The main purpose of the trip was to honor two bretheren who will succumb to marriage this summer. One of the soon-to-be-former bachelor's (hereinafter known as T) is one of my best friends from college. As noted in another thread, the hotel chosen was Venetian. Activities for the weekend included a trip to the Encore Beach Club, XS nightclub, copious amount of eating and drinking, and general debauchery that bachelor parties tend to entail. The majority of the guys flew in on Thursday evening, while the rest arrived on Friday.

Two other college friends (also friends with the bachelor--hereinafter known as C and D) were flying into Vegas for the weekend. Their main purpose was to visit yet another college friend who was celebrating the baptism of their twin girls. They were not going to partake in any of the bachelor party activities (neither was I, really); and, I decided to room with them. One of them is a regular at Venetian, and he got Friday night comped at Palazzo through his host; which meant we only needed six hours of poker room play to get the $179 room rate for Saturday. Win-win situation in my book.

**Friday, May 17**

After finishing up work around 2:45pm, I left to go directly to the airport. I parked my car at an off-site parking lot (using a very generous $5/day coupon) and took the 15-minute shuttle to the airport. Security was light and I had about 15 minutes to spare before boarding commenced. When I checked-in on Thursday, I was offered an upgrade to First Class for $69. I figured I'd splurge on it, with the added bonus I'd be one of the first people off the plane. I was one of the first to board, and settled into my comfy seat for the 100-minute flight. Prior to departure, I enjoyed two glasses of Diet Coke. Once we reached cruising altitude, I ordered a gin & tonic and offered various snacks (mini Clif Bars, PopChips, cocao-roasted almonds, and mini Toblerone bars). I drank and snacked while I read a book.

We landed about 15 minutes ahead of schedule, then began the long trek from the D-gates to the Rental Car shuttle. I hopped into my rental car and was off to the Palazzo. I arrived just before 7pm and gave the car to the valet. Since the room was booked only under my friend's name (and he wasn't arriving until 10pm), I left my bag with Guest Services and went directly to the poker room. After signing up for a Grazie card, I was seated almost immediately at the 4/8 table.

It was a rather boring session, with the table full of nitty regulars as well as people waiting for a 1/2 game to open up. T texted me shortly after I sat down and said he'd play a little poker before dinner at Carnevino. T arrived, we hugged it out, and we sat down to play some more. In his very first hand, he limps in. I'm on the big blind with Th8h, and I check. The flop comes mixed with two hearts. I check, as does the rest of the table. The turn is a diamond. I bet out $8, T raises, I call, and everyone else folds. The river is a heart. I bet $8, and T calls and turns over JJ. I feel bad taking money from him, but it's really his fault for not raising pre-flop (in hindsight, probably not since I probably would've called). The rest of the session was uneventful with anyone (sometimes me) betting post-flop or on the turn to take down the pot. I think we went 10-15 straight hands without seeing a showdown. I lost a rather sizeable pot with AK losing to AQ with a Q on the flop.

**Sidebar:** For the 12 guys in attendance for the weekend, we used WhatsApp for group communications. It was a great app to effectively communicate with a large group to figure out where people were. That said, it is a massive battery drain, and it required me to carry around my portable charger so that I'd have enough juice to last me the whole night.

Around 7:45pm, a message came across WhatsApp saying we could sit down for dinner at 8:30 (instead of 9:00), and we all agreed to meet at Carnevino at 8:30. My buddy racked up at 8:00 so he could go back to the room and change. I played for another 15 minutes, cashed out down $15, and walked over to Carnevino. I met the bachelor party organizer at the bar (whom I haven't seen since college--we are all now in our 30's), and we had a cocktail while waiting for the rest of the group to show up. By 9pm, everyone had arrived, and we sat down for an incredible meal (the beef cheek ravioli is not on the menu, but highly recommended).

C & D finally arrived, and I walked over to the lobby to meet them. I gave the front desk my claim check for my luggage, and they would send it up to the room. I went back to Carnevino to finish my dinner, and C & D also stopped by to say hi to the rest of the group. After dinner (11pm), the guys kind of split up to either go gambling or cab it to down to Cosmopolitain to continue drinking. C, D, and me went back to the poker room. They sat down at the 2/5 table while I went back to the 4/8 table. The action was much more fluid. On my first two hands, I took down large pots with AA and an A-high flush; however, I pretty much went card-dead the rest of the session (a very common theme the rest of the trip). At one point, the 4/8 table I was table was down to four-handed, so it broke. I put myself on the list for the remaining 4/8 table, and sat down immediately at a 1/2 table for a short while, losing about $20 at a very loose table. I got seated again at the 4/8 table but continued to remain card-dead. C & D finished around 1:30am, and I racked up at 2:15am down about $76 and went up to the room to sleep.

**Saturday, May 18**

While the rest of the guys in the bachelor party were going to Encore Beach Club and XS today, I decided I was too old to partake in such shenanigans. Laying out upwards of $1000 per person to drink overpriced bottles of booze, getting my ears blown out by massive speakers, and having to deal with large crowds that still enjoy that kind of lifestyle was not my thing anymore. I'm married with two kids, and I have better things to spend $1000 on nowadays.

I woke up around 9:15am, and went downstairs to the pool to read my book for a while. The pool was already full of families and older people, and the majority of the chairs were "saved" by towels and such (I felt like I was on a cruise ship). The downside to the pool is that it is shady in the morning, so while it was nice to sit there and read, the pool was a tad on the chilly side. Around 10:30am, after a quick dip in the pool, I went back upstairs. C & D were getting ready to head out to the baptism and reception. After the left, I hopped into the shower, and then made my way out to The Strip. I was debating between the 11am Stack tournament at the Mirage and the noon tourney at Caesar's. In the end, I decided to try out the noon tourney; mainly because it was already 11:25 when I left, and I don't like buying-in late. I arrived at Caesar's Palace poker room at 11:45, and the room was quite empty with only three tables of 1/3 NL going on. I signed up for a TR card, and signed up for the tournament. By the time the cards flew just after noon, we only had 17 runners.

I was card-dead the majority of the first two rounds. I tried to steal the pot with middle pair on a scary board, but I got raised by quite a bit by an aggressive player and let it go, leaving me with about 8k in chips. By the end of the first break, we had 24 runners (no one re-bought) for a first place prize of $960, and I was down to about 7k in chips. Over the next two rounds, I went on a small heater winning a few pots, including a nice bluff against the chip leader. I was eventually sitting around 14k in chips. One major -EV event that happened was that I was about to be the big blind when my wife called. Not to ignore she-shall-who-be-obeyed, I stepped away from the table to answer. It was my daughter who told me she got a gold medal in vault at her gymnastics meet. So proud of her. However, when I sat down, I missed both blinds, along with 1400 in chips. With 11 players left and blinds at 400-800 and me at around 10k in chips, I held QT and raised pre-flop to 2000. There were two callers, including the chip leader. The flop was AKT. I should've bet, but I checked as did the other two. The turn was a 7, and the chip leader called my 2k bet. The river was a 4, and I went all-in trying to bluff. The chip leader thought about it for about 30 seconds, then called and turned over 77. Oh well.

I really like the Caesar's Palace poker room mainly because I'm not a fan of extraneous noise. It was nice and quiet in there. The only downside to the Venetian poker room is that if you're sitting near the poker desk, you hear all of the riff-raff yelling and screaming at the nearby escalators.

It was about 3pm when I walked back to the Venetian and put myself on to 4/8 list. I sat down immediately at an 1/2 table, and was card-dead for the short time I was there (losing about $25). The sports book started screaming as the ponies in the Preakness stormed out of the gates. Shortly after the race ended, my name was finally called for the 4/8 table. Kind of like the previous night, I won my first two hands with AA and spiking Broadway on the river. Beside that, I bled chips as I was card-dead or had second-best hands at showdown. Around 4:30pm, C & D texted me and said they were back at the hotel and were at Legasse's Stadium to watch the Rockhold/Belfort UFC fight. I cashed out at 5pm (down about $50 for the session) and walked over to Legasse's. We sat at the bar. Food and beverages were consumed, and the icing on the cake was hearing all of the New Yawkers getting silenced as the Knicks once again imploded in the playoffs--especially since we were isolated to just one TV and no sound because of the game.

**Sidebar #2:** I was estatic to see that Public House serves Innis & Gunn Rum Cask beer. It's brewed in Scotland, and aged for two months in 18th-century oak rum casks. It is incredibly smooth and finishes with just the slightest hint of rum. It's the beer I now drink the most when I'm in Sweden in summers, and, sadly, they do not have a distributor in Colorado. They charge $12/bottle, but it was worth it. (In a bit of irony, that is about what I pay for a bottle in Sweden, too.)

My memory is really fuzzy, but sometime during the afternoon, we went to the Grazie desk at the poker room to register our hours for the poker room rate. We kept mentioning that Friday night's room was comped, but the employee wrote down 5/17-5/18 on the rate sheet. He assured us that we'd get the $179 rate for Saturday. More on that later.

After the game (about 8pm), we met up with two couples (one of them being the parents of the kids whom the baptism was held for). We drove down to NYNY and went to the Times Square Bar for some dueling piano action. It was a loud, rollicking place with lots of Canadian bachelorette parties in attendance. After beers and shots, we decided to head to Chinatown to do some karaoke. More drinking, more singing, and a good time. Although it felt like 3am, it was only midnight when C, D, and I were dropped back off at Palazzo. We went to Noodle Asia for a late-night meal, then we all hit the poker room. They again sat down at the 2/5 table, and I went over to the 4/8 table. And, since the saying is third time is a charm, I once again won the first two pots with AA and a J-high flush. And, just like the previous nights, the cards never found me again the rest of the night (down about $73). C quit early, and D and I cashed out at 3:15am.

The 4/8 table at Venetian was okay. About half of the seats were people I saw on both nights, and most of them are on a first-name basis with the dealers. Basically, if you play ABC poker, you'll do fine. Just a shame I was card-dead the majority of the time.

**Sunday, May 19**

I woke up at 8:30am with a pounding headache and unable to sleep. I hopped into the shower, then went downstairs to find some breakfast. I spent my $15 Grazie poker room comp on four croissants and brought it back to the room to share. I also stopped by the Front Desk to request a 1pm check-out time, which was granted. Looking at the WhatsApp chat log, it appears the bachelor party ended around 6am.

The rest of the morning was very low-key. C received the room bill, and, sure enough, we were charged the rack rate ($419) for Saturday night. We went down to the Grazie desk. After about 5 minutes of phone calls between the Grazie desk and poker room, the Grazie desk employee said everything sorted out. We went back to the room to chill. We looked at the room bill on the TV, and the rate was adjusted accordingly. Just over $200 for two nights at the Palazzo split three-ways. I'll take it.

At about 11:30am, T calls and says he's in the taxi cab line with some friends to head over to the Hard Rock Hotel. I told T that I had a rental car, and I had plenty of room for others. T tagged along with me while his friends decided to take the cab (subsequently, one leaving their iPhone in the cab). The valet was surprisingly quick with our cars. T and I said our goodbyes to C & D, who were going to meet a friend for lunch. T and I drove over to the HRH and met up with the rest of the group. We had brunch at Culinary Dropout, which was okay. We walked around HRH for about 45 minutes, checking out the souvenir shop as well as the eye candy waiting in line for Rehab, then everyone except T took a cab to the airport. I still have no idea why we went to HRH; but I just wanted to hang out with T, so I didn't mind. The poker "room" was completely empty and had two bored employees sitting there. I'm guessing it only gets action at night.

T and I went back to my rental car. I needed an In-N-Out fix, so we went to the one at Tropicana/Dean Martin. The line was huge, but quick, and I thoroughly enjoyed my double-double animal style. After a quick stop at the gas station (0.45 gallons haha), we returned the rental car and accidentally took the Terminal 1 shuttle to the airport. T neglected to get a boarding pass (paper or mobile), so we had to wait for the InterLink shuttle to Terminal 3. We got to the D gates around 3:45pm, and sat down with some of the guys at a sport bar, enoying some beers. They boarded their flight at 4pm, so T and I walked around so that I could find something to buy my kids. I ended up with two sequined Las Vegas t-shirts. I said bye to T at 4:20 so he could board his flight. I had another 70 minutes before my flight was to start boarding.

I booked my flight using American Express Membership Rewards points. A few days before my flight, I received an e-mail invitation to use The Centurion Lounge located near D4 for free. The lounge is open to any American Express card holder for $50. Those with Centurion cards have free access, and select Platinum card holders (as I have read) have 5/10/unlimited passes through 2013. I walked into the lounge and was greeted by a very cheery receptionist. She took my Amex card, acknowledged I had a free pass on my account, entered my flight details, and offered a free iPad to use while in the lounge, which I declined. Then she said that I could bring in two guests. I texted C & D to see if they wanted to join me. C was about to board his flight, and D was flying Southwest, and couldn't get into the D gates.

The lounge is bright and airy. There are plenty of seating areas, including alcoves built into the walls, each with pillows, an ottoman, and power outlets for your electronic devices. There are TVs on with various channels showing, a TV screen showing the aircraft departure board, and bowls of fruit on each table. There is a buffet with a selection warm, freshly-prepared foods, a salad bar, a small dessert table, water/tea/lemonade stand, and a coffee bar. There is also a bar that serves complimentary cocktails along with middle/top-shelf liquors. Not being one to pass up on free food and booze, I helped myself. Everything was delicious, and the Airmail cocktail was also very tasty. I relaxed quietly in one of the aforementioned alcoves and used the free wifi to surf the web on my laptop. I also pondered taking advantage of the shower room to get rid of the remaining Vegas grime, but decided there wasn't enough time. Coming from a state where smoking indoors in businesses is banned, I keep forgetting how gross it now is to be enveloped by cigarette smoke everywhere you go. Around 5:30pm, I packed up my things and headed to the gate for an uneventful flight home. The lounge was fantastic and a great way to spend 70 minutes. Would it be worth $50? Perhaps, if you had a few hours before your flight and wanted some peace and quiet, a shower, as well as free food and booze (but, when you're flying home after a guys' weekend, I think the last thing you want is more booze).

All in all, a great time in Vegas. Sure, I lost money at the poker tables, but it wasn't the main purpose of the trip. It was great meeting up with T, C, and D (the latter two I hadn't seen since college but do communicate pretty often via IM and Facebook), and we made it a plan to make a Vegas meetup an annual (or bi-annual) occurance. Two nights was more than plenty for me; although, I could stretch it out 2-3 more days if I went with my wife (since heavy drinking would be replaced with fine dining and shows in the evenings). Besides that, I was missing my kids, and they were very excited to see me Monday morning.

Thanks for reading.