2016 Poker Discussion Thread

[proximity]

after weeks of planning, dreaming, and reading countless posts on vegasmessageboard.com it's finally wednesday morning and i'm ready to depart on my non-stop united flight to LAS VEGAS!!!

i select an aisle seat for this flight and i'm sitting beside "wang" from caddyshack. actually, i sit beside wang's wife who spills green tea on me about halfway though the flight while wang's in the window seat taking pictures of clouds. when i'm not getting up so the wang's can take leaks i read some previews of top teams like the colts and steelers in a football magazine i brought along and get some extra sleep. i have a feeling i'm going to need it.

finally after a little more than four hours we begin to descend and las vegas comes into view. wang is furiously snapping pictures at the window and his wife leans forward and i lean forward a little more to catch a glimpse.

suddenly las vegas comes into view, rising out of the sand like a mirage.... or maybe THE mirage. how many people over the years have seen this view and thought.... here is where i'll make my fortune. not many people have made that fortune, though many have lost one. what dreams this view must have evoked, and what disappointments must have followed. ------ barry meadow, blackjack autumn (9-17-98)

after landing i take a taxi to bally's and don't get "long-hauled." inside there's a special diamond check-in room and although it's only about 11:00 am in vegas and i'm staying eight nights i decide to see if i can check-in early.
it's no problem and i'm sent right up to my king room on the 24th floor of the indigo tower. i've been in nicer rooms recently in atlantic city but the room is clean, spacious, and comfortable. i have no complaints.

my first order of business is to bet the phillies. there's an afternoon game at the dodgers and i'm surprised to see we're +190 with hellickson pitching? i bet us to win the whole game (there's five inning lines and 1.5 run lines) and go outside to investigate.

my first impression is that las vegas isn't that much different from home. i see more penn state shirts than any other college and WAY more steelers shirts than any other nfl team...... with the raiders a distant second. just like home there's a cvs right on the corner and i buy some sunscreen and water.

bally's has a food court with a johnny rockets, asian, nathan's hotdogs, subway, and sbarro. i start off with an orange chicken and mixed vegetables at the asian counter. no rice because i want to keep my "abs" for the....

BLU POOL

the phillies quickly fall behind 1-0 as i head out for my first day at the bally's blu pool. after spending countless hours reading trip advisor, vegasmessageboard, and other sites i was worried that the blu pool would be rather tame with just me and a few seniors lounging around. maybe other vegas pools are better but there turned out to be plenty of eye candy most days at the blu pool, which easily exceeded my expectations.

resort guests can reserve lounge chairs for $10 but i never did and never had a problem getting one any day of the trip.

i'd say this video represents a below average day at blu pool:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9wzq67DPFo

overall there were plenty of better girls with smaller bikinis!!

back inside bally's the phillies have turned things around, erupting for a 6-2 win after kazmir left the game for l.a.!!

the win moves me to 1-0 lifetime in my baseball "career."

after doing a little more exploring however the gambling takes a bad turn.

i drop $95 on blackjack at bally's and head over to flamingo to try to start possibly grinding twelve hours of poker to qualify for friday's free roll.

i might be able to use my diamond card to move to the top of a medium sized list at flamingo but always found the practice to be rude and elect to play some more blackjack.

flamingo has some beautiful girls dealing at this $10 table but everything else about the game is ugly. pathetic 6/5 blackjacks all over this greatest of gambling cities? even out of continuous shufflers? you could at least stand on soft 17s. even hollywood casinos have better games than this!

i start out doing ok playing with a (shocker) steelers fan from atlanta before a drunk green bay fan enters the game and starts loudly expressing his every thought. meanwhile (to steal a line from barry meadow) the dealer's pulling out more dead hands than a grave robber. i lose another $192 to be down nearly $300 for the day.

back over at bally's things don't start much better. i'm down another $100 on blackjack before suddenly mounting a furious rally to pull back ahead for the day with a +$307 session!!

before calling it a night i try to find earl of sandwich over at planet hollywood. i can't find this place (it is there) but take a good walk around the casino and mall area. it's amazing that i'm finally here in vegas! what a great idea!!!!!

[Tall One]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

I have bought a condo right on the Las Vegas strip...and I plan to go where the poker action is; mostly the Bellagio and the Aria.

Remember you mentioning this as a possibility awhile back...Good stuff, Thaskalos...

[tucker6]

Prox, your story telling is grade A.

I agree with you about your video. There's better candy at most pools. I was kinda disappointed.

[RunForTheRoses]

Great to read this Vegas trip report. I really loathe flying, may one day spring for 1st class as sitting with the hoi poloi is the pits, planes are germ factories with people coughing and sneezing all over you, tugging on the seat back, constantly getting upto leak...but to get out to west coast in 5 hours there is no other way.
Ballys is cool with that in the back, separate R ans S book. I did go to Earl of Sandwich last time, its near the poker and was pretty good. PH has some nice black jack dealers scantily clad.

Did you go to In and Out Burger? Valley of Fire or Red Rock Canyon?

[barn32]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

I don't know a thing about proximity...I go strictly by what he writes on this board. And he hasn't posted ANYTHING that would make me think that he is currently "properly rolled" for a 10/20 game. I would have thought that a "highly perceptive" poker player such as yourself would have realized this as well. But then again...maybe you choose to concentrate on your amusing replies...instead of paying close attention to what other posters have to say.

You need a $180,000 bankroll to play 10-20 No Limit Hold'em for a living.

If you're talking about 10-20 limit Hold'em you need about a $64,000 bankroll.

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by barn32

You need a $180,000 bankroll to play 10-20 No Limit Hold'em for a living.

If you're talking about 10-20 limit Hold'em you need about a $64,000 bankroll.

The second statement is wrong. There are certainly debates about how much you need, but as long as the bankroll is untouchable (i.e., you don't pay your living expenses out of it), $7,500 at 10-20 sets your risk of ruin at very close to zero. Downswings of more than 375BB are incredibly rare among good limit players.

If you want to say you need $10,000, or even $15,000, I wouldn't argue. But $64,000 is 3200BB. That's ridiculous.

[thaskalos]

It all depends on what is really meant by "playing poker for a living". If it means that the poker player's entire income is to be earned at the poker table...then, IMO, a simple "bankroll" isn't enough. As a no limit "professional" with no additional income...I would also need at least 6 months living expenses to be put aside from the outset...in order to ensure that my bills get paid on a regular basis, without any undue stress. And if the player is of the more "aggressive" variety, or has a family to support...then a YEAR'S living expenses put aside from the start is advisable.

[barn32]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

It all depends on what is really meant by "playing poker for a living". If it means that the poker player's entire income is to be earned at the poker table...then, IMO, a simple "bankroll" isn't enough. As a no limit "professional" with no additional income...I would also need at least 6 months living expenses to be put aside from the outset...in order to ensure that my bills get paid on a regular basis, without any undue stress. And if the player is of the more "aggressive" variety, or has a family to support...then a YEAR'S living expenses put aside from the start is advisable.

1 years living expenses is part of my formula.

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

It all depends on what is really meant by "playing poker for a living". If it means that the poker player's entire income is to be earned at the poker table...then, IMO, a simple "bankroll" isn't enough. As a no limit "professional" with no additional income...I would also need at least 6 months living expenses to be put aside from the outset...in order to ensure that my bills get paid on a regular basis, without any undue stress. And if the player is of the more "aggressive" variety, or has a family to support...then a YEAR'S living expenses put aside from the start is advisable.

I 100 percent agree with this. (Indeed, I would say a year, not six months. Downswings can last six months.) But that's usually a separate concept from "bankroll", which is what you need to play.

[proximity]

Originally Posted by tucker6

Prox, your story telling is grade A.

I agree with you about your video. There's better candy at most pools. I was kinda disappointed.

thanks tucker!! i remember most of the days pretty well. it was sad at the end when i got the text that i could check in for my flight home but it was a great trip and i'm excited to go back!!!

[proximity]

Originally Posted by RunForTheRoses

Great to read this Vegas trip report. I really loathe flying, may one day spring for 1st class as sitting with the hoi poloi is the pits, planes are germ factories with people coughing and sneezing all over you, tugging on the seat back, constantly getting upto leak...but to get out to west coast in 5 hours there is no other way.
Ballys is cool with that in the back, separate R ans S book. I did go to Earl of Sandwich last time, its near the poker and was pretty good. PH has some nice black jack dealers scantily clad.

Did you go to In and Out Burger? Valley of Fire or Red Rock Canyon?

thanks run4! the flight wasn't as bad as i made it sound. the wang's were actually pretty nice people. there were a lot of pool players on the plane heading out for a big tournament and even the following week i still saw people carrying around cases with their cues.

"in and out" was on my unofficial itinerary but i forgot about it and then i even forgot that i forgot..... so thanks for reminding me so hopefully i won't miss it next time.

[proximity]

a couple things i will mention (without spoiling the daily reports):

(1) for the most part i thought the people there were really nice. the one big exception was that they were kind of inconsiderate to drivers trying to pull in and out of some of the little alleys/driveways on the strip. i wouldn't want to drive there.... especially at night!!

(2) there were a lot of homeless people there but they weren't pushy at all and FAR less obnoxious than in atlantic city. some were even entertaining. one guy had a sign that said "just looking at butts." ONE day a kid (not sure if he was even homeless) asked me for the odd amount of 49 cents but that was it.

[tucker6]

Originally Posted by proximity

thanks tucker!! i remember most of the days pretty well. it was sad at the end when i got the text that i could check in for my flight home but it was a great trip and i'm excited to go back!!!

Hopefully it recharged your batteries. They were getting low lately.

[proximity]

we are up early on thursday morning and ready to head outside and explore south strip!!

my pre-trip studies reveal the presence of several denny's restaurants in town but as i approach the south strip franchise i see that my plan to grab an original grandslam is far from an original idea. the line is literally out the door!!

in my travels to mandalay bay i make a mistake as continue on the east side of the strip past tropicana instead of crossing at mgm grand and going through nyny, excalibur, and luxor to get to mandalay.

my errant path does yield a good view though as it puts me behind three young ladies..... one of which is practically naked under her long t-shirt that i can see right through!!

the first prostitutes i see in town??

NO!! they're european girls speaking a language i don't recognize!!

mandalay bay is quiet but beautifully landscaped outside and dark but elegant inside. luxor seemed even darker but i thought it was kinda neat how you could see up to each level of rooms from inside the pyramid.

to me excalibur was the pleasant surprise of the trip.

going in, i didn't think i'd like this place but i ended up loving it. their castle walk food court had plenty of familiar and inexpensive options including popeyes, pizza hut express, breakfast & burgers, and a favorite from home; tropical smoothie cafe.

despite its medieval theme excalibur, as jean girard said of ricky bobby's kiss, "tasted of america".... and that was fine with me!!

another thing i loved about excalibur was the central location of the poker room. there wasn't any action going yet but a nice floor woman (yone?) gave me a sheet about their tournaments and (ahem..) SPREAD LIMIT GAME...which i KNEW i would absolutely have to play!!

newyork newyork was bright and clean and i was shocked to find some $5 blackjack. the food smelled great although i was still working on my tropical smoothie from excalibur so i just continued on to monte carlo which was a little smaller than i thought and is supposedly soon undergoing a name change.

aria was set back a little off the strip and i skipped it until later in the trip. classy place though.

blu pool

back at the blu pool where our star of the day is an incredible european milf whose amazing body really put the younger girls to shame. her diminutive bikini left little to the imagination but i did marvel about how she popped out her child..... who fortunately made her stay at the blu pool for hours and hours!! another day that was better than these youtube videos and web reviews led me to believe but this woman was really the star of the show.

poker..... east coast represent!!

today's beef and broccoli at the asian counter wasn't that good and i head over to the flamingo to dip my toes in the vegas poker waters.

i'm in 2/4 limit company and playing beside a nice dealer from atlantic city but find myself rather card dead.

eventually i strike with a set of jacks. the river show a board of j3265 so any four beats me but we're heads up and i see the villain holding the chips over the line ready to call. this seems like the case jack to me so i bet for value and he indeed makes the call and doesn't show when i table the jacks.

later though with QQ the same villain has 85 (limped early) on a flop of 88x. someone says he got lucky but he says that i got lucky with the set of jacks because he had pocket aces..... although i did ALL of the raising and betting in the hand!!

overall i'm pretty card dead but hold on for a $14 win in my first las vegas poker action!!

after yesterday's $192 drubbing i feel like "buckner walking back into shea" when i sit at a flamingo blackjack table but i grind out a $20 win to complete another small winning day of gambling.

back across flamingo road i walk around paris and back at bally's i grab a slice of pizza at sbarro.... i'm not a big pizza eater but i find this much better than our pennsylvania turnpike sbarro's.

game +14 (2/4)
trip +14 (1-0)
kk 0-0 (0-0)

[tucker6]

Originally Posted by proximity

back at the blu pool where our star of the day is an incredible european milf whose amazing body really put the younger girls to shame. her diminutive bikini left little to the imagination but i did marvel about how she popped out her child..... who fortunately made her stay at the blu pool for hours and hours!! another day that was better than these youtube videos and web reviews led me to believe but this woman was really the star of the show.

You give us a video of the not so nice blu pool one day, and then stiff us on a video when you describe the "star of the show" the next. Putz comes to mind.