A buddy and myself went to Vegas for a guys weekend January 31st to February 3rd. We flew out of Des Moines at 1:30 and landed around 2:30. After picking up the rental car, we headed straight to the Venetian. Despite my best efforts to avoid the traffic by taking Koval, it still took what seemed like forever.

About 4:00, we get to the tables and I sit down at a 1/2 NL game at the Venetian. A couple hands in, I get KK and raise to $12 from early position. I get 2 callers and one person who raises to $35. I look at his stack and he only has about $60 more, so I just push in. He thinks for a while and calls with QQ. Flop is harmless, turn is a Q and river is a blank. So, I'm down about $100 within the first few minutes. About 20 mintues later, I again get KK and raise, get a couple callers (including the guy from the previously mentioned hand). Flop comes KQ3. I bet $15 as a continuation bet that I hope will get called or re-raised. Sure enough, my buddy from the previous hand raises me all-in. I call and again, he has QQ, and we flopped set over set. My hand holds up and I now have some chips to play with. I manage to get up about $350 before losing a few hands and cashing out up $150.

We head out to my wife's best friend's house (where we were staying for free) to pick up the keys from her. After that, we decide to hit MGM to try to find some drunks in the evening games there. We both get seated at a brand new 1/2 NL game. Within the first few hands, I get dealt QQ and raise to $12. Once again, I get re-raised with my pocket pair to about $30. The guy has most of his starting $100, but I don't read him as having AA or KK, so I push. He thinks for a while and calls the other $70 with AKos. One player remarks that he folded an A, and another says he folded a K. Unfortunately for me, the guy hits a K on the flop and doubles through me. No big deal, it was only $100. A couple hands later, I get dealt AA (see a theme here?) and raise. A couple callers to the flop and it comes QJ4 rainbow. I lead out and get re-raised all in by the guy who had AK earlier. I only have about $50 left and call. He flips over KQ and proceeds to go runner-runner 10,9 for the straight. So, I buy in for the max $200 again. A little while later, I get dealt AK and there is a raise in front of me, so I decide to just call along with 1 or 2 others. Flop comes AK9 with 2 diamonds. Original raiser bets $20 and I raise to $60. He calls. Turn is a non-diamond J. He checks, I bet $60 again and he goes all in. I call and he turns over AJ. Sure enough, a J falls on the river. Now I'm down $400 and I can't fault anything I did with the two hands. I got my money in with the best of it and the cards just fell bad for me. I then proceed to lose about $50 more at this table (which had some bad players) before giving up for the night at 2 AM (4 AM my time).

The next morning, we go back to the Venetian again, and once again it is profitable there. I can't remember any real big hands, but in about 6 hours, I made a profit of $410. We grab something to eat and decide to give Caesars a try. We walk in and were a little ways down the list so we watched for a bit. In watching, I noticed that the rake was up to $5 here along with a $1 drop for high hands...that's a total of $2 more/hand than it was at the Venetian. This turns us off and we decide to hit up TI (I've never had very good luck there, but am willing to try it again.). Early on again, I get dealt QQ and raise. Get a couple callers including the SB. Flop comes 8 high and I bet $30 at it. SB pushes all in for about $40 more and I call. He woke up with KK and takes the pot. I make a few bad plays here and there by bluffing people who can't be bluffed and before I know it, I've dropped $300. I decide to go grab some dinner at Canter's Deli (huge sandwiches there) and then head back to the V where I grind (and I mean grind) out a profit of $75 while my buddy rakes in a profit of about $800 at the same table. We quit around 2 AM again.

Saturday comes and it is our last day. Since our flight leaves at 8:00 AM, we decide to try to play through the night. So, once again it is back to the Venetian. We arrive about 10:30 AM and I sit at the 1/2 game while my buddy tries to satellite into the $550 event (he doesn't win a seat). I play pretty well and get ahead about $200 when the following hand happens. I get dealt QJh and call a raise. Flop comes Q94 with 2 hearts. Original raiser bets and I call. Turn is a 10 which gives me flush and straight draws. He pushes all in, I call and hit a heart on the river to crack his pocket Kings. Now I can play a little big stack poker as I am the chip leader at the table. I work my way up about $800. I'm dealt KQ in late position and raise it to $12. I get 3 callers. Flop comes out J63 with 2 hearts. I bet $35 at it and get called by the button who is a loose player with about $600 in front of him. Turn is a 10 and gives me an open ender. I bet $75 this time, and again, he just flat calls. Now I'm wondering what I'm going to do on the river. Well, the river is a 9 of hearts. While it gives me the nut straight, it also puts a flush out there. I decide to just check it. He thinks for a long time, which makes me think I'm good, and then says "I'll just call in case you were betting your flush draw" and flips over 2/5 of hearts for the flush and then comments that he can't believe I didn't bet the river. I couldn't believe he was calling all the way down with that bad of a flush draw (and a gutter ball I guess). The night wears on and I build my stack up to where I'm up $1000. Around 3:00 AM, (I've been playing at the same table since 10:30 AM the previous day) some drunks walk in, but unfortunately, there are too many of them. I like playing with 1 or 2 drunks, but not a table full of them. They play any two cards and catch some strange 2 pairs. I end up leaving around 4:00 AM up $900 for the day.

Final tally
MGM - down $350
TI - down $300
Venetian - up $1525
Total profit $675

Hours played
Thursday - 10 horus
Friday - 14 hours
Saturday/Sunday - 18 hours
Total - 42 hours (of the 64 hours I was in Vegas)