A while back my gf mentions that one of her friends was getting married in Blackhawk (Colorado), and that we should go out and meet up with them while they set everything up. Long story short, the Ameristar in B-hawk ends up treating our friends terribly (this was practically expected with Ameristar's rep) and they end up planning a Vegas Wedding.

We fly out on June 9th on the first flight (6am) to save some cash as she's studying for the CPA exam until her job starts in Oct.

Flight is fairly uneventful, and we land a few minutes ahead of schedule. Grab bags, get to the cab line (or lack thereof at 730am), and get to TI after the cabby misses the turn lane for the blvd and has to drop us off in the back.

No dice on an early check in so we drop the bags and head for Denny's. During the week the 2 4 6 8 special allows us to eat for about 8 bucks total with tip...like I said we're kinda cheap. We putz around the North end of the strip half looking for a game, but primarily wanting to check in so we can take a nap. We find the penny vid poker at the Venetian so decide to just play long enough to get a redbull. The machines are right by the bar so we end up doing this at least 4 times during the trip. Finally check into room and nap for about an hour.

We brought a suitcase full of snack food this time around so we eat an apple and some other stuff and head out to check out the WSOP as neither of us have gone over to check it out in the past. We end up missing the harrahs shuttle by about 15 seconds, and the gf convinces me to walk. It's about 85 out so this goes against my better judgement, but I oblige. Walk isn't too terrible, but we're glad for the air conditioning when we arive at the Rio. Walk around the Rio for a bit, watch the Omaha8 heads up match (which somehow doesn't end while we're there with both of them at 10bb), see a bunch of "big name" pros start the 10k 2-7, and finally hit the shuttle back to harrah's.

A bit more food at TI and off to finally get some hours in @ Venetian. I immediately realize that I should be coming to vegas every year during the series as they have 3 tables of 4/8 omaha8 and 2 of 4/8 horse. I grow very tired of hold 'em and LOVE playing in mixed games so I jump in omaha8 while on the list for HORSE. I think I make it one rotation in Omaha before I'm called over to HORSE. I'm clearly rusty at the stud games and bleed a few bets, but end up coolering the guy on my left in a LHE pot. It was nice to finally meet a guy who could take a beat and not care as he had been a mid stakes tourney grinder online pre black friday, so he was certainly used to it.

One of the guys at the table (motorcycle john) starts talking about the Mixer at TI, and how they are trying to get it going. I had been trying to end up in this game every time I'd come to vegas with no avail, so I let him know I'm interested and get all the details. I end up moving to the main game for 4/8 horse and find it much less fun, so I pick up +11 bucks with beer in hand, deciding to go have some fun at the TI.

Grab the gf and head over to TI, she ends up going to take another nap and I sit down at the mixer. I'm not sure of all the AVPers that were there, but I think I was the only non-local (please introduce yourself if you were at the table! it was tons of fun). I end up knowing how to play all the games decently well as there weren't any insane games. Line up was: stud 8/b, razz, omaha 8/b, double flop omaha, badugi (added later), and 2-7 triple draw. I play for about 5 hours but only had about a beer an hour. I ran insanely well making quads 2 times in omaha 8 for a scoop both times, the 3 different badugi's, and plenty of good razz hands. End up +138 in a 3/6 game which i'll take any day! My vision gets blurry at about 3am, so I regrettably decide to sleep.

Next day was fairly uneventful. We woke up and went to try the Hash House which was flipping amazing! Other than that the gf and I just played @ Venetian for about 5hrs waiting for our friends to arrive. I end up +65 in 4/8 omaha 8 with no real big hands of note other than mis-reading my hand once and ending up with the nut low (yeah i'm obviously awesome at that game). After playing we decide to splurge and get sushi + sake at Khotan in the TI. We sit outside on the deck and just chill. Easily the best meal all trip! We don't get very fresh sushi in denver so i try and make a point of grabbing some every time in vegas. Rest of the night is mostly spent hanging out @ the hotel as we're both very tired.

Saturday is wedding day so most of our time is spent hanging out with friends. We get a very short Venetian session in, I lose 61 mostly in LHE. We ate lunch at margaritaville, had some coconut shrimp which was great (though i don't know how you could mess up that dish). Eventually everyone piles in a party bus for the wedding at some place north of the stratosphere in sketch-ville. True McDonald's style wedding as we're in and out of the chapel in 30 minutes. We spent more time waiting around than we did in the actual ceremony. Half the group decides to go buy 24oz pbr's across the street, but has to leave them on the sidewalk during pictures...and then has to threaten a bum who stops to try and swipe em. This is obviously a classy wedding party.

Dinner is at spice buffet @ pho. I've never been big on dinner buffets in vegas, but we suck it up and pay the 35bucks a person (grat included), but get to skip the line. King crab legs are not an excuse for this highway robbery, but they were OK. for 25 bucks less Khotan was looking pretty awesome.

We peace out to go meet up with some people @ oshea's, and gf and I game a cocktail waitress before leaving. The groom ends up getting food poisoning (i can't recommend the spice buffet enough), but a few of us keep going and end up at toby keith's. We buy a vodka redbull, and then exit for JET in the Mirage. The AVP tourney is going on, so I heavily consider ditching the club and trying to get the mixer going again, but end up biting the bullet to pay for some good old fashion ear ringing with the added advantage of not being able to move while girls scowl at you for bumping into them and slightly spilling their drink. (as an aside...do not bring a drink onto a crowded dancefloor and expect to keep all of it unless you've asked for a sippy cup).

We finally leave, end up hanging around Ceasars playing video poker for a penny and drinking Gin and Tonics til we are too tired to think.

Sunday the groom decides that he needs to be intoxicated all day. We decide that seems valid and end up drinking the entire day away while trouncing around the strip, playing games to see how many high fives we can get. We end up back @ margaritaville and I at least get to watch most of game 5 of the NBA finals before going back to the room to try and nap off the booze. Got some pizza for dinner @ the place by the TI poker room which was pretty good for the price.

The gf decides to sleep and I go down to see what games are going on in TI. I'm very tired so don't feel like playing in what seems a not so good nl line up, so i donk around @ 2/4. The game is 6 handed which I love in low stakes LHE since there will normally be less players in a pot, leaving some room for actual play rather than just bingo. I run it up +90 in about 1.5 hours and call it quits to sleep.

Monday is leaving day so we decide to play a bunch. End up going down to Bally's with the groom. Never got in a nl game but sat 3/6 with him so he could lose his money slower (he is a pretty typical over confident amateur with little clue but a lot of gamble). Sit there for about 2.5 hours til the groom's 100 is gone, and i'm stuck -65.

Head back to the TI, decide to enter the 2pm $50 tourney, and 4 hands in lose almost the entire stack with 2pair vs nut flush, so my tourney is over in less than half an hour. Gf is @ venetian so i go over and sit 1/2 NL for the only time all trip, and run it up to +175 without one showdown on a fairly soft table for the room. We grab some pizza in the foodcourt with all the comps and catch a cab back to the airport.

Flight back was insane as a bunch of drunk retired frat boys sit around us, the drunkest of which ends up sitting next to me in the aisle, making sure to say "how are you?" to literally every person who walks by for the entire trip. We end up being the last off the plane as his friends ditch him, and it takes us 5 whole minutes to wake him up as he eventually waddles off the plane with his sandals on the wrong feet. I guess we had to run bad in some portion of the trip...to top it off the luggage takes about 30 min extra to get to the carousel.

All in all I was +290 in poker and played about 12.5 hours, while the GF was up about +440 and played something like 15hrs. Not too shabby for a relaxing time in the desert.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it :)