Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! Heading to Las Las Las Vegas Vegas Vegas ...

Growing up in the suburban Chicago area, I used to hear these advertisements for "Smokin'" US 30 Dragstrip when I was growing up:

Well, I am excited to be returning to Las Vegas on Sunday, February 9. For years, I have traditionally taken a trip there late in January or early in February. It has always been my way to recover from an extremely long and busy period at work.

My poker year has started out quite uneven: some wins, some losses. I guess this really tells me that I suck? I was feeling pretty good about ending January with a decent profit, but I had a horrid session at Harrah's Joliet Saturday night, starting off February in a nasty way. However, I am still up for 2020 and will be heading to Las Vegas in the black for poker for the new year.

I will be staying at one of my favorite places on the Strip: Bally's. I hope to play at some of my usual places -- Bally's, Mirage, Planet Hollywood, MGM and Encore. If Mr. Subliminal is up for it, maybe a session at Aria. I'll hopefully play some at Wynn/Encore with my buddy, Arch. I might play at Venetian due to its high hand promotions. I trust that I will see new friend Larry while in Las Vegas, and hope to see others in my five day visit.

So ... Las Vegas friends, here is your invitation. Hit me up with a blog comment, tweet, pm or text message if you want to get together. And if someone has transportation, maybe a trip to Green Valley Ranch or Red Rock would be fun. And I am itching to try a steak at happy hour at Herbs and Rye.

Despite having a bad session at Harrah's Joliet on Saturday, I came as close as I ever had to getting a great payday on a bad beat jackpot. It was at $265,000. In one hand, I raised with A-K hearts. The flop came 10h, Jh and a rag - four to a Royal Flush! The turn was ... another 10. I was hoping for that Qh on the river to get my Royal, but it was a non-heart rag. I flipped over my cards at the end of the hand to show that my hand was only Ace high and that I missed two chances at the Royal. My opponent flipped over pocket 10s for turned  quads! If only the Qh had come on the river, I would have won the hand Royal Flush over quads and pocketed an estimated $65,000 for having the winning hand on the bad beat. Dang dang dang!

Thanks for reading. Next stop: Las Vegas!