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Vegas was pretty fun. I had some minor reservations about how things would go, but everything ended up great and I’m really glad I went. I got to hang out with Dids, meet some of his online poker buddies, play some poker, eat some food, and just hang out in magical Las Vegas.

We flew out last Thursday morning. The weather here in Seattle promised to be fairly nice, although it looked a bit gloomy as we pulled up to the airport. This was in stark contrast to the forecast I read on Weather.com for Las Vegas. Wednesday’s high was 105 degrees and Thursday was going to be about the same: 103.

Dids and I shared a room together at Treasure Island. Before he booked the room, we sort of deliberated about price and location and this and that. We settled for T.I. because of its location further down the strip near the Wynn and because it wasn’t super expensive. I had to remind him that I just got back from Maui where I managed to spend a gajillion dollars.

We made ourselves at home and unpacked a few things before heading out. Dids was able to reach a few friends that were playing poker at the Venetian. I changed out of my jeans and track jacket into some cargo shorts and the thinnest button-down in my suitcase. I knew that I’d spend most of my day indoors, BUT those five minutes outdoors between casinos can be a killer, knamean?

After getting freshened up I told Dids I was hungry. I felt the call of a thousand buffets that this town offers and knew that I needed buffet. Dids had his own buffet aspirations, so we were on the same page. We decided that for the sake of convenience and also to see what homebase could provide, we ended up going to the T.I. buffet. It was OK. Disappointing for the most part.

We ended up joining the boys at the Venetian and Dids and I sat down at a 3/6 limit game and played for a few hours. I think that I more or less broke even during the session. To me, playing poker and breaking even is as good as winning a few dollars. You figure a couple of free cocktails every hour plus the $3 an hour you’re getting on your player card, it all comes out in the positive. That’s what I keep telling myself anyway. Its an attitude that makes break-even players like myself happy in Vegas.

I met a couple of Dids’ friends. My first introduction to two of his friends, Jason and Rob, was this scene:

Rob made some questionable call at the poker table and it paid off. Jason wanted to prove mathematically that what he did was wrong. Rob wanted to defend what he did and explain it to him. They argued like this. For like, an hour. About a poker hand. And used math. On a clipboard.

Went out to eat with some of the poker dudes and went back to the card room. I didn’t play anymore, but I watched them play in the mixed game and some Chinese poker. I mostly watched them play Chinese poker, which is a simple game, but when you are playing four-way, the betting is pretty confusing. I had no chance of understanding at this point of the night, so I just sat there and stared.

Went to bed after quite a while of this.

The next morning we hooked up with another one of Dids’ friends named Dave for breakfast at the Wynn. Dave is in his early 30s and is a banker-type out of NY. With breakfast, Dave ordered a beer, I ordered a bloody mary, and Dids ordered some smoothie thing. I think that’s what he must be so smug about in this photo:

We sit and talk over food and Dave turns out to be ridiculously cool. He does; however, run bad at Keno.

After breakfast/lunch we walked over the Wynn and Dids and I played some 4/8. The session was unremarkable for me except for the fact that I was down a rack and in the last five minutes I managed to go on a rush and leave $15 up. That plus the four or five drinks makes me up HUGE for the session. Not only did I manage to make a few bucks, but I also figured out how to get a buzz from free casino drinks: order martinis.

I believe that the session was about four hours or so long. It was getting late and we hadn’t had dinner yet. We decide to hit up the seafood buffet (yes, I know that that is a scary combination) at the Rio. In my infinite wisdom I convince Dids that it isn’t that far and we can walk there. About six hours later we arrive at our destination, my flip-flopped feet covered in black filth, and the drinks in my stomach beginning to churn and form into liquid pain.

The buffet was good, but my stomach hurt and I wasn’t in top buffet-eating form. Dids was a little tired too and wasn’t able to enjoy it as much either. Needless to say, we took a cab back to the hotel. Dids headed off to meet with some friends. I decided to call it an early night and lay in the dark in the fetal position. All I could think was that it was only midnight and there I was, undressed and laying in bed.

The next morning I felt much better. Dids was out pretty late so I showered and got dressed and ventured out on my own. I decided that I would spend the day completely alcohol-free in order to not anger the stomach-bug gods. Hungry and looking for something mild to put on my stomach I ate pickles and a corn-beef sandwich at a diner:

Yeah, I know. Not exactly smart, but fortunately there were no negative side effects. The pickled green tomatoes were pretty good.

Anyhow, I went back to the cardroom. I played some more 3/6 at the Venetian and eventually Dids showed up all tired looking. We didn’t really play for much longer, but I ended up ahead nearly a rack and heavier by three or four unsweetened iced teas (remember, no booze). We went over to the Wynn and at some point I got bored and we parted ways and I walked around some more and went shopping. We were supposed to attend a nice dinner where dress was supposed to be at least business casual and while I brought appropriate clothing, I pretty much hated what I brought. I also realized that I did not bring dress socks. I went over to the mall and found some new pants and a shirt and black dress socks. Just as I was walking out of the mall I got a call from Dids about so-and-so drama with so-and-so person etc. and to summarize, we weren’t going to THAT specific dinner anymore; rather, we were going to dinner with a smaller group and is-that-OK-with-you?

“Yes, that’s fine. I’ll do whatever. But do we need to dress up for the new dinner?” I asked as I was walking towards the exit with bag in hand.

“No, I don’t think so.” He replied.

“But I hated what I brought and so I just bought some new clothes.” I complained.

“Hahaha.”

Sooo, I returned the shirt and the socks, but I kept the pants, because I got such a good deal on them. Take that take that.

On our way to dinner, we happened to bump into the other dinner party. It wasn’t as awkward as I hoped it would be, but there was some discernible tension in the air between the two groups. I was hoping for some dance-fighting or maybe high-carding for the right-of-way, but none of that. Eight of us ended up at Spago at Caesar’s Palace for a nice dinner. The highlight of the dinner were the oysters and watching the guy sitting to my left try to pick up on the hostess. The lowlight was not getting a glass of either of the two $300+ a bottle wine that Dave treated the table to on account of my booze-hiatus. Stupid stupid. SIGH.

After dinner we walked a million miles to MGM. They wanted to bet on the mechanical horse races. Unfortunately, there was a perma-crowd around the races, so I ended up watching Dids play $10 blackjack and do well. Another guy in our group ended up running hot and made over a grand on only $30 bets. There was a lady at the next table over that kept yelling “One million dollars!” over and over again. I hope she got there.

Dids crashed kind of early that night. He was out late the night before while I was suffering in bed. I felt pretty good and far from tired so I ventured out again. I walked to the Wynn and saw the sights (mostly it was the sight of hookers hanging on the arms of rich, fat, bald guys) and then ended up back at T.I. where I played 2/4 for a while. Yep, 2/4. A high-roller I am.

The crowd at 3:00 in the morning at the very low limit poker tables was interesting. I saw between two guys who were friends. They barely looked old enough to drive. I could tell that they’ve spent some time studying poker and maybe talking about it, but were still pretty new to it. The guy that sat across from me was super drunk and had long hair and a crazy beard. Needless to say, he was super loose and aggressive, which made him interesting to play with. I played for about an hour before heading to bed. I think I made about $20 or so.

I woke up to my final day in Vegas realizing that I had only been to two disappointing buffets since I arrived. I was a man on the mission. Unfortunatley, my mission was aborted because we wanted to have lunch with Dave and he doesn’t really like buffets. His company outweighed our gluttony so we ended up at Red 8 at the Wynn for Chinese food. It wasn’t bad at all.

Back to the Wynn poker room where Dids and I saw with Dave and a couple other poker guys at a 4/8 table. Right from the get go I knew this was a mistake, because to be honest, 4/8 is kind of expensive for me. I mean, its not outside of my means or anything, but losing say $200 is not something I’d ignore. I failed to mention earlier that many of these internet poker friends of Dids are ballers. Many of them play poker professionally at high limits and walk around with giant green rolls of cash held together by rubberbands. So obviously, messing around on a 4/8 table could get ugly for me. Fortunately, it wasn’t too bad. My image at the table was very tight, so they didn’t play too aggressively in pots that I was involved in. Unfortunately, despite the fact that I played for only an hour, I was down a rack and a half by the time I quit. I decide that I better quit before I lose the house and I said my farewells to the gentlemen. It was time to pack anyway.

I went back to the room and began packing my things, but not before I took the only photo of me in Vegas:

I had my mini-tripod with me for just this.

After packing I headed down to the gift shop to get a Treasure Island Souvenir shot glass and to hit up the ATM for my half of the hotel charges. I also took the camera out with the telephoto lens to get a few more shots before leaving. I always find that my perspective is completely different when I’m limited to a much higher focal length than a regular walkaround lens. I see different shots that I didn’t see before.

I met up with Dids back at the Wynn card room and said my goodbyes to everyone once again. The time was burning fast and I heard that the airport was a mess. Dids accompanied me back to the room and I grabbed my bags and headed off, making Dids promise that he wouldn’t spend the rest of his Vegas stay in his room (most of the people he knew were leaving as well).

I shared a cab ride with a nice couple from Houston, Texas who overspent during their stay in Vegas. They didn’t seem too concerned, but I don’t know if that was because they didn’t care, or they were tired, or just completely shell-shocked. I told them I was happy that I broke even.

The plane ride was uneventful, but long for two hours. I got to the airport and was greeted by my beautiful wife, who was definitely a sight for sore eyes. The air outside was cool like I like it and the absence of dinging and bells and crowds of tank-topped tourists holding two foot tall cocktails also suited me. I was enthusiastically greeted at home by my dog and later got into my comfortable, comfortable bed (the pillows at T.I. are AWFUL by the way) and slept soundly for the first time in days. The next day I slept in and rolled into work three hours late. Perfect.

Overall the trip was a lot of fun and I can’t wait to do it again. In some ways it has awoken a sleeping poker enthusiast in me, because I haven’t stopped thinking about poker since. I’m not sure how long that will last, but hopefully long enough for me to make a few bucks. I don’t imagine that I’ll ever be really good, but as long as I’m having fun and as long as I’m breaking even, I can live with that.

Vegas. I wouldn’t want to live there, but damn, its a nice place to visit. And next time: more buffet please.