Las Vegas 2011 Trip Report "Summer"

Back over Las Vegas for my eighth trip accompanied by Mark making his second visit, we flew out on Thursday 23rd June going direct; Manchester > Las Vegas with Virgin. Arriving safely with no delays we checked into Bellagio, before heading over to The Pub, Monte Carlo where we were to meet our good friend Dave Collins and his beautiful wife Sandra. I would recap this eventful evening, however Dave has blogged the shenanigans over NPF (link below);

Trettski Day

This was an absolute first class night, cementing why both Mark and I have mountains of love and respect for Dave. Here are a few photos to accompany Dave's rendition;


Moving onto Friday morning and I see a really good friend of mine Tom Middleton (FTP interview guest last year), is on the final table of the WSOP $2,500 #36. Despite originally having planned to play the Caesars Palace $350 “Mega Stack Series” (abbreviated as MSS for future reference) event I drop it and make plans to get on the rail, and sweat Tom in his quest for a bracelet.

Morning: Sunbathing by Bellagio pool
Afternoon: Sweat Tom and have lunch at Rio
Evening (early): $125 Aria tournament and 300NL
Evening (late): Sweat Dave split the evening tournament

Unfortunately Tom bust in 3rd losing TT vs. AK AIPF, receiving $305,015 for his trouble. Later that evening celebrating over at Surrender, Encore which both Mark and I regrettably missed our kind invite from Tom! D'OH.


The following day (Saturday) Mark headed over early to Rio for the WSOP $1,500 #43 whereas I couldn't be arsed with the thought of a twelve hour grind after a late night on Friday, so dropped it and stayed in bed until around noon.

Afternoon (early): Head over Rio to sweat Mark and have lunch
Afternoon (late): 300NL at Rio
Evening (early): 200NL at Hooters
Evening (late): Head to a few bars out of town with Adam Ellis


Eventually stumbling into Aria mortal drunk around 2:00am and playing a bit 500NL with Gaz Walker, losing a $1,000 in a couple of hours before conceding defeat and retiring to bed. I understand Gaz took the game for somewhere north of $3,000, so good job mate.


Now Sunday 26th I decided it was time to push the tournaments, starting with Venetian $350 “Deep Stack Extravaganza” (abbreviated as DSE for future reference). Unfortunately neither of us cashed, I made a deep run busting in like 70th (7 from the bubble) after playing a chip leader (280,000) chip pot as a 90% favourite. I won't bore you with the bad beat story, but yeah I was a little disappointed. By the time I bust it was around 1:00am, so I took a slow walk back to Bellagio and turned in like 1:45am. On a more positive note Teesside local and good friend of both Mark and I Dom Mahoney finished around 22nd for approximately $1,200, good work mate.


Monday 27th we pretty much camped in Caesars Palace, after eating breakfast over at there international lago buffet we headed over to there card room. Registering for their noon $130 MSS, which is unlimited re-entry up to level six. Not good as between us we were in for five bullets (3:Dan/2:Mark), then I dropped a further $500 on the 300NL before playing their evening $100 tournament and busting like level two. I was tilting pretty hard so decided to call it a night around 22:00 before losing any more cash, wise choice I suspect.


Tuesday 28th kind of followed the same trend as Monday in that I both ran and played bad poker, starting with the Venetian $350 DSE where I bust early. After wishing Mark good luck I jump in a taxi to catch the Aria daily afternoon $225 tournament, I lasted a little longer but still no cash as I bust about seven from the bubble. Have a few drinks in Deuce bar before heading back over Venetian to sweat Mark, he makes a deep run but like me on Sunday bust in the penultimate level of the day. Back over Bellagio and in bed for around midnight, dry tournament spell on continues.


Wednesday 29th and we made our first trip down-town to Fremont street to play the Golden Nugget $135 “Grand Poker Series” (abbreviated as GPS for future reference), before taking our seats we had lunch at Magnolias Veranda over at the Four Queens Resort. The food was pretty good but the tournament not so good, as we both bust by level six. It was still relatively early so after heading back to Bellagio, chilling the room for a couple of hours we decide to head to Aria for the evening $125 tournament where we see our good friend Steve Gibson. Have a few drinks and a laugh with Steve, but again no luck for us in the tournament as we both bust and home for approximately 1:00am. Back down-town the following day (Thursday 30th) for the Binions $1,000 “Poker Classic” main event, which mirrors the WSOP main event in that you start with 30,000 chips. I was pretty impressed that I managed to bust first hand, I don't usually discuss hands but whatever here goes;

“UTG+1 comes in for 200, gets called in two spots behind and I have KQs so decide to either pick up the dead money pre or isolate in position vs. UTG+1 from the BTN and third bet it up to 1,600 total (questionable play I guess). Anyway as predicted UTG+1 calls whilst the rest fold and flop comes 9TJdd, UTG+1 check raises my pot sized CBET to 6,500. I over third bet it up to 22,000, which I'm expecting villain now to shove or fold but no just a smooth call. So 44,000 and change in the middle and an off suit king hits the turn, obviously not ideal and as villain slides the remaining of her chips over the line it's kind of obvious it's AQd but I'm just not folding ever so make the call. Sure enough she shows up with AQd and I'm dead to an ace for the split, the river bricks and I leave with my tail between my legs.”

So with the whole day ahead of me I decide to taxi over Rio to sweat Chris Moorman who was heads-up in the WSOP $10,000 #46 NLH 6MAX, it was a short half hour battle as Joe Ebanks beat him and Chris got a very nice $716,282 for his second place finish. So still a whole day ahead I taxi back over Bellagio, chill by the pool and surf the internet before heading back down-town to sweat Mark in Binions. I have dinner with Mark and Dom over at Benny's Bullpen, before wishing them luck and heading over Golden Nugget for the evening $100 grand poker series event. Fortunately my luck changed and after being a card rack for the entire tournament I eventually final table with 200,000 (400,000 in play). After busting one guy people begin to discuss paying eighth place a bubble prize, I object and explain my reasons but suggest I take first place ($1,850) and they split the rest which if I remember correctly was like $350 each for them and more than fourth place. They all agreed and I eventually recouped some of my tournament outlay, after a few drinks in Golden Nugget with Mark we head back for around 3:00am to turn in.


Friday 1st and I was now taking my finger off the value button and was slowing down with tournament poker for the trip, Mark on the other hand was off to Venetian for the $550 DSE. The reason I dropped the rest of my scheduled tournaments was because I had a good friend of mine, a Las Vegas local named Monette who I wanted to spent the weekend with. Monette was the Delta representative who helped me out last year when I lost my passport, we have since kept in touch through e-mail. She's an absolute brilliant girl who I have all the time in the world for, so needless to say I was delighted to be able to spent some time with her whilst in town.

Morning: Breakfast with Mark at Grand Lux Cafe, Venetian
Afternoon (early): Sunbathing by Bellagio pool
Afternoon (late): Gym and sauna “Spot Jonny Chan”
Evening (early): Dinner at Bachi Burger with Monette and Ott
Evening (early): Visit Hoover Dam with Monette and Ott
Evening (Late): $100 The Grand Poker Series Evening Event (1st $2,100) 

Again the following day (Saturday 2nd) I was off on a road trip with Monette and her boyfriend Ott, as we took a two hour drive to Utah visiting Zion National Park. This place was beautiful so tranquil and the sights were unbelievable, we had a small delay as a landslide trapped us for approximately two hours but M'EH whatever it was cool. Below are some photos which go some way to demonstrate how great the place is;


Arriving back in Las Vegas around 18:30, I quickly freshened up and headed over Caesars Palace to sweat Mark in the $130 MSS. Unfortunately he got pretty deep before busting a few spots from the bubble, on a more positive note for Mark he split the evening Aria tournament the night before (Friday 30th) for $2,400 which again is nothing of any significance but a welcome return after not a single tournament cash the entire trip. So I had planned to have dinner with Monette and Ott over at “Cafe Noodle & Chinese Barbeque” which they recommend, the food was delicious and after saying my goodbyes they dropped me off at Caesars Palace to meet back up with Mark.


Then our final night in Las Vegas really gets going as after a small 300NL cash session we meet up with Teesside boys Dom Mahoney, Lataif Aziz, and Rakesh Gupta, after finding out Dave Maudlin is over NYNY with a few others we jump in a limousine and head on down. All though by now it was like 1:00am the night was only just getting started, we arrived at Bar at Times Square, NYNY and it was already crowded with a bunch of our local boys. These included obviously the five of us who had just turned up, then joining Dave Maudlin, Gaz Walker, Steve Gibson, Marc Foggin and his hot lass whom I don't know her name. From here we got in a another limousine from NYNY to Palms, where unfortunately Playboy Club was too busy so we had to settle for Rain which was still ace. I was absolutely mortal so have very little memory of the evening but here's some photo's which go along way to show how unbelievably messy the night was;


Needless to say a total unforgettable only in Las Vegas night, however it didn't end their as Mark, Steve, Gaz, and I continued the night as we headed to the Palms poker room for a graveyard cash session and sat at the 300NL around 4:00am. I don't remember exactly how things went down, but I think we all profited somewhere north of $500 so a nice way to end an already unbelievable night. After sharing a taxi with Steve and Gaz dropping them off at Monte Carlo, we headed onto Bellagio and grabbed some breakfast at Café Bellagio before heading to our room to get packed at like 10:00am. Mark did a few bits of last minute shopping to get presents for his family whilst I chilled in the room, before our limousine to the airport arrived early afternoon. Seen Dave Mount, Alex Joblin, and Milo McKenzie in the departures who's flight to London Gatwick was unfortunately delayed, shame we never actually got to have a night out with these guys whilst in Las Vegas but whatever maybe next time. Also managed to do a bit of celebrity spotting for those of you familiar with UFC fighter Chuck Liddell, he was in departures whilst we were. I mean I wasn't scared as of course I can take him, I'm Dan “MOTHERFUCKING” Trett after all.


So after a safe flight home and drive from Manchester to Newcastle, the adventure is finally over for 2011. Another eventful visit to a fantastic place finished, now just have to look forward to doing it all again next year. Guess we can kind of give Las Vegas a new slogan, giving my FTP trip reports.

What Happens In Vegas...Goes On Full Trett Poker