Day 1 - Wednesday 3rd July
Standard flight. Watched three films and read half a book. Food was OK. Definitely worth going Premium. I owned up to Customs about my $14,044 that I was carrying. They took me to a back office and made we wait while two of them were in earnest discussion pointing at a computer screen. A worrying 5 minutes, but it was all fine in the end!
Stepped out to the taxi rank in 110F heat, but was in a taxi within five minutes who somehow managed to make the trip last for ever and cost $30. I think Las Vegas has a new terminal, so the trip is a bit longer, but I"m still now convinced.
The room at the Rio is massive ("all-suite") and the air conditioning is reasonably quiet, which is the key thing. I managed to sleep OK last night. So the first thing I do is go down to the WSOP area to buy-in for the two tournaments so that I can off load all the cash before I get mugged. The queue is the longest I"ve seen at the WSOP, and it takes me 30 minutes to get to the front. When I leave the queue it"s longer than when I arrived!
Back to the room to unpack, and then something to eat (quite a good burger from somewhere in the Rio) and then off to play cash for as long as I can stay awake! I play in the official poker room it the main casino rather than in the WSOP area. They have $1/$3 tables rather than the $1/$2 that I prefer, but it is quite a passive table (raises to $8) so that"s OK. First hand I get 62 in the BB and get to see the A62 flop! A nice small pot to start, and then in my second hand, in the SB, I get 77. There is a raise and three callers, so I call. Flop has a seven on it! I win quite a big pot (although I think I could have bet more on the end) and am $100 up in 5 minutes! After that its up and down, but then I lose $100 when I make a big call (and a poor one). I raise with AQ and get a caller. The flop is JJ5. I c-bet and he calls. Hmm. The turn is a queen, so I reckon I"m ahead here (he"s shown poor hands in the past), so I bet again and he calls. The river is a blank, and I decide to check call, but then he bets $100. I decide to call, think there is a chance he has the jack, but he has 55! Poor call.
I am nodding off towards the end and finally hand myself in at about 10pm (6am UK time). Actually manage to get some sleep, but wake up at 2.30am, read a bit, then manage to sleep from 4am to about 7am. That"s a record for me on the first night in Vegas! The quieter/more efficient air conditioning certainly helped.
