Father's Day
Charlie Palmer's cut of the week last night. Nice vibe, good wine, disappointing NY strip. Waiter took care of us with some extra desserts, so no harm done. Creme Brulee (7/10)



salad. Fresh watermelon and feta (8/10 for watermelon) Long day, long poker lists, so no cards, but played some roulette and craps at MB and Aria to close it the evening. Mostly break even, but my big number never hit (stay tuned on that front. ) .

Breakfast this morning at La Cantina for the Mexico/Germany match. A happy place to be when the final whistle blew. Currently soaking up rays and candy at the pool. Update on morning roulette to come.

Good TR - keep it coming please. And hope variance falls in your favour the rest of the trip.

Monday, bloody Monday
Packing for home. Completely spent. Epic gaming day yesterday into today. I'm gonna wait until I get home so I can finish this up on my computer.
Cheers!

Sunday Night, Monday and trip home
I'm back home, with a decent keyboard and screen. Ready to complete the daily parts of this TR, then fill in some details.

Sunday night. after pool time, freshened up cocktails and headed over to MGM for happy hour snacks at Emeril's. Had a couple of BAM! cocktails, Classic shrimp cocktail, and Junk Chips (I think that's what they were called) All solid. Next post will feature food pics from this time. After eating, some slot and roulette play at MGM without any exceptional results other than a $200 hit on that machine with the gold coins in the bowl. Minus a hundred on roulette, as my numbers just wouldn't hit.

We went over to the M & M store for gifts for home, then back to Aria where roulette caught up with me again. I have been playing 29 consistently, with 10 on the nose, then another ten on the corners around it. When it hits, it's good, and it did during this session. $400 + payout got me into the black for roulette for the trip.

After relaxing in the room for a couple of hours, we headed out "for a bit" that turned into about 8 hours on the strip with many interesting ups and downs.

First, to Holstiens for burgers and shakes. We shared a Gold Standard Burger, Ahi sliders, rings, Fries, and a strawberry shake. Ahi in sliders--9/10. Slider buns--0/10. Burger was solid, and fries and rings were both fine. Strawberry shake was really good--9/10. There may have been a beer or two in there, as well. I was pretty faded at that point, so it's hard to be clear.

From Holstiens, we walked across the bridge to Planet Hollywood, where I played a few slots while waiting for a 1-2 seat. I played the "firecracker string" slot--two machines side by side with firecrackers that were both fully lit. (this part will become important later). Kicked the jackpot bonus on both machines, but only managed mini jackpots for about $11. Doubled my first 40 in, though, so had a bit extra headed to poker table.

And what a table it was. Basically, it turned into a $10/20 no limit game, as three players were taking turns straddling to $20 from any position other than the button, and $10 on those. There was a lot of money moving around this table, and it took me awhile to find a hand that was playable. I called a $10 button straddle with J8 off, just to get into the game, flopped trip Jacks on JJ9, three-bet jammed and called. He rolls J10 and I'm in trouble, but running AK ends up as a chop. Raised AA to 22 on a rare non-straddled pot and everyone folded.

Mostly up and down between $200 and $350 for an hour or two, when I wake up with two black kings in the big blind. $10 button straddle, so I'm second to act. SB raises to 30, I 3-bet to $75, one MP call, then button jams for $225 ish. Small blind tank jams for $185, and I call for my last $160. MP folds, and we all decide to turn up for the run-out. (Never folding kings in this position, no matter what)

Cards face-up and I'm up against 99 and JJ (all but one suit covered) Good times. Flop comes 610Q, turn 3, river A, and I drag one of my best cash pots ever--just under $800. We had a guy at the table who went a little nuts when someone took a pic, so I didn't bother to take one then.

Shortly thereafter, I called $50 pre with tens, smells like AK. Flop comes 6 J 10 off. He bets $75 with another $100 behind. I jam and he calls. 2 turn and I'm looking good, then the dealer peels off the Q on the river and villain drags a nice pot. Things escalated for most of the guys at the table at that point, with continuous blind all-in bets for big stacks and other silliness. Very fun group, and I would have joined in with decent hands, but my cards went completely dead. Cashed out around 1:30 for $600, then headed back toward Aria. MDM says she's going to bed, so I get a seat for 1/3 at Aria.

Totally different table. In for $300. We are outside of the main room in the tourney area, and there are maybe 5 Russians/Czechs/etc at the table. all drunk, but not the good poker kind of drunk. Table was very nitty, grumpy, and yet another guy actually tried to get a player thrown out of the room for taking a pic of his own chips. A couple of the guys at the other end were tanking 2 minutes over $10 bets hand after hand. They were stubborn, too. Very hard to raise them off pots. Mostly just boring. I dragged a nice pot with unimproved Jacks, lost another with turned straight to rivered flush and drank several bourbons. Cashed out at 3:30 for $280. I made about five table change requests, and was promised a move, but nothing materialized.

**Aria poker room management was disappointing to me this trip. I know it's crowded, lots of movement and confusion, but the list manipulation was ridiculous. MDM was right behind me on the list Friday night, and 45 min after I got called, still had not been sat. She watched them move ten people to the top of the list, then was blown off completely by the manager when she asked WTF was going on.

That's it for Sunday. Pics to be posted momentarily. I will finish later with the last day blues and a very nice surprise.

Cheers!

PICS!
BAM! Cocktails

Junk chips:
Shrimp cocktail. There were five of these, I think. Only one left by the time I got my camera out.



Holstein's. Ahi sliders, gold standard burger, fries, rings,. Strawberry shake. Oh, hey. There's a beer in there. Guess we had beer, too.


Aria pool for good measure:

Thanks, DD. Glad to see you're reading along. I have really enjoyed reading your TRs. Most recent was truly inspirational. Glad you had a great time!

good report. 3.5 months until my next pilgrimage. Seems like forever.

Wrapping it all up

First, some last day happenings. Checked out of Aria at 11, after a couple of sweet hours at the pool. Having a rental on the last day of our trip was a great decision. Usually, we take late flights out on the way home, so there's always the question of what to do all day, especially when gambling funds are running low. This trip, not a big deal, as roll was still pretty healthy on day 5.

Over to Ping Pang Pong at Gold Coast for Dim Sum lunch. The carts hit us fast and strong, and we had all we needed on the table about 10 minutes after we sat down Popsicle Shrimp (that's what I'm calling it anyway) was a solid 9/10, shu mai above average. Bao was pretty good, too. Pic of the carnage following this post.

We played around at Gold Coast for a bit after lunch--I hit a slot for +80, then took what I figured was my last $100 to UTH with MDM. Ended up playing about an hour and a half and cashed out up $140 between the two of us.

After Gold Coast, we headed out toward Summerlin to look around and do some shopping at City Center Mall. Of course, that led directly to Red Rock for our final stop of the trip. I had a couple of $20s burning a hole in my pocket, and settled on that firecracker machine again. This one had the bonus lights on max, so I figured I would chase. First $20, nothing, stuck the last one in and lit off the firecracker bonus with about five bucks left. Because I was betting low, I figured on a mini (11.00), maybe a minor ($77.00), cuz that's what happens on those. First three picks are all blue guys, and I pick up a major jackpot win for $1325.
Yes. Game changer.
Called MDM over while it was spinning out 130000 credits. She glances at it and says "Oh, that's nice," and walks away. She thought it was going through the 70.00 mark, not 700. She was pretty happy when I gave her the cashout ticket, though. Sorry, forgot to take a pic of the game or the ticket. We ended up giving a few bucks back at another session of UTH, but overall happy with the whole RR experience.

Stopped at Settebello on Sahara for a pizza on the way to the airport. $5 Margherita Mondays is a very + EV setup.

Airport and flight home were uneventful. 2 hour drive after the flight kinda sucked balls, though.

Trip Recap/Thoughts

First, the important stuff:
Live Poker (1/3 NLH):
15 Hours, +$850, 56.67/hr 18.8 bb/hr. Small sample, but I'll take it for this trip
Poker Tournaments
$550 buy-ins, $0 payout
Ultimate Texas Hold'em: +$150 over 9 sessions (not wholly accurate, as MDM and I share chips when we play). Definitely a small winner, though.
Roulette: -$250.
Slots: +975 I didn't play a lot of slots on this trip, but MDM picked up the slack on coin-in.

Overall, we ate a lot more meals off-strip than usual on this trip, so that ate into our cash somewhat and probably lowered our comp points, but we still did pretty well overall. Came home with almost 2/3 of our gambling bankroll intact, and never felt as though we weren't getting our $ worth in the gaming department (We both like to play a lot of hours).

So, that's about it for my first mostly live trip report. Next time I do it, I'll try to take more pics of food and chips and wins. I realize that this TR lacked the flash value and pure degenerate action of The_Canoe or Donc/Watbri and definitely isn't up there with the drama and vicarious thrills of Leon's additions or those of any number of off-the-chain Euros in Sin City, but it's definitely been a fun thing to do. If I do it again, I'll def. take my laptop to make entries easier to type out, and I'll do my best to up the stakes and the drama. Planning a guys trip in September that could get a little stupid. To those of you who have read and commented, thanks for your positive vibes and encouragement.

Morning at the pool

Dim sum at Ping Pang Pong.

really nice TR, OP

Thanks. I appreciate the input. I had a good time doing it.

Cool trip report hope you ended up!

I enjoyed this. Thanks for taking the time.

Just got caught up on it, thanks for sharing.

Bonus Trip: Return to Vegas
The Wife and I decided to book a quick trip next weekend. We are comped for four nights at Delano starting Friday. We'll be landing in town around 9 Friday night--getting some food and checking in, then off to poker for as long as I can stay awake. Last trip, that first session was super fun and profitable--I'm hoping to find some of that run good again. I'll probably play mostly late night NL sessions after MDM goes to bed this trip.

I'm going to have a car, so I'll be able to do some poker room-hopping. I would expect some Mandalay Bay room play, as well as Aria and PH, but I'll try to hit the V, Flamingo and maybe Orleans. MDM is talking about going out to Red Rock and restaurants out that way, so I may put in some time there, too. I'm also planning to play an Aria or Wynn daily, probably on Monday.

There will probably be some football betting on CFB and NFL--simply high-risk, high-reward parlays and such. I've done a lot of low-risk, low-reward sports betting in the past, and that has gone nowhere, so I thought I might as well try something new this time If you have any great longshot football or golf bets/parlays for next weekend, I'm all ears.

As far as DM/MDM together time, this trip is mostly about epicurism and lust, heavy on the epicurism--pool time, anytime cocktails, anytime sleep and exceptional food. We have plans to return to Lotus, explore the new food court at Cosmo, and at least a sushi excursion or two. We'll probably go to Stripsteak or Mizumi to use up some resort credit, and we're determined to check out Skyfall Lounge at Delano for their guest happy hour thingy. Free drink on top of a tall hotel? Yes, please. Despite all of my poker plans, I don't see this trip being as gambling-centered as most, but who knows. We seem to find a way to get the cash flying no matter what we plan.

Anyway, I'm going to take a shot at doing this trip mostly live, so stay tuned.

Played some of those this week. FWIW, Aria seems to have slightly tougher fields and has much higher rake. It's $110+30 there whereas Wynn is $125+15.

Given a choice between the two, I would much rather play the Wynn 12 pm than the Aria 1 pm. And if you bust that, you can go to Aria and play the 7 pm. Wynn doesn't run a nightly tournament that I'm aware of.

Can't wait, hope you run well!

Trip Report II: THE RUNGOODENING

Southwest flight pushes back from the gate 2 minutes ahead of schedule. +1 . Row six on a near capacity flight, and no one sits between us. +2. Wheels up from PDX at 6:53 on a 6:50 flight. +3 Same seat, same bar and same beer to start this trip as the one in June. +4 We actually parked in the same row in Long term.

I think I've actually reached the place in my Vegas history where I fully relax the minute I get on the plane. There's just no trepidation at all about how things are going to go. The weather will be good, the hotel is a favorite of ours, most of our meals are figured out, and there's vodka and bourbon packed in the suitcases (thanks for checked bags, Southwest!) I've gotten used to the swings in bankroll, at least to the point where my enjoyment of the trip isn't tied directly to wins and losses. I will not be posting in the "I'm over Vegas" thread, at least not now. +5

So, I figured out on the way into the airport that that my CPAP bag has a strap for connecting to my suitcase handle. Who knew? MDM just looked at me with that "how could you not have figured that out in 10 years of traveling with that thing" look and laughed her a** off. She's way smarter than me.

I've decided to play the Wynn 25 k guarantee noon tourney tomorrow, and the Wynn daily on Monday, as well. 1-2(3?) tonight for awhile at Mandalay, just to work the kinks out. We've also decided that a cabana is in order Sunday or Tuesday, so there's that. I'm heeding Leon's wisdom on that front, and MDM is all for it. We've got a couple of friends who are going to be in town, and they will hopefully be joining us for cabana day.

I'm typing this on the phone in flight, and hoping I get it posted sometime tonight. I'm planning to do semi-live this trip--MDM has suggested that I spend more time "in the moment" this trip, so I'll take pics and post when she's asleep or after we get home.

Finally, I'm still looking for some input on some good 3 game parlays for CFB & NFL this weekend. Don't know what the o/u on Oregon/San Jose St. is, but I'm probably taking that if it's under 80. There will be precious little defense played in that one.

Cheers!

Landed 10 min early. +6. Now we're waiting on the tarmac 10 min for the gate to clear +5.
Accompanying pics in the morning

We got checked into our room and headed out for some food around 11. I really wanted to check out Block 16 food court at Cosmo, as it features a couple of places we know we'll from home, Pok Pok and Lardo. Ended up getting wings and Khao soi from Pok Pok, and it didn't disappoint. Back to Delano and I ventured downstairs to the poker room just before one. Getting ready to start Wynn tourney. Will pay last night's results through the day