The Red Rock

Well thats the end of the 2nd week of this adventure. The cards havent been so kind to me this week as last but im still having a great time. The Venetian festival has now finished and that room has turned back to normal. I have no idea where all the dealers go. Last week there were 60 full tables for 15+ hrs a day. I went in there this week and there were about 10-15 tables in use. I know some must of being doing overtime during the festival but who knows what the rest are doing now. There were still 3 tables of 2/5 going and as I now phone in when im on my way i was top of a short list when i arrived. I managed to get my aces cracked the very first hand and from there stuck for $2k. I got out of it by the time Nancy came to collect me by busting someone elses aces.





We stopped off at the Lodge on the way home a bar at the end of my road. I had the best Burger i have ever had before in my life there and trust me i have had a lot of burgers in my time. We played some pool and had a couple of drinks. Nancy is a bit of a pool shark due to us having a pub before we left. Nancy broke her wrist snowboarding a couple of years ago in Austria. She was working behind the bar with the cast still on but had her top covering most of it. There were 5 guys in the top bar playing pool and the guy getting the drinks in was bragging that he had beaten all of his mates. So Nancy challenged him and of course beat him 3-0. The guy took such stick for not only losing to a girl but losing to a girl in a cast with a broken wrist. Anyway more about the Lodge later.


Most of my time this week I have been playing at the Red Rock. Its a bit of a way off if you have a hotel on the strip but i would strongly recommend you pay it a visit. Its a really nicely done out casino. It always amazes me how much money the spend out to make such everything is top quality. Its not over the top like the strip casinos but you can see the level of attention to detail and you know they havent cut any corners anywhere.



So that me say a few things about the pokerroom itself. Like most of Vegas they have a plasma screen and a computer that controls the waiting list and lets everyone see what is going on. The Red Rock have gone one better. They have an atm size machine just as you walk into the room which you swipe your players card and you can choose which table list you want to go on. Its no big deal but a little extra step they have taken to save you queues and waiting for a member of staff to do it. Next difference no phone ins to get on the list. If your not in the building tough. 1st come 1st served. In most strip casinos you are allowed to buy the button if you have missed your blinds. Not here you can post between the blinds or come back in behind the button and post there. When you sit at the table the dealer asks you for your players card. They swipe you in on a system the same as in the MGM. They have a little terminal in front of them which tells them the names of each player and what seat they are sitting in. So as i get my players card back im greeted by Thank You James good luck. Only a little thing again but for me it counts. When thr dealer changes the new dealer also knows your name and can refer to you by name if he needs to. It also lets all the players on the table know each other by name and makes a more relaxed and friendly place to play.


They also have a bad beat jackpot. Red Rock is a part of the Station Casino chain as is the Green Valley Ranch. All the Station casinos are linked in and they take a $1 rake in addition to the normal rake. This goes into a different pot. The bad beat jackpot starts at $150,000 and is added to everyday that they dont pay it out. To win the jackpot you need to lose with quad tens or better both players must use both hole cards. Each Tuesday the this drops by one level, they havent paid out for 2 weeks for currently you need quad 8s or better. If the jackpot hits the player with the badbeat gets $45k the winner $30k the rest of the table also get a share and then whatever is left gets split between anyone playing at that exact time at all of the station casinos. Also if you get quads at anytime you get $50, straight flush pays $100 and a royal flush $250.

The buy in is from $200-$1000 and i have been buying in for the max of $1000. If i was to do this on the strip they would give it to me all in $5 chips. When the game has been running a few hours the table can be full of $5 chips. The Red Rock gives me $500 in $5 chips and $500 in $25 chips. I know this doesnt sound like much but it really does make a difference and is just that little bit of common sense.


As the Red Rock is off the strip they need to keep the locals happy. The quality of the food and restaurant is excellent. They have restaurants they rival any hotel on the strip.


Your players card gets you $1 per hour played but unlike the strip casino you can use your players card anywhere in the hotel. You can use it in the spa, to go to the cinema or bowling even towards a hotel room.



So with the Red Rock only 2 mins away from the house its a good job that i like it there i guess. Ill still be using the strip but knowing they have 2-3 games running most of the day even midweek is good for me.



Two weeks in and it doesnt really feel like we live in Vegas. Ok the weather is great and we are driving on the wrong side of the road, but really we could be anywhere in the states. We have settled so well our only regret is that we didnt move out here sooner. In the next few weeks people will be coming out to Vegas and ill have a chance to catch up with them and show them around.

I played with a guy in the Venetian the other day who says to me do you rememeber me. I said i do but not sure why. He says to me AA v KK v QQ. I remember straight away. I had played against him in the Mirage some 2 years earlier and we managed to get it all in preflop he had KK i had AA and some idiot was last to call and made a bad call knowing he was behind. Of course the queen arrived on the turn. Why do poker players have this sick memory why cant i just forget about hands that i have played and players i have played against.

Settling in

We have been here a week now and its amazing how quickly we have settled. In a lot of ways it doesnt even feel like its Vegas. I went to the strip on Friday, Saturday and Sunday but apart from that and going to the airport it doesnt feel like Vegas at all. The weather apart from the day we landed has been glourious. I watched sky sports news last night and games were being postponed due to frozen pitches. Its supposed to be 50/50 to rain here today but who cares its warm with it.

We have done plenty of driving round to get used to our surroundings. Life is so easy on a grid plan city the only problem is the traffic lights every 1/2 mile. I must go through 20 sets on my way to the strip. With what we brought with us on the plane and a few bits and pieces we have bought since we got here including my new laptop we have pretty much all that we need. I have the cable set up so that we get every channel going and i can keep up with all my sports. I cant find Heinz beans anywhere. Amazing with a company the size of Heinz they dont do beans over here. A couple of companies do beans but they are very dark and bbq beans i think ill be staying away from them.

So Friday arrives and Nancy drives me down to the strip drops me off and i make for the Venetian. This is my fav cardroom and i know they have a festival on right now so the traffic and action will be high. I dont know why but i do so well in this room maybe i just have a strong feel for the type of player that plays here or as im comfortable in my surroundings i play better.

I walk in and the place is rammed they must have 60 tables in the place and everyone is full. The comp is a $330 f/o and they have 530 players in it after accepting about 100 alternates. The place is buzzing. I move through the tournament section and get to the cash podium. I ask about the $2/$5 game which is my regular game. Im told there are 6 tables going and im 25th on the list. Im told not to worry though as with 6 tables they will get me in as soon as they can and when they break another table in the comp they will open a 7th game.

I get my seat in the game. Its a game i had been watching so i already had a read on a couple of players on the table and i had seen a couple of the others before. I take my seat while the runner goes to the cashier to get me my $500 in chips. I always start with $500 even though i can sit with $1000. My seat is two to the left of the big stack and he is making all the action. He isnt a player but is acting very cocky as he is winning big, he prob has nearly $3k in front of him. I know this is the player to target on the table but he makes me wait until my 2nd hand before he doubles me up. I flop bottom 2 pair on him he bets i call turn brings me the house he bets again i raise him he calls river comes a blank he checks i move in he calls in a heartbeat and shows me AJ for top pair top kicker. I scoop the pot and just steadily build my stack. I sit in the game for about 3 hrs and leave with $1950. Not a bad first day im thinking im ready to go home. I phone Nancy to come pick me up but she cant get me yet so i decide to go over to the Mirage and see what there game is like.

I walk in and they have 2 games a must move and a main game. Im given a seat in the must move its 6 handed with me. I pass my first 8 hands then with the 9th i call a raise from the short stack with KQ the flop comes KQ6 he moves in for $70 i beat him into the pot. He doesnt show and i send him on his way. The next hand i have 77 make a small raise and i see a small flop heads up which comes out 7 high. I put out a small bet looking for the raise he feels strong so i bet out $25 he insta makes it $75 he has me covered and im sure that if i raise again he will push so i make it $200 straight. He looks at me and says have you got A7 or a monster pair. The floor person comes over and says i need 3 people to move to the main game. So he says well im about to move so i might as well let you steal it i dont wanna lose my chips before i move. He shows me JJ and passes. I show him a 7 and he goes damn i knew you were overplaying top pair. I show him the other 7 and he tells me the floor saved him cos he was gonna push. Marv

So i nicked about $250 out of the game in 10 hands sounds like a result for me and not a bad way to finish day1.

Day 2 was back to the Venetian. I did my first stack playing a hand badly running my JJ into his QQ he played it cute but i should of seen it coming. I lost my 2nd stack when i flopped a flush against top 2 pair and the guy wouldnt believe me so we got it all in on the flop only for the house to come on the turn. So im now in for $1500 which is the limit i have set myself for any game for the time being if i lose this i just walk away no matter how good the action is or how much money is on the table. Im down to $200 in front of me and the 4 big winning stacks of the day get up and leave. We get replacements straight away and all of a sudden im hot The deck is finally hitting me and holding. Within the hour my $200 has become $1528 and im in profit for the first time in 8 hours. I decide to get up there and then happy to have gotten unstuck and walking away with a profit. The book may say if im hot and playing well against the table i should stay and maxamise my form but im happy to take my $1500 off the table and pocket my profit.

Sunday and i cam out of the blocks flying getting my $500 into $1200 in no time at all. I then doubled up a guy when i called a raise with AcKc we see a flop of Ah7c2c all the money is in on the turn and his set of 7s hold and i have sent $500 back across the table. I win abit more and then lose a $1k pot when my 9c8c doesnt improve on a 9h7c6c flop against a flopped 2 pair this time all the money was in on the turn and again no club or 2nd pair or straight. Id like to play that one again he had 56. So we ended up the session losing $200. My first lose nothing major and i feel i played pretty well i just needed to win 1 of those 2 big pots and it would of been another nice profit.

I had intended to go over to the Red Rock last night and see what the games were like in there for myself i have heard a lot of mixed reviews so far. However a friend came over and the 3 of us went out for drinks at a local bar. Im not really a drinker but it was a fun relaxing night and it was good to see Nancy enjoying herself in this new environment. A few shots of Jager does the trick.

So today we have to go to the post office to pick up the keys to our mail box and then take the hire car back to the hire place at the airport. Ill prob spend a few hours on the strip trying to make a few more bucks and then i think we are out for dinner tonight.

Life is good no complaints

And So It Begins

Well this is prob the craziest week of my life. It has been full of stress. Things going wrong all over the show and even though you have paid a lot of money for people to do a job for you or to receive a service things still dont work out quite as planned.

So Monday had arrived and at this point i thought i had covered all bases. The removals men arrived at 8am and set to work on the house. Due to insure we werent allowed to pack ourselves and they had to do it all themselves. Its a very strange feeling to have other people going through your things and putting it into boxes. They cracked on through the morning and were finished by early afternoon.

I went into town and seeing Romford in all its glory convinced me even more that moving stateside was the way to go. I went into the bank to inform them of my change of address, to cancel my direct debits and to arrange a money transfer for when the house sale goes through. I had assumed that i would be able to transfer money between my english and american bank accounts while i was in Vegas. As it turns out i need to be in England to be able to send the money. The bank wangle is for me to post date the transfer to friday as i wont be receiving the house money until Thursday.

Monday night I drive the 50 miles to a friends house how has done me a big favour by buying my car off of me. He paid me for it 2 weeks ago but let me keep the car until the last minute. I pick him up and we stop off at another friends house. I have my sky+ box and a number of other electronic items in the back of the car that im giving to him as they are no good to my in america as they use 110v apposed to our 240v. In poker you meant a lot of self-centered, selfish people who are solely in this world for themselves and are quit happy to nip and con there way to anything. On the other side every now and again you come across so really good people who become more than just people that you know across the felt but actually become real mates. Leaving these people behind is one of my few regrets about leaving England. You get a different banter on the tables in America.

Tuesday and the removals men were back at the house at 8am again and the container was due at 9am. They had a few last things to wrap but were pretty much there. 10am comes and still no container. The boss makes a phone call and discovers that there was fog at Tilbury (named from the plague) and he was running late. So they hang around for another 90 mins and still no container. More phne calls are made and it turns out the trailer has broken down as it has lost air pressure. 3pm and the guys are finally packing the container. As its locked shut i sign the paperwork and take the copies. 6 weeks time and I should see it all in Vegas. Fingers crossed.

Its a very strange feeling to be stood in the house where you have lived for the past 4 1/2 years with no furniture surrounding you. On the living room floor we had 3 suitcases and 2 rucksacks. As it turns out the 2 rucksacks are a million times more valuable then all the items in the container. We left a double bed so we had a comfortable nights sleep. Well half a nights sleep we got picked up at 5am.

5am and its dark as can be as im loading the bags into my friends car who is taking is to Gatwick. There is a thick frost on the ground and fog in the air. Im sure when its 120 degrees in Vegas in the summer ill be pleading for a bit of rain but this weather im not going to miss in the slightest. The drive to Gatwick goes quickly enough. My last drive around the M25 for a while. The cat ( Sheridan) is in the back with Nancy in her box. Sheridan thinks she is on her way to the vets and doesnt know why its taking so long to get there. We arrive at Gatwick and after 10 mins find the Continental cargo shed where we were to drop Sheridan off 3 hours before her flight. I walk in speak to the guy at the desk and give him my paperwork and tell him what flight she is on. He looks at me as his 2 brain cells try to communicated with each other. He tells me he has no cat booked to fly on that plane, he has no paperwork for it, no kennel for them to go in and if he did the flight is delayed anyway. I make a phonecall to the company that I booked with to arrange her transfer and i get the boss of the company. He assures me all is booked and in order give him 5 mins on the phone and it will be fine. 5 mins later and the goon comes back to the desk telling me that he has the paperwork has the kennel and that her flight will be leaving on time. It takes an hour still to get everything sorted Sheridan got weighed in her kennel and she was off with her passport in hand.

So its back in the car and the short trip to the south terminal to drop off our bags. I had already checked us in online. we flew premium economy so upstairs on the plane for us. I hadnt told nncy about paying for the upgrade as she would only tell me its a waste of money. I knew this would be a very stressful day for her and she doesnt normally sleep on the flight but i hoped she might this time. As we get our boarding passes we are told that our flight is running late about 1hr so we had plenty of time to wonder around the terminal. We went and got breakfast, made phonecalls to say goodbye to a few people and soon enough we were on the plane and getting greeted with champagne.

The flight passed as quickly as a 10hr flight can do. I slept, Nancy didnt dispite my efforts. Arriving at Las Vegas we were expecting a grilling coming through customs as we dont have our residents visas yet so we have flights book for 90 days time back to England. We got a few questions but nothing to cause a problem and we were through to pick up our bags. The bags were on the belt already waiting for us. We were out the doors and into the Vegas sunshine. Nancy lit up a cig straight away and we made our way to the car rental centre. We had booked a rental car for the first week. Nancy has been doing all the driving i need to do some soon to get used to driving on the wrong side of the road like the rest of these crazy yanks.

So apart from a little detour when i sent us the wrong way we were straight up Tropicana and on our way to the estate agents. We paid the remander of the security deposit and 1st months rent signed the rental contracts and got the keys. It was so good to get into the house and drop the bags. We had a few hours before we had to go back to the airport and pick up Sheridan so we decided to go out to the shops and pick up some supplies. We also need to buy new cat bowls food and a litter tray as we cant let her out for 3 weeks.

Sheridans connecting flight out of Newerk was delayed so she was now landing at midnight. We got there a little early as again we had to find where we were picking her up from it was a couple of miles away from the airport entrance. I went in a saw the guy and he told me to come back at 12.30 and she will be ready waiting for me. I took my ID then to save time later on. I went out and sat in the car with Nancy she didnt want to come in as seeing her in the kennel earlier at Gatwick had upset her. I go back in the half hour later and through the glass door i can see her sitting some 10 feet from me. She saw me straight away and was calling out to me. Next came the bad news. It turns out that she was supposed to go through customs when she landed in Newerk and she shouldnt of been allowed on her connecting flight until she had done so. They were now telling me that as she hadnt cleard customs we would have to come back at 8am when a cusoms officer would be in to clear here. The guy in Vegas didnt want to be responsible for her over night so he kept on to Newerk to get her cleared. He faxed her documents back over and after about 2 hours on the phone they finally cleared her.

We had a 20 minute drive up to the house. We had Sheridans bowl ready for her and she came straight out of the kennel and scoffed it all down. She had a wonder around the house, explored in every room and gave it her approval. We sat up with her for about an hour and then it was time to go to bed and put a finish to our first day in Vegas.

Clock is Ticking

Life at the moment feels like a cross between Christmas Eve and your final school exam. Time is fast running out and there is still so much to do before we move but we are getting closer. This week has been the most expensive of my life. After paying the international removals, estate agents, housing lawyer, solicitor for pub sale, ticket to send cat to America, Flights to America and deposit on the rental house. Obviously next week will mean money coming in from the house and business sales will be nice when they appear in the bank account.

Luton cardroom threw a bit of a party for me on Wednesday. Im not one for attention so the low key night was just perfect for me. Plenty of familar faces had turned up and the casino even put on a breakfast buffet and a few free drinks at the bar. I even managed to turn a tidy profit on the night so all went well. Nina has been running Luton and ill def miss her when i go. I bet there isnt a more caring cardroom manager in the country than Nina right now. The efforts she puts in to make her customs happy are astounding. If only her bosses could give her the support she deserves.

The flights are all booked for Wed morning. I have upgraded us on Virgin and although im not sure its worth the additional money it will be a good way to start our new lives. My other reason for this is I hope Nancy sleeps on the flight. She doesnt normally sleep on the flight but as she will be more stressed than usual getting away from coach class will be a big help. The reason for the additional stress is that we are flying our cat over with us and Nancy is extremely worried about her health during the long flight. Virgin refused to allow us to fly her so she will be flying via Newark on Continental and arriving 8 hours behind us even though we drop her off an hour before we fly.

Tomorrow is our final day of normallity. We have been sorting through the house ready for the move we cant actually pack anything. Due to the insurance from the international removal company they have to come in and do it all. Its amazing the things that we have thrown away or given away. The amount of cluter that you pick up over the years is amazing. Ill be playing at Luton Sunday night before the removals start Monday morning at 8am. Monday they will be packing and Tuesday they will be clearing. I hvae closed down most of my accounts such as Sky, BT and the Gas and Electric. I have a couple more to do such as house insurance but im 90% ready for the move. Sleep in an empty house on Tuesday night and then off to Gatwick bright and early to start off an new lives. The weather forcast is 68 degrees and sunny in Vegas for Wednesday. Not a bad way to start. Our first day in Vegas is Valentines day so im sure we will be out somewhere nice for dinner to celebrate.

Its going to be strange leaving the UK. Im sure there will be lots of little things that I will miss. Im sure in the heart of the summer ill be crying out for just one day of rain. Without question ill be missing my favoured IRN BRU but i guess ill have Mountain Dew to compensate. I will proberly see as much football over there if not more but ill struggle to find the same banter about the game as i get at home. Its gonna take me a while to get used to driving on the wrong side of the road and im sure ill be converting everything i buy back into pounds but again with time this will fade.

I have a whole list of people who will be coming over to visit some poker players some friends. Im sure there will be plenty of people around in the summer during the WSOP and ill be back in a couple months to catch up with people. As of Monday i will be computerless and ill buy a new one out there so this will be my last blog entry for at least a week. I wasnt sure when i first started writing it if people would take an interest or if i would continue writing it after the first couple of entrees. Im glad I began this and my next post will be from Vegas in the new house.

Recon Mission part 5

So in just 10 days I think i had managed to achieve all that I had set out to do. We had found a house and signed a lease all ready to move in when we turn up in the mid of Feb. Bank accs all ready amazes me how vital it is to have the bank acc so many things can become out of having an account. To show Nancy more of Vegas and to make her feel more comfortable about the move. Although 100% with me as you would expect she had huge worries about moving to America. In opening her eyes to the live that we would be leading over there she is now a lot more comfortable with the whole move. I have always made a profit in the trips I have made to Vegas but I had never been out during Jan before. Im now happy that there will be a year round market for me and im happy than i can make a profit every month of the year.

It always amazes me how quickly time in Vegas goes no matter how long you are there for. So with anything sorted out im at my 2nd weekend. This weekend is now the conference final for the NFL and again there is an amazing atmosphere in the cardrooms, plenty of drinking going on and as far as im concerned money to be made. All the tables are full and there are waiting lists all over the place. I started off in the Venetian which most of had 50 cash games running including a $50/$100 game out the back with some of the big boys with huge amounts of cash on the table. I nicked a bit in the game and decided to move on.

Next i tried the MGM what a mistake that was. There was a Hannah Montana concert on whatever the hell that is. The place was full of preteen girls and there parents. My rusiian taxi driver wasnt happy to say the least it took 5 mins to get from the entrance to the hotel lot to the casino front door. I think the MGM has the biggest casino floor on the strip and i had to weave my way through the masses to the cardroom. Every table in the room was in use but there was a seat avalible straight away and i had a good view of the game. My MGM form continued and I had another losing session at the MGM. Still not sure why I cant win in there but the game is def soft enough im sure it will come with time. Another good reason to play the MGM is that they have a food stand between the cardroom and the sportsbook which has the best hotdogs that I have found in Vegas so far.

I walked back from the MGM to Treasure Island. This is not a good idea at 7pm as the strip is full of people and the pavements are full. I hate walking with tourists as they amble along or just stop in there tracks for no particular reason. It took me about 30 mins to get back which wasnt too bad. At certain times of the day its just quicker to walk than it is to walk into a hotel find the taxi rank and que up. The strip can been equally slow for traffic as it is for walkers so I nevermind walking the strip. If im off strip then its a different matter and its taxis only.

We went out to dinner in the Grand Lux which is in the Venetian our meal was compt. from the money that i had earnt playing in the cardroom. During dinner i tried to convince Nancy that part of living in Vegas we have to adapt to the lifestyle and take the things that are on offer for free or at least appear to be free. A bottle of Heinekein is free at the poker table but $9 at the bar. I managed to nick in another small session after dinner and it was time for another early night.

I wake up at 6am on Monday morning and im up out of bed and before i know it im walking down the strip for my last session of the trip. There is no $2/$5 game going in the Venetian just 2 $1/$2 games and a $5/$10 game all 3 had been running all night. I had made a consience decision to aviod the 5/10 game all trip but i decided to sit down with $1000 and give it a spin. I knew 4 of the players and when i joined we were 8 handed and i decided to play tight until i got a feel for the table then loosen up as they had a read on me as a tight scared player.

As i say the game has been going all night and there is plenty of banter flying around the table. In the $5/$10 game there is no rake they have what they call time pots. Every 30 mins when they change dealer whoever wins the last pot the leaving dealer pays for the drop. As the game had been going all night the floor man let us go dropfree while i was there.

I saw a few flops and missed so released on the flop. The action was fast and the stacks were deep. 1 guy was sitting with $28k. He was 8k up on the session but how crazy is that $28k in a $5/$10 game. I have lost about $80 in limps so far and i call a raise with pocket 4s. Flop comes down and i flopped a set. The raiser bets out and finds a caller. The board is flushing and straightening so I put in a big raise and manage to take it down there and then. Im now back in front and feeling good about taking down my first pot.

A few hands later im in the BB and there has been a straddle of $20. 1 limper and a guy i know from the $2/$5 game makes it $200 to play. I had seen him makes plays like this before and then check it all the way down if he didnt like the board. I had seen him turn hands over like KQ AJ and 99 these types of hands. It folds around to me and i find KK in the BB. I have a little dwell while i consider my options. Im out of position after the flop and there is also the limper. I check the raisers stack and we both have about $900 back after his $200. I decided to smooth call see a flop and see how the land lies afterwards. The limper passes and we see a flop. Over it comes Q J 6. Its a rainbow flop and i look down to recheck my cards. As i do this he moves allin. Dealer says action isnt on you but the play stands. With nearly $500 in the middle and $900 to call i run through the hands that he could have and which of them i can beat. This isnt a great flop for me as a lot of hands now beat me. AA, QQ JJ are all winning as is QJ is discount 66. Im hoping he has KQ or maybe AQ. KT is also a hand that i can put him on from what i had seen of him before. I take nearly a minute but make the call. Turn is a 2 as is the river. He confindently turns his hand over declaring 2 pair. He has AQ and i table my KK to take the pot. He starts moaning about how unlucky he has been all night and how i slowplayed my KK against him. The dealer ships me the pot and i send him a nice tip. I pick up a few more pots continuing to play tight just nicking a few bits here and there.

The guy with the $28k stack decides that he has had enough and he is up and out of the game. 2 other players agree they have had enough and i splutter an agreement. I get my chips off the table straight to the cashier to collect my $1700 profit. Not bad for just over an hours work.

So that was my final session of the trip. Its back to the room to pack and check out and before I know it im asleep on the flight home.