Decided at the last minute to get away for the holiday weekend. Also decided to make it a long one to avoid all the traffic. Left San Francisco around 8am and was in Vegas, checking in to the Clarion by 6:30pm. Got a nice, quite upper room away from the street, relaxed a bit, then headed over to the Mirage.

Unfortunately, the list was long for the $3/$6 game, so I crossed the street to the Venetian. It didn't take long to get into a $4/$8 game. It was a bit aggressive, so I just bided my time. After 3 hours, I was up a bit and decided to call it a night, up $28.

Up early Wednesday morning for promotion poker at the Mirage, a recurring theme. Sat down at 9:15am, got up at 6:00pm, and booked a nice profit for the day, almost tripling up. Ran into a couple of AVPers (a recurring and occasional theme) while I was playing. Headed over to Hash House A Go-Go and enjoyed a 1 lb. burger stuffed with bacon & cheddar. Yum.

Thanksgiving morning was the same thing. Sat down at 9:45am, but this time, it broke at 1:15. I had more than doubled up, so rather than trying to get in the other game, I thought it'd be a good time to get dinner. I wasn't sure about the Mirage buffet, so I drove over to Orleans, where I found a relatively short (15-minute wait) line and a $14 cost. The only thing I don't like about eating out on Thanksgiving is no leftovers.

Went back to the Mirage, got in another game at 5:15pm, just in time for the first promotion draw, played for 3 hours, and cashed out up $52.

To that time I had been running well. I was hitting sets with poker pairs. I was hitting top pair (or better) a lot with big aces. I even found game conditions good enough to successfully bluff. Lest folks claim that you can't bluff in limit games, I not only pulled it off, I did it multiple times, and often into multiple players.

Friday was the antithesis of Wednesday and Thursday. Set mining missed, as did big aces. It was a long, slow grind, and one where I didn't finish ahead by the end of the day. Yet despite the day's loss, I had an enjoyable time. The game itself was generally good, the people nice, and the environment enjoyable. I even had a couple of cases where the woman a couple of seats to my right caught her draw, told me not to bet, and then didn't bet herself, saving me money. A nice friendly game, usually profitable, but just this time not. I had such a good time and was feeling so good that I simply sat there until I ran out of energy, until 11:30pm. That's right, a 14-hour solid stretch of $3/$6 limit.

I got going a bit late on Saturday and didn't get a seat until 10:30am. It was another long day; I got up at 6:00pn with a $68 profit.

Sunday started at 9:30am, and I got up a 2 to go run a couple of errands, even though I was down a bit. I headed over to the Hard Rock Cafe to look at the interactive wall on the 2nd floor (it's made by a company that I have been interviewing with), headed up to the Gambler's General Store and Spinetti's for a poke around, then across I-15 to Costco to get gas--only to find it closed. Costco closed on a Sunday??

Back to the Mirage and I got in a game almost right away. Wasn't running well, then the game broke, and I got moved to another table. That game was more aggressive, yet also loose. I had one hand where I limped with 55, had two others raising and reraising, and 4 others coming along, and 6 of us saw a flop of 432, which meant with that big a pot I couldn't fold flop and turn bets trying to hit the straight. I failed. I had saved my promotion tickets fro the previous few days and dumped them all in the Sunday bin, but alas, the $599 for the day went again to the first ticket called, and it was not me. I finally decided, even though I was not up, that this wasn't a good table for me, and I got up.

It was 8pm and I headed over to the buffet to enjoy some prime rib, turkey, and assorted other foodstuffs with accumulated comps.

Checked out Monday morning and headed over to the Mirage for one last session, planning this time to pick up and hit the road at 1pm, To that point, I had gotten AA twice during the promotion periods and not once seen them cracked. This was a bit of an up-and-down session. I had a sunglasses donkey on my right and for awhile a very over-aggressive guy (who I'd seen totally flame out a few days earlier) on his right. With the blinds coming around and 1pm approaching, I was about ready to pick up and go. The dealer in the box, one of the better ones there, had joked early in the down (I was sitting next to him) that he was going to give me single-color pocket aces, and he made me smile. Yet two hands from the big blind, what did I find but AA!. Different colors, but the got cracked by both trip kings (on my left) and by7 sunglasses boy on my right hitting a river flush with his any-two-suited-cards typical preflop call.

Overall, I made a profit of $120 playing poker, plus the extra $75 bonus, so the trip was marginally profitable.

One of the books I brought with me was the latest edition of the Poker Dealer's Handbook. I brought it in a couple of times--and it turns out that (a) one of the authors was formerly a Mirage manager, and (b) the cover photo was taken in the Mirage poker room.

Got to chat with Chris a couple of times, which is always enjoyable. He told me some good news: the his bosses had decided not to move the room.

In total, over the 6 days, I played 53 hours, with 50 of those with my butt parked in a Mirage chair. I accomplished my primary two goals: to have a relaxing getaway of poker playing, and to make money. And I might decide to come back sooner than I expected. I might make a Christmastime trip. And if I do, once again, I'll be making my poker "home" at the Mirage.