Ok, I’m in town at the Mirage for Super Bowl weekend with a group of real degenerates. One of the guys is a $1k per hand blackjack player so we’re all comped—rooms, limos, meals, the works. We fly out Saturday (private jet, of course) and spend the early part of the afternoon screwing around, covering the casino’s overhead at the craps table. I’ve got a few hours to kill before dinner, so I head by the poker room and put my name on the $2/5 NL list. Unfortunately, there are 7-8 in front of me, and it doesn’t look like they’re inclined to put another table down so I leave and figure I’ll check back later.

A word about the room. The Mirage Poker Room is one of the best run rooms on the Strip. They’ve got 31 tables in a semi-enclosed, non-smoking room (and, yes, they will toss you out if you smoke). There’s an automated list, but most of the time, they manage the list manually. The tables and chairs are in great shape (new tables, nice felt, comfortable swivel chairs). There’s a decent selection of games, although at peak times you can wait 15-30 minutes for the game you want. They also run a daily tournament and ongoing sit n gos throughout the day. Overall, it’s one of my favorite places to play.

For anyone who hasn’t been out to Las Vegas for Super Bowl weekend, I’ve found that weekend to be highly lucrative. It’s one of the busiest weekends of the year, and there’s lots of players who have an idea how to play but tend to OVERplay hands. I hear people say that the Mirage competition is some of the toughest on the Strip, but I’ve always had nice luck there. Players are aggressive, but if you’re patient, someone will push on you light and you can build a nice stack.

As it turns out, my friends wanted to head over to the Hard Rock where another of our friends was staying, so I banged around over there. Is it just me or are the Hard Rock chips tough to read? Even worse, no poker room. I played craps for a while and then headed back to the Mirage for dinner. It was after midnight when I found my way back into the poker room. This time there was immediate seating in the $2/5 game, so I picked up $500 in chips and sat down.

When I get to my table, I'm seated in the big blind, so I post and start taking my chips from the rack. There’s a couple of limpers and then a raise to $30 by a 25-30 year-old two seats to my right who seems like he knows what he’s doing. Folded to me, I looked down and find A K. Although most people bemoan AK, I like it. You’re about 25 to 1 that no one has AA or KK when you hold it, and it’s easy to jettison if you don’t improve, so I re-raise to $100. The limpers fold, initial raiser calls. Flop comes A A 5. I’m still stacking chips, fumbling around, and I look at him. “A hundred.” I announce pushing a stack of reds toward the middle. Without hesitation, he moves in for an additional $300. I’m thinking “Ugh. Did he flop the boat?” but I call, of course, with the trip aces. Turn is a K. “Ok, that works.” River is a blank. I table my boat and he mucks. “Welcome to the table.” a guy says in disbelief. “You should leave now.” The other players nod in agreement, and I’m now fumbling with and stacking about $900 and change of chips.

Three hands later I’m in the cut off with 7 7. There’s an early raiser with one caller, my victim in hand #1 (henceforth, Vic1) has reloaded about $300 or so. I call for set value and am graced with a most beautiful A J 7 flop because I’m a clean living bastard. The initial raiser bets $50, Vic1 calls, I re-raise to $120. Fold. #1Vic calls. Turn is a blank and he checks to me. I bet $150 which puts him in, and he calls off his stack. River’s a blank and he says, “How’s your kicker?” to which I respond, “I don’t have an ace.” and show my set. He shakes his head in disbelief, mucks and gets up from the table to steam like a riverboat. At this point, I’ve played 4 hands and have about $1300 in front of me at a $500 max buy-in table. The other players at the table are visibly disgusted.

A few hands later, Vic1 has reloaded his coal-fired furnace, and a friend of mine wanders over from the casino and starts to watch from the rail. He’s an ok novice player but a little lit (we demolished some great wine at dinner). He rarely plays live and, I’m pretty sure has never played in a $2/5 NL game. Vic1 says to him, “Sit at the table.” inviting him in, and my friend, emboldened by too much Caymus, accepts the invite and takes the #8 seat.

My friend buys in for $200, posts and plays an uneventful orbit. Then, with a couple of limpers to him, he makes it $25 to go from the BB. Both limpers call. Flop is Q 6 x. My friend leads out for $50 and gets two callers. Uh, oh…flush draw. Turn is a third diamond. Yuck. My friend leads out again for $50 (dude, what do you have and since when did I teach you to min bet?), gets a caller but is then re-raised. Uh, oh...not good. The action’s back to my friend, and he’s only got $50 or so left so he shoves it in. River is a 6, pairing the board at which point I'm thinking/hoping he's got QQ underneath. One caller shows K 7; the other guy shows T 4. My friend turns over QQ to show queens full and take down $560 or so. Nice!

Then, maybe 5 or 6 hands later, he’s in middle position with, it turns out, AA. A guy in early position raises to $25. My friend reaches for chips and says, “I raise.” but only puts out $50 in chips. He reaches for more, but the dealer stops him from making the string bet (rookie mistake!). Action folds to Vic1 who cold calls the min raise and then back to EP raiser who calls. At this point, I’m pretty sure my friend has QQ+, maybe even AA.

The flop comes KQ2 rainbow, and it’s checked to my friend. He bets a hundred. Vic1 calls, and the original raiser folds. The flat call kind of bummed me out; I’m thinking Vic1 has a set of deuces or KQ for two pair. The turn’s a deuce and I celebrate a little knowing that a KQ hand has been counterfeited and trip deuces wouldn’t make sense here. But I’m still a little concerned about a set of Qs. River is a blank and my friend continues to hammer with a $200 bet. Vic1 calls. Now I’m fearing the worst, but my friend shows AA and Vic shows…WTF?...AKo. What was Vic1 thinking? He saw my friend re-raise an EP raiser, and then bet the flop, turn and river hard. If he’d thought about it, he’d realize that AT BEST he was playing for an AK split. As it was, my friend pretty much stacked him again.

So now we’re about 30-40 minutes into the session, and I’ve got $1300 in front of me, up from $500, and my friend has a little over a grand, up from $200. A new guy sits down directly across from me in the 9 seat, one to the left of my friend and buys in for about $300 and posts. It's limped to me in middle position with KK and I make it $30 straight. New guy calls, and the limper folds. Flop is bittersweet--K T x ; too many diamonds for my taste, but I fire out $50, feeling the flop out, and the new guy calls. Turn is the prettiest T I have ever seen. I look at it for a second and then say “One hundred.” and new guy re-raises to $200. I think for a second but realize he’s committed so I push. He calls instantly and when the river blanks, says “Nut flush.” turning over Ax of diamonds. I show my kings full. He looks like he wants to vomit and my stack now stands at $1600 or so.

After a couple more orbits, it’s 2a and they’re calling for two more players for a 10-person $175 sit n go. The Mirage sit n gos can be a crap shoot but the $175s go off with 2000 chips, 25/50 starting blinds and 20 minute levels so you have some time to maneuver. My friend and I decide to rack up and take a cut at it.

The first rounds are uneventful, although, in general, the play is HORRIBLE—no suited cards left behind, calling pushes with A9o, etc. My friend’s stack gets worked a little bit and with the blinds at $75/$150, he re-raises a button raise holding JJ. The button (aka the Big Stack) calls, shows 77, flops a set and my friend is headed back to the room. At this point, I’ve got maybe 1300 so I figure I’m not far behind. Instead, I grind like the nitty TAG I am for an hour until we’re down to three players and I’m the shortie at the table. We then go back and forth for over an hour and a half on the bubble (the Mirage sit n gos only pay 2 spots, 70% and 30% of the prize pool), re-raising each other’s blinds, seeing a flop maybe every 5 hands or so. At one point, the #2 stack gets all in with J T v A 9 but rivers a J. It’s a bad omen.

Anyway, we’re finally playing with blinds at 200/400 with a 50 ante, so it won’t be long now. I’m sitting with about 4000 on the DB, ready to raise with pretty much anything when I find AKo. That’s what I’m talking about, baby! I raise and am then re-raised all-in by #2 stack. Ok, let’s go! He turns over AJo. Perfect! Blank, blank, blank, blank…J. Ugh. I’m out in 3rd place as a 3:1 favorite at 5:30a with no money. Ah, the grossness that is poker. Love it. No, seriously.

The next day, I get up around 11a, eat, get in a quick workout and head over to the Mirage Super Bowl party. If you haven’t been to a Super Bowl party at a Vegas casino, I think it’s better than seeing it live--projection TVs and buffets everywhere, tons of girls handing out drinks. Corona? Thank you. Patron shot? Why not? And typically everyone has a bet on something, so every play generates a lot of very vocal interest. But this year, I’m so pissed the Patriots aren’t in I didn’t even bet.

Anyway, about midway through the 3rd quarter, I’m bored and decided to head back to the poker room. One of the girls who one of the guys had met said she wanted to learn to play and asked me if it was ok if she joined me. 5’7”, blonde, "enhanced"…no problem, happy to help a friend of a friend. When we get there, they’re just calling a new game, so I buy $300 in chips, give her $100 to mess around with.

For the most part, it was pretty uneventful loose, passive poker—nothing very threatening. I only had one real hand to report. I’m in late position with KK. UTG raiser makes it $6. Seat 6 makes it $25. I make it $50. UTG folds and MP calls. Flop comes Kxx (nice!) and it’s checked to me. I bet $40 and MP calls. Turns a blank and I bet $30, trying to keep him on the hook (he’s only got about $60 left). He calls. River is another blank. He checks to me and I bet $30. He calls and shows QQ. Well, yes, that is a fine hand sir, but I believe me set of kings is just a tad better. In any event, after a few more hands, I rack up and leave up about $100 or so (net of the $40 that the girl managed to donk off!).

Later, after the Super Bowl ended, I returned to the poker room and sat down in the #4 seat with the big stack at the table directly to my right. Again, I buy in for $500. This time, though, the deck’s not hitting me quite so hard—I’m still at $500 or so after a couple of orbits. The seat directly to my left opens up and my friend sits in. A couple of hands later, I have AA in early position and raise to $25. Two callers…ok, whatever…and the flop comes K Q x. I lead out for $60. MP calls and it’s back to an older guy to my right who’s been playing everything. He re-raises to $160. Ok, decision-time...raise or fold? Of course, since my ego and judgment can’t handle the thought of mucking AA, I raise $200 more. Call. Call. Ugh. Caller #1 turns over QJd, and oldguyplayingeverything re-raiser turns over KQo. I’m drawing dead to about four non-diamonds and voila!...diamond on the river. Re-buy $300, please.

The last hand of any note that I played was 99 in position. There was an early position $30 raise and the big stack to my right calls. I call in position and the flop comes 972 rainbow. Very, very nice. The EP raiser bets $50, the big stack calls and the action's on me. Some people advocate calling here and saving the re-raise for the river, but I’m thinking that 1) the EP raiser could have something like JJ or QQ and if an A or a K hits, my action is done and 2) the big stack has been calling with straight and flush draws. So I bump it another hundred or so. The EP raiser folds and the big stack calls. WTF? I'm thinking he's on a straight draw for sure. Turn is exactly the card I don’t want to see, a 6 and Big Stack checks to me. I bet a hundred. Big stack calls. Now I’m concerned and not wild about committing more chips to this pot. T on the river and we checked it down. He turns over AA (never saw that coming!). my set of 9s are good and I take down a nice pot. On the one hand, I was a little pissed that I missed a bet on the river. On the other hand, he’d been coming over the top of river bets and the last thing I wanted was to face an all-in betwith four to a straight on board. In any event, healthy again at $750+.

I wouldn’t have minded staying at that table indefinitely, but shortly after that hand, the big stack racked up and left the table. I played a few more hands and headed to dinner.

Note on the restaurants. The first night, we ate at Stack, the Mirage’s steak house, which I thought was mediocre at best. I much prefer Charley Parker’s in the Four Seasons, Del Frisco’s off the Strip or Prime in the Bellagio. The second night, though, we ate at Kokomo’s, the Mirage’s other steak and seafood restaurant and the NY steak was among the best I’ve ever had. Kind of funny story, one of the guys we were with loves expensive wine and had the restaurant roll out several bottles valued at over a grand each. Every one the steward opened was spoiled. Vinegar. The sommelier was mortified after the third bad bottle, but he managed to run off and find a good Opus One and save a little face. I think I’ve only sent back maybe 1 or 2 bottles of wine in my life and most of the time wouldn’t know if a wine had turned or not. That night, I think we waved off 4 or 5 and it was obvious they were bad. Smelled like old shoes and tasted like vinegar. Pretty amazing.

We finish up around 11 or so and my buddy and I headed back to the poker room for one last run at it. There’s a list for $2/5 again so we sign up for another $175 sit n go with a table of “learned from TV” players betting and moving with anything. The guy to my left is re-raising constantly and I know he’s re-raising light, but the hands I’m getting--Ax, QJ, 55--can’t handle the pressure. Finally, I’m down to about 1200 chips with the blinds at 75/150 and I move in with 99. Guy to my left Hollywoods and then calls. Everybody else folds. He shows KK. I don’t improve and I’m out. Not the most glorious end to the weekend, but it was certainly better than grinding it out until 5:30a and coming up empty.

Anyway, I highly recommend hitting the Mirage during any Super Bowl weekend. With a little patience and a few nice hands, you'll pay for your trip!

Edmond