Well, decided to take on Vegas once more after a successful week earlier in the month, This time, though, I ran bad. Profitable sessions were the exception, not the rule, and I left with a smaller bankroll than when I arrived.

Arrival was Sunday evening on August 23. This time, the mixed game was going at IP when I stopped by, and I watched for a little bit. The game I caught was, I think, the 3-2-1 Omaha. Yikes! I'm glad I didn't try to play, but I watched from the rail only a little bit because I was itching to get to the $10/$20 game at the Mirage, where I'd had some success the last trip.

Got a seat in the Mirage $10/$20 game at 9:30, shortly after I arrived. This game was even more aggressive than I remembered form my last trip. I can't say that I played well, but I did try and play back. Made a couple of good bluffs, I think, but ended up getting felted once. Bought back in for $200 more (after the original $400), and ended up coming back until the game broke at 2:30am, down just $100.

Monday I headed for the Orleans for some $4/$8 Omaha action. I thought that a steady, patient game would tide me well. It was not the case, as my initial buy-in of $160 (at 4:30pm) fell to a more aggressive game than I expected (the typical Omaha river beats notwithstanding), and I ran my $100 rebuy up to $148 before I got too tired and left at 2:00am.

Tuesday I headed to the MGM Grand. My previous trip was to see if I could at least survive in NL, and I had some success. Time to take on the game once more. Got there at 3:30 and sat in at a table that had a couple of very aggressive tourists, both military brats. Over aggressive would be the operative word, and the one 2 seats to my left had a good stack of $600 or so. It wasn't long before the first overaggressive donk got felted, and he left. The guy to my left I just watched his chip stack dwindle. Meanwhile, I chipped up when I hit my nut flush draw. The guy to my left got felted when two called his all-in, one hit their ace-high flush, but the one who took the pot was the one who hit his one-out straight-flush draw on the river. He'll have a bad-beat story to tell, to be sure. Even though I was up, I never really felt comfortable in the game, and left a couple hours later up $110.

I started to think afterward, and realized that in the few times I'd played no-limit, I'd never felt as comfortable as I do at a limit game, and wondered if NL would ever be the right game for me. The stats say that I played $1/$2 NL 9 times this year (a couple of times in Reno) for a whopping 31 hours, and have made $654, or $21/hour.

I headed over to the Mirage, but at 6:30, the $10/$20 game hadn't started yet, so I sat down at a $3/$6 table to wait. Was doing pretty well, until just before the $10/$20 game got going I suffered a horrible beat when I was way ahead to finish my 45 minutes at the table down $13.

This was the one really good session I had the whole trip. I felt in the groove, was hitting cards, was reading hands fairly well, was being aggressive back in the right spots, and took down a tidy $318 profit.

Wednesday was to be Tournament Day at the Orleans. Limit tournaments, rare as they are, I typically do pretty well in, and had time to get a good breakfast in before this one started. Unfortunately, a combination of running bad and really, really bad hands being played hitting knocked me out way early, in 27th place (of 31).

I wandered around for awhile and decided to take a shot at the Omaha/8 game again. Not only was I still running bad, I saw what has to be the dumbest Omaha play in my fledgling career in the game. It was already a kill pot, and I had a decent hand so I called. One of a couple of super-aggressive players raised late, and everyone (naturally) called. And I hit top set. (Bingo!) I believe I was bet into, and I raised, but got way too many callers. The third card to the flush draw on the board hit, and everyone checked it down--to a woman who I'd already noticed had been playing snug (for Omaha), who fired out a bet. I put her on the nut flush. Well, the donkey overaggressive on my right popped it. What can I do? With a pot so huge, I have 10 outs to my boat. I resigned myself not only to the call of 2 bets, but to having to call the reraise I knew was coming. The board didn't pair and I mucked to the river bet. And then I asked the guy why he'd raised on the turn. "To see where she was at," he replied. He'd had an inferior flush. I'm usually pretty calm at the table, but I wanted to reach out and strangle this idiot who had cost me two big bets. And with the 7pm tournament coming up, I had not time to recover, and ended the session down $124.

And in the tournament, I did only somewhat better. Taking fewer risks, I did build up a decent stack early, but then went card dead and finished 20th (of 41).

I headed over to the Mirage for the $10/$20 game. It was very aggressive again. I held my own, but didn't really go up or down, and stayed until the game broke (at 3:00am) down $76.

Wednesday I relaxed, hitting the movie theater (for Inglorious Basterds), then headed over to the Mirage. The $10/$20 game hadn't begun, but they were working on it. I helped get the game started shorthanded, but this was going to be an awful night. I was doing just good enough battling the aggression to hold on, get my hopes up, but my chip stack went up and down, more down than up. At one point I was felted from my $400 buy-in, and managed to build it back up some when a really crazy guy form LA (as I understand it) sat down. Young, brash, and most importantly super-duper aggressive, he sat down 2 seats to my left, with a $1000 buy-in. Ugh. Worse, not only did he not know the meaning of the word "fold," he didn't know the meaning of the word "call." He raised and reraised everything, preflop, flop, turn, river, 2 3, 4 bets. He added a good $700 to his stack in nothing flat. And he should have left then. Someone I recognized as one of the game's regulars joined, and sat down to this guy's immediate left. (I should have been bright enough to take that seat when it opened.) This guy played back at the L.A. guy hard, and took a nice chunk of the guy's stack for his own. Meanwhile, I was recognizing what happened, and was staying in with more hands, calling down with very little, and I took some nice pots off this guy as well. He left, probably less than 2 hours after he sat down, about $250 poorer, although the way he played, his attitude, I don't think the money meant squat to him. Meanwhile, I had built my stack up to nearly even, and then just went cold. When I'd hit something or make a play to take a pot, I'd lose it back and more not long afterward. It just was not my night, and I ended up leaving as the game was getting short down $543.

I have to say, too, that this is one really, really aggressive game. I saw several people multiple times, both on this trip and the last, and several who are not only solid, but very aggressive. Usually 2 or 3 at the table at one time, so you almost never see an unraised flop. You have to really be on your game and pick your spots. But as aggressive as the game itself is, the people who play in it are really nice, not an a-hole among them. It doesn't make losing any easier, but it makes the game itself much more pleasant.

I stopped at the Orleans Friday morning on my way back to the Bay Area, deciding this time to relax with a little hold 'em instead of Omaha/8. I started a new table at 2, and my $100 was gone in 30 minutes is a crazy game. I gave up and left.

Grand total (not counting tournaments):
9 sessions, 33.25 hrs., -$640

Mirage
$10/$20 limit hold 'em
5 hrs., -$100
2.75 hrs., $318
4.5 hrs., -$76
6.25 hrs., -$543
$3/$6 limit hold 'em
0.75 hrs., -$13

Orleans
$4/$8 w/ 1/2 kill limit Omaha/8
7.5 hrs., -$112
3.45 hrs., -$124
$4/$8 limit hold 'em
0.5 hrs., -$100

MGM Grand
$1/$2 NL hold 'em
2.25 hrs., $110