I was shocked and delighted to find a plane ticket and hotel reservation under the Christmas tree to take me and my wife to Vegas for New Year's. Shocked because my wife doesn't particularly enjoy Vegas, and delighted because I do! I'm a novice player, only get to play rarely and definitely was looking forward to getting some more experience.

We left Denver in the morning on 12/30 after a run-in with a militant Frontier gate agent who insisted we gate check the one piece of carry-on we had between the two of us... This was during pre-boarding of their frequent flyers (us). Added 30m after arrival in the zoo that is McCarran's baggage claim. Thanks, Frontier.

Picked up a cheap rental car ($15/day via hotwire the day before!?) from National and headed directly to the Hard Rock for their 1:00pm tourney. Get registered and grabbed a panini in the Espumoso Cafe (recently opened?). Decent food, but looks like the staff is still figuring things out a bit.

Tourney was only two tables. I was playing well, pulling in nice pots with hands like flopped two pair with Kd8d and a set of 9's. Played tight through the break and down to nine players when I ran into this god-awful beat: I'm in the cut-off with about 14k in chips, blinds at 200/400. One caller in early position, folds around to my right and she goes all all-in with about 9k. I peek at pocket aces, take a breath and re-look. Raise all-in. Blinds and EP caller fold, putting us heads-up. She tables A5o and groans when I turn my A's over. My heart's racing and I'm wondering why she made such a large pre-flop bet. Flop is nothing, I think K, 9, x rainbow. Classic scene, she stands and pulls her jacket off her chair. Then, bam bam, five on the turn, five on the river... I still can't believe it. Table was in awe, and she was apologetic, which was, um, nice. I hang around for a bit longer and get knocked out in 7th.

I really like the Hard Rock's room. Great decor, tunes, very competent and friendly staff and away from the ding-ding rancor of the main casino. Dealers were great and light-hearted/fun for an afternoon $50 tourney - Annie was particularly good. Cocktail service fair.

Check into the Tuscany Suites - east of Bally's/Paris by a long block. Were able to average about $125 for two nights, including New Year's. Basic/inexpensive hotel, nothing exciting, decent price for the occasion. Wouldn't stay there again as deals are typically decent enough for Strip hotels with more to offer. Their poker room is blah. Seven tables, never more than two going. Never saw anything but 2-4 LHE. DJ (or TJ?) running the room was a nice guy. Played some, but nothing noteworthy.

My wife and I decide to double down for dinner - I can't go to Vegas without a stop at In-n-Out and my wife loves good sushi. So, I get my double-double at about 4:30 and, later, we follow advice from Photoc found here (thank you) to Sushi Mon, about a 15m drive south of the Strip. 30m wait at 9:30 (on a Wednesday night?!) lands us at the bar watching some great sushi chefs crank out order after order. The place was packed and stayed packed. Their $27 all-you-can-eat option is great, and allowed us to sample a lot of sushi and 1/2 orders of their many fantastic rolls. The food and service was great - definitely worth the short drive and wait. Two dinners in six hours. Gluttonous? Yes. In Vegas on vacation? Yes. Worried? No.

Not having read the advice NOT to try to drive into Aria/City Center, we did so. What a nightmare of twisting ramps and late/insufficient signage. Finally got into the self-park vowing never to drive there again. We really liked the casino and the poker room looked great. They were almost full and had just about every game you can think of going.

Next morning I played in the 11am tourney at TI after breakfast at Bouchon in the Venetian. We definitely recommend Bouchon, though finding it took asking a couple of security guys. It's on the 10th floor, over the river and through the woods... In my couple of trips over the past few years, I've always played at TI and the room didn't disappoint this time, though my play did. Staff is professional and very friendly. Room was quiet until the tourney got going (three tables). I got bounced early when I didn't bet enough to protect TPTK on the flop. I held AKo, flop was K, J, x. I had bet 3x the blind pre-flop and 1/3 the pot on the flop, but wasn't enough to push out what was ulimately revealed to be a Q-10. I should have made his draw a little more expensive. Turn was an A, giving me top-two and him Broadway. I bet the turn, and was raised. I knew I was in trouble, but would've been down to about 4BB's with a lay-down, so called on the off-chance the raise was a bluff. It wasn't. Bad flop bet and probably a bad turn bet - lessons learned.

Chased down my wife and friends that had just arrived from San Francisco for the buffet at Bellagio. Line was way out the door - I'd guess at least 45-6om. I ventured through the exit and noticed folks eating at the bar. I spoke with the bartender, Charlyn, and she suggested we wait for seats to open at the bar. It was a good tip, and we were fortunate to get seated together at the bar within about 5m. I returned the favor after some more vacation-inspired buffett gluttony. Bellagio buffett is good, with lots of options.

The four of us strolled through Bellagio, and caught the water show out front. Great, free, entertainment. Then we took the tram into City Center and checked out Vdara and Aria (again). Pretty amazing properties and the tram is a much better way to get there than in a car... Balanced the new with the old with a stop in the Flamingo on the way back to the hotel.

Got ready for New Year's, pre-partied a bit, then walked down to Paris for a 10pm dinner reservation. Dino, one of the bartenders in one of Paris' bars (sorry, it WAS New Years Eve), was fun and provided healthy pours. Our table for dinner was on the terrace at Mon Ami Gabi. Great location for New Year's people watching as the Strip is closed to vehicle traffic and becomes a sea of people slowly moving around. And, a great seat for the fireworks. The food was good, but I'll admit between the cocktails and wine with dinner, I don't recall any specifics. We avoided diving into the mess of people and were in bed by 2am for our 6:30am wake-up (I know, but best we could do w/ frequent flyer tix). Uneventful flight home to the welcome three-ring circus of our young kids.

Had a great time, but didn't get enough poker. Learned some good lessons to improve my game and will always remember running 5's to crack pocket A's!!!