Vegas Trip Report June 11th - June 17th (1 Viewer)

That's just the strip now. :)
To be fair, I think the area he is describing is (was) the Hawaiian Marketplace. It and the property next door were bought by developers, and leases are cancelled as they expire, turning the once vibrant (although always lower-class) area into a very sketchy segment of the strip.

Say what you will about the nickel-and diming antics of corporate Vegas, the strip is an oasis in what could quickly devolve into a shithole simply by closing one or two business near each other.
 
Wednesday June 15th

I wake up somewhat early. Wife is still sleeping off the alcohol. I'm moderately concerned about her mental state for playing day 2 of the MSPT $1100 today. But she's an adult. She knows what she is doing... presumably.

I was going to play at the Orleans today. But because we decided to no longer play on Friday (and Thursday is the "tourist" day), I'm now trying to decide between playing the Aria $600 and the MGM $600. I decide for the sake of variety to play at MGM. I'm going to wish I hadn't.

We get a multistop Uber and part ways for the day. Or at least part of the day. My wife is returning to just 29bb and 36 to go until the money.

I arrive at MGM. A property I wasn't super fond of on my last trip 15 years ago other than it had the lowest rake at the time, and was the first place I ever played $2/$5 at. The lobby was nice.
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The poker "room"... not so much.


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If you look carefully at the top left of the photo, you will see the poker room proper. It's nothing but an area of the floor near a bank of exit doors with makeshift barriers. This photo does not do justice as to how horrifyingly dark it is in this space. Both the poker room and the tourney area are so... so dark. I should have taken this as a sign and caught a ride over to Aria. But i'm only out here for the week. So I decide to stick it out.

Honestly... I don't remember a ton about this tourney. We hit the GTD barely. I finished about 20 out of the money. The chips are awful ICONs. I did really well in the first 3-4 levels. I remember inducing a bluff in a big pot when everything missed. I made a big bluff in a 3 way pot where I overbet 5c7c after raising it UTG pre and missed my combo draw. I didn't get called. Then I went super card dead for about 2.5 hours, jammed 44 for 8bb UTG+1, got called by 99, and was out.

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While I'm busy in this one, my wife min cashes ($2079) the MSPT $1100. She got down to 9bb playing tight around the bubble, then lost a flip post bubble. She comes over to pseudo rail me. But she instead buys in to the $1/$2 game. She is not the most comfortable playing NLHE cash. She vastly prefers tournaments. She will play limit mixed games cash though. Annnnnnyway... She hits a quads high hand bonus with 7777 and wins about $20 through normal means. After I bust we decide to head back over to Resorts World and get into the $4/$8 dealers choice. So back up the strip we go.

When we get there, there are 3 $4/$8 games going. And Greg Raymer is sitting at one of them. But they are all full. We get on the list and I decide to sit at $1/$3 while we wait. She gets the first seat at dealer's choice. Meanwhile in the span of 45 mins, I go from $400 initial buy in, to:

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In the first hour, I had AAx2, KK, QQ, JJ, TT, 88, AKx2, AQ. I'm going to save some of these for my PAHWM over in the strategy sub forum. I did meet a nice local whose name I don't remember. She has lived in Vegas all her life. Probably mid 20s or so. Enthusiastic about poker, but has a long way to go. She played quite tight in general, didn't get enough value with her hands, and made some really bizarre spazzy bluffs. But it was nice being able to converse with someone about the local scene, which rooms are the best, the series, etc.

I got called for my dealer's choice table, but given how hot I was running, I declined. It was by far the prudent decision.

My wife on the other hands, was getting somewhat irritated at her inability to fully understand some of the more "esoteric" dealer's choice games. While some she did okay with, others she felt like the people playing didn't explain everything that well. She lost a lot in Drawmaha 21. And then someone proposed 777. Which as I understood it from my wife was 3 way split pot Badacey with a qualifier on all 3 pots: 7 or better Badugi, 7 or better low, and trip 7s or better high. Why someone wanted to play a potential 3 way split pot game is beyond me.

By the end of the night, I turned my $400 into:

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Overall, I loved the Resort's World room. There were 4 amazing dealers: Katrina, Barbara, Michael, and Daniel. No jackpot drop. Auto reduced rake at short handed. Floor that was always able to run your chips for you. Tons of mixed game action in addition to the $4/$8 they have regular $8/$16 and the host Ali Nejad's $80/$160. Comp rate is only $1.50/hr, so not the best out there. But it's something. And they have good food in Resorts. Now I've heard that outside of the series, it can be a bit dead. Very likely due to location. But in all the rooms i've played in in my life, I've like this one the best. I've not been to the Wynn though since the moved the room to Encore. So I'll need to do that at some point.

So after Wednesday i'm feeling:

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Thursday will be tourist day. Good food, Freemont Street, Meow Wolf incoming.

To be continued...
 

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well done again. i love this thread, i feel like i'm back on twoplustwo circa 2005.
 
Wednesday June 15th

I wake up somewhat early. Wife is still sleeping off the alcohol. I'm moderately concerned about her mental state for playing day 2 of the MSPT $1100 today. But she's an adult. She knows what she is doing... presumably.

I was going to play at the Orleans today. But because we decided to no longer play on Friday (and Thursday is the "tourist" day), I'm now trying to decide between playing the Aria $600 and the MGM $600. I decide for the sake of variety to play at MGM. I'm going to wish I hadn't.

We get a multistop Uber and part ways for the day. Or at least part of the day. My wife is returning to just 29bb and 36 to go until the money.

I arrive at MGM. A property I wasn't super fond of on my last trip 15 years ago other than it had the lowest rake at the time, and was the first place I ever played $2/$5 at. The lobby was nice.
View attachment 937709

The poker "room"... not so much.


View attachment 937710

If you look carefully at the top left of the photo, you will see the poker room proper. It's nothing but an area of the floor near a bank of exit doors with makeshift barriers. This photo does not do justice as to how horrifyingly dark it is in this space. Both the poker room and the tourney area are so... so dark. I should have taken this as a sign and caught a ride over to Aria. But i'm only out here for the week. So I decide to stick it out.

Honestly... I don't remember a ton about this tourney. We hit the GTD barely. I finished about 20 out of the money. The chips are awful ICONs. I did really well in the first 3-4 levels. I remember inducing a bluff in a big pot when everything missed. I made a big bluff in a 3 way pot where I overbet 5c7c after raising it UTG pre and missed my combo draw. I didn't get called. Then I went super card dead for about 2.5 hours, jammed 44 for 8bb UTG+1, got called by 99, and was out.

View attachment 937711
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While I'm busy in this one, my wife min cashes ($2079) the MSPT $1100. She got down to 9bb playing tight around the bubble, then lost a flip post bubble. She comes over to pseudo rail me. But she instead buys in to the $1/$2 game. She is not the most comfortable playing NLHE cash. She vastly prefers tournaments. She will play limit mixed games cash though. Annnnnnyway... She hits a quads high hand bonus with 7777 and wins about $20 through normal means. After I bust we decide to head back over to Resorts World and get into the $4/$8 dealers choice. So back up the strip we go.

When we get there, there are 3 $4/$8 games going. And Greg Raymer is sitting at one of them. But they are all full. We get on the list and I decide to sit at $1/$3 while we wait. She gets the first seat at dealer's choice. Meanwhile in the span of 45 mins, I go from $400 initial buy in, to:

View attachment 937746

In the first hour, I had AAx2, KK, QQ, JJ, TT, 88, AKx2, AQ. I'm going to save some of these for my PAHWM over in the strategy sub forum. I did meet a nice local whose name I don't remember. She has lived in Vegas all her life. Probably mid 20s or so. Enthusiastic about poker, but has a long way to go. She played quite tight in general, didn't get enough value with her hands, and made some really bizarre spazzy bluffs. But it was nice being able to converse with someone about the local scene, which rooms are the best, the series, etc.

I got called for my dealer's choice table, but given how hot I was running, I declined. It was by far the prudent decision.

My wife on the other hands, was getting somewhat irritated at her inability to fully understand some of the more "esoteric" dealer's choice games. While some she did okay with, others she felt like the people playing didn't explain everything that well. She lost a lot in Drawmaha 21. And then someone proposed 777. Which as I understood it from my wife was 3 way split pot Badacey with a qualifier on all 3 pots: 7 or better Badugi, 7 or better low, and trip 7s or better high. Why someone wanted to play a potential 3 way split pot game is beyond me.

By the end of the night, I turned my $400 into:

View attachment 937774

Overall, I loved the Resort's World room. There were 4 amazing dealers: Katrina, Barbara, Michael, and Daniel. No jackpot drop. Auto reduced rake at short handed. Floor that was always able to run your chips for you. Tons of mixed game action in addition to the $4/$8 they have regular $8/$16 and the host Ali Nejad's $80/$160. Comp rate is only $1.50/hr, so not the best out there. But it's something. And they have good food in Resorts. Now I've heard that outside of the series, it can be a bit dead. Very likely due to location. But in all the rooms i've played in in my life, I've like this one the best. I've not been to the Wynn though since the moved the room to Encore. So I'll need to do that at some point.

So after Wednesday i'm feeling:

View attachment 937789

Thursday will be tourist day. Good food, Freemont Street, Meow Wolf incoming.

To be continued...
Meow Wolf... Omega Mart? Interested to hear what it's like, if that's the case.
 
Got a few days behind but caught up now - thanks for the outstanding reports so far @Legend5555!

Also thanks for the excellent source material for photoshopping later... ;)
 
Got a few days behind but caught up now - thanks for the outstanding reports so far @Legend5555!

Also thanks for the excellent source material for photoshopping later... ;)
My wife created a bounty chip for my 40th with a photo of me looking absolutely goofy from a photo we took on vacation where I beat my family in a home tournament for no money.

My wife and friend that owns a Tshirt business printed a shirt of me as a Jack of spades with similar hair and photos of my kids in the corners.

Figured I don't have much left to lose in this department.
 
Thursday June 16th

No poker today! Not sure if that's a good thing.

We all get up late... ish. Look... I have 2 boys: 2yo and 6yo. They both wake up no later than 6:30a EVERY day. My clock is nearly permanently wired to wake up at 5:30a. So I mange to sleep until 3:30a pacific. Eat a snack. Go to the bathroom. And try to go back to sleep. Which sort of works. And I manage to "sleep" until about 5:30a. My wife and I get ready, have a small snack, and just wait for my sis and bro-in-law to wake up. And given they are typically on mountain time, they take their sweet time.

Our Meow Wolf Omega Mart time is at 3pm. We try to decide if we to go to official breakfast, or just eat an early lunch. We decide on lunch and go to this place recommended to my wife from a dealer called Sushi Neko.

This place is fantastic. $25-$30 all you can eat. The all you can eat where if you don't finish stuff you order, they upcharge you. It's in china town. Everything was great, but honestly my two favorite things were the Seared Lemon Salmon Nigiri and the Cajun Tuna Nigiri. Both pictured below.

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It was so good, I lobbied to go again on Friday. But alas... we did not.

After lunch, it was off to Fremont Street. And $20 alcohol slushies. I was so full from lunch that getting this was a big mistake. Pretty sure I got all the vodka out before I trashed the last 3rd.

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We stopped in the Nugget just to check it out. My wife and bro-in-law decided to play triple 0 roulette for some unknown reason. My wife lost $40. My bro-in-law won $100. That is on top of the $200 he won the previous day at roulette. Blessed by the gods of randomness is he.

Nuggest was also running their Grand Poker Series. My wife asked why we didn't play any there. And I said "Now that you've seen downtown, would you want to come and play here." That ended the convo.

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We took in a street show that me and my bro in law got pulled into. It was fun, and I don't want to go into it other than I respected the hustle and tipped accordingly. But it took SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO long that we almost ended up being late getting to Area 15 for Omega Mart.

This fun thing outside of Area 15.
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Area 15 is pretty cool. Basically an indoor, 2-story strip mall. Couple restaurants, barcade, gold simulator and...

OMEGA MART...

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If I had to explain what it is, it's like a mix between an interactive art exhibit, an escape room, and a story based adventure puzzle game like Myst. Basic story is (no spoilers) is that a man created Omega Mart. His daughter is set to take it over. Somehow aliens are involved. And the granddaughter of the man and the daughter have different goals regarding what is going on at Omega Mart.

There is a TON to do here. If you poured over all the story content spread around on computers, tablets, TVs, and physical paper media, it could easily take you 6 hours to get through everything. There are lots of secret passages, interactive rooms, and even a bar. For those that want to experience themselves, i'll put all my pics under a spoiler tag. I'm not going to cover any of the story though.

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Thursday Continued

It was an awesome experience. One last pick of Area 15 from the 2nd floor.
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We spent so long there that we were again almost late for our reservation at Bachanal at Caesar's. While Bachanal was great, it was still not as good at Sushi Neko. Snow crab was good. Lobster claw was bad. Little Poke bowls were great. Deserts were good.

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After dinner it was time to head to Mirage for the Love show. Phone died when we got to Love. So I have no pics of that. I It was a good show with a loose narrative tied around a bunch of Beatles songs. I was so tired from the day though, that I nearly fell asleep about 2/3rds through during a slower moment. But here are some random Caesar's shops and Strip pics.

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And that concludes Thursday. Only one day left.
 
Thanks for continuing this awesome report! I knew most of the poker, so the 'fluff' is great to read.
 

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