Vegas trip report

I love Las Vegas. The last time I was there was when the WSOP was on and poker tournaments were everywhere and pretty well attended. Almost any time of night or day you could walk a short distance along the strip and play in a tournament.

This time I took the wife for the weekend (no poker!!) and then stayed an extra 4 days on my own (loads of poker!!). I've been to Vegas loads of times over the last 13 years and this was the first time I can say it looks like the tough economic times are hurting it. There were still tourists, locals, drunks, hen-parties, 21st Birthday groups etc. but noticeably less so than previously.

In July several people told me that poker was the one bright spot in the casino industry - still growing and bringing in revenue. On this trip it was evident the poker boom was slowing down significantly. Several small regular tournaments around town appeared to be cancelled due to lack of players - you only found this out when you turned up to play. During the day some of the poker rooms are completely empty - even to the extent that they were closed down.

I saw some of this first hand. The new Hard Rock poker room had one table of players playing $1-$2 and about 30 empty tables. There were more staff than players in the casino. In Treasure Island the poker dealers were playing gin amongst themselves.

I was staying at the Venetian. This casino seems to have weathered the storm and still had an active poker room - several regulars told me it had the best tournament turnout in town. The Wynn, Bellagio and Ceasors were also still pretty active I was told.

I played 6 tournaments in the Venetian poker room and a couple elsewhere. My schedule and results are shown below:

Sunday - 7pm - 1am - Venetian - finished 26th out of 90.
Monday - noon - 6.45pm - Venetian - finished 16th out of 90.
Monday - 7pm - 2.30am - Venetian - finished 6th out of 90 ---------> CASHED
Tuesday - noon to 1.30pm - Venetian - finished 80th out of 100 (out with QQ v AK)
Tuesday - 2pm - 4pm - Treasure Island - finished 9th out of 18
Tuesday - 7pm to 1.30am - Venetian - finished 13thout of 100
Wednesday - noon to 6pm - Venetian finished 32nd out of 100
Wednesday - midnight - 2am - Osheas - finished 5th our of 18

My thoughts on the trip:

1. The Sunday night, Monday and Tuesday marathon sessions took a bit out of me. I had a stinking headache on Weds and decided to cry off the evening tournament and get some sleep. As much as I love poker, 16 hours per day is too much for me!!

2. In the Venetian I played against a bunch of Vegas regulars and feel that I held my own. I cashed once and bubbled twice (13th and 16th) which suggests I was playing ok but still need to work on my end-tournament play. I talked to a few pros who complimented me on my play so that was nice.

3. On Tuesday afternoon I went over to Treasure Island to play a 2 table SNG tournament but went out in 10th place with QQ v AK. After a sleep I went over to O'sheas and played some cash games against the drunk tourists. I left the casino at 4.30am after a fun session.

Overall I was disappointed by my results on this trip. Something is still missing from my game especially in my endgame. I am bubbling too much still. As soon as I got back home I went and bought a couple of new poker books to continue my education. I am also looking for some local peer poker players to discuss my strategy with.