Had a little break between one job ending and one starting so the wife let me get away for a bit of poker. Flew from Austin nonstop Saturday (8/21) morning. Wound up sitting next to a fellow dead-head which made for colorful stories of late 80's tours. Checked into Bally's. Paid for Sat but had comps for Sun and Mon. Room was ok, it was no stratosphere but it was nice enough (hehe). In-room coffee maker would have been nice. They also don't have the cushy mattresses that Ceasers and Harrah's have. But I wasn't there to sleep. Went down and was promptly seated in a 1-2. I'm pretty LAGgy and am prone to overplaying top pair, so the goal for the trip was to work on this. Was able to locate a couple weak tight players and get each to lay down a nice pot by floating in position and then just stealing. Cashed out up $115 after about 3 hours. Went to the sushi place by the sportsbook. Meal was so-so, though I'm not a conniseur. Put 20 on the packers because I'm a homer, but felt like a degenerate betting on week 2 preseason.

Made it back for the 4pm donkfest. This might be the worst structured tournament I've ever experienced. If you treaded water your M was 9 after 1 hour. I wound up pulling the suckout of all suckouts. It all went in preflop with my AJ vs. his KK. Flop came Kxx. Turn was a Q. River the magic 10 for broadway. Chopped 4 way after 1.75 hours for a $255 win.

Took a 3 hour nap and sat back down at 1-2, but the table was way too sober for a Sat night, and when the one super obvious fish went busto for the third time, I went looking for greener patures (Did post a meager $15 win). Stopped at Burger Brasserio?? and had the waiter surprise me. He brought the brie/bacon burger, and I was in heaven. Highly recommend it. I then walked down to Planet Hollywood. 1st time ever there and I was really impressed with the place. Chairs and tables were more comfy then Ballys. Definately a younger crowd, and the eye candy walking past made concentration a bit difficult (wah!). Table was pretty loose, so I played pretty tight in response. Lost $200 when someone sucked out a flush after I flopped trips. Fought back and eventually cashed out up $160. No big pots, but did better about limiting my losses. Did target a couple of players who were calling people to the carpet with middle pair or worse, and value bet the pants off em'. Made it home at 5am and total for the day was up $545.

Slept a wopping 4 hours and went down to Hash-a-gogo at IP for breakfast. Ate there on the last trip and loved the charizo scramble. Tried the fried chicken/waffle dish. Beautiful presentation, but dry-dry-dry. Sat in on a morning game at IP. Had 1st losing session of the trip when I overplayed AA against flopped set (-160). Headed back to Bally's early Sunday afternoon. Again had a losing session (-140). No special hands of note. Did lose some respect for the managment. An old (and I mean old) lady who had been playing limit but busted out was standing on the rail looking for her daughter, and she obviously was in difficulty. I got her a chair outside the rail and asked the floor to paige her daughter at her request telling them she was complaining of pain. They butchered the announcement and never checked on her again. 30 minutes later she's still sitting on a poker chair outside the ropes rubbing her 80plus yr old hip. The floor was yucking it up by the cashier with a couple unbusy dealers. How people can be so oblivious to the pain of others is beyond me, but it definately made it hard to focus on poker. Eventually I went and walked her back to the podium and told the guy she needed some help. He got her another chair closer to the podium and someone eventually came with a wheelchair. Decided I'd hit the wall and went and took an ambien and checked out for 7 hours.

Woke up late Sun night (11ish). Headed back to Planet Hollywood and cleaned house. Played very LAG at a tight table and built a horrible image. Showed every bluff and had several people tilting hard. The cards heated up right after a straight 1/2 hour of bullying and when people called I had the goods. By 3am I had run my 300 to 1100 and cashed out after the drunks left. Decided to check out Aria. LOOOONNNNG walk. Room was very nice. Sat at a 1-3 table where there was a standard $6 straddle. There were at least 4 locals at my table, all solid. 2 were downright scary-good, so I bailed after an hour when our table went to 6 handed (up $22). Took a cab back to Bally's and played for 12 straight hours. Made "friends" with the LAG to my left. He was attrocious, but sucked out on person after person. He was happy to get all in with ANY marginal holding, and played most of the game with a stack of over 800. I truly hit the zone in that game and everything seemed to be going my way. Consistantly raised in position and just punished any limpers/callers. My stack grew to over 500 when I doubled up through my new buddy. Finished up 800. Would have been more, but played a monster hand as follows: V1 (local pro with 550 raises to $8) I 3 bet from middle position with KK to $25. V2 with 250 behind calls in the cuttoff. V1 calls. Flop is K Qs 4s. V1 bets $50. I raise to $150. V2 goes all in. V1 goes all in. I cover both and call. V1 shows QQ for flopped second set. V2 has AsKs for tptk and flush draw. Turn brings the flush and river bricks. End up winning a wopping $50 in side pot. Would have been an $800 dollar pot... Oh well. Went to sleep at 6pm Monday afternoon. Woke up Tues morning and wound up giving back about 95 in my last session.

All told, won over 1800 in 3 days. Played better than I've ever played and was helped by some very good cards at the right times. Can't wait to get back...