Got into town Wednesday morning and checked into the Wynn(very highbrow but not as cool a place overall as MGM or Mirage); first session was very brief 1-2 no-limit at Wynn wednesday afternoon, finished up 40 bucks. They sat me immediately and game conditions seemed profitable but had to get ready for dinner. After dinner the wife slept, and I headed out on foot. Tried Bally's first b/c so many have said on this site that the players there were so bad; almost immediately sat 1-2 no limit again. I don't think I played a single hand. Several players at my table were obviously knowledgeable and experienced. 1 or 2 seemed clueless and the rest average. As a whole they weren't professionals by any means but far better than what I had been led to expect. Combine this fact with the drought of cards which was just getting started, and I decided to seek better conditions. Moved on to Aladdin and immediately sat down for 1-2 no-limit. Didn't stay long. Lost half my stack with a pair of queens/jack kicker. I was betting it fairly strongly the whole way against two passive callers. Then a five on the river makes a straight possible and one of the callers raises me all-in. I hadn't had time to get a read on anyone, and I had that feeling discussed in "The Tao of Poker" where you just think you're beaten. I decided to fold. I turned my cards over to see if that would gain me some information by his reaction. Then the guy turns and whispers to the player to his right like he'd just put a move on me. I probably did the right thing either way, but it was frustrating. Next hand I wake up with pocket kings. I make it 20 or 25 to go, and one guy calls me. I could tell he had no idea what he was doing b/c every move he made was hesitant. Flop comes Jack high and I bet it the whole way. River comes a 3rd diamond and I go all in. He calls, turns over 9-7 of diamonds, and I'm down to the felt, minus 140 for the session. Rather than re-buy I chose to find a different scene. At this point, I had only seen unplayable cards or 2nd best cards all night. I went to MGM grand, sat 4-8 with half kill. This was a fun game. Good collection of players as far as personalities. And nobody was better than an average player. The pots were pretty large with quite a bit of action. However, I couldn't capitalize b/c the cards just would not cooperate. I steadily went down. Over 3-4 hours, I went down then almost back to even, then down 150 for the session. Now I'm down 250 for the trip and walking back all the way to the Wynn in shame. The next night I sit 4-8 at Wynn. First hand was pocket Aces-winner. Pretty soon I win another nice pot with trip sixes/ace kicker. After that my cards were 2nd best for 2 hours. I'm down 100 or so and it takes me another 2 hours to get back to 9 bucks down for the session. Wisely went to bed then. Next morning back to Wynn 4-8 tables for another crappy card/2nd best card session. I'm starting to think the poker gods hate me as I have seen mostly bad cards in 12-14 hours of play. All the self-righteous poker smarties who drone on about luck not being important can bite me. Over the short run it matters a lot, and my experience proves it. Have to scramble to end up down 44 for this session, over 300 down for the trip. I kill some time in the room (57th floor by the way, unbelievable view of the strip) with a book. Then I walk my way all the way down to Mandalay Bay, like 2.5 miles. Wait 10-15 minutes to get a seat at 4-8 half kill table. Almost all below average players. The blinds are 1 and 2, so you can see more flops cheaply, but strangely the pots were generally not very large. Very passive game, had a few more cards to work with and ended up like 46 bucks. Felt pretty good and headed back to Wynn. After dinner I head to Mirage. Since nothing written on this site about quality of players had proven accurate so far, I decided to test the conditions of the 6-12 game. Better players for sure, but I just felt more conmfortable here. What do you know, I catch a few cards here and after 3 hours I'm up like 251. That is within a few bucks of breaking perfectly even. I'm happy; I go to bed and we fly out the next day with good feelings about Vegas, looking forward to going back.