Kind of long, not intentional, that's just how I roll. Comments or feedback on the hands discussed would be greatly appreciated.

Day 1: Woke up at 3 AM EST on the 29th. Car and driver picked us up at 4am. Boarding passes printed at home and no checked bags means a quick and easy walk to the gate. Sitting in the first few rows means first off the plane and no checked bags also means a quick walk to the passenger pick up area to meet my parents who had gotten to town a few days before us. Drive to the M Resort and use a 2for1 buffet coupon so the wife and I get a full belly for about 6 bucks each. Glanced in the poker room and it looked like a rock garden, with one table going and not a player under 65. Pass. Got my $10 in free play, ran it up to $30 at VP and cashed out. Moved to BJ, lost $5, moved to craps and lost the $25. Got dropped off at CP, and had to wait a bit for the room. Hit Flamingo and the Quad. VP at Flamingo to kill time and drink beer. Met Mom and walked to Quad and won about $50 playing BJ. Split up and got back to CP. Good service, nice room, unpack, relax, tub. Beware the mini-bar. I brought my own K-cups for coffee. Wife decided to stay in CP first night, but Mom and I went to Stratosphere for the 7pm Wednesday Bounty tournament. $85 and a decent starting stack. Just played my position and watched who showed down what so I could pick who I got into pots with later. I four bet light once to take a pot from someone I thought
was 3 betting light. I also found that a lot of players would call c-bets
on the flop very quickly when heads up in position, but quickly fold to a
properly sized turn bet. In these tournaments, I guess some of the locals
have found it profitable to flat c-bets to induce checks on the turn from
pre-flop raisers. They would then bet the turn and take the pot. I watched this play a couple times, and adjusted by making a reasonable sized bet on the turn regardless of my cards. I did it 3 or 4 times and got folds all but one. The exception was a shove over my bet which I folded to. I enjoyed the free pizza at the break, didn't pick up any bounties,
and only got all-in twice. Once was an over bet on the turn with second
pair to a stubborn guy obviously drawing. I had AJ on a KcJh4c6h board. He checked the flop, I bet and he insta-called. He insta-checked the turn and I shoved. He almost called, but went away. The tourney started with 105 players and with 33 left I picked up AA in middle position. BB is $2k and I have about $35k. I make it $7.5k to go and get two callers. One on the button, and one in the BB. I cover button. BB covers me. Flop comes
Q73x. BB checks, I shove, button folds, BB calls with QQ. I'm out.
These things no longer upset me, because that's just how I roll. Mom had
come in about 50th place. Cabbed it back to CP and bought into the 1-3 game at about midnight for $200. Just watched what folks were showing down with relative to their position and looking for weak spots at the table. After about 90 minutes and being awake for over 24 hours at this
point, I realized that I might be the weak spot at the table. I played about a half dozen hands; won a couple, lost a couple. Waited for my BB and
cashed out at $180. Got into bed at 130 AM PST. Very. Long. Day.

Day 2: Woke up at 430 AM (yes, three hours later) Based on previous Vegas trips, I knew this was likely to happen. I also knew from experience that bad sleep leads to bad Vegas experiences, so for a few weeks prior to this trip I practiced some relaxation techniques. Purposeful, slow, deep breaths, visualizations of me sleeping soundly on a feather bed stuffed with dollar bills that got fuller and fuller the longer I stayed in bed, and a mind clearing mantra of "sleep is money is sleep is money is sleep is money" kept me down until almost 830 am. I felt like I had started the day off with a "win" by getting almost 4 additional hours of sleep. Wife and I had a small quiet (and free) breakfast of Beltiva cookies and coffee while enjoying the strip view from our room. We made it out to the pool area at CP by 1000 am. We chose to sit at the Jupiter pool, which is a quieter, more private pool area conducive to just chilling out. Back up to the room around 1230 and out the door by 200pm. May is military appreciation month and Caesars properties (except Caesars) were offering 2-1 buffets for active duty folks. We walked down to Planet Hollywood and got their buffet for half price. Excellent bargain for half price. Everything was tasty and flavorful. The beef in the Mongolian beef was tender and noteworthy. The wife grazed about the fruit and salads, picked at a couple entré's, and grazed again over the desserts. Not sure if I would pay full price for the both of us again, but at half price this is a no-brainer. Wife went to the miracle mile shops and I went the PH poker room. Sat down at a 1-2 table with $200. In between two guys, one had about $1500 and the other had $900. They were mixing it up pretty good and seemed to have a history. They appeared very nice to each other and seemed friends. They talked about
meeting up later, etc. However, when the younger of the two racked up his $1500 and left, the other guy went on a vicious, vulgar tirade about the guy who I thought was his friend. I mean this guy's total demeanor changed Jekyll and Hyde style in the blink of an eye. Apparently these two had been at this very table together for the last 27 hours and most of the $1500 the other guy left with came from this guy, and he was pissed. It was a nice reminder to me that nothing is ever as it seems at a poker table. Played for about 90 minutes and cashed out at $170 when the wife got done in the mall. I like the openness of this poker room. My parents called and wanted to meet at the Mirage, so we hoofed it up there and met them at the BLT Burger place. My stomach was in no mood to accept any more food, so I sat and watched my dad
eat and my mom and wife split a burger. Played some VP, and then walked over to TI and played some more VP. Parents went back to their place and we went back to CP. Wife walked around the Forum Shops while I played some cards. I bought into the 1-3 for $300. I executed a nice squeeze with 67d when I limped from EP, the hi-jack raised to $12, the button and BB called, and I 3-bet to a little over $50. Nice little pick up. A little while later, I called an EP raise from an ABC type player. I decided to practice reading him this hand and to try to play him, and not my cards. The flop came Q high with two spades. He bets about $25. I don't have a firm read on him yet, so I make an insta-call to get a reaction and he actually looks pleased I called. Turn brings a third spade and the guy just stares at it way too long and checks to me. I bet $54 and the guy looks uncomfortable and calls. The river brings a fourth spade and he looks like he actually just threw up a little bit. He checks to me, and I bet enough to put him all in. I had about $300 and he had about $200 at the start of the hand. He tells me he knows I have a flush but he has to call anyway... WTF?! And calls off his stack with QhQd. Luckily he shows his set so I can muck my K4d. These things no longer bother me, because that's just how I roll. At this point I got about $100 behind and have two choices; add on or go into short stack mode. Neither sound very appealing to me at the moment, so I choose a third way, get up and walk away with my $100. Meet back up with the wife and we head to the Flamingo and proceed to spend the rest of the night on the progressive nickel VP machines right outside their poker room. I drank about a dozen Blue Moons and was absolutely hammered. I only put one ten dollar bill in the machine, and even with the crappy 6/5 payout I stayed glued to that machine for about three hours and cashed out $80. As my wife was
dragging me back across the street to CP, I did a drunk dump of $100 at the craps table. Passed out drunk in the room about 100 am.

Day 3: Wake up with headache around 630 am. Drink a big glass of water, eat half a Beltiva cookie, take a vitamin, some motrin and get back in bed and go through my "sleep is money" routine and get two more hours of sleep. Wife and I get up, have some coffee, dress for the pool and hit up the new buffet at CP. I charged it to the room, as there were no discounts available. Massive, massive spread in a very nice room. All high quality food items. $25 per person for breakfast though. In addition to the breakfast items, there was one Asian station set up in the far back, and it had some incredible kung pao chicken- for breakfast! Delicious! After we did our 90 minutes of lounging at the Jupiter pool we showered and hit the strip. This day we did Bellagio, City Center, Cosmopolitan, and Monte Carlo. The wife enjoyed walking through all the new places. Cosmo and City Center didn't exist the last time she was in Vegas. It was getting late and I had a 2 for 1 entrée coupon for the The Café' restaurant at Monte Carlo. My wife had the bone-in rib eye and I had the flat iron steak. Both prepared exactly how we requested, seasoned nicely, and the sides were also tasty. Definitely a "win" with the coupon. Worked our way back to CP and then I peeled off from the wife for the AVP WSOP satellite at the Mirage. Nice group of folks and I appreciate the effort it took to set something like this up. $155 single table sat to the $1500 WSOP event named "Millionaire Maker" T$1500 starting stack so I was looking to find a spot to double up early and then apply pressure. Unfortunately someone else was able to get the early double up and began applying pressure. In the second round with the blinds at 50/100 and me in the BB, UTG goes all in for his last $250. Two callers, to include the big stack, when it gets back to me. I have QTs, there is almost $1k in the pot and it costs me $150 to call. So I call. Flop is Queen high, but I don't like my position. A shove is scary with two foes behind. I bet $550, leaving me about $700 behind. One player folds and the big stack goes all in. Crap! AQ, KQ, QJ are all in his range, so I fold, thinking that I just missed my best shot to get some chips. He shows AQ to the other all in player and knocks him out. I have half my stack and the big stack just got bigger. Over the next orbit or two, I make a few positional shoves with TT, AQ, A7, T9, etc. and never pick up more than the blinds. I get to UTG at 100/200 with $950 and find KQx. Can I fold this pre-flop? Limping is not an option given stacks and blinds. I figure I have blockers for KK, QQ, AK, and AQ, and given the table dynamics, I think at least half the players at the table are capable of laying down JJ, TT, and AJ so as long as no one has aces I should be OK, right? I shove
and get called by a player with AA... I'm out. These things no longer bother me, because that's just how I roll. Again, thanks AVP for setting this up. It was nice meeting all of you, and if I wasn't with my wife on vacation, I would have been able to hang out a bit longer. Meet back up
with the wife and we do VP for a bit, she has also become very fond of the
Wheel of Fortune slots... I also found and liked the craps machines with
the giant bouncing dice under glass. There are eight touch screen stations in a circle around the giant dice. You bet on your own touch screen and never see other people's bets. Everyone has a big red button and shooting the dice is rotated around and accomplished by hitting the big red button. I had fun on this machine, as the min bet is only $3 and there isn't all the jostling and elbowing you get at most winning craps tables. It's much less stressful not feeling self conscious about making minimum red chip pass line and odds bets on a crowded table where green and black chips are flying all over the place. I dropped $40 in here while the wife was getting her Wheel of Fortune fix. I walked the wife back up to the room around midnight and decided to the give the Flamingo poker room a shot on a Friday night. The room was crowded and chips were flowing. I bought into the 1-2 game for $260, happily thinking I could pull an all-nighter in this room. There were three guys at the table who were dumping chips by the bucketful. Two guys on my left had a clue and were picking up hands and catching what the others were spewing. We avoided each other for the most part and aggressively went after the three drunks spewing chips. The guys on my left were able to get a couple handfuls of chips and grow their stacks to over $500 each. I had less luck and after about an hour, I am sitting at about $320. I am second to act and limp with KQx after UTG limps. The drunks are in late position. A couple more players limp and one of the drunks raises to $15, folds to me and I raise to $35. Other limpers get out and drunk calls. His call tells me I am probably ahead at this point. Flop comes Q high and dry. I check. Drunk bets $55. I call. Turn is a brick. I check. Drunk bets $75 and I shove over top all in. He has me covered and calls with... QJ. River is a Jack. Drunk rakes in about a $700 pot. I get up and leave. These things no longer bother me, because that's just how I roll. I make the short walk to the nickel VP, drop $10, pound four Corona's and head back to the room.

Day 4: Wife and I have a routine by this point. Coffee and Beltiva cookies in the room, lounge by the Jupiter pool, back to room for some no-cost, do
it ourself spa treatments, shower and then hit the strip. I wanted Earl of Sandwich for an early lunch today, but the line was just too long. We went into the PBR bar instead and split a totally unhealthy bacon cheese fry appetizer and also split a hefty cheeseburger. Filling and tasty, but
nothing spectacular. Watched some drunks (boys and girls) ride the bull and get tossed. The free comedy increased the value of average food. This day we went down the southeast side strip to MGM and Tropicana. I played the old Lion's Share progressive machine that MGM is required by law to keep on the floor until someone hits the jackpot. It is an old piece of crap $1 machine with a $2M+ jackpot. It is finicky, rejects a lot of bills, and all cash outs have to be paid by hand, but someone has to hit it eventually. Right? It is a bit of Vegas history so Google "Lion's Share MGM Vegas" and you can learn all about this machine. I dumped $30 in it and walked away. The lions are gone from MGM and the poker room is not in the regular spot. I had stayed at this place previously and really liked it, but on this Saturday afternoon, I just didn't like the vibe of the place. Couldn't put my finger on the exact reason, but just didn't feel inclined to spend money here. Walked over to the Trop and saw they have invested some money on the old girl. No poker room though. VP for us, Wheel of Fortune for her, and a little black jack for me. Down about $100. Crossed over to the west side and decided to skip Luxor and Mandalay Bay and hit up Excalibur instead. Definitely the low rent district, but we spent some time and money here. Lower limits, abundant food court options, and some unique shops helped pass the time. FYI, they moved the Dairy Queen to the arcade level, but the signage still shows it on the food court/shopping level above the casino. We walked through NYNY and Monte Carlo before taking the tram back to Bellagio and walking back to CP. Split up from the wife and decided to play the $85 10pm Caesar's tournament. There definitely seemed to be an experienced group of players at the table. Under 40 players and maybe the top 5 getting paid. No really weak players at the table, except one or two who probably limped too much pre flop or folded too easily if they didn't like the flop. I was thinking that some of the players at the table would be considering me a weak spot. Three hands of note. First hand was in about level 3 or 4. Antes had just started and I opened for 2.5bb from UTG with 98c. Plan was to play it like I had AK and fold to any real aggression if I got some takers and missed the flop. I got one caller in late position and the flop comes 672 rainbow. I lead for about 1/2 pot and get called. A turned 3 completes the rainbow and I check with the intention of check raising or check calling, but he checks back. River is an 8, and my first instinct is to check it down, but then I think that my 8 is probably best here and start thinking thin value. I make a 1/2 pot sized bet, he thinks a bit and looks proud as a peacock when he announces "call". I show my 98 and he is visibly shaken, a couple other player's heads whip around and mutter, "what the..." and the dealer lets go with a little snort as the fellow mucks his hand. After this hand people at the table treated me differently; it was palpable. No more friendly but fake banter. (I didn't forget the Jekyll and Hyde guy from Planet Hollywood) They just ignored me and I was able to make more than a couple pre-flop raises for the blinds and antes. When the tables were consolidated at 20 players, we picked up some new players. I was in middle position and given that no one had opened yet, I decided that regardless of my cards, I was going to pretend to look at them and tell myself I had pocket kings and bet accordingly. After looking at, but not seeing, my cards I led out for 2.5BB. I get a call from one of the new players at the table and we see a flop of 875 with two spades. I lead out for 1/3 pot and get re-raised all in. I have him covered and about 25BBs behind. Calling would leave me about 12 BBs. I decide I should look at my cards now and then quietly fold. I look at them and see... Q6 spades. Crap! Now I have to actually think. I have an over card and two non-nut draws, are they live or dead draws? I really want to fold here, but know I need to just suck it up and call; which I do. He shows J8c and the rest of the table does a double take at my Q6 and again I hear, "what the...?" when my hand is exposed. None of my draws come in and I double this guy up. These things no longer bother me, because that's just how I roll. Next hand, I am 2nd to act, look at AJc and decide to shove. I get two callers. I have one covered, the other has me covered, meaning no more betting. We show our cards. I am up against 54x and KQx. Flop comes A95 with two clubs. Can't ask for more than that. Turn is a non-club Queen. River is a non-club 4 and I'm out. These things no longer bother me, because that's just how I roll. I go dump $40 in the giant bouncy dice craps machine, chug three or four Corona's and go back to the room around 130 am.

Day 5: Wife and I had decided the day before that we would skip the pool
today (Sunday) as it would likely be the most crowded. We decided that
Sunday would be the day we would let ourselves sleep as long as we wanted. I woke up at 730 and forced myself back into sleep a couple of times using relaxation techniques to finally get out of bed around 10AM. Coffee, cookies, spa tub, shower, and we are out the door before noon. We decide to hoof it to Fashion Show Mall for a meal and shopping. The wife gets a philly cheese steak from the food court, but I hold out because I know there is a Chipotle inside the mall somewhere, and also that my wife will not finish her cheese steak. Her leftovers hold me over until I find the Chipotle and get a very full belly for under $8. After the mall we work our way south on the east side of the strip. We skip the Encore, but go through Wynn and lose $100 on VP. Palazzo, Canal Shoppes, and Venetian are next. I don't like the layout of the canal shops, as the canal runs down the middle and you have to back track to little bridges to cross over or walk all the way around to get to certain shops. (I also hate the Forum Shops because the layout forces you to walk three turns instead of one when you are going up and down the circular escalator) We didn't spend much time in the Venetian because I couldn't relax being that close to their poker room and not being able to play right then, so we left. We hit the food court at Casino Royale, where I got a $1.99 foot long hot dog and won $50 playing black jack. Wife won $40 on VP. Back through Harrah's and the Quad before stopping in Flamingo again. We played some VP and Wheel of Fortune together, then I sat down at a 1-2 table with $160 while she did her thing. She came by and waved at me an hour later and said she wanted to go back to the room at CP. I didn't cash out, but walked her back to the room and then went back to the cash game at Flamingo without even missing a big blind. I logged about three more hours, went from $160 to $250 to $110 to $150 and gave up as no one was really splashing chips around. Cashed out at $150 and went to bed at 200am. These things no longer bother me, because that's just how I roll.

Day 6: In bed until 900am. Coffee, cookies, pool, spa tub, shower, then the
Rio shuttle from Harrah's. Shared a giant hot dog with the wife at the
sports book deli, walked with her around the casino so she could familiarize herself with the place, and then I walked down to the convention floor to see the WSOP. I got to the large cash game room and got a seat right away at a new 1-3 table with $250 and 7 players. Pretty tight table. 6 of first 10 hands were chopped blinds. A couple big hand vs big hand type hands, then three more players filled out the table and play loosened up a bit. I was running OK but nothing major. I was able to felt someone with set over set, but that kind of plays itself. Wife texted after about 90 minutes and I cashed out up about $130. Took the shuttle back to Harrah's and used a 2 for 1 coupon at TI's buffet for dinner. Small selection, but good value at half price. The smoked turkey is very good, especially with their BBQ sauce. I also liked the salads made to order, and I was able to clear out the dessert section of chocolate covered strawberries. We made our way back to PH so the wife could shop some more and I could play the 7pm tourney with a $1k first place. Got about 35 runners and with the house lay 5 places paid with $1500 for 1st and $200-ish for second. I made it to 18th with an above average stack, but after about level 6 its just a preflop shoving war. I was the BB with KQ and about 13BBs and the button with 15BBs open shoved with KJ. I flopped top two pair, turn was a 9 and river a Ten. I'm out. These things no longer bother me, because that's just how I roll. Got a seat in a 1-2 game with $240 and never posted a blind or played a hand before the wife finished her shopping and we walked back to CP to drop off merch she bought for the kids. It's our last night, so we get our fix of VP and Wheel of Fortune at Flamingo and then head back to CP where I try to get something going on the giant dice under glass craps machine. I put in $100 and hit a few points. One turn I rolled about 18 times, but I didn't make much money on it because I only had the 5 and 10 working. I hit back to back 12s, and a few hard sixes and eights. I don't know what other people were betting but they seemed pretty enthusiastic and all eight of the betting stations were occupied. My turn ended when I rolled a two followed by another 12 and then the dreaded seven. One guy cursed, gave me a sarcastic "Thanks a lot, buddy" and stormed off. These things no longer bother me, because that's just how I roll. I walked the wife back up to the room and came back down for my last night of poker in Vegas. I bought into 1-3 for $300 with the intention of making a late night. No hands of note until three drunk English fellows come in as a group around 2am, and started acting like they are playing their home game. Childish and immature, but harmless. Still I could tell that they were bugging the crap out of everyone at the table and the only reason they were tolerated was the fact that they each bought in for $400-$500 (even though I thought the limit was $300 at CP, no one at the table mentioned this) and started spreading chips around. There was also a young Asian player to my left who I could tell really wanted a piece of them. After about an hour of this chicanery, I wake up with JJ and am second to act. UTG limps and I limp as there is no way this pot won't go un-raised. Young Asian quickly calls, button calls and one drunk raises to 25. All fold to me and I hesitate, make eye contact with YA and just call. Young Asian squeezes and 3 bets it to $75, and Drunk calls. At this point, with the information I have I am fairly certain my Jacks are the best hand and I four bet shove all in for almost $200 more. YA calls and I think I have totally mis-read the situation, but Drunk guy lays it down and I show my Jacks. YA sheepishly tables... AT. Whew! I feel pretty good with my play. Flop comes AKA, turn is a Queen, and the river is a spiteful Ten. YA scoops an almost $800 pot, but these things no longer bother me, because that's just how I roll. After a few beers and VP at the bar, I get to the room around 400am.

Day 7: Up at 900am. Coffee, cookies, spa tub, shower, pack up, check out.
Front Desk guy took the CP buffets off our bill, so that was a win. Walk to
PH to kill time. Get Earl of Sandwich, I get Hawaiian BBQ and wife gets
BLT. Mine is awesome. Wife can't finish hers so I get that too and it is
also awesome; another win. Walk back through Paris and Bally's and end up at Flamingo killing time and drinking beer at the 5 cent progressive VP machines. Cab it to airport, hang out at the USO and one direct flight and a sedan ride later we walk through our front door at 230 am EST, where we rush to our basement grab beers, plop on the couch, turn on the TV and DVR and immediately watch the latest episode of Game of Thrones. It looks like after almost two seasons Arya is going to be reunited with her mom and brother at her Uncle Edmure's wedding. Wait... What? What the...? Really? Oh Crap... Vegas, so soon you seem so long ago, but these things no longer bother me, because that's just how I roll.

If you made it this far, thanks. Comments, good or bad, are appreciated