I've enjoyed the trip reports in LVL for quite some time. I visit Vegas three times a year, so hopefully this will be my first, and not last trip report.

Background:
I'm a middle-aged Engineer from San Jose, California. I normally play 300 to 500 max at M8trix and Bay 101. Poker is really my only vice in Vegas. Except for the occasional craps game, I don't play pit games. I'm not really into the strippers or ho's: I like my family and hate the idea of alimony and chid support.

Last January I went to Vegas with 2 good friends for my 45th birthday. The plan was to play tons of poker, eat lots of food, and turn 45 in style. Unfortunately, I lost my I.D. at SFO which made checking into the hotel and getting on a flight challenging. To top it off, I was sick as a dog after the first day and didn't enjoy much. This trip, I'm returning with one of my friends from the January trip. I'm aiming to stay healthy and play tons of poker (1/2, but i'll move up to 2/5 if I run good). I'm also going to augment cash games with a bunch of non-poker activities. On Tap:

• The Fremont Street Experience. 1992 was the last time I visited downtown Vegas, I'm sure a lot has changed since I checked into The Fitzgerald (I know it's called The D now). I'll probably pass on poker and focus more on food, drink and low stakes craps.
• Off strip attractions: National Atomic Test Museum, The Neon Museum, and The Mob Museum.
• Good Food. I'd love to try Vic & Anthony's or perhaps Jaleo.
• Drinking. Madrin, Cosmo, Aria ...

Accommodations

I'm a bit of a hotel nit. On the last trip, I stayed a Bally's which was dump. The room was dirty and loud. This trip I got a deal at The Westin. I'm hoping the room will be nicer and it appears to be just off the strip.

Shoe Pic:





Stay tuned ...

Good luck.
Triple check for ID & stay healthy.
Looking forward to updates.


Go sharks!

are those hiking boots??

Walking shoes. How middle aged ...

Updates?

over/under on alive or dead?

i hit jaleo a few weeks ago. it was well worth it. deep fried chorizo wrapped in a thin piece of potato…mmm….

Based on the shoes I'd bet he got lost at red rock canyon...

Hey guys:

Sorry about the delay, I've been having a lot of fun, even though I'm not running well at the poker tables. Jstarda9, red rock isn't on the menu ...


Day 1

I caught a 6:45 am flight out of San Jose, with a stop in LAX. I arrived on time at McCarren at 9:30 am. I went straight to the hotel to check my bags, then headed over to The Flamingo to play 1/2. The game was good, but i went down 200 trying to push 2 different players off hands. I managed to recover about 150 of it before my friend met stop by, and we decided to get lunch. We went to Todds over in City Center Mall. I had the grilled cheese (Brie, bacon, and tomatoes) with a Franziskaner, damn it was good.

After Lunch, my friend and I played the 1 pm $70 tournament at Plannet Hollywood. My friend bust early, but I lasted about an hour and a half. I busted 20 BB deep with KK, vs JJ who coverd vs a super short AA vs a short stacked 55. I would have doubled vs the other two players until the river brought a jack ... standard. After that, we walked back to The Westin to check-in. The Westin isn't as nice as I expected. The rooms have the standard modern stuff, but they could use new paint and a new carpet.

Around 4:30, we decided to go downtown to check out Fremont street and have dinner at Vic & Anthony's. Fremont street is cool. It's certainly nicer than when I lasted visited in 1992 during a college roadtrip. Here's a funny story about the trip. Before I got into gambling, I was touring the Southwest with a good friend. We ended up in Vegas after our camping trip in The Grand Canyon was rained out. Anyways, we drove through North Las Vegas, which was a complete dump at the time. We checked-in to Fitzgeralds, which we thought was on the strip ... LMFAO. We quickly concluded that Vegas was a dump and left early the next morning.


We took in all the standard sights downtown: Binnions, The Golden Gate, played blackjack at The Las Vegas Club (dump), and of course The Golden Nugget. I was surprised at how nice The Nugget is. It's the kind of place I'd take my wife and son. They also had this cool 4 person mini-craps table out by the pool, with one person operating it.

Vic and Anthony's was fantastic! We sat at the bar. I had a Manhatten before dinner, with some steak tartar, which was quite good. I had the 16 oz ribeye for dinner with a baked potatoe and a glass of Malbec. I definately recommend eating here.

After dinner, we hit up The Venetian for cash games. I ran bad, and busted AA vs KT. Got it in on the flop (K 2 3), river a ten. Went back to the Hotel at 2:00 am to get some sleep.

Day 1 damage: -$500


Day 2

Woke up at 10 am and had breakfast over at Bally's. We headed over to the Venetian, my buddy wanted to play the nooner. I played 1/2 (bought in for 300) and started out down 100 when i flopped a set of 3s and lost to a rivered gutshot. I recovered and went up 200, then finished down 100.

Next we headed over to The Wynn to have drinks and watch some games at the sports book for a few hours. We were going to go to Lotus of Siam for dinner, but couldn't reach them to make a reservation. We decided against going there, as we didn't want to show up, and spend an hour waiting in the parking lot. Plan B was Haufbrau House, which turned out to be a complete tourist trap. The food was ok, and the waitress was continually trying to sell us merchandise or a commenorative photo: no thanks. I think this place is a pass in the future.

After dinner, we headed over to the Hard Rock. Not much going on, so we opted to play poker at Bally's. The games were really good, but I continued to run bad and ended up down 400. I called it a night a 2 am.

Day 2 damage: -$400.


Hopefully, I'll have some run good on Saturday.

A humorous story from Day 2. Were playing 1/2 at The Venetian and the floor man at the podium announces "Bob, your wife is looking for you" over the PA. All of the guys in the room start laughing. Bobs wife walks by our table a few minutes later and mutters "why is everyone laughing?". Poor Bob is on a short leash ...

Day 3

At The Venetian, there's a raise and two calls PF. Flop comes QJT 2 clubs, a small field bet and 2 calls. Turn a blank, field bettor continues to bet small, 2 calls. River is a blank, early position now bets, field bettor raises, late position shoves, everyone snap calls, they all turn over AK. I don't think they even covered the drop on the chop ... lol

Sorry about the delays, but I was unable to get my credit card to work on the rental computers at the business center in my hotel, so I couldn't post anything for a few days.

Day 3

Woke up around 10:30, and headed over to Max Brenner's in the Forum Shops for breakfast. I had the skillet breakfast which was quite good. After breakfast, we headed over to the Venetian as my buddy wanted to play in the nooner again. I got into a fairly good 1/2 game and manged to cash out a $150 winner, thank god! I just focused on getting value from my hands and not paying off. No wild bluffs ... ... I lost several hundred on day 1 & 2 trying to bluff in to strength.

At 4 pm, we headed over to the upper Parisol bar at The Wynn for a few drinks. This is one of my favorite spots at the Wynn: you have a view of the fountain and can do some people watching. I had a couple of glasses of Filus Reserve Malbec, which was quite good. For dinner, we headed over to Lotus of Siam, which was excellent. We had yellow curry with Pork, Pad Thai with shrimp, and grilled prawns with side sauces. One interesting note, our cab driver mentioned that Lotus shared the mall with a Korean Church and a Swingers Club ...

After dinner, we headed over to Bally's to play 1/2. I was fortunate to be to the direct right of the table maniac who I took $300 from over several hands. There was this angry guy with a deep stack (approx $900) that moved to our table. He managed to loose all chips to the maniac in the first order in 2 hands. Unfortunately, the maniac hit and run, otherwise i think good things were coming my way ... Not a surprise, but after he left the game went flat. I made an additional 100 and cashed out up $400. One of the other players at the table was also a dealer at The Wynn. We had an interesting conversation about limit poker in California and taking photo's of ones chip stacks at the table. I'm in the camp that you shouldn't feel shameful about taking photos, other seem to disagree.



We took a break at 11 pm to get some drinks at Ceasars and watch the end of Stanford-Oregon State and Fresno State-San Diego State games. Afterwards, my buddy went to play craps and I headed back to Bally's. Unfortunately, the room was busy and the action kind of sucked. However, I did manage to grind out a $329 win, $200 of it when my gutshot with a back door flush draw completed the flush on the river. I ended up leaving the game at 3:45 am to get some sleep.



Day 3 Results: +$879.

Day 4

I woke up at 9:30 am, met my friend at The Venetian Sports Book. We spent a few hours watching football and having drinks. We ended up having lunch at Noodle Asia, which was good. I had the Singapore Mei Fen wok tossed noodles.

Poker followed after lunch. Unfortnately, I managed to give away $150 before i called it a day and headed over to the airport.

Overall, I really enjoyed my time in Vegas this trip. I plan on going back in February and during the WSOP.

C ya

Drip damage: -$171

thanks for the TR, glad to hear you had fun, better luck out there next time!!

Nice TR. Wouldn't book westin again, huh?

Nice TR. I'm planning a boy's trip in December.

How were the tourneys? How many runners?

It was alright. It was probably worth the $93 per night I paid, but it wasn't exceptional. It was definitely nicer than Bally's or The Quad, and cheaper than the later.

I only played the 1 pm at PH. It was only $70 and had 40 or 50 players.

Nice TR.

I've heard the $70 PHo tournaments can be good because there's a guaranteed $1k up top, right? I've never played them, but might give one a whirl this trip.

Westin sounds ok, but you can get really good prices on the strip if you do a little work and are a part of a player's card program. CET in particular gives rooms away for nothing. It's worth noting that I'm not a particularly big pit game player either.

How do you get the better rates? I wasn't getting the best rates on Caesars properties when I booked in August.

PHo dailies blow. Structure is so fast that FT is in less than 3 hours.

Nice trip report but more pics would have been nice for those of us that are reading challenged. LOL

Ya, I took a ton of pix on Femont street, but Imgur somehow failed to upload the pix ...

You need to keep an eye on and play around with the Total Rewards website. That's what I've booked through.






Yeah, they seem quick. Didn't play one yet and probably won't.