From: ch2m@poe.acc.Virginia.EDU (Christopher  Houston)
Subject: Missed the BARGE--Trip Report Anyway
Organization: University of Virginia
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 02:10:29 GMT

From: ch2m@poe.acc.Virginia.EDU (Christopher  Houston)
Newsgroups: rec.gambling
Subject: Missed the BARGE--Trip Report Anyway...
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Distribution: world
Organization: University of Virginia
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Well, turns out I missed the BARGE thing; my plane left just a couple
of hours after I wrote that I was interpretting "2 AM Saturday" to
mean 2 AM Saturday night/Sunday morning, and I was gone by the time
the "no, it's 2 AM Friday night/Saturday morning" notice went out.
Nonetheless, had a great two weekends out there; here's how it went:

Virginia to Las Vegas (Thursday, 8/13):  Though it consisted of three flights and two
layovers (starting with a commuter flight out of Charlottesville), the
long trip was tolerable and uneventful.  Wish I could say the same for
the ride from McCarran to the Dunes.  I figured I'd go with one of
those van services just because they're so cheap, and when I've used
them a couple of times before, they weren't too bad.  This time was
hell, though--enough to make me swear them off forever.  First we had
to wait about 20 minutes for the van to show up, while some idiot
manager kept assuring us that it was coming very soon.  Then there was
another 15-minute wait on the van at the airport.  The last straw
was that it took about 40 minutes just to get to the Dunes. (And what
was even worse was the fact that TWICE the guy drove right through the
intersection on his way to other places--first he stopped at the
Barbary Coast and then he rounded the Caesar's corner; both times I
assumed he was going to the Dunes next; if I'd known it would be
another 20-30 minutes, I'd have just jumped out at one of those places
and walked the 200 yards...)  Anyway, FYI, especially if you're not
going Downtown or too far up the Strip, the few dollars you'll save on
one of those van things is not worth the hassle of taking so long to
get there and arriving pissed off...

Gambling--Weekend I:  Actually, I didn't do nearly as much gambling
the first weekend as I'd wanted to (even though it was still a fairly
profitable weekend--see below).  Part of the reason was that a friend
from home who'd never been to Vegas before joined me for the weekend,
so I spent some time playing tour guide and cheap video poker:
Thursday night we wandered around downtown (even spent some time at
Sassy Sally's) and played 25-cent VP at the Barbary Coast; Friday I
had to forego (what's the past tense of "forego"--"forewent"?) a whole
night of gambling to go see a show ("Folies Bergere" at the Trop--not
too bad if you're forced to go to one of those things; but tell me, if
anyone knows, is the Siegfried & Roy show really worth the $75?);
Saturday I was forced to go to Circus Circus (Going in: "I really hate
this place--it's a pit and I'm not in the mood to put on my family
values."  "Well, I just want to look around and then eat here, because
I've always heard about it."  "Well, I've always heard about the
Staten Island dump, but I don't want to look around and eat there."
Coming out:  "You're right--this place is a dump."  Also, see
separate posting regarding Circus Circus, family values, and moral
hypocrisy.); and then Sunday we left fairly early for the drive to
Phoenix (by the way, see separate posting on poker in AZ).

Anyway, I can't totally blame my lack of table time on the fact that I
was entertaining a guest.  I spent a chunk of Saturday looking
for golf clubs, and insofar as I'd fallen way behind on my baseball records, I
also spent quite a bit of time during the weekend catching up on those
and then handicapping whatever games for which I had sufficiently
updated information to bet on.  Part of me wonders why I've spent so
much time keeping track of it all--after all, I really don't bet too
much per game (about $10-$30 per game with daily total around
$50-$100); I guess the only answer is that the handicapping and
betting is fun in itself, and it makes the games more exciting to
watch as well...

Aside from poker, then, Weekend One netted me a few bucks at video
poker and somewhere around $30-$50 for two days of baseball betting.
As far as poker went, aside from one hour of $5-$10 Stud at the Mirage
before that show Friday (down about $20 when I had to leave), I didn't get to
play until 9:00 Satuday night (again, $5-$10 Stud at the Mirage).
However, it was a very profitable night--up $230 when I left just
after 2 AM.  Granted, part of that was from a couple of full houses
that I caught early and was able to exploit, but I also felt really
good about the way I was playing in general, which I credit largely to
a lot of practice on Workware's 7-Stud software (see separate posting
on the software thing).  Also, what amplified the benefits of the
practice, of the resulting confidence and increased ability in play,
and even of the early full houses was the fact that the table had four
really loose passive players, the types that--as I think George Percy
wrote--"you can't get 'em out with a howitzer."  For about an hour,
these at least three of these four people were in every hand to fifth
street and usually to the showdown; better, their play made the
others' style more obvious by contrast: two of the others were what
I'd call normal, competent players, while the remaining player was the
tightest rock, and this tightness was so glaring against the four
loose ones that when he called (and especially when he raised), I knew
he had nuts and only stayed with him if I had 'em as well.
Anyway, when it got to be after 2:00, I thought about staying but the game
wasn't quite as good (three of the loose passives, one of the normal,
and the rock had gradually gotten up), and I was tired as hell, so I
left--no sense playing tired and sloppy with an early wake-up call and
long drive ahead, especially given that I'd be back in a few days...

Gambling--Weekend II:  Flew back to Las Vegas Friday evening on
Southwest ($54 one-way) and, after checking into the Dunes, went to
the Mirage for some $5-$10.  Unfortunately, I was tired as hell from
way too little sleep while in Phoenix; more importantly, I wasn't 
sufficiently into the game psychologically, and in no uncertain terms,
I played like crap.  Well, sho'nuff, after a few hours I was down 
about $100 or so and left to do something mindless for awhile, namely
play video poker at the Barbary Coast, where I took about $40 and a
few drinks.  Then, just for the hell of it, I went to the $1-$4 stud
game at the Imperial Palace; didn't take the game too seriously but was
nonetheless rewarded with a few dollars profit and a buffet comp.

Saturday, after the obligatory baseball betting (which went well--
4-for-4 including some close even-line bets with a profit of $60 or
so), I played some hold'em at the Imperial Palace (stud was full) because
I was bored standing in the buffet line and wanted to wait for it to
die down.  I should have just stayed in line:  I lost $30 in 30
minutes, and the damned line really didn't even die down.  Anyway, had
to meet some friends after dinner and hung out with them for a few
hours at a party, after which I went to the Frontier for BARGE.  Of
course, I missed it because, unbeknownst to me (being out of net
contact), the party was the night before.  (No, I didn't stand around
waiting; once no one reacted to the presto thing, I knew I'd missed it
by a day, so I just played $1 craps for a short while, took a few bucks
in what was a VERY rare craps win, and moved on...)

Next stop (still Saturday) was the Mirage for some late night $5-$10;
all was enjoyable, if not terribly notable, and I was dead even when
the game died around 5 AM.  Thought about going to bed but realized
that all but one of Sunday's games started between 9:30 and 11:00 AM;
if I wanted to bet them, then, I'd have to handicap them and bet them
when the book opened at 9, before going to bed, or I'd never wake up
in time.  While waiting for the book to open, I got bored and played
craps and video poker; should have stayed bored instead--lost about
$20 at each.  Actually, could have avoided the sports book too (and
gone to bed early) insofar as I actually lost a few bucks (somewhere
around $10) on the day's games...

(Speaking of sports books, I don't know what others' experiences have
been, but every day that I've bet baseball this summer--a total of
about 8 days--the Barbary Coast has had the best price on the teams of
wanted to bet and most of the others, with the exception of maybe two
or three games total.  The obvious explanation is that it's only a
5-cent line on almost all their games, although some of their
advantages over other places were far greater than the difference
between that and the 10-15-20-cent line at other places.  Anyway, the
other places I shopped in coming to this conclusion were the Dunes,
the Mirage, Caesar's, Little Caesar's, Bally's, and the Flamingo; by
the end, I didn't even bother wearing out shoe leather, and follow-up
checks indicated that I indeed got the best prices and didn't need to
bother.)

Sunday was the last day in Las Vegas.  After going to bed around 10
AM, I slept most of the daylight hours away.  Went to Bally's to look
at the early outlaw line for Monday's baseball games, and was told
that they'd be open for another 30 minutes or so; after racing back to
my room to handicap the games ASAP, I got back 25 minutes later, and
the woman said she was already closed and wouldn't take my bets.  I
was pissed: not only was I unable to place the damned bets (which, it
turns out, would have won me some cash), but I'd wasted time that
could've been spent elsewhere.  (Sure wish more places had an early
line, and as per above, especially the Barbary Coast.)

Anyway, after dinner I finally got into a $5-$10 game, which I stayed
in for the rest of the night, except to break for another dinner
(you'll remember that the first dinner was really like brunch given
how late I slept).  The first three or four hours were so dull--the
ones you read about in poker books where they talk about patience
during slow periods.  It's not that I was on a losing streak; rather,
I was on a nothing streak.  My first three cards were consistently so
bad that I played very few hands.  Face cards were either infrequent
or dead from the start, pairs were only very low on the few occasions
when they did arise, and flush-starts were almost nonexistent.  Like I
say, it could have been worse (a streak of investing in and then
losing pots) but after those three or fours hours I was down about
$100.  (Oh, for those who've ever been curious, during my boredom I
sought to find out how many hands-per-hour are dealt in this game, and
it consistently came to right about 36 hands; in a 5-10, then, it'll
cost you about $18 per hour in antes and about $5 more in forced
bring-ins...)  Finally, I decided to leave soon and said that I'd play
until my ante half-dollars were gone (I had about six or seven left
then).  Well, down to the last half-dollar, figuring this is the last
hand, and I win a medium pot, thus catching a few more half dollars
and keeping myself in the game a bit longer.  Nothing, and then on the
last half-dollar again, I win a fairly large pot and more
half-dollars.  This was followed by a decent rush during which I
either had the winning hand or had scary enough upcards to get
everyone out early.  Ended up playing over an hour past that first
"last ante" and, when I did get to the last half-dollar, was up about
$125.  Psych...

Given that I was feeling pretty good at this point, I decided to sit
down in the $10-$20 game.  Overall, my bankroll's not yet large enough
to sit in these games consistently, but I at least wanted to get a
slight feel for it and sit down for just a few hands, which I would
play very conservatively.  Played for about 30 minutes; won a small
pot and a medium pot, lost a larger pot; finished down a mere $20 but
up in increased insight.  Regarding player ability, I'd been told by
others (who've played in these games) that on the whole (and again, I
mean on the whole, with the understanding that there can be wide
variance among games at either level) $10-$20 competition is no more
difficult than $5-$10 and that, if there is any general difference,
it's that $5-$10 is more difficult because the $10-$20 attracts
proportionately more tourists and non-regular players.  (I.e., if a
tourist can't afford to lost at poker, he'll probably stay in 1-4
land, whereas a tourist who can afford to lose will probably opt for
something higher than $5-$10, which is the smallest of the non-tiny
games.)  Anyway, in my one 10-20 game, I found the competition to be
indeed comparable to that in the 5-10 games I'd played.  I also
learned, though, that one's red chips can go into the pot quickly
during the course of a round and that one therefore shouldn't be
overly eager to make the transition from 5-10 to 10-20 without a
bankroll sufficient to withstand the potential fluctuation...

That's about it for the gambling report.  I actually had a couple of
non-gambling comments (re: food, hotels, etc.) but I'm already late to
meet some people so I'll save those for a separate post.

Until later, then, adios...

Christopher Houston
ch2m@virginia.edu
University of Virginia
Department of Psychology