Las Vegas 2009 Trip Report “January”

As promised I'm slowly managing to get all my Las Vegas trip reports live, this documents my shenanigans during my January 2009 trip. I will finally close of all my backdated trip reports when I make my Las Vegas 2009 Trip Report “September” live, this will cover my second visit of 2009 in September. Back to January for now though and this was a family trip including Mark, George, Paul, Kevin, Kieron (Mark's best friend) and Myself, it was to celebrate Mark's 30th and Kevin's 42nd birthdays, which fell on the 3rd and 17th of January respectively. The trip began on 11th January when we met at the Killingworth Arms around midday for a Sunday roast and a couple of pints, before hitting the A1 south bound for Manchester. We were spending the night at the Crowne Plaza, Manchester before our early morning flight. Below are a few photo's of our journey down to Manchester and of our night out;


So yeah we flew around 10:00am on Monday 12th January with US Airways; Manchester > Philadelphia > Las Vegas arriving early evening, before getting a Ford Chevy Dodge to the MGM Mirage where we were staying for the week. After quickly freshening up we all met downstairs at Kokomo's lounge, below I have cliff notes of the evening;

Drinks at Kokomo's, Mirage
Dinner at Denny's
Drinks at Carnival Court, Harrahs
300NL at Wynn

With Mark and I finally leaving the Wynn around 13:00 the following afternoon (Tuesday 13th) after a very profitable $1,000+ session, meeting some great guys including Matt “Denver” Manes, Diego “Professional Wanker” Salem, Asaf “Israel” Shneiderman, Katharine Salas, and a dude called Ryan whom I can't remember his surname. These are all top guys who both Mark and I keep in touch with through facebook, see below photo's of the aforementioned evening;

Left to right: Matt Manes, Asaf Schneiderman, Mark & Dan Trett, Katharine Salas, and Ryan.

So after a long night of poker, drinks, and some fantastic banter we check out and head back over Mirage, here we head to Cravings for their lunch buffet joined by Kevin & Kieron. Eventually retiring to bed around 15:00, we sleep until around 21:00 before the phone goes and it's the rest of our party who are gathered downstairs in Revolution. After freshening up we head down around 22:00, see below cliff notes and photo's of the evening;

Drinks at Revolution, Mirage
Drinks at Eyecandy Lounge, Mandalay Bay
Drinks at Coyote Ugly & Bar at Times Square, NYNY
200NL at MGM Grand


This took us until around 4:00am Wednesday (14th) morning leaving only Mark, Kevin, and I, we decided to head back to Mirage and head for our beds. We slept until around 10:30am and then the whole party decided on an early morning poker tournament, hitting the Mirage 11:00am $60 tournament. I bust the bubble leaving Paul the only member of FTP left in the field, eventually finishing second for approximately $400. Paul and I then headed to Carnegie Delicatessen (New York deli in Mirage), where I enjoyed a huge American beef sandwich and french fries. After spending a couple of hours minimum betting at the blackjack table with Paul, we head up to our room to get changed and ready for the evening. See below cliff notes and photos of the evening;

Drinks at Revolution, Mirage (This became kind of a meeting point)
Dinner at Studio Cafe, MGM Grand
Champagne at Hollywood Theatre, MGM Grand (David Copperfield)
$100 WPC MTT at Caesars Palace (Mark & I split three ways)


Mark, George, and I all late registered into Caesars Palace tournament, all making the final table but unfortunately George bust around seventh. As aforementioned Mark and I ended up splitting three ways to round off a nice evening, taking a slow walk back to Mirage. After sleeping for around five hours we were up and off downstairs to join the rest of the party, again we all entered the 11:00 $60 Mirage tournament. No success for me as I bust first from all members of FTP and head over to play some roulette, doing $10 spins and covering 1/3 of the board so not really winning or losing any significant. Around an hour later Paul and George head over as they have bust, so we decide to take a walk to Caesars Palace forum shops to eat at Planet Hollywood (the restaurant not the casino resort). Then back to the Mirage to freshening up for the evening, see below cliff notes and photo's;

Drinks at Revolution, Mirage
Dinner at Vic & Anthony's, Golden Nugget
Drinks at Rush Lounge, Golden Nugget
Drinks whilst enjoying Fremont Street Experience
Drinks & Blackjack at Binions


We left Fremont street around 2:00am, heading back to Mirage. I sat with Paul playing some 200NL until he turned in around 5:00am, I was stuck so stayed and eventually recouped my losses with a small profit by the time the table broke around 9:00am. I was pretty tired by now, so headed straight for my room to catch up on some sleep. Woke up around 5:00pm when I got a phone call saying we were meeting 6:00pm at Revolution. Cliff notes of the evening below, unfortunately no photo's as I was mortal and forgot to take any D'OH;

Drinks at Revolution, Mirage
$100 Omaha Hi/Lo WPC MTT at Caesars Palace (I finished 3rd)
Drinks at Carnival Court, Harrahs
Drinks & Blackjack at Harrahs

I ended up in bed pretty early this night after getting absolute mortal with Kevin in Carnival Court, Harrahs whilst the rest of the party played the $150 20:00 tournament in Harrahs poker room. I missed late registration to this as a result of my deep run over in the Omaha Hi/Lo at the Caesars Palace Winter Poker Classic, which explains why I ended up in Carnival Court. I must have drank like 10+ vodka redbulls and then hit Harrahs blackjack table, for more drinks whilst I got nailed to the wall by the dealer (fortunately I was only minimum betting). I was back in Mirage around 1:00am then ordered some room service and hit the mini bar before dropping off to sleep an hour or so later, waking up the following morning with one trainer missing, a banging headache, and sick all over my t-shirt. Anyhow I pulled myself together after the boys tell me where heading over to Rio, we taxi over and all but me decided to play the $40 12:00 tournament. I decided against as I had planned to play the $1,000 14:00 Bellagio tournament, so I just chill in the sports book betting small on a few random horse races and later joined by Paul who does the same only bets bigger. Cliff notes and photo's below;

$1,000 14:00 MTT at Bellagio
Lunch at Snacks, Bellagio
Drinks at Revolution, Mirage
Drinks at Hard Rock Café, Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Check out sights of Las Vegas boulevard


I had no success over at Bellagio, getting all in holding JJ vs. KQd on a 6TJdd flop for a sizeable chip lead with 15 remaining. So after a relatively quite Saturday night, I was in bed around 2:00am. The following day (Sunday 19th) in cliff notes;

$60 11:00 MTT at Mirage
Lunch at Wynn Buffet
$150 19:00 MTT at Mirage
200NL at Mirage


It was our final night so Mark and I did the graveyard shift in the Mirage poker room, the photo's above show it was a long night. Our final morning and after packing we get a limousine to the airport via the “Welcome To Fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada” sign, photo's below;


Following a safe flight home and the three hour drive north to Newcastle, we finally made it home on Tuesday (20th) afternoon. In good time for the evening tournament over at Circus, although if I remember correctly I'm only one from the trip who played.

Thanks for reading guys.