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Trip Report Caesars TR: Long w/ Liberal Accounts of Live Play. Date: 06/27/06 Player: chandler For Rooms: Bally's,Bellagio,Caesars Palace,, Summary: 3 Days at Caesars Augustus Tower, video poker, low limit holdem, several tournaments, nonstop action. Like a James Bond movie, but without the car crashes, bar fights and sex... or james Bond. Content: I think I barked when the nine hit the river to pair my opponents J9 suited to take down my all in bet. I’m sure I did. I didn’t will myself to bark. It couldn’t have looked good. No one ever barked on those WPT shows on the Travel Channel…. They shook hands, congratulated each other and did the post game interview. I’ve only been playing poker since February, but I can’t recall ever seeing a poker player bark anywhere. It may be my sole contribution to the game. Goodbye final table, hello limit game. I’ll try hard not to bark when my stack gets taken on the river again. It’s hard to leave a table gracefully after you have just barked. It is a well deserved June Vegas getaway. Work has been kicking my tail. Flights out of Chicago Midway are free courtesy of SWA Rapid Rewards credits. 4 days midsize rental from Dollar runs about $82. 4 nights in a Caesars Augustus Tower room courtesy of Harrah’s Entertainment. The Flights Hell is being locked in a plane at 20,000 feet with a couple of dozen toddlers. As the little girl woofed cookies across the aisle from me, I put my MP3 earbuds in, crank the volume as high as it goes and desperately bury my nose in Alvarez’s “Biggest Game In Town.” Minutes stretch into something much longer than minutes should stretch to in any reasonable universe, the back of my seat is kicked repeatedly, trash is hurtled in my direction over the seat in front of me, and I know finally that there is no God. The Hotel It is late, but Caesars airport registration is still open. We take advantage of it. Nancy wants to be assured that we have an Augustus Tower room with a view of the B’s fountains, but the gal at registration isn’t quite sure what the view will be, only that it was blocked off for us. It is a good thing Nancy didn’t put up an argument, because the room is very sharp with floor to ceiling windows looking both south down the Strip/B’s fountains and west towards Rio and Palms. It is a “P” room, probably a little larger than the standard Augustus Tower room. http://community.webshots.com/album/551680582UXZXAj The rooms in the new tower are probably the best standard rooms we have stayed at in LV, easily better than the Palace Tower rooms. Large jetted tub, plasma screens in living area and bathroom, multiple phones, clock/radio/cd player, turn down service. We were very impressed. The tower is convenient to the new Diamond lounge (a very nice lounge and bar with 4 or 5 terminals with high speed access), the pool (though not quite as near the pool as Palace), and the new separate Diamond registration area. IMO, the service has improved at Caesars since the takeover. Some are a bit put off by the Harrah’s Stepford Wife attitude towards customer service. Personally, I don’t mind a little insincere obsequiousness. It works for me. Real life slaps me in the face with sincerity every day. Dining Not much fine dining to report this trip. A couple of coffee shop meals, room service and Mesa Grill. I do like Mesa, but the new comp situation is making the inflated prices here a little tough to take. Caesars comps were so easy to earn that it was often a chore to burn them before I maxed out the comp account. A $12 margarita doesn’t sting so much when you have difficulty figuring out ways to spend all of the comp dollars you earn anyway. Nancy had the NY Strip and a salad. I had stuffed crispy fried squash blossoms, rotisserie filet (had a rub very heavy on cumin) and a garlic tamale with thyme butter. Free Crap As I just alluded to in the dining section, the major practical difference for the gambler between Caesars Caesars and Caesars Harrah’s is in the free crap department. No CB now of course and Harrah’s bounce back cash may be problematic for the occasional tourist to collect even if it matches or surpasses the old Caesars CB rate. Our comp rate held to .1 for vp, while under Caesars old Connection Club I often earned at a better than .7 rate –A very big bummer for those of us accustomed to riding the Caesars gravy train. Thankfully we had built a cushy comp account under the Connection system which was converted to TR, so we didn’t have to dip into our own wallets this trip. Marketing offers seem as strong or stronger under Harrah’s. Nancy collected on a free Coach purse offer of mine. I collected a Caesars duffle for making Diamond in a day and we both collected a collapsible cooler/radio for making 200 points in a day. If containers were cash we would be flush. Gambling I have been primarily a video poker player for years and have been modestly successful at it. I am certainly not any exceptional advantage player, but I have had winning or near winning years since I have taken the game seriously and have received virtually uncountable free vacations for my efforts. I savor those sweet positive EV high dollar per hour plays when I can, but I am just a tourist with skills. Lately I have taken an interest in some new skills. During my February LV trip I joined the throngs who have been rushing to play live poker. This trip I have, not too successfully, tried to balance wife, video poker and live poker. VP: Took my shot at Diamond in a day. I almost certainly should have qualified for Diamond with my Caesars play, but talking to the TR clerk was like talking to a rock. I played the 10 play SA and had $20K+ in action in a couple of hours. I would have preferred to play dimes rather than quarters, but the machine was too pokey for me. -$1200. No royals or aces. It could have been worse. I collected my Diamond card with the thought that it may have been worth it to kvetch to a supervisor about my pre Harrah’s CP play not qualifying for Diamond. I played a fair amount of Multistrike at Caesars and won a bit. The multiple strategies required to play the game were once a problem, but I’m getting pretty good at the game and don’t often look at my strat card. The distraction of Shadow Dancers is still good for a couple of errors per session! Played a little FPDW at Red Rock. Machines were fast enough and I popped the ducks once for a modest profit. Live P: Didn’t get to play as much poker as I would have liked. I haven’t weened Nancy from my company and vp was always something we could do together. I played some low limit holdem at Caesars and Bellagio. The play at the Caesars 3/6 was stunningly bad with some players not even understanding betting structure or hand values. The 4/8 at the B started out interesting with a couple of aggressive players at one end of the table, but they soon left when a higher limit table opened and it morphed into a typical loose passive table. I didn’t get to play very long on either table and managed to lose a little bit on both, but I am pretty confident I could have beaten either one in time. A word about the poker rooms: Caesars poker room was spacious though a little like playing in a hall, with ok drink service and dealers that went from pretty bad to pretty good. Had one dealer call the exact card that was going to come out at the river and say it was just luck. This does not inspire confidence. Bally’s wasn’t much of a room, but was at least separated from the casino by three partition walls. Dealers seemed competent for the limited time I played. Paris was a non room exposed to the whole casino and the cacophonous Paris acoustics. No autoshufflers. Bellagio was a sharp room. Fit is a little tight, but excellent dealers and drink service. I played three tournaments, one at Bally’s and two at Paris. I figured the competition to be pretty soft at these places and player equity was at 90% (if you didn’t include the $5 add on) or better. I have only played a few online sit&gos and a few multitables with the Party points I had earned. Lots of fun, but I had virtually no experience with tournament play. I’m still rereading Jones’ low limit holdem book and Harrington’s tournament book still sits uncracked on the shelf, so I’m definitely flying by the seat of my pants with tournament play. In the first tournament at Bally’s I made a couple of bonehead plays and was taken out shortly after the break. I had a better feel for the second tournament at Paris. I tried to see some cheap flops while the blinds were still low to give myself an opportunity to catch a hand and double up. If your stack doesn’t grow quickly this becomes an impossibility as blinds double every 15 minutes. When it gets to the point where my stack is just 2 or 3 times the big blind, I figure I am basically pot committed to any hand I play, so I may as well push. It is kind of a crapshoot. I don’t get to see nearly the number of hands I would get to see in 15 minutes online and play seems agonizingly slow as the seconds tick by and blinds double and redouble. By break time I have stolen a couple of blinds, but my stack is about the same as I started with. Blinds are now scary and I need to make a stand shortly and double up. I catch 88 and move all in to be called by K10s. They hold and I double up. The rest is a blur. I bust out a couple of short stacks who push in to me. I move to the final table with an above average stack. Like I said it is kind of a crapshoot and my play is pretty basic with not many decisions past the preflop. Definitely no genius required so far. The short stacks get taken out and with only the 3 left who place in the money, I am puzzled and amazed to find I have a roughly 25% chip lead over second stack. Second stack broaches the subject of a chop. It is only my third live tournament and I hadn’t seriously considered placing in the money, much less what to do if a chop was offered. As a vp player I’m always after reducing variance where it doesn’t sacrifice ER.and my short handed and heads up play is likely to be the weakest part of my game as I have almost zero experience at it, but I do have a significant lead. Prize structure is $400/$800/$1200. The second stack offers $50 from his prize pool and third stack offers the same. A guaranteed $900 and the 2 shorter stacks get $750 each. As added incentive this puts me about even for the trip erasing the nasty business of my run at 10 play super aces. Well, hell, let’s make a deal! Management takes care of the paperwork. FYI, if you place in a HEC poker tournament you will receive a W2 for any prize money of $600 or more. According to the manager, this is because of HEC’s acquisition of Binion’s and an agreement they had with the feds. I get a W2 for $1200 and second stack gets one for $800. Does anyone know what the normal threshold is? Management places 1st, 2nd and 3rd place prize money in separate piles on the table and lets the players divide it as agreed. I have no idea if the chop was a good deal or not, but it worked for me at the time. I also had no idea about a tip to the dealers. I’m pretty certain of what I would tip for machine hand pays. Is there a standard? I left them $50 out of my winnings, which may or may not have been generous. It was a great beautiful scene. Better than my first royal, and I was feeling the rush all day. While recognizing the criticisms, I can really see the attraction to tournament poker. I played another tournament at Paris the following day. I pushed all in with position and AKo on a big stacks $500 raise. Not sure whether his call was correct as he wasn’t quite getting 2 to 1 on his money and could easily have been a serious dog, but call he did with J9s. Guess it depends on what he put me on, but he had the stack to gamble with. Yes, I barked when the 9 hit the river, but I didn’t see any other way to play it. Never once in the last two tournaments did I get my money in when I wasn’t the favorite. I’m pretty proud of that. Final Notes Old Friends: It was wonderful to catch up with Steve, Ellen and Sandy Wednesday night at Craft Steak. Thanks Ellen! The DI cards will go in my collection. Precious Bodily Fluids: A reminder to all LV visitors to keep yourself hydrated. Nancy was walking through Caesars and the next thing she remembers she was looking up at the face of a security guard. Passing out from dehydration has all the embarrassment of passing out drunk, but contains none of the fun. Get your fluids in and remember that alcohol is an ADH inhibitor… Translation –It makes you pee a lot which leads to dehydration. Again, keep yourself hydrated. This is the end of your public service announcement. |
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