Tipsy T and Killa Kev: The Vegas Trip Report.

“Tipsy T and Killa Kev, Tipsy T and Killa Kev, Tipsy T and Killa Kev…” Faded T never stopped singing that on our way from the Venetian to the night club Pure at Caesar’s. It was 9 p.m. on Saturday night and he was drunk. We were running late and decided to try and cut through the Caesar’s Forum Shops to get to Pure without walking through the heat. Bad move. This was actually Faded T's idiotic idea. We ended up getting lost in the three floor maze of shops but made it to Pure in time to get in without a hassle. That’s pretty much how the whole weekend went. A lot of surprises that ended up working out for the better.

On our way:


T picked me up at 6 a.m. on Friday morning and obviously I wasn’t ready. I'm pretty sure the odds were 100-1 that I'd be ready by 6 a.m. We had to leave early in the morning so that I could make it to the $540 Deep Stack Tournament at the Venetian by noon. I took a shower and packed and we were on the road by 7 a.m., which is actually an hour late but somehow still early. We didn’t hit traffic and made it to the Venetian by 11 a.m., checked in and headed to the poker room where I received the bad news that I was alternate #70. I was told to return at 12:30 p.m. and that there was a 99.9% chance I’d be playing in the tournament. So we headed to the room and were happy to discover that the room was quite an improvement from King’s Inn in San Diego. To us, our room was incredible. I haven’t stayed in the Venetian in two years and they have definitely made some improvements. The room had an upper room with the two queen sized beds and a lower level room with a couch, additional TV, fax machine, etc. This is the playeriffic lifestyle that we know we are supposed to be living; we’re just a little behind schedule. We brought our bags up and I went back down to get in the tournament (or so I thought).

I have no idea what Faded T is doing:


When I got back to the tournament it was 12:45 and they were only on alternate #50. They got to #60 and then they stopped calling out numbers and were calling names. Apparently, when they called someone’s alternate number, they put them on the name list and they have to keep waiting. It was obvious I wouldn’t be seated for a long time so I dropped the tournament and we headed to Rio to check out the WSOP, which I’ve never been to before. I guess I needed to see where my next wrist wear will be coming from.

Our timing at the WSOP was interesting because we got there at exactly 2:00 P.M., when the players in the $2k no limit event were taking their first break. This meant we were walking against a huge rush of foot traffic that consisted of poker players complaining about bad beats. All I heard was “The guy calls me with king-ten? Can you believe that?” and “So I have ace-queen in the small blind…” it actually got pretty annoying. When we got inside the main room with all the tables, it was pretty empty because everyone was on break but there was a tournament going in the far corner and I saw Phil Hellmuth and Allen Cunningham playing the same table. The rail was too deep and I didn’t feel like watching while sandwiched in between 20 Hellmuth fanboys so I just snapped a flick and left.

Hellmuth in the middle:


We left the Rio after about 25 minutes. I wanted to play a satellite but the satellites weren’t starting for an hour and the list for the cash games was gi-normous. I told T that I was gonna have to get in on some cash game action immediately and he agreed. We went back to Venetian and I got on the list for the $2/5 no limit game that was going to start at 4 p.m. I deliberately wore my Famous Stars and Straps shirt that says “Get Money” on it just to announce to the players that I was a young tourist. I think it may have worked.

Me playing at the Venetian:


In Vegas it’s much easier for me to determine which players at the table are professional players. In L.A., I know who the regulars are but I have trouble recognizing if some of them are regular winners or regular losers. It’s that bad. My table was actually pretty decent and I ended up winning $1005 in about five hours before I met up with T for dinner. I wish I could remember some hands from the session but it was such a blur that I really can’t (probably due to lack of sleep over the weekend). Basically I just kept folks guessing and took down the mid-money pots. I love poker. Corner Sleeper also arrived by this time and was playing the $1/2 No Limit game at Venetian.

T was on his way to getting faded and we decided to go to Tao. Our planning was terrible and obviously we had no chance to get into the club. I tried to give at least five bouncers/door guys a c-note but they rejected me like I had SARS. I was halfway pissed, halfway embarrassed but kept reminding myself not to get in a bad mood.



At this point I hit my boy up that I play with at HP. We’ll call him Fresh. Fresh has been in Vegas since the WSOP started. About a month ago I noticed that I hadn’t seen him at Hollywood Park and text messaged him to see if he was okay. He said he was good, just in Vegas playing cash games and staying with his boy for a while.

So I hit Fresh up to see if he had any connections to get in any clubs. He said he did through his boy but that his boy was busy at the moment. He’d get back to me. At this point I kind of figured Fresh wasn’t going to be able to help us out on Friday so I told him I’d hit him up on Saturday.

Faded T and I went over to Treasure Island where we knew we’d be a lock to get into “Tangerine” and we did. Tangerine was actually better than I thought it would be with a good mix of ugly and good looking chicks. I can’t complain. We met a big group of girls from Miami and hung out with them for the night. I didn’t get to sleep until 5 a.m. and was looking forward to sleeping in the next day.



Nope, surprise! Venetian was doing construction on the room above us and at 9 a.m. I woke up to non-stop hammering and nailing on our ceiling. I tend to sleep hard and I could not fall back asleep. I called the front desk and they said they would change our suite later in the day. I still couldn’t fall asleep so I decided to get dressed and go check out the poker room and Deep Stack Tournament.



Again I got to the Deep Stack tournament too late and I was alternate #40. No thanks. I tried to get in the cash games at Venetian but they were closing at 11:30 a.m. and I was wait-listed so I just headed to Bellagio. I walked over there in my USC jacket and was hot as hell. But it paid off when I got inside the air-conditioned Bellagio poker room. I was seated immediately at a $2/5 No Limit game and went on to win $982 in five hours. I had great position on the table because on my immediate left was a Bellagio dealer and on his immediate left was the table captain, a young British kid who was playing every hand extremely aggressively and his cards were running hot as well.

I hit Fresh up to let him know I was at Bellagio and he said he was going to head over with his boy a little later. I ended up leaving Bellagio at about 4 p.m. or so because T and I had to move our stuff to the other suite at Venetian and we wanted to check out the pool. When we moved our stuff we were pleasantly surprised to find out that our new suite was even better with two big flat screens in the suite and an additional flat screen in the bathroom, remote control blinds, DVD player, bigger couch, nicer furniture, and three strippers. At this point I decided that I will be staying in the Venetian every time I go to Vegas. Kiss my ass goodbye, Imperial Palace.

Me, Faded T and Corner Sleeper:


In the process of getting ready for Pure and moving our stuff, I received a call from Fresh but I didn’t answer it because I was pretty busy. He sent me a text letting me know he was at Bellagio and asking if I was still there. I told him we were going to Pure, I’ll hit him up later.

We went to Pure and got in right away when they opened the doors. It filled up pretty quickly…actually too quickly. That place got so packed that it was just an elbow-throwing contest getting to the bar and the rest room. It was “Rob and Big”s birthday from MTV so I guess everyone wanted to see them and went wild when they got there. I left at about 1 a.m. because it was overcrowded. I have to admit, Faded T was getting it quite crackin’ inside Pure.



When we’re walking back to the Venetian, I decided to give Fresh a call and see if he’s still at Bellagio. This is our conversation:

Me: “Wussup Fresh, you still the Bellagio? We just left Pure.”
Fresh: “Nah, we just left. Kev, I was trying to get a hold of you. I wanted you to come meet my boy. I think he’s someone you’d want to meet.”
Me: “Really? You're acting like it’s Phil Ivey or something.”
Fresh: “That’s funny you say that, because it is.”
Me: “Are you serious?”
Fresh: “Yeah, that’s who I’ve been staying with while I’ve been in Vegas. I don’t like name dropping so I never said anything but I wanted you to come meet him tonight.”
Me (pissed off at myself): “Damn! Are you guys going back tomorrow?”
Fresh: “Yeah, tomorrow night after the 10k Omaha event at Rio.”
Me: “I’ll meet you up at Rio.”
Fresh: “Cool.”

So we get back to Venetian and I decide I will prowl the casino of Venetian with Faded T, looking for Faded T’s future wife. We didn’t find her but we did get into some other interesting encounters.



At 2:30 a.m. I gave up on the quest and sat down at the $2/5 No Limit game where I went on to win $302 in nine hours. This table was the most fun. As soon as I sat down, some drunk kid almost fell out of his chair, then lost $350 bluffing on his first hand, then passed out on the table. Classic. My table closed and I was moved to another table where I think I was sitting with six pros. One of them, a Brit named Jim, played against me blind and took my KQ down with 9-3 off-suit for two pair in a $600 pot. It was a lot of fun though and we had to close the table when the tournament got started at noon. I also spotted my future wife, who was one of the waitresses there. I won’t name her because I don’t want anyone stealing her from me.



We packed up, ate lunch with Corner Sleeper and headed over to the Rio to meet up with Fresh. We met Fresh in the “Poker Kitchen” and not too long after that he introduced me to Phil Ivey when the players took their first break at 2 p.m. I didn’t talk to Phil Ivey but I gave Fresh the long interrogation about his friendship with Ivey and why the fuck he never told me about it. Although I’d love to talk about all the things I was told, I’m not because I have more respect for both Fresh and Ivey than that. Basically, Ivey takes good care of his friends and is the most successful poker player probably ever.

Corner Sleeper and I at the WSOP entrance:


We hung out at the Rio for about two hours and then headed home. Shout out to Faded T, who drove the whole way home while I slept like a baby.

The trip was great and I’m planning to go back soon during the Main Event. Even though I didn’t play in any tournaments, this trip was a huge success due to winning over $2k, meeting some cool females from Miami, meeting Ivey and more importantly just having a good time with my boys. Although I did lose $240 in black crack.