My background: 31 y.o. from PA, play poker occasionally (not as much as I'd like) Go to Vegas about every 2-3 years.

Wed, March 7
I arrived in LV on at 11AM, took a taxi to Bally's, I was worried that I was early but got an early check in, it was very fast, put my bag in my room and headed out. I was solo this day for my gambling buddy was arriving tomorrow. (It was way cheaper for me to fly from Philly Wed vs Thurs)

With money in my pocket, I was eager to play a tournament, I checked Caesars 3 PM, only 8 runners, headed over to Harrahs, played in the 3PM, only 23 players, fast blind structure. I won a few small pots early, blinds started to get steep so I tried to make a move. I had A4c, flop comes 2 clubs with with an open ended straight draw as well. On the turn I bet, he called, on the river I missed my draws. He bet 500, I raised to 2000 to try and take the pot, he calls, I had nothing and lose. My stack was crippled, later got AT offsuit and went all in villain had KK, my day was over -$80

Thu, March 8
My friend arrives at 11AM, we played some slots and blackjack. We walked to Gold and Silver Pawn shop "as seen on tv." Overall I was not impressed, it was small & the prices were out of this world. None of the tv stars were there . I bought my shot glass (I am a collector) and we were off to Freemont St. Ate at Freemont buffet, so-so. We noticed the slots are alot looser in Freemont St. We wanted to play an evening tourney, checked the Strat at 7 due to the recommendations on this site, it was dead - maybe 15 people?, headed to Caesars for the 10 PM. There were 53 runners, the first hour I hit a few smallish pots and then for 2 hours went card dead. Blinds were raising, went all in and doubled up with A3, next hand all in with AJ vs KJ of course he hits a K on the river. Another double up there and I would have had a healthy stack. I ended up 22 of 53. -$80

Fri, March 9
The whole reason we came to Vegas, the Daniel Tosh show at the Mirage, friggen hilarious I laughed so hard I was crying. We were second row, worth it! We wanted to do a tourney nearby that night, checked T.I. there were only about 10 players for the 10PM tourney, walked around a bit and went to bed.

Sat, March 10
Played in the 1 PM Aria tournament, this room is really nice with plush, adjustable seating and a great tournament format. 162 runners, they were saying that was one of the highest runners for this tourney ever. I really couldn't get anything going in this tournament, my cards were bad. I hung in there for a while, folding 98% of the time. With level 8 upon us and my chip stack dwindling, I pushed all in with 88 only to face 99 to my left, I was done 65th place. 1st was around $8000 I believe The thing I didn't like about this tourney was the re-entry because people played so stupidly the first 2 hours goin all in on every hand just because you could rebuy, I couldn't bust anyone due to my poor starting hands, had to fold alot of marginal hands I would normally like to see a flop with, such as suited connector and low pockets. -$125

Sun, March 11
We checked at the Mirage and T.I. for the 11 AM tourney, they were both dead. We decided to play the 11AM MGM tourney, about 35 runners, weak field. Was winning some pots, but the main hand I lost: I had KQ I raise 3x preflop, 2 callers, flop Qxx, I bet, 1 caller, turn x, I bet 1he calls again, river is a 3, didn't think this could hurt me, I bet, villain raises, I thought about it, maybe he has AQ? trips? I call (this guy has been loose all tourney) He has Q3!!!! What a donk! I was steaming. I was out shortly thereafter when my ace high lost. -$80

Overall, the Aria is by far the best tournament, I wish we would have waited and played that one on Sunday instead of MGM. It has the best structure and a great room overall.
Harrah's room is not very nice and the tourney is like a turbo format. Caesar's has a good format and nice spacing between tables. MGM was nothing special, seems like most people play cash game there.

Highlights (or lowlights) of my trip, I did terrible in poker. All in all, I spent about 8-10 hours at the table, never once saw AA, KK, AK, or QQ. Never hit trips with any of my small pairs. Just ran card dead overall.
We hit $200 twice on video keno with a 25 cent bet, 5/5 numbers, also hit for $300 at mississippi stud table game with a full house.
We were down overall with slots, and about even with blackjack.
We walked about 30 miles, I think that is faster than the deuce.
A great time was had by all and many beers were drunk!!!!
I think next time around I will stick with the Aria tournament and play some cash games, live and learn.

Overall I brought home less than I went with (down around $300) , but gambled for 4 straight days, so not bad overall! Maybe I should stick to keno :)
I found this site very helpful when planning my trip, thank you.

Thanks for reading, any comments are appreciated!!!