On The Road, Leg 1: La Mirada to Las Vegas

On The Road, Leg 1: La Mirada to Las Vegas
by Oliver Butterick

When my best friend asked me to accompany him on a road trip across the country, I couldn’t resist. The thought of spending a week crisscrossing this great land seemed like an exciting adventure (not to mention the source of good Babblog fodder).

Monday, 12:00pm (LA MIRADA, CA)

Just before Matt arrived to pick me up, I got a call from Citibank to let me know that I had a delinquent credit card bill. See, I’ve moved three times in the past six months and, for some reason, I have a difficult time keeping all of my creditors informed of my whereabouts. Go figure. We drive down to Fullerton, Ca (Home of the 2004 College World Series Champions) to find a Citibank branch. Mission accomplished. Along the way, I find many neat things in Fullerton, including a brand new Henry’s Marketplace that will be opening soon. It’s my favorite grocery store--kind of like Trader Joe’s, but better.

Monday, 5:00pm (LAS VEGAS, NV--Gold Coast Casino)

Our first and main stop of the trip is a two-night stay in Sin City. The first order of business was checking into the luxurious Gold Coast Hotel and Casino. I must say, this hotel is one of the hidden treasures of Vegas. Our weeknight rate for the room was $49 for Monday and $40 for Tuesday--not too bad for the middle of summer. Plus, it’s located right across the street from the fabulous Palms Casino, home of Rain, one of the hottest nightclubs in this city of nightclubs (Rain happens to be closed on Mondays and Tuesdays). Luckily, the Gold Coast also has a free shuttle to its sister property, Barbary Coast, which houses Drai’s, an after-hours nightclub that is known to be frequented by exotic dancers after their shifts at the various gentlemen’s clubs (Drai’s is also closed on Mondays and Tuesdays). And I wondered how we found such a cheap room rate in Vegas.

Monday, 7:00pm (LAS VEGAS, NV--Sahara Casino)

Next on our agenda was to play in a No Limit Holdem poker tournament at the Sahara. With a $40 buy-in and one optional $20 re-buy, it was an economical way for Matt to play in his first tournament. We spent part of the drive to Vegas going over some basic tournament strategy. Play good starting hands, play drawing hands cheaply, make your opponents pay a lot to draw out on you. Stuff like that. As it turned out, Matt was the only beginner at his table and I felt like I was the only person with a clue at mine. Well, 40 minutes into the tournament, I was on the sidelines. I got busted with pocket Jacks against pocket Aces. I made my re-buy, this time going all-in before the flop with pocket Aces. Unfortunately, three other people saw the flop. The only person who had more chips than me showed Jack-Four of Hearts. There were two fours on the board. Buh-bye. I decided to sit down at the No Limit cash game that was about to get started when I got busted out of the tournament. This was my game, a No Limit cash game with no maximun buy-in. With a decent bankroll in my pocket, I felt confident. A few hours later, I wasn’t feeling so good, with $2 left in my pocket after being in Vegas for one night and having the rest of the week-long road trip in front of me. When I found Matt, he was jealous that I had so much money left. Luckily, we had a few DVD’s back at the hotel and I fell asleep to Spy Game (Brad Pitt, Robert Redford). It’s a good flick--check it out if you haven’t already.

Tuesday, 6:00am (LAS VEGAS, NV--Gold Coast Casino)

I left the curtains open. Damn sun. I find the Tylenol and some water. I now realize that the Watermelon Schnapps/Vodka concoction that I mixed after having several Coronas was a bad idea. Bad. Back to bed.

Tuesday, 6:05am (LAS VEGAS, NV--Gold Coast Casino)

In my intoxicated state last night, I did not realize that the purveyors of this fine Three Star hotel were kind enough to offer cinder blocks instead of pillows on my bed. My head hurts. Though Tylenol is an effective pain reliever, it works slowly. Slowly, excruciatingly, I drift back into slumber.

Tuesday, 11:00am (LAS VEGAS, NV--Gold Coast Casino)

I feel much better. After two more Tylenol, some more water and a shower, I feel like a million bucks. I make a visit to the Business Center at the GCC. I was very impressed with the internet station. My first time using a public portal like this one, I was happy with the high-speed connection, with which I was able to find a credit union where I could replenish my bankroll, with ample time left to quickly delete some junk mail out of my email inbox and check to make sure that Babblog was surviving in my absence. After a trip to the credit union and lunch at Baja Fresh, we watched a classic episode of The Cosby Show at the GCC (the family tried to play a joke on Dr. Huxtable regarding Sandra and Elvin’s impending matrimonial engagement, but the humorous Dr. foiled their plans and tricked them instead--I Gotcha!) I then decided to make my way over to the Palms and check out their No Limit cash game. As I stepped to the corner of Flamingo and Wynn and waited for the light to change, a disheveled, unshaven, beer-toting man begged my pardon. “Great,” I thought, “What does he want? Pocket change? A cigarette? Use of my cell phone?” I was not in the mood for panhandling. “Excuse me,” he said, “Could you tell me which direction is East?” Jaw agape, I pointed down Flamingo to The Strip as he politely thanked me.

Tuesday, 2:00pm (LAS VEGAS, NV--Palms Casino)

I’m feeling good. As I walk into the “High Stakes” poker room at the Palms, they are about to start a new No Limit game. I like this because the Palms has a maximum buy-in of $500 at their game, and I’d be starting the game with just as much (or more) money than my opponents. If I had entered one of the two other tables, I would have had to play against a few opponents who had built their stacks up to $1,000 or more, and in No Limit Holdem, playing with a short stack can be a disadvantage. I call Matt to let him know that I got into a game and he comes over to watch me play. I play for several hours and end up buying more chips as my stack was depleted. Matt finally decided to get into the game and spends about an hour on the list before a seat becomes available. I remind him to be patient and stay out of trouble, but WTF do I know? It’s now been two days in a row that I’ve been thoroughly handled by the locals. My stack dwindles to $200 and my game breaks. I had already decided that I had reached my limit for the day and that I would not buy any more chips (the decision came easy since I had all but $80 committed to the game). I get a seat at another table and I’m faced with several large stacks and a few aggressive players. This means that I need to be very selective with the hands I play--something I should have been doing the whole time. After playing a short while, now with about $100, Matt tells me that he’s heading back to the GCC. I decide that I’ve had enough and that I’ll leave once the blinds get to me. The next hand, I pick up two black Aces and I raise the $5 blind to $30. Much to my dismay, I did not succeed in thinning the field, with three people calling me. The flop came ten-high, but the player on my right bet $50 anyway. I put my last $67 in the pot and hoped for the best. Things took a turn for the worse when the player behind me raised the pot and the original player called. Turn and river came and the two other players showed down for the side pot. Much to my surprise, they turned over a busted flush draw and pocket jacks. My Aces held up and I tripled up. At least the night ended on a good note.

Wednesday, 1:45am (LAS VEGAS, NV--Gold Coast Casino)

Matt ended up losing a few hundred dollars, but held his own. He recounted to me the hand that he changed his winning session into a losing one. He picked up Ace-Ten suited in late position, overcalling a small raise. With a ten kicker, this play might be suspect, since it’s a difficult hand to play after the flop if an ace hits. However, Matt’s post-flop play was not bad, especially for a beginner. (He told me of a hand he played earlier when he laid down pocket aces when he was sure that his opponent had made a set of Kings, and he had been right.) The flop comes A-A-10, giving Matt the nuts. He had the best full house and, at this point, he cannot be beaten, only tied. Matt slow-plays the nuts, allowing the flop to check around. The turn was a King and the original raiser bets, with the middle opponent calling. Matt calls. The river is a Five, and it’s checked to the middle player, who bets $200. For some bizarre reason, Matt called the bet. He had slow-played his hand the whole way, and he was passing on his last opportunity to put in a big raise. As it turns out, the middle player had turned the nuts, showing A-K. I completely disagree with Matt’s play on the river, but I can’t argue with the results since I would have lost all of my chips on that hand.

Wednesday, 11:15am (LAS VEGAS, NV--Gold Coast Casino)

Matt tells me that check-out is in 45 minutes. I am thankful that I closed the blinds before going to sleep and that I had the sense not to drink any Watermelon Schnapps/Vodka venom last night. We check out with a few minutes to spare. As we ascend the escalator to the parking structure, we both start laughing. On our way into town, Matt had noted that people on their way to Vegas were probably in a much better mood than those on their way home. This thought simultaneously popped into each of our heads. Yeah, we lost some money, but we had a long road trip ahead of us. It was too early for us to lose our sense of humor.

To be continued…

Oliver Butterick can be reached at oliver@babblog.com.