I flew into Vegas on Thursday from Cincinnati. The plane was full and unfortunately, there was a huge guy who was seated next to me who took up one and a half seats. His jacket smelled so much like weed that I could not even believe they let him on the plane. It did not make for the most comfortable four hours as he really stunk. I was relieved when he took off the jacket and put it in the overhead. Anyway, I arrive at McCarren and take the taxi to Bellagio, where I stay. I'm meeting some friends, who are coming in on a later flight for some serious 2-5 and 5-10 and the Venetian Deep stack.

After I check-in, I grab the Colorado Burger from Snacks at Bellagio (really excellent) and I sit at what appears to be the softest 2-5 NL game I have ever seen at the B. There is this Italian-looking kid (villainous donk from hell a.k.a. VDFH), who is raising $30 on almost every pot. He has a decent stack, so I assume that he is getting cards. I buy-in for $500 and in the second orbit I get 99 and call VDFH's standard $30 raise. Two others do as well. Flop comes 9-5-K rainbow. Two checks to me and I fire off a $100 bet. Guy behind me calls and so does VDFH. Turn comes 8, which seems harmless enough. VDFH checks, I go ahead and push because I fear some crazy draw and I know no one had KK. Guy behind me calls (I'm surprised), and so does VDFH. Big pot. River is 7 and no flush on board. I show the set. Guy behind me mucks and claims he had K8. VDFH shows 4-6 offsuit for a rivered gut shot. I'm somewhat stunned at this point and I should leave, but I assume that I should be able get the money back from this guy. Wrong.

Long story short, this idiot, VDFH rivered me two more times in the next three hours and took two more of my buy-ins. One time he called an all-in on the river on a medium flush draw. Another time, he actually flopped two pair against another set and boated me on the river. In other words, he owned me like I've never been owned. Finally, I decided that I needed to play craps for awhile. He had like $4,000 in front when I left. I came back later and he was still playing and had lost almost his entire stack. I hope somebody out there is enjoying my money.

Anyway, my buddies got there later and we started playing some 2-5 together. We were at the same table and we definitely were not playing against each other. I won about $500 back and the table was fun. I was up about $900 when I got into a big pot with a young Marine who was on break. He was about my age, so we were having a good time. He called $250 bet on the turn after I flopped top two pair and he rivered the nut flush. I check in the dark on the river and he just turned it over without betting. He was a little sheepish because he made a bad call, but got his dream card. He might have gotten a little more money if he had bet because I could not put him on a flush draw when he called my bet.

Friday --

Me and my boys (Luis P, and Big Ute) went to the Venetian for some early cash games and then the $550 Noon Deep Stack. I buy-in for $200 at the 2-5 and third hand I get Kh10h on the button. Several limpers and I raise to 25. Four callers. Flop come 5c4h3h. UTG leads off for 40 and he only has another 80 behind. It is folded to me so I push him all-in. I putting him on a middle pair and hope that I can push him off the hand. He insta-calls and shows 76off. Oops. Anyway, I river a heart and he storms away from the table telling me, "that was a horrible play, sir." I tell him to go f*ck himself and the floor comes over and gently reminds me to not use bad language. It was, admittedly, a lose move on my part, but I thought I was ahead with two overs and the flush draw. Anyway. I win about $400 and it is time to play in the Deep Stack.

I am an aggressive player by nature and I had prepared myself to really play tight in the first several levels, which were 40 minutes long. I folded lots of decent hands pre-flop and mainly played in position in the early going. I avoided getting involved in any big pots. After about five levels, I had built my stack up to around 80,000 and had only shown down one hand, which was the nuts.

The first really big hand came when the blinds were at 1500-3000. I found AA UTG and min-raised to 6,000, which I immediately regretted because it was an admittedly suspicious raise. Big stack at the other end was paying no attention however and he shoved a 100,000 stack on the table. Everyone folded and I called. He was shocked at my hand and he was beating himself up pretty good. He showed AQ and I never had a sweat on the board. So that was a big double up. I continued to play solid tight and we got down to five tables. I found QQ UTG and limped. A guy in middle position raised to 60,000, which was about 6x the big blind. When it got to me I re-raised to 150,000. He tanked for like five minutes and folded the other two Queens face up. He really wanted me to show and I told him I would tell him what I had when one of us got knocked out or on the next break. (I did tell him later and he told me nice play).

At this point, I went pretty card dead and lost a fairly big pot when a relatively short stack pushed on a board of Ac-10h-6c. I had AQ off and I called. He showed AJ and turned a J for two pair. When we were down to 18 players I was down to around 150,000 in chips, which put me probably 16th in chips. I looked down at QcJc UTG and shoved it. Everybody folded until two players in late position both called. They agreed pre-flop to check it down, which was wildly inappropriate. They both showed AK. Flop came 8c-Js-5c and I hold on to triple up. After that though, unfortunately I went card dead for three orbits. I've never seen so many 7-2,J-3,9-4 's in your life. I ended up pushing with 55 and lost to KQ suited when a King hit the flop. I wish I could have gotten a few more hands because I didn't think that the people were left were much stronger players than me. But, it was still a blast and I left with about $1900. First place was $59,000 so what might have been.

Saturday -- Back to the V for some 2-5. After about five hours, me and Luis P are ready for dinner as our table is too tight. We come back after 45 minutes and they have moved us off the table due to satellites, so we play the 5-10. Luis lost a big pot when he flopped a set of Jacks on a A-J-7 board. He slow played it after the flop. On the turn came an 8 and the money got pushed all-in and the girl he was up against showed 10-9 and had hit the gut shot on the turn. The board didn't pair and Luis had had enough. I stayed because I wanted to see if I could catch some cards. I had about $1,200 in front when I find 7-4 in the BB. There are five or six limpers. I check and the flop comes 4-4-J. I'm thinking that this could be a big pot. I check and UTG bets $40 ?!?! It is folded around to me and I smooth call because something does not seem quite right. Turn comes the 7 and there is my boat. I lead off for $200. UTG smooth calls. I'm putting him on a diamond draw or A-4 suited. Anyway, the turn is a blank, so I value bet $300 hoping he has a four. Instead, he pushes. I think for a minute, and think he might have 77, but I call. He had JJ and had flopped the boat. Whoops. That was just a nightmare hand. I would be interested in hearing any thoughts on this hand or some of the others.

Sunday --

My flight was leaving at 2:15 so I played some 2-5NL early at the B and took about $600 off some drunk Brits who had been playing all night. Man, they were bad. One hand of note, I had AdJd and raised to $20 preflop in MP. Two callers, both behind. Flop comes J-10-2 rainbow. I bet $75. One fold, button calls. Button is older middle-eastern looking donk (OMELD). Turn is a blank so I look at OMELD's stack and he has roughly $160 left. I clearly announce "All-in" and put a nice neat $100 stack of chipsover the line. OMELD tanks for a couple of minutes and grabs a stack of $100 and puts it over the line and down on the felt. Then, he says "what was the bet?" Dealer says "All-in". He then takes the chips back and mucks his cards. Dealer allows him to do this so I call the floor over. Atleast 7 of the people at the table, including the dealer heard me announce "all-in". OMELD tried to act like he was distracted by the cocktail waitress. The floor allowed him to pull his bet back. This really pissed me off and I got into a rather heated debate with the floor. I'm an attorney so I can argue a bit. Does anyone out there have any thoughts on the floor decision? Am I dead wrong here? What is the point of the line if you can put your money down over it and pull it back?