I friend and I did a quick Vegas poker weekend from Friday 12/15 through Sunday 12/17. He’s a former high roller, now a medium roller, and still gets comp offers, so we got a free suite at the Rio. (I drove and paid for the gas.)

We rolled into town around 3pm and even though I did the driving, my friend was the tired one so he hit the sack after check-in while I checked out Rio’s poker room. The only games going were 2/5NL and 4/8L. I don’t play NL cash games, so I pulled out a $100 bill and sat down at the 4/8 after a fifteen-minute wait. The management took my driver’s license and had a Harrah’s reward card for me in less than ten minutes. Unfortunately I wasn’t going to each much of a reward that night since my $100 was gone in about 90 minutes.

Then we headed over to Sahara for their nightly 7pm NL tourney. ($40 + $20 add-on + $2 for the dealer pool?) This was my first ever live NL tourney, and the only ones I’d played online were crappy freerolls. Therefore I was pleasantly surprised when I busted out around 20th place out of a field of over 130, though they only paid ten places. (Note that the remaining players, once they were down to eleven, voted to take $60 from the first-place prize and award it to the player who bubbles out.)

I pulled some good cards, ran some timely bluffs and knew when to fold ‘em after picking up some tells. My only mistake, and it was a big one, came when I went all-in with a JTs on the small blind to steal the big blind without having seen that an earlier player had moved all-in ahead of me. He was in the #10 seat behind the dealer, I was in the #2 seat and I just didn’t see or hear him make a move. I’d certainly have folded had I known he was all-in since it was a safe assumption that he had either a pair or at least one card higher than my jack. JTo is a good hand to build on but not to risk your tournament life on. His A3o held up and I was crippled and out soon afterward. Let’s just say I learned this lesson the hard way, so you readers can learn from me.

What really hurt was when I was finally busted out BY MY FRIEND. We were only at the same table for a handful of hands and having just 1.5 big blinds left I went all in with a pair of threes. My friend on the big blind and a huge stack in front of him, having only to toss in a few chips to call, did so and beat me with a 46o when he flopped a 4. I couldn’t be mad at him since he’d have called anybody in that situation and a fold on his part would have been clear and irrefutable collusion.

My friend however, an experienced player, made it to the final table and was the short-stack with only six players left. The players discussed a deal but one annoying guy at the table disagreed to the split, demanding more than his fair share because he was the current chip leader though by only a very tiny margin. The split didn’t happen, the annoying guys had pocket aces cracked and fell way back. The next hand he got aces again and more than tripled up. Three hands later he got aces again (that three times in five hands folks!) and knocked my friend out in 6th place. He collected $320 and we left to call it a night, not caring who won, knowing we’d be sick if it turned out to be annoying man.

Come Saturday morning I played the $75 limit tourney at the Orleans while my friend went back to the Sahara for the 11am NL tourney. I ran my table for the first forty minutes then I don’t think I won more than two pots for the rest of the tourney. I busted out around 60th out of 90 or so entries. On the bright side I won $40 on a Deal or No Deal slot before the tourney started and another $60 on another “penny” slot so I was still ahead on the day.

We rendezvoused (Thanks MS Word spell checker!) at the Rio and I hit the poker room again while my friend figured he should do something to earn his comps and hit the quarter video poker. I lost another $70 or so at 4/8 while my friend won a little over $250.

A light snack then we both went over to the Sahara again for the 7pm NL. We should have stayed put, as we were both out early. So much for building on my beginners luck at NL. Strangely there were fewer plays Saturday night than there were on Friday night. I’d have expected the opposite considering many visitors from California don’t get into town until well after 7pm on Friday night. But my friend was still up several hundred dollars and treated me to a spectacular steak at the “All-American Grill” at the Rio. Yum.

Sunday we took very easily, taking our time checking out and decided to check out the Gambler’s General Store. My friend was excited to find old decks of cards from the Stardust, his old primary haunt, and bought a few other souvenirs. I didn’t need anything, or want anything, so I left empty-handed. However, I strongly recommend that anyone who has never been here to stop by their next time in town. If it’s gambling-related they’ve got it, including a beautiful $26,000 poker table and chairs marked down to just $19,000.

Then we decided to check out some mid-strip action and we parked at Caesar’s Palace. We got there just before noon and my friend debated entering their noon tourney but decided against it since we were hungry and there were no limit games going to keep me occupied. We wandered over to Bally’s and had lunch there.

I decided that I was not going to leave Vegas without winning something at a poker table so I waited half an hour to get a seat at their 2/4 table (It was either that or the 4/8 and after my 4/8 experiences at the Rio, I felt I should take it down a notch.) It took two hours but I finished up $9. Yes, that’s NINE whole American dollars. But it was a symbolic victory, just so I could leave town on a winning note in hopes of picking up where I left off next time I get to Las Vegas. And during my two hours at the poker table my friend donked off well over $100 at VP and BJ, but Bally’s is a Harrah’s property so perhaps that will help ensure future comps and future trips.