Saturday Night: My dad and I arrived in Vegas about 10pm, checked into our hotel, and then hit the Strip. Since we wanted to get up Sunday morning and bet a few NFL games, it was going to be a short evening. I headed to the Venetian to play 1-2 NL. I sat down with $300, was mostly card dead for an hour and a half, then made a few moves and cashed out up $29 after about two hours.

Sunday: After an afternoon in which the Bengals screwed up a good 3 team parlay, I headed to TI to try out the 1-3 NL game. I bought in for a rack, was fortunate enough to make quads to earn a $100 high hand bonus, and cashed out for $1090 (not counting the quads bonus). I introduced myself to LVM, who was playing at the other 1-3 table.

Monday: I headed Downtown, ate the $6.99 Prime Rib Special at the Golden Gate, and was psyched to play in the 2pm $150 NL event at the Binion's Poker Open. Unfortunately, it was not a very positive experience. I drew a table with a dealer that had to be over 85 years old, was very confused, and was dealing players three to four cards at a time. He was also flashing cards so that most at the table could see them. Finally, after complaints from several of the players at our table (we played SIX hands in the first 30 min.), the floor replaced our dealer. I neglected to mention that in one of those six hands, a man made a made a runner runner flush chasing with nothing to take my starting stack of $4000 down to $2500. After that, I just tried to survive, stealing blinds and the occasional pot. Then, with too low a stack to get away from it, I lost all-in with JJ against KK, then QJ hit against my 55 and I was out in 45th (there were 145 entrants).

After licking my wounds, I decided to return to TI for my last evening. When I arrived, there was a list going for 1-3 NL, and after waiting for 45 minute or so, I got a seat at the table, this time with LVM. Again, I bought in for a rack. This table was much tougher than my table from the previous night, but I ended up cashing out with $ 870 (It would've been a little better, but I attempted an ill-advised three barrel bluff against LVM). I can't say enough about how great the TI room is. The games were live, the dealers were fantastic, cocktail service was fast, and I will definitely be returning on my next trip.