A poker buddy and our wives headed to Vegas on Monday, 7/16. We got in to Flamingo at about 10 pm, and with the jet lag, I didn't feel "on" enough to play poker. So I played craps (stupid) and went to bed at 3am.

7/17 - woke up at 5:30 and couldn't lay around anymore, so I walked around and checked out Bellagio, Caesars, Bill's, IP, and O'Sheas before everyone else got up. There was an open craps table with no one on it at Bill's, so I blew through $100 in seriously about 8 rolls (stupid #2). My buddy and I played the PH 10am. 43 entries, great room, management, and dealers (thanks to all who responded to the PH vs. Sahara post). Card dead the entire time, but made some timely bluffs with a tight image and hung around until 13th place (lost with k10 vs a6 when my 10 paired the flop and A fell on river). I know I was behind pre-flop, but it sucks when there is a glimmer of hope of a suckout... My buddy placed 4th for $240. Toured the strip with the wives for the afternoon, then played 2/4 at the Flamingo while waiting for our dinner reservations. Completely uneventful - lost $7. Ate at Steakhouse 46 at Flamingo and had a great meal (try the lobster bisque!). That night, after the girls went to bed, we headed over to the Bellagio for some 4/8. Got seated immediately and played at a pretty loose table for a couple hours. Again, pretty card dead, but cashed in when I made some hands and finished up $40. Played a little blackjack at Bellagio afterwards and netted another $60 and finally went to bed.

7/18 - After a quick breakfast at Venetian with the girls and signing up for 4/8, Chris and I wandered to Wynn. That place is truly awesome in so many ways. Got seated at a 4/8 after only a few minutes of waiting. Played for 4 hours there and was impressed with the room, dealers, management, and drink service. Earned myself a super tight image, but only because the cards were awful. In a tight game such as we were at, I broaden my starting hand requirements, but there's only so much to do with 2-8o!!! I used this image to my advantage and actually worked a few bluffs to win some pots because the cards just wouldn't do it for me! Ended up down 80. After dinner at Grand Lux at Venetian (great meal #2), played 4/8 at Venetian. As reported on this site, it is also a great room. The cards cooperated this time, as I sat down in the big blind, turned the nut straight. Nice start! A couple of calling stations and some good cards led to a nice $100+ profit there. Since it was the last night in Vegas, I headed back to Bellagio for blackjack. A super dealer and a fun table (the way blackjack should be) led to a quick profit, until they brought the closer in from the bullpen (how can a dealer change the game like that?) Anyways, Martha was a stone-faced dealing machine pulling 21s for herself left and right. After treading water for 20 minutes with her, our original dealer returned and we went back to business as usual and I left up another $100.

7/19 - Flight was scheduled to leave at 1:20pm, so threw another 100 bucks away at craps (stupid #3) before 8am! Boarded the flight and sat at the gate for 1 1/2 hours because plane was overweight! After de-fueling(!), and a miserable takeoff, we landed late in Atlanta and waited in a 100 yard long line (no exaggeration) for customer service to find out we were bumped to the next morning, and all hotels were filled. Spent the night in the airport, almost missed our flight due to a gate change to the other end of the airport, and our baggage was lost. Lousy end to a great vacation!

Final musings:
1. I'm too stupid to avoid a craps table.
2. Wynn, Venetian, Bellagio, although each with pros and cons are all excellent places to play.
3. So many people here try to generalize play at different casinos, but at least at low limit, the makeup of the table and the game changes all the time and can vary drastically with the addition of a few new players.

Thanks for all input at this site!

Until next time!