Setup:
Some friends of my wife were going to be in town for 4th of July weekend, so my wife, 2.5 year old daughter and I made the 3 hour drive to Vegas. This was the 2nd time all of us had been to Vegas. The first time was when my wife had a convention just after my daughter’s first birthday. I had just started playing poker online back then and actually didn’t play any poker that trip. I have since made 2 poker trips with my brother-in-law.

Non-poker:
My wife doesn’t really gamble, but also doesn’t really mind it if I do. What she doesn’t like is smoke and crowds, so Vegas isn’t her first pick for a place to go on vacation. I had a comped room at the Flamingo and when my BIL and I had gone early last year, we were upgraded to an Executive suite and it was great! I was hoping that, despite the holiday weekend, the $20 trick would get us another suite. It did, but only a mini suite. We were booked to spend the evenings of July 4 and 5, but only ended up spending the first night. We were so disappointed in the room, especially my wife, that we checked out. There were a number of things wrong, but the one that really put it over the top was that the shower curtain was partially held up with a safety pin! This is inexcusable! I have since sent an email complaining about our stay and did at least get our 2nd night refunded.

My wife’s friends were staying at a house out in Summerlin, so we moved to the JW Marriot. It was the best decision I made the whole trip. The rooms were big, clean and nice. My wife loved it. It was quieter and less smoky that the Flamingo, and my wife said she would be happy coming back. It’s not as cheap as a comped room at a Harrah’s property, but I’d rather pay a little and drive 15 minutes to the strip, than have an unhappy wife!

Poker:
My girls were asleep around 10 pm on the 4th, so I headed down to the poker room at the Flamingo. This is just a sectioned off space from the main casino. The dealers are fine and the drinks come quickly due to the location by the bar. There was a list of about 4 or 5 for 1-2 NL. I was told that if they got a few more, they’d open a new table. After about 5 minutes, they did open the table. We had to wait for the names on the list to show up. We started 4 handed with no rake. The table filled up within about 10 minutes. Seemed like 2 regulars and the rest tourists. Nothing too memorable over the first hour. The guy to my right kept chasing flush draws and would often insta-muck when he missed on the river, before anyone even bet! He had already pushed with a draw twice and had to rebuy. I picked up a small pot when he insta-mucked the river one time and I had nothing!

The only significant hand was very significant! I’m in the BB with about $340. 5 limpers including the SB (draw chaser) and I look down at 66. I check. Flop comes 6c 5s 4c! SB checks, I bet about $8, LP calls, SB calls. Turn comes 3s. Crap. SB bets $20. I call, looking to just call any small bets the rest of the way. LP makes it $80 more. SB calls. The pot now sits at $256. I figure I have 10 outs to make the best hand. I figure LP has a straight, and the guy to my right either has the straight or is on the flush draw, therefore I could get paid off well if I hit. Both players had about $150 behind. Given the implied odds, I called. The beautiful 4s hits. SB checks. I bet $150. LP calls all-in, and unfortunately the SB folds. LP shows a 7 for the straight and I show the boat. Take down the $630 pot. Play another 2 orbits picking up a couple of pots and cash out up $460 after just an hour and a half of play.

The next day, after my girls are in bed around 9:30, I head to the strip. I’m going to be meeting up with a friend for some poker at some point, but he’s still out with his family. Since I hadn’t played at TI yet, I decide to head there and then when my buddy gets there we can either stay or move on. Jessica is working the desk and I get my name on the list for 1-3 NL. Only 1 name in front of me. I didn’t mention being an AVPer yet. After about 5 minutes, I buy-in for a rack of reds and get a seat at the craziest table I’ve ever been at. There are 2 guys from Spain, a guy from Italy, and gal from Italy. All in their young 20’s I’d guess and none know each other, as far as I can tell. Right away, the Euros are playing crazy hands. Pre-flop, one of the Spaniards open pushes for $400+. The Italian guy thinks for about a minute and calls with Q8, saying that the other guy wouldn’t have open pushed with AA or KK! Well, the Spaniard had 93, so the Italian made the right call. Flop comes with a 9, but the river spikes a Q! Just wild. This is not my game at all, so I pretty much just sat and watched. Within 2 hours, I was down to about $250 and bought another $200. The 93 Spaniard had busted and rebought at least 3 times. The Italian guy was sitting on $2K+. At about midnight my buddy shows up and gets seated at one of the other 1-3 tables and puts in for a table change. Soon, all the Euros cash out and we go from having about $10K+ on the table to about $3K. Disappointing that I couldn’t pick up a hand while they were there.

Play for another 4 hours or so with my buddy to my right. This is actually the first time I had played with him. For the most part we were trying to stay out each other’s way. A hand came up with us in middle position. He checks, I look down at AA and raise it to $12. One of the blinds calls, and so does my buddy. Flop comes Qs 4x 10s. Check, check, I bet $30. Blind folds. My buddy raises to $80. I start thinking about it. He’s got about $95 behind. He tells me he’s got the goods. I think he would have raised pre-flop with 1010 or QQ. I think he would have folded 44 to my raise. The only hand I can put him on that would be “the goods” would be Q10. He might also have KsJs for the monster draw. He’s a starving college student, so I lay it down. Turns out he only had QJ!!!! He honestly thought he had me. Oh well.

In spite of this hand, I run my stack up to be ahead on the night for about $80. Part of that was on a big bluff. With a $12 live straddle, I raise in late position with AhQh to $40. Straddler big stack who was playing a very aggressive game reraises for $100 more. After thinking about 10 seconds, I push for $400 more. He goes into the tank. Clears it with the dealer and turns over his hand to try and get a reaction. I stay rock solid and control my breathing. He shows QQ! After another minute or two, he folds it! I show the AQ, partly because I don’t usually make a play like that, and partly to get some action from the nits that have now filled our table.

Unfortunately, the night did not end well. It’s almost 4 am and we’re driving home later this morning, so I need to wrap it up soon. About 3 hands before I leave, I run QQ into AK on a board that comes AKxAx! That takes me down to about a $180 loss.

AVPer Boofer was one of our dealers. TI dealer Nam also played with us for a bit when we had the crazy Euros. I did talk to Boofer a bit about AVP. He pointed StrayBullet out to me at one of the other tables. Overall, the room is a lot of fun. As everyone else has said, all of the employees are friendly and good at what they do. I’ll definitely be back, hopefully for a Headhunter.

Again, now that we found a nice hotel for my wife, I’m hoping that we can make a couple more trips! Thanks to everyone who contributes to this site!