I shove.

he insta-folds. oh well.

After playing, I pick up a WSOP T-shirt and before heading out, wander around for a few more minutes to see if any other familiar faces pop up and horror of horrors, who do I see? "Quack quack" Paul Magriel, and 10 seconds later, Erik Seidel (taller than I thought).

And yes, like they say, the Rio poker pavilion is friggin' cold.