Got to Vegas on Sunday Feb 25 at 7am. My hotel room wasn't ready so I waited to play in the 10am Tournament at Binion's. I love the Tournaments at Binion's. The set up is good. I didn't get much hands. But I made good reads. When I got to the final table, only have 2 big stacks and the other 6 were just hanging on with a Margriel's M of about 5-8. So basically that means short stacked and desperate if you ever read Dan Harrington's Book Volume 2 about NL Holdem Tournaments. I just didnt' get any cards and was too scared to pull the trigger and take stabs at the pot to increase my chip stack. This tournment paid the top 5. So, once there was 7 players let, play came to a complete hault with only the big stacks picking up pots and the occassional all-ins by the short stacks. I ended up placing 5th for basically only my buyin. So that sucked. Out of 5 tournaments that I played at Binion's so far, I placed in 3 of them. Not bad.

As for the cash games I played, I played at Binion's, Bally's and Caesar's Palace. I wont give any stories about being card dead or cold decked. I will tell about my experience and that I learned. I basically learned that when I come to vegas, I will not play on a short table (3-5 players). I played at a short table at Binion's and lost my $200 buy in in less than 30min. With a $200 buy in, they give you $5 chips, so basically the betting after preflop is usually in increments of $5. So, if yo uthink about it, I was only given 40 chips. With so little chips, if you bet preflop with AK and you do a continuation bet on a flop that you did not hit anything on and loose the hand, you would probably loose about at least 1/4 your chips. In addition, if you then chase a few flush draws you would pretty much be left with only $50 left. That is what happened to me two times. The other time I lost my buy in, I played the hand bad and then didn't fold. I was big blind with A2. No preflop raise and 4 total in the hand. Flop came AD 7S 5S. I checked, one bet $10, Dealer Button Called, I raised up to $40. The Button reraised $50 more. I should've folded but I called thinking he had AJ or A10. The turn was a 2. I hit my two pair. I bet $40, button goes all-in. I should've known that I was up against two pair at least, or a set. But I thought and called. and was up against two pair A7. Other than that I won big at Bally's. What I learned from Bally's is that its always good to make a hand when playing against someone who just sat on the table. This guy who I played with who just got on the table didn't know how I played... I hit top to pair against him on the first hand that he played, he called me down to the river where I bet the size of the pot and he called just to see, he had top pair good kicker, I took down about $150 in that hand. Then the very next hand I flop the flush with JC7C, flop was QCJC4C. I bet and the same guy raised. I called. The turn was a 2D and I bet and the guy went all in, I was forced to call. He showed top two pair Q9 and lost the hand. I think I won about $200 on that hand.

So, what I learned from this trip is that do not play on a short handed table. Another thing I learned is that if you are placed on a table where there isn't much chips on the table, do not play. meaning, I bought in for $200 and most of the players on the table only had $100. That means that I have more to lose than them and there isn't much money to win. And lastly, try to make the most money and hope you hit a good hand against someone who just sat down on your table. Because they do not know how you play, it would be an easy way to make a lot of money.

Good luck and play well.