Day Sixteen - Amazingly Surreal!

Bonjour!

This is going to be my last post everybody, so first of all thank you for keeping up and following my shananagans in Vegas! This will hopefully be the best post due to a couple of big reasons.

So first of all my last day in Vegas. Poker and Freemont was the plan. Let's start with the poker.

Sat down in an enjoyable game at Planet. Was making some incredible reads, great plays, good folds, good calls so a very average game.. Then suddenly I have a big hand. Now for all you none poker players, I suggest you too read this:

I start with TJ of diamonds. The flop comes Q82 (Q and 8 was both diamond). Turn was a 9 of diamond. All you poker people will know exactly what that means. For the others, this makes a Q high straight flush (5 cards running in order of the same suit). This is a BIG hand. I mean it's unlikely i'll ever have this specific hand ever again it's that rare! The best part is Planet have a high hand jackpot, so for this hand I picked up an extra $250!!!!!!

Put this together with an extra $40 I won from some good play, I have finished Vegas on a BIG high poker wise. After losing $200ish yesterday I was a bit down, but to come back and win $290 the next day was very refreshing.

My final poker summary. 16 full days in Vegas, and I've made $600! Now it's not millions, it's not thousands, but it's not a loss. In fact it's quite more than that. $600 in 3 weeks for my first ever real life go at poker cash games is quite a success. I have a lot to learn, a lot more experience to gain, but I'm happy my current skills have managed to bring some profit to the holiday!

After the poker, without doubt had to go down to Freemont. Was wondering if it will be as good as everyone says! Well, I can quite clearly state, it was about a million times better. Incredible! If anyone ever goes to Vegas, it is the 1 biggest thing you MUST see without fail. Absolutely incredible. Will stick a few piccies on my facebook and one below for people to see.

To summarise Vegas, we had the good:
- Straight Flush
- Profit from Poker
- Cheap but amazing food
- Cheap shopping
- Incredible weather
- Incredible shows

and a bit of bad:

- Poker downswings
- More walking than I could dream of (in a nightmare sense...)
- No chocolate cake on my last night as the place was unexpectadly shut :'(

It has definitely been the birthday/holiday/experience of a lifetime. As "firsts" go, I don't think anything will ever beat this!

Thanks to everyone again for following this blog. There's been the ups and downs but I'm hoping it's not been totally boring! It will be something to look back on for me at least, in 30 years time. Hopefully I'll be a big pro by then!

Enjoy the last piccy. See you tomorrow guys!


Freemont:

Day Fifteen - Frustrating Finalé

Hey hey!

Well today was annoying! I got up with the intention of playing poker, even though I couldn't find a game till about 5pm because the strip was empty!

Anyway managed to find one at MGM... A standard 1/2 blinds no limit game right? Well every single raise on the table was up to $18 or something stupid. The average raise was 9 times the blind. In 4 hours I had AK twice and that was it. Both times I'd called those big raises, missed, and been raised all in so folded. Great.

Then tonight decided to play in the IP game. Looked pretty easy with some incredible passive players, so good hands should pay off. Well I had 2 pair, twice.. big pots.. and both times the other person had sets. The chance of a pocket pair hitting a set on the flop is a 1 in 5.. the chance of hit happening twice in a row is a 1 in 25...

With about 10 hours of poker today, I didn't see AA, KK, QQ, or an AK/AQ which held up, or a lower pocker pair that hit a set.

If the good hands are losing, and the bad hands aren't improving, it's impossible to make money! It's pretty tough!

So I'm down today quite a bit.. Still $320 up for the holiday, which is good considering this time last week I was pretty much even... In summary its still $320 of pure profit, even though I'm majorly frustrated that it should be more...

I feel my game's still been ok. Sure there's little issues here and there, but all in all the end result was just a frustrating run of luck I guess.

My favourite game at Planet was unavailable today so hopefully it will be a bit busier tomorrow and I can say a proper goodbye to it!

One day left!

Day Fourteen - A Blue Day

Good evening people!

Today was an interesting day. I did pretty much sweet nothing except go see the Blue Man Group!

The Murray v Federer Final was on at 2pm soon after I got up. I made an effort to go all the way to the Mirage sportsbook to watch it on the cinema style screens, and he lost quickly in 3 straight sets!

So I didn't have much to do. 3 hours longer and we'd be eating, so no point starting a marathon poker session! Popped to the spa as I really fancies a sports massage, but got to book 2 days in advanced which sucks.

This evening then we went to see the Blue Man Group. Incredible show. It was mainly about music creation as well as some typical drama mixed in. A complete mime while playing very strange musical instruments. The visual, lighting and audio was immense and very impressive, though I thought they could have done a bit more with the drama side of things. Don't get me wrong it's unique and a must-see though :)

The last couple of days are interesting. Do I spend them seeing the things I've missed like a tiger here or dolphin there, or do I play lots of poker. Do exactly what I enjoy and what I've come for! I've decided that I'd prefer to play poker this time, and if I come back again with a certain lady friend, that's the time for seeing things and taking lots of pictures! I mean I've done the Grand Canyon, Blue Man Group, seen every casino on the strip pretty much, will do Freemont street tomorrow night... That's not too bad is it!?

I think Dave will be seeing things but I'm going to get as much poker as I can out of the last couple of days. I'm now pretty sure that I'll come back at least $140 up from Vegas. I'd have to get stacked both tomorrow and the day after for me to come back with that, so I'm pretty hopeful I can build on that $540! I guess it depends on the cards. I'd say it's an 80% chance I come back with more, but we all know those 20%'s have been hitting against me a lot so far!

Anyway going to watch a bit of Poker After Dark on NBC and fall asleep. Not long at all now guys! See you soon!

Day Thirteen - Rock Therapy!

Hey guys!

Today was an absolutely fantastic today! In a very good mood this evening, and haven't even played a hand of poker!

Got up and watched Andy Murray destroy world number 1 Rafael Nadal. That meant I won a nice big bet so who can't enjoy that start to a day! So now Murray is in the final tomorrow at 2pm Vegas time, and I'll definitely have to take some time out to watch that! COME ON MURRAY!

Then in the evening, SHINEDOWN! It gets better too. What I didn't know was that support bands included Red, and Jet Black Stare!!! Jet Black Stare are a very similar band who I've heard recently so made it even more exciting!

No one disappointed either. The gig was incredible. I managed to stand right at the front of the venue so got some great piccies, 2 of which will be below! Plus at the end of the gig I caught the guitarists signed pick :D ACE! The music was incredible, the atmosphere was brilliant... Wow I love good rock!

So I'm in a pretty good mood. Tomorrow will include watching tennis, playing poker, and seeing the Blue Man group at 10pmish. With front row seats and a poncho it should be a great experience!

Just to keep in touch with the summary thing, I'm still $540 up poker wise after 13 days. That's $540 profit simply for poker, not including my expensive shopping, shows or eating habbits! Only once I come home and convert my cash can I really see how much this holiday has cost...

Thanks to everyone who's been following this. Hope it's been interesting and enjoyable! Not long to go now and it's going to be a very busy few days!

Oh and if anyone living in Leeds fancies picking me and Dave up from the train station on friday at about 11:45am, I really wouldn't complain ;)

Bed time for now, so lastly the pictures:

The lead singer of Shinedown:



The cool guitarist (click on the pic to see the full thing. Blogspot cuts half of it...):

Day Tweleve - Me Tinks!

Hey guys!

Ok bit drunk. I admit. Sorry for any typos I make.

Just got back from Pure at Ceasars. WOW. This nightclub is incredible. I mean every 2 mninutes some bouncer is coming round with a towel on his foot cleaning the floor, that's how plush this place is!

So I went for a drink, Vodka and Coke to get the night started... $25!!!!!!!!!!! WOW that's a lot for a drink right? Wrong. She got a glass, poured some vodka in, more vodka, more vodka, more vodka, then a bit of coke. She gave me like a quadrouple vodka! Incredible. I mean I've never been drunk before after 2 drinks, but this is just ridiculous!

As for the club itself, the music was great but there were WAY too many private VIP sections. It turned out the main area was simply restricted to the bar and a bit of the dance floor so very cramped. But don't let that put you off. It was a brilliant experience and, well, I'm drunk and happy so I guess mission accomplished!

As for poker, had a session at planet earlier today. Finished $90 up too! Finally things are paying off. Good hands are hitting big pots, and I even folded the nuts flush in one hand! 979KJ flop with 3 spades. I had AJ of spades and folded to $70 on the river. Biggest fold of my life but the guy announced he had 77 for a house!

So it takes my tally up to $540 for the Vegas trip so far after 12 days. Pretty good I guess. I don't expect it to stay at that figure for long. It will either go down a couple of hundred or up in the next few days, but it's nice to know that good poker is starting to pay off!

Anyway I'm a bit too dizzy for the computer so I best get to bed. Night all!

Day Eleven - 'Elllll Yeah!

Evening all (I'm never sure whether to put evening (mytime) or morning (yourtime) at the start of these blogs!)

Anyway hello. Today was interesting. Went to downtown at lunchtime... OOPS! No one told me it's rubbish except for Freemont! No good poker there at all and was bored after 30 minutes! Back we went to the strip. We'll save Freemont for another day.

After wasting 6 hours going back and forth we found a great game at Planet Hollywood. The 1/2 was quite juicy so sat down with $200. The way things have been going I decided to play it as tight as humanly naturally possible while making a few limps.

Well my prayers today were answered. KK hit a K on the flop, 55 hit a 5 on the flop, 88 hit an 8 on the flop, AJ hit an AJ2 flop... And people were betting big! I sat down with $200 and left the table with $640!!!!!!!!!!

So my total profit for vegas now is $450. It's incredibly how one day can change an entire weeks worth of poker. It feels deserved however. Take away my run today, but taking away my bad run, and the amount of profit sounds about right! I mean how often does people get quads beating them by the same guy twice in an hour? At least things have evened out a bit I guess!

Met a few great people at the table too. Some guy who's a massive Shinedown fan. I think I've talked him into going to the gig on Sunday night. I really hope he goes as I don't want to be a loner! Also some girl at the table who's a travelling pro. She plays poker every day without fail but never stays more than a few weeks in the same city. Vegas is a place she comes to every now and then to build up her travelling roll! Incredible. We had a fun chat when I found out she was Jewish too (and from Texas... !)

Anyway feeling good tonight. I've been frustrated with outdraws recently and felt like things haven't added up. Tonight I'm happy that they have! I've played good poker and I've been paid off, and that's what it's all about!

Also now booked tickets to go see the Blue Man Group on monday night! Managed to get seats right at the front, though Ponchos are provided due to the interaction with water paint apparently! Also very exciting...

Well that's about it for now... Still loving the place and sad there's now less than a week here. It's gone quickly, but 17 days is not too long in Vegas for a poker player! England (poker-wise) is going to be very depressing....

Speak to you all later!

Oh and Suzzi, look what I found:



And this is our window view :)

Day Ten - A Grand Day!

Morning guys!

Well today was the Grand Canyon flight! It was an early morning wake up at about 4:30am and a quick breakfast, but we were on the helicopter at 8amish and flying up...

The aircraft can carry 7 passengers. Funnily 2 of the people who were meant to be there locked themselves out their hotel room so it was only 4 of us! That meant a lot of extra room for free. Wehey!

About 25 minutes into the ride, we're above Hoover Dam, and suddenly warning lights come on! UH OH! Indeed it was an uh oh moment. The pilot had to turn the thing around and go straight back!!!! Luckily he said there was another helicopter ready for us when we land and we can go on that one instead. The best bit? The other 2 people in the plane couldn't as they were in a rush. This meant that Dave and I got a VIP Grand Canyon Tour!!!! The pilot who was a fantastic guy, took us to private areas which usually only wedding couples and VIP people are taken to, in the middle of the Canyon, and we shared a full bottle of champagne between us as there was no one else!

The flight and the Canyon itself was incredible. Seeing where the Earth's plates had crashed into each other from a long way up just looked fantastic! The views were just breathtaking and I'm hoping the DVD they're sending me will reflect that!

Afterwards I had a quick nap. Hey, 4:30am is too early for me! We then walked all the way down the strip trying to find a poker game. Went even as far as Mandalay Bay!

Another amazing thing happened today too. Shinedown, one of my favourite rock bands but never released anything in England, or likely to, is being advertised as playing at Mandalay Bay on Sunday night in the smallish venue there!!!!!!!!!!!!! $24 a ticket too!!!!!!!! Unfortunately I have to go alone as Dave doesn't want to, but still, I am incredibly excited to see them live and up close!

Finally we played more poker. Had a down session early on but recovered and played some great poker in the evening. No big hands to report which is the good thing I guess, and ended up $10 in the plus.

After 10 days in Vegas, I'm $10 in the profit! Still not bad compared to most dreamers I guess!

Anyway it's pretty late now. Tomorrow I'm going to downtown to check the place out and some new casinos. Should be good fun. Back in a week now and times going fast!

See ya!

Day Nine - Ouch!

Hey guys!

Today was the worst day I've had so far in Vegas I'm afraid to say, and there's some bad news for my 2 girlies at the bottom of this blog too! It started off ok with a lie in, and managing to catch a bit of Andy Murray beating Del Potro! Come on Murray!

Sat down in the Planet Hollywood 1/2 game and, except for a quick strole through Miracle Mile and some food, that was it.

Now for the absolutely unbelievable poker hands! Ok I've had a bad run right? Everyone has them! Everyone gets outdrawn now and then right? Well today was something different. The 4 big ones:

1) I have 89 on a flop of TQJ rainbow. I bet big, get called.. turn is 2 of hearts. I bet big, get called... river is a 5 of hearts... The other guy bets marginal.. I call.. he has T3 of hearts. Yup. He hit runner runner. Heart heart. What's more is he called the bets with only T3!

2) I have AK, on a board of AQ2 (one club). I bet, other guy calls. Turn is another A (club.. can you see what's coming?). I bet big, he calls. River is a 5.... of clubs. He checks to me.. I check.. he shows K2 of clubs to take the huge pot.

3) I have 9T his time on a flop of J78... I bet, get raised all in. I call and he shows 55. Turn is a 7. River is a 7. He hits runner runner to win with a full house.

4) TWICE I have straights, and the same guy with trips goes all in with me to the river, where he hits quads BOTH TIMES!

It was worse than the above too. Rivers gave me straights and other people flushes, it was that type of day. Incredible. The same guy who was calling every bet I made hit a full house, flush, and 2 sets of quads against straights and big hands to beat me.

The good thing is EVERY time I was betting big in th ebig pot, I was a MASSIVE favourite.. like over 90%! The bad thing is that every single time I got into one of these pots, I got outdrawn! I must have lost 7 or 8 85-95% chances today. How crazy is that?

I managed to walk away only one stack down incredibly. That means so far in this vegas holiday, I am at $0, £0, €0 etc... I'm trying to be philosophical about this though. It would have been very easy for me to lose 500/600+ today with some of the hands that occured. I managed to contain my losses, win marginal pots when I read I was ahead, and structured my losses to one stack. That's good.. Very good. I've been here over a week now, and haven't lost a penny!!!!! That's great news too! And finally if all those damn hands won I'd be in a big champagne bubble bath somewhere.

Vegas was all about experiencing it. Properly experiencing it. That means the wins (first day), the losses (after a few days), and the absolute unbelievable (today). I have to be tough, pull through it, go back to basic poker, and start working my way up again like from day one.

Tomorrow morning I'll be going to the Grand Canyon. It will take my mind off the poker bit and I absolutely can't wait. Will be the best part of Vegas after all!

So if you're reading this, don't be too worried. Sure after I saw some guy outdraw me with quads twice, I felt like death, I feel much better now. Afterall even the pro's will see some sick outdraws. Negreanu lost a 7 figure bet in one hand thanks to quads, and he has to play every day to make a living!

Now a message for my 2 girlies. Mother and Girlfriend. I have bad news for you too. I trekked through Miracle Mile shop by shop, and Ugg Boots are out! They're all either sold out or have stopped selling them! No shop seemed surprised when I said I couldn't find them anywhere, so I'm at a bit of a loss I'm afraid! I'll keep looking for you girls, but I'm afraid it looks problematic!

I'm going to listen to my iphone for a bit, chill out on the laptop and grab an early night for the morning flight! Ooo very exciting!

Bye for now!

Day Eight - The Fun Day!

Morning all!

Today was a great day. The best in Vegas so far hands down for 3 reasons:
1) A shopping trip at the Las Vegas Outlet CentEr
2) An AMAZING hypnotist show
3) A good end to the evening with a poker win

First of all the shopping! I splashed out and stocked up as I knew I'd have to when I got back anyway! My itinary of new clothing includes:
- Pair of Oakley Sunglasses
- 2 Nike Dri-Fit Tennis Tops
- 1 Calvin Klein designer t-shirt
- 2 Hurley designer t-shirits
- 1 Attitude aftershave by Georgio Armani
- 1 Addidas Tracksuit Bottoms for tnenis

Sounds like a lot right? Well the Oakleys were $134 (about £150 in england!), the aftershave was $55ish, the tracksuit bottoms were $40, and the t-shirts were between $12 for Hurley, and $25 for Nike and Calvin Klein.. The Hurley t-shirts are absolutely fantastic as well! Really really good patterns!

Next the hypnosit, Anthony Cools.

This guy was the funniest guy I've seen in a LONG time. I mean it was constant none stop laughing for over an hour and a half, and it all started with a free upgrade to VIP seating which I blagged! Ace!

He was getting people to do very naughty things (clothes on though) such as having orgasms, using a chair as a prop in a porn auditition, having a leg fetish and letting the volenteers lose on the audience members! I had one young lady using my leg as a pole for a few minutes! So as I say, best entertainment in Vegas! The show was so damn funny it's incredible.

I could go on for ages talking about what happened in this show, but really it's just gotta be seen!

Finally I sat down at Excalibur for a fun and relaxing evening with a few hours of poker. Got a lucky river to outdraw some guys 2 pair but apart from that, played another solid game.. Started with $50, left with $85, I'm happy. This takes my roll up to $185 after 8 days.

Oh and for the first time, I was propositioned by a hooker.... A REAL HOOKER! It was funny yet awkward... I don't think she appreciated the giggles as I walked away mind...

Anyway had a really fun enjoyable day today. Look forward to getting back on the tables again tomorrow though undecided what else will be done yet. Definitely need to spend some time at the Miracle Mile shopping outlet for 2 reasons (both Uggs), but not sure if I can be bothered with 2 shopping days in a row!

Well that's it for now. Will update again in 24 hoursish so you'll hear from me then! Toodles!

Day Seven - Grrrr and Grrrrand Canyon!

Goood morning everyone!

Interesting day today. Got up at mid-day which is respectable and had some lunch at Planet Dailies in Planet Hollywood. Just a fantastic place... Went straight to Excalibur for the poker pro tables, and that was it for the day! I bet most of you guys would have found that boring right? Well it's what Vegas is all about for me at the moment.. the poker!

Ok well there was one more thing. I've finally booked the Grand Canyon package at $354! I checked out a few other options but the next cheapest excluded additional fees, which can sometimes add up to over $50, thus making this the cheapest and most attractive. It's a 6am trip over the Canyon, Lake Mead, Hoover Dam and some extinct Volacnoes! That's going to be my entertainment on thursday!

Anyway as for poker.. It turned out to be a nothing day. I think I finished about 10 bucks down in total so $150 up for the total holiday after day 7. In details, unfortunately another frustrating few hands cost me.. I would have been a hundred up or so minus a bad period where everything missed, I lost with pocket kings AGAIN, and I got outdrawn twice more on the big money hands.... In fact I actually got stacked twice today, so finishing near break even is a pretty good result!

It's kind of frustrating at the moment as I feel like I'm playing good poker. Sure I'm playing more hands than standard tight ABC poker, but I'm making great reads.. I called some girls big flop and turn bets thinking she couldn't have a pair. My read was great, but she still hit a runner runner straight to take the pot! Another hand some guy raised to $5 and had been doing that a lot! I had a small pocket pair and only $25 behind me (the Excalibur tables have very short buy ins) so I pushed all in. He called with TJ and of course hit....

On the up side, early in the day a pocket pair hit a set and I got paid off, so that's how I've only ended up $10 down!

Once again I'm happy knowing that if the odds prevailed today, I'd be nicely up. I've lost with Kings 6 or 7 times straight now so that says something about this rut I'm in. If I can keep breaking even daily through bad ruts I'm happy. The graph should gradually be going up!

Tomorrow is the shopping day. Planning on getting up and shopping through till whenever... As we're seeing the hypnotist at about 8pm and have to eat first... Either way I'm lookin forward to stocking up on some more tennis clothes and shirts and stuff... Haven't managed to find the washing machines in this place!

Missing you all... Only 10 days left now. The first week has gone super quick and with the Grand Canyon, some shows, and lots more poker to be played I'm sure the next one will go just as fast! The good news is that I'm still up, and if it keeps going this way It'll end up a very cheap holiday!

Byeeee

Day Six - More Sleep!

After staying up till 6am last night I needed a lie in. When opening my eyes at about 4:30pm, I knew I had it! Fantastic.

Got up and felt great.. .was about 6pm by the time we walked out the door to walk towards Excalibur to check out the Poker Pro games... Stopped at Bills for a steak on the way (great breakfast by the way!)

Had an enjoyable time on the Poker Pro tables. The games were so easy to read. Every decision I made was correct. I called when I was ahead, went all in when I was ahead, folded when I was behind in big hands.... Yet I came away from the day $100 down... Still $160 in total and through this bad patch, that's still a good number after 6 days.

The hands that did it with me were big. All 3 I was all in on the flop. 2 of them I was 80% favourites, the 3rd I was a 95% favourite. 95% and I still get stacked with a boat! Well it happens. If I won all 3 I'd be a good few hundred up, but hey ho that's the way it goes...

At least I know if I'm getting outdrawn this bad, and still $160 up after nearly week, at least I know that when I have a good run, it's going to be sick. The games payoff that well!

Anyway will go back to those games tomorrow... It's just past 6am again but getting up at about 12. No good sleeping till 5pm every day! Decided that the games past 2am aren't worth it, so the late late nights aren't necessary which is good...

Right then best get to bed! Speak soon!