I just spent 48 hrs in purgatory - let me explain....

girlfriend decided to give me a gift and got me a 44 hr vacation in Vegas - about 10 less then I prefer for 8 hrs of air travel, but a free trip is a free trip

Went to the Trop and got what may be the worst hotel room in the place - first floor right outside the driveway - went and requested another room and got one so far in the back my legs are still sore, but it was more private - with a beautiful view overlooking the ass end of the airport and a mirror on the ceiling - ah good times -

Basically spent 40 hrs dying slow deaths - about three $70 tourneys at Planet Hollywood - (20 min. rounds - 3000 in chips - decent structure for the strip) - and a $120 at Aria (30 min rounds with 8k in chips - for $120) - EXCELLENT structure and room there but there's a 1pm tourney and a 7pm tourney - 1pm had about 70 people and 7pm barely broke 25 and never had more then two tables, so I wished I had done the 1pm one

Dropped $70 in roulette and took my last $100 to play NL 1/2 at MGM Grand after a 4 hr nap - had a horrible sleep pattern never getting more then 4 hrs a shot mostly - slept 12 when I got home - I had a reserve $20 for Taxi money but was looking for local bank ATM's just to be safe

anyways, I am down to $50 when I hear of the $80 tourney at MGM and decide to rock one more time - I play hard and get up to $79 at tourney signup time whereupon a cool dude decides to give me the last buck - (they were all rooting for me on my all in where I took enough to get so close, so that was cool) -

I get in the tourney - probably 3-4 tables worth counting alternates and buy-in's - top 4 will pay -

interesting observation - blinds double at MGM - so dice start rolling FAST - never understood why someone would buy in for 3k at the end of the 4th level with 200/400 blinds, but what do I know

things finally pay off - nail a straight when my opponent gets top pair but trip'd on the river - got another hand that put me straight up to 16000 at first break and chip leader -

2nd hr I'm hot, busting three players, I think - got at least two AK's vs all-in's where I dominated and a 3rd time with KQ - the 4th time I took KQ vs 66 but didn't catch up - doubled up an Asian kid but no harm to myself

We get to the final table and we got a drunk who can barely count his chips and take like 45 sec. to push his chips or his cards every hand - in a ring game I'm happy with this but in a crapshoot with 20 min blinds he's starting to irritate me - fortunately we get down to 9 to 6 to 5 where I have A4 on an Ace/Ten/Ten flop vs an all in and another dude who BETS into me on the flop - was kinda PO'd but he did have a 10 but that's one of the times where you wonder what the hell he was thinking betting when we had the all-in - but he busted and we were down to four.

The other two busted out in short order to the chip leader - who was....guess who? - the kid I doubled up all-in with KQ vs. 66 the 2nd hr ;) - I'm about 4-1 down in chips with little room to wait - the first hand he gets all in and I have 67 suited and decide to call vs his A8 - I get the 6 and now it's more like 60%/40% in his favor - next hand he pushes again and I call with TT vs QJ but he rivered a Q to bust me -

that one tourney made up all my losses and took me back to even at 504 - $25 to the dealers for toke and I gave $6 to the dude who gave me the buck - - ended up dropping another $140 in a NL game and winning $80 at roulette for $60 down but that's cab fare, food, and other stuff so I figure I was even.

And as my hero Townes says, (after winning and losing one game each of $100 9 ball) - if you break even, that's like Purgatory - but getting up to Purgatory in the hell that is Las Vegas gambling is pretty darned good - ;)

good times - maybe I'll make the trip back this winter

other observations - the new Aria is sweet but the City Center as a whole is ridiculously huge - unreal - Vegas in April is still livable and walkable - and be careful where you leave your blackberry - looks like I need a new one unless Lost and Found gives me good news but looks bad 48 hrs later -

rb