Vegas Day 5

7:35 AM - Another early day for me, I guess I should be used to it by now. Today is going to be a "pool day" for Tracey so that probably means a poker day for me. First things first, though, I'm going to throw on my workout gear and head down to the fitness centre for a little workout.....trying to work off at least the Pina Colada portion of the trip....

8:20 AM - Back to the room to shower up after a short workout; short because the shoulder that has been bugging me for months is still making it nearly impossible to workout properly. There is just no strength in that shoulder, which ensures I can't do any arm exercises that involve the shoulder rotating at all. I can do bicep curls and that's about it. If this keeps up I'm going to look like one of those mutants with big biceps and nothing else....you know, the kind of guy everyone laughs at during beach weather. And none of you should feel the need to point out that people already laugh at ME in beach weather as well........
The fitness room here is really super. At least they had several machines to work out legs so I didn't waste my time completely going down there. They also have tons of cardio machines if that's your thing.

8:55 AM - I'm just heading out the door when Tracey stirs. As I assumed, she's going to have a pool day so I'm off to the Mirage for some poker action. There is no game at the Mirage though, so I leave my car and walk to Caesar's Palace. No game there either but they are expecting to have one soon, so I head out to the casino and play a little blackjack. Not a great decision as the dealer makes 21 just about every hand and I'm down $255 before I can say "holy shit!!!".

10:00 AM - Back to the poker room and they have enough players waiting to start the $1/$3 No-Limit game shorthanded. I buy in for $345, which is almost all the cash I have on me, the rest I left in the hotel safe.

About an hour into the session I pick up my first decent hand, TT in middle position, and I try to raise to $12 but grab one wrong chip so my raise ends up being only $8. Guy to my left calls, and a couple other callers as well. Flop is Q88. I bet $30 and the guy to my left raises immediately to $90. I have about $320 left and I go into the tank for a couple of minutes. He's a solid player and I think his range of hands here isn't that large. He probably isn't raising that big with an 8 (why chase out the other players, there is no draw on the board), and because my raise was $8 instead of $12 that may have invited him in with a weaker hand (like QT, or QJ...maybe even Q9). I don't think there is much chance that I have the best hand but my instincts are telling me I should push all in and he will likely give me credit for AQ, KK or AA and fold. After all, I haven't shown a hand in an hour and he probably gives me credit for a hand. I'm usually all for going with my instincts but for some reason this time I decide to fold. He shows me 9d8d. WHEW. He certainly wasn't going to fold that, so unless a ten came on the turn or river I'd be leaving the game broke.

The VERY NEXT HAND I pick up JJ, and raise to $12. Same guy calls, 2 other callers. Great flop for my hand, 842 rainbow. I bet $30, guy to my left calls, everyone else folds. Turn is a 6, all four suite represented on the board now. I bet $80, he shoves all in. I don't believe there is any way this player called my $12 cold with 53 or any 2 pair combination, so I have to think about it for a minute. This would be a pretty easy call with JJ in a lot of situations. He asks me what I have, I tell him "Aces" and he tells me I'm beat. He actually seems like a really nice guy, not the kind of guy who would say that to make me fold the best hand....I tell him I think he must have 22 or 44 and as I'm about to fold, he flips over one of his cards...a 2....and I know there is little doubt he has 22 and I'm drawing to only a J. I fold, and he shows me the other 2. I have only about $140 left at this point but that's still better than being broke. Two HUGE bullets dodged here.

I pick up a few pots in the next half hour or so and am up to about $425, a small profit for the poker session. I'm in the big blind with 32 offsuit and I get a free look at the flop of Ah4d5d for a flopped wheel. I check raise an over-agressive calling station to about $90 on the flop, which he quickly calls. There is NO chance in my mind that this guy has two pair or a set, he either has a weak Ace or a flush draw. When the turn is a non-diamond Jack, I announce "all-in" and start to move my chips into the middle, and he quite literally beats me into the pot and proudly shows his AJ for two pair. His expression turned to horror when I turned over my straight, but that quickly changed back again on a river Jack. Ouch, that hurt. Luckily for me he didn't have more chips, as I had him well covered and I still had about $225 to play with.

I got all those chips back from him not much later when I picked up my first premium hand of the entire trip, AA, and flopped A72 rainbow. I check raised him all in on the turn and he mucked his cards without even showing them, so he was obviously drawing completely dead. That hand put me up to about $550 and things kept getting better from there; I cashed out $1150 for a tidy $805 profit at the poker session, and even a nice $550 profit when you factor in the blackjack debacle. Not bad for a few hours work.

2:00 PM - Back to the resort and I meet up with Tracey at the pool for lunch. She's been at the pool since about 10 AM, she is such a pool whore. After lunch I go change into my bathing suit for a quick swim and a little bit of tanning......very little, as not long after I lay down in my chair the sun shifts behind the palm trees (Tracey actually remarks that the one drawback of the pool area is that there are TOO MANY palm trees, and she had to move a couple of times to get back into the sun. Too many palm trees. Oh the humanity) so I decide to go back up to the room. Tracey comes as well.

4:30 PM - Back up to the room and Tracey lays down for a short nap. We are going to try Mon Ami Gabi again tonight for a late dinner.

7:30 PM - We get to Mon Ami Gabi and are told the wait will be 1.5-2 hours, same as Monday; but we are prepared for it this time, so no problem. We head to the Miracle Mile and do a little shopping while killing time. I take the Pina Colada count to 5.

9:30 PM - Almost exactly two hours later, we get seated....AT THE BEST TABLE IN THE HOUSE.... this was certainly worth the wait. On the rail, right on the strip, in the exact centre of the restaurant, directly across from the Bellagio and their water show. Fantastic!!

Dinner is a little less so, however, as they brought me the wrong steak the first time and then in their hurry to fix things, brought me the right steak but WAYYYY undercooked. To their credit they were VERY apologetic and comped my meal and two desserts, so that certainly made up for things. Our dinner bill, including $20 for sangria, was $80 including tip. Can't beat that. Tracey was especially excited as her favorite meal, lemon chicken, was back on the menu after a 2 year hiatus.

11:30 PM - Back at the resort and time for bed. Lots to do tomorrow, including another Cirque du Soleil show, O. Looking forward to that!!