I got in to Vegas at 8pm and after checking out the strip a little I sat down for the 11:30pm Bounty tournament at Harrah's. Only 11 people registered, the buy-in was around $60 plus $40 for the add-on. I collected two bounties and made it to the money, top three. The most noticeable part at this time was the play of the big stack. We're down to three people, short stack goes all-in, I call, and big stack raises on a draw, causing me to fold. Short stack ends up taking the pot, which I would have won if Big stack had just called. The same situation happens again on the next hand, but luckily Big stack had it this time, so I made it to second place. I guess you don't learn this playing online or watching ESPN, but two against one is better than one against one. Unless you have the nuts, don't raise when someone is all-in. Second place paid $219, plus the two $10 bounties, so I made $139 in this tourney and that was the best it got all weekend.

Day two - after a $5.99 steak and eggs breakfast at Harrah's, I sat down at a 1-2 NL game. The only memorable hand here, I had AQ - spades. The flop came Jxx, with two spades. The turn brought my flush. The other guy in the hand says he really didn't want to see a spade there. I figured if I bet anything he would fold, so I just checked my nut flush. The river pairs the board. The other guy bets big. Did he hit a boat or is he bluffing? Based on his bet, I decide he is bluffing and I raise, he re-raises. Crap. I call and lose to his Jacks full. After playing a couple hours here, I end up leaving even.

I went to Flamingo to register for a big promotional tourney. I decide to play some blackjack while I'm there. I buy-in to a $15 table with $200. Within two minutes of betting the minumum, I'm out $200. Not much fun. I tried a $65 NL tourney at Flamingo, card dead most of the time then get pocket Queens. Flop comes all low cards, I bet and get raised all-in. I call and lose to pocket Kings. Oh well...
After a short nap it's time for the big promo tourney. While waiting for the doors to open I realize they invited anyone with a players card, even slot players who never played poker. This could be good, but ended up being bad. I hung around while two people got eliminated from my table. Then I got pocket Kings, I bet the other player raises pre-flop, I re-raise all-in. He calls with Jack-Queen. I feel good, then two jacks come out and my Kings lose. Why did he call all-in with Jack-Queen? Oh well...

Went to Rio Seafood buffet for dinner... so good. Then tried blackjack at Rio, $200 lasted about 15 minutes this time, a little more fun than at the flamingo. Then sat down to 1-2 NL. Interesting table. These guys loved the straddle, either under the gun, or on the button. It made for a fun table. A new player sat down to my right and I decided to go with the button straddle. Everyone folded except the new guy who raised. I looked down to see bullets, so I called. He bet after the garbage flop, I called, he check-raised the turn, I pushed, and won when he showed pocket kings. Poker was profitable at the Rio but not enough to make up for the previous losses.
Decided to try the poker room at Imperial Palace. The table was pretty tight. I won one nice pot with bullets, and then ended up losing it all with a stupid bluff.

Day 3 - Early morning breakfast at Bill's. Always good. Let's try 1-2 at the Venetian. Big blind and get to see the flop for free. I've got 3-9, flops comes 3,3,x. Check, check. turn comes, other guy bets, I call. river comes 9, other guy bets, I raise he calls, I win a nice pot with 3-9, only because I got to see the flop for free. Seemed like it was going to be a good table. Then I got pocket Aces and lost to the other guys flopped set of fives. Decided to try TI. It was about 9am and I was disappointed to see that the TI poker room didn't open until 10am. I don't know if this was every day or just Sundays, but I didn't feel like waiting around, so off to Caesars. Played 1-2 NL for several hours. Ended up losing all-in to a donk. I had AQs, he had 35s. he hit his straight on the turn when my Ace came out. I put him on a flush draw, but didn't even see the straight coming. I had already registered for a big stack tourney that had 100+ players. I sat out the first two hours playing 1-2, and finally sat for the tourney with half my stack left and the field only down to 80+. The blinds were 400-800 at this point so my 4000 didn't last long. I had to lay down pocket Queens when the Ace came out on the flop. The other was nice enough to show his Ace. I think I got knocked out with Pocket Kings or some other hand like that. Poker just wasn't happening for me. So let's try Blackjack at the Pussycat Doll's Casino right outside the door. Ended up playing around 6 hours or so, lost $500, got way too drunk on White Russians, but had a good time. I even got to shake hands with Scotty Nguyen who was playing a headsup tourney for NBC. I was pretty drunk, so hopefully it was Scotty, and not just some other asian dude with long hair.

Overall, the trip was a blast, not profitable by any means, but I'm going back next month to get my money back.

Hope this report wasn't too long and boring.