Vegas Update: Long time no speak

I have been very lazy in recent months and obviously have not posted anything since my winter trip to LA / Vegas. Since then I can best summarize my poker endeavors as follows:

Came back to Winnipeg at end of March. Didn't play too much, just a little on-line, mostly on Cake Poker. Since March I really focused effort on improving my PLO game. It is without question the game of the future, and in my estimation will take over the holdem fever within 5 years...may as well get a leg up now. During April I made about 25k on Cake, playing relatively conservative stakes, and thus was happy with my results. Even live its incredible how bad some people play this game. Its almost like holdem 5 years ago.

Left to return to Vegas Mid May and am still here playing, and with exception of a 1-week return to Winnipeg for work I have been hangin out at the tables. I am staying with my buddy Jon Hanec, who rents a place off of Antonio Esfandiarie (?) pardon my spelling. The place is cool and is about 10 minutes off strip. Being off strip is helpful because its a nice break from the constant fast action of the strip. Don't get me wrong I like the fast action, but it can wear on you after awhile.

I usually play only when I feel like playing and generally when I'm well rested, consequently my total hours logged / week is down considerably from my winter trip amounting to about 40-50 hours / week. However, up until last Thursday, my hourly profit was much improved.

For most of this trip I have been fairly conservative in the stakes I have played. Generally, I have played 5/10 holdem and PLO, usually at the Rio or Wynn. Occasionally, I have played 10-20, but have been selective in these games as I want to prevent big swings. The games have been pretty good and with exception of last Thursday's almost 10k loss, (thanks to an untimely draw out on a 14k pot) I have won almost every session. Because I am playing smaller my goals are smaller. In 6 weeks of play I am up just over 40k, which I am happy with.

During the last week I stepped it up a bit playing some short field 10-20. Of course, I ran bad and it cost me about 15k. So, I am now stepping back down to grind another 20k....hopefully.

I won't go into my tournament blunders, I haven't played many and actually avoided all the small-buy WSOP events because I thought they had little value. The few tournies I played generally resulted in me accumulating big chips early only to be coolered, bad beated, or unable to win the key flip, usually for big pots, and usually in the last 25% of the field.

Not sure how long I'm going to stay down here. Overall, I have spent a little more money than I would have liked, unfortunately Vegas during WSOP is like a revolving door of Winnipegers, and I feel compelled to be a good host :} I'm thinking I would like to hang out in Winnipeg for some of August / September at least. Beyond that, I'll probably spend some time playing in Calgary and Niagara Falls in September / October. I hear Calgary has a steady juicy 5/10 game in both holdem and PLO whereas Niagara Falls has a steady 10/20. Not ideal places to play but I can only spend 6 months in the US per calendar year so I may have to make due. Following tournies in Niagara, Regina, and BC in October and November, I will probably return to Vegas at the end of November for Doyle's tourney at Bellagio in December.

Anyway, enough muttering. I'll try to start posting a little more often.

Ciao