Day 1 (Monday) – Arrive in Vegas on Southwest. Everything was on time, even my shuttle, and I was checked into the El Cortez pretty darn quickly. I must say – for the price, a tower room here is waaaay more than adequate. Spacious, clean, good vibes, friendly employees - no amenities, but why pay $50 more a night for things I could just purchase brand new at Walgreens one block away?

I was going to take it easy and get some sleep this first of 7 nights, but what did I just say earlier this sentence? I can’t remember because I was off at 11PM to Golden Nugget, where on my last trip I hit quad jack HH for $700 on my first night. The game of choice tonight, unless otherwise noted, will always be $1/$2 NL.

I buy in for $100. After reading all the reasons not to do this, I decide maybe I’m not in the zone yet, fresh off the plane, and ought take it easy, get warmed up, and out of “online donk mode.” This was a an apt read of myself – chased a bunch of dumb stuff, busted out in less then 30 minutes with no noteworthy hands (everybody always had one up on me). I get up, and walk across the street to Binions. Toss down another $100, and on the very first hand get dealt QQ. I raise to 10, with 3 callers, flop comes beautiful rainbow rags. I bet 15, one caller. Turn is another low card, but do I see the danger in any of this? If course not. River is a Q. My total idiot instincts kick back in, and I go all in, naturally losing to the straight other opponent got on the turn.

My head is spinning at how bad my play is, and I wander away looking lost as if I’ve never played this game before. The other players commenting, c’mon you had to bust him on the very first hand? (Obviously they wanted me happily sitting and reloading to give away more) The stupid light show is going on outside, and I walk back to the room to regroup and get more money. I center myself, and swear not to let the trip start this way.

$220 in pocket, I walk into the Fitz. One table with 5 players in a room usually turns me off, but this one just felt right. Kind of like the hand I got dealt after patiently waiting 30 minutes, and realizing that the table was (now) 2 shortstacked tourists, and 4 locals whom the dealer knew by name. “Sporty McPrep” was the most recent addition to the locals group. I call a $15 raise by him with A7 clubs. Flop comes J, rag, rag, one club. He bets $25, and there is just this feeling I cannot shake that I need to chase this one down. The “real voice” if you will. Flop is another club, giving me open ended str8/flush draws. He bets 40, I call leaving me with about 30, and he goes all in in the dark before the river is dealt. Which of course is a magical spade. Oh yeah – there was a third player still in at this point. He folds, I call, and boy is this guy upset. He spends this next 5 minutes trying to figure out how he could of made me fold, and I tell him there was nothing he could’ve done after the turn. I leave with $200 out of the $120 buyin.

1:30AM, back to Binions. This is the most stern, unhappy group of people playing poker I have ever met. As I come in, I witness the end of an all-in hand with at least $250 in the pot. The winner shows, and the loser, a Phil Hellmuth wanna-be looking guy WILL NOT SHOW his losing cards, nor will he muck them. He just sits there. The other guy is just like, c’mon, either you won or you didn’t. He still won’t show. After like 45 seconds, and many grunts and sounds, he throws them at the table. And rebuys. Everyone is so serious and pissed almost every hand it is totally ridiculous, I’m finding it totally hilarious. A kid my age sits down, immediately picks up on this and we joke about it continuously. Bought in for $120, rebought for another $100, left with about $200, so I felt good about that, and glad to leave.

2:15 AM back to Golden Nugget. Playing TAG, feeling comfortable now, taking down pots now and then, but still chasing to much. When I sat down at the table, two people were all-in preflop – one had red Aces, the other had black aces, causing the table to erupt. Much more relaxed here. This older lady sits down, who does not look like a good player (beware). On her first hand I get J10s and raise to 10 UTG. She makes it 20, and is in SB. Flop comes rag rag 10. I bet 15, folds to her, raises to 40. I get this real strange feeling, someone says something about first hand sweepstakes, and I recount the story about how on my first hand at Binion’s was QQ and got busted out. I grudgingly fold, and she says “just this once” and shows QQ. A good laugh. I play for another couple hours, have an incredible suckout that I can’t quite remember, but the guy who saw me do the flush suckout earlier in the night was now here and certainly commented on it. What can I say, I heard “that voice” again!!! I leave here with $300 out of buyins totaling $220, again feel good. Only down $60 for the night, and figure I’d better call it a night.

I think I’ll just post my trip report in daily messages here since I’m not a big fan of the pen and paper. It’s 9AM now, and time for today’s adventures!!!

Cheers,
Jason