So this was the annual trip I take to Las Vegas with my mother for her birthday. She is a good sport about gambling but she does not play poker so I tend to not get to play all that much poker on these trips with her. Of course my last trip was for March Madness and I didn't get much poker in on that trip either so I am very excited about my upcoming trip from June 29-July 4. I did play a few low dollar tournaments and I'll give a few details on those.

I drove to my parents farm in Missouri over the weekend and I drove Mom to the Springfield airport on Memorial Day. We had a decent enough meal at the airport and the flight and baggage service was efficient. We paid extra for the exit row seats (I'm a big guy) and we weren't allowed to bring on a real carry on (they charge quite a bit for that) but still I have no problems with Allegiant. I asked the cabbie to avoid the tunnel and he did so but he kept going into all this detail about how some people make cabbies avoid the tunnel even when it is stupid to do so. He did mention traffic was light enough that it was fine this time. Weird guy. Still the cab fare was around $17 which is pretty good although the weird guy dropped us at Venetian instead of Palazzo. I don't know if he was mad at me or what. I think he just was a bit different. I know my way around these properties well enough it wasn't that hard getting to check in. Mom is pretty nimble although I took her bag for her.

Great room at Palazzo and I could have gotten a ridiculous upgrade for $150 a night but the regular two bed suites are great enough. We had a nice view of TI. I was invited to a slot tournament so Mom and I (she had to pay $100 what a racket they have as they don't bump up the prize pool when folks buy in) waited through the line and got signed up. Sessions at 1030, 3 and 1030 the next two days. Not bad.

Then it was off to Casino Royale/Outback for dinner. I grabbed a $75 comp although since Mom and I both had a couple drinks I should have grabbed a $100 comp. I have to highly recommend Casino Royale if you are a video poker player. The machines are all around 99% return with perfect play and they are pretty darn generous with their comps. Once a month I get $100 free play, a $40 VP coupon if I hit a "special 4OAK" (in this case 4 6's 7's or 10's), a $40 VP coupon for a straight flush and a $25 coupon for a regular 4 OAK on video poker. (Must play max credits on a $.25 machine or above). Also they include slot coupons (worthless to me) and blackjack pays double up to a $25 bet (worth $12.50).

Both Mom and I had the Victoria Filet, we had some shrimp as an appetizer and everything was great. They were pretty busy in there. In a short time at the bar (where the service is great if you tip, that's not a place with big tippers, Darrell the bartender is great!) I cashed in my $100 Free Play and both $40 coupons. Still I lost $20 total switching between $.50 and $1 VP. Mom was doing badly but then got hot and won about $200.

Back to Palazzo for some Crazy 4 Poker (I love that game). Mom won big for her (about $400), I lost about the same and then when Mom locked up her win I kept playing and the dealer would get monster hands. Had Mom stayed in the game those would have been my hands! Oh well. I took her to the room and played a little VP (bad result) and went to TI to play in the 10 PM tourney and slow down my losing.

Sadly not much of note happened in this tournament. They had about 40-45 runners and I was pretty card dead. I thought one of the dealers that night was a little more nonchalant than what I am used to seeing there. I know its a penny ante tournament but you should still pay more attention and keep the cards somewhat close to the felt. Maybe I was just in a pissy mood.

I lost a hand early and built back up to around 4500 in chips (you start with 5500) when the blinds were 200/400 and I was facing a raise in my blind from a pretty aggressive player to around 1200 with one other limper from EP in the hand. I looked down at A Q and decided just to put it in the middle. The limper folded and the original raiser called with KQ of clubs. I felt pretty good until the flop came J 10 9 and I headed for the exit not very happy.

I decided to play $.50 VP instead of dollars at TI because I was near the end of my daily worst case loss amount. I still managed to drop $400 on VP at that level without a single 4OAK which is rather unfortunate. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.

We grabbed a quick breakfast on Tuesday at the coffee shop (okay) and played our slot tournament. I had a good score and even though this is completely mindless I talked to some nice folks. I killed Mom's score and won our $5 sidebet! We played some more Crazy 4 Poker and I hit a straight flush for about $800! Then we both did pretty well on video poker ($1) and decided to eat at Zine Dim Sum. They had a $20 off coupon as part of Carnivale (Carnivale is super cool with all the performers and masked entertainers, it's free and really cool to check out) for hotel guests and the food was quite good. Both Mom and I had seafood/shrimp dishes that were very well prepared. Service was on the slow side though.

We decided to use our coupon to buy Rock of Ages Tickets. We wanted to go that night but we could get a lot better seats on Wednesday so we elected to do that.

We took a nap, played some Crazy 4 Poker and Blackjack with fairly good success but staying close to even when we decided to try the VP again. I hit the progressive royal flush around 940 PM for just under $4900! Once I got paid Mom figured that was a good way to end the night and was off to bed. After I walked her to the room, I was back across the street at TI for the 10 PM tournament. I didn't get there until probably about 1040 so there wasn't a lot of time to build a stack. For whatever reason they ended up with I think 24 runners. I'm pretty sure I had the image of a drunk guy who wasn't too worried about the money probably because that was a fairly accurate assessment. Even though I was a bit tipsy (and getting shots of Crown to celebrate, oh I showed a couple guys at the table my receipt from the $4900 to illustrate I was in a good mood no matter what) I felt like I was playing fairly well and was playing tighter than my image might suggest. The guy to my right was the best player at the table so I was happy with where I was sitting as well.

During the break I ran into the high limit room and put $125 in a $5, 5 Play VP machine and got dealt a pair of kings. I hit one 3 OAK so I cashed out $175 and ran back to the tourney having paid my entry fee!

We get to the "final table" and I had to lay down my AQ to a player who was a bit of a bully on a King high board who pushed all in. I hemmed and hawed enough that he showed me the King after I folded (board was like K 10 8) and that left me a bit short.

I pushed all in on the button with K 6 of hearts preflop and got called by the same "bully" with A 10 who was the big blind and I won with a flopped flush and you would have thought I shot this guy. I hate people that get so angry at a $55 tournament especially when the blinds are 1000/2000 and coming around quickly to my sorry stack of around 9000. So we are six handed and they are paying the top four spots at this point although third and fourth don't pay all that much.

So on to the next hand, the guy who was the best player from before is STILL on my right with a lucky final table draw. I'm sitting on 21,000 chips and there are 132,000 chips in play so I'm about average but the blinds are getting ready to go up (I think double) soon. Old man UTG flats for 2000 but he is really tight and really short stacked. Best player guy makes it 8000. I look at AQ off suit and figure it's the best hand as I know this guy exploits weak players and my image is all over the place. I thought about a call and try to push any flop but I'm thinking this guy will put pressure on me either way and go all in on the flop. Good player calls me with K J and hits his king on the turn. If I'd have had the nerve to try a stop and go I guess it would have worked but I didn't feel like getting too cute here. I liked the guy who called me and we'd been having a nice visit. He said "all in and a call" but I didn't hear that he had called so I was a bit slow in turning over my hand. I think he realized I was confused and not trying to be a jerk.

As I'm leaving I hear bully guy talking about paying the bubble so it kind of surprised me that he was the one worried about that. I think I was cool about busting out and kept it all in perspective but I was a bit on the tipsy side.

I went and played some $1 VP and did well so it was a great Tuesday!

I got up Wednesday morning and played my last round in the slot tournament. We had an OUTSTANDING breakfast at Morel's with French Toast and Banana and Mom had Eggs Benedict. We had another good coupon for this. We had played some Crazy 4 before breakfast and again did fairly well. After breakfast we played our favorite VP machine and after getting dealt one Ace, I hit AAAA2 for $2K. Wow. I couldn't believe that one. Then Mom hit an $800 jackpot and we decided that we really didn't want to switch hotels (even though Cosmopolitan was free for two nights). We went and talked to a host and he locked us in for $159 room and he said we would PROBABLY get a free room if we kept gambling so we walked around the shops a bit and Mom got a new purse.

Then we went and played VP and TI and Mom just killed them. She kept hitting 4 OAK's. I lost about $200 there but Mom won $1450. Mom does NOT bring a big budget to Vegas so this was ridiculous! Mom bought a nice purse at Coach. I found out that I finished 69th in the slot tournament for $100 payout (Jay called this a "min cash" which is very accurate).

We had a nice meal at I heart Burgers although I think it upset both of our stomachs (no way the rare amount of drinking for me or the lack of sleep did that) and took a nap before Rock of Ages. Great show which I highly recommend. I got a canned beer for me and a wine cooler for Mom during the break! The show ran late and we played some blackjack after the show so the 10 PM TI tournament was not an option for me. After Mom went to bed I lost at pretty much everything I tried at Palazzo even though I didn't lose all that much relatively speaking.

Thursday was a good last day. I made it to the 9 AM Caesars Tourney which is a nice $70 buy in that had I think 23 runners. Sometimes the play is VERY touristy here although with the Poker Series going on there and the WSOP in town I didn't really see clueless players. We had a fun table with a few Canadian players who knew each other pretty well. I was down from 3000 starting chips down to about 1200 right before the break and I was figuring I'd go all in right before the break with anything reasonable and rebuy if necessary but the players in the last hand took several minutes to make a decision. I did triple up right after the break with 9 10 suited when the flop had two 9's. We got down to 9 players and I was rather short stacked and in middle position and I actually went all in blind the first chance I had the first player to be in the pot. Maybe that was a bit rash but after doubling a guy up I was down to 3.5 BB. That plan failed and I went and played my "favorite" VP machine at Caesars and that was not nice to me either. I met Mom at the Mexican place Taqueria. It was fine but I don't think we will go back.

We walked around the shops a bit more, did a bit more gambling with mixed results and rested up for our last "Big Gamble". We considered doing this at TI but they do not want any big action anymore. You can't bet more than $150 on any one VP hand now at TI and I was told they have severely reduced their limits at blackjack also.

What we do for our big gamble is play one big hand of video poker. We bet $250 on a $5 VP machine that deals ten hands at once. I lost $50 and Mom lost $200. I thought we were done but Mom wanted to try one more time. I lost $100 this round and then Mom got dealt three Aces! We were extremely excited because if she could have hit just one Ace it would have been worth $4000. An Ace with a 2,3 or 4 kicker would have been worth $10,000!!!! It didn't hit so Mom had to settle for a $500 win (she didn't even get a full house which would have added $200 each).

We played a little more at Mirage but our flight was early so I walked mom back to the room and met Jay "Queen10off" out for dinner. I'm a proud investor in his WSOP package and he had just gotten into town. I have comps at several properties but he elected to eat at Outback which I obviously love. We had a really nice visit and had I had the opportunity to meet Jay before this trip I probably would have invested more in his package because he clearly has a deep understanding of the game. I probably was a bit slow in keeping up with the conversation at times. Jay has a real interest in economics which is what I teach so we had plenty to talk about there also.

I'm not sure but I think Jay might have been willing to go slumming (my words not his but he typically plays 5/10 and up) with me and play some 1/3 at TI (the cash game I tend to be most comfortable with in Vegas even though I don't play much cash) but I elected to head back to Palazzo since our flight was at 630 AM and I knew Mom would not sleep until I got back to the room. Like I said we will get more serious about poker next trip!

Overall it was a great trip even though I haven't cashed in a poker tourney in a while (one year I actually got first or second in 9 out of 14 tourneys I played in Vegas but lately its been a long streak without a cash!) as I took almost all of my jackpot home as winnings and Mom won at least twice of what she was willing to lose on the trip!