I'd like to start the report by saying that I'm 22 years old and just recently made by 8th visit to Las Vegas despite living 1700 miles away in the greatest city in the world, Chicago. I truly am blessed. I decided to make a short solo trip before moving on to visit my mom in Los Angeles for a few weeks. (Note: I mostly play 1/2, 2/5 NL in Vegas but will occasionally play some limit Holdem and tournaments. This trip I wanted to play more tournaments since that's what I play mostly online and have been successful in the past.)

After picking up all of my luggage from the chaotic baggage claim that is Las Vegas I head outside to the transportation area to take a shuttle out to the El Cortez since it is much cheaper than a cab if you're by yourself. I arrive late at night which I really dislike because I always want to play a lot right away and the sleep pattern gets messed pretty quickly. I'd prefer to have a few days of decent sleep time before I know it will truly be shot after massive amounts of poker, gambling, alcohol, and just Vegas presence. Anyway I check-in to the El Cortez and I am truly amazed at how nice the room turns out to be. For around $30/night I assumed it would be like living in a toilet but it turned out to be very large with even a small couch and sitting area. Very impressed for a "dumpy downtown place." This was my first time downtown in my short career and I really didn't know a lot about the different hotels and "attractions" that are provided. I grab a quick meal at Kitty's Cafe in the El Cortez which hits the spot and then walk up and down Fremont Street occasionally checking out a casino that looked interesting. Everyone has talked about how Binion's has fallen down hard in recent years but with the recent renovations it really looks pretty decent. Seeing the wall and other WSOP memorobilia was a great experience and I recommend you see it if you haven't yet. After the Fremont I decide to walk to the strip from downtown since it was a really nice night and the walk didn't seem to far. Bad decision. Very bad decision. The walk is much longer than I thought and it was also around 2 AM. It wasn't very fun passing by many shady people at this time on the northern end of Las Vegas Boulevard. I survive the trip and roll into the Stratosphere to play the famous single zero roulette wheel. (Note: I am not a very big gambler but I like to occationally play some games with smaller house edge) I end up winning about 50 dollars in about an hour of play along with a fair amount of Coronas thrown in the mix. (How great is Vegas?) I then walk across the street to the Sahara and watch the tail end of the late tourney there. I played in one tourney at the Sahara awhile back and the structure seemed very good but the place really depressed me overall between the old tables, old dealers, and generally unfreindly locals that inhabited the tournament. I'm not sure if it's always like this but I hope not. I play a few hands of single deck blackjack as well picking up around 10 dollars and finally make my way back to the El Cortez on the Deuce.

I wake up fairly late on Wednesday and take the Deuce all the way to the Mandalay Bay for a quick meal at the Burger Bar which is very very good for anyone that hasn't been there. (My favorite lunch in Vegas) The Deuce took almost an hour because of the rain and the slowness of the tourists getting on and off the bus. After the delicious burger I walk to Caesars hoping there would be a small limit mixed game running but alas there isn't and I quickly cab it to the Orleans for the $80 dollar multi at 7 PM. I have read people rave about this tournament and it didn't disappoint. The tournament was extremely well run and the structure was indeed fantastic. The only problem became the fact that I was card dead. The entire tournament! I hang around for the first two hours until finally moving in with two eights against two jacks and flopping a set like a luckbox to stay alive. Over an hour later I run AK into 55 and hit the rail about 10 out of the money. I literally won about 4 hands the entire tourney and was able to survive by great short stack play and a great structure. I must say that the locals in this tournament seemed much friendlier and easy-going compared to the Sahara tourneys. The massive amount of Coronas drunk was uplifting and made me feel I got a little something out of the tourney. I took a cab back to the Mandalay to watch a few sports bets that I had and end up playing a short session of "color betting" on roulette to recoup my tourney losses and then some. I then bounce to the Excalibur which in my opinion has some of the best 1/2 NL games on the strip. It sounds hard to believe but the games play incredibly loose passive and really are money making machines at times. The table was fairly poor with a couple of idiot tourists and a few decent locals mixed in. After the major fish left I cut out with a $138 profit feeling both satisfied and very hungry after a fairly grueling day. I made another walk down to the TI to have a meal at The Coffee Shop. I personally believe this is one of the best cafes on the strip and whether you want breakfast, lunch, dinner, or a small snack you simply cannot go wrong. I hit the Deuce to the El Cortez and witness the infamous 1 dollar blind game with more rocks there than the moon. I hit the sack up $213 in casino play and up $58 in poker over the first two days.

I actually wake up in the morning and lounge around the room spending some time online and taking a long shower with the window open. (An actual view of downtown Vegas from the shower at the El Cortez!!!) I made my way down to Kitty's Cafe and ate the delicious chicken quesadillas again. After a few more sports bets I treck to the Fremont Street and play some video poker for awhile making a hefty five dollars. I must admit that the downtown area is fairly dumpy overall but I really enjoyed the atmosphere on the Fremont in the early in the afternoon and at night. I plan on playing in the 7 PM $150 tournament at Caesars which has one of the best structures I have ever seen for a tournament under $200. The Deuce gets me there by about 4 PM and I watch my college basketball bets for a few hours before getting a slice of pizza in the Forum Shops food court right before the tournament started. This is again the first time I have ever played this tournament and it was all that is was cracked up to be. The play was definitely -EV overall and the structure was fantastic. I am able to win a few hands in the first hour after flopping the nut straight and getting paid off by one of the big fishies at the table. After the first hour I relived the Orleans tournament and couldn't pick up a damn hand if my life depended on it. I grind hard for the next two hours and with only 5 BB left in the beginning of the fourth hour I shove with 64dd and get called by AA in the blind. GG sir. I generally don't let things get me down too much but two consecutive tournaments of dead cards is really frustrating. I unfortunately have to buy some Cubs tickets for a friend living abroad early Friday morning so i make it a short night. I grab a few snacks and watch a little TV before hitting the sack just past 1 AM.

After buying the Cubs tickets early in the morning, I go downstairs to check out of my room since my flight is extremely early the following morning and I didn't need to room for the night. I check my bags at the El Cortez and headed towards the Main Street hotel for the famous buffet that I've heard such great things about. This is really the only meal that was subpar this trip. The selection was very good but the food quality just really wasn't very high in my opinion. After the meal I move down the strip towards my favorite room at the Wynn. I love the Wynn because the action is generally pretty good, the dealers are top notch, and the room is spectacular. As everyone already knows it doesn't hurt that the cocktail waitresses are the hottest in any poker room or for that matter any casino that I've ever been to. I jump in a 1/3 NL game and immediately notice a riff at the table between the dude on my left and the rest of the table. It seems that this guy has sucked out hard on a few people and he's no afraid to be proud of it. As time passes I notice this guy is not only the worst player at the table but also has tons of money and doesn't really care about losing it. He may not be the nicest guy in the world but anyone that wants to donate chips I can tolerate. I win a few pots in the first couple of hours including one against the rich dude and am comfortably up $100 when a situation came up. The said rich guy had taken a break and took his 3 yellow chips (yes, you read that right, he had 3 $1000 chips on the table in a 1/3 Nl game) with him for "safekeeping". The dealer says it's no problem as long as he put them back when he gets back to the table. He gets back about twenty minutes later and mistakenly puts only two of them back on the table. This in itself more than covers everyone on the table combined and I don't say anything because of that fact and also because he's obviously a rich donkey and I don't want to get him mad or disrupt the game at all. Unfortunatly two idiots badger him about putting the other chip back on the table and ten minutes later he's gone feeling not very welcome. I usually am pretty quiet and don't get involved in much at the table but I was furious at the two guys across the table. This guy was obviously not trying to hold back money from the table since he really didn't care all that much and ended up getting upset enough to leave which hurt the game immensely. We have a small scuffle back and forth about the matter and I end up losing $187 in the 5 hour session mostly on a AQ vs AK with a flop of A33. I then walk over to the MGM to watch a little sports before I play in the 1/2 NL game. Nine of us end up starting a new game and immediately get to some heavy drinking. It is a really fun table and the Stella flows like water. I don't usually talk about hands but this one is a real doozy...

I got my starting stack from 200 to 250 and this hand occurs sometime in the 2nd hour of play. I open with a raise to 10 in MP with KK and get two callers. The flop comes rainbow with all rags. The SB leads out for 20 and I raise to 70. Late position player folds and the SB who is playing with her boyfriend and is fairly new to the game takes a little while to decide what to do. A minute later she moves in for about 70 more and I'm sick now but obviously have to call. The turn is a 10 and the river brings an ace. We didn't turn over our cards right away but now I pretty much know I'm dead. She smiles and turns over A10!!! Wow! That's really about as bad as it gets and I'm now down to around 100.

A few hands later I flop trips with 107 on a board of 377. I jam and am up against K7. We'll see you later. I decide that even though the game is good it just doesn't seem like my night or trip for that matter and really need to eat since I have been hungry for quite some time. I roll over to Hooters and have an excellent meal followed by some stupid gambling at Casino Royale where I switch hands to the death. I took a cab back to the El Cortez and picked up my stuff just in time to catch my early morning flight to Los Angeles.

Overall, it was a pretty fun trip even though I've never done Vegas by myself except for one night traveling through. I ended up winning $159 in casino play (lol!) and dropped $379 in poker play. This really isn't too bad since I got cold decked hard in two tournaments and really didn't run very well in cash game play. If anyone actually got through all of this congratulations and secondly I hope you're doing alright because this was really too long and probably not terribly entertaining. On a side note I'm taking a trip in June with a friend and will probably write that one up as well. Good luck at the tables!