Flynn has been getting swamped with requests for his poker stories and LV wrap-up, so he should probably relay the juicy details of his Vegas Poker Adventures before moving on to his Travel Adventures. So, here goes it, mid-November ’22 and onward.
First here is a hot tip: Poker-playing frequent fliers in LV, check with the Bellagio &/or Aria about upgrading your MGMReward status. It is a well-kept secret that you can get Pearl with 75 hours of play, and Gold with 150 hours of play in those two poker rooms – combined. This is the deal of the century, as the official word from MGMReward is that they do not offer any tier credits for playing poker. Full disclosure, the editor does not know if this is a ‘you have to ask for it’ kind of thing, or if it is done automatically. The Very Kind Poker Managers at Bellagio assure Flynn that they have the power to make the upgrade as they see fit. They can also cross check your hours on their system at both Aria and Bellagio properties, so if you play at both, you don’t have to keep track. As a comparison, Caesar’s Rewards Diamond status (equivalent to Gold of MGM?) requires 15,000 tier credits (official word), which is an astounding +/- 450 hours at the Caesar’s poker room (34/hr = double tier credits), or twice that (17/hr tier credits) at other CET poker properties. Both rewards programs offer tier status match so, well, you figure that no-brainer out on your own depending on where you play.
Okay, that’s out of the way (if anyone has corrections to what I just posted, please let the editors here at the Chronicle know). Trust but verify, folks!
On to poker: Flynn found he needed close to 60 hours of Bellagio or Aria time to hit his Gold mark (he is always Pearl), so he focused on hitting the Bellagio for numerous long days to knock ‘em out. Why Bellagio instead of Aria, you ask? Well, the $300 max buy at the 1/3 game and the less ‘competitive’ players at Bellagio seems a better choice to grind a lot of hours. Aria tends to be a tougher crowd. There were one or two shorter sessions at Aria, but the bulk of the time was spent at the BellBagio (if you know this reference, you are a part of the in-crowd).
When one spends two weeks straight in a poker chair at the same place, playing the same game it changes one’s perspective. Flynn got to know the staff by name. He knew which dealers were excellent, not so excellent, the more comfortable table locations, the strategy for handling long lines at the cage, and other such ‘professional’ moves. Meals were all comped: the food at Noodles is not really that great, but the turkey club at Snax is good and the best bang for your buck. What he didn’t get was a profit, which was a frustrating disappointment. Most of the sessions were ‘great hands, second best’ nature, where once tagged with the table image, resulted in losses. (It WAS 1/3, so no one folds if they know you can never win – there is always one of those at the table and you just hope it is not you).
Not every session at the B (or Aria) was a loss. Neither were those the only poker rooms Flynn played. The Encore, Resorts World, Bally’s (aka, Horseshoe), the Venetian (say what?), and the South Point were brief stops during the month Flynn was in town. After all, it doesn’t take THAT many days to hit 60 hours. He had some decent wins mixed with the losses.
Three times while playing, Flynn was compelled to call-out tablemates for bad behavior. Flynn’s new motto: stand up for what is right. Twice it was a player being rude to another player, once it was a dealer being mean to a player. Why is it so hard for bystanders to speak up? Why sit there in silence when someone is being a jackass to someone else? This does not mean that Flynn will argue or debate with a jerk, it just means that he will bring it to the offender’s attention (and of course all others at the table because they are within earshot) that their bad behavior was noted and not appreciated. The detriment benefit of this is that the jerk who was out of line often makes Flynn his target of his jerkness and tries to defend/debate his or her behavior, thereby taking the aim off the victim. Flynn can handle it, with grace “That Look” & non-engagement. He does not argue with those with clouded brains. Did we mention the guy with his pants unbuttoned and unzipped? Yeah, he was one of them.
On the bright side, the WPT big event was happening at the Encore while F&O were in town. No way was Flynn going to miss out on checking out the action when the opportunity arose, so he hit the poker room to see who was about and to get some table-time in the 1/3 game. Both days he had to call-in and wait a bit on arrival, he ended in the $ black both days, and celebrity sightings were plentiful. The fun score was a Patrik Antonius pix, which Flynn got after literally nearly running smack into him. The better encounter was finally laying eyes on BJ in person again, as F & O have been ships in the night with Brisco’s dad for the past few years. Sorry about Pop’s, BJ, we will try again next time.
The Venetian poker room was visited once for a short stint as it called Flynn’s name while walking by, but as most faithful readers know, Flynn does not care for rooms that have jackpots, bad beats, promos and other such malarky. It was uneventful, and probably a loss was incurred. The Bally’s-Horseshoe-Legends Poker room was given a whirl about 3 days after its grand re-opening. The room was still rough around the edges, and again malarky afoot (promo-city). Flynn bumped into Lightning36 there, but he was put at another table so there was no chance to catch up. If Flynn remembers correctly, he took a loss, and he is unlikely to return unless just goofing around. (Did like the 2/3 game though and wishes RW had it.) Flynn played once at Resorts World, which is a very nice poker room. Flynn may have taken a profit there, but again does not really remember the details.
The South Point poker room was a different story altogether, as Flynn went with Ollie to specifically play 4/8 O8. Flynn wanted a break/diversion from grinding NLHE. He did this twice. Twice he lost. Now, Flynn is no stranger to O8, not in the least, so it was not ignorance of the game. As with most poker players, Flynn will chalk it up to sucky variance and not poor play. After all, how does one actually ‘lose’ at a low-limit high-low split-pot game? It’s just like Pai Gow, right ?
Frankly, the poker was a blur in November/early December. There was a lot of it. Is there such a thing as too much poker? Nah…. Well… not this time, but Flynn is looking forward to getting out of town and hanging about in nature for a while. Maybe not nature (spiders & snakes, anyone?), but for certain not a poker room.
Will be back to the tables, guaranteed. Unless F&O get eaten by a bear. And of course there will be op-ed by Flynn about all things poker in the interim. J-4 off anyone?
PS. Just prior to publishing, the Chronicle has discovered that Allen Kessler won the 1100 O8 WPT tournament. We couldn’t be happier for him, he has earned the bragging rights. Insider info: When Flynn’s handler is asked her name at a poker table, she replies “Mrs Chainsaw” <- not because of any weird obsession, but because we like to see the reactions of players who know him and his reputation for being a nit tight player. Information is power.
Fin
Flynn
Well, at least we got to say hi to each other. I finally got my head out of my … cards … later, but you were already gone.
I like the new Horseshoe room. As opposed to the pink one, I love promos. 😄