After leaving Virginia at 6am in the morning and having a connecting flight my gf and i arrived at around 11am at the monte carlo and i instantly had to play some poker.

I headed over to the mgm grand to play some 1/2 no-limit, my gf played 2-4 limit. the room was impressive. The dealers and managers were extremely nice and the drink service was incredible. I had a fresh drink before i even finished my previous one. The one downfall of the room as mentioned countless times on this site is the Centrifuge bar located next to the poker room. Every half an hour a song blares and the bartenders get up on the bar and dance. Some of these bartenders should never dance anywhere period, especially not in public, but some were nice.

On to poker. I have this problem of always buying in for $100 at these tables. I know its to my disadvantage but i feel more comfortable and on this day i was happy i did. Third hand i played i have KK on the button and raise to $15, small blind makes it $25 just as i had hope he would and i move all in for $95. He thinks it over, even states that he thinks i have KK or AA and calls with his JJ. Spikes a Jack on the flop and i am immediately down $100. Buyin again and lose it almost immediately in a similar situation. However on my third buy in i played better and didnt get unlucky and finished up $30 for the session and drank at least half a bottle of Johnny Walker Red, so needless to say i was happy. Gf finshed up 60 so all was good.

That night i played in the monte carlo 6pm tourney- $60 dollar total buy in and good fun. Only 30 players played and i made it to the final 4 where we decided to chop and each took down $340. I like this room a lot as well. Its small and cozy with friendly people.

Next day we repeated day one going to the mgm and monte carlo at night. Again made it to the final 4 in the tourney but got unlucky all-in when my KQ suited got called by a-9 and i finished fourth which got me my money back.

Wednesday we went to the Caesar's poker room around 1pm or so. It sucks how the room is secluded and actually hard to find. This results in less tourists showing up. When i got there there was only one cash game going. Lucky for me or perhaps unlucky it was a 1-2 no-limit game and i lost $200 in about 30 minutes. The compettion there was tough and everyone had a lot more chips than me. The room was nice but i would not play there again.

Thursday i went back to the mgm game sans gf and really focused on making some money back. I took $200 profit out of my first table and then asked for a table change as the competition was getting tougher. On my first hand at the new table i limp in with 6-9 diamonds flop a diamond draw and on the turn get a straight flush! guy bets into me $25 into an approximately $100 pot and i slam down a stack of reds for a $100 raise. i wanted him to think i was representing a flush and call me. He thought about it but dumped his hand. Some at the table criticized my play though the guy next to me who i believd to be the best player at the table thought i played the hand perfectly. Either way i was happy to rake the pot.
Interesting note, sitting at the table right next to mine was a man who was the spitting image of billy bob thornton. Voice sounded just like his as well. I would have introduced myself but from what i've heard about him hes a bit of a loose cannon and i didnt want to be malled over by a skinny 50 something in the middle of the poker room so i left him alone. Still not sure if it was him. total for this session up $330

On our last day which was saturday i headed over to the TI. Waiting for the 2pm $65 dollar tourney, i decided to once again buy-in for $100 at a 1-2 no-limit table. They have sugar free red bull here btw which was a nice compliment to a very nice cozy room. in the 1-2 game early on i get a-4 suited on the button and limp in. Flop comes a rainbow of 9-4-8. checked to me i make a feeler bet of $10 and get called. turn is another 4 and i end up getting all the money in there. jack comes on the river and i worry about a straight but even worse my opponent flopped a set of nines and filled up when i got three 4's ace high ..OUCH!

i then bust out of the tourney about half way through when i fall to make a call which i really should have due to pot odds etc.

Done with no-limit i conclude my trip with some 4-8 limit at the venetian. play for 3 hours have a great time and many long islands and go up almost $200 easily. The table was filled with middle age men and older women. it was actually a real hoot. at this point i have an epiphany that limit hold'em just might be a better game for me to make money. its less exciting, but i think i'm better at it and most people play no-limit so i think you can find soft limit games all over.

Side note- the venetian had two chefs carving up monster prime ribs in the side of the room for all the players. it was free and delicious. i will be back to this room for sure.

Overall
poker- about even
blackjack- down close to $500
roulette- down $60
craps- down $80

realization- im only playing limit cash games 4-8 and 8-16 and no-limit tourneys from now on.

Room rankings
Venetian- 9
TI- 8.5
Monte Carlo- 7.5
MGM- 8.5
Caesars- 7

this is with flamingo being a 5

Sorry for the long report- i cant wait to get back to vegas already! the flight home is always one of the most depressing days of the year.