Recon Mission part 4

So we spent the next 2 days being driven around Summerlin the area of Vegas that we had decided upon. Kim took us to lunch picked up the tab for two days and must of shown us 30+ houses. The level of service was just amazing there is no way any estate agent in the UK could of been as good to us as what Kim was. At the start of the day we found a near perfect house for us to rent in what we were looking for.(pictured) 12 miles from the strip in a beautiful part of time. The house is fully furnished 4 bed 2100 sq feet. Its costing me $2100 p/m inc utilities. I find this to be an amazing price and i should have no problem making this per month in the cash games. So the next problem was to get the lease signed in time before we left we only had a few days left to get approved and pay the deposit before we had to get on the flight back. Being from the UK they couldnt do a credit check on us so it was a bit of a struggle to prove funds, but after a bit of running around and going back and forth we got it all down by the Saturday morning. Only 48 hours before we flew home. It was a great relief to have the house sorted we start renting from Feb 4th even though we dont arrive back out in Vegas until 13th Feb. We pick the keys up in the afternoon of the 13th our flights due to land at about 2pm. So a quick trip to the supermarket that night and we will be good to go for the next few months.

That night quite excited by all that we had done through the day we went out to see the Blue Man Group at the Venetian. We had seen it before on a previous tripand Nancy and I are big fans. This is a show that I highly recommend to anyone if they are planning to see a show while in Vegas.

Also in the last few days of the trip we got bank accounts set up at Bank of America so when my house sale goes through ill be able to wire money over and i can establish a credit history.
Ill be using them for a mortgage when we have found something to buy. My parents have a accounts with them as well so if i need to get my dad to cosign my mortgage as i havent got a credit history in the states it will be easier as we are with the same bank.

Coming though the end of the week i managed to play a few hours here and a few hours there. I played Ceasers and found the game to be very soft. I havent played in this cardroom very often in the past im not sure why but i decided to try it out one morning. There is no cap in the game and there were a few players sitting in the game with around $10k. There was some pretty sick action and 2 guys on the table decided to go off and play each other heads up. The banter went back and forth until they got there own game they had $20k on the table between the 2 of them somehow they keep the blinds at $2-$5. 30 mins into the HU battle and a $6k swing to the younger of the 2 guys, chairs went flying back jackets were flung to the floor and the banter had become threats. Security were on the scene in an instance both players were removed from the room. The table with chairs on the floor and $20k in chips and $100 bills sat empty for about 20 mins before a floor man came over counted both stacks had it checked by a manager and then took all the money away to the cage. Im not sure how much ill play in Ceasers in the future, the action is good and there is plenty of money on offer but it comes at a risk. I think there is equally easy money to obtain in other rooms in Vegas than here. I would be playing here until I have full access to my bankroll. The swings in this room could be huge.

I also played the MGM over the weekend. I hear stories from all over about how good this cardroom is and how bad the players are. I have now logged 5 or 6 sessions in the MGM and havent come out winning once. Im sure this is just a blip and things will be good there in the long run. The room is between the sportsbook and a club/bar. It can get very loud in the room and a lot of the players drink a lot while playing. The tables there very tight and have a marble ring in the table which doesnt leave much space. On the plus side i think they have the best chips in town. I think this will be a room that I will play in over the weekends from time to time a bit of a reserve room for me.

My house is out by the Red Rock Casino I hear that a lot of rich local folk play the room so i plan to make that 1 of my 2 primary rooms to play in. Obviously as time goes on and my knowledge of as a local and a regular in these games. My other primary venue will be the Venetian i love this room and i had 14/15 winning session in this room for the trip. My secondary sites will be the MGM, Ceasers (in time) the Mirage (when they have a game), Palms. The more time i have the more i will venture out to other rooms to check out the action.

Recon Mission part 3

So as we were driving along Fort Apache Rd i spotted a sign for a ReMax Realtors. This is the company that sold my parents house in New York and my mum had always spoken highly of the service they provided and the way they conducted business. Realtors are the american equivolent of estate agents but thats as close as the similarities go.



We walk into the reception and we tell the receptionist what it is that we are looking to do. He takes us through to the conference room and gets us both drinks while he arranges for an agent to come and see us. We really fell on our feet walking into this place. A lovely lady called Christina came in to see us a former commercial pilot from San Francisco. This lady knows everything about Vegas and the housing market, every area like the back of her hand. We talk for about 30 mins about what we are looking for then she starts showing us houses on the giant plasma screen on the wall. She searches through the database putting in every criteria that we are looking for then printing out the details of any possibles that we might want to go and see. Her business partner comes in and joins us and as its getting late we agree to leave it for today but we will be back the following day at 10am to start looking.

We go out to dinner and discuss the day, having seen a few areas of vegas and look over the houses on the database we had a much clearer idea of what we were looking for. Im in bed by 10pm again still amazes me never had a vegas trip quite like this before so much for the ciy that never sleeps.

Tuesday morning and im up at 6am again. People who have only ever been to Vegas during the summer will be shocked by just how cold it was when I walked out of the casino and down the strip. There was a sharp wind and a temp of 1 degree. I regretted my decision to use the bridge to cross the road rather than walking down to the traffic lights. So Tuesday morning at 6am and there is no 2-5 nlh game for me in the Venetian so i move onto the Mirage again no game. I move on again next door to CeasersPalace no game so i decide to try the Bellagio. I have never been a fan of the place but there is always a game running there its just a matter of gettigna sit in a game.

I enter the Bellagio cardroom and i have never seen it so empty there were only 2 games running in the whole room. The place is always full and was quite a shock to the system to see so many empty tables. I walk over to the brush ( a cardroom member of staff who controls the seating in cash games). Both games were full a 2-5 nlh game and a 15-30 limit game. Im not a fan of limit but without much choice i put my name on both lists. The seat in the 15-30 game comes up first so i take it. I sit down with $500 this was prob an average stack for the table I look around the table a couple of old timers a couple of locals ok stay away from them then I notice the 2 players on my right. As i say im not a limit player but these guys were clueless on how to bet. The amount of times the dealer had to tell them both how much they could bet had gone beyond funny for the dealer. I decided to target the two of them play tight against the other players on the table just try to learn as much as possible in my first time in a limit game and hit and run as soon as I could. After about 30 mins im $640 up and i have cashed in and im out the door. I zip up my jacket and commence my walk back to the TI.

Recom Mission Part 2

This trip was put together so we could find a house to rent and to give us an insight into the future lives we will both be living. This trip became completely different to any other trip I had made to Vegas before. I am a total night person, I play in the casino till 6am most nights get home for 7am and get to bet by 8am or 9am. The nights I dont play I still keep the same hours. On this trip I was out playing poker at 6am every morning for a couple of hours before breakfast and I was in bed by 10pm everynight bar 1 night. That 1 night we went to see Love the Beatles version of Cirque Du Soliel. I managed to watch the first 30 mins but slept through the rest. I enjoyed what I saw but it wasnt enough to keep me awake.

Other insights that I discovered about the poker scene while is was there are that ill be able to get good action at the tables all year around. I was expecting certain times of the year to be busier than others and that maybe during the Jan/Feb part of the year the tables would be quiet and id have to balance my profits from other parts of the year. So its the first Saturday of the trip and the cardrooms are heaving. The porn convention is on at the Sands Expo and the electronics convention is in town the 2nd biggest connvention of the year so im told. On top of this its the Divisional playoffs in the NFL. People had come from all parts of the country to be in Vegas to bet and watch the game. During the first game I have 4 guys wearing club shirts drinking and watching the game. They dont have there eye on the game at all they play they own cards and have no idea whats happening in the game. (note to self next year play as much as poss during the NLF and MLB postseason).

After nicking a couple hundred I decide to venture of to the Mirage to play my first session in what used to be my fav cardroom. Without a doubt in my mind the Mirage has the best staff and dealers in Vegas. There ability to deal andpersonalities on the table meant that the Mirage had always been my cardroom of choice. The room that used to be the heartbeat of poker in Vegas when was opened by Steve Wynn is now less than a shadow of its former self. If your lucky you can still find 1 2-5nlh game. If there is a list to get into the game you can be in for a long wait with only 1 table. I play for a couple of hours and dont get much action while I watch the 2nd game between Green Bay and Seattle in some of the worst snow conditions you have ever seen a ball game played in.

For Sunday see Saturday the cardrooms are again full and we have 2 more American Football games to watch. I played in the Venetian only on Sunday. Im really optomistic about just how much traffic the cardrooms have been getting over the weekends and it will be interesting to see how it continues through the weekdays.

Monday morning and we get up early have breakfast in Treasure Island and make our plans for the day. We have a hire car linedup for the day. We have looked up some local Realtors (estate agents) in the yellow pages but we decide to just go out driving to get to know a few areas first and then if we come across an area that we like then find an agent to help us find a house there. We pick up the car and decide that Nancy can drive as she hadnt driven in the States before. Im not sure what the reason for them driving on the wrong side of the road is but it does make it exciting at times. They have some great laws like the you can turn right on a red light if there is a space in the traffic. So after some fun dodgying the traffic we are out and driving its a scorching hot day and once you get away from the strip you really get to see how beautiful last Vegas is. Nancy fell in love with the mountains. The views of them are stunning and the differing colours that came through the hills as the sun lowered was amazing.

Recon Mission part 1

So we set of to Vegas for a 10 day recon mission. The plan was to get out and about in Vegas and to see a lot more of the place than just the strip itself. So many people just dont realise the size of the city or just how many people do live there. As i said in previous posts Vegas like most of America has a troublesome housing market, but that said they are still building brand new homes at an amzing rate. Ahouse build before 2000 is considered old. We even went to see a house that had been build in 1985 and the estate agent described it as ancient.

With the collapse of Maxjet it was back to Gatwick to fly once again with Virgin. I so prefer flying from Stanstead but this is no longer an option and as it goes to the trip to Gatwick went without a hitch and soon enough we were in the air (during the wsop we flew direct on Maxjet, for some reason we had a stopoff in iceland). The flight went pretty quick well as quick as a 11hr flight can go.

We stayed in Treasure Island a hotel i had stayed in before and quite like. I consider it in the 2nd tier of hotels on the strip but is the best price of those hotels with a great location. I managed to get out and into the poker room at the Venetian and i played for a couple of hours before I decided enough was enough for my first night and it was time to get my head down. A loss of $167 wasnt the best way to start the trip but it felt good to be playing poker in Vegas again and it has been a long time since i have played any nlh cash.

We had landed at McCarren about on Friday afternoon so the play was to get out and about on the strip and play some poker over the weekend and then hire a car on Monday and get out and start seeing some houses. After my early night on the Friday im up and out of the hotel room for 6am and Im walking down a cold and windy Las Vegas Blvd anxious to see how the cash games were looking at this time of the morning.

On previous trips i was a regular in this game at this time. 1/2 the time cos i would be stuck the other time cos im sick. I walk into the Venetian (my hotel of choice) and discover 1 2-5 nlh game in progress. I get my players card swiped (they pay you $1.50 p/h to play in there games which you can use to buy food). So totally refreshed and ready to play i sit down with my $500 in chips and get ready to win back the loses from the night before with hopefully some more on top.

There is a hand going on while I stack my chips and i find myself stuck between 2 young americans who are argueing over who has drunk the most and about the fish that have taken there chips and hit and run through the night. Straight away im making mental notes on the players at the table working out what i can get away with and against which players. The 2 drunks have about 2k and 1k in front of them and i know this will be a good chance to make so money.

I get myself into a pot with the louder of the 2 americans after about 45 mins, my stack has already increased from 500 to about 800. He raises from mid postion and i smooth call with AhQc round the back. The flop comes down queen jack four with 2 hearts, he puts out a continuation bet of $75 my read was that he had missed the flop but his cockyness has meant he was betting out no matter what I decide to flat call allowing him to hang himself later on. The turn comes the 10h and he bets out again this time $150. So I now have top pair top kicker with nut flush draw and nut straight drawand I decide there is enough in the pot to snap it off and take it down. I considered the fact that he could of had AK and had hit his gutshot on the turn but I thought the flush might even cause him concerns. I move all in and in an instance he turns his hand over and puts a chip on top of his cards. This is not a rule im in favour of but in vegas you are allowed to reveal your hole cards to get a reaction from the other player. He show 1010 for the turned set and starts talking to me to get a reaction asking me what i think of his hand. He has to call just over $500 he has been getting beaten up all night and i had found out he was in for $4000 total for the night. Confidentally i put my 2 cards side by side an i offer him the choice to look at 1 of them. Ideally he will turn over the Ace of Hearts which means i could have the made straight or a flush but istead he picks the Queen. Straight away i get a speech Oh what a mistake it is showing me a card my mate does that move all the time you have a set of queens this is an easy pass for me now im drawing to 1 card if you had the straight of the flush i would of called to get lucky with the house up but now i have the under set against you i fold. He mucks and tells me triumphantly to show the rest of the players at the table my other queen. I turn over my ace, the dealer rabbit hunts the river which is the remaining 10. As you can imagine he went on ultratilt did the rest of his money in the next 30 mins and the game broke as soon as he left. So back to the room by 8am and time for breakfast.