This is a TR of my Vegas trip. Read & comment if you want. Fair warning, you might find it boring, you might find it interesting, you might not care less. You've been warned...
Background
My wife and I decided to take a big group trip to Vegas for my B-Day (Jan 11), and several other couples are interested in coming along. We put it out to all our friends, but in the end, the only folks that committed were some of my buddies... The wife and I quickly pulled an audible, and scheduled a Vegas "couples" trip in Feb, thus leaving this as a "bro" trip.
The Bros
Jeremy- He hosts his own monthly game. He's a budding chipper, and has a really nice table/tourney setup. Jeremy flew out a day ahead, and left a day earlier than the rest of us (just worked out this way).
@Brian A. Meyer is also a budding chipper, has acquired some nice chips in recent months, and also built his own table this summer (in the extreme heat). He and I are sharing a room, and traveling down together.
John- He and I have known each other for many years (used to work together). He's a casual (rec) poker player. But enjoys the game, and has played at my house on a few occasions. He lives a modest life, but we give him grief because he's the heir to his parents fast food chain empire... In other words, we feel for his losses... but not THAT badly.
@NiceShot was a last minute add-on to the group. In actuality, he's on a wife-focused trip, but since we were traveling the exact same dates, we included him (or he included us?)... more on that later.
Hotel
Once again I stayed at the Flamingo Hotel.. It's not the nicest hotel on the strip, for sure. But what it lacks in class, it makes up in atmosphere and nostalgia. It is also super cheap (and not roach infested). Perfect for the guy trip IMHO.
The Travel to Vegas
After some advice here, we opted to pack it light (and are glad we did). It saved us some coin, and we didn't really need all that much. I fit all my essentials into a medium sized backpack that we carried on the plane (at no cost). We flew Spirit Airlines, and my feelings after the flight down was that I'd fly Spirit Airlines again. Seats were... ok, we weren't packed in like sardines, and though the flight attendants joked that the "Only thing free on Spirit Airlines are the smiles", I can live with paying $5 for a couple drinks.
Since we traveled light, getting to the strip was a breeze. We snagged a cab, and proceeded to the hotel, arriving around 10:30a local time on Saturday (Jan 9th). Since checking into the hotel was not avail yet, we hit the 1/2 NL tables at the Flamingo. More on the poker later.
Networking and My Game Plan
Since most of us were staying at the Flamingo, it was convenient to meet up at the Flamingo poker room. However, to help communications, we created a Facebook group to allow us to post/share pics, and let each other know where we were at, or to connect for dinners, excursions, etc... In hindsight, this worked really well for pic sharing and documenting the trip's events. However, it was hit or miss on how well it worked for meeting up. We often reverted to texts or FB Messenger. It all worked out just fine.
My BR game plan. It was my plan to have a set budget for each day, and once the day (or budget) was over, any profits or losses were banked. Next day, new budget, etc... This allowed me to ensure I didn't blow through my entire BR in one night, and ensure that if I banked a winning day, I'd leave with some money in my pocket.
I'll detail each day in a Separate Post
Background
My wife and I decided to take a big group trip to Vegas for my B-Day (Jan 11), and several other couples are interested in coming along. We put it out to all our friends, but in the end, the only folks that committed were some of my buddies... The wife and I quickly pulled an audible, and scheduled a Vegas "couples" trip in Feb, thus leaving this as a "bro" trip.
The Bros
Jeremy- He hosts his own monthly game. He's a budding chipper, and has a really nice table/tourney setup. Jeremy flew out a day ahead, and left a day earlier than the rest of us (just worked out this way).
@Brian A. Meyer is also a budding chipper, has acquired some nice chips in recent months, and also built his own table this summer (in the extreme heat). He and I are sharing a room, and traveling down together.
John- He and I have known each other for many years (used to work together). He's a casual (rec) poker player. But enjoys the game, and has played at my house on a few occasions. He lives a modest life, but we give him grief because he's the heir to his parents fast food chain empire... In other words, we feel for his losses... but not THAT badly.
@NiceShot was a last minute add-on to the group. In actuality, he's on a wife-focused trip, but since we were traveling the exact same dates, we included him (or he included us?)... more on that later.
Hotel
Once again I stayed at the Flamingo Hotel.. It's not the nicest hotel on the strip, for sure. But what it lacks in class, it makes up in atmosphere and nostalgia. It is also super cheap (and not roach infested). Perfect for the guy trip IMHO.
The Travel to Vegas
After some advice here, we opted to pack it light (and are glad we did). It saved us some coin, and we didn't really need all that much. I fit all my essentials into a medium sized backpack that we carried on the plane (at no cost). We flew Spirit Airlines, and my feelings after the flight down was that I'd fly Spirit Airlines again. Seats were... ok, we weren't packed in like sardines, and though the flight attendants joked that the "Only thing free on Spirit Airlines are the smiles", I can live with paying $5 for a couple drinks.
Since we traveled light, getting to the strip was a breeze. We snagged a cab, and proceeded to the hotel, arriving around 10:30a local time on Saturday (Jan 9th). Since checking into the hotel was not avail yet, we hit the 1/2 NL tables at the Flamingo. More on the poker later.
Networking and My Game Plan
Since most of us were staying at the Flamingo, it was convenient to meet up at the Flamingo poker room. However, to help communications, we created a Facebook group to allow us to post/share pics, and let each other know where we were at, or to connect for dinners, excursions, etc... In hindsight, this worked really well for pic sharing and documenting the trip's events. However, it was hit or miss on how well it worked for meeting up. We often reverted to texts or FB Messenger. It all worked out just fine.
My BR game plan. It was my plan to have a set budget for each day, and once the day (or budget) was over, any profits or losses were banked. Next day, new budget, etc... This allowed me to ensure I didn't blow through my entire BR in one night, and ensure that if I banked a winning day, I'd leave with some money in my pocket.
I'll detail each day in a Separate Post