Day 1:
Caesars Palace and Mirage: Small wins.
Day 2:
Downtown to El Cortez for Blackjack
We make a trip out to Boulder Station to see a new location, we wanted to go there to play Omaha that we saw running on Bravo, we were disappointed, there were 2 Omaha games running and a wait list that was heavy on call-in players, the staff was trying to put the waiters in a 2-4 game, we decided to wait for about an hour until we realized the game was limit Omaha hi only, not hi/low like we prefer, we were also a bit turned off by the excessive size of many of the pensioners in the game; so we left without playing.
Venetian: 1/2 NL, dealt in UTG, chip runner still getting my $200 in chips, I get TT, raise to $7, late position player reraises to $37, I call, flop is QT8, I check, villain says "all in", I call, my set holds up and I double up
Mirage: small win
Day 3:
Aria: small win.
Harrahs: 1/2 NL game, chasing free roll for 5 hours play, aggressive guy to my left, I have AA and he pushed me off my unimproved one pair hand on the river, I show as I fold and something tells me my hand might have been good, but I get a redo, I get AA again, he comes along, I bet the 10 high flop, he calls, I check turn, he bets $60, I decide to go with it and raise to $200, he calls with a 10 and a gutshot, my hand holds and I get redemption for my previous lay down, with interest. Right after I finished playing for 5 hours, which qualified me for the $2K free roll tourney that evening, I started planning to cash out and eat dinner. In SB I get AdJd, flop brings two diamonds. My standard play out of position is to bet the nut flush draw on the flop then check on the turn if I hit the nuts, which is what I did. My $10 bet gets two callers. On the turn I check. Villain number 1 bets $30, and V2 calls, I raise to $100 and they both call, V2 is all in. Now I worry that one has a set and is looking for the board to pair. River is a blank, I bet about $60 to get V1 all in and he calls. I slam my cards down face up and announce "boom, nutter butters" and get the pile pushed to me. I then jumped into the free roll tourney. For 5 hours of play I get 2000 chips, for a $10 add on, I get 3000 more. Others who had logged in over 7 hours of play got an additional 2000 chips. 42 players entered and top 10 finishers will get $200 each. Nothing significant. I jammed AJ with 8 BB against TT and hit the rail. In previous trips, I had discounted Harrah's, especially after they changed the poker room location a few years ago, but this time I liked the action, environment, comfort, and the fast dealers.
Caesars Palace late night session: 3 New Zealand tourists who were just having fun gambling. One constantly bet and called with subpar holdings. I get AA in SB and bet $10 pre flop, he calls. He gets all in with a $60 short stack by turn having hit a straight with 34 o/s. I got it back from another tourist from India when my 77 flops a set and he improves to 2 pair by River.
Day 4:
Golden Nugget: Just sat for a few orbits, nothing exciting.
Green Valley Ranch: We went there because we had never been before and wanted to get some Omaha High Low action in. The property is very nice but we were disappointed that they never got a game going in a couple of hours of waiting despite the fact that they had 8-9 players on the list.
Bellagio: 1/3 NL, player two to my right had a pretty high VPIP and PFR, he is on button and I am BB with AQ, folds to him, he raises to $12, I call, flop comes Qxx, he bets $20, I call, flop is Q, I check, he checks behind, flop is blank, I bet he folds.
Bally's for Blackjack: I set a stop win of $100, if I get it, I will go to a shop by the Linq and buy a $140 hat I saw the night before. I cashed out $125 and went to the shop, got the hat for $135 with military discount. It's my "blackjack hat that Bally's bought".
Caesars Palace, nothing significant.
Day 5:
Orleans: 4/8 Omaha H/L, played with the geriatrics for a couple of hours for $27 profit. Ten minutes after cashing out, the table hits the $19,000 bad beat jackpot with the big share of the prize (40% ) going to the guy who took my seat when I cashed out. Played the Orleans Omaha H/L tournament ($75 + $5). Busted out of the tourney after 3 hours.
Hand of the trip: Planet Hollywood, dude from Amsterdam is pushing pots, I dropped my calling range and picked up some pots, then was out of position on him with AK o/s in limped pot with about $400 in front of me. Flop brings three hearts and one of them is the King. A player up front bets about $25, I call with TPTK and nut flush draw. Dude from A'dam comes along. Turn is a heart, turning my hand into the nuts, actually it is the second nuts since 4h6h would be a straight flush. Original bettor checks, I check, Amsterdam dude bets a little over 100, original bettor folds, I raise all in and he calls with the QhX for third nuts, tripling my $300 investment in this game to about $900.
Aria: PLO, a little over 3 hours play, no significant hands, get KQ66 ds and limp in on SB, flop 2 pair and second nut spade draw, I call a pot size bet of $65 after another player calls ahead of me, turn gives me 6s full of Queens, I get my remaining $100 in and am called by the only thing that beats me, queens full of 6s. I call it a night.
Day 6:
Wynn, checked out the new poker room, very nice but it couldn't make up for 2 1/2 hours of being card dead. Changed my mind on entering the noon $140 Wynn tourney and headed to Aria. Aria 1 pm $125 tourney where I busted in level 4 after jamming QQ into AA.
Binions: no game. They say it is normal for it to be slow for about a month after the WSOP ends.
Day 7:
Mirage: nothing significant.
Caesars Palace: 2/5 PLO short handed for about half an hour, ran it twice all in with AA78 DS on 78x board and chopped the pot. Then the game broke shortly afterward.
Aria 1/2 PLO: punted 2 stacks of $200.
Caesars Palace: lost a buy-in splashing around at a pretty good table but not able to connect with much.
Day 8:
Caesars Palace: loose fun game, was getting in pots light to try to catch the action player, limped and called a raise with 2c3c, flop is 23x, button bets, I call, turn brings a 3 giving me 3s full of 2s, he bets I call, river brings case 3 to give me quad 3s, he bets, I raise to get him all in and he calls. He is obviously tilted for a while. Action player has about 800 in front of him and will be leaving to catch his flight soon. I come in with AT and another player comes along, flop is AAx, we check flop, get it in on turn, other player folds, action player has QcJc for flush, board pairs on the river and I scoop the pile and cash out for a small win.
Harrahs: got in some loose pots early and scored about a buy-in and a half.
Caesars Palace: I have AA, raise to $10, SB calls, SB flops straight with T7, I call to river when board runs out with three Jacks, improving me to full house and almost stacking him. I get QQ, raise to $10, win about $120 with queens full of aces against top set top kicker AAAKx.
Day 9:
Venetian: Deep Stack Extravaganza $250 Omaha High/Low tournament. Busted in level 6.
Day 10
Planet Hollywood: Lost 2 1/2 buy ins in an action game. Flopped a set when another player flopped a straight.
Caesars Palace: action game. Was down about $259 but called against the odds on an open ended that hit, leaving the session with a small loss.
Day 11:
Venetian: fun action tourist game, I and down $269 for the trip and have a goal to break even before catching my flight, I play tight but it is early morning and the game will break soon, a rookie player already has her chips in a rack and another guy has said this is his last round and we are 4-handed, I get KQ of hearts and call the action player's $17 open, I flop the king high flush, he bets $20, I raise to $50, rookie pulls $50 from her rack and calls, action player calls. Turn is blank, I bet $50, they both call, river is blank, I bet $100, they call. I cash out with a $259 profit for the session. I am now down $10 for the trip in poker. I'll take it.