First, I must apologize for an incorrect trip report from the spring. I had a major typo that flawwed the report. Therefore, I'll proofread this before posting.

Scheduled a quick 2-day trip to do nothing but play poker. This will be my last trip to Vegas for a long while because my wife and I are expecting our first child in December and will not be able to make our yearly trip in the summer.

Arrived Wednesday morning at 9:45am just in time to make the Head Hunter tourney at TI. I've been wanting to play this tournment for awhile, so I was excited that my flight was ahead of schedule. Tournment starts with about 26 to 27 players. Play extremely tight and win a few small pots but nothing big. Eliminated when 10s run into KK and flop is all low cards. Villian came over the top of me on 2 previous hands and I thought he was bullying me again and moved all-in to find his KK. No help on the turn and river, I'm out with no bounties. Go and check in at the lovely Stratosphere which is to far to walk and I'm stuck riding the duece back and forth. (Man it takes a long time to travel two miles on a bus).

After check-in, I head back down to TI for some $2-$4 limit. I don't know why I play this game because there is no money to be made here but I wanted to play for awhile hoping to get some tickets for the weekly cash drawing. After 5 hours on boring play and no high hand jackpots, I move to the $1-$3 no-limit table to find two other AVPers. Unfortunately, I don't remember their names. Best hand was when I get KK. I raised and get re-raised and move all-in. He thinks for a moment which tells me i'm not up against AA. He calls with AK, flop brings a K and I take a nice pot. Leave up $150.

Day 1 results:
Tournment: -125
Limit: -20
No-Limit: +150
Up $5 for trip

Wake up Thursday and head down to the Mirage for their breakfest buffet at Cravings. I personally think this is the best breakfest buffet on the strip. After breakfest head over to the Venetian for the Noon tourney. Over 120 players with a great structure and good starting stack. Run well for the 1st level when 2nd level brings destruction and I didn't see it coming. I'm in mid-position with JJ and raise 3x big blind. Folds around to the SB who calls. Flops is 9,A,A. SB checks and I follow with a 1/2 pot size raise to see where I'm at. He thinks for a split second and calls. Turn is a J and I turn the full house. He leads out with a big bet and I'm putting him on A-x so I push him all-in. He instra calls and shows A-9. River is a blank and I'm crippled. Nothing I could of done, I thought I played it right. Just one of those situations where you run into a monster. Two hands later I'm out when my 66 gets crushed by KK. So much for the noon tourney. I will definitely play this tournment again.

After the tournment I decide to head back over to TI and play some more $2-$4 limit. I know what I said earlier but I can't help but play this game, I'm not that great of a no-limit player. I wish they had a $4-$8 game going. None the less, I end up playing $2-$4 again in an attempt to collect more tickets for the weekly drawing and get enough hours playing cash games to make the drawing prize $5K instead of $2.5K. Nothing special in regards to the hands I received except for losing on the river to a couple of draws. I don't get upset because I choose to play this game and I deserve it playing low-limits. After about 4 hours of playing I decide to play in the 7pm tournment and I'm seated two seats from Yappy Dave. (By the way, I love reading you daily posts and congrats on winning the tournment. I enjoyed playing with you, I was wearing the #81 Lions jersey). Only big hand of note is when I was short stacked and forced to go all-in with KJo to find 4 callers. We see the flop of Qc,Jc,9d. Check, all-in, call, fold, fold. First all-in has JJ and second all-in has Q9. Turn and River bring K, K and I survive with the runner-runner full house. Blinds increase and I play passively and I'm out somewhere between 13th and 15th place. I leave to catch the Duece back up to the strat. when I find a huge crowd waiting for the bus, probably heading downtown for the night. I have nothing to do and decide I need the exercise so I start walking. On my way past the Riviera I remember Jeff, a dealer at TI, talking about how soft the $1-$2 no-limit game was at the Riviera becasue of the pool tournment going on there. So I decide to give it a try and it turned out to be a good decision. Thanks for the tip Jeff. These guys would stay in on any draws or mid-pairs all the way to the river. Now this was good and bad. However, I was able to avoid any bad beats on the river and turned 2 hours of play into a nice little profit for the night. No specials hands except ABC TAG poker and bad calls by opponents.

Day 2 Results:
Tournments -215
Limit -80
No-Limit +361
Up $71 for trip

Wake up Friday morning, check-out and head to TI to play until I have to leave or I get enough hours to qualify for the bigger weekly cash drawing. I put my name on the list for $1-$3 no-limit because I'm tired of playing good poker and making no profit at the $2-$4 game. Not enough players yet so I head to Canters for a quick bite to eat and then back for some poker. I sit down with $150 in chips which is low for a $500 max game. I see Jeff and thank him for the tip about the Riviera, he's seated in the one seat. Anyways, I play well and increase my stack to about $250 when I'm dealt KK in early position. I raised it to $12 and get two callers, one of which is Jeff who's last to act. Flop brings Kh,xh,Ks. Yes I just flopped quads and I know I'm going to get $100 for the high hand jackpot but I also want to get as much for this hand as possible. I check as does next guy but Jeff bets $20. I think for a moment trying to sell my hand as if I have the heart flush draw and call $20. Next guys folds and it's heads up. River brings another heart which puts the flush on the board. Since I was trying to represent the flush I figured it was time to bet $20. Jeff reraised it to $60. He hit the flush and I go all-in hoping he thinks I have a flush as well. He calls and shows his nut flush and I flip over KK for a huge pot. Sorry Jeff, I do enjoy playing when you're dealing. Later, a guy named Aaron sits down in the 10 seat. He played very aggressive and he made some sick calls that he hit on the river. One was with 10,2o and he hits a 2 on the river for the full house to beat the other guys straight. Now, I've watched this guy make some sick calls and bluff a few big pots and show his cards. I have A10s in mid-postion and raise to $10. Aaron is the only caller with J2o. Flop is 2,8,10 rainbow. I bet the pot and he calls quickly. Turn is another 2. I bet $20 and Aaron raises me $50 more. I thinks awhile about this one and I tell myself that he is trying to bluff another pot. I call and tell him I think we are going to chop this pot and check in the dark before the river. I'm not sure if this was a good play or not. The river brings 3s. Aaron asks how much I have left which is what he has done to others at the table. He pushes all-in and I think about this for 3 minutes. While trying to figure out whether his bluffing or has a hand like a set or 2 pair, I ask his name and where he's from. I tell him how I've watched him bluff before and make 2 sick calls. Finally, i call and he shows the 2 for the set. I'm down $50 and decide to call it good as does Aaron. We discuss the hand and the play of the table for awhile before he and I leave for dinner. Get a good meal at Canters again with my comps and return one last time at TI. I play $2-$4 again because I don't feel like losing all my money in one hand again. After an hour and a half I have to leave but not before making sure I have enough hours of play to win $5,000 if my name is pulled for the weekly drawing.

Day 3 results:
Limit -20
No-Limit -150
Jackpot +100
Up $1 for trip

Flight was on time and landed in Detroit at 5am. I turn on my cell phone to find a message on my phone. First thought was "oh no something bad happened in the family" because no one calls me that early. Come to find out it was Chris, the manager of the TI poker room, informing me that I won the weekly cash drawing of $5,000 and I had 30 days to get it. I was wide awake on my drive home and couldn't wait to get a flight back out to claim the money.

Thanks for reading this post and hopefully you enjoyed as I do reading other's.