Well I've pushed off writing up this trip report long enough, time to bite the bullet.

Me and three of my pals came down for three nights, April 26-29. We stayed at Bally's, flying on Allegiant Air out of Bellingham. Me and one of my friends, Tony, got in around 7 o'clock. My other buddies, Jon and Ken, were on a later flight and got in around 11:30. Flight went smoothly, may have even landed a little early. Only a couple people in front of us for check in at the hotel, we asked for a room close to the elevator to minimize walking, got one just a couple off and were quite happy. We were to cheap to pay the $3 per day to use the safe so just left the dnd sign on the door instead.

Went downstairs to get some food and ended up eating nearby at the Burger Brasserie. The burgers were good, definitely hit the spot. After eating we hit up the Bally's poker room. I've played in this room many times on previous trips and it always seems good. We opened a new table and I won the first four hands! I certainly had some good cards this session, and only had one suck out. I'm in the big blind with JJ, only 1 limper and the small blind are in the hand and I raise it to $12. The limper calls and the small blind folds. The flop is 9,8,4 rainbow. I continuation bet $22. The limper goes all-in for about $85 total. I can't fold that hand for that amount, and call. He turns over AK off. Naturally an ace on the turn, no waiting! Ended up playing for about two and a half hours and stopped when Ken and Jon arrived, up $418. A great start!

Once they got settled in they came down and we went off to find some food. Tony called it a night, but the three of us wondered down to Planet Hollywood. Ended up at Planet Dailies, PH's 24 hour restaurant. I had ate here on my previous trip and thought it was decent enough. We ordered some beers and an odd combination of food: I had a Belgian waffle, Ken had a kobe beef burger, and Jon had duck soup! All were decent enough. Nobody had any desire to go to bed, we wanted some cheap drinks! We walked around a bit, eventually deciding on playing poker to get our drinks.

We got to the Mirage and started playing, Ken and Jon were on the same table, I was on another. My table had a few players trying to talk me into shots of Petron, but I left that to them. Won a few hands, lost a few hands, and eventually left with a $156 beer. Ugh. So much for a cheap drink!

The next morning Tony was up early and went to play at the Flamingo. I slept in a while longer and played at Bally's once I got up. Again I managed to lose a hand with JJ after putting the money in as a favourite. I raised preflop and got a couple callers. Flop was 9,8,2. An early position player bets out and I raise enough to put him all in (he had about $65 more). The other caller folds and he calls with Q9. Again, no waiting as a 9 hits the turn. I win my money back from him the very next hand when I turn a gut shot and get it all-in by the river. Ended up $182 for the session. Gave Tony a call and we met up then walked to TI for some food. We walked across to the Venetian and started a new game. Ken and Jon finally woke up and met us there. They didn't end up playing though. I played for a couple hours and lost $200. I had about $170 in front of me on my final hand. I limped in with 97 suited, there were several limpers and the big blind made it $5. I think all the limpers called and there were five players that saw the flop including me. Q,9,7. Checked to me and I bet out $25 as that's a fairly draw heavy board. One of the late position players insta-called and all other folded. I figured he most likely had J10. The turn was a 10. I bet out $60. Now the other player moved all-in (he had me covered). I thought about it but ultimately my $60 bet had committed me to the hand. I called and he tabled Q10. Sometimes that's just the way she go.

I decided not to rebuy and see what Ken and Jon were up to. Tony continued playing at the Venetian. He actually ended up playing there until their 7 pm tournament, then playing that, but busting out around 11:30.

Jon and Ken were gambling it up at the Casino Royale playing $5 BJ and enjoying some rum and cokes. I met up with them there and had a couple beers but didn't play anything. Eventually we decided on playing some poker and getting sauced at the Flamingo. Well, turns out I was the only one that wanted to get sauced as Jon ordered a Perrier and although Ken was drinking he took it easy. I was being aggressive to either of their blinds and generally enjoying myself. I won a few and lost a few, then had my favourite hand of the trip. It was Jon's big blind and I was on the button. The under the gun player limped, and everyone else at the table folded. I raised blind to $12 since it was Jon's big blind. He folded but the limper called (he knew I hadn't looked at my hole cards). I decided I'd better have a peak now. 10,4 of spades. Flop comes K,10,8. He bets out $20. I call, yeah, maybe he has the K and it's a bad call, but maybe he's just betting that I have nothing. The turn is a 4, putting a back-door flush draw on board (not my suit). He bets bigger now, $45, I call. The river is a 6, completing the back-door flush. He bets all-in and I call. I show my two-pair, and it's good, I never saw his hand. I gave back some of my profit but ended the session up $14.

The three of us ate dinner at the Burger Brasserie, and again, it was good. We then went to play at the Bellagio. Ken and I played at the same table and Jon played BJ. I won $127 on the session and Ken was up too. Jon even won at BJ!

We played at Bally's after that, and I don't remember the session exactly, but I lost my $200 buy-in and went to bed.

The next morning I went and played at Planet Hollywood. I won some good hands early and had about $260 in front of me when I got dealt 99. I limped in, a middle position player made it $12 and I was the only caller. The flop was 9,10,10 with two spades. I checked and he bet out $25, I just called. The turn was an off-suit 3. Again I checked, hoping to represent the spade draw. He bet out $60. I just called. The river was the case 9. I checked again. Unfortunately he didn't bet the river. He claimed to have a 10 and thought we were chopping. I don't know if I believe that though, why not bet it? Still a nice win and a $100 bonus for having quads. I misplayed a couple other hands and lost some of my stack. Then a hand where my read was way off! I raised in middle position to $10 with 7,3 off-suit. The button reraised to $25 total and I called, putting him on a fairly narrow range of big pairs, might as well try to crack him. The flop was A,Q,6. I checked and he bet $35. He looked totally uncomfortable, it looked like he didn't like the ace on the flop. I raised it to $100 total. To my surprise he shipped the rest of his stack in! It was only another $40 or so for me to call, but I mucked. He showed top set, wow! Great read, lol! Ended the session shortly after that up $108.

After that, all four of us met at PH and cabbed down to Mandalay Bay to check out the hotels on the south of the strip. We ate at the Raffles Cafe in Mandalay Bay and it was good. We then took the tram up to Excalibur. We checked in on the poker room their, but mothing was happening, only one NL game going and no list so it would be a while before we could all play. We carried on up the strip going through NYNY and Aria. We didn't play at all until about 5 pm. We all got on tables at Bally's, Ken and I were on one table and Jon and Tony were on another. I lost $100 early, and topped up my stack, then lost another $200 with a stupid play into a flopped wheel. I rebought one more time and was able to get almsot all of my money back, finishing the session down only $36. A couple fun hands happened this session. In the first one I limp in early position with K2 of hearts. Many players come in to the pot and a late position player makes it $10. I call as to three others, including Ken. Flop comes Q,2,2. I check and Ken bets out $20. Everyone else folds and I call. The turn is an 8, putting a backdoor flush on the board. The river is a 6, completing the flush. I bet out small, $35. Ken then raises it to $80 total. I can't fold this hand, and call. He shows AQ and I take his money. A little bit after that i get into a hand with 10,8 off-suit. I call a small preflop raise and the flop comes J,8,4 with two hearts. I have the 10 of hearts. One player bets out and I am the only caller. The turn is another 8, however it completes the flush. The player bets out $100. He then pushes the rest of his chips forward ($130 or so) and says if you call this, this is going in on the river. I just said back, let's just do it now, I'm all-in. He thought for a few seconds and folded!

That night Jon, Ken, and I decided to get some drinks. Tony played poker a bit longer and went to bed early again. We walked around a lot back and forth between Bally's, IP, Bill's and Casino Royale getting drinks here and there. Out of all the drinks to have that are cheap without gambling the best value was at Bally's. $1 margaritas that were much better than Casino Royale's. $2 shot of tequila, and $1 tacos to have with it! We were up for a while, I was getting tired and decided to play a little poker at Bally's. Ken and Jon carried on and ended up staying out until 8:30 the next morning. I hit the sack around 2:30 after winning a quick $100.

The last morning of our trip, Tony was up early again and went to play at PH. I got up a while later, got us checked out and met up with him there. His table looked alright, but I walked around a bit and ended up playing at the Mirage. I lost a few hands early, and eventually lost my $200. I rebought and won a hand or two when my biggest pot of the trip happened. I limped in with 88, a late position player raised to $12, I called as did three others. Five of us saw the flop of 7,6,5 with two diamonds (I have 8 of diamonds). Checked to me and I bet out $45. The next player raises it to $200 total. Everyone else folds and I tank for a bit. There's already about $305 in there ($60 preflop, my $45 and his $200) and it's $155 to call. I can't just call it's all or nothing as I only have about $70 more. I think he's probably got two pair, worst case a set. I didn't put him on the made straight. I figured I had 10 outs, the open-ended straight draw and the two 8s. I eventually put my money in and he of course called. He had 77 for the flopped top set. Luckily I turned a 4 and the board didn't pair on the river. I won a couple more small pots and ended the session up $267.

I wondered back to Bally's to meet up with Jon and Ken who were feeling the effects of the previous night. We had a few more hours to kill before we had to get our flight home. I debated playing at Bally's, Ken was playing there, but everyone at his table seemed to be drinking water or coffee. I decided against it, and Jon and I went to get some food, and then wondered around for a while going through Bellagio and Caeser's. I ended the trip up a bit over $600, and had a pretty good time.

Hopefully you guys liked the trip report, and there weren't any errors as I didn't reread it here!