I flew out Sunday night (9/27) on Allegiant, direct flight from Cedar Rapids. Can’t beat a direct flight! My flight arrived in LV around 11pm local time. My luggage was waiting for me by the time I traveled on the tram from D gates to the main terminal. No line for a cab at this hour. Cab ride to the Imperial Palace was pretty quick, despite the jockeying around the construction on Flamingo Rd. No tunnel route for me since I acted like I knew the street names (I kind of do know most of the main routes since this is my 6th or 7th time out there). I believe the fare was around $17 before tip. Got to the Imperial Palace at around 11:45pm & there was only one person ahead of me in the check-in line. I was in my quiet room by midnight (you must ask for a room on the quite side of this hotel, or you will hear the Rockhouse bar & the music in the Carnival Court all night long). I decided to go right to bed, since the two hour time difference was catching up to me already.

I got up around 8am on Monday (9/28). Headed over to Planet Hollywood to register for their 10am tourney. Pretty nice tourney for $60. 4000 chips plus an extra 500 just for having their players card. Levels are 20 minutes. I had a little time before the tourney started, so I headed over to Planet Dailies for breakfast. I’m not big on breakfast, but it was pretty good for around $12. I headed back over to the poker room. They ended up having 37 runners for the tourney. Pretty low-key tourney. No real memorable hands. I played pretty tight & capitalized on a couple hands. I ended up making the final table (first ever in my short year of playing poker). Six places cashed. I was at around 20 big-blinds when it got down to the final table. I was pretty card dead for a while & ended up having to push with A6 suited. I got 4 callers & or course didn’t win. Ended up 8th. I was pretty happy with my results on the first day.

The afternoon was kind of a blur of drinking and exploring various casinos & shops. I ended up going to Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill in Harrah’s around 4pm. Sat at the bar, played video poker and ate. Pretty decent burgers. The fries were great! Meal was around $15; not too bad.

After diner, I headed back to the Imperial Palace for some $2/4 limit. I don’t know what it is about this place, but I love playing here! The dealers are great (Grigor is the coolest). The cocktail waitresses are hot & service is super-quick. I played from about 7pm – midnight, starting with $100 & ending up cashing out at $106. Not too bad for 5 hours of entertainment & drinking. I was pretty lit up at that point & headed up to bed. (this two hour time difference was killing me, or maybe it was the alcohol)

I got up around 10am on Tuesday (9/29) & headed down to O’Sheas to get a slice of pizza at Mamma Mia’s. Not the greatest pizza, but it is cheap & it hit the spot. I headed up to the Venetian for their 12pm $150 tourney. Great tourney. Well run. Great structure & starting chips (7500 chips and 30 minute levels). They had 105 runners on this day. Once again, played pretty tight. Nothing memorable and I busted out in 45th place. I do remember one really great dealer. Her name was something like Birgit. She was about the fastest dealer I’ve ever seen. She really ran the table. Short blonde hair & pretty hot. And funny. Great accent.

I still have a lot to learn in no limit. Limit is still more my speed, but I like the no-limit tourneys.

I wandered around a bit in the Venetian & checked my email via their free Wi-Fi throughout the casino. I then headed up to Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville. Of course I had to have the Cheeseburger in Paradise. As expected, it is served with lettuce and tomato, Heinz 57 and French fried potatoes, big kosher pickle and a cold draft beer (well good God almighty…you know the rest). After that, I had to indulge in a margarita (when in Rome) and enjoyed the view on the deck overlooking the strip. I think my total meal cost was around $30 including beer & margarita.

Next, I headed down to the Excalibur poker room. The place wasn’t very busy at 7pm. I believe just one $2/4 limit & one $1/2 no-limit table going. I got immediate seating at the $2/4 limit table. I played for about three hours, starting with $100 and cashing out with $110. Won some pots, lost some pots. Drink service was kind of slow here. Dealers seemed a little slow also, but didn’t notice any issues.

I headed back up to the Imperial Palace for some more $2/4 limit. Started with $100 and cashed out at $60 after two hours. Aces didn’t work. Kings didn’t work. That’s alright. It was a good day overall. Time for bed.

I slept until around noon on Wednesday (9/30). I did some more exploring up and down the strip for the afternoon. This was my first solo trip, so it was nice just to be able to wander around and not have an agenda. Very relaxing.

I ended up at a place called Le Burger Brasserie in Paris. Kind of a French sports bar that apparently specializes in burgers & plays 70’s rock music. That’s Vegas for ya. Good burgers & the servers were very attractive. I was there during happy hour, so it was 2 for 1 drinks. Problem is they serve both at once. Can’t let the beer get warm, so I pretty much had to slam the first one. Second one went down fast also, so of course I had to get two more for the meal. Needless to say I was buzzing pretty good by the time I was done eating. Four beers in an hour will do that to you.

Since I was feeling pretty good, I headed down to the famous (or infamous) O’Sheas “poker room” on the strip. I had to experience this; I’ve heard so much about it. It was just as I expected. I had a great view of the pedestrians on the strip from my seat at the $1/5 spread limit table. Not many people at the table knew how to play poker. There was even one guy with a hand rankings card on the table. Of course he won most of the pots (I’ve never seen so many made straights & flushes on the river for one guy). Even playing the tightest I’ve ever played (and enjoying several adult beverages), my $80 starting stack was dwindling).

Now for my most memorable hand of the trip. I was down to $15. I look down at pocket 8’s in middle position. A couple limpers ahead of me for $1. I raise to $4. Got some callers, of course. Flop comes out X8X rainbow. I got trips. There might have been a J on the flop too, but I didn’t care at this point (I doubted anyone had trip Jacks at that time). All checks in front of me, so I bet $4 again. Still a couple callers. Turn comes (you guessed it) the last 8 in the deck. Quads!!! Checks in front of me again, so I bet the max, $5. I think one caller. Can’t remember what the river was; didn’t matter. I only had $1 left, so I went all-in with that. Of course he called with garbage and I turned over quads. I got a nice pot, plus $50 high hand bonus for quads. I later lost some money to the guy next to me who got a Royal Flush. I believe the river gave me trip 10s and it of course gave him a Royal Flush. I proceeded to keep playing & pissing away more money, but it was a blast. I ended up cashing out at $62 from my original $80 after about 5.5 hours. Not bad for a drunken fun night. Once again, time for bed.

I slept until around noon again on Thursday (10/1). Wandered around most of the afternoon again and just generally relaxed. Walking around the Miracle Mile shops in Planet Hollywood around dinnertime, I found Blondies Sports Bar & Grill. Hey, the servers were dressed as cheerleaders, how can you pass that up? I had some sort of chicken parmesan sub. Pretty messy, but it was tasty. Meal was around $15 with beer. Not too bad.

I walked back to the Imperial Palace for a final night of poker & drinking. Once again, I sat down at the $2/4 limit table. Pretty low key (for a while). Not a whole lot of raising pre-flop. A somewhat loud drunk guy sat down and started raising pre-flop almost every hand. One of the dealers (I can’t remember her name) had a back-scratcher that she used to grab the chips from the far corners of these absolutely huge tables. He sees that in front of her, takes it to scratch his back & then gets up and proceeds to scratch her back. She told him in no uncertain terms that she did not like that & wanted him to stop. I’m sure it was all in good fun, but she didn’t like it and warned him. He then proceeded to become somewhat mouthy. He started folding & betting out of turn, which at the IP, usually isn’t a big deal. Dealers and players are pretty forgiving. He was warned about that a couple times, got mouthy & the floor was called. The floor warned him and left. He mouthed off to the dealer again and the floor was called back. The floor warned him again and left. Almost immediately, he mouthed off to the dealer again and the floor was called. By this time, Imperial Palace security had wandered over. The floor immediately tossed him & he was escorted out. This all happened in about 15 minutes time. Keep in mind the details are a bit sketchy since I was pretty lit up myself (but at least I was having a good time & not mouthing off to the dealer & floor!). After he “left,” the mood was back to normal. Pretty typical $2/4 limit action. I got good cards, but couldn’t capitalize due to the typical suck-outs. Started with $100, cashed out with $44 after about 5.5 hours. I headed upstairs to pass out and sleep my last night in Vegas for this trip. No money was made at poker on this trip, but a lot of fun was had.

Got up around 10:30 on Friday (10/2) & checked out through the TV electronic checkout to avoid the long line downstairs. Strangely, there was no line for a cab. Another quick cab ride back to the airport (around $18). Spent a couple hours watching planes land & take off (aviation is another passion of mine). I was lucky enough to see the Virgin Atlantic 747 (the only 747 that flies in and out of McCarran) land. It is a welcome site between all the Southwest 737’s taking off & landing! Got on my Allegiant flight back to Cedar Rapids. Temp was in the 70s in Vegas when I left and in the 40s in Cedar Rapids when I got home. This is Iowa! Glad to be back home but can’t wait for my next trip to Vegas!