Day 6
Play at the MGM again, 11pm till about 5 am. For some reason I don't feel tired at all. At the table is a mexican looking guy with 3 stunning girls sitting behind him, pandering to his every need (do I sound jealous?) He gives everyone at the table nicknames, glasses (a guy with glasses) Boston (a german guy with a boston cap) and mine ends up to be 'London', we all decide to call him hollywood. He's quite funny, theres a 60 year old black guy sitting next to me who was chasing down gut shots for his whole stack and hit a straight flush without noticing. Hollywood stats giving him the speech play on one hand trying to get him to fold and then uses his name, which we've all clearly seen he read from the table screen (the old guys players card was swiped in). “I know what you got man, I'm so good at reading......Wesley”. This baffled the old guy for the next 4 hours, he just couldn't figure out how he knew his name! Even when I tried explaining it he said he couldn't understand my accent (perfect english accent!)

At one point I'm $150 up but end up losing a few all ins, me ahead each time (aces vs K Q, K on flop, Q on river) and I get to bed at 5:30 am $15 up........depressing.

Get up at 9 am (I'm a machine!) and go to hit the king. Sit next to a drunk guy whose been up all night playing poker and I pick his Keno numbers for him. Go to the forum shops and spend a lot on Abercrombie (there is one shop in the whole country back home, we come over here and its stupidly cheap) and try to hunt down an elusive pair of UGG boots for my girlfriend, no one has her size/style in stock! Go to Paris on the way back as we remember the waitresses being stunning. Hit the king and double up (again, I must have a 200% profit ratio on the king this trip, up about $80. Small time but you can't argue with the results!) The waitresses are as we remember, very chesty. We decide to crown Paris as most attractive waitresses, followed by the Mandalay (may have been a good day but the ones we saw were great) The Wynn never really impresses me, they just seem to be above average attractive women but without the extra bossom factor :)

Go back to MGM and sit, whose opposite? Keno guy from the morning, he's been up all night and now all day, drinking 2 jack and cokes an hour but looks pretty ship shape :) Play for about 2 hours and finish up $200. One crucial hand, which I think I played badly. I have 10 10, its raised 12 to me pre flop, I call, 3 others in, including the raiser. Flop is J 9 3. I bet out 15, 2 callers. 3 of us to the turn which is an 8. Original raiser bets out 35. Usually I'd fold as I don't like getting involved in marginal situations like this, but I was starting to feel the effects of lack of sleep and decided to call, thinking I pretty much had to hit a 7 or Q to win. Other calls but I'm not worried about them as they've played middle pair all the way to the river so far. I decide to put the raiser on a Jack but I'm not confident with it. River is a 10. Amazingly its checked all around with a 1 card straight on the board. I flip over my trips, raiser turns over K J. I tell him pretty much any bet on the end and I fold but scoop in a pretty nice pot. Decide to head to the Luxor (did I mention I saw Carrot Top the day before going into the chapel with an entourage?) and eat at T&T. I'm not a fan of mexican food but my buddy loves it.

Play at Planet Hollywood, only there for hour and a half, don't play a single hand and cash out 35 down, chuck the odd 15 on black on the devils wheel and it comes up red. Back to the room and to bed, watching independence day (that movie is still good).

Day 7, don't get up till 10:30 and play downstairs, MGM. Only sit for hour and a half and only play 2 hands (aces and queens), cash out $240 up! Main hand where I tripled my 100 was a very bad play by me. I raise to $7 pre flop with AA on the button, two callers. Flop is 9 9 8. Check to me, I bet out 10, both call. Turn is a 5. SB checks, next guy bets $35. I only have about 70 left in front of me and think I could well be beat with a 9 but he could also have something like A 8 or pocket 10s. I go all in over the top, the checker goes all in over that for 200, putting the bettor all in and I know I'm way behind. Bettor shows 6 7 for a straight, SB flips 5 5 for a full house and I show my measly AA for 2 pair. River is, oh yes, a beautiful A and I'm up to just over $300. Was my raise all in a bad idea? I didn't put the checker on anything (he did turn a stealthy set, not easy to guess that). I guess I thought I could get him to fold if h only had ace, didn't figure him for the straight draw due to pre flop raise (even though it was only $7).

Go to the premium outlet center and spend a small fortune. Find the elusive UGG boots, £250 back home (about $350) for $129, what a bargain, I'm the best boyfriend ever! Also buy an american football shirt, the official ones are expensive so I buy a replica for half the price, looks the same to me. Whilst I'm at the mall my friend sits in the 1-3 game at TI. He said he was sitting for about 20 mins and got raped and stacked. He said the best way to describe it is like the scene in rounders where all the locals are playing at the same table then a tourist sits down and they all smirk at each other. He didn't say they were playing together, but he did feel like he was constantly getting sandwiched, then as soon as he was out the hand the others checked it down/played soft with each other. See Mystere at TI. Pretty impressive, better than I remember KA being, the crowd interaction was very funny.

Day 8, get up and play at MGM, win about a hundred, no hands of note, just played solid. My friend lost $200 in one hand at a different table. He told me he hit a full house and showed, a woman had a bigger full house, flashed her cards thinking she was beat then mucked, someone said that she had won, dealer had seen her hand too and awarded her the pot. My friend was very annoyed as he was sure her hand was dead, winning or not (its a technicality but I still think he should have won) I told him he should have called the floor over but he said it was too late and let it go, ah well. Went to Excalibur and sat at the 1-2 game, been trying to get into it all week but there was never a seat and didn't see the point in waiting. First hand I have 8's and limp to the flop, flop a set, bet, one caller, check the turn trying to check raise, caller checks behind, river is an 8, I take down a small pot, but better yet I get to spin the wheel. I only get $25 but the best is yet to come, I get a free Poker Room hat! I'm a big fan of free stuff and proudly wear my hat for the rest of the day (and I NEVER wear hats). Drama not over yet though, another guy hits quads, 3 of us bet a buck on what colour the wheel will come up (green, blue, yellow) and h puts his hat on. 10 mins later a woman hits quads, we bet on the wheel again and she puts her hat on. 30 mins later, 1st guy hits quads again, we bet wheel but he doesn't get another hat, I tell him he should complain (I told you I love free stuff!) and everyone laughs at me ha ha.

Play at the Luxor and I lose a hundred after tilting. One hand I think I played badly. Raised to 20 pre flop, re raised to 50. I look at A K. For some reason I decide to fold, my reasoning is I don't want to lose my hundred (since being down for the trip I can feel myself playing with scared money, protecting my profits and folding draws I should be chasing when I have value). Thinking about it in perspective I'm getting the right value for my money, triple up and I didn't put the re-raiser on Aces or Kings so at worst I'm a coin flip or massively ahead. Turns out the re-raiser had Queens, original raiser doesn't show, flop is an Ace and I would have won. Regardless of whether I would have won or not it annoyed me more that I'd played it badly and it put me on tilt, eventually going all in pre flop for $30 with A 9, called by A Q. Flop an Ace, turn a 9 and I think I've got away with it, river is a Queen and I cash out, up for the day but still annoyed with myself. Hit the king and double up my $10 again, we do this in pretty much every casino we walk through and I must be up $80-$100 by now.

Day 9, play at the MGM in the morning, get no hands except 10s twice, raise pre flop each time and both times flop is something like A K 3 and theres loads of action before me, what can I do? Cash out $50 down. My friend goes sky diving, I watch and film it, rather him than me, looked proper high (3 miles?) Go to Mandalay, no seats, Luxor, no seats. End up at the Excalibur and get in the best game of the trip. I'd read on AVP and heard that the Excalibur was an easy game but oh my god was I shocked by the difference compared to other rooms! A 2-4 limit table broke to start a new 1-2 NL, the players were chasing every draw and EVERY pair to the river, if they did have something they wouldn't bet more than $6 and their tells were all so obvious I must have read 7 out of 10 hands blind exactly what they had. One guy hit a royal flush and bet out big into an empty pot and got upset when everyone folded (we told him he should have slow played but he didn't understand what we meant ha ha) and he eventually dumped his cash. Unfortunately I got no cards and only managed to drag a few small pots, eventually getting my aces cracked for another $50 down sesh. Great game though and I highly recommend anyone who is going to play seriously in vegas to check out this room at least once. My friend did hit cards and he made about $200 in just over an hour.

Ate at ESPN zone again, the BBQ chicken wings were just as great as the 2 previous times this trip and the BBQ baby back ribs were also pretty epic. Its our new favorite place to eat when we visit from now on. Tomorrow is our last day, we plan to do a bit of last minute shopping then play poker all afternoon till we have to leave for our 8pm flight.

Final Day. I always look on the last day of a vegas trip with mixed feelings. I'm sad to be leaving but happy to be going home (I miss my g/f :( ), relish the chance to get even but also hope to end the trip on a high rather than a downer by losing more. We go to miracle mile shops and my friend buys a watch he's been eying up the whole 10 days. We 'hit the king' in Planet Hollywood, eventually losing 20 bucks but it takes an hour, we string it out by strategically using the 'max bet' button, splitting anything no matter what the dealer has and doubling down every time we can (we both now have a guaranteed system to win at the king!). We go back to the MGM and pack our cases for check out at 1pm. Its amazing how much stuff you can fit in a case when you thought you had no room and the threat of paying extra is ever present. The weight limit for our airline is one case each at 23kg. We both came out with about 15 kg. After stuffing it all in we leave our cases at the bell desk and sit for our last session of poker for the trip, we sit at 12:30 and leave about 4:30 to get flight.

Fortunately, in my opinion, this was the best game I'd sat at all week! Everything just went right, when I had top pair I wasn't out kicked or out drawn, all my pairs flopped sets and all my draws came good. The best part, however, was the table. There were 4 guys, all friends, 2 wearing football jerseys (I think they were all from Minnesota?) and 2 Asian guys. They were happy and jolly, chasing Every pair and every draw to the river, almost regardless of the bet size. One guy lost about a 1000 in an hour and kept rebuying, one of them must have had 8 straight whiskeys in 2 hours and got warned once for being loud but he was a fun guy and wasn't causing trouble. He was asking every dealer what their name was as he couldn't see their name badge. A female dealer switched in and the drunk guy asked “hello hello, please please I need to see your breast.....I mean name!” this had the whole table in tears including the floor and dealer. He said more stuff “if you can't trust your wife, who can you trust?” followed by his friend going “yeah you're right, I don't trust your wife!”.

The who lost the most dropped 200 to me in one hand after he'd just bought in. I limed on button with 6's. Flop is 6 8 8, cha-ching! The guy bets out and I know straight away he has an 8, it ends up all in and he confidently flips over 8 10, his face dropping when I turn my flopped boat :) I declare to everyone I 'll play one more hand as I'm under the gun, guy next to me tells me to straddle last hand as its lucky but I decline (I have 2 chips over and expect to fold with a nice even stack if I don't call), I have pocket 6's again. Flop is a 6 9 K. One guy bets out, and bets all the way to river, flipping a predictable king and I scoop another 80-90 for my final pot, rack up and leave. Oh how I would have loved to have stayed in that game all day. I nodded to the 2 solid players to my left, one of them english who were clearly just waiting to pick off more of the easy money, lucky bastards :) I cash out for $350, I only bought in for 100 a few hours earlier.

I type the final part of this trip report sitting in terminal 4 at McCarran (finally! Some free wifi!) As I look out on the vegas lights I am pleased to be going home as 10 days is a long time, any longer at the food would kill me (we've only eaten crap the last 10 days, ESPN zone 4 times!) and I'm starting to miss having a structured life, i.e. not getting up at 1am as I fancy a game :) I had had enough of poker, but this last day at that great table rekindled my fire and I know that when I wake up at home in a day or 2 I'll be itching for a game again. I know I'll be back again some day, but the strains of a civilized life (girlfriend, moving out, career) may put an end to my yearly trip, this being my 4th time. Will I be back next year? Probably not but I know when I am back again, whether its 5 years or 25 years I'll be older and wiser and ready to take on sin city once more.