I had been meaning to post this report for some time but it had been delayed because of work. I am going back out to Las Vegas in fifteen days (June 28-July 3) and hope to possibly meet some AVPers on that trip. In the meantime instead of going to any casinos these next couple of weeks I am spending my time on this site reading about Las Vegas and poker so I thought I might contribute. Hopefully the recollection will be accurate but it has been a while and the recollection of the one poker tournament I played may be foggy.

Anyway I have an academic job so I get the first week of March Madness off pretty much every year. The group of us that go to Vegas for this has dwindled as most of my friends are married with kids (I am not) but my friend Chuck was able to make the trip and he is a hell of a guy. Also my friend Keven and his roommate Bob went out there. I was also able to get a friend of Chuck's and his fiance a free room so they came. Interesting group.

My first decision was when should I go out to Vegas. I wanted to have a substantial bankroll (this is my big gambling trip of the year so I have access to about $4500 on the trip for all expenses) to bet the games on Thursday-Saturday (must come back Sunday morning) so I had planned on coming out Wednesday morning. BUT the flight on SWA was cheaper on Tuesday night and I had a FREE room (plus $150 in play) at the Encore starting on Tuesday or Wednesday and Kevin and Bob were on that Tuesday flight, so to save $60 on a flight I switch to Tuesday. Chuck and the rest of the crew from Denver are coming on Wednesday evening.

No problems with the flight but I did not get an exit row seat. We get to the Encore and they only have smoking rooms available. I am not happy with this at all but what can you do? I tell them I will be back the next morning to switch rooms. I am a video poker player and the only good games at the Wynn now are the $2 variety. Those will kick your butt if it goes badly but hey I have $150 in FREE PLAY. That lasts about 15 minutes and I leave Steve Wynn's place about an hour and a half later having lost my stake for the day (about $800).

I know this means I should call it a night but it is Casino Royale time and I do love that place. I take another $350 to the Royale and after a couple of hours of many beers (it's amazing the type of service you get at the Royale if you actually tip fairly well and sit at the bar where you can get actual bottled beer), I rallied to win about $50 after cashing in my free $40 coupon for hitting four tens at Video Poker. We grabbed some comped Subway at the Royale in there at some point.

So obviously on Wednesday I am mad at myself for coming out a night earlier than budgeted. Getting my room changed is a real hassle but I finally get that done around 3 PM. Kevin has some free play at Venetian so he moves over there with Bob, I give Chuck the extra room at Encore.

Encore rooms aren't as big as Venetian but they are set up the same way. Sleeping area when you come in and TV/Couch area with a work space. Kevin's room (also smoking had an amazing view), they only give you one TV at Encore but it rotates so you can watch in bed or in the living area. Great rooms with big bathrooms.

Wednesday is not a good day either, the machines and blackjack tables at Encore make that "free" $150 a wonderful investment for Mr. Wynn. I run over to Caesars to get Chuck's friends a free room. They put me/them in the palace tower and I think about checking out the room but I go back to the Royale instead. We eat at Outback, meet the Denver crew and give them their rooms and gamble more at the Royale. Bad bad day. I am now down at least 2/5 of my stake (you do the math) and I say screw it, I am going to go play in the 10 PM poker tourney at TI. Maybe I will see THE Yappy Dave or some of the other AVP celebrities. By the way I am about six whiskey and cokes into the day at that point.

I get there a little before 10 and I am told that I will be an alternate (busy times at TI) then I find out they have enough dealers/tables to get me in after all. They are always very nice at TI and they try to get me a seat where I can see the cards. Before we start playing some guy in a Virginia Tech shirt starts telling me how Missouri Basketball is too high of a seed and they have no chance against Memphis if they even make it that far. Now, I try to be a nice guy but I am a huge MU basketball/football fan and I am still drinking Crown and Cokes at this point. I nicely (I think) tell this guy that he doesn't know a damn thing about basketball and try to concentrate on the cards. Fortunately for me I get switched tables pretty quickly before I physically destroy this guy (j/k I think).

I get moved to anothet table where I am in seat 10 and there are some tourists, a couple older locals and a couple guys from Austrailia (I think), some how the older guy from Down Under did not get busted when he made three kings against a broadway straight. There was nothing unfair going on (I don't think I was a bit liquored) but this older guy really knew his friends game. My lack of suspicions were confirmed when the younger guy busted his friend in a race a few hands later.

In Seat One was a lady who I will call Dumbo (calling station, I like the descriptions from Hellmuth's book), I mean this lady would call with anything and of course she kept making two pair or some other crazy hand on the river time after time. I have quieted down by this point and I usually play fairly tight early in the tournament. I think the blinds were 50/100 when I had A/8 in the SB so I make it 300 knowing Dumbo would call, if I don't hit anything I will just shut it down because this woman does not bet only calls. Flop comes A/10/8 rainbow. I bet 600 and get called but I am not too worried. Turn comes as a 6, this woman could be calling with 79 but her MO is to call with big cards or any pair so I bet 1500 (leaving me about 600 behind), another call. River comes another ten. It's almost the end of rebuy time so I put in my last 600. She of course calls with 10/4. I think about leaving and drinking like a crazy man at this point but I go ahead and rebuy.

It was only about three hands later when I pick up pocket nines. The flop comes 10,9,x (like a 4) and I continue to bet big. Stupid woman continues to call. Turn comes an 8 and this does make me a bit nervous but I am in for over half my stack already so I push all in and Dumbo calls with a King, Queen with no flush draw. Wow, just wow. Well the J does not come and now I have doubled up. Just before the break I catch pocket kings and I double up through THIS SAME WOMAN again as I think she flopped middle pair and I am right up with the chip leaders at the break.

During the break I make the decision to start drinking more water with my crown and coke. I am not an angry drunk or anything. I even managed not to tell Dumbo what I thought of her 10/4 off suit and her "expert" commentary to the guy next to her "Well I figured I had to call", I actually just mumbled "nice hand" as I rebought and didn't even gloat when I did damage to her ridiculous chip stack.

I may try the drinking heavily poker strategy more often, sometimes I get nervous playing poker but at this point I just didn't care that much. Whether I was bluffing or had a monster I would just kind of look down and ignore my opponent probably because I was too tired to care! Long story short I pick up my share of hands and steals and make the final table with a nice chip lead. It makes me very happy to see Dumbo bust out in 8th (35 runners I think 5 or 6 spots paid), and I flop a set and but the guy on the money bubble. I make a steal or two on folks looking to move up the money but basically I am just leeting folks get knocked out.

We get three handed (I texted Kevin and he has come over to watch the final two tables and he actually knows the game very well and gave me some good scouting reports on the other players) and a TIGHT tourist is on my left and a very good player on my right. I know enough about poker to identify players who are better than me and I am pretty sure this guy is better than me. I figure I need to play big pots wtih him and with the blinds at 2000/4000 that's not that hard. I have about 68,000, this guy has about 35,000 and bad player has about 13,000 in chips. Good player makes it 13,000 from the button. I figure he has a decent hand but I also know that weak player is really weak so I am not sure of his range. I get A/K suited and just push it in. I figure good player may want to move up in the money. He thinks about it but calls with pocket queens. I won as the slight dog and my concerns about winning the tourney are alleviated when bad player FOLDS his small blind with just 9000 left. I actually do a stop and go on him for his last 3000 (I figure he may be stupid enough to fold) but I had the better hand pre and post flop and win the $727 for first.

$600 profit! I tip $27 as I like the TI dealers and I figure that's probably a little above the norm so my actual profit is $570. By the time I buy Chuck (made it in just as I won) and Kevin breakfast that profit is down to about $520 but its more about ego for me I think. I never made it back to the poker table on this trip. Maybe my ego just wanted to quit while I was way up I don't know.

Thursday was spent in the Wynn convention center watching basketball. For $50 you get a buffet (one trip) two drink coupons, and a place to sit where it is actually easy to make basketball bets. I do well on basketball bets but once we discover you can only get more "free" drinks if you play $25 blackjack or $10 craps, Thursday becomes another disaster. I probably drop about a grand at the tables but we have so much fun it is just ridiculous. I had the money line on Western Kentucky and when they destroyed Illinois I was talkiing about how brilliant I was. We were comparing picks with the pit bosses and the dealers. If the game got good and we wanted to watch instead of take a card or throw the dice (when we were the only ones at the table) those guys didn't care. Even when we lost enough at blackjack they let us stay at the table for the rest of the game and watch and get free drinks. Lost about $700 on Thursday.

The only bad thing was the pit bosses could not comp us for coming back on Friday but they rated us well and said to talk to a host. By God, Kevin, Chuck and I all lost big money (for us) on Thursday we were going to get in there for free on Friday. It took some work but they did comp us for Friday's games. Bob refused to pay $50 to go to the sports book/buffet so he could not join us for free on Friday either.

Unfortunately they had now limited the amount of food you could take from the buffet (we really were pigs on Thursday) but everything was cool. With MU playing on Friday I spent less time at the tables which was smart. I bet $244 on MU to cover which for me is a huge sports bet. I told the other guys in line next to be before the game not to worry about the first half and that if I had to I would actually bet Cornell in the first half but we would wear them down. I get really nervous about MU basketball and talk a lot about it.

Well that's what happened MU was only up like three or four at the half and all three of us LOADED UP on MU in the second half. Actually everybody in line (several MU fans in line) were all waiting to bet MU for the second half as soon as the first half ended. Other bets were going well this day also but Kevin, Chuck and I were all looking at anywhere from a $700 to a little over a $1000 swing based on the outcome of this game. Well, we covered by several points and the M-I-Z- Z-O-U chants were echoing the room. Again, I am usually a really passive guy but not when my team is playing! During the first half some guy sitting next to us said, "wow these refs must really hate Missouri" (I have a tendency to yell at the TV when MU is playing). I decided I deserved that comment and did not physically destroy this guy either.

We go to the Royale between games and yell M-I-Z- to everyone we see who is wearing something resembling an MU shirt but I rush back to buy a couple of burritos from the Wynn. They are putting up the food and I beg to let me buy a burrito as I am once again a bit inebriated. No dice but some worker sneaks me two free burritos! He wouldn't even take a tip! Bless you Wynn worker guy!

We go to GVR on Friday night for our short stay until Sunday. Again free room and $75 in free play (I'll take it). I get to GVR down about $1700 but the rally is impressive and I leave Las Vegas up $600 (my poker winnings!). I try to get Kevin and Bob to go to Terre Verde (great place) on my last night (Sunday) but Bob wants to use his buy one get one free coupon at the buffet. He waits in line for another hour and I go win $500 on the machines and Kevin wins about $1200 so any frustration we have with Bob is pretty much gone.

Chuck has decided to take the room at Ceasers the last night and hit the clubs as his friends left early Saturday. He left when the games ended Saturday and I think he was about even for the trip. He likes the tables but does not play machines like Kevin and I do. We did well on those basketball games and the GVR sports book is one of my favorites. Now for $5 a round you can get plenty of drinks and it's easy to make your bets at this book (no overflow crowds).

Turns out our host calls Kevin (won about $2500 on the trip) Sunday mornign and asks him why we hadn't charged anything to the room! So he and Bob get to eat for free at Hank's on Sunday AFTER I had flown back to KC. Oh well.

Hope you enjoyed this report. You can tell by the length of the report why it has taken me a while to get this written! Unfortuanately it is still fifteen more days until my next trip. This is my annual trip with my mother. We will be at GVR Sunday and Monday and Venetian, Tuesday-Friday morning.