Vegas Magic - A Road Trip Report

By Tim Ryerson - 27th December 2004 - 5th January 2005

Monday 27th December

It's Monday morning and I'm all packed and ready for the long journey to Vegas. We get to Heathrow with plenty of time to spare but end up making a run for the plane and are the last people onboard. There are five of us on the plane, Andy , Chocs, James, Vikas, and me. Our other friend Dave is getting a later flight since he booked separately to us.

We're in the Vegas spirit and as such we decide to play cards and have a few heads up games with our fresh, crisp, American dollars. Even though it looked like we were playing for big money, it was only a friendly $5 to the winner! We didn't think there was much point losing too much money before even getting to Vegas. Andy and I had a long battle which helped pass some time, and he got a bit lucky and since it was cheap I thought I'd let him win for once :)

We ended up waiting around 5 hours for our connecting flight in Los Angeles and I picked up a horrible cold on the plane and wasn't feeling too good. I don't have much luck when flying to Vegas. The last time I went was 4 years ago and when we where half way across the Atlantic the pilot made an announcement along the lines of; 'excuse me but there is something wrong with the plane and we have to go back to Heathrow'. Not something you really want to hear when you're 35,000 feet in the air. At least this time we got there slightly (only slightly) quicker.

We checked into the Imperial Palace hotel at about 11pm , where Dave was already waiting for us. There were three of us in each room and they were quite nice rooms since we'd got an upgrade. Even though it had been a long day and we'd all been up over 24 hours, we didn't stay in the rooms long as it was time to see a bit of Vegas.

The six of us strolled round a few of the casinos nearby such as the Flamingo and Caesars Palace , just to get a feel for the place. It was my third time to Vegas and James had also been last year, but the others were all Vegas virgins. You could tell from the way we looked that night that the high rollers had arrived in town, err, or maybe not. There we were, all 6 of us huddled around a single 25 cent slot machine. Of course we were just pacing ourselves.

When we got back to the Imperial Palace we managed to capture a whole blackjack table to ourselves. Again our group image of experienced gamblers must have taken a bit of a beating, when after about 10 minutes into playing, one of the group (who shall remain nameless) asks the dealer 'can I change my cards?', followed a few minutes later by 'oh, I didn't realise you had to beat the dealer!'. Maybe this was just a cunning disguise as all six of us managed to finish that first blackjack session with a profit and we all retired for the night happy!

(from left to right: James, Dave, Choc, Andy, Tim (yes, me), and Vikas)

Tuesday 28th December

The next day was spent sleeping, and then shopping at the Las Vegas Boulevard Mall. It was only a short taxi ride from our hotel, and there were certainly lots of bargains to be had.

Tuesday evening was spent at the Studio 54 nightclub in the MGM. It's a great place but I had to bail early as I still didn't feel too great and was in desperate need of some sleep. However when I got back to the hotel I didn't feel tired enough to sleep and ended up playing blackjack till about 5 or 6am. I started on $50 and finished on over $200 and all of a sudden I started to feel much better.

One of the best things about our hotel was the select bunch of blackjack dealers known as 'dealertainers'. From a ring of about 6 or 7 tables you could choose to be dealt cards from the likes of Tina Turner, Rod Stewart, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, Little Richard, etc, and every 20 minutes or so they would take to the stage in the centre of the ring and sing one of 'their' classics. It all created a good, friendly atmosphere and was certainly more enjoyable than playing on the normal tables with the rather dour faced dealers.

Wednesday 29th December

It was now Wednesday and surprisingly we'd yet to play any poker. Although that was soon to change as we all entered the Imperial Palace daily tournament. It was a $45 buy-in with a $20 re-buy at anytime (no matter how many chips) within the first hour. Starting chips were 1300 with blinds going up every 15 minutes or so. There were about 50 runners or so and apart from a few dodgy yet friendly dealers it was a pretty good tournament. The best bit about it was that I managed to hang on for 5 th place to get $173, and Choc's played a good aggressive game, splitting 1 st place and earning $600. Dave also did well by getting to the last two tables considering it was his first live tournament.

Later on that evening we hooked up with some friends of mine who were in Vegas at the same time. We met at the entrance to the Mirage and decided to find a bar inside and go for a few drinks. Since there were now 10 of us aimlessly walking around the casino it was inevitable that we would get separated. Five of us managed to get to the bar together, three followed soon after thanks to the mobile phone, and Andy and James were last spotted wandering around the slots. They never made it to the bar, although they caught up with some of the others at the Coyote Ugly bar in New York New York .

Thursday 30th December

On Thursday Andy and I went over to the Luxor for the 10am game only to discover that it was at 12pm instead. This gave us time to have something to eat in the impressive Luxor restaurant and to also have a look around. Last time I was in Vegas I stayed at the Luxor and had good memories of the poker tournaments.

However, they either changed the tournament structure or I've got a really bad memory, as the tournament sucked! With just 250 chips to start, and blinds up every 15 minutes, it turned into a total crapshoot. From 83 runners at the start, we were down to 11 players after 80 minutes, an average of nearly one player out per minute. You got the feeling they just wanted rid of us all as quickly as possible. Although Andy managed to come 4th for $110 so it was a good ending.

Friday 31st December

On Friday (New Years Eve) it was time to check out the home of the WSOP, the Binions Horseshoe casino. Some of the others had gone shopping to a mall outside Vegas, so it was left to Dave and me to play in the $70 daily tournament. It was great fun. The tables were excellent, the dealers were excellent, and the tournament ran like clockwork. One thing they forgot to do was give me some luck. Both times I had pocket pairs I unfortunately ran into Aces. First with pocket 10's and the second time was the killer when my all-in with pocket Jacks running into the big blinds' bullets.

Oh well all was not lost as Dave was still in, even though he looked in big trouble. I thought I'd hang around and watch since he was low on chips and he might not be in for too much longer anyway. Well he got a stroke of luck and hit a 5 on the river to stay in with pocket 5's versus pocket 9's. That wasn't the first or last river card to save him that day (hence the new name, Dave 'the River' Knight) but he was playing a very good solid game. It didn't take long until he got to the final table and along with a small crowd I watched eagerly from the sidelines. I had 20% riding on Dave and he did the job by finishing in 5th place to pick up $655. Woohoo!

We left Binions at about 8pm and made our way back to the hotel to get ready for New Years Eve. Again we hooked up with the other group of friends and wandered around for a while. I can't really remember to much about the night but I remember we went to some bar in Treasure Island before staggering out onto the strip to watch the fireworks. The fireworks were awesome.

We then walked back to our hotel. Although it was a 10 minute walk it certainly took a lot longer as the strip was absolutely rammed full of people. It was a mission getting back to the hotel but somehow we made it. However by this time we had obviously got separated into smaller groups. I think we just played some games in our casino and then went to bed at some ridiculous hour. It was a great night!

New Years Day

The next day was slightly weird. I got up out of bed at about 3pm , went upstairs to the buffet for 'breakfast', then went back to bed and woke up at 9.30pm . Four of us then went to the Rain nightclub at the Palms. When we got there the queue was massive and rather than wait for 2 hours we paid the bouncer $50 each to jump to the front. It was well worth it as it was a brilliant nightclub, probably the best in Vegas. A fantastic night!

Sunday 2nd January

On Sunday Andy, Dave, and I played the Imperial Palace tournament again. All three of us were knocked out early. I went out when my K10 hits the flop of 8 K 8, only for the other guy to call me holding AQ and he hits a Q on the turn and a Q on the river. Never mind, it was all good fun anyway.

In the evening we went to see the Tournament of Kings show at the Excalibur. We were sat in the front row and despite the seriously dodgy food we all had a great laugh. We then spent a good hour or so playing arcade and fun fair type games at the Excalibur. Everyone seemed to walk away with a huge cuddly toy of some description, including Choc's with his life size black dog.

Monday 3rd January

On Monday we again went to play the 2pm, $70 tournament at Binions. About 45 minutes into the tournament something shocking happened. No not me winning a pot or dishing out a bad beat on someone else, that would be good shocking, but this was bad shocking. A man playing on the same table as Vikas, and the table next to me, had a heart attack. Apparently Vikas had just raised him in a pot and the guy won it. Then all of a sudden his wife yells across the room 'is there a doctor in the house', and everyone looks around to see this guy, half standing of his chair, struggling to breathe, and literally turning grey. It was not a pleasant sight.

He was then outstretched on the floor, clearly struggling. The ambulance crew arrived a few minutes later. The man was about 50, tall and slim. It was not clear whether he was dead or alive by the time the tournament resumed, which was about 45 minutes later. I had gone outside for some fresh air when the medics arrived. The tournament director asked everyone to take a moment and pray for the man and it was so upsetting that a few people didn't even continue, including one player on my table. Unfortunately we later learned that the poor chap didn't make it.

With one less player to beat (ouch, I shouldn't really say that) I eventually crashed out of the tournament when, short stacked, I found AK and raised all in. The guy to my left calls with JJ and I hit and Ace on the flop only for a Jack to come on the turn. Oh well, the tragedy earlier put things into perspective. Andy played well and managed to get 6 th place for $400, of which Dave and I had 20%. The 20% deal is working well for me!

On Monday evening we started off playing in the casino before heading off to the Voodoo lounge, which is at the top of the Rio. The lift up to the top of the Rio is on the outside and the view of Vegas is amazing. The Voodoo lounge was really good, and had a live band playing, but there were a few too many old people for Choc, Dave, Vikas and I, so the four of us headed off to the Ghost Bar at the Palms, which was also excellent.

We met up again with Andy and James back at the hotel where I was playing blackjack with Elvis, Tina Turner, or maybe Michael Jackson. James was singing away to the music right behind me and at this point I realised they'd downed a lot of cocktails at the Voodoo lounge. We all have a good time in the casino and won some money.

Tuesday 4th January

On Tuesday Dave and I were meant to do some more shopping, but what the heck, we decided to go to Binions again instead. Dave goes out quite early and my chip stack is going up and down. I hit some nice hands and then lose quite a few, one of which was an all in with AJ running into the small blinds AK. I was on the steal and had previously been all in two or three times in a row (with good hands I tell you!). Luckily this time I had more chips than him, but it did leave me quite short.

There were about 30 players left (from about 100) and the blinds were now going up steeply. I end up going out with J9. The guy opposite raises and there are two all in's, although like me they didn't have many chips. I put the original raiser on a bluff and hoped the others were playing Ace rag or worse. I knew the guy next to me was going to play anything, which turned out to be true.

Maybe I should have waited for a better hand. However since I didn't have many chips left, it was my big blind, there was a running ante, and the blinds were about to go up again, I decided to gamble. As it turned out the 'bluffer' was holding pocket Kings and ended up knocking three players out. However a 10 on the turn or river would have bagged me the straight and I'd have been in a good position. Oh well. It was all good fun and I still love Binions anyway.

That evening, Choc, Dave, Vikas, and I went to Studio 54 at the MGM again. It was a great night and we all had fun.

Wednesday 5th January

On Wednesday Dave and I got some last minute shopping while the others went to the Stratosphere. We got lots of bargains and they all had a great time on the rides at the top of the tower.

When we got back to the hotel I played some more blackjack while waiting for the others and then since it was our last night we decided to have a meal at the Hard Rock Café. The food in there was really nice and soon after we returned to the hotel to try and win some more money.

Dave and Andy played in the midnight poker tournament at the Imperial Palace, whilst I opted for the cash game. It was a no limit cash game and you had to sit down with either $40 minimum or $100 maximum. I managed to nearly double my money to $200, but then found my table down to just 3 players so I left to go and play some more blackjack downstairs.

The last night was a successful one for me as I won on poker, blackjack and even roulette. I had pretty much steered clear of roulette apart from the odd little flutter here and there, and on the last night I managed to win over a $100, taking my roulette profits to a staggering $200. Since I didn't play much roulette I was very happy with that.

Well it was now about 6am and it was time to get some sleep as we had to leave at 12pm the next day. All in all it was a great holiday and at the end of it I was happy to finish with a small profit from gambling, as did most of the group. I actually was up on blackjack, roulette and even the slots. The only thing I was a little down on was the poker, but I had many hours of fun so it was worth it. Of course there was lots of great things to do away from the gambling so it was a fantastic holiday. I can't wait to go again!