I quickly checked in and without even changing/showering I began to look for Simon, I knew he wouldn't have been able to check in as the booking was under my name. Fortunately staying on Fremont street it's a lot easier to find somebody, the first place I checked was Golden Nugget card room and sure enough he was their grinding the a $100 grand fall classic poker event. I registered late and joined the field despite being pretty exhausted from the travelling, I managed to run pretty well and navigate the 40+ runners. I was a dominant chip leader with four remaining when they begin to discuss a deal, I want it heavily in my favour as I have like 300,000 compared to the other three who have on average 130,000 each. I don't remember the figures exactly but think I took like $1,400 whilst they took $700 each, so after I gave Simon 50% equity I had like $700 and a nice $600 profit from my first night. It was around 3:00am now and I explained to Simon I was turning in, he decided to stay up and play 200NL (first time in Las Vegas you can't blame the kid). The following morning (Friday 5th) I wake up to some bad news from Simon, he's been robbed and they have taken all his spending money.
I was immediately sceptical when I heard this as I know too well how people can get carried away in Las Vegas and wax all their money on the tables on the first night, you only have to look at Martin Brittain during my 2007 visit for an example of this behaviour. Either way though I was sympathetic towards his situation and treated him to brunch over Binions deli whilst we discussed his next action, which was to get in touch with his parents so they could wire over some money to the Plaza cage. He set the wheels in motion but his parents couldn't get the cash over immediately so I lend him $200 for the evening, where we were to hit Las Vegas boulevard. Before the night started I was back over Golden Nugget for another grand fall classic event, where I played there $100 mixed game event and again beat the small 15 player field and took it down for $1,000. We didn't have any POA other than to let Simon soak up the sights, drink lots of beers, play some poker, and gamble on the pit games. I hit the Budweiser pretty hard so as usual have a limited memory of the evening, but have a few photo's;
So yeah as you can see we played a SNG over at MGM Mirage and a bit beer pong in O'Sheas casino, before finally turning in at around like 10:00am. I slept for maybe five hours before heading to the pool for a few hours mid afternoon, despite still being a little hungover I hit the $2 Budweiser with a what makes you bad makes you better mentality. I got talking to these two older mature women (commonly known as a MILF) called Nancy and Alice, who were good crack and on a girls weekend away from their husbands and children. Anyway despite my pretty poor craic I locked up a night out that evening with these ladies, I know their not the best looking but hey you have to take what you can get right. Happy with my work by the pool, I headed back over the Golden Nugget for another grand fall classic poker event and try to continue my lucky streak. This time they had a 25 player $100 seven card stud game running, and despite having limited knowledge on how to play I entered anyway. My beginners luck held me through as I managed to minimum cash in third for $300, which wasn't bad for my first attempt I guess. Then onto the evening and we had agreed to meet in the sports bar in the Plaza, however only Nancy showed and explained Alice wasn't feeling well so Simon after a couple of drinks decided to blow it and headed over to Golden Nugget leaving just to the two of us. One thing lead to another and we ended up staying the night in my room, I'll leave the rest to your imagination guys. Here's a few photo's of the day by the pool and one from the evening;
Like I said they weren't the best looking but whatever, had a bit fun so it's cool. I slept pretty well and woke up late afternoon to see Nancy had left, I was pretty pleased about this as couldn't be arsed with the awkward next day banter. Soon later Simon arrives after playing downstairs, I have no idea how this kid manages to gamble day/night he really is an absolute degenerate. We arrange to go for some early dinner over at Plaza 777 buffet (it's appropriately named after it's $7.77 price), before heading to Binions for the evening to play some poker.
From around 18:00 for like 12 hours until 6:00am the following morning I solely played 200NL, staying in the same seat for the entire session. I sat with $500 and cashed out for north of $1,500, so with over a $1,000 locked in profit I was happy to check out. I chilled at Binions $1 blackjack table for a couple of hours with Simon, never raising my bet from the minimum $1 and cashing in on the complimentary drinks. Finally at like 8:00am cashed in for a small loss of $3, which giving that I had drunk like 5+ Budweiser I was actually in profit from the blackjack session. After a good sleep I woke up again late afternoon (Monday 8th) around 16:00, I chilled by the pool for a couple of hours before heading back to the room to get ready for the evening. Simon suggests hitting the strip again which I'm more than happy to do, after we're freshened up we taxi to the strip and first head to Denny's for an early dinner. We then decide to head to Harrahs for their 20:00 $150 tournament, which neither of us have any success and head towards the blackjack after busting around midnight. Here we meet Michael Dillenburg and we go on to have an ace night with him and his boys Nicholas Allen and Olson brothers Aaron and Ryan. As usual my memory is limited due to endless amounts of vodka redbull, I know we visited Sapphire gentlemen’s club and ended up in Treasure Island where these guys were staying. Here is some photo's of a truly memorable only in Las Vegas night, good times and memories.
Easy come easy go and the $1,000 profit from the night before wasn't in my pocket the following morning, I'm told the following day by Simon I spent like $1,000 on strippers and had like 10+ vodka redbulls at $30 a drink. I guess I got a little carried away but M'EH I honestly didn't care, memories like that are priceless and I still keep in touch with all these kids through facebook. We didn't make it back to Plaza until around 14:00 the following afternoon, so after stuffing our faces at McDonalds I collapsed in my bed. I didn't wake up until after 22:00 now Tuesday evening and saw a note from Simon saying he was away to play the $105 tournament over at Golden Nugget. I get myself freshened up and head on down for a little after 23:00, he's still in and so is late registration so I join the field but bust pretty quick as I look to gamble up my short stack. By midnight I'm just chilling at the 200NL, again another profitable session as my heater continues after buying in for $500 the table breaks at like 7:00am whilst I have $2,400 in front of me. This was obviously predominantly down to turning quads vs. top house for a pot worth over $2,000, happy days as if the turn doesn't give me the case eight I go broke holding 88 vs. KK on a K83r board. Below a photo of a rather glum looking Simon, I'm pretty sure he's winning small so he should turn that frown into a crown.
We headed back and retired to bed at approximately 8:00am, after a short sleep I was back up around noon and decided to kick by the pool for a few hours and enjoy the brilliant hot weather. I head back to the room for late afternoon and after a quick chat with Simon, we decide to head back to the strip for our final night. We dine at Denny's again after being impressed with our first visit, before heading to the Stratosphere to hit the tables. It was a fairly uneventful evening as we were both conscious of our early flight home the following morning, we played poker in Stratosphere for like maybe four hours. All though not as profitable as previous nights down-town I left with over $150 profit, which I decided I was going to blow in the pit just having some fun and drinking some beers. After several hours of blackjack, roulette, craps, etc. playing first at Stratosphere before finishing at Sahara I had lost the $150 by like 4:00am but hey that's cool and had blast losing it (those minimum bets can get expensive).
The following morning we shared a taxi to the airport before taking our separate flights home, we flew on Thursday September 11th 2008 exactly seven years to the day after the attacks. I was unfortunately delayed at EWR airport for a few hours which had a knock on effect on Simon who was waiting at Manchester airport for me to give him a lift home, but eventually made it and we hit the road like 12:00 GMT the following day. Thanks for reading this guys, I now only have to report both my trips during 2009 (January and September) before my back log is complete. Below is a link to FTP's Trip Report section, linking you up to all the rest of my trip reports for those interested;
Trip Reports
Hope you all enjoyed reading this summary as much as I enjoyed reminiscing in the memories, hopefully I will get Las Vegas 2009 I Trip Report live soon for your reading pleasure.
Take it easy everybody, see you all around.
Any port in a storm lad........Wp
ReplyDeleteHaHa, Cheers Dave. ;-)
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