This trip was our 10th or so trip to Las Vegas and was celebrating my wife's 50th birthday. We have previously stayed at MGM Grand, Aladdin/Planet Hollywood, the Hilton and Excalibur in various combinations. The trip was a surprise for my wife, though many of our friends were going at the same time for opening weekend of the NFL. Our main focus in Las Vegas is dining, poker and shows.

Wednesday 9/9: My wife got up to go to work. While she was in the shower, I put a tiny birthday cake plus cards from me and our daughters and a card from all our friends that were going to Vegas at the same time out on the vanity of the bathroom. When she got out of the shower, she saw everything and was quite excited by the surprise...tears, joy, etc. I had arranged time off for her at the office as well as a manicure/pedicure for her, so she got ready for work, went into the office for a couple of hours to clean up her desk, then got her nail treatments before coming home to pack. I also gave her an Indianapolis Colts jersey since we would be in Vegas during their first regular season game of the year.

Thursday 9/10: We left for the airport at 6:00am, our non-stop flight left on time at 8:30 and we arrived in Vegas ½ hour early at 9:00am Vegas time. We dropped our luggage off at NYNY Hotel Casino and walked to my first surprise for her…lunch at Tamba, a really nice Indian place. It had awesome and very well spiced Indian food. There are not a lot of Indian places on the strip and this one is really quite good. They have a lunch buffet that featured all of our favorite dishes. Then we walked up to the Planet Hollywood Casino (one of our favorite places) and played in a 2pm poker tourney ($80 buyin, 4,500 in chips, 20 minute blinds). I made the final table, but did not cash. We went to our hotel, checked in and got a room on the 10th floor of the New Yorker tower with what they called a strip view (well we COULD see the MGM Grand, so I guess you could call it a strip view….barely Overall the room was very nice and surprisingly good sized after reading some of the comments here. It was clean, had modern/art deco appointments and we received excellent service.) We walked and shopped a bit afterwards before my next surprise, dinner at Todai Japanese buffet in the Planet Hollywood Miracle Mile shops. All the sushi, sashimi and crab legs you can eat. That was awesome since sashimi (slices of raw high grade fish) is just about our favorite food. Then on to my next surprise…as we walked north up the strip, my wife wondered where we were going. When the Deuce bus (the local double decker bus service that offers cheap transportation up and down the strip to downtown Vegas) passed by after about ½ hour or so, I quickly hustled her onto it. We grabbed a seat up stairs on the bus and got off at the end of the line in “old” Vegas downtown. We walked around and checked out all the old casinos like the Golden Nugget. We got to see one of the hourly light shows at the Freemont Street Experience (the one we saw celebrated the music of Queen…very cool.) Then we got a call from our friends Bryand and Cynthia who’s flight had come in and they met us at Binion’s Casino home of poker. We checked out the new/original World Series of Poker room where every main event was played up until three years ago once it grew too large to be held at a small casino. We checked out the Wall of Champions showing every winner of the WSOP main event and the Poker Hall of Fame…saw ancient photos of Doyle Brunson, Amarillo Slim, Phil Helmuth and the greatest of all time, Stu Unger. All of us then played a poker tourney at Binions ($75 buyin, 5,000 chips, 20 minute blinds) where none of us did very well. I went out very early when my Ace-9 flopped top two pair against someone slow playing pocket aces and they flopped trip Aces. Oh well…that was fine, I went to the Freemont Casino and quickly won $100 at blackjack while my wife and our friends finished the tourney. Afterwards we all went back on the Deuce and went back to the strip. Wife and I went back to Planet Hollywood to play a 2am poker tourney ($60 buyin, 4,500 chips, 20 minute blinds). I did well and made it to the final table, but did not cash. Being about 4am (and 7am Indy time on our first day) we were really beat, headed back to NYNY and slept for a few hours.

Friday 9/11: We woke early and walked to Planet Hollywood for a 10am poker tourney ($60 buyin, 4,500 chips, 20 minute blinds). Wife made the final table in this one, but again we did not cash. We noted that the big American flag that flies next to the Statue of Liberty at NYNY was at half mast in commemoration of 9/11. NYNY also had a brigade of local fireman march in a parade through the casino to commemorate. After our tourney we walked around and found a great sandwich shop in the MGM Grand called ‘WichCraft. It was really, really tasty and I recommend it. We then went back to our rooms to prepare for my next surprise (a nice dinner and a great show). We showered and got sorta dressed up, then took a cab to the Mirage (we couldn’t walk it in the 105 degree weather or we would have been a sweaty mess.) We walked around the Mirage checking out the beautiful hotel including the incredible fish tank behind the registration desk that must be at least 50 feet long. I had made dinner reservations at Kokomo’s a nice place that sits in the middle of the resort among the live jungle foliage…so basically your table is in the middle of live jungle plants with ponds and waterfalls. We had a dozen oysters and chose our dinner from a Prie Fixe menu that was only $29/person that included appetizer, entrée and dessert (a lot of the nice places in Vegas are doing this thing during the recession and it is a great way to sample incredible food at relatively cheap prices - but important note, you have to ask for the special menu, they do not give it to you unless you ask.) I had the shrimp cake and 10oz ribeye, wife had the salad and the mahi mahi. Though dessert was included, they added a piece of good cheese cake to celebrate wife's birthday. We found the portions to be VERY reasonable. After a great dinner, we saw the Cirque du Soliel show, LOVE. We had previously seen their show Mystere’ on a previous Vegas trip and just love their productions. LOVE is centered around the music and history of The Beatles and it is incredible in every sense…musically, the sound system and arrangements of Beatles recordings are great with tidbits of studio talk from the fab four mixed into the music. The production itself is awesome with incredible performances and costumes balancing wild big screen video elements. To describe a Cirque show is difficult…but this one was just indescribably great. The final part had huge ceiling to floor curtains hanging throughout the stage projecting images of the Beatles throughout the years while All You Need is Love played as all the performers came out and basically bowed and a huge video screen flashed the famous last lines of A Day In the Life/The End, “The love you take is equal to the love you make.”…Wife and I found ourselves with tears running down our faces along with just about everyone else in the theater. The great thing about Cirque shows is that they always mix amazing circus acts with amazing music and costumes…but also create an atmosphere and plot that runs the gamut of comedy to happiness to sadness. Anyway, after the show we walked to Planet Hollywood and played a 2am tourney ($60 buyin, 4,500 chips, 20 minute blinds) , I made it to the final 2 tables, but did not cash…then we played some cash poker, buying in for $150 each and cashing out about even. Found the cash game relatively soft at PH wiht a good mix of tourists, drunks and a few locals.

Saturday 9/12: We woke early and walked up to the Paris casino and had a late breakfast/early lunch of sandwiches at one of the Parisian cafes. Our friends were staying at the Harrahs casino and had scored some cheap tickets to the Mac King show. Mac King is a famous comedian/magician who has a long running show at Harrahs in the afternoons. So, we met our friends at Harrahs after lunch to catch the 1pm show. He is a really good magician, but the best thing about his act is how funny he is. My throat was killing me from laughing so much. A lot of his comedy is self deprecating and it is all good, clean fun. Most of his segments included audience members, in the last one he chose our friend Bryand and made one of Bryand’s $100 bills disappear. Of course we all got a big kick out of that and he even used Bryand again at the very end. After the show, we just walked slowly back to NYNY stopping along the way to check out various hotels, casinos and shops. Once we got back to NYNY, it was time to get ready for wife’s next surprise. After some confusion on our mode of transport (MGM to Hard Rock shuttle is not reliable!), we got a cab. I made sure wife was out of earshot when I told the driver to take us to the Hard Rock Casino Hotel. But, as soon as we got in the cab, the driver said, “Are you going to see Santana?” Ooops! The driver felt terrible about ruining the surprise, but no big deal, wife was thrilled. We got to the Hard Rock and I had planned dinner at their 24 hour coffee shop called Mr. Lucky’s 24/7 that is a famed little place that has a wide ranging menu including the famous off menu Gambler's Special ($7.77 for a steak dinner). We had a really nice meal (I had all you can eat prime rib for $9.99 and it was pretty good quality beef, wife had the salmon and said it was good) and then headed to their music theater called The Joint. This is a small theater that holds about 3,000 people. Santana plays there a few weeks a year. Our friends Bryand and Cynthia met us there and we all saw the show. I had seen Santana a few years back, but this show was pretty incredible. Most Vegas shows are 80-90 minutes, this one was over two hours long (and we were seeing the late show meaning he did this show twice a night.) His band was awesome with 3 drummers, 2 vocalists, horns and all he played were his hits from the past 40 years. It was just great. After the show, the taxi line was at least 2 hours long from people leaving the show, so we decided to walk back to the strip where we went to Caesars Palace saw another couple of our friends (Justin and Stephanie. Justin was very drunk due to big losses in college football that day and was stupidly playing $500/hand blackjack in the Pussycat Lounge) and played a tourney ($65 buyin, 3,000 chips, 20 minute blinds), I made it to the final 2 tables, but did not cash so we walked to Planet Hollywood and played a poker cash game for a few hours, but didn’t really do any good….so back to NYNY for a very few hours of sleep because I had wifes’s last big surprise on Sunday morning.

Sunday 9/13: We woke up quite early and at 9:30am, I took wife to the NYNY Spa where I had arranged 2 treatments for her. She first had a 50 minute Soak in a hydrating tub with aromatherapy and a facial. Then it was off to a 50 minute full body Swedish massage. While wife was otherwise occupied, I went to the MGM Grand and spent a few hours in the sports book watching all the football games including the Colts barely winning. I placed two bets (one on the Colts -7 points which I lost since they only won by 2, and one on the New Orleans Saints -13.5 points which I won since they won by 18 points.) After wife’s treatment, she felt just great. I had sort of left Sunday as a day where we could do whatever wife wanted (other than the spa, I did not have much specific planned for her.) After talking about it and talking to Bryand, us three decided to play a poker tourney at Harrahs. They run what they call a MegaStack Tourney daily at 1pm. The buy in is $150/each. It is a tourney similar to the World Series of Poker structure. Most ones give you 3,000-4,000 in chips to start with and have 20 minute blinds so that the tourney lasts no more than 3 hours. This one gives you 20,000 in chips and has 30 minute blinds along with a favorable blind structure and no antes. Wife went out after a couple of hours (after seeing her pocket aces, pocket queens and other huge hands cracked time after time) and patiently watched me as I made my way through the tourney. This one was a real grinder tourney that requires very patient play since one has so many chips to begin with. The field was a mix of tourists and local players, the caliber of play was quite good. Bryand was also doing okay and getting through the early stages. Wife patiently watched as I kept amassing chips and both Bryand and I made the final table. At the final table the level of play for the most part became very, very good since everyone wanted to cash in this big tourney. Several of our friends showed up during the final table to watch Bryand and I (Justin, Stephanie, John and Sue, Cynthia and Hannah) but the tourney went on and on. Finally as the blinds increased, people dropped from the final table until it was just Bryand, me and another guy…and I had the chip lead by a pretty healthy margin. After 8 hours of play, we 3 made a deal and chopped the prize pool. Since Bryand had a small stack, he got $300, but me and the other guy got over $900 each. Needless to say I was super excited and all of us went next door to O’Sheas Casino and played another tourney right away that included several of our friends. I was on cloud nine as I amassed chips in that tourney until I was the chip leader and offered everyone left in the tourney (five of us) an equal chop (i.e. I basically gifted everyone an equal share of the prize pool.) We also played their $1-5 spread limit game and found it VERY soft, mostly full of drunk tourists and made some money there. More of our friends showed up including Brian and his girlfriend, Ryan, Tiffani and Hannah…and everyone was having a good time gambling at O’Sheas and sharing in my good luck at the poker tables. Wife and I decided to test that luck at the craps table and we made over $120 in fifteen minutes and cashed out. We then went to Planet Hollywood where wife won the 2am tourney and won almost $400…so we were REALLY on a roll and decided to just stay with it right into….

Monday 9/14: We never went to bed and after Planet Hollywood we packed our bags, had breakfast at a nice Italian place at NYNY, Il Fornio, checked out and stored our luggage till we had to head to the airport at 2pm. We played a quick tourney at Monte Carlo Casino Hotel ($50 buyin, 2,000 chips, 15 minute blinds...a real crap shoot) where wife made the final table and almost cashed (she went out on the bubble…one person from the cash). While she played, I played some blackjack and won $200 and cashed out. Then we walked to Excalibur Casino Hotel and played a $1/2 no limit cash game buying in for $150 each. We found the Excalibur cash table to be VERY soft. The table was full of various levels of players…and wife and I ruled the table. It was awesome as we just cracked one after another player winning big pot after big pot and doubling up, then tripling up our investment until we had quite a stack in front of both of us. In the end, neither of us seemed to be able to do any wrong and we really playing some inspired poker. We were making incredible calls on bluffs, hitting big hands, making great reads of other players. It was a pretty amazing feeling having that much success and fun in 36 straight hours of playing all sorts of games. We cashed out our winnings, ran to get our luggage and grab the shuttle to the airport. As soon as we were on the plane, we both passed out and slept the whole time, getting home around midnight after a quick breakfast at Dennys.

All in all a great trip and in the last 36 hours a profitable one. I am happy to answer any questions.