Vegas Nov 25-29

I made my 2nd trip to Las Vegas from Sunday, Nov. 25th thru Thursday, Nov. 29th. First bad beat of the trip was the flight arriving from Las Vegas into Peoria, IL, was late, so the return flight was late. Landed in Las Vegas at 10:30 local time, 12:30 to my body. After a wait to de-board the plane(was in row 32 of 36 or so), I made the trek to baggage claim. I should have gone with my original thought of only taking a carry-on. After waiting another 25 minutes, luggage finally starting showing up. Mine was one of the first ones out, so that helped. Made my way to the outside and got a taxi. Driver asks my destination, I say Bally’s, he asks how I want to go, I say “no tunnel”, he smiles, says “no tunnel? Ok” and off we go. Fare was $15.90, gave him a $20. Appreciated him not arguing about no tunnel. Got checked in, and found my room at about midnight. Got situated and was in the Bally’s room around 12:15. Played for about 4 hours, putting me awake for roughly 20-22 hours. Lost 2 buy-ins, no hands of note, just couldn’t get anything going and was too tired at the end.

Slept awhile, woke up, and got ready to do it again. Headed to Treasure Island for the 2pm tournament. Had a salad for lunch at Canter Deli. Played a double double diamond quarter slot to kill time, hit a $120 spin, cashed out up $75. Paid for lunch and the tournament, so I was freerolling. The 2pm had a $1000 guarantee, and we only had 19 runners. $260 overlay. Took it down for $500 first place prize. Met Dmuzio from AVP. He was a great dealer, much fun, and really knew how to have fun with everyone. Interesting note: Heads-up, I offered a chop. The other player said no, he had too many chips. He may have had me covered 3-2. Not long into heads-up play, I get Kh4h in the small blind. I raise, he shoves, I decide to call as I am ready to go out and have fun. I’m on vacation after all, and 2nd place was $300. He shows AK, I river a flush. He’s a shortstack now. Very next hand he shoves, I call with AK, he shows KQ and I hold to win the tournament. I go back to my room to freshen up and head to the Flamingo for the splash pot promo. I’ve never played a splash pot promo and wanted to check it out. Grrouchie from AVP heads over to meet up. We get seated, and shortly after he gets a table change to my table. Before he got there, we had a pot splashed. $100 added, a raise to $25 pre-flop called 7 ways(including my 3-3) and the winner ends up being a flopped set of 4’s who ends up with a $550 pot. I tangle with Grrouchie a little as we always seemed to have good hands at the same time. He doubles up thru me with top set of Q’s to my KQ that I can’t get away from. He leaves shortly thereafter, and, after having mentioned to him that I haven’t hit a high hand while in Vegas on either trip, I flop quad 9’s, and win a small pot plus a $50 HH bonus. I end up down 2 buy-ins when my flopped trip 4’s lose to a 2-outer as my opponent with pocket 9’s rivers the 9. I go back to Bally’s, play a little, win about $50, and head to my room at about 4am.

I get up and grab some breakfast from the sidewalk café brunch, and head to ARIA for the 1pm tournament. Having never been there(it was still being built during my last trip) this place is incredible!! Registered for the tournament, played some slots to kill time, and lost $45. Settled into the tournament, and started slowly, playing very tight. My first all-in was with J-J. I don’t remember stack sizes but there was a pre-flop raise from an aggressive player, and I re-raised from the SB. He calls. Flop is Qd-8d-10c. I check, he bets, I call. Turn is a small diamond, giving me the straight draw, flush draw, and possibly the best hand at the moment. He checks out of turning, claiming he thought I checked. Pot is about 10k, I have about 9k behind. I push all-in, and he calls with A-A. The river is the Ad, giving me the flush and a suckout win. I had him covered and win my first all-in. I didn’t know it at the time but had 14 outs to win. The tournament progresses, and I make the first break, and then the second. Had 44,725 at 2nd break, with 60 left. Average was 19,667. 12 spots got paid. By this time Grrouchie is railing me thru text message as my phone service wasn’t connecting to twitter, so he was tweeting what I was texting. At the third break, I was at 54,400, with an average of 45,385 and 26 left. At the end of that level(level 10) there were 20 left. We lost 2 players, and I was card dead for nearly 2 levels. Was down to about 10 big blinds. Shoved twice and won blinds and antes. 2 more were knocked out, taking us down to 16. I get A-9, still relatively short, and shove. BB(large stack) calls with JJ. Flop is A-8-9, turn is 7 making me sweat, river is harmless and I double. I now have over 120k. At the 4th break we are down to 13 and about to start hand-for hand. I have 112k, with blinds at 500/3K/6K. Shortly after we start, I limp with 5-5. SB has enough to call, BB checks, and we see the flop. We check it down and my 5’s hold to bust the bubble. We lose a couple, are down to 11, I get pocket Aces on the button. It folds to me, I raise, SB folds, BB shoves, I snap call and hold against his K-10. In the money and at the final table, I try to not to get crazy. Re-raise a player with 10-10, he shoves, I fold and he shows Aces. We lose 2 more players to get down to 8. I take out a player with A-9 against 7-7 and we are down to 7. Someone talks chop. 6 of us agree, for $1300 apiece, but there is 1 holdout. We keep playing, and I take out the next player who is all-in for less than the BB. With 6 left, I raise and have to fold to a re-raise(and get shown a better hand again!!) and am slightly below average chips. I get AK, and there is a raise from chip leader who is UTG. I re-raise, it folds to UTG. Qs is exposed by one of the players who folds. UTG shoves, I snap-call, and he shows AQ. He missed the Q being exposed, and the announcement of it, while messing with his Ipod. I double and am now over 400K. I get 9’s UTG, and fold. I know this is a tight play, but I wasn’t sure how best to proceed at that point and that was my decision. There is an all-in and a call. All in has KQ, caller has 10’s. Flop has 2 K’s, caller hits running spades for 4 card flush. At 5 handed, even tho I’m the chipleader, I re-open chop discussion. We had been playing for 8.5 hours, and I was ready to get out and enjoy my vacation. We did a 5-way chop for $1877 apiece. I may have lost money there, but it was better than third place money, and there were no real short stacks, so 1 hand could have made a huge swing. Went back to the room and got ready for more cash.

Lost 3 buy-ins at ARIA.  Next day, Wednesday, I play the 11am at the Mirage.  Manage to lose nearly half the chips on the 2nd hand, when A-K is cracked by 5-5 on a flop of A-2-4.  He called my bets all the way and hit the 3 on the river.  Made a comeback and chopped  5 ways for $305.  Will post about cash games Wednesday night later, and Thursday I leave.