wherein our hero learns a little about human nature

PART THE FIRST
2009.01.10

It's been a busy few weeks.

Barely home from my previous Vegas trip in time for Chranukwanstice and all the goofiness that entails. After that, New Year's parties. As a stinky hippie, my plans involve music concerts and there were plenty of choices in my home region of San Francisco. Good stuff, if you like that kind of thing, and I do, so it worked out well. Barely time to rest, on New Year's Day I packed and left for Florida, from where I set sail on Jamcruise: a music festival on a cruise ship. This year we went to Belize, dancing and tripping the week away. Returned to port on January 9, then another cross-country flight home.

That brings us to this morning. Time to clean and pack and leave again for Vegas! I've yet to make solid plans for lodging, so I ring up Budget Suites. I had spoken with someone a few weeks ago who suggested I try again in January because rates might go down. No go. I'm only in town for four days, but I still need to pay for a week, which will come to over $300. While the idea of lodging with strippers is appealing, the rate combined with its off-strip location relegates it to backup plan.

I stayed at MGM last time for $40/night, so let's give that a whirl. I talk to a person in reservations who says the current rates are under $70/night, and that I could probably get more of a discount if I talk to the poker room. I do and get told the lowest they can do is $90/night. But the regular rate is less than that, and last time I was in town I got $40/night just from asking. Apparently last month had a tear in time and space because the mere concept of this is completely foreign. Back to reservations, where the rate is now over $100/night. But it was cheaper only five minutes ago! You snooze, you lose.

A friend points me to expedia, with Stratosphere at $30, Flamingo around $50. Now we're talking. I remind myself about hotwire. They give discounted rates, but I don't know the exact location until after I book. The description of a $32 room is a 3-star South Strip location. The map they provide is a little vague about how far off the Strip this includes, but if it's on the Strip it's perfect. I throw caution to the wind, close my eyes, and book it.

Tropicana! Score! Some people have issue with burn marks on the furniture and bloodstains on the shower curtains, but I'm not one of those people. I love the Old Vegas charm. I had spent a chunk of my roll on the aforementioned cruise to Belize, and I'm trying to keep expenses at an absolute minimum, so this works for me. To continue the cheapskate theme, I hit up the grocer for granola, yogurt, bagels, schmear, and fruit. I'm tired of paying $20 for an omelet. Money saved at breakfast spends the same as money won on the table. If I'm going to do this seriously, I need to take this seriously.

Ah, airports. If you need proof regarding the pending collapse of civilization, look no further. People seem determined to focus on immediate selfish needs, even if by doing so they work against themselves. For example, baggage claim. Everybody is clustered against the carousel. This means hardly anybody can see and everybody has to push and shove to get a bag out. If everybody simply steps back ten feet, then everybody has a wider viewing angle and everybody can easily walk up when the appropriate bags come down the line. It's a game that everybody can win, but hardly anybody goes along with me when I suggest this. We're doomed.

At the Trop! Determined to be holla balla, I try the $20 trick and score! I don't think the rooms are any better, but it gets me a spot in the tower. You can spend your $20 on suites in the posh places, I'll use mine to save me four days of walking to the ass end of their compound. I'm doubly pleased when I discover a refrigerator in the room, which means I won't have to keep loading up my cooler with ice. This is more than I had in a "nice" room on my last trip, and I can see from my window that I'm closer to the MGM poker room than I was when I stayed at the MGM.

Time (finally) for some poker! MGM, right? Bzzt, nope, I'm headed to Excalibur! The .5/1 tables are just my speed right now, and I dig the vibe of the clientele. I call up a local friend who meets me down there and it's a casual night of electronic cards.

I'm doing fairly well until my brain seizes up and I make a crying call with 22 on a board of 92888. What the hell? I might as well have 4-high. That's what I get for trying to milk it. Other than that I have some nice hands and build up a stack. I get some value with AQ top pair versus both straight and flush draws that don't come. My buddy, who usually plays bigger games, can't take this one seriously and ultimately busts out due to trying to bully with 5-high. Three times. At least he got some beers.

I take a bit of a hit when I limp/call with 77 in EP. Three-way flop of J62, all diamonds. Checked to me, I figure I'm ahead. Villain stacks are barely larger than the pot, so I push. One fold, but I get a call from middle set. At least I have the 7d, but it wasn't meant to be.

I'm able to build back up and the table has become rather loose and aggressive, so I limp AA in EP. The woman directly to my left makes it $12 to go (on a $1 BB, mind you), which she's been doing with medium pocket pairs. She astonishingly gets four callers, and now it's back to me. The pot is over $60, I have about $120, so I push, muttering under my breath that I should've done that with my 7s. Another player is egging people to look me up. After a couple of times I say, "C'mon, one player to a hand." This does the trick because the guy tanking with JJ calls me and I'm able to add a nice chunk to my stack.

Another fun hand, the big stack to my right limps, I make a questionable raise with AJo. A couple of callers including the big stack and the flop is AJJ. Glorious. Even better is that he's betting into me. I call the flop, raise the turn, bet the river, and take almost all of his chips when he shows AQ. This game is easy!

After a while the table has dried up, I'm up a couple of buyins, and I feel I've had enough. I want to take my profits and play the Venetian nooner tomorrow, so I call it a night, collect my food comps, and head back over the bridge. So far the trip is turning out quite well. We'll see if I can maintain.

... next up: Repeat at Venetian? ...