"Oh Yeah, I Forgot...the Rodeo's in Town" Pt. 2

Saturday

I finally had a chance to sleep, as Darsky was sleeping when Mitch and I got back to the hotel room after our blackjack run. I passed out, while Dar got up and went to go play the $5/10NL at the Bellagio, raking in a pretty good score while I was sleeping. Around 11AM I woke up and took a shower and saw that Dar had awoken.

I called up Uncle Pauly, and then Darsky and I took Mitch's car to go pick him up. When he had told me he was staying at the Circus Circus the week before I thought he was just joking around. But.....nope. If there's ever been a more horrible casino, I'd like someone to point it out to me. As soon as we walked inside it felt like a place of death.

When we found Paul he was in a $40 tournament, being dealt to the world's most crooked rejects by a 80 year old dealer who couldn't quite move the pot around without sweating, and suffering from what appeared to be a series of minor heart attacks. We had to wait around and fear for our personal health until he busted out and we could leave.

"What the hell is wrong with you Paul?"

"The cheapest room I could find for this weekend."

"Oh yeah, I forgot...the rodeo's in town."

"Oh is it? That's why I keep seeing all these cowboys, huh?"

"Let's get out of here before I puke. It smells like feces."

Of course I had to dump $80 bucks at the $5 Let It Ride table before we took off. Come on....how can you pass up a $5 table....

We sprinted back to the car and took off towards the MGM Grand. Don't ask me why, but for some reason I have a rabid affection for the Rainforest Cafe. I had it at the MGM with my dad the first time I ever went to Vegas when I was younger, and that might be why, but for whatever the cause may be I HAVE to go there every time I go to Vegas now. I've been to the one in downtown Disney, but it wasn't the same.

Unfortunately for them, Dar and Pauly don't like the Rainforest Cafe as much as I do. Oh well! It was my birthday.....errr month..... and we were going whether they wanted to or not! I ordered the usual Chicken Fried Chicken and a huge glass of iced tea. Ah god it was so good! If I were Homer Simpson (if only life were that good), the Rainforest Cafe would be my donuts.

After eating we headed across the floor to the poker "room". For anyone who hasn't been to the MGM, the poker room is a sectioned-off area in the middle of the casino floor. It's not in the middle of the slot machines or anything, it's actually conveniently away from the gaming tables and is surrounded by cafes and stores, so it's very secluded from the gaming floor noises that drive some players crazy. It's large enough to hold around 25(?) tables, and has the cage in the middle.

On this day I was really pleased to see the poker tables buzzing with action. Last time I had been there, they had just finished redoing the poker room and there was maybe three tables going total. When we were there after lunch, though, there were only about five tables not running games.

I was the first of the three of us to get in a game, opting to take the $4/8 while waiting on a decent interest list for a $6/12. There were plenty of $1/2NL games going, some $2/5NL, and a $5/10NL going. I wasn't in the mood to play NL, but going to Vegas I really wanted to get into a decent limit game, since the only thing that ever goes at Chumash is a $3/6, with an occasional $4/8. I wasn't too happy with only being able to play $4/8, but a seat was open and it was time to start trying to beat whatever game I was in as I was planning on playing poker for the rest of the trip.

I took the open seat while Dar sat at the $5/10NL and Paul eventually got a seat at the $1/2NL. After a few rounds the $6/12 finally started up and I started taking control of the table. I was talking it up, playing, and raking pots. I got into a verbal squash with a loudmouth, trash-talking kid who apparently lived in Vegas and was too cool for school. The guy was a total ass-clown and I made him feel like a little kid when I backtalked him off of the table within a half an hour of sitting down. The whole table was cracking up cuz for every word he had I had two more to throw back at him. He dropped about $50 and racked up and left, leaving the rest of us on the floor laughing at his rediculousness. The game only lasted for a little bit, but I was able to pick up $300 before the table broke.

We were able to fill the table back up by making it a $4/8, and I sat dead for a while while Dar was raking it up at the $5/10NL. I picked up another $50 and racked up. Dar and I took off, leaving Pauly and one of his buddies who had met him there to fend for themselves. We went back to the hotel room for a sec to see how much Mitch had learned to love the hotel room, and then it was off to see if anything was happening at the Palms. Of course the Palms was filled with tons and tons of hot women, but not even a glimpse of good poker. The Wynn was next on the list.

By this time Dar was starving so we needed to find food, and fast! As soon as we arrived at the Wynn we headed over to the Red8, a chinese food restaurant. It was friggin delicious, and I was starting to see a theme of good food in this wonderful city. I had the chicken chow mein, and I would have it every day for every meal if I could! If there's one thing I love more than poker in this world, it's food. I love eating, and I love enjoying a meal. I'm not a big guy (6'0" 190lbs), but I can sure put away some food, and I could see that the food was quickly becoming one of my favorite things about Vegas.

After the delicious self-gratification experienced at the Red8, we made our way over to the bustling poker room. I gotta say, I love the Wynn's poker room. They play ten-handed, which is normally a cramp. But the Wynn's poker tables are about foot wider than a normal 4.5' table (at least on the bottom level, Dar said the upper level tables were average). If there's one thing I hate when I'm playing cards, it's playing cards when there's no room for my legs to fit under the poker table thanks to the slobs and fat men sitting to either side of me. But thanks to wide tables and supremely comfortable chairs, the Wynn was completely awesome to play at.

I bought in to the $8/16 for $300 in brown chips and took a seat 6-handed. A couple hands after I sat in this Asian guy came into the 7s. Immediately he looked like someone who was gonna piss me off. I love it when I'm right. He bought in for one rack and within the first hour of play had turned it into just over three. He was not folding preflop, and seemed to be catching everything on everyone. I was glad it wasn't just me, but it was still very annoying.

The game finally filled up, and I was sitting on only $100. I rebought another rack to fill me back up, and quickly went on a small rush. I finally started winning pots against the jackass in the 7s, and was able to win a couple pots against the rest of the table as well. Just as I had pushed over the five-ball I was in for, Darsky had come up and said that his game was no good. I didn't wanna leave, as the game had just started to liven up, but I can't leave my best wingman hanging like that. Plus, there was money to be had wherever we went, it was Vegas baby.

Having been in a soft game earlier, Dar suggested we go back to the MGM. We went back but this time the action was less than optimal. So instead of staying to play cards, we decided to do the one thing we were equally good at: drink! We went back to the hotel to rescue Mitch from his hotel room jail cell and the three of us went downstairs to search out comfortable spots at the quarter machines at the bar.

I took an early lead in the drinks, taking on multiple rounds of Jack and Cokes. We were all involved in a heated session of Battle Keno, and Darsky was so involved that he fell to dead last in the drunk race. Being the best alcholer out of the three of us, I had expected him to come out strong. But he neglected his drinks at the beginning, and at the end of the night was the only one with any money left in the machine. He was also the only one getting free drinks after about an hour.

Bastard.

After a few hours of watching Darsky splitting two 10s against a 9 for a quarter at a time playing video blackjack, we retired to the room. When we got there I had this brilliant idea to order ice cream sundaes? It was probably around 1AM, and supposedly ice cream sundaes triple in price at that of the night, cuz it was like $40 for three of them.


That was the end of Saturday. I'm still sick, and I'm pretty tired at this particular morning, so I'm not gonna finish the whole trip right now. I'll write up Sunday and post a Part 3.