I left work Friday, and headed straight for Vegas. Well, I stopped in LA first to pick up a friend, and then to Vegas. Just one quick stop for good and gas (cheap, at $2.45/gallon for premium!) on the way there. We showed up at around 12:30am, checked into our dump of a hotel (the Nevada Hotel and Casino; it’s worse than that picture looks, but cheap), and headed right across the street to the Golden Nugget for some poker. I wasn’t planning on spending much time in the hotel anyway.

Not much of interest happened during my first poker session (ever!) in Vegas. Playing 4/8, I wasn’t getting anything playable for a while, and was down around $90 when I hit a few hands in a row. Finished the session +$71. Some pros were playing at another table while I was there, and from what I heard it was up to $4000/$8000 by the time I left. My winnings don’t seem that impressive. Around 4am Saturday morning, I went to sleep, for 6 hours. That was the last sleep I would get until I was back in California.

Saturday, I played at the Mirage (3/6). Only one interesting hand to talk about here. I’m dealt KK UTG, raise, and get a few callers. Flop comes AQx, and for some reason, I bet. The button raises. I call, figuring if I hit, I’ll get paid off well. Well, I hit. Turn is a K, but puts three spades out there. I check and call. The river another Q, and I bet. A few callers, and the button raises. I raise back, people call in the middle, and the button calls. I show my kings, callers in the middle muck, and the button shows AQ. I probably shouldn’t have bet or called on the flop, but things worked out for me. I finished the session +$110, but it would unfortunately be my last winning session of the weekend.

We headed over to the Hilton to see the new Star Trek Experience (yeah, geek), and also saw Dennis Miller. The Star Trek thing was pretty cool, though the original one (which they still have there) was better than the new one. It used to be you pay once to see the first one as many times as you want during the day. Now, it’s one price to see both of them once. Dennis Miller was funny, though I don’t agree with most of his politics. He was surprisingly pro-Bush. The guy who opened for him was pretty good, too.

While waiting for the show, I played some 3/6 at the Circus Circus, down the street from the Hilton. They have a different game structure: only one big blind, no small blind. It didn’t really change things too much, but I played terribly while I was there. I think the smoke was getting to me. It didn’t help that I wasn’t hitting any cards at all. I was basically just folding everything and getting bored, and my eyes were bothering me from the smoke.

I was dealt the The Hammer! in early position, and raised. I don’t think I’d raised a hand yet, so I guess that scared a lot of people. I got only one caller (who had position on me). Flop was no help. Check, check. Turn was a 2! I could feel that I was going to win. I checked, and called a bet. River… 7! I bet, get called, and proudly turn over my 72o. It held up (the caller had KT, for second pair on the flop). Unfortunately, I never caught another hand, so showing down with that didn’t help me at all. Finished that session down… enough.

That’s all for now… the rest later. The WSOP main event is down to 30 (or less). You can get good updates at Gutshot, and watch an online simulcast of the final table tomorrow at Gutshot or PokerStars.

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