I'll start by saying that this trip is from last September (7-9). I hadn't written until this point because I'm new to the site but I remembered a lot of hands from the trip and thought it'd be fun to share it. Enjoy...
I arrive in Vegas around 9 pm Friday night from Ontario airport and head straight to the Tropicana to meet up with 3 friends from high school (all of whom are female...more on that later). None of them played poker or gambled much at all so I knew that I'd have to cram all of poker sessions into times when they'd either be asleep or would be doing the traditional touristy things on the strip. After changing quickly and downing a few Vodka Red Bulls in our hotel room, we're off to JET at the Mirage. Great club, three good rooms with different music in each (trance/techno, pop, and old school hiphop). It was same weekend as the MTV VMA's so Nelly Furtado and Cuttino Mobley of the NBA were in the VIP section which was cool. At the club, one sketchy guy keeps trying to dance with all three of my friends who want none of it, I cut him off and dance with them all and he asks, "they aren't all with you are they?" I ask him if he's ever watched Big Love. He says yes. And I tell him I'm living that dream and he storms off dejected.
Leave the club around 2 and go to the Mirage poker room for 1/2 NL. Buy in for $120 and post in the BB and look down at 55. MP raises to $10, SB and I call. Flop is Js10s5h. I check, he makes CP of $25, SB folds, I checkraise to $65 and he calls. Turn comes 10h and I move all-in for last $45. He thinks for a minute and then folds.
Continue to play TAG after essentially doubling up in first hand. Get slightly coolered when MP raises to $12 with about $100 behind and I look down at 22 in SB. I call. Flop is A 10 2 rainbow. I check, he bets $15, I reraise to $45 and he goes all in with little hesitation. I push in a stack of red and ask "10s right?" and he nods and the turn and river blank and he doubles up. I end up grinding through the rest of the session and leave around 6:30 and cash out for $300 or so.
Next day, go to Bellagio brunch buffett (which was well worth the price) and walk around Strip with my friends (only one of whom had been there before - this was my 8th trip in 2 years). Make an impulse bet on UCLA/BYU football game (which I was supposed to go to until this trip came up last minute) at Caesar's Palace. They leave me around 6 or so to go to nap/tan by the pool and catch Zumanity at NYNY (which I'd already seen). I head to MGM Grand for more 1/2 NL.
I'm immediately seated in seat 1 and buy in again for $120. Post in the big blind and see QJo. 5 players limp to me and I check as well. Flop comes Ks10d9s! Bingo! SB checks, I check, MP bets $15, gets two callers, including the button. I raise to $65 - looking to price out any flush draws/sets. Initial bettor folds, as does cutoff. Button hems and haws for a minute but calls. Turn is 2h. I push for final $53 and he mulls it for 30 seconds or so and decides to call with K8 offsuit (not sure why but I'm not complaining!) He's drawing dead and I double up in first hand again!
Rest of the session was fairly uneventful. Picked up pots with solid bets/raises in late position when preflop raiser made weak CPs on raggedy flops. Ended up drinking mostly throughout the afternoon and watching college football games (UCLA covered by a point!) and cashed out at 9 with $300 or so again to have dinner with the girls.
Sidenote - I really like the MGM poker room. Drink service has always been consistently swift and I like that they have Blue Moon on tap. I don't mind the marble ring around the felt and I think the dealer's are pretty fun to be around and know what they're doing and rarely let things get out of hand. The openness of the room is a big plus b/c it draws in anyone out in the pit who thinks poker might be worth a try (unlike Caesar's where you have to know where to go to play and the quality of competition is MUCH higher IMO). I think Venetian has best all-around room but MGM is great and a strong second.
We end up going to Red Square at Mandalay Bay (great vodka bar and they make a good vodka martini). Girls get a little too drunk and rowdy and start getting into a shouting match with a short obnoxious waiter from Olives in the Bellagio and I start herding them out of the bar before we get kicked out. They all want to go clubbing at RumJungle but don't want to pay for it and I tell them that's not an option (especially with how drunk they were at the time). One of them says they feel sick and I try to quickly rush them all back to the Trop before something bad happens. We get on the tram, shoot up to Excalibur. Get across the bridge and down the steps and just as we are about to open the door to the Trop, my friend explodes on the glass door, puking her Black Cherry Lemon Drop all over the place! It was terrible. I just shove them through the door and try to sprint them to the room as quickly as possible. One of the girls still wants to go out but I just say forget it and call it a night.
Next morning, they're all hungover and we go to Luxor for breakfast. One of them catches a flight back home and the other two go to the Palms to see the MTV VMA stuff going on. I head back to MGM and play 1/2 NL again. Get seated in seat 6 in a brand new table. Very first hand, guy to my left is felted for $200 on a board of 1064AA holding 1010 because other guy had AA! Someone had pocket aces in each of the first 8 hands! (Including me in the 7th hand, where I reraised a $10 preflop raise in EP that got 4 callers to $50 and everyone folded - I wasn't interested in playing that pot multi-way at all).
Next hand, player in MP raises to $10, I look down at QQ and reraise to $30. Button flatcalls with about $35 behind (hmm...) and MP folds. Flop comes 10 7 3 rainbow and I put him all in and he calls pretty quickly but doesn't flip his cards up. Turn is a 4, river Q and I flip over the nuts. He just shakes his head and flips over pocket aces and walks away from the table! I'll admit that was a suckout on the river but I was really surprised he just smooth called preflop with so little behind.
Continue to play straight-ahead poker and build my stack up to $220 or so when I get 77 in the CO. Raised by UTG to $12 and called by 3 others and gets to me. I call, as does BB. Flop comes K 6 3 rainbow. BB checks, UTG checks, and 3 others check. I would've thought someone would've bet if they had a king at that point so I thought I'd represent the king and fired out $35. BB folds. UTG starts grumbling and says "Everytime I have a pocket pair, someone with Ace-king always hits the flop. But everytime I have ace-king, I miss. God I hate poker! And mucks 99 face up with two people still to act! MP folds and last person to act looks at me and says "He must know something that I don't know. If he's going to fold nines with just one overcard, then I know my Jacks are no good too," and folds his Jacks face up! The dealer pushes me the pot and they both ask if I had it and I simply smile and shrug my shoulder and toss the cards into the muck.
I pick up more small pots here and there and leave at 5 to go to the airport, cashing out again for $300 total, giving me 3 consecutive cashes for nearly the exact same amount! Pretty eerie if you ask me.
I guess the drunk girls were a lucky charm!