Well this was an unusual trip I suppose. I really enjoy gambling and I love to play poker but I don't get to play as much as I would like for a variety of reasons (more on that later). This was a trip with my mother (who is almost 70) and my sister (who is recently divorced and I really wanted to get to attend a trip as back when we were younger we would make the occasional trip to the casino). Mom and I flew out Sunday afternoon with a return trip for Thursday and Jenny (my sis) flew out Saturday night and had to get back on Tuesday.

Jennifer stayed at Aria on Saturday night ($107 on hotwire) and was quite impressed with the room and the restaurant she ate at (Sage which she said was excellent). Unfortunately she was down gambling (she pretty much only plays blackjack) by the time we arrived on Sunday. I had to meet my mom in Springfield, MO for the flight out. Allegiant Air, direct flight, no frills and no problems and I can pay in advance for the exit row which I love (I'm a pretty big guy).

I get markers at Venetian and have about $4000-$4500 to gamble. Mom and Jenny are at about $1000 each I'd say. Line at Venetian is a bit long to check in. I recommend trying to check in at the Venzia tower if it's during the weekend and that desk is open. I have to register for a slot tourney (another long line unless you were the rude lady who cut the line right behind me and acted like she didn't know what she was doing) so it takes a while to get Jenny at the blackjack table but she had been making a comeback so it's fine. I suggest we go to Outback for one of my comped meals at the Casino Royale. Jenny isn't that hungry so we do that. After dinner I get my $100 in free play and mom gets her $20 in free play. I'm close to losing my first $200 when I hit four aces at dollar VP! I keep winning and leave the Royale up $700 in about 40 minutes.

We decide to gamble a bit at Venetian so Mom and I play Crazy4 Poker while Jenny watches. The table kinda sucks so mom (lost $200 and that's it for the day) and Jenny go to look at jewelry while I keep trying. I switch tables when a smoker sits down. Well I am doing very well by the time they come back so I agree to split Jenny's wins and losses with her (it's a $15 table). I hit a straight flush for just over $1000 and Jenny plays a long time and wins $20, being the great guy I am I let her keep all her winnings!

This is a rare thing for me starting out a winner so it puts me in a great mood. Jenny gets up and goes running Monday morning (she is a great marathon runner) and we have breakfast at Bouchon. It's expensive but damn it's good. I do well in round one of my slot tourney. We also have a late lunch at Carnevino after my round two which goes well. Holy damn, was this good food wine, etc. If you go there before dinner it's actually quite reasonable also as they aren't in the best location and I don't know how well they advertise this lunch/bar menu.

We go to LOVE and it is fantastic. Mom and I had seen it but Jenny needed to see it and it was great. All I can say is it's a must see in my opinion.

So we are feeling pretty good and I try to talk Jenny into some $25 Blackjack (they aren't stupid at the Mirage as they up the limits after the show), that's a little steep for Jenny so we think about finding a bar. I suggest to Mom it's time to "seek our fortune" and she agrees so we hit the high limit room. Each trip Mom and I will each make one $250 Video Poker bet and hope for the best. We play $5 10 play for one hand of DDB so typically we lose between $50 and $150 bucks. If we ever hit a fortune the other person gets 20%. I go first and hold one King. I only get $50 back which sucks. Mom puts her money in and I tell her to hit the play one credit button 50 times. Well she decides to hit play max credits and we close our eyes and hope it makes a "happy noise" for an automatic winner. It does and I look down to see 665 as the first three cards and figure she has two pair. Well she has quad sixes dealt and I let out quite a yell. I hit the "Hold" button in record time and explain to Mom that we (mostly she) have won $12,500. Well we have to wait a while to get paid and we hit the champagne pretty hard and tip the cocktail waitress and slot folks pretty well. I have hit some nice jackpots before but I don't think I have ever had more fun gambling. Mom really doesn't gamble much and if anyone deserves to win like that she does. We go back to the V, Mom buys Jenny some jewelry and we have more champagne at the fancy bar at Palazzo. What a great night.

I guess I'll get to poker. We have another great lunch at Mesa Grill after my not so great round 3 in the tourney before Jenny has to take the plane back on Tuesday and I set up a 330 poker lesson with Yappy. My sister keeps asking me "don't you know how to play poker" and I say sure but we all need advice and I am not as confident as I could be at the game.

I find out that I JUST missed getting paid in the slot tourney and go to meet Dave while Mom takes a nap.

I should give a little background on my poker playing. I typically make it out to Vegas three times a year and play a few lower limit tournaments but very little in the way of cash games. Part of that is because I usually have a crew of friends with me on these trips and it's easier just to drink and gamble together so I don't play much poker but honestly part of this is due to a lack of confidence on my part. Now I have a Ph.D. in economics and I read quite a bit about poker and I don't mind gambling so this is quite silly but I think it's somewhat natural not to want to do something stupid or just throw your money away. So I set up a lesson with Dave who I figured would be brutally honest about my game and if I was in over my head so be it. I pretty much just play TAG and try to stay out of trouble.

Dave is already playing 1/3 at TI and has texted me some information about the other players in general before I arrive. When I arrived the players were quite weak for the most part but as time goes by the terrible players keep busting out and get replaced by better players who appear to be regulars for the most part. This was a very eventful 1/3 table but it was a few weeks ago so I apologize for the lack of detail as not that many hands stand out. I felt as though I played very well with one big exception that I would like to take back.

I took down a few pots where I got the loose player to call me down with TP weak kicker or bottom pair and pulled off at least one semi bluff. I was telling Dave after hands were over what I was folding because I folded a few KJ, AJ type hands from EP. I got heads up with Dave on one pot when he was short stacked and knowing his nature I put him all in with my big flush draw and fortunately he had a lower flush draw. Again no great play on my part and I was basically just playing the stack size on that one.

The hand where I regret I had Q hearts, J of clubs in the BB, Dave had straddled to my left (I may have been the one to straddle but I don't think so) and someone made it $15 with three callers to me. I make a pretty loose call figuring Dave will call also (which he does). The flop comes Ah, Kh and something like the 8 or 9 of hearts. Well this looks pretty good for me, I have the nut flush draw and a straight draw to go with it so I bet $50. Dave folds, short stack goes all in for another $75 and the button also goes all in for about $300 total or $250 more. Now I have to call $250 to win what would become the biggest pot I have ever seen of about $800. There is really no good way to justify this call (I think I convinced myself the button had two pair or something) I know I have the nut draw so I call after quite a bit of thought. Well both players have flushes and I threw $250 away (which was just above my loss for the session of about $210).

I invite Dave to join my mother and I at Outback (love those Royale Comps) after the session (Dave destroyed this game for about $1300, it was crazy and he won a coin flip for about $900 on the last hand but he still really was in control of the game most of the time, he had to rebuy early but once he got going he was killing the game). We have a good visit about poker and other issues and overall he is encouraging about my bet sizing, thought process and lack of timing tells which is encouraging. My mother taught gifted ed for years and she mentioned how Dave's interest in and understanding of music (similar to some of her students) gives him the background and mathematical skills to do very well in poker.

UPDATE: Since this lesson I played cash games at Harrah's in KC (1/3) over Memorial Day weekend and won just over $450 and I played in a tournament in Council Bluffs last Thursday (bounty tournament) and I took 5th out of 76 and took four $20 bounties to turn my $75 into $284. I have always been confident in tournaments but I really felt calm and in control playing this cash game just because I had a little more confidence. There was obviously some luck involved but I also won a fair amount of money with my opponents drawing dead or close to it.

I have a ridiculous run on Tuesday night playing $1 triple play Super Double Double Bonus poker at the V. I figure I'll risk about $600 since I am way up and I keep hitting jackpots and win about $5K. Mom wins about another grand but she was down $200 for the day before that and sadly I convince her to do a bit of gambling on Tuesday and she loses most of those "extra winnings".

We go to Bank of America to make a deposit (what a great feeling) and I take a huge check back to Missouri. Then off Dave's suggestion we have a late lunch at Lotus of Siam. If you get the chance GO TO THIS PLACE and just let the waiter guide you through the choices. We had fantastic, eclectic dishes.

For the trip, zourah wins about $8000, mom wins about $10,000 and sister probably lost about $800 but mom bought her a really cool ring. I know I won't have another trip like that anytime soon but wow was this great! I know this was long so I hope you enjoyed reading!