Aug 1st Saturday:

So I head to the airport early sat morning hoping to get my favorite parking spot, but unfortunately its raining, so I figure I’m going to have to use Thrifty parking, which takes longer. When I get 5 mins from the airport I notice it stops raining, so I decide to high tail it to my Fav parking spot. I get super lucky and find a spot literally 100 ft from my terminal, good sign for the trip.

Arrive in Vegas at 8:00, get luggage and arrive at Luxor around 8:40ish. Can’t check in until 11 so I check my baggage and decide to go jump into the nearest 1-2 NL.

Sit at the table and buy in for $200, first hand AJs. 2 limpers and I raise $15 in position and get 1 caller. Flop is AQ10, Guy in front of me raises $20 so I just call to keep pot small, I don’t like building a pot when I only have 1 pair and no read on anyone. Turn is a blank, 4. He bets $20, I call. River is a J, he bets big $50. I think and think but what can he have that has a K in the hand, besides AK or KJ? KJ would not have raised the flop, right? IDK but I can’t find a way to fold, so I call. He has A7off, had I been at this table a while I would have known this to be an easier call, this guy was a Donkey, but gets very lucky in a little bit.

So I’m up $100 first hand, not bad. So a guy from other side of table moves to my side because he swears that he has an unlucky seat, we will call him “SF Guy”. He moves with about $120.

My second hand, KK, I raise $15 in position and SF guy calls from BB. Flop comes K high, he checks, I check, hoping he hits something. Turn is a beautiful Ace, now I’m sure he has hit something. He bets $25 I call I want to get his entire stack before the end of this hand. River is a Q. he bets $35, I re-raise him all-in. He calls with AQ. Tuff break for him but not much he can do there.

He re-buys $200, and within an orbit comes a very interesting hand. Flop is J104 all spades. SF guy and another player get it all-in on the flop. SF guy has k9s, other player has a7s. SF guy can’t believe his luck and starts to get up, I say “at least you have 1 out”, which he didn’t notice. 1 ms after I say those word the dealer turns the Qs, for the strait flush, thus he becomes known as SF guy. LMAO he gets a $450 pot and $200 bonus high hand. Other guy looks like he just threw up in his mouth.

Less then 1 orbit later another player at the table makes a 2 carded strait flush. What are the odds of seeing two SF’s within the first hour in vegas?

Then my bad luck hand happens, I’m hitting cards so much I knew I was bout to get screwed. So I get AA UTG and decide to try and just limp and pray for a raise. Then this old guy, who I have seen in other Vegas trips, let’s call him a “Regular”, Raises $20 (250 behind). I know he has a hand that will call my re-raise, he has kk, qq, jj, because those are the only hands he would raise with, he limps with just about every other hand in the deck.
Then the Donkey guy from first hand calls the $20( 300ish behind). I decide that I know I will get the regular to call if I shove for $500, so I do, covering them both. Regular calls, Donkey guy thinks for long time and calls. Regular has KK, donkey guy AJD, wouldn’t you guess it, 3 diamonds come out. Just my luck, within 2 hrs of arriving I get it all-in pre-flop on a $800 pot with AA and lose. ARG Within the next hour Donkey guy loses his entire stack, which makes me want to puke because I don’t get any of it.

Interesting hand, on board of k1084 two hearts, I have K10. I make a bet, dealer isn’t paying attention, and turns the river, before two other players make a decisions, and turns the 9H for the river. Horrible card for m, it puts out straits and flushes, I protest, he calls floor. They decide to reshuffle card back into deck. Other players are pissed; one made a strait and other a flush. They both fold.

I’m down to $150, but I start to hit the deck like crazy, flushes and small straits. I left a lot of money on this table when I made to small of value bets on my made hands, I end up regretting this latter in the trip when I run bad.

One more very interesting hand, I have KJh. 4 people in the hand.
Flop is k104, two hearts. SF guy bets $15, other two call, I decide just to call. Turn is an off A. bad card for me, SF bets $20, other two call, and I call. River is A of hearts. SF guy Bets $100, 2nd guy re-raises $230 all-in, 3rd guy re-raises $375 all in. I think to myself, but I know somebody has a Boat, so I fold the nut flush. SF guy calls. SF Guy has a10, 2nds guy has a weaker flush then me, 3rd guy has A10 also. They split the pot.
I’m proud of myself for folding, but it was pretty obvious I was behind.

I notice its 11 and decide to go check in and head over to Harrah’s for the deep stack tourney. I leave the table with $450. $250 profit.

Catch a cab to Harrah’s because it’s getting close to 1 and I couldn’t walk it in time. Then I get my first sign of the day that I should have skipped the tourney. My cab driver has to stop and get his map out to find Harrah’s, No joke. I tell him where it is but that’s not enough for him, he has to look it up, then he decides to take the strip the whole way, the strip of course is under construction and backed up like crazy. I look around, and I don’t see a single Cab on the strip, Why? Because they all know how f’ing slow it is. Then when we get close, he try’s to drop me of at IP, he said: ”it’s not far from hear” ARG. I decline the offer. Finally I arrive, after a $25 toll.

I Buy in for the 1:00 deep stack; while waiting I hear a band outside, I decide to go listen, they sounded pretty good, and had a great stereo setup for an outdoor bar.

Tourney starts, nothing memorable for 3 hrs. Have about 25k when this hand happens. Guy limps from UTG, I have Q9d on button and call. Flop is Q high with two diamonds, checked around to me, I bet $1000. re-raised to $3000. I put him on AA and he limped in UTG. I re-raise all in and have him covered. He calls with KK. I’m slightly favored to win, but the turn and river blank off. I’m down to 15k.

An hour goes by and I’m card dead, get down to 7K. I’m in BB with A10. guy raises from Button to 1800. I go all-in. he calls with KQ and Rivers a Q. I’m out, but I’m glad, and here’s why.
The Harrah’s room needs a remodel really bad. The TV’s suck, you can’t read anything on them, I can’t see levels, we were 15 mins into a level before we found out we were in the wrong level. Old analog Pieces of shit TV’s arg.

Then the seats are the most uncomfortable seats I have EVER sat in. After 5 hrs my back is killing me. Also, the whole room is dark and dreary, and besides the windows on one side of the room it does not attract many tourists. I don’t think the tourney will ever attract many people; there were only 16 people on Saturday. Worst poker room I have ever been in.

I come back to Luxor and play for about 4 more hrs but am card dead and manage to lose around $420. I’m down to $80 and decide I’m not going to re-buy again this night. A new dealer comes to the table, JIM. He says it hasn’t looked like I have won a hand in a while, I tell him the last time I won a hand he was the dealer. Haha. He says that’s about to change. And it sure did. I pick up AJ, and flop is J high. Guy pushes me in, I call. He doesn’t show his hand, I win. Get AJ again, flop is J high, same guy pushes me in again. I call, once again he doesn’t show his hand, and I win. For the rest of the next HR I grind my way back up to breaking even and call it a day.

Day #1 $100 profit

Sunday:

Sit at table with SF guy. Buy in for $150.
First hand I have Q9H on button and limp. SB calls, BB checks. Flop is AQ9 all clubs. SB bets $10, BB calls, I raise to $50. SB thinks and fold, BB min raises me. IDK what he has or how he plays but I decide to go ahead and shove. He calls. He has AA.
SB says he had a small flush. I figure I have made my donkey move of the day. Dealer was nice to me though and ran off two more clubs for a split pot. This was the only suck out of my trip, and the only time I have ever tipped a dealer for splitting a pot.
I felt like a donkey, I hate getting my money in being practically dead.

I grind up to $350. Then comes the big hand. The same guy who had AA in the first hand is my opponent.

I raise with Q10 on button. He just calls from BB.
Flop is AK3. Check, check. Turn is 7. He bets $5 into a $20 pot and then stares at me, I start to think he has a really huge hand, he’s very intensely staring at me, so I decide to try and hit a J and see if I can win a huge pot. River is a Miracle Jack. He checks I bet $30, he goes all-in for $400, and I call. He has AA again. He misplayed this one so bad and I double up to $700.

Then crazy girl sits down, she is truly fearless and reckless. She re-buys about 4 times and then manages to go on a suck out stretch of 3 hands, kqvsqq, 1010vskk and A8vskk. All-in pre-flop on all those hands. She now has a stack of around $600. The thing about her is, if she raises pre-flop, she never folds.

Interesting hand on the 1010vskk. The player with KK is “Vegas Kid.”
Flop came 3 clubs, and he had the K clubs, so Crazy girl had to get the last non-club 10 in the deck, Guess what comes on the River, LMAO

I meet “Vegas kid” on Sunday evening; He is a young guy who has just moved to Vegas to try to live off of poker. He has some cracks in his game, like being a little mouthy, which is ok, sometimes it Tilts people. But he also will drink too much sometimes. I will talk more about Vegas kid as the trip progresses. At this table he is seated right to my left, and we converse for the rest of the night at the table. Laughing and having a good old time. Oh and He’s one lucky SOB I see him get it all-in with bottom two vs top two and he hits his two outer for a boat. Another day he gets it all in with qqvs77 on a j107 flop and hits a q on the river. Besides these suck out’s he seems to hit a set every other time he gets a pocket pair, which starts a conversation up between the two of us on how many pocket pairs we get before we hit a set. I get up to 36 PP over the course of the next two days before I hit my first set, and only make $20. Then I got 17 more PP’s tell the end of my trip without any sets. So if you count the first days KK that’s 2/54 and those are just the ones I counted. I’m Unlucky I guess. Vegas kid gets a set every orbit, I’m not kidding, he even managed to hit set over set vs a huge stack for a $900 pot. At no point in the trip does his PP count get above 5 before he hits a set.

Later, I get AJ, Crazy girl raises pre-flop $15, and I call. Flop is J74 rainbow. I bet $20 first hoping to slow her down, she re-raises me to $40, and I call. Turn is a 10. She goes all in for $600. I just knew I was ahead but I just couldn’t bring myself to call her, because I had $700ish. I fold showing AJ, she shows AK. LMAO Oh well. I decided to try and pick a better spot to trap her but she was busted within the hour. I just don’t have the balls to shove for $700 on one pair; with my luck she would have hit a k or q anyways. I wish my stack would have been around $200 or less when this hand happened.

A little later this hand happens.
UTG P1 has $80, P2 has about $400, I have $ 800 and P3 has about $180 from BB. Everyone limps. Flop is 235 two spades. I have A9 spades. On that flop P1 bets $25 P2 re-raises $50, I call, P3 re-raises all in $180. P1 calls, P2 thinks for long time and goes all-in for $400. With strait and flush draws I’m coin flipping about any hand so I call. P3 yells “pair the board”. Turn is 3s and river is a 8. I have the nut flush. P3 makes a boat. P2 and P1 don’t show. I make a small profit in the hand but not much.

I decide to call it a night up around $600

Profit: $600

Monday:

I have classes most of the day Monday so I don’t get to poker until 5:00.

They start a new table of 1-2 NL and wouldn’t you know it, Vegas kid is there. We sit next to each other so we can snicker at peoples play and have some fun.

I buy in for $200 which was kind of dumb because nobody on the table buys in for more then $80.

There is this hyperactive ADD guy at our table, he talks 100MPH and moves his hands around 100MPH. You would think he’s on speed or something, just crazy acting. The first hand I get AQd. Raise to $15, ADD says “I shouldn’t call” but he does. Flop comes QJJ, I bet $25. He re-raises his last $40. I decided I just can’t fold because I don’t know anything about this kid, he may very well just be crazy, he’s been acting like an idiot the whole 5 mins I have seen him. I call and he turns over j5 off. ARG

Oh well, next hand he cracks Vegas kids KK with J4d, making a flush on the river.

Within the next hr this hand happens. UTG limps. Button raises to $15. I’m in bb and look down at AA. I Re-raise to $80, the limper calls as does the Button. I don’t rem the flop but it had two spades. I bet $90. Limper then shoves for $60 more. Button folds. I call knowing he’s on the flush draw, he turns over 86s. WTF do I have to raise pre-flop to get people to fold shitty ass hands pre-flop???? Of course he rivers a flush.

So far this trip I have had AA twice, all-in pre-flop for $800, cracked. With AJd.
2nds time I Raise a guy 1/3 his stack pre-flop and he calls with 86s, and cracks me.
Bad luck I guess, what else can you do?

After this run of bad luck I start a little Mini rush of good cards, and just cards that hit.
KK,JJ,JJ,KK,AK,A10c makes flush, AJd makes flush. I recover from the bad start and make about $80. Then the table dies and Vegas kid convinces me to leave and go to PH with him. I have never been there and agree to go, although I can’t stay late because I have classes in the morning.

I love the PH room, its right in the middle of the casino, attracts lots of tourists, and there’s lots of nice scenery. It’s just a generally fun atmosphere. Oh and they have a tall skinny dealer that is hilarious.

Vegas kid starts drinking and gets loud and embarrassing and basically try’s to insult everyone at the table.
Buy in for $200, I play my game for about an hour not hitting anything and get down to about $140. At this point Vegas kid is so loud that even I am getting embarrassed for being with him. So I decide I’m going to switch gears and become hyper aggressive and either lose and leave, or double up and leave.

Next hand Cutoff raises $15, he’s a DB (Douche Bag), he doesn’t like me because the last few time he has raised I have been steeling his position by calling behind him, most of the time I have had good hands though. So of course I call this time with 910s lol. Then BB re-raises to $35, this guy has been trying to make moves all night with nothing, He’s been a loud mouth asshole too, him and his two buddies at the end of the table have been ganging up to take pots, they all three call any raise and try to crack peoples hands, then once everyone but the three of them has folded they check it down.. I know he’s making a move here, so when DB calls, and then stares me down, I Call. Which sets the DB off; he thinks I should have folded. I decide that if I hit this flop at all I’m shoving it.

Flop is 923. BB raises $120. DB stares at me but I make it clear I’m calling by putting my chips right out there like I’m going to call, I wanted him to fold. So he folds. I call. I decide not to show unless I win; I want to see this Assholes hand. Turn is an 8, river is a 9. I know I have it but I’m not showing until he does

He shows 86off, which was exactly what I expected he had; he thinks he might have won since I haven’t turned my cards over immediately. I then kindly show my 910. Asshole mutters some choice words and how he’s going to bust me. All the while Vegas kid is jumping around all Crazy like a drunken guy usually does, because I called all-in with 109s and won. He’s jumping all around like it’s a $100k pot I just won or something, it was funny, and helps tilt the Asshole even more.
DB goes on tilt because I was playing 910s, he then proceeds to get into a fight with Vegas Kid about how good of a poker player Gavin Smith. It was the most hilarious conversation I ever heard, DB guy finally leaves.

I decided I’m going to play one more orbit until the BB reaches me. On my final hand I pick up AKd and raise to $20. The three assholes at the end of the table call me, and whisper amongst themselves, I know there trying to play team poker and crack my hand.
Flop comes 9 high. I check, one of them bets $25 and they all call, I decided to call. Turn is a K, one of them bets $35 I re-raise to $120, and they all fold. They mutter some more about how there going to bust me; I pick up my chips and leave. I guess I got the last word.

I make about $270 profit
$350 profit for the day.

Tuesday:
Poker was terrible, I was card dead, and missing every good hand I had. One hand I had an open ended SF draw, with two over cards. 21 outs, %84 percent, but don’t get there.

On this night it didn’t matter what I had, somebody had better. I had bottom two on flop, somebody had top two. I have top and bottom, somebody had top two. I managed to somehow not get it all-in on any of those hands and instead just slowly lose $350 across 5 hrs.

One interesting hand, I have 67s on button. Flop is A67. SB bets $10, 1 other person calls, I decide to find out if I’m ahead and re-raise to $40. SB re-raises to $110. Other guy calls my $40 raise before he realizes the SB has re-raises to $110. He decided he wants to fold, but the dealer makes him keep his $40 in the pot, so he then decides to call, putting him all-in. I fold my bottom two pair, showing the table. SB says he can’t believe I folded two pair with the way this table has been playing, but he shows A7 for top two. Other guys has A9, the turn is a 9, giving the other guy top two. But then the river is the last 7 in the deck lmao. I sure am glad I re-raised because I would have never been able to fold after that river.

My final hand of the night I get 99 on button, I raise to $12, BB calls and one other. Flop comes 8 high, checked to me, I bet $20. BB re-raises me my last $65. I call, and BB has 86off and just top pair, but of course the river brings a 6.

Profit: $-350

Wednesday: Final night

My luck from Tuesday carried over, except tonight I would get it all-in with the best hand, and lose on the turn or river. I can’t tell you how many hands I had top pair top kicker vs top pair worse kicker and my opponent rivered his second pair.
Or like the time the Asian dude got frustrated and decided to shove his last $80 with k9 and I called with AK and he hits two 9’s. Or when I turn the k high flush and bet it and get re-raised all-in and he has the Ad and hits another diamond to make the Ace high flush. Finally after at least 5 suck outs I’m down to $100 and decide I’m done re-buying.

Final hand AK, I have $100. I bet $20 from the button and get two callers. Flop is k97 checked to me, I bet $25 and get re-raised my last $55. I call and he has 77. This was the only hand of the night that I got my money in with the worst hand, yet somehow manage to lose $400 for the night.

Profit: $-400
Total trip profit: $300

Well the trip was fun this year, I made a small profit, although I felt the cards were very unkind to me. Out of 54 pocket pairs I only flopped 2 Sets.
I got 1 suck out during this trip for a split pot, and although I didn’t count I would say I got sucked out after getting it all in with the best of it no less then 10 times.
The $800 pre-flop all-in bet with AA loses to AJd, has haunted my dreams for the last two weeks. Oh well that’s poker I guess, at least I had fun.