I think I barked when the nine hit the river to pair my opponents J9 suited
take down my all in bet. I�m sure I did. I didn�t will myself to bark. It
couldn�t have looked good. No one ever barked on those WPT shows on the
Travel Channel�. They shook hands, congratulated each other and did the
post game interview. I�ve only been playing poker since February, but I can
�t recall ever seeing a poker player bark anywhere. It may be my sole
contribution to the game. Goodbye final table, hello limit game. I�ll try
hard not to bark when my stack gets taken on the river again. It�s hard to
leave a table gracefully after you have just barked.
It is a well deserved June Vegas getaway. Work has been kicking my tail.
Flights out of Chicago Midway are free courtesy of SWA Rapid Rewards
credits. 4 days midsize rental from Dollar runs about $82. 4 nights in a
Caesars Augustus Tower room courtesy of Harrah�s Entertainment.
The Flights
Hell is being locked in a plane at 20,000 feet with a couple of dozen
toddlers. As the little girl woofed cookies across the aisle from me, I put
my MP3 earbuds in, crank the volume as high as it goes and desperately bury
my nose in Alvarez�s �Biggest Game In Town.� Minutes stretch into something
much longer than minutes should stretch to in any reasonable universe, the
back of my seat is kicked repeatedly, trash is hurtled in my direction over
the seat in front of me, and I know finally that there is no God.
The Hotel
It is late, but Caesars airport registration is still open. We take
advantage of it. Nancy wants to be assured that we have an Augustus Tower
room with a view of the B�s fountains, but the gal at registration isn�t
quite sure what the view will be, only that it was blocked off for us. It
is a good thing Nancy didn�t put up an argument, because the room is very
sharp with floor to ceiling windows looking both south down the Strip/B�s
fountains and west towards Rio and Palms.
It is a �P� room, probably a little larger than the standard Augustus Tower
room. http://community.webshots.com/album/551680582UXZXAj
The rooms in the new tower are probably the best standard rooms we have
stayed at in LV, easily better than the Palace Tower rooms. Large jetted
tub, plasma screens in living area and bathroom, multiple phones,
clock/radio/cd player, turn down service. We were very impressed. The
tower is convenient to the new Diamond lounge (a very nice lounge and bar
with 4 or 5 terminals with high speed access), the pool (though not quite as
near the pool as Palace), and the new separate Diamond registration area.
IMO, the service has improved at Caesars since the takeover. Some are a bit
put off by the Harrah�s Stepford Wife attitude towards customer service.
Personally, I don�t mind a little insincere obsequiousness. It works for
me. Real life slaps me in the face with sincerity every day.
Dining
Not much fine dining to report this trip. A couple of coffee shop meals,
room service and Mesa Grill. I do like Mesa, but the new comp situation is
making the inflated prices here a little tough to take. Caesars comps were
so easy to earn that it was often a chore to burn them before I maxed out
the comp account. A $12 margarita doesn�t sting so much when you have
difficulty figuring out ways to spend all of the comp dollars you earn
anyway. Nancy had the NY Strip and a salad. I had stuffed crispy fried
squash blossoms, rotisserie filet (had a rub very heavy on cumin) and a
garlic tamale with thyme butter.
Free Crap
As I just alluded to in the dining section, the major practical difference
for the gambler between Caesars Caesars and Caesars Harrah�s is in the free
crap department. No CB now of course and Harrah�s bounce back cash may be
problematic for the occasional tourist to collect even if it matches or
surpasses the old Caesars CB rate. Our comp rate held to .1 for vp, while
under Caesars old Connection Club I often earned at a better than .7 rate �A
very big bummer for those of us accustomed to riding the Caesars gravy
train. Thankfully we had built a cushy comp account under the Connection
system which was converted to TR, so we didn�t have to dip into our own
wallets this trip. Marketing offers seem as strong or stronger under Harrah
�s. Nancy collected on a free Coach purse offer of mine. I collected a
Caesars duffle for making Diamond in a day and we both collected a
collapsible cooler/radio for making 200 points in a day. If containers were
money we would be flush.
Gambling
I have been primarily a video poker player for years and have been modestly
successful at it. I am certainly not any exceptional advantage player, but
I have had winning or near winning years since I have taken the game
seriously and have received virtually uncountable free vacations for my
efforts. I savor those sweet positive EV high dollar per hour plays when I
can, but I am just a tourist with skills. Lately I have taken an interest
in some new skills. During my February LV trip I joined the throngs who
have been rushing to play live poker. This trip I have, not too
successfully, tried to balance wife, video poker and live poker.
VP: Took my shot at Diamond in a day. I almost certainly should have
qualified for Diamond with my Caesars play, but talking to the TR clerk was
like talking to a rock. I played the 10 play SA and had $20K+ in action in
a couple of hours. I would have preferred to play dimes rather than
quarters, but the machine was too pokey for me. -$1200. No royals or aces.
It could have been worse. I collected my Diamond card with the thought that
it may have been worth it to kvetch to a supervisor about my pre Harrah�s CP
play not qualifying for Diamond.
I played a fair amount of Multistrike at Caesars and won a bit. The
multiple strategies required to play the game were once a problem, but I�m
getting pretty good at the game and don�t often look at my strat card. The
distraction of Shadow Dancers is still good for a couple of errors per
session!
Played a little FPDW at Red Rock. Machines were fast enough and I popped
the ducks once for a modest profit.
Live P: Didn�t get to play as much poker as I would have liked. I haven�t
weened Nancy from my company and vp was always something we could do
together. I played some low limit holdem at Caesars and Bellagio. The play
at the Caesars 3/6 was stunningly bad with some players not even
understanding betting structure or hand values. The 4/8 at the B started
out interesting with a couple of aggressive players at one end of the table,
but they soon left when a higher limit table opened and it morphed into a
typical loose passive table. I didn�t get to play very long on either table
and managed to lose a little bit on both, but I am pretty confident I could
have beaten either one in time.
A word about the poker rooms: Caesars poker room was spacious though a
little like playing in a hall, with ok drink service and dealers that went
from pretty bad to pretty good. Had one dealer call the exact card that was
going to come out at the river and say it was just luck. This does not
inspire confidence. Bally�s wasn�t much of a room, but was at least
separated from the casino by three partition walls. Dealers seemed
competent for the limited time I played. Paris was a non room exposed to
the whole casino and the cacophonous Paris acoustics. No autoshufflers.
Bellagio was a sharp room. Fit is a little tight, but excellent dealers and
drink service.
I played three tournaments, one at Bally�s and two at Paris. I figured the
competition to be pretty soft at these places and player equity was at 90%
(if you didn�t include the $5 add on) or better. I have only played a few
online sit&gos and a few multitables with the Party points I had earned.
Lots of fun, but I had virtually no experience with tournament play. I�m
still rereading Jones� low limit holdem book and Harrington�s tournament
book still sits uncracked on the shelf, so I�m definitely flying by the seat
of my pants with tournament play.
In the first tournament at Bally�s I made a couple of bonehead plays and was
taken out shortly after the break. I had a better feel for the second
tournament at Paris. I tried to see some cheap flops while the blinds were
still low to give myself an opportunity to catch a hand and double up. If
your stack doesn�t grow quickly this becomes an impossibility as blinds
double every 15 minutes. When it gets to the point where my stack is just 2
or 3 times the big blind, I figure I am basically pot committed to any hand
I play, so I may as well push. It is kind of a crapshoot. I don�t get to
see nearly the number of hands I would get to see in 15 minutes online and
play seems agonizingly slow as the seconds tick by and blinds double and
redouble. By break time I have stolen a couple of blinds, but my stack is
about the same as I started with. Blinds are now scary and I need to make a
stand shortly and double up. I catch 88 and move all in to be called by
K10s. They hold and I double up. The rest is a blur. I bust out a couple
of short stacks who push in to me. I move to the final table with an above
average stack. Like I said it is kind of a crapshoot and my play is pretty
basic with not many decisions past the preflop. Definitely no genius
required so far. The short stacks get taken out and with only the 3 left
who place in the money, I am puzzled and amazed to find I have a roughly 25%
chip lead over second stack.
Second stack broaches the subject of a chop. It is only my third live
tournament and I hadn�t seriously considered placing in the money, much less
what to do if a chop was offered. As a vp player I�m always after reducing
variance where it doesn�t sacrifice ER.and my short handed and heads up play
is likely to be the weakest part of my game as I have almost zero experience
at it, but I do have a significant lead. Prize structure is
$400/$800/$1200. The second stack offers $50 from his prize pool and third
stack offers the same. A guaranteed $900 and the 2 shorter stacks get $750
each. As added incentive this puts me about even for the trip erasing the
nasty business of my run at 10 play super aces. Well, hell, let�s make a
deal!
Management takes care of the paperwork. FYI, if you place in a HEC poker
tournament you will receive a W2 for any prize money of $600 or more.
According to the manager, this is because of HEC�s acquisition of Binion�s
and an agreement they had with the feds. I get a W2 for $1200 and second
stack gets one for $800. Does anyone know what the normal threshold is?
Management places 1st, 2nd and 3rd place prize money in separate piles on
the table and lets the players divide it as agreed.
I have no idea if the chop was a good deal or not, but it worked for me at
the time. I also had no idea about a tip to the dealers. I�m pretty
certain of what I would tip for machine hand pays. Is there a standard? I
left them $50 out of my winnings, which may or may not have been generous.
It was a great beautiful scene. Better than my first royal, and I was
feeling the rush all day. While recognizing the criticisms, I can really
see the attraction to tournament poker.
I played another tournament at Paris the following day. I pushed all in
with position and AKo on a big stacks $500 raise. Not sure whether his call
was correct as he wasn�t quite getting 2 to 1 on his money and could easily
have been a serious dog, but call he did with J9s. Guess it depends on what
he put me on, but he had the stack to gamble with. Yes, I barked when the 9
hit the river, but I didn�t see any other way to play it. Never once in the
last two tournaments did I get my money in when I wasn�t the favorite. I�m
pretty proud of that.
Final Notes
Old Friends: It was wonderful to catch up with Steve, Ellen and Sandy
Wednesday night at Craft Steak. Thanks Ellen! The DI cards will go in my
collection.
Precious Bodily Fluids: A reminder to all LV visitors to keep yourself
hydrated. Nancy was walking through Caesars and the next thing she
remembers she was looking up at the face of a security guard. Passing out
from dehydration has all the embarrassment of passing out drunk, but
contains none of the fun. Get your fluids in and remember that alcohol is
an ADH inhibitor� Translation �It makes you pee a lot which leads to
dehydration. Again, keep yourself hydrated. This is the end of your public
service announcement.