We got checked into our room at Bally's around midnight and then headed to the casino. We decided not to play for a real long time and get a full day in after some sleep.
7/6/05 - 12:30AM - I headed straight to the poker room and got seated at a $3/6 table and sat for about 3-1/2hrs. No real hands to speak of, but the competition was terrible as they would pretty much see any flop when they held a face card or better. Went up to my room at about 3:30AM to get some sleep down $26.

7/6/05 - 7:30AM - I got up and headed down to the MGM and got seated at a $4/8 table an hour before the start of their daily tournament. Got signed up for the tournament and was up $85 when the tournament began. After the second break I was second in chips at my table and was dealt Ad Kc two off the button. I raised 4xBB and the button and big blind, who is chip leader at our table and table bully, called. Flop comes 972 of diamonds and BB bets half the pot which he has been doing every hand he has been in recently, so I raise him all in thinking he is trying to buy the pot and if he does have a hand I still have the ace-high flush draw. The button folds and BB thinks for a long time and finally call and flips over Q8d. The turn is the 10d which gives me the lead, but the river is the 6d giving him a straight flush to beat my ace high flush. This tournament was run extremely well and I would recommend it to anyone interested in playing a NL tourney. From there I met my buddies at ESPN zone for lunch and then we went to the Monte Carlo. If I had stayed away from the craps and BJ tables my trip would have shown a profit. We all lost a few hundred at the tables and finally go to the poker room and sit at $2/4 since neither of them had ever played in a Casino before. This is a great room for beginners as the management and dealers are extremely friendly and helpful and the competition is pretty poor. We sat for a few hours until one friend had lost his buy-in and we needed to get going to meet another friend. I got up about $40 ahead. We met the other friend and decided to go to the Hardrock to check out the 'scenery'. The scenery was quite nice, but the craps and black jack were not. Left there about 5 hours later down another $500. I went back to the MGM and got seated in a $6/12 game. This game had no fewer than 4 poor players at the table at any one time and I ended up $300 after about 4 hours of play. I decided to start heading back up the strip so I walked to the Alladin and went to the poker room. All they had going was $3/6 so I sat and proceded to lose $120 over the next 3 hours mainly due to 3 bad suckouts. My flopped set of 7's loses to a runner runner made bigger full house. My flopped straight loses to a runner runner flush and another flopped straight loses to a rivered bigger straight. I left there and headed back to Bally's for a shower and then off to the Mirage. I got to the Mirage at about 7:15AM and got into a NLHE $200 max game. I normally play limit and I was seated with several very good players, but I sat for about 5 hours before I lost my buy-in. By now my friends were awake so they came and met me and we went to lunch at Margaritaville. After lunch we headed to Alladin's and lost some more money at craps before going to the poker room again. I sat at $3/6 again and made about $60 in 3 hours. From there it was back to the MGM for me and I played $6/12 again. Today there were alway at least 8 good players at the table at any given time so there was not much money to be had. The big moment came when I was dealt AA on the button and the guy to my right was the first one in for a raise and I just called. The flop came Q63 rainbow and he bets again and I raise and he calls. The turn is another 6 and he checks, I bet and he raises, I re-raise and he caps. The river is an 8 and he bets and I call and he flips over J6o to crack my A's. I fought back to about even after that, but left the table down about $50. Headed back to Bally's from there and sat at $4/8 for a few hours. The play here was absolutely horrendous as it was not uncommon for someone to call down with a Q high and all kinds of suckouts. One guy that had a huge stack of chips rivered about 6 times in a row to make a winning hand. I played about 4 hours and was up about $80 before I finally had to get some sleep. Got up the next morning and we headed out after going over to the Rio to check out the WSOP. It was a great trip.