Caution: long report.

Arrived shortly after dark on Tuesday, the 24th, and thanks to the advice here, got into the IP parking garage easily by going in through Koval. Tried the $20 trick to get an upgrade from my Deluxe room. No success, and the Asian woman kept my $20 bill. Not a good omen.

Get to my room and it's not bad overall, facing east on the 10th floor, right next to the back elevator. Head over to the Mirage and get in a $3/$6 right away. Just under 3 hours later, walk away minus my $100 buy in.

My room has just a small round table. I go down to the front desk and ask if there are any rooms that have actual desks, mentioning that I'd asked for an upgrade at checkin. The person behind the counter then says she has one suite, and that it'd be a few extra dollars a night. For the price, I might think it's OK, so she lets me go take a look. It's a nice room, to be sure, but it's on the level of the roof of another part of the hotel, and just feet from the window is a bunch of very noisy HVAC equipment. I go back down to the front desk and say thanks but no thanks.

Wednesday dawns with me heading back over to the Mirage for the 11am tournament. We get 6 tables. I play conservative poker and make it to the final table. No one wants to talk a chop. Through some successful moves and some luck, I make it to the final two, with probably 1/4 of the chips. I ask about a chop again, the guy offers a deal that I think is pretty good, but his wife/girlfriend/SO standing alongside chooses this moment to pipe up and tell him to play it out. So we do. I double up almost right away. We play a couple more hands, then I go all-in to a raise with K-9 off. He tanks for a bit and I think he might fold, then he calls with A-x. Both an A and a 9 come on the flop. Then an A comes on the turn. Then a 9 comes on the river. He says it's his first tournament ever and wants pix, so I say he has to do it right and I prop up his winning hand on his chip stack so he can get pix taken. I still get $386 for 2nd place. It's taken 4 1/2 hours. Wow.

Head over to the Orleans for a little $4/$8 Omaha8. Among other things, I want to get a few more comp dollars for the Thanksgiving buffet. Sign up and say I'm going to get something to eat. Dawdle a bit at the buffet, and when I get back, my name is missing form the list. They say names get taken off after an hour. I say that I knew of no such rule (not like it's taking a seat away from someone), and I get put back near the top of the list. At 2am I give up. It's not my day. I've lost most of my $140 buy in and I'm not getting any traction. Getting too tired, so I quit, down $122.

Thanksgiving dawns bright and early. Back to the Mirage to start the day with the 11am tournament. 4 short tables to start, but I bust out 20th.

Over to the Orleans. The line is long for the buffet. I get in after about a 45 minute wait. Lots and lots of turkey, stuffing, potatoes, veggies, gravy, and more. I'm in no hurry; I spend about 2 hours eating. Afterward, I head to the poker room thinking I'm gonna try the Omaha8 game, but the list is monstrously long. I leave.

Been anxious to get back into the $8/$16 game at the Venetian, so that's where I head next. Bad, bad night. Buy in for $300, it's gone less than 3 hours later. Not getting cards. Making moves that aren't working. Actually, I did make one that did work early one, where I check-called a big stack bettor to my left when I had J-10 in the blinds and called his raise, K-Q-x on the flop, and then he folded when I bet out on a blank turn card. But mostly it was an ugly night, made worse by the gaudy lime green $2 chips.

Friday I decided to give the $1/$2 NL game at the Excalibur a try. What a gold mine. And I say that having lost 2 buy in during this particular session. This is a fish pond, at least on the weekends. I took one of my worst beats ever here when I raised to $12 from EP with pocket jacks and got 4 callers. The flop was 7-3-3, and I moved in for $40-something. I got one caller who turned over pocket fives. I'll bet you can guess what happened next. (No he didn't spike a set.) 6 on the turn, 4 on the river. I was on the short side of a couple more of those suckouts on this session, yet I'm rubbing my hands in anticipation of my next time here. I'm particularly proud of one play. There was this wild guy who sat down a few seats to my right. He identified himself as Armenian, and he overbet routinely. Preflop raises to $20 or more. Betting out and huge raises on the flop. I knew that I could likely get him if I was patient. And I found the perfect opportunity. UTG, I was dealt AKo. I limped, fully expecting him to raise. After a couple more limpers, he did indeed throw in a huge raise, and when it was my turn, I shoved. He called with his usual junk, and although I didn't improve, he didn't either. Unfortunately, he got a call and left, else I was sure I'd get more of his chips (if he didn't donk them off to someone else first).

It's late and I decide to get a bite to eat at Denny's and then see what the late night action is at the Venetian. I get a seat at the $8/$16 game at 1am, and an hour later I'm out. It was worse than last time. I was completely card dead, and caught nothing against others' naked aggression, and my own failed miserably. What a way to drop another $300.

Saturday early evening, I head back over to the Excalibur. I'm doing pretty well. I double up when I flop a set. I raise with pocket aces. A woman who I'd seen there last time, a good player who I suspect might be a local, makes it $60. It's folded to me. I think a bit and I reraise to $210. I'm thinking that it might look like an overbet. She tanks for a long, long while and then finally folds. She says she had pocket queens. Even though I missed out on that potential, I finish up $222 after just an hour and a half.

I head over to the Mirage to relax in a $3/$6 game. It's going calmly, and then a player 2 seats to my right makes a bad call and gets beat, and he starts raising most of the time. So when a seat comes up to his left, I take it. And I can then take advantage of his overaggression. I get a big pot when I limp in with Qc-Jc, hit two clubs with the A, and hit the flush on the river. This guy's been betting all the way with his small ace, and when I turn my cards over and say I have the "second buts," he throws a chip at me and scold me for using bad language. We go back and forth a bit and I finally shut him up by telling him that I'm an expert at the English language and that I got paid 6 figures last year for my writing. I leave shortly after that up $22.

Sunday I head over to the Hilton to watch football, Great place to watch. Halfway into the afternoon game, I leave to head over to Fry's because they have Madden 10 for PS3 for just $35. Then it's to the Venetian to play some $4/$8. I have a great run; in just an hour and a half, I'm up $190, and I decide not to press my luck.

Monday, back to the Mirage for the 11am tournament. I'm disappointed to see that it's only 3 tables. I think I'm more disappointed with my performance: I just out 30th (of 33). I'm at a table that begins very passively. No on is raising preflop, and each hand sees usually just 2 or 3 limpers. A couple guys even comment on the lack of action. After a couple of orbits, I decide to try and make a small move when I find Jh-9h UTG. I make a standard raise and only the BB class (one of the guys who had made the "no action" comments earlier). Flop comes K-Q-x with one heart. He checks, and I decide to check behind. Turn is an Ah. He makes a big bet, and I decide to try and push him off the hand and go all-in. He thinks for a minute and calls. He has K-x. I miss the river and am out. I really don't know if this was a good or a bad play.

Over to the Venetian for some $4/$8. I play for a few hours, get no traction. I leave down $85, take a break for some dinner, than return. I play for a few hours more and leave shorlty after 1am up $12. Nothing eventful.

Tuesday dawns as my last day in Vegas. Again, the Mirage tournament. It's even worse. Just 2 tables, and I'm one of the few late3rnates. I get really lucky in that I crack pocket kings twice with Ax, once for a full pot, once for a substantial side pot. I make it to the final table and am able to pick spots successfully, have a little luck, and make the money. I am huge chip leader with 3 left, but blinds are getting high. Guy to my right takes down a big pot at my expense. Shortly after, he raises. I find Kd-Jd and shove. He thinks a bit, then calls with AQo. Neither of us improve, and I take 3rd place money of $187.

Finally, back to the Venetian for some $4/$8, hoping to play a short session and then relax before the drive back. Unfortunately, it is not to be. I'm card dead for long stretches. Just as I'm getting down to the felt, I catch lightning in the bottle and partially rebuild my stack. It's generally a good game, but I'm jut not catching cards to take advantage of it. I'm playing nitty, nitty, nitty. After several grinding hours, I come to the decision that all I want to do I make my last Vegas session a profitable one. I grind and grind, and finally at 10pm I find that I'm up a few dollars (a whole $7!) and decide to call it a night and a week.

Cash game summary: -$707
Cash game summary not counting the $8/$6 disasters: -$107
Tournament net: $333

I finally got to meet Chris at the Mirage. What a wonderful guy. Really friendly.

I love the Mirage morning tournaments. Despite the hefty juice, there's lots of play. The flatter payouts are great, although, as I mentioned to Chris, I might rejigger them just a tad.

That said, I found many of the Mirage dealers leave something to be desired. Many are quite old, and not to be ageist, but were quite slow. Many didn't call games very well, and I overheard a situation at another table where apparently there was a situation that required a TD ruling, and the dealer dropped the stub before the TD arrived. He was chastised for this, wherupon he claimed it wasn't his fault. I should add that at the final table Tuesday, we had a younger guy who was *very* fast and precise.

Even so, when I was playing at other places, I recommended the Mirage tournaments when chatting with other players.

I also mentioned AVP on more than one occasion. Several players (and a couple of dealers) said they'd check it out, although I never knowingly encountered any AVP members during my stay.

I also dropped a few dollars in some penny slots at different places (Mirage, Venetian, Harrah's, etc.) using my card in hopes that I'll get some room offers for future trips.

Some people may say that the Venetian doesn't give the best comps, but I was told that they never expire. Then again, I checked out the steak house there after my last session, thinking that I might be getting close in comp dollars. And saw that the steaks are way, way overpriced. So I passed.

Also grabbed comp comp $$$ from Mirage and had a burger at BLT in Mirage. Yum! Very juicy and tasty burger, decent fries, and a yummy coffee shake. If I didn't have the comps, though, there's no way I'd pay those prices. $19 for burger, fries, and shake. And that's a "special."

I felt more comfortable at the $1/$2 NL game at the Excalibur than I have in the past in the same games at MGM Grand, Mirage, and Orleans. Definitely targeting that as a place to play my next visit, despite its antiquated system (pen and paper for a list). And I have to say, I like the race tracks on the tables a lot better than at MGM Grand. Although the "official" room review laments the space between the track and the felt as a garbage magnet, I liked that it was wood. It had a great feel and made the environment feel comfortable.

Until my next visit....