I’ve been meaning to write the rest of this up, but haven’t gotten around to it.

After seeing Dennis Miller, we headed to the Bellagio to try to play some poker. It was way too crowded, so we went back to the Mirage instead. The wait there would be a little shorter, and give us time to eat. According to Poker Journal, I finally got seated at around 1:30am. It would be yet another losing session, but could have been much worse. No really bad beat stories from this one. The first three times I got KK, and ace flopped (and I got away cheap). I won the fourth time. The fifth time, the board showed an 8 high straight, so I split the pot. One hand I lost (and I was beat the whole way) was interesting. I was dealt 9♦6♦ in the big blind. No raise, so I check. Flop comes K♦J♦x. I check, and call with my flush draw. Turn is the A♦. At this point, to beat me, someone needs either the Q♦ or T♦, and another diamond. I check, the woman to my left bets, it folds to me. I raise. She raises back, so I just call. River is a blank, and I bet out again. She raises me again, so I figure I’m beat, and just call. She turns over both cards needed to beat me, for the royal flush. It always feels good to checkraise a royal flush.

By 4am or so, I had bought in for my fourth hundred (one hundred at a time). This session wasn’t going well, but I don’t think I was really doing anything wrong. The table was good, and if I had been getting cards, I could have really made out well. The table finally broke, and we combined with another one. My luck finally started to turn around. Over the next 7 hours, I got pocket aces seven times, and it held up every single time. I got Q9o in the big blind, flop 9 high, turn 9, river 9, and I get raised on the end with three callers calling my reraise back (they all had a 7 to match the second highest card on the board). I had a bunch of other good hands, and finished the session only down $49 after having to buy in for $400. I was actually pretty happy with that.

At 11am, I headed back to the hotel to checkout, and then to the Bellagio to get some playing in there. I finally get a seat at a 4/8 table, where I promptly lost $150. Well, it took about four hours, and the one bad beat that I’ll talk about. I was, of course, dealt aces, under the gun. I raise, the big blind raises back, and we end up capping it with a whole bunch of callers. I figure the only way I’m going to win is to hit my ace. I do. Flop comes A♣, another club, and a rag. The big blind bets, and I raise. Too many callers. The turn is another club, but I bet out anyway. Again, too many callers, but no one raised me, so I figure I still have the best hand. The river, unfortunately, is another club. I check, and fold my set of aces to a bet. The winner turns over J8o, with the J♣, for no pair and no draw on the flop, and only third nut flush draw on the turn. He had called a preflop cap with J8o. The big blind, btw, had AK, and thought he was in good shape when the ace flopped. He stayed in until the river as well, and folded on the fourth club.

Normally, I would suck up the bad beat, tell the guy “nice hand”, and very much enjoy continuing to play with him. Unfortunately, he immediately stood up and left the table, which really pissed me off. It pissed me off until I found out he left because he thought his name was called for 8/16 when it actually wasn’t, and he seat was immediately taken by someone else, so he was left without a seat. I guess that was acceptable, but I still would have much rathered he was still sitting at my table (and I was getting cards).

At around 7, we left the Bellagio and started the drive back to California.

That’s it for my trip to Vegas. I wish there was something more interesting to say, but really, all I did was play poker. I have a lot to say about my online poker since, but that’ll have to wait until another time.

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