I never did a TR on this trip. but there's been a lot of interest in it, so I decided to do a write up. unfortunately I also didn't take too many pictures, so a lot of this is from memory, which is 10 months old.

this trip was right on the heels of my

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. the purpose of this trip was for 3 tournaments in the same weekend. there was a Cosmo BJ, Mirage Poker, MGM Bacc and Wynn Poker tourney all the same weekend. and somehow the timing of all the events lined up so that I could play 3 of the 4. I would only have to make a choice if I made the FT on multiple of them, but I figured if I made it that far, chances are good I would only make one FT at best.

originally I was going to leave Fri afternoon, play in the tourneys Fri/Sat and come home Sun. again, this was right after a huge degen trip 10 days earlier and I was headed back in 2 weeks for the Member Guest at Shadow.

but then I get a phone call from my guy at Hermes Monday. he says they just got in the Blue Electric Kelly bag my wife has been wanting and we've been on the waiting list for literally years. it's in stock and it's got my name on it, but they can only hold it for 48 hours and I have to be there in person to pick it up. I say, damn, I'm going to be there Friday can't you hold it until then? no dice. Wednesday at the latest. so I say, ok, what's another 2 days in Vegas and change my flight to Wed afternoon.

I get in Wed and immediately head over to Hermes at the B. they do this whole circus show when you buy a bag like that. they take you to the back and the 2 security guys stand in the middle of the store and nobody else is allowed back there when they bring the bag out. the guy puts white gloves on and goes and gets the bag, takes it out of at least 4 layers of packaging and presents it to me. it's beautiful, but not sure why it's worth $11k.

anyway, he goes to get something and I'm standing there with my host and I take a look at the bag again and I say, shit. the guy told me it had platinum hardware. it has gold hardware. my wife doesn't wear any gold at all. white gold or platinum only. so he comes back and I say, we've got a problem. this gold isn't going to work. so he says he'll call around tomorrow to some to other stores to see if they have one and he could trade this one to get me the platinum, but it's a slim chance.

so we leave the store and head over to Le Cirque for dinner and I'm bummed. I just changed my whole plans to arrive here 2 days early just for this bag and now it's the wrong bag and I get nothing. but at least I had a nice bottle of wine waiting for me at Le Cirque. 2012 La Tache.

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after dinner I decide I want to play a little. just try to hit and run. so I went back to MGM. I met this guy at my table and we played really well together. saw the shoe the same way, which really helped each other. sometimes one of us would like a bet and the other guy says, no, I don't think so, so we stay off or bet small and it loses and we save money. and then other times we would both really love a bet and we would press hard and win. we were just in sync.

I don't remember a lot of this night only that I didn't play that long, but we hit some really nice shoes and he was really aggressive pressing hard, which helped me press hard also. we were both up to max betting 20k on good streaks. I ended up walking away +200k that night and went to bed. which made me feel a lot better about the whole Kelly bag fiasco. I wasn't originally supposed to be there that night to have the chance to find those great shoes and win that money, so it was meant to be.

the next night I met up with that guy again and played a couple of shoes, but it wasn't going well. just didn't find any good shoes. we were pressing, but everything would break and then we'd lose 3 or 4 in a row. ended up giving back a lot of the 200k and he was down a bunch too. so we decided to play separately for a while since we were the only 2 guys in the Mansion.

one of my favorites dealers had just come in, so I decided to sit at his table. I got lucky to sit into a great shoe and just like that I hit a couple of nice streaks and got all my markers from that night back, so I was back up 200k for the trip. unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of that shoe I was just so excited to tear up the markers. I was going to head to bed because it was like 1am at that point, but I stopped by the other table my friend was playing at to see how he was doing. he had just started a shoe and it was looking like it might be really good. so I decided to sit down. little did I know how truly epic the shoe was going to be.

the interesting thing is just looking at the board, it's not that great of a shoe. sure, it's good, but it's not like some of the other shoes I've seen in my life where everything goes perfectly with long streaks or long chops or 2x2x2 or 3x3x3, etc. but with the two of us playing together, we were both in the zone and just seeing everything so clearly. and again we were both in pure degen mode since he was still stuck and I had just been slamming 20k over at the other table to dig out of my hole. so as the shoe progressed, we were both flat betting 20k every single hand.

one of the funniest things is we both like to play call bets. now I usually just do call bets when I'm stuck and once I get some chips, I play with my chips. well he liked to do a call bet every single hand no matter how many chips he had. I didn't want to change the mojo since it was going well, so I did the same thing. it's kind of funny when you don't even put chips in the circle, but they just keep paying you anyway.

pretty soon our stacks of chocolates were getting large, so we started coloring up for gray 100k chips. started with one chip, then we play some more, chocolate stack growing again, so I get another. then we play some more, chocolate stack still growing again, so I get another. at that point I've got 3 100k chips in front of me and 200k on deposit and it's like 230am and the shoe is almost over.

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I'm very wary of the ending of great shoes because I've had too many times where the shoe breaks at the end and I donk back a bunch of my winnings. and not only that I have my 3 gray chips, so if I lose the next bet I'm going to have to break one of those and I don't want to do that. unfortunately that cost me another 100k or so because as you can see over the last 10 hands of the shoe or so, a nice banker streak showed up that I would have pounded.

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it's one of those situations where the "even number" fetish bites you in the ass. usually it's when you keep playing to try to reach that even number win and end up losing it all back, but in this case it was stopping playing to try to maintain that even number.

between the two of us we ended up taking the casino for about 700k in that shoe together. I go put the 300k on deposit and at that moment I had some cash I left on deposit the previous trip, the 500k I won and my credit line and I ask the lady how much I have available and she says 740k. crazy.

that night I couldn't sleep, I just sat up in my villa trying to make sense of it all. you see, I had a big loss in Dec 2014 that pissed me off. I was doing pretty well until the last night and I just donked everything off and then went over to other casinos and donked everything there too. I ended up losing 250k around town. it just felt so unnecessary after I had played smart the first part of the trip.

so the next trip in March, I was talking with my host and I said, dude, I'm done with this stupid shit. I'm going to play smart and bank wins and I'm going to take your ass for 1M this year. he says, do it. well, after the biggest trip win of my life on MayPac fight weekend and then a couple of hit and run trips later that month and then another big trip in Aug and now this 500k, I was up 1.1M on him on the year. I had done just what I said was going to do.

but at the same time, I didn't feel like I thought I would feel. sure I felt good, great even, but to reach the top of the proverbial mountain like that, it didn't have the feeling of success that I expected. my first thought was, what's next? at that point I had won back everything I had ever lost the casinos over the years and was up lifetime across all gambling. significantly up at that. who can say that? nobody, really. not any serious gambler who has put in the hours I had at the bets I had over several years. finding a gambler like that is like finding a unicorn.

certainly I thought about what I could do with the money. I could go over to Wynn and swing by the Ferrari dealership and pay cash for a new Ferrari. I could take my wife on a world-wide trip for a couple of months. but none of that excited me. it's just stuff. as much as I had dreamed of this day for so long - that epic trip that sets everything right - my dreams had never gotten past this point. I had no idea what to do.

so the next day I got up and did what I did every day: went back to the tables. I had managed to earn over 75k in theo, which would have AQ'd me to the QF of the Bacc tourney, but the earning period didn't start until Thursday so my first night theo didn't count. so I only had 72k. so I needed to pick up 3k in theo in order to get the AQ. I figured I could sit down at a Bacc table and pick that up in no time. and maybe I could get a little lucky, hit a nice streak and win a little more hit and run style.

so I sit down into this shoe that starts off really nice. I start small, but it's streaking, so I press to 5k, 10k. pretty quickly I'm up a quick 30k, which feels great. but at that point, rather than bank the small win and look for another option later, I wanted to really kick them in the teeth. so I put out a 20k max bet on the next hand. I figure if I can keep this shoe going, I can roll this 30k into a big stack and hit them for another 200k just like that.

unfortunately, it was at that point everything changed. I lost that big bet, so I put out the 10k and lost that. so I did a call bet for 20k and lost that. then another and lost again and another and lost again. so I just went from +30k on the session to -60k in a matter of minutes. now I'm full tilt. more call bets, more losing. 100k in lammers, then 200k in lammers. my host comes over and says, dude, why don't you take a break, you're still up huge for the trip and obviously this shoe isn't going well. I say, I'm going to get it back and keep playing. and keep losing. it was sick really. I would lose with nat 8, tie with nat 9, have a 1 and pull a 3 side and still lose to their bigger draw. every hand just getting crushed and I was out of my mind tilting.

300k lammers. my host comes over again and says dude you're tilting big time. take a break, you're still up nice for this trip. no, I'm gonna get it back. keep hammering 20k a hand and keep losing. 400k lammers and 18k commission and it finally hits me. if I don't stop now I'm going to give back everything. at least now I'm still up almost 100k for the trip. and I guess seeing the 400k in lammers I realized that there was no way I was going to be able to get all that back in one session. hell, my best session ever the previous night was only +300k.

so I sign the marker and go get some food. trying to get that 3k theo for the AQ cost me 418k. the 18k commission tells you how bad it really was. 1k commission per winning bank bet and I had a net loss of 20 hands. throw in some player hand wins and I still lost at least 65% of my hands that session.

keep in mind, this is only Friday afternoon right now. I've still got the entire weekend left, but I will finish it later.

 

That was some major tilt. Hopefully it is one of those expensive lessons that we never wished had happened, but that can help in the future.

 

Ouch! When someone tells me to quit and take a break, it sets off something in me that I have to prove them wrong. Lol Usually to my detriment. I've learned to listen a little better as I've aged to good advice.

 

"my dreams had never gotten past this point. I had no idea what to do."
My immediate thought was...uh oh.

 

Easy for me to say, but after that huge win you should have walked outside and hailed a cab to take you to the airport.
Who cares about the tournaments.....

 

Thanks for sharing shifter.

 

Friday night was the Wynn poker tourney check-in with a 50k WTA freeze out pre-tourney. I went over early to meet up with Natedogg and play some dice. we didn't do great at dice, so we decided to switch over to the wheel. we were doing well, everybody was hitting enough numbers to survive and make some money. until they brought in the cooler dealer. the guy was such a dick and he just changed the vibe of the entire table. first spin he hit a small number for a couple of people, but nothing good. but the vibe was just wrong and I could feel it.

so the next spin right before he calls bets off, I look around the table and see only 3 numbers uncovered. the guy was such a cooler I figured he would manage to hit one of those. so I put $100 on each one. what do you know, he hits one of the 3. I made enough to win a little on the spin, but everyone else got slaughtered. overall on the session I won like 10k, which was nice.

get to the tourney and I started off completely card-dead and thought I was going to bust very fast. but I grinded best I could and managed to hit a couple of nice pots to keep me in it. I just kept playing premium hands as much as possible and let people donk their money to me. it was a turbo structure, so blinds going up every 15 minutes. not much time to think other than just steal blinds whenever possible in position to keep from losing too many chips. we started with 8 tables I think and it was down to 2 before I knew it. then I busted some guy and just about doubled up and we made the FT. at the FT I was a runaway freight train. I busted the first 4 guys and had a huge stack. I was hitting premium hands every 2 or 3 hands and getting them to hold up. we got down to the final 3 and the blinds had gotten so high, you were pretty much pot committed in the big blind every hand. so we agreed to chop the 50k into 15k each with 5k for the winner. then we just went all in every hand and this other guy ended up winning after my flush draw couldn't get there. but picking up 15k promos was fun. although I had to split it with Tellafriend because we had half each other's action.

Saturday I head over to Cosmo to play in the tourney. I get past the first round by finishing second at my table and stick around to play the SF. only one player advances from the table to the FT, so I played the SF aggressively. just wasn't meant to be. so I decide to see how my luck is going at the tables at Cosmo because I want to get back some of that 418k.

I sit down at Natedogg's private table, although he had left to go back to Wynn I think a some point. there was nothing memorable other than me dumping 100k and then a 50k TTO very quickly. and just like that I had gone from +530k to down on the trip. now I was really furious and tilting.

so I head over to Wynn for the main event poker tourney. but like I said I was pissed and tilting and wanted to get my money back. so there was no way I was going to play the stupid tourney. I was going to hit them in the teeth at the Bacc table. so Tellafriend heads to play in the tourney and I tell him I'll head over there and see how it's going. well, of course, Bacc sucks again and I get crushed. lose my 50k line plus 10k TTO. Wynn is so stingy they won't even give you 50% TTO like everybody else. they don't want to give you enough bullets to get unstuck.

so now I'm really tilting. can't believe what I've done. biggest trip of my life, best luck I could ever imagine and I'm now stuck like 100k. well of course, no quit in me, so I do the only thing a true degen would do, head back to MGM to play on the ~300k I have left there. now I'm really determined to get some money back.

so I get back to MGM and walk into the Bacc room. I see a table with this younger Asian couple on one end and this old Spaniard dude in the middle. I sit down at the other end. shoe looks good and I'm in full tilt mode, so I make a 20k call bet first hand on the same side as the Asian couple betting blacks. the Spaniard doesn't bet. we win. good start. next hand the shoe still looks great and I go 20k again and the Asian couple is with me. Spaniard decides to bet against us. he's betting yellow. I'm like, hmm, I don't like this, but OK. we win again. this is good.

it proceeds to go like that for the next couple hands. every hand the Spaniard doesn't bet, we win and when he does bet, he always bets against us and loses. so pretty soon I just wait for the Spaniard to bet and bet the opposite side. and it works out beautifully as the guy can't win a hand to save his life. even when he draws a 7 against our monkeys, we pull a 8 or 9. I'm seeing the chocolates pile up in front of me and feeling much better about things. finally the Spaniard busts because he's losing every hand and goes away. now the Asian couple and I can really get to work. they realize that since I sat down I've lost maybe 2 hands, so they just wait for me to play and follow me.

it's like an ATM. I can't lose. natural after natural. good draw after good draw. I only played 27 hands from when I sat down until the end of the shoe, but I won 25 of them and walked away with 250k. felt so damn relieved to be back positive after all the turmoil of the past 2 days. but at the same time now I was really pissed for dropping the 600k in the middle so unnecessarily instead of picking my spots for the hit and run and possibly being up something insane like 750k right now.

so I head to dinner with my host at the Mansion and know I have an obscene amount of theo to spend, so I order an incredible bottle of 2011 Romanee Conti to celebrate my amazing fortune in the last 20 minutes. it ran about 12k I think.

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we finish dinner, but I'm not finished with the wine, so I cork it up and take it with me back over to Wynn to see how Tellafriend is doing in the tourney. I haven't heard from him and it's been a while, so I assume he's still in it. and he's my horse, so I have to root him on!

I get over there and he's sitting at the FT. there's 5 guys left, but only 4 are players, the one guy with the chip lead is a host. so he can't win. so the 4 guys are talking deal. this is a 500k tourney with lots of rebuys/addons so the pot left is almost 600k. they decide to chop it semi equally. the 2 big stacks get 160k, the 2 smaller stacks (including Tellafriend) gets 120k. I'm stoked because that's another 60k for me! so now I'm back up over 200k for the trip! and still enjoying the best wine in the world as I'm still carrying around the bottle. lol.

after that, we went back to MGM and I went to bed and flew home the next morning. I was thinking about what could have been (+530k) what should have been (-100k) and feeling grateful for what was (+210k).

 

Don't leave us hanging....did you get the bag????? Just kidding...kind of.

 

Yeah no shit, what about the bag?

 

Incredible story. My heart rate was elevated just reading it - can't imagine actually living it. Thanks for a peek behind the curtain Shifter