Poker, 'O', Grand Canyon and a change in fortunes!

I've finally stopped dwelling over my $1080 pot!!

I played a $120 tournament in the Venetian the next evening and was very pleased with the depth of the tournament and the quality of the opposition...it was the type of game where it is possible to make plays and get credit but also get value from hands....the sort where you feel like you can control your opposition to some extent and people make a stand by calling instead of re-raising. I busted after the break shoving top pair into a pot-sized donk bet by the big blind that I hated but shoved on and ran in to an overpair. I made around that money back at cash that evening but wasn't playing that well...the first fishy table had led me to make too many bad, gambly calls pre that weren't connecting. I then lost 2 BI at the Bellagio, largely due to having a tough table, missing everything, getting moved on on every one of my bluffs and being shit at cash! I think the fact that I may have had my sunglasses behind my cards showing the reflection of what I had for an hour before I realised what a retard I was contributed to that loss!!

So, $600 down for the trip, no means a bad thing but not what I wanted, I played a little online and won around $300...I decided to go the Venetian cash tables, standardise all my actions, chuck on the shades and make a proper go of it...now I don't know if I gave away a million tells, or if my eyes said exactly what I had, but since then I have been running sick.

I made $450 playing cash, playing solid aggressive poker and that was including checking behind what may have been the second nuts thinking that he had a flush which Isaac informs me wasn't actually out...downside to the sunglasses I guess!!

Then I came 4/97 in the $120 Venetian 7pm, building a stack early after Pteveying it up to 1350 from the SB with 57cc vs a 300 raise and 2 flats (blinds 50/100) and growing some making it 2525 on a QJx board and getting two folds! I kept picking my spots and never really put my stack and risk, and picked up the unwanted chips when I could. The final table arrived before long and I steadily stayed around 10-12-15BB, which was average at the time. With 4 left, talks of a deal had been suggested but I was happy to play on...pay arrangements were

1st $3080
2nd $2k ish
3rd $1.3k ish
4th $737

I then had my "ALL IN MOMEMT", reshoving QQ vs a button raise, chucking out the fake shakes as if I was bluffing and after tanking A7ss made the call...he missed the flop and I felt it was my time, but the A on the turn ended my dreams and left me with a 3-figure cash instead of a 4-figure cash. That was the last hand of the tournie after they constructed a deal but I was still happy with the result and no regrets etc.

So, I was finally up for the trip, and cashing out $960 from $200 in the Caesar's Palace game yesterday boosted them figures....the starting table was dreamville and I had hands which got paid off. So far, I'm up on my spending money and hopefully will maintain a winning game and keep running well which I have done. Dreams of living in Vegas for a few months are growing and I am very tempted, these next few days I'll be making enquiries I think and speaking to regs who live there.

In non-poker terms, and poker has only been in the evenings, we have seen the Grand Canyon which was ridic, spent a fair amount of time in the immense pool area and eaten a few nice buffets and checked out downtown and done the Strat. Some people want to leave Vegas after a short amount of time but I love it, and feel home playing poker every evening. We are seeing "O" in the next few evenings which promises to be quality, and the other lads watched Santana the other evening which they enjoyed. We haven't really gambled yet because we are all rocks, but we are going to the 4-8pm Strat drinkfest and having a punt on craps at some point so it's planned hammered gambling...run good one time!

Today we are going to the ESPN zone in New York New York to watch some 9ball, and on Sat we are hanging around the MGM as Mayweather is fighting there...sandwiched in between we will do some shopping at the outlet centRE and maybe catch the beach volleyball at Mandalay Bay as we all follow that sport religiously! Vegas is sick, our hotel is very nice and the food is meaty...all in all I am really enjoying it and want to be out here again soon and maybe for a longer time...DUPS year in Vegas??