November 5-9, 2010. I saw a deal from Spirit for $148/RT nonstop from Detroit. When I mentioned it to the wife, she said "go". Well, OK. If you insist. Booked the flight for me and a buddy, and decided to slum it up at the IP. Buddy bailed out the day before, so I went solo. I crammed a few things in a backpack to avoid Spirit's annoying baggage and carry-on fees (they allow a backpack-sized item free). Only complaint was Mr. Apnea in the seat right behind me, who snored, snorted, and convulsed from lift off til touch down. Thank Jeebus for my iPod. No cab lines to speak of, followed by $15 tunnel-free ride to the IP.

I'm not much of a NL player these days. I don't have the patience, focus or roll to stay out of trouble. So I prefer to play limit holdem and omaha. First stop was at Venetian Friday night after 11PM. I played about an hour at $4-8 holdem game and went up $40 before moving to the $4-8 O8B, where I lost $55. Fun table, but no love. Called it a night at 3AM, down $15 for the day. I gotta say, Venetian is the place to play. You can always find a game, and the action is always good -- with a mix of locals, tourists, and fish.

Had a big plate of French toast at Hash House Saturday morning (good, but not great...but a nice place nonetheless), then headed over to Mirage. Sat in the $3-6 game for a half hour before the morning tourney started -- lost a few bucks. This room has gotten better since my nice visit, and the other players are in my comfort zone. This week, it was mostly retirees riding out their free room offers with a couple locals and conventioneers mixed in. Bought into the $80 tourney, but busted 24 out of 49 with no hands of note. Headed to Venetian for more Omaha. Had the worst run of all time. I played $4-8 Omaha for 2.5 hours, and literally did not win even half a pot. Pretty much card dead, I folded most hands except the blinds, which caught enough of the flop to suck me in. No river love, and I was out $175. I give myself credit for staying patient and not tiltling. After that, I headed to Mirage for the AVP meet.

Kudos to the Mirage and Mrs. Lederer for staging the event. Nice to put faces to names finally. I was happy to meet Rakewell, as I've been reading his Pokergrump blog for a while now. I was seated with Clem, Yappy, Brian, Sharon, and a couple others. I found myself jet-lagged and unfocused, and made lots of mistakes. In one hand of 2-7 Triple Draw, I looked down at 5 unpaired hole cards and open-raised. Yappy called and I stood pat, much to Yappy's chagrin. I bet the flop and took the pot right there. Looking at my cards before they went into the muck, the first card I saw was an ace. Oops, hell of a bluff I guess. I won a decent Razz pot right before the first break, and found myself with the table chip lead. After that, the antes, blinds and weak play busted me just after the second break -- courtesy of Vinnieboombots. All in all, I had a blast.

Sunday morning, I hoofed it south on the strip looking for a limit game. Came up empty at IP, Flamingo, Ballys, Bellagio, Aria, Monte Carlo and MGM. No low limit games anywhere. Tired of walking, I took a seat at the "beginner" $.50-$1NL table at MGM. What a joke. I felt lame for sitting at a table meant for beginners, but quickly realized the other 4 guys were all sharks. My guess is they had a bad night at higher limits, and were trying to feed on the noobies in the kiddie pool (well, that was my plan, anyway). I took a big hit when I made a great all-in raise with AA on a QJ98 board. I correctly put the villain on air, only to see him spike a dirty flush on the river. The game busted after a few orbits, and I left -$40. After that, I ended up at Bill's and the $.50-$1NL game. One crazy hand of note: I caught AA in late position, and made a small raise to get $10 in the pot for the aces cracked jackpot. Two callers. On a 10-high flop, V2 went all-in for his last $10. I just called as did V1. Long story short, V1 also had pocket AA, and V2 flopped a set of tens to crack us both! $100 jackpot to both of us. After that, I struggled to get anything going. Apparently, my loose-passive calling station with ill-timed bluff strategy did not suit the game. Play at the was mostly passive ABC with a bit of a "call to keep you honest" thrown in. Gave away the jackpot and $40 of my buyin for a $140 loss.

Had a great meal at MESA Grill, my all time fav place to eat. After that, things are fuzzy. Can't remember where I played, but I remember losing some money -- probably $4-8 HE at Venetian.

Got up Monday morning and took the shuttle from Bill's over to the Orleans, where I was meeting a friend for lunch. Played 30 minutes in the O8 game with a bunch of tombstones, and cashed out +$25. You can always count on $4-8 Omaha at the Orleans. We ended up in Chinatown for lunch (west on Desert Inn, I think?) and ate at a strip mall noodle shop. Big plate of good food for $4.50. For dessert, we went next door for subs... $4.25. My buddy dropped me at the Strat, since I had never been in there and we were close by. There was a $1-2NL table going, but no empty seats. I took off and walked to the Sahara. I wasn't planning on playing, but they had seats open at the $2-4 (check the review section). This is where old, surly men go to play cards. The most depressing hour I spent in Vegas. There was a big oaf next to me that burned thru $140 in short order, but I couldn't get any of it. Left down like $20 (or was it up $20?). From there, I walked thru Encore and Wynn (NL only), and ended up at Mirage for some $3-6 HE. Nice table, predictable action. I tightened up my play from the blinds and got more aggressive when I was in a hand. I think I filled a rack over the course of few hours. First good session of the trip. Not sure when it was, but at some point I played the $1-2 half kill limit game at IP for about an hour. Cashed out +$21 before moving on. Also made a nice score of $120 at the Bellagio $4-8 game. By far the most challenging limit game of the week. Several skilled players, several solid ABC'ers, and at least one crazy no-foldem Asian lady with a knack for spiking the river. I flopped a set with KK after 3-betting pre-flop and an aggressive player betting into me on the flop and turn. Took down my biggest pot of the trip with a boat on the river.

Tuesday morning, I took another jaunt down the Strip, but no Limit games to be found anywhere. Took the monorail back to the IP and checked out. Spend the afternoon at the Venetian playing $4-8 HE. Finally in the groove, I was playing smart, getting some cards, and avoiding dumb plays from the blinds. At one point, I was up a hundo, but then ran into a string of crap in one orbit with hands like AK (twice), AJ, and a flopped straight going down in flames. I quickly found myself -$40 with a half hour left in my trip. Going for broke, I played loosey-goosey for the last couple orbit, and got lucky on my very last hand -- cracking AA with a 97o rivered straight -- to finish +$20 on the session. After a $7.77 special at Hard Rock, I was on my way home.

All in all, I finished somewhere around -$500. Definitely worth the price of admission to get out of town and clear my head. It's been a tough year, with a family crisis to manage and A LOT of stress at work. I find myself happy to be home with a much improved attitude. Looking forward to the next trip!