Sunday

Flight from Toronto uneventful. Checked into Bellagio around noon. Nice room - darker colours - relaxing - good deal at $99 per night.

Poker - stopped by Bellagio first - absolutely packed - waited 90 minutes for a 1/2 NL table. Agree with others about attitude of management went greeting players - pretty poor. Played about 2 hours - up $160, won a couple of small pots with jj biggest pot with ako when I turned a flush. Overall fun table - thought the chairs sucked. Played at PH 1/2 NL after dinner. Up $55 in about 90 minutes - tight table - not real friendly. I really don't like the new location - kind of smoky. Headed over to Ballys, played 3/6 limit. Up $39 in about 90 minutes. Found the room to be really run down, table in bad shape.

Other - dinner at La Salsa Cantina in Miracle Mile - good mexican food at a reasonable price.

Monday

Poker - early morning Monte Carlo - was pleasantly surpised with this room - nice little setup. Brush was very friendly. 1/2 NL up $85 in an hour. Played a $50 single table - crapshoot with blinds after 30 minutes at 100/200 ($1000 chips to start). Down to 4 players called allin bet by big stack with 1/3 of my stack in the pot with a2o and lost to j10o. Will definitely play there again. Played at Luxor after lunch - brush and dealers not real friendly 1/2 NL - up $32 in 2 hours. In the evening played 2/4 limit at Flamingo - older room - dealers were all over the place - one real good followed by one real bad and grumpy - up $46 in 2 hours. Ended the night at Caesars playing 1/3 NL - nice room - pretty busy - up $137 in an hour - definitely better players.

Other - dinner at Fix at Bellagio - prix fixe menu for $60 - excellent service - highly recommended. Saw Peepshow at PH with Holly Madison - was ok.

Tuesday

Harrahs - 1/2 NL - busy room. Great drink service. Lost $199 in 2 hours - pretty card dead until - picked up qq - raised 2 early limpers to $15 - led out on an all low flop for $20 and was called. Check called a $25 turn bet and checked river to lose to kk. About 5 hands later raise to $10 with qq, called by the small blind. 10 hi flop, called a $15 flop bet, turn was a low card - small blind bet $30 I pushed my last $80 in and lost to kk again. Headed over to IP to play 1/2 NL - up $54 in about 90 minues. Tables very large, not a very physically appealing room.

Other - Serendipity 3 at Caesars - very cool restaurant - outstanding deserts - highly recommend the peanut butter hot chocolate. Visited the pinball hall of fame - excellent way to spend a couple of hours - flash backs to my high school days. Dinner at Mon Ami Gabi - always fun to people watch on the patio outside Paris.

Wednesday

Checked out of Bellagio and headed down to Venetian for $109 a night. Outstanding rooms - blow Bellagio out of the water.

Poker - played at Mirage in the evening - nice clean room, dealers ok, quite busy. Played 3/6 limit - down $45 after 2.5 hours. Played at Venetian on the way back to the room for an hour - 1/2 NL up $6 - got tired so went to bed. Excellent brush and room, although drink service was slow.

Other - Grande luxe cafe at Venetian - excellent value and good food. Don't wear golf shorts to Prime Steakhouse you won't get in - since I didn't bring pants to Vegas (no way am I wearing pants when it's over 100 degrees) we headed up at Fix again for dinner. Saw O good show but we were both pretty tired.

Thursday

Poker - Stratosphere - much better than I expected - was thinking it would be a real dive. Bought in short - $100 for 1/2 NL. Lost $50 when I reraised a short stack all in with kk - he had aa of course. Next hand raised to 10 preflop with qq called by big blind - flop a93 check check. I shove my last $40 in on an 8 turn and he shows a5o so I'm done. Headed over to Circus Circus - now that place is a dive (poker room seems functional enough but the casino itself is pretty bad). Waited about an hour and got on a 3/6 table. Down $61 in about 2 hours. Lost with second nut flush twice to nut flush. Headed to Wynn after dinner - 1/3 NL. Up $230 in about 2 hours - love the room, pretty loose table, hit a couple of hands and was able to leave up by playing straightforward poker. Played the TI 10 pm $65 tournament. Brush - Megan was very friendly. Card dead - called allin with 4bbs and lost ajo to aqo.

Other - Lunch at the top of the world restaurant at the Stratosphere - good value, great views. Dinner at Cut at the Palazzo - had the american waygu steak - awesome service, excellent food. It is our favourite restaurant in Vegas (was N9ne before we went there) and a place we will go to every time we go to vegas.

Friday

Wife left for the airport - I checked out and headed to NYNY to check in. $69 for Fri and Sat night - not a bad room at all - better than the basic room at MGM that we had on our last trip.

Poker - Headed to the Excalibur at about 5:30 pm - 4 full tables. Played 2/4 limit - up $17 in 90 minutes. Tables looked good, nice new chips. Dealers were all older and kind of slow. Guy handed out chips didn't seem to have a clue what he was doing. It seemed like they raided the retirement home to staff up. Overall good time though. Headed over to MGM for 2/4 limit played 60 minutes and lost $67 - did not win a pot - ak lost to 10 8 that rivered trips, jj lost to q6o - typical limit poker. Took monorail to Sahara for 11 pm tournament. Aesthetically not a great room - tables looked better with red felt on though (it was green and stained last time I was here). Lasted about 2.5 hours - pushed all in after flopping middle pair with 109 on an a98 board (2 hearts) - guy called with kq of hearts - turn queen.

Saturday

Poker - MB tournament 1 pm tournament - no hands - shortstacked after about an hour pushed a7o in sb into bb - he called with k3o and hit the k. Played 3/6 limit for about 2 hours lost $55. Folded all sorts of hands that would have been winners pre-flop. Room looks physically nice although using the 50c coins is kind of annoying - and probably results in lower tips for the dealers. The no chop rule is kind of stupid also.

Other - went to UFC 100 in the evening - atmosphere was electric - up about $100 on sports bets on the fights.

Summary - how you are greeted when you get to a room is really important - treat me like it doesn't really matter to you if I'm there or not and I'm just not going to come back. Treat me well and you'll see me again whether I win or lose. While I want to make money of course, I also value how a poker room looks aesthetically.

Favourite poker rooms - Wynn, Venetian.

Most pleasant surprise - Monte Carlo

Won't go to again - Circus Circus, Ballys, IP, Flamingo, Luxor, Stratosphere (room is ok - just too far down the strip), Sahara (tournament is good structure but PH and TI are comparable for the same price).