I was doing ok at the tables in Vegas. Was up a little in NL at Bellagio and Caesars... then I went over to the Venetian and lost it all :( Couple of rough spots and a poorly played QQ on my part cost me my roll in Vegas (I only brought $500 to play poker, and it went bye bye in that one session.) All in all I was ok with my play, the hand that I went out on I played correctly, just bad luck. I lost about $100 when I played my QQ horribly pre and post flop. Oh well.

I went to the Rio and took a look at the WSOP for the very first time. It's true what they say, it is damn cold in the poker rooms at the Rio. So many tables and people walking around and watching professional players. I saw several players at the Rio play in either a tournament or side game, the list including: Phil Hellmuth, Jennifer Harman, and Eric Seidel to name a few.

At the Bellagio poker room I saw several top pros, Sammy Farha, Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Freddy Deeb, Toto Leonidas, and Internet pro Brian Townsend. Pretty cool to play in the same poker room as all these great players (next goal will be to play in the exact same game as them :)

After the trip though, I came to the conclusion that I really like poker, but just have really been dreading the grind online that I do when I play on Full Tilt. I think I am going to stop playing poker online for quite a while. I think it may be a good thing for me. I have a friend that is going to help me cash out on Full Tilt (since I never set up my ePassporte account).

I don't think I will leave any money on Full Tilt (not even enough for a few tournaments.) I need to find a new hobby, one that isn't such a grind but can still make me money. Any ideas?

I leave for Vegas tomorrow afternoon. Wish me luck at the tables. I will mostly be playing at Caesar's and MGM, and possibly at the Bellagio.

Booyakasha. Profit $165 in about 3.5 hours. I was actually up $400 at one point in the night, but then I had these three poopy hands happen:

I am in the SB with AK. UTG+1 raises to 12 (standard for the table). Three callers (once again, standard for any raise, hahaha), and I call from the SB. Five to the flop, $60 or so in the pot. Flop is K93. I check (pretty sure I had the original raiser beat, so I wanted him to bet, maybe get a couple of callers, then reraise), original raiser bets $20, fold fold, ALL IN by the guy on my right. WTF. He is all in for about $120 or so, and I have about $240 in front of me at this point. Oooh what a predicament. Now I wish I had bet out :( Anyways, after about thirty seconds of evaluation I finally fold, and the original raiser quick calls with KJ. Guy to my right has 93o, yes, he hit two pair on that flop of K93. 93 wins the pot and I am feeling good that I layed that hand down.

Next hand was one that I should not have been in, but oh well. Mid position raises it to 12, two callers, and I am in the BB with JQs. I call (for shits and giggles.) Flop is J44. I check, raises bets like $15 into $55, one caller, I reraise to $45. Original raiser thinks for about 1 minute, then finally mucks. As the raiser was thinking, the guy that called the $15 to my right was acting like he was going to muck his cards. I thought that was very out of line. So after the original raiser mucks his cards, the guy that was pretending to muck his cards goes all in for $145 total. HAHA. Do you have a 4 mister?!?!?!? I THINK SOOOOO. I muck after a brief deliberation and he shows 45. NO SHIT SHERLOCK.

This was my third to last hand of the night. I am on the button with 99. Mid position raises to 12, two callers, and I call with 99 in position. Four players to the flop. Flop is 789. Sweet, but not really. Original raiser bets $15 into 40. Both other players call. I call as well (not going to get too involved with that scary board, but also top set I think is too strong to fold here. I probably should have raised it, but I was playing very cautiously at this table.) Turn is a 5. So 7895. Original raiser bets $35 into 100. Other two players fold... HUH??? Ok, now I think I might actually have the best hand, since he was the preflop raiser, would he really have 66 or A6??? Honestly, I thought he MIGHT have TJ, so I decided to just call the turn bet. River comes a 6. So 78956. He checks, and naturally I check right behind. He shows TT and takes it down. ROFL! Although, in the end, I did save myself some money, since he would have surely called me if I pushed all in (he even said he would of). In any case, I still think I misplayed this hand. I actually like a raise on the turn more so than the flop, I think I had much more information after the turn bet and players folding than I did on the flop. In any case, I only lost like $50 or so on that hand so I wasn't too bummed.

All in all a great warm up session for Vegas. Vegas, here I come.

I am going to the casino in Oklahoma tomorrow. I leave for Vegas this Sunday, June 17th and will be there until Wednesday, June 20th. I wanted to go to the Oklahoma casino as a little "warm up" for the fishy in Vegas right now. I'll blog about my experience tomorrow before my Vegas trip.

I was busy looking for a car these past few weeks. I finally found one I liked. I got a 2003 Honda CRV, used, with 48k miles on it. Not too shabby. Once I found the car, I was able to play some poker.

I have started to play the $50 NL 6max tables on Full Tilt Poker. I am learning, but it has been a tough go so far. I am up at the tables, but I have made some incredibly awful calls the past week or so that have cost me quite a bit. Live and learn I suppose.