Hi Everyone,

I'm so buzzed about my Las Vegas trip this summer that I've decided to finally succumb to the blogging phenomenon (I know I'm two years too late and now everyone twitters, but at 42 this is fast enough for me).

I chose TwoRags because my favourite blogger, bond18, posts here and as I'm here everyday to read his blog I thought I may as well make mine here too. Alert readers may also recognise that I am indeed the same Zpaceman that featured early in bond's blogging career as the source of a couple of highly humorous ghost written stories about my antics.

Regarding my summer trip to Las Vegas this year, I don't even leave home until 10th June, but such is the anticipation that I couldn't hold back any longer, especially given that the WSOP has started and I'm avidly reading the updates on the 40k event (as well as my friend, Rob Price, just reporting that he's made Day 2 of the $1500 O8 tourny with a decent stack).

Once I get to Las Vegas on 11th June, I'll be sharing a luxury condo with Rob at The Meridian Suites, which is ideally located only one block East of The Strip at Flamingo (i.e. it is walking distance to Bellagio, Caesars Palace and Venetian). This will make it no longer necessary to rent a car (the last two summers I stayed in shared houses a few miles from The Strip and had the hassle and driving most days - not usually a hassle but sometimes an issue once it comes to evening's out drinking).

The last two summers I have mainly played The Venetian's Deep Stack Extravaganza, with a few lower buy-in WSOP events at Rio, the odd Bellagio tourny, a few random others and, of course, the Main Event. I won a DSE tourny in 2007 and chopped one 3-handed in 2008. Meanwhile, I have blanked every WSOP event I ever played at Rio.

This year I intend to change that by firstly focusing much more intently on WSOP tourneys and secondly trying to avoid The Venetian. It seems like a strange decision, given my past record at the two venues, but I just have a feeling that if I devote more effort to the WSOP it will pay off.

Given my planned WSOP schedule, there will still be many free days during my month in Vegas where I'll generally be playing at Caesars Palace. Although their Mega-Stack Series structure is not as good as the V's DSE, it is still a damn good live structure and the generally weaker fields should compensate for that (plus it is considerably closer walking distance from my condo and with searing Vegas temperatures that's probably quite important).

As such, I have planned the following series of NLHE events:

12-Jun F $550 CP
13-Jun S $1,500 Rio
14-Jun S $550 CP
15-Jun M $2,000 Rio
16-Jun T $1,500 Rio
17-Jun W $1,070 CP
18-Jun T $2,000 Rio
19-Jun F
20-Jun S $1,500 Rio
21-Jun S $1,070 CP
22-Jun M
23-Jun T $550 CP
24-Jun W
25-Jun T $550 CP
26-Jun F $1,070 CP
27-Jun S $1,500 Rio
28-Jun S $550 CP
29-Jun M $1,500 Rio
30-Jun T $550 CP

01-Jul W
02-Jul T $1,070 CP
03-Jul F $550 CP
04-Jul S $1,080 GN
05-Jul S $10,000 Rio

Number of Tourneys: 20
Total Buy-Ins: $30,000

It's unlikely that I'll stick to this schedule. For one thing, all of these tourneys at two-days or more and when I make Day 2 of some of them, I'll have to miss the start of others. Also, as the series progresses, I might diversify my play by adding in the odd Bellagio tourny.

What is certain is that I'm targeting $30,000 of total buy-ins. This is important because I've sold $15,000 worth of action to various stakers and I want to have 50% of my own action. I confidentially expect to cash for over $50,000, giving a good ROI to my stakers and myself, but I fully recognise that MTT variance is a bitch and it is entirely possible that I win nothing; or conversely that I could have my one-time run-good and bink a bracelet and over $500k.

I'm obviously hopeful it will be the latter.

My next blog entry will be all about my Las Vegas fashion choices - somewhat in homage to bond's article on fashion tips, but also quite important to help me decide what to pack for over a month in Las Vegas.