flight was scheduled to arrive at 7:30 Thursday night, but they were taking volunteers to get bumped to a 10:30 arrival. $300 for 3 hrs, sounds OK to me, so I get to Flamingo (comped) at around 11:15, check in and head to Bally's.

I played 1-2 or 1-3 NL all weekend except for one shot at 2-5 on Sunday, so anyway, buy in at Bally's for 200 and drop almost a buy in pretty fast, but I don't recall the hands. Grind it back to about even before the table breaks, at which time I take a seat next to socalvegasmk, who I recognize from his description of himself (Judge Ito look alike), and introduce myself. He's very gracious and friendly and introduces me to the OD briefly. I managed to stack the table fish when I hit a straight flush on the turn (had QcTc on a jc9cx flop, Kc on turn) and picked up a $300 or so bonus. I made sure to tip the dealer and floor just in case Mike had his camera handy, but he was on a break from the table at the time.

That table broke and I decided to head back to the room (up around 400), but Bills got in the way, so I had a steak and eggs, then went and played for a short while at their .50-1 game. There was a big dude there that wouldn't shut up, "I won a WSOP circuit event, blah, blah...." OK pal, you're playing fifty cent-dollar at Bills at 5 in the morning with a bunch of drunks, give it a rest. I was tired and couldn't take listening to him anymore, so I hit the rack (about even at Bills).

Spent Friday morning walking the strip with a buddy, then got into a game at MGM. Table was tight and boring until the guy from 30 rock with the trucker hats with the stupid sayings on them (or his evil lagtard twin) showed up and started re-raising to $100 preflop with K2o, etc... So of course I find myself re-raising him big on a 9 high flop with A-9 and stack off to his turned two pair: 9's and 2's. I rebuy but never get anything going in that game and my buddies have just arrived across the street at NYNY so I go over and goof off with them a bit playing BJ, VP, etc... we're basically just trying to get as many "free" beers as possible, and I approx. break even on the gambling (but down 200 from mgm).

We head to Hofbrauhaus where we have an enormous beer or two each and eat a plate of greasy sausage, get spanked with a paddle by what looks to be Heidi Klum's older evil sister, then head over to Hard Rock. I'm pretty drunk at this point, but the game at Hard Rock is a bunch of drunk tourists and some locals that are out to party, so it's a good time and I eventually double up and we head back in a cab around 4:30. Hard Rock room is nice, good dealers, no complaints there. They have a $40 for 4 hrs. promotion if you play between midnight and 8 a.m. or something like that. I wasn't able to take advantage because I'd forgotten to bring my ID. I think I'd consider playing here a lot if I was a local.

Instead of going to bed, I head up the strip and stumble into Imperial Palace to see what's going on. Two tables are going, but they're both short, and as soon as I sit down, a guy gets up to leave. Another starts racking up and I pick up AA. He looks at his cards and quits racking his chips and I'm licking my chops. He ends up folding QQ face up to my flop bet (I think the flop was J high), I think he just didn't want to get into a big hand when he was getting up to leave, that or my eyes were bugging out of my head. Bummer. A really drunk guy comes by and starts talking smack to one of the guys playing, then sits in on the game, and the dealers and floor have to warn him several times about his language. I look over and count chairs and notice that they can combine tables if one person leaves. I'm not really liking the vibe and I'm tired and it's 5:30 so I rack up and go, up about $100.

Saturday I'm up at 10 and head up to Venetian for Breakfast at Bouchon. I'd heard the french toast was to die for, but the waitress recommends chicken and waffles, so I try that. It's fantastic, but not cheap. I play a session at Venetian (don't remember any details)and one at Wynn (I sucked out with KJ vs AA when the turn brought a second king, and had to fold a set of Q's face up after checking dark on a Qcxcxc flop that was checked behind only for the turn to bring another club). I vowed to never check dark again, but I'm pretty sure I did it again later that night...

Had another session at Venetian that went very well. Seemed like I could do no wrong. Had built up to around 400 when I get AA and I'm facing an all in bet on the flop from the guy two to my left. Board is something like 355 rainbow. I ask him if he wants a call and he says no, I believe him so I call and my aces hold over his queens. I cash out up around 600 and hit Grand Luxe for some chicken tomato mozzerella pasta that was very good.

Head over to Aria to meet some buddies, get in a game that's actually pretty good, but I never get anything going and make a move on a pot when I'm holding the Ah and there are 3 hearts on the board. I was sure the guy had the flush, and for some reason thought I could get him to lay it down. Rule number one of 1-2 and 1-3 nl is don't ever expect anyone to lay down a medium strength made hand... good reminder.

I need a change of scenery and plan to head to Bellagio for a session, but stop in at Planet Hollywood and the game is so good I can't bring myself to leave. The play here was ATROCIOUS, including a hand with 3 people all in preflop for over 100 each, with KQ, K7, and Q9. KQ held if you're curious. One particular canadian fish had tripled up on this hand and soon dumped his stack to the guy to my right, a good guy that said he'd been layed off recently and was being forced to play for a living. He said he used to live at Commerce and play high stakes limit for a living, but it was so stressful that he preferred working, but couldn't find any real jobs. I hope he finds something good soon. I ended up felting the canadian (who was only playing around $80) after about his 4th rebuy. Twice during this session I had the nuts or another very strong hand and got it all in with two others only to chop with one of the other players (the 3rd player was a short stack both times). Table ended up breaking around 3 I think so I hit up Bally's again (left PHo up around $150 I think).

My table was short (6 handed I think), but play was loose and bad, and I left a couple hours later up 300 or so.

Sunday morning rolled around and after gambling, food, cabs, etc... I had $1k more than I came with, so I decided I needed to take a shot at a 2-5 game. I posted about that session in the strategy forum, but the long and short of it was that I played tentatively because of the stakes, and let AK catch up to my top two pair (KJ), when an ace came on the river (down around 500). I had a sloppy joe at Grand Luxe (it's made with pork ribs and beef and it's something to behold) to drown my sorrows, then met a friend at miracle mile to do some shopping for our wives and kids, then I hit PHo again for one last session. It was a decent table and I had the self proclaimed "BEST POKER PLAYER IN THE WORLD" to my right, who was a fun but kind of obnoxious guy who got the table to agree to do one hand where we all put in $5 and flip them up and roll the cards out. One super hot girl from Canada came and sat down with a buddy (I thought it was her boyfriend at the time), and she'd never played live before so we were all helping her out. Her actual boyfriend joined the table later, and I put my foot in my mouth by suggesting he should hook up with the cute dealer. I tried to save face by saying they should all three hook up, but that went over like a turd in a punchbowl. I went ahead and did my best to picture the scene in any case, just for the record.

I left up $100, went and lost it at roulette at Paris on my way to get my bags back at Flamingo, (as I was feeling guilty about not giving Harrah's much action, and figured I'd take a last shot on my way out of town), bought a necklace and earrings for my wife at Paris, and got out of dodge. All told I finished up around $500.

Had a great time and can't wait to get back. Hoping for sometime in spring.