POKER
I always played at Flamingo in spite of the large rake. I thought the number of loose tourists overcame the additional rake. I only need one extra person calling pots I win when they should not to overcome the rake. Then too I liked the dealers there who knew me. And I knew some of the regulars.
However, I did not even play once there this trip. They dropped all the bonus pays and concentrated on a city wide bad beat. This is always a long shot and only good if a tourist happens to hit the cycle when lower quads need to be beat. Otherwise it is just $2 more out of every pot.
Limit poker won't sustain that.
Now also the hourly comps earned per hour are less valuable because all the CET buffets jumped their prices.
Finally, resort fees at all properties and the end of the Quad as a frugal choice as well as the steady erosion of room offers reduced the benefits of playing to nothing.
One of the goals this trip was to find other places to play regularly. I did some exploration, but I still have places to try.
I learned that M Life points do not expire like CET points. So that means I don't have to go every six months or get a charge card or get a buddy to play for me on my card.
I probably would like the MGM games. I did not get to try them this time.
Both of these are much more accessible from downtown with the WAX dropping right at Tropicana.
I did like the Nugget downtown and Sam's Town. I played there often. And there are other games to explore in the future while I look for a home.
EASTSIDE CANNERY
I noted that Brian is still a brush. I like him. They had a tournament but did not have a 2-4 game and of the times I was there.
I heard from local friends at Sam's Town that folks are disgusted with the EC game and the casino was struggling to keep it alive. Mostly locals play the limit games in both places, so they determine the life or death of the poker room. One particular complaint was not having full tables.
I was sorry not to be able to get Wild Bill out there for a game as he is a real baseball aficionado. The last time I was there all the regulars at the table talked and bet baseball and Bill would have enjoyed the chatter.
As for me, I'd rather have the pretty girls who show up once in a while at the Golden Nugget. I'm not a big baseball fan.
MONTE CARLO
I liked the 2-6 game on one visit here did quite well. It was full of loose tourists. One even paid me $20 to vacate my seat so his buddy could play.
The second visit was a disaster. There were a few bad players when I first arrived, but I never was in a hand with them because my cards were so bad. Then the table filled up with local regulars Perhaps coming in to see the football and enjoy the high hand promotion each quarter.
I was licked and I knew it.
I retreated, having lost $125, my largest Limit loss of the trip.
They rake $5 for the house and $1 for promotion here. That is pretty high. Sam's town rakes just $3 for the house and $2 for promotions.
I am still not really finding a game I love consistently. I guess the Golden Nugget 2-4 when high hand promotions are up (2 AM to 2 PM) is the most comfortable.
No limit just does not seem to work for me in Vegas, and I often get tired out and could not play it tired even if I found a game I liked and could afford.
Then too, in a town where I might play with folks from all over the world, the 2-4 games offer opportunity for social interaction. NL games rarely have much good story telling, just bits on "outs" or "junk" or "rivers" and such. I like the poker, but it is after all the same game over and over again whereas the lives of strangers offer infinite variety.
I liked staying downtown, waking at 3 AM and wandering down to the Golden Nugget game with enough time to earn a $`10 breakfast voucher. It will certainly be part of my upcoming trips. They told me that they would honor the ACG coupon about once a month. I just had one this year. For a while, some regulars were abusing this and the breakfast voucher, so they don't change breakfast voucher dates anymore.
That is a disadvantage. Most comps earned in most rooms go on a card and can be used anytime.
SAM'S TOWN
They have a 2-6 spread which I like, but it is local and regular dominated. I walked in and saw my old friend Kevin and a group of the local players there.
The game confused me.
I just thought some of the betting was strange. Once a fellow with the nut hand did not bet the river.
They did say that they all played with one another regularly, and they seemed to be there more for the cracked aces than to take each other's money.
They gave me too much respect, perhaps because Kevin had greeted me, and so I bet on the come and second best and generally stole pots with a $4 bet.
I scooped up a few pots early on, but my profits drained away. I left with about $27 profit and a good visit with Kevin. I like the room and the game, but I don't understand the betting, and I give everyone respect.
One interesting hand was playing J-Q with just one opponent and drawing out a straight to crack his Aces, but it was before they paid any bonus, so he just lost.
I'm not certain he was very happy with me.
Kevin came in to the poker room again on my second night, but he did not stay because he was annoyed that they had opened a third table while still having two empty seats at the first two tables and some of the seats filled with props. They do fill tables with props to keep games going. This practice reduced the odds of Cracked Aces.
On that second visit Bob Reynolds was there and my buddy from home, Wild Bill, sat next to him. They talked horses the entire time. Bob had his handicapping software right there and went over some of the races with Bill before the Breeder's Cup race.
It was neat to connect them, two guys who love the ponies.
The game this night was fine. There were two people who bet poorly, one who complained about the game because it was not a no limit game.
I love to play with no limit players on a limit poker table. It always annoys them and puts them off their game. They just don't get it.
I had pocket Aces once, but they won, and so I did not get the $100, but collected a small pot.
I had made $39 when Bill decided to head back to the strip to watch the girls parade in Halloween costume.
EL CORTEZ
I played well here on my first visit. Generally, I was very tight/ aggressive. There were a bunch of braggarts speaking both English, German, Polish and overbetting.
I did not get too many good cards.
My best hand was K-J which did nothing on the flop and I just decided to try the trick of raising on the button. The turn gave me nothing. All checked to me and I checked. The river looked like it gave no one anything. They checked to me again and I took a stab and bet the $6, stealing a pretty good pot. One guy's comment let me know that he had bet A-K. It was a foolish move that paid off by luck and the fact that I bet out only once in an hour.
I played next to Jackie Gaughn and it was the day before his 93rd birthday. He is terrible. He splashes every pot and the only disappointment is when he catches an unexpected river card and takes the pot.
Other times I noted that, at least in the evening, it is not only rock hard locals but some tourists and newbies to the game. However, they end the game around 2 AM, staying a little while longer if it is full, but ending still before the late night fish can really splash the pot.
Jerry had one of the high hands each day I was there. He played to my right the last visit and tried to bet me off my pair of kings with a big $6 on the river. I called against my better judgment, and he had nothing but 2-9. I was surprised he had even played such crap. He bet the entire way.
He is a good player. He just took me as a fellow who has more sense than I actually have.
I am sorry they don't play beyond 2 AM, as I suspect that the regulars would wander over to the Golden Nugget for the double bonus promotion and leave the rest there for me.
GOLDEN NUGGET
Since they double the bonus hands from 2 AM to 2 PM, quite a few regular locals show up about 9 in the morning. They play a very tight game. No one raises preflop. They want to be able to see the flop as easily as possible and to connect with possible bonus hands or fold.
They play well. If you bet third best against them, someone will win or you will collect a very small pot.
On the Saturday of the Life is Beautiful festival I thought perhaps the high cost of parking would keep the locals away and the tables would fill with festival going tourists. To some extent that may have worked, but not enough to really change table selection.
On that Saturday one guy just bet or raised whenever the spirit moved him. His pal was drunk and misread his hand or tried to push us off on the river.
I called with pocket queens on the river and took a huge pot with just queens holding up. Another local named Tony had the nut straight and did not raise the drunk. The drunk had misread his hand and had a pair of kings, or he was just that bad a player. Tondy missed the raise because he was sure they were splitting the pot.
Tony chewed over and over his not raising what he expected might be a chopped pot.
I flopped 4 tens for bonus, slowplayed while people bet into me, missed the raise on the river because the better was after me and checked. Still had a good pot and $50 bonus. Good too as my final profit for the session was $45, just the amount left of the bonus after a $5 dealer toke.
Another time I had one hell of a morning. Two hands that I had before the river became hands that everyone shared on the river. Once I had the nut hand on the turn, Broadway.
I had the queen.
I raised and was called.
No one had a queen, but one showed on the river, the board played, and the pot was split four ways.
On my last hand I had two pair on the flop and bet it. I was called. The river was a king and my opponent held pocket kings.
So I lost $100 that session.
In the beginning there were just a few of us and the rake was 50 cents and a dollar for bonus. We played one big blind. Nice. The rake is $4 with a dollar for the bonus. The rake at Monte Carlo was $5 and $1. Although the pots were small, I think it was still a good game. Chopping was common.
I lost a had when I bet second best, a ten with a queen kicker. The flop had been an Ace and my opponent had checked that Ace and bet it when the ten came.
The guy who called my bluff once only had a pair of sevens. He just was not folding
I should have known.
I tried two bluffs and both failed. I only tried twice, and I thought showing both would set me up to be called on river bets.
.
A woman sat next to me, but she was a bit annoying. I asked her about the Life is Beautiful and whether it was worth the $100 to $140 armband entrance.
She justified it in a defensive manner.
I then asked details, and she continued to argue it was a good deal, without answering any of my questions about what was free inside and what required more payment.
I hate to talk with people who have attitude but no facts.
Later she complained that she had turned around, and when she turned back her cards were gone. I doubt that happened, as she was in an end seat. However, I showed her my card protector and told her the advantage of using one.
She was not impressed.
An injustice had been done. She did not want to take precautions that it would not happen again, but just to complain about it.
And she had not really realized the problem until we were in the next hand.
I like it when women join a game, but she could have stayed out. I hate to play with whining folks just looking for a reason why they are victims.
Wild Bill and I played one night at a table that was very loose when we joined, and then gradually the worse players lost. I did well but lost three times to pocket Aces when I held pocket kings, pocket queens, and pocket nines that went to a full house. I bluffed one hand with K-Q and my opponent said that he put me on A-K and he had a smaller Ace, so he folded after my river bet.
I did not tell him I bluffed.
I just said that I thought I had him beat which was a lie, but then this is poker.
However, I lied so poorly that I knew that the bluff would have to be my one and only river bluff.
My worst session was across two tables one morning and I left down $260. In each case there were two preflop reraisers, so it was expensive to see the flop.
The game then has the flavor of bingo.
I had pocket Aces twice in a row and only won once.
My first hand (before I had table information) was 6-9 of hearts in a preflop that was not raised. It flopped so that an 8 would give me a straight to the 9, and I foolishly got squeezed after the flop and then had to call the raises on the turn because there was too much money in the pot to not try for an inside straight with the 9 as definite advantage.
Well, I should have known from the raises that two 8's were out there already.
The hand cost me $20.
I switched tables and it did not help. I got killed. Here I played with John from the UK who I know from my last trip and three Australians who I have played with before. All are good players.
One maniac, a Black fellow, talked the whole game about what he knew about all our hands, even sometimes when he did not have cards. I did not care because the cards he put me on were wrong 90% of the time, but he was sure he was a grand poker player and knew it all, even after the repeated ATM visits.
Finally, he left in a huff with no money.
Then the second maniac tightened up his play to match the table of rocks.
For some odd reason this fellow brought five racks of chips to the table and stacked up all the money.
What was that about?
Perhaps he thought it would intimidate new players.
He too was a know-it-all. I love running into Latinos at the table because maybe I get to talk about Central America or speak some Spanish, but this guy was an exception. I finally had to just ignore him because he just went on and on and on, and I could not understand him. It was not his lack of English; it was the weird things he argued.
Dennis from Ohio was there. He is an old guy who generally wears a suit coat and must stay in Vegas a long while when he visits because everyone knows him.
He is good humored and a fine player.
He bluffed me off a pair of nines when four hearts were on the board but he had nothing. He showed the bluff.
I knew that he would not bluff for a long while after that one.
My kings went to trips twice. Once I lost with lower kicker. Once with pocket kings my opponent caught broadway on the turn and raised my bet. I paired the board with a 4 on the river for the full house and he paid me off, but knew he was beat when I bet out.
Pots got small.
It was too late.
I packed up and left. The high hands were all down anyway. Perhaps Saturday is not the morning to play.
VENETIAN
POKER WITH BROTHER JIM
Here are the notes I took that day:
Jim and I went to the Venetian to play 4-8 poker. We caught seats right away at the same table and had a great few hours of banter with each other and some on the table who were not too serious. The dealers were very friendly and it was a tourist crowd. They were not terrible players, but they were not very good.
Jim plays much better poker than I do and has much more experience, having played in the World Series and at many card rooms around California where poker card rooms are as commons as McDonald's. This is unlike New York where the best gambling we can seem to build are rip off gambling machines with fake video poker.
He did well in the beginning and was well ahead of me. My hundred dwindled down to about forty when I was dealt pocket Aces.
Jim was not in this hand.
I bet aggressively.
The flop came three hearts and I had the Ace of hearts. The turn came an Ace, so now I can only be beat if someone has the heart flush already. That did not seem likely. No one raised me at all. The river was a heart and I showed the nut hand and collected a nice pot that put me back over my buy in.
The pots were large enough to offset a lot of small drains.
And the rake caps at four dollars with no bonus dollars taken and with the last dollar not raked until the pot is sixty dollars. So while most casinos advertise a ten percent rake, but always take more, the Venetian advertises a ten percent rake, but often takes less.
Slowly I made some money, and I seemed to feel myself in the groove of the game. Talk with Jim entertained me between hands. Then the cards went a bit sour for both Jim and I. After playing tight for a long while, I noticed that my table image was giving me too much respect with guys folding their own bet outs if I raised.
So I started to steal, especially if I missed on the river and had nothing.
Once I stole three pots in a row with nothing. I never got caught. I felt like I was my poker buddy Gregg back in the old days.
Jim and I were only in two hands together. In one I held K-Q and flopped two pair. I checked, Jim bet, and I check raised him with quite a few others in the hand. By the river it was down to just Jim and I. I was sure I had the pot, but I checked anyway. He almost bet into me with his K-3 two pair.
Had he done that I could have teased him all day about trying to get greedy when I was giving him a break. As it was, I just teased about check raising him.
The other hand we were in together I had 7-9 of hearts on the button. I raised to represent other higher cards and perhaps get a free card. Reraises were unkown in this game so the raise filled the pot with lost of money.
The flop had both an Ace and a King. All checked to me and I could feel their weakness.
So I bet again, representing those high cards. One guy and Jim called.
On the turn I still had nothing, they checked around to me, and I checked, figuring I was lost.
On the river I had nothing, but they both checked to me and looked weak.
So I bet, and they both folded. It took Jim a while to try to decide whether to dump his pocket 8's, but he did.
So, as well as a stolen pot, I had another hand to tease him about.
It is fun for me to have beaten him because he is such a better player.
In the end I was up a hundred and twenty eight dollars, and he was even to the dollar. A good day of poker.
I figured that half my profit was due to bluffing.
Before we really needed to leave, I sensed the change in the table. New players were tighter, pots cut to half of what they had been, and I had that frustration of playing with all good players. My button raises would take out both blinds. I am following my instinct on table changes.
So, I cashed out. Jim was a few minutes behind me, but I felt good too about trusting that instinct and getting out with my profit before it drained away.
Elizabeth shopped at the Fashion Mall while we played and had some quiet time. She was very kind to free us up cheerfully.
Wild Bill and I got in a game at the Venetian on Saturday night that was full of aggressive players. Most of the hands were won with middle straights on cards that did not connect at first. One woman bet and raised everything she held. More bingo.
I was lucky in two hands. I got a free river and pulled the wheel on a hand I should not have played. I held 5-7 in the big blind, asked Sherri the dealer to pick up the mental image of the card I wanted.
"I am thinking of a card, Sherrie," I said.
She flopped 6-8-9 and I said, "That is just perfect...could not be better..." and I was so not believable that a guy bet into me with two pair when the river tossed up the third spade and I feared my straight was dead.
I could not believe he had bet fourth best hand.
"I told you I had made the perfect hand on the flop, " I said.
But, of course, he took my banter as bull and as Bill pointed out, I had disengenously asked for "a card," so they all put me on a pocket pair.
Sometimes the best bluff is to tell the truth.
In the end I lost $45 and decided the game was too rich for my blood. I like a flop game, not one with so many preflop raises from folks with way too much money and cards why should really fold.
Overall, I am happy to be out of the CET raking machine. If I keep to my idea of leaving games that seem a poor selection for me and going to play when some bonus promotions are in effect, I think I can more than break even.
And that is what I like.
Even more pleasant for me is the interaction with people from all over the world, the collection of their stories, and the tavern party like atmosphere of limit poker.
SAM'S TOWN 2-6 SPREAD
Mention Bob Reynolds and hook up with Bill.
won at the 2-6 limit where I saw Kevin and played with the regulars at Sam's. It was a strange game. I took a bunch of pots with some aggressive play early on and then tightened up when the cards did not come. Their play was very complicated and based on what they knew of their opponents. They did strange things on the river, like not bet because they knew no one would call, not even a $2 value bet.
I was included perhaps because I knew Kevin. Otherwise I would have been an outsider. Then I also clearly knew about poker other places and about resort fees. One woman thanked me for keeping her out of downtown this weekend. It amazes me how insulated locals can sometimes be about what is happening in Vegas.
