[MtSmalls]

We get up too late for the Caesars nooner (again), and decide to check out the Venetian. Neither of us has played there yet. In fact, neither of us is sure how to get there. But the blind squirrel finds a nut, we cruise down Koval to hit the Venetian from the backside. We make a parking garage mistake and have to hike all the way across the casino. We get there at about 3 and Dan gets on the 1-2 list, I get on the 4-8 list that is 20 players deep (one table). Despondent about my chances of actually getting into that game, I get on the 1-2 list about 15 minutes later. Sure enough, as the tournament that was running breaks down, they start three more 1-2 games, despite 4-8 having the longest list. I get a seat in the 1-2 game and promise to just peddle the nuts. I promptly lose $40 with AKs after raising and flopping a flush draw, but get forced out by a very large bet on a 10-10-9 board. Fortunately, the 4-8 opens about 5 minutes after my small loss. While the table does not turn out to be an ideal line-up there are at least three weak spots when I sit down.

The Venetian is really trying to attract business and paying attention to the poker players. We get the first half hour of the game rake free, as only six players arrived after the initial call for the new table. The other three arrive five minutes later, but we still get the entire first down free.

I immediate make back my NL loss with a flopped set against TPTK and small two pair. After an hour, I’m up close to $100 as the three weak spots simply cannot lay down a top pair hand, unless a four flush falls on the board.

There is an asian girl showing a lot of skin sitting three seats to my left. She plays ok, but takes some brutal beatings on the river. It is unclear if the guy sitting on her right is her friend or boyfriend, but they seem pretty close. However about an hour or so after I sit down at the table I catch half of the conversation on her cell phone and she says, twice, “So, when we are in the bedroom and I do that for you its NOT intimate?” She apparently doesn’t get the response she wants and hangs up on whoever is on the other end of the line.

About 10 minutes later another very nice looking Asian girl slides up behind the dealer, whispers something in his ear and slides a couple of business cards in his shirt pocket. As she is walking away, I ask the dealer “what is she selling and how much does it cost?” This gets a laugh from the dealer and several of the players. Turns out she’s an ex-dealer who just opened a restaurant. What do I know?

I manage to grind my way up to a $150 win around 10pm. I get up and check on Dan, who is up about $150 at the NL game and mention dinner. Now, neither of us has eaten in nearly 24 hours, but then neither of us is hungry either. I fear that this is a sign that there are some addiction issues. In four and half days in LV I ate breakfast once, lunch never (of course I was usually just getting out of bed at noon) and dinner three nights. Four meals in four and half days. No wonder I lost 5 pounds. (I can just see the new money making idea: the Poker Diet. Play 18 hours a day, lose weight and win money!!)

We decide to book our wins and head back to MGM where we have comp dollars to pay for dinner (yes, we’re both cheap bastards.) I somewhat regret leaving this particular table as I had great reads on everyone there and knew who to stay away from. I wouldn’t regret it for long.

We get to the MGM, get on the lists and get our comps. We hit up the Rainforest Café so Dan can get a veggie burger (silly vegans). My comp covers dinner, Dan pays cash for the tip. In the mean time, we’ve missed our call for our tables and have to get back on the list. Fortunately it only takes about another five minutes. I pull my usual play one pot and lose $40 at the NL before getting called for the only 4-8 game in the house. Stupid NL.

I take the 7 seat in the 4-8 game and there is a nice older lady in the 8 seat and two very tight players in the 9, 10 seats. All of the action at the table is coming from the 1 seat (drunk) and the 6 seat (gamBOOLer). It’s getting close to midnight at this point so a number of people are in an out of the game over the next two hours. I don’t remember exactly when he sat down, but it was some time before 2am. Dan and I referred to him as Sam Jackson, as he looked modestly like the actor. Sam is the most LAG-tard player I have ever seen in a live game. I’m not even sure that LAG-tard does this guy justice. He sat down in the three seat and lost about a rack and half in less than an hour. Then he moved over to the 6 seat next to me and went on a rush, piling up nearly 3 racks over the course of the next hour. Sam played every single hand during the time he was at the table. Not only did he play every hand, but he raised with 60% of them. I watched him 3-bet with 3-7 suited. I watched him call a cap on the flop with bottom pair, no kicker, no draw (and hit his 2 outer on the river as he tripped up). It wasn’t “any 2 will do” it was “EVERY two will do”. The variance at the table over the next couple of hours was incredible. I took several racks from him, but he’d take them back with some strange two pair, like J-6. Some people tried to passively stay out of his way except with monsters, but I took the opposite approach. Any two cards over 9 and any suited connectors down to 6-7. Difference was I could give up on the flop if I missed (usually for at least two bets) and he wouldn’t. Dan finally came over to the table around 5, having cashed out of his game. I needed to leave around 5:45 to take him to the airport for his flight home. Variance wasn’t on my side, as I effectively broke even during the time that Sam was on my table. But the game was so good, I just hoped that Sam would still be there when I got back. I may have broken several records, but I got Dan to the Airport and got back to the game in 35 minutes. Unfortunately, Sam was gone (but it wouldn’t be his last appearance in this trip report). The good news was that he’d been replaced with by another player with a very similar style. Not quite as aggressive, but similar.

Final installment later. The best 12 hours of my poker life.