I enjoy reading other TR and I’ve been meaning to post this TR for the past few months. With 3 young kids (5,3, and 2 months) I don’t get to play as much as I’d like. But this trip I had lots of time at the tables because my wife was attending a conference during the day and at 5 months pregnant she didn't want to stay out late at night.

Wed 9/23 Arrive around 7pm
We are staying at The Four Seasons which is connected to Mandalay Bay. It had a nice calm feel to it and everything about our stay was top notch. We get checked in around 7pm and go find something to eat. We end up going to House of Blues because it was the first thing we saw. Food was average to below average. The music was fun and there was good people watching. They weren’t charging a cover but they tacked on an entertainment fee to our bill. The hostess never mentioned there would be a charge for sitting in the main dining room but whatever...we're on vacation w\o kids!

After dinner pregnant wife is tired so I walk her back to the room and then I'm off to find the Mandalay Bay poker room. There were a few tables running and I immediately get seated at a 1-2 game. The game has good action and there are at least 3 tourist types who aren't strong players. This is good for me because I'm not that confident in my game. This night I don’t have any memorable hands. I was lucky to hit a couple of flops against weaker players that called down to the river. After 3 hours I leave up $128.

Thur 9/24
Wake up early to have coffee with the wife before she heads off to her conference. After coffee I decide to try the $60 Planet Hollywood tourney. I rarely play tournaments but I decided I should give this one a shot because there is not much else to do at 10 am. For the first 45 mins, I build my stack to be above avg and I am in the top 2-3 stacks at my table. I end up losing most of my stack when my KK loses to AA. My stack is now below avg and I start looking for spots to get it in. With KQ from the button I move all in on an early limper only to get called by the small blind (early limper folds). Small blind has AJ and neither of us improve on the flop and I’m out. I meet up with my wife for a quick lunch at The Four Seasons pool. Then it is back to the conference for her and poker tables for me.

I only have a few hours until I need to meet the wife again so I head over to the Excalibur. I get seated at a lively table and buy-in for $200. There were 4 solid young players that were consuming large amounts of beer, a couple of rocks and a couple weaker players. I played very cautiously against the younger guys and more liberally against the weak players. I work my stack up to around $450 until this hand. I get AA in middle position and raise my standard $10. I get 3 callers and board comes something like 5d 9d 2h. I bet $30 and get 1 caller. Next card is the 6s, I bet $60 hoping my opponent will muck his diamond draw but he raises it to $120 (and he is the big stack and has me covered). I go into the tank. I've been at the table the entire time with this guy and he has not made a similar move so I believe him and muck my AA face down - no spinning the aces cracked wheel for me :(. He was nice enough to show 7d 8d for the made straight and redraw to straight flush. I play a little longer before it is time to meet the wife. I leave up $168 feeling more confident in my game.

My wife and I go to Bellagio that night for dinner at an Italian restaurant. We sign up for players cards and get $10 each in free game play. We play some cheap video blackjack for an hour and then call it a night.

Fri 9/25
I'm up early again and I take the deuce to the Wynn to meet a friend. We never hook up and I decide to start walking back to Mandalay Bay. I stop in and check out poker rooms as I go but the rooms are still pretty quiet. I get to Bally's around noon and they have a game going so I sit. I can tell immediately that this is a tough table. I sit in the game for a couple of orbits and come to the conclusion that I'm one of the worst players seated. I see a new table opening up and go ask the host if I can sit in that game. He says sure. This new table was great. Good action and mostly tourists. I watch patiently as people donate large amounts of chips with very weak holdings. I keep waiting for a hand but nothing hits me. I was card dead for 3 hours and barely played any hands. Even though I didn't get cards the table was really fun, there were lots of laughs and jokes. I leave to meet the wife -$46.

Meet the wife and we grab some early dinner at Tao. We couldn't get a reservation but they told us if we get there around 5pm they can get us in. So we have an early dinner and walk around Venetian for a little bit before calling it a night. We catch a cab back to MB. Wife is off to bed and I go to the poker room. The poker room was very busy. There was a steady turn over of drunk players throughout the night that kept the action going. It seemed like a lot of players were coming out of or going into the nearby night club. There is one guy in particular who was pretty drunk when I sat down and he was getting progressively worse as the night went on. He was betting out of turn, mumbling incoherently, he would show the table his cards during play, and finally he started asking the dealer to hit and sweeping his cards like in black jack. It was pretty uncomfortable to watch him deteriorate. The floor was called a couple of times and he was given warnings. It became apparent that he wasn't going to leave until he was broke or escorted out by security. I was card dead most of the night and I was starting to lose my patience as I watched large pot after large pot get scooped up.

After 3 hours at the table, I finally get a hand but end up misplaying it badly. I'm dealt AA, I raise it up pre-flop to a standard $10 and get two callers. One caller is the drunk guy above and another is a solid player who had been at the table all night. Flop comes A-10-8 rainbow. Drunk guy leads out for 20 and I raise to $60. Solid guy thinks for a few seconds before mucking. Drunk guy shows me his Ace and is talking about how he thinks he has me but ends up folding. Solid guy needles me (in good fun) about how I scared the action away and lost the chance for a big pot. I muck my cards face down and scoop a tiny pot. Even though I won the hand it is tilting me as I think about how bad I played my set. I can feel myself steaming because there is so much live money on the table and I'm not getting any hands. I start trying to make more aggressive moves. I end up getting picked off a couple of times. Now with a small stack, I reload another $100. It is past 3am and I've been at the table for 6+ hours. I'm tired and tilting. I end up losing $100 trying to out play a young drunk guy who just sat down at the table with a couple of buddies. I raise from the cut off with A-J. He calls in the big blind. Flop comes QQ9. I lead out for $25 and he calls. Turn brings another 9 which gives me false hope that my Ace might be good. I lead out for $50 trying to look strong and he raises all-in. It was another $60 on top. I'm still not sure why but I call the $60. He shows K-9 for the full house and I'm drawing dead. Next I make the best decision of the night and take my remaining $40 off the table and walk away.

Here is my trip summary:
Date Room Buy-in CashOut Net
9/23 Mandalay Bay $200 $328 +$128
9/24 Planet Hollywd $60 $0 -$ 60
9/24 Excalibur $200 $368 +$168
9/25 Bally's $200 $154 -$ 46
9/25 Mandalay Bay $300 $40 -$260
TOTAL -$ 70

Getting 3 consecutive days of play really helped me feel more comfortable at the table. Even after tilting away 1.5 buy ins on the last night, I had a great time. Plus I learned some things about myself and am a better player for it. My wife and I are already planning a return trip in the fall.