Losing streak

 As I mentioned in the last post I am playing poker less and less just due to other priorities in my life. I still love the game but finding time to play in tournaments or just to drive and hour each way to the casino and then play for 3 or 4 hours has been difficult.

I think some of the thrill has also gone out of it for me as I have been gambling or investing in crypto and the stock market and have big swings of tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars per day. 

So playing low stakes poker and winning or losing a few hundred feels like a waste of time from the monetary angle. However part of it for me has been about self-worth - showing I can out think, out maneuver and out-play the other players at the table. Its like a chess game where I'm desperate to prove I am the best player.

So now poker fits in to other trips. If I go to Vegas for other reasons I might get in one or maximum two sessions per trip. In soCal I might get to drive to the casino once per month.  And this lack of playing has finally hit my results, especially in cash games. I used to enjoy posting on social media the huge stacks of chips I had won. But more recently I lose a bullet or two and then leave head held in shame. I think its like golf - if you dont play regularly you lose your touch.  I have been very lucky in recent years winning more often than losing but in recent months I am in a losing streak. No matter what I do I cannot seem to break the streak.  In my post game analysis I dont see too many mistakes but just a lot of coolers and bad luck. 

So it happens to us all. The question is, for how long, and can I motivate myself to play regularly enough to become a consistent winner again. In the meantime, the stock market calls....

 Should I start posting again. 

I play poker less now that I have in a long while because other priorities have kicked in. However I still play when I can which includes a couple of monthly neighborhood games and the odd trip to a casino or to Vegas. 

However those Vegas trips are not all poker - for example I went for 9 days to Vegas and played 4 short sessions of poker (3 winners, 1 loser tho I played good). 

Im gambling more now on the stock market, crypto market, property market and it seems like poker has dropped down the list of things to do. 

But I like this blog, so I might keep it going...

Fun games - Polish poker or Get out your 20s

So I used to play Monday nights in a home game with a bunch of older guys, and recently started up again.

For sure, I am a net loser in these games.


Polish poker (aka Get out your 20s)

This is a high-low game with 2 rows of 5 cards and each player also getting 5 cards.

The 1st card in  the top row is turned over and you all bet.

Then the 1st card in the second row is turned over and if you have this in your hand you have to discard it. You bet every time a card is turned over.

Then you start turning over the second card in top row, followed by second card in bottom row etc.

The top row cards re used to make your poker hand, but the bottom row cards have to be discarded.

If the same card appears on the bottom row as the top, it is removed from the top row.

It is a high low game - after all 10 cards are turned you declare if you are going for hi, low or both (aka pigging it)

The  low hand is based on the number of cards each player has left in his hand and points per card (ace low). The lowest count wins. So a 2-2-5 would be 9 points

The high hand is the best poker hand you can make with cards left in your hand. You can fold at any time.

This game builds a huge pot. Note at any time you can be screwed - you might have KKJ left in your hand with a K and J on the top row so you have a full house, but then the case K appears on the bottom row and now you just have 1 card and a pair of jacks.

San Diego Casino - Oceans 11

So Oceans 11 is a card room that is the closest poker room to where I live (about 35 mins away) and full of retiress, marines and poker lovers of all ages. They do good promotions and good food, but I love going down there for their poker tournaments and active cash games.

Here are some photos from Oceans 11 sessions:

San Diego Casino - Barona

I rarely ever get this far south but had guests in town and they wanted to go to Barona Indian Casino so off we went. I was delighted to see they had an active poker room but it also took me ages to get a seat. Anyways, when I finally got started I quickly started getting some chips.


Here is a photo from the Barona session

Inland Empite Casinos - Pala

Pala is about a 75 min drive from my home but is mostly freeway with a tiny bit of windy road at the end so quite easy to get to. I like their room but they recently downsized it and there are never too many games. However if I have guests that like slot machines this is a great little casino to go to because it is an Indian casino with slots, blackjack, Indian-style craps etc. Also the food is fantastic here, and the music is mostly quite good too.

Here are some photos of a couple of recent visits:

Los Angeles Casinos - Hawaiin Gardens

One of my favorite southern Califonia casinos is The Gardens (aka Hawaiin Gardens) Casino, technically in Orange County. They remodelled a while back and moved from a big tent-like structure to a nice large spacious air-conditioned room.

I stopped in there recently because I was stuck in traffic and played some $1-$2 for fun.

Here are the photos of my stack as it grew.

Los Angeles poker - Hollywood Park

I like to move around the casinos in Los Angeles so I am not too well known - this gives me the best chance to put myself in a game and play the fish whilst amassing chips. Sometimes I probably am the fish but I have a good set of winning sessions so hope my experience kicks in when it needs to:

Here is a  photos from a recent trip to the Hollywood Park casino in LA 

Vegas Trip

I sometimes go to Las Vegas on business. I sometimes go for a football (soccer) tournament with my adult team. And I sometimes go just to play poker. Once per year I try to meet my English friends from the LPPL and Portsmouth area players when they go out for the WSOP. More recently this also included the APAT crowd, one of whom I bought a small piece of in the main event.

Some photos from my recent trip and playing adventures, where we stayed downtown in the Golden Nugget so mostly played there or the WSOP:

Im back to the blog

So I have not updated the blog in a long while.

Its time to start writing about poker again.

I still play, still have many winning sessions and a few losing ones.

 I play a lot in southern California and occasionally in Las Vegas or Laughlin. Its true that LA or southern California is the heart of poker playing America, The casinos always have multiple games going. I always have options in where to go.

I like to take posts of my stack slowly increasing or decreasing. It gives me a timeline and inspires me the next time I go to make good decisions and hopefully the stack will follow.

WSOP success

This post would be great if I told you I went to Vegas to play in the WSOP and won one of the events at the RIO....

I went out to Vegas in June to meet with some English friends who had flown over there to play in the $1000 NL tournament. They are part of a group called the LPPL which organize pub poker all across the UK. The best players get to go to regional and national finals and win prizes including a trip to Vegas and entry into this tourney.

I just went to watch. I left my house in southern Califonia at noon and arrived at 5pm, checked in at the hotel and made my way over to the Rio to rail them. Unfortunately most of them had already been knocked out so I said hello to the rest and then entered the 6pm Daily deep-stack tournament just to get some poker under my belt to start the week.

I was already tired when I started (from the 5 hour drive) but I ended up playing for 12 hours and finally 5 of us did a chip count chop for a very healthy payday.  I had a stunning headache for the last 2 hours of the tournament and was extremely tired so pleased with how I played.

Its interesting that the Rio will not facilitate the chop in any way. They insist on paying 1st place money to 1 player, 2nd place to another etc. and then have the players informally do the chop by handing money to each other. This creates a strange atmosphere and somewhat a lack of trust and also breaks some IRS rules on accurately recording who actually is supposed to get taxed on the winnings. If you have a final table with a couple of Europeans who are not taxed in the USA this is all very simple but if your final table is all American citizens (like ours was), a chop becomes quite the logistical nightmare are someone has to take the tax hit for first place (say $39k) even though they only get the chop amount (say $20k). This affects the payout structure as that person then wants to be compensated extra for the taxes they will pay.

As much as the Venetian sucks for opposing online poker in the USA, at least they pay out properly, will facilitate and pay out chopped amounts and will give you the correct IRS forms.

Poker vLog from Las Vegas new grinder

Started watching this guy and his adventures moving to Vegas and playing poker.  As I love poker and I love going to Vegas it seems like a good fit for me to enjoy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP0wXsSYsvc


I'm thinking about writing a blog on poker as a career and the pros/cons of it but then I don't want to get too preachy. But consider one point:

If you play full time (like this guy or like I did for 2-3 years in 2008), what happens after you get fed up of this lifestyle or want something more meaningful. You have a massive hole in your resume and who is going to employ you as the perception of non-poker players is you are an addicted gambler and have been full time de-gen for the last few years.

So enjoy it while you can, but understand every day spent playing poker may be a day that makes it harder for you to get some other job in the future.

Oceans 11 - low stakes fun

Decided to play $1-$2 at oceans as they had just made it their minimum game (it used to be $1-$1) and has a buy-in of only 30 big blinds. This almost guarantees a certain quality of fun/social player who maybe does not mind losing some money.

I got down there about 9pm. I figured the 7pm $35  tournament would have lost some players by then and they would be playing the cheap cash games. I bought in for my $60 and waited for the action to being.

Some guy brought a load of red chips to the table and proceeded to bluff them off $60 at a time. I was lucky to be a recipient quite a few times. All I did was value bet my big hands (2 pair, straights, flushes) and fold to any obvious strength. Mostly my opponents would show down a big pair or over pair having played them totally wrong.,

Some of my friends have criticized me for playing low stakes and just picking off the players like this but the games are really very social and make my hobby more enjoyable. Some of the players are just retirees trying to fill their time but others are young Asian men determined they are going to become professional players.

I quit the game about 12.30am and headed home. I did not get any big hands that I can think of and the poker was quite unremarkable.  It was nice to go when I did as there was no traffic and I got out before the casino started blasting out the cold air to keep everyone awake through the night.

Vegas - April

Had a quick 2 day trip to Vegas a couple of weeks back. My buddy goes there for insurance conferences and gets his room and board paid but wants someone to carpool with him. I am lucky that I still get comps for free rooms so I often agree to go. This time I had a freebie at Excalibur.

We left at 7pm Sunday and got in before midnight then met for drinks about 12.30am and drunk beer for 4 hours before deciding to go gambling. Probably not the best start. On Monday he went to his conference and I did not see him again until Weds when it was time to go home.

So Tuesday I started playing:

I played for a bit on Monday art Excalibur but they only ever get one or two tables open and while the player pool is very soft, the chairs are not great and the drinks are slow. So I headed over the Mandalay Bay where everything seems a little more classy. Also I have a different friend staying in the Mandalay Bay with his family and I thought I might say hi so he had gone walkies that day down to Venetian.

I then headed over to MGM which is a must if you are staying on that corner of the strip. It has more poker action than Mandalay Bay, Excalibur, Luxor, or Monte Carlo combined. And NYNY and Tropicana have no poker action at all. 

I played one tournament at MGM at 11am on Tuesday mornng. The structure of the MGM morning tournament has changed and almost become reasonable (it used to be a stupid double the blinds every round like most of the cheapo tournaments in Vegas). I went deep but no cash. Then i played the cash tables a bit more at MGM as I had a good session there on Monday.

 I managed to hook up with my buddy and his wife/kids on Tuesday afternoon and walked around with them showing them some of the Vegas highlights. Finally we got back to their hotel (the Mandalay Bay) and the kids were tired so my buddy could finally join me in the card room. That was a fun session as I made $750 in about 90 minutes. Then I went drinking so no more poker that night.

Overall I did well at poker, but lost quite a bit playing Craps. I love that game, but there is a reaosn TJ Cloutier went broke playing it. It is very addictive and I know how easy and quick it is to love hundreds or thousands of dollars playing it.

Met up with my lift on Weds and after watching a soccer game in the Sports Book headed back to OC.

Very quiet on the poker front

Very quiet for me on the poker front. I have had a few recent trips:

Vegas - beginnning of July
Vegas - end of July
The Bike casino - August

Although I played a bit in Vegas and won a tourney (at Monte Carlo) it was nothing to write home about and I was not please with how I played.

I think the real problem is I got sick, and playing poker when you are sick is not a good idea. I had a similar problem when I went to Vegas for the WSOP earlier this year and tried playing 2 long daily tournaments back-to-back on consecutive days. That time, I got really tired, bubbled both tournaments and it took me 3 days to recover.

Maybe I am just getting old!!

My recent visit to The Bike was also very forgettable. I still love playing poker but seem to be struggling to get motivated to driove 40-60 minutes just to get to a casino. I'm busy with my work so maybe thats the reason.

I will continue putting updates on here but it may become more of an observers blog than a players blog!!

Poker - start of 2014

I've hardly played....honest.

I've been to Vegas 3 times so far this year and been once a week to my local card room (Oceans 11). I was doing pretty good in cash games but then decided to enter tournaments again.

I won a daily Aria tourney (5 way chip chop) with 100+ players so that was ok.

Since then my form has been terrible, losing money in my last 3 or 4 sessions. The last session I must have got my stack in good at least 5 times against 1 or 2 opponents either pre-flop or on the flop and they caught up or sucked out. I lost with aces twice, kings and queens. I lost with a set twice (on a dry board). People paid the full price to chase their draws and they hit. Even the one pair chasing a set hit. It was brutal.

Still, I played ok - the results were just bad. I want bad players to make bad calls and give me their money so I am not complaining.

Session Photos - December - spinning some wheels

Don't know if it is a good idea or not to post these. This session I left with 4 racks so not that successful but still ok.

Session Photos - September

Some session photos - building a stack

Someone asked me how I build my stack so I took a bunch of photos during the session to show how it builds slow and steady. I started this session with one rack and left with 7 racks.

Session photos

Some session photos - August

I never thought they allowed photographs in the casino but then my buddy discretely took photos as he played on the same table as me and I did not even know he took a photo. So I realized I could do the same. Someone asked me how I stack my chips so here it is (at Oceans). Oceans let you keep the racks on the table (some casinos do NOT allow this!!). This was from a session in August.

Some session photos - January

This was my first session in Vegas this year. I was there for a soccer tournament (I do it every January) and tacked on a poker session before heading home to California. All this from a single buy-in.

Reddit and Poker

So I have been reading the Reddit poker forums and somebody keeps telling beginners that they should be winning because low-stakes NL holdem games are super soft. In fact its become a fact of life and history if you need to implicitly brag about how good you are, just claim low-stakes live games are soft. Even though 70+% of poker players lose money playing those same games the games must be soft and it must be variance.

Well, I call BS on that. The games are getting harder and harder and have been for some time.

Crushing it

I have not posted for a little while so thought a short update was in order. I am playing once or twice a week mostly cash games with the odd tournaments here and there.

I still play mostly at Oceans 11, Hawaiian Gardens (aka The Gardens) and The Bike just because they are close to where I live but I also head out to Pala, Pechanga, Commerce and even Morongo occasionally.

I sometimes think it sucks I have to drive a minimum of 35 mins to get to any casino and often anywhere from 35 mins to 90 mins to hit any of the above casinos. But then I realize the LA area is just fantastic for live poker and variety of cash games and players - it truly is the best in the world. Only Las Vegas could come close and thats mainly because so many cardrooms are in walking distance. But in LA (or more accurately Orange County) I have to drive. Then I put in long sessions because I hate the idea of having to drive back home.

Why visit different card rooms? I don't want to become a regular face that everyone in the casino recognizes when I come in the door. Unfortunately this is happening anyhow to some degree as I like to have fun, tip well and most dealers then remember you even if you have not gone back for several weeks or months. So far I think a lot of players/regulars don't remember me so well (but I might be wrong). There are a few players who are super friendly though and remember my name every time and always greet me warmly when I turn up at their casino.

Also I am playing a couple of home games now (this is a new thing) - just low stakes local games with friendly people. Its a way of meeting new people who love poker like I do and so far has been moderately  profitable.

Here are some recent results:

- poker @ Oceans - daily tourney - chopped it for about $600
- poker @ Oceans - played 2-2 - won $1500 (folded/missed a $16k bad beat jackpot payout!!)
- poker @ Oceans - played 1-1 - won $600
- poker # TheBike - $million dollar tourney heat - came 65th out of 400 but only 40 paid
- poker@TheBike - played NL40, NL80, NL100 - won $800
- poker (home game at Daves) - won $140
- poker @ Oceans - played 2-2 - won $400
- poker @ Oceans (300 players - players monthly freeroll tourney) - chopped as chip leader for $1440
- poker @ Pala - played 1-2 - won $480
- poker @ Oceans - played 2-3 - lost $80 (amazing swings - up $1000, down $600, up $400, etc.)

As you can see its been crazy fun and I am running pretty good. I have finally found an approach to cash games that seems to be working consistently well for me especially at lower stakes. And because I am playing for fun as an aside to my computer work winning or losing just does not matter that much. I am using the winnings to do some renovations on the house so that it my motivation to keep adding more to the bankroll.

Finally for this update, I found a fun little post about the ups and (mostly) downs of a professional poker player. Not sure if its all as bad as it seems but I enjoyed reading it and looking at the graphics and appreciated the humor. Its at:

http://www.cracked.com/article_19303_6-reasons-professional-poker-way-harder-than-it-looks_p2.html

New Year poker

Its been quite a while since I wrote a blog but that is because I am now playing fairly consistently but not too frequently. Normally I am booking a small win each session with the occasional loss.

This week I did get in a session at Oceans 11 mainly so I could cash in a $200 player bonus before the bonus money ran out.  I played overnight in the small 2-2 game and slowly chipped up my $80 buy-in to about $800 when the following hand occurs.

Background - this is 9.26am - the double jackpot bad beat ends at 9.30am so this is effectively the last hand before it finishes. I get KK in early position and get in a pot with 2 ladies.

- Lady 1 is a reasonably solid player; has $300 - she likes to bet into pots to apply pressure but will fold to a decent raise. Her bet does not mean she has the goods and she plays mostly premium hands.
- Lady 2 is a passive player, has $250 - she loves to chase flush draws no matter the price. She has chased about 8 in a row but been quite lucky. She can play any 2 cards from any position but mostly suited cards.

So I raise preflop but keep the raise to $22 because I want to keep any jackpot hand (A-10, A-J, A-Q, AK and TT-AA) around as this is the last hand of the double jackpot. The 2 ladies call.

We see a Q high flop with 2 hearts and 2 raggy cards.

I .bet out $40 and Lady 1 raises to $80. Lady 2 takes quite a while but then flats the $80.  Back to me and I think about the players.

Lady 1 will often raise to test the water without really having hit the flop and always folds to a re-raise in that case. She did not look confident when putting in the raise. If she had QQ or AQ she would have raised preflop. As she likes premium hands that only leaves KQ or complete air in her range. So I think she will fold to a re-raise.

Lady 2 is a little more complicated but offers a lot of value. She would have raised AA, KK, QQ preflop but otherwise would call any other hand. If she has 2 hearts she will chase away her whole stack. She could have hit a raggy 2 pair also but thats the top of her range. She looked in pain calling the %80 which makes me think a flush draw is most likely.  I decide to make it a big re-raise and get all of Lady 2 chips in the pot and hope she is chasing the flush.

I raise to $280.

Lady 1 tanks for a while but eventually folds
Lady 2 tanks for a really long time before deciding to call.

She had a weak 2 pair. I didn't catch up and she won a largish pot with squeals of delight, high fives all around and I could see this was a rare feeling for her to have a big stack. Of course I congratulated her and told her it was well played and hoped she would stick around to give some back. Unfortunately about 15 mins later she left the table with all those chips.

Im not too upset how I played the hand. She called preflop with Q-7 off, hit the miracle 2 pair and cracked my overpair. But in general I think my reads were good and my plan for the hand had a great chance of pulling in a $500 pot. If she was chasing a flush she could have hit it and still won the pot. Even if I make her pay was over the odds to chase she still gets lucky sometimes.

I carried on playing and left a few hours later with a $550 profit. Not great, but ok. I probably wont play for another week or so unless I find a tournament somewhere this weekend.

Oceans 11

Played yesterday evening at Oceans 11 casino in Oceanside and managed to leave with 11 racks of chips. Strange enough it was a slow start with me going through a couple of buy-ins before things got turned around and I started making some profit.

Once again my belief to be patient and keep playing the right way will eventually be rewarded. I did not get involved playing junk cards out of position like so many players who were winning short-term. I tried not to donk off all my chips at the first decent cards I saw. Every decision was well thought out and eventually I started taking everyones chips.

Pechanga

You have to love Labor Day poker. Every card room in Southern California is full of recreational cash-game players of differing abilities. A little bit of run-good can bring a nice little profit.

So it was yesterday when the wife wanted to visit the outlet mall near Pechanga and I went and played poker. By the time she had spent a few hours spending $200 on various items I had cashed out $570 from the $1-$3 game.

We had a wander around the slot machines playing the penny slots fir fun, then finished out the day playing a little 3-card poker.

Even the drive home down the 91 freeway back into Orange County had some run-good. No traffic slowdown at all (which is amazing with all the folks coming back from Las Vegas and the desert/lakes etc).

Cash games

I've fitted in a 6 week European trip since my last post which means I am not posting too much. Obviously now I am back working the computers I am playing less poker but i AM still playing and very focused on improving my cash game.

I now feel very confident I can go into any casino and play low stakes NL holdem and consistently book a win. When I play for a long session I find it gets very swingy - I go up a bit, down a bit, up a bit etc. and it just depends when I leave if I am taking or donating money.

So why is this?

Foe a while I would start strong and win a bit and then over time lose it and a bit more back. Then leave (hit a stop-loss) - I assumed this was because other players were figuring out my game and then outplaying me.

Then I started staying longer and noticed it was a roller coaster. Normally I would win a bit, then lose a bit, then win a bit, then lose a bit etc. Often I could book a decent win on the second time around the roller coaster. Strangely this was very consistent. and I was playing sessions between 20 and 30 hours so had a fair few hands to build my theory on. I also considered if general tiredness was a factor but eventually decided this was a minor factor as I often went on winning streaks at the end of my session.

When I am winning I am playing reasonably tag, playing more hands and some draws in late position, making some bluffs from late position or playing back as LAG players but often hitting my cards to win at the river. For example maybe I play QJ suited in late position and hit the J or draw on the flop which is pretty weak, but through semi-bluffing would get there on the river or win with the bet on the flop or turn. Mostly I would be wanting to price my opponent out on the turn from chasing his own draw and therefore looking very strong. Sometimes I just get good cards pre-flop and hold up.

But on the losing streak I get crap cards all the time, when I do see half a hand (pairs, high cards) I inevitably play and lose - the other guy just seems to his everything. I get long spells with J2, 93, 72, 32, 52 etc - basically just junk. Maybe I occasionally play K-rag suited to hit a flush draw but mostly miss. So for the most part I am folding, chasing a couple of hands in position and missing.

Sometimes in position I am not even caring what my cards are - just trying to play against theTAG players and outplay them when they miss, or out-bet the loose players Unfortunately on the losing streaksmy opponents never seem to miss. I have tried changing seats, new setups, scrambling the cards, even changing tables - a cold streak just seems to continue until it is ready to come to an end.

Then it turns again and I start winning. Throughout this I notice several players leave when they win a rack - this goes against the advice to keep playing when you are winning and have the measure of the other players. But it seems at low limit this is indeed the way to win money. Win a rack and get up. Go to another table and try again (maybe a different game). Of course over time this will give you a bad reputation at the table if you effectively are hitting and running but you will win money.

It also brings back the early quote I read - good players win more from their winning hands and lose less with their losing hands. Maybe it should be said they win more from their winning streaks and less from their losing streaks.  Watching Daniel N. lose consistently on High Stakes Poker when getting it in with the best hand time and time again makes me think this swinging/variance is consistent even at the highest levels.

So for now the plan is - win a rack and move on......

Las Vegas - downtown

Went to Vegas on Sunday night and returned on Wednesday morning. Stayed and played at the Golden Nugget in down town Freemont Street - they only had 1-2NL and 2-4 LIMIT games running so I played mostly 1-2 with occasional periods on the limit game if I was waiting for a no-limit seat.

I played basic ABC poker but managed to win over $2000 in 2 days of play (Mon and Tues). The room was surprisingly busy and quite soft although I obviously ran good. Most tables were full of talkative nice people with a couple of drunks to watch for entertainment. Once I had targeted the weak players I seemed to systematically walk all over them and take their chips.

In my last session one of the players who I had bullied a couple of times in earlier sessions watched me from start to finish get information and take 3 stacks of red chips off one guy isolating him and winning small pots. He commented how much he had enjoyed watching me take apart his nemesis on the table and generally how he felt he had learnt a lot just by watching me play.

Of course that was a great compliment. I'm not sure if I deserved it or not but I seemed to play well and have a little bit of luck. Players were shoving their stacks into me AFTER I had made the nuts or a tight player with an obvious big pair would shove into me AFTER I had flopped a set or 2 pair. It was almost comical.....

So I enjoyed myself. The room was busy both days (surprisingly as it is mid-week) and is comfortable. It has about 10 tables in it and 4-5 were always in use even early int he morning.

I drove home on Monday morning and am looking forward to my next trip out there!

Online poker

So I am able to still play from USA on Lock Poker. I think this is because I am British and have an English address but the key thing is Lock do not filter out USA IP addresses so I can play wherever I am in the world.

The software is ok - not as good as Pokerstarts or Full Tilt used to be but still ok. It is not very busy so not a lot of tournament action but there are 2 or 3 cash tables at each level and PLO tables too.

Playing for fun

Its been a while since I've blogged about poker. Probably because I am back working the computers and have been for a while now - Im busy juggling some large projects earning a stable hourly rate. I can consistently earn more money doing computer programming and project management than I can playing poker.

But I still love poker. I've been going to the casino playing live games every week or so. I spend 11 days in Vegas in January. I went for a soccer tournament at the weekend and got so sick I stayed the next week and the following weekend and played a whole bunch of poker. Mostly cash games as I was weak and needing a lot of sleep.

So how do my cash games go. I win some, I lose some. I've been working hard watching other players trying to figure out how they play and especially how they bluff. I've done a lot of work re-visiting basics and thinking through betting patterns, board texture, potential bluffing opportiunites (for me or for the other guy).

The results - I am winning more sessions than I am losing. I still mix in the odd tournament or 2. I have mixed up where I play and now sometimes go to the PALA Indian casino in San Diego area as well as Oceans 11, Pechanga, TheGardens, Bike and Commerce.

Only playing once or twice a week give me a nice life balance so I think I enjoy the game more. Of course once I am playing I never want to leave the table - sometimes I win a bunch and then give it all back by staying way too long. Generally this is something I am working on - it never hurts to walk away a winner!!

Full Tilt down and out

Looks like Full Tilt will never be coming back. Shame as I played a lot on there. This blog explains a fair bit:

http://hammerplayer.blogspot.com/2011/09/full-tilt-fully-sinking-in.html

Just wondering, speaking aloud as I am thinking, if I can join a lawsuit to sue Full Tilt and get all my deposits back over the last few years. Obviously the games were a scam, players I played against were playing with phantom cash deposits and the directors were allegedly skimming money off the top all the while the site (and company) was insolvent and operating a ponzi schema.

Just wondering.... wheres that attorneys number!!

Poker is a game. Life is a game. In the good old USA, suing people is a game!

WSOP staking

I just read that Tony Dunst is now $213k in makeup over the last year. He basically bricked the WSOP and Venetian deep stack series.

Worse still, his backer also plays poker and has bricked the last year.

Now internet poker is not available to US players I wonder how long before some serious depression sinks in.

I like Tony. I've met him a couple of times on the circuit (Aussie millions and WSOP) and chatted with him. I read his blog and he seems an optimistic and smart young man. And Im glad he has a small media job to keep him focussed. But $200k in makeup!! Ouch.

Big prizepool tournies

I played a couple of bigger tournaments recently. I played the Bike $150k guarantee and just failed to make it to day 2 going extremely deep but then losing a cruel pre-flop allin race KQ v K2 v K8 when I spiked a Q on the rainbow flop only to lose to a runner runner flush.

Last week I played at Commerce in their million dollar tournament on the last day 1 flight. The were 796 players so 75 would be paid and 16 would go through the day 2 (which would only have a total of 46 players). This was the largest of the 6 day 1 flights by far and the last chance for people to make it through to play for the big money. I played very well and made the money but hit a couple of coolers chipping up for day 2. I knew I needed about 150k chips for day 2 and I had 84k when I ran AQ into AK on a K hi flop losing half my stack. The rest went in when I was in the blind with 10-9 and was in a pot with 3 other limpers and the flop came 2-9-2. I shoved and was called by J-9 and his kicker held up knocking me out in 34th place. Soooo close. I did win $1000 for my efforts but so close to making day2 and playing for a $250k guaranteed first place (137k second......19k 9th). I so wish I could have made that final table.

Vegas trip - 5/30 to 6/5/2011

Played 4 tournaments
- Caesars $120 turbo MTT - 144 runners - finished 30th QQ- Binions $160 - 144 runners - finished 18th QQ < AA....again!!!
- MGM $80 - 40+ runners - won this one (chop)
- Aria $230 - 40+ runners - finished 1th KK < AA

Fun trip, Played a bunch of cash games also but mostly against soft WSOP wannabe players. The WSOP started on May 31st so all poker rooms were busier than normal and there were plenty of tournaments to choose from.

I had a good time - like always - after all its Vegas!

Won a tournament

I've not been playing too much poker recently but I did go to Oceans 11 on Weds night and play their evening tournament. I've played it a couple of times in the last 6 weeks but this was my time to win.

Reviewing my play I do not think I did anything special or different from normal. I started tight, looked for opportunities to play cheap pots in position and make the odd steal, looked for double up opportunities with strong hands and generally played conservatively until the last 25 players or so, then I upped the aggression and started picking on small and medium size stacks. I called a few all-in 3-bets with the worst hand and won most of the races. I upped my aggression further as we approached the bubble picking on stacks of all sizes but rarely getting into a confrontation with a big stack - if they played back at me I either called or folded and kept it cheap until showdown. I was chip leader going into the final table and tho I agreed to pay the bubble boy I turned down all ideas of a chop until we got to the last 3. Even then we played for 40 mins or so just going round in circles until we agreed an even chops (better than second place money).

Prior weeks I played the same way but just lost races (kk < AQ), (kk < JJ) - seems KK might be my problem :-)

So a nice profit and first tourney I've won in a few months - its a good feeling.

Full Tilt cash games

Played some 6max cash games on Full Tilt. A thrill to take $50 to $400 and back again. Ive done this 3 times but currently on about $200.

Amazing how many times aces have not held up preflop. I think I have had them about 6 times and am 50/50 on wins or losses. I've also cracked them once with JJ. Also seems to be a pattern on low-card boards the 5th card is a broadway 90% of the time. Of course this might be in line with the odds - let me see - 2 opponents = 4 cards, 4 cards on board so 44 cards left in deck and 16 are broadway which means 28 are not. Or a third of the cards are broadway.

Anyhow maybe the way to win is to do some pattern analysis on the Full Tilt algorithyms....

Low cost fun

So I played at Oceans for the first time in a while. Not much to say. I chipped up nicely in the tourney until I shoved KK into JJ and he flopped the set. Sigh!!

Also played for fun on Full Tilt Rush poker. Since Ive stopped playing my time seems too valuable to play the long MTTs, so a quick 30 mins on a cash table suits me fine.

Work - Im back earning hourly money doing the computer programming. Was lucky to pick up a couple of contracts from some old contacts and am able to work from home most of the week. I've had to put in a ton of hours learning new technology and getting up to speed but I am enjoying it again. And my entrepreneurial side is seeing some opportunities to make a pot of gold!!! Harder work than poker, but never a losing day :-)

Its over

A bit dramatic maybe, but I have completed my quest to become a full-time professional poker player and have to say its been an interesting journey. The conclusion, for those of you who do not like the reading, is that I failed.

My mission was to see of I could make more playing poker than being a computer consultant. The top annual for a computer consultant is somewhere around $250k - the average is probably nearer $120k. It depends on how good you are, how connected you are, what you specialize in and how many hours you can work (or if you run a small company) how many billable hours your team can work. I'm above average so probably looking at about $200k.

So what about poker. Well, Daniel Negraneu earns over $1million pretty consistently each year. But he is sponsored so Pokerstars pay all his entry fees. I would love this - if someone else paid my entry fees I could play all the big tournies and just need to win one. I think the sponsorship distorts the game - some players are seen on TV in all the tournaments but hardly ever win anything. So lets forget about the big name personalities for now and look at online players.

One of the best online players on Pokerstars is gboro780 - he won approximately $842k on that site in 2010 - of that $442k was profit. And he might have played on 2 or 3 other sites. But he is one of the best tournament players. I think the average tournament players earn much much less than this. Players who grind SnGs and 12, 16 or 18 table for 8-10 hours a day still do not win anything like what the top players earn. Maybe a good grinder makes 5-10k per month.

What about cash game players. If the 1 - 1.5 BB per hour profit margin is true for an average winning player than he needs to be playing at least $50-$100 to earn $200k per year. And the swings at $50-$100 are huge. You need a large bankroll to play at that level, just to make an average salary.

Of course there are the luckboxes who one-time a huge tournament. If you win $1 million + on a single tournament then that covers a few years. But to play these tournaments you have to put up an entry fee of $10k,, $25k, $50k or $100k+, with a 90% chance of losing your money. Even the good players need a bankroll to cover them for several tournaments so the one cash they do make covers all the losses in the other tournaments where they dont cash.

Arguably staking solves the above problems. Or does it? Stories are now coming out of players who are $250k+ in make-up. Lets face it - they are never going to enjoy playing poker again after losing so much money. Anything they do win going forward goes to the staker. How far in debt are you willing to go (or is the staker willing to let you go)....?

So where does that leave me. I won a bunch of small live tournaments (entry fees $50 - $100) but the winnings were not relevant to my wealth (< $5000 per win). I won a bunch of small SnGs and won/lost playing cash games. I took a couple of shots at bigger tournaments but did not win anything significant. As time went by I played smaller and smaller to preserve my bankroll but I realise this is pointless if you want to make an income. Its fun and as a hobby it is great to enter a small tournament and win it. But I wont make money to live off.

I have decided to get back into the computer work before my skills become obsolete. At least there I can earn a good wage. I will continue to take a few shots at the poker, play some small stakes online, follow the stories but now it is a part time thing. Just for fun!!!

Of course I still love the game.

Who wants to be a Prop player!!

You can earn a decent salary being a prop player on pokerstars. They need to make sure you are reliable and will put in the hours on the table so they wont just hire you - you have to prove yourself first. Here is how:

- play poker on their site with your money and earn 1 million VPPs in a year

- then they will call you a Supernova elite player

- they as you play more with your money they will pay you cash and tournament entries/benefits of $100,000 plus per year as long as you continue racking up 50,000 vpps on their site every month.

So they are basically playing you an hourly to play poker with your money on their site....just like a prop player.

Now my mate (use that word loosely as he does not even know me but I follow his poker playing online through his blog/twitter and 2+2 posts) Nick Rainey (mi_turtle on pokerstars_ is striving to make Supernova elite this year to get all those benefits next year. It will give him some stability on his earnings if he makes it. And good luck to him.

But what happened to the good old standard notion of a poker player making his money purely through playing the game. All the big name guys are sponsored and receive monthly stipends from the online sites so they dont do it. Is there anyone left???? Can we find one poker player who ONLY makes money by playing poker - probably not!!!! Maybe the game just got too tough and the way to make money playing poker is by not playing poker but by being a celebrity. Or failing that, be a prop player for pokerstars.

Or failing that.....give up.

Lots of new games on the online sites

So Full Tilt just brought out a new release with lots of additional games. There are:

Holdem NL, Holdem Limit

Pot Limit Omaha, Limit Omaha

Omaha 8 hi-lo

Stud games

Draw games (5 card, 2-7 triple draw etc.)

Badugi

Then for each of these variants there are different numbers of players:

heads up

short table

6 handed

9 handed

10 handed

For each game and number of players there are multiple buyin levels. And now Full Tilt have brought us the new concepts:

- Rush poker - when you faold your automatically put on another table

- On Demand poker - SnG tournaments where players can late register like a regular mtt

- Turbo - quicker blind level, shallow starting stacks

- Hyper turbo - 6-10BB starting stcks, tiny blind levels

So what to play. Whats the point of all these games. Basically the term "poker" is becoming fudged and is anything the sites can push where they can get paid rake and keep the suckers returning. I would not be surprised if the next software release had GUTS, Iron Cross, Polish poker or anyone of the other "home poker games" that people choose for dealers choice as long as the sites can take a rake.

And like suckers - we keep trying these new games and paying that rake. We justify it by saying we get 30% rakeback - that means THEY GET 70% you fools! I have another post discussing rakeback coming up later.

Like all software the online poker systems will contain bugs especially as they keep getting more complex. Maube thats how we will make money going forward - find and exploit the bugs. For example one player recently complained he was only being dealt one card in a holdem game - if I can play against him all night I might squeak out a decent profit!!!

Not much poker

I've played about 4 live tournaments in the last 3 weeks and did not cash in any of them losing each time getting it all in with the best hand somewhat close to the money. I have lost set over set (when I had the set on the flop v overpair), overpair v underpair (where he spiked a set on the river), same hand v same hand all in preflop (where he made the flush) etc. A tale of woe and bad beat stories. Now 1 theory goes if I had build up a big chip stack earlier in the tourney I could have survived the all-ins - this is not really true as I did build big chip stacks but close to the money you have to gamble when you hit those big hands - just sucks that I lost all the flips.

Now each time I busted a tourney I went on the cash tables. Whereas previously my cash game has been inconsistent sometimes winning large amounts and sometimes losing large amounts the last few weeks have found consistency - I just lose. Again often with big hands - the last flip was all-in preflop 3 way with aces and one of the guys (a gambler) shows J-3 and kills me on a K23T3 board. I tried fighting back - playing tight in early position and looser in late position, trying to play connectors to bust a big pair etc. but was mostly card-dead and/or missing flops.

So I keep asking myself the question - how much is luck a part of this game. I cannot keep going to the casino and losing money. Maybe I'm just now a good enough player. I console myself saying that I got the money in good most times and lost a flip and eventually the percentages will kick in and I will win a bunch of flips when my hand holds up. Of course, maybe thats not true -I might be playing against better players who are always going to win my chips.

Is poker gambling. It sometimes hurts when friends ask how the "gambling is going" and I stress to them I am playing poker - a game of skill. But the last few weeks feel like I am gambling in a game of cards where skill can be easily overcome by luck.

Right now I am considering quitting poker as a full time role as I cannot make enough money playing small tournaments and cash games to make it more lucrative than the computer consulting I used to do. Even though there are people out there making 50k per month playing poker I cannot seem to crack that nut. I have some ideas on why not - I will save them for another post.

Cash games

I really need to start thinking about bet sizing in these cash games. I tend to think if I have a pair and there are 2 flush cards on the board I need to either:

a) bet an amount large enough to discourage chasers on the flop

b) check the flop and bet an amount large enough to discourage chasers on the turn.

Looking at 2+2 some people go the other way, saying you want people to chase the flush draw so you should bet a smaller amount to encourage action. In fact lets say you are in position and facing a raise on the flop. The choices seem to be:

a) flat call the raise allowing the chaser to chase his flush - he might shove the turn even if he misses

b) put a small enough raise in on the flop that he calls, but that it leaves you the correct implied odds on the turn to chase your full house even if he hits his flush

Of course this goes against most advice in the books which is to try to win the pot now but the flip side is you win much smaller pots. If you encourage the chasers you can win much larger pots.

I need to think about this a lot more.

Vegas trip

I posted this trip report on the Las Vegas lifestyle forums of 2+2 and am copying it to my blog.

Trip Report - Oct 5th - Oct 8th 2010

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Vegas trip report - October 5th - October 8th 2010

Cliff notes
========
- played 8 poker rooms over 3 days
- played 4 tournaments, won or chopped 3 of them
- lost money playing cash games and Craps
- strong opinions

Long Version
==========

About me
Im a 40 year old English guy living in Southern California and play poker most days of the week. I made my money in computers so am somewhat semi-retired. I play in SoCal casinos and cardrooms and a little online. Mostly low stakes stuff - I don’t like losing too much!! I visit Vegas about 8-10 times a year and have done since 1996. I’ve stayed in most hotels on the strip and played most poker rooms - both tournaments and low stakes cash games. Ive also travelled the world playing poker tournaments for fun. I sometimes have strong opinions.

Trip
My Dad is visiting from England so I’m taking him to Vegas for 3 days. Normally I stay in Venetian because they comp me a 4 night room either free or $30 a night but right now they do not have any rooms available for me so I had to find somewhere else. If I have to pay I will normally go cheap - stay mid-strip in Imperial Palace or Flamingo/Harrahs or stay on the MGM/NYNY/Trop/Excalibur corner. The Trop used to be cheap but over the last 5 years it has got dirtier and dirtier so using Expedia.com and looking at the email offers I ended up in Excalibur for $30 a night.

The Excalibur hotel - clean and cheap and good location BUT....crappy shower and no WIFI - only wired internet. Fortunately you can get WIFI from a third party which is what I did. The rooms are bearable and the beds ok but nothing like the Venetian (my fav hotel in Vegas by far).

Re poker, I wanted to see how the Excalibur poker room was now the electronic tables were gone. I looked on allvegaspoker and 2+2 for any info but there was not much available. Also Sep/Oct is quiet season for Las Vegas poker so I wanted to get current info on what tournaments were getting decent turnout as I fancied playing some tournaments. Again no info available so I will fill in the gaps for anyone else in this trip report.

Day 1

Right, we left OC at 11.30am and got there at 4pm, I was at the poker room to take a look at 4.30pm. They had 2 games running with 1 table of each - a $1/$2 NL game and a $2-$6 spread limit game. They were also just about the start a tournament at 5pm.

Now most cheap tournies in Vegas are terrible structures - the levels are 15 mins and the blinds effectively double (300-600, 500-1000, 1000-200 etc) so you have to play really fast. These tournies are somewhat luckfests so I prefer slow structured tournies and there are only 5 in town (Sahara and Orleans have cheap slow structured tournies, Venetian, Ceasors and now Aria have more expensive tournies. Cheap is less than $100, more expensive is between $100 and $200). So generally I stay away from the luckfest tournies but I had just arrived, and it was just starting, and anyhow my Dad needed to look around the hotel to get orientated...

So I paid the $60 signed up with 20 other players and we played for 2 hours until we agreed a chop for $205 each after tips. They told me 20ish players is what they get for most tournies.

With $145 profit in my pocket I treated my Dad to the buffet. In fact I wanted to buy him a all day 24 hour pass but MGM have different rules. Whereas a Harrahs pass is 24 hours from the time you first eat (so you can eat 8pm dinner, 9am breakfast, 1pm lunch and 7pm dinner for 1 price) the MGM pass goes from 7am to 10.30pm (hence called all-day). No big deal I guess - just make sure you dont think its a 24 hour pass like I did. Anyhow the Excalibur buffet was $45 and pretty bland food selection but good enough.

Then we went to MGM to see the lions but they had cleared out for the day. So I stayed to play some fun poker while my Dad watched for a bit and then left me to it. I only played 2-4 limit for fun but lost 5 buyins before turning it round and grinding it out over the next 6 hours to an 8 buy-in cashout (in real money I made $120). It was a fun table - everyone is so friendly in a $2-$4 game and no-one loses too much.

I head back to Tropicana with $220 profit in my pocket and decide to play Craps on the way up to the room. Stupid me!! There went $100 so now Im up $120 for the day.

Day 2

In bed at 4.45am and up at 10.45am. Leave the room at midday and head to Aria for their 1pm tournie. Ive seen their poker room on my last trip but have not played there yet so want to play. I arrive at 12.30pm and they have 2 tables of $1-$3 NL and interest lists for 2-5NL and 4-8 limit. They never got a limit game going so it looks like a mostly NL place. Also note $1-$3 plays significantly higher than $1-$2. In Iveys room at the back there was a $200-$400 mixed game going with a $10k buyin. The Survivor guy (JRB) was playing but no other poker names that I recognized. I signed up for the tournament and so did 26 other players. I found out you can sign up any time up to 3.15pm. Nothing exciting happened. The tournament had 30 min levels starting at 25-50 and we had 8000 chips to start. The level increased slowly and antes came in early so I really liked the structure. We played to the final table and chopped 4 way for $650. The tournament started at 1pm and ended at 6..30pm.

I headed back to Excalibur and after a shower took my Dad out to the Round Table steakhouse. After all it had been a good day and they had a $30 deal which of course did not look anything like the photo. But with wine and extras it only cost $120 so I was still $500 in profit.

I walked my Dad through to Luxor to show him the pyramid stuff - or at least I told him to look around while I played poker for a while. They had 1 table of $1-$2 NL so I had to wait a while. I remembered some of the staff from a couple of years back - they seem like quite a tight team with a few in-jokes and banter going on. Anyhow I finally got seated after 30 mins or so and played for 30 mins grinding a small $40 profit before my Dad came back and was ready to go. Luxor run several tournies (10.30am, 12, 2pm, 4pm, 8.30p, 10pm, midnight, 1am), all cost around $60 and most are 1 table or maybe 2 table affairs with terrible structure. Also they have generous hi-hand payouts in the cash games - quad 7s paid $7500!! One bad thing - they moved the room away from the Sports book and parking structure - what a dumb move. I made a ton of money a few years back during the NCAA from college students getting drunk watching their team in the sports book and then sitting down in the adjacent poker room to play some poker.

We walked on to the Mandalay Bay - my Dad looked around a bit but got tired and wanted to leave - hes not really a gambler and was finding the casino stuff boring. So we said goodbye and I went and played in the poker room. They had 4 tables of $1-$2 NL going and I did not have a good night. I was a bit distracted that my Dad was not enjoying himself and also watched a local do a blatant string bet when I was drawing to a flush and have the dealer/floor let her get away with it. She was a pretty girl and the dealer was flirting a bit. She put in $40 then took her hand back to her chips then looking directly at me as I was getting my chips ready to call said “oh I meant to make it $75” - the dealer claimed he heard her say $75 before putting the bet out which was BS but the floor said if the dealer heard it then it was so. Anyhow I tilted a bit and ended up losing $300. Other than the blatant cheating between the dealers and the locals it is a nice room - quite upscale and comfy and with a good drink service.

On the way back to Excalibur I walked through Luxor still upset at the cheating dealer and decided to play Craps again - there went another $100. I got back to Excalibur about 3am and saw 2 cash tables still running in the poker room. I made a good move and decided not to play, instead I went straight to bed. I still banked $65 profit today and was up $180 on the trip.

Day 3 - Thursday

The big plan was to play the noon Venetian and if I busted that to play the 7pm Ceasars - both well structured tournaments and normally with decent turnouts. Unfortunately my wife kept me on the phone too long and the taxi driver was slow and I got there at 1.10pm and was told registration ended at 1pm. They had 135 players. So after a re-shuffle of my plans I decided I had 1.5 hours to walk to Aria and play that tournament again. I got there at 2.40pm and signed up and played to about 5pm when I busted out just outside the money. No problem - I can still play Ceasars at 7pm but what to do for next 2 hours. I decide to head next door to Monte Carlo to get some dinner and play some low-stakes cash to fill in the time.

The Monte Carlo chinese cafe has the best BBQ pork on the strip. I love chinese and have tried them all and it is THE BEST!! Even the poker room dealers agreed with me last time I was there. So I went to the cafe and found it had new management and they no longer served the BBQ pork. Unbelievable. Fortunately they had a decent honey chicken so at least I could eat something. Why do these hotels screw up and change the good stuff. I went to the poker room and signed up for $2-$4 limit poker (fun stakes) and again went on a losing streak for $60. I was about to leave for Ceasars but then Monte Carlo started their tournament and had 30 runners - this is a luckfest badly structured tournament but I was right there, would not have to get a taxi, had a good rapport with the drinks lady and the dealers and decided to invest $60. Besides if I busto early I might still be able to make Ceasars. This did not happen and I ended up chopping the tournament 2 ways for $350 after tips. This was good news as it kept me in the profit column. Now I was up $285 on the trip.

I headed back to Excalibur to the poker room to meet my Dad. I walked there via the NYNY which was full of beautiful women and drunk people. Its a great shame this great hotel does not have a poker room and I would surely spend more time there if it did.

Playing in the Excalibur they had 4 tables going. I turned my $200 buyin in the $1-$2 game to $495 when Dad came over and said hi. I was back to busto about 15 mins later. I lost with QQ v AA all in preflop, then set over set, then 2 overs and a flush draw v a pair of 4s which missed. That is how you lose $495 but fortunately it was my prior winnings so now I only had a little bit of profit on the trip. I walked around the casino with my Dad for a bit before heading to the cafe for their midnight special food deal. Turns out there is no midnight special except for the the fact that the cafe now shuts at midnight. As it was 3 mins to they let me in to order something but gave me plenty of attitude. When it came time to pay all the staff had left and I had to wait 15 mins for the 1 remaining person to surface. Grrrrr!!! I went back to the poker room and played the $2-$6 spread limit game where I managed to turn a $120 profit in a little over 2 hours. Then it was time for bed - driving home tomorrow so need some sleep. In bed about 3am - I called down and asked for a late checkout and they said I could pay $45 to stay to 4pm otherwise it was 11am. I asked for a complimentary extension til 12 and she said no, but then told me they secretly give 1 hours grace anyhow so effectively I have until midday to leave. Fair enough I guess. My trip profit so far is $180.

Day 4
Out of hotel at 12pm I tell my Dad Im going to take him to the best buffet in Vegas on the way home at the M casino. This did not disappoint. The hotel was busy, the buffet was amazingly good - about 100 different dishes all cooked to perfection and also a fantastic dessert section. After eating I needed to let the food settle so Dad would explore the hotel for an hour or so while I played some poker. What a nice poker room. Full of friendly locals. They have about 6 tables going of $1-$2 NL, $2-$4 limit and $$-$8 limit. I managed to win $10 at $2-$4 limit and lose $100 at $4-$8. I played ok but just did not hit the cards to win a big pot.

We left the M at 4.30pm and were home in OC by 8.15pm. My day 3 profit of $180 covered the hotel bill and the buffet with $30 left over but I lost $100 at the M so overall the trip cost me $70. That sucks!! I'm going to have to go back soon to get my money back.

Part 2

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I realize the above report make it sound like my Dads 3 days in Vegas sucked. Truth is I tried to get him to gamble a bit on the slots but he was not really interested. He also did not want to see a show even though I nagged him about it. As far as he was concerned this was one of my poker trips and he just wanted to come with and see a bit of Vegas without getting in the way. He enjoyed watching the people and seeing the hotels but is older and struggled a bit with the walking. He met a nice lady out there so it wasn't all bad. I think his Trip Report would be something like this:

Tues - drove to Vegas. Long drive. Checked into hotel and walked round casino for a hour or two while son played poker. Then had buffet and walked accross to MGM but lions were not there in the evening. Long day and I was tired so went to bed.

Weds - up early while son was sleeping. Went to breakfast and to MGM again to see the lions. Then went to Dicks bar and drank a few beers and chatted to bunch of people. Then sleep off the beers - met son in evening and celebrated his poker win with a steak and bottle of wine at the steakhouse. Walked round Luxor and Mandalay Bay but got tired so went back to hotel to sleep.

Thurs - up early while son was sleeping. Bought all day buffet ticket and had breakfast. Walked up strip all the way to Fashion mall looking at casinos, attractions and people then walked back again to Excalibur. Long walk! Had dinner at buffet using my all day pass. Then had a nap then met son in poker room. Had another go on slot machines but not much fun - dont like to gamble. Free beer was good though. I put in a dollar and played 1 line for 1c at a time and got 3 free beers. Spent some time in evening with son chatting about our day then to bed while he was going to get his midnight dinner.

Fri - up early while son was sleeping. Had breakfast and final look around, then met up to check out and drive to different buffet place for lunch. Nicest buffet yet, then met a lady and chatted with her for a hour or so while son played poker. Then drove home.