As mentioned above, this was our first trip to Vegas. We stayed at the IP as it was cheap and in the middle of the strip. Having a 6am EST flight, we were tired by the time we landed. Got an early check in even though the $20 trick didn't work! A 30 some woman named Debby took my ID along with the $20 and promptly handed the twenty back to me. After a quick trip to the room to get settled in and freshen up, we hit the casino. Nothing going on at the IP poker room around noon Vegas time on a Wednesday so we grabbed some lunch.

Played some 2-4 limit after lunch, mostly as you would expect for those stakes, NO foldem holdem. Best hand was KK and got beat by a river ace. Over all, played about 3 hours and lost #25.

Next day I played in the O'shea's 1pm tourney, 22 players and I felt out of place as I was the only one at my table who didn't go all-in within the first 30 minutes. I caught some cards and played well enough to make it to the final table. Top 3 cash and you guessed it...I was fourth. My exiting hand was as such. I'm in BB, blinds were 150-300. I have about 1,700 left. I look at JJ. Button raises to 750. I just call. Flop is JKA rainbow. I check, button puts me all in (just as I wanted) he shows AT and hits the Q on the turn.

We did some strip walking after that, did some shopping to please the wife then I went to Harrah's and let her shop by herself. Harrah's didn't have a 3-6 game going so I played 2-4 again. Once agian, chase you ace or draw til the river. Caught a few hands, nothing worth writing about, won about $35 in a little over an hour and cashed out.

We went to the Hilton Thurs. evening for the buffet. I had a BOGO coupon so we both ate for $17.95. While they have a decent variety of food, their Prime Rib left something to be desired...I've had better beef at Arby's. Only thing I cared for at the Hilton was the $10 matchplay coupon for BJ that I had from the American Casino Guide. I used the coupon, played one hand, hit BJ, got paid my $30, threw the dealer $5 and left.

Running on fumes for the past 2 days, we decided to call it a night and I got some......sleep.

Friday evening, back at the IP. Played 2-4 again, lost with AA twice, once to the nut flush draw, and once to QT suited when she caught the Q on the river for two pair. Moved over to the 1-2 NL table when they got enough interest, a bunch of 20 somethings. Four of the guys came in together, and while I won't say they were working together, it was obvious that they were staying out of each others way, alway folding to a raise from one another. Only had two big hands, AA in SB and I won the $2 from BB after a raise to $5. The other hand had KK on the button, was raised to $8 from UTG (one of the college boys I mentioned before). I re-raise
to $15 total. Blinds fold and he calls. Flop is KJrag, He goes all in for $17 and after a short pause, I call. He laughs and said "your AK is beat and shows JJ, I flip over my top set and they hold up. The best part of that hand was when he had to pay his 3 buddies $20 each for being the first to be felted! They then in turn though me $5 a piece for doing it. All in all, I won just short of $100 playing NL for a little over 90 minutes or so.

I'm sorry this report took so long, just wanted to share some moments about our first trip to LV.

One of the other highlights to the trip was when the wife said, "If I'd have known this would be so much fun, we would have done it years ago". She also mentioned that we shall return next year, and I'm holding her to that!