Super Bowl Weekend in Vegas, Part 2

The first part of this blog post, Super Bowl Weekend in Vegas, can be found here.  This part picks up after dinner on Saturday night at Toby Keith's, with Chris.  He offered to drive my wife and I to MGM, since he was driving up there anyhow.  We typically use the monorail to get around, and this weekend had been no exception thus far.  However, we took him up on his offer, and off to MGM we went.  By the way, this was a big fight weekend, and on the way in, we saw quite a few dressed up people.  This includes women who were appropriately dressed for Rob's Slut Parade.  My wife couldn't help noticing, and also couldn't believe how little some of the girls were wearing.  Chris was noticing as well, and I may have made a slight observation or 2...We got into the MGM, found the poker room, and got ready to take our seats.  Rob had been kind enough to put us on the list as call-ins, and Chris was seated immediately.  My wife headed off to find some slot machines that caught her eye, and I was called for the next seat quickly.  Rob, Chris and I were all seated at different tables to start.  I bought in for $100, lost it in a badly misplayed hand within the first orbit, bought in for another $100, doubled shortly thereafter, and was around $250 when I decided to go back to Bally's to get my phone charger.

Previously, in December, the MGM poker room charged your phone behind the counter.  However, they now have chargers at the tables.  USB ports, if I recall correctly.  I wasn't aware of this before getting there, and I needed my phone charged to communicate with my wife.  So, I texted her, and we took the monorail to Bally's to get my charger.  Also, she was able to find the monorail so she'd be able to leave before me if she wanted to. I got back to the MGM in a little under my 1-hour allowance, and asked for a change to Rob's table before I sat down.  I was dealt 1 hand when they called me for the table change.  Sorry guys, for taking up an empty seat for nearly an hour, but that's the way things go sometimes.  At my first table, I was dealt AK 4 times, and won with it twice.  One of the losses was when I lost my first buy-in, and one of the wins was my double up shortly thereafter.  It's such a fickle hand.  1 hand of interest besides the AK hands:  My stack has dwindled from my double up, down to around $115, and I call from the cutoff with A4dd, and we see the flop 5 ways.  The flop is 9d-2c-3d.  Not bad, the nut flush draw with the wheel draw.  Early position bets $7, there's a raise to $21, and I call.  Original bettor folds, and we see the turn heads up.  The turn is the 10h.  I call a $30 bet.  The river is 5h.  This is actually better than a diamond I feel, as the flush draw is way more obvious than the wheel draw that I hit.  The bet is $60, and I put that plus my remaining $3 out, and he calls.  I show my wheel, to the surprise of most of the people at the table.  Seeing that I had the flush draw as well, they start discussing the outs I had, while the opponent in the hand is essentially saying I had no business in the hand after the flop....ok, whatever.

Now to sit at a table with Rob.  The open seat was close to him, and we chatted a bit while playing.  Chris joined later as well.  Rob left shortly after the midnight drawing.  We didn't have any big hands against each other that I recall.  I worked my stack up to $500, and then slowly went card dead, and missed the flops I did see, dropping down to $95.  At this point, I double with A-7 against a rather loose and aggressive player in the BB.  The flop was 7-4-2, rainbow, and the board ran out 6-6.  BB had flopped 2 pair with 7-2, only to be counterfeited.  I wasn't complaining!  I worked my stack back up to over $300 before the really big hand occurred.  We will call the villain Al, as I believe he was from Albania?, but had lived in the US for quite awhile.  He had an attractive gf sitting behind him, from Missouri I believe.  He had been rather aggressive as well, but not really showing a lot of bad hands when he did get called down.  I limp in with 6-5cc, he raises, 3 people call ahead of me, and I complete the action with a call.  The flop was Ad-Qc-7c.  It checks to Al, and he bets $45.  It folds around to me, and I call.  The turn is the Ac.  Ok, I hit my flush, but the board is paired as well.  At this point, I figure I stayed in the hand to hit the flush, and I don't intend to fold.  I check, and Al puts out a bet larger than the pot, large enough to put me all in.  I can't imagine he'd do that with a full house, as he would likely want value.  It looked like an A, or maybe a big pair with a big club.  I think for a few moments, tell myself he wouldn't do that with a made full house (Although it's entirely possible he would have, I suppose) and call.  The river is 5s.  I show my flush, Al mucks in disgust, says "I had outs" and a $700 pot is shipped my way.  He claimed he had the A, and I do believe him about that.  Shortly after that, they have the 4am drawing, and my name isn't drawn, so Chris and I leave.  He drops me off at Bally's as the monorail has stopped running, and I head to the room for a few hours of sleep.

Sunday, my wife and I eat breakfast at the buffet at Paris.  We enjoy it, it's not more than a few minutes walk as they're connected to Bally's and there's a nice variety of food to choose from.  After breakfast, I stand in line to place a few more wagers on the Super Bowl, and then we head back to the room.  I grab a few of my prop bet tickets to take with me and keep track of while watching the game.  I decide to put a wager on Patriots first half, and over 12 points first half.  After losing the coin toss, having Steven Hauschka's first kickoff not be a touchback, and Brady not throwing a TD in the first quarter, I get on the board with the Patriots scoring first in the game.  I missed my pick of who would get the first TD for the game and for the Patriots (Brandon LaFell, really?!?!), I did get jersey number of the player to score first of under 29.5.  Seattle answers with a score, which wins 3 bets for me (Lynch first Seattle TD, Lynch td in the 1st half yes, and Seattle rushing td in the 1st half yes), and then New England gets another TD, on a reception from Rob Gronkowski.  Ok, that wins me bets on Gronk to score a TD in the 1st half, Patriots over 12 in the 1st half, gives Brady 2 TD passes (I bet over 2 TD passes for Brady, and figured it was unlikely he didn't get at least 1 in the 2nd half), and with only 31 seconds left, I'm looking good for the Patriots to win the 1st half also.  Then there's a miracle catch to put Seattle inside the 10, and with 6 seconds left, rather than a field goal and definite points, they go for the TD and get it!  So my Patriots 1st half pick is a push.

The 2nd half starts out with all Seattle.  They score twice unanswered, for a loss of my "Will any team score 3 times in a row-NO" bet.  New England can't get anything going, until they finally score again in the 4th quarter, making my Brady TD pass in the 3rd quarter wager another loser.  New England scores a TD with 2:02 left to take the lead, and I had a feeling they left a little too much time on the clock.  Settle starts their drive, including a miraculous catch by Kearse at the 5 with plenty of time left.  Lnych rushes to the 1, and with 20 seconds left, I'm about to tear up my Patriots tickets, and the parlay with Pats/Over as well.  Then Carroll calls a pass play that's intercepted at the 1, and I'm looking good!  That was $600 I wouldn't have had if Seattle would have won!  I'm thinking maybe there will be a safety after running some time off the clock in the endzone when Seattle commits an off-sides penalty, and then there's a fight in the end zone resulting in a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty, giving New England plenty of room to take a knee and win the game.  All in all, I made a $50 profit after cashing in all of my tickets.  I was pleased, considering the large number of wagers I had made.

As for the party itself, it was a great time!  Casa Di Amore threw the party in a ballroom at the Westgate.  We arrived around 1:00, with doors scheduled to open at 1:30.  We waited in a line for people not in groups, and didn't move for 10 minutes.  Apparently, they were seating groups first, then filling in empty spots with those not in groups.  The couple in front of us asked us and another 3-some if we'd like to join them, be a group, and get seated, so we said yes.  We found out they were all from Illinois as well, what are the odds of that??  We went in, and I went to the bar to get started on the drinks, as the food hadn't been uncovered yet.  I asked for Miller Lite, and rather than a cup or 2, they just gave me a pitcher!  Well, it was all you can drink and eat, so I guess they though they were saving time this way!  The drinks were good, I had some mixed drinks as well, and the food was typical tail-gate style, with chicken strips, veggie trays, subs, pasta, brats, and hot dogs, and some cookies as well.  They also had a popcorn machine going non-stop.  The tables were themed either for Seattle or New England.  We ended up at a Seattle Table, although our party ended up cheering for New England based on our wagers.  The table included sour skittles, green and silver beads, and needles like you'd use to inflate/deflate sports balls!  LOL  The New England tables had baby ruth candy bars, but I didn't see what else they had on them.  The Seattle fans out-numbered the New England fans, although there were jerseys of pretty much all the different NFL teams being worn.  At the end of the game, the Seattle fans went from going crazy, sure they were going to win, to dead silent, in disbelief at the play that was called.  I didn't win any of the prizes that were raffled off, but it was still a great time!  I would definitely do it again.

We went back to our room.  My wife decided to stay in, her back and feet being sore from the walking and uncomfortable seating.  (folding chairs, regardless of the padding, are not meant to be sat in for 6-7 hours)  I decided to head to MGM again, to see Rob and take another shot at the drawing.  I went back to the Westgate to cash in my tickets, then took the monorail to the MGM.  After arriving around 10:30, and uneventful play that included dropping 2 $100 buy-ins, I left shortly after midnight.  I considered a tournament at the Flamingo, but they only had 2 tables available and it was limited to 20 entrants, so I debated about playing at Planet Hollywood, or Aria, but decided on just heading back to Bally's instead.  I bought in for $200, played about an hour, doubled, and decided to call it a night, even between my 2 sessions.

We woke up Monday morning and had room service breakfast.  Late checkout was not given due to so many people leaving after Super Bowl weekend, so we got a little gaming in before checking out.  I had no luck at BlackJack, and she had no luck at slots again.  We headed to the Airport, killed some time at the Wheel of Fortune slots, again had no luck, and flew back home to the 6" of snow and ice awaiting us...

All in all it was a great time!!  Can't beat seeing friends and spending time with them at the poker tables...watching the Super Bowl in a huge party environment, and winning some money on the game.  Considering things that have happened, I have no idea now when I'll get back, so I'm glad to have been able to enjoy the trip!