Pocket Queens:

[Tal]

I enjoyed your show (yes, your show - possession is 9 tenths and all that). Have you watched it back? I always find that interesting: sitting down and watching yourself on TV, particularly if you know you're about to disperse a nice daily wage for a lot of the viewers in the space of 42 minutes (no rubs intended). On the other hand, it's you...on proper telly...so you'd be mad not to have it recorded and ready to show people every Christmas.

As for your other 'obby, where does Carlos Acosta rate in the list of the greats? What about Darcey? How do they compare to Baryshnikov, Nijinsky, Nureyev, Pavlova, Ulanova and  Fonteyn (plus any others I'm missing)?

How much has ballet changed from the 1900s? The 50s? The last 20 years? Is it more about power than grace? More about speed than light and shade?

Looking forward to the Vegas shenanigans. Remember: good toes; naughty toes.

[DingleBelle]

God; I am not sure I can ever hear the expression "good toes, naughty toes" without shuddering with fear!

Your question is interesting, in that when I was studying dance back in my drama school days, it was all about the contemporary scene and so if you weren't talking about the likes of Martha Graham, Isadora Duncan and the whole Russian onslaught the you didn't know what you were talking about. I haven't seen much of Acosta, but from what I have just quickly Googled, he looks some talent.

I did record my show, but I haven't watched it back yet. I am quite self-critical and I don't think it's always healthy to scrutinise yourself to the extent where you destroy any scrap of self-confidence you may have possessed. I will watch it back, but only when I am in a good mood and not susceptible to a demoralising sulk at all my perceived negatives!

B

[Jac]

You have nothing to fear when you watch the show. You were both good fun.
Hope you have a great time and win loads in Vegas

[celtic]

I need to know. How does tal know about good toes naughty toes.

[Tal]

I need to know. How does tal know about good toes naughty toes.

You told me, of course.

[DingleBelle]

Click to see full-size image.

Hello and welcome to Las Vegas, Nevada. Pocket Queen HQ for the next couple of weeks.

Given the number of times we've frequented this grand old town, the journey had a familiar feel:  

- good flight (check)
- devour in-flight movies (check)
- cane duty free (check)
- breeze through US border control (check)
- check into nice room overlooking pool, strip, desert (check)

Day zero of the trip is always taken up with fighting the urge to go to bed. You arrive mid-afternoon, which is about midnight body-clock time. The trick is to make sure you stay awake as long as humanly possible to ensure one's body clock resets itself and you're on good form for the rest of your stay.

We have a bit of a routine now; we hit Senior Frogs in Treasure Island, eat ridic hot chicken wings (for good metabolism) and down vodka jelly shots (for no other reason except we can). The Boy went a bit "off piste" though this time and sneaked a little Lobsicle in as soon as we arrived at the hotel. A Lobsicle I hear you cry?! It's like a corn dog but made with lobster. And actually tastes like chippy fish. All a bit random and threw me off balance!

Inevitably, at some point jet lag is gonna get you. It's a funny thing is jet lag; it goes way beyond just being tired and messes with your entire nervous system. Indeed within about five minutes of getting here, I was wearing frozen piña coladas in my hair. A few problems with the old hand to eye coordination.

Luckily we very quickly ran into some friendly faces who we'd gone looking for, as well as some lovely faces who we were not expecting to see (including the truly delightful Jen Mason). You can guarantee you'll always run into someone you know here.

In the meantime it's now an acceptable time for me to go to bed without waking at 3am. I'll let this very sleepy Belle bade you good night and God bless. It all starts tomorrow!

[tikay]

Great news, see you later this week.

Am Downtown tomorrow, going up to Mt C on Tuesday for brekkie, then start pokering daily as and from Wednesday. Media Centre will be Base Camp, see you there.

[Magic817]

I assume it was something like this

[DingleBelle]

Change is as good as a rest. My Gran. 

Readers familiar with this thread will recall that the Famile Bromley have traditionally been residents of the Wynn. At some point during the planning stage of WSOP 2015, the Boy muttered words that would strike fear into any heart; "Let's try something different". Gulp. 

They say change is as good as a rest don't they? So with a heavy heart, your Belle ventured out into the unknown and agreed to move into ... The Venetian. 

Tough life, I know, but it was a hard choice. I love the Wynn and given that this is our primary summer holiday away from the stresses of the day job, we have to get it right. First world problems. 

But it was a cracking choice. The suites are lovely. They have a quasi-mezannine feel about them, with the sleeping quarter on an upper floor and steps leading down to a living and dining area. 

Click to see full-size image.

We get a massive breakfast delivered to our suite every morning, which should ensure we actually eat. The beds are also big enough that I can get in my side and do a star-fish without even making physical contact with the Boy* (*this clearly was not +EV for him, but gets my vote on account of the fact that I'm gonna sleep REALLY well this fortnight!)

Our first tournament didn't start until 3pm on day one so the morning was a good chance for us to take in some pool time. Again, 10 points for the pool area. My personal favourite is the outdoor spa whirlpool. Just a bit heavenly. Stress? What's that? Was a tough Monday... 

Click to see full-size image.

No poker results as yet, but we got our teeth stuck into day 1 and both ran deep in both tourneys we played (one DDS at the Rio and one in the Aria). We're unlucky not to have at least one flag from Day 1. Saying that, your Belle had a terrible attitide in the Aria nightly and as a result played badly. I need to work on that today; fingers crossed it was just a jet-lag induced blip! 

[DingleBelle]

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope. Martin Luther King, Jr

Day three. Five tournaments down. And one bubble. 

One of the great things about Vegas at this time of year is that it's not all about the WSOP and the Rio. There are so many amazing festivals taking place and you need to pick carefully. We've so far sampled the Aria WPT, the Planet Hollywood PHamous Series and the Wynn Summer Classic. The British contingent, it would seem, have cottoned on to this well and are flooding these alternative festivals in the masses. So much so that I think there were more Brit players in my Aria tournament yesterday than Americans! 

It was the Wynn Summer Classic that took up the majority of Wednesday. Come the bubble, I'm sitting on a comfortable 55bb stack. I open with Q 10dd in the cutoff and the BB (with a huge chip lead) defends. Flop comes out Q 10 6 rainbow. 

At this point, the BB open jams all in. I call. He tables QQ for a flop set and I bubble. I feel a little sick as I write this update to be honest. I have blockers to QQ or 1010. Sure, he can have 66 there, but would he really open jam a flopped set and lose any chance of value? It would seem so. It looked like either a worse two-pair or bubble strategy. You see, I'm not the player I was 12 months ago and nitting up for a min-cash is no longer in my game. I was going for the win. Get that right and I'm sitting on a FT average stack with a good chance of a 5 figure score. Puke. 

Outside of poker, we've not been up to much yet (far too early to take a day off!) I've very much been enjoying the NBA Play Off Finals and the coverage here is awesome. I may watch game 4 at the Legasse Stadium in town. Apparently, if it goes to game 7 then it'll play out after we get home. 

I'm off to put a call into the coaching staff of both the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriers to ask them to get this wrapped up by game 6! 

[Tal]

Lagasse Stadium in town?

I know there's one on the floor below the casino at Palazzo. Is there another? Have you been before?

Heartily recommend booking in advance if you're going to watch one of the NBA games there. It'll surely be busy with LeBron doing what LeBron does. $25 minimum spend for a seat, which is easily taken care of by some sort of burger-related luncheon and a beverage (great how Vegas takes care of the punters to ensure we don't have difficulty spending money). Just need a card for them to hold as a security; you can pay cash at the end of course.

Having a seat and an unobstructed view of sport is definitely +EV. Has to be one of the best little finds in Vegas. Didn't even know about the place on my first four visits. If they showed British horse racing there, they'd probably make a killing!

I should add, it's also one of the few places in Vegas where the waitresses aren't wearing clothing their mother wouldn't approve of. I don't get the chance to type sentences like that often without being overwhelmed by fear of rebuke.

Those that do find such inelegant fripperies wholesome will prefer Roundhouse, which is on the outside of Venetian, near the cardroom. It has a rodeo machine.

Quite.

[DingleBelle]

*First flag of the trip klaxon*

Click to see full-size image.

The Boy did a min-cash in the Phamous Goliath $200. About time he got a U.S. flag. Only took him four years...

[Knottikay]

Send my congrats to the Best Bromley. 

VUL on that bubble.....your time will come though. Keep enjoying yourselves out there and thanks for your reports back for all us stuck in blighty being highly jealous.

[DingleBelle]

Distraction. To remind yourself that you're actually on vacation. 

What does one do when having down time in Vegas? We've been here before. Lots of times. But there's just so much to do and see. 

We took a self-imposed day off poker and kept ourselves [largely] out of trouble with some attractions. 

We started the day toasting our marshmallow skins around the pool. Not difficult to relax and have some fun when surrounded by such luxury:

Click to see full-size image.

We quickly burned tho (in SPF50 at 10am!) so wanders off to the Seigfred and Roy Secret Garden to the Mirage; a lovely little gem that we'd not been to before. It largely comprises of a dolphin sanctuary, where we got to meet these little fellas:

Click to see full-size image.

And a few big cats. Who made me miss Pickles and Branston Bromley a lot! 

We then tottled over to the Titanic exhibition at the Luxor. Regular readers will recall that I did this very exhibition last year but I really loved it and wanted to take the Boy this time. It's such an intricate and fascinating insight into an age-old story that's been recounted so many times. Yet it's personal, and very very moving. 

The piece de resistance is for sure the "Big Piece"; a large chunk of the side of the ship that was excavated from the site in 2008 and painstakingly restored. The story was such a long time ago now that it's more of a legend than a memory for this generation. But the "Big Piece" is real. A part of that ship. The exhibition leaves Vegas in 2018 and if it ever comes to the UK, please go see it. 



We finished the night at a show.  This time it was "Showstoppers" at the Wynn. This is a new show, but a great one. If you love the good old Broadway classics and a chorus line (and quite frankly who doesn't?!) then this is your thing!! 

Suppose we'd better get back to work...

[DingleBelle]

Better late than never

I think it is fair to say that this trip, poker-wise, has been car crash awful. Two really terrible performances, lots of deep runs and three bubbles (one of which a pure bubble). Plus a massive choke in the only bracelet event I ended up playing.

I managed to salvage a small amount of self-respect in the final tournament of the trip and finished 68/1080 in one of the Rio Daily Deepstacks. This equates to a min cash, plus a few ladders. Whilst this wasn’t the big cash I was hoping for, it does keep up my 100% attendance v flag ratio in Vegas. Still, I didn’t draw a complete blank.

Saying that, I ended up winning a lot more money playing slot machines badged up with Wizard of Oz, The Flintstones and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory than I did playing poker! I somehow turned into a full-time degenerate by the end of the trip.

Click to see full-size image.

The Boy did better than me and managed two cashes in the end. He was pretty unlucky not to win one of the Binion’s Poker Classic events; he was crushing the field all the way through and amassed a ridiculous chip lead, but lost two big hands to other larger stacks to finish just shy of the final table. This tournament was one of my bubbles, where I had once again taken the opportunity to go for a top 3 stack around the bubble, rather than nit up for a min cash. It’s an important progression in my game and is the attitude I hope I maintain.

As an aside, I really enjoyed playing downtown this year (I haven’t in previous years). There was one interesting event that I wanted to share with you though. In the early levels of the tournament, we ended up with a AA v QQ situation where it all went in on the flop (the QQ had hit the set). After the hand, the dealer stopped the action and started to “warn” the young Canadian with the QQ to "slow down” his play and not set players all in; he was basically telling him a) how he should be playing and b) how things were done around here! I didn’t say anything at the time (although myself and the player did discuss it during the first break), but it really annoyed me. I have never seen that before.

So it finished 2-1 to the Boy in the end.

Click to see full-size image.

One thing I have learned from this trip is that my online game is now much stronger than my live game, I assume as a result of the coaching I have been receiving. It a complete turnaround to this time last year, when my online game was really weak compared to the live circuit. Would be nice to get some balance at some point. In the meantime, all that was left of this trip was to have some fun before the long journey home. I shall report on that shortly...