Chris Halverson’s Blog

Arriving at the Luxor

As much as I couldn’t wait to get to Vegas, leaving the house at 6AM was a chore. We got to the airport and on the plane with little hassle despite my magnetic money clip setting off the metal detector and forcing me to be pulled aside. The flight was uneventful save for the guy (in his 30s) who sat in front of me, leaned his seat back all the way, and proceeded to bounce forward and back the whole way there. The seat next to me was empty, so I scooted over in hopes of avoiding him. It worked until they started the drink service when he moved over to the empty aisle seat next to him so he could put the center seat’s tray down to share with his wife. He repeated the “lean all the way back and bounce around to piss Chris off” routine in the new seat. Thankfully I knew I was going to be in Vegas in less than 3 hours, so I just sucked it up and didn’t let it put me on tilt so early in the trip.

We had decided that we’d hit the Luxor right away for their 2pm poker lesson. The Mrs wanted to play poker, but wasn’t sure about the betting structure and such so I thought the beginners 1/2 game would be a good way to start. We got our car and made our way over to the sphinx and went on in. We got her signed up for the lesson and then realized we were really hungry, so we hit up the Luxor buffet before heading back upstairs.

There was still 2 hours to go until the lesson and we were bored already. Bored? In Vegas? No, no, no, that’s just not right.

Keep in mind that neither of us are big gamblers. I don’t play anything other than poker and my wife has no desire to play anything other than poker.

That statement was true until we found craps.

Astute readers will remember me talking about wanting to learn craps while in Vegas. Some of you were good enough to leave strategy or links in my comments. I appreciate that because it helped ease the curve a lot.

Well, we learned craps, and craps is good…

Playing Craps at the Luxor

The Luxor poker room is next to the craps area. There was only one game going when we got there, but there was another one setup with dealers at the ready. The table limit was $5 so we thought we could swing that. The pit boss was very helpful and eager to get people to come in and play her -EV game. She handed out brouchures and quickly explained how to play on the empty table. The dealers were even more helpful and after explaining it some more, they suggested to go watch the other game for a bit, which we did. During this time, some people started playing on one end of the empty table.

We went back to the second table and went to the other end and bought in for $100 each. We put a nickle on the pass line and we were off! The dealers were very helpful (”You want an even number bet on the odd numbers”) and responsive to any questions. We had a good time and played for about an hour and each of us finished about $20 ahead. We’re off to a good start and had a good time while at it.

The Mrs decided she wanted to rest a bit so we blew off the poker for the afternoon and headed to the Plaza to hopefully check in. We were able to get our room and went up and relaxed for a bit.

First Blogger Meeting

After an hour or so, we headed down to the casino and happened to run into Felicia, Bill Rini, BadBlood and Mrs. Blood sitting outside the poker area at the Plaza. We chatted for a bit until the Bloods and Halversons realized that we were really hungry, after all it was 5-6PM our time. Felicia highly advised against the Plaza for food, so we hit the Golden Nugget.

We had a semi-decent meal (well, my rueben was OK, others may not have as good of luck), terrible service, but in what would turn into a reoccurring theme, the conversation overwhelmed anything else. Felicia is, thankfully, just like she is online. The conversation got off to a good start as she ripped on us for: a) playing craps on the strip (not enough odds); and b) for staying at the Plaza. We talked quite a bit about virtually everything, not just poker (thankfully). After a while the Mrs and I had to go get ready to head to Bellagio for “O” so we packed up. On the way out BadBlood got a call from Maudie, so we waited for her to show up, said “Hi”, took a couple of pictures, then the Mrs and I went to the Plaza to get ready to head to Bellagio.

Bellagio

We took Felicia’s directions and hit Bellagio in no time. We valet parked the car for free, which was great. I was expecting to have to pay for that, but all it cost was a tip. Felicia warned us that the parking ramp was about as far away from the poker room, and therefore the “O” theater, as you could get. The valet was definitely the way to go, especially when the Mrs is dressed up and in heels.

“O” was un-freaking-incredible. Highly recommended. It was kinda weird, and I think there was supposed to be a story, but whatever. I bet the performers watch the Olympics and just laugh. These guys are amazing. Just amazing.

After the show, we had a drink and the Mrs wanted to play some more craps. Of course, at Bellagio that can get expensive. They had one $10 table and the rest were $25. I hadn’t brought enough money to comfortably buy both of us in so I gave her $200 and she started playing.

I noticed that after playing for a bit and losing that she wasn’t taking any odds or any other numbers. I asked her what was going on and she said that she didn’t feel comfortable at these stakes, so I immediately suggested that we leave. I’m glad she realized that she wasn’t comfortable and wanted to quit. She was only down $30 at this point (she had some money on the table and got a couple good rolls), so it wasn’t the end of the world.

We then left to go back to the Plaza. It was getting close to 10:30 or so and the Mrs decided to go to bed. Felicia had scheduled a mixed game at the MGM that night and I decided to head over there.

Mixed Game at the MGM

I got to the MGM around 11:30 and quickly saw BadBlood sitting at a 3/6 table. He introduced me to Otis who was also sitting at the table. From then on it was a vertiable blogger fest. I saw Fat Guy walk in and rushed up to meet him. We then saw Maudie and a couple others and headed upstairs to meet the rest of the group.

Felicia was holding court at a private table playing a dealer’s choice game. There weren’t any seats but soon there were others who were trying to get another one going. The next thing I know I’m sitting in the 1s at a 2/4 dealer’s choice game.

I just know that that this game is going to involve strange games such as “Omaha” and “stud” and maybe even “Razz”. Most likely including ones with those funny “low” hands that can involve splits. In other words, games that I decidedly do not know how to play.

Let’s gambool!!

Anyway, the game is as follows:

Seat 1: Me
Seat 2: Drizz
Seat 3: AlCantHang
Seat 4: -EV
Seat 5: Matt (?, a reader who was at the December one too)
Seat 6: CJ
Seat 7: Maudie
Seat 8: TFG
Seat 9: Somebody who signed up for the game
Seat 10: ??

Let’s just say that our dealer’s choice game was a wee bit more loose that Felicia’s.

Of course, one of the first games called is O8. We were playing a dealer’s choice game, not necessarily HORSE, and we played each game for a full down. This meant that I got to sit there and limp in during O8 for a half hour while attempting to figure out if I had a good hand or not. In general, I didn’t have good hands, but that didn’t stop me from playing them, after all, I didn’t come to Vegas to fold! I helped put Al on tilt when I raised my nut low on the turn. After I split that, he just jumped up and yelled, “You never raise the low!!” We ordered another round of SoCo and all was forgiven.

That is, until Maudie called Hold ‘Em.

The Correct Way To Straddle

Before we go any further, please go read JSD’s Guide to Straddling. You’ll appreciate the next part much more.

Come on, it’s not that long, go finish it.

OK, back? Good, read on.

By this time of night, we had imbibed a fair number of drinks. -EV was in true Bill Fillmaff form and sitting right across from me. We had a good time getting the table going and he was the first to straddle (even mentioning the above article).

He would not be the last.

A couple hands into the HE round I had noticed that the table was suddenly playing seriously. WTF? During the Omaha and Studd/Razz rounds only about half of the people have any concept of the given game, so the rest of us just play for fun. During HE, everybody tries to win back the money they lost during O8 and therefore they play more seiously.

We can’t have that happening now, can we?

I get UTG, grab four chips and loudly yell, “LIVE 4 ON TABLE 12!”. -EV shoots me a sly smile, and gives me a high five. The rest of the card room looks over at us. Maudie groans, Drizz says, “Oh no”, and Al just rolls his eyes.

The cards are dealt and after I get my second one (whew, only 2 cards this time), I drop a chip on top and make it known on my side of the table that I have not looked at my cards.

Al raises, a couple folds, another raise and it’s back to me. I, of course, raise it yelling, “GAMBOOOOOL!!”. Al caps and we’ve got 3 to a capped flop.

The flop is 5hAc8c and I say, “I’ve got two live cards!” and throw out a bet. Al raises and is called. I stare at him and say, “I no make cheap for you!” and pop it again. In true fashion he raises and the other guy calls too. I tell him I’ll be nice this time and save him a bet and just call.

The turn brings the Kh to the board and I announce, “I’m value betting my nuts!”. Al asks if I’ve looked at my cards yet, I point to them and say that I have not touched them yet. -EV and Drizz confirm this and he just says, “Raise”. I, of course, raise him back and he calls. We have lost the third person by now. Wuss.

The river is the mighty 3c for a final board of 5hAc8cKh3c. I look at the board, look at Al, then announce, “I’ve got to bet my flush”. Al sighs and has to call. The pot is huge now and I have not yet looked at my cards. Showdown time.

Al flips up A7 for a pair of aces.

I flip up the Jackhammer (J4).

Of clubs.

The whole table exploded. We jumped up yelling and screaming. The whole cardroom look our way again (this would be an ongoing trend) and couldn’t figure us out. We’re high fiving, screaming and loving it. Well, except Al who started yelling about how bad it was and how he couldn’t believe it happened. I told him I’d commiserate with him after I got done stacking his chips.

I play g00t.

Rest of the Game

-EV then decides that we can’t rely on people to voluntarily straddle. He introduces a “rock” into the game. The dealer isn’t sure this is legit, so he calls the floor over. -EV explains what it is and the floor says it’s good. Woo hoo!! (A “rock” is just four chips bound together, the winner of the pot with the rock in it is “forced” to straddle the next time they’re UTG.)

Al won the rock hand. Unfortunately, it only gets played once due to having to play ante games and other games. Or maybe it’s because Al couldn’t win a hand to save his life in that game. I’ll let you decide which reason you want to go with.

We had a great time and got corrected constantly for using the “F” word. Evidently it’s OK to use every other possible word in the English language, but the “F” word is verboten at the casino. Just try to stop a drunken blogger table from saying it though. Of course, we realized it and would correct ourselves, which was kind of a joke in itself.

The floor also wouldn’t let Matt use his Interpoker hand chart. He said he was too drunk to play and needed help. We tried to argue for him saying you could use blackjack cards, but the floor didn’t buy it.

Around 2:30AM we had lost a couple of people and we got a new dealer. He suggested we play Pineapple. Oh boy, let’s play another game that I don’t know…It was pretty fun though and a good way to cap off the night.

End

By now it’s 3AM and I’m starting to crash. Drizz needs a ride back, we we leave and start to go say bye to everybody. An hour later we’re finally walking out the door after chatting with Iggy, PokerProf, TFG and many others. Drizz and I finally make the drive up I15 to beautiful downtown and pull into the Plaza around 4ish.

Day 1 is officially over.

Day 2 preview includes:

* Outlet shopping

* My wife’s first time playing poker

* Getting fawned over while playing craps at the Plaza

* Playing 2/4 at the Plaza next to a guy playing with his social security check

* Poker at Excalibur

* Midnight meal with Iggy, Grubby, Hank, Franklin, Maigrey and others

This entry was posted on Monday, June 6th, 2005 at 8:38 pm and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.