Things are good again here at the Bellagio $2/$5. Flopped the nut flush and felted the table rock.

Last meal before leaving. Singapore noodles FTW!

I should, but the good lady wife may have mixed feelings about that.

The final chipstack from the trip.

Safe travels buddy, cya next year

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Thanks mate. Only 350 days to go!

Safe travels. I am happy to have met you, sad to see you leave, and happy you had a good time I assume. So net happy!

Thank you for that - very much appreciated and reciprocated. I hope that next time we both make the trip, our schedules overlap.

Whilst I sit in McCarron airport, I figured it was as good a time as any to bring this trip report to a close. As always, it has been thoroughly enjoyable, enlightening and memorable, but here is what has stood out for me.....

1) I make the trip alone each year, but the number one thing I’m gonna remember from this trip will be people. Spending some days with my brother at the beginning of the trip was fantastic and sharing poker, dice, pai gow and Craftsteak in the second week with Watbri was as great as always. I expected that to be the case but what was unexpected was the additional people interaction; Gary, a $2/$5 reg and much more was wonderfully hospitable (and took me to a great Korean BBQ spot), Piers at the Golden Nugget was super friendly and insisted on shouting dinner, P566 was engaging and supportive and I hope to become friends with him on future trips, cwsports was very friendly and generous, and it was hugely motivating to see Oscar take second in my favourite WSOP event. Thank you to all those guys and everyone else I have met over the last couple of weeks.

2) I can’t gloss over how great it was to spend time with my brother. We don’t get to see one another a lot (living on opposite sides of the planet as we do), so the time was very special to me. We had a ****ing good laugh too.

3) Watbri - he is such a good man. He changed his initial schedule to match up with mine, drove all the way down from NorCal, and was great company at dice and pai gow. At the poker table however, I don’t think I won a pot against him. And I’m very happy we kept the Craftsteak tradition alive.

4) Getting off the Strip was a good thing. I don’t do that often at all, but a round of golf at Bali Hai and going to Chinatown for Korean BBQ were absolute highlights.

5) Poker cash games were a mixed bag. I do feel that I ran badly overall this trip although we tend to remember the beats rather than the lucky wins. What is for certain though is that I ground out a $23.05 hourly over the two weeks. Not enough to justify immediately packing up and moving to Vegas, but not bad enough to discourage me from coming back. In the $2/$5 game, I won every session I played. But in the $1/$2 and $1/$3 game, it was a mixture of Ws and Ls. I suspect I play badly often in these games because I think I should be winning, but by playing badly, I ensure that isn’t the case.

6) Poker tournaments - gutted. Gutted to last such little time in the 2-7 TD WSOP event, and disappointed to bust close to the bubble in the Golden Nugget 8 Game and in the Goliath NLHE event I entered. But, happy to get a cash in the Goliath 2-7 event and to maintain the record of adding an American flag to my Hendon Mob page each year.

And three final thoughts for you all...
- stay at the Vdara. Great value for money and location is excellent too
- Wynn poker room is my new favourite. Beautiful room, excellent service, good food and the best poker room massages
- Learn mixed games people. If you want to make money at poker, you have two options; either become brilliant at NLHE in what is an increasingly difficult game to beat, or learn mixed games. The fields are softer, the games are more fun and the speed is faster.

Until next year everyone (unless I can convince the kind, beautiful, generous and accommodating wife (she’ll probably be reading this!) to let me come back for the Main Event.

Me too!

I had the same change this trip. I was a V stan until this trip. But it has become a different place the last few years. Wynn is all V used to be and more. Players happily rebuying, great service, scenery, etc.
What a lucky guy you are to be married to such a wonderful, understanding, and supportive lady. (Did that help?)

Thanks for all you give to this forum, Dunc. As always, this was a great TR. You are easily top 3 in this regard (and top 1 hasn't posted in I-don't-know-how-long), and I'm giving myself some wiggle room.

Thank you ever so much. That is massively appreciated and certainly encourages me to do another TR next time.

Yes! It's working.

Loved following this! Still hope to one day make the trip over from down under to do the same, but until then I’ll be keeping an eye on your TR’s and living vicariously. Thanks for taking the time to document your summers in Vegas.


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Enjoyed following (as usual) and featuring (for the first time) big brother.

See you somewhere in the world sometime soon hopefully.

I really enjoyed the trip report and i thank you for taking the time to make it!

Thanks guys - really appreciate the comments and encouragement.

Inspiring as always Dunc. Keen for a (decaf) coffee soon (but not after 6pm, gotta keep my OMC schedule)

Ugggh i have Vegas withdrawals

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Give it a couple weeks and ...

Who am I kidding? It will still suck. I miss it so much!

The Vegas Jonesing kicked in for me about 2 hours after touching down back in Melbourne. Been checking out flights to come back for the Main Event but don’t think that will fly with the Home Minister for Financial Affairs.

In such circumstances, updates on WSOP.com has become my greatest friend but also my biggest enemy - it’s like methadone for a heroine addict!

I am totally stealing this.

The line, or my Home Minister for Financial Affairs? One of those might be met with some resistance (and I’m not saying which one )

Watbri made famous. Jonathan Little agrees with his fold.