I played on friday for my first session of my summer goal, it did not go so well. I played for 5 hrs and didnt win a hand over $15 for the first 3 hrs, not such a good start. The first hand I limped from the button with A10. I have $200 opponant has me covered. Flop is A109, the player right in front of me bets $20. I smooth call. Turn is the 9 making the 2nd club, opponant bets $20 again, I raise to $60 he calls. River is 2 hitting the flush, opponant push's all in. I think about it for a while and fold. He shows me 910, uggggg a 2 outter. I'm very happy with my read here, not an easy fold with top 2.

Next hand I am playing J10s in mp, I have $180 or so in front villian has me covered, 2 limpers to me I call. One caller behind me flop is 10109 rainbow. Utg bets $15, one player in front of me calls. I raise to $60, player behind me calls, everyone else folds. Baby card on the turn, total brick. I bet out $75, he thinks and pushes all in. I now have to call, its not that much more to me but I have a bad feeling. He turns over k10. I get very lucky and the board pairs 9's on the river and I chop.

Final hand of the day for me, I have $300 in front of me after my first dececnt pot of the day. I am the co with 45c, raised to $10 from ep, 2 or 3 callers so I call too, Flop is 510A, one club. Utg noe bets out $5, one caller, to me and I call, for $5 I am going to see my draw. Turn is a 4, I now have two pair. PF raiser checks, player 2 bets $30. I call preflop raiser folds, river is another 5. Player 2 bets out $25, I raise to $75, he thinks and calls. he turns over 105o for a bigger boat, no idea why he didnt reraise.

I decided after that that it was time to go, cant win iwth trips or a boat. anyways my Gf was going to be at my house and I needed to get there to let her in. Not a good way to start my summer of poker.

Also, the GF and I are heading to Mamouth Mtn for some camping/hiking so, I'll be back in 3 or 4 days.

I'm back from camping which was a lot of fun. We spent the weekend at great campground just south of Mamouth lakes, beautifull late surrounded by two huge mountain peaks and a rushing stream. We hada a little bit of an adventure the second night with winds gusting somewhere in the 20-40 mph range. Luckily I brought my hardcore mountaineering tent instead of the lightweight summer tent. Every time I was falling back to sleep, a loud burst of wind would hit the tent and wake me up. Overall a very nice trip, but also a reminder of what kind of god awful physical shape I'm in, the altitude really kicked my ass.

So back to my plan of being a poker pro for a month. I went to one of my usual casino's tonight with Mitcheze. The orignal plan was to play the really loose 3/6 O8 game. Along with O8 they were also spreading a 2/4 NL omaha high. This game is infamous at the casino for being loose and crazy. I bought in made the nut flush to get me up to $300. Then I got AA33 suited to one of the A's. I limp from UTG, get a raise to $20 and one caller. I push all in, really just wanting to play heads up. Both players call of course, cant push the idiots off their mediocre hand. My AA was dead as both of my opponants had an A. I flopped 9910 with two of my suit. Made the nut flush on the river. Now up to $700 total. I ended up just winning two pots in 2.5 hrs I was there but made $500 in profit before the game broke. Good start to a new week.

Played at a new casino today, The Village club in Chula vista. Really loose game, started off playing 3/6 O8 but the NL game was so juicy I switched. I made $65 in 5.5hrs, which I ok, I guess, but there were a lot of really bad players at the table and it was a day I could have made a killing. I played with Mitcheze and he did make a killing he too his one $100 buy in and turned it into $700. Looks like we might be going to Vegas this week but not sure

I played really well today, and not to jinx myself but I feel like I have been playing some of my best poker ever. I folded QQ to an all-in raise, and didnt even think twice. I reraised the table maniac;s $9 to $50. The weak tight player counts up his chips and says "$167 all in, lets gamble." It fold back to me and I laughed, folded my QQ face up and he showed me KK. He was pretty shocked that I folded. Lets gamble, come on, why not say hey I have a monster.

Well since I played so many sessions in Vegas without internet access, this is going to be a long post, which I may do in pieces.

Anyways Vegas was fun trip, 4 days 3 nights, we stayed at Bourbon St, cheap hotel only cost us $45 a night for 2 people. The poker was really frusterating, I only had 2 winning sessions out of 6. We played for a total of 26.5 hrs and I didnt flop a single set. On a personal not I did add some new chips to my collection of places I have played, and got a bunch of decks of used casino cards which I got for $1 each.

Session #1 1/2 NL $200 max at bally's. This session started off really well, I flopped top two with KQ from the BB, was able to pot commit a calling station by min raising the turn and took the rest of his stack on the river. He had KJ and was drawing dead on the turn. Less than one rotation later, I picked up A in MP. I raised to $15 preflop, got 2 callers. Flop was K83 with two spades, I lead out $60, same calling station calls. He had rebought for $200 but had pissed about $75 of it away. The turn is the . I put him all in for his last $60 he calls and flips over . This is the way the rest of this session went, I didnt win another big pot in the last 3/4 hrs of play. The only good news is that Mitcheze cracked my calling station friend and took all of my money back.I made one really bad play with JJ that cost me $150. Down $319 in 5.5 hrs. Not a good start to the trip.

Session #2 2/5 NL at MGM, this was my best session of the

I have to run an errand for my mom so I will post the rest later.

Rhound... how did you lose that hand...???

Table cards were 3x ...

You had Pocket aces... he had ...??? Did you mean that his cards were spades and he hit a crap flush...??

MVP thanks for catching that wrong black cards.

Session #2 2/5 NL at MGM, this was my best session of the trip though even this session was a grind. There was one horrible player at our table that kept reraising with medium pairs
One crazy hand, I raise UTG with QQ, mp weak tight player reraises from $30 to $100, idiot at the table pushes all in. I had a feeling that the idiot had a pair smaller than mine, but the weak tight player reraising was scary. Thought about it and folded, weak tight player calls instantly and turn over AK, moron has. ..... I guessed it right 99. K on the turn makes me feel a little better. I made one really good bluff and pushed someone off the same str8 as me with a one card king after my second care tripped up on the river. Very good session +647 4.5 hrs.

Session #3 Rio 1/2 $120 max, another good session, with the WSOP around I saw my first pro. I saw Jesus Fergueson cashing out. Session was good flopped str8 from the blinds with 53 with 467flops but was able to get full value for it after the 8 on the turn and 9 on the river. Another interesting hand I'm MP with QQ, I raise to $15 get one caller, Mitcheze who was UTG limp raises to $50, oh shit, I know what that means, there is nothing I can beat that he limp raises me here with. I show the guy next to me and fold, he nearly pissed himself. Another lady who called my raise called, flop came 3 little cards, turns out she had the other QQ. Good fold saved me a bunch of money. 2.5 hrs +219. Had a really nice day making almost $900. I should have gone home.

Session #4 Binions 1/2 $100 max, pretty much card dead from the begginning. I did double up early flopping top and bottom with AQ on a AKQ flop, got paid off by the really bad calling station. Then spent the next 3 hrs bleeding off chips. One interesting hand I have A3 of diamonds limp from the co, mitch limps from the CO. Flop us A27 one diamond, it checks to me I check as does Mitch behind me, its a 5 way pot and I'm not sure if somone has a better A. Turn is the now I have the nut flush draw too. I bet $30, Mitch min raises to $60, calling station lady calls. Mitch mumbles to me set, and I mumble back nut flush draw, I think he would have raised bigger if I wasnt also drawing to the nuts. I see no reason to try to take his money. I miss the river, value bets $60 calling station lady calls and turn over K2 for two pair from the blinds. 3 hrs down $23

Session #5 Palms 1/2 $200 max
This was a really short session I only played one really big hand which is the first hand I posted in the NL section, I think I misplayed the reraise and I cost myself another $150 or so calling a reraise with a str8 and flush draw on a paired board. Then the 2 fish got busted and the game broke and we headed to the Rio which is right down the street. The one nice thing about the palms is there were more good looking woman there than any other casino in Vegas. 1 hr -$178

Session #6 Rio 1/2 $120 max
As weird as this is I cant remember any hands from this session, my sheet says +$63 for 2 hrs, only my third winning session so I guess I'll take it.

Session #7 Rio 1/2 NL and 2/5 NL
This was the session from hell, I played for 2 hrs at the 1/2 table without winning a pot. I raised once from the button with QQ and a K hit on the flop and Utg bet and got raised in front of me. I flopped an over pair with 1010 in another hand with two diamonds on the flop. I overbet the pot to push out the flush draw $40 into a $30 pot, got called by a flush draw of course which hit on the turn. He checked to me on the turn, I checked. 4th Diamond on the river. He over bets I fold he shows K4 of diamonds.

I finally get to my 2/5 which was nice since all the idiots in the 1/2 were taking turns catching every possible draw. The 2/5 games wasnt much better, I made my one set for the trip but didnt get paid off. I called a raise with 66 flop comes 237. I check to the raiser who bet out $40, I check raise to $100 he calls. 6 on the turn I check he checks. 10 on the river I bet out $100 he folds. Then there was the second hand I posted where I lost about $400. I really feel ok with the way I played the hand I just got trapped in the middle of two players who misplayed their hands. The final hand of the trip was another one that would make you want to throw something. I am in the BB, UTG min raises as he has often from UTG, same kid with the min raise before with KQ. 5 callers to me in the BB, I look down at KK, the way things have been going I dont really want to see a flop here out of postion. I raise to $120, this is by far the biggest raise of the day. There is no way I'm going to get callers right. Well 4 players call, great, so I am pretty much going all in unless the A hits. Of course the flop is Axx, I check mp bets out $200, LP pushs all in. I curse out loud this time and muck. MP called my raise with A4s and LP was playing AJo, who fukn Aces left in the deck, min raiser told me he had QQ. After this sesssion from hell -$669 in 5 hrs.

Ok its offical I hate poker. Today was another day of great fun for me. I played at my home casino in Nor. Cal. I am getting my wisdom teeth taken out next tuesday, so I have a dentist appointment this week. Anyhow this is the casino that I built my bankroll in.

The day was just horrible, the players there are as bad as I remember. 3rd raise all in with AQs, TPTK all in on a coordinated board. All the play that BTP has helped me see the stupidity in, well yeah this place has all of it. Flush chaser galore, I lost to 3 river flushs and one turned flush. I had 4 or 5 flush draws myself that missed, ugg. Raise from the button with AQs, flop is A10 , I bet out $25, get called by one of the calling stations. turn is Js, I now have a flush draw str8 draw and top pair. I bet $30 and get min raised. Well I'm price in I call, miss everything. Opponant pushes all in, I fold he proudlhy shows A10o. This is how the day went, the only two good hands of the day for me were AA. Both times I got all-in preflop, once vs KK and once vs KQo,( yeah dont ask). The final hand for the day was a killer. I am in for $600 after rebuying twice, I have $520 in front of me and I look down at 66 on the CO, really bad player utg raises to $20, I call and the BB calls. Flop is 642, bingo. BB checks, moron bets $50, I min raise to $100. BB folds, Moron pushs all in in. I call obviously , we both turn our hands over he has KK which is pretty much what I would have expected. Turn is a 5 river is a 3, chop pot. This was after almost 8 hrs of play putting my streak of not flopping sets over 32 hrs. I finally flop my set and this BS. I know I didnt lose and in some ways I should be happy a K didnt hit and lose, but after waiting an eternity to flop a set and get this perfect hand and then make a str8 on the board feels like losing, after getting my ass kicked all day, this felt like a loss. I was actually going to win a big pot after watching all the idiots win hand after hand. I cant do anything but shake my head, Mitch says I am the unluckiest person he knows at cards, maybe he's right. Either way right now I need my luck to change, the best hand doesnt seem to win for me.

oh no...not your wisdom teeth too. good luck man. i hope you don't have any complications like i had.

Vegas report:

Vegas was really good this time, I found a new favorite game, the 2/5 $500 max at MGM is a great game. Now I can see how easy it is for TUP to win so much in so little total time, of course part of it is that he is a really good player. I did play at the same table with TUP twice which was fun as always.

Day 1:MGM I flew in from Oakland, and landed in LV at 2pm. With my mouth still hurting from my two dentist appointments that day. My buddies were already there at the MGM playing, so I jumped into the 1/2 and put myself on the list for the 2/5 game. I had a feeling it was going to be a good trip from the first hour I sat down. The second hand I played I looked down at KK. I love getting big pairs or making big hands when I first sit down. It gets raised in front of me to $10, 3 people call, I bump it to $50 and get 2 callers. Flop is Q23 two hearts, I push all in, fold, fold. 2 hands laters QQ, I raise to $25 get once caller, flop is Jxx, player moves in for $60 more, I call, he is playing AJ, he gets no help I win. Couple hands later, i pick up 44, flop is J84, I'm the button, big stack $300 or so bets $25, next player raises to $60, I push all in. Big stack folds, which kind of sucks, next player says this is dumb but I call, he turns over J10, on the turn he is drawing dead, river is another J and he jumps and screams "Yes", to bad my 4's full still win. Couple hands later I get 1010. I raise to $15 from EP, 4 callers, late position goes all in for $60ish. Back to me I am pretty sure he is on over cards, so. I push all in, thinking there is noone that has me beat, and overcards will almost always fold. They all fold I beat all-in A9h. This was all in the first hour I was in Vegas, I get called for the 2/5 game and move with almost $700 in front of me. I played the 2/5 for another couple of hours, won some small- medium pots and left overall +$949.

Day 1Excaliber: I got to buy dinner after my nice session at MGM, after dinner we headed to the Excaliber for some 1/3 $200 max. This was a short but frusterating session, I played for the first 2 hrs without winning a pot. Got QQ on the button raised to $25 got 2 callers, flop is 237 with 2 clubs, utg pushes all in for $80. Folds to me, I call, he flips over [10c], flush hits on the turn, I'm drawing dead. I am in the BB with 86o, flop comes 876, mp bets $20, I raise to $60. He thinks about it and calls. Turn is a 10, he bets out $75. I cant beat anything at this point, I fold. He shows J9 for the turned nut st8. At least I made a good lay down. $ -165

Day 2 MGM: Great day with very weak cards. I think I only won 4 hands over a matter of 4.75 hrs. One very very nice hand always helped. I get A10o on the button. Flop is AA6 two spades, it checks to me on the button and I decide to slowplay. Turn is the last A, bingo I have quads. Mp leads $40, I call from the button and one more player from EP also calls. Q on the turn, it checks to me, I bet out $100. Ep reaches for his stack and I'm thinking awsome, he is going to pay me off. As he is grabbing his stack he announces raise. LOL, I have quads and he is check raising me. He makes it $200. I have about $250 left, I take my time and push all-in. He thinks for a second and says, I have to call, I hope you dont have the A. Hmmmmm what the hell else do I reraise all in with here if I dont have the A. I double up and am now up to $1000. After this my run of cards has been horrible, I folded almost every other hand for hours. I finally get AA in the SB, it limps 4 players to me. I bump it to $50 and get 2 callers. Flop is 1032 raindow. I bet the pot $150. First player folds, 2nd players who is a calling station thinks about it and calls. He asks me "Did you have overcards?" The stupidity of some of these players really is funny. I have been sitting at the table with this guy for over 4hrs, I havent raised a hand yet, what the hell do you think I'm raising with out of position. Of course I told him, yes and I wasnt lying both of my Aces were bigger than the board. Once again I got to buy dinner, this time me and my other buddy who was up about $1000 got to split the check for a buffet for 5 at the MGM, killer food, A little pricy but the food was awsome.

Day 2 Luxor, Tropicana: After a good day at the 2/5 at MGM we decided to check out some more casinos. First we tried the tropicana, which only had a 1/2 $100 max. I played for about 30 min, the table was a total rockfest and they only had 2 total tables going on a friday night, one 3/6 limit and one 1/2nl. Dead room, we moved on.
Luxor was and interesting game to say the least. 1/2 NL with a $50 max buy in. This was a crazy action game but for the most part there was no poker involved with the stacks being so short, it was pretty much an all in fest. I suppose it would be a decent game to beat if you just played rock tight, but there is very little poker involved. I probably wont play there again.

Day 3: Like the 2 days before, I played my day session at the MGM. This was a great day: First hand I see at the $500 max buy in table. I post my $5 and get Q4 off, flop is QJ4. I lead out $50, i get raised to $150. I call, off suit 7 on the turn. He bets $100. I push all in, he calls me with J4, river is a K. I double up on my first hand. Next hand notable hand I play. I get 33, flop is 235. I check from utg. Table atm bets out $50. I check raise to $150, He pushes all in for $325 total. Well he could have flopped the str8 but I have odds to call. We turn out hands over and he shows Q6o. Ummmm ok. Turn is a 5 he is drawinf dead. I played tight for a couple more hours. Last hand of note I get , utg who just double up from $150 to $300 all in with a pair and a gutshot, and is a total fish min raises to $10. 3 or 4 callers. So wtf I am getting 10:1 on my call. flop is 692 with two hearts, I check he bets out $100. I push all in he insta calls with AA. He gets no help and he leaves the table huffing and puffing that his AA got cracked. The problem now is that I have played for 6 hrs and all the fish have been busted off the table, I am tired and stressed so I decide its time to call it a sesssion.

Day 3 MGM: This was a funny session and a lot of fun, and I owe it all to Iceman. After my first session I went to the sports book and had a bunch of free drinks. Great stress realese. I am pretty drunk but its still early, so I decide wtf I'll play the $200 max game. I sit down and continue to drink. The first hand I play I get KK. I raise to $25 after the who table limps to my sb. Get 1 caller a lady who is a total calling station. Flop is J98 rainbow, not such a great flop, but I still have to bet. I make it $5 ,she calls. I'm not sure what she has but there is a lot that beats me. Turn is an A. I check she checks. River is a brick. I check she bets $10. I call she has AQ. How the hell do you call $50 on the flop with AQ what the hell do you have beat? So this pissed me off, so I decied to pull my Iceman inpersonation and decide all in would be fun. I procede to spend most of the next hour, pushing all in about 15 times. 6 people limp to my button. I look down at Q6, I'm all in. Getting another Fat Tire ale from the waitress wait a sec ma'am, I'm all in, ok thanks for the drink. I know I'm going to be the target of a limp call at some point. So I look down at AQ. I'm all in, old man calls from the button. Uh oh I hope my cards are live. He turns over K10. Flop is an A, I take about $100 from him. A couple hands later I see the player 2 seats in front of me grab for chips and then only grab 2 blues and call. I am pretty sure he has a real hand, I fold for the first time in 30 hands. Him vs the blinds only and he is cursing under his beathe. He gets out flopped and puts his last $50 in on the turn with his AA vs a BB special two pair. He must have been cursing me something awful as he left. I was about to pass out so I called it a night.My table must have hated me by the end . Great way to blow off some steam. I crashed for an hour or so and got woken up by everyone else coming back, so we went to Bourban street for $10 surf and turf at 3am. Again I got to buy for 5 people. +$52

Day4 MGM: I played the same 2/5 at the MGM. This was the first time the game was not super good. There were 3 calling stations who slowly bled off chips but no action players at the table. One good hand for me I get , flop is K . I am the button, It check to me. I bet out $40, get called by the calling station in early positon. Turn is an off suit 8. Again he check, I want to know where I am here so I bet again $50. He min raises to $100. Ok so I am behind and if he makes it a bigger raise I fold, but he priced me in. I call on the river he bets out $50. I raise to $200 he calls. He has K8 my flush is a winner. As the say one good outdraw deserves another. I played for 3.5 hrs and this was the best hand I won, pretty uneventfull day. +$124

Overall 4 day totals are very nice: +$2559, 26.25 hours, per hour total $97.49 if only I could keep this up all the time. It is kind of funny that. I struggled to beat the smaller games but the bigger games I won all 4 attemps. I think some of it is focus, $500 max is slightly above my bankroll which meant I was at full concentration for the entire time, after each of those sessions I was really tired and stressed. Overall the trip was great, I am hopefully going back on the 15th, one more trip before summer school starts Aug 1.

My brother Chris (stapher) is staying at the MGM playing those same 2/5 games. You might have played with him.