It was around June of last year and my brother and I make a joke on how we should go to Vegas some day. My girlfriend had to go out of state for a few weeks for an internship so we figured there wouldn't be a better time! This would have been my fourth time going and my brother would be his first. We are from Alaska so it takes a while to get down to Las Vegas. I play poker on the weekends with my friends and my brother does not gamble. He wanted to go down because he wanted to see the "Pinball Hall of Fame." (I'll get back to that later)

So we get down to Las Vegas in the morning and head to the Stratosphere. Because we were early, they offer us an upgrade. We get settled in and I show my brother around the casino/hotel. About two years ago, I went vegan so finding food on the strip seemed difficult until I heard about a pizza joint at Mandalay Bay. After I give my brother the quick tour, we make a plan to walk the strip and make it back in time for the Stratosphere tournament.

We end up walking to Circus Circus and begin our long trek, stopping in every casino to take a quick look. We stop in a few shops to get the occasional water/beer and cool off from the summer heat. I made the mistake in wearing flip flops and walking 12 miles that day. One of my favorite places to go play blackjack is Margarita-ville. Cheap hands and for some reason, I always enjoy the atmosphere. My brother wanders around for a bit while I play. I end up winning $100 and we leave.

We finally make it to Mandalay Bay and we go to "a Slice of Vegas." If anyone here is vegan, I highly suggest going here, I had the chicken ranch pizza and it was incredible. At this point, it's around 5:45 and we make our way back to the Stratosphere. My brother says he is not feeling well and decides to take it easy. When I arrive at the poker room, there is already a crowd. I have played here a few years back but didn't make the money. They have a $20 bounty on people which always adds to the excitement. I decide to buy in and do the add on right away.

One of the first notable hands I had was A9 of hearts, I raise about x3 BB, two people call. The flop came 998 two spades. They both check to me and I continue to bet. One folds and the other calls. The turn comes an ace of spades. (ad-lib popular song joke) She checks and I check back. River card was a blank. She bets out. For some reason, people think because I am young, that I usually bluff. This happens at the games back home as well as the casinos. So I grab the stack of thousands and throw it in the middle. I should not use the word throw but I tried to look aggressive as I could. She ponders for a bit and calls. I show my 9's over aces and she looks shocked. Like she thought I was bluffing?

Another funny/awkward moment was I got into a pre-flop raising battle with someone my age. I had AK off and I raised, he re raised me, and i reraised him. He finally called but we got into a starring match. The flop came out but we didn't bother looking at the flop. Finally he speaks up and says "Sorry man, but I don't want to **** you." Everyone laughs including me.

I pick up a few hands here and there and end up making it to the final table. Keep in mind I try to get as many drinks as I can before I get knocked out so I am about seven to eight jack daniels and cokes in. I also do not drink much so I am being a bit more social than normal. I am short stacked at the table but I am determined to make the money. The bubble is at 8 people and there are 9 left. I only wait until I have the right hand to shove with. I even go as far as showing folds like A10 suited. People are laughing and somewhat surprised why I would fold that. I start talking with the chip leader and he says that everyone should take $90 from the winnings and give it to 9th place. Everyone seems to agree because it would only be $10 per person with a first place of $700. However there was an older gentleman who said no. I found it pretty greedy of him, probably the booze talking at this point and everyone protests. They call the tournament director over and he says that everyone would have to agree about this, majority did not overrule. So this bummed me out a bit. Finally, it's my big blind and I am forced to go all in. I get nervous and look down at 5-2 off. "This is it." I thought to myself. The older man goes all in, shoving everyone out. He flips over AK suited. "Crap." I ask one more time about a 9th place finish out of desperation and he says no again. The flop comes out 9 Q 2. I MADE A PAIR! Turn 3. River J!! I doubled up and now the old man is the short stack. As soon as I won, he then spoke up and agreed to a 9th place finish! What a jerk.

It keeps circling around and around and no one is busted out. I am forced to go all in again with J9 of diamonds. However, the other short stack shoves with pocket 7's! One of us is going out. I flop a jack and for sure made the deal. Only, he rivered another 7, knocking me out. So, I made my buy in back plus a few knock outs giving me $40. I made some money, had some drinks and had a lot of fun. Definitely recommend this place if you are in that area. Very friendly staff and good dealers.

So before I finish up this review, there are a few quick shout outs I need to make:

Roxie's Diner: The morning after the tournament, I felt pretty hung over. My brother and I made our way to Roxie's dinner at the Stratosphere. It is like a 50's style diner with older movies playing and that nice atmosphere. They accommodated to my vegan needs very well and the staff were nice as always. However, when I got home and checked my credit card bill, it said that I spent $37 when I only spent $10! I called the credit card company to tell them that they made a mistake. They said that if I had a receipt, I could issue a refund but because I didn't, there was nothing I could do. So, I called Roxie's from Alaska and told them what had happened. The manager said he would look at the receipts and find out what happened. He called back in a few hours telling me he found the mistake a issued a complete refund! I was more happy that I didn't have to pay $30 for hash browns and fruit! I guess what happened was that my meal was $7 and I left a $3 tip. So, the waitress made the mistake and thought I left a $30 tip! But they were quick about fixing this error and helpful.

Pinball Hall of Fame: This was the place and reason my brother wanted to go to Vegas so badly. For good reason two. Off the strip and down the street from the Hooter's casino, there is this old-school arcade. They have nearly hundreds of pinball machines and classic arcade games like Mario, TMNT, etc. We easily spent six hours there, betting who would win, and spent $20 in quarters! Needless to say, it was a lot of fun and definitely plan on visiting it again.