I want to preface by saying, I actually took notes during the trip. I never do that. But every night, before falling asleep, I would actually write down key hands for the purposes of this trip report. Crazy, huh?

Saturday-
Arrive mid-evening and check into my upgraded room... (thanks for the comp, Harrah's!) and decide to try KGB the burger joint in Harrah's, which was very good by my standard. For extra eye-candy, I recommend catching their evening and not their graveyard shift. Just saying...

Before long, I found my way to a blackjack table which turned $100 into $220 after about 20 hands of total action. Then I decide to stroll over to Mirage for my first poker session.

I sit down with $200 in a 1-2 game and realize that this is no ordinary table rather quickly. 6 of us end up taking double shots of patron every half hour and the table is VERY UBER MEGA loose. Not me, though. I actually become acutely aware of all the nonsense and decide to tighten up in the hopes of snapping someone off. 2 hours later, and I am basically sitting on around $540 when the first significant (and probably most ultimately frustrating) hand of the trip occurred.

I'm in the BB and pick up QQ. UTG+1 is a woman who hadn't been there long enough to know how insane this table was running. Average pot was over $300 and you probably didn't want to bring a knife to a gun fight here. She opens the pot for $20. The incredibly smashed, incredibly crazy car dealership owner from CA to my right has been playing COMPLETELY in the dark all night and catching miracles. He 3-bets preflop and calls river shoves without knowing his hole cards. More often than not, he ends up having straights and sets when people push into him with 2 pair or TPTK. Total madness out of this guy. However...this time he looks at his hand, and just SHOVES for right at $500. I am completely stunned. I stare at the guy for a minute, then check back to the woman who only started the hand with $150.

I flash him the QQ and whisper "you know you're getting called over there." She instantly sets her money into the middle and turns over AA. He turns over KK! What a dodge! I get up and shout... "yes!" and the other players ask "did you fold 10s? Jacks?" to which I replied, "nope, I folded Queens, didn't I?" to which the other player with the KK says "yeah, he definitely did" in a tone that's kinda sad he didn't get my money into the middle. The flop starts to come out and I instantly see a K in the door. For half a second I feel bad for the lady until I see the rest of the flop... KQQ! Turn 3, River 7. The dealer remarks "if I dealt another King on that board I would have slapped you!" with a smirk.

Good fold, bad result! Total pot size would have been $1150 plus a $100 high hand bonus for the quads! D'oh!

I decide to rack up 2 or 3 orbits later with $600 out of concern I might do something stupid at this really deep table full of drunks! (myself included)

Next I head over to Bally's for an uneventful 3 hour grind where I got felted twice, but eventually battled back for a $80 profit. Frustrating, but it's nice to come back from down. Ton of equity in that game if you can get your hands to hold.

I decide to leave and play a quick roulette session at Harrah's. Bet my birthday for $5 and hit it on the second spin for a quick 35-1 payout. I cash out and head up to the room to crash and get up at a reasonable hour the next day.

Sunday-

Up by mid-lunch time and decide to open my day at Le Burger Brasserie between Bally's and Paris. Great burger and more lovely eye-candy! Decide to pick up where I left off at Bally's poker room where 2 unreal hands happened. First...

It's my 3rd hand dealt in, and I'm in middle position with my usual $200. I look down at 32o and decide to raise to $11 to see how light people call and how loose the table is. To my surprise, 6 people call 5.5x. Any flop that looks kinda dry, I plan to steal the flop since they don't know how I play. Flop comes down 46T rainbow. I think this board is perfect. That is, until the SB donk bets into me for $25. I look him up and down and decide to call. Next person is a middle aged woman who goes to $57 all in, and the EP donk-better calls! I decide to call and then sure enough...5 on the turn. I have a 6 high straight. EP dude BETS $50 with about $70 behind. So I stall about 15 seconds and say "all in." He calls and flips up top pair, middle kicker. The lady turns over 44 for a set and bricks the river. She is LIVID! "How did you call a raise with 32o?" I'm all "lady, I OPENED the pot with 32o!" to which the table gets a chuckle. "I was getting a fair price every time I was behind...you guys need to get more aggressive." Needless to say...she didn't rebuy!

An orbit later, and I'm in another absurd pot. I'm in the HJ with a $5 button straddler who jokes about how he raises EVERY button straddle. I have 7s8s and decide to call the $5 just as 5 others had, and then the nutty European on the button goes to $25 which everyone else called. Pot at that point was $150 and I'm in next to last position with suited connectors. Flop comes down: Js8h3c. Checks come to me, and I bet $40 which 3 people (including our friend on the button) calls. Pot is now $310. Turn is the 9s. I figure VERY few hands improve on this card, and I'm one of them with my straight-flush draw. Checks to me again, and I bet $130. Button shoves his last $120 for a short call...the only other player with chips folds, and another short call out of the last person for $70. I'm not thrilled, but at least I have a $10 rebate coming. LOL! River was 5d and I turn up my pair of 8s and expect that I just gave away nearly $200. However, the button turns over Qs6s for a busted flush draw (nice NOTHING call on the flop, guy!) and the short stacked lady just mucks. My thoughts: "Ummm....did I just drag this pot with 3rd pair?" Dealer shoves me the pot..."yes I did!" and I immediately rack and leave. Made about $650 in 40 minutes. Time to go!

I stroll around and enjoy the nice weather. Then I stop in the Bellagio for some gelato. Afterward I decide to check out Aria.

The Aria poker room must have been camouflaged, because I walked past it 3 times while looking for it! I eventually find it and play the 7pm tourney. I play good, I play bad, I run good, I run bad...eventually...I'm out just before the FT with no monies! But, I sit into their 1-3 game and have a couple cocktails while beating on a very soft table. I made a few big hands which people willingly paid. I guess I look like I only bluff? Either way, it got me paid when I made hands. I play for a little under an hour and enjoy my custom adult smoothie (orange julius with grand marnier...I HIGHLY recommend it) and rack up a quick $300 profit. Bouncing around and running good was nice.

After a few phone calls home, I wander the strip for a while playing some blackjack and roulette and not winning (but not losing!) which was kinda fun. I decide to run back to the room for a quick shower and change. I come downstairs around midnight unsure what I want to do, and opt to play some 1-2 at Harrah's. The final game of the night was 8 handed when I filled it. I felt 3 players in just over half an hour and leave. The game dies, so I take the walk to Bally's.

I play another long grinding session at Bally's where I get into it for 2 $200 buy-ins and end up battling back for a $100 profit after 5 hours. Good conversation, but the game got too nitty by sunrise, so I decide to rack up and head over to my dearly beloved Bellagio breakfast buffet.

I eat about 3500 calories in 25 minutes (17 hours of only water and booze will do that to you) and waddle back to the room for a 9 hour food coma. Yummmmm. :)

Monday-

Up and cleaned up by around 5pm so I grab a burrito next door at Chipotle on my way to play the 7pm at Venetian. I kill some time with my first ever sports bet ($20 on the Lakers -5 against Orlando) and actually beat up the tournament for over 2 hours. We get into the mid 30s remaining of the original 80, and the shorter stacks start shoving every hand. I eventually become impatient and call a shove with QJ suited to another players K9. Flop brought a 9 and I never hit anything. I lost about half my stack and after playing the blinds, got moved tables into the blinds again and was forced to shove very light. I never caught up, and finished around 32ish.

But luckily, the Lakers came back from down around 10 at the half to win by around 10 (20 point swing in the second half? alright!) and I got paid on my bet, ate at the asian noodle place (VERY blah!) near the venetian poker room and decide to head out for the "Fremont Street Experience"

I had never been downtown before, so I thought I'd give it a go. It was kinda cool, but I think that would have been more enjoyable with a friend or two. I had a few drinks and wandered into some of the older casinos just for the nostalgia factor but ended up feeling kinda underwhelmed.

Came back to Harrah's for a nice run at some single-deck blackjack which netted about $200. I took that $200 down to Bally's for an 11 hour session where I fatigued quickly, but continued to sit there anyway. I eventually needed a second buy-in for $200 more, but battled it back up near the end of the session. I just couldn't catch a decent hand for 5 hours, and when I did, they were immediately out-flopped so I would have to fold. I got my stack to about $300 when this hand came up...

I get TsTh under the gun and raise to 8 which netted 4 callers before a reraise (from someone SUPER loose, I wasn't terribly concerned) to $25. 5 total callers saw a $125 pot for a flop of JsTc4s. The wild re-raiser bets $70 to which I shove $270 and get a caller before the wild-man reluctantly folds. I turn up my set instantly and the caller turns his hand up waiting for improvement. 7c turn. Qs river. He mucks his hand and then 2 seconds later, REACHES BACK for it as if he realized he hit a straight or a flush. Dealer calls over the floor and the floor calls it a mucked hand. Player never said what he had nor did he show...but everyone assumed it had my set beat since he reached back for it.

A few hands later I'm sitting on around $600 and get my first and ONLY AA of the entire trip. I reraise my big blind from $9 to $29 which gets the same caller from the muck/unmuck situation earlier. The Flop was T73 rainbow. Just before the Flop is dealt, I reach for about $35 and toss it in cavalierly saying "just fold it, I'm actually trying to leave soon...I don't want to play a big pot" Which was completely honest. I didn't want something crazy to happen here. He called. Turn was an A. My mindset completely changed. He'd have to have some gnarly cards to catch up now. I check to him as if defeated and let down that he caught his ace. Sure enough, he fires $60 and I think for about 15 seconds and shove. He only has $130ish left...if he has a piece, he almost has to call, right? Apparently not. He folds, I show...I grab racks. $400 to $745 after 11 hours. Almost not worth it once I consider the stress. :)

Tuesday-

I head back to the room and SLEEEEP until around 9pm. At this point, all things considered, I have around $1200 more than I started the trip with. I grab $1000 and run over to Caesar's for some 2-5. Even though I'm killing every 1-2 or 1-3 game around town, I made a bold decision to try some 2-5. You wouldn't think doubling the blinds would change too much, but good lord it does. The play wasn't very good, but the action was HEAVY. I'm playing like a total nit just waiting for hands and I end up punishing the game turning $500 buy-in to $1400 in no time. Then...the poker god of variance reared its ugly head. For every draw I faded during the week, I swear the math evened out in the next 3 hours. I won't give details on EVERY hand since it's running long, but I basically hit the felt after a series of hands where I lost (while ahead when the money went in)4 20% hands, 2 12% hands, 2 9% hands and a 5% hand all manage to hit against me for monster pots. Good thing I had these guys covered a lot.

20% hands:
KK