I love reading the trip reports so much that I couldn't wait to get to Vegas so I could post my own.

First, this was a trip with the wife and it served 2 purposes. The first was to get a long weekend to spend some time together since the last 2 months have been very hectic and we haven't had much time to spend together. The second was to take her to Vegas so that I can not get beaten up over the fact that I am coming back on March 17th for the annual guys only trip that falls on the first weekend of March Madness.

Trip in - running a little behind on the way to the airport. Husting through checking bags and security. We walk up to the gate about the time we should start boarding and the guy comes on the intercom and says there is some bad weather in Vegas that is going to delay the flight and we will be pushed back an hour and a half. No problem, we have been up since about 6AM packing and cleaning the house for our friend who was watching the dogs and haven't even had a bite to eat. We grab a sandwich and relax. Load up about an hour later. Abour 5 minutes before we push back from the gate the captain comes on - you guessed it - ground stop in Vegas, another update in an hour. An hour later we get word that we will leave in an hour and 20 minutes. They did let us off if we wanted to stretch our legs.

I personally don't make any plans at all for the night I arrive anywhere because I am usually tired from traveling and incase something like this happens, but apperantly I am the only one. Everyone was calling, frantically trying to cancel show tickets, change dinner reso's etc. We finally take off four hours late and to add insult to injury there is a 120 mph headwind, so the flight takes 45 minutes longer than usual.

We land and get our rental car and head over to the Orleans. My wife's anut is in town with this the only overlap and we haven't seen her in about 9 years. We have dinner and conversation and look and some pictures. It is getting onto 10 PM so we head over to the Encore to check in. We stayed and the Wynn last time and the Encore is just as nice or better. Check in is smooth, friendly and effecient. We get a room on the 51st floor with a great stip view. The room exceeded my already high expectations. I highly recomend the hotel if you are with your spouse. My wife is a hotel snob and she just loves it. I really don't care where I stay but it was great.

We throw our bags in the room and head downstairs to take a look around. Typical business for a Thursday night I think. The casino (and city) is noticeably busier than when we were there in July. I hope this is a good sign for everyone. I walk through the table games and look for my favorite dealer but don't see him so I decide to skip backjack. My wife finds a slot machine she likes and puts in $100. A few spins later she has $250 and cashes out. We mill about for awhile and hit the rack about 1AM. That is 3AM our time and after the long delay we are ready for some rest.

Get up and 6:30 the next day and cannot go back to sleep. Get up and go down to play blackjack while I am waiting for my wife to get ready. I buy in for $200. After 2 shoes, I have $350 so I decide to color up and wait for her. I call and she is not even dressed. What takes you ladies sooooo long? I go to the same slot machine as last night. I turn my $40 into $150 and cashout, wait for my wife and we hit the buffet for breakfast. It was good but not worth $20 each in my opinion. After that we head to the outlet mall near downtown and the Miracle Mile shops for shopping for the better part of the afternoon. Get back to the hotel about 6:00 and I run over to the sports book and take Okc Thunder +3.5 vs Memphis. We eat at Society Cafe. They have great service, excellent food and really good mojitos.

I haven't even walked past the poker room at this point. So just for the fun of it I take a look. Of couse it is packed with waiting for all the games. Keep in mind this trip is about my wife so I don't get on the list. We walk back through the Wynn side and I see my favorite dealer at a $25 blackjack table. I sit down there and my wife sits down about 3 tables over at the ultimate texas hold 'em poker game. Good thing she didn't see me blow $600 in less than 3 shoes. I walk back down to her table where she is even and we head back to the Encore side of things.

She sits down at the same game on the Encore side and I find a $15 single deck BJ table. I really don't like single deck but I play for an hour or so, staying even and having a few drinks. I look at my watch and it is after 2am. I go check on my wife. As I walk up I see she is sitting with a huge stack of chips. She is up over $1400! I sit down and she plays for a bit longer. I jump up to check the basketball score, I totally forgot about my bet. Thunder lost on a last second shot but I am still a winner! I go back to the wife and she looses 3 hands in a row. I suggest it is time to color up and she does up $1100. Head for the room.

I get up at 6:30 again and cannot go back to sleep. Shower and head down to the poker room. 3 tables going - 2-5 NL, 4-8 limit, 1-3 NL with a list of interest for PLO. I decide to pass knowing that I won't get to play long. I walk over to the sports book to cash in my ticket from last night and pick up a college sheet for the day. I pick up my sheet and turn toward the window to cashout and make my bets and Johnny Chan is standing right there. He is with 2 other older guys but just standing there not really looking interested as the other guys were talking to someone seated. I walked past and made eye contact and we gave each other a friendly nod. I didn't want to bother him, I am sure he gets assulted by tourist and fans all the time.

Cashed in my ticket, made my early bets for the day and when the wife came down we headed out to Red Rock casino. I had never been there and wanted to check it out. We walked through and I looked like a great casino although I got a distinctive locals vibe, not sure why. Walked through the poker room, it is right next to the sports book. Both were really nice and the poker room was busy for a saturday at 10:30 AM. Just judging totally by the cover, alot of locals. We grabbed a sandwich at the little deli adjacent to the sports book and watched the end of the Michigan St./Minn and the Villinova/St. John's games. I hit them both - Bingo! I am back positve for the trip. I really wanted to bet the Kansas game that tipped at 11:00 but I would have to stay there or come back and collect if I was a winner (I would have been) and neither sounded appealling. Back to the Encore.

Got back cashed in my tickets, made my after noon bets and found the OU Texas Tech game on TV. Watched OU lose and I also lost even with 4.5 points. But I did hit the Thunder +8 v. Cleveland and my favorite game of the day, Duke -1.5 over Clemson. We play a few more tables and head to dinner at Swith. Great food and excellent service. I work in a restaurant and I can cook pretty well. You can get good food at a bunch of places but the service is what makes the place and Switch had GREAT service.

After dinner we headed back to my wife's favortie table for a few hours and she was ready to call it a night. I headed to the Golden Nugget to play in the 1 AM tourney. I get there and ask how many? 13 - pass. I inquire about the wait for $1-2NL and decide I don't want to wait, 4 names ahead of me even thought I think they were trying to open another table. I walk next door to the Four Queens and sit down at a $5 blackjack table. I don't mind loosing money but I don't jump at the chance to loose it $25 a hand either. I play for about 2 hours and leave down about $200. Head back and go to sleep.

Sunday morning. Able to sleep until 8:00. Get up and pack. My wife and I go down to the table games drawing at 10:00AM. Of course we don't win anything. We need to leave at 11:30 or so to get our car back and check in. We grab a coffee and a muffin and sit down at the same slot machine she hit the first night. She still ahve the ticket that she has actually increased to over $370. We sit down and say that we are going to play it down to $300 and cashout before we leave. We hit a few buck here and there and are enjoying our conversation and coffee. We got it up to over $400 and settled on taking it down to $350 to cashout. On the spin that took it from $352 down to $349 we hit for $1000. Hell yes! Cashout, walk to the cage and cashout. We get back to the room and count up all the money for the trip. Between my sports betting, her table game and the slot machine we ended up paying for the whole trip to include food and most of our shopping. Awsome trip.

Flight home is perfect and we cannot wait to get back.

I am back March 17 for guys weekend and I will play a ton of poker and bet on alot of basketball and have more to share.

Good luck all!