I left San Diego on Friday night, and the trip was very different from the start. The plane was early into Vegas. I was scheduled to get in about 8:25, and the plane was about 10-15 minutes early. I went down to backage claim, and it was empty( This is a Friday Halloween night in Vegas correct). The bags were out in 3 minutes, and I headed to the cab line- you guessed it- no line, and I was checking in at the MGM about 5 miutes after I was suppose to land.

I went down and played 1-2NL. As I went to the poker room, the hotel was fairly busy, but nothing over the top. The costumes were really average, and I just came from something where I worked where a lot of people dressed up for Halloween. I ended up playing poker for about 7 hours at MGM that night. It was a good session. I think we got a little traffic from the night club. I ended up about $600 for the session. Basically at the end of the night one guy from Canada was up about $800, and he was calling it a night, and it wasn't wise from me to keep playing without getting some sleep considering I had well over 50% of the chips in play. I was ready to call it a night.

I woke up early on saturday. College football was starting and I decided to jump into another 1-2 NL game. This next session was better than the first. I ended up playing about 7 hours, and made over $900. The highlight was busting a drunk from Mississippi when I was open ended on the flop (I had J-10 and the flop was Q,9,x) and caught the straight on the turn (K), which actually gave him TPTK. At this point in the hand there was all that much in the pot- maybe $60- $70. The river was a blank, and I bet out like $30, he re-raised me to $75, and I then made it $275 to go, as he had about $350 in front of him and I had him covered. I was shocked when he said all-in (Did he actually think he could get me to fold????). I called and fliped over the nuts. The best part was the guy was giving grief to his wife who was playing in the game earlier (They actually played on Friday night as well) about how bad she was playing. As the head played out she was sitting behind him, and her reaction was priceless. They could be seen walking in front of the poker room about 10 minutes and she was giving him all kinds of lip (And rightly so). I was very agressive on Saturday as I had a big stack amd put the pressure on with small raises. I had the perfect table to do this as I was only worried about one opther player and when he was in th hand I behaved. It was the perfect table for this. Great session.

I had dinner at the Burger Bar at Mandalay, and aftwards I played some 2-4NL (I first sat in the 1-2NL game and I actually lost about $100). I was very card dead and played for about 7-8 hours. I had two big hands where I turned a full house and the big stack made a huge overbet to the pot on the river and I caught. He had a smaller full house and was trying to make a move. (That pot was about $800), and the only other pot I had any success was when I had pocket kings, and was about to push out two other players on the turn despite an Ace and a club flush draw being on board. One folded the draw and the other folded AQ. The game at Mandalay plays great, at one point 8 of us had a fair amount over the max-buy in. I ended up being down about $400 for the 2-4 NL session.

As I walked back over to the MGM, I texted LVMichael and he picked me up and we went over the the South Point. After Perry greated us in his Pink shirt and cowboy hat he had two seats available in a juicy (We heard this as we walked into the South Point) 1-2NL. I asked Mike which seat he wanted (Key element to ths story) and he pointed to the end. He also didn't play the first hand as he wanted to chat with Perry (Another key element to the story). Well I get dealt pocket 4's, and the UTG makes it $10. The stacks are fairly deep for a 1-2 game. I call. 2 more callers behind me, and then the big stack makes it $30. Well I bought in for $300, and all 4 of us called. Flop comes J,5,4. No flush draws. 4 checks to the pre-flop raiser and he makes it $200. One player folds, and at this point in time I announce I am all-in. Also at this point LVMichael is walking back to the table and is shocked to see this much action on the first hand despite our warning. The next two players fold, and the raisers calls (He wasn't happy). He had aces. Blank, blank, and I win $390 on the first hand. For the rest of the session the challenge was to stay awake- I think I lost maybe $80 back. ($310 profit).

On Sunday, I went to Bellagio and played a little 2-5NL, and 5-10NL. The room was actually quite dead when I walked into it. It was NOON on a Sunday- 1 (5-10NL game), and 2 (2-5 NL games). Ouch. I played 2-5 NL for about 2 hours and lost $100. After eating at PF Changs, I came back and played 5-10NL. I started off very good and was up $600, but I lost a few pots after that included $380 on a bluff on the button with Q high. Someone straddled pre-flop and got 4 limpers. I made it $100. I got called by one of the limpers. I actually made the mistake of checking the flop when it came K high after he checked. The turn brough another K, and he made it a $100 to go. I actually made it $280, and then he pumped it to $780. I folded. I ended up losing $200 for the 2+ hours I played 5-10NL.

Overall the trip was very good and a much needed break from the grind.