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General feedback (pt 1)
I labeled this as "pt 1" not because I immediately have a part 2 coming any time soon, but because I haven't actually played the game a ton yet, but I plan to play it quite a bit more and expect to have more feedback. I love SimAirport, and SimCasino had been on my wishlist for a while, so I'm glad it has finally made it to early access. This will largely be a list of (hopefully constructive) criticism. I am enjoying the game. And to be clear, almost all the feedback I have are things I view as pretty minor and not greatly impacting my ability to enjoy the game so far, but definitely some areas that can use some polish.
I'd like a fullscreen windowed mode or just for the game to not minimize when I alt-tab out.
It bothers me a little bit that the main menu is shoved all the way to the left edge of the screen. When I click settings on the main menu it appropriately jumps to the middle of the screen.
There's not a way to delete profiles in-game as far as I can tell. I just have to click to browse the same files and delete them the way I'd delete any other file on my computer.
There are no tutorials. But there's a button for them, so it's clear to me the devs have them planned, so that's good.
Scheduling is confusing to me. It's clear that several of my employees don't need to be around from 3am to 9am approximately, but I don't easily understand how to set specific schedules for specific workers in specific areas. Maybe I'll rewatch the GreenGemini video where he was doing it. Or wait for a tutorial.
The Daily P&L sheet confuses me. This one I think I'll talk about in a comment down below and maybe someone can help with a breakdown of an example P&L sheet. Hopefully the devs can take a look at that conversation and find a way to make improvements here.
The Bank Loans tab is at first glance slightly confusing. I don't know what it looks like if I have a an actual loan in, but when I first viewed the page, I was trying to click on "Loan Payoff", "Daily Payment", etc. thinking they were different tabs within the Bank Loan tab I could look at. This is probably largely because I don't have any outstanding loans so it was less obvious that they were, as I now know, column headers. Maybe the whole "Existing Bank Loans" section could be hidden if I don't have any loans?
Guest Experience, I haven't spent much time on this tab. I'd kind of like the Marketing/Demographics in one place and the current Guest Needs in a different place. As for demographics, I'd kind of like to see more information than just who is currently in the casino somehow. Like... I'd somehow like to have an idea of what my potential target clientele is and use that as a guide to help me understand how I should grow in the future, assuming I'm meeting the needs of my current guests. Have I largely tapped out the available Gambler market and the remaining real grown is in Entertainment? or Business?
Gambling Hub - The "Complimentary" feels like it could have some more customization. Meanwhile, the Gambling Statistics section confuses me similar to the Daily P&L, so maybe that's something that can be discussed in detail in a comment.
Entertainment - I haven't yet built a theater, so I'm only looking at the Bingo section of this tab. I think I've got the Bingo mechanics worked out, but I think this screen is slightly ambiguous as to what's going on, so this is perhaps another thing to discuss in detail in a comment. With this one, I'll post a comment explaining my understanding of Bingo just to check for confirmation that I understand it correctly.
Transportation tab seems straight-forward enough. Although it's not clear to me how I'd know when I need more frequent garbage pick ups... other than just noticing my garbage is piling up?
Maintenance tab also seems straight forward enough. I'm not sure I've gotten far enough to feel the need to mess with this much, although ideally this is a tab that you generally don't have to mess with much unless you're minmaxing something?
Staff Management tab - this wholly confuses me. I need a tutorial and an adult.
Research - This tab is very straight-forward. But I have two criticisms here. First, I can't tell when a research has been completed and I can't queue up future researches. I'd like a notification when a research completes and to be able to add research into a queue. Second, I wish the tree were deeper. Ideally, even something like SimAirport where I need different people in different roles to research different parts of different trees. For example, instead of either having or not having table games.... maybe you can just start with Blackjack, the most standard of all table games. And you don't get to modify anything about the blackjack, it's just a single deck with basic betting rules. But you can go down the research tree to unlock things about blackjack (more decks, different betting rules like splitting, doubling, insurance, ante, etc.) or you could unlock individual other table games. Poker potentially should start with the original 5 card draw rather than Hold'em, and the different poker variants should be researched. I also think poker should work more similarly to Bingo actually... (I.. visit Vegas regularly... I've played a lot of poker both in Vegas and other American casinos... I could elaborate a lot on how I'd like to see poker and poker rooms work in the game). Maybe my opinion on what the research tree could look like deserves its whole own post...
The Casino Valuation tab seems fine.
I want an underground layer. In Vegas its super common for the casinos to have some underground areas and that's just talking about areas accessible to the public... it doesn't even account for the fact that there are certainly plenty of staff only areas underground... like the vaults? I'd want to put vault, storage, staff rooms, security offices, etc. underground. Plus I'd like tunnels to connect different casino buildings for guests and then decorate the lawn outside with fountains or whatever.
Has anyone noticed how big the trees in the background are?
I'd like to be able to make custom fountains (think Belagio).
I'd like pools and pool bars.
I'd like vaults to be... more... vault like... not just some shelving behind a staff door waiting for Danny Ocean.
Some music/dance clubs would be cool (casinos in Vegas tend to have these either as an alternative to or in addition to theaters).
Can I please expand the tiny windows I have to select walls/floors in? The information windows can be expanded.
Also, can I have more than one information open at once please? Let me look at my P&L sheet while I look at gambling statistics.
In Las Vegas, some casinos (Caesar's Palace, Venetian come to mind) have full on shopping malls integrated into them... maybe this is a future DLC?
I'm going to stop here for now. Like I said, there will be more in the future. I am enjoying the game and am exciting to see it develop. The three comments to discuss in detail will come a bit later as I have a few things I need to do at the moment.
So, I’m going to Vegas for a work thing next week, and would like to try hitting the poker tables. I’ve played a lot through college with buddies of mine, and have a firm grasp of the game. What concerns me is that I have no idea what to expect. Is there anything I should avoid, or come in knowing? Also, I’ve never played with chips before. We’ve always done cash games. Is there a universal system for poker chips; color to value? Thanks for any input guys and gals!
I decided on a last minute whim to play the Venetian 100k this weekend. I planned on entering flight 1C on Friday and to my surprise, I was alternate 180 at around noon. The tournament was around 200 capacity with no rooms for more because the cash games were going and was told to come back an hour later to check if I would be next. 4 o'clock rolls around and the tournament director isn't even close to calling my number. The blinds were 300/600 with 600 BB ante, and I de-registered and got my money back. I asked the cage personnel if I can register for flight 1D, and to my surprise they said no, and to come around at 8 in the morning to wait in line. After getting my money back, I drove over to the Bellagio and played in a mix game that consisted of stud 8 and super stud 8. Cindy Violet was playing and running bad, and Chau Giang sat down for a brief moment not playing a single hand and leaving quickly. I played in the game for 14 hours and was down $485 and decided to call it a session. Bellagio poker room was not filled to the brim and my game was tucked in the corner closest to the cage. I drove back to the Venetian at 7 am and got my $300 free play chips from the casino cage, and proceeded to run the free money up to $1000 real money on the blackjack tables. At around 8 am, I colored up and went to line up at the poker room. The line was already 50 deep and registration doesn't open til 9 am. By the time 9 am roll around the line has already stretched around the huge electronic baccarat tables and pass the Asian noodle restaurant. I registered and went back to my hotel room for shower and a 2 hour nap. I woke up at 10:45 am, and ate a breakfast sandwich I had gotten before going to my room. I got to my seat at 11:05 and the tournament has just started. Room was very packed, you could not lift up your elbows without bumping into someone. Players at my table were filthy casuals who called preflop with 75% ranges, and I was able to double up my stack at level 2. Someone even called my pot size river bet with 95 high because they thought I was bluffing on a board KQ843, I was, but I had A9. At level 6, I lost a few flips, and a cooler spot where I had top 2 vs a turned straight. I went to my room to sleep for the rest of the day. TLDR: Venetian : Poker room is cramped, but the competition is very weak. I got a free bottle of white wine and $300 free play chips to stay there. Bellegio: Poker room had a lot of space. Saw semi famous poker players. Vegas: Mask were mandatory everywhere, a lot of people wore them incorrectly. No smoking at the blackjack tables. Strip is sketchier than normal, saw homeless lady in the Venetian fountains skimming for change. Drove home on Sunday.
A Vegas Miracle - how I won $129,000 in my 3rd tournament ever
This is how I won $129,000 in my 3rd ever poker tournament. Note: don't try this, it probably won't turn out well for you. I spent about 6 months grinding up a $5,000 bankroll playing home/casino games ranging from .5/1 to 1/3. The week that I hit that $5,000 mark, Matt, one of my best friends from college informed me that his job had placed him in Las Vegas for the next month and that I could crash with him for a few nights if I wanted to come on out west. I had frequent flyer miles for the flight and some Mlife/Fremont hotel comps for the rest of the trip. My grand total for flight and lodging for 10 days came to $200. Now, I’m not going to bore you guys with low-level cash hand histories. The next 10 days were filled with me playing lowstakes poker for 10-12 hours a day. It’s as fun as it sounds – it’s not. I was having a good time in Vegas otherwise – but towards the end of the trip I had a realization: 1/2’s the same everywhere. I didn’t have to fly out to the desert to raise to $7 preflop. After 10 days, my grand total from poker (and a fair amount of dumb degenerate shit on Fremont) was -$186. That wasn’t what I came out to do — I knew that I was a better player than my recent results had indicated. The morning of my return flight, I decided I was going to play tournaments until I either busted my $5,000 bankroll or hit something worthwhile. I impulsively decided to not get on my plane at 11:30am. Checkout time from Luxor was at 11:00 – and I didn’t know where I was going yet. I had 30 minutes to pack up my stuff and figure out where I was going before they’d charge me a fee. I sorted TripAdvisor by cheapest first – I’ve stayed in crappy hostels/motels before and overall am a very low maintenance person. I figured that by staying somewhere for $20 a night, I’d be able to maximize the amount of shots I could take before flying back home. I accepted that there was a real chance I’d go back broke – but I didn’t really care. If I didn’t take my shot now, then when? I booked the cheapest bed in Vegas - a 6-person shared hostel just past the Stratosphere. Let's just say you get what you pay for — it was not a happy place. A fair amount of the people in there were bordering on homelessness and there was barbed wire surrounding their outdoor gym. In addition to this, I had the constant stress of knowing that all that separated my bankroll from the rest of my roommates was a tiny lock. I took the Deuce to the strip, lived off food comps, and turned down invites from my friends to hang out. I was in town to play poker, nothing else. Disclaimer: I had never played tournaments prior to heading out to Vegas. My only knowledge of hand ranges was from watching televised events. I downloaded a free Nash chart app on my phone while on the Deuce to the strip and studied it for 5 minutes – whatever, I get the jist of it. Let’s play some cards. The first day of doing this I played the $140 daily at the Aria. Top 13 spots paid -- I finished in 15th. It was depressing to say the least — I felt as if I was at rock bottom. Before the first night of sleeping at the hostel I called the airline to see if I could get on the flight that I had deliberately missed the day prior. I couldn't. I made it my goal to at least cash something so that I could get a decent hotel room. I couldn’t have slept more than 2-3 hours the first night there. One of my roommates was loudly vomiting all night, the sheets itched, and I was going through an existential crisis... like dude, you’ve got a finance degree and you’re really doing this shit? While on the bus to the strip, I opened Poker Atlas and saw that there was a $200 satellite to win a seat into the $1,600 Venetian main event. I decided that I was going to go take a shot at that. I was at risk twice in the satellite but after studying the GTO method on how to win coinflips, I persevered and won a seat to the main. The first day was surreal – once again, I was running on minimal sleep due to my housing arrangements, but I remember the following hands from day 1:
Button opens to 2.2x, I’m in the BB with Q9cc. SB folds, we go HU to a flop of 832c. He c-bets, I call. Turn 4x, x/x. River Ax. I check, he bets, I x/r to like 3x his bet, he insta folds. I take it down and show air.
UTG+1 opens, MP calls, I flat on the button with K10ss. 3 ways to a flop of Qs43xx. UTG+1 bets 40% pot, MP calls, I call. Turn is the Js. UTG+1 bets 60% pot, MP calls, I flat. River comes the 8s. UTG+1 snap bets 80%. MP flats, I flat. I announce king high flush, they both muck.
Folds to the SB, he limps, I look down at Q10o, and check. Flop comes KQ6r. He leads 35%, I call. Turn 10. He bets, I call. River comes a J. He bets, I tank for about 45 seconds then flick in a call, he shows 76o… ship it.
The average stack after day 1 was around 40k, I bagged like 65k. I walked back to the Deuce stop outside of the Venetian and headed on my 30 minute ride back home. I kept thinking to myself, someone’s gotta win this thing, why not me? I had to get in the money for this tournament to be able to get the fuck out of there. A min cash here was over $3k – that was more than enough for me to get a suite on Fremont for a few nights and party for a bit, then get home with my head held high. Day 2: I get up at 7am after already being completely awake for the past 4 hours. There’s no way I slept more than 3 hours last night. I hit the Denny’s by the Stratosphere then get on the Deuce. I get to the Venetian and feel like I’m about to fall asleep. I go to the self-serve coffee/tea dispenser in the middle of the room and make myself an iced coffee. I get to my table, and the cocktail waitress comes around. I ask for another iced coffee and toss her a fiver. Here are some highlights from the 1st half of day 2:
I open 97ss on the button, BB flats. Flop comes AK3s. BB checks, I bet 35%. He throws out a 5k chip – which I interpret as a x/r to my bet. I groan, make a joke about it being the first hand of the day, and start to muck. The dealer stops my cards midway before hitting the muck, and informs me that he didn’t raise, that he called my flop bet. Everyone laughs, I go silent and wait for him to make change. Turn is the 2s. He thinks for a second and bets 30%. I tank for like 30 seconds, then flat. River is a blank. He thinks for a second, then checks. I bet like 30% pot. He tells me that I’m an angle shooter and mucks. I tell him I’m not an angle shooter and show my 9 high. Everyone laughs, we get on with playing.
CO opens, I 3b 87dd in the SB to 4x, he flats. Flop comes 1032d. I check, he checks. Turn is the 6d. I bet 55% pot, he flats. River comes the Kd. I bet 60%, he tanks, tells me he thinks I backdoored diamonds, then folds. Damn, these players are pretty good.
I open KK UTG to 2.5x, UTG +1 flats. Heads up to a flop of K43r. x/x. Turn 8, I bet 40% pot, he calls. River 3, I bet 80% pot, he tanks, then calls with AK.
I bring my 3 racks of chips to the new table and immediately get some comments – whatever, I’m just on a heater, it happens. At this point, my body was giving out. I was trying my hardest not to fall asleep in between every hand. Cutoff opens, I’m in the SB, I look down at KK. I put in the 3b, folds back to him. He puts in a healthy 4. We’re the two big stacks at the table – I’d guess he was 50bb effective while I was around 65bb. God damn, am I good enough to fold kings here? No, I’m not. I shove, he snaps, I know that I’ve just fucked up my tournament. He shows the aces. The dealer puts a king in the window, and I hold. I’m for sure the chip leader now. I lose a few 40/60 and 60/40 flips and chip down a bit. I still have a very healthy stack, probably around 80bb. The next 3 hands are from the second half of day 2:
Aggro Asian guy on the button. Folds to him, he opens to 2.2x, SB folds, I look down at 43ss and raise to 7.5x, he flats.
Flop comes 894cc. I check, he bets, I call. Turn’s another 9. I check, he bets 75% pot, I call. River’s the 10c. I check, he bets 1.2x pot. I ask the dealer for a count of the bet – meanwhile, villain looks like he’s going to shit himself. I flick in a chip, he throws down KcQx. I laugh a little, show my 43ss, and obnoxiously say ship it.
I open KQo UTG+1, MP 3bets me. I figure that a 4b from UTG+1 could take it down a fair amount of the time, so I decide to go for it. He thinks for a second and flats.
Flop comes AK4r. I check, he checks back. Turn is a 6, goes x/x again. River’s another brick. I put in a 30% value bet. He does a little grimace and tanks for like 20 seconds. It looks like he’s going to fold so I start verbally telling him that his queens are good. The dealer informs me that you’re not allowed to talk about your hand to another player. I inform him that I’m not talking about my hand, I’m talking about villains’ hand. Dealer laughs and lets me continue to antagonize villain. MP starts talking back, asking if I’m really bluffing. I inform him that once he folds, I’ll show the bluff. He ends up calling, I snap show, he pays me then gets up from the table to go for a walk.
We’re playing 6 handed. UTG opens, MP flats, I flat TT on the button. 3 ways to a flop of AT9ccc. UTG bets 50% pot, MP folds, I put in a medium sized raise. He thinks about it and flats.
The turn is the Kd. He pauses for a second then checks. I figured AxKc was his most likely combo. I didn’t think he could fold AxKc to any sizing – I decide to overbet jam 2x pot. He tanks for like 5 min and eventually lets it go. He tells me later he folded AxKc. Nice fold sir. I finished day two 2nd in chips out of the 64 players remaining. More importantly, I was in the money. My friend Matt offered to give me a ride to the hostel to grab my stuff. On the way to the hostel I’m telling Matt how trash the place is and he’s kind of like yeah man, whatever, it can’t be that bad. We gather my belongings and head on out. Matt remarked to me that the hostel reminded him of jail mixed with a summer camp. I open a same night hotel app and see a room at the Four Queens available for $110. The lady at check in was nice enough – however, she informed me that the only room they had available at my price point was a smoking room overlooking the Fremont St. experience. I paid the $20 to upgrade to a non-smoking in the quiet part of the hotel. Vegas man, I swear. It’s like 2am at this point -- I get to my room, sit on the bed and close my eyes. I open them and it’s 11:00am. Ah fuck man, I gotta get to the Venetian. I hop in the shower, brush my teeth, and freshen up. Even if I don’t have clean clothes, whatever, I’m second in the main, who cares. Some interesting hands from the first part of Day 3:
I had two inexcusable punts in this tournament. This is the first one: I open 5h5c from LP, BB calls. Flop comes J62hhh. x/x. Turn is a 4x. x, I bet 50% pot, BB jams 15bb. I called – and immediately realized I fucked up, big time. He had 2 big chips in his stack that I didn’t see, making his shove effectively like 25bb. In addition, I didn’t have the 5h, I had the 5d. I really didn’t ask for a count or double check my hole cards. Villain turns over 64o and holds. In my defense, I literally didn’t know what ICM meant at the time. Whoops.
Someone who I recognize from poker TV jams 22bb UTG. I’m in the CO with JJ, I ask him how much it is, he’s talkative and seems genuinely comfortable/down for me to call. I fold – I run into him a few days later at the Aria, he tells me he had AA there. I believe him.
CO opens, button instantly jams 30bb effective. I’m in the SB with TT and 25bb – live reads, we’re flipping. I call for all in my effective stack, CO folds, button has AQ. I hold. He’s not happy I called with tens. Oh well, sorry bro, gg.
MP opens, CO 3 bets to 7bb, button jams 20bb. I look down at 2 black aces in the big blind. I reshove, MP folds, CO calls off his 20bb stack. I’m up against AQ and QQ. I hold.
Even with my atrocious punt earlier in the day, I’m the chip leader again. We’re down to about 15 left in the field. UTG opens, I 3b AKo on the button, he jams 20bb, I call. He has 99, a king comes on the flop and he’s gone. It’s day 3 of the main and we’re playing 5 handed with 12 people left. Let’s fucking go.
Button opens to 2.5x, I’m in the BB with A8dd, I flat. Flop comes A104r, I check, he bets, I call. Turn is a 7, x/x. River A, I bet 1.2x pot. He tanks, calls, I show, I’m good.
CO opens to 2.5x, I’m in the BB with 108dd, I flat. Flop comes Kd4x2d, it goes x/x. Turn is a Kx, I check, he bets 60% pot, I flat. River is the 4d. I check, he bets pot. I tank and let it go. He tells me later he checked back a weak king on the flop.
SB completes, I’m in the BB with J9o and I check my option. Flop comes Q108r. The SB donks out into me for 60% pot. I flat. Turn comes a brick and he leads into me for 60% again. I raise to 3.5x his turn bet, he thinks for a while then flats. River is another brick. He bets 80% pot into me. I tank for a while, then shove. He starts laughing and folds QQ face up.
Less than a week ago I was grinding buffet comps at Planet Hollywood. Now I have guys correctly folding top set to me. I’ve made it to the final table. I pick up a few small pots and the two shortstacks at the table get eliminated in quick succession. This is without a doubt the most pointless and just plain out stupid punt of my entire life: I open J2dd on the button into a ~18bb SB and a GTO robot with mid 7 figures in career earnings in the BB. Don’t do this, this is quite literally lighting money on fire. SB folds, BB flats. Flop comes Kh8h3d. I cbet, BB calls. Turn is the Kd, goes x/x. River comes a 7h, he leads into me for half pot. Whatever, I’m going for it – I put in a raise. He thinks for all of 5 seconds then calls me with KQh. Wow, I just punted away $50,000 in ICM. Jesus Christ dude, what the fuck. For the next orbit or two, I’m clearly pissed at myself. I get up after my button and do a lap around the poker room – I’m good. The monkey tilt is gone, and I’m ready to get back to playing normal ranges. Anyway, nothing else really happens for a while – I look down at AKo UTG and raise it up. Folds around to the BB, he thinks for a while, then jams for about 20bb. I snap, he has AQo. I hold. I’m now second in chips. We go on a 10-minute break. When I get back to the table, the prospect of a 5-way chop comes up. We’re all tired – and the pay jumps are very significant. If you couldn’t tell from this story, I’m a degenerate, but in this spot, I’m willing to reduce variance a bit. We run the numbers and come to an agreement – we all agree to take a very slight ICM bump to give 1st place a bit more money than his stack is worth. I just won $129,000 -- huh? This was my second tournament cash – not too bad considering that it was my third tournament ever. Maybe I should start learning how to play MTT’s now. I take $124,000 in a check and $5,000 in cash. I’m leaving Vegas in 4 days and don’t plan on coming home with any of the cash. The winner of the tournament’s a pretty cool guy and he asks if I want to crash in his guest room tonight… like yeah, if that’s a real offer, I’m down. I pick up my toiletry bag from the Venetian concierge and we hit the Uber. The next morning Matt picks me up at his house – I hit the Chase bank and deposit the $124,000. I take Matt and my other friend, Spencer out to the Sterling Brunch over at Bally’s – the entire time, Spencer just kept repeating “Davis, what the fuck”. I don’t know dude, seriously, what the fuck. I get a suite at the D downtown that night and (very) long story short I end up hitting $100 on a number at roulette at 5am. It’s time for bed. Here’s a link to my Hendon Mob, verifying my tournament result. Hopefully I see some of you guys at the WSOP in 2021. https://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=783521 Davis
Neeme: "Why I never play there (The Venetian) is because the owner of that property is a man named Sheldon Adelston." Starts talking about online poker at 2:06
Went there for the first time tonight. From what I've heard Aria has the best poker room in vegas, hands down. Arguably the best room, period. While I can definitely see the positives, I don't quite understand the hype. It's cramped, and still on the casino floor. Sure, there are plenty of games and players, but it's not the nicest room I've ever been in. Not like people make it out to be.
Day 5 and here’s my observations as a first timer (from overseas) to Vegas playing tourneys and 1/2, 1/3, 2/5.
Everything is further away than it looks. Much further. Got a resident bus pass, $2 per day, sorted. Even still, be prepared to do a LOT of walking!
The Deuce bus on the strip is painful and overcrowded most of the time. But best way to get from Venetian to Golden Nugget for example.
New Yorkers are the least friendly Americans at the tables. Mid west guys are salt of the earth.
There is too much berating and tilting at fish. Just be nice ffs.
The games are soft. But higher variance as people love to gamble and chase draws - pot odds be damned (more like, pot odds?) Bet big for value and there’s absolutely no reason to slow play. But be prepared for more variance than usual.
It’s ok to be extremely fat and wear see through / skimpy clothing and tight mini skirts. Showing a lot of flesh seems normal. No one bats an eye. I know this sounds bad but I’ve never seen so many fat people!
The strip reeks of weed. Even saw guys smoking weed in the Golden Nugget.
People are allowed to smoke in casinos. It’s so last month. At least the poker rooms are smoke free zones inside the casinos. Just be prepared for some drunk twat to light a ciggy up beside you at the bar. Seems America is lagging when it comes to smoking regulations. (This was point 7b)
The ‘$1 tip” drinks are great. Plenty of non-alcoholic options. Love the cocktail service - really adds to the vibe.
The poker rooms are all very different, some reg infested, some full of happy drunk tourists.
Players fully decked out in WSOP branded kit (hats, shirts, etc) are usually pretty bad. But think they are really good. They tilt easily too.
(Sorry for the long post - TLDR - a story of 3 days of craps, a hit and run, and a hockey game) Little history, Seneca Niagara / Seneca Buffalo Creek are my local casino's. I have always been a Poker player first at the Casino (Hold'Em @ Seneca Niagara), and when my SO is with me, I'll dabble in some slots as well. A little over a year ago, on a trip to Vegas to see a hockey game, a friend and I decided to learn to play craps at NYNY where we were staying. Having never thrown dice in my life, it was interesting to say the least at first. Played a little bit last year, and again when I was in Vegas with the SO - but primarily stuck to poker / slots. Circle forward to this past December, and I was at the Venetian / Palazzo for a Conference and had some time after my first day, and decided to give it a whirl. Well, needless to say the table was rocking and 2 first time shooters made everyone a lot of money. I was still new so not pressing much, though with the help of the dealers giving me some pointers, ran up my initial $200 - to $1300 before I left. The next few days after my conference were fun, but had the normal ups and downs until the last night before leaving I had another decent $400-$1100 win (tables were normally always $15 min). These past 6 weeks, I've made a trip down to the Buffalo Creek casino on Friday's and have had some mild success. Routinely playing for a few hours and making decent money - they are always $15 min when I go, so it's become the norm. My typical play is as follows: - $15 Pass line / $5 Horn-Hi YO - 6/8 point - $25 odds on the pass - 5/9 point - $20 odds on the pass - 4/10 pt - $15 odds on the pass On a hit point, it's always a $45 pay with the above. I'll deviate if I'm winning more, and I tend to play much looser (which is probably -EV, but it's how I played poker too) On 6/8 point - I'll do $18 on the other, and $15 on the 10 typically On 5/9 point - I'll do $51 across / inside On 4/10 point - it's dependent on the session but I'll do $51 or $66 Pressing / and how much is dependent on the shooter and how I'm doing - the past few weeks I've been doing pretty good as stated above. Nothing earth shattering, but been making $100-300ish per session. This past V-Day, the SO and I went to the Buffalo Creek after dinner and I wanted to try to get her on the tables to shoot, but she was too confused, lol - ok understandable, and it was packed so I got it. After 7PM, the room typically has (2) $15 min tables, and a $25 table Started off on the $15 with my typical $200 buyin (I know it's light, but for some reason it's what I start with) - no particular noticeable rollers, and after 25-30 mins, I was down to less than $50 - and bought in for another $200. Our friends stopped in and I ended up getting off the table to walk around and socialize some, total in $400, and when I got up I had about $85 left - so (-$315) After about 15-20 mins, my SO and the friends settled at a Blackjack table, so I went back to find a spot, which there was none, lol. Took the $85 I had, throw in another $25 for $110 total and went to the $25 buyin to kill time. New shooter, I went $30 6/8 and $25 on the 5/9 - point came out as a 10. Hit 3 numbers 6,6,9 before the point was hit, so had some more money to play. $25 PL bet, and $5 craps - 7, collect $25 (another $5 craps) - 7, collect $25 (another $5 craps) - point 8 Moved my 8 to a 10 and bought it for $25 - so I'm setup with $25 5/9/10 $30 6 First roll 6 - pressed to 42 Second roll 6 - pressed to 60 Third roll 5 - pressed to 35 Forth roll 9 - pressed to 35 Fifth roll.....PSO (sigh!) Went on for a little bit longer back and forth, but all told after about 20 mins or so, I believe I was at $160ish (ended up trying to recoup vs pressing after the PSO) Ended up getting on a different $15 table up front with my friend who I originally learned with in Vegas, and told him to play however he wants and not to follow me. We rolled with a semi-full table for about 30 mins, and all told I think I ended up +300 for the session. Final tally on craps for the night +$150 (I believe it was right around there) - not bad. Saturday comes around and I'm feeling the need to play more - so after some family time and a swim meet / dinner - I head back. Just complete and utter disaster, lol - every table be it a $15, or $25 - would go Point Set / PSO - or the like. I went between tables, and just was getting smacked around. Everyone was losing, and I ended up -$1000 for the night. Was down $1200, but ended up getting $200 at the very end, and wanted to leave on a positive, LOL. That was short lived however, as I was stopped at a red light next to another car, and some genius thought it would be a good time to try to fit in between us with his car (obviously not all mentally cognitive at the time) - not much damage, but the kicker is the guy gave me and the other car his insurance info, and 5 mins later while the cops were on the way, decided to leave the scene.....fun times were had!! Queue Sunday night, and I was heading to the Buffalo Sabres / Toronto Maple Leafs Hockey game with my brother, but decided to hit the tables (it's a block away from the arena) before I picked him up as I had to go downtown to get the police report from the accident. Only 1 $15 table open and the $25 - but the $15 was run over with people. I only had about 45 mins anyway, so I took $140 and went to the $25. Come out roll $5 any craps, $30 6/8, $25 5/9 - small roll, but hit enough to be up to $200ish New roller came out, and I decided to go all in: $25 PL, $5 craps - point set as a 6 - set $25 odds - $30 8 / $25 5/9 - and $5 each hard way Roller had a good run, hit some points, hit the 6 - and went on for about 15 mins - all told ended up, up $300 from my initial $140, after the PSO. I was chatting with some older gentleman who were at the tables the night before when I lost, and they said the same thing - things were super cold (though they lost $3-4K a piece...) The hockey game on the other hand was AMAZING. Anytime Toronto is in Buffalo it's fucking crazy, and last night was no different. The good guys ended up winning 5-2, but there were more Leafs fans than Sabres fans and it made for some tense times. That's a story for another day, lol Probably longer than I should have wrote, and more fluff than needed - but end result down about $600ish for the weekend.
INTRO It was a completely spontaneous thing. I was in China on a 2-week trip to visit some relatives and had just arrived in HongKong when I realized Macau wasn't too far away and I had nothing planned for the next couple of days. A 2-hour bus ride later, I set foot in Macau for the first time in my life. The first thing that struck me was just the sheer number of casinos and the ease of access to them. Shuttle buses were everywhere (mostly free!) and taxis were quite abundant as well (started at 19HKD for the first bit, + 2HKD every 100m I think). I quickly made my way into a couple of the casinos in hopes of hopping into some Holdem. A few attempts later and it became apparent that Holdem was not a popular game in Macau at all and only a few casinos offered it (Venetian, Wynn Macau, and possibly some others). The lowest stakes offered were 50/100HKD (about 6.5/13USD), with the lowest rake being 5% capped at 200HKD. These stakes were a bit higher than the 1/3 and 2/5 I was used to and I didn't have that much cash on me, but I wasn't about to come all this way and not play poker, so I got some help withdrawing money from an ATM at the Wynn and walked in with 20K HKD hoping to not bust 2 bullets in what was likely to be a deep game (25K buyin cap). Some sidenotes before getting into the main action: 1/ The casinos were all really nice: very well designed, good service (people opening doors and greeting you), air-conditioned. 2/ Some potentially mafia-associated people would approach you on the casino floor quietly asking you if you needed HKD, but a brief shake of the head or ignoring them sent them on their way. 3/ Women would occasionally approach you on the casino floor asking you if you needed 'service'. 4/ No railing the tables if you weren't playing, and also no phones at the tables (you had to stand up to use a phone). 5/ No 1K chips were allowed to play at the poker table (not sure if for all the casinos or just the Wynn Macau). Had to use 100, 500, 5K, and 10K chips, with the dealers giving you 5 and 25 chips as change occasionally. 6/ Mandarin, Cantonese, or English were the only languages permitted at the tables. 7/ Good selection of beverage and food (drinks were free). 8/ No tipping! I tipped an extra 10 at the end of a session and got flashed a funny glance by a dealer. One of the regulars made a joke about me donating to Mr. Steve Wynn. 9/ Tables were all 10-handed. INTERESTING HANDS 1/ Battle with a Reg: Preflop Edition 18K effective. Good reg HJ opens for 300. I 3bet As4s to 1100 from the BTN. HJ makes it 2700. I 5bet to 5700. HJ tank folds. 2/ Funny Business with My Favourite Hand: Part 1 10K effective. I open from the HJ with JhTh to 300. SB weaker reg calls, BB folds. I cbet 400 on 9h7h5s. SB checkraises to 1300. I tank 3bet to 3300, hoping to fold out some pair or pair+sd type hands. He calls. Turn comes an As. He checks and I jam. He quickly folds. 3/ Funny Business with My Favourite Hand: Part 2 13K effective. I open (same orbit!) from UTG with JhTh to 300. Only a rec UTG+1 calls. Flop comes 5s5h5c. I cbet 200 and get snap called. Turn is the 9h. I lead for 800 and get called again. River comes the 2c. I overbet 5K and get a tank fold. 4/ No Fear 20K effective. Folds to me and I open 5s6s on the BTN. SB rec and BB good reg both call. Flop comes Ks8h9d. SB donks 300, BB calls. I make it 1500 and to my surprise, both call (slightly concerned about BB slowplaying a set but SB is FOS at this point). Turn is an inconsequential 3d, bringing a bdfd. I make it 2700, the rec calls rather quickly and the reg folds to my delight. The river brings the Js and the rec checks after a couple seconds. The best hand he can have here is a straight, but calling turn with a naked QT is unlikely even for this player, so with him holding so many 76, T7, JT, and possibly just Kx, I went for blood and went for a pot-sized 10K bet. My bluff gets through and after consoling the agonizing rec that I indeed had a set, I raked in my chips. CONCLUSION Poker in Macau is rather tough, and casinos don't seem super interested in promoting it, with a number of rooms being shut down over the past years. It might have been soft before, but not anymore. I assumed that sitting at the lowest stakes offered the games would be much softer than they were, but though there were still some weaker players, games were significantly tougher than the games I play in Vancouver, which aren't that soft compared to other places in the world. There were barely open limps except from one or two weaker recs, and for the most part, even the weaker regs were sizing and range aware. 3bets were also quite common and I suspect 4bet-bluffing was a thing among a number of regs as well. The overall vibe was more serious and competitive. I sat at 3 different tables over the course of 2 days, and the table composition was usually the same: ~3-4 tight weaker regs, ~1-2 good regs, ~2-3 recs, ~1-2 tight passive OMC, and me. It was an experience I'm definitely glad I had, but to maximize hourly, I'd for sure play elsewhere. In total, I played 10 hours, and was up +22600 HKD.
LONG write up - TLDR - I had a successful Macau trip. It's a little after 6pm in Macau and I've decided to shut the trip down and relax for the rest of the night. My flight back to Shanghai is tomorrow at 1pm. What an experience it's been so far. Day 1 - Wednesday I flew into Zhuhai on Wednesday night, and had hoped to catch people heading to the Macau bus, but everyone scattered and there were no tourists to follow. I went to the taxi line, got in a cab, and told the driver 'Macau, Macau'. He looked at me funny and after a minute of us trying to convince each other of something... he finally took off. An hour later, I'm dropped off at this train station looking place, where there's hordes of Asian people trying to cram through the gates. This is the Macau customs inspection point. I manage to get through and hop on a free shuttle bus to the Venetian. Upon my arrival, it's already past 10pm, so I take a look around and grab another taxi to head to my hotel, which is off the strip. Pretty uneventful day 1. I'm just glad I made it to my hotel in one piece lol. Day 2 - Thursday Couldn't sleep well last night. I woke up at around 8am and decided to head over to the Venetian. I ended up walking, but damn that was a mistake. It's a bit humid for the morning and I'm sweating by the time I get to the casino, which is about 2 miles away. I finally get to the Poker room at around 10am and there's a couple tables running and a list of about 10 people. That's not bad at all! I was expecting it to be busier. I get my name added to the list and now it's time to get some money out. There were 3 tables going with 50-100NL and 100-200NL. I think the USD to HKD exchange rate is about 1 to 7.85, so these are 6/12NL and 12/24 NL. Min buy for the 50/100 was 5K to 30K ($3,800 USD). The 100/200NL has a 20K min buy with no cap. I put my name down on the 50/100. I went to the ATM soon after and was only able to pull out 3k HKD at a time. After 5 ATM transactions, I manage to pull out 15k HKD and head back to the poker room, only to find out... I can't buy chips there. So back to the cage I go. LOL. Dammit. Ok, finally seated at the table after a short little wait. My first day can be summed up in 3 consecutive hands, which I'll get to. 50/100NL, Pre-flop action is typically 300 (first to act). I've seen a 3 bet go anywhere from 900-1.2k (this is HKD of course). I don't have too much experience playing 5/10 so I decided to play ABC and tight. Also, it was difficult to understand exactly how much $$ the pot was so I had to re-program my brain to just go off pot size rather than try to convert this to USD in my head. I think at my highest, I was sitting on 24k ($1.1K profit) and about 11k at the lowest. So all in all, not too bad. Next like 5-6 hours, I'm completely card dead and hovering around 16k. Then comes the trifecta of hands that make my evening. Hand 1 of 3 I'm starting to get tilted from no action, hungry because I haven't had anything to eat, and dizzy. Hero - 9s5s on button Villain - is on my direct right, and he's been a solid player all day. Pre-flop, 1 call, action around to Villain, who pops to the 300, Hero calls, SB calls, MP1 calls. Flop comes 6-6-10 (2 clubs). Checks to villain, who bets pot, 1.2k. I'm so bored out of my mind and energy fading at this point, I call 1.2k. Rest fold, it's heads up. Turn comes an off 8. He leads out for 2.2k. I realize I'm losing my mind, but I have no choice... I count out 2.2k, pause for a bit, then decide to go over the top for 5.2k. It's time to bluff this one or go home. He took about 30 seconds to think. I'm putting him on pocket Js or Qs. River is a off 2. Flush misses. He checks, I announce all-in for remaining ~9k. After about 2 minutes of making me sweat, he folds. I flip it up, cuz I'm feeling re-energized and the whole table explodes in laughter. Villain turns to me and says "a bluff?!" Then I can see his shoulders slouch and he avoids eye contact. Couple Chinese guys come over to give me a fist bump and start asking me where I'm from. I say California. This will be important later. Hand 2 of 3 Very next hand. Button is now to my left. UTG calls for 100, MP makes it 400 to go, I call 400 with Ad8d, UTG 3 bets to 1.2, MP folds, I call. It's heads up, and one of the Chinese guy says "bluff again!" in broken English. Flop Ah Qh 8s UTG Checks around to me, I put in a bet of 1.2k. He raises it to 3.75. I call. Turn is a off suit 7. No help. He grabs a stack and puts out 5.5k. He started with about 30k so he's got me covered. I take my time and put out 5.5k. Off to the river. River comes 6 off suit, no flush. He pauses for 5 seconds, then announces all in. I have about 12k in front of me and feel sick. I tank for a minute... then convince myself of a call because of one thing. When he sat down, his buddies ridiculed him in Cantonese (I think), which I couldn't understand, but picked up the words bluff, bluff, bluff over and over again. Just went with that piece of info as the icing on the cake and decided to call it off. He doesn't flip right away, so I flip A-8. He tables K-Q a second after. The entire table goes ape shit. My neighbor says "Hero bluff, Hero call!" One guy starts chanting 'USA, USA', LMAO! More people are talking in English now and interested in talking to me. Hand 3 of 3 It's the last of the 3 hands before I get up soon after... and it's a bit uneventful, but hilarious nevertheless. I'll make it short, but essentially UTG is tilted and decides to spew the rest of his 7.5k stack off pre-flop. I think he's small or big blind at this point and he goes all in when it comes around. I have pocket Jacks LOL. Insta-Call. The whole table erupts in laughter again. On a side note, the poker table vibe was very chill versus how it is in US. I don't know if they know each other or not, but the mood is very casual and people make fun of each other. It's hilarious. One guy who spoke poor English told me he thought I was a robot, because they were all crackin jokes and he said I never laughed. When he found out I wasn't Chinese, he was like OHHHHhhh. (I've been told I look Chinese) Anyways, everyone says face up, so I flip Jacks and UTG decides to play it down. Board runs out 10 high. He turns over pocket Queens! LMAOOOOOO... the mob says money back! money back! Everyone is happy. I can't remember if I play a couple more or not, but decide to color up soon after and go eat dinner. It's 6pm, raining outside... taxi line is about 200 people deep. I walk back in the rain. Day 3 (Today!) Not as exciting as yesterday, but was another good day. I took a cab to the Wynn... only to find out the Wynn near Venetian doesn't have Poker. The Wynn up north has the Poker room. I didn't know there were 2 Wynn casinos here LOL. WTF. Forget it, I decide to walk back to the Venetian again. Once I get to the Venetian, 10am and there's a list of 25 people for 50/100. Mother of God... By noon, they still haven't opened any new tables and the list is 60 people deep. Finally, dealers stroll in and they quickly open up 3 new 50/100 tables. I manage to get seated by 1pm. I was #27. The table today is a lot weaker than the one I played last night. Guys were doing funny things like doubling the blind by the big blind after it gets around, LOL (maybe it was just this one guy). Players had interesting bet sizings. very little aggression. No one tried to steal pots. It was very weak tight gameplay. I was able to push people off pots once my chip stack got bigger. I ended up cashing out positive again today for a short 3 hour session. For the trip, I played about 10-11 hours. Started with my original 15k HKD and cashed for 64k HKD, for a profit of a little over 49k HKD ($6.2k USD). On my walk back to the hotel, I managed to find this currency exchange window called P&W, and exchanged everything back to USD. They gave me a pretty good exchange rate, so I'm a bit confused how they make money... oh well. In summary... it was a good trip. Sorry the write up was long. If an idiot like me can make it to Macau, play poker and make it back... you can too. And you'll probably make money. I literally did little to no research.
Trip report: four nights at Encore for anniversary for $8500
My wife (32F) and I (31F) had our one-year anniversary at Encore for four nights. We had previously spent our honeymoon doing the same Encore trip. All together, we’ve been to Vegas five times and Reno two times since meeting a few years ago. Heaven on Earth Cost: all-in, including transportation, lodging, entertainment, food, etc, we spent $8500. That includes our bankrolls of $1600 each. My wife left with $400 of her bankroll and I actually won $500, but we don’t return any of that to offset the $8500, we just add it to next trip’s bankroll. Lodging: we went with Encore, our favorite casino resort in the world. We prefer it to Wynn because it’s more intimate, has the Players Lounge (a special casino pit with couches and dealers in classy black dresses), sometimes has lower limits than Wynn, doesn’t get much tourist traffic from the strip or Palazzo, and it has natural light from the pool and the atrium next to high limit. Both Wynn and Encore are on the quieter side, but Encore even more so. We got the Panoramic Suite, which is the same as the regular Resort Suite, just on a higher floor. Comps: at the end of the trip I spoke with the on-duty casino host about comps. He gave me $150 and my wife $100 off our bill. I felt that was more than generous. While we did give them a ton of play (maybe 6 hours a day), we’re low rollers. I play craps, blackjack, baccarat, pai gow poker, pai gow tiles, and three card poker. My wife plays craps, blackjack, pai gow poker, three card poker, roulette, and slots. She goes to sleep earlier, which probably explains the difference in comps. Sat: we landed at 2pm after a slight delay. My wife surprised me by having a black Escalade waiting to take us to Encore. I’m a sucker for SUVs. We were directed to the express (electronic) check-in, which couldn’t scan our IDs or find our reservations, but an attendant helped us. We opted to wait for a strip-facing room, and were rewarded with a top floor (63rd) room. We changed in the bathroom and gave our bags to the bellhop, heading straight to the pool. There was a great energy there, lots of people, very sunny. We played $15 craps and got in the water. Encore Pool Casino After changing we had a wonderful dinner at Andreas. My wife is allergic to shellfish so she loves their vegan sushi. I tried foie gras which was too rich. After that we gambled for many hours in the Players Lounge, playing $10 craps and $15 blackjack (6:5). The cocktail waitress was able to get me port wine for free by going to the bars. We tried out Night Swim at Encore Beach Club. Total disaster, I’ll spare you the full story, but they put us in the regular line (not expedited entry that hotel guests get), and the pool was closed. We left 30 seconds after getting in and a great floor manager at the casino later that night helped us get a refund and gave us a ticket for a free meal at Jardin. That’s Encore service :-) Sun: started the day at Jardin. A beautiful restaurant but I find their options a little bit limited. Subtract alcohol and eggs and half the menu is gone! After that we went to the spa. Super beautiful and relaxing. I got my hair cut and styled at the salon, followed by makeup. My wife got a blowout. We both felt great after that and took lots of pictures. We headed over to Bellagio to play craps and eat dinner at Prime. We were nearly alone on the patio facing the fountains. Prime's patio Food was just amazing. The filet we split was an earthy brown on the inside. I wonder if that’s from dry aging, or from doing it sous vide. Either way the best filet I’ve ever had. Filet at Prime After that we went to Caesars to see Absinthe. It was super loud, but the show was fantastic!! Beauty at Absinthe :P Absinthe performers After the show we met with a colleague of mine in Caesars who was in town for a conference and showed him how to play craps. We finished the night at Encore, gambling mostly in the Players Lounge. Mon: woke up a little hung over to a room service breakfast of bacon, hash brown, and beignets. We went to check out Red Rock Casino but left in a grumpy state after an hour because of how loudly they play country pop in there, as well as commercials for their Players’ Card, which sounds just like a bad radio station ad, and creates a terrible atmosphere. For lunch we ate at Charlie’s Bar & Grill, and checked out Wynn’s completely redesigned sports book. The hot dog was great. I decided to get my first ever massage at Encore spa. It was beyond amazing, so profesional, so skilled. I used the hot tubs and reading room too. My wife took the opportunity to nap. I was doing well on bankroll so I played some $25 at 3:2 blackjack (instead of $15 at 6:5). Then we went to the buffet. We ate too much! But it was amazing. I made sure to get plenty of crab legs this time, while my wife was given a personal tour from the chef to show her what was safe to eat. He even offered to personally cook any item separately to make certain there was no cross-contamination with shellfish. Wynn Buffet We both felt uncomfortably stuffed after that. Gambling in the Players Lounge rounded out a great day. Tues: woke up to a delicious mango from room service. The day before they said no mangoes were ripe. If they don’t have a perfect mango, they don’t serve it :-) We walked to to Venetian/Palazzo. We ate lunch at Grimaldi’s which served a wonderful thin crust pizza in a NY themed setting. Pizza at Grimaldi We toured the mall, got some Honolulu cookies, and gambled in the Venetian. It was a little hectic in there for my taste. However, you can play in the high limit room for only a $50 bacc bet, which I thought was a great value. Next we did the Star Wars virtual reality attraction, which we loved. After that we went to Palazzo. I liked that Palazzo was less crowded, with fewer tourists running through. I played some $25 Pai Gow Poker in the green chip pit next to the high limit room while wifey played slots--she was very excited to find a Casablanca machine. We canceled our dinner reservations at Lakeside and decided to get room service. I ate a delicious Reuben sandwich with chicken noodle soup and she ate a cheese melt with tomato soup. We finished the night in Encore’s Player Lounge as usual. Weds: we started with room service of scrambled eggs and english muffins. While my wife packed I talked to the casino host who gave us some great comps off our room bill. I played some bacc in the high limit room, winning $300 as a fantastic sendoff. My wife, on her way out, placed a single $100 blackjack (3:2) bet and got dealt a ten and an ace, blackjack! It was a great moment. The black Escalade took us to McCarran and we were on our way! Lessons learned: sleep in or you won’t feel right the rest of the day. Don’t try to eat too many high-end meals, they’re just too rich and leave us feeling overstuffed. Don’t go to the nightclubs if you’re expecting the same kind of personalized friendly service you get elsewhere on property. They’re pretty gruff, probably from dealing with drugged out 20-somethings. And the biggest lesson of all: spend a little extra to get exactly the trip you want. Encore charges a premium but to us it’s more than worth it. Thanks for Reading :-)
Visiting Vegas next May looking for some recommendations.
Hi Everyone I am beginning to plan a Vegas vacation for roughly a year from now. My wife is about to give birth to our second child and I thought this would make a great mothers day present for next year. I am trying to start planning now to ensure the best deals. I wanted to ask a question about Hotels and Shows. I would like to stay around $300 a night and under $100 for a show. I have hard good things about the Cosmopolitan and also the palms place suites. Any other hidden gems? My Wife isn't a big gambler but she would love 1. A good massage 2. A good vegetarian friendly restaurant 3. A cool nightclub 4. A nice suite. This vacation is for her so these are my main concerns but I love to play poker so a good recommendation for poker rooms is appreciated as well. I know rooms are a lot cheaper mid week and we don't care about a party atmosphere but I would hate to get there and everything be closed till the weekend. What are your guy's opinions on what days to go?
Checked out The Venetian, they got a nice little poker room. around 8 tables playing all full. Two stakes 7/14 and 14/28 USD$ NLH. According to my research not too many other casinos have poker rooms either. Many have closed down. Only the Wynn and Venetian rep that shit asfaik. I'm too broke for this shit, I'd rather take a seat between an oxygen tank grandpa and megagulp fatass at planet hollywood nl200.
So I wanted to post this not for anything other than for more information for those who come to this sub here for exactly that. Some of this may be repetitive but it can’t hurt to have additional opinions. Hotels: To clarify, I have always been comp’d rooms due to my play, so I can’t speak specifically to prices, just to what I see. -Rio: Stayed here. It was huge. Off the strip so was a bit inconvenient but affordable, and now with ubelyft, it may not be a bad option. They have a Seafood buffet which is solid, but wouldn't say "top notch." One very cool thing for poker players, is if you go in the summer, from about May to end of July, you are bound to see some of the top poker players in the world, as the WSOP is there. -Paris: Stayed here. Hotel is nice. That’s really the best word to describe it, because the rooms are average, clean, pretty standard size. Casino is pretty spacious, cool theme obviously. Always seems like day time even in the late hours of the night. Pizza place there was not great. Buffet there is decent. A lot of different than most others, as they make fresh Crepes and have a French theme, again, obviously. -Casesars: Stayed here. This is THE largest hotel in Vegas. I believe the Bellagio and like 2 other casinos can fit (square foot wise) inside in this hotel. Mainly because of how large the shops are. The rooms are very nice. Fairly standard for the most part, can’t hurt to ask for an upgrade here. It is a very busy hotel/casino, but is so spread out. Sports book is enormous! If sports are your thing, go here to hang. Sit at the bar right there and play some video poker even. They have a decent café/ eatery area for like quick food, which includes your standard Chinese food, burger place, pizza place, etc. HIGHLY RECOMMEND – Searsucker Restaurant. I believe 430-6 is their happy hour. My fiancé and I went there and we ate very well with an app, and drinks and was like 50 bucks. Get duck fat fries! -Linq: Stayed here. Probably my favorite place to stay, in many ways. This won’t be the most luxurious place, however the rooms are “different and modern. The hotel is smaller, the casino is smaller but it’s really not a big deal. Just like Caesars and Bellagio, this is pretty much the center of the strip and in the center of it all. Behind the linq is the “High Roller” wheel ride. Leading to the ride, is a walkway and alley of shops and places to eat and drink. All are very good. Highly suggest Flour and Barley for good pizza and beer. Pizza Is brick oven, and suggest the homemade pesto. The beer selection is pretty stellar, for those beer drinkers who like to experience. For the crowd that likes to gamble and party at the same time, O’sheas bar is IN the casino but also leads to the strip. This place is open 24 hours, and has all gambling games inside it (except for slots, although there may be one BIG slot in there). They also have beer pong tables that they provide you with all the stuff. Again, this is highly recommended place to stay, so you aren’t stuck on the end of strip. -Venetian: Stayed Here. I lied above when I said I never paid for hotels. Staying here I went on Travelocity and got a deal for 5 nights and flight for like $900? I stayed alone because I was traveling for my sister’s wedding. This place is pretty phenomenal. All rooms are suites, technically. Very nice, very big. The Venetian and Pallazo are basically the same place. The rooms are identical and the casino is fairly similar as well. Ate at CUT Steakhouse which was VERY good, clearly very pricy however. All other hotels, I have not stayed at, yet. I don’t think you could go wrong with a hotel, however I would avoid Excalibur, Circus Circus and the Flamingo. Shows: -Criss Angel: Avoid altogether. Show was overpriced and his act is old. -Penn & Teller: I enjoyed this show. This is at the Rio however, so will need to travel there since you can’t walk there. Show was funny, action packed and of course magical. -Mat Franco: Good show. Very personal audience as it doesn’t seat many people. It’s got a feel good vibe to it. -Mac King (Magic): for what you pay, it’s a good show. It won’t break the bank, and there are afternoon shows which is a great way to beat the heat and relax and enjoy some magic and slapstick comedy. He won’t wow you but definitely make you scratch your head. -Mariah Carey: Now this was a 30th birthday present for my fiancé and I got great seats. It turned out that we sat right next to her kids, so she came to visit that area frequently which was very cool. She really is a great performer, and as a guy, the show was pretty good. She does a lot of costume changes, and sings a lot of older songs. I have heard from others that the show is good, and is MUCH better than Celine, for what it’s worth. -Absinthe: This is an absolute MUST SEE. Saw this and it is really hard to describe this show in all honesty. It is a mixture of acrobatics, talents (i.e. juggling, etc.), Raunchy comedy, and just a really good time. Don't see this with parents. This is really a great show, and they change it all the time. i saw this show and explained a few acts to my friend, and he said that is not what he saw, so it really keeps the show electric since the actors/perfomrers are really into new stuff. Food: -Hash House (Linq): food was good. Expensive but its shareable. Chicken and waffles are good -Bellagio Café: I like this place for a good breakfast. It’s little pricy, but not too bad honestly. It’s our favorite breakfast spot so far. -Guy Fieri’s (Linq): Pretty decent spot. Price is pretty good. One of the best burgers I’ve had. Good brisket nachos too -Caesars Buffet: Best buffet in my opinion. Great selection, food that is supposed to be hot, is hot. -Bellagio Buffet: Terrible. Waited forever, was SO expensive. Food was not good honestly. -Paris buffet: It’s okay. Price is Okay. Seriously is just Okay. -General comment of casino restaurants: Do your research before going. Check out the menu. Don’t go to one of these places thinking you’re going to get an app, 2 dinners and drinks for under 100 bucks in most cases. The steakhouses in Vegas are some of the best in the country. A tip for saving a few dollars, is don’t eat normal meal times. Eat a later breakfast, eat an earlier dinner. Lunch may not happen, OR eat snacks. You can easily go to walgreens and get a 5 dollar sandwich. Bruxie: saw a suggestion for this place and they said $5 waffle wednesdays. Yes it's true. they always have a chicken and waffle special for $5 on wednesday. they made us show them the facebook promo or something but wasnt difficult. could probably just open the website on your phone. I really liked the food. i thought the chicken was really good and honestly, for five bucks, quite a steal. Jaburritos: this was right in the alley of the linq. was okay. a bit pricey for "fast food" type, but i didnt mind it. interesting concept in my opinion. was more of a whim visit. Gambling: -All casinos will have fairly expensive table minimums. Expensive meaning, you have to search for 5 dollar blackjack and Craps. Mostly going to be $10 or $15. Slot play is comparable all over. Bellagio has a lot of slots, but you can say the same about Caesars and MGM, etc. Other: -Mob Museum: very cool experience. I recommend it. You can take the Deuce (bus) there, and then walk right to Fremont after. -Pawn Stars: If you are a super fan of the show, then go. Otherwise just avoid. Very small, you won’t see one of the stars of the show, everything is super expensive. -Fremont: Fun to go to, especially to see history. I don’t recommend eating anywhere here lol. My fiancé did the zip line, she enjoyed it. -New York New York: I am putting this here, because this place fascinates me. The area that looks like NY streets and such for the shops, is just pretty cool to me. Nathans here is good. I have gone with my father and my future father in law, and they both agree it is very similar to old time Nathans. I have really mashed up a lot of visits to Vegas here, and definitely leaving out tips and tricks im sure. Let me know if I can answer anything else! Win BIG! Exotics Racing: Gave my fiance this for her birthday last year. i bought her 5 laps in whatever car she wanted. she chose the Audi R8. She LOVED IT. they were very careful with all buyers, and even offered drifting laps to folks just there to watch. They have a pro drifter from fast in the furious (when i was there at least) that would drift for a few laps. it was a sight to watch. Its a bit pricey, but they run specials here and there. If you are looking to splurge and like cars, then this is for you.
To what extent can Casino dealers help a beginner with his chips/betting?
I've played some online poker but never casino poker. Going to visit the Venetian poker room next month to hit up some $1/$2 no limit tables. My biggest worry is that I'm terrible at counting chips for bets. I'm no good at adding numbers up in my head. So say a person before me raises $12, next person raises $15, and person after that raises $14, by the time it gets to me I get confused on how much I need to call. Online of course you just hit "call" or "raise." At this point can I ask the dealer "so how much is it to call?" or "how much is in the pot?" I know it sounds like I'm a moron and I shouldn't play, but I'm there for a business trip and all my co-workers are playing. I just want to fit in. Not counting on winning, just want to not hold up the game or look like a moron. Thanks! P.S. I followed the rules and tried to Google the answer, but most results are about how to deal cards and there's not a lot of information on exactly what a casino dealer is allowed to do to help beginners who suck at math.
Just got back from a 7 night/8 day trip - thanks for all your help, r/vegas!!
You guys were super helpful to me, so hopefully this helps someone else out down the line!! We (boyfriend and I) booked a package through Southwest vacations, originally staying Sunday through Thursday and flying out on Friday but we stayed the extra two nights and flew out on Sunday in order to meet up with some friends. Originally we had a king room at MGM booked, but changed over to a king balcony suite at the Signature at MGM for the extra space/whirlpool tub. The vast majority of our gambling was $0.25-$1 blackjack on the video poker machines - we didn't lost much money, and had drinks given to us pretty frequently at most casinos. Sunday we flew in and got to the Signature at about 10:30am, we were able to upgrade to a 28th floor strip view suite for an extra $10 a night - we had originally been offered a 37th floor strip view suite for $30 a night, but went with the slightly cheaper option. Luckily our room was ready and we were able to take our bags upstairs right away. We headed to Planet Hollywood and grabbed lunch at Earl of Sandwich, walked around the shops then explored Paris and a bit of Bellagio and gambled a bit before heading black to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We took a lyft down to the Palms and did dinner at Alize - we had a groupon for the tasting menu at $200 rather than the original $350ish, but the meal was so incredible I'd probably be willing to pay full price. Originally we had plans to go down a floor to hang out at Ghostbar for a bit, but we were both so full and tired neither of us really felt like drinking. We gambled a bit before lyfting back to the Signature, then changed and hung out at MGM's casino for a bit before heading to sleep. Monday we each used a free breakfast buffet reward from MyVegas at MGM, then lyfted down to Fashion Show and explored Encore/Wynn/Venetian for a while. We had a buy one get one free Bellagio lunch buffet reward as well, which we redeemed right at about 2:45 so we could get the perks of the dinner buffet offerings that were brought out at 3. Later on we checked out NYNY then took the free tram between ExcalibuMandalay Bay/Luxor and explored and gambled a bit while watching the CFB playoff. Again, we gambled a bit at MGM and made it to Emeril's JUST in time to grab a late night happy hour snack - the sign said 9:30-close, when we got there at about 9:40 the bartenders took our order right away as the kitchen was in the process of closing up. The apps were good, unfortunately we never made it back for oyster happy hour. Tuesday we did an early lunch at Nacho Daddy (giant plate for about $20, easily fed both of us!) and explored and gambled around Aria/Cosmopolitan/Bellagio. We had a Groupon for a prix fixe menu at Koi at Planet Hollywood which turned out to be a great deal, and we hung out in the lounge for happy hour for a bit before that. We booked KA tickets a few days before flying out through the M Life site, which was an amazing show for a great deal. Wednesday we used a buy one get one free MGM breakfast buffet MyVegas reward, then lyfted out to SilverCar and picked up a car for the day. We're both only 22 so we really struggled finding a decently priced car, luckily a Vegas redditor recommeneded SilverCar. Cost for the day was $39 and $12 in taxes/fees, and $5+gas. We drive to Hoover Dam/Lake Mead and then Red Rock. Since we had the car we decided to stop at In n Out, then headed up to Stratosphere for happy hour at sunset - neither of us really enjoyed the drinks or the view from the SkyLounge, but we had been spoiled at the Palms a few nights before. We also popped into Westgate, Circus Circus, Lucky Dragon and Rio before heading to the Welcome to Vegas sign and dropping the car off. My boyfriend is a pilot so we popped into the airport observation lot for a half hour or so - unplanned but incredibly cool!! We lyfted down to Caesars, went through the shops then explored and gambled and watched a few fountain shows before heading to bed. Thursday was kind of rainy and windy, so we slept in and then headed to Aria and each used a free lunch buffet reward. We both thought this was by far the best buffet (and it cost less points than the Bellagio rewards!), and it's definitely on the top of our list to go to again. We lyfted down to Fremont and spent the afternoon/early evening exploring all of the casinos and watching the light shows, then did dinner at Hugo's Cellar at Four Queens. Hugo's was recommended by family friends, we both thought it was OK but not great. We sat down at some penny video poker machines at the Fremont Casino, which happened to be right next to the bar and wound up with about 8 drinks each in an hour or so span. We lyfted back to the Signature and headed to sleep. Friday we grabbed lunch at Taco Bell so we could officially say we had eaten there, then explored the middle part of the strip (Ballys/Harrahs/Linq/Flamingo) that we hadn't gotten to yet. We wound up with awesome 5th row center section seats for the early show of Zumanity by checking with the box office about a half an hour before the show started, I think the original price would have been nearly $400 after tax and fees and I paid around $170. I would definitely recommend a seat near center stage since so much happens right up front. After that, our friends got in and got settled, then we gambled at MGM and headed down to Bellagio for the fountains and more gambling. My female friend and I were wandering around the slot machines near Hyde while the guys were playing video games, we were approached by someone working the door and let in free of charge in front of the line. We stayed for about ten minutes to see what was happening then left because it was decently crowded and we wanted to get back out to the guys. Late night dinner at Taco Bell finished off our night. Saturday we once again did breakfast at the MGM buffet, per request of our friends - I definitely wouldn't recommend paying weekend prices unless you're wanting to drink shitty mimosas for two hours straight. For the $55ish we paid for the two of us I definitely wouldn't say it was worth it at all. We then headed to Pro Gun Club a little ways outside of Vegas - specifically chosen because my boyfriend and I are both experienced shooters and I wanted the chance to shoot a 50 cal, but one of our friends had never shot a gun and wanted to be able to shoot a 9mm. My boyfriend was there once before and the staff has been amazing both times - the outdoor range is great. By the time we got back it was nearly dark, so we walked from MGM up the strip to see some more of the strip at night, popped into the In n Out at the LINQ, hung out in different casinos here and there until 7 when we watched the Mirage volcano, then went through the Venetian some more. We took a lyft back to the hotel )damn near impossible to finally get a driver that showed up within five minutes for some reason), got ready and then we hung out at the MGM casino while our friends went to a show that wasn't of any interest to us. Sunday we checked out of our hotel, checked our bags with the bellhop and grabbed lunch at Earl of Sandwich and hit up the sports book at Planet Hollywood to put some last minute bets down since we realized we could mail the tickets in if we won. We headed to the airport at about 2 even though our flight wasn't until 4:45 thinking that it was going to be insanely busy based on how crazy checkout had been in the morning, but we were dropped off by Lyft and made it to the terminal within 15 minutes. We watched as much of the Packers game as we could and played some last minute video blackjack before finally getting on our flight (delayed by an hour, almost missed our transfer to another plane in Phoenix but luckily they held the plane for us. We definitely didn't NEED seven nights, but I'm glad we had the time to get out off of the strip for two full days. We got through just about everything we wanted to and didn't feel rushed. Next time we're back we'll probably just stay 3-4 days since we now know what we like and where we'll want to go back. We actually grabbed a $1 chip from each casino we went into (other than those on Fremont street - we couldn't just get one from the cashiers or one of the dealers, we were told that we had to actually sit down and play which we weren't planning on doing at each casino) and wound up with 30 total, so we covered a lot of ground! General takeaways - -MyVegas saved us a TON of money - six free buffets (and a few random non-MGM rewards that we actually didn't wind up using due to the restrictions on when they could be used). I will absolutely keep playing for whenever we go next! We tried to leave slots running on our phones in the background whenever we were watching TV or something, and I played a bit of blackjack most days. We didn't learn about it until about 2 months before we came, and we each wound up with about 50-60k in loyalty points with very minimal effort. -Lyft was insanely cheap with $5 off each ride - we spent about $50 total for 10 rides (including one to the airport gate, two to Fremont, two to Silvercar which is past the airport) compared to one $25 Uber to get us from the airport to the Signature. -People aren't kidding when they say wear comfy shoes - I wore my comfiest pair of boots on Monday and wound up with a horrid blister that I didn't know was forming. Monday night through Thursday was hell for me because I had a quarter sized blister on the bottom of my foot - thank god for the $9 pads I was able to grab at CVS -I do pole/aerial silks so I was insanely excited for Cirque shows, my boyfriend not so much - we both LOVED KA, I loved Zumanity and he at least semi-enjoyed it. Definitely give them a shot! -Groupon saved us quite a bit of money on dinners as well, and we had a few others lined up for food/drinks/entertainment that we knew we could purchase if we wanted to use them. -Silvercar is in fact legit, and you will wind up with a Silver Audi - any time we travel to a city with a Silvercar kiosk, we'll actively be seeking them out. -We learned that rooms at the Signature can be rented on airbnb, which we definitely did not know before hand - just generally looking at prices the rooms on airbnb seemed like an awesome deal and we'll definitely check into that next time we come. Once again, thanks for all of your help - we saved a ton of money and got so many good recommendations from you all!!
Week of 9/9 Vegas Tournaments in Review - according to bravo poker app
Hey poker, Same intro as last week's post... I'm a longtime lurker, sometimes contributor on this sub. Aside from the hand analyses, BBVs, and memes, I see the occasional "heading to Vegas" post asking for tournament options. Over the past two weeks I've been keeping an eye on the Bravo Poker App for tournament information and logging them in hopes that this will help make visitors' decisions easier on when/where to play. Disclaimer: Only daily/weekly tournaments are logged. i.e. Venetian is currently running one of their Deepstack Extravaganzas and none of their events were logged. I also only log tournaments that poker rooms update through Bravo. Tournaments for Station Casinos (Red Rock, GVR, etc.) and a number of other poker rooms were not logged since they do not list their live tournament clocks on the Bravo Poker App. I could also only log live tournament clocks when I was not working nor asleep, so some tournament information may be missing. Raw Data: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1eG3PqxVXfMuuvVWfKSoHoCkiWqDfpaBgEXMhwOW6r1E/edit?usp=sharing Tournament w/ Largest Prize Pool: Wynn's Weekly | $25k GTD | Saturdays @ 12pm | $225 Entry: $29,952 Tournament w/ Largest Player Pool: Orleans' Weekly | Fridays @ 7:05pm | $125 Entry: 139 Entries Daily/Weekly Tournaments Summary: Only tournaments that have a sample size of four (4) or more are included. As mentioned above, I'm not always able to log every tournament of every day.
So, you wanna go to SHOT show? You think it's all fun and games? Get to play with guns? See Jesse James and R. Lee Ermey? SHOT show is the annual pilgrimage of the unwashed masses to Las Vegas to rub elbows with youtube celebrities, bloggers and overseas businessmen copying US made equipment and share infectious disease. If you love guns, gambling and gonorrhea - SHOT show is for you! It is not my typical idea of a good time. I am not a big fan of Las Vegas. However: I do attend for a few reasons. First, I do enjoy travel and I'm platinum on AA so I can usually score an upgrade. Second, industry people are in there that I do hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars with business with so it's nice to put a face with the name and see what deals are out there. SHOT for me has been a bust for the past few years. Being a value guy, I want to buy at $1000 and sell at $3000 and as of recently the gun business is more like buy for $1 and sell for $1.10 if you get what I mean. We used to do business at SHOT and now it's just checking in on foursquare, instagram and rubbing elbows with bloggers and the like. I want to make money, not spend money so this is very annoying to me. Anyways, onto the play by play. Monday, January 16th. One day before SHOT show. http://imgur.com/a/HoFUm Every time I've been rejected by a woman, I move $1 from checking into savings and I take the bankroll down to the Wynn for some play. Lets do this. The TSA line is a shitshow thanks to, well TSA. I slog my way to the lounge, as shitty as it is to wait for my winged chariot to DFW. I have gone from being in an abusive relationship with Delta to being in an abusive relationship with AA. Although if you really want to experience the battered spouse feeling, UA is a few gates over. This trip's light reading is trying to finish "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell. Such a good book as well as "Outliers" if you want a good read. I walk up to the podium to find out that my upgrades do not clear, even as an AA Plat thanks to the addition of a FOURTH elite tier. Goddamn fucking W. Doug Parker. Asshole. I gate check my bags to make life easier for me and the rest of the folks. The gate agent calls concierge key and executive platinum passengers. I look down and realize I'm wearing a suit and board with the executive platinum folks because I do not care and I look the part. If you walk with a purpose and are dressed reasonably well, you fit the profile. I settle into my window seat and try to finish outliers. I pass out before takeoff and I'm awoken by the dulcet tones of the flight attendants preparing for landing. We land at Dallas a few minutes early and I hightail it to the Centurion for a quick bite to eat. I grab a plate and help myself to some of the excellent brisket, pecan encrusted chicken and some roasted jumbo asparagus. Yes, my pee is going to smell funny. No, I do not care. The lounge is packed. The bar is full and I grab a quick single malt as I have my meal since American's not going to feed me. They begin boarding to Mccarran as I walk out of the lounge. No time for a stop in the spa on this trip. I make it to the gate just as the call group 2 boarding. I bypass the main line and walk up through the priority line giving no heed to the people that have been waiting there before me as I hold up my paper boarding pass with PLATINUM to the gate agent. I board and take my usual seat - the exit row without the seat in front of it. I'm aghast to see this sight. http://imgur.com/a/dygil The savages. Literally. The savages. I put my loathing away for a moment and look down at the exit row. I have the window. The aisle is a large middle aged man and in the middle is what I believe to be a formecurrent linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys wearing a 52 regular sports jacket. He's not a fat guy in a little coat, he's a big fucking hulk of a man stuffed in an exit row seat that is already an inch narrower due to the tray table. I grimace as I take my seat and give him the manly nod. He does not look happy about the fact that his knees are in the seat in front and I'm stretched out like a Cheshire cat in front of a fireplace on a cold January afternoon. The boarding door closes for an on time departure and Stephanie the FA takes her seat. He leans over and asks if he can take the empty row across the aisle and she takes one look at the three of us and gives him the nod. I bail out to give him a path of egress and suddenly the trip to Las Vegas has just become way more comfortable. I finish The Tipping Point somewhere over west texas, so I pop a xanax and dr pepper and zone out for the rest of the ride. I awake to feel one of the FA's jostling me awake telling me to put my seat up. I do so and we have a ride so smooth that not even the Delta guy behind me can complain about light chop. We catch the TYSSN4 arrival and the next thing I know it the Messier Dowty landing gear of the A321 touch the paint at Mccarran for a smooth rollout down 25L. My phone battery is approaching grim death since this seat has no power plugs and I find bartman383 has sent me a message. He has been enjoying LV with his wife and their due to bad weather they are in the city of sin for a few extra nights. He invites me to dinner. I'm still pretty full from DFW and I tell him I'll be over there once I get my bags and the car and I'll see him when I see him. He gives me the info for the hotel as we pull up to the gate. First stop: Centurion lounge. AA's app tells me bags being unloaded. I grab a quick bite of fried chicken and brussels sprouts since they are good for you and a chocolate pudding. The brisket and pecan encrusted chicken from DFW still has me full but I'm well aware of the speed of a union baggage handlers nowadays and who doesn't like chocolate pudding? Terrorists. That's who. Want to know how to screen for terrorists TSA? Set up a table of free chocolate pudding at the airport. The people who don't take any are members of ISIS. It's just that simple. I grab my bag and hoof it to Hertz. I'm an idiot and I am an hour late for my pickup. Oops. Will an Audi A3 suffice? I sigh and I accept my Teutonic quattro chariot. I do a burnout in the parking garage and hightail it to the exit. I flash my #1 card and my ID and the gatekeeper gives me the go ahead. I get onto the the strip and traffic is awful. I'm going to be late for dinner. I make a left onto Russell Road and hightail it up the 15. I manage to get the car up to 100 as I pass the Luxor. My phone is dead so I can't message Bart about being late. Fuck. The exit approaches quickly as I put the 4 wheel disk brakes to work and sling the car around and head south on Las Vegas Bl. I accidentally turn into the Bellagio and I'm now running even more late. Fuck. Eventually, I get the car into the garage at the Cosmopolitan and head upstairs. I cannot remember the name of the restaurant but I head up to the third floor where all the restaurants are and I see this sign that's reminiscent of my days in retail. It says RESTAURANT - LOUNGE - PAWN SHOP. I laugh. I walk in. It's literally a pawnshop. I look around puzzled. FC: Is this a restaurant? Bald Headed Guy: Yes, through that door. He points towards a door. I walk in to find a bustling restaurant, lounge via the entrance of pawnshop. This is insane. I pass a mirror and check myself out. I adjust my tie, after all it is YSL and the ladies LOVE YSL. Remember that. I find the hostess and inform her I will be joining some friends for dinner. They probably do not have me on the reservation though but I turn on the charm and she smiles and says no problem at all. She asks if my tie is from Hermes. I say no, I'm a YSL guy. She looks impressed as I tell her I'll make a quick lap of the room to see if they're there and surprise them. She gives me a nod and tells me to go right ahead. Still got it. I spot bart and his wife who I can only remember vaguely from gunnitlive after party video and I pull up a chair. Bart is surprised to see I made it and they are in the middle of dinner. They offer to ply me with food and beverage but I decline as I'm driving so no booze for me and no food since I am stuffed from Dallas. We chat about life and liberty over libations. Bart's wife thinks I am hysterical. She's had a few drinks and they are already into their main courses. The brussels sprouts are way too salty and we have to send it back. No bueno. Bart invites me up to his suite on the top floor of the hotel where we are to meet Brogelicious later in the evening. I say, when in rome......we head to the top floor of the hotel tower where Bart shows me his view from the balcony and cracks open the mini bar for some more libations. He asks if I want a drink and I say I better not. I'm driving. Not 30 seconds after arriving, brogel shows up. Bart's wife hugs brogel. She's infatuated with him. We start shooting the shit and bart opens up the minibar and tells us to take anything we want, it's on the hotel. I laugh and I look outside as bart opens his yeti 110 for some silver bullets. Apparently he is so baller the hotel will send up a yeti 110 filled with beer to make him happy. His wife is apparently such a baller. I ball on a budget. They just ball. Hahaha. We shoot the shit some more about guns, gun stuff and people on the reddit for a while. I get a little thirsty and I crack open bart's cooler. I ask him how long the stuff in the cooler is supposed to last and he says until Wednesday. I look down and I am agape at what I see. We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a saltshaker half-full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers... Also, a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether, and two dozen amyls. Not that we needed all that for the trip, but once you get locked into a serious drug collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can. The only thing that really worried me was the ether. There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge, and I knew we'd get into that rotten stuff pretty soon. I mentally prepared my butthole and I decided to help myself to a coors light against my wishes but Bart, Bart's wife and Brogel are all drinking so I let peer pressure take hold as I cracked open a beer with them. We head out to the balcony to smoke some cuban cigars together as bart's wife takes a photo of all of us. We all look like hell. Haha. As bart downs his second beer, he asks me a question. Bart: ever go hunting? Me: Ducks a little bit but not much Bart: ever want to hunt some deadly game? Me: Like on african safari? Bart: No, I mean like.........man. Me: Hahahahhahaaha you're just fucking with me. Hahahahahhaa. That's really funny. Bart: No really, the concierge here at this hotel will set it up for us. It's amazing. I remember my first hunt...... Brogel starts laughing and I realize they've been doing a bit. I've been had. We bullshit about SHOT and Barrett's shotguns and other things and next thing I know, it's late but bart hands me a mixed drink. I sip it a bit and I was in the middle of a tirade complaining about my customers. Suddenly, there was a terrible roar all around us, and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the city, and a voice was screaming: Holy Jesus. What are these goddamn animals? Nobody seems to understand what I'm talking about. It's cold on the balcony. Our cigars are done. We head indoors. No point in mentioning these bats, I thought. Poor bastards will see them soon enough. Back indoors I realize Brussels sprouts and coors light is a bad choice. Seriously no bueno. I excuse myself to the bathroom and drain the vein. The asparagus funny smelling pee and the side effects of beer and brussels sprouts is a noxious combination that a defense contractor should weaponize it. It's pretty bad and not even cuban tobbaco can mask the smell. I sit back down and continue to talk about guns and stuff with bart and the gang and bart asks who ruined the bathroom. I apologize as he sprays a bunch of febreze around and opens the balcony. I apolgize to brogel. He is not accepting my apology. (sorry :( ) Nearly 11, it's about time to pull chocks and mosey on down the dusty trail. I don't want to prompt an evacuation of the hotel due to noxious odors so I decide to leave and bart seems to be kinda mad that I've ripped ass and polluted the sanctuary of his hotel. Half a coors light and brussels sprouts are no bueno in my book now. Bart decides to party hard with his wife and I offer brogel a ride home. He seems skeptical to share a confined space with me after I have just destroyed bart's hotel room. The car has 4 windows and the Uber will cost him a few bucks he can put towards ammo. He relents as we head down to the garage to find my car. Thankfully we find it quickly and I manage to contain the weapons of ass destruction for the 16 minute ride off strip to casa de brogel. He says I'm not that bad a dude and I agree as I hightail it to my hotel. I cannot find my hotel reservations so I call my travel agent to see. Apparently the Wynn was not in my travel budget this year. I have come to find out I have been booked at Circus Circus, much to my chagrin. How bad could it be? I've stayed at the Wynn. I've stayed at Encore. I've stayed at the hotel that Elisabeth Shue's character got raped in in Leaving Las Vegas - but Circus Circus? Did I mention that I HATE CLOWNS? I HATE CLOWNS. Fuck. I pull into the parking garage and the check in line resembles something straight out of the TSA line at Mccarran. 45 minutes to check in. The clerk is friendly and says he's also from Louisiana which is neat. He asks if I've stayed there before and I, being a connoisseur of old vegas history I decide to make a joke and I tell him the last time I was there, Jay Sarno owned the place. He got a laugh. I head up to my room and unpack. The lobby is clean as an old vegas casino can be, the room is clean and there's no way to plug anything in since the hotel predates personal electronic devices. I plug my phone into my external battery and collapse on the bed. I message Bart and chugbleach instead of falling asleep about show tomorrow and I offer to pick bart up early since there is no shuttle from the cosmo. Tuesday, November 16th SHOT Show Day One I awoke several hours later in a daze......the clock said 10AM. The show opened at 8:30. Fuck me to tears. I hurry up and get dressed and down to the sands convention center. The parking lot is FULL. The entire complex is a mess. When my man Steve Wynn built his joint he didn't build enough parking. So people would park at the Venetian and now FUCKING NOBODY CAN GET A PARKING SPACE. Holy shit. I eventually say fuck it and park over at the Wynn and walk over to the Sands. I meet up with a few of my regular suppliers and I see nothing interesting at all. Bart went to bed at 6AM after spending all night partying with his wife over at the palazzo. I joke and say that he just should have stayed there. Bart is amazed at the size of the show and we have lunch at the most disgusting place in las vegas - the convention center bistro snack bar. Bart is a wise man as he grabs a powerade and a fruit cup. I decide to try an "italian beef" and a fruit cup instead of fries to stay semi health conscious. The "italian beef" is the most disgusting thing I have ever eaten. It is flat out depressing. They give me fries with it and I demand a fruit cup. The sassy black woman working the stand asks me "DID YOU ASK FOR FRUIT? CAUSE RIGHT HERE SAYS FRIES" and I channel my inner Louis CK from the "this is how I talk" bit from SNL as I shoot back "WHY YOU FRONTIN ON ME I ASKED FOR FRUIT AND YOUR ASS BETTER BACK UP AND GET ME SOME FRUIT" so she goes back and gets me some fruit. The "italian beef", my fruit cup, bart's fruit cup and powerade comes to $81. My platinum amex comes out and I treat bart to "lunch". We bullshit about guns and stuff in the Springfield booth as we wait at the world's worst concession stand. We eat and Bart is so hungover that he thinks he is in need of physical therapy and a wheelchair. There is no way he is going to party tonight before his trip home. Or so I think. Haha. I meander around the show a bit more and I find this, the most USELESS PRODUCT OF 2017. It's made by a company called radetec. http://imgur.com/a/GOiCB It's a shot counter. For your gun. A digital odometer, for your gun. The only person that would buy this is the guy like my dad that kept a spiral bound notebook in his car where he documented how many miles he traveled per tank, gallons dispensed, PRICE, service station and whether they had a different price for cash/charge, oil consumption, tire rotations, alignments, all services - scheduled or otherwise, and a running odometer. Does anyone know the gun owner who asks for a round count when they are looking at a used gun? The question I always shoot back is "do you want to be lied at a little or do you want to be lied at a lot?" because that's what you're asking for when you ask for round count. UNLESS YOU BUY THIS PRODUCT! I roll my eyes so far back into my head that I nearly lose my balance. This is idiotic. I cannot fathom anyone willing to buy this. What a waste of perfectly good exhibition space. Bart heads back to his hotel after visiting SHOT show for a few hours, not getting any swag and to get an IV of fluids since he looked like he was rapidly approaching grim death. I wrap up visiting prime vendors and checking out the new products, or lack thereof because I have something on the schedule. At 4:30 there's a suicide prevention for retailers seminar hosted by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. As many of you know this is an issue that is important to me and perhaps we as retailers should be doing more. The keynote was from their chief medical director talking about the accessibility of firearms and the mindset of the "typical" suicide. Mostly men. If you are a veteran you are at a significantly larger risk. The information was presented very not surprisingly and one of the things discussed was that we only spend around 21M a year on suicide prevention. A few take away facts from the keynote: When suicide barriers are put up on a bridge, suicide rates for the entire area drop. The key to preventing suicide is getting people to talk about their problems. Once you can get someone out of that mindset, they are statistically less likely to do it and live productive lives afterwards. There are certain terms that they are trying to get away from - for instance, they are not saying "committed suicide" they are now saying "died by suicide" in order to bring awareness and tell it like it is. One thing that really was interesting to me was my reading on the flight in from Dallas. In The Tipping Point, Gladwell discusses how things stay the same and suddenly they all change. One of the things that he discusses is in micronesia - where teen suicide was practically unheard of became an outright epidemic. One teenager did it, for reasons passing understanding to me as an outsider and then all the other kids realized that they too could escape their pain by hanging themselves as well and suddenly the suicide rates in micronesia became so high to where it became a public health issue. I wish I could show you all the article I wrote on TTAG about my friend's death but it has been lost in the cloud and I am unable to find the last draft I sent to print, but it echoes some of the problems we have with suicide and mental health in the firearm industry. After the keynote, the good doctor opened the floor up for questions. Her keynote posed a lot of statistics but not a lot of answers. I am a detail oriented granular data guy and I did not get a solid grasp of the AFSP solutions posed, if any. Several firearm dealers discussed the lack of a cohesive solution and the takeaway was they're trying to develop awareness for the suicide problem. Their goal is to lower suicide rates but how they get there is yet to be determined. I didn't like hearing that and the comments from the crowd reflected the lack of a "here's what you can do TODAY to help this problem" part of the initiative. Going around the room, one dealer who used NICS said that if a customer was just flat out acting funny - he'd lie to the customer and say there was a delay with NICS even though there was an approval just to get them to not be able to have a gun for a few days. The crowd applauded this initiative, however I'm not sure lying to customers is the best way to run a business and treat them with respect. Another dealer brought up an interesting point. When someone comes in looking to buy a gun and they don't know what kind of gun they want, what caliber, and are generally clueless - they're either buying a gun to kill themselves with, OR perhaps they are a very uneducated prospective customer - and there is no clear way of finding out which is which. The problems presented by the AFSP are real. The solutions aren't there though. Yet. Ideally I'd like to see some change to that. However, there's some problems. I hung around and asked the good doctor and her staff some questions and I am in no way denigrating her life's work and her dedication to preventing suicide since she has dedicated her life's work to the issue, but the conversation went something like this. Did you do any research on the accessibility of firearms from a retailer from the legal standpoint? "No, we haven't" Do you know how the NICS or state POC background systems work in regard to mental health holds, etc? "No" One of the problems that I foresee right off the bat is that you talked about how you are fighting time, and if you can get someone out of that suicide mindset - even for a few hours, you can get them into that higher survival bracket. If we apply a one size fits all solution to it like California and put a 10 day wait on everything with the goal of protecting someone from their own life, how do we balance that with the needs of the woman who has been hiding from her abusive spouse and needs a gun right away? "That's a good question that I don't have an answer for." Their initiative, I admire - the lack of solutions is a little off putting however. I tell the doc about how my friend's suicide has impacted me and she seems to be sympathetic to the situation as does her colleagues. I am given her cards and told to call the next time I'm in New York so we can get together and discuss things within the industry. I'll give them a buzz in a few weeks when I'm up there on business. On my way out of the hall, I run into Massad Ayoob. Nice guy. I've admired his work over the years. Bart invites myself and chugbleach to dinner, I can't reach Chug and even though I am beat I decide to hang out with Bart and Mrs Bart Bart: What do you want to eat? FC: Let's find a nice seafood restaurant and eat some red salmon, I feel a powerful lust for red salmon. I begin vomiting. God damn mescaline. Why the fuck can't they make it a little less pure? We eventually head downstairs and order too much food. We are tired and not very hungry. Bart is still hungover and barely able to process food. His wife is grazing on all sorts of meat products. I am in awe of how they are both still upright after six nonstop nights of partying. I've only been here one day and I feel like I am about to die. Dinner concludes with an awkward hug with bart's wife - I don't know how other men feel about wife hugs so I have just avoided the prospect entirely. Like flying through Denver on Frontier. Or flying on Frontier. Ever. I drive over to the Wynn to set up my markers and the poker room is full. I draw a $2500 marker at the craps table and watch the game a bit. I have never played craps before in my life but the three people there seem to be having fun. I look down at my phone and I realize a plane has landed. fluffy_butternut has landed in Las Vegas on business. I had lost a bet and offered to pick him up from the airport. I cash back in my chips against my casino credit and head back to my car. I cannot find my car. Fuck. I wander the wynn garage which is covered in construction debris. I eventually find it and haul ass to the airport. Now, I didn't know this but fluffy has the WORST SENSE OF DIRECTION AT ALL. Seriously. I have no idea how he even made it to the correct city. He lands and has to get his bag and stuff and I circle the airport. He lets me know he's at door 77 wherever the fuck that was. I drive into the pickup portion and I see no sign. He then says he's coming up a level, and I tell him that I'll be there shortly. I park the car and Metro PD starts yelling. Metro: You can't park your car here. FC: Why not? Is this not a reasonable place to park? Metro: Reasonable? You're on a sidewalk! This is the sidewalk! I give the man a $20 and tell him to keep it running as I wander Mccarran screaming FLUFFY! HERE FLUFFY! I message fluffy to let him know I am the car parked on the sidewalk. I instantly figure out who he is having never seen a photo of him and I throw his bags into the car as we head for his hotel. I haul ass out of the airport and get the A3 on the highway. Now this was a superior machine. Thirty nine grand worth of gimmicks and high-priced special effects. The rear windows lit up with a touch like frogs in a dynamite pond. The dashboard was full of esoteric lights and dials and meters that I would never understand. We check in at the Rio where the desk clerk is friendly and flirty. I express amazement there is no line. Fluffy checks in and we take his bags upstairs and he offers to buy me food for driving him to the airport. I decline. We head to the bar anyways. He orders two beers and we decide to call chug. He's staying out in Summerlin or something because his company is apparently run by cheapskates. He asks if we want to hang out and shoot the shit. I say sure and ask if he wants us to pick up food or anything from CVS or something since I have the car and I'm able to do anything I want. He asks for some toothpaste. No problem. I may be an asshole on the internet but I have a heart of gold. We get some toothpaste get to the hotel. Arriving at the lobby, we have no idea where he is. It turns out he gave us the address for the hotel across the street. We laugh and go to that lobby and shoot the shit till 3AM much to the chagrin of the hotel clerk. Fluffy has some beers and we plan on dinner the next day. I drive fluffy back and arrive at the hotel at 4. Fuck me to tears. Wednesday, January 18th. Day 2 of SHOT show. Alarm goes off at 7:30 AM. I wash up, eat and get breakfast. In the garage by 8:15. Nice. I get some dillo dust and check out the new Sig 220 DA/SA and SAO legions. Daddy likey. I go to a competing firm and I piss of my state sales manager by telling him his newer designed triggers suck ass. He says the company tested them and they're the same in every way. I ask him why the triggers have two different part numbers in the catalog and how come they're not interchangeable and if that's really the case, how come there's X changes in the supposedly identical pistol parts that he's holding side by side. He gets mad at me and says I'm not an expert on their product and perhaps I should take his job since I'm so smart. I agree that I'm smart and I hold firm that if he didn't want me to complain about the shitty trigger, they should stop selling guns with shitty triggers. I am nearly kicked out of the booth. I meet up with some of my wholesale reps and I'm mid convo when I see Itsgoodsoup and his friend walking around the show. I yell SOUP but he does not hear me. So I grab his friend and find him and I tell him we should get together at dinner with fluffy and chug. He agrees. The show winds down, I get some business done and nothing much else. We break for a shitty gunnit live lite and I take a few questions from the crowd in fluffy's suite at the Rio. Dinner is at 8 and we arrive at the restaurant late to find soup and his friend sitting at one table and chug and his girlfriend sitting at another. Perhaps we should have gotten here a little earlier. Hahaha. So, fluffy said the place is really good and I order a few of the specialties of the house. Apparently according to yelp they do a kickass peking duck. Soon to be mrs chug is a vegan. But we can eat meat in front of her. I wonder how it's served and Soup's vancouver raised asian friend tells me that they normally carve it tableside. Our vegan says as long as there's no head she's cool. We're not sure if they can fulfill that request. So we order and food starts coming out and we tell tall tales of shot show BS and other stuff. Sure enough, the duck comes out with the head. No bueno. Haha. But I decide to treat us to vegan donuts at the vegan bakery across the street later. Seven courses later we are full. Vegan bakery closed. I am committed to getting her some vegan donuts though. We head to Fremont street to gamble. Fluffy wanders about and we try craps and we're not impressed. We hit some slots and eventually I hit the craps table where chug explains the game to me. We start betting on dice. And somehow we start winning. I find that the house allows you to take 10X behind the line. No idea what this means so I plop $5 on the pass line and the point hits 6. I drop $50 behind it and it hits. We go a few rounds and leave ahead. It's 2:30 AM. Fuck. I drive everyone back to their hotel. I get to sleep around 4. Thursday, January 19th. Day 3 of SHOT show. Wake up at 10AM feeling like crap. Debate whether to head straight to show and wander about. Fuck it. Went to halal guys for some halal. Delicious. Got vegan donuts. Dead drop them at the Palazzo lobby for chug and his girl. Show is a bust. Literally nothing exciting. Fluffy offers to buy me dinner. One of my customers who lives in Summerlin offers to take me to dinner. I pass on fluffy and he destroys the seafood buffet at the rio. I head to Sinatra at the Wynn for dinner with my customer. All good in the hood. Chug has been invited to the Glock dinneafter party and I'm not so we all go our separate ways. I call foghorn5950 and due to some weather, he's flying home early and our plans to hangout are fucked up unless I go tonight. I grab fluffy and we head to Whiskey Down. He orders a makers and I give him a funny look. I tell the waitress make it a bulleit. Everyone laughs. I talk shop with Jeremy also from TTAG and we shoot the shit over cigars and talk about useless products. Next thing we know, chug is out of the dinner and wandering the strip. We decide to meet up at the Linq. It takes us nearly 30 minutes to get out of Whiskey Down at MGM because the waitress was awful and messed up everyone's tab. It was a fucking disaster. To boot, MGM is now charging for parking. FC: What a bunch of fucking jews Fluff: You should just tailgate that lady in front of you out and screw them out of the $7 FC: I should We pull behind her and watch as she gets flustered at the awful parking machine. Her nevada license plate says VETERAN. As the gate goes up we haul ass and screw MGM out of $7. I shout "THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE" out the window as we blow right by her up to the Linq. Through fluffy's awful navigation, we wind up at the loading dock for the Linq. Eventually we find chug and gf hanging at the penny slots. They are holding vegan donuts, which she is very appreciative of. Least I could do after showing her the head. Fluffy plays the House of Cards slot machine. He stuck $100 in, played for 6 minutes and then got really mad and hit the cash out button and $80 was left after 5 minutes. ITS EXACTLY LIKE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT! Chug's gf asks to play a special slot machine called kitty glitter. We ask and the linq does not offer it but Harrahs next door does. So we head over there and the slot tech finds the kitty glitter machine. Fluffy sticks a C note in there and tells her to play and have a blast. So she's banging away at the one armed bandit WHEN SUDDENLY I HEAR THE SOUND. It's PUTTIN ON THE RITZ in shitty .wav file internal speaker format. Hahah. She's just hit the progressive jackpot on the penny KITTY GLITTER machine. THIS PLACE IS AWESOME! We cash out after some play and a good time was had by all. I dump off fluffy at the rio since it was very close and drive everyone else back. It's late, I'm tired and the Palace Station oyster bar is open 24 hours......I head over there and there's a 45 minute wait. So, I pull out my backup bankroll and using everything chug and fluffy have taught me about craps I belly up to the $3 min table where they let you take 10x behind the line. I'm still learning and the table is slow so one of the boxmen start explaining the game to me. Box: So if you place the 6 or the 9 or individual numbers you can bet those but you gotta pay a little juice on it like a commission Me: Like when you buy the hook? short pause Box: Yeah! Exactly like that! You got this! So I played a little and went up a bit and down a bit. As you do. Plunked $5 down on the pass line and took full odds and the point hit. This game is pretty cool! So I hung around and watched for about an hour and finally decided to eat my winnings. I take $5 off my stack and, drop it on the pass line and announce dealer bet - $5 to pass. It hits. The dealers love me. Maybe Vegas isn't so bad after all. http://imgur.com/a/LGhDj I have the pan roast at the oyster bar. No line. It is DELICIOUS. I get back to the hotel at 5AM. I don't care when I wake up. Friday, January 20th. Day 4 of SHOT show. Wake up around noon feeling like crap. Go to show. Debate destroying milk cart with wheels with an ax borrowed from fire station. Decide against it. Gas up car and find myself out by palace station again. Played some craps, hit the buffet and went for an early sleep. It's midnight. The neighbors in my the hotel are having sex. A LOT OF SEX. I can hear everything. I gently knock on the door. No answer. I knock slightly harder. No answer. I head back to my room and close the door just as I hear their door open. I zoom back out to find a puzzled middle aged stocky and perhaps sticky Latino man looking both ways. I get in his line of sight. Me: Hey. I'm next door. It sounds like you're having a lot of fun. I get it. I really do. In fact I haven't had sex since the bush administration so I'm gunning for you man I really am. But it's midnight and I have a 6am flight and a rental car to return. So trust me when I say I'm really happy for you but if you don't mind I really need to get some sleep tonight okay? The awkward silence is deafening. He nods without saying a word and mouths okay. I give him a manly nod and thumbs up. Me: thanks. I'd shake your hand or fist bump but well you know..... I give him a peace sign as he goes back into his little pleasure palace and I turn to realize that I have just locked myself out of my room. I am wearing boxers, a tshirt and barefoot. I head downstairs to the lobby. The check in at the front desk resembles the TSA line at Mccarran. Normally I would not be this rude but desperate times call for desperate measures. The line is 50 people deep. I walk past every person. Fuck your queue. I approach the desk where someone is helping a guest and I raise my right hand as if I were in a deposition to get them to stop. The staff and guest looks puzzled as the angry barefoot man clad in nothing but boxers and a "uzi does it" tshirt approaches the desk. Me: excuse me. I don't mean to interrupt. I have an emergency. I'm up on 8 and my neighbors are having a lot of sex. I mean a LOT of sex. (This is the same front desk clerk who actually checked me in Monday night by coincidence looks back at me very awkwardly and puzzled.) Me: this isn't your regular sex. I'm talking this is your (I begin air humping the front desk and slapping the granite counter with my palm and grunting loudly) sex. You could hear the plan B packaging open. At this point - the ENTIRE FRONT DESK STAFF HAS STOPPED CHECKING IN GUESTS. The people in line and are watching the show. The clerk is stunned. Speechless. Shock and awed. Crapped out and busted. The women are covering their children's eyes and ears. The men are wondering if this show requires a 2 drink minimum. Me: now I get this is Vegas. Everyone wants a good time. It's midnight. My flight leaves at 6 which means I have to be up by 4. And this just isn't working. So I asked them to keep it down and I locked myself out of my room. So if you can make me another key or move me I'd appreciate it. The clerk nods. Clerk: of course. may I see your ID? Years of ballet have prepared me for this day. I step back to make sure my genitals are still ensconced in my boxers as I pirouette and gesticulate wildly. Me: DO I LOOK LIKE I HAVE ID? The floor manager steps over and asks me to head down to the end of the desk where she will make me a key. I give her the room number and thank her after she offers to have security sent up to shutdown the best little whorehouse in Vegas. I tell her it may not be necessary. As I take my keys and walk away the people in line break out in raucous applause. I take a bow and miraculously my boxer shorts don't rip. These people are my subjects and I have been crowned the the king of the three ring circus that is the circus circus lobby. Im offered a $1 tip from a kind soul but I decline. My walk back to the hotel elevator bank is uneventful. So much so that I realize it is going too well. The other shoe, if I were wearing one felt as if it was about to drop. Suddenly a dumbass in a rascal scooter is heading toward me at flank speed as his head is turned to look at everyone BEHIND HIM. There's no way this will end well. For you gentle readers joining us mid conversation - it's midnight and I need to be at the airport in 4.5 hours. I can just see it now. (Cue the harp noises) Scene: Emergency room Nurse: Allergic to anything? Me: NKDA Nurse: cause of injury? Me: what's the IC10 code for "run down by drunken buffoon on motorized wheelchair?" I saw my life and confirmed upgraded first class seats home being given away by the Mccarran gate agent flash before my eyes and my catlike reflexes kicked in and I jumped to my left into the wall, mid 1960's Las Vegas union construction being the path of least resistance. Think "The Bodyguard" with Kevin Costner. The buffoon barely realizes what happens. Children are amazed. "HEY MOM! Look! That guy just ran into a wall!" Me: it was that OR GET RUN DOWN BY SOME JACKASS ON A GODDAMN SCOOTER GOING FULL SPEED DRIVING LIKE A.... I look down and a midwestern nuclear family with two children of formative age are waiting for the elevator. I change my last word. Me: LUNATIC! I look over to the parents. Me: I'm really sorry. This is a family joint and I shouldn't have cursed the drunken scooter driver like that. Sorry kids. Parent: no big deal. They've heard fucking worse. I crack a smile at her word choice. Fucking worse. Yeah. That sounds like my evening. After jumping into a wall, I'm now wide awake and unable to go back to sleep. I make the plane and push on time. The 737 comes to a stop short of the runway and holds. Something is wrong. The pilots come on and say that they loaded more cargo and passengers than planned so they have to redo their numbers. We're waiting on the taxiway with both engines running as they do this and the waiting music comes on. What's the first song? Whitney Houston - "I Will Always Love You"
Week of 9/23 Vegas Tournaments in Review - according to bravo poker app
Disclaimer: Only daily/weekly tournaments are logged. i.e. Special events such as Venetian's Deepstack Extravaganzas and Wynn's European Championship events were not logged. I also only log tournaments that poker rooms update through Bravo. Tournaments for Station Casinos (Red Rock, GVR, etc.) and a number of other poker rooms were not logged since they do not list their live tournament clocks on the Bravo Poker App. I could also only log live tournament clocks when I was not working nor asleep, so some tournament information may be missing. Raw Data: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1eG3PqxVXfMuuvVWfKSoHoCkiWqDfpaBgEXMhwOW6r1E/edit?usp=sharing Tournament w/ Largest Prize Pool: Wynn's Weekly | $25k GTD | Saturdays @ 12pm | $225 Entry: $32,448 Tournament w/ Largest Player Pool: Orleans' Weekly | Fridays @ 7:05pm | $125 Entry: 160 Entries Daily/Weekly Tournaments Summary: Only daily tournaments that have a sample size of four (4) or more are included. Weekly tournaments that have a sample size of three (3) or more are included. As mentioned above, I'm not always able to log every tournament of every day.
The poker room offers hand sanitizer throughout the poker room, as well as on each table. All high traffic touch points are sanitized hourly, and poker table rails are sanitized prior to each new player arriving. Additionally, playing cards and chips are sanitized regularly. Venetian Poker Room. 3355 S. Las Vegas Blvd. Las Vegas, NV 89109. 1-702-414-7657. 24 hours. Categories. Categories DeepStack Championship Poker Series. $200 NLH rebuy $200 NLH SuperStack $340 DoubleStack 000 000 GTD 000 Guarantee 000 MSPT $1M GTD 13 83 100 Summer Kick-Off $500K GTD 500 600 MSPT $3M GTD 888 GTD Daily tournament DCPS 2018 Results ... Venetian poker tournament schedule and information, including starting times ... Deepstack Extravaganza 1 2021 Venetian Casino Feb 2 - Feb 28 33 Events. Tournament Calendar. February 2021. Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat; 31 ... This is going to be an Amazing Poker Room!! Hope the Max limits are high enough ($500 or more for 1/3 and $1000 or The Venetian Poker Room Casino. The Venetian Poker Room is open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. Best Poker Room in Las Vegas. In an effort to provide our guests with a poker experience they know and love in a safe environment, The Venetian Poker Room offers eight-handed cash game play. The Venetian Poker Room is the best and (I believe) the largest poker room in Las Vegas. The dealers are fast and fun to talk to. There are plenty of games going on throughout the day. They serve Fiji water and red bull for free. Food service gets their food from the Grand Lux Cafe. Comps and low rake... what else do you need? The Venetian in Las Vegas did not wait and reopened its doors on June 5. In the beginning, the poker room was only offering cash game action and no tournaments were held. This makes the DeepStack Showdown Poker Series the first live poker tournament series in Las Vegas since the shutdown introduced by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Venetian poker room appears to have gone through a significant renovation from 2016 to 2017. They have lost several tables by shrinking the room space significantly. The room also seemed a bit dimmer than I remember, but that could just be my rapidly aging eyesight. The Venetian poker room will be one of the few places to play cards right off the bat. On June 5, the luxurious Vegas Strip casino will open its card room and give poker players a look at four ... The Venetian Poker Room is located directly adjacent to the Las Vegas Strip frontage, with a main Strip entrance being located only a few feet from the west room entrance. Physically, the Venetian Poker Room is well spaced out which allows for high traffic and easy wheelchair access. All poker tables are fitted with automatic shufflers and a tableside management system that enables the dealers to notify chip runners, floor personnel, cocktail servers, and food porters when their services are ... This is a great casino with some of the friendliest dealers and staff in Las Vegas. I visit this casino at least twice a week. The casino has some of the latest slot machines and a large casino pit with all the popular table games. Avoid the Triple Zero Roulette tables. Large Race & Sports Book. Great dining options in all price points.
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