The players on the trip are myself and my wife’s cousin Bill(B). B is a poker guy like me. Flight was at 7:15AM, so I wake up at 3:45 about 20 minutes before the alarm. No use of going back to sleep. Head to pick up B and we are off to the airport. Get there in plenty of time. Flight out was no problem and landed on time at 9:00AM. The taxi line was non-existent. We were at Ballys by 9:30. Got checked in, but the room wasn’t ready. Stowed the bags and B and I split up. He went over to Planet Ho and I headed to the Venetian.

I played a satellite poker tournament for the 1K noon tournament. The top 2 places out of 10 got seats in the tournament. I made a loose call early and sucked-out on a guy to bust him. Then I flopped the nut flush and let the guy next to me just bet himself out of the tournament. I was doing great. Then I ran a race with a short stack I had AQ vs 66 for him, but I could not hit. So I was back to grinding it out. When it got down to 3 handed play we decided to give the cash($240) to the 3rd place finisher. Well, I went card dead during 3-handed play and finished 3rd.

I headed out to Ceasars to play cash games. The list for 1/2 was long and I ended up on a 2/5 NL table. It had no max buyin. I bought in for 700. The most notable hand in the session was between me and a well dressed older guy who was a regular. He had commented that I and a couple others were raising quite a bit. I raised to 25 with AKs. He pops it to 225 total. I push allin. It was about 300 more to him. He says oh great the time I have a hand. He thinks and thinks. He says he has a problem because he felt I could make that move with AA, KK or even AK. Well he was right, but he could not pull the trigger and folded. He left shortly to go play 5/10 NL at the Venetian. Not too much else happened at that table. I cashed out up 410.

Then I grab a bite to eat with B at snacks at Bellagio. Then we head to the Rio for the WSOP. B got into a $175 sat and chopped it 3 ways for a profit of 325. I got into a 325 sat. We were playing for 3K and some cash. About the 3rd hand I raise preflop to 150 with AJs. I get called by one guy. Flop is Kxx. I lead out for 325. We started with 1.5k in chips. He min raises me to 650. I push allin and he folds. He folded KQ and showed it. I could not believe it. I mucked my hand. I won a few other hands and had some chips. I think I got up to like 4200. Then I ran a race with 55 vs a short stack who had KQ for his 1100 in chips. He spiked a K on the turn to survive. That is twice in sats I ran races to bust people for less than one third of my chips and lost both times. We eventually got down to 4 handed. I was ready to chop 3 handed, but blinds were getting high and I made a move with KQ and ran into someone with an Ace and lost. I then registered for the 1500 NL event.

On the way in we walked right by Doyle Brunson. It was pretty much chaos at the WSOP. So I went back to Caesars and got on a 2/5 game. Not too much was going on. I had bought in for $700 and was down to around $500. Then this old guy sits down with 5K. One guy is really ribbing the 5K old guy about it. Well the old guy starts to bully everyone. Making raises to $75 on limped pots. Betting out more than the pot on the flop by a lot. Just normal bullying. Everyone is kinda waiting for a hand to play back at him. It is limped to me with Q7dd. I call. As does a lot of the table. Old guy raises to 65 in the BB. I call him. Just hoping to hit something. Flop comes 753 all hearts. Old guy bets out $130. I push allin. He folds and shows ATdd. I show my hand. I take a few more off of him. It was a great session. He lost like $1500 at least. I cashed out up $1105. I noticed it was 2:00 AM LV time. I had been up 24 hours straight. I head to bed. B was already in the sack.

When I wake up Saturday morning B is already gone. He was playing 1/2 downstairs at Ballys. I went down to play with him. Nothing too much happened that session. I lost $113. I left to grab breakfast.

I head over to the Rio for my event. 1500 NL Hold’em. I was happy not to recognize anyone at the table no pros. First hand I am the BB. SB is not at the table. Folds quickly around to me and I win the SB with 72 offsuit. It is very possible that I was the chipleader for a quarter of a second. Next I get QQ. It is raised to 150 and I reraise to 350 and he folds. For the first two levels things are going great. I am chipping up and then using my chips when needed. Catching a few hands. I really only get played back at once and I have to give up the hand. The Asian guy on my right is very active and is getting chips as well. I run another race with a short stack on my left. I have AKs and he has 77. Of course he wins. Now 0 for 3 in races. At the break at the end of the second level I have 6450 chips.(We started with 3K in chips) I lose a couple of pots and am down to around 5200. Now the guy on my right and I have been keeping out of each others way for the most part. He even showed me a hand when he raised from the button just to show me he wasn’t stealing. Blinds are 100/200. He raises to 625. I have QQ. I make it 1700. One short stack pushes for 750 and then another one pushes for 925. Well, guess what he is now priced in to call and makes the call. Flop is JT9. He checks I push allin. There was 1300 on the side between me and the Asian and I have a straight draw if I am behind. The Asian calls. We all flip over our cards. Short stacks have AA and KK and the Asian has 99 for a set. I am gone from the WSOP. That really sucked. I really think that Asian guy folds his 99 to my reraise if the short stacks don’t call. Oh well the dream is over.

I head back to Caesars and drop $300 in a 2/5 NL game. So I hit the BJ table and won $600 playing $100 per hand in about 12 hands. I went and played the 7:00 PM $540 tournament at Caesars. About 95 to start. 4500 in starting chips. About 10 hands into it I get A9s. I raise and am called by the old guy who just took down like 2 of the last 3 pots. Flop is A96. I bet out and he calls. Turn is a 4. I bet and he calls. River is a 3. I check and he bets. Something is funny, so I just call. He turns over 75 for a straight. I am left with just over 2K in chips. I donk off the rest of those chips and am out. That was pretty much the low point of the trip.

I hit the BJ tables again for a quick $400. I did have to dig into my pocket this time as I went through my first $500 buyin. So I was risking $1000. Not the brightest thing to do. I head back to Ballys and get a seat in their 1/2 NL with a 300 max. I get a seat and there is a young Swedish kid that has a mountain of chips. He is betting huge preflop and getting called and then hitting hands. I saw him raise to 25 preflop with 87 and hit a straight and took a guy’s whole stack. Then he just started to flip coins with people for their stacks. I don’t mean really flip coins, but he would get into 50/50 situations preflop. AJ vs 77 etc. I was just sitting there waiting for AA or KK. Well the kid got called to the 2/5 game and racked up about 1700. Unfortunately about 3 hands after he left I got KK. I won, but I wanted to win a whole stack. It was getting late, so I head the hay.

I woke up Sunday morning and headed down to the Venetian at 7:30. The plan was to get in on some of the overnighters. Most of the players played the entire night. I bought in for 700 and ended up down to 150. I added $400 more to my stack. Here is where I put a bad beat on a guy. Really the only time the entire trip I did. It was raised preflop and I reraised. Then the guy reraised me and I pushed and he called. I had QQ and he had AA. I was ready to take a break and go somewhere else. Then a Q hit the flop and I won. I was back up to almost 1100 and even. Things turned around from there. This was a good table for the most part. I did see a sick beat when a guy flopped a fullhouse only to see a guy turn a straight flush. Needless to say the guy lost his whole stack. Someone raised to 15 and I looked down at 99 and made it 45. I got called by my neighbor on my left then another guy made it 145. I decided to take a flyer and call. I knew the guy had AA or KK. Flop came 9 high rainbow. I checked and the guy bet 200. I made it 500. The guy thought and thought and finally folded. At the table there was much discussion on what I held. The guy kept saying AA and a few people say 99. I told them if they stuck around until midnight I would tell them. I probably should have called on the flop and not raised. Or I should have just pushed to look like a big bluff.

Well, I started to build a pyramid with my chips. Things were going well most of the table was turning over with new people. At one point I had my pyramid up four levels high. Each level was a stack of twenty chips. I raised one hand preflop to 25 with JTs. I got called in a couple spots. Flop comes K22 with two spades. I had spades. I lead out for 65. I get called in one spot. Turn is a K. I check and he checks as well. River is a blank and I fire out 125. The guy thinks and thinks and even says he played the hand badly and as he calls he says show me AK. I show the bluff and he flips over AA. I represented the K, but the just could not get away from AA. There was a huge pot in the afternoon. By then for the most part the stacks had grown as not many winners left the table, just the losers. I was out of the hand. A pro ended up calling a 100 bet with an open-ended straight draw and hit a straight on the turn. The young kid led out on the turn for 200 and the pro made it 800 and the kid put the pro in for 550 more. The kid had KK. It was a 3300 pot. It took forever for the pro to stack and rack the chips. Ironically the pro was just playing 2 more hands until he went to dinner. The kid(I learned his name Chad) bounced back and built his stack back up pretty well. I had been hovering between 1600 and 2100 for most of the time.

One goofy guy asked Chad if he played on the internet. Chad was like no. The guy said really I play online with a guy that plays just like you. A young pro at the table almost fell out of his chair at that crazy statement. A young girl sat at the table and straddled a pot and called a raise from the straddle to 50. Flop comes 632. Girl bets big raiser then raises and the girl pushes allin. The guy calls and the girl has 63. The guy had KK. So that guy adds some cash to his stack. Then a little later he ends up getting stacked by a guy who had 73hh and hit a flush. It was a little sick. The guy promptly left the table. One older guy in a suit had been at the table since before I arrived. Eventually a kid sits down and tells me that the old guy was there since at least 1:00 AM the night before. The guy fell asleep at the table at least 3 times. He finally left around midnight. Late in the night the pros definitely were coming out. I noticed when you would continuation bet on a flop they would come over the top for a large amount. It became a game of chicken. I bet a flop with a flush draw and a backdoor straight draw only to have a guy raise me out of the pot. He showed 33. So about 15 hands later I raise preflop with TT to 40. People had to raise bigger preflop to keep people out of pots. I get called in two spots. Flop comes Jxx with two clubs. I bet out 65. That same guy who came over the top of me with 33 did it again making it 200 all day. I said raise and put out the 200 and then grabbed 5 hundred dollar bills and laid them out on the table. The guy thought and thought about it. He said he thought I did it because he bluffed me. Well he finally folded. I did not show. He really wanted to know. I told him if he stuck around til morning I would tell him.

They were combining all the 2/5 tables and ours finally busted and I finally had to move. I had sat in the same seat for about 16-17 hours. The games were getting tougher. At the new table we agreed to straddle for awhile. On one hand when I was the straddle I had 84. The flop came down 865. I bet out 50 and was called. The turn was a J. I bet out 125 into the shorter stack and she called. The river was a K. I put her allin for 350. She thought and thought and thought some more. She asked me 4 times if I had a straight. Well she finally called with 55. I was back down close to even. I decided to call it a night when that table brokedown. I was down 100. I should have left a long time before, but it was a wild ride. On the way back to Ballys I hit the BJ table and won $600 quick. I ended up the trip down just a little. I played poker for around 45 hours over 3 days. I slept the entire trip back.