Vegas Trip Report: Day 2

Friday

9:30pm-3am: after walking around Vegas all day I decided to stop in at the Excalibur while my brother was at the Phish show. Two things I notice about locals in Vegas... they either gamble all the time or not at all. The ones who do gamble can also be broken down into two categories. Very good and degenerate. The good ones win money every time they play. They spot holes and attack. They never find a reason to play a bad hand. They find reasons to fold. They are usually cashing out several racks more than they bought in with. The others are losers. They seem to never win and constantly bitch when they get out played and lose. These degenerate gamblers are definitely living in the wrong city. Unfortunately for these people . . . on tilt is a common occurrence. It’s not a bad stretch for them, it’s a way of life for them. It’s a style matched by few. I heard one older local say that they've never won once. That means they've never cashed out up. I can't believe that especially since this person was rather old and looked like they've been playing poker longer than I’ve been alive.

"Maybe you should stop playing now!" I said from first position, that same local looked at me and said "Raise!"

Of course this was an unstructured 2-6 game where everyone bets $6. After the raise, I re-raised with pocket AA's. I almost felt sorry for this clown but there are no friends at the poker table. Since this was the typical low limit Texas hold’em poker game, there was about 5 or 6 callers. Got to love the respect a $12 bet gets especially since this is still preflop. Does everyone have pocket aces I wonder? A-3-6 hits and the local check his weak hand. I bet $6. Some fold and some call. The local steam raises me up to $12. So I re-raise. I hear muttering from the local. What an idiot. Does he have to make it so obvious he knows he's betting into a better hand? When you know you've sunk that low and still bet, I think it's definitely time to stop but this guy was the only one who didn't realize this. Turn showed an 8. The local bets out. I raise his set of 8's and everyone called. River comes up a 6. Boat over boat is even more salt in the wound than a set over set. Over course this clown bets and raises up the wha-zu and eventually it is just me and the local. The constant raises were finally too rich for the other callers. I show A's full and beat the 8's full. I look down and this clown has only ten dollars left. Down from an hour ago when he was up $300. He should have quit. He smacked the table and finally stormed out. The next time you are in Vegas, see how quickly you can tell the difference between the good locals and the degenerate always losing locals.

The hand that hurt the most in this session . . . I was dealt pocket 55's on the button. It was the best button hand I got all night and that isn't saying much. Being on the button is useless in low limit games. I called but the blind raises and so does another person. 7 other people call. the person to my right caps out the raises and I begin to think my pocket 55's are crap and I need to fold since it appears the Excalibur deals out pocket AA's to 9 out of 10 people every time I play and I’m the lone loser. I fold and everyone calls as usual. The flop hits 5-5-A. can you say F-U-C-K, fuck, fuck, fuck. Now that hurts! I not only missed out on winning a monster pot but I also missed out on an opportunity to spin the wheel. If you get 4 of a kind at the Excalibur, you get to spin the wheel and win free money. That fold stung me twice. The winning hand was J's and 5's. Can you believe that? No A's or K's on the hand! The pot was well over $100. I turned to the guy who rose on my right and politely said, "I hate you."

He looked at me and said, “Why?”

“I folded the winning hand . . . 4 5's.”

“Ouch. Sorry dude. I had pocket JJ's.”

That hand sent me on tilt because I had to see every flop with pocket pairs after that loss. I lost my buy in for the first time ever. Ouch.