I walked through the front door of my apartment about 6:15pm last night. Once again, it was a very uneventful trip through the mountains and deserts of Nevada. Here are my final thoughts.
~ If you have never been to Las Vegas during the WSOP, you have to visit at least once in your lifetime. It is Poker-Palozza in Sin City, and not just at the Rio. With all the extra tournament series around town, all the Poker Room are busier than normal. Some Dealers were complaining that they had to work 8-10 hours straight without breaks.
With so many poker players at the Rio, it's amazing how many Bad Beat Stories are floating through the air. In the elevator, in the bathroom, or in line for a restaurant, it's common to overhear little sound bites of conversation. "I had AK on the Button." "That stupid Spade on the River." "I can't win a Race." "I hate Jacks."
~ As for my "goals" for this trip, one of my most successful was my morning Strip Walk. I did it on most days, only missing my early morning Cash session, and yesterday. I started at Bill's Gambling Hall because the parking garage is right by Las Vegas Blvd. I headed South to Tropicana, across the pedestrian bridge to Excalibur, all the way North to the Fashion Show Mall, across the pedestrian bridge to Wynn, and back to Bill's. Some times I would walk the opposite way. It was about five miles round trip. Some days, I only did half or three quarters, depending on how I felt or if I was in a hurry. I would definitely recommend this if it is something that you would be in to.
~ I said I wanted to play $2/$5 in all the Big Rooms. Well, I only played two session of $2/$5, one at the Rio and one at Aria. I did play $1/$3 at Caesars after the Heads-Up tournament, but I never set foot in any of the other Big Rooms. I also played some more $1/$2 and $1/$3, and a $1/$2 HA session at the Palms. Overall, I played seven Cash sessions, and was down $195.
~ I did a good job of staying away from the Pit. I did do a little social gambling with my poker buddies from Cleveland. On Saturday night, we headed to Downtown to hang out, and I ended up dropping $100 on Roulette.
When I was at the Palms, they had a new table game called 7-14-21. It's sort of a hybrid of Blackjack and Pia Gow. I tried it out for about an hour, and left up $35.
~ As far as tournaments, I played in five larger tournaments, and I went 0-5. Some of it was do to bad luck, and some of it was due to questionable play. It was really disappointing that I couldn't even make to a dinner break in any of these tournaments.
~ The only thing that kept this trip from being a disaster was the smaller daily tournaments. I played in eight daily tournaments under $100, and had three cashes: a 2-way chop, a 3-way chop, and another 3-way chop where I got a big chunk of the prizepool.
It does seem that I have become a specialist in these little tournaments. That's good for maintaining my bankroll, and it's also good for my ego. But it doesn't seem to translate into the bigger buy-in, larger field tournaments that has better players.
~ Overall, I would rate the trip as Meh! (not great, didn't suck). The Grand Total was -$672, but it's +$828 if I take out the $1500 Event. Like I said, not great, didn't suck.
The other problem with this trip was it was just too damn long. I "hit the wall" on Saturday, and spent half the day in my hotel room. I was looking forward to heading home for the last three days.
Maybe spending nine nights in Las Vegas would have been more enjoyable if I was still living in Cleveland. However, I now live five minutes away from the top two poker rooms in Reno. I can play poker any day I want to, but I can also not play any day I don't want to. I doubt I will play any poker until at least Friday, or maybe even Sunday.
Don't get me wrong, the Poker in Las Vegas is waaaayyyy better then the Poker in Reno. I will certainly go back, but just for a few days at a time. I have no clue when that will be, or if I will be back for WSOP '12.
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