Arrived Vegas 4:30pm. OMG i forgot how good Mr. D's route 66 hamburgers are in Kingman, AZ.

Took a quick nap. The Clarion is right next to the convention center and they were building the outdoor display for the construction equipment conference next week. It is a bit noisy right now, but at 3am, it should be good. I think I stood looking out the window for over 30 minutes watching the backhoes do a correographed dance routine (no kidding).

Hotel is not bad at all. Beds comfy. Kind of a weird burnt caramel smell in the room, but not too annoying. Groupon was accepted with no problems.

Thursday Night:

First session - 2NL Binions - Well, I didn't win $10K with the flopped quad Jacks, but then again,
I don't think anybody did. Standard 2NL full ring - some rocks, some donks. Put in about 3-4 hours, and went to go eat.

Hand of the night: After two hands of 1010 being run off by the aggro Asian old guy in seat 3, next hand was 77 in MP. 2-3 callers on a 5x open. Flop was 7QQ... nice. checked, old French guy to left opened for $10. Folded around to me, bumped it to $20. He called - heads up. He ended up putting another $40 into the pot by the river and showed AKos.

Towards the end of the session I got my first AA, and got paid off enough to be up at the end of
the session. One thing that was interesting is that I could see that my table image changed as the night went on - I was too tight, and wasn't getting any action on opens or raises of 3-4x.

Had late dinner at Hennesey's pub on the east end of the FE. (Thanks AVP for the recommend) What else? Corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, and a Guinness. Paradise. Special props to the semi-naked gal (pasties and panties) selling beer in between the two clubs - sorry - no pics.

Second session - 2NL @ MGM - Freemont was dead by midnight, so we went down to South Strip to see if it was any better... not really. But at least the Gals were a lot younger and more expensively dressed.

Sat down at MGM around 1AM. Within a half hour, almost doubled my $100 buyin. Yes, the stories you hear of action at 1/2NL MGM tables is true. Unfortunately, I didn't get the cards to take full advantage of it.

Most memorable hand at MGM I wasn't involved in. Donk to my left got it all in with 2 to my left
with only like mid-pair. I saw two or three huge pots in the evening - but wasn't in them. So frustrating! Only all-in I did for the night was a chop when we both flopped trip Jacks (why couldn't I have done that at Binions?) and chopped using the board kickers.

Play analysis: I think I was too tight for 2NL FR live. There were several hands that I got run off by larger stacks being agressive. I definetely think I left some money on the table. But for playing nearly 6 hours of live 2NL and being up by $30 - I would call it a successful night - my buddy, on the other hand is down over $100...

By the numbers...

Binions: Up $20
MGM: Up $13

Beer/food: $30 (yeah, only one beer)

Friday:

Met Micheal Atkinson in the buffet line. There's quite a few mid-name pros here - one per table in the training. Should be a blast. Got a free hoodie from Rise. Top prize in the freeroll tomorrow is $26K - you all will be hearing about it if (when) I take it down. This is pretty cool for the first one they'be ever done. It's sold out.

Friday: Poker U with Annie Duke.

Lots of fun - 3 hours of listening to Annie tell me I'm a bluffing donk idiot preflop. We played some open cards sit-n-go with the instructors. My table had "The Maven" David Chicotsky dealing - I was in seat 10. Was a bunch of fun. Good thing he doesn't deal for a living instead of playing. We would all take actions without mucking so we could all flip up at the end of the hand and they would go through each position's actions making recommendations and corrections. As always - I saw some absoultely horrendous plays. My hopes for the big freeroll tourney on Saturday were rising.

Missed out on meeting Doyle Brunson - he was only signing books for people who "won" in the little social card game that they played here. Meh. One guy told me he already had a $500 offer on Ebay for the book he won.

Spent Friday night wandering around the strip on date night with the wife/friends. We ended up at the Cosmopolitan. Freaking beautiful place. Had dinner at the Tapas place. They sure had us pegged - there was a table outside of the place that had a glass top with the funky-est foosball table I've ever seen. We spent the evening playing foosball, drinking sangria, and making all kinds of noise. Best evening of the trip spent without sitting at a poker table.

Saturday Day: Tournament time. Two words: I suck.

Out just after the second blind level - did everything wrong, 50/100, had KQ on the button - two limpers, I raised to 400 and got 4 CALLERS! No respect at all. Totally blanked the flop, all check, turn bricked, good player to my left led out, fold. Next hand A10h suited, one limper in MP, I shove for about 1200 - he calls with AKos. No help for me - and I'm out.

Did I mention that I suck?

Threw $20 into a slot machine - lasted 20 minutes... oh well at least lunch was free...

In the loser's lounge, Mike Sexton showed up. It was really cool because he was on the final table of the WPT last night in San Jose.

Talked with Ali Nejad for a bit. Met Scotty Nuygen. Yes he says "baby" a lot.

Played open-handed SnG with Vanessa Russo. She kept telling me "good fold"...

Saturday night:

I registered for the 7PM Second Chance at the Venetian. Wandered over to the Sports Book for an hour - what a mad-house with the tournament rolling.

My abysmal run of cards from the PokerCon continued. I played absolutely ZERO hands during the first two blind levels... nothing. I've never been so horribly, terribly, absolutely card dead in my entire poker playing days. I couldn't even attempt to steal or bluff with the crap I was getting, and with the standard LAGs at that tournament, chips were flying fast and furious early. I blinded down to about 5K of the original 8K stack, and picked up pocket 9's in late position with one limper in front. I shoved, he called and flipped over Jacks. To add to my misery, he spiked a Jack on the flop. Fortunately, I had ordered a Scotch earlier which arrived almost at the same time as the 99 hit the felt.

That's one $120 double-shot of Glenlivet...

The wives were all the way down at Mandalay, and I didn't feel like joining them. I got this brilliant idea to play cash at Aria with my last $200. Somehow I had the premonition that it was a "Last Stand"... and I was right.

After eating a terribly expensive Tuna sandwich, chips, and mocha at JP's - watching the parade of people go by, I checked in at Aria. Hmmm... no 1/2, how about 1/3? Ugh. Well, OK.

Table was 33% locals, 33% wannabes, and 25% drunk as hell tourists. I sat immediately to the right of the drunkest guy at the table. Fabulous, I thought, just what I've been waiting for all weekend - the quintisential chip spewers. I was right - except AGAIN - I never was able to get into a hand with the drunks. About half an hour into the session, this hand came up:

Button, 7d6d. MP local raised to 15 (5x standard for him). Cutoff tourist called, and I thought "OK, let's loosen the range a bit", and flat called. Flop came 5d Ad 9d. Now, remember, I just got out of a PokerU with Annie Duke nearly screaming at us about how bad suited 76 is even if you flop the flush. MP local opened for 30. Cutoff folded. I thought about it for a minute and called again. Turn was 8c. MP checked, I bet 60, he called. River was 4d. God, I hated to see that card. MP checked, and I checked behind. He asked if I had a diamond, we both turned over - him 9c9h for the flopped set, me with the flush. WHOOHOOO!

I now had around $350 in front of me. I ordered a scotch from the waitress and settled in to have some fun... The previous two details are important for the following reasons - at that point - I was dead even in Bankroll for the entire trip, and I ordered a drink.

As with General Custer, the "Little Bighorn" AKA "Aria 1/3" would be my last stand of the weekend.

I started to bleed chips. Slowly at first. A few missed flops calling a standard pre-flop 7-10 chip raise in position... Fold after fold preflop of Q7, J3, A4, 82, 210, you name it, the cards were all over the map, and nothing even close to connecting. Stack now at $275... hmmm, first scotch down, leave now or order another and enjoy playing a game I don't get a chance to do in my real life? Could I get it back up to $350?? Waitress!

About halfway through Scotch #2: JJ in MP. Open for 4x preflop, button comes along for the ride. Flop 2 10 8 rainbow. Nice. Check for pot control, but button makes it 40 to go. (here's a Whiskey moment - why did I not think he had something?) I called. Turn was a blank under the 10. Check/check - what??? River was a brick - nothing on the board - no straights, no flushes, nothing over a 10. I checked again, button made it 100 to go. Oops. And in my STUPIDITY, I called. He showed AA.

Stack now $140 and the bleeding continues. I find myself unable to calculate the size of the pot correctly. And, when my stack finally dwindles down to around $60, I get Q9 and try to come over the top of one of the locals (who deals on the side) and get called. Spiked a Queen on the flop, but the deck turned a 10 to give him a set.

Funny, I took the last sip of that second scotch as the 10 hit the turn.

Busted.

By the numbers...

Palms DOWN $20 (damn slot machines)
Venetian DOWN $140 ($20 @ damn sports book video poker machines)
Aria DOWN $200 (1/3NL - around 5 hours on the table)

I "could" look at it this way - 3 double-shots of good Whiskey @ $100 each...
But that would just make me feel even worse.

Lesson of the trip: Don't drink and play FR with scared money.

Overall, for someone who plays cash games sparingly, and live poker only once or twice a year, this was a great 12-hours of playing. Yes, my wife will not let me forget that I didn't get up and walk with nearly $400 in the stack, but I think I got $4,000 worth of enjoyment out of it.