Every few months or so, I like to take a long weekend and come out to Vegas for solo weekend poker trips. I last visited in April, had a great time, and did pretty well at the tables, so I scheduled another trip for this past weekend (November 2-5).

I've stayed at MGM the last two times I've been out mainly because I can get pretty good room rates and I really like their poker room. So this trip, I made MGM my homebase. I planned to play mostly 4/8 limit and 1/2 no-limit on this trip, and brought a modest bankroll of around $900. My flight arrived from Denver about 6:00 PM on Friday, 11/2. I figured this was probably about the worst time to be flying in to Vegas when it came to hotel check-in and the cab line. When I arrived at the baggage claim area, I immediately noticed the MGM check-in area at the airport and was surprised to see nobody in line. I walked over and checked in within a few minutes. I didn't bother with the $20 trick because I've always been pleased enough with my rooms there. I then proceeded out to the cab line which turned out to be much shorter than I thought it would be. They really have a good system in place there, and I only had to wait about 5-10 minutes for a cab. Within 30 minutes of landing, I had arrived at the hotel. I took my luggage up to my room, which was on the fourth floor with a lovely view of the parking garage, and immediately proceeded down to the poker room. They had no 4/8 tables going, so I put my name on the interest list and decided to get my feet wet playing 3/6. It was a typical loose Friday night at the table with 6-8 players seeing the flop and sticking around to the river with longshot draws. I played tight and fairly passive (basically no bluffing and not continuing without at least top pair or a strong draw) and crashed around 2:30 about $220 ahead. This may not be the optimal style of play, but I seem to do really well just playing ABC poker against this type of crowd.

I woke up around 9:00 on Saturday and grabbed a bagel sandwich at the Stage Deli by the poker room. It was mediocre to say the least, but I was fueled for another day of poker. There wasn't a lot of action at MGM at this time, and I didn't feel like playing 2/4 bingo, so I decided to take the monorail down the strip and see what I could find. I exited at Harrah's and walked across the street to the Mirage. I walked by the poker room there, but really didn't plan on playing there. I took the tram to TI, but there wasn't anything happening there at this time. Most dealers were just sitting around a table talking. I decided to head over to Wynn and try some 4-8 there. Last time I was there, they had one 4-8 table and a long waiting list, but as luck would have it, I arrived as they were starting a new game and they had a seat open. I didn't do so well at the Wynn last time I was there. I was card dead the whole time and dropped my $200 buy-in in around 3-4 hours, so that left a bad taste in my mouth. It also didn't help that I had to wait an hour and a half for a seat. Anyway, this time, the table was full of a few rich tourists, and a few locals that knew each other. I bought in for $100 and doubled it within the first five hands or so. I wasn't outplaying anyone, I just got a couple of nice hands to start out. It was pretty much a grind from there. I ended up having to rebuy at one point, but I ended up cashing out for $218, up $18 for the session. I had pocket aces about four or five times during this session, and I believe they only held up once. There were no real memorable hands for me, but at one point, a guy from the middle-east and a middle-aged lady at the end of the table almost got into a fight. The lady won the hand by rivering two pair (I believe) against the guy's top pair. Obviously he had some pent up frustration since the lady was winning with some junk hands (typical for low-limit games), so he said something about how he couldn't believe she kept winning with that trash. She looked at him with a smile and said "I play these hands because I'm really old and really rich." He seemed to take offense over this comment and said "not as rich as me, I guarantee it" or something to that effect. She retorted "so what are you complaining about?" The funny thing was, I was sitting next to the middle-eastern guy and he was playing the same trash she was. Cooler heads prevailed, but it was a funny scene. There was another guy from Brooklyn there who was having a tough run of cards. He was a cool guy though, but I swear he would've fit right in if he were on the Sopranos.

By this time, it was about 4:00 PM and I was getting hungry, so being the cheapskate that I am, I decided to eat at the mall food court. There's a place there called "Great Wraps" that has a really good Philly Cheesesteak wrap that I enjoy. I know -- simple mind, simple pleasures. Anyway, after eating that I walked back through TI but still wasn't quite ready for no-limit and didn't want to play 2/4. So, I hopped the monorail back to the MGM to play 4/8. I had a bad run of cards and generally played bad for the first few hours. I got down to about $12 and bought a rack of blues from the guy next to me who had been winning a lot. He must've ordered about 15 screwdrivers while I was there, but he was winning and seemed sober. We were commenting about how those chips were "the lucky chips" since I bought them from him, and they ended up living up to their name...for a while. I then started getting some cards and built up a stock of around $400 in chips. I could hardly find any room to look at my cards because there were so many chips there. This Asian kid across the table was also doing really well. He'd built up about $600 in chips. I noticed he was really good at reverse tells, and most everyone at the table kept falling for it over and over. For example, when a card would come out that would complete a straight or flush, he'd invariably shake his head and check. People kept betting into him and he would re-raise. Not only was he great at slowplaying, but he kept getting the perfect hands to slowplay with.

My luck finally seemed to run out at about midnight when I was dealt AcAd. As usual, my raise was cold-called by 4-5 players. The flop came A-5-K rainbow, so I was feeling really good about my hand. It was checked around to me, I bet, and was called by about three people. The turn came another King, an excellent card that filled me up and likely improved at least one other player's hand. Sure enough, my bet was raised by one player. I re-raised and he called. The river came another King and you can guess the outcome. He bet out and I called knowing full well I was beat. The funny thing was the dealer, who said "show me an Ace" as if he just figured we both had one Ace and would split the pot. I showed my AA and he seemed surprised. Then the other guy jubilantly flipped over his K8os to scoop a huge pot. That was by far the toughest beat I'd ever taken, but that's poker. I was just glad it wasn't no-limit. I ended up cashing out about an hour later for $300 even, $100 ahead for the session. I don't complain much about winning sessions, but it is frustrating since I was so far ahead at one point.

At this point, I decided that I was about $330 ahead for the trip, so I'd try some no-limit. It was also about 1:00 AM on Sunday morning, so I figured this was probably one of the best times to play. I sat down with $200, and no on seemed to have a really big stack, so I felt comfortable that I could hold my own. I'm still getting used to no-limit play, and I know I'm not really that good at it. I'm still trying to learn how to read people better and take some risks with my chips, but right now I play way too tight and always assume the worst when people bet. I'm working on improving this, but I figured there would still be quite a few worse players at the table. I wasn't too worried, I figured I'd just try to see flops cheaply with speculative hands, hit some big hands and be aggressive. I wanted to avoid difficult confrontations if possible. Anyway, I sit down and the dealer asks if I want to post. I say sure and throw in my $2. I look down at 7h3h and check my option. No one raises pre-flop, so I see the flop for free. Flop comes J-3-3. I check in early position and the guy to my left bets $20. I call and everyone else folds. Turn is an Ace and he bets $100. I ponder for a moment and announce all-in. He insta-calls, shows AK, and double-up on my first hand. He says after the hand is over that he sees a lot of new guys come into a new table being very aggressive and thought that's what I was doing. I was amused to think just how wrong he was. I sat for another couple of hours, but there was nothing memorable to talk about. I cashed out for $350 and went to bed at around 4:00 AM.

I woke up at around 10:00 AM on Sunday morning and wanted to go to Church at 12:00 at the Shrine across the street from Luxor. So, I took the tram from Excalibur to Mandalay Bay and looked around there. There wasn't a lot of poker action there at this time of the morning, so I decided to head to the sports book and watch a little football. My Broncos were already down 13-0 and I noticed that Cutler wasn't playing, so I figured it would be a rough game. I watched the debacle until halftime and left. After mass, I took the Deuce down to TI. I hadn't eaten anything so I decided to eat at their buffet (my favorite in Vegas). It was excellent as usual. Afterwards, I headed to the poker room for some 1/3 NL. The TI Poker Room has always been one of my favorites, and I'd probably play there all the time if they just had a few more games available. A tournament was running when I arrived, so they only had a 1/3 and a 2/4 limit table going. The 1/3 was shorthanded for most of the session. At one point, we were three-handed -- me, and two Asian friends. They were nice guys and took it easy on me. At one point, I flopped the nut straight, but only made about $40 out of it. Finally, the table broke and they drew cards to see which two of us would join a different table that had been set up for people who got knocked out of the tournament. I got the low card and had to wait about 15 minutes for another seat to open up. I sat down with about $250. All in all, it was a pretty fun table. The three Asian friends, a couple of solid players to my right, and a few tourists. This one Asian guy was doing a lot of raising pre-flop with hands like K-9os and A-rag, so I was just hoping for a hand to come to break him. It never really happened for me though, though it did for the guy to my right. Myself and a couple of tighter Asian guys were at the left side of the table and were playing very few hands. Meanwhile, there was tons of action on the right side. So we were joking about how we were all broke and cheap at that end and all the money was on the other side. One hand came up though that was the biggest I'd ever seen at a live table I was playing at. Three guys involved -- the loose Asian (LA), the solid player on my right (SP), and the tight Asian on my left (TA). There was a standard pre-flop raise from LA, and a call from the other two. The flop came J-8-4 with two spades. LA bet around $50, SP called, and TA called. Turn came 9d. LA bet big again, SP called again, and TA went all-in for about $300 or so. At this point, it seemed pretty obvious to me that TA had made the straight. He'd been playing so tight, and he was so confident when he went all-in. LA insta-called, and SP tanked for a few minutes. He kept saying he really wanted to call. Finally, he asked LA if he wanted a call and would base his decision on that. LA said yes, so he called and turned over A-5s for the nut flush draw. The river was a spade and LA was stunned while SP raked around an $1100 pot. LA only had two pair anyway. I couldn't believe he called the all-in from his friend for so much. You'd think he'd know how he played. Anyway, not a whole lot else happened for me in this session, and I cashed out for about $260 at around 6:00 PM. I still really like TI. The dealers there are excellent. They started a mixed game shortly before I left, but since I don't really know how to play the other games, I didn't try it.

I headed back to the MGM for my final night. I was tired from general lack of sleep and typically don't do well on Sundays anyway (after most tourists leave), so I contemplated just taking it easy. Now, I wish I would have. I sat down at a table full of locals at the 4-8 and quickly lost my buy-in. I don't think I was necessarily outplayed, I just couldn't get an cards and lost most of it when my two pair was rivered by a higher two pair. I then noticed a fairly long waiting list for a 1/2 NL seat, and joined figuring they'd open a new table. I always enjoy starting with a new table so everyone is pretty even in chips. The new table started in about 10 minutes and I sat down with $200 at around 9:00. Again, it was a pretty fun table -- tourists, but some solid players. I played too tightly at first, and ended up getting bet out of some hands. I was down to about $100 and was just getting tired. I was either going to lose it, or double-up. I decided to loosen up a lot, but I just wasn't getting anything to see flops with. 2-4, K-5, 5-9 were the hands I was getting over and over. When I got down to about $30, I pushed with A-3 and was called by two players. I paired my 3s and ended up tripling up. Finally, as it was really late, I pushed with 10-10 for about $50 and was called by two players. One guy bet the other out of the pot when the flop came all hearts (I didn't have the 10h), so we were heads-up. When the turn was another heart, I knew I was done. Strangely enough, the guy had JJ with no hearts to end my night. Looking back, I played like a total donk and never imagined I would play that way, but I ended up the session down $300 to put a damper on the end of the trip.

I woke up Monday morning and had a $25 restaurant credit, so I went to the breakfast buffet at MGM. It's definitely not one of my favorites, but I wanted to use the voucher. I had to wolf it down because it was almost 11:00 and I needed to checkout and get to the airport. I finished eating and then went to the poker room to arrange my $40 discounted room rates for Friday and Saturday nights. After the guy took my players card and left for about 10 minutes, he finally came back and said I couldn't get the rate because my rate was already too low. I booked the room using a link I found at FatWallet.com, which has a Vegas hotel deals thread. I wasn't too happy about this because they always took off the $40 in the past for the weekend nights regardless of how I booked it. I booked the same promotion back in April and they took it off with no problems. I told him this, but he wouldn't budge. I got to the airport and was greeted with an insane security line. All in all, it wasn't a good ending to an otherwise great trip. I had a great time and ended up ahead around $300, but it would've been better if I had been more patient. Next time, maybe I'll stay at the Wynn on their poker room rate. Hope you enjoyed this report!