You know things are running pretty good when:

1. You win every pot you contest
2. You flop a set, the other guy turns two pair and pushes all-in for $500
3. The casino cashier accidentally gives you an extra $10, and
4. The one time you actually take a bad beat, the casino just happens to be running a promotion for that exact situation, and you get to spin a wheel for a cash prize.

It's Wednesday, and Day 2 in Las Vegas. I am in town for SEMA Show -- the aftermarket auto show of the year -- and of course to play some cards. I spent the morning and early afternoon looking at cars and models, and I saw Carmen Electra, as well as some of the guys from MTV's Jackass and Pimp My Ride. And as a member of the media, I had access to the media center at the Las VegasConvention Center, and I spent the latter part of the afternoon there doing some actual work.

At around 6:30 pm, my buddy Jody from St. Louis calls me up, and I meet him over at The Mirage.

Now let me tell you a story about Jody. The kid is the best no limit cash game player I know (I use the term "kid" loosely -- he's 29; I am 24), but it wasn't always that way; a little over a year-and-a-half ago, I gave him his first poker lesson.

We're sitting in a $6/$12 game at Ameristar. I had been playing poker for just a few months, but this is clearly just about Jody's first time playing, and he is playing the worst poker I have ever seen. He never raises, never bets, but calls absolutely everything. I raise with AK, he calls with 8-3, the flop comes K-8-2. There's a bet, I raise, Jody cold-calls, and calls down. The night goes like that, and Jody is just bleeding cash.

A few hours later, we are playing six handed when I get dealt TT. I raise to $12, and now Jody re-raises to $18 -- probably the first raise in his life. I know he has a hand (he has QQ), and I just call. As luck would have it, the flop comes Q-T-6, giving us both sets.

I check-raise him, he re-raises, and I cap the betting. However, before he has a chance to call, the dealer deals out the turn card, the 5c. So that card goes back into the deck, Jody calls, and the dealer deals the next card, which happens to be the case T, giving me quad tens and Jody queens full. We go through about six raises in $12 increments, before Jody finally comes to his senses and just calls.

I just can't contain myself: The kid is playing the worst poker ever, and the one time he actually has a hand I make quads on him. And if you know me, you know that I am sucker for irony.

The dealer shuffles the deck and deals out the river, which is a 6 making a Q-T-6-T-6 board. I bet out, Jody rethinks and we start another raising battle. And finally, after another five or six raises, he just calls.

I bring up that story from time to time.

But things change, and now Jody is one of the best players I know. He's been playing professionally for maybe half a year now. And coincidentally, on Tuesday, he moved out to Las Vegas permanently.

The Mirage
Game: $2/$5 NL. Time: 1 hour. Win: $681*

I get to poker room at The Mirage at around 7:30 pm, and I find Jody sitting in a $2/$5 NL game. They're about to fire up a $10/$20 game -- which I am interested in -- but there is no list on the $2/$5 NL game and it's a good chance to hang out.

The guy to Jody's right gets up to sit in the $10/$20 game himself, and I take his seat and buy in for $500.

The game is relatively sedate compared to what I am used to. There is a little bit of pre-flop raising, but not overly aggressive play. I win a small pot early when I play J9 in the cutoff seat and make a straight. A round later, I win a bigger pot when I limp with AsTs in middle position, the Asian kid behind Jody raises to $20, gets three callers, and I call. I hit my A when the flop comes Ac-9s-6c, I check, the pre-flop raiser checks, and the loose guy on the button bets $45, and only I call, and the hand gets checked down.

A round after that, I limp in under-the-gun with 66. The Asian kid calls, the loose guy behind him calls, and now the small blind raises to $10 and the big blind and everybody else calls. We're five-handed and the pot is $50.

The flop comes down 8c-6s-2c, giving me a set. The blinds check, I bet out $30, and only the Asian kid and the loose guy call. The pot is about $140.

The turn is the Ks. I bet out $100, and now the Asian kid pushes all-in for $500. I call, and he turns over Kh8h for top two pair, and my hand holds up.

Welcome to Las Vegas.

Jody and I talk about dinner, and I tell him about the generous comps at The Mirage. He's up about $300 himself, and we decide to get some food and find another game. We both get $15 comp tickets.

But before we leave, I get another bonus: I go to the cage to cash out my $1181 in chips, and for some reason the cashier gives me $1191.

MGM Grand
Game: $1/$2 NL ($40 min/$200 max). Time: 1 hour. Win: $274

Jody had heard about the $1/$3 NL game at Excalibur, and after dinner we decide to head South Strip to check it out. But on the way, we stop at MGM Grand and check out the new poker room.

It's about 10:30 pm, and we sit in on a $1/$2 NL game with a $200 max buy-in. The tables are nice, with marble bordering the felt, but the tables are also a little small (probably to save marble expense) and we are cramped. On the bright side, this is the softest NL game I have ever seen, almost nobody has more than $200 on the table. This is the first time I have ever felt relaxed and care-free at a no limit game.

And I can do no wrong.

The first hand I choose to play, I limp in with Ad3d in the cutoff seat in a six-way pot, the flop comes down 8d-8h-7d, giving me a flush draw. Everybody checks, I check, the button bets $10, and only I call. I check the turn, the button bets a weak $10, and I just call. The turn is Qc. I doubt the button has an 8, and I can easily represent having slow-played an 8 or having hit a Q, and I bet $40 and take the pot.

I open for $10 with T9 in middle position, both the cutoff seat and the button call, and the flop comes Kh-4d-3d, I bet $20 and they both fold.

I open with a raise to $10 with AQ in middle position, the loose/weak player in the cutoff seat next to me calls. The flop is 4s-2s-2c. I bet the kid's last $30, he calls all-in with KcTc (K-high and a back-door flush draw), and just to make sure I win the turn-river brings Q-A.

The guy in the 3 seat leaves, and I move over from the 1 seat to sit next to Jody in the 4 seat, and another Asian kid takes my seat.

I get dealt KK on the button. An early player raises to $10, a middle player calls, the Asian kid calls, I re-raise to $50, and only the Asian kid calls. The flop is J-7-3, he checks, I bet a $100 (putting him all-in) and he folds.

A couple of rounds later, I get dealt AK when the Asian kid raises under the gun to $32. Now he had made the same bizarre raise earlier, and he obviously has a small or medium pair of some sort. I look at his stack, and it looks like he has about $110 total.

I look down the table, and nobody looks like they want to play, so I re-raise to $100. Now in retrospect, this is stupid, because if I know the kid is ignorant enough to make a $32 raise with a small pair, then of course he is going to call for a $100 with what is technically a better hand. I expect him to push all-in, but in an even worse play than his original raise, he just calls the $100.

The flop comes Q-high, and he bets his last $37 (I miscounted his chips). Obviously, I have to call the $37 pretty much no matter what, and I do. The K hits the turn and I win the pot.

At this point, I've already broken two players myself, and there isn't much money on the table. Jody's up about $140, and we figure it is time to move on.

Excalibur
Game: $1/$3 NL, ($200 max). Time: 3 hours. Loss: $32.50*

We walk over to the Excalibur, and get into the aforementioned $1/$3 NL game just before midnight.

The game starts the same. I get dealt AdQc in the big blind, and the flop comes Qd-7h-6d in a five-way un-raised pot. I bet $15, and only one of the limpers calls. The pot is about $45.

The turn is the 5d.

Now here's an intersting situation. If the girl that called was on a draw, then she made it. At the same time, I am holding the Ad, so I know she can't have made the nuts. And the one thing I don't want to happen is that I bet out $30, and she raises all-in for her last $150 with a straight or a flush, because I can't call it even though I have the nut draw.

I decide to check, and if she bets having made a straight or a flush, then I will make a big raise and represent the nut flush (which would make sense, since I could easily have bet the flop on a flush draw). Of course, that is giving her a lot of credit to be able to lay that down, but I think it's worth a shot.

I check, and she bets $20. I re-raise to $100, and she folds (she might have just had a smaller Q).

And now finally, I lose a hand.

Sometime later, I am dealt AA in middle position. I raise to $12, the guy next to me calls and asks me if I can beat his 33 (you're not supposed to do that, and for some reason he thinks I am his friend), and the girl from the previous hand calls out of the small blind.

The flop comes Q-J-6. The girl checks, I bet $25, the guy folds, and now the girl raises to $50. She's got $105 total in front of her, so I put her all-in -- if she's got it, she's got it.

She calls and turns over KK. Perfect.

But a K hits the turn, giving her a set, and my A and T outs don't come on the river, and I lose. But just as luck would have it...

Dealer: You can go spin the wheel whenever you are ready!

Me: What are you talking about?

Dealer: You get AA cracked, you get to spin the wheel!

Me: You're kidding.

He wasn't. So I go up to the front desk, let them know I got AA cracked, and I spin the wheel. The marker lands on "40". And apparently in Vegas, "40" means "80", so they gave me $80.

And that's pretty much how the night went. I couldn't lose, and even when I did, I got something back. I made a small comeback, and finished the session down $32.50 (not counting the $80 I won for getting AA cracked).

A Good Run
Day 1 was a wash. I won $15 over four hours playing the $4/$8 and $8/$16 games at the Bellagio. And on Day 3, I lost $218 in 2 hours at the $10/$20 game at The Mirage.

But I've had a good run. At Caesars Indiana two weeks ago, I won $1426 in the $10/$20 game over three days for a net win of $1086 (net of the $300+$40 buy-in tournament). And my no limit play has really picked up and carried my performance: Over the past 16 days, I've won $2,027.50 from actual poker play overall, despite the $817 spill I took in the $20/$40 limit game. Add in the $2,050.50 (net of tips) I won for sitting in on a bad beat, and the $80 I got for getting AA cracked, I've added $4,158 to my playing bankroll over that period. And that's not including the $10 the cashier at The Mirage gave me.

In all, it was a great trip, and I only wish I could play those games every day.

Trip Totals
GAAP Win: $809.50
Pro Forma Win: $719.50