The Perils of Paulie - An Irregular Blog

[Paulie_D]

[bhoywonder70]

Another cracking read.....maaan.I so need to go to Vegas....when did you 1st go Paulie?

[Paulie_D]

Another cracking read.....maaan.I so need to go to Vegas....when did you 1st go Paulie?

As I recall (that is...badly) it was in the very late eighties...certainly no later than 1991. The place has changed beyond recognition in the last 20 years.

Back then I was a poor substitute for a blackjack player...which meant I could hold my own and just lose my money very slowly...as you will in blackjack.

I didn"t discover poker until about 6 years ago...since then my life has gone to hell....and heaven.

[AAroddersAA]

APAT - Vegas Vengeance : Tuesday, 15th November 2011
Of course, most of the rest of the travellers are probably safely tucked up to the bar at the Manchester Airport Premier Inn by now...they can read this tomorrow...if they can focus.

Focus is just fine - get the beers in - we land today :-)

[Paulie_D]

[samuel_9]

nice updates paulie nice readying BUT i think your party is just about to  start when the APATERS arive... Enjoy

[Paulie_D]

[Mikeyboy9361]

1987 was my first visit to Vegas, we stayed in the Tropicana, which was pretty much the last hotel on the strip, and there wasn"t much then until you got to Caesars, talk about change!

[Paulie_D]

[samuel_9]

told ya  the party was about to begin

[Paulie_D]

APAT - Vegas Vengeance : Saturday, 18th November 2011

"Out Cold"

Yes, folks, the bear is most definitely back. Clothes all over the room, sh**ty taste in my mouth, raging headache and pocket full of singles.

Ohhhh, Lord....rum drinks...tasty but so dangerous.

Anyway, as you can imagine it took me more than a while before I was even close to being compos mentis enough to make my way to Caesars for the APAT event. I met Shogun along the way and we made our way over together.

We got under way in the event and given that the field was a good 80% British my table was full of familiar faces. I got my Kings cracked fairly early on but doubled up through Paul McGuinness towards the end of level three when he didn't believe me when I shoved with a full house.

Of course, I picked KK again on the button in the very next hand and got coolered to a flopped full house.

That left me at a loose end and, even though I am the travel guru, I hadn't planned on anything for the Saturday afternoon. I wandered back to Harrahs for lunch where I had a $5 coupon thanks for Foursquare.

From there I just thought I would take a nap to recover from the bad night and made my way to my room.

This proved to be a big mistake....I lay down about 5pm for a couple of hours....unfortunately, those two hours actually proved to be six. I said the beds were comfortable.

To be honest, I suppose I could have made the effort to get up, clean myself up and go wandering but I figured that would just mess up my sleep pattern again.

So, I just wrote off Saturday and just hung out in the room. Sorry to be boring but there you go.

Sunday, I want to play the Mixed Game at the IP but I might give the Venetian a whirl first.

[Paulie_D]

APAT - Vegas Vengeance : Sunday, 19th November 2011

"It's Been A Hard Day's Grind"

After all that sleep I was more than refreshed and ready for a day of grinding so after my usual lounge around the room I walked over to the Venetian.

Food was the first order of business so I chose the Grand Lux Cafe for a couple of Stella and a very nice Club sandwich.

After that, I got seated into a 4/8 Omaha 8 game after just a couple of minutes. Despite going off with only six players the table filled up quickly.

The play was challenging to say the least and my stack yo-yo'd between $100 and $200 most of the time. The hardest part was an idiot at the opposite end of the table who would stay in with even the most ridiculous no-draw and get there on the river.

Not only that but he slow-rolled me twice. Sigh.

I crushed him later when I made the ultimate nuts on the turn and he just wouldn't let go and took him for a decent chunk of change.

Unfortunately, that chunk only got me back to my starting stack and after five hours I was down a whole $4.

That was enough and I wanted to play the IP Mixed Game so I cashed out and strolled over and got my name on the list around 6.30pm.

I was joined after a while by JP Round, James Edwards and Chen Tam and we got under way dead on 7pm with a few other randoms.

Laughs were had, suck-outs were bad and we played for quite a while. I couldn't get much going...it was that kind of day...and, besides, having played this game before I've always treated it as a donation.

So after 6 hours play I was down $100 and I was yawning so I called it a night, especially as I was going to have, at least for this trip, an early morning the next day

I made the short walk back to Harrahs and crashed.

[Paulie_D]

APAT - Vegas Vengeance : Monday, 20th November 2011

"It's A Nice Day For A White Wedding"

Calling it an early night yesterday was a wise decision as I needed to be at The Chapel of The Flowers for Adam and Julie's wedding.

A few of us gathered in the lobby around 10.30 and we hopped in a a cab or two to head over to the chapel arriving shortly before 10.45. In fact we arrived shortly before the groom!

Many of the visiting APATers had made the effort to dress up for the happy day especially Stuart Oliver who was in full Scottish regalia. For myself I confess that I had not (I had a full suitcase as it was) so I hid myself at the back out of camera shot.

The chapel was completely full and, indeed, the minister commented that he'd never had such a crowd, especially from overseas. I thought that the minister did a wonderful job of the ceremony and Adam and Julie were clearly enjoying their special day.

Once the ceremony was after the bride and groom were taken off to do a photoshoot and we all trooped outside to find that the sun had truly come out for the first time during our visit. It was a gloriously sunny day.

We all stooged around for a while as Dawn organised us like a military action. We would need more than a few cabs but I was fortunate enough to blag a spot in one of the chapel's super-stretch limos to Caesars and the Cheesecake factory.

The driver let us out right be a side door just a hundred yards from the restaurant and we lined up outside. Somehow we'd beaten the happy couple to the place but Dawn was on the case.

It seemed that despite a couple of confirmation call the restaurant didn't take reservations so Dawn had to badger the manager into sorting out some space for us.

It all worked out in the end and by the time we were done we filled three large tables. Somehow Ger and the rest of the party had gotten sidetracked into a bar so that was a little disappointing but still we had a nice meal for what I thought was a pretty decent price for the Forum Shops.

By 3pm I was ready for a nap so I trudged the whole length of the Forum Shops back to Harrahs. I made sure to set my phone alarm so there wouldn't be a repeat of Saturday.  By 5.30 I was cabbing over to the Tropicana for the JAPAT Wedding Tournament.

I really like the way they're refurbished the Trop although they've started pumping in some smell that just, if you'll pardon the expression, gets up my nose.

We got away with 50 runners or thereabouts but once again I got nowhere with any action or move I would make. I managed to run my A4s into Don Robert's AA who was on fire on our table.

A couple of drinks later and we'd managed to get a 3/6 Omaha 8 cash game running full of APAT regulars.

Ger seemed to be hitting everything in sight even when he should have gotten out of the hand some time before. This was a little frustrating but there is nothing you can do in these situations.

I sat in for a few hours while dwindling chips slowly. By the time the tourney was over I was ready to call it a night...this must have been around 1am and I was down $140.

So be it...I made my way outside and grabbed a cab back to Harrahs.

I have nothing specific planned for the next few days, my travel guru duties are done and dusted, I'll just play it by ear.

[stone]

Great write ups Paulie, what games do they play in the IP Mix? Did you see any evidence of the Mix at the Trop as AVP have it up as a game they spread?

[Santino67]

Great stuff Paulie, sounds like it"s been a superb trip. Can"t wait to hear more in Manchester