Still jobless and unable to afford the trip across the country to be with family for the holidays, I found a super-cheap room at the IP (thanks in no small part to Local Rock, who posted links for Harrah's discounts), ending up with 7 nights for a grand total of $166. Booked it, packed and got on the road early Wednesday morning. The weather was not looking good, and I did hit some rain in the high desert, but by the time I got to the Nevada /California state line, the bulk of the rains had ended. "Bulk" was the right word, as by the time I arrived, the remnants of the rains results in the "IP river" still flowing and the IP garage closed. Fortunately, it was easy to get into the Harrah's garage. Unfortunately, the "quiet" room I asked for overlooked to pool, which wasn't all *that* quiet. I will say that the mattresses and the TVs at the IP sorely need replacing. Dropped off my stuff and headed over to the Mirage.

My sessions this trip were very much feast or famine. This first session was one of the few that was more than a grind. I got a seat fairly quickly, but in a bit more than 3 hours, I finished up just $34. Picked up at 10:45pm when the table broke so I could hit the sack and make sure I got up in time for the morning's promo poker, a theme that would also dominate the week. A few notable things for the session. Got same-color AA during promo period. Didn't get 'em cracked, but was a nice pot. I did get up early. I had Q2s in the SB, flopped bottom pair w/ a flush draw, check-raised a turn 2, and then hit the flush on the river. The very next hand, I limped OTB w/ KJ & flopped KKx. But shortly after that, lost a good chunk of stack calling 3 bets PF w/ AKs, flopping the nut flush draw, & having to call 2 turn bets to miss my draw. The table broke, so I moved tables, than lost w/ KK to QQ that didn't raise PF hitting a Q on the flop. The game got more aggressive when a 2nd maniac sat down, so I changed tables, only to go card dead at a passive table, not a good combination at all.

Was up bright and early Thursday morning and was one of the ones who got the $3/$6 game started at 9:15am. This also was a long, long day, almost 10 hours of play, but I finished up $186. I was playing a bit looser than I usually do, and amount the characteristics of my play was that I was an unabashed, unapologetic set miner. On this day, I hit sets multiple times, hit some flush draws, and hit some other speculative hands. By the end of the day, I hat all my tickets organized for the Big Day. A few notable things for the session. Got same-color AA during promo period. Didn't get 'em cracked, but was a nice pot. I did get up early. I had Q2s in the SB, flopped bottom pair w/ a flush draw, check-raised a turn 2, and then hit the flush on the river. The very next hand, I limped OTB w/ KJ & flopped KKx. But shortly after that, lost a good chunk of stack calling 3 bets PF w/ AKs, flopping the nut flush draw, & having to call 2 turn bets to miss my draw. The table broke, so I moved tables, than lost w/ KK to QQ that didn't raise PF hitting a Q on the flop. The game got more aggressive when a 2nd maniac sat down, so I changed tables, only to go card dead at a passive table, not a good combination at all. Finally, I got AA. A cold caller tried to bluff an 855 flop. Later, I limped in LP w/ AK, flopped AAK, & got bet into on the flop and the turn. Wow. Later, I limped in LP w/ K9s, flopped KKx, got it checked to every round, I bet each time, and got paid off at the end by one player. And when I finally decided to leave, still up as much as I was, the game had gotten aggressive again, which meant a highe variance, so that's what prompted my decision.

Friday was the antithesis of Thursday. While I hit my first bonus of the trip, AA cracked in the morning (for $75), I missed most of what I hit on Thursday. Set? Missed. Big aces? Missed. Flush draws? Missed. In my first 1 1/2 hours, I didn't drag one pot. But one highlight of the trip was Chris' surprise, his special take on "The Night Before Christmas," which I found thoroughly creative and enjoyable. The whole rest of the room liked it as well. Unfortunately, while having a nice chunk of tickets, I did not hit any paydirt. A couple of people apparently hit twice. The room was completely packed, although many of the upper tables were merely folks not wanting to stand while they hoped for their Christmas bonus from the Mirage poker room. I played almost 12 hours this day, grinding away, and at the end, I lost my original buy in (all the missing and I never had to rebuy to keep playing), finishing -$100. More highlights: I missed getting same color AA cracked in the morning. I did get them cracked later (no promo) when an over-aggro guy called 3 bets PF w/ 87 and hit an 887 flop OTOH, some hands I did hit, such as when I limped in LP w/ QJs, flopped the flush, got bet into, I raised, and then got check-raised on the turn by someone with 2 pair, He bet the river too, and a smaller flopped flush also paid me off. BUt I also had another long stretch of card deadedness, and the game turned into one loud drunken party where I could just watch. Later, I woke up with QQ, 3-bet the over-aggro guy, who 4-bet it with one other coming along, got an AKJ flop and a sweet, sweet 10 on the turn. Right after that, got 2 suckouts in succession, one who called 2 bets cold PF and hitting a river gutshot, the nest someone calling my CR and hitting trips on his middle pair on the river.

Christmas Day found me back at the felt. The cards flipped again. I had one of the biggest $3/$6 pots I think I've ever seen. I raised PF w/ KK. Several callers, as usual. Flop K-10-2. 4 in 4-betting the flop. The turn was a 4 and got 3-bet by 3 of us. The river was a 4 and got 3-bet also. One had 10-10, one had 22. Amazing, set over set over set on the flop. Earlier, I had JJ hold up twice, once with an A on the flop. Had AA in the SB once during promo time, but an A on the river missed getting them cracked. No one even called my river bet. I hit a couple of sets early. I hit a couple of flush draw early, plus I flopped the nut flush once. I headed out after just 4 1/4 hours up $251.

Later, in my wandering, I decided to try Bally's, in part to see if a few hours of table games at a Harrah's place would get me a few room offers. Got in a $3/$6 game right away. It was fairly loose. The game got shorthanded, down to 5. Here, the floor has to be called to change the rake--and with 5 players, the floor goes down to just $3/max. Ugh. But then no one want's to play, so we get broken to two other tables. And here I'm hitting too. After just 2 hours, I decide to get up when a guy to my right starts raising almost every hand PF (maniacs are profitable, but boring), and I leave up $90, even with the higher rake here. I kept getting paid off. For example, I limped in PL w/ J10, hit AJJ, and got paid off even when my flop raise and turn bet said quite clearly I have a J. What was weird was the table I got moved to here had no shuffler.

Sunday was a decent day. Got the $3/$6 game going in the morning again. Didn't get any AA cracked, but did hit quads for a nice $100 bonus. In fact, saw AA only once at the entire table during the whole promo time. Did hit trip 4s limping with A4 OTB to get up early, but also ran into AQ in the BB when I raised in LP w/ A-10. Oops. I did make a good laydown when i 3-bet QQ PF and AA just smooth called. AA 4-bet the original raiser on an A-high flop and I painfully folded. Still, I left after a 6-hour session up $58.

Monday I slept in a bit and still got the the Mirage just as the $3/$6 game was getting going. I got AA cracked again for another $75. I made a nut flush on a double paired board and still everyone folded when I bet the river. Interesting. I got QQ on back-to-back hands. Hit some big hands, including a nut straight against KK that made it 4-bets on the turn. But I was also missing a lot on my set mining. I kept this session a bit short, leaving after "just" 4 1/2 hours up $71.

Tuesday I got the last seat in the first $3/$6 game. And it wasn't a good start. I got my QQ cracked by AJ hitting a JJx flop. But I also got my AA cracked again, and again for $75, the third time this trip. I CR a K72 flop whe I had 72 in the BB and got called through my turn bet. I stayed "just" 5 hours and finished up $90.

On my last day, I planned to stay just through 1pm so I could hit the road. This was my only other losing session. I saw two people open-raise w/ AA, interestingly. However I was card dead. I was getting my BB raised a lot, and had some good speculative hands where I had the right odds to call, but was missing. I ended up losing the last of my $100 buy-in at just about 1pm, so off to San Diego I headed.

So for poker, I finished $580 for 51 hours of play, plus bonuses totaling $325. Not bad for limit. Not bad at all.

As far as non-poker stuff goes, I hit Hash House A Go-Go 3 times. Once I found a spectacular breakfast that I enjoyed so much I had it twice. It was a HUGE maple-infused chicken breast over griddled bacon mashed potatoes, 2 eggs, a HUGE biscuit, and fruit. I have a huge appetite, and neither time could I completely finish. I also had the 1 lb. burger stuffed w/ bacon & cheddar once. I took the drive over to Cheeburger Cheeburger and got the 20 oz. burger. I finished it and got my picture taken for the wall there. Tuesday evening I grabbed a bit of my winnings and hit Samba in the Marage and indulged in the Rodizio meal. The flank steak is but one of the juicy BBQ meats that kept coming to the table. Simply meat heaven.

Also splurged with some of my bonus money at the Apple store and got me a new Nano.

Ran into Local Rock again, always a pleasant experience, who introduced me to another AVPer, whose name I forget. As always, enjoyed chatting with Chris and many of the Mirage dealers. (Had to complain about one again who was just horrible at paying attention to and running the game, very much an anomaly at the establishment.)

Found out that the Venetian sports book is a good place to watch MNF (and SNF on Tuesday). Nive big screens, good sound, and reasonably comfortable chairs. I still can't quite figure out how sports betting worked. I seriously considered betting the over on the Warriors/76ers game, thinking that 204 was too low, which would have been my very first ever sports bet, but I still couldn't figure out the system, the guy behind the counter at the Venetian was no help, so I eventually passed on the idea. One of the local regulars at the Mirage who is also an avid sports bettor tried to explain it to me more, but it was one of those situations where someone who is thoroughly steeped in the knowledge and lore explaining in the parlance to a total newbie, and I still didn't get it. Oh well.

Played some random penny slots. I think I finished up overall here too. One session I won $29. On pennies. Woo!

Oh yes, the chocolate. I had the idea to do a little something special for the holidays. So before I hit the tables, I did a little shopping for some Christmas candy. Hershey's Kisses (some w/ cherry inside) & Miniatures, Nestle Crunch Bells, mini candy canes, etc. And whenever I won a pot, I'd take one at random out of my pocket, put it on top of the chip I was tipping with, and push it to the dealer. I was really fun, and it made the dealers all smile, even the occasional ones who were having less than stellar days. (I hit just a couple of bumps in that road, dealers who were diabetic.) Plus I had gotten some bigger candy canes and passed them out to floor staff.

I had an interesting experience Sunday night. That was when I'd headed over to Cheeburger Cheeburger, then stopped by the Orleans for a movie. When I got back, the IP parking lot was full. Headed over to Harrah's again and there was a security guard at the back entrance. I chatter her up a bit when I got to the front, saying this was something I'd not experienced before. She literally said she was there "to keep out the riff-raff," the people who were not staying and playing at Harrah's properties. Wow, that many nights before NYE too.

My leaving Wednesday was not only to avoid the huge nightly rate increases for NYE (the rate calendar showed even IP at $250 for the night, and why anyone would pay that much for a room you're not likely to spend any time in during the night is boggling), but because I splurged for a ticket to the Holiday Bowl, where I expected I'd be seeing my Huskies get crushed by 2-touchdown-favorite Nebraska. (As much of a fan as I am as an alma mater, I still say no .500 team belongs in a bowl game--and no bowl game should be played after Jan. 1.) I had a really great seat, around the 20 yard line a couple rows from the front of the next section up from the field-level seats and just a couple sections over from the Husky band. And what an amazing experience. We won! I was on Cloud 9! It made my drive back to SF on NYE day much more pleasant. And made me look forward to my next Vegas trip, whenever that will be, something to look forward to just a little bit more.