This is my 10th trip to Vegas since 2018, and first since this trip earlier this year. This will be back to more typical after the birthday/anniversary vacation with my other half in February.

quick poker history: played live poker in Vegas for the first time May 2018 and got hooked. went back in July and my notes say I finished -$250 which was financially catastrophic. binked a small tourney at Binions in 2019, and chopped a tourney at GVR in 2020 pre-Covid. returned Jan 2022, hitting Venetian high hand and taking $1000+ and chopping a tourney at South Point. won Covid in Vegas in July. a couple comped Red Rock stays in 2023 with no good poker moments. spent a full week Feb 2024 and chopped a Wynn tourney for close to $7000.

quick personal history: 40M, been in North Dakota for over 11 years. don't like it, but comfortable. third year in operations for a trucking company, I am very good at what I do but a bit stuck and underpaid. several jobs or opportunities in the company or outside that I felt I deserved but did not get. however, my 9-to-5 allows me to do a lot of things I want to do like perform in the symphony, sing in a men's chorus, serve in my church, be a dad, and work as a poker dealer for the local tournament circuit. would like to move but with the housing market and with high interest rates, better options have not been identified and I can honestly say I am at the happiest point in my life regardless.

we have poker, blackjack and quite a bit of gambling opportunities up here but I don't do much of that anymore and save it for Vegas. local results have been bad and obviously my limited Vegas experience looks better. I work as a poker dealer 1-2 weekends a month and play 2-3 tournaments a year to scratch the itch. limiting to that keeps the wife happy and she tolerates my getaways to the desert. I've encouraged her to take some trips of her own and she discovered how fun that can be last year. our relationship has never been better.

I realized that by now I've pretty much done or tried everything I want to do in Vegas. I've seen a bunch of shows, attended live sporting events, stayed at a lot of different hotels, been to Hoover Dam and Red Rock, won about $7K in a tourney, took first in a smaller tourney, seen the WSOP. done the Fremont Street thing, gone with the wife, lounged in a cabana, seen the flamingos and shark reef, etc. I know what I like and what there is to do. started collecting chips from each casino but kinda gave that up as it's not worth the time. and while I still keep a tight budget and plan meticulously, I am happily no longer pinching pennies.

the excuse for this trip is that as an occasional host for bar league poker league I was told I get a free trip for the national tournament at the Golden Nugget. I originally booked for Sun-Thur. later, I learned that the event goes Tues-Fri. additionally, the family is coming back in July, and the wife said "don't plan on gambling, that's family time." so I said f it, I'll extend my May trip and rebooked through Saturday. so this Sun-Sat is my longest solo trip to date. my "refund" was an Allegiant voucher with an exp date which means I have another excuse to come back.

very few set plans. a little bit of bouncing between hotels because I am still too cheap to stay put. I am ready to play the Wynn Summer Series $600 tourney on Memorial Day, which will be my biggest ever buy-in. will do the obligatory Golden Nugget hyper turbo qualifier on Tuesday. will be Downtown for more than a few hours for the first time in about five years. also returning to Aria for the first time in a while to give that another chance after negative experiences previously. other than that, play some cash. may go hiking at Red Rock. may catch Ka or O. if I suck or go broke, I am bringing my computer and can work remotely and save some PTO. additionally, will try chasing some tier matching and see if I can get my MGM Pearl to Gold for a few months, and get some dining credit at Fountainbleu where I can eat a $100 meal for the first time (for free, of course. or that's the goal if it works).

in recent years I have a lot of success in winter trips and got crushed during summer trips. I thought I would be sneaky coming in May a little earlier but then I realized the WSOP will start on Tuesday and Memorial Day will be packed everywhere anyway so I'm not avoiding any of that. was originally planning on spending Monday at the lazy river at MGM Grand, but if I can spend most of the afternoon at Wynn I won't have time or a need to fight the holiday crowds at the pool so I switched to the cheaper Luxor instead. I have no interest (and no budget) to play in the WSOP; don't like Caesars and don't care much for multi-day events when on a limited schedule.

Staying at:
- Sun Aria
- Mon Luxor
- Tue Wed Thu Golden Nugget
- Fri sister's couch

Loose goals/plans:
- Wynn $600 Tournament
- may play another tourney at Golden Nugget or Resorts World
- cash games at Aria, RW, GN and Wynn, maybe MB and/or SP
- Step Into The Ring tourney (FPN) at GN
- may do a little degen play for offers?
- relax at the pool (Aria & GN)
- eat at McMullans or RiRa
- eat Wynn buffet
- get a cronut?

still have a couple weeks before the trip but you folks know how it is. the TR Intro is basically the kickoff for the vacation and I'm excited.

already know it will be too long for the dog but a couple new toys to destroy put a smile on her face

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Looks like a great, fun filled itinerary so far!

Can’t wait!

Looking forward to the read.

GL GL

Decent chance I will be in that same Wynn event!

Sub. Let’s roll baby

Always in for a TR by our friend from the frozen north!

Get it. Good luck from north Iowa.


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I had mentioned earlier that I was going for this poker tourney at Golden Nugget. I just realized that I did not technically qualify and even as a local league host I'm not even invited to play. hmm.
I have 3 nights booked at GN but I don't care for Downtown anyway so with a week to go my lodging plans are now in flux.

I was going to work on the tier matching tour to get my MGM Pearl up to Gold which would waive resort fees. I hope they haven't axed that promo early. so I'll see if I can get some new hotel plans for Tue night to Fri morning.

just a few days before my flight and plans have taken shape.

I skipped any pre-trip poker playing to save my bankroll, but I did work dealing for a couple local tournaments last weekend. I think that perspective has and will help me be more successful as a player.

This is a non-WSOP yet poker-centric trip. I will be embarking in 3 tournaments: the Wynn $600 on Memorial Day (my biggest career buy-in), MGM $400 Two-day on Wednesday (my second biggest career buy-in), sandwiching a Resorts World $200 daily on Tuesday (my favorite room). three tourneys, one bullet each.

I think I've played 19 poker tourneys in Vegas, with nearly half of those in my first couple years when I was a fishy newbie (2018-19). typically they are a cheap way to burn a few hours morning and afternoon. post-covid it's usually been 1-2 per trip.

while counting them up I realized that I have zero min cashes. I got 3rd once, binked one, and chopped three. five deep runs in 19 tries ain't too bad for a rec.

Much of the rest of the week will be spent playing cash: Resorts World, Aria, Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand and maybe Wynn. I plan on one degen games day at TI. when not at the table I will try to not lose money by lounging my fat pale-white self at the Aria pool and the MGM lazy river. I am also bringing my work and will get in a couple PTO-reducing work sessions if I don't go on a heater at the tables. a couple other fun different activities likely include the NYNY Roller Coaster and a couple night shows. I hurt my knee a week ago so a Red Rock hike is out. while I don't like the Strip, I will not be venturing off very much this time other than to eat.

this is a longer trip but I am still left trimming down the itinerary to fit everything in. I love Vegas

Good luck. Can't wait to read about your exploits.

Good luck, looking forward to it!!

RWLV is a great room. They do a nice job on the dailies. Fun to play. Sometimes the turnout is smallish (25-35), but those numbers should tick up in the summer poker season. I hope they keep making efforts to engage with poker despite not always having great traffic. They recently announced that NAPT will be back again later this year, which is good news on that front.

Good luck! I'll be interested to read about your experiences in the $200 daily at RW.

They also host the latest episodes of The Big Game. Or perhaps RW is just a sponsor, I'm not actually sure.

Same. Considered firing one of those during my trip, but never made it out there. Next time!

Last WSOP (for me - 2022?) I played in the RW Daily. I think it was only $160 then. 12:05 pm start.

yes I have posted the Big Game videos to the vlog thread. RW is also home to the Absolute Nuts game. when I played there last year they had a Mariano and Rampage meet up game going.

I played the RW tournament a couple years ago and bubbled; pretty sure I made final table and busted in 9th. hope to do better this time around.

Why TI?

Big Game? The Super Bowl?

TI has reasonable table mins, is across the street from Wynn and other poker spots, and I will get a player card for the first time which should trigger some teaser comp offers.

The Big Game poker game.