Chip Assault on Mandalay Bay

Saturday and I am stoked with dreams of sweet, drunken Mandalay Bay poker players throwing chips at me and Seymour. We start the day with a comped buffet at MGM. Buffet is okay, much better than Mandalay Bay’s at least from my visits this week. The thing that gets me are the lines. Half of the tables seemed to be vacant but I still had to stand around for 20 minutes until I could have a hostess escort me to my place.

Fed and happy, I was now ready to go so I sat at a 1-2NL game at the MGM. This was a bad way to start the day. Very beatable table, including an array of inebriated cash machines still debauching from the night before as well as a couple just doing a hit and go before heading to catch their flights. However the river was a cruel destination for me. Three times I got it in good by the turn with my opponents facing either two or four outs, with the river spiking whatever my opponent needed to ravage my stack. I ended down well over $400.

This didn’t bode well for me, since I have been running either completely good and winning every session during the day, or completely bad and losing every session. About noon I gave up on the MGM and headed to Mandalay Bay, hoping I could turn it around.

The Poker Room at Mandalay Bay was already buzzing when I got there and I was seated immediately. Low and behold, but on the far side of the table was the Villain of the epic pot between himself and Seymour the night before. V recognized Seymour and immediately and started warning the table about “Swan Man.” Great table. No real hands to discuss, but V was still wonderfully readable and I was able to outplay him postflop. Seymour and I steadily built our stack up to about $500 until Villain took his stack and left.

I took a short break and grabbed a Rueben from Cantor’s deli to keep the fire burning. About that time a brush came around looking for interest in a 2-4NLHE game. 2-4NL? Sure, why not. I switched over and boy, what did I get into? It played like a deep 2-5NL (max 600 buy-in) since this was rock-em sock-em holdem. Every pot was raised and often reraised. Players were going AI with 2nd pair and big pots were being taken down by Q high. What can I say? As long as your blood pressure could take it there were chips to be had. I took a big pot when one player went AI with nothing but air after I had flopped top set, then gave a bunch back when another player went runner-runner flush off my KK. I tripled up when I turned a well-concealed straight with my 64. I won another big pot when a player who had been at my 1-2 game joined us to my right, and couldn’t get away from an unimproved AK to my 2pr.

More damage could have been done, but I was getting tired and even more goofy than usual. When I turned over my cards, thinking I’d lost with a poorer kicker, only to realize I had won with a flush I didn’t even know was possible, I knew it was time to cash in. Seymour was more than satisfied, as the crowd had contributed more than $1300 to the bankroll, thank you very much.

Seymour and I walked back to the Excalibur, stopping at Nathan’s in Luxor for a Philly cheese steak.

Disappointment at Luxor, and a Wild Table at MGM

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.