Vegas 04/08

I'm just bored and thought I'd write about my stay in Vegas in April-May earlier this year. My friend Joe and I rented a condo there for 30 days. I'm only 23 so it was my first time there. The best way to describe Vegas in my eyes is "Over the top". Everything was just amazing. Our condo was on South Decatur. It was a nice location right off the strip. About a $12 cab ride. We walked to the Palms a few times. Our condo was better than expected. It was absolutely fully stocked for a month's stay; Toilet paper, paper towels, silverware, washing detergent, our own washer/dryer on the balcony, etc. I was very pleased. I worked out at the fitness center almost daily and took a couple dips in the pool. Man I'm kinda missing it now. Now onto the poker scene. Our second day there the Venetian hosted the Jennifer Harman charity tournament. So our 2nd day there, we saw almost every pro imaginable. As you would imagine, Vegas offers a lot of poker action lol. I guess my favorite place to play is the Venetian. They offer a great poker comp. system. The poker room is very big and spacious (a big plus to me). The games where normal for the most part. I played mostly $5-$10 there and did well. One day I'm playing and a guy comes sit to my immediate left and pulls out about 30k and puts it on the table. I take a better look and notice it's Amir Nasseri. You may recognize the name from High Stakes Poker. He's a Las Vegas Gynegologist. When you go from playing like $300-$600NLHE to $5-$10, needless to say he was giving action. It's hard to say whether he was any good or not, because he was making it $110 to go preflop every hand. He put a lot of pressure on everyone. Sometimes it worked for him and sometimes... not so much. Anyway, I played about 7 hours that day and I think I won $12. Not exactly a great hourly hate. But eventful none the less. I played 2 tournaments the entire time I was there. I'm not that big on tournaments for the most part. Both tournaments were at the Venetian. A $340 and like a $550. Or something close to that. The $340 I made the money but only enough to like double by buy-in. And the other one I bombed on. I made a stupid call in the $340 one to put my really short-stacked. I raised from late position with Ac7c. Got called by the maniac at the table in the BB. The flop came 7 high, all hearts he check raised me all-in. I called and he showed Qh-Jh. I say it was a stupid call, I mean... Late in these tourney's you don't have many chips to maneuver with. So once I raised pre-flop and bet the flop. I was pretty much committed. Though after seeing his Q-J I felt maybe I shoulda folded and waited around with my short-stack. But you really have to finish top 3 to get any real money and that's what I was trying to do. ANYWAY... that was my tourney recap lol. I also liked the Caesar's Palace room. It's big enough, spacious, and most importantly...... Pretty good action(at least while I was there). All you have to do is pretty much ask for food and they brought it to us. The WSOP circuit event went on there. It was probably my 2nd favorite room. The Bellagio poker room was just too crowded for my liking. If you want action above $5-$10, Bellagio is the place for you. Or if you like to stare at professionals in Bobby's room, this is your place. Otherwise, I didn't care for it. The tables are jammed in, they don't comp you anything.... I guess for a smaller stakes player, it's just not worth it. Though I must admit, one day I went on a serious heater at the Bellagio. I picked up a little over $2,300 in only a few hours. I had to make a tough call with a set of tens on the river for $450 with a 4 card straight out there. But the deck ran me over and I accepted it with open arms. We saw two shows while we were there, Le Reve at the Wynn & Danny Gans at the Mirage. Both were great. I think I preferred Danny Gans. He was entertainer of the year last year, at rightfully so. He's an impersonator with MUCH talent. He sang everyone from Sinatra to Macy Gray. I enjoyed it. The Wynn room was nice. The amount of people in this city was incredible. You can walk into any place, i.e. Bill's Gambling Hall & Saloon (you welcome for the free publicity) and see hundreds of people on a Monday night. It always had me thinking, "Look at the frickin' people in this little place. Imagine how many people are in this town." PLENTY. I spent way too much money on souvenirs lol. More than I liked on cab rides too. Joe and I tried to ride together for the most part to split cab cost, but if you know anything about Joe, he likes to put in 18 hour sessions way too much for me. Overall, the experience was incredible! I can't wait to go back. Maybe not for a month this time as I began to miss my girlfriend and family. But I will be back. No Doubt