My friend and I have come to Vegas the past 3 years in a row and always stay for 10 days, always at the MGM since we get a good deal (about $1000 for flight and room for the whole 10 days) Landed at about 8pm on Monday. My buddy won a dollar as his case came off first :(. He was tired (10 hour flight from the UK, we'd been up about 26 hours). I have some sort of weird immunity to jet lag so sat and played poker. Bought in for $100 (wanted to get the feel of the game first before I risked max buy ins, I was there for 10 days after all) No hands of note, I just got involved in too many marginal situations and got out drawn. Rebought for another 100 when I got down to 30 but eventually lost this too. Grt to bed about 11pm.

Got up at 3 am as I couldn't sleep, take a walk down to Planet Hollywood to get some air, notice that miss America is being held during my trip, vow to hang out there for the eye candy. Stroll back to the MGM and sit again for $200. End up losing it all with kings to AK, villain flops an Ace, typical. Go to bed, $400 down in like 8 hours (my bankroll for the trip is only 2500) and annoyed at myself for first sessions play but happy with my decisions in the second set.

Get up at 7:30 with my buddy and we play some more, playing for about an hour, up only about $20 when I get all in with Aces vs 10s and 5h 7h (?) for about $150 each. Needless to say I get aces full, 1 gets 10s full and the other guy barely misses his straight flush for just a flush and I'm up to just shy of $500. This making me even, me and my buddy go to the grand buffet in the MGM, comped of course using our players card cash we had left from the year before. Since we only play in the MGM and do about 8 hours a day we get a free breakfast every other day which isn't bad.

After making a mockery of the self service policy (my friend had 3 plate fulls, I smuggled out loads of apples etc for the room) sat for a bit longer but nothing happened so we took a stroll down the strip. Wow City Center has gone up fast! As I've come every year I've seen it at various stages, last year is was just bare bones and scaffolding, 4 years ago there wasn't even a building site!

Walk to Caesars, a guy all sprayed green on a podium doing a great robot impression makes us laugh. We walk round the forum shops looking at all the expensive things we'll never be able to afford then head back for more poker where I lose another 200, eventually all in with queens against AK. I have to win won of these races eventually.....

Go to Hooters for our traditional all you can eat ribs at Dan Marino's, bit miffed to find it has closed and is now called 'Mad Onion'. They still serve the ribs so we aren't too bothered. I win a dollar by eating 2 racks to my friends 1, hah! My friend goes to play some more but the lack of sleep is starting to hit me so I decide against joining him and get an early night. A note on Internet in your room at the MGM, what a con! Its $15 per 24 hour period, and its not just for your room, its PER laptop! Tried to swing a deal at the front desk, poker room supervisor and eventually poker room manager but apparently theres nothing they can do for us. Bear in mind we're playing upwards of 5-6 hours a day in their poker room and staying for 10 nights you'd have thought they'd be able to give us a commodity which is available almost everywhere else for free......

Day 2, we get up later and play 1-2. Lose another 200. Again its not my fault, summing up the trip so far is if I have Kings someone else has aces, if I have aces someone has kings and flops a set, I'm running so bad. Eat at ESPN zone, the burgers and BBQ wings are epic! Laugh as some fellow Brits watching the soccer game jump and down screaming when Manchester Utd score.

Decide to play some of the smaller rooms as the going might be easier and making decisions in marginal spots less tough. Finish $200 up, everything seems to be back on track. Got aces 4 times, kings twice, witnessed quads high hand jackpot and aces cracked jackpot twice in a row. Nice little room, most people only sat with 60-100 and didn't seem to know what they were doing so easy to stack them without much risk.

Decide to take a stroll down the strip and play in more rooms. Go to planet hollywood, play for bout an hour, nothing much, finish 25 up, throw it on the devils wheel and lose it. Go to flamingo, ballys, harrahs, o'sheas, bills, no games open at any of them, end up at imperial palace and play for about an hour. I lose another $200 all in with, you guessed it, kings against one of the dealers playing at the end of his shift. Flop trip jacks in the big blind with J 3, get stacked by someone with J 10, having a bad time today.

Walk back to room at 11:30pm, freezing cold, angry and on tilt, $600 down on day 2 of my total $2500 bankroll for the trip. Think about sitting in the MGM but keep my head screwed on and think better of it, go to bed, write blog, laugh at all the American lawyer commercials and stay optimistic for the morning. Friend rolls in abut 1am, complaining that the dealer/player stacked him.

Day 3, get up and play 1-2. Play one hand, kings again. Re raise to $30 pre flop, get called by a guy with a baseball cap called Daniel sitting 2 seats in front of me who was there the day before sitting with $1000, he again has $1000 (find out later he's a local and plays for a living, for $1k a day I'm not surprised) flop comes an Ace, I bet he raises, what can I do but fold? Cash out $120 down.

Eat a Mcdonalds, still amazed by how much bigger the 'large' is in the US compared to the UK. Go back to room to get my head straight, down $750 halfway through day 3, all not going according to plan. Decide to hit the luxor in the afternoon again as the table seemed a pushover and confident I could double or triple my buy in.

Luxor game was good again but failed to make a profit. Played scared, folding top pair to all in raises, over betting when I flopped trips 3 times in a row and scared everyone off, bought in for 200, cashed out 4 hours later for 200. My friend flopped a straight flush earning him a quick $200 bonus *sigh.

Plan to head out to the strip again tonight and visit some of the games there were no spaces in last night. How long can my bad streak run for? I've been playing for 8 years, come to Vegas 3 times and built my bankroll for the trip playing the past few months, I've never had a bad run like this before in my life, it has to end soon!

Headed to the Monte Carlo at the suggestion of some of the locals. Room is really nice but no energy drinks and we'd been up all day. Game looked easy, 2 old women, 2 old guys, 2 guys playing for the first time, a guy who said he was a pro and me and my friend. Good table, got a few bluffs through to steal small pots here and there but literally got no hands, finished about even. Listened to the 'pro' guy lecture everyone about how he lived off poker then went broke and how all books on bankroll management were incorrect. Obviously we made him a target but just didn't get any hands to make money from.

Ate a pizza, friend went back to room, I decided to walk to Aria (not to play, was really tired) but the poker room looked really busy. Step outside and admire the architecture of city center, really impressed. Get caught filming the buildings and surroundings then turning the camera on a group of attractive young ladies as they walk past, what can I say? I'm only human!

Get up at 8 am and head to the hard rock as have heard good things about the room. One table going. They have a $100 high hand jackpot every 2 hours for the highest hand during that period, if you get a medium full house you can be confident to get it. Cash out after 2 hours up about 80.

Eat at the Hard Rock Cafe. Waiter gets my and my friends order wrong (I know we have British accents but how can you confuse a legendary burger with a swiss and a 6oz classic beef burger with a chicken burger?)and it arrive 20 mins later. I get my meal for free which is good, we don't tip.

Get a cab to the Luxor to play there again as we've been pleased with it so far. Great game, see lots of flops as its very passive but people chase to the end with middle pair, perfect. Get all in for $200 with K 10 on a flop of 9 Q J, 2 clubs, I have none. Called by one guy for about $80 with K 8 of clubs and another french guy who hears the first all in for 80 but not my re raise to 200 so calls. Floor comes over for a ruling, its ruled that he has to put his whole 200 in, he has Q J. I'm sweating, why can't flopping the nuts ever be easy. Turn rag, river rag and I cash out for just shy of $600. The win couldn't come a moment too soon. Theres a guy at the table in red with a red baseball cap, I can tell he's really good and plays the Luxor game for the same reasons we are. He makes all the rght moves, betting to shut out draws, value betting the perfect amounts and reading peoples hands blind whispering to me what he thinks they have, being right most of the time. Shake his hand as I leave telling him what a pleasure it was to watch him play.

Go to hooters, stare at everything, complain that we don't have anything like it back home and enjoy a platter of wings and pitcher or Coors Light (mmm). Hit the king (the 'Game King' machines) and hit 5 of a kind with deuces wild on first hand for $50, cash out, ch-ching! Think about playing somewhere down the strip as my friend is going to bed but feeling the beer has gone a little to my head come back and write some more of this blog. Count out money, now only about $600 down for the trip, remain optimistic but realistic that I can half that deficit within 3 days as long as I play smart and don't get into a 'look how good I am' match at the MGM.

Day number 5, go down to play some in the MGM, 3 drunk friends at the table raising every pot. There wasn't a single pot below $12 for around 2 hours. Very frustrating as I like to limp lot with medium hands (Q 10, 5 6 suited etc) and hope to hit a monster. One guy kept reading his hands wrong and making terrible decisions but getting very lucky. We just sat and waited but got nothing to play back at them with. They all ended up getting stacked by a few other people at the table but nothing in it for us and they ended up leaving. The very next hand I have Q 10 and limp, flop is A K J rainbow. Needless to say I check all the way then throw out a min bet but get no action from 4 other people, wish the drunk aggros had stayed one more hand and chased their pocket 6's to the river. Finished after about 2 hours $15 up. Profit is profit I guess.