I'm coming into Vegas solo for a few days for the first and only time in 2019, and this thread is one of my attempts at accountability.

Last year was my first time playing live poker. I had two trips to LV: beginner luck the first and basically broke even, second was down about $250 which felt like I lost my firstborn son, and my wife doubled down on that. she does not approve or support me playing poker, but I still play when I can. anyway, I didn't really understand why I did so bad last time, I joined a poker league (free) this year, have a lot more live experience, understand my mistakes last time and I'd say I'm an above average player overall.

I'm going to be doing a lot of bouncing around, as I know my budget is limited and I focus on value. I'm staying at Aria (one night free via myvegas), South Point (free night via some contest; stayed here each previous trip and love it), Palace Station (free night via my sister's bf's mother who is a manager there), and Golden Nugget (cheap deal w/ no resort fee). so yeah, four hotels in four nights is undesirable, but pretty inexpensive for nice places.

I usually plan on a show or two but don't plan on it this time, as it's a short trip that I'm focusing on poker and eating.

food plans:
- Thai food
- Aria buffet
- Pizza Rock
- Brazilian (Texas de Brazil or Fogo) if I'm doing well
- Steak n' Shake and/or Mexican
- Donut Bar, hash or biscuits n' gravy

poker plans:
- 1/2-3 NL on the Strip (Aria, Bally's, PH, Flamingo, maybe Bellagio)
- low roller tourney if I bust on Sunday
- tourney Monday morning
- 2/4 LHE at South Point
- tourney at SP Tuesday morning
- bunch of poker at Golden Nugget
- finish > +$100

along with my wife's reluctance, my incompetent supervisor didn't approve my leave request (or deny it either) from work despite me putting in for it in early April, so there's that. hahaha

so here's my first trip report, probably won't be as exciting as DaNit's. I'll post photos if it's worth it.

Good luck and keep us posted

Good luck.

GL op. One time?

one time what?

Basically , with your wife against you making the trip and your boss not approving the time off, you are heading to Las Vegas to hop around hotels, waiting to check in and out every single day, to play some $1-2 in a wide variety of rooms .... because you are "an above average player overall".

Sounds like a really poor combination of a lack of judgement and poor choices, and you haven't even made the trip yet.

4 hotels in 4 days is frankly ridiculous. Forget chasing the "free" nights. Pick one and stay there, instead of checking out/in every day and waiting to do so as well.

Download the Bravo app and get a bus pass as you plan on also hopping from poker venue to poker venue..... or pick a room you like and focus on playing poker instead of checking in/out of hotels and riding the bus to get on another pokerroom waiting list.

Welcome to Las Vegas, this sounds like a degen's dream.

all valid points. I exaggerated the details but the main thing is I need a break from work; this is my first time off since January and Vegas is the cheapest flight from Bismarck. my wife understands but she keeps track of finances and gives me hell if I lose much, so I plan my trips well in advance and try to maximize my value.

Steak and Shake at SP is good, but if you are suffering from a case of Funzalow, you can’t beat the $1.25 tube steak at the SP sports book..

Good luck OP. How do you enjoy living in Bismark? I am always fascinated by cities in less populated states (though I realize Bismark is a growing small city; per Wikipedia lol).

Good luck.

Pics of the rooms would be appreciated too. I always like seeing different rooms. Thanks.

You sound like you have very little experience at poker.
What makes you think you're so much better?

You should try putting money aside to slowly build up a small poker budget.

But, good luck and have fun op.
We all need time off from work!

Bismarck is a friendly, safe place and it's a great place to raise a young family. We are pretty boring people and that suits us. but the weather is awful. and the population is way too politically conservative. and it is far away from everything so it feels like living on an island. I wish I had a way out.
I grew up in Vermont, another low population state. job opportunities are not as good there and it is also cold, but it is a much more fun and interesting place. I miss Lake Champlain

There is always a way out. Well, almost always. I'm 100% sure though in your situation there is a way out. Obviously this isnt a life coaching forum, but if I were you and you truly wanted to make a move, I'd sit down and brainstorm about it with your wife, assuming she is in the same mind frame.

Life is too short to be thinking "what if".

Thanks for the info. Those are two pretty obscure places to live; and I don't mean that in a bad way.

Funny you mention Vermont; I was planning a trip Burlington in early August. I have never been to Vermont. I was also considering Portland, Maine, but I am leaning towards Burlington.

This never occurred to me before, but I think it's a great idea. I mean to see pics of the rooms at each hotel you can always go to the hotel's website, but when actual travelers post them you can be sure you're getting something legitimate, unbiased and not doctored up.

That would go both for hotel rooms and poker rooms.

When I get a chance I'm going to add a couple pics to my Orleans TR.

Thanks.

Planning on Thai food first thing after the airport before getting to Aria. is Lotus the best choice? anybody recommend another not too far out of the way?

Go to Lemongrass in Aria. Its right behind the poker room. If you have comps from the poker room, you can use that towards Lemongrass

Curious to hear more about this. You didn't get the time off approved but you aren't going to work anyway? Did you remind him recently you were waiting on a response to be able to book travel?

GL OP

**** the haters, they do nothing but elevate the growing status you have.

This sounds like hell in life generally. It might be too late to rework things but what I've always much preferred in a shared finances situation is just having the joint account cover all 'living essentials' and you both pay in x%+y%=100% needed and agreed upfront and your spare money each is just yours to do whatever with no judgement.

Failing that, though, a family friend with an extremely controlling wife had a little system where he'd take small amounts of cash out now and then. And pay them into a random account he had that she didn't know about. He used to call it 'paying the man in Turkey' when joking with friends.

Either way reclaim your financial freedom, living life with that pressure isn't a lot of fun - especially if you're gambling. You don't want to go into day two's sessions thinking 'oh god I better not call here in this marginal spot cos I'm already down and she's already gonna be mad...' you wanna be snapping that foo off and shipping stax etc...

This is the compromise I make to go have fun in Vegas. 10 years later we are still going strong

I'm old and clearly hold to an opinion that is no longer relevant, but this isn't how a marriage is designed to work. At least it didn't used to be, this sounds like living expense partners.

<old guy grumbles off and now keeps opinion to himself>

may as well add '...unable to hide gambling losses from wife...'

well, we'll see how it goes!
boarding now