OK, where to begin? I scheduled a trip to Las Vegas (and more specifically TI) for November 2-5th. My plan was to do the following:

1. Play poker at TI

2. Eat at Canter's Deli in TI

3. Eat at In-N-Out Burger

Unfortunately I was so wrapped up with #1 and #2 that I never made it to #3.

Friday
======

I landed in Las Vegas at 3:30PST after a 4+ hour flight from Atlanta. I took a cab to TI, checked in, dropped my bags off and headed to the poker room at around 5:00PM.

Having just been in Vegas in mid-August, I felt like I had never left. Danette and Michelle immediately recognized me and welcomed me back. We caught up a little bit and I sat in the $1-3NL game. The first hand that I got involved in was as follows:

I am in LP. MP player, who is not a very good player and has shown down some VERY questionable hands, raises to $12 preflop. One caller in front of me, I look down at 5h8h. MP has roughly $200 behind and I cover. I call. One blind calls and we are four-handed to the flop which was:

6h 7h 8s

Bingo. Top pair and an open-ended straight flush draw. I am going with this hand as far as the table will let me. The pot is just shy of $50. The blind bets $25 and the intial raiser (MP) calls. With $100 in the pot, I overbet it a bit to $150. This pushes the blind out of the hand. MP calls(!) leaving him $50 behind. Now I had sat with this player for a couple of hours and I knew that he was a poor player. I had no idea where he was in the hand and when he checked to me on the turn (a blank, BTW) I barely even look at what rolls off before I put enough in the pot to put him all in. He calls instantly and shows A-T offsuit(!!!!!!!!!) for two overs and an inside-straight draw. Of course, the river is a black Ace and I lose a nice pot to a complete moron who had no idea what he was doing. Awesome. This is how I want to start my trip. I brought plenty of cash with me for reasons just like this. I was upset with how the hand ended, but I had to remind myself that players like this are what make my trips to Vegas profitable. If I bring enough money with me to absorb a blow like this, it helps me keep my mind straight and not start playing on scared money. I am still down about $200 when they announce the 2AM tourney is starting.

I wasn't planning on playing the 2AM, but I was up and the cash game was a bit boring as the biggest fish had all left the table, so I bought in as the 2nd alternate. Since you get 3500 chips and the blinds are relatively small through the first hour, I felt getting in as an alternate would not be bad. Nam busted out (HA!) and I was in the tourney half way through the third level. I believe the blinds were 100-200. Three hands in particular helped me triple up to around 10K with blinds of 300-600. This made me chip leader and helped me to open my game up against the shorter stacks.

I am a little hazy on the exact amounts, so I will leave them out. But here are the cliffs notes on the three hands:

I have AA in EP and raise to 3x BB. It folds to the button who re-pops it. The BB calls it cold(!). I move all in. Button calls and BB folds. The button shows JJ. The BB says "I folded KJ" which led me to almost spit my Red Bull out in his face. I'm sorry, sir. Did I just hear you say that you called an UTG raise and re-raise from the BB with KJ? I knew I liked this table but WOW! Moving on, my AA holds up and I more than double up in the first 10 hands.

Next big hand is I raise UTG+2 with AcJc. Small blind calls. I flop top pair and a flush draw and get the small blind all-in. To be honest, I don't even remember what he held but I know it was no good. I busted him with less than 1 minute left before the break. This allowed Jon to sneak into the tourney. He was BEGGING for someone to bust so he could get in and he hugged me about three times after I stepped up to the plate and took care of it for him. :D

Last of the three big hands before we got short was as follows:

MP raises and I call with 66 on the button. Flop is 6 4 2 with two spades. MP makes a half-pot sized bet on the flop. I raise to half of the MP's stack. He instantly goes all-in and I insta-call. MP shows ATo(!!!) and is dead to runner-runner for a straight. That plan goes to the wayside when the case six hits the turn and it was at this point that I was sure that I was winning this damned tourney. :D

The tourney paid three and the play was relatively tight. Since I had been getting more than my fair share of nice hands and the fact that I had a lot of chips, I felt it was my duty to bully the table a bit. We got to the bubble (four handed) fairly quickly. I was still near the lead in chips and put my foot on the pedal. I was raising around 50% of the hands and semi-abusing the two short stacks. This would pay off when I raised for 2.5K on the button with AdAc and a girl that I had befriended (a local who works at Sapphire's whos name escapes me) gets tired of my aggressive antics and re-raises all-in. Of course I snap-called her A4o and she out on the bubble.

The next major confrontation in the tourney came with I raised on the button (shocker) with AKo, only to have the BB re-raise all-in. Being three-handed, it was a pretty easy call as I figured I either had him dominated or we were in a coin-flip. I had him easily covered as well. BB rolls over pocket 4's and a K on the turn sealed his 3rd place fate.

So then the real game begins. Heads-up in a tourney with the infamous Las Vegas Michael. I had a decent chip lead (I would say around 3-1) when heads-up began. We pushed blinds back and forth for a bit when this hand came up:

LVM is on the button with blinds of 1/2K. I am about a 3-2 chip leader at this point. He min-raises to 4K. Of course, this stinks. He has not min-raised me the entire time we were heads-up. I even say out loud that the bet stinks. I look down at my cards and see KsJs. For about .5 seconds I think folding. Then for another .5 seconds I think about pushing. Then I settle on calling to see a flop. A K comes on the flop, right in the window. I lead out for roughly the pot and LVM pushes all in. I make the crying call only to see what I had feared from the beginning. A-A. I don't improve and now LVM is the chip leader.

I am now a little more than a 3-2 dog in chips (rough estimate). After a few hands, I double up with A2o when LVM calls my preflop push with K-something (I forget). I am now back to the chip lead, but it is slight.

After a few hands we literally wind up with almost the exact same amount of chips. We do a straight chop of the prize money, which equated to ~$280 each. We both tipped 10% for the dealers (always remember your dealers when you cash in a tourney!).

So, instead of going to bed at 4AM Vegas time (or whatever time it is), I decide a smart thing to do would be to play $5-point Chinese poker with TI Jessica, LVM and the freakin' Chinese Poker Hustler himself, Nam.

I proceed to donk off money left and right to Nam, as he scooped me twice at $30 a pop. Luckily, I got him back a couple of times later. I also was dealt quads two hands in a row, only to lose the back to LVM when my quad 4's ran into his quad K's in the back. I still took a nickel off of him on the hand though! :D

So it's about 5AM Vegas time and I have to get some sleep. Michigan is playing Michigan State at 12:30 Vegas time and I need to be of clear mind to watch the game. :D

Saturday
========

I wake up Saturday around 8:30AM Vegas time, don my Michigan t-shirt, and head down to the poker room. I buy into the $1-3NL game and sit with LVM, who is directly to my right (excellent :) and another local player that I befriended named Tim. During this session, I snap off LVM with KTo when he and I both flop top pair. He said (but never showed) he had JT suited for top pair and a flush draw. I made a tough call on the flop when he led out, I raised, and he re-raised all-in. I felt my hand was best and went with it. I was right and LVM headed out. I proceeded to donk off all of the money that I had won from LVM to just about everyone at the table. I also played with Clem2754. He was a great guy and I enjoyed playing with him a great deal. We never really tangled at this table. That would come later on. :D

Over the next six hours, I go from being up $300+ to being stuck nearly $300. Tim pushed me off of a couple of overpairs on scary flops. If I were to go into the details of every hand that I remember it would be a VERY long trip report. I could have doubled up through Tim twice and twice folded when he was drawing to two outs. He put a lot of pressure on me and it worked. Let's just say I played entirely too weak-tight during these few hours and I promised myself I wouldn't let it keep happening.

It was around this time that I notice another Michigan fan waiting to be seated. He was wearing a Desmond Howard #21 Michigan jersey. I walk over and give him a nice "Go Blue!" and he acknowledges my fandom. :) The only hand that made a serious dent to my stack occured when I flopped a set and a calling station who couldn't miss chased me down to make a straight on the river. I paid him off for $100 and was steaming inside when he showed me his hand. I had check-raised the flop and he still called me with middle pair, Jack kicker on a two-heart board. Oh well. To be honest, I was way more concered with the Michigan / Michigan State game at this point and wasn't paying nearly enough attention to the $1-3 game or it's players. In fact, when Michigan started their comeback with 7 minutes left in the fourth quarter I sat out from the table and watched the game in the poker room. I want to say a HUGE thanks to Danette for not only getting the game on the TV by my table, but also for getting a technican out to the room so I could get the sound as well. It's small things like this that the staff of TI will do for it's semi-regular players that make me never leave the room.

So Michigan comes back in dramatic fashion, going ahead with 2:28 left on a jump-ball TD pass to Mario Manningham. I leaped out of my seat at the empty poker table and ran over to high-five the other Michigan fan in the room. I am such a dork when it comes to sports. You don't usually get a LOT of emotion from me at the poker table but I am a freak when I watch Michigan football and Red Wing hockey. I guess it's my outlet. :D So after the football game ends I return to the poker game. I wind up stacking an asian lady for about $250 when I raise preflop with AA and she calls out of the blind. The flop is J-high and she stacks off with AJ vs. my AA. She proceeds to leave the table and it was not too long after this hand that the $3-6 mixer game starts.

The $3-6 mixed game is the sole reason I started playing at TI when I was in town and it is one of the major reasons that I always come back. Where else in Vegas (or anywhere?) can you play Badugi, Stud-8, O8B, Crazy Pineapple, etc and my personal favorite poker game, 2-7 Triple Draw? Nowhere! This game is the most fun anybody in Vegas can have. We play Stud D/Q (double qualifier, high-low where the high must be 2 pair or better), 2-7 TD, O8B, and Crazy Pineapple for what seemed like forever. I am pretty sure this game ran for about 10 hours and it had the same core six people in it for most of the time. The players were myself, LVM, Motorcyle John (a local and great guy), a middle-aged Norweigan gentleman and a husband and wife, Rick and Marcia. The couple were generally nice people and Rick seemed like a really good guy. He seemed to know/understand all of the games. His wife, on the other hand, was your typical low-limit fish who chased every pot (or half of every pot in the high-low games). She continued to call me down and catch me on the turn and river. It was quite frustrating but I was fine with it. She was likely learning all of theses game and it's good for me (any everyone) that she's in the game. I bought into the mixed game for $500, which is completely asenine because it is played with $1 chips. I was making all kinds of ridculous chip castles and just being an idiot. Again, this is fun for me. :D I wind up losing around $60 during my 10-hour mixed game session and decide that I have had enough poker for the day. I hit the bed at around 3AM Vegas time, which is actually 4AM because the DST change occured while I was at the table. This is just a testament to how good I ran this weekend. I picked the one weekend of the year that I would get an extra hour of time at the poker table. Genius!

Sunday
======

I wake up Sunday at around 8:30 Vegas time again and head down to the poker room. I am immediately seated in the $1-3NL game in seat 10. To my right is a good player who's game I came to respect over the weekend. I now know him as Minnesota Dave (MD). He and his friend John were in town from MN and I played with both of them quite a bit. MD is the type of player who puts forth a crazy image at the table but does not play on blind aggression. He is a creative and cerebral player who is capable of putting someone on a hand and going with his read. I didn't get tangled up with him during this session. That comes later. :D

During my session at this table, I am watching the Lions destroy the Broncos, as well as Adrian Peterson snapping off the Chargers D for 296 yards and 3 TDs. This is great news as I have AP on my fantasy team. But back to poker..

I glided along at this table for about two hours before anything worth mentioning happens. There are big pots and a few bad players, but I haven't had a hand or situtation that I can take advantage of so I just sit back and stay patient. This this happens:

I am in the small blind with 3d 4d. It is limped to me and I complete. We are six-handed to the flop which reads:

5s 6h 7h

I have flopped the straight, but it's the bottom end. Someone could easily be sitting on top of me at this table with 89. Couple that with the flush draw on board and I decide to lead the flop for the pot which is $15. MP (who is short at about $125) raises to $50. I know he is steaming because just a few hands before this pot he had his Aces snapped off by MD when MD turned two raggedy pair and got paid off on the river. I put him on 88-TT or some kind of flush/straight draw. This is exactly the kind of flop that he would want to see. The CO (~$400) calls the $50 cold. The CO is relatively new to the table and I don't know much about him. I 100% put him on a flush draw. It's rare that you see someone call a raise and a re-raise cold with much else. They want to see that next card and they don't really care what has happenend in front of them.

It comes back to me and I decide that, based on my assessment of the situation, I am ahead and need to get money in the pot right now. I raise to $150. This is enough to put MP all in and show the CO that I am going to showdown with this hand. MP calls off the rest of his money (~$100). I was trying to bet enough for CO to fold his flush draw. No dice. CO calls the $150 flat, leaving him roughly $250 behind. I am BEGGING for a black K to roll off on the turn. NO HEART, NO HEART, NO HEART, NO HEART!

The turn is a 3 of spades. All that matters to me is that the board hasn't paired and that no heart has come. I go all-in. CO sits and thinks for a minute. He looks at the pot and his stack and finally calls. He calls with TT. Wow! He just stacked off drawing dead. So I know the worst thing that is going to happen to me is that I am going to win money.

MP shows Q9 of hearts, the river bricks and I drag a $1000+ pot. Whew! MP steams out of the room, never to be seen again. MD said that he was bitching the entire way out of the room. Of course, I was too busy dragging a monster pot to notice. :D The CO just laughs it off and rebuys. I can't say I wasn't happy about that.

The next big hand at this table is pretty standard. I am in the bb with 2c 2s. Two players limp and the button raises to $15. He has about $300 behind. I call, the limpers call and we are off. The flop is:

8h 6c 2d

DING DING DING DING DING DING DING! The button raiser seemed very comfortable with this flop and was already looking at his chips after the flop. Gotcha! I am defintely leading here because he is ready to bet and it seems to me he is planning on putting money in the pot. I lead for $50 and it is folded back to the button who instantly raises all-in, which his met by an equally fast call on my part. He holds KK. He doesn't improve and I take down the $600+ pot.

I am now sitting on roughly $1300 and decided it is time to take a break and eat. Danette gets me a comp for Canter's and I walk down to get my Brooklyn and matso ball soup. Let me just say that the Brooklyn from Canter's might be the best sandwich ever. Corned beef on light rye with a fantastic cole slaw and TI dressing (whatever that is). I bring it back to the poker room and eat it while chatting up the dealers. I also picked up a fruit cup and bran muffin for Perry, who has apparently become one with Mother Earth and has gone liberal hippy on everyone. :D

OK, so I am feeling great. I am up $800 at the NL game and am running beyond good today. I sit back down and begin play. Sitting directly across from me is a player in a Dallas Cowboys DeMarcus Ware Jersey (DCJ). He was one of those players that just looked comfortable at a poker table. I immediately pegged him as a wide-open and aggressive player. I don't know how creative he is but I am sure that he doesn't back down at the poker table. MD gets into a sizeable pot and him and the way the hand plays out confirms what I had intially thought; he is VERY aggressive. Good to know.

DCJ, MD and I are all sitting on around $1300+ each when this hand comes up:

DCJ is UTG and straddles for $10. UTG+1 calls. MD is UTG+2 and folds. I am MP and look down at two black Queens. Time to set the trap. Considering my read on DCJ, I am confident that, unless there is a sizeable raise in front of him, he will raise his option when it comes to him. Four other people limp to him. He looks down and raises to $70. Bingo. My elaborate plan is coming to fruition. The UTG+1 player to his left calls(!) $70. Now I have to figure out what to do. There is $200 in dead money in this pot and I am ready to take it down right now. I am not worried about DCJ's raise, as I had planned on it when I limped. I did NOT expect a cold call from UTG+1 for $70. Normally a call like this would set alarms off in my head, but it also occured to me that if UTG+1 was setting a trap himself that he would not just limp then call the straddle raise. He would pop it up. I have no fear of UTG+1's hand. "Raise... $350", I say. I love it. I know I have the best hand and I know that there is no way that DCJ can call. If he has AA or KK then I am just going to get picked off here because the range of hands that he is raising with out of the straddle is just way to broad. Everyone folds and I take down a $200 pot without a flop in a $1-3NL game. Awesome. :D

Not too long after this hand the mix game starts up. No Yappy, no LVM and the mix game is starting?!? WTF?!? I didn't complain. :D I racked up my ~$1000 win from the NL game and cash out. I get $300 in blue for the mixed game and we are off. We start off by playing Badugi but the player to my left, who I later got to know as Steve, is cranky and doesn't want to play it. We take Badugi out of the rotation and play 2-7 TD, O8B, Stud Hi/Low (barf) and Crazy Pineapple. I text LVM to let him know that the mixer is jumping off. He texts back letting me know he will be there soon and wants Badugi and Double Flop Omaha in the rotation. Cool.

There are two tourist, Jay and Vince (I think) in seats one and two. Marcia and Rick are back for the mixer in seats three and four. I am in seat five. The aforementioned cranky Japanese guy, Steve, is in seat eight and Joel1968 is in seat ten. I am being my usual aggresive, idiotic self in the mixed game. Three-betting before the first draw in 2-7 then drawing four cards, proclaiming to the table that I am "drawing to the nuts". :D We play the mixer for about 90 minutes when LVM shows up. He sits to my left in seat seven. The game was a lot of fun, as usual. Eventually Marcia and Rick leave for dinner and seat four is filled by Cindy. I know she is an AVP lurker but I don't remember her screen name. Cindy is so sweet and fun. It was fun playing with her. Not too long after Cindy shows up, TI Sabs shows up as well and sits in the six seat.

Anyway, Jay and Vince (the tourists in seats 1 and 2) are 100% convinced that I am A) a local and B) a hustler. I do my best to try and convince them that I am not a local, but they continue to be skeptical. It doesn't help that ten minutes later Yappy and The Other Dave both show up and are like "HEY MIKE!" and "MPITTS! WHAT'S UP!". This is the first time I have seen them on this trip and they are blowing it for me. Typical.

So Yappy and Dave want to start up a $1/1 PLO table. Wow! Are you kidding me? I love PLO and make more money playing it online than any other game. I'm not sure why that is, but PLO is a game that I have put a lot of hours and hands into and very rarely do I get to play it live. The last time I played it in a casino was at the Rio during the WSOP last year. It is my second-favorite game to play (2-7 TD is my favorite). I cash out of the mix game and sit down at the PLO table and all hell breaks loose...

We sit down at the Omaha table three handed. I am in the three seat, The Other Dave (TOD) is in the six and Yappy is in the eight. Some people say that what follows was the third hand but I am almost positive that it was the first.

Yappy is the button and limps for $1. I am in the SB with A886 with the A6 of hearts and I check my option (remember it is $1/$1) and TOD checks. The flop is:

8h 9h 3x

I am a little fuzzy on the third card but I am sure of the other two. To be honest with you, I don't have a solid memory of the betting on the flop. I believe I potted it and Yappy called.

Turn Jh

DING DING DING! I now have the flush and a set. I am feeling very good about this hand. I pot it and Yappy looks at me for a what seems like forever and re-pots. I am not sure what to think at this point. I love my hand but I can't figure out what Yappy has. He might have 99 with a flush. Something like a KK99 or KQ99 type hand with two hearts. Yappy is a smart and good player but I don't know how good his Omaha game is. Omaha is different from hold'em and hand values are drastically different, especially in Omaha High, which is what we are playing. I know he knows how to play all of the games well.

At any rate, we wind up getting it all in on the turn or river (again, fuzzy). Yappy shows QhTh7h and another card that I didn't even bother looking at. He had the immortal nuts and I was drawing dead on the turn in Omaha. Not an easy feat. I am down $300 in the blink of an eye. Wow. People talk about coolers and this is one of them. I am rarely going to be able to get away from this hand. Oh well. That's Omaha. Next hand.

The TI room staff is pimping the Omaha game and it is starting to fill up. This makes me very happy because I feel like Omaha is a game that I have a real edge against most people in. Steve, the cranky Japanese guy from the mixed game, sits down in the one seat and it isn't long before we get involved in a big hand.

I have 5789 and am on the button. Steve limps and I call. If this hand was double suited I would likely raise, but it isn't so I am not too interested in building a big pot yet. All four of us see the flop (IIRC) which reads:

7 3 7

I didn't pay attention to the suits because they aren't really relevant to the hand. Steve leads out for the pot and I call with my trips hoping to boat up on the turn.

Turn 5

BAM! I have the nuts. 7s full of 5s. Steve, who is not the greatest Omaha player in the world, leads out for the pot. I repot, he repots and I wind up putting him all in on the turn. I am feeling great.

River K

Steve rolls over 73JK and I am devestated. I had him drawing to six outs on the river and he just nailed it. Instead of dragging a $400 pot, I am now stuck $500. Nasty. We hadn't been playing more than 30 minutes and I am already $500 into one of my favorite games. I remind myself how swingy Omaha is and that I just have to ride it out. Don't worry about being stuck, just play your game and you will be fine.

It sounds stupid but sometimes a player needs to have these internal discussions with themselves to keep them from tilting off tons of money. I feel like I am the type of person who can handle adversity in situations like this. It sucks but you just have to forget about it and move on to the next hand. It's like the cornerback who gets burned for the big play in football. You can't think about what happened. You have to think about what is going to happen. Just take the information that hurt you and use it to your advantage in the future. I also have to remind myself that Steve has already proven himself to be a marginal Omaha player and that I should have many opportunities to get it back from him.

OK, time to get my head back into the game. I love Omaha but I am not loving it right now. I buy in for $300 (the game is uncapped) and am slightly tilting. I need to get my head clear. TOD reminds me that the money I lost to Steve is "boomerang money" and that it will come back to me. I smile and agree. If only I could say the same thing about the chips I sent to Yappy. Oh well. I work up to about $500 over a few hands and then comes the perfect storm.

I am dealt AAQ2 in MP. AA hands in Omaha are generally overplayed by people after the flop and you can tend to lose a lot of money with them if you are not smart. This particular AA hand is pretty ragged; not suited and a Q and a 2 to go with it. I decide that with so many people seeing each flop, I will limp-reraise if given the opportunity. There are benefits and detriments to this play. The benefit is that it helps to minimize the field and will likely leave you in a heads-up pot, which is where AA has it's advantage in Omaha. The detriment is that you are broadcasting your hand to a player with any kind of experience at Omaha.

So I limp for $1. It is limped back to Yappy, who raises the pot, which I believe was $6. Excellent. Now I just need a couple of callers between him and I to bloat the pot enough for me to make a good sized re-raise. Two or three people call before it gets back to me. I think about flat-calling and closing the action, but I can't do it. I raise the pot. The exact numbers are fuzzy to me going forward in this hand. I know that after I pot it Yappy repots. I am starting to put him on a hand. The only hands I can put him on right now are a better AA hand (maybe AAKT double suited), a KK hand (like KKQJ) or a good rundown hand like 89TJ double-suited. Then things get complicated. After my limp-reraise and Yappy's second raise in the pot, Steve decides that he is coming along for the ride and calls Yappy's third raise. Now I know that Steve is not the best Omaha player, but his hand in the pot really confuses me. Both Yappy and I have shown a lot of strength in this hand and Steve scares me because I have absolutely no idea what he could hold. I repot it for the last time. Yappy calls off his chips and is all-in and, of course, Steve calls and has only $120 left(!).

I'd say that there is probably $750 (again, it's an estimate) in this pot preflop. Yappy is all in and I cover. Steve has $120 behind which I will be putting in on any non-scary flop. At this point, I feel like Steve might have the advantage because I now have Yappy solidly on a better AA hand. I am apparently still in a jovial mood because I tell TOD (who has been sweating my hand) that I will be winning the pot with trip dueces. :D Here comes the flop:

T 6 2 with two diamonds

Safe enough. Steve checks and I bet him all in. He calls. Oh boy.

Turn 2

Woo! Trip deuces!

River T

Crap! Someone has to have trip tens now!

I roll over my hand. I am the only one who shows a hand. Steve and Yappy muck! OH YEAH! My hand holds up and I dragged a pot of about $1000. I throw Steve a green chip and am sitting on cloud nine. What a crazy pot.

We play for another four or five hours. I wind up at around $1600 when I finally cash out for the night. All I remember is hitting every flop for about two hours. The two hands that I can remember are:

Hitting a wrap with a 9TJQ on a KQ3 board against Clem2754. We got it all in on the flop. Clem had flopped top set with KK. I didn't improve.

Flopping a flush draw with AAQ2 (double suited this time). There was a pot sized bet and two callers (including myself). I turned top set with an A and rivered Aces full when the board paired. Clem paid me off as he had an underboat.

I went to bed feeling good to say the least. :D

Monday
======
I was actually supposed to leave on Monday, but I wound up having to stay in town for an extra day for work (darn!). I worked all day and found myself back in the TI poker room that night. I find myself at a table with Steve again. I like Steve and he and I had started to be somewhat friendly. Considering the fact that I have already felted him two or three times during this trip, I am surprised that he wants to talk to me at all. To my right is a guy named John (not MD's friend John) who I had played with at on Saturday with Tim and Clem2754. He was an open and generally aggressive player sitting directly to my left in the five seat (boo!). I am in the four seat and Steve is in the three. This table was only running for about 90 minutes. There is also a very loose player from England (LPFE) in the 8 seat. He and I had played together the first day I was in town and he showed down MANY poor hands.

First notable hand:

I straddle UTG for $10 (TI lets you straddle for any amount). Three people, including John and LPFE call. I look down at two black queens. Now, even though I am not nearly as loose of a player as the people at the table think I am, I have that image. I am praying that if i raise here that I will get re-raised by someone who thinks I am making a play at the pot. I raise to $50. Only LPFE calls. Damn.

The flop is:

J 9 2 rainbow

It is to me. LPFE only has about $120 left. I push all-in. He is eyeballing me. He thinks I am making a move at the pot and know that this guy is capable of calling me with a 9 or 2 here. I think he thinks I am making a move but he can't bring himself to call off the rest of his chips and folds. I muck my QQ face up just to show him that an idiot like me can have a hand once in a while. I also did it because I know that he could call me with just about anything and I want to represent to him that I am not moving on pots that he is in. I was hoping it would buy me an opportunity to steal one from him in the future but I never got a chance.

Next hand:

I have AcKs UTG and raise. John calls and we are heads up. The flop is very dry, something like:

8 9 2

I make a continuation bet of about $40 into a $50 pot. John calls me instantly. I am putting him on a hand like JT or J9. I am also considering the possibility that he may have even less than that and might be setting me up for a bluff on the turn if I miss.

Turn 5 hearts

There are now two hearts on the board. There's about $130 in the pot and I have zip. The flush draw and the fact that I have completely missed causes me to shut down. I check. John checks behind. Hmm.. I start to think about this hand. Now I firmly have him on either JT or two hearts. John is more than capable of floating on the flop to see if he hits a heart on the turn. I figure checking behind would be the type of play that I would make if I hit a flush draw on the turn. No need to charge yourself to draw. John knows that if I have a real hand and was setting up for a check-raise on the turn, by betting his flush draw he could be blown out of the pot if I make a substantial check-raise.

River is a 3 of clubs

I check with the full intention of calling just about anything reasonable that John bets. While I have not paired, based on the action I think my AK is the best hand a majority of the time. John bets $50 and I almost beat him into the pot. He shows me a K of hearts and says thats all he has. I show AK and drag the pot.

Last hand of note from this table:

I have KhKs in the BB. It is folded to Steve, who raises out of the small blind. Normally I would repop it with KK here, but I am going to be heads up and in position for the entire hand. I smooth call and see a flop. Steve says "I have a nice hand". I don't know what that means to him but I think we are about to find out:

Jc Th 9h

This looks like a good flop for my hand but it can be deceptive. I have the overpair, an inside straight draw and a backdoor flush draw with my hand. Steve leads out for $50 into a $50 pot. He definitely has a hand here but now I have to figure out what it is. It's hard to put him on a range of hands but I try. AA-88, AK-AJ and maybe KJ. I start to think about how many of those hands that I beat and it isn't that many. He has to have QQ, 88, AK, AQ, AJ, or KJ. Well that sucks. I figure the best way to find out where I am at is to raise. I raise to $150. I think this was a mistake because if Steve is actually very strong here I am not going to be able to get away from the hand because he only has $250 behind his $50 bet. He raises all in instantly. Ugh. Now I am stuck calling the last $150. Oh well. If he has AA or a set then so be it. I have rolled him up enough this weekend and he was probably due. I call.

Steve shows AJ! WOO! I'm ahead! The turn and river brick off and I take it down. I was very reluctant to put money in this pot because I really felt Steve was strong. Looking back on the hand, I had disguised the strength of my hand by flat-calling and it would be very difficult for Steve to put me on an overpair.

Steve is busted. I have felted him a number of times over the weekend and now he is out of money. He asks me to borrow $100 and I happily oblige. Steve seems like a good guy and has been playing all weekend. I certainly don't want him out of the game, so I peel off a Benjamin and hand it to him. He says he is going to pay me back but I am honestly not that worried about it. He buys back in for $100. The table breaks a little while later. There were four of us and only two seats at the other table. I drew the lowest card and did not get a seat. No biggie. I cash out up around $325. Steve winds up drawing one of the seats and asks to borrow another $100. What am I supposed to tell him? No? I have enough of his money on me that lending him $200 total is no big deal. I am confident that he is going to pay me back and, again, it's good that he's in the game.

A seat comes available not too much later. I get the two seat. Nam is in seat one, Pokerflip is in the three, MD's friend John is in the four, The Other Dave (TOD) is in the six, a girl named Ree is in the seven, MD is in the eight and a big hispanic gentleman (BHG) is in the ten.

I am at the table for about thirty minutes when Nam vacates. Not too long after the seat opens a squirrelly looking hispanic guy, who I found out later is a local named Jose, sits. When I am at the table I tend to be a bit of a gregarious and outgoing individual. I tend to talk a lot. I know this. So after no more than five minutes, Jose yells "I need a seat change!" and is generally upset. They explain to him that there aren't any seats available. He starts into ME! "This guy won't shut up, etc etc.. " I'm looking at him like he is crazy and say "I'm sorry, but this is the poker table. Tough.." I'm paraphrasing here because I don't remember the exact words, but he bitches about how I am talking to much to anyone at the table that will listen. Then I start into him.. "Maybe I will only start stating facts, like 'You can't beat me in a pot' and 'I'm going to felt you.'" He doesn't say anything and I don't say a word at the table for the next five minutes. Then this hand comes up:

I am the BB. MD raises from the CO to $15. Button calls, Jose calls. I look down at 6c7c and call. ~$60 in the pot and the flop is:

Jc 5c 5s

On the flush draw. I hate being on the flush draw, especially on a paired board. Jose checks and I check. MD bets $50. BHG folds. Jose calls. With Jose calling I have to call getting more than 3 to 1 on my call.

Turn 3c

Well, I have hit my flush. Jose bets $50 again. I raise to $150, knowing that Jose only had $200 before the turn was dealt. I figure a raise to $150 is going to commit him to the hand and he is either going to raise all in or fold. MD folds. Jose just flat calls the extra $100. Confusing to say the least. I am trying to put him on a hand here. Trip fives? A better flush? Full house? Hard to say. Considering what happened between us just a few minutes ago he could have anything.

River Ks

Well, if I had the best hand I still have it. Unless Jose has KK, JJ, 55, K5, J5 or 35 then I am ahead. The only hands from that list that I think he would call out of the small blind with would be 55, 35 or possibly JJ. I think he would raise with JJ on the turn. I could see him smooth calling my raise with 55 (quads) or 35 (hitting his boat on the turn). I am not thinking he has a higher flush because, again, he just flat called me on the turn. Maybe that is poor reasoning, but I would think with the board already paired that he would not want to see it pair again on the river if I am holding AJ or something like that.

Jose leads out for this last $50 and I have to call him. He shows 45o for trips and I take down the pot. I stacked him just like I told him three hands ago that I would. I didn't say a word. I just raked the chips in and tipped the dealer. He didn't complain about me for the rest of the night. :D After the hand, MD said that he laid down two red kings and would have nailed the river. Good turn fold, MD!

The only other hand of note at this table was when I bluffed MD's friend John off of a hand when I check raised the flop and led the turn for $100. The board was 248 and the turn was a 6. He folded and everyone was sure that I had a set of fours. Nice!

Not too long after this, the omaha table is starting back up. I am all over that! I rack up (haw haw Jose!) and head right over to the omaha table. I take the one seat, TOD is in the two, a good young player who played with us yesterday is in the three, MD's friend John is in the four, and there are three others. I think Steve might have moved to this table and was in the seven seat.

Omaha was uneventful. I was fairly card-dead and when I did have a hand it missed the flop. I was handcuffed because the two best players were on my left in TOD and the young, aggressive guy from Purdue to his left. If I flopped a set, the turn always brought the straight or flush. If I hit a wrap or any kind of straight/flush draw, the board would pair on the turn. I lost a couple of hundred of bucks like this over a few hours. Oh well..

The omaha table breaks and I wind up on the outside looking in after we draw to sit at the $1/3NL game that I had left in the first place. MD's friend John and Steve wind up back over there. Someone eventually leaves and I find myself in the four seat. The seating is similar to when I left:

One - unknown
Two - Steve
Three - Pokerflip
Four - Me
Five - MD's friend John
Six - Jose
Seven - Dee
Eight - MD
Ten - (BHG - Big Hispanic Guy)

I would have sat in the five, but as soon as I came to the table MD's friend John moves to the five. That's OK. He is fairly predictable. It's better than having MD directly to my right.

I buy in for $500. This is the first hand that I play at the table:

I am in late position with 55. It is a limped pot and I call. There are at least four players to the flop.

Flop: Ad 8d 5s

Nice. First hand in and I flop a set. With two diamonds, two straight cards and an Ace, I figure it is best to fire right out at the pot. It is checked to me and I bet $15. I am called by MD and BHG. The pot is now ~$60

Turn 9c

Hmm.. Interesting card. 67 just got there and that's about it. It is checked to me again and I bet $50. MD check-raises me to $150. BHG folds. Now I have played with MD for two and a half days. I know he is a very creative player who is capable of running a bluff just like this. The only hands I can put him on here is A9 or 67. Maybe 89 for a worse two pair. He could also have 100% air, like a missed flush draw. I need to either call and hope for him to lead with a river bluff or raise him all in right now. I know if he misses and a safe card lands on the river (assuming he is drawing) that he is going to fire at it and I am going to be sitting there with a hand that can pick him off.

River Th

MD leads out for $120 instantly. I insta-call. MD has QJd for the nut straight. Ouch! That stings. He had plenty of outs on the turn. A diamond and I can get away from it. This river perfectly disguised his hand and did not give me an opportunity to fold. He later said that had he missed he would have bet more. I was pretty much calling anything he bet on the river as long as it wasn't a diamond. Oh well.. Looks like I should have pushed the turn. At any rate, I am -$300 already at this table. Yuck.

Next hand of note. I am in the CO with 88. It is raised from early position by Ree, who is in the seven seat. She had been relatively tight and has played very few pots. There is one caller between us and I call. She has me covered so if I hit a set it I can get paid off if she holds an overpair.

Flop Kd 3d 2s

Ree immediately leads out for $20. The player between us folds and we are now heads up. I start to think about what she holds. As I said, she has been tight. Considering her tight play and the fact that she raised from early position, I put her on a range of AA-99, AK and AQ suited. I think that even if I don't have the best hand right now I might be able to push her off of the hand right here. If she doesn't have AA, KK or AK, she is probably going to fold to a raise. I raise to $75. Ree thinks for a minute and calls. Crap.

Turn 7

If I am correct on the range of hands that I put Ree on then this hasn't changed anything. If she leads here then I am folding. If she checks then I need to bet and hope that she folds. If I get check-raised then I can just throw it away because I can be sure that I am drawing to two outs on the turn. Ree checks. I wait for a minute so as not to represent too much strength and bet $120, which is about 3/4 of the pot. She thinks for a while and decides that she believes me. She folds. OK, I can exhale now. :)

Over the next couple of hours, I proceed to get stuck another $200 in two hands where I had flopped an open-ended straight draw and missed. I don't usually chase, but there were so many callers that I was getting more than correct odds to call on my draws. It didn't help that I also bluffed off about $80 on the river of a hand where I completely missed and was picked off by a gentleman named Lloyd that had been playing with us all weekend.

So now I am stuck $500 at this table. I am sitting on $300 and decide that I am either going to double up or go home. Not the greatest attitude and, looking back, I should have just gotten up from the table and been stuck $500. I wasn't exactly chasing loses but I also wasn't in the right mindset to be playing. It also doesn't help that I am worn out and half asleep at the table. I am NEVER tired at the table but for some reason I was. I tell myself that I will play two more orbits and head to bed. Then this hand comes up:

I am on the button with 67o. Five people limp in front of me. Of course, 67o a pretty rough starting hand but it's late, I am sleep-tilting and stuck. Not a good combination. MD's friend John completes from the SB and the BB checks. Flop:

4s 6s 7h

Nice! Top two pair. MD's friend John leads out for $15. It folds to Steve, who is in the two seat now. He raises to $58 and is all in. Well, I am not worried about Steve and am sure that I am ahead of him. I put MD's friend John on a flush draw, bottom two, or top two like me. I decide that I need to raise. I am a little hazy on the numbers, but I am thinking that I raised to $150 total. This raise is enough to commit me to the hand as I only have about $150 behind. MD's friend John instantly goes all in. Crap. I am closing the action as everyone else has folded. I start doing some math. $15 in the pot, plus Steve's $58, plus my $150, plus John's $150; $373. Add John's money that puts me all in and the pot becomes $523. It's an all-in call to me and, as I had said, I have $150 left. I am getting 3 1/2 to 1 on the call. Best case is that John has a flush draw with two overs, A7, 46 or a hand like A5s for a combo draw. Worst case scenario is that he holds 77, 66, 44, 58 or 35. If he has 77 or 66 I am in DEEP trouble. If he has 44, 35, or 58 (more likely considering I hold 76o) I am about a 3 1/2 to 1 dog. So I am ahead of four of the hands I put him on, a 3 1/2 to 1 dog to three, and nearly drawing dead against the two least likely holdings.

Considering all of this, I also think about how I am already stuck for the night and am really not happy about the possibility of being stuck $800 at this table. Unfortunately I think I have to call. I call. John shows 35o. Crap. It could have been worse but it definitely could have been better.

Turn 2c

River 7s

Ouch. I sucked out. Big time. This was the first time all weekend that I put my money in badly and it was the first time I sucked out. John immediately racks up and leaves. I feel terrible. I put my money in bad and did not deserve to win the hand. Oh well. That's poker. I talk to MD a little and express my regret. He just shrugs it off and says that John is relatively new to poker and is very competitive. I understand that. I use to steam from a bad beat but now I just let it roll off of me and hope that the player makes another poor decision against me in the future.

Well that hand really woke me up. In fact, someone at the table even said that. I am now sitting on around $650. Cool. It still sucks that I had to suck out but again, it happens. This brings us to the last hand of my trip.

I am sitting on roughly $600 when the hand starts. The lineup is the same as before. Pokerflip is in the two seat. Seat three is a dealer from TI who's name escapes me. MD's friend John is still gone. I am UTG+1 with 66. I limp and two people limp after me. BHG (Big Hispanic Guy) raises from the SB. Now BHG has been raising rags and betting the flop constantly. Steve calls from the BB and I call from UTG+1. Flop:

6 3 3

Wow. OK. I have just flopped 6's full. The flop I was dreaming of has just been spread across the middle of the table and I am doing everything I can not to jump out of my seat and kiss the dealer. Pokerflip checks and I check behind. BHG leads out for $25. Pokerflip calls and I call. I am praying for a 2 or a 7 to peel off to make someone a straight. The pot is now about $125.

Turn 2

Nice. No only does this not make someone a better full house but, like I said before, someone could now have a straight. BHG checks and Pokerflip moves all in for ~$125. Wow! It's a dream come true. My only problem now is how to get BHG's money in this pot. He is not a very good player and doesn't understand that if someone just calls an all-in bet with someone behind them that it generally represents a great deal of strength. If the player in the middle (me) has anything less than an unbeatable hand, he should be raising to isolate the all-in player instead of pricing in the player behind him. I flat call. I figure if BHG has an over pair, a three or the straight that he can call here. If he holds anything else I am not going to get any more money from him anyway. He is hemming and hawing over this call. He has his cards in his hand in a manner that he can only see one of them. He is flicking at it and it is easily viewable to the people in the seven and eight seat. It dawns on me that he MUST have a three. Why would he hold his cards the way that he's holding them if he has anything else? So, knowing that he is generally a weak player, I say to him "If you have a three, you should call." I'm not sure if this was a good idea, but it worked! He calls. Now I FIRMLY have him on a three and as long as a three doesn't roll off on the river then he is in big trouble. He has about $300 behind and I cover.

River 8

That doesn't change anything at all. I am trying to figure out the best way to get all of BHG's money in this pot. Again, he is not the best player in the world and I have him squarely on a three. Considering his call on the turn, I don't think he is folding to any bet. I push all in. BHG thinks for about thirty seconds and pushes his chips in the pot. I roll over my 66. Pokerflip folds and BHG folds! Wow. What a hand. I have just raked a pot of close to $1100. Wow.. wowowowowowowow..

Pokerflip tells me that he folded 77 and MD tells me that BHG showed A3 before he mucked. One more time; wow.

So I go from being stuck $500 to almost being stuck $800 to being up almost $300! The table breaks two hands later. I couldn't have asked for a better way to end my trip to TI.

For the record, I wound up up around $2K for the trip. My most successful weekend in Vegas as of yet.

I want to thank everyone associated with the TI poker room. Danette, Chris, Michelle, Perry, Mariksa, John and Jessica and all of the dealers.. Steve, TJ, Pedro, Troy, Jon, John, Terrence, Hank, Kristi, Fitsum, Vance, Boofer, and everyone else. If I forgot you then just get a hold of me and complain! :)

Also I want to thank TOD, Yappy, LVM, Cindy, Sabs, Tim and all of the other locals (including the room managers and dealers) who I have become good friends with over the past few months. You guys are the best and I appreciate the fact that you have taken me in as a regular and Las Vegas local. I can't wait to see you all again!