I've played in the Red Rock poker room on previous trips, and was looking forward to going back. It's a nice clean, classy room with a welcoming staff and a lot of local seniors. I'm probably 25 years younger than the average age in there, but the folks are generally friendly (though poker tends to make even nice people a bit surly). I go to Red Rock primarily for the $4/8 Omaha Hi-Lo (Half-Kill).

On Sunday afternoon, I sat at the $4/8 Holdem for a little while waiting for a seat at O8B. Nothing exciting to report, just nuts and bolts poker. The seniors generally play loose but passive. When they bet and raise, it's usually for a REASON (such as the primordial stone cold nuts); rarely have a run into a chronic bluffer that's living on a pension. I made a few bucks and got called to the O8B table.

If you know anything about O8B, Red Rock is a good place to earn a steady profit. I went home $200 winner by playing by the book and avoiding marginal situations. The seniors at Red Rock love to chase, even if it's with a weak low draw or 4-outers to make a boat. If you play smart, it's hard not to turn a profit here.

On Monday, I went back to Red Rock for a few more hours of O8B before my flight left in the afternoon. At 10AM on Monday, they only had $1/2 NL going. I wasn't in the mood for that game, so I played the ponies in the comfortable sports book for a few minutes. I'm so bad at picking horses that when I went to the window and asked for "Palm Beach, $2 on the 7 horse to win," the guy says "OK, but did you know that horse is actually a dog, as in 'greyhound'?" After a few losing races, I went back to the poker room and found the 10AM $100 NL tourney was starting. I usually don't play tourneys, but it was looking like my only option since the $1/2 NL was still the only other game.

For $100, you get $5000 in chips. The levels move slowly, so you get plenty of play for your money (that is, if someone doesn't make a terrible call and suck out on you.) There were about 36 players. It got down to 3 tables rather quickly. Players at my table were pretty solid and patient. I won a couple small pots with a pre-flop raise and a c-bet on the flop. In the 50-100 level, I called a min raise with QTc. Flop was TT8. I checked the flop hoping to check-raise. Instead, the action checked around. I bet 1/3 of the pot on the turn and got 2 callers. River was a scare card -- possible str8. Original bettor throws out a 1/2 pot-sized bet. I think he's trying to buy it with an overpair, but I make a loose call based on the odds I was getting (I'm more worried about the 3rd player, who goes in the tank but calls too). Pre-flop bettor shows pokset 8's for a flopped full house. In this case, slow playing the flop probably saved me my stack, as the other guy played the hand well and kept us both in the pot for value. After that hand, I was down to about $3000 when I got moved to another table at the start of the $100-200 level.

1st hand, I catch TT under the gun. Still realing from the last big pot, I limped for $200 UTG. At least 6 or 7 players limped behind me, building a nice pot. When it gets to the BB, he pops it to $700. To me, this looks like a blatant steal. Mostly on instinct, I gave it a split second and announced all-in for $2775 more. It quickly folded around back to the BB. The BB goes in the tank for a minute or so, then reluctantly calls. He's got me covered by about $2000. He flips over QTc vs. my TT. He says "damn, I'm dominated." I say "interesting call." Of course, the first card off the flop is the Q, and I'm gone. I stil think I made a damn good play there. Most people seem to recognize that a limp/all-in from UTG typically means a monster hand. How the guy calls with QT is beyond me. What range did he think he was ahead of, and why put your tourney at risk with plenty of play left? Maybe I should ask myself the same question?

After busting out, I sat at the $2/4 HE table to burn off some steam. I played like an a$$ and won $25 in three orbits -- I played everything and hit everything. A seat opened at the $4/8 O8B, so I changed games. I got off to a good start, going up as much as $50 in the first hour. The play went from weak passive to loose and crazy. There was an Asian woman who went on super crazy monkey tilt and pushed the action like a maniac. Unfortunately, my combo of steaming from the tourney and making a lot of loose pre-flop calls into kill pots resulted in dropping my $100 buy-in over the next couple hours. I was bound and determined to win back my tourney buy-in, but that's never a good recipe for success.

At the end of the day. I went home with the money I left with, so it's all good. I had a blast at the Rush concert and visiting with my friend for a few days. We had a good meal (as usual) at Carmine's Little Italy on Durango in Summerlin) if you're ever in that neck of the desert. I even got in a round of golf at Rhodes Ranch and turned in a decent score despite the jet lag. Already looking forward to my next trip in January when I'll be in town for CES 2009.