This is a summary of two trips I have taken in the past 8 months. I'm returning to Las Vegas in July, so the adrenaline is already building!

Trip #1:

I flew into Las Vegas last October to meet my longtime best friend, who is flying in from New York. We try to meet up in Vegas about once a year, and were psyched for the trip after an epic trip the year before (see http://www.allvegaspoker.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7602 for the report on that epic trip).

I take my first bad beat of the trip when I board my Southwest Airlines flight only to discover that I left my large pile of Southwest free drink coupons at home on my dresser. NOT good!

My luck quickly changes when James and I both arrive on time, with our flights arriving just 5 minutes apart. No boredom or time to kill at the airport -- Nice! I win a quick $20 when I get paid off on my bet that my luggage will make it to the carousel before James' luggage.

We score again when for a mere $20 per day, we are able to grab a gold convertible Ford Mustang from Thrifty. Rental cars in Vegas are very underrated. For the price of a single round trip cab fare to and from the airport you can get 3 full days of a rental car. The parking at all the hotel/casinos are free, and a rental car gives you freedom to go anywhere on a whim, and cruising the Strip at night is an awesome sight.

James is Scottish-Irish and looks the part. I am 100 percent WASP but have dark hair, dark eyes, and a fairly dark complexion for a white guy. James likes to kid me about looking Italian or Latin, especially considering I have dated my share of Italians and Latinas. As we pull out of the airport garage, I vow to double the speed limit everywhere we go in our gold convertible Mustang. I say, "Of course, in a car like this I'll have every cop in the state looking to pull me over." James replies, "Yeah, especially when they think I'm being kidnapped by a Mexican." -- I'm laughing so hard I almost crash into the car in front of us. What better way to start the trip?!

We pull into Caesars and pull off another nice score. I had booked us a three-night weekend package (arrive Friday, leave Monday) for a total of $280, including a $75 restaurant credit and 2 passes to Qua (the spa at Caesars Palace). Amazing deal! I decide to push my luck at check-in and give the guy checking us in $20. I tell him I would greatly appreciate any upgrades he can give us, but that the money is for him regardless. He upgrades us from a Roman Tower standard room to a Palace Tower premium room overlooking the Garden of the Gods pool. Very nice!

As nice as things are going, this quickly becomes my most painful gambling trip ever. James is horrible at poker, so we play blackjack together while we pound the drinks and cut up together. We start off at Planet Hollywood to see the Pleasure Pit. Hot girls dancing in cages above the blackjack pit was great, except that I lost $200 in 1 hour while watching them.

We move on to the Flamingo and I quickly drop another $150 in blackjack in 20 minutes, despite playing perfect strategy. As we prepare to head out, we pass by the Flamingo's version of the pleasure pit. A very well-built dealer is dressed in revealing lingerie with an empty table in front of her. I am hooked, and drop another $200 in 30 minutes.

So here we are, just a few hours into our trip, and I am already down $550. We spend the rest of the night drinking and smoking cigars as we stroll up and down the strip. On a whim, I duck into O'Sheas and put $50 on a single hand of Casino War. I get a king and am loving life. Dealer gets a king. We go to war, and my queen loses to an ace. Ugh!!!!!

The next day we hang out in Qua. It is SO amazing! I feel really, really strongly about 3 college football bets and also kind of like another 5 bets. I put $100 on each. I win all 3 of the games I really liked, but lose 4 out of the 5 others. With the vig, I lose money -- but have a great time watching the games while soaking in the Qua mineral water.

Saturday night we cruise the strip drinking and James wins some money in craps. I decide to be wing man, saving my money for NFL betting the next day. Sunday comes and there are no toss-ups in my mind. I pick all of the games, but decide to learn from Saturday's lesson and only bet the 2 that I feel strongest about. I split the two games that I bet (Green Bay crushes Cleveland, but Chicago loses to Cincinnati, so I lose the vig), but would have won LITERALLY EVERY OTHER GAME on the schedule! I am stunned in disbelief that I picked 11 out of 12 games right but actually lost money. My mood is not helped by the fact that James was right on only 1 of his 5 picks, but he keeps letting me know that the only game he bet is the one he picked right.

We are watching the games in the Stratosphere football cave -- which I HIGHLY recommend for plenty of large TV screens and cheap drinks and food. In a fit of frustration I decide to ditch James and play poker. I sit down with a good, angry buzz going. It takes me about 5 seconds to realize that this is amateur hour at the poker table. Almost every hand has a large pre-flop raise, and every large pre-flop raise gets several calls. Nobody ever folds after the flop, regardless of the bets that are made. I decide to sit tight and not enter any hand unless I have a great hand.

Within a few hands I am dealt pocket aces in the big blind. Everybody at the table calls, and the pot is just under $20 when it comes to me. I raise to $25, figuring it the right amount to induce one or two callers that I can fleece after the flop. Two players call, and the pot is $100.

The flop is A-7-3 rainbow. I am loving life. I lead out at $50 and both players call. The pot is now $250. The next card is a 2, and the second spade on the board. Not wanting anybody to draw out on me, I decide to take it down right there, pushing all in with my remaining $225. The guy on my left folds, but the remaining player (a kid of about 23 with long hair) calls. We flip over our cards. He shows Qs,9s. Are you kidding me? Nothing but a flush draw? All right, I tell myself, I am an 80% favorite and only need to dodge a spade. Of course, a spade comes on the river, and I lose my whole stack just like that.

I keep my cool, though I am fuming inside, and say very graciously, "nice hand, good game," as I get up to leave. The kid smirks and gives me a look like I am the biggest donkey in the world.

Sooooo..... that is why I did not write up that trip here for many months. In fact, I could not even watch the WSOP November Nine or play online for several months after that horrendous beat to end a horrendous gambling trip. Someone once posted here that it seemed fishy that the overwhelming number of trip reports here report victories. Well, the reason is that it is far more enjoyable to write up a winning session than to write up a session that makes you want to puke every time you think about it.

Trip 2:

I have an April business trip to Vegas and I am pumped for heavy-duty poker. It's just me on the trip, so I expect to play a lot more poker than usual.

I ONCE AGAIN forget my Southwest Airlines free drink coupons. I have about 100 of them, but they will apparently never do me any good.

Check-in at the Paris is quick, but I get shut out on the $20 trick at the front desk. Not a good start to the trip, as I am in the back of the hotel overlooking 7-11 or something.

I go straight to the Bellagio and sit down for some 1-2 NL. I join the table as two players show down on the river. The player on my immediate right pushes all in (about $300). The player about 4 spots to my left calls (he has a stack of about $1,000). The guy on my right shows bottom pair. The guy who called the all-in bet shows queen high. Are you kidding me?!!!!

I decide that I have been seated at the right table. I have a budget of $200 per day for the 3-day trip. The buy-in at Bellagio is $200, but I feel confident I won't be losing it anytime soon.

In my very first hand I get dealt pocket kings on the button. The guy who just lost the all-in bet raises it to $10. The guy two seats to my right calls. I raise it to $35 and they both call. The flop is Qs-9c-4h. The all-in guy bets $25. The other guy calls. The pot is now roughly $100, and I decide to push with my remaining $175. The all-in guy calls, and the other guy folds. We turn over our cards. The all-in guy has 4d,8d for bottom pair. I show my pocket kings. Turn is a rag, but all-in guy spikes the improbable 8 on the river. I have now played precisely two hands on my 2 most recent Vegas trips, and have been busted out each time -- for a total of $500 -- with incredibly bad beats on each one. Arghhh!!!!

I think about walking away after the one single hand, having reached my daily budget. Screw it, I tell myself, and rebuy. The very next hand I get pocket queens. The same all-in guy raises to $10 again. The same caller calls again. I once again raise it to $35. Both of them call again. It is like the Twilight Zone.

I tell myself that with two callers, a single ace or king probably kills me. I tell myself that if no king or ace shows on the flop, I will push all in. The dealer turns over the cards. I immediately see a king. Arghhhh!!!!! But underneath it she shows a queen. Nice!!!! Underneath that is a rag. All-in guy bets $25 again. The other guy calls again. I feel like its Groundhog Day all over again. I push $175 into the $150 pot. All-in guy thinks for about 10 minutes. He is about to fold when I remind him he has $1,000 in front of him and he's playing with my money anyway. He says, "you're right," and thinks some more. But he eventually folds. Darn! The other guy calls. He turns over AJ and needs a 10 for the straight. To my total amazement, he doesn't hit his 10 and I have recouped most of my losses from the previous hand.

The table breaks soon thereafter, but I play the Bellagio for another 3 hours at another table. The competition is surprisingly predictable, and I win another $250. A very good night.

The room itself has gone downhill over the years. The decor is nice but not exceptional. The tables are so close to one another that I many times inadvertently slammed chair backs with the guy behind me. Drink service was virtually nonexistent. But it was nevertheless cool playing in such a storied poker room.

The next day I play at Venetian and slowly build my bankroll. The competition is fairly tough, but I am pleased to still be builing my stack. Poker tables were spilling out of the poker room and taking over part of the casino floor. I was placed in the spillover area, which greatly detracted from the experience. On the other hand, the tables were very nice and comfortable and drink service was very quick and very friendly.

The big hand of the day comes when I once again hit trip queens on the flop. When a second club hits on the turn, I push all in ($600 into a $100 pot) to take it down and discourage flush mining. I get called by somebody with $300 in front of him looking for a flush draw. He is betting almost even money ($300 into what is now a $400 pot) that he will hit the flush (a 20% probability). Of course, he hits the club on the river, and I break even for the day. Should have been up $600. Oh well...

I head back to Paris and stroll around the casino while savoring a Romeo y Julietta Vintage cigar. I tell myself I will not play anything other than poker, so as not to repeat the horrible losses of my previous trip. But as I am strolling the casino, smoking my cigar, and enjoying the ambiance, a rather attractive woman sitting at a blackjack table makes eye contact with me and smiles. All right, I tell myself, I am not here looking to hook up, but how can I pass on taking the seat next to her?

I take the seat next to her and buy $200 in chips. Conversation is fun and natural, as there is no tension emanating from a planned hookup. We have a great time playing blackjack and I double up for another $200 in about an hour and a half. I go to bed feeling much better about my break-even poker session at the Venetian.

The next day I go to the Wynn. There was only a single 1-2 NL table going, which was quite disappointing. The poker room is awesome, as was the drink service, but it was just so darn quiet in there. Some people like a quiet poker room, but I like a little buzz of excitement.

The competition at the Wynn was very, very tough. I played very tight/aggressive and was fortunate to build up a $500 profit, even though I felt I was at best average for the table. I decide it is time to call it a night, but I have a drink coming. I decide to play just a few hands until my drink comes, and will only play if I get a monster hand.

My drink comes as I sit on the big blind with 8-5. I decide to fold to any raise. But everyone folds except the button and small blind, who call. I get a dream flop of 8,8,5. I lead out for $10, hoping not to scare everyone off. The button folds, but the small blind raises to $30. Yes!!! I act like I am facing a very tough decision, and then say, "Screw it, I'm all in," and hope the small blind has an 8. The small blind calls and flips over 8-A. Yahtzee for me! The turn is a rag, but, of course, he spikes an ace on the river. ARGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I walk out of the poker room absolutely steaming. I am still up $200 for the day, but it should have been $800. As I leave, I see a blackjack table with two very hot, clearly rich, somewhat older women (in their early 50s) playing. They are clearly well kept, as they are wearing about $50,000 of jewely each, along with $5,000 cocktail dresses. What the heck, I say, I have to sit down and get in on this vibe.

The two are not only hot, but incredibly nice. They and their husbands were planning on going to Paris (the real one, not the hotel I was staying at), but the Iceland volcano had shut down flights to Europe. So they decided to hit Vegas instead. Their husbands were out golfing while they played $25 blackjack. Again, with no pretense/desire/hope to hook up, conversation was smooth, fun, and easy. The vibe shows in the cards as the three of us go on a monster run while the rest of the table keeps losing. One of them wins $300, the other one wins $1,000, and I win $400 in the span of an hour. They finally go to meet their husbands for dinner, and I clear out now that the vibe is clearly gone.

So, for the trip I win $400 in poker and $600 in blackjack. I have NEVER had a blackjack trip as successful as this one! From now on, I will only play at blackjack tables with hot women, lol.

I go back to Vegas on another business trip in July. I am pumped!