Ok I'll do my report for the trip. I'll keep it pretty much strictly a poker report as most of the nights and days out have already been documented.
Pre departure I knew I was heading out to grind $1/$2 with a $3000 bankroll, which is quite under rolled I knew there was a risk in doing this as I had to cover the rest of my vegas expenses through my winnings from poker. I had a bit left behind in my bank in case of emergencies but ideally wanted to leave it so I definitely had something to come back to.
Due to my small bankroll and having to cover expenses with it my plan for vegas was to spend the first 2 weeks grinding very hard, so I did some research before into the soft poker rooms. I knew the Venetian was supposidly a big room with lots of fish, but I'd read really good things about the smaller cheaper hotels like Imperial Palace and Flamingo because they're stacked with old people and pure tourist no people in Vegas to purely play poker.
I bought a satchel bag type thing and planned on taking it to the strip with me everyday with things like deodorant, my toothbrush, face and body wipes and putting in lots of big big sessions, I brought the toiletries to refresh myself etc when I took breaks. So I had a good idea in my head of how my days would be spent in the first weeks, getting up early and heading off the poker room and grinding, whether anyone else was heading to the strip or not.
So lets skip to arriving in vegas....
So we arrive and on the first day we sort the beds, test out the place, the hottub the bigscreen etc. etc. then I head off to the strip with Nicky Middy and Brent, we head straight for the Venetian to play poker and have some drinks, already I'm not sticking to plan but I was really eager to see one of the big hotel casino resorts and wanted to get to know a few of the guys better too.
My first big hand of Vegas I raise Nicky's $4 straddle to $20 (at the time I didn't realise I was 5x it) around UTG+1/+2 with
Middy calls on the button or cut off with
and we see flop of
. I cbet, Middy jams and I call of course, I hold and take down the $400+ pot.
Second hand worth reporting I have
in the SB, Brent opens from late/mid position, I 3bet the BB calls and then Brent re raises when it comes back to him, I fold and Brent and the BB get it in, Brent shows
and the BB shows
.
3rd notable hand worth reporting on the same night I'm in the SB with
there is a straddle on and UTG raises the $4 straight to $10 I'm a little suspicous of this but figure he's probably just a donk, it folds to Brent in Mid position and he re pops to about $30/$40, I flat in the SB and the BB (who is now shortstacked) jams for around $150, UTG folds and Brent tanks for a while before jamming also (at this point me and Brent are 200bb+ deep) I tank for a while also but because I flatted I know there can be hands he's jamming I beat so I call also. I win the $900 when Brent shows
and the BB shows
a
x x flop pretty much seals it, actually the BB turned a flush but I filled up, but I win the pot and leave the poker game with somewhere in the region of $1100, around $900 up.
So I'm feeling pretty good after my first night of poker I've made like 5 buy ins, I had very little live poker experience at this point too.
We do a bit of gambling and stuff in the pits for fun and then all head home pretty drunk with me paying the taxi since I was the big winner.
I sleep for maybe 5 or 6 hours then I'm up again, pretty pumped being in Vegas, everyone gets up and we pretty much all head off to the Bellagio, we get food etc. and a few of the guys get registered in a tourney there, me and tommy c head to the Rio after food to check out the WSOP action see some of the pro's and see how soft the game are, after seeing Negreanu and a few other pro's we head to the 1/2 game in the middle of the rio main casino, shortly after we get a call from Rooks who is heading down after busting the Bellagio.
I play my standard tight aggressive game while Tommy and Rooks have some drinks and are playing Laggish 3betting each other etc. and quickly start winning, I'm sat patiently waiting but am completely card dead, flopped a set and a straight but no action, I'm down maybe $100 after around 7 hours mainly from blinds and a few flops I missed when I pick up Pocket Aces (this would be the last time I get AA until the last day I played poker in Vegas) I finally get action except it from something sitting with $120, I end up +$20 on the day, still pretty happy about how everything is going though.
After this day my poker in Vegas takes a bad turn, I play my tight aggressive game with some select LAG to exploit a few players after watching tommy and rooks take advantage of a lot of player this way but I'm just 100% card dead.
On a good day I'm pulling 10 and 12 hour sessions early on and coming out +$100 or -$100, I play every pocket pair I get (which is not a lot) and don't hit any sets day after day sitting playing all day and get 0 big pairs (no aces for the entire trip after day 2 not including my last day of play), and then have to watch people turn up for an hour or 2 and get AA twice and hit set over set and leave with a big win, it isn't fun. This is how about 90% of my grinding sessions go.
.....And now the bad days. Playing at caesars palace someone opens people start calling, I call the CO with
and I think about 5 of us see a
x flop, the pot is probably around $50-$60, it's checked to me and I fire pretty much pot about $50 or so, 4 fold and 1 calls. The pot is now around $150 and my opponent has about $190 and I have him covered. The turn bricks and I fire about $70, he calls again the river comes
and he jams his last $120 I call and he flips up
and scoops the $550 or w/e pot.
Same day at caesars I raise a limper in late position with
the flop comes
x x he bets about $5 and I raise, he calls. Turn bricks, he bets $5 again I raise again planning to check back the river / call his min bet again, he flats again then leads the river for a huge bet, I think it was over the size of the pot. There were no draws possible in the hand so I know he's been suckering my in and I fold.
Pretty bad day and I'm down quite a few hundred $.
Another day at the Rio I sit with $300 the max buy in, I build it to $350 then get dealt
I raise a straddle and get about 3 or 4 callers, the pot is about $70, the flop comes
x. The straddlers lead for about $25 and I flat with 2 to act behind, one folds one makes it about $100 to go. I flat. Turn bricks I check and he fires about $150 I move in for my last $90 or so on top, he's pretty unhappy and call tabling
. The river brings the
and I lose the $700+ pot on the river.
Another day at the venetian I've built up quite a nice stack and am +$250 up for the day, I see a flop with
after it's checked to me in the BB, the flop comes
I lead like $4 or w/e and get raised to like $10, something really small, the SB calls and I call. The turn brings the
hitting my open ended, I lead out a nice big bet and get jammed on by the re raiser on the flop, I call and he flips up
the river brings the
he fills up and I lose most of my profits but he was relatively short.
I start grinding back up and pretty much card dead again but it was a really weak table I get back to +$150 or so, a new player joins the table buy in for the min. ($100) and in with in about 5 mins he hit a set and doubles up, 2 or 3 hand later he gets AA and win a medium pot, the very next hand (my last hand of the game) I get
UTG, I open and get flatted, the new player re raises to about $30, it comes back to me and I re raise again to around $120 he jams for around $280 total I call and he shows
. I brick out and leave the game a $130 loser.
We're maybe 12 days in or something at this point and I'm not enjoying poker. I still haven't had AA since the 2nd day and I've hit 3 sets the entire trip, I was however on a run of being dealt A, 8 times in 2 or 3 days unfortunately each time I was in a multi way pot out of position and I didn't hit a pair any of the 8 times, being OOP and multi way non of the cbets I made got through I didn't cbet everytime though.
So I take 3 days off and during this time decide I should hit some of the weaker casinos like I originally planned.
I head over the Imperial Palace and there are 2 tables running, one limit game and one 1/2 NL, I get on the list for the NL game which is full of old grandads and middle aged women with big stacks....of chips, but after about 40 minutes and no one seeming like they're gonna leave I leave and head over to the Flamingo, get sat down in a game withing 30 minutes I've seen 2 all ins, both times the same guy won with top pair won and one the 2nd hand a woman lost thinking she had a straight.
Pretty soon I get dealt
I'm refreshed from my 3 days off and feeling positive, there is a straddle and my raise and 4 of us see a flop of
x with the pot at around $90, the guy who keep going all in with top pair and winning leads into me for $20 I re-raise to about $80 and another play jams for about $230 total I call and he flips
and wins the pot. My first time of hitting a pair with AK after missing 8 times at this kind of table and I run into a set.
I also lost with
on a
at the MGM vs. a flopped flush.
So anyway, you get the jist...poker wasn't going good.
The final day I play poker, Me, Jones, Brent, Nicky, Rookie, Trigg and Middy head down to the Venetian they open up a new table for us because we all want to sit together lots of banter and aggro play obv. and we all started drinking. We also played a prop bet similar to the 72 but instead we used 69.
I stack middy with a set of 9's on a
board vs. his
and I'm up about +$250 for the game. But then I lose $100 after Middy 3bets a Rooks/Jones open which happened about 9/10 times, I cold 4bet using my tight image and because I had 69o but Middy found AK and jammed and I folded.
I get dealt
in the SB I 3bet an open and get called by Rooks and someone else who both has position on me. The pot is around $80 or $90 I guess, I lead for about $70 of the pot on a board of something like
, the other person folds and Rooks moves in, I call the turn bricks and the river brings
. Rooks flips up
and scoops the big pot.
By this point everyone was getting drunk and havin a lot of fun regardless of if they were up or down, Middy is pretty wasted and playing super aggro including getting it all in preflop with J3o. Middy raises someone limp and I 3bet with
(yea i got them again finally) to about $40, a shortstack moves in for $35 more Middy flats and I flat due to the under raise, the flop comes down
and immediately Jones and Middy burst into uncontrollable laughter, Middy manages to check and I fire $110, he insta jams and I of course have to insta call due to how crazy this game is even though their laughter is suspicious as hell, plus the fact that anyone holding 69 has an open ended straight draw and it would have been a jam in the game too. Middy turns over
for the flopped straight and I lose another huge pot.
The $3000 is mostly gone, there were some winning sessions inbetween at this and I estimate I was probably down around $800 or so from poker on the trip, and if I ended up down at all at poker on the trip I was going to be bust because I had my expenses to cover also.
I don't regret any of it, not because I'm a degen or a gambler or anything because I'm not really a gambler at all, but I knew when I came out here under rolled and using poker winnings for expenses that there was a real chance I could go bust but it was a chance I was willing to take, if I'd have won the big pots I got outdrawn on I would have been up maybe $2500 or so from poker but even if I had won those pots I still ran bad overall and was card dead for the majority of the trip, and I know if I ran average or managed to run good I could have made a big winning, I wouldn't have been rolling in cash but I could have come back from the entire trip +$, so I don't regret going at all, I had an absolute blast.
It just makes me want to succeed more now, my bankroll is small now but I'm going to stick it onto one of the European sites Ongame probably and build it back up.
thanks for reading
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