Vegas Day 12

Monday 5th February.

Last full day so decided to take a look at the Casino's I hadn't taken a look at yet. Therefore took a look around the Las Vegas Hilton, then visited Mirage and the Wynn. Impressed with the Wynn and it had a very nice poker room, lots of middle age women dripping with gold playing Limit Holdem. If i'd have seen this earlier in the week I would have had a play here.
Ended up back at the Luxor and played $1/2 NL holdem as they were playing the high hand bonus. Finished $80 up and had no decent bonus hands. Took my profit and went to Luxor's Steakhouse, bit pricier than I expected but was a lovely meal. Had Lobster and Cran Bisque followed my a huge Fillet Mignon washed down with a couple of glasses of champagne.
Went back and packed suitcase and then decided to have a go on the Casino tables.
Played a game called bonus poker but it only gave you two to one for your money, only way of winning on this is doing a hit and run, therefore went for it on one hand $75 blind, looked at my cards AQ offsuit, nice starting hand however no match for the dealers 28 offsuit. Was going to have a go at Roulette but decided to give up and go to bed. Found there was a high hand in the morning but you had to be there by 06.00am. Asked for a wake up call at 05.30 but after three hours sleep didn't fancy getting up. Forced myself to the poker room and got the last seat in a $2/4 Limit game, got to the top of the leaderboard with AAAJJ and managed to stay there til 09.00 when it finished so picked up the $500 bonus on the last day. Nice way to bring an end to my Vegas experience.

Vegas Day 11

Sunday 4th Feb.

Plan for the day was to go to the Gamblers general store and take a look around, it didn't look far from the Stratosphere, I was going to do it the night before however a cop I asked said it was full of druggies and gangs at night and there's no way I should attempt to walk there in the dark. Set off from the Strat, thought it felt a bit warm later found out it was 82 degrees Farenheit. What looked a short walk on the map was miles and even in the day it looked really rough, after 30 mins I asked this bloke for directions and he told me to take a left at the lights and it was another 30 mins walk, took a left but thought it wasn't right and after five mins decided to turn around, bloke coming up behind me asked if I was lost and told me I was going the right way in the first place, he then asked for some money to get something to eat. Gave him a dollar and a couple of quarters, I said there you go you can get a bag of crisps. Found the store after another 10 mins and two more beggars, so glad I didn't attempt this the night before, lady in the shop said there getting over run with Mexican immagrants and gangs from California. Got back to the Luxor just as the Superbowl started, interesting how all the neutrals support a side and even buy shirts for that side even though it's not their team. Lots of whooping and high fives going on, played No Limit poker and had my worst beat, playing for a massive pot and with the cards in the middle as follows 5 A Q 9 , I got all my money in with A9 and got called my loose player who showed Q5 last card was a Q so he scooped the $280 pot. Finished the day $150 down but got a $50 Superbowl bonus. Finally ran out of money today so tried to draw some out at the ATM but for the first time in Vegas's history apparantly all the ATM's in the city went down for three hours due to the system being overloaded, cost the casino's loads apparantly.

Vegas Day 10

Saturday 3rd February.

Went to take another look downtown before I leave, another reason was I found in my suitcase the remote control for the TV from when I stayed in the Plaza. Also wanted to check out the Mansion Pokerdome as I thought they filmed the program on the saturday. However the pokerdome was empty. Had another look around Binnions, had a go at Video Poker only played for 25c a go, but ran two sets of cards at once so it was 50c a go. Hit four aces, but only made $10 profit from my origional $20, decided if four aces doesn't get me much then it's not worth playing so cashed out. Went to the Stratosphere and had a look around from the top of the tower. Totally bottled out from having a go on the rides though. Bit too high for my liking. Got back to the Luxor and played $2/4 Limit poker until 4 in the morning had a good time and got nicely drunk again, couple of lads on the table were trying to get us all to go to Crazy Horse, I thought it was a brothel so declined turns out it's a Parisian show at the MGM.

Vegas Day 9

Friday 2nd February.

Got up late and had to leave the Sahara so attempted to pack, suitcase is already twice as heavy and crammed full. I booked in the Luxor for the last four nights as it's the place where i'm spending most of my time. Got the Monorail to the other end of the strip, struggling to walk now with all the blisters on my feet. ;0) I blame walking around the Aladdin for hours looking at the American Pagent girls on monday. Walking across the bridge between NYNY and The Excaliber and my shoulder strap broke off and my bag went flying nearly knocking this couple over. Fortunately my laptop is alright. Checked in rooms are nice enough, lift goes at an angle as the building is pyramid shape which is bizarre. Played NL Holdem and was on a mad table people going all in every other hand. Was $110 down at one stage but finished $140 up. On the night went to Monte Carlo which was a nice poker room played for five hours and had a great laugh, really friendly fun table however this one women was winning nearly every pot. Finished the night $103 down but quite merry and enjoyed myself

Vegas Day 8

Thursday 1st February.

Played in a Poker competition at the Sahara which was the only decent tournament i've found over here whereby you can wait for decent cards, there was some scary charachters in this, Mike Tysen lookalikes and his bigger uglier brother and Hells Angels rejects. I liked the tournament structure but had a long run of getting no decent cards and ended up 16th out of 52. Only top 5 got paid. Went for a walk up the strip, looked in Circus Circus glad I didn't stay there. Carried on up the strip past the Stardust which they are going to implode next month. Found the Fashion Mall and spent the next few hours shopping in here. Wifey would be in her element. Don't think i'll show her this place if she ever comes to Vegas with me. Walked up to Treasure Island just in time to see the Sirens show which was worth watching. Had a nice Italian meal and then explored the Venetian. Played a bit of Poker here, very posh room with nice tables, however playing against drunk little richboys who were playing every hand and getting some lucky wins, played for two hours before giving up as it wasn't poker just a luckfest, ended up $53 down.

Vegas Day 7

Wednesday 31st January.

Decide to head for an English pub called the Crown and Anchor two miles from the strip and watch the football at lunchtime. Watched Arsenal v Spurs which was a good game and had an English breakfast. Just asked the barmaid to order me a taxi when they started showing the Villa game. Therefore stayed and watched that. Went to Luxor as the poker room manager said i'd qualified for another smaller freeroll bonus. However got there at ten past four and he said I was too late and that the locals would moan if he's let me join. Stayed and played for a couple of hours won $60. Missed out on $50 bonus though.

Vegas Day 6

Tuesday 30th January.

Had a look at Harrah's Casino , Imperial Palace and then got a shuttle bus to the Rio, didn't think much of any of these casino's got the bus back to Caesars Palace which I was impressed with. They even had English football on a huge screen in their Sportsbook. Had a look around the shopping centre next door and then headed to the Luxor to enter the freeroll competition. I was expecting a Multi table competition whereby the last few players get a decent amount of dollars from the $3500. However what it was everyone who qualified by playing 15 hours in the week, had to get there before 4 and play for three hours to 7 and those that played throughout get a split of the money. Apparantly you can't leave the table at all during those three hours though, people have had bathroom breaks and missed out on the bonus. Therefore lasted the three hours and finished $1 down, but they called up to the counter and got given $80. Went back to the Sahara hotel and went to a Mexican restaurant. Must of ordered two main courses, ridiculous amount of food. American familly next to me got talking and the mother said her mum was origonally from Selly Oak. (Shame)Retired to bed stuffed.

Vegas Day 5

Monday 29th January.

Got up found the Monorail and got off at Bally's and explored Bally's, Paris and Alladdin, some decent shops in the Aladdin, surprised by the amount of attractive girls around until I found out that the Miss America pageant was at the Aladdin that day. Tempted to go in the evening but had to get some more hours poker play in to qualify for the freeroll. Carried on looking around shops on Vegas Boulevard, found M&M store which was on four storeys, despite the size of the place they didn't sell large packets of peanut butter flavour M&M's!!! Played $2/4 Limit Poker at the Luxor again. They were doing a high hand bonus whereby the top 4 players with the highest hand who played between 4pm and 8pm won bonuses. $500 for first , $300 for second etc. Managed to get a good hand with three Aces and two ten's and was second on the board up until 30 mins before the end when someone got four kings. Therefore had to settle for $200 bonus for third, also won $80 and qualified for the freeroll the next day. Had a meal in a different restaurant in Mandalay Bay, however the starter I ordered, Calimari and Prawns was enough to feed four, felt stuffed before my main arrived.

Vegas Day 4

SUNDAY 28th January.

Got up at 11 after five hours of fragmented sleep. Checked out and walking through the casino saw one table of poker going on. Joined in it was $2/4 Limit some real interesting charachters here including the spitting image of Whoopi Goldberg. They were all good players and obviously thought that my money was up for grabs. My hand of the day came after about 30 mins, I had two Queens in first betting position so I just flat called expecting a raise behind me but four people called. Flop came down Queen, ten, nine two being hearts. I had three queens but because of the possible flush and straight draws I just called a bet from a player. Next card was a two of diamonds which wouldn't of helped anybody so I bet out. Now had two people left in with me. The last card came down and it was a 10 perfect card for me giving me a full house and the second best possible hand as only two 10's could beat me. Anyway the chap before me bet and I raised the other guy folded and I thought the first player would just call me however he raised again, I was almost certain he didn't have the two tens so I raised again, in Limit poker four bets is normally the most you can do per round but the dealer announced there was no cap on the river, I expect this is a ploy for the locals to get all the money out of the tourists. Anyway we carry on reraising until the dealer says you can put all your chips in the middle. I could anticipate the locals thinking that i had just lost all my money when I turned over my Queens and he turned over Ten Nine for a smaller full house. He was gutted and I had won over $80 on that one hand. I then played in a $40 Single table tournament. However you only get 1000 chips and with blinds of 50 and 100 there was no time to wait for a decent hand, I ended up coming fourth out of ten, just the top two got paid though, I lost with Ace 9 against 94 of clubs when he hit a flush on the river. Headed to the Sahara and checked in, carpets in the hallway were that garish that it gave me a headache, room was nice enough, however quite noisy as I overlook a carpark. Decide to get a couple of hours sleep and wake up about eight and go out again. Wake up, look at my newly purchased $10 watch and find it's 01.30 in the morning. Bugger. Therefore went back to bed again

Vegas Day 3

Saturday 27th January.

Decide to get the bus and get off at NYNY again and take a look around the same casino's as their are five connected and still loads to see.Went to MGM, wow this is a huge casino floor, biggest i've seen yet. Found a nice restaurant and had a Breakfast burrito very tasty. MGM has a big poker room with loads of games going on, I get a leaflet but decide to head to the Luxor poker room again as it has a deal whereby if you play 15 hours of poker before Tuesday they enter you into a freeroll with $3500 prize money. Apparantly their's not too many players enter this. Play $1/$2 No Limit, minimum and maximum buyin is $50, they also have three blinds when the table has more than seven players. $1$1$2. End up playing for five and a half hours, again very loose play but with a couple of really good players, one chinese women had me every time she was excellent, I had to move seat so I was behind her in the betting order at the end. I had some swings in this was $60 up early on then $40 down at one stage and then $100 up again however had one hand at the end I had AQ suited raised x4bb and had two callers, flop comes down A 5 7 with two clubs, I bet nearly the pot but he calls next card comes out a club and he bets out $20 I knew he had hit he's flush, and he only had $20 left but for some reason I decide to put him in for he's last $20. And he had played A6 of clubs so he wiped out my profit in that hand. Therefore I decided to leave as the table as it was now down to just 4 players so had made $1 profit. Lol.

Met a father and son from London at the table who had come over to play poker they said they played on Ladbrokes poker at home and when I told them my ID on Ladbrokes they said they had played me before. They asked if I wanted to go to have a steak but I had already arranged to go for a meal with the chap from New Zealand. We went to Manadalay Bay again and chose a restaurant called Chinese Grill.The name doesn't do it justice as it was definately in the top 10 meals i've had.Two courses and a bottle of wine came to £50 each and the food was amazing, had Crab rolls for starter and then a spicy Tuna steak, so many flavours, however looking around I think we were a bit underdressed for the place as everyone was dressed up on saturday night. Got a taxi to the Bellagio to take a look around, now this place is impressive. The poker room had really high stake games and some players had tens of thousands of dollars in front of them. Walked back to NYNY and had a Guinness in a bar opposite The Times square bar, huge queue's here of mainly girls to get in and sing along with the piano players, don't really see the attraction myself. Went back to the Luxor and played $2/$4 Limit poker until five in the morning, was drinking Becks dark every time the waitress came by, got extremely drunk by the time I left however still finished $25 in profit.Got back to hotel and was tempted to go straight to an English pub as they were showing football at seven in the morning however ended up phoning the wife and the kids which I can't remember much about. ;0) and then going to sleep for a couple of hours as I had to check out at 12.

Picture shows the Luxor poker room which was my home for most of my ten days.

Vegas Day 2

Friday 26th January.

Had breakfast within the Plaza, Ham and eggs, when she asked how I wanted my eggs and I said slightly runny, she looked at me wierdly, must look at the terminology they have for their eggs or I might just say sunny side up next time, and see how they come out. Went looking for a bus to have a first look at the strip. Found it at the end of the Freemont Street experience, service called the Deuce costs $5 and you can use your ticket as many times as you like within 24 hours. Decide to get off towards the top end of the strip at New York New York. First impression of the casino's on the strip is that they are not half as big as I thought they would be from the outside. Had a walk around NYNY found the Irish bar and decide to see how good their Guinness is, not bad, however it was more of an eaterie than a bar and I got moved out of my seat so they could use the table for Diners. I asked if they had a Poker room and they said they didn't and told me to try the MGM which is connected via a walkway, however I take the wrong walkway and end up at the Excaliber, had a quick look around the casino and stumble across the poker room however there is only a couple of games going on so I pick up a leaflet about the tournaments they do and go away to look at the shops and the rest of the casino, before I know it i'm in the Luxor casino which is the one shaped like a pyramid, this is a bit more impressive.Took a look around and found the poker room, watched a game for a few mins and the players were terrible, one English girl and a couple of English lads didn't have a clue what they were doing. Found out it was only $1/$2 Limit so decide to have my first game in Vegas, the standard of play was awful and you had people calling bets all the way with nothing and hitting runner runner flushes or two pair on the river. Played for three hours and ended up even.Found out it was a beginners game upon leaving which does explain why the standard of play was so poor. However apparantly on learning the game the dealers emphasized that when you won a pot it was usual to tip the dealer $1. This adds up to quite a bit especially when the pot you win is only $12-$16.Met a chap from New Zealand who owns he's own company and was in Vegas for the World of Concrete convention. He asked if I fancied going for something to eat. Therefore went for a look and ended up in Mandalay Bay which is connected to the Luxor. Went in the Blues Brothers restaurant and I had a huge bowl of Jumbalaya (however you spell it) Really nice meal. Went back to the Luxor to play poker and enter a $2/$4 Limit game. I played for a couple of hours before getting tired and leaving made $55 profit, standard of play is terrible you can't get people to fold. Arranged to meet the chap from New Zealand again the next night as he's playing golf in the day. Got a taxi back to Plaza as couldn't find bus stop and was too tired to look around for it.

Vegas Day 1

Thursday 25th January.

This was a long day, three hour wait at airport then 1.5hr flight to Amsterdam. Another 3 hour wait at the airport before boarding flight to Memphis. After what seamed like two hours into the journey and I thought we were well on the way the captain announced that the travelling time was 9.5 hrs and we were currently over Birmingham and then going over Manchester and Dublin. AAAaaaggghhhhhh. Got to Memphis and when going through the scanner I set the alarm off despite getting through Birmingham and Amsterdam ok. Turns out the metal button on my jeans were setting the alarm off, however I did get worried when the Customs guy put he's rubber gloves on. Another three hour wait before getting the Las Vegas flight which was three hours, dozed all the way. Las Vegas airport is huge and you have to go for miles before you get to the carosels to collect your bags. Got taxi to Plaza downtown hotel which took 20 mins and cost just over $20. Apparantly a few minutes before I arrived a bloke had gone through the windscreen of a car whilst attempting to cross the road. Hotel was massive and nice enough for only $36 a night had two queen size beds to choose from. I was going to go straight to bed however on looking out the window at the bright neon lights of the freemont experience I decide I had to take a quick look around. The Freemont street experience is dead opposite the hotel, it's basically a covered walkway over dozens of Casino's and eateries. The roof however is one huge plasma screen and every hour on the hour it plays a 10 minute light show which is worth seeing, I think they said it's the equivalent of 10'000 plasma screens linked together.Had a look in the downtown casino's including Binions horseshoe which is supposed to be where Poker started in Vegas. Large casino but nothing special, poker room not that big, have daily $70 tournaments three times a day. Too tired to even think about playing poker so ended up watching for five minutes before watching people play roulette, couple of older guys were betting thousands on red/black. The waitresses here were quite old, and there was one who looked like Dolly Partan's grandmother, skinny with hair down to her back side but they were all wearing tiny tight red shorts. Yuck!!They have outside bars in the Freemont experience and they were selling Frozen Margharita's in glasses the size of your head. Had a couple of Bud Lights whilst looking around the other casino's before going to bed at around one in the morning.