Up at about 0545 on Sunday after about 3 hours of sleep. So far primary plan to play tourneys and secondary plan to stay rested is failing miserably. I have only played the AVP tourney (wanted to play Aria 1PM at least once – doesn’t happen). I find it nearly impossible to sleep in Vegas. This is where my notes on this trip ceased so much (if not all) of the rest of this trip report will be from memory.

Standard morning (for me) in Vegas. Coffee, craps. I see some of the old crap dealers who I know from previous stays at Orleans and they also remember me. Big guy named Jonathan has helped me numerous times with odds amounts. I like to play with the house when others are rolling and place a lot of Don’t Come (DC) bets with full odds. Craps is all about timing – nothing else. I don’t mind placing numerous bets for the dealers and they take good care of me in return. On this particular dice session I am on the correct side of timing and constantly flip flop between the right and wrong way. Long story short, I earn $600 in profit (about 40 minutes of play) and I’m sure the dealers earned at least $200. They get me a comped breakfast (I choose steak and eggs), and I’m having a great start to my Sunday. I only wish the rest of the day would go so well! I head to MGM around 0900. I’ve been in Vegas since Friday and haven’t gone North or South of Tropicana Blvd. I find this mildly amusing (don’t know why). Basically I’m flip-flopping between MGM and The Orleans.

Once at MGM and the sports book is open, I put down about 5 NFL bets ($25 each). I end up going 2 out of 5 (Green Bay and Chicago winners). Screwed up by not betting the house on GB. It was a 15 point spread and they beat St. Louis 24-3. I had a strong feeling that GB would cover – and they did. Anyway, final NFL betting had me taking those two winning tickets and putting it all on the Monday night game for the Jets (which was a winner). Bottom line, overall sports betting “entertainment” a slight success. As a complete joke, MGM Poker dealer Bryan (red haired guy) – good dealer by the way, and I had been joking around the whole trip about numerous topics. I had him give me his “lock of the day” for sports. In true jest, he said put it all on the San Jose Sharks. I didn’t even know San Jose had a hockey team. I bet $30 just for fun – and lost….booo. A better play on the joke would have been to rib him and say no way, and then bet AGAINST the Sharks. I screwed the joke up and it cost me $30! It’s all good. I also have a running scenario I play with MGM Poker Dealer Mr.Fox where I either give him a sports ticket (already paid for) or let him pick a team and then I place a bet. He screwed up and chose the Redskins and lost a freeroll for $50 (on my $25 bet). Oh well, better luck next time Sir. BTW, Fox’s fiancé , Krystal (spelling??) is one of the massage girls in the poker room. She’s really nice and is good at what she does!

Back to the poker action. It's Sunday morning and I'm playing at MGM with nothing going on to speak of and I’m just not feeling it. Not much action, it’s early Sunday. So I decide to go to the Venetian. HUGE mistake on my part. Should have done almost anything else. I do get a nice fish lunch at Grand Lux, but that is the only good part of my day there. I buy in for $300 at the 1-2 NL. A husband wife team arrives at the table shortly after me. They are friendly. I’ve chipped up to about $350 when I catch a nut flush draw and decide to gamble on the flop. Long and short of it is, I’m all in and behind. I don’t catch. The wife drags a $1000 pot with her flopped straight(others were all in also). It happens. I go card dead and proceed to dump a total of $800 into this game before giving up. By far my worst day gambling for the whole trip. Not very happy – AND – played bad. I tuck tail and head back to The Orleans and watch some football in my room. Certainly a little down, but far from out. I’ve brought a nice bank roll with me, so I am prepared. I get a little sleep after the game and then head out around 0300 on Monday morning – back to MGM (go figure).

This is my last full day in Vegas as I’m due to fly out Tuesday. I pulled a 13 or 14 hour session and won about $700 best I can recall. Ah yes, it’s coming back (sorry, thinking out loud). It was a SUPER long session on a great table. A TON of money was on this table – upwards of $5K total. At one point, there was more than $4K between seats 2-5 (I was in seat 4 holding onto nearly $1K). Seat 5 and I were avoiding each other as I don’t think either of us wanted to play a pot (with us both all in). There was a celebrity sighting mid-day (comedian Ryan Styles) the guy from Drew Carey’s improv and he also plays a character on Two and a Half Men. The guy is super funny and was on the table next to us. His buddy (unknown dude) bought in full ($300) and kept plussing up his stack if it dropped to $200 or less (which was frequent). He wasn’t a bad player (there are certainly worse) but (unfortunately for him) he wasn’t going to bully the 3 or 4 huge stacks at the table. He was in seat 6 and it made it very interesting. I ended up leaving before him so I don’t know how he finished. He mentioned that he played Chris Moneymaker heads up for $20k…there were several of those types of stories being told. Most probably true. It appeared that he was just blowing off steam at $300 a pop. It was entertaining to watch his style of play (super loose). I’m pretty sure I made it back to my room around 7PM and watched the Monday night game (JETS win – nearly $200 for me).

I get a little sleep and head back to - you guessed it – MGM. This is now Tuesday morning around 0400 and it is my last few hours in Vegas for this trip. The table is pretty passive. I’m not trying to get crazy because I’m nearly even for the trip at this point, no need to blow up. Anyway, I see a lot of commotion at another table. There is a very drunk (but still coherent) guy on a roller coaster of chips. Up $1500 down to $500, back and forth we go. His table breaks and he arrives at our table. I’m literally at the same table, same seat as the day before (seat 4) and he takes seat 2. He is REALLY drinking. He’s either going to go broke, pass out, or be kicked out. I’m contemplating changing my flight – it’s that good! EVERY hand he’s raising and re-raising. I sit back and wait. There is no reason to raise pre-flop because he will! If you raise, he’s re-raising. I try to see as many flops as possible on the cheap hoping to catch something. The time finally comes (Js9s) - $17 pre-flop from him (of course) – I call. Flop two pair. Yahtzee! He doubles me up – I’m now at $500 and nearly late to wrap up may stay at The Orleans and get to the airport. I reluctantly leave and make the flight on time.

Got home late (around 1AM), slept for 20 hours and waited two days to count my money (as I knew it was close to even). Now that is what I consider an epilogue to a great trip!

Can’t wait to get back. Definitely in May of 2012, probably prior.

Hope you all enjoyed the report.

See you at the tables!

*Hat's off to the entire crew at MGM Grand. You guys run a great room!