I really had no intention of playing that much poker on this trip. That soon changed once I walked into the MGM poker room.

My friends and I had decided to go over to the MGM to grab a couple drinks before hitting the town. Since they wanted to go to a bar in the hotel I decided to sit at a friendly 2-4 table and take advantage of the drink service. In the span of 2 hours I was up about 60 dollars and 4 drinks down the pipe. My style of play in Vegas is vastly different than how I play in my home casinos. Usually I play 6-12 limit or 2-5 NL back home. In Vegas, its usually all tourists who are playing for the first time. I take pride in the fact that I can read my opponents very well in most situations. I was able to bluff any bully my way through the table which usually does not happen at a 2-4 table. Basically I played loose, aggressive and took down a lot of pots uncontested. I was that guy at the table who cracks your Aces with my 6-8 OS. Yea..that was me. I also live-straddled every chance I got which did not make people very happy.

Next day, Saturday, I played at the 1pm Paris tourney. It was a well run tourney. The tourney maxed out at 70 and I could tell a lot of them had never played in a tourney or were extremely nervous. To my left was a guy who talked WAY too much about how great he was, how many times he's cashed, berated people for watching too much WPT, etc. I was glad when he got knocked out. I was unfortunately sent to the rail when I was knocked out by a Q on the river. Wasn't dissapointed at all.

That night when my group made its way to the Palms I decided to sit at another 2-4 to take advantage of the drink service. 30 minutes later I was up 60 and another 4 drinks down the pipe. I was only one of 2 tourists at this full table. Everyone else was a local. However, my aggressive loose play proved to be what put me over the top. I decided to leave since the table was very quiet and not very friendly at all.

The final Sunday morning of my trip I woke up early so I can get an hour of two of play time at the Flamingo before I had to drive back to LA. I was probably the youngest guy there by at least 20 years. Again I played loose-very aggressive poker and came out a 70 dollar winner in a half hour of play. I raised my four flush on the flop and hit my draws on the turn or river getting paid off everytime. This game also had a half kill and I took every opportunity to raise when I had to post my kill.

Looking back on my trip the hands I won the most money on were the junk hands where I could read my opponents. Out of all the hands I played this weekend I had QQ, KK, and AA only once and AK twice. I only won twice out of 5 hands. Maybe I should rethink how I play back home in LA....