Left with the wife out of Detroit on time, and arrived in Vegas @ 10am. Picked up the luggage and did the check in for Bally’s at the airport. No line at all, and our room was ready for early check in! Love Bally’s for the pool with an actual deep end, and the superb location (plus we have free rooms most of the time), as well as immediate access to the always fishy games @ Ballys & Paris.

Quick hits on Dining & Shows, as since I went with the wife, I actually did something else besides poker.

Dining- Avoid the Bally’s coffee shop as usual. Nothing seems to have changed. Seated right away, only to wait for 20 min, to never have a server arrive for us or any of the surrounding patrons, and we left.

Buffet for Breakfast @ Bally’s great as usual!

Buffet for lunch @ Paris (after the coffee shop incident), outstanding selection. Everything was good.

Emeril’s @ MGM was outstanding, and the service was great. No wait in line as we ate at the bar offering a full menu.

Joe’s seafood @ Caesars was outstanding also, and no wait at the bar again.

Saw KA @ MGM with the wife. It was a good show, although I like more of the acrobatics that Circ is known for, and this was much more of a dancing/story show.
Imo, go for the lowest priced tickets in the center back. Great view of the whole show.

Poker – Up in the cash games- WAY down in tourney buy in’s!

Over all down for the trip, had over $2200 in tourney buy in’s, and didn’t have enough time in the cash games to at least break even (didn’t play high enough limits for the short amount of time). Usually happens when I take the wife, but I enjoy the time with her.

Played 1-2 & 2-5 NL @ Bally’s & Paris.

Bally’s 1-2, just watch the action for a few orbits and you should be fine. A great mix of tourists calling bottom pair to the river or pushing 1 pair like it’s the nutz. A few locals were at the table each time I sat, but you’ll spot them, and figure out if you need to stay out of their way (most of the time you don’t have too!). Bally’s tried to get 2-5 going a few times, but it never went. You may get cracked a time or 2 but a very profitable room over all.

Paris 2-5, I always like the games at Paris as it seems that all I ever run into there are tourists with money to burn, and this time was no exception. But, with one big difference. The age of the players at the table this time had to be 60+, and stone cold - see the flop junkies, instead of the usual 20 something’s with backwards hats & sunglasses. I think I was the youngest player @ 42, except for 1 other player most of the evening (and he was my downfall in a big pot!). It was the slowest game I think I’ve ever played in, as every flop, turn & river had to be examined for 2-3 min, as most of the players had to stand up, lean over and figure out what the cards were. Played tight and scooped some very nice pots, mostly against a VERY aggressive player who was on a bluff or 1 pair 98% of the time. I think he distributed about 1.5K to the game with his re-buy’s. I lost a big pot towards the end of the night to a younger (35ish, lol) guy who had the loud brash, I’m drunk act going on. But, I fell into the trap in one of the first few hands he played when he sat down. He played the first 4 hands delt after he sat, was hyper aggressive and took 3 pots down without a showdown. The 4th he showed middle pair, which was good for the pot. 5th hand he’s In I get AJs, and raise pre. He calls as well as 3 others. Flop is A7J, CK-CK-CK, I bet 85% of the pot. He cold calls, instead of his usual re-raise (I didn’t heed the red flag!), fold-fold-fold. Turn is a blank, and I bet again, he cold calls. River is another blank, and I finally have sense enough to check, but not enough to fold to his bet on the river, and lose a nice pot & half of my profits to his flopped set of 7’s. Played about another hour, but couldn’t get it going. Besides his act was coupled with an outrageous run of good cards.

V’s Deep stack- Good tourney, with a good turn out, and easy registration. Well run, good dealers, started on time, very few problems. Made it deep, but went card dead before the money. Never had any of the normal hyper aggressive play you usually see at my table, or noticed any around me. It was a bit unusual. Noticed very few name players, or those seen on TV. Seemed like an even mix of tourists & locals, although I’m sure the local sharks were around.

Binion’s Deep Stack- Outstanding/Outstanding/Outstanding!!! I think this is the best value going, as far as entry fee, field size, structure & payouts go, and hope they continue to run it every year. The casino/card room is looking much better! Tourney started on time, super easy registration, dealers were great, and the staff ran it well. Same result as V’s, went deep but no money. And again, none of the hyper plays that you usually run into. You could make moves every now and then, and people were capable of getting away from their hands. But, I did notice quite a few name players, or those seen on TV turned out for these events, incl at least 1 WSOP bracelet winner. So a good mix of locals, tourists, names & local sharks.

WSOP/PLO – Unbelievable, is all I can say. It was truly a village idiot convention in the early levels. I wanted to play this event as I love PLO, and I thought the turn out would be low for a $1500 event (and it was compared to the NL events). I’m gone in the beginning of the 2nd level! I was astounded at the horrible level of play I saw for the price of entry. Typical winning hands rolled were unbelievable, exe……….. Ah9c2s7d, calling any pre flop raise or re-raises, to catch middle or bottom pair, with no re-draws/pot odds, then calling any and all stack crippling bets to the river, only to river a miracle card. This was the level of play I witnessed at my table, as well as the surrounding tables. It was amazing.
Over all had a great trip, but looking forward to heading back out W/O the wife again from 7/1-7/4 to hopefully recoup my buy in’s, play in a Main event sat, the SHOE event or one of the last Binion’s events. We’ll see how it pans out!

Warlock……………………………..