Vegas trip report - June 7, 2014
Poker:
Finished 100th in WSOP deep stack 3PM $235 tournament with 1380 entries. I really didn't think I had any chance of finishing in money so was very happy with $454 cash. I basically played tight and had some overly aggressive opponents put me all in when I had good hands / I called / won and had enough chips to scare others when blinds and antes kicked in and I made pot size raises and won 95% of pots I raised preflop to maintain and slight build my chip stack. When it got to chip stealing part of tournament I think I may need to loosen my range for hands to raise with to increase my chances to going deeper into tournaments. A notable hand in early part of tournament was when the very aggressive guy that was winning many pots by mainly just being most aggressive player (I'll call him Table Captain (TC)) at table raised and I called with KcJd, everyone else folded before flop and I had position. Flop was 3cJcJs and TC continuation bet, I called. The turn was 7s and TC bet about 1/3 pot, I min raised, TC spent long time seeming to think what to do then goes all-in. I called and TC shows 7h10c and river is a blank to give me a nice double up and about 3/4 of TC's chips.
Another memorable hand and largest cash game pot ($785 in 1,2nl game) I won during trip was with pocket jacks. Opponent raised to $20 before flop and had pocket 10's and we both hit a set on flop (Js, 10h, 6s), he bet, I min raised, he went all-in, turn and river blanks and I rake huge pot. Related to money won this was my best trip to Las Vegas ever to play poker for 5 day trip won $1,101. My random gambling cost me a little over $400 playing craps and baccarat.
A funny thing I heard from what looked to be 65 year woman old dealer at Flamingo say during game: "the drink GIRL is here", when the cocktail waitress must have been over 70 years old.

Food: I love the buffets in Vegas and it is a major part of what I enjoy about coming to Vegas. By far the best buffet in Vegas is the Wicked Spoon in Cosmo Hotel/Casino because classy way most food items are presented on separate small plates and wide variety of very tasteful items to pick between. Other buffets I ate at are listed in order of how good I think they are: Caesars, Mandalay Bay, Main Street Station. I also ate at the Earl of Sandwich which was great. To help keep expenses down I bring GORP (Good Old Raisons and Peanuts) along on trip and munch on while walking around and save maximum room in my stomach to fill up at buffets.

Misc: The $20 trick worked great at Planet Hollywood and I got a much nicer room than I booked. The room was very nice in it had separate large bathroom with two separate counters with sinks, stand up shower room, toilet in separate room, and tub. This worked well sense the friend I traveled with likes to sleep late and I like to get up early so I when I got up and shower without waking friend and get out and enjoy doing things in morning until roommate decides to get up.
For beginning of trip my wife was with me and to get free lodging for when my wife was with me in Vegas we stayed at a time share resort and listen to a time share sales pitch in exchange to free villa for 3 nights. Even though we had no intention of buying a time share salesman almost sold us one, they are good with their sales pitch. The drinks from Purple Zebra in new Linq project tasted very good but were very weak, don't buy if you want to get your drunk on fast. The Purple Zebra is neat in that you pick out the drink container and type of drink that is put inside it, there are about 20 flavors or any combination you care to mix. I also played the MyVegas game on Facebook and got some free stuff from game rewards at MGM properties. I probable saved over $100 on trip using MyVegas rewards.