So Vegas was a beating and a half. It wasn't Kouche level meltdown but it was from my viewpoint. It's been a couple of years since I haven't made at least a couple hundred $ off gambling when I've gone to Sin City and I go there 3-4 times a year. I haven't had crazy runs b/c I can't stomach the large swings of craps. It's been due to poker. It's not like I'm a great poker player as all of you know but I've figured out how to grind and wait and take advantage of the worser poker player tourists in the desert. I've been on such a streak that I haven't had to go back into my bankroll except once. But all good things come to an end. I couldn't do anything right. A guy hits a 2 outer on the river and my set and cash go out the door. I am down to $60 and have a pocker pair w/ pair of $12 pre flop raisers. I go all in and I figure that I'll be racing. I lose when a guy hits his flush on the river. He had A-7 suited. These were the more painful "mistakes" that I made. But like I said, I couldn't do anything right. I made wrong calls and was slowly losing my cash. I decide that it's just time to drink hard and play games where it's all a matter of luck. Obviously, I didn't get the hint that I had none and craps and blackjack were equally "kind" to me. I went from anger to depression to the realization that it was a tragic comedy. I tip my hat to Vegas and surrender. I wasn't done gambling though b/c my buddies and I needed to play poker for 1 hour a piece in order to qualify for the poker room rate. On my first hand, the dealer accidentally gives me an ace faced up so it's mucked. The table looks at me and I say that it's par for the course for this trip. I look at my hand when it's my decision to call and I see A 5 off. The 5 replaced the mucked A. I laugh show the cards to the table and get up and throw my hands in the air. The final punch was that if I had stayed in the hand, I would have two pair. I could have made a bet that the sun would rise in the morning and you'd be reading freezing your ass off wondering where the hell the sun went. You all can thank me for not making that bet.
I take solace in thinking that all my horrendous luck was the yin to Cal's yang over Stanfurd. Stanford had just handed out a beatdown to USC in Pasadena and outlasted Oregon in a shootout. Both the Ducks and Trojans embarassed Cal. Cal was playing w/o their best and only playmaker in Jahvid Best. Stanford still had an outside shot at the Rose Bowl. The previous sentence was in the past tense b/c that's where Stanford's Rose Bowl hopes lied after their loss to the California Golden Bears...the past. I was glad to play my part in the universe's scheme of things.
Here's the painful bad beat story. I'm glad that I was only a viewer at the table. Player in middle position makes a pre flop raise to $12. Small blind and big blind call. 3 9 J all spades comes out. Check from both blinds. Middle position bets. Small blind raises. Big blind calls. Middle position calls. Ace spade on turn. Bet from small blind. Call from big blind. Call from middle position. 3 on river. So
3 9 J A (all spades) 3 is the board. Small blind goes all in. Big blind goes all in. Middle position calls. Total pot about $700. Big blind has the smallest stack so the side pot is between the small blind and middle position. Middle position shows cause he's giddy and full of it. He has Ah Ks. Small blind shows pocket 9s so he has a boat and takes the side pot. Big blind flips over pocket 3 for quads. The rest of us had our mouths wide open in shock and awe. We couldn't figure out what middle position was thinking to make the last call. The last 3 had boat written all over it w/ 2 other callers. At least the full house took the side pot which was pretty large. The middle position guy was the guy who knocked me out a flush on the river.
Here's the Venetian Poker room rate information. The 4 of us got a Palazzo concierge suite for a little under $1200 for 3 nights. If you play an average of 6 hours per night stayed, you get a discount. You can combine the hours so the 4 of us were able to hit 18 hours. The price dropped to about $485 so about $120 a person or $40 a night. The "concierge" portion includes breakfast ( bagels, cereal, oatmeal, crepes, juice, coffee) and cocktails from 5-9 ( top shelf liquor, beer, wine, tempura, soup, pastries, finger foods, chicken and beef tacos, fruits) The cocktails are about $12 when you get buy them on the strip. We easily ate/drank $40 a day at the lounge. Essentially, we stayed at the Palazzo for "free." (I don't want to be reminded of the hundreds of dollars lost in the poker room to hit the 18 hours.) The room has to be less than $399 a night to qualify for the poker room rate, btw. Make sure you have a venetian/palazzo card too.
I know that I'm going to get crape for this but I found a new 24/7 restaurant that serves korean/japanese/chinese that was pretty good at 3 AM and not a rip off. I found it at the IP. Laugh all you will but it's better than late night McD and a lot cheaper than room service.
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