OK, so after a nice relaxing stay in California I was feeling refreshed and ready to tackle Vegas properly. I chose to stay at the Aria because I figured the hotel part is still very new and I heard good things about the casino/cardroom. I don't usually play table games, but I felt obliged to entertain my friend and I slammed a bit of money down on the roulette table. After a few drinks, more roulette and a bit of Blackjack/3card poker/Slots I found that I was about $500 up. Nice start :)
The Aria is absolutely enormous and I got drunkenly lost at least three or four times. There are some excellent restaurants there and I found the buffet to be cracking value. If you are going to be frequenting any of the MGM resorts (MGM, Aria, Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, Excalibur, Mirage etc.) then it is well worth getting yourself an M Life card. If you spend some decent money on the tables you get your food comped and it works across all of their casinos. The exception to that is poker comps, you have to use those at the casino where you earned them.
I spent a lot of the day time lounging around by the pool and found there are many attractive young girls that are happy to serve you drinks in the massive hot tubs despite the "No Alcohol" signs. Be warned that it is easy to rack up a big bill - my room bill was 4 figures!
As this is a poker blog, I should probably discuss some poker. My very first hand in the Aria taught me that when people 4bet at 300nl they have one of two hands. Obviously I run amazing and managed to crush KK with my AQs. Nice life. I spent a good few hours of my first night playing 300nl to get myself accustomed to how the cardroom operated and suss out any silly house rules (there weren't any). I don't remember too much of that session, but I got my LAG on good and proper, which landed me in an interesting spot against Hal Lubarsky.
For those who are unfamiliar with Hal, he is blind and uses a helper to read out the board and describe the action to him. In this hand, Hal limps under the gun prompting two other limpers. I was dealt 43o and I think I squeezed every button in the history of ever, but for some reason I decide to play a cheap pot in position. The flop brings T43cc and I fire out $12 when it checks to me. Hal makes it $30 and I 3bet it to $85. Hal tanks for a while, whispers to his helper (determining my stack size I think) and then shoves for about $900 effective. I considered calling for longer than Nemesis, but I couldn't imagine him doing this with a draw and I felt it was more likely that I was getting taken to value town by either 44 or 33 even though I had blockers. I eventually folded and Hal didn't show, guess it's a hand that I'll just have to wonder about but I think it was the correct fold. FWIW, I snap any young hoodie wearing internet kid, but I couldn't imagine this guy playing a combo draw so hard even though I must have had a crazy bad image. I eventually left after a good few hours with over $1k profit which isn't bad for a game with a max sitdown of $300.
The next night I started off on the 1-3 PLO table. I really like how this game is structured and it's perfect for getting NLHE fish interested in the game. It has a max sitdown of $500 (I think minimum is $200, certainly didn't see anyone buying in shorter) and there is a no straddle policy. Also, the pot size is rounded up to the nearest $5 postflop and you can only bet in $5 increments which helps speed the game up a lot instead of having tools count out $49 bets in singles. There are some very competent players in this game, but the tards more than counter this. I saw one drunk yank get it all in pre with 2222... I ran up a decent profit and decided to move up to the 2-5 PLO game. On this evening, I found that this game was a lot tougher and every hand was straddled. There were only 5 players when I sat down and people were 3betting the CO and BTN a lot leading to some big pots. After an hour or so, nobody sat down and nobody left. I was about $50 up, but I didn't feel I had much of an edge so I left the cardroom and convinced my mate that we should go party. I spent a small fortune in some random nightclub, not sure which one as I was hammered and just followed some people that we got talking to.
The next night I started off playing 500nl, not sure why I didn't choose PLO, probs a big waiting list. I lose a hand with set vs straight and reload, then it's straight back onto crushing time. I win a few buyins, running good in one particular spot where I get it all in on the flop with TPTK against overpair and river an ace. I decide to take a shot at 1000nl and find myself sitting next to Teddy "Iceman" Monroe. I know he has been on TV, but I can't remember seeing him play a single hand and I'm not entirely sure why he is "famous". Anyhoo, he tried to bully me a couple of times with his big stack and some supposedly intimidating staredowns. I obv didn't put up with that and jammed over him a couple of times and then snapped him off with bottom pair in one hand where he gave me a speech. I ended up making a small loss in this game after I made a poor call against the nittiest player in the world. AT was never gonna be any good on a T98x8 board, but nevermind. I took a break at this point and caught up with Frenchy. He was knackered after a few heavy days and went to bed.
A decent amount of people are aware of one particular session I had in the Aria... I took a shot at 2000nl in the early hours of the morning. I bought in for $2K and managed to stack somebody in my very first hand. Life was easy and I ran pretty hot for a while, but I found myself on the losing side of the biggest pot I've ever played. I was sitting with over $9k in front of me, there was a straddle like in most hands and I find AA UTG. I make it $140 picking up a caller in mid position and the BTN 3bets it to $600. This guy was was very much a tourist and it was the first 3bet he made in a few hours of play. I'm confident enough to play AA out of position in spots like this and sometimes it can be easier to stack people who also flop overpairs. I decide to 4bet it to give him the chance to go wild. I make it $1400 and he insta calls without a seconds hesitation. When this sort of player snaps so fast it makes me think he has a hand like JJ+/AK but probably not AA or KK.
The flop runs out AT6dd. It's one of those situations where you've 4bet pre and flopped the nuts... How do you get paid? The only way that happens is by betting imo and I put out a small bet (which I would do with my whole range on that flop). I get shoved on and snap. Big pots in this game tend to be ran twice a lot and my opponent asks if I want to run it twice. I ask to run it three times but apparently this is too complicated for his liking and he says no and we agree to run it just once. I expected him to show up with a flush draw tbh, but he has TT and gets there... FML! It would have been about $16k or so and to rub it in this dude jumps up a celebrates. I wasn't a happy bunny and insta-quit the game. Didn't even bother cashing out the remainder of my chips, just went straight back up to the hotel room. Of course, got another rubdown from Frenchy when he asks how much did I win? Doh!
I do have a few more American Adventure stories to tell, but they can wait for part 3 of this trip report.
Friday, 17 June 2011
The Road To Vegas (part 1)
It has been a good few months since I last blogged and it is becoming apparent that I am very lazy in the blogging department. Since my last update, I've played all sorts of poker in many different casinos, but I'm gonna focus this update on my trip to LA/Vegas last month.
I started this adventure at Newcastle Airport, the sun was just starting to rise and it was about 5am. Myself and one of my best mates, Anthony French, waste no time getting straight on the lash in the airport bar downing a few Peroni's each. Our flight to Heathrow arrives on time and we start the first of many plane beverages. The businessman sat next to us could barely contain his disgust at our rowdy behaviour on a BA flight which was clearly aimed towards the business market. We were both wearing shorts and tshirts whilst everybody else suited up and I don't think we fitted in very well - a theme throughout the holiday. Anyway, he only had to put up with us for about an hour and I got some good views of London before we landed.
Carrying on with the Geordie holiday tradition, we got in a few more pints at Terminal 5 and then catch our flight at about 9am. My mate Frenchy used to work in the aviation industry and he has a shit load of airmiles and many friends at BA. This came in rather handy as we abused the complimentary drinks on offer, Frenchy even knows where they store it and we just helped ourselves. We actually drank the whole plane out of Grolsch and we were forced to move onto Heineken... Despite being very inebriated, we managed to get past US customs without any major grief and we headed to the first of four hotels that we were gonna be staying in - Hilton LAX. We chose this hotel because it was only 5 minutes from the airport and there was a free shuttle to take us there. No need to worry about driving a hire car.
After dumping our bags, we immediately went for a dip in the pool. The weather was perfect and I ordered us a couple of Yank drinks (Bud) for us to sup in the hot tub. At this point it was getting near tea time, so I decided to jump in the shower and head out in search of food. We ended up at a bar/restaurant called the Proud Bird, there was loads of old classic planes outside and there was a good view of the LAX runway which kept my mate happy cos he's a plane geek. We downed many cocktails and other assorted drinks before moving on to Jagerbombs. The Mexican dude behind the bar had no clue what a Jagerbomb was, so obv we taught him to make it... Only issue was that the Jager was housed inside of a normal whisky glass and was full to the brim. Interesting trying to down that in one!
Anyway, it's safe to say that we were a bit mortal after a 27hour drinking session and we staggered back to the hotel. Of course, I'm a bit retarded and I only narrowly managed to avoid getting arrested by the fuzz. This LAPD cop frowned upon my road awareness; apparently it's illegal to try and cross seven lanes of traffic when the Walk sign is not illuminated. Luckily our hotel was only a hundred yards away and I suspect he couldn't be arsed with the necessary paperwork, so we got away with a stern warning.
The next day I woke up with no hangover. Score! A quick morning dip in the pool to wake me up, brunch at Denny's and then it was time to get our hire car. I booked a Corvette, but upon arrival at Hertz it was obvious that the pair of us and our massive suitcases could not fit in this car. We "upgraded" to a Dodge Challenger instead, a typical classless American muscle car. It only had 1000 miles on the clock and the 5.7l V8 engine meant there wasn't much on the road that could keep up when I put my foot down. Picture below:
Our next stop in this adventure was at Westlake Village Four Seasons. This is easily the best hotel I have ever been to in my life. The level of service was phenomenal and although I expected it to be very good, every part of the hotel exceeded my expectations. I mentioned earlier in this blog that I felt a bit out of place, this was very much the case here again. Myself and Frenchy recognised that this was a super classy hotel when we booked it and we packed suits to wear to dinner - yeah that was a good move cos literally everybody else was wearing formal gear. The food was amazing and the bar staff had great banter, I like being asked to say "when" as the bar tender pours vodka into my drink :D
I should have guessed the level of poshness when I realised that it had an art gallery, but it really hit home when I saw three Ferraris, a Ford GT, Lamborghini Gallardo and several other epic cars parked outside. I've got a million photos of the Four Seasons on Facebook, so I'm not gonna post loads on here, but I will post a picture of their beautiful waterfall feature:
Whilst we were staying at Westlake Village, we took the opportunity to visit the Ronald Reagan museum. I was forced to endure a bit of Republican propaganda bullshit, but it was worth it because I got to walk through the plane which was previously Air Force One in the 70s and 80s. There was also a replica Oval Office too and part of the Berlin Wall. On the way out, I noticed a sign stating this area was a natural habitat for rattlesnakes - didn't waste much time finding the car in the carpark! Onwards towards the coast and we stopped off at Malibu. What a beautiful place, perfect sands and pretty blue sea. Some random driving took us down a narrow street and into a carpark with a minimum $25 charge. I thought that was a bit on the pricey side for parking, but it turns out this place was called Paradise Cove and it lived up to the name. Also, we found out that if you spent $25 in the bar, the parking was free, so I enjoyed the beach with a nice cold beverage in my hand and views of hot girls wearing very little. Good times!
Although I had a fantastic time at Four Seasons, I was really excited for Vegas and this may or may not have led to some speeding down Interstate 15. It's an awesome road, long straight and nowt around for miles. A warning to anybody else that is stupid enough to drive a car that peaks at 13 miles per gallon: fill up your tank at every opportunity. You seriously don't want to break down in the middle of a desert!!
Well, this concludes part one of my trip report. The next bit is gonna be all Vegas so possibly more interesting to poker players...
I started this adventure at Newcastle Airport, the sun was just starting to rise and it was about 5am. Myself and one of my best mates, Anthony French, waste no time getting straight on the lash in the airport bar downing a few Peroni's each. Our flight to Heathrow arrives on time and we start the first of many plane beverages. The businessman sat next to us could barely contain his disgust at our rowdy behaviour on a BA flight which was clearly aimed towards the business market. We were both wearing shorts and tshirts whilst everybody else suited up and I don't think we fitted in very well - a theme throughout the holiday. Anyway, he only had to put up with us for about an hour and I got some good views of London before we landed.
Carrying on with the Geordie holiday tradition, we got in a few more pints at Terminal 5 and then catch our flight at about 9am. My mate Frenchy used to work in the aviation industry and he has a shit load of airmiles and many friends at BA. This came in rather handy as we abused the complimentary drinks on offer, Frenchy even knows where they store it and we just helped ourselves. We actually drank the whole plane out of Grolsch and we were forced to move onto Heineken... Despite being very inebriated, we managed to get past US customs without any major grief and we headed to the first of four hotels that we were gonna be staying in - Hilton LAX. We chose this hotel because it was only 5 minutes from the airport and there was a free shuttle to take us there. No need to worry about driving a hire car.
After dumping our bags, we immediately went for a dip in the pool. The weather was perfect and I ordered us a couple of Yank drinks (Bud) for us to sup in the hot tub. At this point it was getting near tea time, so I decided to jump in the shower and head out in search of food. We ended up at a bar/restaurant called the Proud Bird, there was loads of old classic planes outside and there was a good view of the LAX runway which kept my mate happy cos he's a plane geek. We downed many cocktails and other assorted drinks before moving on to Jagerbombs. The Mexican dude behind the bar had no clue what a Jagerbomb was, so obv we taught him to make it... Only issue was that the Jager was housed inside of a normal whisky glass and was full to the brim. Interesting trying to down that in one!
Anyway, it's safe to say that we were a bit mortal after a 27hour drinking session and we staggered back to the hotel. Of course, I'm a bit retarded and I only narrowly managed to avoid getting arrested by the fuzz. This LAPD cop frowned upon my road awareness; apparently it's illegal to try and cross seven lanes of traffic when the Walk sign is not illuminated. Luckily our hotel was only a hundred yards away and I suspect he couldn't be arsed with the necessary paperwork, so we got away with a stern warning.
The next day I woke up with no hangover. Score! A quick morning dip in the pool to wake me up, brunch at Denny's and then it was time to get our hire car. I booked a Corvette, but upon arrival at Hertz it was obvious that the pair of us and our massive suitcases could not fit in this car. We "upgraded" to a Dodge Challenger instead, a typical classless American muscle car. It only had 1000 miles on the clock and the 5.7l V8 engine meant there wasn't much on the road that could keep up when I put my foot down. Picture below:
Our next stop in this adventure was at Westlake Village Four Seasons. This is easily the best hotel I have ever been to in my life. The level of service was phenomenal and although I expected it to be very good, every part of the hotel exceeded my expectations. I mentioned earlier in this blog that I felt a bit out of place, this was very much the case here again. Myself and Frenchy recognised that this was a super classy hotel when we booked it and we packed suits to wear to dinner - yeah that was a good move cos literally everybody else was wearing formal gear. The food was amazing and the bar staff had great banter, I like being asked to say "when" as the bar tender pours vodka into my drink :D
I should have guessed the level of poshness when I realised that it had an art gallery, but it really hit home when I saw three Ferraris, a Ford GT, Lamborghini Gallardo and several other epic cars parked outside. I've got a million photos of the Four Seasons on Facebook, so I'm not gonna post loads on here, but I will post a picture of their beautiful waterfall feature:
Whilst we were staying at Westlake Village, we took the opportunity to visit the Ronald Reagan museum. I was forced to endure a bit of Republican propaganda bullshit, but it was worth it because I got to walk through the plane which was previously Air Force One in the 70s and 80s. There was also a replica Oval Office too and part of the Berlin Wall. On the way out, I noticed a sign stating this area was a natural habitat for rattlesnakes - didn't waste much time finding the car in the carpark! Onwards towards the coast and we stopped off at Malibu. What a beautiful place, perfect sands and pretty blue sea. Some random driving took us down a narrow street and into a carpark with a minimum $25 charge. I thought that was a bit on the pricey side for parking, but it turns out this place was called Paradise Cove and it lived up to the name. Also, we found out that if you spent $25 in the bar, the parking was free, so I enjoyed the beach with a nice cold beverage in my hand and views of hot girls wearing very little. Good times!
Although I had a fantastic time at Four Seasons, I was really excited for Vegas and this may or may not have led to some speeding down Interstate 15. It's an awesome road, long straight and nowt around for miles. A warning to anybody else that is stupid enough to drive a car that peaks at 13 miles per gallon: fill up your tank at every opportunity. You seriously don't want to break down in the middle of a desert!!
Well, this concludes part one of my trip report. The next bit is gonna be all Vegas so possibly more interesting to poker players...
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