Wynn Poker Classic

So we all move on to the next casino. For the last 3 weeks the Venetian had been by far the busiest cardroom on the strip, but now the room is quiet and the action is a lot slower. The bandwagon has moved onto the equally beautiful and grand Wynn. The poker room at the Wynn is quite small considering how popular is room is. Im not sure how many tables they have so ill have to count next time im in.

So on Thursday i decided to go along to the Wynn and see what the action was like. I have never been a great fan of the Wynn in the past and it was maybe 18 months since I last played there. The reason why I hadnt been there for such a long time is that on my last visit I sat in the $2/$5 game and sat with $5oo and a guy comes to the table and sits down with $50,000. How crazy is that there is no cap in any of the games in the Wynn and sometimes you see some over the top stacks and often more than one. I heard the other day there was over $200k on one $2/$5 table with 3 guys each having over $50k each.

So I walk through the Wynn arrive at the cardroom and ask for a $2/$5 game, there were 5 games in progress and 9 players on the list. I discover an open seat in the $1/$3 game so I join this game while im waiting. Sitting in this game can be so confusing. They play with $3 chips. If someone raises some of the dealers will annonce 6 chips to play instead of saying $18 to play. Also when players are either betting raising or calling they confuse themselves and it can through off a lot of your tells into what they are thinking.

So after a couple of circuits of the table my seat becomes avalible in the game i was looking for. I exchange my $3 chips at the cage for the $5 chips i need for my new game. The avalible seat is seat 5 my fav, i always prefer seats 5 or 6 so im in the middle of the table and in the middle of all the action as it goes on. As im taking my seat and studying the players around me and checking out each of the chip stacks I discover that I seem to have quite a sensible bunch of players with the biggest stack being about $1200.

I manage to murder my $1k stack in less than an hour and get my reputation as loose crazy and willing to bluff into any pot. To be honest I played pretty bad in losing most of my stack by trying to move a guy off a pot that he was never going to laydown to me. Anyway I pull up another thousand and I nearly get out of it on the first hand. I call a raise and flop top pair with a flush draw. I call the flop bet and turn a straight draw. He bets again and again he smooth calls. The river brings me the straight and when he bets the river I put him allin and he calls confidently with his AA and is dismaid to see my straight. I tighten up and play a lot more solid and contine to build my stack until its time to phone Nancy to come and pick me up and take me home for dinner. I have turned a $1k loss into a $400 profit and im ready to get out of the room. As im cashing out the floor man announces that a player in the room has tickets to see " The Reve" the big show currently on at the Wynn. The tickets were worth $140 each and he was offering them at $100 for a pair. I took 2 of them arranged to meet Nancy at The Grand Lux in the Venetian. I get the meal compt from the credit I have on my players card and we settle down for a huge plate of food no matter what it is we order. We have eaten in there a few times together now and never gotten near to finishing.

We leave the Venetian and walk down the strip towards the Wynn. For those people who havent been to Vegas in the last 6 months, this part of the strip has changed so much recently. The Wynn used to be isolated on the strip but now that The Palazzo is open its a much more enjoyable part of the strip to walk along.

We arrive at the Wynn and I show Nancy the poker room and I see that some of the people I had been playing with earlier. We move through to the theatre and purchase a drink each and some popcorn. All of the big shows on the strip are in such amazing arenas and this one was as special as any other id seen. The show itself I didnt especially enjoy compared to the other shows but Nancy really enjoyed it so I guess thats what counts and a night out with dinner and a show got me plenty of brownie points.

Im really starting to get into a good routine over here. Back home I used to saty up all night and sleep all day. Since being here my body clock sends me to bed most nights at around 11pm and im up by 7am. As for the poker the weekends are all about the strip. The cardrooms are full and buzzing over the weekends and without doubt the place to be. Playing through the week at the Red Rock is good for me as its just around the corner and so convieniant to play there. I still make the odd visit through the week to the strip.

A poker buddy of mine Simon Galloway has flown out here this week and is staying at the Bellagio. Ill be going down to the strip after I watch the Champions League games in the morning. Ill meet up with him in the Bellagio and we might stay there for a while and then see what the action is like over at the Wynn with there festival going on. Simon has never played the RedRock before so he is going to come up to the house and try out the RedRock. When in Vegas Simon likes to sample all the great restaurants that Vegas has to offer so we are going to try out T-Bones the steakhouse in the RedRock. I have been asking around and discovered a couple other places he hasnt heard of before so ill suprise him with them through the week.

I was supposed to play the RedRock last night but never made it. In the $2/$4 limit game a straight flush beat 4 queens so they paid out the $160k bad beat jackpot. The 2 players in the pot received $45k and $30k with the remainder of the jackpot paid equally amongst all the players playing at that time in all of the Station casinos. Im not sure how much each player got but it was paid out at 10pm on Sunday night so im sure there werent that many players who got a share of the $85k. Another bad beat for me.