Besides this trip report I will be putting together a few room review posts also. I guess I have to start off with the fact I have only been playing poker a little over a year and most of my experience has been free poker in bars and home games. I did start hitting a card room to play SNGs about four months ago. I made enough money in SNGs around Thanksgiving to pay for this pre-Xmas Vegas trip so here goes....

Started off at the Binion's Sunday 2pm $10k game which was a $70 buyin. About 122 players and I lasted almost to the second break and busted out. Totally card dead. The dealers did a good job and I did not see any mgt actions required on the floor.

Next hit the 9pm game at the Fitz. $35 entry plus $15 addon and $15 rebuy. I don't remember if we had two or three tables running but since I was still card dead it did not matter. From reading previous reviews on the Fitz, yes, those slot machines can flood the poker 'room' with obnoxious noise. Waitresses made 2-3 rounds per hour. I did notice they served Red Bull but nobody was asking for it in cans. Dealers seemed to do an OK job.

On Monday I played a $50 10am at Binion's where I almost made the final table of 40 players. Next I played a 7pm at GN that I did poorly in and then took 5th out of 24 at the Fitz's 9pm game. At this point I am at the end of my second day of play and also am half way through my trip and have not won a nickel. But then it hit me like a ton of bricks that I would not cash in any of these tournaments unless I choose the right time to gamble at different levels of the game and kick my game in to high gear.

Tuesday morning hit the 10am Binion's $50 buyin and managed to catch QQ in the big blind with 4 limpers which I checked. Flop is A Q rag rainbox and I am first to act. Hmmmmmm check and the next to act bets 3 BB with callers all the way around to me. Hmmmmmmmmm call. Turn is a Q. Hmmmmmmmm check. Same guy puts out 3 more BB. Fold, Fold, call and then on me. Hmmmmmmmmmmm call. River is a Q. QUADS!!!!! And maybe two guys holding full houses? I did not take any chances letting the river get checked down so I opened with a very fast all-in. The guy who did all the betting so far checked. Last to act told the table he was pretty sure we were chopping the pot and he called. I knew better than to slow roll so I told the table "I have them" and turned over my QQ. There was a collective gasp at the table. Only one or two put me on QQ. I got a nice pot on that one. In the second hour of play I got out drawn on an all-in but was at a point I was ready to make some moves at the Golden Nugget games coming next.

I played an 11am and 3pm $65 tournament at GN and chopped 1st/2nd in the 11am and won the 3pm game. Besides finally catching cards I was making moves and cranked up the aggression. People that were in the 11am game that played against me in the 3pm game feared me. These tournaments run 3 hours give or take 30 mins. And almost everybody does a rebuy so the cost to play is reallistically $105. With 20ish players and almost everybody doing rebuys the prize pools run $1600 - $1900 and four places get paid at that level with %50 going to the winner. Yes: HALF... I felt I had finally accomplished something by tieing for first and then an outright first and had a pocket full of $100 GN chips.

So here it is 7pm Wednesday and I realize I have not eaten since noon Tuesday. I did have a prime rib and finished Weds with some video poker and then got some sleep.

Ok.... I know anyone reading this is thinking WTF? You went to sleep? Loser? No. I had a plan. Which involved getting up at 5am to go grab a seat at the El Cortez at approx 6am for their famous 1-3-6 game. From all my reading on the EC on AVP I have to say the walk down there only involves one 'tough' block. If you survive that one block of the trip down to the EC you are fine. Not a soul at 6am though so I am golden. It took about 15 minutes to get a seat with the one table that was running. The players seemed to have been there overnight and had a stellar mix of players. A couple of drunk Filipinos. A couple of drunk geezers. A couple of bums. Only one guy under 30 at the table. I buy in for $50. Yes it is odd to see quarters on the poker table but that is from the $2.50 max rake. Two thirds of the players saw the flop for one buck. Definitely had to change gears from nolimit tournament play. Then I caught AA in the blind (no SB/BB just one guy in for a buck). Three guys limp and cutoff raises to $4 I think it was. $4 gets called around to me and I try to make it a total of $8 but the dealer corrects my raise to $7 (????? I don't play much limit). Fold, call, fold and the original bettor calls. I now have if I remember right seven players in for $7 preflop with AA at the EC. This is gonna rock... Flop is a rainbow of rags which I stare at for a few seconds and then check. It checks around to the guy who bet preflop and he makes it $3 (bless his heart) it gets called around to me and hmmmmmmmmmmm call. Then 3 more callers. I think the turn was a jack and there is no flush draw and no real straight draws I am afraid of but I am not sure of two pairs or not. I check and same betting happens on turn. The river is a king. I still have faith in my proxy bettor so I check and my proxy bets $6. It folds over to me and I raise another $6. Couple more folds and it is back to my proxy. This drunk Filipion stares me down and mumbles that I am a stiff. I just stare right back and get called. I am worried about two pairs being made but when I turn over my aces they are good. My proxy does tell me 'nice hand'. I did tip the dealer $3 on that one and would have tipped more expect I had not seen any tip larger than $1 and some guys were tipping a quarter on a $30 win. I did not want to get my ass kicked that the EC for tipping the dealer too much. I played about 3 hours and left about $75 up. When I cashed out I tip the floor guy $10 and his jaw dropped. I told him I did well and I had a great time. Then I just smiled and walked away. The El Cortez is a must for downtown players.

I concluded my trip with an 11am GN tournament and made it down to the final five and busted out. Overall for the trip with all of my entries paid I was up $500. Oh, almost forgot, I did hit the Plaza. Made it to 4th in one $40 SNG. Bad thing about the Plaza is that it can take HOURS to fill a SNG signup sheet.

I left Thursday morning with a slight sense of accomplishment for my first trip to Vegas. I did learn that my local poker play will not work in Vegas and aggression and gambling at the right times are required to make it in to the money. My next trip will be longer but I do plan on staying downtown again but will also on my next trip hit a few poker rooms on the strip.