my trip out to vegas was uneventful, got in to the airport with no problems. as i was going out the door i saw about 6 people standing there and thought "great, a short line for taxis", well that was a line waiting to cross over to the parking garage! the line for cabs was off to the right and was about a mile long!

lesson 1: get one of the shuttle buses instead, might take a few minutes longer because the bus makes a few stop;s, but about 1/3 the cost. taxi downtown over $30.00, shuttle was around $10.00

the golden nugget is a great hotel, the pool with the shark tank is amazing. i found the poker room and got a seat at a $2-4 table right away ( never had a longer wait than about 5-10 minutes all week). i didnt do very well, only played for an hour or so but every one was friendly and there weren't any real maniacs at the table. my dad arrived and we went to the cafe for something to eat. that was rather dissappointing, we both had the grilled ham and cheese because we figured the burgers would be too big ( i think they were 1/2 pound) we didnt eat there again.

later i played at the golden nugget again and over at binion's. still not doing well financially, but was still having fun. went over to fitzgerald's and there were no games going on at all, in fact no staff there or anything. this was to repeat itself all week, whenever i went there there was nothing going on at all.

did a lot of walking around sunday and monday. (lesson 2: get good walking shoes, and walk slowly)

had one real memorable hand on monday, right in the middle of a hand my dad and my cousin came into the poker room to see if i was ready to get something to eat. they waited while i finished the hand. there were 3 aces on the board and 2 people bet before me, i raised and they both called me. one of the pleyers who had folded to my raise said "somebody please have it" just as i turned over the fourth ace.

also at binion's i had a hand where the river made another guy's flush but also my full house. the next hand there were three jacks on the board, i had pocket queens and the same guy had pocket 10's, i actually apologized for doing that to him 2 hands in a row.

had a great time at binions tuesday nite, especially when this real hot babe sat down next to me. that made a fun friendly table into a great table. i didnt even mind when i had pocket queens, flopped a full house (Q,7,7) and lost when someone got the 4th 7 on the river.

during a quiet moment at the table the dealer said to me and another player very quietly "did you know there is a WSOP bracelet winner sitting at this table?" we looked around and took a guess at who we thought it might be, and then dealer pulled up his shirt sleeve slightly to show us that he was the bracelet winner sitting there!

wednesday i had pocket queens at golden nugget, flopped a set and made quads on the river, good for a $236.00 high hand bonus in addition to the pot. also went out to the strip and had lunch at treasure island. played a little there, didnt do very well and i walked to ceasar's and bellagio. didnt play at either one but maybe next time.

went back to binions wednesday night hoping the super hot babe would show up again (she didnt). at first i was at a short handed table where i made a queen high straight flush on the turn and was lucky enough to have someone else make a full house on the river.

we got moved over to another table and there were a couple familiar faces and another great table. couldnt drink as much as i wanted because i had to help my dad get to the airport early and i was leaving in the afternoon. still i stayed as long as i could, and had a blast.

thursday i was supposed to leave at 12:50 pm but around 2pm the flight got cancelled. i was rebooked to leave on friday and was able to get a reasonably priced room at tropicana. i was so tired and my feet were so sore i couldnt do much walking around but i did play at excaliber and MGM.

all in all it was a great trip and i cant wait to go again. (probably in the spring) i think i will stay downtown again, but since there wasnt much poker action early in the day i will probably take a bus out to the strip and play in the day, then play the golden nugget late afternoon and hit binion's at night to just have a blast. i may try to stay at binion's too, the golden nugget was a little beyond my means.