What's up folks, January was a BUSY month for me. Get a drink or something because this is quite a read:

It's been a while, but I'm totally settled in Petaluma CA now at "A" school for the Coast Guard. The move from Texas included me stopping in Vegas for 4 days, and I had a great 1st time. I played in various games, I got my feet wet at the Golden Nugget, then over the course of 4 days, I played $4-8 limit at Sahara and Bellagio, $200 NL at Stardust, and a $6-12 game at the Mirage. The best ones were $4-8 at Bellagio and $200 NL at Stardust. Of the 6 "sessions" i played, 4 were winners, and 2 were losers for me. The $6-12 mirage game was the tightest shit i've ever seen, but I was taking advantage of the players to my left. If I raised in LP, I could auto-bet the flop and take it down pretty much every time from a few of them.

One guy had probably the best poker face i've seen in a live game, he'd bluff me on the turn/river alot and had me convinced until I decided to call based on decent odds. The vegas rounders blend in very well, and you'll even forget they are at your table, the true chameleons do anyhow.

The biggest hand I can remember was in the $6-12 game, it went like this.

CO was a weak tight girl, low on chips
LP was a retired guy, maniac though
EP was tight passive

tight EP limped, I limp 77, loose maniac limped LP, CO raised, blinds fold, all call

flop J72 rainbow
EP checks, I bet, LP raised, CO 3-bet, I call, EP folds, LP calls
turn: J (still rainbow, awesome card)
I bet, LP raised, CO 3-bet, I cap, LP calls, CO (was all-in here i think, no more chips)
river 3
I bet, LP raised, I 3-bet, LP caps, I call

LP shows KJ for 3 jacks, CO shows AA, I show 77 for 7s full of Js and take the pot. I think that was the only set I flopped the entire time I was in vegas.

The $200 NL Stardust game was a damn turkey shoot. The table was a group of college kids just bsing and getting drunk (they were decent players), 2 old guys, a maniac gambler, and a stat and odds spewing "professor" (i got him to shut up though). I didn't win any massive all-ins but I overbet most of my hands and took down some good pots.

It looked like the group of "friends" had been there a while because most were deep stacked ($500-$700), but I couldn't extract any money out of them other than what they bluffed, I did from the retired guys though. That game only lasted 2 hours and the action dried up, so I went to bed around 3am.

The craziest game I saw was a $2-5 NL game with a guy who had bought in for $5000 or so, and he was making huge preflop all-ins. A guy finally doubled through and snapped $1k off him by limping aces, then the gambler guy got up and left the table (he was pissed)

Anyway, I packed up, left Vegas, and headed out to Petaluma. With all this Vegas talk you wouldn't really think I'm in the Coast Guard, but I am. Monday thru Friday I'm pretty much busy all day with class, so I can't post a lot, but I will keep you guys updated if I play any poker After spending 2 months in bootcamp, 4 days of poker in Vegas was such a relief, I enjoyed every minute.