This was my first trip to Las Vegas. I have been playing poker pretty seriously for about a year. I play limit at the local casino (pretty much only for the chance to win the jackpot), but also play in several no-limit games with friends and local dealers.

I went to Vegas primarily to play poker, while the friends I went with were more interested in table games. I stayed at the San Remo (soon to be Hooters Hotel & Casino), which is a cheap hotel and casino, but it’s a room with a bed and that’s all you need in Vegas.

Friday – 1/14/2005

We arrived Friday at around 11:00 and our rooms weren’t ready until around 3:00, so we played blackjack for a few hours. I lost around $150 and after check-in I passed out from the day of travel. I woke up around 9:00pm and decided it was time to play some poker. I didn’t have any delusions that I was going to see any big names this weekend as they are probably all in Tunica for the WPO.

A friend and I headed to the Bellagio to jump into their $200 buy-in no-limit game. I wasn’t getting many cards and my friend was going through his stack pretty quickly. He finally won a $300 pot on a stone cold bluff against two local players. Happy for him, but still down myself, I started playing a little looser and won some small pots. We got shuffled to different tables (a lot of Vegas card rooms do “Must Move’s” every 30 minutes or so to prevent collusion at tables). I busted out shortly after by getting my pair of Aces out-kicked. I walked by my friend and he was up about $500.

I hit the ATM and bought back in, and shortly after got on a hot streak. I was playing fairly loose for a 10-person table and kept taking down pot after pot. I was up $200 ($600 total in chips, $400 invested so far) when my friend came over to say he busted out. He always gets way up before me but loses it all playing stupidly. At any rate, I left with him – and I should have stayed because I was doing very well.

The Bellagio room was great – really nice layout, best chairs in town, good service and good dealers. It’s a little intimidating walking through the casino seeing people playing at $50,000 minimum per-hand blackjack tables, but we had a great time. Friday night around 10:00pm we waited only 15 minutes for a seat.

Saturday – 1/15/2005

Woke up around 11:00am and hit the San Remo breakfast buffet. Last time I made that mistake. Played some one-deck blackjack and made $200 by counting cards. San Remo deals one-deck blackjack face up! The games go slow and it was very easy to count.

Headed out to the Luxor to play at the $50 buy-in no-limit game. Played at a table with lots of locals, one of which who was a dealer at the Palms. On a side note, this young Asian dealer was talking about how he dealt in the Palm’s Poker Superstars Invitational that has been on Fox Sports for the past couple of weeks. I got home Monday night and was watching a Tivo’d round two episode and saw him dealing, which was neat.

I lost $200 in this room, but I still like it. It’s just tough to get anything going. I wasn’t getting good cards, and there were players at the table with over $1500 in chips. They could easily chase you out of pots if you were trying to draw – you only have $50! I think I could have done some damage if I just had gotten some cards, but it wasn’t in the stars that day. So I hopped on the monorail over to the Mandalay Bay.

This was a very nice room and I had to wait nearly an hour for a seat. I bought into the no-limit game for $200. It wasn’t long before my stack was up to $700. I was having a great time watching the divisional playoff games on the TV’s and in the adjacent sports book. Little did I know the bad beat that was coming just around the corner.

I got moved to another table and took a couple of small hits, but I was hovering around $575 in chips when I got dealt Ks9s. K9 is my favorite hand and I am always compelled to play it. This night it wasn’t so lucky.

I was on the button with Ks9s. The flop was a dream – Kh Kd As. Everyone checked and I bet out $50 – everyone folded except a player in early position who called. He had raised before the flop, but only to $15. Up to this point I put him on 10’s or J’s, but thought he may have an Ace – I was hoping he didn’t have AK. I was right. The turn brought Kc and I was ecstatic. I think you all know how this went down after this. He checks, I bet out $100 and he calls.

The river brought an Ace and the board itself was looking very promising. I was praying that he had an Ace and would make a nice bet, but he checked. I bet out a very meager $100 again, looking for a call or maybe even a raise just to increase my winnings. He had over $2000 and raised me all-in. I beat him into the pot and turned over my K. He nodded and turned over his bullets.

It was the worse poker beat ever. I got up and took a cab back to my hotel where I watched TV and ate. I played some more one-deck blackjack and called it a night.

Sunday – 1/16/2005

I slept a good eleven hours on that beat and got up ready to go. I wasn’t down much due to black-jack the night before. We all headed downtown to check out the Nugget and Binion’s. After a horrible lunch at the Fremont casino, we went to Binion’s and played craps for awhile. I wandered off to play poker. I signed up for the no-limit tournament (Daily at 2:00pm - $60 buy-in). I played no-limit for a couple of hours until it started.

Over 120 entrants brought a lot of excitement. There were people watching from the rails and it felt funny as this was my first live multi-table tournament. I was comfortable with my table and was only worried about one guy. We both made early moves and had the largest stacks at the table. Players came and went and I started to hover at or right below the average stack. Monitors showed the tournament status, blinds, and player stacks and statistics.

Three hours later found us down to 15 players and I was starting to get worried. I was short-stacked and playing pretty timidly just from lack of experience in this type of situation. I wasn’t bluffing at all. The tournament paid out 10 positions so survival was all I cared about.

After waiting patiently I made the final table and there was a large crowd watching at the rail. I was going to blind out soon, but I made a good hand and won with an All-In on the small blind when necessary. It bought me another round of antes and allowed me to move up a few positions before busting out on the big blind with a 94 offsuit. I made placed 6 and won over $400. The tournament director there, Chuck Blain was very nice.

Caught a cab back to the San Remo for some food and found out one of the guys I came with won $21,000 on Keno! We went out to New York New York to celebrate. Lots of drinking ensued and I sang Ice Ice Baby at the piano bar. We had a V.I.P. table and were doing as much damage as possible before we had to leave for the airport at 5:00am Monday.

Monday – 1/17/2005

At about 2:00am I ditched the guys and managed to drunkenly catch a cab to the Mirage to play poker. I was coherent enough to play and decided that I wanted to play this room before I left.

Bought in to the $200 no-limit game and took a seat. Won a pot up front and was up about $60. I wasn’t there 20 minutes when I got dealt As2s and limped in for $5. I got raised to $25 and thought “What the hell” and called.

The flop came Ah 8h 2d. At this point, I knew I had the best hand, but I checked to the raiser to see where he stood. He bet out $50, everyone folded to me. I put him on AK and I went all-in for $260. He had me covered and immediately called.

Sure enough he flipped over AK. The turn brought a King and that was it for me. He collected my chips and said “Oh look you actually had me before the King came, like he just noticed. I said “I know I had you…that’s why I went all-in.”

I took it as a sign and went back to the hotel to pack.

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All in all it was a good trip. I didn’t get to play in every room I wanted. Next time I’d like to hit the Palms, Rio, Golden Nugget and a few others, but it was a good trip and I ended up slightly up.