This story better end with, "So there I was at the final table, stacking chips after cracking Phil Hellmuth's pocket kings ... he almost made the world's greatest laydown! ..."

Looking forward to Part Deux.

Waiting with bated breath for the exciting conclusion...

Hey AG - I'm waiting to hear how this ends.

WHAT? We only get part 1? How in the heck am I supposed to go to sleep? Don't you know we're all living our lives vicariously through those of you that actually get to GO to Vegas?

Poker, schmoker... I wanna see pics of the tattoo!

Can't wait for part two... Wow, ten days in Vegas? That would be great. I'll be there in less than 2 weeks for a 4 nighter

I know, it's hard to wait for it all but I was gone a long time so it's a lot of information to put down on paper! Plus I am still trying to catch up at work and catch up on sleep.....

Saturday, June 30th, I wake up around 8:30 and start getting ready for my big day at World Series of Poker. I played the ladies event last year and I woke up at 6:00am that day because I felt like a 9th grader going to the 1st day of school. Since this was my 2nd rodeo at WSOP, I was much more relaxed. My Dad and my Son were also flying in this morning. They show up at Binion’s minus Corbin’s suitcase. Alaska Airlines lost his luggage in Seattle. (Way to crush the dreams of a 7 year old. Fly him to LV without swim trunks!) Alaska Air promised they would have the bag to the hotel before noon.

Dad rented a Dodge Charger so he drove me over to the Rio and dropped me off at the convention center. As I am walking in, I see one of the players from my table at Binion’s. I also see Phil Hellmuth in the hallway. Man is he tall! I made my way to my table and sat down. The tournament was full and they were working in as many alternates as they could.

I am hopeful I will do well when we start because the 1st hand, (25/50) the player to my left raises to 75. Of course the dealer told him he had to raise to 100. In fact, there were 3 people at the table that kept min raising so I know they aren’t very experienced.

20 minutes into the tournament, a player walks by my table and sits at a table behind me. I hear the dealer call the floor. He has just been eliminated from the tournament in the worst possible way. It seems he ignored the multiple warnings not to put tournament chips in his pocket! I am imagining his buddies back home asking him, “So, how did you get knocked out of the WSOP?” “Well, you see, I put my chips in my pocket!” It would be an interesting statistic to see how many people get DQ’d for that.

Again, I didn’t take notes but I can say that I had Big Slick probably 6 times and the result was always the same. I would raise 3 or 4 times the BB and I would get several callers. The flop would bring crap; someone else would push before me so I couldn’t stay in. My stack was getting eaten up. I had pocket kings once and took down a small pot.

My table was broken and I was moved to a new table. I only sat there for 1 hand before that table was broken and I was sent to yet another table. I only had 4 times the BB. I was in the cut off and I had K 10 of hearts. I thought I might be able to pick up the blinds since it was folded around to me so I push all in. Dealer button calls. Rut-Ro! He as pocket aces. I do not improve and I am out. I lasted about 6 hours. I called my Dad and had him come pick me up.

We headed back to downtown and took in the light show on Freemont Street. Then at 9:15 and 11:15 they were doing this really cool motorcycle show. They get 4 dirt bikes riding in circles in this metal ball/cage. My son loved it! He wanted to watch it over and over and over again. I watched the 1st show with him then left him with my Dad for the 2nd show and I went to play poker at the Golden Nugget.

Golden Nugget has a really nice room. There was a lot of money on the table at the $1/$2 game. I get seated with $400. I instantly recognize the guy next to me as someone who used to play underground games with me in Anchorage. He tells me he is living in Vegas now. My stack goes up and down here. They game is pretty wild. I end up leaving after about 4 hours down $20. Went back to Binion’s and crashed.

Sunday I check out of Binion’s. My Dad and Corbin checked in at The Orleans and I checked in at the MGM. I tried the $20 trick at the MGM but it didn’t really work. However, she did offer me an upgrade to a Hollywood Suite for $25 more a night. I took the upgrade since my room rate was only like $60 a night already. I felt like it was a good deal.

I get up to my room and I open the door and there was a couple with their luggage standing in the living room! I said, “Uh, I’m sorry! The front desk just gave me this room.” They said that’s ok, they were in the wrong room or something like that. (They didn’t speak English very well.) We were all looking confused and they left saying they were going back to the front desk. I went into the room and promptly called down there and said I was very uncomfortable with the situation. I think I will write a letter to management, maybe they will comp me a night next time.

I head over to Planet Hollywood and sign up for their 7:00 tournament. I am on the alternates list but they get me a seat at the regular start time. The tournament starts and I am picking up pots right and left. I have a nice chip stack through most of the tournament. I am down to the last 2 tables. A girl comes to my table that I recognize from somewhere. I figure out that she is the girl that does the interviews on Cardplayer.com, Lizzy. She seemed kind of surprised that someone actually recognized her. Anyway, I was having fun and I had too many beers and I made 1 bad call and I was out of the tournament about 4 from the money. I think 1st place was to pay about $1600 that night. It’s good tournament. I thought the structure was comparable to the Sahara but the room is much nicer and the people are more fun.

I bought into the $1/$2 NL game for the $200 max. I was catching cards right and left and I ended up cashing out with just under $1200 in about 3 hours. Me and one of the other players took a cab over to TI. I started playing the $1/$3NL but I started getting tired so I cashed out even and decided to go back to the MGM. One the way out, video poker called me. I lost about $300 in this horrible video poker machine. I went back to my Hollywood suite and crashed.

Still more to come.....

My friend Bobbi arrived at about 4:00 Monday. After we get her bags and get back to the hotel, we decide to go down the strip and have dinner at Margaritaville. We shared the crab, shrimp & mushroom dip and some steak fajitas. The dip was awesome! If you go there, try it. After that we decided to go check out Karaoke at IP. I ordered a beer while I was playing/losing at video poker. She later ordered a beer when we sat down at Karaoke. She ordered a Coors Light and it was $4.50 for a 12 oz beer! Yikes! Anyway, I sang “Fire” by the Pointer Sisters then we left. We decided to go back to MGM to gamble there. I can’t remember the specifics of this session but I do know that I didn’t have a winning session at all at MGM during this trip.

Tuesday we get up and get ready to go to Price is Right at Bally’s. I really didn’t want to go to this but Bobbi did so she bought tickets for herself, me and my Dad about a month ago. We tried to take Corbin to Kids Time at The Orleans but they were full. So we had to scramble to get another ticket for him. The 3 tickets that Bobbi bought were right next to the stage and the last ticket we bought was way in the back. My Dad took the seat in the back and the rest of us took the seats up front. They weren’t using the key pads to get people up on stage; they were calling names down to contestants row. Those players would bid, and the losers would sit down and they would call 4 different people.

The 2nd group of four people the called my name! “Kristi, Come on down!!!!” I am standing there with 3 other people and they bring out a watch. The first bidder said something like $200, I was next and I bid $175, next bidder bid like $130 and the last guy bid $1. I hear the ding, ding, ding (indicating someone has bid exactly right and will win an additional $100). “And the actual retail price is $175!” I win!!!! I get up onstage and my knees are knocking. They guy asks me where I am from and who I came with, etc.

The curtain opens and I am playing a grocery game for $2500. You have to match the prices listed on a shopping bag with some random grocery items. I put them where I think they are and I get the 1st one right for $150. I can take the $150 and go home or I can risk it and play for $300. I decide to play once more because I am pretty sure I have the next one right. WRONG! Waw-Waw-Waw, I am out. Oh well.

They choose 3 other people to spin the wheel. Then they choose 2 other people to play the showcase. The showcase I thought was a little hokey. They have one showcase with a cruise, a cheap car, and some other stuff. They both bid on the same showcase you have to be the closest to the actual total without going over and you only win the cruise. If you are within something like $100 or $500 of the actual price without going over, you win all the stuff. Anyway, it was a double overbid. Game over.

It was fun, but I will say that Harrah’s is making a fortune off of this show. They really didn’t give out very many prizes and the ticket price is $50 each. I had to fill out some forms to claim my prizes then came dilemma. I really liked the watch, I needed a watch but they couldn’t guarantee that the vendor (prizes are shipped from the vendor, not given out at the show) would ship to Alaska. And if they did ship to Alaska, I would be responsible to pay for the shipping. They didn’t know how they shipped stuff so it could be expensive. Plus it would take up to 120 days to ship the prize. So I took the cash instead of the watch. They only pay you the promotional amount of the prize which was $70. So I made $170 total. They made out a form to take to the casino cage and I was paid $170 there.

After I cashed out, I did what any girl would do….I went to the mall! My Dad drove us down to the Boulevard Mall for a little shopping. I spent my entire Price is Right winnings in 1 store. When I got the stuff back to the hotel and I noticed one of the garments I bought still had the anti-theft sensor on it! AUURRGGG! I hate it when that happens! Guess I will have to go back to the mall another day.

Bobbi and I get ready and head over to Planet Ho for the ladies poker tournament. We get there about 10 minutes after 7:00 and it’s already full and they aren’t taking any alternates. Bummer. So I decide to just play in the live game. I buy in for the max $200 and play for several hours. There is an elderly gentleman at my table that bought in for less than $100 but he has about $500 in front of him. I can’t be sure of the exact amount because he won’t stack his chips up so we can see. They are just in a mound in front of him. He is playing every hand, sucking out right and left. I am just trying to get into a hand with him. The guy to my left raises to $15, the elderly gentleman calls, one more caller, I have A2 off. Now, I know I should fold here but I thought I might get lucky on the flop with the maniac in the pot it could be profitable. So, I call. Flop comes 2 3 2. I get $100, guy next to me calls. I am thinking, ok, he raised, he probably has a big pair. Possibly pocket aces. Could have pocket 3’s but I doubt it. Everyone else fold. Turn is a blank, I go all in. Guy to my left calls and flips over pocket 3’s. That’s what I get for playing Ace-Rag. I call it a night. That hand keeps haunting me.

Still more to come....

Wednesday was the 4th of July. Bobbi and I got up and went to the Fashion Show mall. I really don’t care for that mall. After shopping there, we walked over to TI. I played a little poker while she played blackjack. It was pretty uneventful there. I don’t remember any hands. I think I left down $100. I know TI has a great reputation here but I just didn’t care for it too much. The cards don’t move really well on the tables due to the material used. The people there were nice. But I just didn’t have as good of a time there as I did at Planet Ho.

My Dad wanted to go to dinner that night and my Husband (we are separated) was in town so he could see our son, so we all went to dinner at the steak house at Binion’s. We got a table by the window at about 8:30pm and we could see fireworks going off all over town. It was pretty nice. The food was really good. I ordered the petite filet and lobster. The lobster was HUGE! I only took like 1 bite of steak and ate ½ of the lobster and gave the rest to my husband. Then, since we were down town, Corbin wanted to see the motorcycle show again. I took a video of it on my cell phone; I wish I could show it to you all. It’s really cool.

After dinner, they dropped Bobbi and me off at the MGM. We decided to go out so walked over to Coyote Ugly. Just outside the door of NYNY at the sky bridge, there was a guy giving out free admission tickets to Coyote Ugly. Score! We wait in line for about 20 minutes, when we get to the front they tell us it will be $5 to get in. They said the free admission tickets we have tonight are only good for “half off”. Sounds like a crock of horse dookie to me. So we each pay the $5 then go in and get a beer. The place is so crowded; we could hardly even get to the bar to order a beer. When we finally order one, it’s like $13.00 for 2 Coors Lights. I’m not really all that cheap but I am really irritated after they just suckered us at the door too. We decide we are too old and cranky for Coyote Ugly and leave.

I go play poker at MGM and Bobbi plays blackjack. I can’t recall the session but I am sure I lost 1 buy in at $1/$2NL. I had a terrible time in this room this time.

Thursday we go over to the Rio to see if we can see Brad Pitt and the others in the celebrity charity tournament. Unfortunately, they have the tournament room blocked off like Ft. Knox. We instead go to the Poker Expo. I warn Bobbi before we go in that there will be a bunch of scantily clad women in there acting as promotional models for just about everything. We walked thru picking up free stuff, signing up for drawings, and indulging in a free drink.

I see a booth set up for Vince Neil Ink. I have been thinking about getting a tattoo lately. My mom passed away in May and she loved Iris’s. My sister and I were going to go and get Iris tattoos while she is up in Alaska for the funeral but most of the places around here work on appointment and it just never worked out. So here I am, at the Rio, looking at an empty tattoo chair. The guy is available to give me a tattoo right now. I decide on the Iris design and placement (base of my neck-upper back) and I pay $120. He started on it and I didn’t think the pain was all that bad. Certain spots hurt pretty badly but over all, it’s doable. Anytime the pain was bad I would just think about being in labor, and it didn’t seem so bad. And the tattoo only took about 35 minutes (labor was almost 48 hours!)

After the tattoo, I decided I had enough fun at the Rio and we went back to MGM for a nap. We had some friend coming in from Anchorage that night and they were staying at the Luxor. So we decided to make our way over that direction. We stop off at the Tropicana. Again, I play poker and Bobbi plays blackjack. I hated this poker room. I order a beer and it took over a ½ hour to get it! I decided to go find Bobbi because I hated the poker room so much. I find her at a blackjack table full of 21 year old boys. They are all drunk and having a good time. One keeps inviting us to the “stud ranch”. Uh, no thanks. From there, we head over the Excalibur.

When we walk in, we are looking for somewhere to eat. We see a place called “Dick’s Last Resort”. They have all these t-shirts for sale that play on the word ‘Dick’s’. Such as, “I Love Dick’s”, etc. The place looks like fun so we go in. They had a disco band playing on the stage, people were throwing napkins and wadded up paper at each other, and it was just a lot of energy. They make everyone these crazy hats made out of paper with crazy things written on them. “It’s expensive to look this cheap!” “Brokeback Mountain Stunt Double” “I’ve seen more Dick’s than a urinal” They even had a hat on a teenaged girl that said “Future Stripper”. It was funny. If you are near the Excalibur, go there.

After dinner, I go play poker and Bobbi goes to blackjack. I played for a while. Excalibur was pretty uneventful. I didn’t stay long because our friends were arriving soon. I think I left with pretty much what I came there with. Once we got to the Luxor, the girls still weren’t there so I played poker and Bobbi went to find cheap blackjack.

Now, I have hated the Luxor’s $1/$2 NL game in the past. They recently upped the buy-in from $50 to $100. I didn’t have big expectations in this game given the previous results I had here. But I played for about 4 hours and I worked that $100 up to $900. Bobbi found our friends and left around 4 am. I left about 30 minutes later. I walked thru the Excalibur, then I tried to walk thru NYNY but it was closed (Later found out about the crazy man shooting people), and back to the MGM. I stopped and played $2/$5 NL at MGM and lost $400 to a bigger flopped flush. Ouch. I decided I better call it a night.

Last part:

Friday morning we are checking out and moving over to Palace Station. I have a terrible hangover. I think I went to bed around 6:30 am and we have to be out by 11:00. We called to see if we could get a later check out but no, it’s Friday and they need the room. My Dad picked us up at 11:00 to take us over there. We go check in and they put us in an old room due for renovation. How do I know it’s due for renovation? BECAUSE THEY ARE RENOVATING ALL THE ROOMS AROUND US! The noise is so loud it was impossible to relax in the room. Bobbi calls the front desk and asks how long the noise is going to go on. They tell her they will be running machinery from 9 am to 9 pm. Oh no! That’s just not going to work for these night owls! They finally find us a room higher up that has already been renovated but we are going to have to stick it out until 4:00pm. I was able to sleep but Bobbi couldn’t so she went to play blackjack.

We finally got into our newer room and it was really nice. It had a huge flat screen TV, nice comforters on the beds, and I nice view of the north end of the strip. It was a smoking room, but it didn’t smell like it. I was impressed with the newer room. And I think Bobbi only paid $29 or $39 a night on a special offer she received in the mail.

My Dad picked us up and we went to dinner at Ellis Island. This place is good and inexpensive place to eat. After dinner we went to meet the other girls at Luxor. They weren’t ready to go out yet so I played poker. I didn’t play long before they were ready to go out, so I cashed out and we walked to the Excalibur. We had to take them to Dick’s Last Resort. We ordered some beers and margaritas and enjoyed the disco music. I got carded twice in here. Since I am 36, I LOVE THIS PLACE! LOL

After that we decided to go over to Gilley’s. After we got there in the taxi, I decided I really didn’t feel like clubbing it up so I took the cab back to Palace Station. I went to their poker room. I think me and 1 other guy were the only out of towner’s there. There was a hand where 2 people were all in and there was a 3rd person that had them all covered. The short stack and the big stack both had pocket aces and the middle guy had pocket kings. The pocket aces ended up splitting the main pot and the 3rd person was to get the 2nd guys chips. The dealer did not know how to split the pot. There was a huge fight. The lady who had them all covered was pissed and screaming at the dealer. The lady next to me was trying to tell the dealer how to do it and she was telling her wrong. I thought to myself, I don’t want to play in a room where the dealer does not know now to split a pot…..so I left. It was crazy. I didn’t play in that room again.

Saturday I got up and told Bobbi I was going to Planet Ho to play in the 2:00 tournament. She decided to ride in the taxi with me so she could go dink around on the strip. I got signed up in time to not be an alternate. I ended up busting out after the 1st break. I played in the cash game until it was time to sign up for the 7:00 tournament. I went to the desk to ask when they were starting to sign up at about 5:50 and they said they were already taking sign ups. I ended up getting the last seat. I was a little surprised they didn’t take pre-sign ups for the people currently in cash games. Anyway, I cashed out up about $250 and went and got a sandwich and walked around the mall before the tournament started.

I didn’t do very well in this tournament either. Tournaments were really bad for me this trip. I did pretty good at the cash games but horrible in the tournaments. I went and played in the cash game again. This table had a few strange things happen. I played one hand with a guy and I called his all in with top pair and a straight draw on the turn and he catches trip 7’s (2 outer) on the river. Then he asks to see my cards when I threw them face down. Because they weren’t touching the muck the dealer turned them up. He proceeds to tell me I get what I deserve for playing badly. I ask him, “You are going to criticize me then make a d***head move like asking to see my folded cards?” If he thought I played bad, fine….but don’t criticize me, I might start to play better! That’s what I was thinking about him when I didn’t say anything about him sucking out on me on a 2 outer.

Then a little later, I had been sitting next to this guy who was a complete southern gentleman. I forget his name but he was from SC and his cousin was playing at the other end of the table. These 2 local girls show up and they sit one each side of the dealer. The one sitting in the 10 seats is talking to me and the southern gentleman (SG). I make some comment/compliment about her make up and she asks me if I want to kiss her. I and I was like, “No, I am not a lesbian.” I was a little uncomfortable but I just went on and changed the subject. She kind of kept making little comments here and there but I just blew it off. Then a little later, SG wins a HUGE POT from her friend in the 1 seat. It was probably like $500 or something. He had about$1500 in front of him. Next think I know SG freaks out and jumps back from the table and said to the girl, “Don’t ever touch me again! I don’t play that game!” SG tells the dealer that the girl just grabbed him under the table. She was like, “What, what are you talking about? Do you think I’m a whore?” and SG said, “You probably are!” Then the dealer yells “Floor!” and the dealer looked really pissed. I think he probably knew these girls and felt like he should defend them. The floor comes over and the dealer tells him SG called the girl a “Whore”. Floor tells everyone to calm down and try to get along, yadda, yadda, yadda. After the situation the girl plays there for about 10 more minutes then gets up and leaves. She totally killed the good mood of the game.

Then about ½ an hour later the friend in seat 1 is in another big and with a player and she is all in. She has about $100 in a stack in front of her when she called and the rest is in the middle of the table in the pot. A player in seat 2 folds and the new player in the 10 seat calls. Then someone notices seat 1 has 4 cards. The player in seat 2 threw her cards into seat 1’s cards. Floor is called and floor rules her hand dead but gives her back the stack in front of her but awards the rest of the pot to seat 10. The girl starts crying and throwing a fit. I would be upset too but it’s a valuable lesson learned. You have to protect your hand. Especially in the seats closest to the dealer. It was a crazy night. I think I got back to Palace Station around 5:00 am.

Here is my biggest pet peeve about hotels in Las Vegas. If you have a Do Not Disturb sign on the door, the maid should NOT knock on the door! We were checking out on Sunday and we probably had to tell the maid 7 or 8 times we were checking out and didn’t need our room cleaned. 3 times they just walked in without knocking. This was all between the hours about 8 am and 10 am. We had scheduled a late check out for 8 pm. When you get to bed at 5 am you don’t want friggin’ maid service at 8 am! Some hotels are horrible about this and Palace Station was by far the worst one.

I really wanted to play in the Venetian room but I never made it there. I loved the room at Planet Hollywood and I want to stay there next time I come down to Vegas. I dumped some money in video poker there so I hope they start sending me cheap room offers. My only real complaint there was the guy in the Extra bar playing piano was a terrible singer and he could be heard from the poker room. At least with Karaoke, you occasionally get a good singer. This guy was bad all night.

That was my Vegas trip! I am sure I left somethings out. It was a long trip. Since I didn't take notes it's hard to remember everything.

Hey AG,

Great trip report. The inner 12 year-old in me giggled every time I saw the words 'Planet Ho'. So was the final tally written in black ink or in red?

I think someone else here called it Planet Ho before me. I liked it, so I used it.

Cash games were good but I still came out in the red.

Next time I am going to avoid all machines. And I would like to get to Vegas in enough time to satellite into WSOP. If I had done those 2 things I would have been in the black.

*sigh* Off to build my bankroll.....

Excellent trip report. I really got a big laugh when you said, "...We decide we are too old and cranky for Coyote Ugly and leave. "

Describes my feelings about partying late into the night perfectly but you're not old, I'm old.

Nice trip report, Gal!

Alaskadude, you're not old, you're ancient ;)

Great report, we saw the motorcycle globe downtown when we were there, IMO it was better than the light show.