I land at 5:30 PM on Tuesday May 3rd and check into the Vdara by 6:00 PM. This is one modern looking room which reminds me of the Starship Enterprise - A little sterile, but nice.

I walk over to the Aria and eat a tuna roll and then sit at the 1-3 table. Believe it or not, I see one big blind go past and one small blind go past and leave. I just have a feeling this is not the right table.

I head over to the Bellagio where I sit at the 5-10 game. It's young-gun central and there's some very aggressive play going on here. My buy-in is $400 and after two hours I'm at $405. Then two guys get up from my table and walk up to Bobby's Room to play. I lean to the guy at my right who was talking to both of them and ask how many pros I'm playing with. He tells me there are 4 at our table. Things keep getting tougher. I make two $60 continuation bets and get re-popped on both of them. I'm down to $70 when I get 55 on the button. Two guys in front of me are in for $50. I push. They call. First to act bets $120 on a 6-2-2 flop, and the 2nd guy folds. I flip over 55, better flips over KJ-off? Turn is an ace and the river is a J. I'm walking away thinking, 'Is that an instance of brilliant poker teaming up with horrible poker to beat me up?' That's what if felt like.

I walk back to the Aria now down $404. I sit at the 2-5, buckle-up and cash at 2 AM for $592, up $392 and now down $12 total for the night. Somehow I was able to manage that, even with losing a $350 pot when my Q high flush gets rivered.

I sleep well knowing my first night wasn't a total disaster, and I'm up and feeling good at 8 AM. I walk to the Bellagio where there is only one table and most of the players have been up all night. I sit at the 2-5 with $200 in front of me and the guy to my left mumbles, "Kint feeend kiktable baytress." Oh boy. She walks over and hands him a bottle of water and tells him he has to drink that first or he can't have another beer. He refuses. I get QJ of diamonds and the flop comes 9d, 10d, Kc. I’m first and it gets checked around and the turn is 4d. I check, another check, last to act bets 55. I call and the other player calls. River is junk and I instantly push out $100, and they both fold. I play a little more and then head to breakfast up $269.

I check out of the Aria and into the Mandalay Bay…. I’m already missing the Starship. It's 10:30 AM and I buy into the $40 10AM tourney. It's just two tables and people are talking and laughing. It's a very casual environment and a lot of fun. The final three are a lady from Vancouver BC, a lady from Arkansas and me. Arkansas has the big stack and I offer a chop giving her first and Vancouver and I splitting the rest. They both decline. We keep playing and I take first when my str8 draw hits on the river against Vancouver. They're both very gracious and we shake hands. I tell them they played great, which they did. I just got lucky on the str8. After my buy-in, I walk away up another $191.

I walk over to the MGM Grand and sit at a 1-2 table with $60. The guy to my right asks the dealer if he could watch the hockey game. The dealer says, "You mean the one from last night?" and the guy sits there staring straight ahead with his eyes getting a little wider. I tell him it's 12:30 in the afternoon and he says, "No way... I thought it was still night time." That confirms it, I'm in Vegas. I the green felt after an hour of getting a whole mess of junk cards - once folding AJ to AA pre-flop.

I walk the Strip a bit and then go back to the Mandalay Bay and play for an hour with a former Alaska State Senator who's to my right. He also played the morning tourney. He's around 70 and has a dry sense of humor. We yap it up the whole time I'm there and it's a very enjoyable conversation where we talk fishing and hunting and bears and politics. I end up finishing up $22.

I walk up to the Aria after dinner and play with some salty Vegas locals and finish up $58. Todd Brunson is playing at one of the tables so I go into stealth mode and snap a picture of him, then walk back to Mandalay Bay and call it an early night.

The next morning I jump into the 10AM $40 tourney again. When I sit down it's the Senator next to me. We make the final table and then it's just us two playing heads up for a half hour. He takes first and I take second, and we head lunch together.

I walk up to the Aria and sit at a 1-3 table. A few minutes later some Jack Rabbit(JR) sits to my left and announces to the table that he's the tightest player in the world and is a disciple of Helmuth who says, "Tight is Right!" and that's his motto too, yadda-yadda. I see people just rolling their eyes at him when I look down at AQ. I make it $13 to go and JR is the only caller. Flop comes down Q 10 3. I check. JR pushes. I call and flip. He flips over KJ for the str8 draw. Of course the turn is an Ace. Right then I hear the front desk calling me for 5-2. I walk over there thinking, 'There goes $100 to the tightest player in the world.'

I sit with $200 and get up to $240 when I get 5s 7d in the small blind. Five people limp for $5 each. Flop comes down... 7c 5c 2h. I check. There's a bet of $25 with two callers and then it's on me. I push $100 out and the next player to act makes it $200, and there's a caller for $200 and then it comes back to me and I push all in for $240. At this point I'm thinking, 'What, in all of this beautiful blue planet, do these guys have?' Turn is another 2! And I just lean back in my chair 100% confident I just got counterfeited on a $780 pot. They both check and the river is the Q of hearts. One player instantly mucks. The other says to me, "I guess you have the full house." And I turn over my cards. He sits there without showing just staring at my cards which seems like 10 minutes, but was probably only 20 seconds. And then.... he mucks too! They later told me that they both had flush draws with one of them having a str8 flush draw. Whew!

The summary goes like this...
-4 Aria
-400 Bellagio
+392 Aria
+269 Bellagio
+191 Mandalay Bay
-60 MGM
+22 Mandalay Bay
+58 Aria
+77 Mandalay Bay
+405 Aria
______________
+950 Trip