Travel Journal: Las Vegas (USA) – Winning a Tournament & Death Valley

By now, I had finally adjusted to life in Las Vegas and was really able to enjoy the trip. Today was Day 2 of the $300 poker tournament at South Point Casino.

As I already mentioned in the title—I won a poker tournament! But it wasn't the $300 event. Instead, I took down the $200 Daily Event at South Point. I'll tell you all about it in this post.

I started the day with breakfast at Eggslut once again. If you're staying on the Strip, it's easily my favorite breakfast spot.

After breakfast, I drove over to South Point in my rental car. If you're planning to explore more than just the Strip, I highly recommend renting a car. While I was there, I came across what might just be the most American T-shirt in the world.

I didn't have a huge stack going into Day 2 of the $300 tournament, and unfortunately my run came to an end in 177th place. Still, that finish earned me a cash prize of $807, so I couldn't complain.

The timing actually worked out perfectly because the $200 Daily Event was just about to start. After grabbing a quick meal at the Asian restaurant inside the casino, I registered for the tournament.

Things got off to a pretty average start. For most of the day, I was sitting below the average chip stack and never really found much momentum. Around 130 players entered the tournament. Everything changed once we were down to the final 15 players. Suddenly, the cards started going my way, I won several key pots, and my stack kept growing.

In the end, I actually won the entire tournament!

First place came with a prize of $4,695, making it one of the highlights of my trip to Las Vegas.

The tournament finished in the middle of the night, so after collecting my winnings, I headed straight back to the hotel for some much-needed sleep.

The next day was a welcome break from poker as we took a road trip to Death Valley. It was unbelievably hot, but once again the scenery was absolutely breathtaking. I'll let the photos do most of the talking.

On the drive back, we made the mandatory stop at In-N-Out Burger.

After returning to the hotel, I treated myself to some official WSOP merchandise before heading out to celebrate the tournament win and experience a bit of Las Vegas nightlife.

I'll tell you all about that in my next post!

Stay tuned,
Nils