Arrived Monday morning with the wife, staying at the Mirage b/c she loves the machines there, and we both like the restaurants. Finally got to sit down at a 1-2 NL game around 2:00pm. Some players had been there all the previous night, including guy to my left and guy with $1200 in front of him (max buy-in is $200). Other players coming and going. Saw a lot of young (21-26 year-olds) coming into and leaving the game. Apparently everyone in this age group wants to play NL. At first, lots of limping and multiway pots preflop but no fireworks. I finally find AQo, I open raise in late position, both blinds call, flop comes Q high rainbow, no straight draw. Checked to me. I bet the pot, BB raises all-in which is $60 more. I call, he turns over AA, I don't improve. Later I find TT, limp along with three others plus the blinds. Flop comes 8 high rainbow, checked to me, I bet the pot, everyone calls. Turn is a T, checked to me, I bet the pot, two callers. River J, first to act goes all in, has me covered, I call for my last $60, he shows 97o. My only point in this is to say that I played for three hours and found two playable hands and lost on both. Such is the nature of NL Hold Em. I rebuy for another $200 and am glad I decide to stay b/c I witness an amazing display of bad behavior. Guy on my left is maybe 45-47 and a local, he's been up and down since I've been at the table, but never had to rebuy. At the moment he's got about $400 in front of him. He gets into a pot with another guy who's a tourist and only been at the game for about an hour, but is up to about $300. Flop comes A92, local bets, tourist raises, local calls, Turn is a J, both check. River is a 3 (no flush on board) local bets $40, tourist raises another $100. Local frets about it for a few minutes, finally asks tourist whether tourist will show if local folds, tourist says "sure." Local taps his cards on the table (while still in his hand) and says "Nice hand." Tourist turns over A9, local says "I call," and turns over AJ. Everyone at table is furious at local saying he folded his hand, though he clearly had not. Floorperson confirms this and basically says that what local did was dispicable, but not illegal. Local is proud that he managed to sucker the tourist. Another player at the table asks the local if he's going to stay at the table, he says yes and the game disolves on the spot with everyone saying they won't play with the local after that. I know it wasn't against the rules, but I thought it was horrible behavior. It's what gives poker and poker players a bad name.

Tuesday I play again in the 1-2 NL while waiting for the 10-20. Big hand was KQ with a flop of TJK, I bet pot, guy calls, turn 8, bet pot, guy calls, river A, I bet, guy hesitates, then calls, and fires his cards into the muck after I show. Says he hit trip Js on the flop. I also win a nice pot with AK v AQ. I'm up $150 when I get into the 10-20 game. Usually a raise preflop, but some unraised multiway pots as well. Again, I get two playable hands and loose on both, AA lost to K8s when the river brings flush, and QQ looses to 57 when he makes two pair on river. After this session I'm down $285 for the trip.

Wednesday I only play 10-20 for about 1.5 hours b/c I'm not feeling great, but Ieft up $115 due to some chasing by my opponents that didn't hurt like it did on Tuesday.

Thursday we go to the Bellagio, I get into the 15-30 game which can be quite wild. But this game is not especially so. Though there was a guy who played 62s for a raise UTG and won a huge pot before givng that and everything else in front of him away about 45 minutes after the 62. I buy in for $500 with another $300 on the table. I play very patiently, but get down to $150 in chips when I try to push AK through on a T high board. BB showed 97 for second pair. But then I go on a tear, catching lots of big pairs that all hold up and I get up to $900 in chips when I have to leave to meet the wife for dinner.

I'll post reviews of both rooms, but I'll say here that I do not like the new chairs at the Mirage, they are not deep enough for my big butt, and they don't rock back the the ones at the Bellagio do. Also, I have to give props to the resaurants we ate at, Stack and Fin at Mirage were fantastic. I like Stack better and would go back anytime. Joe's Stone Crab at the Forum Shops was also fantastic. The wife and I like to eat well when we go to Vegas, and we certainly did this trip. The California Pizza Kitchen was also as good as ever. We love the Mirage b/c of it's location, restaurants, poker room (me), machines (wife), spa (wife) and overall comfort. This was another great trip to Las Vegas