I arrived at McCarren International at 8pm the Friday before the final four. My first stop, MGM to drop my backpack off at the bell desk (since it's the closest hotel to the airport, i'd pick my bag up there in 24 hours). I then proceeded to the Excalibur where the 1-3 table looked pretty soft, came up about $60 in three hours. Even with the win I was not satisfied b/c it should have been more considering how soft the table was. Now it's midnight and I meet up with a buddy that is staying at the Barbary Coast. While waiting for him downstairs at the casino, I win $100 playing five bucks a hand on blackjack. The atmosphere was great there with alot of beautiful young girls and a great cover band. After my friend, Josh, finally came down to the casino level, we were ready for some serious gambling. We made the short trip next door to the Flamingo and arrived about 2am. The only games they had going were 2-4 and 1-2 NL. I opted for the 2-4 which, at first glance, looked like a soft table. I was absolutely right. The player with the most chips (2 1/2 racks) seemed to already be asleep, and only woke up when he saw a big hand (so it was easy to get out of his way). Another kid, my age (22) had about $150 and seemed to have a very basic understanding of the game (like the hand rankings, lol) My second hand off I flopped a nut flush draw and a pair of aces, checked it to the kid and he bet, I called. The turn completed my nut flush and I bet out, and to my delight the kid raised me, and the woman behind him called!! By this point I was licking my chops. I didn't want to scare the woman off, so I just called, I wanted her on the river. The river came and I bet out again and he raised, the lady folded and I re-raised. After we capped the raises, the kid wanted to make a side bet for all our chips. I agreed after three seconds, there was no pair on the board, (so no full boat), and there wasn't any possible staight flush. He flipped over trip aces, and I couldn't help my self but to bust out laughing. I put him on a King high flush, the kid was about to cry. I took the pot and walked over to the cashier w/ him because the dealer didn't allow him to tranfer his chips to me at the table. This antecdote is an example of all thhe loose money at low limit Vegas poker tables. I cleared $500 playing 2-4 for five hours!! And the biggest pot wasn't even on the table, put a side bet with a kid that thought trip Aces was an unbeatable hand (remember it has he who proposed the side bet). After cashing out the three, heavy, racks of chips, and seconds after stepping out of the poker area, I was approached by an "escort" for an early morning date. She must have saw me with all those full racks, but I had to decline. I stil had a good 10 hours of gambling ahead of me. Josh also did well, in the NL game, and doubled up within the first twenty minutes. So he spent alot of time at the bar playing video poker waiting for me. By six o'clock a.m we were at the Mirage which was completely dead at that hour, except the poker room. They only had one seat open for the 3-6 game, so I told Josh that it was my turn to wait. I proceeded to the blackjack pit, which had only two tables going. One of them was so loud that the screams of it's players filled the whole casino. I knew that was the table for me. I cashed in $50 just to burn time, before a 3-6 seat opened up for me. Little did I know that I wouldn't be playing any poker at the Mirage that morning. I won $300 betting $10 flat on every hand, and it was worth putting up with the drunk who was calling (correctly) his blackjacks evey other hand. Now it was ten in the morning, and Josh said that I could crash on his hotel couch. I slept for about an hour and was seated at a Balley's blackjack table by noon. I cleared another c-note and decided to head over to the MGM to get my backpack, and take an earlier flight to SF. But before I got to the bell desk I discovered MGM's new poker room and sportsbook. And I couldn't resist; I put my name on the 3-5 NL hold em wait list and then got a bite to eat. Upon return, my seat was just about ready. This was (and still is) the biggest game I've ever played in. I cashed in most of my winnings $1000, and my hands were shaking like a madman, when my first hand brough two black aces!!! The Pursian man to my right raised to $20 and I made it $75 to go, everyone foleded around back to the Arab Sheik, who raised it another $75, making it $150. I knew he was holding KK or possibly AA, too. So I figured that if I moved all in he would definately call. So I did what he would probably have done after the flop anyways (if I merely called). I went all-in. Of course he called, and there was around $2020 in the pot. I felt like I was going to faint, in the back of my head I knew that he would for sure improve his hand (whatever it might be) and suck out on me for 2k. We both agreed to turn over our cards before the flop, he turned over KK and I turned over my aces. He said that he hoped I had AK, and I told him that I'm just a college kid and wouldn't put $1000 in w/ out AA. He laughed and the flop came 2-7-7 rainbow, whew all good so far. The turn came, the KING OF CLUBS!!!. I felt my heart sink all the way to the lavish casino carpet. I felt tears swelling up in my eyes, but the miracle of all miracles came to me on the river. The most beautiful card in the world was slowly flipped over by the dealer: the ACE OF HEARTS!!! The table erupted in cheers and congatulations (the young kid clearly had the table support over the obviously wealthy Persian man) I was jumping all over the place and ordered a round of drinks for the table. (which didn't mean much because the drinks were free). The Persian man was clearly upset, but he was a gracious loser, he even gave me a hug and told me to forget poker and concentrate on school (yeah right). So within 18 hours I won around $1500, and with only 1 hour of sleepin the last 30 hours, I decided to take my winnings and run. I took the 4pm flight back to San Francisco. All my buddies who were in Vegas were shocked, not about how much I won, but beacuse I had decided to go staight home rather than party it up in Vegas for the Final Four weekend. I just told them that if I stuck around Vegas any longer, I'd probably give back all the money that I had won. The moral that I'm trying to get across to young solid, low-limit poker players,like myself, is that the Vegas Strip has the softest tables around and it is alot more proitable playing there than any cardroom near your home. Good Luck all, and I'll see you in Vegas.