Life and Poker: Vegas!!!!!!

I just got back from a trip to Vegas and it was a badass experiecnce. I left on a Saturday, was supposed to return on Monday, but ended up staying an extra day (which put me in the + region instead of the -$500). It started out at noon on Saturday with a 12:00 flight to Las Vegas.

Grand Canyon Lake Mead

Once we landed, we took a taxi to our hotel - Treasure Island and waited for the rest of the crew to arrive. Our first stop was Margaritaville where we got liquored up and ready for our first day.

After Margaritaville, we went to the Venetian shops and me and my girlfriend took a gondola ride, where I proposed to her.

She had no clue and was extremely excited. From here we just celebrated, ate at a restaurant at TI and went and gambled - playing video poker at the bar, blackjack and pretty much just losing money, but having fun doing it.

The next day, a few of us got up fairly early and went and played at the $5 minimum blackjack tables and left about even. We went and ate breakfast and then I went and played at a $70 Sit-and-Go at the Mirage. Out of 10 people, I was the 6th one out. I was not playing well at all - maybe it was my nerves or something, but I felt I was getting shitty hands, then when I did have nice starting hands, nothing hit. There were a couple of new people that had really never played before that sucked me out a couple of times, but I did play crappy. There was a time early on that I would have about trippled up, but I did not want to risk my whole chipstack on a draw. It was 2 people before me that went all in - one had 66, other had QQ. I would have hit the river with an A, but I didn't feel like risking my chips that early on so I folded. From here, I was pretty bummed with my play and left the Mirage Poker Room and went and played blackjack and video poker - did OK on blackjack, but video poker was just eating $20's like it was nothing. After a few hours of gambling, we went to the Mirage and then Ceasars Palace and went through some of the shops there until we ate at the Cheesecake Factory. This place is one of my favorite places to eat in Vegas....it is soo damn good. If you haven't eaten there, I recommend doing it. After the Cheesecake Factory, me and my dad went back and played blackjack for hours. I ended the night doubling up what I put in (won $80) and I played for about 3 hours, where I had 13 blackjacks. Blackjack is alot of fun....it has its ups and downs, but what doesn't. I played more blackjack than I thought I would and I was alright with it.

The next morning was another round of blackjack and I ended up losing $110 because of a dealer named Pearl. If you are ever at TI and Pearl walks up, do not play with her....leave immediately!!! Haha...for some reason she was just lucky as hell. Im not sure how many times she hit blackjacks....but it was a ton. After the Pearl incident, some of our crew were staying later than we were and one changed her flight to a later time. So, I called my boss and asked him if there was any chance that I could stay later and I was told no because there was an hour and a half hole where noone was going to be around. So I was desperately calling my coworkers and asking them to cover my shift and I finally got a hold of one that was able to. So, since I was bummed about my Poker play earlier, I went to the Mirage again and played the $1/$2 NL Hold'em table. The minimum was $60 buyin...and since I had not seen the table yet, I just put in $60 and when I arrived, I was extremely short stacked. I watched for a while, not really putting chips in and not getting a decent hand for about 30 mins, just trying to see how everyone played. There were about 4 people out of 9 that had about $300-$400 in chips. I played for about an hour on this until I got down pretty short and I just put in $40 more. Now, with about $60 in chips, I was tired of getting bullied around by the big stacks until I finally got the cowboys - K K. I shoved all in pre-flop and had 1 caller with an A - 3. This guy was a donk that got lucky on the flop....he hit two damn pair....flop came 7 A 3 rainbow. The turn and river were blanks for me and he got a nice little paycheck. Now I was pretty down on my play and decided to meet back up with everyone else. I called everyone and they were a few casinos down. I did not feel like walking forever, so I said what the hell, I'll put in $100 and see how I do.

This is where my luck changed for the night. I was down to about $200 in the safe in my room and $100 in chips in front of me and about $30 in my pocket. I played for about 2 and a half more hours with this when my family came up, some ready to go eat, and some about to go to a show. I told them wait a few, because I was up about to $140 and I wanted to see what I could do. So I had an entourage watching me play. I was playing pretty well and now had enough chips where I could bully some. I ended up bluffing the guy that kept bullying me earlier on a few times, taking about $80 worth of his chips. The funny thing is that the guy that had the most money on the table lost about half of it in 10 hands or less. He had just got off the phone with his wife telling her he was up alot and about to put $200 in a Sit-and-Go...I don't know what happened, but after that phone call he did not win a hand while I was there. He went from about $500 - $600 to around $250. Meanwhile, I was getting a good run of cards, most were the top 10 hands from PH's book. The last hand I played, I was at $210 and got dealt As Ks. I raised $20 and a couple of people sat and looked at me thinking what the hell do you have. One lady stared at me for about 30 seconds until she folded. I had one caller and the flop came out 10d Kc 3h rainbow. I had TPTK. I bet $30 and the guy looked at me and said "Do you have a king?" I just looked at him and shrugged my shoulders. Out came the turn 8c, I checked to see what he would do, he checked - river was a 2s. I bet $40 and he sat there for a while and said "I have to see what you have." I showed a TPTK and he showed K 6 off. I ended up leaving after that hand after saying "I hate to win and run, but I gotta go eat." Finally, I was ahead on poker. After this me, my fiancee and my cousin went and ate at Kahunaville at TI. There was a chance to win an IPod shuffle if you ordered a Fosters. I figured what the hell and ordered one. An hour later, after free shots and some badass bartenders, they called the number for the IPod and the first number they called was not there, then they called my number and I won the IPod shuffle!!! After getting liqoured up again, we went to the bar and played video poker while waiting on the rest of the crew to get finished with their show. I put in another $20 and was chatting it up with the bartender when I asked him "what the hell do you have to do to win on these damn things." He laughed and suggested to not play in one spot. A couple mins later, I was down to $4.00, where it takes $1.25 every pull, when I hit four Aces with a 4 kicker. As Ac Ad Ah 4s. The prize was $500 for a 2, 3, 4 kicker, 250 for an 5-9 kicker and $100 for a 10 - K kicker. I hit it and the bartender came up and congratulated me. I gave the bartender a $20 tip because it was awesome asking him how do I win, then I won. When the crew came back, I showed them what I won, and the $503.75 voucher to cash in. I am damn sure glad I stayed an extra night.... After that, I played blackjack and won $100 from Suki and Linda.

What a trip!!!! I ended up getting engaged, left with positive $$ for the trip, and had a fantastic time.