This is Kevin and I am writing the final blog of our Vegas trip as we head to San Diego in my truck (obviously I am not currently driving). Today (7/15) was our checkout date from Vdara and therefore marks our departure from Las Vegas. We all played our last Vegas poker sessions in Aria last night and on a good note, all won during those sessions even if it may have been a small amount for some of us. On the trip, all three of us ended up in the black for our poker playing. Thus we all avoided the miserable situation of leaving Vegas stuck.
But before we wrap up the trip with some final thoughts, there are some recent events worth sharing. First, Matt Boucher took on a prop bet, which involved consuming an 11x11 burger from In-n-Out Burger. For those of you not well versed with In-n-Out lingo, an n x m burger indicates a burger with n beef patties and m slices of cheese. Due to an incident with a fireman, YouTube video, and a 100x100 burger, In-n-Out Burger now only serves burgers up to 4x4. Fortunately, the In-n-Out manager was very accommodating and recommended we construct our own 11x11 burger with a 3x3 burger and 4 Flying Dutchmen. With that Matt Boucher was able to take on a burger with 11 patties and 11 pieces of cheese. He crushed it and consumed the entire burger in less than 20 minutes. Well-done Matt. While he was successful and looked fine at the time, there was a concern about the cross-country flight he was boarding in less than 3 hours. Those poor passengers around him had not been given any advanced warning. We apologize if any of you reading this were caught in the presumed firestorm present on that flight.
In other news, Scott and I had the privilege of playing with NBA superstar Tyrone Lue at the Bellagio. Previously, one of the best poker games of my life involved the Bellagio, Tyrone Lue, and Damon Jones (NBA player as well). To my surprise, Lue played very un-fish like, but fortunately there were plenty of Europeans at the table and one super-fish who had just busted from the WSOP Main Event earlier in the day who was eager to take his revenge on the world by playing every hand he saw (please note this an incredibly ineffective strategy). To put this man in perspective he had the skill level of Bryan Russell trying to take an angle on a running back. I ended up destroying this super-fish.
While were on the topic of poker, our very own Matt Affleck (UW grad 2010), is crushing at the WSOP Main Event. He was been flirting with the chip lead for the past couple of days and is currently in the top ten in chips with only 200 people remaining. Note he was also a chip leader last year around this time and thus this repeat accomplishment is quite significant. We have been told that he was given an ESPN couch interview. We look forward to seeing what is said in that interview and the prospect of visiting him back in Vegas in November during the final table. Get some Matt.
In a real time incident on the highway, we just lost a trash bag full of Scott’s dirty clothes out the back of the truck and Scott is not pleased. By the time we could turn around an approach the bag again a solid 15 minutes have passed and I am expecting to see a disaster seen with Scott’s clothes scattered about the highway (note at this point in the trip we have much more dirty clothes than clean ones so this potentially represents a significant loss). To my surprise, upon arrival to the scene the clothes bag is in one piece conveniently located between two lanes. In a daring effort Wes grabs and the bag and we are quickly on our way and have luckily avoided any cops in the process. I did not see the conversation with the officer where I am explaining that we pulled over on inside part of the highway to pick up a part of our (apparently unsecured) load, ending well. I guess we are running well.
Since it’s the end of the trip all of us are able to calculate our hourly wage for our hard work here in Vegas. It dawned on me that I spent a decent portion of time shuttling people back and forth from the airport to avoid annoying cab expenses (They tilt me, too). If I had been playing poker instead of operating my company, Kevin’s Vegas Airport Shuttle Service, I would have had an expected income of $225. To my dismay, I realize it would have been +EV to literally pay for all of my friends cab rides and instead play poker. Also, since I do not hail from the Foster School of Business, I just am realizing now running a business which does not accept any sort capital is probably a poor business model and will not make me a millionaire. Oh well, I guess I know a better approach for next time.
Two nights ago, after playing some ball at UNLV (for those of you following the summer league, it is currently taking place at UNLV, although we never got a chance to observe for ourselves. After the game, “Suicide Tom”/”The Balla”/”Taro” invited us over to his house for some beers and a BBQ. We were very excited to visit the house of 9 presumed millionaires (They kill online poker). The house that they have rented for the month, which would be more appropriate to label as a mansion, did not fail to disappoint. Backyard amenities included a basketball court, pool with hot tub and a putting green. The inside of the house was even more impressive. It included a master bedroom like I had never seen before. A general theme in the house was Giant televisions surrounded by smaller (50 inch) LCD televisions. If things go well, maybe next year we upgrade to something like that, although Vdara treated us very well.
That should get everyone up to speed and it’s time to start wrapping up this final blog post. For those of you interested our travel plans, they involve swinging through California before heading back up to Seattle. We will be avoiding the 20-hour drive and breaking it up a bit for the way back. I don’t think any of us have any interest in a 20-hour drive in my truck ever again. We plan to stay in San Diego Thursday night and Friday night then head up to LA Saturday morning. Scott is planning on showing me around LA and selling the prospect of living here. He says it’s great, but with the current state of California debt and frequent risk of earthquakes (for those of you who saw the movie 2012 you will remember California disappeared into the ocean as a result of earthquakes), Scott has a lot of work to do. We plan on departing from LA on Wednesday morning and visiting Sam Wright in Berkeley to continue to break up the trip. After that it’s home free. For those of you eagerly anticipating our arrival, we are planning on arriving sometime late Thursday night (7/22). Then it’s time to look reliving the infamous party bus experience.
And to finally wrap things up, this month in Vegas has flown by extremely quickly. It seems like just the other day that we were arriving here, but the experience has been nothing short of awesome. Vegas is like a fairy-tale land where there are no rules and the ridiculous is encouraged, but as a whole the crew is starting to get worn down and it’s time to return to the real world. We want to thank all the visitors who shared in the experience with us; hopefully you guys had a good time as well. A month of poker next summer is a very real possibility, but for now we say good-bye, Vegas. With our crew it will only be a matter of a couple months before we return.
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