That buck that bought a bottle could've struck the lotto

Basically forced by an offer from Bellagio for a free room, $200 in freeplay, and $150 Food and Beverage credit I booked a Vegas trip with a friend for Fri and Sat. Highlights were:

First night we land hit CVS for liquor, check in, and it’s off to the nightly $150 tournament at Caesar’s. We arrive at around 5 pm, tourney is at 7 pm, we attempt to get into a cash game and get a player’s card while the guy at the front desk is scrambling to help everyone. They can’t figure out tables, wait lists, find who has to get us player’s cards, etc. Later on I see a sign about “best poker room in vegas award”, ehhhh not so much.

Apparently his weekend they are holding the NBC heads up championship, good timing as there are new matches going off at 7 p.m. While waiting, Chris Moneymaker walks right by me, I bump my friend and tell him it’s Moneymaker. He comments on how he seems much shorter in person. We are trying to sort out a list I’m on both 1-3 and 2-5, my boy is on the 1-3 list. Casino guy asks Chris what he wants to play, he responds with “10-20, 5-10, 2-5 whatever….” While waiting they open up the 2-5 game, I see Moneymaker sitting there alone and the dealer just sit down. The poker room is almost empty so I tell my friend, “eff it, when will you ever have a chance to sit with Moneymaker, let’s grab those seats!” I sit 2 to Chris’s left as I don’t think I want him on my right :) I was proved correct shortly there after.

I buy in for $500, most other players have around that, Chris has around 1.5k Apparently this is $300 min, no max. First hand I’m dealt 2 black tens UTG and open for $20, it folds to Chris in the big blind and he calls. Flop is 764 with two hearts, he checks, I c-bet for around $25 and he raises to $60. I’m thinking “fuck, already he’s gonna try to blow me off, it looks like I miss this flop a lot with my UTG raising range, etc., etc.” I call thinking that he might give up on Turn if he’s got air plus there are a lot of draws on the board so I could very well be ahead. Turn is a black 4, so we have 7644 with 2 hearts and around $160 in the pot. Money comes out on the turn for around $105 I believe. I reluctantly call, more on that later. As the dealer is burning Moneymaker yells “no heart dealer!” and the river is an offsuit 3. He doesn’t think long and goes all in. I tank for a second as I’m trying to figure out what “no heart dealer!” means. I come to the conclusion that he already has a made hand and knows I don’t have a flush draw. By making me think, he thinks I’m drawing he can shove his made hand for value on the river and hope to get looked up lighter. After I tank a little and call on the turn I’m fairly certain my hand is face up as an overpair that he can beat. I fold as I probably would have anyway despite the comment and he whispers under his breath to the guy next to him that he had a full house. At the time I believe it.

Moving on and Moneymaker is literally in 100% of hands and extremely laggy. Winning some, losing some, nothing much to note, typical loose aggressive play. Then I’m dealt QJs in diamonds in MP, I think it was the hijack if I remember correctly. Money opens for around $20, I flat with around $3xx something in my stack as I haven’t re-loaded yet. Flop is 3-4 way and we see Kd 6h 5d on the flop. It checks around to Moneymaker, he bets somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 and I just call with my flush draw. My plan if I made it was basically to flat both the turn and the river to keep his range as wide as possible. Also, there were a few players behind so I don’t think I need to shove here. I fully expected him to barrel me all three especially given how I played the first hand. Turn is a black jack and Moneymaker bets $125, I think there is a pretty damn good chance I have the best hand but I don’t want to shove and blow him off his bluffs or weaker made hands so I call. River is blank, I think it was the deuce of clubs, he shoves and I snap call. He sighs and says “King is good…” I quickly turn over the jack and he acts surprised and says something like “that’s a good flush draw to have I guess.” My friend busted him a few hands later with a terrible donk bluff on the flop and he was out of there fairly quickly.

We finally get in the tournament, the entire time I see all the pros walk in for the NBC heads up tournament. Greenstein, Brunson, Dwan (NVG GF pics are true, very hot in person imo), Negreanu, Ivey, all get mobbed by the fans for pictures, autographs, etc. I’d kill for a flick with Ivey so when he busts I get up from my seat and give it a shot but he sneaks out the side door and all I can grab is shaky 20 sec. video of him walking. I bust the tourney in like 27 out of 57th with KK vs. AA for a majority of my chips, standard tourney stuff.

Later on, we bar and casino hop, end up at the absolutely deserted Aria/city center area. Polish off too much Maker’s Mark and my friend wanders off somewhere. I can’t find him, give up and drunkenly make my way to some sort of tram that goes to the Bellagio. I find my way into a 2-5 game safely in my hotel and I still think I’m +EV in this state. All the online play makes my auto pilot/missing details game still pretty solid. I back my way into a straight and bust someone in like a 19 way pot. I think I’m up for the day even with the -EV casino hopping, not really sure, don’t care and pass out at 5 a.m.

Wake up at 10 a.m. and it’s Dune Buggy time, pickup is scheduled for 11 a.m. to Sun Buggy Rentals. My friend can’t find cell phone/debit card/$600, I reiterate he’s a train wreck and we eventually hit the desert. They basically take you out to a park area that is just dunes and hills. There is a loose course set-up and you follow a guide through it, 15,000 acres of open area. I don’t think I stopped smiling the entire time. Cost was expensive at around $300 for 90 minutes but it’s definitely worth it. I’m not much of a ATV/motorcycle/car person so maybe it would be less fun if you are used to that stuff. I caught some ridiculous air off a few jumps.

After that it was hotel, shower and gun store time. I’ve shot a basic rifle but I’m not much of gun person. Purchased the Coalition package which is, M249 SAW w/40 Rds, M16 Rifle w/25 Rds, and the M9 Pistol w/ 20 Rds. The M16 kept jamming which was annoying and plus I’m an idiot as far as holding the gun. After I got comfortable it was fine and the last target I didn’t completely embarrass myself.

Attempted to go to ghost bar after that, waited in line, train wreck friend started playing with the rope and got us kicked out by funny shoes manager. Bar and casino hop, end up at that small barish/clubish spot outside Imperial Palace. Which isn’t bad because the music is not terrible. I’d rather listen to Ice Cream Paint Job blended with You’re a Jerk or whatever that song is called then Lady Gaga typish stuff. This was a decent mix of that. Also a bottle and booth is only like $200. I get as close to hooking up as I can without physically leaving the club. No one to blame but myself, whatever, review “hand histories” and move on. Make a mental note to try a real Vegas club as least once, head back to the B and play some drunk 2-5 and trip was a wrap.

Oh, almost forgot, to totally destroy that $150 Food and Beverage credit we hit the Prime Steakhouse on Saturday. No reservations but they have an open patio seat. Which was almost an upgrade. Table right by the water, sick view of the strip and the fountain show for entertainment. Service was unbelievable, I don’t go to many restaurants where they have a team of people waiting on you. I was all set for a reasonable $50 filet and she casually mentions the $190 kobe beef that is off the menu. I’m already in Vegas so I say flame on to the credit card and order that along with the butter nut squash soup, side of mushrooms, and whatever red wine my friend orders. Easily the most expensive meal I’ve ever eaten. Soup was literally the greatest I’ve ever had. The kobe beef absolutely melted in my mouth, don’t know if it was definetely legit kobe beef, don’t care, it was great.

Now back to reality, I really grinded quite a bit and focused on my game after the Vegas trip last year. Hopefully I can treat this like a reset button and do the same. Put in some work now and slack off some in the Summer if I feel like it. Peace for now blog.