Eugene and Mel do Vegas!

By Eugene Cummins

We both arrived in Vegas after the very long flight via LA where we had a three hour stop off. Giving us time to try the American McDonalds! We arrived in Vegas in good spirits although very tired but still managed to stay up till about 10am playing Black Jack, as it's the first time we have won playing this! Anyway by 10am we were zombies but it was the free drinks and the buzz which had kept us going till then.

Next day our first experience of poker in the Excalibur was $2-$6 Limit Hold'em. It was difficult to adjust to the limit style of play, as it was so cheap to stay in hoping for a river card that would win the hand, and they were all staying in even betting $6 at a time. This was good some of the time as the pots got massive considering the limit and we both had a couple of good scoops but ended up about even. (Sorry can't remember the exact hands; if we had known we were doing this we would have made a note).

Played the morning poker comp at the Luxor which is a $25 buy in and you get 300 chips with the blinds of 10-15 raising every 20 minutes. This was limit for the first hour and half then it turned into a no limit Hold'em game.There were about 30 players and we both started on separate tables.

My table was very loose but I was hitting some great pocket cards and as it was cheap to call the flop. I did this a few times and hit lucky scooping a few good pots and by the time I joined the 2nd table I had a decent stack. The first hand I was dealt was pocket kings which I raised and reraised winning a nice pot, taking me up to about 1000 chips. I then went to the final table to find Mel sitting at position 2, whereas I was at position 8. Mel had about 800 chips and we were both looking fairly good. There was money to 7th place and people were starting to drop out. The play was now no limit. Yay!

I had A K off suit and everyone had folded as one guy had gone all in and he had about the same amount of chips as me. I called taking him all in. He had pocket KK's and the flop landed Q J 6. The turn was a 4 and the on the river comes a 10. So I scraped out of that one and doubled up at the same time. We both found ourselves down to the last 5 when Mel lands AQ in pocket and goes all in to be beaten by K 10. There was a K on the flop which ended the tourney for Mel in 5th place gaining $40.

The next 20 mins were uneventful and my chip stack steadily started to shrink as I didn't seemed to be hitting any nice hands and the blinds were now 100 - 200 then 200 - 400. I still had a fair amount of chips and had become joint chip leader. There was then a battle for 3rd place when two regulars went all in against each other. I'm sorry but can't remember the hands nothing too interesting I'm afraid, it was won by a pair of 8's.

We then decided to split the pot three ways as we were all about even chipped and by splitting it meant we all got better then 2nd place money. We tipped the dealer $25 out of the pot and the rest of us walked away with $135 each. A good first tournament for Mel and I.

Next big poker night happened on the 5th day out there when I was up late. Mel took an early night, if you would call 3am early and I hit the poker tables at the Excalibur again. This time I was hitting with everything. I bought in for $100 to keep me going in a $2-$6 Limit Hold'em game.

I saw the blind once having 9 5 off in my hand .. a hand I would normally fold of course but it got around to me and I was able to check to see the flop with about 6 callers (there were always a lot of callers). Flop came and it was 9 2 5 rainbow so when it came round to me I call a $6 bet put in.. this was called by about 4 players and my eyes started to light up. I didn't think anyone else would have stayed in with such rubbish but hey this is Vegas and limit so you never know. Anyway next card came and it was Q which was nice as this kept them betting and this time there were three callers to the person betting just off the button. Last card came and it was a 7 a bet of $6 came to me and I raised hoping that no one had hit two pair on the river. All went well and I scooped a huge pot.

About 5 hands later I landed 9 5 off suit again and feeling that it was now my lucky hand (god knows why) I decided to play it. Anyway flop came and guess what 9s 5s 3d . I was thinking this is good and the guy next to me betted $6. He then said "I bet you wish you had that 9 5 back again" to this I said, "I have it" and called his $6. It was just him and me in it now and the next card came an Ace of Spades and I was getting worried that he had landed the flush but as feeling lucky with these cards called his $6 bet again and guess what river was yep a 9! He bet $6 and I raised $6 and he called. Showing his flush I laid down my full house and he just said "Well you did tell me what you were playing!"

The night continued and I was hitting all sorts of hands so I ended up playing lots! I Finished the night $400 + above my original $100. I was so happy I went to room and was telling a very tired and not very interested Mel about this at about 8am. After two hours sleep we were up and sightseeing again. We entered the Luxor tourney once more but both got wiped out pretty quick my flush hitting a full house on the river and Mel's KQ suited going out to A 5 off suit. Still a good friendly comp.

We decided to rent a car and were told they were all out of small cars only had medium size ones. We were happy with this and took keys when we found it in the garage we needed a step ladder to climb in it was huge.. more of a monster truck then a car by our standards. Off we trundled to the Hoover Dam mounting pavements and putting old ladies and animals on the endangered list (Mel just wants me to state it was my driving that was dodgy). The scenery was beautiful and the Hoover dam was quite spectacular. We drove about another 50 miles further out into the desert before seeing a sign that said Grand Canyon 220 miles! As we had 1 hour of daylight left and were in the need of a drink we decided to turn back. The scenery in the desert is spectacular.

We saw a couple of shows when we were out there but I'm not sure if you would interested as this is a poker site, but here we go anyway. Seigfreid and Roy was over priced but if you like tigers it's worth a look. The free show in the Tropicana, Lance Burton, not 'Follies' (I was not allowed to go to Follies!), was ok but only lasted 50 mins, but what do you expect for free if you win on the slot machine outside. Tournament of Kings was the best show we saw all holiday with amazing horse riding and special effects to jousting and a dinner all thrown in for about 1/4 of the price of Seigfreid and Roy.

We ended our holiday with suitcases ready to pick up a cab to airport when we got the urge to have one last go so we decided to hit the high limit slots with $40 that's about 4 pulls of the lever in real pulls! We could not believe it when we hit a small jackpot and won $600!. After several minutes of whooping and kissing Mel and the machine we decided to leg it before we got tempted again. However I should mention it was not all winning. We did lose quite a bit trying to win a very nice shiny black BMW Z3 that Mel was dreaming about!

Now counting the days to our next visit.

P.S. handy hint for slot players if you do play slots make sure you play maximum coins as there was one lady we saw who was not playing the max bet who ended up missing out on a very nice Jackpot of over $100,000!