Hello fellow LVL people,

Better late than never, but starting this thread to document my upcoming trip to Las Vegas. And when I say upcoming, I mean that I am leaving in less than 12 hours from now!

As the title indicates, I will not be alone in Sin City. My brother will be keeping me company, although we will actually not fly there together. I will go my usual route of Malta-London-Las Vegas, while he will be making his own trek from Norway. But we will - if no delays - arrive in Las Vegas only around 30 minutes apart. I am arriving first, and by the time I have cleared immigration etc., he should have landed as well (his final flight is from from LA to Vegas).

I will be staying at Mandalay Bay for the entire trip, and brother will be staying at Delano for the entire trip. So we will obviously be very close to each other while there. I had some decent offers for MB and brother had great offers for Delano, so the location made sense in that regard. Obviously it's on the south end of The Strip, but looks like weather is going to be really hot and not very walkable anyway. So we will just have to rely on taking Ubers or Taxis etc. to get around.

We will also be attending a concert at House of Blues at MB on the 11th of May, so there will be a break from gambling/poker while in Vegas. We have also considered to check out the Sphere one of the days, although not set in stone yet. And given the warm weather, there will also be plenty of visits to the pool etc.



Shoes and roll are above, which as always gives me a reminder that I should buy some new shoes soon. Thankfully the roll is a bit bigger than what is shown in the picture

I really havent made many plans regarding poker. There might be a bit more tournaments than on previous trips, simply because it's my brother's favorite format & I have had some really good runs in tournaments here in Malta the last year or so. But I will obviously also try to squeeze in as much cash games as possible, and try to be a bit smart with my decisions. Not just in regards to how I approach hands, but also in regards to where I play and what time of the day I am playing. For example, there is probably not much value in joining a cash game at Caesars at 10am in the morning.

Will obviously also play some Video Poker here and there, hopefully running a bit better than what I did in January. But also here the trick is to be smart, both in regards to where I play and what type of game I am playing. VP is actually one of the reasons I chose to stay at Mandalay Bay; as they still (at least from observation in January) have a good selection of machines with not terrible pay tables at my stakes.

Hopefully I can convince my brother to post a bit as well, but regardless I will do my best to update every day with the usual stuff - some pictures, a lot of hand histories etc.

'Only' staying for 9 days, so it's not a super long trip. But will just have to make the most of it. I can't wait

Let’s GOOOOO

Sent from my SM-N970U using Tapatalk

Yep, I'm in.

OK! Safe travels, looking forward to TR.

Who's at HOB?

It's not hot for Vegas. High of 86F today.

I think Wynn has a poker tournament series going, or they did last time I looked a few days ago.

In!

You're not planning on using the Deuce Bus? In any case, don't forget that there's a free tram to Excalibur.

Only one shoe? …Must be an amputee.

NTTAWWT

Good luck and have fun! I’m here for it

Good luck. Looking forward to reading along. Run well, write well.

Hehe, don't worry. I have stayed in that area before and taken the tram a couple of times. Now, if they could only bring back the poker room at Excalibur...

(wishful thinking)

I didn't play there a lot but I saw some wild hands. Like at 1/2, 3 guys all-in with 2k stacks. 6000+ in the pot.

Chilling at Heathrow now, less than an hour until boarding for the flight to Las Vegas. Have been up since 4:25am this morning, and there is still at least 12 hours before I can lie down in a bed again. But with such a destination in mind, it is worth it.

Trip will however be a bit different than first anticipated. My brother started feeling ill yesterday evening, and did not improve overnight. Long story short, he saw no other option but to cancel the trip (he actually had full refundable tickets), instead of travelling sick for 24 hours + could easily have taken 4-5 days to recover once there.

Disappointing news obviously, although I can certainly understand his decision. But cancelling was not an option for me; I was already in London when I knew he wasn't going + my tickets are not refundable. I will just make it an amazing solo trip instead!

I will update more when I (hopefully) have made it safe & sound to Vegas tonight, and have checked in at Mandalay Bay etc.

Sorry to hear about your brother. Safe travels.

Yeah, hope WhaleBro gets to feeling better soon.

I approve of this destination.

All the best to WhaleBro.

The show must go on!!

+1

Yeah, most people that arrive in Vegas well, are sick with the Vegas Virus by the time they leave. It could be horrible if you arrive sick.

Picture of BigWhale shortly before take-off:

I like MB. long walk from the parking garage to the rooms but other than that it's a nice hotel and casino

Lol, good one.

Parking garage won't be an issue, unless I win enough money to buy a car 😀

good luck!

We are in Las Vegas, and wow - what a feeling. It truly never gets old. Got pretty tired towards the end of the flight, but as soon as you land everything is forgotten, and it feels like I have a ton of energy!

I am now checked in at Mandalay Bay, and I think I will enjoy staying here a lot. Pretty sure I booked a King room, but instead got a Two Queen one. But that's no big deal, and the room in general looks pristine at first glance.

These mediocre pictures will have to do for tonight:





I briefly surveyed the gaming floor and saw that they (obviously) had removed a lot of the Video Poker machines that I liked to play here. Thankfully not all though, so I might sneak in a quick VP session before going to bed. But that will be the extent of the gambling for tonight, as the bed(s) look mighthy inviting as well.

It's too bad that my brother felt too sick to travel, as it's always much more fun to have someone to share the excitement with. But such is life. I will regardless try to have a lot of fun the coming days!