Finally getting around to the trip report, but a little piece of Vegas came with me. WSOP Plague (AKA Con Plague) has hit me pretty pretty hard. And if there is anything I can say positive about MTG, poker players are much more disgusting in general. Next time I am loading up on vitamins and Purell for sure.
Thanks to that big win at VQ the week before, I was on a freeroll. Decided to bring $2500 total, $1500 for event and $1k for cash to gamble with.
We left for Vegas early Monday AM, ended up getting in right around 1pm PDT and headed directly to the streaming final table of the $50k High Roller event. After the other events mini-break was over, we basically had the whole rail to ourselves. I didn't know any of the guys remaining, but Liss and her friend decided to root for Ben from the UK.
When the table took a break to chip up, I decided to head to registration to register for the $1500 HORSE event.
I was wearing a MTG shirt, so naturally while waiting in line, a guy in a Phillies hat decided to stop and chat about MTG cards he had as a kid and tell me he started playing in 96. This eventually turned into a chat about the Philly region and then about bad beat jackpots at the Parx casino. Then he started giving me quizzes (?) on what to do betting wise in various situations. I distracted him long apparently until 2 guys behind us struck up a convo with him. Eventually he left, and the guys behind me asked me if I knew him. Nodded in the negative and the one dude advises he is a "talker" and got sat at a table 6 times during a tournament over the span of 3 days with him and he would not stop talking. No idea why I needed to know this.
As we got closer to the front the dudes behind me and the old lady in front of me decided to bet on the over/under of 15 minutes until we reached the window. Lady wanted to know the stakes, and the dudes were content with something non-monetary but she wanted to bet a buy in to an event, the guys declined.
Also during this time, one of the dudes behind me telling a bad beat story stated this beautiful quote which I am forever going to use going forward: "You know how sometimes your reads are off, but sometimes they are dead on?"
Yes, yes I do.
After I registered we walked to the souvenir shop to get a t shirt when I realized the teller never gave my DL back. This sent me into stress mode trying to navigate a very long registration line again without pissing everyone off. Eventually one lady put her "closed" sign up and started doing some counting so I took the opportunity to ask if could locate my DL. She did, and crisis was averted.
Then we checked into our hotel and I decided to take the night to drink and gamble on some table games. The gambling didn't go so well and was down $500ish after just a few hours, but i did meet another MTG guy at the Paigow table and we chatted up about MTG for a bit. Turns out he plays standard and Commander and I correctly surmised he was from Minnesota (you'l NEVER guess how). After that it was time to get some sleep.
The next day, we decided to go see all the casinos on the strip we had never seen previously. Collected a bunch of $1 chips from various casinos and did somegambling, ending up the day at a net change of $0. Had a late (10pmish) burger at Wahlburgers, and said hello to their mother for them (joke!). We got back to the hotel and I stayed up just reading and watching some TV. I wanted to make sure I tired myself out completely so I could get a great night's sleep.
Slept ok, still woke up with the sunrise around 6am. Got some breakfast at Harrah's then headed over to the Rio about 9:30ish.
To be continued...
Thanks to that big win at VQ the week before, I was on a freeroll. Decided to bring $2500 total, $1500 for event and $1k for cash to gamble with.
We left for Vegas early Monday AM, ended up getting in right around 1pm PDT and headed directly to the streaming final table of the $50k High Roller event. After the other events mini-break was over, we basically had the whole rail to ourselves. I didn't know any of the guys remaining, but Liss and her friend decided to root for Ben from the UK.
When the table took a break to chip up, I decided to head to registration to register for the $1500 HORSE event.
I was wearing a MTG shirt, so naturally while waiting in line, a guy in a Phillies hat decided to stop and chat about MTG cards he had as a kid and tell me he started playing in 96. This eventually turned into a chat about the Philly region and then about bad beat jackpots at the Parx casino. Then he started giving me quizzes (?) on what to do betting wise in various situations. I distracted him long apparently until 2 guys behind us struck up a convo with him. Eventually he left, and the guys behind me asked me if I knew him. Nodded in the negative and the one dude advises he is a "talker" and got sat at a table 6 times during a tournament over the span of 3 days with him and he would not stop talking. No idea why I needed to know this.
As we got closer to the front the dudes behind me and the old lady in front of me decided to bet on the over/under of 15 minutes until we reached the window. Lady wanted to know the stakes, and the dudes were content with something non-monetary but she wanted to bet a buy in to an event, the guys declined.
Also during this time, one of the dudes behind me telling a bad beat story stated this beautiful quote which I am forever going to use going forward: "You know how sometimes your reads are off, but sometimes they are dead on?"
Yes, yes I do.
After I registered we walked to the souvenir shop to get a t shirt when I realized the teller never gave my DL back. This sent me into stress mode trying to navigate a very long registration line again without pissing everyone off. Eventually one lady put her "closed" sign up and started doing some counting so I took the opportunity to ask if could locate my DL. She did, and crisis was averted.
Then we checked into our hotel and I decided to take the night to drink and gamble on some table games. The gambling didn't go so well and was down $500ish after just a few hours, but i did meet another MTG guy at the Paigow table and we chatted up about MTG for a bit. Turns out he plays standard and Commander and I correctly surmised he was from Minnesota (you'l NEVER guess how). After that it was time to get some sleep.
The next day, we decided to go see all the casinos on the strip we had never seen previously. Collected a bunch of $1 chips from various casinos and did somegambling, ending up the day at a net change of $0. Had a late (10pmish) burger at Wahlburgers, and said hello to their mother for them (joke!). We got back to the hotel and I stayed up just reading and watching some TV. I wanted to make sure I tired myself out completely so I could get a great night's sleep.
Slept ok, still woke up with the sunrise around 6am. Got some breakfast at Harrah's then headed over to the Rio about 9:30ish.
To be continued...
3 comments:
Dang- I was sick almost the entire time I was in Las Vegas this past week. That and some bad luck (and risky play) made this a trip to forget.
Yeah man, i got a sore throat for a tiny tiny bit on Tuesday, I thought it was just taking in all the smoke in these casinos, and then it went away. Then it came back after I got home. Im still stuffy, but throat is better.
why would anyone ever root for a guy whose from the UK?
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