Ranking the Vegas Shows!! (My Personal Opinion Only)

The glitz and glamour sparkle throughout the Las Vegas Strip, and nothing shines brighter than the Las Vegas shows. Living in Las Vegas affords me the opportunity to see all these shows whenever I please without being pressured like the typical tourist to see all the shows within 3 days. Also, as a local, they run plenty of deals such as 2 for 1...Now it's time to rank every Vegas show I've seen..some are spectacular, some are average, and some are just plain awful...

So here's how I rank every Las Vegas Show I've seen.....(Drum Roll Please)....

1) MICHAEL JACKSON'S IMMORTAL (Mandalay Bay) -- By far, the best show on the strip. Absolutely flawless interpretation of the King of Pop

2) DAVID COPPERFIELD (MGM Grand) -- The greatest illusionist of all time. I watched all his CBS Specials back in the 90's. Seeing it live and having front row seats was a memorable experience

3) BEATLES LOVE (MIRAGE) -- Love the music! Love that there wasn't a bad seat in the house...

4) BLUE MAN GROUP (VENETIAN) -- They never said a word...lots of drum beating, but spectacular! Very Innovative

5) LANCE BURTON (MONTE CARLO - Show Closed) -- The first Vegas Show I've seen...It was the Vegas Show without the glamour...Just heart-pounding, eye popping magic. Its the only Vegas show I've seen twice!

6) PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (VENETIAN) -- The ultimate Theater experience. Love how visual the show is!!  

7) LION KING (MANDALAY BAY) -- Probably the most elaborate set design. Stuck very close to the movie...The scene where King Mustafa dies, is the probably the single greatest scene I've ever seen.. Absolutely awesome how they pulled it off.

8) BETTE MILDER (CEASARS -- Show closed) Pleasantly surprising show...Bette Milder had a lot of energy.

9) KA (MGM Grand) Typical Cirque Du Soleil show...I'm the not the biggest fan of their type of entertainment, but it had it's good parts.

10) MOMMA MIA (MANDALAY BAY -- Show closed) -- Cute Show, more for the women...

11) PENN AND TELLER (RIO) Probably the most disappointing show. The show was a little boring, and seemed to drag on too much! Only silver lining, the magic was pretty good and they took pictures after the show.

12) MYSTERE (TREASURE ISLAND) Another Cirque Du Soliel show...It was okay...Bad part was I had bad seats...didnt get a good view of alot of the acts...

13) WE WILL ROCK YOU (PARIS -- Show closed) Set to the Music of Queen....Music was awesome, but the acting was very bland..didn't seem like the actors weren't into it...crowd didn't respond as a result.

14) PRICE IS RIGHT ( BALLYS) This was not a bad show, just not what I expected...Probably the fact that I didn't get called contributed to my disappointment. 

15) JUBILEE (BALLYS) Didn't really like it...Yeah it was topless women walking dancing in sequence outfits, but it was bland

16) SPLASH (RIVIERA) ABSOLUTELY THE WORST SHOW IN VEGAS!!!! The choreography and music was horrible!! Felt like a third-rate show that belonged in some carnival some Midwest Fair next to the Funnel Cake Stand...

David Copperfield - Tickets

See Blue Man Group at Monte Carlo!

The Beatles "Love" by Cirque du Soleil - Save Over $35 & Free Upgrade!
 

The Best Decision I Made Today

You can't win every time....if we could we'd all be grinding out a living....

The most important aspect of those losing days is to limit them, especially when you're not in control of your emotions...

I arrived at the Mirage around noon, where a new No Limit game was starting. Normally, I'm very comfortable  playing, but today...there was a negative vibe growing with easy passing second. As a result, I was never comfortable, and ultimately, put me on tilt:

1) A Older Gentleman, who came from a 3-6 Limit game, refused to sell his $1 Chips, because he felt it would slow down the game!! THE GAME HADN'T STARTED YET!!!!!! When the dealer asked why (very friendly, of course), the guy became very combative towards the dealer. I said, "So, if you bet 50 in $1 Chips, you don't think you'll be slowing the game down?" He didn't respond

2) A regular sitting next to me was complaining, almost everyone on the table was stradding every hand. Of course, since I was sitting next to me, he made it a point to tell me how upset he was.  I'm thinking, "I don't want to hear his shit!!!"

3) Most importantly, I was sitting in a great, juicy game, but I couldn't GET ANYTHING GOING!! Every hand there was a straddle, then a raise, then a bunch of call. SO when I had a decent hand like a pair, I was in there. The frustrating part is I could never connect..so I was leaking chips like a madman!!

4) One dealer, who is normally friendly, was getting increasing frustrated when the two older gentleman (The two I was sitting next too) were constantly being table captains, telling the dealer what to do. The dealer wasn't making any mistakes, but these two old farts would not shut up about how the dealer was running the game. I think they were sitting in a wild NL limit game, these old farts couldn't keep up so they had to blame someone...why not the dealer...As a dealer myself, I hate when dealers are getting abused especially when they've done nothing wrong....I can deal with a bad run of cards, but I can't deal with fucking nits who won't shut up!!!

After losing yet another pot, dropping my lost to about $150, I was at a boiling point...I was angry, frustrated, and just plain pissed off at what was going on. I decided to take a break...I stormed over to the sportsbook, taking deep breaths. When I return I told my wife (Who was waiting for a 3-6 Limit seat), we have to get out of her, cause if I stay here I'm gonna lose all my money...

We ended up at the Venetian, where I won some of my money back. My wife won a lot of it back playing 4-8 Limit. More importantly, I was able to get my emotions in control and was able to make good poker decisions (Like folding 88 to a 7-High board)

The best decision I was made didn't involve a poker hand, it involved my emotions. When you're emotionally unstable in a No Limit Poker game....it was can cost you a lot of money if you don't control in time. You make bad decisions. Always be aware of how emotions especially in poker. Don't tilt your money away....

I'm so glad I didn't...Despite the small loss, I lived to play another day.....

CES POKER -- Day 2 (Aria)

Didn't even clock in today. We had no game and no tournament.

After a quick change and headed across the street to play poker at Aria! Aria is a spectacular resort...the sheer size of everything and how "chic" everything seems to be. It does create the illusion of escaping reality.

After a 10 minute wait, we opened at a new 1-3 game. I normally buy in for $200, but I noticed 80 percent of the players were buying for $300, so I did the same. The lineup was a mix of locals and young guns. Couple of young guns were playing a ton of pots, calling raises with suited and offsuit connectors. Since we were in a deep-stacked cash game, I thought this is the right way to play. You can't wait for Aces and Kings. If you want to win big pots, you have to be in there with suited and offsuit connectors, hoping to flop the right hand, against the player who only plays "premium hands". The key to playing deep-stacked cash games is having a strong post-flop game. I think my post flop game is pretty good, so I don't mind playing "junk" hands against other deep stack players -- in position. I think position is the most critical (and least understood) concept in deep-stack poker. Here's an example of what I mean....

I limp one off the button (Cutoff) with five limpers in front with K5suited.  The flop comes 2 10 K (two spades). A very weak player leads out for 10 bucks from the Small blind...every folds to another another weak player who calls. Maybe my King behind at this point, but both players had $200 chips, so raising is a bad play as I risk getting re-raised with an average flop. I call and re-evaute the turn. The turn is a Jack...The small blind bets 15...second player calls... AT this point, I think the second player has some sort of draw (Flush draw) and the initially bettor has a weak king. I could raise, but I wanted to keep the pot small to see what they would do on the river. When you have a hand like top pair weak kicker its optimal to keep the pot as small as possible. So I call..The river is a 5 diamonds. The small blind bets $15....second player folds...I'm pretty sure I'm ahead, but is raising the right play?? Absolutely!! Since he has showed much aggression with his small bets, I'm sure he has a naked king. If I raised, would he call...Weak players rarely can get away from top pair so I believe if I raised a little above minimum, he'd call me with any kings...I decided to raise $35 more...After some thought, he calls with K6, and I rake a nice pot.

Sometimes you win a big pot, but feel you didn't play the hand correctly and left a lot of money on the table. You go over what should have been instead of what happened...here's an example of  this:

A very aggressive young kid with about $450 behind raises to $13...A weak Asian lady calls from the button, and I call with 88! I have around $320. Flop comes Q 8 6. I check..young gun bets $25...Weak Asian lay goes all in for $54. I check-raise $40 more...The young gun gets a little annoyed cause he asked the dealer a couple times what the raise is...After tanking for a couple of minutes, he re-raises $100 more! I have around $240 left. I put him on a big hand...AQ or above..A set of queens was the only hand I was afraid of, but I didn't have a thought of folding...I announce ALL IN!!! The young gun asks for a count and tanks for what seems like forever. As time passed, the more I wanted a call. In fact, I believe he was going to call. Unfortunately, after 3 minutes, he mucks....and I take down a nice pot.

I think I made a mistake here....Because the Young Gun put in 4th raise...I think he would have made a massive bet on the turn and I could have shoved all-in and won an even bigger pot. If I just called his 4th raise, it may of appeared weak and I'm sure he would have attacked it!! Another reason I should have waited to shove the turn was the board was so dry that there wasn't a card that could have pushed me off my hand -- even it was an Ace or King.

Anybody would have played the hand differently??

You're always learning and picking up new information to improve your game...sometimes you learn the most from the bigger pots you win even if you think you played it wrong...

CES Poker (MGM Grand)

I worked longer than expected, probably more than I will the rest of the week (For as long as CES is in town).

Played a short session at the MGM Grand. MGM Grand was one of the favorite poker rooms a couple of years. I haven't played there in a long time, not because they did anything to drive me away, it's more circumstance. The room is a far walk from the parking lot, and it's extremely loud at night. Chips are flying from all directions, which makes for great game.

Nothing eventful happened. I made a small score, but the game was extremely tight so it was hard to extract chips. The biggest pot where I 3-bet with KK and won a continuation bet on a 877 board...Other than that, I won a lot of small pots. Overall, I have to admit it was an uneventful and boring session. When you're playing No limit hold em, you're usually winning a lot of small pots waiting for your "Double up" hand. The object is to stay patient and play optimally until the big pot comes along. Minimize your mistakes and maximize your edge, and you can win steady money playing poker...

A note of interest from this session was one of the MGM Dealers named Brandon, who dealt some of my winners.  Why do I mention him? When I dealt at Paris, Brandon used to play in our room all the time, and he was an extremely generous tipper and a good guy. I always make it a point to tip him more than usually whenever he pushes me a pot, so he did rather well whenever he pushed me a pot.

Morning Poker (Mirage and Venetian)

Got up this morning looking for a poker game....

After taking my stepson to school, I ventured to my favorite poker room, The Mirage. I got there around 7:30AM, looking to play 3-6, but could only find a 7-handed 1-2 No Limit game. Nothing much happened for an hour, as I lost 9 bucks then preceded to the newly opened 3-6 Limit Game...

As much as I love the Mirage Poker room, I'm beginning to really despise the "Aces Cracked" aspect of the room. You get 75 bucks if you lose with pockets aces, $150 if the Aces are the same color. It's too the point where it's not even worth playing...all the players know each other, and there's blatant soft-playing of hands that I totally despise. The game are much tighter (notice I said tighter, not tougher -- there is a difference), because they fold everything but Aces. From here on out, I'm going to be leery of playing in poker room that offer jackpots (i.e. High Hands, Bad Beats, Aces Cracked, etc) because although in theory it's great for the room, it does encourage collusion and soft-playing, which are two of my pet peeves.

After being card-dead for an hour, I decided to take my $34 lost and cash out. I just didn't feel a good vibe at the Mirage. If I stayed, I know I would have lost more.

I decided to go across the street the Venetian, and into one of the busiest poker rooms in Vegas. I get a seat immediately in the 1-2 No Limit Game. Won a couple of nice pots right away mainly with AJ offsuit. Once I raised 3 limpers from the Big Blind (BB) and got called by everyone and bet into a K J 4 Flop..everyone folded..The second time I 3-bet Preflop an aggressive gentleman with AJ...and won the pot with a continuation bet on a K 4 3 board...

Then the hand of the day comes up...

Up about 85 bucks at this point, I get a text from my wife reminding me of my sushi date, so I'm getting ready to rack my chips, I get dealt in. Now, at this point, I'm hoping for a complete garbage hand. I peek down and see AK hearts! DAMN, guess I have to play...I raise an early position limper to 12...Get called by the button (A very aggressive older gentleman), and the limper. Both players have me covered. THe flop comes 9 K Q (two clubs). Limper checks...AT this point, I though about putting in a standard continuation bet, but I decided to go a different direction. The button was a VERY aggressive older gentleman, who always bet when checked to and was proud to show bluffs! I decided to try and exploit this tendency, so I checked. The button obliged and bet $30, the early limper folds. Now it's on me...Since he just called preflop, I quickly eliminated QQ and above from his calling range. The range I put him on was AJ, KQ, a medium pair, or something like J9 suited. So the only hand I couldn't beat was KQ, I decided to call and reevaulate on the turn...The turn brings an offsuit 8. I check again. The button quickly bets $75. The thing that stuck me about this bet was not how much he bet, but HOW he bet it!! Normally, he takes his time to put his money out there. I found this rather odd. I still believe I had the best hand, but I now had to be leary of a hand like 98. I called the $75...The river brings the 8 of clubs, completing the flush and pairing the board...I check..Without hesitation, he tosses in $200! Well if he was betting the flush draw, he got there, and the range of hands I put him on was out there...I definately was in a bind!! For a moment, I thought about folding cause what other hands could he possibly be betting in that spot (KQ, 98, J10, 99). Then the old man did something out of character...he spoke...

"I'll show if you fold" The old man barks at me. 

WOW!! I've been dealing for 6 years, and in my experience of dealing in all sorts of pots (BIG AND SMALL), whenever someone says that...it usually means a weak hand....In THAT INSTANT, I knew my AK was the MONSTER..

"I call" I quitely say.

The old man shockingly looks down at his cards then tosses them into the muck!!!

And I rake a nearly $500 pot!!!! WOOHOO!!!!

It's funny how the small bit of information especially in a game like poker can help you make the right decision...

Lots of Poker Playing the next two weeks!

The weeks following the Christmas/New Years Holiday is usually slow around Las Vegas. With CES coming to town next week, the gambling aspect of Vegas will be non-exsistant because many of these computer geeks don't gamble and they're usually pretty cheap. It affects everyone who works for tips, because quite frankly, these computer geeks don't tip....

So I'll be playing a lot of poker the next few weeks because there just isn't enough work...I'm trying to make a conscious effort to play more poker in 2012, and I think the dead time around Vegas is a great time to get my poker hours in.

I played a small session at Flamingo Hotel Casino today, and booked a small win. I don't think I played my best as I relied on common sense to win pots...that, and the fact that I didn't get any cards. I'm not a big fan of the Flamingo, but I wanted to try a different poker room besides The Mirage. It's not a bad poker room, just not the best....

I'll be mixing my play between No Limit and Limit Hold Em. I think the majority of my play will be no limit. I don't think I play enough no limit, but I feel I need to play more because that's the majority of games in Vegas...

OCT 7, 2011 -- TWO NEW BLOG ENTRIES UP

Two new blog entries are up:

STEVE JOBS AND APPLES: I SHOULD HAVE LISTENED TO MY FRIEND

FADE OF FOLLOW: NFL AND COLLEGE

ENJOY!!