I will try to post a part of the trip every few days.

Prior to this adventure, I offered to several friends an opportunity to buy into either my cash game or tournament bankroll, which I was keeping 'separately', in a virtual way. I ended up getting more investments on the tournament side, since my live tournament record is brief, but impressive, and the last time I offered this opp, people made some money.

I booked a one-way ticket as I did not want to be tied to a return date that might force me to stay longer than I could deal with, and I was to be having various visitors during the excursion.

i arrived on the morning of June 6th, a Sunday. I had done my homework on this site and others for all my poker (and video poker) playing, and had 41 free hotel nights booked in 13 different hotels.

After we landed and parked at the gate, the flight attendent, in her Southern twang said, "I'm gonna tell ya what my daddy told me when I turned 18.....get your stuff and get out....." I booked a FOX rental car....with taxes and all it was under 21$ a day. When I got there, all they had left was PT Cruisers, and I wanted a car with a trunk; I figured I'd suffer and come back mid-wek if I hated it as much as I thought I would. (I did, and I did)

My first stop was the Mirage poker room to take up Chris on his very generous offer for the use of a security box (THANKS VERY MUCH, Chris) and although he was not there, I was given a box quickly, and visited it often, for both types of transactions.

With the bulk of my bankroll stored, it was off to the Gold Coast for video poker and 5x points, as I had depleted my points/comps from my BCOnnected account and needed to build up some comps, collect some free play, and Eeeeaaaaase into the trip.

By 2PM I had walked over and put my name on the list at the Palms. Played some VP there while waiting, and when 2 hours went by with no seat, I went for Mex food at Garduno's at the Palms....the fire-roasted salsa is pretty good, but the food is bland, and I'm a hot freak....

I also wanted to give the Palms a serious amount of VP play so that I can get some future room offers from them. (and play there I did)

After walking back to the Coast and getting my first ugly VP session of the trip out of the way, I drove down to check in to my room at M resort. I went down to the poker room around 1AM and got a seat at the 1-2 table. The girl running the room (Jeannie? Jenny? ) was doing it all. There was only 1 table playing...5-8 people at various times. She was seating people, playing in the game to keep it alive, dealing when the regular dealer needed relief, cashing people out, and ordering pizza (free pizza for all those playing at 3AM Monday mornings!

There was a giggly Asian guy overbetting flops, a few rocks, and a moronic young guy (MYG) I ordered a couple Frambois (Raspberry Lambics) and was playing tight poker. The game debilitated to a 'jackpot hand' hunt. The MYG had a chance to clean out this woman when he flopped trip 2s, and she had AK on a Kk92 board. istead of trying to get her 190$, which seemed easy, she was focused on his 1-47 chance of rivering quads for the jackpot....hence the "M" in "MYG". After this hand, I left, up about 40 bucks.
In one hand, after I was involved with GA....I had kqo on a flop of qctcx, bet 35, and GA goes all in for 240 on an OESD. I folded.

Day 2 saw me leaving M and heading downtown (DT).

I hit my fave, the Boar's head Bar at Main St Station (BHB at MSS) and check in with my 'bartender friends, Chris, Kelly, Robert, Jose, and Ronny. Ronny is the graveyard guy and is really into tournament poker, so if you find yourself in there at 2AM, tell him you read about him here from Paul in NH.

I wandered down to the Fitz, since one of my goals was to take som eof TBC's soggy bills, and lo and behold there he is in the 8 seat, an internet vision come to life. It was a fun table, with a novice couple in the 3 and 4 seats (the wife was hot-geeky) and a german woman in the 5 seat who kept cold folding her unraised BB despite several attempts by others to tell her not to. TBC played tightly, and in fact I completely missed the hand an hour in when he got all his money in with 1010 and got busted.....see ya....1st poker goal attained..TBC in the flesh.


I couldn't get anything going at this table, and lost 71$, which really deflated my minimal poker ego (losing at the Fitz on a weekday afternoon...yuk) I hightailed it out of there after dropping 2 bills on a DC bet on the craps table, and received a call from my poker-playing nephew (PPN) who was to be arriving the next day. I dejectedly walked back towards MSS, thru the horseshoe (it'll always be the horseshoe to me, although i believe they should change the current slogan from" Where it all began" to "Where it's all over".) It's really too bad. The 'shoe was the best casino in the world 15 years ago....now it is merely an air-conditioned cut-thru from Casino Center to the Cal. (no offense Maui)

I was now down about 1500 from VP and on the way thru the Cal to MSS, whim made me sit down at a 10/7 DB 1$ machine where I had watched a woman sit last summer for 5 minutes and hit a royal...I popped in 100$, and on the second hand saved the kqj of spades....out pop the ATs, and it's instant profitablity and complete attitude adjustment...Royal #1 on day 2!

It's now 5:30 and I check out the MSS buffet, not too bad for downtown , although the fried chix is a bit dry. I tried oxtail stew/soup for the first time, and it was delish.

sitting back down at the bar (BHB) I feed some of my fresh hundreds into a 9/7 DB machine and get nothing.....then I pull quad 9s to get some money back....5 minutes later I am dealt KQJTs....can it be.......? WHAMMO As! Royal #2 for another 4k! NOW I am truly bankrolled for this trip, up almost 6k.

I finally get together with KN, a friend in town for a jewelry show with his wife who is a vendor...he and I fart around, play some BJ and craps, and then I head off for the nugget, with KN tagging along to watch.

The big hand here was flopping a flush with KJs and slowplaying myself into a 4th spade on the river and losing to the Ace....so, the Ace of spades giveth, and taketh away.... Also, this guy who looks like he could be homeless, but appears to be a regular comes to our table. He doesn't look like he has all his marbles....older guy, maybe around 70...dealer calls him by name.....he gets dealt in......about his 3rd hand, he checks his cards, stands up and says....."ummm, I have to go to the bathroom....."

This is a move I need to try.......

I lose 22$ in about 3 hours, and walked over to the brewpub at the QQQQ (4 Queens) to check on the progressive Royals at the bar. The brewpub is up a set of stairs near Magnolias, and was not open....however, the rope across the bottonm of the stairs was not being employed, so I plopped myself down to play some VP...It was wonderful....quiet, relaxing,m a good end to the day.....Then a worker starts vacuuming, and the pitch of the vacuum is just the right frequency to make my head start to hurt. Amazingly, he asks me if he is bothering me, and I tell him the truth. He disappears. Serenity again. Not 5 minutes later, 2 security guys are standing behind me, telling me the brewpub is closed, and I need to leave. I mention there was no rope, so I figured it was ok to be in there. He says there is a rope....YES< THERE IS BUT IT WASN"T EMPLOYED! I leave, peacefullike, and start playing the machines right under Magnolias....It's 4:30 AM. Within half an hour, I connect for my third spade royal in 12 hours.
It was the best revenge I could have gotten.

KN was crashing with me that night, and I got 2 hours sleep before I hear 'When the Sains come marching in" emanating from his cell phone. Apparently the concept of 'time difference doesn't get thru to her, as it is 7Am in Vegas.

KN has errands to run and wants to stop at the Pawn Stars shop, which I roll my eyes at, but whatever.....I am in and out of there in 5 minutes, and KN is done in 15. we pick up some hot sauces at Smart and Final and return a table at Walmart, then head back for beers at MSS. I teach KN to play VP, and he makes 5$ a quarter at a time.

There is no poker on Day 2.


Day 3, PPN finally arrives, and KN, PPN and I rendesvouz at the Rio. I play a 175 stellite. KN has never seen the WSOP and is in awe...PPN is scouting the cash games, which is all he plays (2/5, with a toe in the 5/10 water) During this satellite, I pick up AA, AA and KK on successive hands. I don't slow play, and yet I lose 2 out of the 3. Somehow, I don't go broke. I make it to the final 3. I look down at 66 and complete, because I know the aggressive BB will raise. Sure enough, he does, and I shove. He ponders and folds. He is dying to know my hand. he says he had pocket 4s. I say "Excellent laydown" he says "Why was it an excellent laydown?" and I say "Because I won your chips!"

Soon after that we chopped, and I'm now in the poker plus column, as nobody wanted to be the odd man out.


KN heads to the airport, and PPN and I head to Aria via the tram from....Monte carlo?? the tram
still has that "new Tram smell," but PPN remarks upon Exit that Citycenter "smells like strippers" Probably accurate.

I play a couple hours of 1-3 NL and PPN plays 2/5. i win about 185, nothing remarkable, and then switch over to the mixed game where I lose about 40$ before it breaks up due to the 7PM tournament (or whatever time it was)

I really liked the service Aria's room. The room was very busy, drinks were excellent, and the cocktail waitresses phenomenal. I vowed to make it a regular stop on this odyssey.

What I didn't like was the red felt/red chip combo....not easy on the eyes.

I left PPN there and went to P Ho to check it out..played a few hours, and was up about 300.....ended up losing it and 170 more....the 'room' was loud with music and some bad players.

Some guy that I met in the Sydney tournament in December recognized me and came to say hello.....amazing!

Day 5
PPN and I eat at Hash House a Go Go at IP, where he is camped out (but not playing, no 2-5) and he orders orange juice....He asked our waiter if it was fresh squeezed. "It was just squeezed between the legs of a young virgin"....that made the notebook.

We head back to Aria, and I play like a dope, losing 450$, mostly on one hand with top pair and straight draw to 2 pair. I played awful. PPN wins again...

I also dumped the PT and picked up a yellow AVEO which made me happy.

Dinner was late, in Chinatown on Spring MTN. Food was excellent, and a lot of it at "emperor's something" but the service sucked....no matter. PPN could not finish his, and took a doggie bag. This will come back to haunt us. I crash in his IP room.

Day 6 Friday June 11. As I enter the IP casino after waking up (7AM) I see a screaming guy with a bright red face being "escorted" to his room by 3 security people. Good Morning IP! I wande over to Casino Royale which has the best VP on the strip, and hit some quad Aces playing my favorite Super Aces machine (more on that later) I head to the car, open the trunk, and smell something awful. (The bleeping PPN left his Chinese doggie bag in the car in the 100 degree heat overnight, and the car absolutely REEKS, and does so for the next two weeks. I left the bag for the roaches in the IP parking garage, and boogied out.

I visit my Mirage box and play some 3-6...There is a sit-n-go finishing up, and some yahoo is left 3 handed against 2 foreign guys he has Aq vs KK when the cards get flipped over....."Ace! Ace for America! he yells....this brings some good hearted laughter.

I head back to CRoy for VP and suffer some abuse, but leave there still up for the day over a grand.
PPN and I burn some comps at outback where he has a "nice rack" (of lamb) and I have a yummy ribeye.... we get into a single-malt discussion with our waiter, "red" who looks like a burnt out 70s hippee.

I head to the Flamingo for some 1-2 and make about 175 in 2 1/2 hours, then lose about 80 back at the IP. Then I go on a semi-drunken VP Binge at Casino Royale, a la TBC and lose back the day's profit +1500. I'm now sitting for the trip at about +4500 as the day ends mercifully.

Day 7 finds PPN and I at the Gold Coast Sports Bar watching the World Cup US/England game.

I then head over to the Mirage, to reload, having totally forgotten the AVP meet up. I get there at the end of the first hour, and get sat down and immediately start accumulating chips, as my table is the tight one. I meet Chris and several others, and got into a coin flip with a guy who had 44 and my overcards didn't hit, and soon I was out with 2 tables left.


I head downtown, play some uneventful VP, take a beating and sleep.

End of Week 1

Poker---still up about 3 hundred.
VP....now behind.....3 royals gone? WOW!

Next week:
More satellites, more visitors, and the duke