Longtime lurker on this site so I thought I would post a trip report to kind of introduce myself. I have to say that I love AVP, great info on the site.

Trip came about by my lovely wife asking what I wanted to do for my 40th birthday. Another golf trip to Ireland was out with the recent arrival of our daughter (wouldn’t feel right leaving for a couple of weeks) so I said how about a short trip to Vegas. Of course after the thumbs up I couldn’t wait to start planning. First call was to my poker buddy. Hey, my wife is sending me to Vegas and offered to buy your ticket and pay for your room, all you need is gambling money….you in? Of course not, his wife is not nearly as understanding as mine! So I round up two others buddies (non poker players), get plane tickets and book a room at the Venetian. By the way, my favorite hotel and poker room on the Strip. Great rate during the DSE, $139 a night, can’t beat that.

Land in Vegas 10:30 Tuesday morning and receive hook-up #1. My buddy Mike has booked a limo so we don’t have to stand in the hot ass line for a taxi. Thumbs up to Mikey! Leisurely trip to the V and check right in. Ask if there is a fridge in the room, there is not but they will deliver one right up. The beautiful check-in girl does warn me there is a minibar in the room and it is calibrated by weigh so don’t touch anything or we will be charged! After relaying this to Dan and Mike we are in the room unpacking and I here one of them say “hey there’s a fridge right here” followed by the sound of 20 bottles falling on the floor! Yes the dumbass opened the minibar and everything fell out. I will not name the individual who did it to prevent further embarrassment. Call the front desk and it is all straightened out. Off to wander the strip before dinner tonight at Craftsteak.

Played that stupid game blackjack all afternoon..if I saw one 13 I saw it every time…hate this game! Down $300. Back to the room to clean up for dinner. I have to say Craftsteak was good, but not great. Atmosphere was typical steakhouse which was nice but I would give the filet a 7. Certainly expected better for the price. Both Dan and Mike got the ribeye and loved it so maybe the ribeye was where it’s at…

After dinner Mike convinces us to WALK back to the V…in our sport coats. Mike gets a demerit for that, God it’s hot, 105 or so. Stop and play craps at Casino Royale + $90. Get back to the V and finally sit down at a poker table 1/2 NL. Only memorable hand is the one right before I leave. UTG + 1 is a lagtard who limps, I have KK and make it 15 to go. Folds around to lagtard villain who calls. Flop is 9 7 4 rainbow. He checks and I bet 20, he calls. Turn is a Q he bets 15, I raise to 40, and he pushes the rest of his $150ish stack. After my call and he proudly turns over Q4 off for 2 pair I realize it is time for bed.

Wednesday $235 Caesars Mega Stack.. 7500 chips and over 500 runners. Great first table. One guy who could play and the rest fairly soft. Kind of card dead but mange to chip up to about 16,000 by the first break. No real memorable hands. Table break after the 5 level and get moved to a new table just in time to see the shortstack in seat 1 river a boat with 4 7 suited to crack seat 5’s AA. Nice! About 2 orbits in with blinds at 400/800 I get QQ and raise to 2500. Everyone folds. 2 hands later I get QQ again and raise to 2000, seat 1 calls and asks why I bet less this time…I said because this hand is not as good as the last one. Everyone laughs…flop is 9h 8c 2h. I lead with 2500 and seat 1 thinks and then pushes all-in, BB folds and I snap Phil Hellmuth call. Seat 1 turns over 10 10 and I love it until the 10 on the turn. Now I am short and out next hand with A6 vs AK. GG and goodnight. Oh well, damn I hate tournaments. Overall I really liked the Caesar’s poker room and thought the tourney was well run.

Back to the V after a quick dinner in the food court. Played in a $80 sit-n-go for the next days $340 DSE. Very interesting table, 3 young pros, one I recognize but can’t put a name with and 4 real softies. Flop TPTK and get it all-in against a flush draw…win that. Flop a set against 2 pair and win that and I am cruising. With 4 left a deal is offered but one player does not want it…will only accept the win…as the short stack I don’t think that was an option for the rest of us. As you can guess he was next out and we did a 3 way chop.

Move on to a 1/2 NL cash game. No real hands of note but end up about $450.

Next day, breakfast at Bouchon…spectacular. Great way to start the day. Downstairs to the DSE with 12,000 chips and 40 minute levels. Pretty good structure. Interesting first table. I’m in seat 6 with 3 women in seats 7,8,9. The one is 7 is hyper aggressive. One hand of note and I would like some input on how I played it. I am UTG +2 with KK and blinds 100/200. I pop it to 600 and hyper girl to my left calls as does BB. Flop is KQ6 all diamonds. BB checks, I check and hyper girl bets 1000, BB folds…What’s my play? I raise to 3500 and she goes into the tank. I was somewhat afraid of AQ with the Ad or J10 with a diamond. She finally folds showing second pair. Question…in a tournament that is this deep is that a hand worth playing any slower with that scary board? Don’t know if I could have gotten any more value anyway. Built my stack up to about 20,000 when I get moved to a new table. Blinds are starting to get a little high, about 2000 an orbit. I have As8s on the button and make it 3000 to go. SB folds and BB pushes all-in after some thought. I have not been at this table long but I have seen him make this move twice in 6 hands. I call because I am not going to allow myself to be blinded down without a fight. He flips over K J off and I look golden with an A J 9 flop. Turn is a 10 and you guessed it…river Q! Good play sir…it’s off to the Wynn buffet for me! Once again, I hate tournaments…kind of like crack…feels good while you are doing it.

After the Wynn buffet the boys head to Jet and its back to the V for more cash games for me. The club scene is out for someone of my age. Like Chris Rock says, you never want to be the old guy in the club…he’s not really old, just too old to be in the club. For those with a delicate constitution I would skip this part of the story. I also want to apologize in advance for anyone reading this report that happened to be at this table I am about to describe. You see, I became “that guy”. We all know him and sometimes we become him. As soon as I sat down it occurred to me that the Venetian serves top shelf liquor at the poker tables…Oh Miss Cocktail Waitress, I’ll have a Glenlivet on the rocks. Things are going well, good cards and a fun table. Built $300 up to about $600 or so. Why yes I would love another Scotch, thank you. Cards went a little dead but still not too bad, of course I would like another Scotch, what am I some kind of lightweight!! Sorry, back to the poker. New Asian kid sits down and we begin to have a great conversation about TAO and the pro and cons of clubs and bottle service…where’s that Goddamn waitress I need another Scotch! Soon I begin naming everyone at the table…There’s Tao boy (of course), Nurse Betty (I think he was a radiologist or something) Clock Nazi (he called the clock on me, I probably deserved it) Daddy’s boy (60ish year old guy there with his dad) and the Italian assassin to my right I know not very original but funny at the time…my glass is empty were is that waitress…

So I begin to play every hand. That normally bodes well, right? Tao boy raises to 15 and I call with 10s8s as does clock Nazi. Flop is As 5 s 2 d. Tao boy bets 20 call call. Turn is a blank checks around; river is a blank and checks around again. No one wants to show so finally Tao Boy flips over 9s7s and says 9 high SHIP IT! I laughingly flip mine over and exclaim 10 high SHIP IT…clock Nazi sheepishly folds his hand…LOL. Few hands later I get JJ and pop it to 15 and get 3 callers. I announce to the table that when I hit my set on the flop I will bet it and not slow play. Flop comes 9 10 J…Are you kidding me! I fire out $50 and they both call. Turn is the beautiful 9 and I announce I am now going to check my boat. Guy to my left bets $100 and button folds. I raise all in and tell the guy that I think he doesn’t believe me and is pulling a move. He insta calls with the flopped K Q straight…ouch tough luck…where is that waitress I need a Scotch to celebrate. It’s now about 3 or 4 in the morning and Antonio Esfandiari shows up…I think he was at Tao. He was as loaded as I was (maybe more). He’s wandering around the poker room and stops by our table. Everyone is saying Hi etc and I look up and say hey Antonio, Flavor Flav called and he wants his watch back. I’m telling you he had on the biggest watch I have ever seen. He kind of laughs and then says “you’re kind of an asshole aren’t you”. At that point I was fully into “that guy” mode. The rest of the morning was kind of a blur. Left around noon up about $900 or so, don’t ask me how. Once again if this description sounds like a guy you played with at the Vneetian I am normally not that bad...I am normally a very nice calm drunk!

Crashed back in the room until about 5:00 when Dan and Mike woke my ass up and insisted I go with them to dinner at Mesa Grill in Caesar’s. That was the best decision made all week. Don’t know if I was still drunk or what but the dinner and wine was the best I have had in years. Everyone agreed. I have the filet; Mike had the Pineapple Mahi Mahi and Dan the pork tenderloin. It was unbelievable! First good decision made by Danny all trip. To all concerned, visit the Mesa Grill, you will not be disappointed. Had to stop by Tiffany’s to pick up the wife a little something on the way out of Caesar’s, I think she deserves it after this trip.

That about wraps up the report. Had an early flight back Saturday morning and thought about playing a little more cash game but decided against it. I was still a little drunk I think. Anyway it was a great birthday trip and I think I will be out next year and make it over to the WSOP. That was one thing we didn’t do which I wish we had. Maybe try to satellite into one of the $1500 donkaments. Hope you guys like the report. I am already looking forward to the next trip.