Sick beat

I had hoped to spend my Vegas trip staying up late, hanging out at casino bars and gambling. Instead, I stayed in my hotel room bed much of the time.

Las Vegas often seems like a test of endurance, and I couldn't hang.

I started shivering and feeling ill during a delicious meal at Michel Mina's Friday night. After the meal, I quickly got under the covers and watched "Seinfeld" and "Law & Order" rather than playing mixed games at the MGM.

With the help of NyQuil, I got a decent night's rest. I awoke Saturday determined to play well in the blogger tourney even though I knew I was far from my best.

Also, I was looking forward to hopping in a few cash games, which had considerably improved with the arrival of many weekend tourists.

I walked over to the Venetian and sat in a 5/10 NL game while most everyone else was either sleeping or eating. On my first hand, villain posted behind the button and I put up my big blind. I was dealt QQ. Villain raised to $40, I made it $150, he 4-bet to $400, and I shoved for my stack of $1,000. He called, showed AK and didn't improve. Woohoo!

The bloggament started shorty thereafter. Despite my efforts to play hard, I eventually faltered when my desire to rest overcame my determination to win. Down to 6,000 chips from a starting stack of 10,000, I decided to gamble. UTG raised, and I shoved with A7o to try to win the 2,000+ chip pot. UTG called and showed 88, and I got to go to bed.

Later, I felt a bit refreshed and sat with some friends at the Imperial Palace's 1/2 NL game. It was fun, although I lost most of my stack making a pretty marginal shove with TT on a lowcard monochrome flop when I had the T of the suit. Villain had flopped the flush with QJs. After a few all-ins, it was time to sleep again before I had to get up at 5 a.m. for an early flight home.

I'm disappointed that this damned cough, scratchy throat and fever ruined much of my Vegas vacation. As I write this post in the early morning hours Monday, I still feel like shit.

At least I got to see friends and get my gamble on. I'm glad to be home though.