My wife I had the opportunity to surprise my parents and take them on their first trip to Vegas last week. I was able to pursuade my wife to allow me to "stay a little longer" after I put them on a plane last Thursday and play some uninterupted poker at the Venetian for three additianl days.

I think my definition of heaven is no phone, no worries, no responsibilities... just poker.

My first two days at the 1/3 NL tables yeilded no positive results. I cashed even for both days (Thursday & Friday). I was suffering the doldrums of a card-dead run going on two months. I never saw a pocket pair all day Thursday and only folded one winner. Smart aggressive play when others were weak kept me in the game and I didn't bleed too badly at any point. Friday, however, was a different story. I sat down early to 2 pocket pairs that held up after catching favorable boards. This gave me enough chips a reasonably tight table to push a few of the less-experienced players around and make up for the break even sessions the days before. My BIG break came in the evening in the form of two young "poker kids" from Boston. Both of them started strong. In the first five hands the least experienced of the two caught (and showed) QQ, AK, QQ, K10, AJ. The entire table was beginning to drool over his growing chip stack as he ran through 3 locals and felted a newcomer on his first hand... then the magic happened. I was in position on the button. Agressive "poker kid" is to act two positions in front of me and raises to ten times the blind to $20.00. His buddy (seated to my right) folds and I look down at AdQd and decide to call. Blinds both fold to make it heads up. Flop comes [3d,4d,7d] to give me the second nuts to the straight flush. "Poker kid" thrusts out $25.00 into the $43.00 pot. I decide to slow play my flush as he has never seen me play a hand. I make a delayed call. As I make the call I look over at "poker kid" and ask him if he "has the diamonds?" and sealed his fate. 5c comes on the turn and "poker kid" announces a $45.00 bet. I pretend to go into the tank, stare blankly at the dealer's burn cards, and then tell the dealer that I'm going to make a raise. I double his bet to $90.00. And he makes a smooth call for the odds.
River comes Kh to lay a board of [3d,4d,7d,5c,Kh]and making my A high flush a huge favorite. "Poker kid" makes an undersized bet of $30.00 on the river telling me he's begging for a call with his trips or striaght and I again pretend to go into the tank for about thiry seconds and then announce all-in for an additional $250.00. Stunned, the "poker kid" stands up and says "I'm confused. Why would you move all in on the river like that?". I told him that I was just trying to win the pot the best I know how. My plan worked and he made a slow call to double me up and showed his 8-high straight on the turn! Wow! What a card that 5c was!

Two hands later I get QhJh and make a $15.00 call from the "poker kid" in position. Table folds to make us heads up. Flop comes [Qd,Qs,Jc] and gives me the flop nuts. My advisary checks and I check right behind him. Turn is a 10h laying a striaght draw on the table and "poker kid" pushes $35.00 in for a feeler. I smooth call to the river... 3c. Now he checks to me and I raise $65.00 and he thinks for a few minutes and then moves all-in and has me covered by $12.00. I insta-call. He shows the AK straight to my queens full. "Poker kid" shakes his head and walks away nearly to the felt in 8 hands.

I played for a few more hours working my big stack on the table for another $600.00 on top of my big scores.

I felt lucky to have such hands at exactly the right time against the exact player that I needed to make my moves work. I am also proud of my play overall. I never gave anything away that I didn't have to. I pushed the loose players to play badly and trapped the rocks in thier own games with big re-re-raises for quite a few wins. Overall I did well for three days of bliss and bottled FIJI water (God, I love that stuff).

My flight home on Sunday was spent reflecting on the hands of the previous days. I realize that I have a long way to go to become a world-class player... but I just enjoy the game and look for opportunity where it presents itself.

Thanks for reading my trip report. And make sure to stop in at the Venetian next time you are in town. It's big, has plenty of room between the tables, the chairs are very comfortable, and out of fifteen or so rooms I've played in Vegas I have to give high marks for comps and managment... the V is great.

Viva Las Vegas