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Winning big in Vegas is not easy - I have yet to win really, really big. But I did have a nice score last week and I promised to tell the whole story behind it so here it is!
I go twice a year and we have a timeshare there - but sometimes I like to spend a few nights on the strip. So I always check my Total Rewards account before I book my room - and this time I had an invitation to a free $150k guaranteed poker tournament.
It meant I would have to stay until Monday the week of Thanksgiving so I almost skipped it - but I thought that is a lot of money and I bet there will be a lot of non-poker players in it who just want the 3 free nights.
I went to register for the tournament at 3pm on Friday and that is when I finally got the details.
The $150k would be paid in slot reels or table gaming vouchers. You could play at 9:30am or 11:30am on Saturday morning. If you got knocked out you could re-buy for $100 into a tournament at 3:30pm.
I opted to play at 9:30 am. We found out it was a bunch of 1 table sng's - we started with 1500 chips and the blind levels went up every 12 minutes. Lots of missing blind levels lol. The top 2 on each table would advance to the final at 9:30am on Sunday morning.
Seth Foster (foxlikeruse - he won the last longer in our 2017 wsop Team Event) was sitting next to me. We were really the only 2 decent poker players on our table but unfortunately he busted.
We got down to 3 players and the short stack went all in and we both called. Then the other player bet the flop - lol. We needed to bust the short stack - not each other - but he didn't know enough about poker to get that. Fortunately he busted the short stack so I made it to day 2.
We had started with almost 1000 players on Saturday and I really don't know how many returned on Sunday - more than I expected! Sunday played like a turbo tournament - we got 5k in chips and had 15 minute levels. The top 100 would be in the money - with 11th-100th getting $500 in slot play or gaming vouchers. You had to make the final table of 10 to get a pay jump!
I barely made it to the top 100 - was very very short at 1 point. But I made it to the $500! I never expected to go much further - my stack was painful most of the time. But I stuck to my strategy of playing tight when I had chips and even shoving with a tight range. You could not play this tournament like any other tournament.
I could not believe it when I made the final table and my pay jump went to $1000. Every spot was a pay jump on the final table. First place paid $40k!
I made it all the way to 4th place and got $10k!! Now I had to decide if I wanted slot reel money or table gaming vouchers. I didn't want to blow $10k on slots so I chose the table gaming vouchers.
Then the shocking truth came out - they expired in 7 days and this was my last night in Vegas! Somehow I had to spend $10k in one night!
I was only slightly relieved when they gave me 20 $500 vouchers - that would be easier to do in 1 night - but meant I would have to play a high stakes game lol.
I was so nervous and had no idea what to play. I spent hours trying to get advice - in CardsChat, in Facebook, texted friends. Everyone was telling me to play different things - but the most suggested option was to find someone to bet opposite me playing baccarat.
I finally met up with Jacki (missjacki here at CC) and we got advice from some of her friends who play a lot of these games. But we were not comfortable betting against each other at baccarat or craps - and I couldn't put half of it on red and half on black in roulette - I had to bet $500 at a time - plus that didn't cover the 0 and 00 anyway.
We ran into Seth and another friend of Jacki's named Matthew. We decided we would all do this together. Our goal was to make sure I got a 50% return - meaning we wanted at least close to $5k in real cash for me.
Seth had re-entered and won a $500 slot reels voucher so we went to use his first on video poker. (I had not even thought of that!) He got $400 back in real cash and I was kicking my ass for not getting slot reel credit.
We had decided I would play blackjack in the high stakes room. Jacki knew how to play pretty good - and I think Matthew is just shy of being a professional so at least I had good support. But we didn't know if they would let them help me or not.
We got our own table and the "pit boss" was very nice. He was excited for me and didn't care if they helped me. Whew!
We started drinking and I started playing!
I lost the first 4 hands - $2000 already gone. My heart sank. Matthew suggested we move to another table so I did. Then I started winning - I won about 7 hands in a row and a couple were double downs. When I was down to 4 $500 vouchers I already had $7500! I only won 1 more hand though.
But I won $8k in chips that I could go the cashier with and get real money! I had tipped the dealer about $100 so that left me $7900. I have never cashed out that much in a casino before!
I gave Jacki, Matthew and Seth $100 each for hanging out with me even though they tried not to take anything.
We hung out and drank more beer for a while - I was smashed when I finally got back to my room lol.
But I had a great night - won $8k, became better friends with Jacki, got to know Seth better and love him - and made a new life long friend with Matthew.
I call that winning big in Vegas!
I go twice a year and we have a timeshare there - but sometimes I like to spend a few nights on the strip. So I always check my Total Rewards account before I book my room - and this time I had an invitation to a free $150k guaranteed poker tournament.
It meant I would have to stay until Monday the week of Thanksgiving so I almost skipped it - but I thought that is a lot of money and I bet there will be a lot of non-poker players in it who just want the 3 free nights.
I went to register for the tournament at 3pm on Friday and that is when I finally got the details.
The $150k would be paid in slot reels or table gaming vouchers. You could play at 9:30am or 11:30am on Saturday morning. If you got knocked out you could re-buy for $100 into a tournament at 3:30pm.
I opted to play at 9:30 am. We found out it was a bunch of 1 table sng's - we started with 1500 chips and the blind levels went up every 12 minutes. Lots of missing blind levels lol. The top 2 on each table would advance to the final at 9:30am on Sunday morning.
Seth Foster (foxlikeruse - he won the last longer in our 2017 wsop Team Event) was sitting next to me. We were really the only 2 decent poker players on our table but unfortunately he busted.
We got down to 3 players and the short stack went all in and we both called. Then the other player bet the flop - lol. We needed to bust the short stack - not each other - but he didn't know enough about poker to get that. Fortunately he busted the short stack so I made it to day 2.
We had started with almost 1000 players on Saturday and I really don't know how many returned on Sunday - more than I expected! Sunday played like a turbo tournament - we got 5k in chips and had 15 minute levels. The top 100 would be in the money - with 11th-100th getting $500 in slot play or gaming vouchers. You had to make the final table of 10 to get a pay jump!
I barely made it to the top 100 - was very very short at 1 point. But I made it to the $500! I never expected to go much further - my stack was painful most of the time. But I stuck to my strategy of playing tight when I had chips and even shoving with a tight range. You could not play this tournament like any other tournament.
I could not believe it when I made the final table and my pay jump went to $1000. Every spot was a pay jump on the final table. First place paid $40k!
I made it all the way to 4th place and got $10k!! Now I had to decide if I wanted slot reel money or table gaming vouchers. I didn't want to blow $10k on slots so I chose the table gaming vouchers.
Then the shocking truth came out - they expired in 7 days and this was my last night in Vegas! Somehow I had to spend $10k in one night!
I was only slightly relieved when they gave me 20 $500 vouchers - that would be easier to do in 1 night - but meant I would have to play a high stakes game lol.
I was so nervous and had no idea what to play. I spent hours trying to get advice - in CardsChat, in Facebook, texted friends. Everyone was telling me to play different things - but the most suggested option was to find someone to bet opposite me playing baccarat.
I finally met up with Jacki (missjacki here at CC) and we got advice from some of her friends who play a lot of these games. But we were not comfortable betting against each other at baccarat or craps - and I couldn't put half of it on red and half on black in roulette - I had to bet $500 at a time - plus that didn't cover the 0 and 00 anyway.
We ran into Seth and another friend of Jacki's named Matthew. We decided we would all do this together. Our goal was to make sure I got a 50% return - meaning we wanted at least close to $5k in real cash for me.
Seth had re-entered and won a $500 slot reels voucher so we went to use his first on video poker. (I had not even thought of that!) He got $400 back in real cash and I was kicking my ass for not getting slot reel credit.
We had decided I would play blackjack in the high stakes room. Jacki knew how to play pretty good - and I think Matthew is just shy of being a professional so at least I had good support. But we didn't know if they would let them help me or not.
We got our own table and the "pit boss" was very nice. He was excited for me and didn't care if they helped me. Whew!
We started drinking and I started playing!
I lost the first 4 hands - $2000 already gone. My heart sank. Matthew suggested we move to another table so I did. Then I started winning - I won about 7 hands in a row and a couple were double downs. When I was down to 4 $500 vouchers I already had $7500! I only won 1 more hand though.
But I won $8k in chips that I could go the cashier with and get real money! I had tipped the dealer about $100 so that left me $7900. I have never cashed out that much in a casino before!
I gave Jacki, Matthew and Seth $100 each for hanging out with me even though they tried not to take anything.
We hung out and drank more beer for a while - I was smashed when I finally got back to my room lol.
But I had a great night - won $8k, became better friends with Jacki, got to know Seth better and love him - and made a new life long friend with Matthew.
I call that winning big in Vegas!
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