Saturday

We arrived Saturday afternoon from Montreal via Denver. However, our luggage did not make the connection – not a great start! Check in at PH around 1 pm. Room was ok – nothing great in the North tower but for $99 for the Saturday and $59 per night Sun-Tues we weren’t complaining. And the free bottle of booze helps also!

Grabbed lunch at Salsa Cantina in Miracle Mile, good Mexican food – decent price – shrimp fajitas were good. Wandered through the Miracle Mile a bit and then played a few slots with my wife. I then went to watch a WEC (MMA) card at the Rio. Great event in a small venue. Headed back to PH and crashed after being up for 20 hours or so.

Sunday

Went to the gym/spa and lifted some weights. Daily use costs $25 – which is a total ripoff given that we paid the same at Bellagio and the Wynn and the PH gym sure isn’t up to their level. Had a 2 for 1 coupon from check in so it only cost $12.50 each – it’s not worth any more than that.

Spent most of the day betting on and watching NFL games. Had lunch at Blondies in the Miracle Mile – waitresses wearing cheerleader outfits – how can you go wrong?!?

Walked down to the Mirage and grabbed an early dinner at California Pizza Kitchen and caught the end of the Pitt/GB game – great finish – good food. Went to see Terry Fator – absolutely hilarious – this guy can sing and when you realize he is doing it with his mouth closed you realize how good he is. I highly recommend the show – I have yet to see a bad review on him and everyone at the show was having a good time. We’ve seen probably 15 shows in Vegas (including O, Celine, Mystere, Penn and Teller, Wayne Brady, Danny Gans, Rita Rudner and many others) and I would put this at #1 or #2.

Walked over to Caesars and signed up for the 10 pm tourney. Ended up with 48 entries – a real mixed bag of players. Nothing real eventful – did not get cards but also did not get aggressive early enough when I was around 10 bbs. Ended up reraising an early position bet with kjs when I was down to 6 bbs. He had aqs. Finished around 18th.

Monday

Headed over to City Centre and had a walk through – some better signage to let people know where the casino is would be useful – lots of folks wandering around, looking at maps. I really like the vibe inside the casino the darker browns make it very relaxing and anti-casino. Visually it is one of my favourites along with Wynn, Venetian and PH.

I headed to the poker room, there was only 1 game going which surprised me but at 11 am on the Monday before Christmas probably not that surprising. I got there just as they were starting a second table. Bought in for $150 and played 1/3 NL. I would say 5 or 6 of the players were locals. Pretty tight table – it took 7-8 hands before we saw a flop. Visually I like the room, dealers were good, chairs/tables comfortable (although drink holders would have been a good idea). I played a couple of hours and ended up $20 – flopped a set one hand but lost some chasing draws. Will definitely be back – in my personal rankings I would put it behind Venetian and about the same level as Wynn. Would definitely rather go there than Bellagio/MGM.

Had lunch at the sports bar next to the sports book – good food and a nice vibe. Played some slots with the wife in the afternoon and wandered Miracle Mile and Forum shops doing some shopping. We had dinner at Trevi in the Forum Shops – good Italian food, reasonably priced.

Tuesday

Breakfast at Mon Ami Gabi on the patio – with the heaters it was quite comfortable. Good omelette, my wife had bacon chocolate waffles?!? Wandered down to TI – going to play in their morning tournament – there were more staff and dealers than players in the room so it didn’t look like the tournament happened. Played a little $5 blackjack and then headed to the Fashion Show Mall to do some last minute Christmas shopping.

On the way back stopped at Flamingo to play a little 2/4 limit. Not sure why – down $40 in a couple of hours after missing many many draws. Mainly an older locals table – not sure why I go there but they normally seem to have games running.

Heading down to Palazzo for Jersey Boys. We were almost late because they had a system glitch with the slot machines. All machines ended up needing a hand pay on one side of the casino – took us 60 minutes to get paid out – there were some po’d people. Then again, management didn’t handle it real well – there were all of 4 people going around to every single machine. Got into the show a couple of minutes late – show was ok – not sure why everyone raves about it so much though.

Headed over to CUT for our 9 pm reservation. Once again an awesome meal – I had the American wagyu NY strip – excellent service, excellent food, the one restaurant we go to every time we go to Vegas and it has yet to disappoint.

Played some 2/4 limit at PH – was up $110 in about an hour. Got absolutely hit by the deck – turned a full house on the first hand – table broke after I busted 3 players in about 10 minutes. I find the staff very personable in the poker room but the area absolutely sucks. I’m glad to see they moved the poker room so that they could get more folks into the high limit area lol – in three visits this year I think I’ve only ever seen one person playing in the old poker room area.

Wednesday

Headed down to Excal, played some cheap blackjack with my wife. They were opening a 2/4 limit table in the poker room so I joined in – down $15 in about an hour. Nothing exciting, room is ok – it’s kind of homey. Grabbed lunch at Diablos which was better than we expected.

Stopped in Monte Carlo and played some 1/2 nl – during my last visit I was pleasantly surprised with this room. Once again it didn’t disappoint, I was greeted warmly, the room has a good vibe. Ended up $150 after 2 hours – main two hands winning with an overpair and turning a straight with 108s. Will definitely go back.
Wandered back down the strip.

Went to Burger Brasserie at Paris for dinner. Pretty good but if you want a burger I still recommend Burger Bar at MB. Played a little 1/2 nl at PH before leaving for the airport. Played about an hour before table broke up – tight game – ended up exactly even.

Overall comments

Very quiet this time of the year in Vegas

Weather was cold mid 40’s to mid 60’s with strong winds

Aria is visually very nice – will definitely play in the poker room again in my own rankings I would only put it behind Venetian

Monte Carlo poker room is a nice little room and I will return

If you are going to see a show I would recommend Terry Fator