Flight landed on time – quick trip to pickup rental car – no line – head to NYNY for a slice of pizza then off to Aria for a 7:00 PM Tourney.

My first hand – AA – wow – could be a nice trip. I raise to $300, guy to my left re-raises to $700, thinking he has a big hand and may want to get it all in pre flop – I raise again to $1500. (starting stack $10k). He shows pocket 10’s and folds. Later in the tourney, I have AA again, 3 players see a flop – ten high flop – bet, raise, all in, I call – 3rd guy calls – this guy acted the who time like he was the greatest poker player ever and people on my end of the table were all trying to bust this guy. I’m ahead vs KK and 9T from the obnoxious guy. I fade everyone’s outs and take down a big pot –busting 1 guy and crushing the obnoxious one. Get to final 2 tables – I have a healthy stack – aggressive Asian kid at other end of table was destroying the table – every time he had to show his cards he always had the goods – lucky and good was a tough combination to overcome. I survive to final table but am one of the 3 shortest stacks. Payouts included 7 spots – 9 handed at final table. Hottest girl I’ve ever seen at a poker table on my right. Looked like Kendra from “Girls Next Door” but hotter. I survive a few all ins – think only one time was I called. Finally the 9th place guy busted when his QQ ran into AK. We kick in $20 for bubble boy – boom – some guy gets busted – down to 7. Hottie gets knocked out in 7th for $190 The payouts start to ramp up a lot – first is like $2900.
I’m trying to pick my spots – looking for pocket pairs – still in shove or fold mode. Guy goes all in, I have AJ – now, I had tried to know this same guy out 2 other times and he rivered me to make a huge comeback both times, and I just don’t feel the AJ working – so I fold – another guy calls – guy has JJ vs 99 – 4 diamonds – I had a diamond - and JJ guy doubles up. Next hand – another guy has JJ – and he doubles up. Next hand I say whose turn is it to have JJ next? I have 99 – I shove- guy on my left – who is aggressive and clearly not afraid to go broke calls with guess what – JJ – fuckity fuck – can’t hit a 9 and I’m out in 6th. I later find out that guy won the tourney that night. Good run – only paid $330-$20 for bubble -$20 for tip – ugh. It is 3:00 am – been up for about 22 hours.

Friday – I’m too tired to play in a tourney. I play 1/2 at Imperial Palace – up about $100 early. Then run KK into a crazy – I raise to $22 – 2 callers – both crazy. Flop comes 5 8 T – I lead out for $35 – he goes all in – I snap call – he has 45 – turn 5, river 4 – are you kidding me! So I lost a $300 pot there. Things got ugly after that. I ended up going all in for like $80 on a board that had 2 hearts on it when I had top pair – some local “pro” calls – how can you be a pro making that call – just terrible – he hits his flush on the river. Down $400

Friday night – play 1/2 at Mirage – buy in for $100 – 3 English guys are there – 2 are drunk. One becomes so drunk he starts falling asleep at the table. Another one – is like Austin Powers, with a little more gayness – but not really gay. He was hysterical. Never stopped talking. He even had the tuft of chest hair sticking out of his shirt and was holding stripper porn cards. I started out slowly, but turned it on as the night progressed. I ended up with $320 profit.

Saturday – played in the $340 Venetian – Sports book was under remodeling – side note – which sucked a little – got seated in the outside tables – early hand – had A8 - flop is A8Q – all clubs. Guy bets, I call, turn another club – he bets $1000, I call – I’m convinced he doesn’t have a club – river – brick – he bets $2000 – I call – he has A4 – no clubs – people at table are impressed with my read. I become totally card dead – Mr. Chow from Hangover – or at least his twin is at my table – he is falling asleep too as he went late in a tourney the night before. I can’t get a hand – finally double up against Mr. Chow with AK vs AQ. Still not enough chips to play with though. Get moved to a new table – down to about 55 players. I can’t wait for a hand to shove and lose or double up. I’ve played for over 4 hours with minimal cards to play with. Finally get JT suited – good enough – I go all in – guy on my left says you’ve been nice I won’t call with AT – thanks….
Get to a break – once that is over – I get AQ – finally a hand I can shove with – get called by TT – river is a Q, but it also led to a 4 card straight – I’m out. Finally! It is a good tournament - players were not significantly better or worse than other tournaments i've played in.

Played some 1/2 Saturday night at Mirage – not a fan of this place really – but I kept playing here – not a ton of action going on – poor lighting. Conan O'Brien's long lost kid was at the table. He looked exactly like him - just 20 years ago.
I was doing well – up over $100 – run KQ (with King of spades) to a flop of 9TJ – all spades – guy on my right goes all in – for about $80 more – I call – he has 84 of spades – I can’t improve and I go downhill from there. I called a $80 bet with 66 on a flop of 995 – guy had 96 – drawing dead sucks. I lost $220 on the night.

Sunday – I place some NFL bets. Hit a 3 game parlay and some other $40 bets. I play in the 1PM Aria game. The guy who knocked me out on Thursday is at my table. I basically run all over my table early on. I knock out the guy who got me on Thursday – that felt good. Basically people are folding to my raises, I’m buying pots all over the place – when I get re-raised all in – I have JJ – up against KK – but I river a J. Now people think I’m lucky and good – they don’t want to play hands against me. Then a crazy Russian sits to my left. I make a fold that I totally regret – we had similar stack sizes – 2 biggest at table – guy in early position raises to $2200 – I’m small blind for $300 – I fold 45. Crazy Russian calls. Flop is 344. Russian goes all in post flop – OMG – no way he had a 4. I would have coasted to final table – probably could have taken a nap for 2 hours and come back and been in final 5.
We get to final 2 tables – down to 15 players left. Get 67 – make a raise – figure I have to make something happen here – not trying to just get 9th place. 3 callers – ugh – flop is J73. I make a decent sized bet – all fold except button guy – who is massive chip leader. Turn is a 7 – OMG – I did it- BINGO – No way he has trip 7’s beat. I make a weak bet – he goes all in – I call – he shows…wait for it….A7….River no help – I’m done. My mistake is I needed to bet more on the flop, or just shove. I bet small enough to price any pair in.

Sunday night I play 3/6 limit at mirage with people who are all over 75. Why am I here? I see Austin Powers at another table yapping it up – while I sit here grinding for $3/$6. I lose $120 – playing against some terrible players – this one guy would never, ever fold. No matter what he had. And he would win more pots with 2T, 48, K3 than anyone. Another player would never fold, but he never won - he blitzed through about $400 in a couple hours.

Monday I played at Tropicana – nice room, great lighting, nice people. Started 4 handed – got up to 7-8 handed – I won $57 – left for MGM. Played MGM for 30 min, won $100. Done for the trip.

Recap – KK lost to 45 – post flop – 81% favorite – for about $300.
KQ lost to 84 – pre flop – 63%, post flop – 24% - for about $250.
Flip those 2 hands and I have a profitable trip.