So my girlfriend's sister, who lives in Vegas, just gave birth to a boy on September 28th. What's more important was that my girlfriend and I are godparents. So we decided to take a 3-4 day trip to Vegas from Oct. 11-13. I would be staying until the 14th because I had no plans back home on that Tuesday. So another trip to Vegas, here we go.

My girlfriend and I get to San Francisco Int'l at 5:45pm for our 6:45 flight. I am pretty tired from all of the past week's activities. Work, School, and a random overnight trip to Reno with a buddy on Thursday night that left me even before this trip. Anyway, the flight was on time, and we actually got to Vegas early. I had slept the whole time on the flight. After getting our bags, we got our first taste of "cold" Vegas. This did not feel good at all.

After getting in around 9:15, my girlfriend's sister picked us up to go to her house and see the new baby. I'm proud to be a first time godfather. It also gives me an even better reason to go down to Vegas. After playing with the baby and having bomb ass Buffalo Wild Wings, we make it to the strip around 1:15am.

After dropping off our bags at PH, my girlfriend and I head down to the casino. We walk around for a little bit, and I start to get the urge to play 1-2. No 1-2 here in the Bay Area. All spread limit games. My girlfriend goes to meet with her coworker that's also in Vegas, and I get comfortable in a semi-loose aggressive table. Not too many memorable moments. I played with this guy from Sweden who had a big stack and was known as a PH regular. I bought in for the max $300 buy-in and by 5:15 am worked down to about $115. UTG I get two red queens and raise to $15. A late position player min-raises to $30, I call. Flop come Q,9,7 all spades. I check and LP player pushes. I forced to call, as he has a flopped king-high flush. Turn is a blank. The river is the beautiful queen of clubs. Only $50 bonus, which brought me to about $250 in front of me including the bonus. I decide to play the $50 bonus on black at roulette. WIn that and decide to go up to the room even after an up and down session. This was the first time I had played at PH. Good action, but be prepared to play bigger pre-flop raises and loose-aggressive players.

Wake up around 11:30am and decide to go to the Bellagio buffet with my girlfriend and her coworker. Her coworker is a big craps player, and that proved to be a leak in my bankroll on this trip. Lost $200 on craps and roulette on this trip. Bellagio buffet was the Bellagio buffet. I'm always satisfied. MY girlfriend and I went back to the room and gathered all our stuff to go check-in at the Venetian. Venetian has always been my home in terms of poker for my past trips to Vegas. Great action, great feel. After checking into the room, my girlfriend and I decide to go to the jacuzzi. Very relaxing after the first day in Vegas. We decide to leave about 45 minutes later. (That walk back into the hotel sucked by the way, VERY COLD) We had reservations at the steakhouse Delmonico's, at 8pm. This was the first steakhouse I've been to in Vegas, so I can understand if I'm giving a virgin response, but Delmonico's was awesome. I wouldn't mind going there again. This is the steakhouse located on Restaurant Row in the Venetian and owned by Emeril. My girlfriend and I had the bone-in rib eye. My steak was cooked to medium and hers to medium rare. We both shared the Country Smashed Potatoes and Garlic Mushrooms. The steak felt like heaven in your mouth. LITERALLY The food and service was well worth the $175 bill. I'm not ballin' out of my ass. But the next day was our anniversary and Delmonico's was a good suggestion. Thanks yelp!

After dinner and walking around with my girlfriend, we decided to go up to the room. AFTER THAT I decided to go downstairs and play in my favorite room. I bought in for $300 and played for 6 hours. Couldn't hit big draws and left down $150. Oh well...you can't win every session. Nothing memorable during this session. I think I had a good feel for the table, but that doesn't mean anything when you aren't dealt boss hands and are forced to outplay opponents with suited-connectors.

Checked out of the Venetian at 11am and headed to Bally's. My girlfriend was leaving tonight. So I was forced to stay with two of her coworkers. Cool, laid-backed guys. We ate at the food court at Caesars. I always gotta have my basket of calamari and fries. When getting back, my girlfriend went to play penny slots.
OH YEA My girlfriend came with $200 in cash and had every intention of using only that cash and no cards. Down to $70 after food, she played penny slots after Delmonico's the night before and won $140. She never really wins at slots, and I was happy for her. She ended up losing everything at Bally's. It's okay. She was happy spending $200 total on the trip.

So I starting playing at the Bally's poker room around 2:30 and played until 6pm. Fortunate draws were made and fortunated calls were made brought my buy-in of $200 to aroung $415. Competition is actually pretty easy at Bally's. Look out for a couple locals, but look to gamble with old guys overplaying top pair. Cashed out and left to go see my godson one more time. My girlfriend's flight was at 9:45pm. Had bbq skewers. (BOMB BY THE WAY) After eventually dropping off my girlfriend, I make it back to the strip and meet up with my girlfriend's coworkers. They're drunk enjoying nightlife in Vegas. A couple of hours later we end up in TAO. Very fun club on past trips, but I guess Vegas is slow this time of the year. TAO looked like a regular night at a bar back home. My girlfriend's coworkers decided to head back to the room at Bally's, and I decided to play at the Venetian.

I was a little buzzed from a beer and a couple shots of Hennessy, so this probably wasn't a good idea. Two memorable hands from this session. Before this first hand, I had managed to run my buy-in of $300 to $425 after I had flopped a set of nines. I raise to $12 in late position. Old man calls on the button and big blind raises to $25. I have AK and push. Old man quickly calls, BB folds, and I have made a big $257 mistake as the old man trapped with aces. I am a pretty experienced player, but I had just made a donk move that I would've done during my first year of play. The other memorable hand came at the end of my session. I had a hundred in chips and a hundred dollar bill. I had already bought in for another $100 to make sure I maximized my profits in case I had a double-up hand. UTG player raises to $12, button raises to $25, and I'm in the big blind with two black queens. I re-raise to $50. UTG makes it $155 to go. Button folds, I pick up my $50 in chips and hundred dollar bill and get up from the table. I throw my queens face up in the middle and say, "Sorry sir, your aces aren't getting action from me." I walk away and UTG shows his aces. I thought that cooler was the sign for me to leave. Put my last $50 in chips on black in roulette, lose, and take the long walk back to Bally's down $500 on the trip from poker, craps, and roulette. I'm done for the trip, I tell myself. This was the first trip to Vegas that I've lost.

I wake up around 11am in the room, and we all decdie to eat at the Victorian Room across the street at Bill's. Pretty good breakfast. The two others decide to go the pool. I sit in the room thinking about the donk move with AK the night before. It is now 2pm, and my flight back home to the Bay Area is at 7:45pm. I decide to play one more session downstairs. I played from 2:30 to 6 again and ran my $300 buy-in up to $700 thanks to a flopped set of aces against A-Q and a very disguised set of nines on the turn on another hand. Down $100 for the trip, but would've been up if it weren't for the craps and roulette. Check out my stuff from the room and fly out of Vegas at 7:45 pm.

This proved to be my first up and down trip in Vegas. Making the donk move with AK made me think of Scotty's blow-up at the 07 Main Event. Anyone can make mistakes. I know that. But the better players make less of them. I'll try not to make donk moves like that in future sessions.

Thanks to whoever read this long trip report, good luck at the tables. Until next time!!