I woke up at 4 am EST for my 6 am flight for my first trip to Vegas. I had done a ton of research and had been playing online and at a home game for almost 10 years. While I only play for fun I do manage to consistenly book profits. Going into this trip, I had only played live casino poker once but was dying to devote most of the trip to poker. I omitted other gambling from this report and only focused on poker.

We touch down and head to Hooters for their $5.99 prime rib which no longer exits. Oh well, hopefully that is the worst thing that happens in LV. End up cruising down the strip and checking into Ballys at around 1 pm. Locationwise, Bally's can't be beat. I also highly suggest Ellis Island (one block east of Bally's) for their food, specifically breakfast. They have a $4.95 steak dinner that is actually pretty good, and a no-brainer for the price. They also have a steak, eggs, toast, and homefries breakfast for $3.50. It is surprisingly good quality for the price.

On to the poker. My friend had been preaching about how juicy O'Sheas 1-5 spread holdem game was. He was right. There is one $1 blind with $5 max raise. There are consistently 5 people seeing the flop so you'll get sucked out on but if you are patient and wait on a monster you will get paid off. Patience and position are the key here. I ended up booking a $40 win which nearly paid my entry into the 7 pm $50+$10 at Planet Hollywood.

I had done my research and PH tourneys have the largest patience factor for any small buy in tourney. Most chips / longest blind intervals. You end up getting $4K chips with 20 min blinds. The tourneys take around 4 hours. I ended up catching during the 3rd hour and was chip leader going into the final table. At the final table, 5 people were knocked out in 6 hands including me taking two out in one. The hand went down as follows: I am in BB, my buddy UTG with suited 10J (all in for 12K), late position all in with KK (45K chips), I peek down to see AA. Flop gives my buddy two pair but the river is another A and I add about 65K to my 75K for clear chip leader. We ended up chopping with 3 left with one guy getting $100 less due to shorter stack. After tipping the dealer I was up $775. Went out and checked out the Bellagio fountains for the first time (amazing) and went to bed because a) I don't know how the day could have gotten any better and b) I had been up for close to 24 hours.

Day two was more of the same - did some tourist things and played at O'Sheas - grinded out a small win. I did play at TI morning tourney which had a decent blind/chip stack but not as good as PH. Ended up in top 1/2 but was card dead.

I know what you are going to say about playing multiple times at O'Sheas - but it is really a fun atmosphere - Midgets pouring shots - and the two 1-5 tables are practically on the strip so people watching is fun.

Day 3 did more tourist stuff including Red Rock Canyon (20 mi NW of Vegas - very cool) and ended up playing at O'Sheas very late at night. My buddies had already gone to bed but I decided to play late this night. The only hand of note came at about 4:30 am. I get 66 with a flop of 66A. Nice. Quads get paid at least $60 for high hand jackpot, as long as you and one other person stay in for the pot. I am last to act. Bet-Raise-(me)Call. Next card 7. Check-Bet-(me)Call. I can't raise or I risk not getting paid for HH jackpot. The next card is a blank but dude in front of me still bets and I call with the stone cold N. Turns out the guy had 77 for full house 7's over 6's. What is most crazy about this hand is that with one card to come, we were a 7 away from the bad beat jackpot (at least 4 of a kind 6's getting beat) which was currently $135K. I would have gotten 50% of 135K if another 7 came on the river. After that, and getting jacked up on about 5 redbull and vodkas, my nerves were shot. I still got $120 for the high hand ($60x2 b/c after 4 am) and called it quits about 45 min later. The dude to my left said to me "It looks like you need to go to bed" and figured if he can see it by looking at me he was probably right. I got 2 hours of sleep that night.

Day 4 we had a redeye booked for 12:55 am. My 2 hours of sleep did me no good at all. Played at PH again for their 2 pm tourney. Made the top 1/3 but went card dead. Ended up going out AI with AK vs 10's that held up. Played more at O'Sheas, lost about $37, went back to PH for 2-4 LHE to kill time prior to the flight. Broke even. Overall PH was a very nice room. Comfy chairs, good dealers, 14 tables, good drink service.

Caught the redeye back to KY and ended up getting something like 2 hrs sleep in 60 hrs. Needless to say, I pretty much slept an entire day when I got home. Ended up $750 for the trip for all gambling, up $550 after room/car/food (buddy had most of room comped), and up $250 after flight. Not to mention around 40-50 free drinks. Not bad for a first trip.

On a side note, it got up to 116F while we were there, and windy. This was within a degree or two from their all time high. For anyone who had never felt this before, picture a hair dryer pointed at your face, or opening a pizza oven. It is friggin unbelievable heat.