ComboProf: Trip report - poker- No BJ - long.

[ComboProf]

Earlier I announced a pending trip to Las Vegas in which I planed to play poker instead of BJ. I was asked give to a report. I apologise in advance for the lack of BJ here.

INTRODUCTION: I combined a 3 days of vacation followed by 3 days conference and brought my wife along. She permitted me to only bring $350 and so I decided to continue the "poker experiment" over playing blackjack. I believe the bank requirements at low-limit hold'em are less that that required for blackjack. (I did have a secrete stash of another $350, but I never touched it.) It was difficult to find a decent room at a decent price on the strip because of the pro bull championship taking place in town. So we decided to stay at Circus Circus and I was dreading the experience. But I have to tell you it was the most quiet clean room I have ever had in Vegas. (Second floor near the beauty salon.) There was no view. The staff were very friendly particularly at the poker room. I could put my name on the list go up to my room and take a nap until they called me for a seat .... it was great. You can get a $4 meal comp a day for playing only an hour or so. Exactly enough for my standard breakfast. You can also get a poker room rate (about 75% of the Expedia room rate) if you promise to play 4 hours a day. The value of this deal might make it worth it for you died the wool BJ players to learn a little about hold'em. It is apparently available at any hotel with a card room. You can arrange it after you get there, but I'd call the poker room before you booked your room.

POKER: I played in 4 card rooms: Circus Circus, The Sahara, Mandalay Bay, The Orleans.

Circus Circus, $3-$6 with one 3$ blind, very friendly, but smoky. Lots of payoffs for bonus hands and a $35,800 bad jackpot! (My one complaint about Circus Circus is that it is too smoky.)

The Sahara, $2-$4, reasonably friendly, but this is poker bingo. The limits are so low that there were always 8 people in unless I played and there were 9. I played their $1 min 6d BJ while I waited for a table. Spreading 1 to 15 I made $10 for the half hour. Penetration was only 65% so I was reluctant to play more.

Mandalay Bay, $4-$8 with a half kill. Lots of fresh air, it was cordial but not friendly.

The Orleans, $3-$6 with a full kill. This place was noisy, but friendly and I think no smoking. You can get a poker room card, that accumulates an average of $.90 cents per hour of play (up to $9 per day).

I played in the no-limit tournament and came in 16 out of 184, which I think is pretty good for my first tournament. My final hand went this way. Ante are 100 and I'm in the small (500) blind with A6 in spades.I'm nervous about running out of chips before the next level. I call. Its checked around and the flop comes two small hearts and the 8 of diamonds. I've flopped top pair, but I check and BB goes all in. Everyone folds, but I call (I'm all in). BB has slightly more chips then me and is also getting desperate. I just know he is betting on a flush draw. Sure enough he turns over A6 of hearts and I have him beat. turn is a blank but he catches a heart on the river and after 5 hours I'm finally done.
Tenth place would have been $250.) Cost was $23 for 375 in chips but I knocked three players out getting $5 each and I did one re-buy of 300 chips for $10 so -$23 + 3*$5 -$10 = -$18.

Here is a summary of the ring games I played.

Casino Time Duration Win/loss

------ ---------- -------- --------
1 Circus^2 Thu 10:30p 2 hours +$ 66.50
2 Circus^2 Fri 9:30a 2 hours +$100.00
3 Sahara Fri 1:00p 2 hours -$100.00
4 Circus^2 Fri 10:30p 2 hours -$ 80.50
5 Circus^2 Sat 11:15a 1.5 hrs +$ 60.00
6 Circus^2 Sun 10:00a 2 hours +$212.00
7 Mandalay Sun 1:00p 2 hours -$100.00
8 Circus^2 Sun 10:30p 2 hours +$ 30.00
9 Orleans Mon 11:59p 1 hour +$ 40.00
10 Circus^2 Tue Noon 2.5 hrs -$ 20.00

------ ---------- -------- --------
Total 19 hours +$208.00

About $11 per hour, which is pretty close to what the expected value for $3-6$ Hold'em is reported to be for a good player. I never bought in for more than $100.

STORIES:

My favorite hand was when I was in the blind with T5o when the flop comes 474r. I check and UTG who has been losing badly just shrugs, and bets. Everyone folds and re-raise. UTG folds. I turn over my T5o and MP eyes just roll. The shrug was a big tell. I only won about $12, but it was a fun $12.

In session 2, the table went on tilt with a player always straddle betting when he was next to the blind. Enormous pots and enormous swings. I'm down to my last $20 when I win a $200 pot. Imagine that! A $200 pot at $3-$6 hold. I play one more hand and leave +$100.

At Mandalay Bay: A not very good player to my left throws down his hand on the river flipping only an A face up. The dealer scoops in his cards because he threw away his hands. He starts claiming that he had two pair with AQ, but nobody saw his queen and he is just livid. We had to get the manager. I think it might have been a scam, but maybe he was an idiot. The rest of the players were very tight rocks. It was very difficult to play and I should have left. Its not a good idea to play there midday on Sunday.

In the tournament at our first table there is a couple of boastful Mediterranean players. We'll call them big and small. Big is a wild man, a loose aggressive player making several re. Small is more conservative but semi loose. Big on my left, small is two to my right. I catch Big when I play K4s in late position and flop 2 pair. When he sees my hand he says a good player wouldn't have played that hand. I chuckle when the lady opposite me says "a good player is a winning player". Anyway, Big is knocked out soon after that. I knock out small when he goes all in preflop in what I believe is a desperate attempt for more chips. I have 3 times his chips so I call with KJs in late position. I flop to pair. Turn and River are blanks and he is out. He yells at me, "I can't believe you called me preflop with a KJ".

After I'm knocked out just 6 seats away from the final table. I go to find my friend Bix and get a seat at his table. I'm pretty tired and play a bit badly at first, but then I win 6 pots in a row and leave up $40. So going top the Orleans didn't cost me a dime, just sleep.

SHOWS:

Clint Holmes: Very nice.

Max King: Excellent and inexpensive..try to get 2 for 1 tickets.

Mama Mia: Very good if your an ABBA fan.

Zumanity: Perverse, bizarre, crude, but amusing.

Sirens of Ti: Not worth the price of admission and its free.

FINAL COMMENTS: Well my poker investigation still continues and it is probably premature to draw conclusions. But it seems to be less work for me to play low-limit hold than low-limit blackjack, and the expected return is about the same. It also appears that the bank requirements for Hold'em is less than that for BJ and the SD also seems to be lower. I have to study the mathematics a bit more and acquire a bit more data to justify these claims. I'm not saying that you should give up blackjack, but I think it is important to diversify and take advantage where you can, be it blackjack, poker, video poker, etc. The ideal of playing long enough to get a poker room rate I think is very appealing.

[Ouchez]

> Earlier I announced a pending trip to Las
> Vegas in which I planed to play poker
> instead of BJ. I was asked give to a report.
> I apologise in advance for the lack of BJ
> here.

> INTRODUCTION: I combined a 3 days of
> vacation followed by 3 days conference and
> brought my wife along. She permitted me to
> only bring $350 and so I decided to continue
> the "poker experiment" over
> playing blackjack. I believe the bank
> requirements at low-limit hold'em are less
> that that required for blackjack. (I did
> have a secrete stash of another $350, but I
> never touched it.) It was difficult to find
> a decent room at a decent price on the strip
> because of the pro bull championship taking
> place in town. So we decided to stay at
> Circus Circus and I was dreading the
> experience. But I have to tell you it was
> the most quiet clean room I have ever had in
> Vegas. (Second floor near the beauty salon.)
> There was no view. The staff were very
> friendly particularly at the poker room. I
> could put my name on the list go up to my
> room and take a nap until they called me for
> a seat .... it was great. You can get a $4
> meal comp a day for playing only an hour or
> so. Exactly enough for my standard
> breakfast. You can also get a poker room
> rate (about 75% of the Expedia room rate) if
> you promise to play 4 hours a day. The value
> of this deal might make it worth it for you
> died the wool BJ players to learn a little
> about hold'em. It is apparently available at
> any hotel with a card room. You can arrange
> it after you get there, but I'd call the
> poker room before you booked your room.

> POKER: I played in 4 card rooms: Circus
> Circus, The Sahara, Mandalay Bay, The
> Orleans.

> Circus Circus, $3-$6 with one 3$ blind, very
> friendly, but smoky. Lots of payoffs for
> bonus hands and a $35,800 bad jackpot! (My
> one complaint about Circus Circus is that it
> is too smoky.)

> The Sahara, $2-$4, reasonably friendly, but
> this is poker bingo. The limits are so low
> that there were always 8 people in unless I
> played and there were 9. I played their $1
> min 6d BJ while I waited for a table.
> Spreading 1 to 15 I made $10 for the half
> hour. Penetration was only 65% so I was
> reluctant to play more.

> Mandalay Bay, $4-$8 with a half kill. Lots
> of fresh air, it was cordial but not
> friendly.

> The Orleans, $3-$6 with a full kill. This
> place was noisy, but friendly and I think no
> smoking. You can get a poker room card, that
> accumulates an average of $.90 cents per
> hour of play (up to $9 per day).

> I played in the no-limit tournament and came
> in 16 out of 184, which I think is pretty
> good for my first tournament. My final hand
> went this way. Ante are 100 and I'm in the
> small (500) blind with A6 in spades.I'm
> nervous about running out of chips before
> the next level. I call. Its checked around
> and the flop comes two small hearts and the
> 8 of diamonds. I've flopped top pair, but I
> check and BB goes all in. Everyone folds,
> but I call (I'm all in). BB has slightly
> more chips then me and is also getting
> desperate. I just know he is betting on a
> flush draw. Sure enough he turns over A6 of
> hearts and I have him beat. turn is a blank
> but he catches a heart on the river and
> after 5 hours I'm finally done.
> Tenth place would have been $250.) Cost was
> $23 for 375 in chips but I knocked three
> players out getting $5 each and I did one
> re-buy of 300 chips for $10 so -$23 + 3*$5
> -$10 = -$18.

> Here is a summary of the ring games I
> played.

> Casino Time Duration Win/loss

> ------ ---------- -------- --------
> 1 Circus^2 Thu 10:30p 2 hours +$ 66.50
> 2 Circus^2 Fri 9:30a 2 hours +$100.00
> 3 Sahara Fri 1:00p 2 hours -$100.00
> 4 Circus^2 Fri 10:30p 2 hours -$ 80.50
> 5 Circus^2 Sat 11:15a 1.5 hrs +$ 60.00
> 6 Circus^2 Sun 10:00a 2 hours +$212.00
> 7 Mandalay Sun 1:00p 2 hours -$100.00
> 8 Circus^2 Sun 10:30p 2 hours +$ 30.00
> 9 Orleans Mon 11:59p 1 hour +$ 40.00
> 10 Circus^2 Tue Noon 2.5 hrs -$ 20.00

> ------ ---------- -------- --------
> Total 19 hours +$208.00

> About $11 per hour, which is pretty close to
> what the expected value for $3-6$ Hold'em is
> reported to be for a good player. I never
> bought in for more than $100.

> STORIES:

> My favorite hand was when I was in the blind
> with T5o when the flop comes 474r. I check
> and UTG who has been losing badly just
> shrugs, and bets. Everyone folds and
> re-raise. UTG folds. I turn over my T5o and
> MP eyes just roll. The shrug was a big tell.
> I only won about $12, but it was a fun $12.

> In session 2, the table went on tilt with a
> player always straddle betting when he was
> next to the blind. Enormous pots and
> enormous swings. I'm down to my last $20
> when I win a $200 pot. Imagine that! A $200
> pot at $3-$6 hold. I play one more hand and
> leave +$100.

> At Mandalay Bay: A not very good player to
> my left throws down his hand on the river
> flipping only an A face up. The dealer
> scoops in his cards because he threw away
> his hands. He starts claiming that he had
> two pair with AQ, but nobody saw his queen
> and he is just livid. We had to get the
> manager. I think it might have been a scam,
> but maybe he was an idiot. The rest of the
> players were very tight rocks. It was very
> difficult to play and I should have left.
> Its not a good idea to play there midday on
> Sunday.

> In the tournament at our first table there
> is a couple of boastful Mediterranean
> players. We'll call them big and small. Big
> is a wild man, a loose aggressive player
> making several re. Small is more
> conservative but semi loose. Big on my left,
> small is two to my right. I catch Big when I
> play K4s in late position and flop 2 pair.
> When he sees my hand he says a good player
> wouldn't have played that hand. I chuckle
> when the lady opposite me says "a good
> player is a winning player". Anyway,
> Big is knocked out soon after that. I knock
> out small when he goes all in preflop in
> what I believe is a desperate attempt for
> more chips. I have 3 times his chips so I
> call with KJs in late position. I flop to
> pair. Turn and River are blanks and he is
> out. He yells at me, "I can't believe
> you called me preflop with a KJ".

> After I'm knocked out just 6 seats away from
> the final table. I go to find my friend Bix
> and get a seat at his table. I'm pretty
> tired and play a bit badly at first, but
> then I win 6 pots in a row and leave up $40.
> So going top the Orleans didn't cost me a
> dime, just sleep.

> SHOWS:

> Clint Holmes: Very nice.

> Max King: Excellent and inexpensive..try to
> get 2 for 1 tickets.

> Mama Mia: Very good if your an ABBA fan.

> Zumanity: Perverse, bizarre, crude, but
> amusing.

> Sirens of Ti: Not worth the price of
> admission and its free.

> FINAL COMMENTS: Well my poker investigation
> still continues and it is probably premature
> to draw conclusions. But it seems to be less
> work for me to play low-limit hold than
> low-limit blackjack, and the expected return
> is about the same. It also appears that the
> bank requirements for Hold'em is less than
> that for BJ and the SD also seems to be
> lower. I have to study the mathematics a bit
> more and acquire a bit more data to justify
> these claims. I'm not saying that you should
> give up blackjack, but I think it is
> important to diversify and take advantage
> where you can, be it blackjack, poker, video
> poker, etc. The ideal of playing long enough
> to get a poker room rate I think is very
> appealing.

on the poker trip. I also enjoy poker, as it can get very exciting. You are doing well it seems.

Maybe we will see you on the Travel Channel before to long!



Ouchez.