I walked down the walkway from Mandalay Bay towards Luxor, planning to have something at the Burger Bar, but there was a long wait so I ended up having dinner at the Pyramid Café at Luxor. Had a Burgundy Blue Burger with Onion Rings, very tasty – much better than the Sherwood at Excalibur. However, I have to say I’m not impressed with the redo of the Luxor. Inside it is now just another modernistic casino like you can see in a hundred locations around the world. I know that the old design needed upgrading and some fixes, but I think this is a case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Pity, I'm watching all the resorts with character steadily being replaced by soulless, modern examples of corporate, avant garde free-think.
After my meal I then headed back to my room at the Excalibur to relax a bit more, answer some emails and phone messages and pick up a Fedex package I’d been waiting for.
Then it was off for a return engagement at the MGM, which was in its most glorious of Friday night forms. I was sat within minutes, and landed in a table with a great mix of steady locals along with a strong assortment of drunken tourists, two of which had trouble counting their chips out.
Raises and re-raises flew and it soon became apparent that I’d have to simply wait to catch a hand. The next few hours were a grind; as I’d win one moderate size pot, then go several circuits without getting a sniff of a pot, while watching my stack slowly melt. In fact, looking back, I am quite proud of myself for this session. I can often get frustrated during times like these, and start getting too loose and force things, generally to my ruin. This night, though, I did a good job of avoiding dangerous situations and husbanding my chips. Finally, four hours in I caught a nice rush, no great cards but decent flops that saw other players overplaying. Example is twice I looked down to see A3 suited in the blinds when 4-5 players called a $7 raise, so I called to see. Each time the flop was kind and other players’ overplayed under pairs or TPMK to give me some juicy pots. I ended up over $400. By 2am I was done and happy to head to my room.
Showing posts with label Excalibur. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Excalibur. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
The Table From Hell
Meant to be a light day of poker while I spend some time with friends and doing some shopping. Morning began with breakfast at the Sherwood Café. Had the omelet, okay but nothing special. I stuck my nose in at the Excalibur Poker Room. They had their morning tourney going with a couple limit games on the side. I put my name in on a 1-2 NL interest list. After about 20 minutes I gave up and headed over to the Venetian.
First, I absolutely love the Venetian. I consider it the top poker room in Las Vegas and always make a point to spend at least a few sessions there. I was sat immediately in a table they were opening.
Label this THE TABLE FROM HELL. Most of the players were a bunch of old time Vegas nits who did more gossiping and angle shooting than a church quilting group. That I could handle, except there were two foreign tourists at the table, I believe Israeli because they mostly spoke Hebrew and only a pidgin smattering of English. The problem was when the Hebrew next to me threw his hand away he started talking to his friend at the other end of the table in Hebrew, which of course is a violation of the “English Only Rule” and the Hissy Nitty (HN) to my immediate left got hissy at the repeated problems. The floor was called three times, and the Hebrew to my right finally figured out what was required, but he sat grumpily not talking at all. Problem fixed, except HN kept harping about it forever – which caused Hebrew to tell HN to “Don’t Talk to Me!” which meant HN had to continue harping about “Of course I can talk as long as it is in English.”
Generally tables like this are profitable, but the nits sitting here would make it a long process and I would probably either shoot someone, HN or myself, before I got far enough along to do any good. Finally I couldn’t take it any longer and asked for a table change and almost immediately was whisked away to another table.
And as bad as the first table was the new table was POKER HEAVEN. A whole table of tourist poker players who all thought they were better players than they were, all over betting and going AI with hands like 2ndPrMK against a scary board. Chips were flying and I couldn’t wait to cash, except I played some of the stupidest poker of my life. There was little doubt I was by far the best player at the table, but I fell into the zone Mike Caro calls “Fancy Play Syndrome.” I was throwing off check raises on scary boards and being called by people with 3rd Pair bad kicker. I’d raise big with KK and be called by five people and see aggression on a flop of 379 one-suited (not mine) then after I fold I find the winning hand was a different suit 89. I started playing too loose trying to get lucky and ended up not lucky. I cashed out down $350.
After that I met up with some friends and we found the lounge at the Excalibur where they were having karaoke, good times and some of the singers were awesome. Some were not, of course.
We finished up about 10pm so I went to the Excalibur Poker Room for another session. No hands stood out by again I was playing too loose, calling thin draws and basically being a donkey. I ended down $200 by 1am when I called it a night.
First, I absolutely love the Venetian. I consider it the top poker room in Las Vegas and always make a point to spend at least a few sessions there. I was sat immediately in a table they were opening.
Label this THE TABLE FROM HELL. Most of the players were a bunch of old time Vegas nits who did more gossiping and angle shooting than a church quilting group. That I could handle, except there were two foreign tourists at the table, I believe Israeli because they mostly spoke Hebrew and only a pidgin smattering of English. The problem was when the Hebrew next to me threw his hand away he started talking to his friend at the other end of the table in Hebrew, which of course is a violation of the “English Only Rule” and the Hissy Nitty (HN) to my immediate left got hissy at the repeated problems. The floor was called three times, and the Hebrew to my right finally figured out what was required, but he sat grumpily not talking at all. Problem fixed, except HN kept harping about it forever – which caused Hebrew to tell HN to “Don’t Talk to Me!” which meant HN had to continue harping about “Of course I can talk as long as it is in English.”
Generally tables like this are profitable, but the nits sitting here would make it a long process and I would probably either shoot someone, HN or myself, before I got far enough along to do any good. Finally I couldn’t take it any longer and asked for a table change and almost immediately was whisked away to another table.
And as bad as the first table was the new table was POKER HEAVEN. A whole table of tourist poker players who all thought they were better players than they were, all over betting and going AI with hands like 2ndPrMK against a scary board. Chips were flying and I couldn’t wait to cash, except I played some of the stupidest poker of my life. There was little doubt I was by far the best player at the table, but I fell into the zone Mike Caro calls “Fancy Play Syndrome.” I was throwing off check raises on scary boards and being called by people with 3rd Pair bad kicker. I’d raise big with KK and be called by five people and see aggression on a flop of 379 one-suited (not mine) then after I fold I find the winning hand was a different suit 89. I started playing too loose trying to get lucky and ended up not lucky. I cashed out down $350.
After that I met up with some friends and we found the lounge at the Excalibur where they were having karaoke, good times and some of the singers were awesome. Some were not, of course.
We finished up about 10pm so I went to the Excalibur Poker Room for another session. No hands stood out by again I was playing too loose, calling thin draws and basically being a donkey. I ended down $200 by 1am when I called it a night.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Bad Bad Bad Bad Day at the Tables
Meant to be a light day of poker while I spend some time with friends and doing some shopping. Morning began with breakfast at the Sherwood Café. Had the omelet, okay but nothing special. I stuck my nose in at the Excalibur Poker Room. They had their morning tourney going with a couple limit games on the side. I put my name in on a 1-2 NL interest list. After about 20 minutes I gave up and headed over to the Venetian.
First, I absolutely love the Venetian. I consider it the top poker room in Las Vegas and always make a point to spend at least a few sessions there. I was sat immediately in a table they were opening.
Label this THE TABLE FROM HELL. Most of the players were a bunch of old time Vegas nits who did more gossiping and angle shooting than a church quilting group. That I could handle, except there were two foreign tourists at the table, I believe Israeli because they mostly spoke Hebrew and only a pidgin smattering of English. The problem was when the Hebrew next to me threw his hand away he started talking to his friend at the other end of the table in Hebrew, which of course is a violation of the “English Only Rule” and the Hissy Nitty (HN) to my immediate left got hissy at the repeated problems. The floor was called three times, and the Hebrew to my right finally figured out what was required, but he sat grumpily not talking at all. Problem fixed, except HN kept harping about it forever – which caused Hebrew to tell HN to “Don’t Talk to Me!” which meant HN had to continue harping about “Of course I can talk as long as it is in English.”
Generally tables like this are profitable, but the nits sitting here would make it a long process and I would probably either shoot someone, HN or myself, before I got far enough along to do any good. Finally I couldn’t take it any longer and asked for a table change and almost immediately was whisked away to another table.
And as bad as the first table was the new table was POKER HEAVEN. A whole table of tourist poker players who all thought they were better players than they were, all over betting and going AI with hands like 2ndPrMK against a scary board. Chips were flying and I couldn’t wait to cash, except I played some of the stupidest poker of my life. There was little doubt I was by far the best player at the table, but I fell into the zone Mike Caro calls “Fancy Play Syndrome.” I was throwing off check raises on scary boards and being called by people with 3rd Pair bad kicker. I’d raise big with KK and be called by five people and see aggression on a flop of 379 one-suited (not mine) then after I fold I find the winning hand was a different suit 89. I started playing too loose trying to get lucky and ended up not lucky. I cashed out down $350.
After that I met up with some friends and we found the lounge at the Excalibur where they were having karaoke, good times and some of the singers were awesome. Some were not, of course.
We finished up about 10pm so I went to the Excalibur Poker Room for another session. No hands stood out by again I was playing too loose, calling thin draws and basically being a donkey. I ended down $200 by 1am when I called it a night.
First, I absolutely love the Venetian. I consider it the top poker room in Las Vegas and always make a point to spend at least a few sessions there. I was sat immediately in a table they were opening.
Label this THE TABLE FROM HELL. Most of the players were a bunch of old time Vegas nits who did more gossiping and angle shooting than a church quilting group. That I could handle, except there were two foreign tourists at the table, I believe Israeli because they mostly spoke Hebrew and only a pidgin smattering of English. The problem was when the Hebrew next to me threw his hand away he started talking to his friend at the other end of the table in Hebrew, which of course is a violation of the “English Only Rule” and the Hissy Nitty (HN) to my immediate left got hissy at the repeated problems. The floor was called three times, and the Hebrew to my right finally figured out what was required, but he sat grumpily not talking at all. Problem fixed, except HN kept harping about it forever – which caused Hebrew to tell HN to “Don’t Talk to Me!” which meant HN had to continue harping about “Of course I can talk as long as it is in English.”
Generally tables like this are profitable, but the nits sitting here would make it a long process and I would probably either shoot someone, HN or myself, before I got far enough along to do any good. Finally I couldn’t take it any longer and asked for a table change and almost immediately was whisked away to another table.
And as bad as the first table was the new table was POKER HEAVEN. A whole table of tourist poker players who all thought they were better players than they were, all over betting and going AI with hands like 2ndPrMK against a scary board. Chips were flying and I couldn’t wait to cash, except I played some of the stupidest poker of my life. There was little doubt I was by far the best player at the table, but I fell into the zone Mike Caro calls “Fancy Play Syndrome.” I was throwing off check raises on scary boards and being called by people with 3rd Pair bad kicker. I’d raise big with KK and be called by five people and see aggression on a flop of 379 one-suited (not mine) then after I fold I find the winning hand was a different suit 89. I started playing too loose trying to get lucky and ended up not lucky. I cashed out down $350.
After that I met up with some friends and we found the lounge at the Excalibur where they were having karaoke, good times and some of the singers were awesome. Some were not, of course.
We finished up about 10pm so I went to the Excalibur Poker Room for another session. No hands stood out by again I was playing too loose, calling thin draws and basically being a donkey. I ended down $200 by 1am when I called it a night.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Four Rooms - Four Profit
After awhile I went down, originally thinking that I would go to the Mirage and check it out. Before I had gotten half way across the casino I heard an announcement for open seating at 1-2 HE at the Excal Poker Room and thought, “Why not?”
I sat down and the game was better than the night before, with a good mix of a couple of locals and several tourists, including the old man who had snapped off my big bluff the night before. No real hands to tell. I built my stack steadily using position and aggression post flop. After three hours I doubled up again, and again pulled a LVMichael and cashed out (+$208). The games are great but by this time I am really getting to not like the seats at the Excalibur Poker Room. Also, sad to say, I realized I had left Seymore back in my room. I hope he forgives me!
Hoped the tram to Mandalay Bay. This is a first time for this poker room for me. Overall it is a nice place, quasi separated from the casino and sports book, with comfortable chairs. The comp and tracking system is straight from the 1990s, as others have noted on the posts. However, the games were wonderful. I sat next to Tim “The Thrashing Machine” Hague, a UFC fighter staying at the MB. He is from Edmonton, Canada, and generally trains in the morning and plays poker at local casinos in the afternoons. He was a solid player, and I was happy he was on my right. There was another tricky player the other side of the table, but the rest of the players were loose-weak. Again, I mostly made my money with playing small pot poker and being aggressive after the flop. One hand that was off was when I made a hero call to a $25 river bet when I only held 3rd pair, but I couldn’t put the kid on anything after he had check-called through most of the hand. He showed a missed straight draw and I took down a tidy pot. Otherwise, about 6:45 I realized I was getting hungry, mostly because I did the Las Vegas thing and lost track of time, forgetting to eat lunch. I cashed out mostly doubled again (+$204)
I headed back to my room at the Excalibur to recheck emails and change clothes. Then I was off to Caesar’s Shops to have dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. Since I was alone I sat at the bar, having a couple of dark ales and the Jambalaya Pasta. Whoooo! So good!
Then it was over to the Mirage Poker Room for some more 1-2 NL. To tell you the truth, I probably shouldn’t have played, because I was getting tired and goofy. I can’t even say much about the table or players, since it was all a big blur. I do remember that I had been whittled down from my original buy-in of $300 down to about $150 when I won an awesome 3-way pot when my AA made a set on the turn to beat one lady with 75 2-pair and a man missed his straight and flush draws. I know I cashed out for a $98 profit about 11:30.
I was really pleased for the day. Four poker rooms and four profitable outcomes.
I sat down and the game was better than the night before, with a good mix of a couple of locals and several tourists, including the old man who had snapped off my big bluff the night before. No real hands to tell. I built my stack steadily using position and aggression post flop. After three hours I doubled up again, and again pulled a LVMichael and cashed out (+$208). The games are great but by this time I am really getting to not like the seats at the Excalibur Poker Room. Also, sad to say, I realized I had left Seymore back in my room. I hope he forgives me!
Hoped the tram to Mandalay Bay. This is a first time for this poker room for me. Overall it is a nice place, quasi separated from the casino and sports book, with comfortable chairs. The comp and tracking system is straight from the 1990s, as others have noted on the posts. However, the games were wonderful. I sat next to Tim “The Thrashing Machine” Hague, a UFC fighter staying at the MB. He is from Edmonton, Canada, and generally trains in the morning and plays poker at local casinos in the afternoons. He was a solid player, and I was happy he was on my right. There was another tricky player the other side of the table, but the rest of the players were loose-weak. Again, I mostly made my money with playing small pot poker and being aggressive after the flop. One hand that was off was when I made a hero call to a $25 river bet when I only held 3rd pair, but I couldn’t put the kid on anything after he had check-called through most of the hand. He showed a missed straight draw and I took down a tidy pot. Otherwise, about 6:45 I realized I was getting hungry, mostly because I did the Las Vegas thing and lost track of time, forgetting to eat lunch. I cashed out mostly doubled again (+$204)
I headed back to my room at the Excalibur to recheck emails and change clothes. Then I was off to Caesar’s Shops to have dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. Since I was alone I sat at the bar, having a couple of dark ales and the Jambalaya Pasta. Whoooo! So good!
Then it was over to the Mirage Poker Room for some more 1-2 NL. To tell you the truth, I probably shouldn’t have played, because I was getting tired and goofy. I can’t even say much about the table or players, since it was all a big blur. I do remember that I had been whittled down from my original buy-in of $300 down to about $150 when I won an awesome 3-way pot when my AA made a set on the turn to beat one lady with 75 2-pair and a man missed his straight and flush draws. I know I cashed out for a $98 profit about 11:30.
I was really pleased for the day. Four poker rooms and four profitable outcomes.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Double up at MGM Grand
I got up about 7:30, still in a bad mood from the results from the day before at the Excal and the MGM. Still I pride myself in not letting bad things get to me so I still plan to get my head right and hit the felt again. First of all, though, there is some business to do, some packages to ship back east. I hit breakfast at the Planet Hollywood Spice Market Buffet and as always it puts me in a better mood. Decent food at a reasonable price. It ended being $17 with taxes and tip.
I walked to the MGM, they had two 1-2 NL tables running, looking like a lot of tired tourists and I was feeling better already. I sat down in about 10 minutes and found a weak table – lots of limping – big bets were either monsters or air bluffs on the river with busted draws. No real good players but one young guy was quickly my target. He liked to raise strong with bigger cards like AQ of AJ. If he misses he gets tied to his Ace and bets strong and will keep betting all the way to the river. I felted him twice when he had A high and I had 2pr or better. After awhile several of the table left, and a couple of Vegas regulars I recognized sat down. I knew the character of the table was going to change so I decided to pull a LV Michael and cash out after having doubled up (+$220).
Went back to my room at the Excal to get caught up on some email and chill for a bit. Part of this is my attempt to balance out two conflicting goals. Number one is I want to keep fresh at the tables so I don’t go cuckoo by next week. The second is I do want to build up my “stamina” so I am ready to play some longer sessions this weekend. I am expecting the action to be pretty special on Friday (it’s a Friday in Vegas) Saturday at Mandalay Bay and Sunday at Mirage.
I walked to the MGM, they had two 1-2 NL tables running, looking like a lot of tired tourists and I was feeling better already. I sat down in about 10 minutes and found a weak table – lots of limping – big bets were either monsters or air bluffs on the river with busted draws. No real good players but one young guy was quickly my target. He liked to raise strong with bigger cards like AQ of AJ. If he misses he gets tied to his Ace and bets strong and will keep betting all the way to the river. I felted him twice when he had A high and I had 2pr or better. After awhile several of the table left, and a couple of Vegas regulars I recognized sat down. I knew the character of the table was going to change so I decided to pull a LV Michael and cash out after having doubled up (+$220).
Went back to my room at the Excal to get caught up on some email and chill for a bit. Part of this is my attempt to balance out two conflicting goals. Number one is I want to keep fresh at the tables so I don’t go cuckoo by next week. The second is I do want to build up my “stamina” so I am ready to play some longer sessions this weekend. I am expecting the action to be pretty special on Friday (it’s a Friday in Vegas) Saturday at Mandalay Bay and Sunday at Mirage.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Las Vegas Poker!
I spent the morning finishing up business and packing before heading to LAX for my US Air hop. Everything went pretty smooth, except the Vegas shuttle driver. Of course, since I was in the property closest to the airport I was the last to drop off. Go figure. Next time I’ll just taxi. Anyway, I checked into the Excalibur on a great rate, partially comped in one of the remodeled, wide-screen rooms.
After taking some time to get settled in, Seymour and I headed downstairs to the Excalibur Poker Room. As written elsewhere on this site, this is simply an area in the middle of the casino, although this one did have a hip wall with glass above to separate out the worst of the noise and smoke. Two 1-2NL games going and I get immediately into a game. This Tuesday evening there are no tourists, just a bunch of local regular players, many of whom I remember from past LV trips. They are not especially good, but no one is incredibly bad either, with only one player, two seats to my right, that I would consider dangerous. The trouble is, I get lots of drawing hands that never get anywhere. I have never had a run of so many suited connectors and one-gappers that I can remember. Nothing gets there, and my buy-in melts slowly away. I reload to keep enough bullets but the drain continues. Finally, I blow a big pot when I bluff with air against an old man holding TPTK on a very scary board. The bleeding continues and I begin to get frustrated. After three hours I cash out over $300 down. Even with the regulars, it is an extremely beatable game, I think. I just didn’t get the cards or situations to get it done.
I grab a bite at Baja Fresh on the casino floor of the Excal– two fish tacos – not great, but make me feel a little better. It is still fairly early, so I decide to move my game over to the MGM. They were just opening a 2-5NL game so I happily buy-in for $500. Most buy in for about $300, although one Young Asian Guy (YAG) sits down two seats to my right with about $600. Second hand there are two callers and I look down at AhKh. I raise to $20 (I know, a little low) and get three callers. Flop is J35 all hearts. BINGO! YAG bets AI ($600 into a $$60 pot). With the nuts, I call with him having me covered, hoping he doesn’t have a set. Turn is another heart, so my A high flush still seems the best. Another 5 hits. Sure enough, he shows 35offsuit. And I am down $500 on two hands. Immediately I am on tilt and make the good decision to go for a long walk.
I wander to Aria and check out City Center. It is impressive and expensive on some level, but on another level it reminds me of the “futuristic” cities I used to see on the cheap SciFi movies of the 1960s and 1970s. It just doesn’t seem to have a soul to me, like NYNY or Venetian or Bellagio or even the Wynn does. We shall see. I peaked into the poker room.
Ended back in my room about 1am, still grumpy from the poker results for the day. Still, I am well up overall for the trip. In part II, I’ll have to see if I can forget the bad and work on the positives. Tomorrow I plan to hit the MGM again, with possibilities of more time at Excalibur, before doing more poker at Venetian and maybe Mirage.
After taking some time to get settled in, Seymour and I headed downstairs to the Excalibur Poker Room. As written elsewhere on this site, this is simply an area in the middle of the casino, although this one did have a hip wall with glass above to separate out the worst of the noise and smoke. Two 1-2NL games going and I get immediately into a game. This Tuesday evening there are no tourists, just a bunch of local regular players, many of whom I remember from past LV trips. They are not especially good, but no one is incredibly bad either, with only one player, two seats to my right, that I would consider dangerous. The trouble is, I get lots of drawing hands that never get anywhere. I have never had a run of so many suited connectors and one-gappers that I can remember. Nothing gets there, and my buy-in melts slowly away. I reload to keep enough bullets but the drain continues. Finally, I blow a big pot when I bluff with air against an old man holding TPTK on a very scary board. The bleeding continues and I begin to get frustrated. After three hours I cash out over $300 down. Even with the regulars, it is an extremely beatable game, I think. I just didn’t get the cards or situations to get it done.
I grab a bite at Baja Fresh on the casino floor of the Excal– two fish tacos – not great, but make me feel a little better. It is still fairly early, so I decide to move my game over to the MGM. They were just opening a 2-5NL game so I happily buy-in for $500. Most buy in for about $300, although one Young Asian Guy (YAG) sits down two seats to my right with about $600. Second hand there are two callers and I look down at AhKh. I raise to $20 (I know, a little low) and get three callers. Flop is J35 all hearts. BINGO! YAG bets AI ($600 into a $$60 pot). With the nuts, I call with him having me covered, hoping he doesn’t have a set. Turn is another heart, so my A high flush still seems the best. Another 5 hits. Sure enough, he shows 35offsuit. And I am down $500 on two hands. Immediately I am on tilt and make the good decision to go for a long walk.
I wander to Aria and check out City Center. It is impressive and expensive on some level, but on another level it reminds me of the “futuristic” cities I used to see on the cheap SciFi movies of the 1960s and 1970s. It just doesn’t seem to have a soul to me, like NYNY or Venetian or Bellagio or even the Wynn does. We shall see. I peaked into the poker room.
Ended back in my room about 1am, still grumpy from the poker results for the day. Still, I am well up overall for the trip. In part II, I’ll have to see if I can forget the bad and work on the positives. Tomorrow I plan to hit the MGM again, with possibilities of more time at Excalibur, before doing more poker at Venetian and maybe Mirage.
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