I got in early Saturday, February 2 and checked into hotel, which was next door to Hooter's (where I had never played before). I found a four-handed $1-$2 NL game with very tired and rather drunk players. Bought in for a bill ($100) with the hopes of hitting and running before the smoke (since Hooter's allows smoking in their poker room) or the ridiculous play and table chatter drove me over the brink. After about 30 minutes I'm up to $130. I straddle and catch AA. Pop the action to $24, and get two callers. Flop is J-5-3 rainbow. I lead out for $50, one player instamucks, the other hesistantly calls. Turn is a 3. I go all-in and I'm called by K3 sooooooooooooted. He plays goooooooooooooooooooood so BAM! I was down $100 about 35 minutes into my trip.

From there I went over to the Excalibur and played $300 max buy-in $1-$2 NL. I was sad to see that the $200 max $1-$3 NL wasn't being offered, that game was LOVELY. After four hours of riding the swing set I was down another $60. Went back to my hotel and got ready to go to UFC 81 that evening. Going to a UFC event for the first time was definitely an interesting experience. Made $150 betting on Frank Mir to beat Brock Lesnar, seemed like a bad bet about 10 seconds into the fight when Lesnar took Mir down like a freight train hitting a deer. In the end, skill trumped over size.

After the fight, stayed at Mandalay Bay and played $2-$4 NL all night and watched time and again as donkeys sat down and turned their buyins into $1k+ then burned it all away. Nothing like watching $500+ pots being taken down with garbage than having to muck 83o or 74o every hand while it happens. Spent a few hours falling asleep at the table until at last we found the ONE waitress that must've been servicing all of Mandalay Bay and got a hold of some Red Bull. Eventually caught cards later in the morning and (shocker of shockers) got big action on my monsters. Cashed out up somewhere near $300 and left Mandalay Bay around 1pm, 2.5 hours before Super Bowl kickoff. Jumped in the shower at the hotel and changed clothes to go watch the game... then promptly fell asleep on the couch in the room and woke up with 10 minutes remaining in the game. Imagine my surprise when I turned on the TV and the score was 7-3 for the Giants. As anyone who watched the game knows, I woke up for the best parts so it was all good.

After the game, got a call from some other buddies who were in town for the game. We all decided to meet at the IP since it's near the center of the strip. Bought into the $1-$2 NL at the IP for $200. Ended up playing until almost 5am, once again falling asleep at the table off and on (this became a theme for me this trip, as you'll see). Cashed out up $150 or so, got some late-night grub and headed back to the hotel.

Checked out of the hotel the following morning then headed up to the Sahara for final three days of the trip. Intended to play in the first Venetian Deepstack Tourney but woke up feeling like high hell, so I just went over to TI and played some $1-$3 NL. Following hand was the high point of my trip. I straddled, and everyone mucked except the BB. I looked down at KK, then popped the action to $25. He fumbled a second with his chips, then called. Flop came K-Q-Q. He checked, and I bet $25 which he INSTAcalled. (giggity!) Turn is a 6. He checked, and I bet $45 which again he INSTAcalled. (giggitygiggitygiggity!) River is the case K. As I'm wondering how I'm going to extract money from my opponent (and show my hand down for the $100 quads jackpot payout) he PUSHES ALL IN. I say, "I call with the nuts" and flip over the bad news. My opponent flips over AA. Yikes! Bad beat for him, but hey that's no leeemit baby! I showed Danette my Archos 605 portable media player (soooo much better than an Ipod!). Later, Kurt sat down to deal. I jokingly asked him to deal me quads. VERY NEXT HAND I get A7o UTG+2. UTG raises to $12 (4x) and UTG+1 insta calls. I respect both players so I lay down the A7o instantly. Flop is 7-7-7, and I almost puke. After the hand I tip Kurt a buck for the quads I didn't have the guts to play. Even with the $100 jackpot and the action on that hand, I end up down $200 for the session later that night when the game breaks for the midnight tourney.

I have to get some sleep, more on this trip report later!