Wed 29th flew out to Vegas from Gatwick. Easy check in at Excal, but v tired. Got a tower 2 upgrade for $10 a night. Donked some wedge off at slots and roulette. got drunk, crashed into bed.

Thursday.
Played in the 9am at the Excal. Out in 12th after being rivered. Tables easy to play, especially if you are into playing online. Spent the rest of the morning at the MS convention in the venetian, and meeting old friends in the TI poker room who were over as well. Seemed a nice little room for the amount of time i spent there.

Went on the usual lash up the strip for the afternoon, saw Big elvis in bills (o'sheas ?). what a man, literally !

Donked off more money in the pit that eveving.

Friday.

Spent 3 hours at the weigh in for the big fight. Now i have sone some of these before, but this was crazy. People were being turned away, the place was packed (of brits and pinoys - behaving together) and the atmosphere was incredible. They had a DJ keeping the party going and according to the phone calls we were getting, we were well positioned, as we seem to be on TV several times !

Once again quite a bit of drunk donking was had in the evening.

Saturday.

Played the 1 o'clock again at the excal. Once again got rivered after being way ahead. Still like the setup, but wonder if tournies are for me !!

Sat night, its fight time. Watched on the telecast at the excal. The room is the first time i've been anywhere this week, where pacman fans outnumber the hitmans' . We all know what happened next, and the place goes mad and gets quite intimidating to say the least. Security do nothing as they are cheering as well. I left before the trouble started. 50 bucks not spent well at all. Win it back in record time on the bj table.

Good luck to Manny he deserved it. And made made my wife extremely happy.

Sunday.

A deserved lay in after the previous nights activities. Do craps lessons, enjoyed them, but the one o'clock was calling. Was going along great guns and made final table, and felt unbeatable. Made a bit of a rash call and got caught out (by my friend). Left in 6th, top 4 paid. My friend finished 4th.

Sunday afternoon, done $200 on craps but really enjoyed it. Great Fun.

Sunday evening. Spent the night in Freemont Street, as some of the guys had never been. $2 dollar coronas in fitzgeralds made the night go well. Also learned that all that glitters is NOT gold. Some of those girls are older then me and i'm 40.

Monday

Easily donked out in the 1 O'Clock. Made more than enough back on spanish 21. I love that game, more action than normal bj.

Played the cash game that evening. Made 85 in about 1.5 hours of .5/1 NL. This is easy money. I wished i had started the cash game earlier in the week.

Tuesday. Last full day. and most profitable.

Sat with the guy who knocked me out earlier in the week (in the poker comp, not the boxing :) ). Got approached by a exec host. Got all charges to room comped. Nice and thankyou.

About 130 profit on bj
About 70 profit on craps
Bits and bobs profit on slots.

And 350 in the cash game in the evening , same .5/1 in about 3.5 hours. One hand stands out. I have kj os, i open raise to about 5, get 3 callers.

Flop comes k j something. I raise again for about 10. Get 2 callers.

turn is a j. I hollywood a bahh, giving the impression this is not a good card. To be fair i though it would do nothing, but raise a laugh. Guy to my right goes in for his stack (about 80). I think to myself , thanks man. Then he gets called !!!

I all in, the caller calls me and i get about 220 profit from 1 hand. nice.

On wednesday while waiting to leave, i place about 130 back into the roll. 70 from bj and another 60 from slots. Also make about 40 in the airport on slots.

For those that diss the excal room, you dont have to play it. I liked it and not just because i won in there. The limits were what i was used to, and the vibe was friendly.

I did find it interesting that some of the guys in there (mainly American), spent a lot of time moaning, and trying to generate action with nothing, way large raises, etc. Which if you bide your time is profitable for the like of me.

So all in all, about an even week gambling wise, and great crack all round.

I had two objectives.

1 Learn to play craps. Completed.

2 Finish the week profitable at the poker table. Completed.

Back next year (i believe with free rooms. Nice).