We arrived at 9:30am on the 11th. Got to the hotel (Mirage) at around 10:30am. I played in the 2pm Deep Stack ($330 buyin) tourney over at the Venetian, which was right across the street from the Mirage.

I usually play at Foxwoods, so I felt that the players in the tourney were very comparible. I didn't do very well, I think I should have waited until much later in th day to play in my first tournament. I was a bit tired from the 5 hour flight from CT. I wasn't as sharp as I should have been.

I got crippled early when my pocket JJ's lost to a set of 8's. The only thing I was happy about was that I didn't go broke from the hand. I was able to fold when I suspected the guy hit a set. I was very happy with my read and lay-down. I was out around 90th (we had 177 players). I read in these blogs that the Venetian pumped perfume into the Poker Room. Well... I didn't notice a thing. The room was huge and did smell nice, but didn't bother me a bit. Service was very good to look at (if you know what I mean).

After that tourney I went back to the hotel to rest and had a great buffet dinner. We all ate like kings!

Went to bed early to get ready for 2 tournaments on Monday (12th). I woke up around 3am and got down to the poker room around 4am and played 1/2 NL for a few hours. I won a little over $300. I felt the players in the game were pretty weak. If there were 2-3 limpers, someone ALWAYS raised to $20. After a while I decided to limp with big hands to trap. And, a few times it worked. I did it with KK and QQ and won big pots.

I then walked over to Caesars to play in the 12noon tourney ($80 w/$50 rb). Everyone did the re-buy before we started. That gave all of us $4,500 in chips. Again, I thought the competition was good, except for these people that were from Germany. I guess there was a group from Germany that came to Vegas to play poker. I noticed there were about 6 or 7 of them in the tourney. 2 ended up at my table. They were VERY bad players. I had one guy to my left that flopped top pair (aces), which was better than what I had, and checked me down to the river where I caught a 2nd pair to win. I asked him why he did that??? and he couldn't really answer me because he didn't speak english! Anyway, I caught a few lucky breaks and won some big pots to become the chip leader at my table.

When we got down to the final 4 we decided to chop the pot and everyone got $1,283 with the person with the most chips getting 2 hundred dollars more. We were all tired (had been playing for 6 hours) so we all felt that was the best thing to do. I was happy! My first tournament cash in Vegas!!!

When I got back over to the Mirage, I decide to play in their 7pm tourney ($230 buy-in). They had only 4 table, around 28 players. The players in this tourney were not very good in my mind. So, I planned to play a bit loose and see what could develop. Well, that didn't work out for me as I was out after 90 minutes. I shouldn't have played after already playing over at Ceaser's all day. I was tired. Should have rested for a few hours.

Got a few hours sleep and went over to Binion's on Tuesday morning. I wanted to play in their 11am tourney. But they changed the game. It was supposed to be a $70 buy-in with 1 $40 rebuy. Instead it was a $50 buy-in with no rebuy. I wasn't happy about the change and REALLY felt Binion's was a dump, so I left and went over to Bally's. Their poker room reminded me of a closet! VERY SMALL. So, I went over to the Venetian to play 1/2 NL. I played for about 4 1/2 hours and made a bad call and lost a big pot on a flush draw. How come it always seems other people hit the flush draws in those situations, but never me (LOL)! I left the Venetian down $400.

We went to a the Penn & Teller show over at the Rio at night. The waitress there didn't like wear clothes I guess because none of them had anything on it seemed. That was very pleasant!!!

When we got back to the Mirage I played 1/2 NL from 11:30p - 4:00am. It was quite a rollercoaster of a night. I was up then down and then up again. The players were young and reckless. This one kid came to the table and would raise to $20 all the time. He as immediately on my left. I tried to limp in with J8o, but he raised to $20. Another guy called as did I just to see the flop. The flop came down 9T3. I bet out $15, he called and the other guy folded. The turn came an 2, I checked and the other guy checked too?!?! The river was a Q and I hit the straight. I thought for a moment and checked figuring this guy would bet, and he did... $35. I pushed all-in and he. He flipped over 2 pair and a big smile. I showed my straight and took down a big pot.

All in all, Vegas was awesome. I will go back and play at the Venetian, Caesars and Mirage. I didn't get to play at the Bellagio, but will try to the next time.