going back to the bellagio meant going back to face my demons. the first (and only) time i played the bellagio was an "educational experience" (read, i lost all my money). lucky for me i had someone sitting next to me who was willing to tell me what i was doing wrong and how badly i was playing. at the time it may have seemed that he was ridiculing me cruelly, but really he was doing me a favor. reading books will only get you so far.
the trip to vegas, or "vee-jas" as DM liked to say, was a last minute decision. my best man DM and groomsman AW had planned a trip to do a little "field research" on the upcoming bachelor party. with a few vacations days to burn, the urge to hit a poker room and wanting to make sure those two didn't plan anything too crazy, i decided to fly out and meet up with them.
vegas is, well, vegas. it had been almost a year and a half since i was there last. except for the new wynn casino being built and new construction at caesars, the strip looked the same. something in me definitely changes when i step off the plane. first of all i feel like i need to tip everyone for the services they do for me. also my throat immediately gets dry and i start looking to get my hand on bottles of water wherever i go.
AW and DM pick me up at the airport and we head to the alladin to check in. they had both got there the day before so they had one less night of sleep and were a few drinks ahead of me. we walk around the strip for AW's benefit (he was a vegas virgin) and then meet my cousin for dinner. after a bad italian meal we head to the ghost bar at the top of the palms to see the lights of the city. the view is amaizing. we have a few drinks and then jump in a cab over to mandalay bay. AW and my cousin hit a club while DM and i head over to the luxor to play poker.
the luxor will always have a place in my heart as the first place i player poker in vegas and the place where i had my first and, to date, only bad beat. cliff note® version: 7-stud, my quad fours meet mr. straight flush, i "win" a little over $1000. the games are always friendly and a little less crowded, although even the luxor is not immune to the popularity of poker thanks to the wpt- there are more games going then i remember and they are all playng hold'em.
DM and i sit down at a "$1/$2" table. I get a little thrown off because it seems to me to be a $2/$2 table with $1/$2 blinds. at one point i ask the dealer and she explains that although you could technically bet $1 on the flop, no one ever does. i move over to a $2/$4 game to make a spot for AW. nothing very exciting to report (that i can remember). towards the end of the night i move back to the $1/$2 game to be with AW and DM. i enjoy a little rush and i walk away from the table just a buck under breaking even.
we catch a cab back to the alladin (DM is too exhausted to walk). i'm totally amped while my companions are barely awake. of course, i wasn't up the night before doing "research" like they had been so i am not nearly as sleep deprived. at first i leave them with the intention of playing a few more hours but then realize that if i stay out until 7 am i'll probably be tired when the other two are just about waking up and we'll be completely out of synch. so what's more important, playing poker or spending time with my buddies? luckily i have not sunk to that level of gambling addiction so it's an easy call. so i go check out the $19 million cvs pharmacy on the strip- a cabbie earlier had told us the land itself was probably $18 million, and pick up some water and unisom so i'll fall asleep.
tuesday starts out a little slow. once we all get our acts in gear it's already 11:00. we head over the craps pit for a free lesson. after the lesson they open a $2 table for us to test out our new found knowledge. we have some prettty cold rolls and lose our money quickly. welcome to vegas. by this point we're all starving like marvin so we go in search of food. AW wants to experience the las vegas ambiance and eat at the outdoor cafe at paris but my stomach can't take the 30 minute wait. i take charge and head over to the barbary coast. unlike AW i prefer cheap and immediate with a dingy feel over expensive and 30 minutes with a parisian flair. DM is fascinated by the preponderance of prime rib- he sees signs of it everywhere and wonders what's so good about it. to satisfy his curiosity i order the prime rib, eight ounces of meat with six ounces of fat and a little dish of horseradish. yum yum.
after lunch we go to the gamblers general store for some cut cards and a chip case for my dad. AW wants to see circus circus so we head over there. i had never been there before either and decided i wasn't missing anything. since we can't sit in the rotating bar with the view of the trapeze act we head to the bellagio for a little poker.
at this point i don't really want to play poker because DM has lost more than he should so if we do play he'll just have to sit and watch. but AW wants to play. DM is cool and offers to drop us off at the bellagio poker room and then head back to the alladin to collect AW's stuff so we can get more playing time in. DM insists and i resolve to myself to play until AW leaves and then hang out with DM and talk poker strategy over a couple (or more) drinks.
at first we get split up but before long a seat opens up at AW's table so i head over there. unbeknownst to me, AW has decided to adopt the table image of complete neophyte mixed with a little bob stupak. it drives me nuts, nay pisses me off, and i'm pretty sure i'm not alone. it seemed to be working for him because he was dragging it in but it was also slowing up the game. the dealer was constantly having to remind AW to post; one of the dealers went so far as to start posting for him. for the first hour i sat down i couldn't get a hand. nothing. nada. zilch. i literally had less than a half dozen pairs, none over tens and deuces twice. but i resisted temptation to play the crappy hands that others around me we playing. to salt the wounds a little bit, AW over in the 1s was winning with questionable starting hands (always after long deliberation). finally my patience was rewarded with a hand that pulled it in. following brunson's advice i played the next hand with 34
and end up taking another pot with two pair. in less than ten hands i'm back up and then some.
at this point AW has to leave for the airport but i've just started to catch cards and i'm still pissed at his play so i decide i'll see him of then and there and keep playing. by the time DM gets back i'm in fold mode again and the table is short handed so i decide now is as good a time as ever to take a dinner break. DM and i eat congee and gai lan at noodles, by far the best meal we've had the whole trip. sure, it's a lot more expensive than you would pay in any chinatown, but it's cleaner and the ambiance is good.
DM decides he's going to head back to los angeles that night so we part company in the parking lot. i decide to go shopping for a present for T and head back to the alladin.
it's funny to look back at my evolution as a person in vegas the. first time i was there all i wanted to do was gamble. the second or third time i was there i caught a show and had some nice dinners. now i don't mind just walking around and even shopping. don't get me wrong, i still like to gamble, but i know i will always be able to find a game. and with shopping, when i get back home i at least have something to show for all that money that i no longer have. besides, it was fun to walk into the lucky store and tell the woman, "i need something to wear tomorrow." with the shopping out of the way and AW and DM on their ways home, what else is there for me to do but head back to the bellagio?
when i sit down at the 2s at table 27 the guys to my left tell me that i'm like the fourth person to sit down in less than 30 minutes. when the 1s comes back to the table it's easy to see why. the guy to my right has decided that i really care about the crap hands he is playing and wants sympathy when he catches no piece of the flop. besides leaning away from the dealer to take up as much space as possible, he likes to show me as many hands as he can and i oblige him by acting interested; no sense in stopping the information he's giving me. the two guys to my left are much more pleasant company so i spend most of my time talking to them except when the 1s decides nudge me on the shoulder and show me once again how his J7
didn't improve with the flop.
the 3s, a southerner turned local, and i grind along for a while until one point where he catches aces that hold up and then i catch the rocket the next hand. an ace falls on the flop and i drive everyone out on the turn. someone asks to see the river and the dealer shows the last ace. a little while later the 1s and i four bet pre flop. big slick for me, qq for the 1s. luckily he only had two bets left after the flop so i don't lose too much when a kqx fall on the flop. to add insult to injury another k falls on the river. oh well.
i play until 3:00 am and decide to get some sleep before my flight at 10:00. looking back at the last time i played at the bellagio and this time it's great to see the difference and how far my game has come. i still have a lot of leaks to plug, but at least no one is going to sit there and berate my play.
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