Viva Las Vegas (Part 1)

Viva Las Vegas

Merlotgirl and I have returned from our Annual (at least) pilgrimage to Las Vegas. We were married there last Labor Day and plan on going back for our anniversary every year. This post will be quite long, and possibly broken up into several parts (we’ll see how much I can get done at a sitting). Hopefully it won’t bore the 2 or 3 people who read these things. If it does…oh well…sorry you wasted your time.

I’ll try and make it interesting, but I will be leaving out the XXX stuff. Nuff said.

FIRST CLASS

Our itinerary was as follows:

• Depart DFW at 7:30 AM on Sunday August 31st
• Check into the Golden Nugget
• Depart McCarron Airport at 1:30 PM Thursday, September 4th

That’s it. No other plans.

The trip got off to a rousing start when my lovely wife discovered that for the paltry sum of $100 each, we could upgrade to First Class for the flight to Vegas. Since I had just finished a project where I worked 91 hours in a 7 day period, the luxury of First Class was well worth it. We sat down, ordered a cocktail, loaded “The Grand” into the laptop and had a wonderful flight on US Airways.

For those who don’t already know, “The Grand” is a poker movie which went directly to DVD. I won’t say it’s good. But it is pretty hilarious. Phil Laak, Antonio Esfandiari, Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negraneau, Phil Hellmuth and others have cameo appearances. Woody Harrelson (as a self destructive gambler playing to save his casino), Dennis Farina , Cheryl Hines (as an Annie Duke type), David Cross (as the trash talking brother of Cheryl Hines), Richard Kind (as the Amateur Internet player) and Chris Parnell (as the math wizard), Gabe Kaplan (as the father of Cheryl Hines and David Cross) make this entourage poker comedy quite enjoyable. Phil Gordon and his sidekick are the analysts for “The Grand Poker Championship” of the National Indoor Poker League. It is interesting to note that each actor was given direction concerning their character, and then left to improvise each scene. Supposedly the poker matches were played by the actors as it was being filmed. The ending was determined by how the game turned out on the set. If you’re looking for a great poker movie, watch Rounders. If you’re looking for a poker related laugh…I can recommend this movie.


$20 Trick

We arrive at McCarron and take a cab to the Nugget, where we check our bags with the bellman and head off to the Champagne Brunch. We sat overlooking the Nuggets newly renovated pool (with the Shark Tank in the middle of it) and had a fantastic Brunch while sipping Poinsettias. We’re off to a great start.

When we finish with Brunch it’s still prior to check in time, but we go to the Registration Desk anyway. I slip a $20 between my Drivers License and Credit Card, and ask if there are any Complimentary Upgrades available for us. Lo and behold Derek was able to find a newly renovated North Tower room for us. This room is normally $60 / night more than what we paid…so the $20 was well worth it. The $20 trick works again!!!

We arrive at the room and find a very nice, smoke free room with a new big screen plasma TV. Very nice. Unpack and off to the poker room.

The Golden Nuggets Poker Room is not very big. Only 10 tables…but it is very nicely appointed and very comfortable. They were spreading 1-2 No Limit and 3-6 Limit with a Full Kill. We sat at the 3-6 table and played for a few hours until we decided to take a walk around downtown. This session was the beginning of a great week of poker for me. I played 2 – 3 (4 hours or longer) sessions of poker each day, and left each session with more chips then I started.

We later had dinner at The Grotto, and informal Italian Restaurant at the Nugget. It was excellent. Back to the Poker Room where I have another small winning session. Off to bed early the first night.

Labor Day Poker Tournaments

We had planned on playing in Binions 10AM Poker Tournament. When we were in Vegas last year we really liked the feel of Binions and The Golden Nugget. You could feel the essence of pre-strip Vegas, and we liked that vibe. So we were definitely going to play some at Binions. We both entered the 10AM tournament and my better half did much better than I did. I bust out when my 5h6h that flopped an Open Ended Str8 Flush draw failed to improve. I busted out early enough to go buy in the Nugget 11Am Tournament. The Nugget has 4 tournaments daily…all with the same structure. $65 buy in, with one $40 rebuy/add-on. In essence it’s a $105 buy in tournament. You start with t 2,500 and the buy-in or add-on gets you an additional t 3,000. You can rebuy/add on anytime in the first hour (3 (20) minute blind levels). The juice at $13 is pretty steep though. We played them because we really liked the room. I didn’t fare well in this tournament either.

After Merlotgirl busted out we checked on our good friends Ms. America and Bruce who were also celebrating their anniversary in Vegas. We got married the same day as them, only 24 years later. We met them over at the LV Hilton and played some Pai Gow Poker. We came very close to hitting it pretty big there. For those of you who don’t know Pai Gow Poker it’s a pretty simple game and more often then not results in a push with the dealer. You place your bet, and you can place an additional bet for Pairs Plus. In our case it was $5 on the hand, we didn’t play the Pairs Plus. You receive 7 cards and make 2 poker hands. A 5 card hand (which must be better than your 2 card hand) and a 2 card hand. For instance, if you had the following cards As Ah 2d 2s 6d 6c Qd, you would put your 2 2 6 6 Q as your 5 card hand, and your AA as the 2 card hand. You then wait to see the dealers hand. You will obviously win the 2 card hand, and if you win the 5 card hand as well you win your bet minus a small commission. If you lose the 5 card hand, you push that round and keep your bet, just like a push in black jack. Well after we’re playing a while someone else sits down at our table and is playing the Pairs Plus bet. So Merlotgirl decides to try it one time. On that bet you can bet anywhere from $1 on up. If you bet at least $5 on it, you get the “Envy” button, which means if any other player gets a big hand, you also get paid (although not as much). As soon as she places the bet, the gentleman who just joined us looks at his hand and starts babbling that he thinks he has a Royal Flush…He lays his hand down for us to see (which is legal…as a matter of fact the Dealer will help you play your hand if you ask them) and sure enough he has a Royal Flush…not only that but he has a 6 card Str8 Flush. His Royal paid him $750 and earned Merlotgirl $50. If he had somehow managed to also have the 8 of spades, he would have had a 7 card str8 flush which would have paid him $25,000 for his $5 bet, and would have netted my wife $5,000. Close….very very close.

After visiting with our friends a bit we headed back to the Nugget. We watched a movie in our room, and had a bite to eat. Relaxed for a while.

Poker and Politics

After resting for a while we find ourselves back in the Poker Room. Me sitting at a 1-2 NL table, and Merlotgirl at a 3-6 with a kill table right next to mine. I’m folding for an orbit or two…watching and listening. As it turns out my table is turning into quite a collection of characters. The 1 seat is empty. I’m in the 2 seat. In the 3 seat is a player who I played the tournament with earlier that day. He rode a lucky streak which included his preflop all in with 33 beating my TT, when he flopped a set, into the money at the 11 am tournament earlier in the day. In the 4 seat is a gentleman who looked like the Professor from Gilligans Island. 5 seat was several players throughout the night. 6 seat was a gent with a tank top on, crew cut, and I would have to say very opinionated on a variety of topics. A little rough around the edges. 7 seat several players off and on. 8 Seat an older gentleman(when I say older…I’m talking like 80) who apparently had a lot of money to throw around. Seat 9 a Willie Nelson look alike. Cowboy hat…rugged looking, about 70 years old. He was there to gamble…and apparently it didn’t matter how many times he bought in either. I can’t even tell you who was in the 10 seat. The major players in tonights events were 33 (Seat 3), the Professor (seat 4), Crew Cut (Seat 6), Ocho (80 year old in Seat 7), Willie (Seat 8 ) and yours truly.

Talk turns to politics (never a good thing at a poker table) as I’m quietly observing Crew Cut, Ocho and Willie express their displeasure with the Democrats, and expound the virtues of the Republican Party. As I’m enjoying the show at my table for ten minutes or so , I see The Professor getting a little uneasy. Finally, he’s had enough. He speaks up, in a rather loud tone “If I’m going to have to listen to this, then I’m going to have to give my opinion as well….” And he goes off on a defense of the Democrats and making accusations and imflammatory remarks about the Republicans. This sure makes folding easy when there’s a floor show. This continues for several hands…with voices on both sides getting raised. Finally, 33 who I think is trying to be funny stands up and says…”why don’t you 2 dance?” (Meaning The Prof and Willie). Well Willie, who is a Purple Heart Viet Nam war veteran has no problem with this idea…and take it to mean go outside and have at it. Well, this isn’t quite what The Professor was thinking. He being a Viet Nam War conscientious objector and all. It was really getting heated now. I hear the following conversation at my wifes table. Black woman “Is that your husband on that table?” Merlotgirl – “Yes.” Black Woman – “Is he the one wanting them to take it outside?” Merlotgirl – “ I can guarantee you it isn’t him. I’m sure he’s sitting there enjoying the show, just waiting for someone to make a mistake and take their chips.” To which I lean over and smile at both of them. Tee hee.

Needless to say the floor was called over, and reminded everyone that it’s not a good idea to talk politics at a poker table. Everyone agreed. Of course it didn’t stop the comments…but everyone agreed. And oh yeah, I love it when a plan comes together. 2 hands after a visit from the floor. The following happened. I wake up with 77 in the Big blind. It gets raised to $7 and I call, along with 5 others. Flop comes up 5 7 9 rainbow, with the 7 being the door card. $$$ flashing before my eyes. I check…and quite unexpectedly…it checks around. Fooey. 9 on the turn. Cha ching…boat. I’ll give it 1 more shot at checking. 33 bets $30…woo hoo. It folds around to me. I raise to $80. He gets this disgusted look…checks my stack which ahs only another $60 behind and he pushes all in. I insta call. He says…shit…do you have a boat. I nod my head as I table my 77’s. He flopped a str8 and is drawing dead. Ship it!!!!!!!

Next Installment will include playing a tournament with Oklahoma Johnny Hale (The Gentleman Gambler and winner of the Best All Around Poker Player at the WSOP in 1980 when they voted on it), winning a tournament at Binions, "whoaaaaa", more cash games and controversy at the Nugget