By some miracle my work trip to New York happens to coincide with the series this year, so I will be taking an extra week to play the milly maker and a bunch of other tourneys. This will be my lucky 7th trip to Vegas but Iv never done a report...until now!

A little history - I'm in my mid thirties, married and with a little boy. I am about 15 years into a finance career and as a result i am almost completely dead behind the eyes. It wasn't always this way though. After university, as I was trying to hustle a banking job, I was playing a lot of poker. Mostly i'd play online during the week, grinding 180 mans and EPT qualifiers while playing cash in the evenings. Bizarrely I also became a phenom in Halo clan matches. In between tournaments I would order 13 year olds into battle in my nightgown while telling recruiters I was too busy to attend interviews. This was not a healthy lifestyle.

My first trip to Vegas was during this time when I won a Main Event package on an obscure UK poker site. When I won the seat I ran out onto my balcony, my place at the time overlooked Canary Wharf which is a major financial district of London, and in a moment of passion showed it my clenched fist. I thought back then that this was my way of telling conventional society I did not need a job as I had just won a seat to the main event. In reality I played absolute gash on Day 1 and blew my bankroll in a cash game binge. When i returned I was rescued with an analyst job at HSBC and i eventually became a functioning member of society.

Over the last ten years I have ventured out to Vegas a number of times to play cash and the odd tourney now and then. Each trip has always been a profitable one with the cash games at the Aria and Venetian always being good to me. This trip il be playing the Milly Maker and plenty of 2/5. If I bust early il check out a few Venetian Deep Stacks as they are always a good crack. Il be doing a few high end restaurants as the food in Vegas is always awesome and may check out a show or two depending on how the poker goes. I welcome recommendations! As il be boozing most evenings if any two+two'ers are around for a beer and want to dissect some poorly played hands hit me up as il be solo.

This trip report will see plenty of pictures and i am sure you can tell by now i like a bit of banter, so have at it lads. My bankroll will be around $5k including buy ins and il be posting the obligatory shoe pic, cash roll, restaurant visits and other random ****. Things will really ramp up once my week in NY is out of the way but until then enjoy a picture of my cat guarding £2k in £50 notes from a recent cash game visit. Vegas!

Look forward to reading the TR

Brian

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Looking forward to hearing about your trip. Question: do £50 notes have the same problems as $50 bills in Vegas?

Looking forward to your TR!

I’m flying solo away from my wife and kid and will be playing WSOP, Aria Classic, Wynn Classic and Venetian DS as well as 2-5 lol. June 10-16.

I go every year during series and enjoy every minute.

I'll be in Vegas the same week, and other than being from a diff country, have a story remarkably similar to your own. Good luck, see you at the tables.

Good luck to you and I'll be following this.

I hope not! Where did the whole thing originate with the unlucky $50 bills?

Once the mint printed those notes with Ulysses S Grant the misfortune started Immediately. Ever heard of the Great Depression?

The first leg of the trip beckons. Town car is on its way to take me to the airport - New York City! A week of tap dancing in meetings and blowing my daily allowance on overpriced dinners. I lived in the city for a year for one of my first jobs, around twelve years ago, and it was a blast. On recent work trips I’ve found it more intense than I remembered in my twenties. Back then American Psycho and Wall St were still cult favourites and I dreamed of making it big. It is a parallel version of Vegas in that way - a different kind of hustle. Il post during the week there as a prelude to the Vegas trip and share my tales of corporate excess.

Didn’t realise it dated back to the civil war. I thought some early Vegas gambler won big, asked to be paid out in $50s and was then hit by lightening as he walked down the strip.

The highest denomination of note in the U.K. is the £50. It is strictly reserved for the wealthy, the gambling degerates and gang members. Two out of three ain’t bad.

Nice cat.

I was actually just drunk posting. I don’t have a clue where the $50 stigma came from. If you bought it though, let’s go with it!

Standard shoe pic sans roll for now.



Airport sushi...what could go wrong?

No, no, no. Bugsy Siegel had 50s in his pockets when he was shot dead.

Landed in NY. Decent flight and managed to catch a few films. The themes choice was Mollys Game which was not good. I’d give it two boobs out of...stars, two stars out of five. Seriously if it wasn’t for the cleavage I would not have got to the end. Currently stuck at JFK baggage claim - otherwise known as hell to the frequent traveller. Some people have been waiting for so long that there is a priest giving last rights.

Just posted a start to a TR for the exact same dates! Maybe we can grab a beer or something.. GL mate just 2 more days!

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Sure I am in NY for a few more days but not long to go now - Vegas baby!

It has been a pretty intense week overall and not been able to update this. I have spent my days dancing to the tune of senior management and my evenings eating takeout alone in my hotel room while I craft PowerPoint presentations that no one will ever read.

Dining out on the company’s dime has been good - Capital Grille a particular highlight - chocolate cake only 1,280 calories!

Nice TR, subbed. Going to be out there Friday night for 4 days/nights of grinding. I want in on the solo degen travelers beer night if it happens. Good luck!

Definitely have to make it happen now.. safe travels to you both!

Il look to schedule something once I am in Vegas. Not long to go now.

Looking forward to TR!

Last day in the big apple. Wandered the high line in the morning:



5th Avenue in the afternoon:



And now down to East Village to get hammered - boo ya.

I will miss the buzz of this place. There is something alluring about a place that can be so high end and still smell of piss at the same time.

Vegas bound and all set for the Milly Maker tmrw! Boom.

Good luck, eagerly awaiting updates!

We made it - after a week of work in NY and a dodgy flight I am finally here. The pilgrimage to the Rio is complete. Walking in I imagined the opening scene from Kingpin - people giving me high fives, disco inferno playing, women looking at me seductively. In reality I was greeted with the usual scene of any poker room - overweight pasty men and dealers who have seen too much.

Like any casual WSOP player I got here way too early and I am now pacing around the cavernous Rio trying to pass the time. Thankfully the football is on and Brazil are destroying the Aussies. The registration took all of two minutes and I am seated in the Brasilia room - blue section. Lucky table 13!

Il post updates of what will hopefully be a loooong day. They are playing to 15% and the turnout yesterday was pretty solid. Here’s hoping for some run good!