Day 1:
I was the bachelor getting married in 3 weeks so 6 friends and myself went to Sin City for some action. We arrive early Friday and check-in. Grabbed some lunch, walked around a bit then sat down at a 1/2 table at PH before getting ready for the night. We stayed in a 2BR/2Bath suite in the PH Towers, really cool place to stay if you are with a group, and it sleeps 8.

No one at the table was really deep-stacked, each player only has about 150 or so in front of them, some with less. I sit down with about $180 and don't get involved in the first couple hands. I was just trying to get a feel for the players and the game. Everyone seemed like basic ABC players; only one guy was a little laggy across the table from me.

I really didn't catch any hands to speak of, and I never connected with anything really good on the board. What i did have was some really good reads on a couple players. This one guy was a half-empty glass type of guy. He always though the other guy had him beat, so he called a lot with good hands, and folded to big bets, so I made him my target. I won a couple decent hands from him by bluffing on scary boards. After a couple hours I am up +200 and decide that is good enough and cash out. I get ready to go out and don't return till about 4am... didn't get too crazy because I planned to play the Aria tourney on Saturday.

Day2:
I wake up a little hung-over but I'm ok to still play. A friend of mine joins me to play and we get there around 11:50 ready to play but it looks empty. Turns out they play at 1pm not noon. I guess I got it confused with another tourney. A total of about 70 players sign up. First hand I get QQ and take down the pot, after that I was colder than a polar bears toe nails. I didn't catch any cards until right after the 3rd break. I was short stack with about 9BB's left. My buddy had a similar stack and during break we decided to get aggressive and build up our stacks or go back to the room. I get AJ in late position and push and get called by A8 Big Stack in the blinds. I flop and Jack and it hold up. I maintain my stack then right before the next break I'm in late position with AK and about 12BB and I ship it, no callers. Very next hand I get AA and its folded around to me. I decide pushing all-in looks like a steal, big blinds tanks for a while since a call represents bout 3/4 of his stack, finally calls with QQ. I double up and ride the stack.

By then there are 18 left and my buddy and I are still in it. I'm in better shape than he is. 7 places get paid and first place is about $2.4K. Each table has a massive chip leader. On my table the guy was to my right, which I was happy with because he was raising a lot. After about another hour and we are down to the final table. I'm about 7th in chips at that moment. Players 9 and 10 bust out and we make a deal for the bubble boy, $20 each makes $160 for 8th place. By then about 5.5 hours had passed by but I was still feeling good. My now brother in-law comes over to see the final table and for support. A couple rounds go by and I decide this is it, if I'm going to make it I have to get luck and get some chips. There were a couple limpers, and then I went all in, which was about 5BB's. 5 people call in all, I have K7 of diamonds. Flop comes rainbow A74. It gets checked around to the big stack guy to my right that I have been chatting with, and he raises about 1/2 the pot...everyone folds. We flip our hands and I'm ahead, he only had a four!! Everyone is mad because some people folded pocket JJ. I win the pot.

Big stack guy that just saved me had a plane to catch at 8pm, it was already about to be 7pm. So we all decide to a chop according to chips stacks. I agree with $700 since I was one of the shorts stacks by that time. I get some food and go out again with my buddies. +$575 for the day, +$775 for the trip

Day3:
I get up, eat some lunch, and then watch some playoff basketball for a while. Later I go to the Bellagio with a couple friends to play cash. Get on the waiting list and sit down at a 1/2 NL poker table. I have always skipped playing there because the tables are so close to each other but I still gave it a shot. I ended having a lot of fun talking sports and strip clubs with some other guys playing and a dealer. After a couple hours I call it quits up +80. +855 for the trip

I head on over to PH and stop at a new Black Jack table, called No-Bust Blackjack in the Pleasure Pit section. You don't really do anything but bet. The dealer does all the work. She hits your hand until you bust, and then removes the last card that busted you. So if you had 14, then a 10 comes out, she removes the 10 and you stay with 14. Then she plays her hand normal. The difference is the hands get pushed if the dealer gets 16 and 22 i think. I play for about and hour and get up +60. I get ready and we go out ne last time.

Day:4
No action. Some how everything I won playing poker, I spent on food, alcohol and extra curricular activities :D So I end up leaving Vegas a little up because I had let 2 friends borrow $100 each which they paid me back once we got back home. Plane leaves at 2pm so we just check out, eat and head to the airport, everyone wanting not to go back home.

June 25-29
I'm going back to Vegas, with my now wife, to play in the WSOP June 26th. It's a $1K event so I'm basically going for the experience. Hopefully if I get knocked out I can make u p the buy-in playing cash. I will have another Trip Report later in July.