Long Weekend over July 4th, in town to play a lot of NLHE and hang out with my siblings (who both play). I'm not a very experienced player, just trying to learn and get better every trip. It appeared to be a very busy poker weekend all over town, just before the start of the main event, and lots of related deep stack tourneys happening. Stayed at Paris, played at Bally's a bunch, and wandered around a lot, looking for 1/2 cash tables where I felt comfortable. Also played 2 nice tourneys at Aria.

Arrived Thursday afternoon 7/1.

Played at 1/2 at Bally's that evening. Within a couple of hours I doubled up my $200 buy in with nut flush over flush, and then hit quad 4s for a nice pot and a $100 bonus. Cashed out up $500, for a very nice start to the trip.

Later played a short session at PH, mostly uneventful, dropped about $100. Not crazy about that room for some reason.

Later still, played for a while at Flamingo, dropped a couple of buyins on a couple of ugly river suck-outs (rivered straight over my set, rivered flush over my straight). Quit for the night, back to even on the day.

Friday 7/2

Played the 1pm $175 tournament at Aria on Friday. It did not seem like a very tough field overall. I caught some decent cards at opportune times, and found myself just inside the money (7th place) without having to make any particularly difficult decisions. I don't remember the blind levels at this point, but I know I had about 20bb, which was not terrible, there were at least 3 stacks much shorter than me, and 2 of them were ~5bb. So I felt like I had a decent chance to go further. 1st place paid $5k, and I think 2nd & 3rd were over $1k.

The guy on my right was the massive chip leader, and had been playing a lot of hands, and it seemed that he had been successfully using his stack to push people around.

Limped all the way around to him in the SB, which he raised to 3bb. It locked to me like another big stack pressure move, and I decided to call in position from the BB with 8 6s.

Flop was 8 7 5 r. He checks. I shove my remaining 17bb with top pair & OESD, he insta-calls and tables 64o for the straight. No help on the turn and river, and I'm out in 7th place, which paid $360. Frustrating to bust out like that on a hand that I really didn't need to play, and probably shouldn't have. But I had decided I was going to play to win, and not just hang around to try to pick up 4th place money. And my initial read was correct, he was just making a move pre-flop, unfortunately he connected far better than I did.

At Bally's I found a very interesting table at 130am Sat morning. It was a shockingly tight group for that hour, except for one woman with at least $500 in front of her, playing every hand, and was COMPLETELY drunk. Her speech was slurred, she couldn't maintain her balance, even while sitting. What could be more awesome!

But after an orbit or two, I realized she was by far the best player at the table. Her super aggressive style was perfect for such a nitty table. She was taking down pots preflop with erratic looking bets, and won most hands without a showdown by betting the flop and turn. And she was smart enough to lay down on the very few occasions I saw anyone actually play back at her.

She had a couple of players on the other end of the table speculating that her drunkenness was an act, but I'm certain she was legitimately blotto, and not just because that would be far too elaborate a ruse to perpetuate for a 1/2 game at Ballys. She just knew exactly how to push people around. Sadly, I was card dead, and never got a chance to let her keep betting into me with any kind of legit hand I could call with, before her friends dragged her away to sleep it off. But it was still a genuinely entertaining hour or two at the poker table.

Saturday 7/3.
Played some cash 1/2 Saturday afternoon at MGM, but didn't love my table. It seemed tougher than I needed to play at, so I moved on after an hour or two, about even for the session.

Back at Aria to play the $125 7pm tournament. This field was much tougher than the tournament I played there the previous afternoon. The Aria poker room was full, so they moved the tournament to the ballroom/conference area. It was in the same room were a bunch of 2+2ers had an event that afternoon where they were playing all kind of crazy games that I don't know how to play.

Early on, a french guy 3 seats to my right decided he was going to be my nemesis. I presume he made me for the relatively inexperienced player that I am, and decided he was going to push me around at will. In the first level, in a nothing pot, it was 3 limpers, including french guy and myself on the button. It was checked all the way down to the river, I think I had a small pocket pair, so I made a small bet on the river, and he appeared to get incensed. "You think you can just take that pot away from me?", and re-raised me. Whatever, dude. It was clearly a pot that no one had the slightest interest in, and I guess he was implying I was out of line to bet at it in position. I didn't care, and folded.

In any case, he was both aggressive and clearly a very good player. And he was now completely in my head, which was not an ideal situation. There seemed to be a number of other players at that table who were quite good, but I was now focused on reacting (and not reacting) to his aggressive moves on me.

He was certainly trying to intimidate me, and it was kind of working. But I was willing to take it as a challenge, and was happy I at least had position on him.

There were 2 times where he called out my hand exactly, which definitely freaked me out a bit. I remember one of those hands. He raised, and I called with A10s. Flop KJx rainbow. He made a small bet, and I called, mostly just because I didn't want him to run over me. Turn was a blank. He checked, and I checked behind. River was the Q, giving me the nut straight. He checks, and I bet something like half the pot. He very confidently says "you have the A10, I fold".

Which freaked me out. Could I possibly be that transparent to him? Obviously I had to consider that that could be the case. But I think the hand would have played the same if I'd had KQ, maybe K10, or even QJ. A10 is probably the weakest hand I would have floated that flop with.

Later, I was down to about 20bb. He had me more than covered. He raised to 3bb, and I had KQs. I decided to just shove, so I wouldn't be in a position for him to outplay me on the flop. He declares "I don't mind a race, let's gamble" and turns over pocket 3s. Which again, freaked me out a bit. I don't know if that was a genius play or a careless play, because I would have made the same move with 77-JJ. I think, anyway.

I actually ended up winning that hand, and he busted out shortly thereafter. I didn't last much longer myself after that. But I haven't stopped thinking about whether he was really that good, or just an arrogant ass, and lucky. Or maybe both!

Sunday 7/4.

Wandered through Bally's in the am, but there was a wait for a seat. I ended up down the street at Bills, and bought in for $100 at the .50/1 game.

The guy across the table from me has been talking non-stop, and seems both angry and tilty. My first hand in, I pick up 87o in MP. I limp for a buck. Angry guy is on the button, and raises to $5. I decide to call, and he's already laying into me. "Are you a foreigner? That's a move that Europeans usually make." I answered him that I was from Boston.

Flop comes 8-6-2 rainbow. I bet $11. He starts in again. "Really? That flop hit you??" Disgustedly, he mucks. I showed him my 8-7, and he gets even angrier. "You called a $5 raise with 8 7 off??"

With all the hostile sarcasm he can muster, he keeps going. "It must be nice to be you. Not a care in the world!".

The whole scene was hilarious and surreal. And I thought I would be in great shape for him to pay me off later if I hit a big hand against him.

But a few hands later, he got in an extended argument with the floorman over a messed up hand, and ended up getting himself tossed from the casino. I'm not even sure exactly what happened, since I wasn't in the hand. I think the guy on the button bet out of turn on the flop, angry guy should have been first to act, but wasn't, and the guy behind him was skipped. It was a very bizarre situation which was hard to unravel, since I think both a player and the dealer made compounding mistakes. The floorman was trying to sort it out, and talk to the dealer, but angry guy just kept yelling over everyone trying to explain the situation, and kept getting even angrier. The weird thing is that I think angry guy was actually explaining it correctly, and the dealer was confused, but the floorman couldn't sort it out with him yelling over the dealer, so he had to toss him.

Angry guy was the only one at the table with any kind of stack worth playing against, so I was sad to see him go. Bills on a Sunday morning (and maybe all the time) is a sad, strange place. The old guy to my right was nice enough, but had the worst shakes I'd ever seen. He couldn't even hold onto his chips to bet. That place was -EV for my soul, so it was definitely time to move on.

That afternoon/evening, I played a very long session at IP. No particularly memorable hands, and ended up even. I played too long, and felt dazed afterward. A definite poker hangover from playing constantly for days.

Overall, a very fun trip. I haven't really contributed to this board, but have picked up a lot of information here about tourneys and tables around town. I've been to Vegas a couple of times in the past couple years, so I decided to finally write up a trip report. Thanks to all who make this a great resource.

-dave