As far as Vegas goes, I consider myself to be a degenerate gambler first and poker player second. I really enjoy playing NLH in home games, but when I go to Vegas I want to have fun. And it's been my experience that at any given table, the majority of the people are much more interested in showing up the others while winning money rather than being fun/pleasant and winning money. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy listening to people talk trash and get others on tilt, but it seems like a lot of players try to gain respect by acting or dressing like a badass - and not playing like a badass.

That said, I was in Vegas from 2/29 to 3/2 (staying at MGM) and only played one 5 hour session of poker (at the MGM). I got seated at a table that had just opened up less than an hour previously. Most players were definitely fishy, but easy to read and generally pleasant. I consider myself to be slightly above average overall and try to play TAG. But because I had dropped close to a grand playing blackjack, I was of the attitude that paying $10 to see a flop with K9 suited as a good deal. So for people on this site who get frustrated with some people's play - remember that most of the players at your table have similar attitudes. I think I did an excellent job early of mixing up my play, winning some small and medium pots early, showing my hand in the right situations, etc. After a while, I got a lot less calls and a lot more folds when I threw $10 into the pot.

Memorable hand 1:

Had been playing maybe 45 minutes when I get dealt K7 suited from middle position. I limp in an unraised pot with 5 or 6 others and the flop comes K K J. Checks to me, I check, button raises to $15, I call. Turn is a Q. I start getting nervous for obvious reasons and bet $30. Button only calls. River is a 7 (to make my boat) and I bet out another $30. Button raises all-in (only about $40 more) and I call. Button shows K9. Unlucky for him.

Memorable hand 2:

About 1 1/2 hours in I get KQ off from 1st position. I bump it to $10 and get called by the big blind and two others. Flop comes Ks Qh 3s. Nice. Big blind checks to me and I bet out $30. Other players fold to big blind who calls. Turn is harmless and big blind checks again. I bet out $60 and big blind calls. River is a Q...of spades (to make my boat). Big blind bets $30 and I go all in (may $180 more), instantly kicking myself thinking that it was way too big of a raise and I wasn't going to get any more money out of him unless he had the Ace of spades. He deliberated a long while and finally called with the A high flush. Unlucky for him.

Things got super-tight soon after that and I bounced around being up around $300 to $500, mostly just bluffing at small pots when I had good reads on the players (which was surprisingly easy) and actually getting dealt some good hands.

Then these two buddies sat down. Super aggressive. Super talkative. And smart. Threw all the fish completelly off (both getting other players to call them when they had the nuts and fold when they didn't have anything) and within half an hour, they each had at least doubled up. They were playing off each other beautifully. I wasn't getting many good starting hands, but I did flop a Q high flop with both of them in the hand. I re-raised a $10 bet up to $25 and they both insta-folded. Not sure if my raise just screamed out "I got a flush" or they just didn't have me in their cross-hairs or if they were just taking a hand off (one or the other was in 95% of the hands past the flop), but I got no action from those two.

Towards the end I started chasing too much, getting distracted too much and generally playing bad poker - so I left with a little over $500 (inlcuding my max $200 buy-in). All in all, not bad - especially since, again, I don't consider myself a poker god by any means.

Then I proceded to go up, down, up, down, up, down...and eventually just down...at blackjack and craps for the next day and a half. Good times.