All,

Shares Magazine journalist Geoff Ho is off to the bright lights of Las Vegas next week to chance his arm on the card tables out there.

Geoff is an avid poker player and plays in regular tournaments, and now the action in Vegas is beckoning for him.

MoneyAM Poker Room has sponsored him to see how well he can do, and Geoff will be posting regularly on this thread to keep you all informed of the highs and the lows of Las Vegas life.

Will Geoff make his fortune and be sunning himself in the tropics after his week in the US? Or will he return down at heel?

Will he sink? Or will he swim?

Find out with Geoffs diary on this thread starting next week.

Viva Las Vegas!!

Beer? That ain't beer! ;-))

Yorkshire - a fine place to pass through was always my thinking. ;-)))

If it were the worst beer in England (and its not) it would still be better than that weak Yank crap.

Can I just add JOSEPH HOLTS :-)

ha6 - so true. You can't get a hit from a bucketful over there.

Iain - I guess you can, but I'm unsure why. ;-)))

Hello all

Geoff here. Finally landed in Vegas (Sunday, 26 March 20:32 western time) after an amusing night in LA (I stopped over there first for the day as the flight was about 150 quid cheaper than a direct flight) where many a beer was had and I mugged $120 off a pissed student over a few games of pool. The cocky SOB had the nerve to think that us Brits can't play pool. Well he got a good hiding I tell you.
Also had an interesting night in the Bycycle casino in LA - played a few hands of texas hold'em before I realised than none of the people there knew how to lose with dignity.
While I'm on the subject of dignity, my pet hate at the moment is the US customs and border control service. Its moto includes the words "respect", "courtesy" and "professionalism". My @rse.
Walking through LAX I presented my passport at immigration. I was slightly concerned when the customs agent in front of me looked at my passport sternly and then called his supervisor. The supervisor looked at it before breaking out into giggles. Apparently they found my passport photo funny. If recall correctly, the words were "you look like you just stepped off the boat. pissed." No wonder everybody hates them.
Tomorrow (Tuesday back in dear old Blighty) I'm heading off for a $22 dollar buy in tournament at Stratosphere. For those of you that play poker online but have never really played in a real life competitive tournament before, this is the place to start, rather than going to Bellagio and playing for a minimum of $500. The other thing to note is that Bellagio has a dress code, so those of you planning to go there need to bring smart clothing if you fancy playing there.
The weather out here is great, T-Shirt weather great. As in 68 degrees at a minimum. The only thing I would say is bring a jacket. It was a little nippy when the sun went down. Right, I'm off to a pub called the Rose & Crown. It's a Disney-fied version of an English pub (think JDW but really, really tacky), but it does show the footie so I'm off to watch the tape of Man Utd versus Birmingham. Vaya con dios.
Geoff

Inflict as much pain on the Yanks as possible Geoff.I bleedin Hate them ;-)

Geoff. The Sahara also runs tournaments which I thought were well run. Cost is about $40-$60 dollars from memory - not as much as the Bellagio, anyway. And about 70 entered when I was there. Very enjoyable. The nearby Hilton is OK, but not many enter.

My wife and I had a meal in the Stratosphere - expensive but good and well worth the money for the experience.

Geoff ,go and see some boxing if you get the chance ,you can't beat Vegas for a fight (except the York Hall Bethnal Green) , iv'e seen many there over the years ,but as a young broke man i bought a ticket to Marvin Hagler v Tommy Hearns for the World Middleweight Championship in 1985,,it was my life savings , but probably the best and most exciting night of my life .

The day did not start well. I got back from the Rose & Crown late. 4am late. A very shot nap followed before I started the day's gambling at 9:30. First stop was a local casino (I'm staying with friends who live about 40 mins drive from the strip) called Sunset Station. I thought a nice, $18 tournament playing against just 29 other people would be just the thing to ease me into the day.
I went out within 20 minutes. My problems were three fold: 1) I was still inebriated from the night before, 2) I had no decent cards and 3) when I finally got something resembling a decent hand (ace 10 off suit), my straight by a skinny runt who managed to turn his two pair into a full house thanks to the river.
After that I ventured to the Monte Carlo, with mixed results. On the bright side, I finished third in a $50 dollar no-limit hold'em tournament. On the other hand I got sweet FA for my efforts, while the winner got $400 and the runner up got $70. Drat.
While mulling my options, I decided to have a go at video poker. Mistakenly, I thought having a decent knowledge of odds and being a fair poker player would allow me to make some money from it. Turns out the games are all fixed in favour of the house. I ended up losing something like $80 while my friend Adam, for just $20 ended up winning $200 when he flopped a royal flush.
Still the session ended on a brighter note when I went to the Excalibur. I paid $20 to play limit hold'em and left with $60. By the time I ventured into Excalibur I'd recovered fully from the previous night's excursions. This leaves me confident of being able to produce better results from tommorrow.
That said, tomorrow's gambling efforts will be delayed by Arsenal vs Juventus. The game kicks off here at 10:45, so it'll be late afternoon before I even begin. And to everbody that has left suggestions on this thread, thanks. I'll keep them in mind when I'm out and about.

Do not play poker if a) inebriated, b) tired, c) tired or d) tired. lol.

I'd be interested to know whether you have a basic technique - Very conservative, conservative, aggressive or extremely aggressive... or whether you play mixed as you feel at the time.

Go all that way and play for peanuts man!! What's up with you!! Thought Mike sponsored you to play poker not kids stuf! On that note, and if I were sponsoring you, you'd play poker not watching football or out getting pissed!!!!

Mr Euro: he is on hols!!

Are there still pros out there, working shifts - the one's who sleep through the day so they're fresh to fleece the tourists and the, er, tired and inebriated, at night?

Hmmmmnnn.
The day started on a sour note as Arsenal beat Juventus, much to the delight of the dozen or so Arsenal fans that I was in the Crown & Anchor with. A short cab ride later and I was back in Excalibur playing limit hold'em, which went really well at first.
To answer your question Maggot, I usually play a fairly tight game, which worked very well at Excalibur. I started with $50 and turned it into $400 within about 2 hours simply by playing tight and betting strongly on the button.
You would not believe just how stupid some people are or just how laughably weak their starting hands are. For example, I held pocket jacks and flopped a jack, 8 and a 3. An eight appeared on the turn and my opponent thought he had it in the bag with his two pair, eights and threes, so he bet big. I called. nothing came up on the river so I check raised him. At the end of it he expressed surprise when informed that three of a kind beats two pair.
I should have quit at $400 but greed got the better of me. The pros start coming out to play in the late afternoon and tangling with them was not a good idea as I did lose a couple of hands. The people I played against weren't famous like Doyle Brunson or Phil Hellmuth, but they were effective. I only played a few hands against them and in the end, I consider myself lucky to have walked off with $330.
After my success with the poker I decided to hit the video slot machines. Bad move - I lost $100 using my mate's "fool proof" system. Still, I'm up for the day and off to watch Boston Legal on TV.
Tomorrow's gambling activities will be delayed by a rather more important match than Arsenal's minor tie with Juventus. Watching West Ham get beaten by the one, the only United takes priority over everything, including gambling.

PS: It's raining in Vegas and just turned cold. So much for that sunny holiday thing. Bah.

Geoff. I see now that you are playing cash games as opposed to tourneys. The great advantage with tourneys is that you know your maximum loss before starting, of course, which makes it ideal for non-experts. I had assumed that cash players were very much better than average - obviously not!

Do you play tourneys?

Bullie??

"MoneyAM Poker Room has sponsored him to see how well he can do"

UNITED! UNITED! Watched United's win over West Ham in the pub, which put me in a great mood today. After the game I headed to Luxor, where I came 16th in a $35 a head tournament, just outside of the money. But that did not spoil my mood - United had won afterall.
After that, I went back to Excalibur and the cash games. Despite playing solid poker I was down $80 within an hour thanks to some very, very fortunate river cards for my opponents. That necessitated a change of pace on my part and I started playing super-aggressively. That seemed to do the trick and soon I had recovered my money. Still, I was happy because United won and that's what matters.
Fast forward to after dinner and things turned for the worse. Whoever made invented video poker is on my death list. The guy who invented slots is a new addition to said list. I dropped $200 on the slots. Not good. If I ever see a slot machine again it'll be too soon. Ditto for video poker.
That leaves just poker and I'm determined to recoup the money I lost elsewhere. Somebody is going to be on the receiving end of a beating tomorrow.

Probably you with that attitude ;)

You're a bit slow to learn, Geoff, that slots and video poker require no skill whatever and are weighted in favour of the house. I spent 10 days in Vegas last year and did not go on a single slot! The reason is that I know I am not excessively lucky - and you need to be to win.

Still, as long as United won (I presume you are referring to Manchester United) that's OK. They will be really grateful for your support.

Don't think much to your last remark, though. Being determined to recoup the money places you under unneccessary pressure. All you can do is to play the cards you have the best you can. Whether you win or not on any particular day is in the lap of the Gods.

Lecture over. Have a good day, now! :>)

Yes. As long as United won, then that's OK. Because that's what matters.

Sheeesh............

Respect? Not.

(Either for Geoff Ho and his attitude and skill for playing poker or towards MoneyAM for sponsoring him).

What do others think?