Decided to go to poker with two other girls for a weekend of fun and poker. The other two girls don't play, so I knew I'd be spending a good portion of the weekend at the tables while they entertained themselves.

Got in on Friday night 2/22 around 9 pm. We headed to Pure around 11 pm to do some dancing--but around 1 am, I was dying to get in my first session of poker, so I ditched the girls to head next door to the poker room. I have to say, the one thing I hate about the Ceasar Poker Room is that it is located right next door to Pure, so on weekend nights, the bathroom is always flooded with drunk, often pukey club-goers.... :(

Sat down at a 1/3 NL table and bought in for $300. Started playing aggressively right away, so the boys at the table wouldn't think I was some dumb party girl who had never played poker before. Never got anything bigger than pocket 10's, but was able to cash out with $250 in profit about 3 hours later...a nice short session to ease into the weekend!

Saturday morning I decide to hit the Venetian--my absolute favorite room. Grabbed a quick bite at Noodle Asia (one of my favorite places to eat at Venetian when I need a filling meal quickly and cheaply). Sat down at a 1/2 NL table and quickly realized there were alot of newbies and players who thought they were much better than they were (the best kind). One guy was obviously just there to have fun and kept rebuying $100 at a time and dumping it within 20 minutes. Love it!! Cashed out 3.5 hours later with another tidy $250 profit.

Sunday I decided to play in the $65 9am tournament at Ceasar's. There were only 4 tables, so I felt pretty good about making the final table, since I quickly became the table chip leader. About 1 hour into play, we got 2 new players at our table. One of the newcomers had me covered by just 100 in chips. We each had about 5500 in chips. He min raises me before the flop, and since I was the button I decide to call. The flop gives me top pair (Kings), but a pretty low kicker (7), and there are 2 spades on the board. He puts in a continuation bet and I move all in because I am positive he does not have a King. He thinks for a minute and calls, with just one Ace of spades. He runner-runners a flush and I'm out of the tournament. I guess he felt like gambling!

Headed back to the Venetian where my previous winning streak hit some road bumps when I started dumping chips and money...soon I was in for $1100....but after a table change, I managed to go on a major rip and began dominating the table....I ended up cashing out for $1300, by building up a $150 chip stack. Quite a run in just 2 hours!

Sunday night after dinner I hit the Mandalay Bay Poker Room. This is by far my least favorite room I've ever played in. The rules are STRICT! The dealer will not hesitate to chastise you for not pushing your chips all the way across the line. However, there were alot of major fish with fat wallets....I knew I was in a position to do some bullying when people were asking what a live straddle was....at one point I had dumped $900 at the table, but then my luck started to change...one aggressive player had about $1200 and I kept getting into run-ins with him...I knew his game at that point and just needed to be patient to trap him and take him down. That hand finally came up with I looked down at QQ on the button and raised. He calls, and continues to bet into me all the way to the river. Even better was that I flopped a set, and he got no further help. I doubled up on that hand and suddenly had some serious chips to use as ammo. Ended up cashing out for $1300 at 1 am.

Was still wired when I got back to the Monte Carlo where we were staying. Decided to check out the Poker Room there. I was very pleasantly surprised how nice it was. I was even more surprised at the wild action at the table. I bought in for the max of $200 and wound up cashing out at 7:00 am for $975 without ever having to reload. There were several guys who were tossing back Lemon Drops every hand....in fact they would order a new round when the waitress brought the current round. As long as they were drinking, I was staying! I will definitely be back to this room....the floor manager was great and the dealers were super friendly and never made a mistake.

The next day our flight wasn't until 8 pm. Around 5:30 pm we decide to hit the MGM on our way to the airport so I could have one final, tiny farewell session....sat down at a 1/2 NL table and bought in for $200. On my first hand, I look down to see pocket 10's. I raise to 15 on the button, and one guy pops it to $50. I decide, what the hell, let's gamble....so I call.
The flop brings rags, no flush draw. The raiser declares he is ready to go to dinner and says he's all in. I thought he may have had AK or a mid pair and wanted to get me off the hand....so I call his all in and he flips pocket Ks which hold up. He then arrogantly says, "Nice playing with you!", but I tell him I wasn't going anywhere and pull out another $200. Another great hand comes up where I have Q7 of heart and decide to call a small raise, since I had position on the raiser. The flop comes Q7 of diamonds. He checks, I make a decent bet in order to shake off any flush draws. The villan calls my bet and I pray for no more diamonds. The turn brings a dreaded diamond, but then I look again and realize it is the magical 7 of diamonds, giving me the boat, while potentally making the villain's flush. He bets $50 and I make it $100. He goes all in and I insta-call and flip over the boat. He sees the Q7 of hearts and assumes I mis-read my suit for the diamond flush, because he is convinced his Q high diamond flush is the winner. He still looks slightly confused as the dealer pushes all his chips my way.
Another fun hand was when I had 94 off suit. I decide to play since I was in good position and no one raised. The flop brings 2 9's and a rag, no flush possiblity. First guy makes a small bet, another girl calls, I smooth call. The turn brings nothing and the initial better makes it $50, the girl in the middle folds, and I decide to go All In. The better calls and flips over Q9, giving him the better kicker....I am yelling at the dealer to pair the board....and he flips over the beautiful 4 on the River, giving me the miracle boat. I cashed out one hour after I sat down with 2 racks of reds....nice little $600 profit for one hour of "work" :)

I netted just under $3K in profit during this trip, and only pulled one all nighter. I will definitely stick to 1/2 NL, instead of venturing into the 2/5 NL world (which is what got me into trouble my last trip).

Can't wait to get back to Vegas!!