Vegas journey in early spring 2010 (March 17 – 24)

Day one at monte carlo.
Cash game 1/2
In for 200. Grinding. Didn’t play a hand for 20 mins to get a feel. Decided to play ultra tight. Up 100 after two hours. Bought in for 60 for the 6 pm tourny. Made 1 costly mistake which went as follows. Was average stack (3900) on the last hand before rebuy (blinds 75/150). Picked up aj suited on the button. 4 callers to make it 300 a piece. Pot before the flop was 1425. Flop comes 10 8 5 rainbow. Action comes to me after a 300 bet, fold, call... I think too long and shove. Thinking that if I bust this is the last hand bfore rebuy. I get two callers. The big stack and a medium stack. I fail to hit and lose to pocket queens. At that point i realize my mistake. I still had the winner covered and end up with 800 w/o rebuy in a level of 100/200.
10 mins later I shove my last 500 on the button with kq off and lose to aj.
Back to the cash game. Bought in for 200 for 5 hours of rock solid poker leaving me up 190.
Day one stats:
Cash game + 190 - tourny -60
= + 130

Day two at monte carlo.
Played an afternoon with local grinders in an extremely tight passive game. Decided to use my two 6 dollar comps to go for dinner at 8:30 pm. I cash out 197 dollars after having bought in for 200. Even after 6 hours of play...
After dinner I buy back in for 200 on a hefty session.
I pick up kings on my second hand in the big blind and call the 7 dollar raise together with 2 others. Flop 10 8 5. I make it 20 only to get raised another 50. I call and curse inwardly for not having raised preflop. Turn comes 8. Check check. Villain bets 50 more on the river and I tank and make the call. Villain shows the boat and I hate myself for not raising preflop.
10 minutes later I pick up kings again in mp and reraise to 30. The button reraises me to 60. I shove only to get called by aces. The mp announces he folded queens and of course the aces hold up.
I buy back in for 150 and act on tilt. The table picks up on it and i get called with an all in ak on a 2 10 k board allowing me to double up.
At that point I start catching great cards and my two ensuing full houses get called for top dollar leaving me 715 after 2 hours of the evening session.
Day two: 715 - 3 - 200 - 150 = + 362
Overall + 492

Day three
Bought in for 200. Was about even when Ii picked up aces in early position. I bet to 12 to get raised another 25 by the button. I shove and get called by the kings. Flop neutral, turn is a king and river no help. Bought in again for another 200. I fold the next 10 hands even when I pick up some nice suited connectors in good position to prevent tilting. When I pick up kings on the cutoff, I shove after three players had made it 25 to play.
I get called by aj offsuit and feel good until I get rivered by an ace. Down 400. I buy in for another 200 and the rest of the session is damage control. I cash out 203.
Day 3: -398
Overall: + 96

Days 4 and 5 represented no notable hands.
I got little action on my good hands, and lost only small amounts on my lesser or bad hands although I played for 14 hours in two days.
The only good news is that I managed to cash out comps vouchers worth 60 dollars after so many hours during my stay.

Day 6 brought me a high hand.
I picked up red fours in the big blind and call a 7 dollar raise.
Flop comes a k 4 rainbow, giving me a set. I expect action on that board from the raiser so I check the flop. He bets the pot and I call the 15. Turn is another 4 . Two spades on the board. I put him (a super tight local regular called Don who had spent at least 12 hours on the same table) on ak, aq, aj or a10. I check again. As expected, he makes another pot bet. I call the 45 after tanking for a minute or so. Turn is a deuce of hearts. No help for him. This time I bet 30. I figured he would not call my all in and left about 80 behind. He called it, and I pick up 98 dollars extra. The high hand pays out 145 in chips.
At that point I loosen up being chip leader trying to bully people out of pots. Bad strategy.
I bleed chips and cash out 130 down. Another lesson learnt... should've stuck to the game plan...
Overall - 34 after day 6.

On the last day of my stay 36 up, leaving me content to be even.

Considering my limited experience, a few bad beats, and the fact that I had the opportunity to play my favorite game for more than 60 hours, that I got free meals and drinks, I leave Vegas with a good feeling.
For those interested: the brand steakhouse at the Monte Carlo has an excellent filet. Try it with the mushrooms and the gratin sides.

Apart from the poker, I greatly enjoyed the sights. As my traveling companion does not play, he walked about all day. I always joined his walks in the morning, to hit the tables during the late afternoon. The only downside is the chronic lack of sleep I have built up with a nightly average of less than 5 hours. Fortunately the temperatures averaging the mid 70s allowed me to catch up some sleep at the Monte Carlo pool, enjoying the spring weekend...

As I played exclusively at the Monte Carlo, I will also write a room report, updating some outdated comments...

All comments or suggestions are welcome.