I had such a sick trip to Vegas a couple of weeks ago. The events were so painful that I couldnt write about it until I got the negative mojo out of my system by winning back all of the money that I lost. I dont usually believe in omens when it comes to gambling but I should of known this was going to be a shitty trip when my plane got stuck on the tarmac in Burbank for nearly 4 hours. Sitting on the plane with nothing to do was absolutely terrible. I got to LV by 9pm but couldnt get a seat until 11PM. Since I was up since early that morning I didnt feel good about my chances of winning while slightly fatigued. I ended up playing just 5 hours in my typical $200 buy-in $1/2 blind game at Ballys, losing only $100. We were 5 handed for a couple of hours which was fun but nobody was really giving their money away. Slept until 2PM the next day, spend some time at the pool, had some crappy pizza, and then headed back to the game. Within the first hour of play I made a very stupid play when I called a $15 raise with AQ in the blind, hit a Queen-high flop against 2 players and managed to get all of my money in against a set and a flush draw. Ugh, stupid amateur mistake. I felt bad for the guy with the set when the flush draw got there. I was going to buy in for another $200 but in that moment I felt that I could not sit there all night trying to grind out a win just so I could beat my expenses. Fuck it, I got $1500 in my pocket, lets go play the $500 buy in $2/5 blind game at the Mirage! I cab it over to my favorite poker room (I used to play stud at the Mirage 5 days a week) and quickly get a seat in the big game. Immediately I notice the texture of the game is different than the smaller Ballys game. First off, nobody is sitting there with a short buy in, almost eveybody has at least $500 in front of them. Second, the players are talking much less. The $200 game is more like a home game where people are drinking, talking,laughing and generally having a good time. This game was way different. Nearly everyone was sitting there as quiet as you could imagine. There was a very pretty woman (not a girl for sure) who was sitting with about $800, her neck dripping with big diamonds and her fingers heavy with some serious jewelry. She was the picture of class, just the opposite of the few girls I have played with who are usually some type of low-limit degerate gamblers. The rest of the table was a mixture of older men and guys in their 30's . This game was big enough that there wasnt any of the typical college-aged kids you see in the smaller games. This was my first real poker game! I only wished it lasted longer. Here's the long and short of it. On my very first hand I get AK offsuit and raise 5 limpers to $25, 2 players call. . Flop comes King, 9, 7 all different suits. Check to me and I bet $50. I get one caller, an Asian player who I find out too late is really the only soft spot in the game. The turn is a 10, he checks to me. I see he has $150 left so I just move it all-in. He quickly calls and shows me 1010 for a set of 10's and I am drawing dead. Ugh, stuck nearly $250 on my very first hand, rebuy! I play a couple of small pots in the next 30 minutes, losing about $150 just by missing with my small pocket pairs or getting called when I am trying to steal some small pots. On my last hand I call $25 from an early position raiser with 99. 3 of us see the flop. The first card off the deck is a 9 and my heart nearly jumps out of my throat. The flop is 10 9 7, rainbow. A perfect flop for me unless the pre-flop rasier has 1010. The pre-flop raiser bets out a strong $75, I put him on a definite overpair. The loose playing Asian, who now has a full buy in thanks to me, smooth-calls the $75. Only a total fag would smooth call here with a set of 9's so for the first time in my life I say, "Raise it, make it $300 to go." The pre-flop raiser instantly folds but just as quickly the Asian players says he's all-in. I call right away only to see his 78 offsuit for the nut straight. The board dosent pair and within just 30 minutes of play I find myself stuck $930. I stand up from the table, making the effort not to seem like I want to run away ( I do), say "Nice hand, good luck everybody" and stumble away from the game. Pretty much shell-shocked I find myself walking back to Ballys. No cab for me, after that loss I need to walk it off. I head up to my room and talk to myself for a little while. "No, you didnt do anything wrong. You simply took a shot and it didnt work out. You are still a great poker player and a good gambler. Everybody fails every once in a while" No matter how much pep-talk I gave myself I couldnt muster up the energy to grind it out for the next 10 hours in the $200 game. I make a decision to really enjoy my night in Vegas and decide not to play poker. Screw it, I'm gonna play some of the house games and see if I can actually have some fun. I have not played craps for about 14 years and decided to put $200 into play. I play for an hour and lose just $100. Playing craps reminded me of why I got into gambling in the first place, it is fun! The difference between playing craps and playing poker is immense. In poker you are hardly ever in the action and have to wait hours to find a situation to gamble in but in craps you are in action on every single roll of the dice. I knew the exact odds against me every time I placed a hard-ways bet but I didnt care! For the first time in a million years I was having fun gambling. $100 down I decide to try my Moms' game, blackjack. Playing $10 a hand I find myself stuck $50 after 30 minutes. Starting to get bored I put my remaining $50 on one hand. I get dealt an 8 and a 3. It felt funny reaching into my pocket for another $50 (you cant go into your pocket during a hand at the poker table) but I did and doubled down. The stupid dealer gives me a 4 and then deals herself a 6 card 21. Fuck. Numb at this point, I put another $200 into a craps game at Ballys. This time things start going my way. I think I played for about 3 hours (a long time for craps) and ended up winning about $280. It was really exciting. A couple of times I hit hard 10's and hard 8's when they were also the point for some $100 pay-outs. Once this session was over I realized I got whatever I needed out of my system out of there. Up $30 overall in the house games I decide to take another 14 year break from them and head back to the poker tables. I play for an hour in the $200, win an easy $100 when I make a small flush, and then head to the airport. Overall I lost about a grand, the most I ever lost on these trips to Las Vegas. Home from Vegas I find myself totally inspired to continue playing and win my loss back. I start playing my regular $100 buy-in g ame on PokerStars, playing 4 tables at once. I decide to force myself to play 1000 hands a day, not qutting no matter how far ahead or behind I am. Somehow losing a grand has made my regular game seem very small and this time when I am up a couple of buy-ins I continue to play. I have earned over $1500 since I have been back from Vegas on July 31st. I made my single biggest online score (excluding tournament wins) yesterday and booked a cool $480 winner in 1000 hands. Even though I am a pessimistic/generally negative person, when it comes to poker I can usually find the good in the bad. Losing that grand has me more focused than ever before. It is clear to me that the online games are the easiest money around and I plan on sticking with it. Next month I am going to take a shot at 4-tabling the $200 games. Things are good and getting better.

Source: Live No Limit Holdem with Yogi Steve