This forum has gotten me through many a slow afternoon at work, so now I feel it's my turn to finally give back to the community. This trip occurred last July 9th-13th for my best friend's bachelor party, so yes I know that I have really procrastinated on writing this. It's very long and very little poker content. I am attempting to do this all by memory so here goes...

THURSDAY

There was 9 of us heading to Vegas from Toronto. We all booked to leave the Thursday night for around $450 CAD return, no red eye on the way home. Good price in my opinion for a weekend trip. All was going smoothly when all of a sudden a month before the flight, we all get an email saying that Air Canada cancelled the flight! Two people (one of them being me), got put on a flight that had a stopover in Denver leaving Thursday night…The rest of the crew got put on a flight leaving the next morning. A little bit of a rocky start to say the least. We all decided to keep the flight itinerary as is.

The other person that was on the Thursday flight with me was Will. I hadn't seen Will since our university days which was about 8 years ago. Upon seeing him at the airport, it was like the good old days and we caught up like no time had passed. Will was also a Vegas virgin and really does not gamble. The flight was uneventful and we arrived ontime. I took a small beat when I forgot to tell the cabbie to avoid the tunnel and we also got caught up in a accident on the freeway, D'OH! $30 later, we arrived at the Encore. I was able to secure incredible promotion for rooms at the Encore. Thurs+Sun $99, Fri+Sat $149 for my room, $20/day more for the other two rooms. I tried the $20 trick but the guy at the concierge would not accept it. He did ensure that all three rooms were next to each other on the same floor in the higher floor corridor…If I recall we were on the 20th floor. We faced the golf course. Suites were really nice, two queen beds and a nice "L" couch with ottoman in the sitting area. At the time of the trip, I had read many reports that the Encore had air conditioning issues. I am happy to say, that we had ZERO issues.

So it's now about 11pm in Vegas (2am Toronto time) and I decided to walk the strip with Will since he had never been. Something about seeing a Vegas Virgin's face light up with excitement that gets me pumped to be in VEGAS BABY VEGAS! We saw the volcano at Mirage, turned down about 50 escort-card flickers and walked all the way to Bellagio before we decided to head back. I decided to play a few hands of BJ at Barbary Coast, (Bill's Saloon). It has always been a tradition of mine to play there at least once every trip. I used to go to Barbary Coast when I was 16 with fake ID back in the day! Needless to say that this place holds a special place in my under-age gambling heart! I cannot believe it's under a different name. It will always be Barbary Coast to me. Will enjoyed a few free beers and watched me play some BJ. I got up early and then left up about $25. We then trekked back to the Encore. I contemplated playing some poker but thought better of it since it was 2am and didn't want to be tired for the next few days.

FRIDAY

Friday morning the cavalry arrived at around 11am. They got settled and we all headed to the Fashion Show Mall food court to grab a quick bite. This is always a good call if you want to save a little cash. After, most of the guys went on a hunt looking to get a few cases of beer. Someone recommended they go to CVS in Venetian. I decided to do some quick shopping at the mall for gifts and try to find some golf stuff for myself. We all decided to reconvene at the pool in an hour. I also hoofed it to the Forums to have a quick look. Nothing really interested me so I headed back. I met the guys at the pool and we hung out there for most of the afternoon. Funny beat story came out of the beer hunt…CVS apparently didn't have beer but a convenience store in the Fashion Show mall did…Oops! Now my best friend Charlie was the one that was getting married. We had been going to Vegas annually for about 3 years now. Charlie plays poker and learned to play BJ on our many trips to Vegas. In the past, he always took some stupid bad beats in poker but always made it back in BJ. I think the last time we went, he banked 8/10 winning BJ sessions! So we decided to play a quick session. I was shocked to see $10 min tables at Encore! I guess the recession was still hitting this town hard. First the great room rate and now $10 BJ tables??!! Anyway, if I recall, I think we each made out OK, up like $100 each.

Friday night the plan was to go to N9NE steak house for dinner at the Palms. When we got there, our table was not ready so we had some drinks at the bar. Had a great steak dinner and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, in the end the bill came out to about $1000 for the 9 of us. On the way out, we saw Quinton "Rampage" Jackson at the bar. Most of us are huge UFC fans and really wanted to get a picture with him. The manager tried to step in and say no pictures…But Rampage being a class act guy, said it was OK and took a few pics with us. Upon taking the pics, one of the guys in our group, Rich says to Rampage…"You are one of the toughest C*cksuckers, I have ever met." In all the drunk bravado-talk, Rich didn't fully realize he just called Rampage a c*cksucker! Rampage laughed it off, but did say…."You just called me a C*cksucker??!!" Good times!

So now it's around 11pm, so we wanted to go to XS Club. Problem is, we couldn't get bottle service and the line was huge. So 1/2 of us decided to go to the Rhino instead while the other 1/2 decided to wait in line. I was in the Rhino 1/2 and called the Rhino Limo. A quick tip to all you Strip club rookies, ALWAYS call for the limo. They take you there for free and let you in the back door for free…Just make sure you tip the driver. The alternative is to take a cab and pay at least $30 a head! We get in there, and the place is the busiest I have ever seen it. We had to stand…Every seat was taken. I knew it was a UFC fight weekend, but man this place was rammed with so many Tapout and Ed Hardy wearing horn dogs! We didn't stay long but another funny and surprising story came out of this. Charlie's Bro (BigBro form here on out) is one of the more reserved and quiet guys. He's married with two kids…So basically he has nothing to look forward to in life anymore ;) He is also one of the most conservative white guys I have ever met…you know the type, wears khakis, golf shirt everywhere, (picture the skinny guy in the movie Roadtrip only not so skinny). Anyway, to my surprise he says to me…"I wonder where all the black girls are? I have a thing for them!!!" Really??!! Now I have seen everything, LOL! I think I saw him go to the back room with two strippers. YES BIGBRO!!

It's now 1am and we head back to Encore. On our way back we walk by XS. Barely any line so myself and Peter (another guy in the wedding party) decided to go find the guys who did not go to the Rhino. I tried to get Charlie to come, but he was so blitzed, he was taken back to the room. So after about a 10 min wait we get in. Now I have been to many clubs all over, Miami, Ibiza, Montreal and others in Vegas. I have to say that is was one of the best I have ever been too. The eye candy walking around this place was just ridiculous…I must have met at least 100 possible future wives. The cool part is that 1/2 the club is open air and the pool is open too if you wanted to take a dip. Guess who was making it rain in the club with $1 bills? I walked over to the crowd and see none other than Rampage Jackson! He must be trying to follow my crew around :) The jokes part is I see my buddy Stan picking up the dollar bills…I say, "Stan WTF?" He replies, "Hey man, I have no shame and another 8 of these and I got myself another drink." Only in Vegas!

SATURDAY: How my friend dropped over a Grand in 1 Day without gambling.

Saturday morning, everone woke up around 9-10am and headed down to the Wynn Buffet. If I recall, it's around $20 and has a massive selection. In my opinion, Wynn is good but my favorite remains the Paris buffet for price, value and selection. I normally make it to the Paris buffet at least once a trip but this trip I never made it there. The rest of the afternoon was spent hanging out by the pool and I played a little BJ. I think I lost around $100. A couple of the guys went to Wet Republic at MGM and said it was really good. We were planning on going to Rehab pool party at Hard Rock the next day, so I figured I would pass on Wet Republic.

At around 3pm we headed over to the Mandalay Bay to watch UFC 100 at Mandalay Beach on closed circuit TV. We tried to get tickets when they were released for the actual event but it was sold out in a split second. When we got there, we were told that they were not showing the under card and that we needed to wait about an hour to get into the beach area. My buddy Liam (another wedding party participant) and I were none to impressed since we are pretty big UFC fans. We decided that if we could get scalped tickets for a decent price, then we'd go. We ended up finding a scalper who would sell us $200 seats for $300. For the historic UFC 100 card that was absolutely stacked, I didn't mind paying up...Especially since I got to see first hand fellow Canuck G.S.P. dominate Tiago Alves and Dan Henderson brutally KO Michael Bisping.

So it's now around 9pm on a Saturday night and we are trying to leave Mandalay Bay after the fight…Needless to say, the taxi line was 100 deep. So myself, Liam and one other guy Jon decide to walk over to Luxor to get a cab there. As we are crossing the street, a limo drives by and Jon tries to flag it down. The limo actually stops in front of those island medians. Jon and Liam start to get into the cab and are yelling at me to get in too, but I was already across the street. The whole time this is going on, the cops are forcefully yelling at Jon and the Limo driver to clear the street. I decide to keep walking and of course, the cops pull the limo over with Jon and Liam in it. From about 20 yards away I stand and watch the cop open the limo door and yell at them like he was on a huge power trip. I remember what was going through my head at the time…."Hey Charlie, we are slightly delayed in getting back…Well you see, Jon and Liam got arrested and I will probably have to go bail them out of jail…" So after 20 mins, the cops let them go and they start walking towards me. "So what happened?" I asked. "We got $150 J-walking tickets." J-walking tickets??!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Now it's getting late and we had reserved bottle service at Pure nightclub through a host that a friend had recommended back home. We rush back to the hotel to change and headed out. I start collecting the cash for the bottle service. I have everyone's cash but Rich's…Apparently he got heat stroke and was already KO'd in the room. So now everyone had to pay an extra $30…Oh well that sucks. We get there and the place is a total zoo. We find the host and we get our table that we reserved on the Pure patio. I strongly recommend the patio over the main room as it's not as stuffy and you get a great view of the strip. As for using a host, I think it is over rated and not worth the cash. In the end it was about $200 per person in the group. You are much better off going through the actual club as the added service a host provides is marginal. Oh well, live and learn. Pure was great, packed with tons of hot girls and the booze was flowing…It was actually flowing way to well as we went through two bottles pretty quick because Jon invited these girls into our booth. One was hot but all her friends were pigs and drank like em too! I myself was having a blast chatting up this girl from LA who was up for a girls weekend.

Before I know it, it's 4am and everyone in my group has scattered. I text Liam and ask where he is. Liam and Peter are at Seamless, an after hours strip club. I know no good can come of this so I decide to pass and head back. Good thing I did. At around 6 am, I get woken up in my room by Peter and Liam. They were hammered but preceded to tell me how they got totally scammed at Seamless. Apparently they thought it was a good idea to go into the Champagne room with two rippers. 30 mins later, they are EACH presented a bill for $400!!! BAD BEAT! So as the preface to Saturday goes, Liam ended up dropping over $1000. Everyone in the group is a young professional in their early 30s who has condo mortgages and car payments. None of us are 'ballas", so anyway you slice it, dropping a grand in one day hurts! Recap: UFC ticket $300 + J-Walking Ticket $150 + Pure bottle service $200 + Champagne room $400....What Happens in Vegas, Stay in Vegas Story…PRICELESS!

SUNDAY

Today was Rehab pool party. Only about 1/2 of us went as some of the boys were hung over or didn't want to spend the cash. Liam, Charlie, Pete, Stan and myself went. I think it cost us $70 to get in ($50 to get in and the $20 grease). Expensive, Yes but hey, I am in Vegas for my best buddy's bachelor. Let me tell you, this place lived up to it's billing. If you can only do one thing in Vegas other than gamble, go to Rehab. Acres and acres of smoking hot chicks wearing tiny bikinis and fake boobies everywhere! Just take the hottest chicks in Vegas in for the weekend and put them all in one spot and you have the Rehab pool party. Highlights were watching two gorgeous girls dry hump and make out with each other on a beach chair and Pete hooking up with a random girl in the pool and was about to seal the deal only to lose her somehow in the crowd…We all think her friends C-blocked her and snuck her out. Why is it that girls do this? Do they have the mentality that "If we all don't get laid, than no one gets laid???" We're in VEGAS people!!!

As the afternoon turned to evening we all headed back to Encore and had dinner at the Buffet. Again really good selection, but at $35, not great value. The evening was supposed to be pretty chill with some gambling. A lot of the guys were down for the count again due to being out in the sun too long. Myself, Charlie and Big Bro decided to play some BJ. XS was open again and there was no line so we decided to go check it out since Charlie never saw it. Very tame this around but still a lot of talent. The highlight was seeing a ton of UFC fighters and all the hot groupies hanging out by the pool.

We left the club and started playing BJ again. Big Bro is champing at the bit to go back to the Rhino…Like I said, he's married with two kids…What else do you have to look forward to than going to the Rhino on a Sunday night?? I played for a couple hours and broke even. While hanging around waiting for my friends, I got propositioned by a couple of hookers. They informed me it was $500 per hour. A little overpriced for someone who has a face for radio. I informed BigBro and he seemed intrigued…But then again he was hopped up on 5 red bull vodkas. Shortly after I called it a night. I was later informed that after I left, BigBro went on a small heater and won $400 at around 6am. He was begging Charlie to go to the Rhino with him. Charlie was done so BigBro did a solo mission. Apparently he dropped all his winnings and then some on a nice Guyanese girl. He is now referred to as Mr. Rhino!

MONDAY

So it's the last day of the trip and you all must be wondering, did this guy play any poker? This is after all a poker forum. I can't believe I didn’t play any poker until the last day. In previous trips I would be playing at least 4 hours a day. Charlie, who plays as much as me didn't even play! Well here it is, my one and only session. I have about two hours to play before we have to leave so I head over to the Wynn poker room. The last time I was here, I recall the max buy in for 2-5NL was $500…I could be wrong about this but it would have been around November 2007. Anyway, the max buy in is now $1500. I buy in for $350 and decide to sit short stacked. Of course they put me on a table where the big stack had over $10Gs and the average stack at the table was about $2Gs. The game is super aggressive and super loose. First raise normally came in at $20-$25. Great, I have to play tight and then just wait to get a hand. Two orbits later I have pocket Js in late position. It was raised to $20 with four callers when Drunk Loose-aggressive Asian guy makes it $100. I had about $320 in front of me and go all in. Everyone else folds and Drunk Asian guy says, "OK I'll give you action." The flop comes K-X-X and my heart sank. I figured he had AK. The turn and river come out and I table my JJ and ask "Do you have a King?". He says no and shows pocket 7s. WOOHOO, what a double up!. I play another orbit and leave up about $340.

The good and bad part of a Vegas weekend is leaving. It's good because you will stop polluting your body and finally get some sleep. The bad is that you are leaving Vegas. I had brought $1500 spending cash and never went to the ATM. I left with $900. Not bad considering all the expenses, so I was probably up a few hundred. All in all, it was a legendary trip. As I have gotten older, opportunities to get all your close friends together for a boys weekend are few and far between. Can't wait for the next one...