\jeff{krimmel}

Quick Jaunt To Vegas

Ariele and I made a very short trip to Vegas to meet some friends this weekend. After some minor car issues, we left Pasadena around 12:00noon on Sunday and made it back around 8:30pm last night. We spent a grand total of almost exactly 24 hours in Vegas.

We went to see a (non-nude) showgirls show called “X” at the V Theater in the Desert Passage at Aladdin. Now that was a cool show. They have nine girls who basically dance various routines to club/electronica/pop music with a comedian who “hosts” the show. The comedian shows up twice in the one hour show. His main appearance is for ten to fifteen minutes as an intermission of sorts. It was a good show, something cool to have done once. Next time I would almost certainly check something out having already seen a showgirls-type show.

Then came the gambling. I played low limit Hold ‘Em at Excalibur for a couple of hours late on Sunday night after the X show. I lost $40 quickly. Too quickly. I had two decent hands those two hours, and they were each two pair. Once I got beaten by trips. The other time I got beaten by a straight. And both of those hands were held by an old lady. Yup, an old lady worked me like a punching bag, and I must say I learned a lesson or two that night.

After lunch at a Chinese restaurant in the MGM Grand on Monday, Ger and I went back to the Excalibur for a second shot at low limit Hold ‘Em. This time I managed to only lose $14 over two hours. I think I’m slowly starting to pick up what I should and shouldn’t be doing at this game. Ger described it best when he called it “a chaser’s game”. We were playing $1-$3, which means there is a single $1 blind and bets can be anywhere between $1-$3, and raises have to be at least twice the original bet. The betting is capped at $12 each round (I believe).

I still have some practicing to do, but I think I’m getting the hang of low limit poker. People play absolute garbage cards and win. It’s a very loose game, which makes playing profitably a little tough. No poker game is easy, though. Based on what I learned this trip, though, I might even manage to stay in the black the next time I go.