First, I'd like to thank all the AVPers who've posted trip reports. Very helpful! How about expanding to cover all poker rooms everywhere?

This trip was my first foray into live poker for real money. First stop, the Excalibur. Bought in to the 9am monday morning tournament. Got *really* tense playing. Busted out after the first 20 minutes. Oh well, a $35 poker lesson. Went over to the 2-4 limit cash game after busting out. Was *really* tense after the tournament, so I thought a rum & coke was called for.

Poker lesson learned #1: Alcohol and poker for money don't mix.

Went through my first $100 in about an hour. Rebought another $100 and ended stuck $185. Seemed to be mostly locals/regulars playing. Cocktail waitress was very efficient. *Too* efficient. She was bringing me refills before I even had the chance to finish the one I was working on. I think somebody slipped her a twenty to keep me well supplied. At least I got my $4 food comp.

Back to the Wynn to sleep it off. Tomorrow's another day.

Wife dragged me out of bed at the crack of noon. She'd been busy on the slots and was up over $1k. At least one of us was making money. A short cab ride up to the PH, time for lunch at the Earl of Sandwich (not fancy, but good food) then register for the 2pm tournament there.

About 60 in the tournament. Play at the table I was on was back and forth with several very loose aggressive players. I mostly stayed out of it and let them duke it out, and only played premium hands (which were pretty scarce). Won a small pot now and then -- enough (barely) to stay ahead of the blinds. Players started busting out, and before I knew it, I was at the final table. Cool. Play got a little more tense as the bubble approached. I tightened up (I know, I know), and lo and behold, I was going to finish in the money. Way cool. Another couple of bustouts and now we're down to 4 players. As the blinds started going up, I went pretty much card dead, and my stack started to shrink. I finally get a pair of deuces -- best hand I've seen for a long time, so I limp from the BB hoping to see a cheap flop and maybe hit a set. Sunglasses guy (SG) to my left was the beneficiary of the aggressive player battle, so he's got the big stack. Could almost always be counted on to raise no matter what cards he was holding. Surprisingly, he limps, end guy (EG) follows suit, and the blonde on my right (BR)joins in. First flop we've seen for a while. Flop comes 2-9-9 rainbow. Full house! I check, (planning to check raise) SG (true to form) raises $1k. EG (short stack) goes all in. Uh oh... BR folds, then it's back to me. I figure EG has 9-A or 9-K. Not good, but I'm still in pretty good position, so I call, then SG folds. Cards up, and sure enough EG has 9-A. I have a bad feeling about this. Turn is A giving him a better hand. I have a serious sinking feeling. Only have one out. Not good odds. River is deuce. Deuce!! Gives me 4 of a kind, and the pot. Whew. I live to fight on and send him to the rail. Down to 3 now, and SG starts stealing lots of blinds. Since neither BR or I have very big stacks, we pretty much have to let him get away with it. BR finally gets something resembling a hand, goes all in against SG and gets sent to the rail when SG sucks out. Heads up at a final table. Wow. It may not be the WSOP, but it's still pretty cool to me. Can't do worse than second now, so time to loosen up and have some fun. I've been playing pretty tight, and I'm sure SG noticed that, so time to try some steals. Dealt 7-2 offsuit. Ok, lets give this a try. SG in BB, raises $3k. I come back over the top for another $5k. SG folds. Hmmm. I like this. We start to go back and forth for a while, and I begin to grind away at his stack. Pretty soon I have the big stack (!) and I start to beat him up pretty badly. Finally, I get a pair of jacks. I limp to see if I can get him into a pot, and we see the first flop for quite a while. Flop is J-x-x rainbow and SG goes all in. I put him on J-x,or maybe a low pair. Given his previous play I didn't think he had anything higher, and he seemed to be getting impatient. (at this point, it's been about 4 1/2 hours of play). I have enough of a stack now, so even if he sucks out, it won't be fatal, merely painful. I call, and we turn them up. Sure enough, he has J-x. He sees my jacks and says "I think you got me". Turn and river are rag, rag, and it's all over. I sit there for a minute and can't believe I actually won! $759 and my first tournament win.

Poker lesson learned #2: Patience, patience, attack!

While I've been playing, wife has been busy on the slots. She won another $400, and talked slot host out of a buffet for 2 and a line pass to boot. Buffet at PH is good -- and it tastes even better when it's free :) (if you haven't done so, read Max Ruben's book Comp City - a good read, and very effective).

Stayed at the Wynn this trip -- got a decent package deal from Travelocity. Rooms were very nice and we had a gorgeous strip view, but everything in the entire place is overpriced. I don't mind paying a premium price to live it up a little, but I want value for my money.

Ate at the Red 8 restaurant at the Wynn. Mediocre food, and the service was absolutely awful. The other restaurants we ate at there were better (they all had good food and service, including the buffet), but again, very pricey. ($3.25 for a small bottle of water).

I found the whole minibar thing particularly annoying. For the amount of money they charge for a room, you'd think that they could at least throw in a bottle of water or two for free instead of charging an outrageous amount of money for it. (I think it was $6 or $8 a bottle)

Went to check out the poker room at the Riviera, but it turned out to be closed for renovation. Much of the casino was also torn up, but while I was walking around looking at the poker room, my wife hits another $300 on a slot. Nice.

Then, back to the Wynn to check out and head for the airport.

Overall, an excellent trip. Poker room at PH is nice. Efficient waitresses, friendly and competent dealers, pleasant and decisive floor staff (resolved a player mistake quickly and correctly) good music, and not too loud. Got on the plane with quite a bit more money than we'd arrived with. Uneventful flight, then back to work in the am for me. Already planning my next trip. Thanks AVP!