Sin City

So we just got back from spending Christmas in the City of Sin, Las Vegas. Overall the trip was fun. I couldn't have come at a better time too, as both Catherine and I were exhausted from working on the house non-stop the previous week, with almost no end in site. So we were in need of an escape from reality. There are two places I know of that allow an almost total escape from reality: Disneyland and Las Vegas. So the trip was perfect in its timing. As far as spending Christmas in Vegas in general, it was good. I wouldn't say it was great, but I enjoyed it. Its definitely not something I want to do every year, but I wouldn't mind doing it again sometime to just mix it up.

Anyways, so we got there and our room was totally awesome. A suite, with two bathrooms and a tv that rises up right at the foot of the bed. That was pretty dope. Then, of course, after an excellent dinner at BLT Burgers (excellent burgers and spiked milkshakes. highly recommended), Catherine and I headed to the poker room. Day one I went up after crushing one poor gentleman's soul in two hands. One I floppped a flush against whatever he had, probalby an overpair with a flush draw, and the other I flopped top pair when he was steaming and he check raised me all in on the flop with whatever piece of cheese he had. I snap called and they shipped me the pot. Unfortunately Catherine was down a buy in after a guy overplayed a draw against her set and he got there. So day 1 we were slightly up.

Day 2 was mostly reserved for poker, so we headed down and signed up for the noon tournament. Out of 21 people, 3 were Gantts; Catherine, my dad, and I. So, honestly, we were favorites to take this shit down. And indeed, when they got down to one table, 10 left, all three of us were still in. Alas, Catherine and my dad went out 10th and 9th, so I was left to defend the family name. But due to the insanely bad structure of these low buy-in tournaments we were 5 handed with no one having over 20 big blinds. So it was a shove fest. I shoved in a race situation and lost, so I walked away in shame, cursing the donkaments. But after a little rest and a yummy dinner at Noodle Asia in the Venetian we went back for our vengence in the cash games. The poker gods had other plans though. Catherine was card dead and mostly just hovered around even, ending up about 150ish. I got crushed though. I had a lot of playable hands but either didn't get action when I had the best of it or got drawn out on. So, that night we left down overall on the trip 200 bucks.

Day 3 was Christmas eve and Catherine and I were out for blood and revenge. We started the day, however, by going down to Fremont Street, old town Las Vegas. It was really cool to see all the old casinos and notice the subtle differences between the old ones and the new ones. While walking through one of them I noticed that their slot machines take coins (none of the new ones do anymore) so I took the 3 quarters in my pocket and put them in one. Four pulls later I somehow managed to cash out (all in quarters) for $37! Not sure how that happened, but I couldn't help but feel it was a good sign.

After hanging out in old town for a bit and losing a little bit in the table games we headed back to the Mirage to stake our claim. This is when the boomsauce was starting to get passed, as I proceeded to just crush the game, playing 3 big pots really well and only losing one of them. Catherine, again, just hovered, not getting many cards, and ended up a little bit. Overall though we were up about 400 on the trip at this point.

We had to meet my folks for Christmas eve dinner though so we left our day session and enjoyed a great Mexican meal (a family tradition) at Treasure Island. I was out for more blood though, so we promptly returned after dinner. The only blood that was drawn was my own though. I lost two large pots in a row with KK and QQ and then proceeded to receive a disgusting beat. So a crazy old guy limps under the gun, a tight lady calls in middle position and I call in the cut off with Qd8d. The blinds check and we see a 5 way pot. The flop is Ad4d6h and crazy old guy bets out the minimum, which the tight lady calls. I decide to take the pot odds and just call. The blinds fold and the three of us see the lovely 7d on the turn, giving me the second best possible hand. Crazy old guy now leads out for 15, which tight lady again calls. I announce raise and put out 50. The dealer however was engrossed in conversation, didn't see my raise and proceeds to deal out the river card, which was the 7h (a good card for me overall). After realizing that I raised, it is ruled that the 7h will be placed back in the deck, the two players will have a chance to react to my raise while the dealer reshuffles the remaining deck, and after that we will deal a new river card. So the old guy calls my raise and the tight lady folds. The deck is reshuffled and a new river dealt, which is the ominous 2d. Now, I still basically have the second best possible hand, but I nearly puke when now the old man leads at me for 40. I make the crying call and, sure enough, he turns over Kd4c, showing the best possible hand. So, had the dealer seen my raise I would have won the pot without question. But since he didn't I lost a $190 pot. Needless to say I was less than pleased and we called it an early night that Christmas eve.

On Christmas morning, Day 4, Catherine and I woke up and opened the presents we got for each other. She got me some really cool stuff and seemed to be excited about the stuff I got her, so that was cool. Then we walked down the hall in our pjs to meet in my parent's suite (which was even more balla than ours) to have a family Christmas breakfast. My parents and sister all seemed to like the presents we got for them and while we waited for room service to deliver the food we sat around and asked questions from a book of "if" questions I got for my dad. It was a lot of fun hearing people's different answers to questions. It really was a special Christmas time that I think we'll all kind of cherish as a Christmas memory (or at least I will). Our breakfast came and it was oh so yummy. They even brought us too much champagne for the mimosas, so we have a little extra for New Years.

After breakfast, we went our separate ways, got cleaned up, and went down to go play some poker. I was really interested to see how Vegas was on Christmas day. We went down at around 10am and it was largely empty. But by noon it was packed. And sure enough, that evening it was extremely busy. When we stopped playing Christmas night, at around 1am almost every table was completely full. So we sat down and I wondered what Christmas presents Santa would have for me at this table, and he didn't disappoint. Once again the boomsauce was passed and this time I won every big pot I played. Catherine, again, wasn't getting much cards and was getting understandably frustrated, so we left early to grab a late lunch, so she could watch the Lakers/Celtic game and we could prepare for the evening festivities. Again though, we were way up.

That evening we joined my parents and were picked up by their friends to head to a mid-week Channukah celebration. It was...different. The food was a little bit too weird for my tastes, which made things awkward because none of us ate very much and there was a lot of food. But all in all, it was fun to see the different ways of celebrating the holiday. We lit the mannorah, and read traditional Jewish prayers, and the gentleman whose house we were at gave a great explanation of what Channukah means, how it is one of the first times in history a people fought expressly for the purpose of religious freedom, which made it kind of special.

After the party though it was back to the tables for one last go. Again though, my great day run was followed by a poor performance at night. I just couldn't get anything going, and bled a lot of chips. Catherine couldn't do much either, but again, she was up a little, so we called it a night and went up to our room. That would be our last bit of playing for the trip. After four days of playing we were up $600 and change. Not bad at all.

So it was a good Christmas. Not perfect, but special in its own way, and definitely memorable.