Left Atlanta Friday night and landed around 11pm (2am EST). Checked into the Mirage. Didn't gamble any this night. Just met up with some co-wokers and went to bed. The Mirage has just renovated all of their hotel rooms, so everything was really nice.

Saturday was a work day. I had a few minutes in the morning before breakfast, so I tried the Ultimate Texas Hold'em table game. My suggestion -> STAY AWAY. It really isn't anything like regular poker. It's more like 3 or 4 card poker. After working all day we had dinner at Stack, went to the Cirque show "Love" and then to Revolutions which is a club inside Mirage. Crawled into bed around 4am.

Sunday was a painful day at the trade show since I only got about 4 hours of sleep. Finished the show around 4pm. Moved my stuff from Mirage across the street to Harrah's since they were kind enough to comp me for Sunday and Monday. Took a 2 hour nap and woke up just in time to get into the 8pm tourney in the their poker room. They have some type of Megastack thing going on. The 8pm tourney was $150 for 10k in chips and 20 minute levels. There was about 25 players. I got in as an alternate (signed up a little too late). The play was tighter than I expected. We barely lost any players for the first 6-7 levels which meant that the blinds were getting big but nobody had chips to offset the increasing levels. By the time we got down to the final table, it was an all in fest. I busted in 8th with KJ suited (AIPF for 3x the BB). This tournament is very beatable. I think if I had been there on time, I could have chipped up a little more early on and probably cashed. As for Harrah's, most of the rooms have been renovated and updated. Flat screen TV's (they even put one in the bathroom) and new pillow top beds.

Monday I got up early (7am ish) and walked over to the Venetian. My plan was to try and get at seat at a 1/2 table with some people that have been up all night. Mission accomplished. Sat down at table 23, bought in for $300 and settled in for a long day, but drama insued only after about 30 minutes. A younger drunk guy was dropping f bombs and some pain in the ass old guy complained to the floor. From what I was told, this was the 2nd time the floor had been over there, so they kicked the guy out with his huge stack of chips. The drunk guy threatened the older guy and they called security. Then the old guy picked up his chips and left! What? Get a drunk big stack kicked out and then leave 1 hand later? What an a hole! This was all before 9am! Anyway, the donks started showing up shortly after.
Interesting hand #1 -> I have A4h on the button and I call a $7 raise. 4 of us saw the flop that was all hearts (2 3 9 I think). SB bets $25, BB folds, UTG bets $190?? What!? Really!? I check my hand again. Yep, I have the nuts. I'm all in for $240 ish. Everyone else folds and the UTG guy calls the extra $50. He showed 57h and my hand holds up. Easy double up and it wasn't even 10am.
I don't know if it was me or if I was sitting at the best table ever, but this was the softest cash game I have ever been in!!! I couldn't leave!! I played over 16 hours straight, leaving a little after midnight. I didn't want to leave, but I was really starting to get tired. Focusing on cards that long was really difficult. I got a couple of table side massages later in the day, ate two meals and sucked down several red bulls and rockstars when it started getting late. It was a roller coaster type of day. I was really playing well and getting good cards. There were a few bad beats along the way that hurt my stack. Twice I floped straights and got my opponents all in by the turn, only to have them catch a flush on the river. I was up to $900 by lunch. Back down to $200 by 2pm. Up to $600 by 6pm. Down to $190 by 8pm and finally went on a tear from 8pm until about midnight and left with almost $1k. I had Aces twice and Kings once, busting someone each time I had them. Around 6:30pm I had Queens in late position. There were 4 limpers so I raised to $25. The button re-raised me to $75. I called and the flop was Jxx rainbow. The turn and the river were both rags, but the button kept playing back at me and I didn't feel good about it. I paid off a $50 bet after the flop and a $100 bet on the turn. I kept talking myself into callng his bets. I folded them face up after I checked the river and the button raised all in. I put him on Kings or possibly a set. He showed KT for a bluff. That was my one big mistake all day long.

Tuesday morning, I got up early again, got my bags packed and walked over to the V again. Ate a nice breakfast at The Luxe Cafe that was comped from my play the day before. After breakfast I still had an hour before I needed to leave for the airport. So, I walked over to the poker room and grabbed an empty seat at a 1/2 game. I would rather sit there for 50 minutes than throw my money away at a black jack table. I had my bags with me and told everyone I was only playing for an hour so that I wouldn't miss my flight. 5 or 6 hands went by and I was on the button with J9 and called a $7 raise. There were 6 people in and the flop came 994. SB and BB checked. Someone in EP bet $15. I just called, hoping to build the pot a little. The SB and one other person called. The turn was a rag club, but that put 2 clubs on the board. SB check and the EP bet $20. Next to act called and then I raised it to $70. The SB thought for about 30 seconds and called. The other 2 players folded. The river was a rag club. The SB thought about it and checked. I also checked in case he caught the flush or had a better kicker. He showed pocket queens and I won a really nice pot. About 5 hands later UTG raises to $10. I look down and see red Aces so I min raised to $20. There was 2 callers behind me along with the SB and UTG, so the pot is already up to about $100. Flop was TJT. SB bets out $20, UTG shoves all in for $193 and I have to think for a minute. He raised pre-flop and then shoves for twice the amount of the pot. If he had Jacks, or JT or TT, he would just call here in order to build the pot. That means be probably had KK, QQ or AJ. I called and everyone else folded. I flipped over my aces. The dealer ran out two bricks on the turn and river and UTG mucked his hand. Another nice pot and I had only been sitting down about 40 minutes. I played about 6 more hands and then it was time to catch a cab to the airport. I bought in for $200 and cashed out for $620. What a great start to the day.

I have played in most of the poker rooms on the strip and I have to say that The Venetian is my favorite. Comfortable seats, good tables, table side food, massages, reliable drink service and good dealers.

A very successful trip. I can't wait to go back.

Mike