Arrived at the IP at about midnight on April 17th, later than usual due to a later flight than in the past. Shocked to see a check in queue almost back to the Bell Desk. Not standing in that for 45 minutes, guess poker will start before I've even checked in this trip. Get sat at a NL table and as always throughout this trip buy in for the max $300. Played for a little over 3 hours taking a break to check in once the queue had died down. Only one noteable hand, I called a preflop raise with AK and along with another caller saw a K with rags flop. The other caller led out, original raiser folded and I called. Turn was irrelevant, other guy, a fellow Brit lead out for $50 which I miniraised to $100. He audibly said he folded top pair last hand and wasn't going to do it again and pushed for another $130. I'm always a little sceptical of that kind of table chat but after tanking a while I did make the crying call and he tabled KJ. Ship it. Went to bed ahead $250, a nice start.

Day 2. 3 hours sleep which is about usual for my first night even after a 24 hour journey. A NL game is still going so I jump right in. Early on I get hit hard, I limp/call a raise with KJ and get the dream flop of QT9. I call the CB then raise on the blank turn. He calls then pushes in when a 9 hits the river. I have the horrible feeling I'm beat and that I should fold but I call and he tables Q9. Sick. The table breaks and I decide to play the noon tourney, $60 buyin. There were 22 entrants paying 3 spots and my bad day continued as I bubbled in 4th when my button steal with K2 ran into AK. Sigh. NL game has got going again so back to that and I play for about 12 hours straight making $200 with only 1 noteable hand not financially huge but HUGE for me as it was my first ever live Royal Flush. I limped QT spades flop was KsQcJs, turn blank, river As!! On my trip 2 months previous there was a progressive high hand board with the royals starting at $500 but that has now been replaced by a wheel. I managed to hit the X2 on the first spin but only $25 on the second so my beatiful Royal netted me the princely sum of $50. This is all due to the AA/KK cracked promotion which takes far too much of the jackpot drop money, as a NL player I hate it but the tourists and a lot of locals love it. Daily total -$240 running total +$10.

Day 3. NL game ran all day, early on I got something back from the promotion I hate when my KK got cracked. Of course at a NL table that's just a consolation. In fact I had to call a $45 raise on the river knowing I was virtually certainly beaten but knowing I would get $50 back. I was not happy when I saw his hand as he'd called my CB on the flop with literally nothing but back door draws. By about 5pm a steady trickle of second best hands saw me down about $500 then a fellow AVPer, 'morecobell' sat beside me and brought some AVP karma and within about 90 minutes I was breaking even. Later on a Maniac Drunk Englishman sat 2 seats to my left. Not the ideal spot for me as I like to limp in quite a bit and he was raising every other hand and frequently showing garbage. I got into 2 fairly big hands with him, the first I limp/called with 77 and check/called him the whole way on a board that went Q8595. After the 5 paired on the river he bet $50 and I called only beating a bluff. He mucked without even showing. Then I did something I would never usually do, I limped TT UTG with the intention of limp/raising the MDE. He duely raised and as he only had just over $100 left I pushed. He called with A9s and my TT held up. Daily total +$230 (nice recovery) running total +$240.

Day 4. Still no sleep!! Played a short $2/4 session until the real game got going, had KK cracked for $50 but still ended -$10. Two interesting hands from another long day's play , firstly good player UTG limped and I limped with JJ in UTG+1. SB raised to $26 and with him only $100 I was ready to play for his stack but UTG called so I reevaluated and also called. Flop was 8 high, SB checked and UTG led out for $75. I couldn't put him on a PP higher than my JJ so after thinking for a bit I put him allin for another $125. He thought for a while and called with the comment 'wonder who has the bigger overpair'. We both showed our JJs, had a good laugh until he went runner/runner for a flush. Not happy!! The other hand I limped 99 and called a raise from a very weak player, 1 other caller. On a Jxx flop I check/raised the CB who called, the other player folded what he later said was TT. The weak player called me down the whole way, as it happened I did runner/runner a straight but I'm virtually certain I didn't need it. The river was a T so I'm not so sure getting TT to fold earlier was such a good thing. A buddy of mine who lives about a mile from me showed up and played for a while, he was in town on business and this was all I saw of him. Daily total +$255 running total +$495.

Day 5. Dear diary, STILL no sleep, averaging 3 hours a night. Played NL for 3 hours making $200 before the game broke just before the noon tourney. Decided to play that but didn't last all that long, had JJ in the BB, folded to the button who raised and facing a likely steal I pushed. Unfortunately he had AA!! No NL game going and I intended to play the HORSE game in Harrahs later anyway so I headed off there early. Got there at 1.45, HORSE game starts at 7pm and there were already 4 names on the list! I joined them and also got on the 1/2 list giving me time to have a chat with 'HLV Poker Guy' before my name got called. Played until 7pm with no remarkable hands whatsoever, -$50. Then the $4/8 Limit HORSE got going, very enjoyable to play something other than HE but certainly not a soft game, mostly locals who knew what they were doing in all games. I didn't feel outclassed though and left after 5 hours ahead $80. Back to the IP for anoher 3 hours at 1/2 ending it down $200 An isolation allin raise from an ATM cost me a huge pot as I couldn't pull the trigger and call with 99 and $300 behind. ATM had AQ and board went 9Q8x9 meaning a near $700 pot plus a spin of the wheel if I make the call. Not happy as the ATM would never have made the isolation move if he hadn't been shown it earlier in the session. Daily total -$30, running total +$465.

Day 6. NL all day at IP with a break to eat at Mings, a Chinese resturant on the 5th floor I would certainly recommend. Ended up down $235 mostly due to one hand where I got it allin preflop holding KK v QQ and he turned a Q for a $650 pot. That guy bought in for $300, ran it all the way up to $1500 and ended up cashing out for $300. Lots of big pots but I was unable to get involved apart from the one I lost. Daily total -$235 running total +$230.

Day 7. Headed over to TI to play the 11am bounty tourney. $125 buyin with a decent structure and $50 bounties. Seemed weird to see the poker room closed when I got there but it gave me time to grab some breakfast before signup. Unfortunately I only lasted 50 minutes, I'd increased my stack a little when I saw 65 in the BB with 1 limper plus the SB. Flop comes 789, SB led out for 200 and I raised to 800, limper smooth called SB folded. Turn was an ace and although I was aware I had the idiot end of the straight, OOP I didnt see what else I could do but push. Limper beats me into the pot and tables JT. Met TI Poker and had a quick chat but he was busy. Back to the IP where I met IP Poker who proved there IS such a thing as a free lunch. Back to the IP for a tougher than usual NL game, no easy money for a lot of the session. Had KK and QQ both cracked twice but on the flip side I cracked AA with JJ. Late on we were joined be a very drunk, very obnoxious Englishman. I hastily became Australian. It has to be said, Brits and free booze do not mix. Daily total -$200, first time ever I've had 3 losing days in a row. Running total +$30.

Day 8. Started at $2/4 and got my share of the jackpot drop money by getting AA cracked twice in an hour. The first was easy with the 456 flop and 7 turn, the second took a rivered 2 pair to beat me. Then the real game got going and I played 6 hours for a whole $10 loss, the only hand of note was my AK v A2s with broadway on the board to save him. Took a break to go and eat at Fireside the BBQ resturant on the 5th floor, very enjoyable meal. Headed off to play a short session at the Flamingo where I made $30. Fired a 3 barrel semi bluff at a lady I though was on a similar draw to me. I had J8 on a 679 flop, she led for $3 ?!? which I raised hoping of course for the T, turn blanked she check/called, river blanked she check/folded. Back to the IP for a last session before bed, made $100 milking a calling station twice with 2 pair and TPTK. Would have been better but I ran into a flopped boat last hand. Daily total +$120, running total +$150.

Day 9. Finacially a good day but I'm not quite sure how since for the second day in a row I didn't flop a single set which is where I expect to make my money, indeed in the 2 days I can't remember any hand better than 2 pair. I did win a large pot with 2 pair however, I limped JT and called a raise to $7 along with a couple of others. Guy to my right led out the JT5 flop for $15 which I raised to $40. Preflop raiser pushes out $100, lead out (AJ he later tells me) folds and I push allin for about another $150. The idiot who only raised to $7 with AA was also unable to fold it and didn't suck out. Ship it! I made one nice move later, I called a straddle with KJs, the straddler raised as he did every time he straddled this time to $25, UTG called (same guy as my KK v QQ hand) and I seeing a lot of dead money pushed out a full stack. Everyone folded thankfully. Daily total +$520, running total +$670.

Day 10. 1/2 all day for the princely sum of +$20. For the third day in a row I was card dead, I did flop 1 set making 1 in 3 days but it didn't win a very big pot. Did start to pick up a few cards late but it didn't help, especially when I picked up QQ against a very frequent preflop raiser and got it allin preflop. I knew I was well ahead of his range but unfortunately he actually had a hand that time and his KK held up. Daily total +$20, running total +$690.

Day 11. This started out with a horrible suckout. A drunk Scotsman raised preflop which I called OOP with JJ. The flop came 9xx, he led for $15, I raised to $60, he miniraised to $105, I was sure I was ahead and pushed which he quickly called. Well I was right, I was ahead of his T9 (how can he call my allin?) but he spiked a 9 on the turn for a $680 pot. I did get most of it back off him later when I raised with KK, he reraised and I pushed, a huge overbet but I was pretty sure he'd call and sure enough he did with QTs!!!! KK held up thankfully. Later on a very frequent raiser sat to my immediate right, I was waiting for a hand to snap him off and found it with AQ. He raised and I reraised (don't often do that with AQ but his range had to be very wide) he called. Flop came a sweet AQ3, he check/called my bet. Turn was an even sweeter Q and I elected to check behind as the best way to make more money. This proved true as he led out for $100 on the river, I pushed and he quickly folded admitting the $100 was a bluff. A guy I've played with before wasn't happy until I later told him my hand as my reraise made him fold 33. Daily total +$100, running total +$790.

Day 12. Checked out although my flight doesn't leave until 9.30 the next day. I plan an allnighter in the poker room and hopefully some sleep on the way home. The long session got off to a very bad start when I flopped my second set in over 4 days. It was even a set over set but that didnt help as I had 33 v 22 v A5s on a 234 flop. A5 couldn't believe his luck. I did win the huge $6 sidepot. Sigh. Later I had the other hand I posted in the strategy section, I limped AQ in MP and saw a Q84 rainbow flop. SB led out for $10, I called and the button called. Turn is a nice A completing the rainbow, SB checked I led out for $25, the button miniraised to $50 and the SB check/raised to $100. Wow what's going on? I tanked quite a while and seriously considered folding as I thought with that much acion on an extremely dry board someone had to have a set. Then I took a deep breath and pushed. The button (with A4) folded and the SB with Q4 called and I took down a nice pot. The NL game died in the early hours and I ended up killing time playing 2/4 with a half kill for an hour but it was driving me mad so I cashed in a little earlier than I intended and headed off to the airport. Daily total +$215, final running total +$1005.

To anyone who made it all the way through you have my sincere admiration as I bored myself writing it. No drunken debauchery to spice things up as I have to take a bunch of meds that mean I can't drink. In terms of $ profit per day it was actually my worst NL trip but as my initial target is to pay my room bill in cash without touching my bankroll, I did at least achieve that. Didn't cover the whole cost of the trip but that also didn't really matter as my February trip's profit almost covered both trips. I ran much colder than I have in the past so in fact it reinforced my belief that I can make money in these soft 1/2 games and but for 2 big suckouts I would have made over $2K.