Sunday Oct 24 - 10 AM plane leaves Milwaukee airport. I typically get a direct flight but by used frequent flier miles this time to get a free flight but had to live with a 3 hour layover in Denver. 2 PM plane lands in Las Vegas and I¡¦m ready for some fun. I check into Bally¡¦s, with TR rewards card get two free nights and rest for $27 night. I have a TR credit card that I get comps for that help keep my costs down when I am in Vegas. Eat at Paris: Le Village Buffet, comped meal, line is very long and buffet didn¡¦t meet my expectation, food was so-so but atmosphere was great with well done trees and village setting. I have been in Vegas about 5 times and have started to make collages of the best pictures I take. I choose a theme before trip and take pictures for collage. This trip I chose to take pictures of Sirens of TI, Mirage Volcano, and Fountains of Bellagio shows for collage. So I spent night watching shows and taking pictures. Play a little poker late at night but no memorable hands.

Monday Oct 25 ¡V Spend morning walking through several casinos. Play blackjack at Mirage (-$50) and play craps at ARIA (-200). This is first time I saw City Center and I was very impressed. I like the many different angles used in building lines throughout shopping area. A poker playing friend arrives in Vegas early afternoon today. We head over to Buffet at Bellagio, just plain excellent, best buffet in Vegas in my opinion. Play a tournament at Bally¡¦s, don¡¦t get much for cards and am out about halfway through tournament. Play 1-2NL for a couple of hours and up about $120.

Tuesday Oct 26 & Wednesday Oct 27- Play a tournament at Harrah¡¦s that I make final table. I have about 5,000 chips with blinds at 300, 600, have pocket jacks in early position, I raise to 1,800 and get reraised so I go all in before flop. I am against A,Q off suit, Flop A,8,Q and turn and river are no help so I am out. I would like comments on how I played this as I don¡¦t have much experience playing poker but am trying to learn.
I had a lot of fun playing .50-1.00NL at MGM, I might have been one of the better players at this level. Players generally were playing all kinds of hands no matter what position they were in. A young manic (YM) was on quit a run for first 30 minutes until my friend and I saw what was happening. YM would raise almost every hand and won most of them without a showdown. So I would just call him down to end with any top pair assuming all my money would be in pot by river and eventually busted him. Left game after about 3.5 hours up $180.
Played a bunch of 1,2NL at Bally¡¦s. Three note worthy hands were as follows. First hand I am on button with 7d,9d, person in middle (PM) position raises to 8, another person and myself call. Flop 7s,Qd,9h, PM bets $15, other person folds, I call. Turn is 7h, PM bets $40 and I call. River is 5c, PM bets $100, he has me covered, and I go all in for about $135, PM calls. PM hit a straight on river but my full house rakes pot.
A couple of hands later I am in early position and look down at As,Ah, I raise to $12 and a dude (D) and my friend (MF) call. Flop 5c, 8d, Jc, I raise to $40, D calls, MF goes all in. I call (I have both covered) and D goes all in with less chips than MF. Cards are turned over, D has Ac, 3c and MF has 5d,5h. Turn 9s river 6c with D¡¦s rivered flush tripling up, MF breaking even and me saying ouch.
Third hand, I am on button, someone in early position raises to $15, 6 people call, guy to my right says ¡§guess I¡¦m priced in with any two cards¡¨ and tosses in $15. I look down at 4d,6c and toss cards. You guessed it flop is 3c,5h,7s, a couple of people go all in after flop that made a pot of about $800. If I would have called I would have made a straight that would have won and made my small loss for trip be a gain. Should I have called $15 bet before flop with any two cards when I was on button with 7 callers in front of me??

We head to Mandalay Bay for their buffet which is very good, dessert selection is fantastic. I feel bad about a failed attempt to meet an AVP player from Paris but partly because he was hard to reach (didn¡¦t have cell phone) and party my negligence we never meet in person. MF and I go to Bellagio to see Bobby¡¦s room and see Doyle Brunson and Jennifer Harmon playing in room, made our trip. Per pit boss they were playing $300, $600 NL mixed games, I LITTLE out of my leagueƒº.

Thursday Oct 28 ¡V early AM play some .50-1.00NL at Bill¡¦s and drop $100, card dead and throat burned from heavy smoke in place. MF leaves late afternoon. I head over for Big Elvis show @ Bill¡¦s Gambling Hall and enjoy a pretty good show. I wonder around Vegas just enjoying the sights and sound of Vegas.

Friday Oct 29 ¡V Stop by Excalibur play BJ (-$50). Last trip I won about $700 playing BJ, Craps, Pia Gow Poker but guess this trip was odds of table games doing what they do. In morning I walk around City Center and take a bunch of pictures. For lunch I eat at ARIA buffet, was very good. 3:33 PM plane leaves Las Vegas airport and I¡¦ll headed back to reality. Boy it was fun.