Unlike the Pot Limit Omaha i did get some good starting hands so have a few to tell you about , i got off to a great start but finally got knocked out at one of the worst times , the last hand before the dinner break , i felt sick for 40 minutes after .

We started with 2000 chips , blinds of 25 25 and i could have gone broke in the first level but got really lucky . I raised to 75 on the button with AQ , the BB called as did two limpers , flop was Q 5 9 , checked to me i bet 325 and the BB called , turn was another Q , BB checked as did i hoping he would bet the river , this was an A , he now bet 500 , i raised to 1000 and he moved in , i of course called , he had 55 ! I ended the level with 3650 .

I really thought today was going to go a lot better as in the second level i picked up QQ three times in 5 hands , i only won once , on one flop K high i checked it down and passed to a bet and call on the river , one player had a set of 9's , the other came 3 4 5 and before it got to me there were two all ins after an initial bet , one had 45 , the other 35 , turn was a 3 !

Sam Farha was now sat on my left and i was again card dead , i decided to use the button either stealing blinds or flat calling limpers , i won two pots , first with 74s when i flopped two pair , then against Sammy when i raised with 95s in diamonds , he called as did the BB and after a flop of A 6 2 two diamonds we all checked , turn was an 8 , again we checked , river was a 7 to make me a straight , Sammy now bet 450 , i raised to 1100 putting him all in , he had 550 left and asked me if i could beat two pair , i said you must have 67 and he said if you know that you must have me beat and showed 67s in diamonds and passed , had i bet the flop he would have moved in and i would have got lucky , that was a classy lay down ,out of respect i showed him my straight .

I now had 6300 , during the third level i only played two hands , A9s where i flopped top pair and the nut flush draw and won with a reraise and KK that i slow played from FP and lost , flop was 4 6 7 , i was check raised by the SB and called , turn was another 7 , we both checked , river a 4 , he bet small and i passed . Still had 5650 in good shape .

Similar thing happened in the 75 150 level , i won a pot with T6s turning 2 pair and calling an all in that had a pair with a flush draw that missed then losing with TT on an AQ6 flop , back up to 7500.

Level 5 i got lucky through weak play , a mid position player limped , i called on the button with 22 , both blinds called , flop was 3 6 7 with two diamonds , all checked , turn was the 2 of clubs making two flush draws , now the mid limper bet pot and i called putting him on the club flush draw , river was an A , he bet 1000 and i called , he had JQ of diamonds and i should never have seen the turn card . I now had 10,000 well over average when i got involved in a pot , the chip leader raised my BB for the fourth time , i called with J9o , flop was K Q 8 all clubs , check called with a middle pin T for a straight and the J of clubs , turn was a 9 giving me a pair as well , again i check called , this time for 1400 , pot was now 5800 , i now had him on something like AJ with the bare A , so when the river paired the K i bet out 2200 to represent a full house or minimum trips , he called me with TJs for a straight , i was back down to 6000 .

The last level before lunch was 150 300 , i called a raise with 45s after a limper who i could see was calling and only had 1200 left , pot was 2850 , flop came 2 5 7 with two spades , he moved in and the original raiser passed , as he hadn't gone all in preflop i put him on JQ of spades and called , i was slightly out , he had QTs in spades , plenty of outs and the T came , one round later i raised with AKs , the same player reraised me all in , i called he had 55 , flop was Q J 7 T Q and i won , back up to 6000 .

With 10 minutes to go before dinner two big stacks joined to my left , i was in seat 2 they were in 8 and 9 , they proceeded to use their chips raising to 800 and picking up the blinds , from 590 players we were down to 127 , average around 9500 , i had 6700 , in my BB the chip leader raised to 800 , i had ATs , my gut feel was to reraise but with 3 minutes to the dinner break i decided to call and see the flop this was K 9 2 , i check passed to a pot bet , there was now 31 seconds to the dinner break , this was announced by the floor and seats 4 to 8 got up and passed , seat 9 raised full pot of 1050 , the button passed and in the SB i found 88 , i had two choices , pass and come back after dinner with 5900 and the button with the blinds at 200 400 , or assuming as i had played the last hand passively and everyone had already left it was likely this was a steal , reraise pot , pick up the 1350 and come back with 7250 , i decided on the latter and raised to 3450 , we had similar chips and he now moved in , pot was 9650 , and 2450 to me , now i felt at best he had AKs and i was getting 4-1 for a 50 50 shot or i was really unlucky and he had an overpair in which case i was a small dog for the pot odds , i had to call with a shot at a 12100 pot, i did hoping he would flip up the AK , i was half right , he had a K but he had another one with it ! No 8 came and i was totally gutted .

I came back to the Bellagio , Mathilde had already left to meet me for dinner so we missed each other , having spent 30 minutes looking for me and being told by everyone i was definitely still in as they had seen me only minutes before dinner , she finally rang the room to learn of my fate .

We went to the Aladdin for Sushi, i don't eat it but Mathilde loves it , it closed at 9.30 , we arrived at 9.30 , we ended up in a chicken and steak restaurant which was great , the reason we had been late is poor Mathilde had to listen to my days play to get it out of my system .

We then came back to watch a Pay TV movie , The Sentinel with Michael Douglas only to find the system was down , it was becoming one of those days !

I had today off then went to the Rio tonight to buy in for the $2500 No Limit Short Handed tomorrow , so far i have made the top 30% then the top 22% , at least i am heading in the right direction .

All the best