Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

Then, it's Venetian for their $300 Big O, with an eye-watering 5 hours of Late Reg.

Judging by the PLO8 there the other day (identical guarantee & buy-in) I guess it's going to be another short field, mostly playing either 1 table or two tables short-handed. Not ideal for my skillset (skillset...) but it is what it is, & in a way it's quite enjoyable, as you really get to know the other players. No hiding place though.

Anyone here old enough to remember that TV Show, "No Hiding Place"? Top viewing, that, with a great theme tune.

[Karabiner]

Then, it's Venetian for their $300 Big O, with an eye-watering 5 hours of Late Reg.

Judging by the PLO8 there the other day (identical guarantee & buy-in) I guess it's going to be another short field, mostly playing either 1 table or two tables short-handed. Not ideal for my skillset (skillset...) but it is what it is, & in a way it's quite enjoyable, as you really get to know the other players. No hiding place though.

Anyone here old enough to remember that TV Show, "No Hiding Place"? Top viewing, that, with a great theme tune.

I think GTO is to max-late-reg Tony 

Run well

[tikay]

Then, it's Venetian for their $300 Big O, with an eye-watering 5 hours of Late Reg.

Judging by the PLO8 there the other day (identical guarantee & buy-in) I guess it's going to be another short field, mostly playing either 1 table or two tables short-handed. Not ideal for my skillset (skillset...) but it is what it is, & in a way it's quite enjoyable, as you really get to know the other players. No hiding place though.

Anyone here old enough to remember that TV Show, "No Hiding Place"? Top viewing, that, with a great theme tune.

I think GTO is to max-late-reg Tony 

Run well

You are of course right Ralph, but I'd get 25,000 chips at 1,000-2,000 plus a 2,000 ante, so if the first hand I play goes wrong I'll not get much bang for my 300 bucks.

I want the table time, even though it's almost certainly going to cost me a bullet or two.

Anyway, I'm on my way down to the Venetian card room in the next few minutes, ridiculously excited as always.

[RED-DOG]

Then, it's Venetian for their $300 Big O, with an eye-watering 5 hours of Late Reg.

Judging by the PLO8 there the other day (identical guarantee & buy-in) I guess it's going to be another short field, mostly playing either 1 table or two tables short-handed. Not ideal for my skillset (skillset...) but it is what it is, & in a way it's quite enjoyable, as you really get to know the other players. No hiding place though.

Anyone here old enough to remember that TV Show, "No Hiding Place"? Top viewing, that, with a great theme tune.

I remember No Hiding Place, but until I just heard it again I mixed the theme tune up with this one.


https://youtu.be/rWflrCrwUSw

[tikay]

Morning.

Well the Big O made 42 entries, with 6 paid, & fortunately I managed to escape without the need for any bullets, so just the $300 entry.

With 7 left, (money bubble) I was just a smidgeon below average, with 134,000, blinds about to go 2,000-4,000/4,000, so ~33 bigs if we exclude Antes.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

Inevitably, that little chirp was the perfect self-bok & I never won or even chopped another hand, & only got to showdown once (my exit hand) when in fact I was already stone cold dead on the flop. I was lucky to even cash in the end, with all the shorties doubling, as they always seem to. Luckily (for me, not he) one poor chap exited & I was able to min-cash for $608.

In a way, somewhat disappointing to end so dismally, but I did nothing wrong (or not that I'm aware), it's just the way it goes sometimes, as you all know. Overall, I was absolutely thrilled to have such a good run & very happy indeed to at least pick up some consolation money. 

It began at 2.10pm, & I departed just after 11pm, so that's 9 hours & I could barely have enjoyed myself more. Good table company, plenty of bants, the whole thing played in good heart. An outstanding memory to take home from Vegas '23. Maybe I have very modest ambitions & am easily pleased but I had so much fun & have no complaints & no bad beat stories. That'll do nicely thank you.   

[tikay]

After a lifetime of being disgracefully careless with money, I've completely flip-flopped the last few years, so I budgeted carefully for this trip.

Had three MTT's planned - 2 x $300, 1 x $150, & had allowed for 2 extra bullets in each, so planned spend was (3 x $750) $2,250. Actual spend was $750, & returns totalled $608, so a loss of $142, which I more than covered at the cash tables. I'm taking that as a win, in effect $2,250 saved. 

Vegas is expensive these days though, whichever way you look at it.

Sky very kindly paid my return air fare & 10 days in the Palazzo, but that still left;

5 nights in Palazzo; $1,500 (£1,182)

Car rental; $1,000 (£790)

Heathrow Car Park £250

Heathrow Lounge (great value, includes brekkie, comfy armchair, free drinks & a runway view) £30

Health/Travel insurance (high cost due to age, heart problems & smoking history) £600

Overnight budget hotel in London outbound £60

2 Starby's each per day - ~ £130

2 meals each per day @ say $40 per meal = ~£1,000

West coast trip £300

I don't even want to add that lot up but it must be north of £4,000. Luckily, I "saved" the $2,250 budgeted spend on poker otherwise I'd be looking at the best part of £6,000, even though Sky paid my flights & 10 days in the hotel.

Vegas is so expensive these days & tbh, it's slightly embarrassing to see how much I spent. 

[tikay]

My main focus this year was to try & ensure Gill had a lovely time. She was unable to come last year on health grounds, so she was especially looking forward to it.

Having lived alone all my life, I've become habitually selfish, so I do what I want, when I want, & I'm especially mindful of that when with Gill.

I think Gill had a wonderful time, both of us done our own thing (she likes to sit by the pool, I like to poker), so that dovetails nicely.

Most mornings we went out for a ride, & we visited or passed;

Mount Charleston

Nellis USAF base

Las Vegas Speedway.

Creech USAF base. (Where they test the Military Drones)

Ivanpah Solar Farm

Mountain Pass rare earth mine

Indian Springs

High Desert State Prison. (Seriously impressive & scary)

Nipton & Searchlight via Joshua Tree Drive.

Every shopping centre in Vegas....

Santa Barbara

Pacific Surfliner from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles.

Los Angeles.

We finished the trip last night (Gill goes home today, me tomorrow), with a lovely meal at Grand Lux.

So there it is, Vegas waffleage done & dusted. Will there be a Vegas '24? No idea, but if there's not, we gave it our all this year.

The only real negative was not being able to hook up my VPN & do Updates & Forum stuff Next Door, but there's nothing I could have done about it. I get home on Monday, & have a lot of catching up to do Next Door, & a need to get back on top of my job.

Over & out.

[tikay]

PS - I really enjoyed seeing so many of the time-served blondes on the thread the last few weeks, & really appreciated it. You are all very kind.

[Karabiner]

Next door's loss was our gain and many of us enjoyed your waffles all the more for not having read them for a while.

£250 for the airport parking - blimey.

My friend John used to collect me from home, take me to Heathrow, collect me(and Tom en route once)when I came back and drop me/us off at my abode all for £200.

That was 13/14/15 years ago now but still. Doesn't time fly.

Well done on the cash and have a pleasant journey home.

[typhoon13]

Sounds like you and Gill had a great time

Gonna miss those superb updates

[vegaslover]

Hi Tikay

Not been posting much, but have enjoyed reading your Vegas 'blog'.

I personally don't get to go to Vegas anymore (too expensive), but enjoy reading the updates.

[Supernova]

So pleased that you both had a great time Tony, I concur with others that your waffling has been terrific.

Safe travels home to you both.

xXx

p.s I've found another book for you, I'll pm you later. No rush x

[redsimon]

Enjoyed the mini trip report, hopefully you will go longer in 2024, Im hoping to make my first trip since Covid, travel insurance is probably going to be my biggest bugbear.

[tikay]

Thanks so much everyone.

As it happens, some weird shit has gone down in the last 24 hours, & as I'm now at a loose end for a few hours, I'll reply to the Posts then add a little more waffle, yesterday & today have been really weird.