So, last time we talked about how I ran bad in more than just Poker, from missing my flight to getting locked out of my room in my underwear. The second half of the story is more Poker-heavy, but still not very cheerful.

I awoke from my slumber to find my roommates had returned, and we were all now hungry. The consensus became to go to the Caesar's buffet, since we had a coupon and one of my buddies has never seen the Caesar's Poker Room (which, construction-wise, is by far my favorite room in Vegas). The buffet was actually quite good, one of the high points of the trip, and afterward, we headed into the Poker Room.

I have always been a fan of Caesar's for its layout. The Poker Room is down a long hallway, completely secluded from the noise and smoke of the rest of the casino, and it's huge (although most of the area is for tournaments). I ended up playing some $1/$3 NL, which was highly uneventful. I won the most money with the worst hand I chose to raise, , and ended up stacking a short stack when I flopped top two and turned the nut full. Other than that, got pretty much no cards. Never got AA/KK, never flopped a set, flopped the nut straight in a 6-way pot, but got no action on my flop bet when everyone checked to me. I wish I'd PM'd raisebot before the trip so we could have met up... I will remember to do that next time. Also, I think I'd want to play a tournament at Caesar's sometime. Everyone raves about them.

Anyway, I stayed in that game way too long, losing a total of $46 after many hours of grinding away. I know how to play short stack NL decently, but quite honestly, it is like watching paint dry, and I don't have the roll to play deepstacked live. Hence why I said I should stick to the limit games.

My buddies had left to go to Bellagio earlier, but I didn't go on principle... I hate the Bellagio Poker Room. It's cramped, the staff is rude, and they still use a ridiculous pen and paper system instead of an electronic board like every other casino. Anyway, I decided to go just to chill with them, and see if there were any pros playing high stakes over there. By the time I got to the Poker room, however, I looked at my phone and realized they'd texted me, telling me they'd gone to Venetian (which, if you don't know, is in the opposite direction from Caesar's). Great, an unnecessary trip to Bellagio, which I didn't realize was about to be capped off when a small child vomited on me from behind. Wonderful. Can this trip get any better? It wasn't as bad as it could have been, but is did mean a trip back to the room in IP to hose off and change shirts before heading to Venetian.

By this point, it was about 7 hours before my flight, but I was not tired in the slightest, and I figured it would be better to stay up all night rather than take a short nap and wreck myself. Besides, I was determined to have a winning session on this trip.

I love the Venetian Poker Room. It has a good location, friendly staff, and good game selection. I was pleased to find they were running a $4/$8 O8 game with a half kill. I sat down, and didn't play well at first, but eventually kicked into gear and started winning. I probably missed a few bets here and there, but I was never really on my A-game all weekend. One hand I nearly had a scoop against a retarded player that was wrecked on the river.

Me:
Villain:
Board:

So yeah, on the turn I had top two, the nut low, and a nut flush redraw, and he catches the only Q that can help him. The only way he wins even half the pot is if he gets a 2, 3, 6, or Q, he can't scoop, and he can't get the . Very disappointing, as it was a big pot. Still, I did finally have a winning session and was up a huge $64. Woo-hoo.

When the game broke, I still had time to kill, but instead of being smart and playing $4/$8 limit, I sat down in a $1/$2 NL game with $100. More paint drying. I wasn't making hands, and that game wasn't even all that good. I got stacked when I made a stupid play with AK against a tilted dude. A guy had made it $5 from MP, the tilter called, and I jacked it up to $25 from the button. Both guys called me. The flop was T-7-5 rainbow, and when they checked to me, I shipped for slightly more than pot, representing AA/KK the whole way. Of course, Mr. Tilt called with his 54, turned two pair, and I had to ship it. Dejected, passed by the high stakes room, saw Jamie Gold playing $10/$20 NL, and headed back to my room.

With over an hour until the airport shuttle came, I was in desperate need of food, and I found something resembling food at the Burger King in O'Shea's dump of a casino next to IP. Still upset at being unable to get Chicken Fries the previous morning, I broke down and decided to order there. But let me tell you, the employees there were obviously from the dregs of society--it was like walking into Dante's third level of Hell. The cashier was bug-eyed and unintelligible in his speech, and the manager had a hunch back and a face resembling Willem Dafoe's (the Green Goblin from Spider-Man). The best part was, the guy in front of me ordered his meal to go, but they brought it to him on a tray--when he requested a change, they put his burger in the bag, but 1/3 of his fries spilled onto the tray. Rather than remedy the situation, they simply put the fry box in the bag and dumped the tray fries back into the fry bin! *Shudder* Never again...

By the time I got back to the room and ate what was sure to give me the worst case of the shits later, it was time to pack up and head to the airport. That was finally capped up when I discovered Southwest had tried to bump me from my flight, and I had to talk to about five different people before I could finally get my boarding pass. Other than that, and the disgusting feeling I had on the plane ride home, I was in the clear.

So yeah, it wasn't the best trip. I did, however, learn that I don't want to live in a Vegas hotel for a month during the series and grind it out with miserable SOB's for twelve hours a day. It really is not glamorous. It's kinda pathetic, really.

Flight: $200
Hotel: $80
O8 at Mirage: -$240
Craps: -$60
NL Caesar's: -$46
O8 Venetian: +$64
NL Venetian: -$100
Total cost to me: $662

Getting my ass handed to me courtesy of the fine city of Las Vegas: Priceless.