Originally posted by lessthanthreee
this is the coolest idea ever.
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I realize I'm a bit behind, but I've been so busy that I haven't found time to update. Here's my Day 2 in Vegas report.
Planet Hollywood - Las Vegas, NV, United States
I signed up for my Total Rewards card downstairs and started a 1/2 game with 3 other fine folks at the PH poker room. Game grew to a full table eventually, but I'm always pretty excited to play shorthanded in a live game, being a HU specialist and all. Unfortunately the game was probably the nittiest I've ever played in, which from what I understand is definitely not standard for PH. Had a MILFy type on my left from Chicago the whole time who made for decent conversation though, making sure I didn't fall asleep. Loved the look of the table, although the ridges at the edge of the table are horrible and had my stacks falling over all the time. Chips were disgusting too, somehow I managed to find a clean one in there. Racked up +169 after a couple hours.
Bill's Gamblin' Hall - Las Vegas, NV, United States
I walked 5 minutes over to Bill's which I was informed in advance was a complete dump. They're tearing it down Feb. 4 so I'm pretty glad I got in before they shut it down. The only game they run here is 0.50/1 - which before I came here didn't even know existed in a live setting. Played for a little over an hour and dropped $33. Just happy to cross it off the list and never play here again.
Flamingo - Las Vegas, NV, United States
Flamingo was next door, so walked over and hopped into the 1/2 game. Game was definitely the best of the three I had played at, with much more action. Had to tone down the aggression a little bit at this table. Overall the room wasn't great though, in a loud area with meh tables. Certainly not a place I'd come back to with all the options in LV. Had plan to go out with Mike and Jake for dinner so decided to play my button and get out. Naturally, I get AKs on the button and run it into a pretty aggro fish's AA and brick on my last hand of the night. Finished down $109.
We went to Holstein's in the Cosmopolitan for dinner, was told that the best shakes in Vegas were found there. They were def legit, had a great peanut butter shake and a tasty burger before getting dropped off at PH again to figure out where my next stop would be for the night. After some help from Google Maps I decided on Monte Carlo.
Monte Carlo - Las Vegas, NV, United States
Was a decent walk to Monte Carlo from PH, especially with some construction happening on the south side of PH - meaning I had to walk to Bellagio drive first before walking down the other side of the strip to Monte Carlo. Signed up for my M life card there before getting into a game. Game started off kinda nitty, but over the course of a couple hours two guys in the game drank themselves white girl wasted. Both of them had decent stacks too. Unfortunately I couldn't be more card dead and couldn't get anything through for most of the night. Had a somewhat decent run at the end though, including the last hand of the night where bald drunky blind shoves his $160 stack in and I wake up with AQs in the BB and hold vs Q3. Finished session down $9, lol.
Aria - Las Vegas, NV, United States
I planned on saving most of the better casinos for the end of the trip (ie Bellagio, Venetian, etc) but after Monte Carlo I wasn't all that tired and decided to stop in to Aria. Bought in for $300 at $1/3, and something like third hand in I get stacked with KK<AA where villain flatted my 3bet pre and shoved over my cbet on a 853r flop. Rebought for same amount and proceeded to run it up with donations from some guy who I'm sure reads 2p2 because he was talking about random memes and +EV and stuff. These are the people I hate in live games the most. Live games are not the time to tell people how much you think you know about poker. If you actually know what you're doing, keep your mouth shut about poker strat talk and direct the conversation to sports or something. People who talk poker strategy at the table are by far the most satisfying to stack. There was also a dude at the table that was a dead ringer for NBA star Dwight Howard. Whole table called him Dwight and made fun of his free throws lol. He seemed like a super nice guy and a reasonably solid player though. Finished my Aria session at about 9am and +653.
Trip profit after Day 2 - $671, 5 chips.
I'm kinda tired of writing so I'll finish up my Day 3 and 4 report either tonight or tomorrow. Days 3 and 4 included Mirage, Palms, MGM, Excalibur, Luxor, Mandalay Bay and Harrah's. I'm off to start my Day 5 with some new ones.
Day 3 (Friday, Jan. 25)
This feels like so long ago already, can't even remember what I did before I walked out of PH for the day. Think I bought some Earl of Sandwich before walking to Mirage.
Mirage - Las Vegas, NV, United States
I was pretty excited for this one, it's always kinda neat to walk into casinos that have pop culture history in them. It would not be right to have a Vegas trip without playing at the fucking Mirage. The room itself was comfortable, and the game was alright. Didn't run all that great outside of making quads once that I didn't get paid much off in the hand for, but took home $100 for a high hand bonus. Finished -68 including the bonus before I got picked up by my friends to go see the Ben Folds Five concert.
I didn't know too much about Ben Folds before I came to Vegas, but Mike had told me they were getting tickets so I got him to add a ticket for me too. Left the show a pretty big fan of him - one of the most entertaining pianists I've ever seen. It was held in the Pearl Theater at the Palms - here's a clip of one of the songs played that night.
After the concert the guys left me at Palms so I could knock that one out while we were there anyway.
Palms - Las Vegas, NV, United States
The Palms has a pretty awesome looking poker room - it's right beside the sport betting which makes for a great setup. I played for like an hour, but I really don't remember much about the game at all lol. Dropped -76 before getting picked up by Mike and Anthony to go to Musashi.
Musashi is a Japanese steakhouse that I guess the guys were pretty big fans of. They have this late night special from midnight to 4am that we took advantage of. We got sat down around a grill along with three fine ladies and their boyfriends. The chef was definitely a showman, entertaining us with a little juggling show with his knifes/cleavers before grilling us some tasty eats. I ordered a seafood special that was delicious and a complete steal for $14 or whatever I paid for it. If you're in Vegas, you need to try this place at least once. After we left, the guys asked me where I wanted to grind next, and I decided on MGM Grand.
MGM Grand - Las Vegas, NV, United States
The guys dropped me off and I quickly hopped into a $1/2 game. The details are a little fuzzy from the game but according to my Poker Income app I was +159 after 3 hours of play.
I was pretty exhausted after a long day and walked back to PH. As I was about to climb into bed I got a text from Mike asking if I was still up because they wanted to go for breakfast. Since I can never turn down breakfast, I forced myself to stay awake for a little bit longer. I joined Mike, Jake, and Anthony and went way off strip to a place called The Egg and I. Everything on the menu looked pretty amazing tbh, and I settled on banana bread french toast. The guys took me back to the hotel and I passed out pretty much as soon as I hit the pillow.
Day 4 (Saturday, Jan. 26)
Decided I was gonna grind out the three rooms at the south end of the strip, so I walked over to Excalibur and grabbed some Orange Julius before sitting down in a $1/2 game.
Excalibur - Las Vegas, NV, United States
Excalibur is a dump. The dealers were friendly and maintained a good game though, notably more than some of the others honestly. The game started off really well with some young guys punting money in awful, awful spots. It got a little bit nittier towards the end of my session there, and I ran a pretty questionable bluff vs an Asian in a limped pot. He tank called river with after I check/called flop in the BB with T3dd, check/raised turn and bombed river. I believe the flop was like A95dd, turn 2, river J. He flipped over A8 after a pretty long deliberation, which is pretty much exactly the type of hand I thought he had and given my reads I thought he was capable of folding a bare ace vs that line. Given my kinda aggro image I'm not really sure I want to try to fold him off TP in hindsight. Finished +53 though.
Luxor - Las Vegas, NV, United States
Luxor is in pretty much the same shape Excalibur is, maybe slightly better. The game I was in was better though, with some fish to my right punting money to me. Got paid off with middle set once and made some other hands along the way too, and left after a couple hours +473.
Mandalay Bay - Las Vegas, NV, United States
After a short walk and a crepe in one of the eateries along the way, I got in another $1/2 game at Mandalay Bay. It's definitely the best room of the three that are connected along the south end of the strip. Can't remember much about the game, outside of one annoying fish to my right that wanted to talk through everything and couldn't figure out why his double straddle had to be $8, not $6. That discussion between the dealer and him lasted like 20 minutes before floor had to get involved and explain it to him. Finished session with a whopping profit of $5.
After my session, the guys picked me up to take me for my very first chipotle. After hearing the guys and other vegas pros on twitter rave about it I was pretty excited to try it out. Gotta say, I understand the hype. I kinda wanna buy a franchise and put it in Calgary, because I'm pretty sure it'd print money. After chipotle, we tried this place that hand made ice cream in front of you. I went with some peanut butter type (which is my go to if its available for any ice cream/smoothie flavor) and thoroughly enjoyed it. The ice cream and chipotle were both right beside Harrah's, so I stayed there to knock that one down.
Harrah's - Las Vegas, NV, United States
The usual location for the poker room was under construction, and the temporary one is closer to the front doors. Seems to me they would be better off making that the permanent location, since it seems like more action would filter through in the temp location than it would its usual one. Regardless, the game I got in was just a bunch of old guys who probably weren't thrilled with my hyper aggro style. Stacked one of them in a pretty funny hand, where I raised T5o on the button, and both blinds flatted. Flop comes T53r, blinds check, I bet, SB folds, and BB minraises. A lot of times I'd flat here, but he was deepish and given my aggro image I didn't think he was folding any made hand to a 3bet, so I went ahead and 3bet smallish. He snapcalls and we see a Q turn. He snap shoves, I call, he shows AJ lol. River bricks and I take down a pot of about 350ish. BB gets up and leaves in a hurry - I honestly have no idea what he was thinking on any street there. The table broke after 30 minutes, and I took it as a good excuse to get out of Harrah's so I racked up and left +211.
Trip profit after Day 4 - $1428, 12 chips
Going to sleep now, Day 5 and 6 coming sometime soon.
Sorry for the delay in updates guys, these Vegas reports kinda suck to punch out because there are so many casinos in a short period of time. Gonna sack up and get the final one done in the next couple days.
Day 5 (Sunday, Jan. 27)
After doing the south end of the strip on Saturday, I walked up to grind the north side of the strip, starting with Circus Circus.
Circus Circus - Las Vegas, NV, United States
The poker room is in a great location - literally right inside the entrance. Not much else going for this place though. When I got there, the only game running was 3/6 limit. I have literally never played limit in my life before, and live limit sounded pretty painful. That being said, I was here anyway so I decided to bite the bullet and join in the poo-flinging. Apparently $200 was a big buyin for 3/6 limit. Even though it took me a few hands to get the basic structure of limit, it seemed everyone else was basically clueless too. I grinded out a $36 profit and walked over next door to get back to some NL.
Riviera - Las Vegas, NV, United States
Riviera definitely appears to be a bigger room than Circus Circus - it's also right in the entrance but not separated from the rest of the casino. There was only one $1/3 game running, but it appeared to be pretty good. There was one really loud Boston area fish who seemed to dominate the table chatter, but he was good for the game so I didn't really care. To my direct right was an interesting British guy who claimed to have been living in Vegas for a while now. We talked for a while - if all his stories are true, he would have lived quite a life. If not, they were good stories and good conversation so win win for all. He had bounced around from the UK to Vegas, to the US midwest, to Canada, and back to Vegas. He taught some astronomy courses in universities and was living with a no-name former UB pro (who I can't remember the name of). Was kind of interesting to hear that the low-end UB pros all felt that they were being cheated hard by the company. Part of it sounded like 'zomg I can't win, online is rigged' talk - but given UB was the site in question I'm not sure you can fully discount anything. He eventually moved seats, since I had been 3betting a decent amount of his opens and he recognized being on my right was a bad idea. I felt like he was probably a decent winner in these games. I also ran absolutely terrible in this game and played far longer than I should here. I played about 6 hours while dropping $597 for by far my worst session of the trip.
I started walking back to PH to grab some more cash - and also figuring the walk back would clear my head a bit after a bad session. Got a text from Mike saying he was bored and wanted to grind some games with me. I decided after grinding in dumps for the last little while it was time to hit up one of the big ones - so I told him I'd be down for one of Caesar's, Wynn, Venetian, or Bellagio. He texted back saying he'd pick me up from PH in a bit and we'd go grind at Wynn - his favorite room. I grabbed some more cash from my room in PH and got picked up at the valet.
Wynn - Las Vegas, NV, United States
Managed to get a table with 2 open seats, so we got some chips and sat down. Turned out to be one of the more interesting $1/3 games in terms of table dynamics I've ever played in. Guy to my direct left appeared to be a spot when I first sat down, but later realized he was from Vancouver and a semi-competent low stakes online guy. To my right was a nitty, but winning MTT reg. So including me and Mike, who plays higher stakes HUSNGs than I do, we had a $1/3 live game with 4 winning online players, and like 3-4 fish filtering in and out. What was also interesting is that the fish in the game were all wearing headphones and listening to music - so the winning online regs got to sit there and chat about who they knew, semi-competent strat talk, etc without it filtering through to the fish and making them uncomfortable. With a less than ideal table draw (looser fish to my left, nits to my right), I still managed to book a $571 win. I think Mike booked a small loss after 3 hours of play.
Since neither of us had really eaten all day we went for some pizza at a 24 hr place at the Cosmopolitan. I was also really craving a smoothie, so we drove way out of the way to some smoothie place like 15 minutes off strip lol. Was worth it tho obv. Neither of us were overly tired so at about 5am we moved on to Bellagio.
Bellagio - Las Vegas, NV, United States
Both Mike and I put our name on the list, and while waiting we had to test out the HU limit poker machines, just for fun. We split the action 50/50 and played for a few minutes on one machine, dropping $20 or so. It MIGHT be beatable, however I'm not well-versed enough in limit HU to know for sure. It did make some pretty ridiculous river calldowns tho, saw Q hi a couple times in spots its really never good. We went back to the room, and there was only one seat available. So Mike took off and left me to grind for a little bit. Game was pretty good - I had a monster fish two to my right who I'm happy to say picked me to donate his money too. After he got up and left the game wasn't exceptional though. Obviously the room itself is amazing - great decor, awesome atmosphere, clean chips, etc. Didn't have one complaint about it at all. Also found it pretty funny that the floor manager came to my table just to shake my hand since I was wearing my Winnipeg Jets jersey. It was a conversation starter at the cage too. That Jets jersey is always a crowd pleaser 
Unfortunately after about an hour of play I got really tired and had to quit, walk back to PH and hit the pillow immediately. Booked a $207 profit at Bellagio.
Day 6 (Monday, Jan. 28)
I remember waking up and feeling really sick to my stomach. Probably had a lot to do with the lack of sleep and being stuck in smoky casinos all day every day. I spend a good amount of Monday in bed recovering and letting my stomach settle. Took me until about 10pm to wake up again and feel better, so it was time to get in a couple more casinos.
Caesar's Palace - Las Vegas, NV, United States
It took me a little bit of walking around to finally find the room, but I eventually found it and grabbed an open seat. I liked the room overall, but its definitely a step below places like Bellagio/Aria imo. Don't remember much about the game itself, except I had a pretty nice Dutch kid to my left that I enjoyed chatting with. He'd been hopping all over the world for years just checking out random countries. Had done a lot of southeast Asia, India, Canada, etc. Was a interesting conversation for sure. Live pro tip - be friendly and chat up the guy to your left - often you'll get more folds out of someone who likes you and having that person to your left makes the game better for you. Finished with a small profit of $96.
Bally's - Las Vegas, NV, United States
After I finished with Caesar's I walked the short distance to Bally's and hopped in a game. The original game I sat down in didn't last all that long, as we got split up to fill two other games. The second game was pretty uneventful in general, no monster fish or interesting people. Just a really basic 1/2 game. It eventually filtered down to 3 handed, with me and 2 women - one middle aged woman and an asian chick who I assumed was in her late 20s or so. When the middle aged woman took off, I assumed they'd break our game as it was middle of the night, but I was pleasantly surprised that they let us play as long as we wanted. Extra bonus was that the asian chick seemed more than willing to play HU. She seemed reasonably competent for live FR, prob one of the better players I've seen in a 1/2 game. That being said, there's no way anyone playing 1/2 or 1/3 has an edge on me in HU, and this chick was no exception. The deck kinda smacked me in the face, but she paid me off for the max every time. After stacking her twice, she stood up and thought about rebuying, but thought better of it and ran off in a hurry. Decided to rack up with my profit of $644, go back to the hotel and get some more sleep.
Trip profit after Day 6 - $2385, 18 chips
Day 7 (Tuesday, Jan. 29)
As soon as I woke up I checked Bravo to see if Treasure Island was running a game. They had 1 going so I quickly got dressed and walked over. By the time I got over the game had already broke, which was pretty unfortunate. They told me to come back in a couple hours, as they expected something to run around then. So I walked next door to the Venetian.
Venetian - Las Vegas, NV, United States
I actually had to wait a few minutes to get a seat, which was kinda surprising because they have at least 20 tables going at any given time it seems. Obviously the room itself is gorgeous, but it does seem a bit cavernous and the chips are completely disgusting. There's a mix of Venetian and Palazzo chips, and it took me a while to find a somewhat clean Venetian chip, since I think the Palazzo chips outnumbered the Venetian chips about 2:1. Don't remember a ton about the game, but I do remember a pretty interesting hand where I squeeze shoved turn into two players with a gutshot and flush draw, and got called by a made straight - which sucked to have one of my blockers gone. The flush got there on the river and I immediately got berated hard by the player I stacked. So much fun to get called a 'fucking donk', since it means I just won money from someone who's a douche about it anyway. Best part was that the very next hand, I one-outed the same douche on the river, and he threw his cards at the muck pretty hard and took off angrily. Not sure you could've wiped the big shit-eating grin off my face. Cashed out relatively soon after that with a profit of $177.
Walked back to TI and still no game with little hope of it getting started soon. Decided to take a cab from TI to the last room on the strip.
Stratosphere - Las Vegas, NV, United States
Took me a little bit of wandering to find the poker room at Stratosphere. There was a small MTT going on when I got there and one 1/2 cash game. It's really nothing special, but I did notice they allowed smoking at the tables. Don't really remember much else about the game, but I booked a $145 profit here, so that's cool I guess. Took a cab from here to the Rio.
Rio - Las Vegas, NV, United States
The Rio room is right beside the sportsbook and almost looks like a small hallway, with a poker table on each side of the hallway. The tables and chips are nice and clean too. Located just outside the entrance is the table used for the final table of the main event too, which is kinda cool. A lot of the play from Day 7 casinos seem like kind of a blur honestly, but somehow I walked out with a $304 win here. Next stop, South Point.
South Point - Las Vegas, NV, United States
This was my first true off-strip casino (Palms and Rio are close enough to the strip imo). It's another big room, and I did find it pretty funny to see a reg who I beat up on pretty hard in an earlier session at Mandalay Bay immediately ask for a table change as soon as I sat down. Could be coincidence.....butnahhh. Booked a whopping $30 profit after less than two hours.
The Orleans - Las Vegas, NV, United States
It was like 3 am I think by the time I made it to the Orleans. I don't think a lot of the rooms I hadn't done yet in Vegas have games running at this time, at least not on a Tuesday. Thankfully there was a food court with 24 hour service in the casino as well, because I was positively starving. Booked a $158 profit here at my last stop of the night, before cabbing back to PH and hitting the pillow.
Day 8 (Wednesday, Jan. 30)
In the same routine as yesterday, I checked Bravo for a game at TI and saw one running again. Quickly got ready and made my way over there, but just like the day before, arrived to find no game. With TI being the last room on the strip I needed to play at, I figured now was as good a time as any to take a cab up to downtown and begin the Fremont Street grind.
El Cortez - Las Vegas, NV, United States
I decided to start at the smallest room on Fremont, El Cortez. If I thought anywhere else I had been was a dump, this absolutely topped it. It took me a little bit of searching to actually find the 'poker room', which was two tables randomly stuck in the middle of the casino. The only game running was a 1-3-6 spread limit game, which is just as bad as limit poker and I hate playing it. Dropped like $27 and moved on, happy to check it off the list.
Binion's - Las Vegas, NV, United States
Clearly Binion's has fallen a long way from its heyday as the home of poker in Vegas. That being said, there's still a ton of history here and it's exciting to play at the original home of the game. The room itself is very comfortable, with the Poker Hall of Fame decorating the entrance. There was a MTT running as well as a limit game, and it took a while to get the NL game running, but I'm happy to say I had the chance to play here. Grinded out a small profit of $47 before walking next door.
Golden Nugget - Las Vegas, NV, United States
Golden Nugget is far and away the best room of the 3 on Fremont. Lots of action and a gorgeous room, with everything going right for it. Really enjoyed my Golden Nugget experience, outside of the results. Didn't run particularly well situationally and lost $130.50 here. The table itself wasn't great either, with no huge donators, just some of the typical folk you find playing 1/2. Friendly game though, with a great atmosphere.
After Golden Nugget I decided to give TI one last shot. Bravo was showing one game running again and I decided it was gonna be now or never to get in this game. Took the cab to TI and kept my fingers crossed.
Treasure Island - Las Vegas, NV, United States
FINALLY! I was so relieved to walk in and find a cash game running with an open seat. It was an amazing game too, had the seat to the direct left of a big fish and some other wonderful donators in the game with lots of cash on the table. There were two $1500+ stacks on the table when I arrived. Unfortunately, I ran completely terrible and pulled some ill-timed bluffs on top of it. The game broke about 3am I believe. I was not rewarded profit-wise for my diligence in finding a game at TI and dropped $323 here. It was time to get back to my room, pack up, and get ready for my 8am flight back to Calgary.
Final Trip Profit after Day 8 - $2766, 27 chips.
Final Trip Notes - I'm not sure I could've packed in more into this trip. I got everything I wanted to out of it and more. Had the opportunity to meet up with some friends, got some great eats in, a very entertaining show, as well as solid results at the tables. Profit was not the main goal of this trip because I knew I wanted to get in as many casinos as possible, but I am absolutely satisfied with booking the healthy profit I did while bouncing around 27(!!!) casinos in only 7 days of actual play. I plan to come back to Vegas around WSOP time, and hopefully on that trip I'll finish up every poker room in Sin City.
Originally posted by Tim64
what I call the perfect mix of business and pleasure.
haha, kinda sums up the purpose of this project!
I've visited two new casinos in Alberta since returning from LV, but because I was incredibly lazy in punching out the Vegas reports these two reports were delayed as well.
Cash Casino - Red Deer, AB, Canada
Two days after coming back from Vegas (and basically sleeping through all of it) I decided I wanted to play live again. Mostly because I must be insane. I originally wanted to do Stoney Nakoda (45 min west of Calgary) but they weren't answering their phone. So with no idea as to whether games were actually running there I decided to drive 90 min up to Red Deer. This is the sister casino to the Cash in Calgary, but this one actually has action running every day since it's the only game in RD. Couple notes - this is the dingiest, most unclean card room I've been in. It looks like a small town community hall inside, with dirty tables and dirty chips. That being said, it also has the highest concentration of braindead players inside, and having visited several casinos in AB already, that's a significant accomplishment. Literally 9/9 of the other players at my table were completely clueless, and LOOSE. $35 raise UTG at $1/2 got 6 callers, and people would call massive raises postflop with 2nd pair type hands. All of them. That being said, you're kinda forced to play significantly tighter because you can't isolate fish - you're just forced to make monsters and print money that way. If you're card dead, like I was for 6 hours, it makes for a long night. Grinded out a 40bb profit. The chips they used are old Calgary location chips, no Red Deer specific chips there.
Boomtown Casino - Fort McMurray, AB, Canada
Fort McMurray is the definition of an oil town. The oilsands deposit here is the largest (or second largest?) in the world. It's a 7 hour drive from Calgary, and the stretch of road from Edmonton to Fort Mac is labeled the Highway of Death for a reason. No chance I was driving alone there in the winter. So I flew up to Fort Mac for two days - and the trip was 30% more expensive than my 8 day Vegas trip. I had friends playing in the Canadian Junior Curling Championships being held there at the same time, so that gave me a good excuse to make the trip at that particular time.
The cardroom itself is 3 tables sealed off from the rest of the Boomtown Casino, located in downtown Fort Mac. I stayed for a total of 15 minutes. I think I'm gonna have a difficult time finding a worse run poker room in Canada - it was that bad. 10% rake capped up to $10 at $1/2 ($500 max buyin might have made it beatable though). There was NO 'no flop no drop' policy, and no reduced rake for shorthanded. The must move policy was randomized, so if you were waiting an hour for a game to start, and it broke up to feed the main game, the guy that just showed up might get in and tough luck for you. You are not allowed to use your cellphone in the poker room at all. You cannot be in the room at all unless you are playing - if you are waiting for a game to start, you have to wait in the casino until they call you. Slow dealers, incompetent floor. You name it, Boomtown did it poorly. Such a shame, honestly. Happy to never be forced to return to Fort Mac.
I took 3 weeks away from online play between my Vegas and Fort McMurray trips. Unless I run into extensive internet problems at home or something, there won't be as many poker trips for a little bit - its time to make some real money. Hoping to get Stoney Nakoda in this weekend, and the seven Vancouver area rooms at the end of the month though. Thanks for reading guys!
Based on what I heard, Boomtown is the softest game in Alberta and Red Deer is second.
This challenge seems awesome, gl.
So naturally, my internet went Thursday. When it didn't come back on Friday, I decided to book a last minute hotel and make the 3 hour drive north to hit up the Edmonton casinos over the course of the weekend. I could probably have played on my backup until the main internet came back, but playing long sessions on my backup didn't sound ideal.
Century Casino - Edmonton, AB, Alberta
I was told in advance by a friend who's an Edmonton reg that Century runs a lot of limit/DC games, but NL runs on the weekends. So I made it my first stop. I liked the room overall - it's located just inside the entrance and is separated from the rest of the casino. There were a couple 1/2 games going on, and I managed to get in a really good one. Max buyin is $500 in all the 1/2 games in Edmonton (min $100) and most players buy in for $300-500. Play is fast and loose as well, so really the game plays more like 2/5 or higher. There was a eastern european looking dude that punted at least $4k in the game, rebuying for $500 every time and just punting his stack with any pair postflop. My plan was to play in 2 casinos on the first night but there was really no way I could justify leaving this game. Naturally, I ran absolutely terrible, and while everyone else was getting in 2nd pair for full stacks, I was running into set over set and AQ into 99 on A92r flop where villain put in 25% of his stack pre. After my two coolers I proceeded to wake up with mostly the bottom 20% of preflop hands in a super loose game and basically forced to fold all night. Finished down about $500.
River Cree Resort & Casino - Enoch, AB, Canada
Played this one Saturday afternoon. Enoch is technically just outside the city limits of Edmonton, but for all intents and purposes it's part of Edmonton. River Cree is the Indian casino there, and I had heard good things about it despite it not being a 24 hour room. Was kinda disappointed when I found out there was no separated poker room, just a few tables hidden among the slots. Played a little bit, made an insignificant profit, and moved on.
The western Canadian university curling championships were being held at the Saville center at the U of A and I had several friends competing who I hadn't seen in a while, so I went to watch a game and hang out with some friends for a while. After some quality time at Saville I drove to West Edmonton Mall to play at the Palace Casino.
Palace Casino - Edmonton, AB, Canada
Palace is located inside the West Edmonton Mall, one of the biggest malls in the world. When I got there around 10:30 at night most of the mall was closed - but given that I've been to West Ed a few times already it wasn't a huge loss. The poker room at Palace is open 24 hours on weekends. I made the critical mistake of not calling in advance and was forced to wait about an hour for a game. As per all Alberta poker, everyone is clueless, but this one wasn't ideal as I had two shorties to my right and the biggest fish across the table from me. Also a dealer here that tilted the fk out of me - commenting on play after every hand and giving advice to players. Seriously dealers, STFU and deal. You're dealing and not playing for a reason FFS - talk about anything but the play at the table. Played about an hour and a half and booked another insignificant profit.
Casino Edmonton - Edmonton, AB, Canada
Another one of the ABS casino chains, that includes the one in NE Calgary and Lethbridge, as well as Yellowhead in Edmonton that I planned on hitting up on Sunday. Everyone basically refers to this one as Argyll though, since it's located on Argyll Road I guess. It is the busiest poker room in Edmonton. That being said, the tables are pretty cramped and the chips disgusting. The action is fantastic though, but I ran pretty poorly again. Got in a huge $1200 pot with QQ vs TT vs xx and xx 4 way, the two unknown villains were shoving every hand and it was pretty obv I had the best hand. Villain spiked T on river obv. First time I felt truly tilted playing live, especially with how I had been running this trip so far. Just the softest games ever and I couldn't win a big hand for the life of me. Fortunately got in AA vs A6 in $600+ pot a little bit later and only finished down around $400. Still a frustrating session to be sure.
Decided to go back to the hotel and try to get a few hours of sleep before doing the last two casinos on Sunday. After 30 min of trying to fall asleep I gave up on it, checked out of the hotel and drove to Yellowhead.
Casino Yellowhead - Edmonton, AB, Canada
I liked this room a lot better than Argyll, the other ABS casino in town. Much more spacious and a better atmosphere. Started a game at about 8 in the morning here with some other fine folks, including a pretty nutty Korean kid two to my right. He was playing pretty much every hand and never folding, and winning. I won a decent sized pot vs him that I can't remember the details of. Also stacked some guy with a set vs some sort of top pair hand. Booked my first notable win here of the weekend, +350ish.
Baccarat Casino - Edmonton, AB, Canada
My last stop was Baccarat, which I really wasn't looking forward to because they don't manage to get NL running here. The only game running when I showed up was a 4/8 limit DC game, where everyone picks Omaha anyway. Played for about 30 min, lost like $10. Limit Omaha isn't really my idea of a good time. It's unfortunate, because I actually do like the room - very spacious and comfortable. It's just not in a very good location I think - downtown, but off the main streets in Edmonton completely and probably a bit out of people's way.
Baccarat closed out all my Edmonton area casinos, so after leaving there I started driving back to Calgary. About an hour into the drive the lack of sleep really started to hit me though, and I think driving all the way back to Calgary might've been dangerous if I went all the way. I pulled into Red Deer, got a hotel and fell asleep. Still in my hotel now, but checking out soon and finishing the drive to Calgary. Hoping the internet is working again when I get back.
Final thoughts on Edmonton? Games were amazing, played very deep and so easily crushable. They might've been slightly softer because it was a long weekend here, but I have a feeling if they are normally tougher it's not by much. Just a shame I ran so poorly here. My one gripe is that the chips are disgusting here. Every casino's chips were filthy, and at a few of them finding a clean chip in the pile was impossible.
Next stops: Stoney Nakoda whenever I can figure out if a game is running there, and Vancouver sometime around the end of the month.
Originally posted by i5bet72o
Based on what I heard, Boomtown is the softest game in Alberta and Red Deer is second.
This challenge seems awesome, gl.
oh btw, i5bet is the aforementioned Edmonton reg who gave me the lowdown on Edmonton games before I went up lol. I didn't make time to meet up with him, but next time I'm up in e-town we'll def have to hang out!
The games are technically $50-$500 but very few people actually buy in for $50. Sucks to run bad in such soft games. Trust me, even tho the weekend games are especially soft, you can find a soft 1/2 NL game at Argyll, and Yellowhead pretty much around the clock.
Stoney Nakoda Resort & Casino - Morley, AB, Canada
I was finally able to contact the pit at Stoney Nakoda and confirm that there would be a game running when I showed up. It's about a 45 minute drive from my place in Calgary. Technically the closest town is Morley, but really it's just on a native reserve on the Trans-Canada Highway between Calgary and Banff. Given its close proximity to several ski resorts, you get all sorts of ski bums staying at the hotel and dropping into the casino. It's sort of a weird setup here, there's a poker room, but the main table is located outside of the room in the main casino, alongside some BJ tables. Max buyin was $200 which is definitely the smallest max buyin I've come across in Alberta. Game was really good otherwise though. Had the regular crew of loose-passive fish filling the game, as well as two supremely aggro fish that punted off tons to everyone else and managed to cooler me hard in other spots. One particular hand comes to mind where I got in JTdd on AJ98ddd board and naturally ran into the K4dd of one of the fishies who is absolutely paying me off with as little as 2nd pair in that spot. Also pretty card dead for most of the night - weeeeee live downswing continues. Finished down a little over 200. So frustrating to not book wins in some of the softest games in history.
At least the chips look cool and are clean - always big positives in my book.
I also updated the OP to include an organized running list of everywhere I've been to.
Camrose Resort Casino - Camrose, AB, Canada
Alright so, this trip confirmed why I didn't go to Saskatchewan, and why I shouldn't even have gone to Camrose in the first place this weekend. I highly underestimated the weather before I decided to drive up. More on that later.
Camrose is about a 3 hour drive northeast from Calgary. The casino itself is smallish, but the poker room is a separate room and I liked everything about the actual room itself. 6 tables, flatscreen TVs surrounding the walls of the room, clean tables, immaculate chips, and competent dealers running a smooth game. The one gripe (outside of the fact that it's Camrose and completely out of the way of everything) is that the hours are terrible. On weekends the poker room is only open 4pm-2am, and its a smaller window on other days. It wasn't the softest game I had played in Alberta by any means, but very comparable to a lot of the Calgary games and easily crushable by anyone competent. Finished down -57 running kinda card dead and not finding a lot of great spots.
When I drove in to Camrose, I started feeling a little nervous about the weather, but I figured if it got really bad I could always grab a hotel. The weather held up reasonably for the trip into Camrose. All of the forecasts I saw ahead of time called for snow in the evening, but it was just flurries the whole way in, so as long as it didn't get worse I'd be fine. While playing in the casino, I overheard a lot of people talking about it getting bad outside and telling everyone to drive safe as they left. Clearly I was a little worried, but when the game closed at 2am and I walked outside to warm up my car, it didn't seem like anything particularly bad. The roads looked OK within Camrose itself too, so I figured I was safe to drive to at least Wetaskiwin (30 min under normal driving conditions) and make my next judgement call then. It was about 10 minutes into my drive when I realized not staying in Camrose was a really, really bad idea. The roads were basically whiteout conditions, zero visibility. I had to drive about half the speed limit in order not to fly off the road into the ditch (on a winding two lane highway). All I could think of the whole drive was "just don't die". An hour after I left Camrose, I arrived in the town of Wetaskiwin and circled the town for a while looking for a hotel. I would've checked google maps or something for a hotel but my phone was nearly dead. Eventually, a cop pulled me over, realizing I was completely lost, and directed me to the Super 8. I checked in there at 3 am, and waited until 1pm for the storm to subside and the roads to clear so I could drive back to Calgary.
I fucking earned this chip guys. No more casino trips during a blizzard.
It's been far too long since I took a poker trip. Getting back on that horse this weekend.
Vancouver officially booked for this coming Thursday through Sunday. I believe there's seven Vancouver area casinos to visit. If there are any PS members living in Vancouver, let me know if you wanna meet up while I'm down there.
This thread always makes me want to play some live. Unfortunately the closest spot is 4h away which is pretty tough to justify 
GL in Canucktown!
Got back from Vancouver this afternoon. I loved all seven cardrooms in the Vancouver area, even though I played what was prob my C+ game for a lot of the weekend and ran even worse. Having a losing trip puts a bit of a damper on things, but otherwise Vancouver area cardrooms are awesome.
Edgewater Casino - Vancouver, BC, Canada
I decided to make my first stop at Edgewater. The poker room is on the 2nd floor, and is busy with 1/2 and 2/5 games constantly. Unfortunately, the game I was in was incredibly nitty, and I only stayed for a little over an hour with a profit of +114.
Grand Villa Casino - Burnaby, BC, Canada
My second stop was the Grand Villa, which is the newest room on the BC poker scene. This was probably my favorite room in terms of overall design - it's truly a gorgeous and comfortable room. I played $2/5 here, and the game was great, but I was really tired at this point and probably shouldn't have even played more than an hour. Instead I played like 4 hours and dropped $1200 in a really good game, making several mistakes and whiffing on a few combo draws in big pots. I went back to my hotel and got some sleep, but pretty frustrated with my decision to play as long as I did.
River Rock Casino Resort - Richmond, BC, Canada
After a solid sleep, I took a cab down to River Rock. The poker room was moved across the street from the actual casino a few years ago. One of the dealers who had worked both before and after the move told me that traffic definitely suffered after the move. It's a nice enough room though, and was still very busy with 10+ tables running early Friday afternoon. I feel like I played really, really well all session, easily my best performance of the weekend. Unfortunately I got pretty unlucky in a few big pots where I got in A5ss vs KK on a KT3sss flop and lost, and another where I got in 100bb vs a fishy young guy with AA vs KT preflop and he got there. Still managed to book a $251 profit.
Starlight Casino - New Westminster, BC, Canada
I got into another $1/2 game at Starlight, and this game had all sorts of interesting characters. The most notable was a player with no arms, and was completely self-sufficient. He used his big toe and his second toe similar to how most people would use their thumb and index finger, and was able to peer at his cards, handle chips, and do everything without the help of anyone. Was quite impressive and fascinating honestly. Also in the game was a guy who now plays 200nl online, but used to be a major player in the higher stakes Vancouver scene, playing up to $10/20 regularly. I got into a big pot early with him where I got a little FPSy but underestimated his willingness to gamble. I didn't know at the time the hand was played that this $1/2 game was well below his normal limits and underestimated his willingness to gamble. My read was that he was a young online reg that is capable of recognizing strong lines and making big folds, and the line still might've worked if he didn't hit a turn card that improved his hand significantly but seemed fairly harmless on the surface. The other interesting guy in the game was a nitty player who apparently used to run the biggest home game in Vancouver, so I did get to hear some stories traded between the young reg and the nit about the high stakes underground scene in Vancouver. Finished down -271 here before making my way back to the hotel and shutting it down for the night.
Boulevard Casino - Coquitlam, BC, Canada
This was my first stop Saturday afternoon. There was nothing really notable about Boulevard - it's a comfortable room in a good location inside the casino. Was a good game but I got absolutely no good spots and was completely card dead the whole session. Ran a pretty terrible bluff at the end and villain had the nuts. Why do I have to pay for every one of my spew bluffs? 
Lost 600 here.
Cascades Casino - Langley, BC, Canada
This is the casino that's the farthest east, definitely feels the most out of the way compared to the other 6 rooms. I was told it used to be the busiest room in Vancouver, but that's died down significantly. It's a $1/3 game here, and it definitely feels bigger than a $1/2 game. Just like Boulevard though, any moves I made blew up in my face, every time I had a big hand I got snapfolds, and if I didn't get folds I had the 2nd best hand. Just very frustrating overall, but I think I made some mistakes here too. Dropped 564 here when all was said and done, before moving to my last stop of the weekend.
Fraser Downs Racetrack & Casino - Surrey, BC, Canada
Was another $1/3 game here, and fortunately there was about a 30 minute wait for me to get in a game, so I could have a chance to de-tilt a bit after my last two sessions. Finally had a bit of a decent run in the game here, picking up AA twice and KK twice, and getting paid off for decent amounts in two of those spots. Hadn't seen those hands once in the 10 hours of play before that, so was nice to see it them and win with them. Eventually worked my way up to about +300 when the people left in the game decided to turn it to a $2/5/10 game, even though everyone was pretty short and I was the biggest stack at about $750. I played a couple orbits, lost a 3 way all-in for $130 effective with 99 vs AQ and 87s preflop, flop came JT9 and I didn't improve. I left after a couple orbits of $2/5/10 with a small profit of $50.
Overall, I finished down -2213 in Vancouver. I feel like at least $1200-1500 of that can be blamed on poor play on my part, and the rest just total runbad. I think I learned a bit of a lesson this weekend - it's far too easy to get complacent in these live cash games because everyone is so terrible, but I need to stay at my A game regardless of the level of the competition in order to maximize my profits. My next trip will be Saskatchewan, which will either happen next weekend or the weekend after.
Run good everyone!
Thursday morning, I rented a car in Calgary (didn't feel like taking my beloved Tempo on a long road trip) and made my way east to check out 5 of the 6 open Saskatchewan poker rooms, as well as Cold Lake, Alberta. Was about a 5 hour drive to the first room in Swift Current.
Living Sky Casino - Swift Current, SK, Canada
Living Sky is located right off the Trans-Canada highway. It's a small Indian casino with one poker table in the center of the room, surrounded by slots and blackjack tables. Surprisingly, the only game that runs is a 2/5 game, odd for a 1 table casino in a small city. The game doesn't play huge though, felt more like just a deep 1/2 game I'd find in Alberta. It seems like the game is more or less the same group of people all the time, as everyone seemed to know each other and were all friendly (not a hint of collusion/softplay though). Noteworthy that the dealer and the players went out of their way to learn my name within the first 10 minutes and use it during the entire session. Stayed an hour an a half here, ran like a Kenyan and got paid off several times. Finished +630 before driving 2 hours to Regina.
Casino Regina - Regina, SK, Canada
Casino Regina is a government owned casino (one of two in the province, Moose Jaw is government owned as well but no longer has a poker room), located in pretty much the center of the city. It was an OK room, dealers seemed competent in my short experience and action was good. Had a seemingly competent player on my direct right that I 3bet light a few times. My one gripe with Casino Regina was the floor - they handled a simple situation poorly IMO. A player was smoking an e-cig, and floor asked him to stop as smoking isn't allowed in the poker room, and they said that e-cigs wouldn't be allowed either. The player argued (not in an abusive tone by any means) and eventually complied. About 10 minutes later, floor out of nowhere comes back and tells the player to rack up his chips and leave the room. Naturally player creates a bit of a scene, explaining that he complied with floor's requests and didn't understand why he was being kicked out. Floor refused to explain their position and several players came to the defense of the player, arguing with the floor. Floor took a defensive and condescending tone towards the players supporting the gentleman who was kicked out, and slowed the game down considerably. Just an all around poorly handled situation. Finished 113 to the good in another hour and a half session before finding a hotel and packing it in for the night.
Dakota Dunes Casino - Whitecap, SK, Canada
Left Regina in the early afternoon to drive north to Dakota Dunes. It's located on a native reserve just south of Saskatoon, so a lot of its traffic comes from there. I met 2p2er prairiebreeze here as he showed up to grind a little 1/2 with me. He seemed like a solid dude and made for good conversation during the game. We got into an interesting hand early on where I paid him off on the river in a spot where I should be folding 100% of the time but I'm not used to folding trip aces with a good kicker on a dry board very often :(. We both finished small winners in the game after a session that lasted a little over 2 hours.
Northern Lights Casino - Prince Albert, SK, Canada
I drove about an hour and 45 minutes north to the small city of Prince Albert, to yet another Indian casino. This one felt more like an Indian casino than anywhere else I've been too, as I was the whitest guy in the building. Seriously, I was one of maybe 5 white people at most in the packed casino Friday evening and everyone else was Aboriginal. The game was amazing though, and it's a true testament that I manage to lose 6/6 all-ins during a nearly 4 hour session (4/6 monstrously ahead, other two pretty std coolers) and still somehow finish up 100 just getting thin value in spots vs people who suck at folding.
Gold Eagle Casino - North Battleford, SK, Canada
Got out of Prince Albert at about 1pm on Saturday, and after a bite to eat I made my way to the Battlefords for my last Saskatchewan stop. The Gold Eagle is located right on Hwy 16, the highway that connects Saskatoon and Edmonton. It's a small casino, similar to Living Sky and Northern Lights in that the poker tables are located in the middle of the casino floor alongside the other table games. I showed up at 4pm, and got my name on the list, where I was told I was 4th on the list, and the game was to start at 5pm. So I hung around the casino until the game got started, where I was then told I was 4th on the waiting list once the game actually started. I then proceeded to wait and watch the game while no one left for 3 hours. They finally opened up a shorthanded second table at 8pm. So I waited 4 hours to finally get into a game. We played 3 handed for quite some time, with me and two other young guys who weren't very good at adjusting to aggression. I think I opened close to 75% and barreled relentlessly in good spots. Even though its not as profitable as a super loose game and getting paid off with your monsters, this is the kind of situation that I love the most in a live game. It's where my heads-up/shorthanded experience really pays off and is way more fun than folding for hours. The young guys were good sports about it though and seemed like nice guys. Finished 290 to the good after an hour and a half.
I left North Battleford hoping the roads were going to be good through to Cold Lake, about 3-3.5 hours away. In hindsight, I really, really wish I had stayed in the Battlefords and just played at Gold Eagle all night. Drove for about an hour and a half before making it to Lloydminster, and a good chunk of that drive was legitimately terrifying. The driving conditions a few weeks ago in the Camrose trip were the worst conditions I had driven in before this. There were points on this highway drive where my car started swerving hard and I couldnt go more than 50kmph on a 110 speed limit. Pure whiteout, icy, snotty horrible conditions. Pretty relieved I managed to make it to Lloydminster in one piece and grab a hotel. Writing this report from my hotel room actually. Unfortunately it meant no Cold Lake this weekend like I hoped, and they only run games on Thurs, Fri, and Sat. I guess I'll have to make a separate trip for that one in the summer. Just sucks that I tried so hard to plan this trip to avoid the bad weather for months, and I still managed to run into horrible driving conditions. Mother Nature hates me. Other than the end of the trip, this really was a solid poker road trip though. Profited in every casino I played in, met some great people and covered my expenses. Next casino will likely be McPhillips in Winnipeg when I go back home at the end of April.