Sitting at a $200 by in No-Limit Table I am dealt a 7-7. I pay to see the flop. The flop comes 9-7-7. I am sitting on Quad 7’s with about $300 in front of me!!! I bet out $50 hoping to get a bite. Person 2 seats to my left raises me $50. I re-raise another $50 and the other player goes all-in for more than my stack. I call. He flips his cards and has pocket 9-9.
My Quad vs his Full House. Turn is something I don’t remember and the River is a 9. Yup, a 9. In 50+ hours of play over 4 days these were the only 2 sets of quads I saw and mine cost me well over $300.

Welcome to my trip report. I figured I would start with the highlight of my trip. The rest of my trip went about that well just so you know what to expect. For the low-light of my trip you can skip clear to the bottom.

I went out with a friend of mine who was in town for the Microsoft summit, or something like that. I got into town about 3PM on Sunday and left 7PM on Thursday.

Lodging….

We stayed at the Hawthorne Suites at the Desert Rose Resort. Just a fancy name for a Business class Hotel off the strip right behind the San Remo. I guess the place was ok. The room was small but clean. We did not have any Air Conditioning for 3 of the days, the elevator was broken 2 of the days and the pool was being repaired thus was unavailable. It’s also hard to get into the place as some of the entrances are closed for construction. There was also no casino. Don’t think I would recomend this place to anyone.

Food….

Belligo buffet still gets my vote for the best place to eat in town. Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail and Prime Rib. What else could you possibly need!!! We also ate at the Cheesecake Factory (excellent) Triple 7 Brew Pub at the Main Street Station (also excellent) and the Star Trek Experience at the Hilton (I’ll pass next time). We tried to have dinner at the Rosewood Grill at the California but we did not make reservations and the wait was 3+ hours. I was a bit disapointed by this, but what can you do. On Thursday I did have the MGM buffet for lunch. Total and complete Rip Off. Not only was it a terrible buffet but I believe the price was $14. It was expensive but at least the food was bad Crying or Very sad

Gambling….

Except for about 30 mins I only played poker. Here is a brief rundown of the places I played and the rooms:

Excaliber - Table are in crap condition. Dealer were ok, but there were a few unhappy dealers. Believe it or not I have never seen so many local “Rocks” in a low-limit game in my life. It was amazing. Because of the time difference I was up early in the morning and I hit the Excal to play some low limit. All they had open was a 1-3 spread table. Five of the people all knew all the dealers by name. I have never seen such a tight, low limit game. It was amazing. 1-3 spread and 3 people seeing the flop. I played some 2-6 spread here also. That game is much better and the players are very agressive. I did get kick out of this Poker Room Twisted Evil Detail at the end of the report.

MGM - VERY, VERY nice room and general set-up. I would not bother with this room unless you are looking to play at least a 4-8 game, probably higher. I was on a wait list for 2-4 and 4-8 tables 5 different times for a total of over 2 hours and was never seated.

Imperial Palace - By far the place I had the most fun. The room is hard to find and nothing special but the table are oversize and comfortable. I played 2-4 here on Sunday evening and the game was loose and fun. Some of the people were sloppy drunk, but no one was rude. Good comps. Friendly dealers.

Aladin - Nice room, Nice tables. Dealers were good. Mostly Tourists who play loose (including me) but a few locals trying to squeeze some cash out.

Luxor - I just got a bad vibe from this place. Did not like the fact dealers could play on their breaks or waiting for their table to start. Did not play here long.

Now for the Low-lights. Only really had two…..

I got thrown out of the Excaliber Poker Room. Well, asked to leave is actually closer. I was playing on the 1-3 table in the morning. It was five locals, me and another couple. The wife pretty clearly was not comfortable playing. One of the locals, a guy wearing a grungy, black Excaliber hat was going a dissertation on poker in Vegas, where to play, why the Excaliber was the best, etc… He had made the statement to the husband of the couple “I play here every, single day cause I have bills to pay”. I laughed at him and pointed out that playing at a 1-3 table, if you were REALLY lucky you could make “tens of dollars” and you could make more working at McDonalds. He was not to happy with that comment and mumbled something under his breath. Anyway, the wife of the couple I mentioned stayed in for a flop on a hand and stayed to the river. She ended up with a straight that was one card lower than than the local I mentioned above. As he turned his cards over he said “It’s time for Rock and Roll, I rock, you roll. You have to be stupid to play against me woman.” It looked like she was going to cry. Being the helpfull sort (who was hung over and short on patience) I stood up and gve him a piece of my mind, his mind, the dealers mind and everyone else’s mind. I let him have every insult I could come up with, avoiding 4 letter words. Needless to say, the Brush invited me to leave the Poker room. I found out, later that night when I came back to play No-Limit, I was the only person to ever shut that guy up and he was afraid to leave the Poker room for several hours. He was afraid I was waiting for him.

I finally got drunk enough to throw up in Vegas. I had never been to that point before in Vegas. Not something I am proud of, but I did manage to get sick in three seperate casino’s. I wonder if that is some kind of record? I probably should of quit drinking after the first time I got sick Shocked I am absolutly not 19 anymore. On the plus side, I did get even with the hotel for not having an AC or Elevator by getting ill on their pretty landscaping rocks.

My final observations….

-Everything is really expensive and getting more and more expensive every time I go to Vegas. I am not cheap and/or poor, but everything is really geting pricy, especially on the Strip.

- DO NOT buy M&M’s at the Store near the MGM. I paid over $8 for 1/2 a pound.

- There were a TON of working Girls walking along the Strip. Walking from the Imperial Palace to the MGM I must of been approached by 10-12 girls in a one-way trip. There just seemed to be MANY, MANY more than I have seen in the past. They are also VERY aggressive. None were offering Test Drives However Twisted Evil

- How can you afford to Drink in Vegas if you aren’t gambling? $6 a beer!! No thanks.

- There is nothing I like about the MGM.

- I did hear great things about KA from people who saw it. Did not see it myself.

- The new Fremont St Experience is pretty nice.

- There are WAY, WAY to many kids in Vegas. Why bring them? Why are you pushing a stroller at 1AM with your child in it.

- I knocked down 4 seperate Japanese Tourists, not on pourpose just accidents. They seem to just assume you are going to move for them.

- I do not think I am “Upscale” enough for the Strip anymore. I just feel kind of out of place.

- Driving was not as bad as I thought it would be. My friend had a car and we did not have any trouble getting around.

- This is the first trip I did not see a water show at the Belligo. Kind of a bummer.

- There is nothing in the World more boring than low limit Hold-um with people who think they are playing on the WPT.

- Watching the WPT Tourney is BORING.

- For the first time I am not in a hurry to get back.

That’s all I can think of right now. I am happy to answer questions and welcome comments.

Posted by Fizler on LVTalk