Elvis, Siegfried & Roy, strip clubs, slot machines and megabucks!

This was to be my first trip to Las Vegas and despite having seen it a million times on television, I wasn't quite sure how the reality would measure up.

Nonetheless, my excitement about the 3 weeks in Vegas which lay ahead was such that I forgot to pack the specially requested tea bags for Burnley John Falconer - you can't get good tea over there, apparently!

Being an impatient sort, I wasn't really looking forward to the flight but at least we were going direct and had the company of several other players as well as a handful of darts pros on their way to the Desert Classic at the MGM. After sleeping for the first half of the flight, I was a little confused to wake up to the sight of icebergs below. John "Copernicus" Duthie explained something about the curvature of the earth bringing Greenland and Canada into our path but I wasn't convinced. A few hours later and we landed somewhere sunny - hmmm. The slot machines in the airport lounge suggested that the pilot had successfully delivered on his part of the deal anyway.

Leaving the airport, the very first thing you're reminded of is that you're smack bang in the middle of the desert - 41 degrees Centigrade tends to send quite a shock to the system of the uninitiated. Opting for the less audacious cab option over the stretch limos that were on offer (my mind hadn't yet adjusted to how things are done Vegas-style!), Willie Tann and I made our way to the Rio. Eyes darting right, left and everywhere else trying to take in as much as possible I suddenly glanced at Willie and had to laugh at the difference between us. He's seen it all before, he's done it all before - the only thing missing was the bracelet. "I've got a good feeling about this trip Willie..."

Now, there are no prizes for guessing what our first port of call was after checking-in. We pretty much ran to the poker room in the convention centre at the Rio. A sea of 200 tables ready to embrace almost 6000 hopefuls filled the room from door to door. Of course, most of the players would perish in the choppy, unforgiving waters of the first round, but millionaires would be made in this very room - enough to send a shiver down the spine. Before long, a few familiar faces started to appear and the sense of excitement was building. A surprisingly tall Doyle Brunson hobbled past me and I wondered if he still felt the same excitement after so many years. $7.5 million should still get anyone excited though, right?

Meeting our first qualifiers for the short-handed event, I couldn't help but feel incredibly envious that I wouldn't be joining them at the tables. Oh well, if any of them cashed, I'd be a winner by association, wouldn't I? Well, that's what I told myself in consolation anyway. In any case, after a fruitless first day, I decided that these guys needed to unwind if they were to beat 'poker fatigue' and give themselves (and therefore me remember!) a chance of success in the next event.

Jumping on board the Rio's "Party Bus" we cruised up and down the Strip a few times admiring the fountain show at the Bellagio - this really is a must see on any trip to Vegas. Arriving at Margheritaville (no, seriously!), cocktails were the obvious order and after a few hours we started to notice just how much like Austin Powers our friend kunkku was. The whole thing was perhaps a bit too much for philly but his wife Niamh seemed to be enjoying herself. The following day, I wasn't convinced that I'd got the strategy right as another bracelet evaded our gang. Perhaps a circuit or two of the roller coaster at New York, New York would dust off the cobwebs!

Alas, event 3 was no better and vidette, caracol, philly, BREAD, Buzzer, p0peye, JAMMYBSTD, kunkku and checkm8 were to return home without the elusive bracelet. Richer for the experience however, I'm pretty sure we'll see these guys again...

With a few free days before the arrival of our main event qualifiers, myself and kunkku (who couldn't bring himself to leave just yet) decided to tackle a few small re-buy tourneys at the Sahara and the Aladdin in the hope of bringing home some sort of a result, no matter how small. My ninth place finish from 110 runners in a $40 re-buy was worth a lot more than the $110 payout, not least because of the amount of free drinks supplied by the ever obliging waitress!

July 6th arrives and 37 of Betfair's finest touch down at McCarran International Airport. This was the dream team - surely from amongst these sharpest of sharp minds we'd get a result, maybe even the winner? Names of note from the group included gulltann (2nd in British Poker Open), india (2nd in WSOP main event 2002) and KenBarlow (€1k event winner Vienna Spring Festival 2005).

The Betfair welcome party was quite something, with a troupe of eight Las Vegas showgirls posing for photos with ariston (or was it the other way around?) and the rest of a long line of eager would-be poker models! As the drink flowed, tactics were discussed at length and these guys were really chomping at the bit to get going. Despite the jetlag, I think if they'd been offered the chance to start there and then, many would have sprung into action.

Day 1 was a remarkable sight with 200 full tables in action. The quest had begun for the first 2000 players but no sooner had it started than it was over for the first eliminated - less than 2 minutes in! The poor guy must have felt terrible but as far as the rest were concerned, it was 1 down, 5659 more to go! After the three Day 1's (had to be played over 3 days due to volume) had all been completed, a very impressive 17 of our 37 qualifiers remained, with gulltann as the overall chip leader with 169,000 chips! Other fantastic Day 1 performances were gwibbo (79,200), skalie (77,275) and Wakorra (63,925). It really felt like this gang belonged in the spotlight when Hollywood actor, James Woods joined us at dinner break - it's amazing who Willie knows.

Preparation is key when you're playing a tournament of this magnitude, you need your rest. Surprising then, that gulltann chose to join the Day 1 unfortunates for a little late night pool on the day before battle. Well I guess it meant he was relaxed! I'll leave the bad beat stories to the players themselves and fast forward to the end of Day 2. gwibbo had made his move and improved to 204,100 chips. gulltann never saw a hand and dropped down to 53,800. Emerging from the pack also was lukiladi who moved up to 131,000. Special mention must go to snowball who busted out 5 places shy of the money. Still, he seemed happy as long as he had his lucky hat which he tells me he always wears when playing online!

As the remaining players fought on, the majority of the group indulged themselves in the delights of Vegas. Penn and Teller is the current house show at the Rio and it's definitely worth a look. There are of course more salacious shows available in Vegas but we were a very well behaved bunch (What? Why wouldn't you believe me???). Now, as I said at the beginning, 40+ degrees Centigrade can be quite tough to handle - funny then that there were so many takers for the Betfair Poker go-karting day. Can you imagine donning an undersized, fire-resistant racing suit and helmet and approaching hairpin corners at 40 mph in that kind of heat? Well, I'm not sure if it was the heat or the blinding sun, but it certainly wasn't entirely my own fault when I took that wrong turn in the middle of the track! Fortunately, MrBlair and Tiberian_ opted to follow the same line, much to the disbelief of the on looking crowd. Not content with a multitude of high speed crashes, the remaining adrenalin junkies made a b-line for the Stratosphere to be tossed about on the mechanical arm hanging out over the edge of the building (several hundred feet up in the air). Strange people, poker players!

At this stage, we'd now lost the majority of our players but an impressive 5 Betfairians had made the money eventually finishing in the following positions;

• 53rd: Nick Gibson (gwibbo) - $173,880
• 82nd: Jon Kalmar (skalie) - $91,950
• 85th: Richard Lapwood (lukiladi) - $91,950
• 314th: Haakon Waerstad (gulltann)- $21,070
• 495th: Grant Rist (Tiberian_) - $14,135

3 weeks in Vegas now and things were beginning to take their toll. It's a crazy city and I for one would struggle to survive any longer there. I was looking forward to going home before I began to consider this sort of lifestyle to be normal. Two more days and we're back to normality - we'd had some good results and did ourselves proud, maybe next year we'd be bringing back a bracelet! 1am and the phone rings, "Ruru, where are you? I'm at the final table!" came Willie's excited voice. I run down to poker room to see Willie down to the final 6 players. Surprisingly few spectators but I guess most people had worn themselves out by this, the last bracelet event.

Standing there, watching Mr. Miyagi work his magic, I was convinced that this was it - he looked in total control. 5 remaining, 4...3...2...Willie was at his imperious best and bossed the table in a master class. At heads up, his opponent, a young internet qualifier, suggested a deal as they were even-stacked. "OK but you must give me the bracelet - a few years ago I chopped it and took money over the bracelet but I'm sponsored now and I want to give something back" - no deal, the kid wanted the bracelet too! Four hands later and it was all over, 6 high straight beating the 5 high straight. All week, we'd heard no end of whooping and hollering from players who had just doubled through even as early as Day 1 but not from Mr. Miyagi. Willie is one of poker's true gents and although this win meant so much to him, he showed respect for his opponent, a commiserating nod and handshake. The emotion would be private.

It was a remarkable end to our trip and the obligatory champagne was shared with a large group of our qualifiers who just happened to be at the bar at 3am! The group were so genuinely thrilled for Willie and as the bracelet was passed from hand to hand you got the feeling that they'd all be back next year to try to win their own.

Only 12 more months to go...