I spent the last week in Las Vegas, playing one WSOP event (I've already reported on that), and having (generally) a good time.

First, on the tournament front, I also played the Venetian Deep Stack event on Monday. There was a laggy player across the table from me; he had raised every hand but one. I'm in the small blind with AQo. LAG raises to T325 (starting stack was T12,000; blinds T50/T100; he has T22,000, I have T11,200). button calls, I elect to call, and bb calls. Flop comes AQ5 with two clubs. I check, bb checks, LAG bets T775, button folds, I raise to T2150, bb folds, he shoves, I call. He shows A5o (neither of us has a club). The turn is a 5....

Btw, the deepstack series has been a huge success for the Venetian. On Monday, every table was in use, including all of the tables between the poker room and the Sports Book/Noodle Asia (normally occupied by slot machines). They had 955 runners for the tourney.

The cash game action at the Venetian was also excellent. On Sunday, I lost about $400 in $2/$5. It was just a slow bleed of nice hands that didn't hit while others did.

On Monday, after busting from the tourney, I sat in another $2/$5 game. A couple of interesting hands:

1. I have KK in the bb (it's my fifth hand at this table). Several limpers, I make it $35, two call. Flop QcQsJh. Loose opponent bets $60, other player folds. I could raise, but I decide he's bluffing and if I raise, that's all I'm going to get. I call. Turn is the 4d. Check, check. Again, I decide I want him to bet, and if I bet he's going to fold. River 7s. He bets $125, I call. He shows A7.

2. About an hour later I have 44. Loose player raises to $25, I and four others call. Flop is 974r. He bets $60, I'm the only caller (I'm in the cutoff and have position). Turn is a 2. He bets $120, I raise $200 more, he shoves, and I call. He has QQ and doesn't hit one of his two outs.

That loose player fed the game, losing (by my count) $2700 while I was in the game.

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I stayed at the Rio this trip. There was little room noise (I couldn't hear my neighbors, above, below, or next to me) but the doors are fairly thin. I could hear hallway noise but my room was at the very end of the hall so I didn't need earplugs.

On Monday night Aaron and I went to Grand Lux. I ordered a New York Steak, and it was excellent--it was as good as I've had in many steakhouses.

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My next trip to Vegas will be for BARGE.