Went on a spur of the moment with a buddy for the primary purpose of playing poker. We checked in at The Orleans which is my favorite place to stay...

Monday Night: The Orleans poker room is large and non-smoking. Some of the smoke wafts in from the casino if you are seated at a table on the edge of the room. I don't drink alcohol any more, but I'll try to address the cocktail service issue guys. Buddy wanted 2-4, I wanted 3-6; they don't spread 3-6 and the wait was long for 2-4 so we gave 4-8 a try. I couldn't believe the calling stations at the 4-8. I won $180 by being patient. One idiot in particular had a huge stack [probably $400] and kept straddle raising before he even looked at cards, raising with Q-3 offsuit] and within an hour he was gone with nothing. My buddy lost $300 largely due to the river suckout on several big pots. The cocktail service was intermittent at best; the dealers average friendlyness but the Poker Hosts are great. The seats are decent and roll which kind of lets you stretch your legs while you are sitting there.

Tuesday Morning: We head over to the Luxor for the Noon tourney which is limit the first hour and no limit after that. Its only a $33 buy-in. I don't like it because you only get 300 in chips, but it is a good tourney for beginners because of the cheap buy in and the limit factor guarantees you wont get knocked out immediately. I didn't last long, but my friend cashed in 5th with $58. Given my brief stay, I can't really comment on the skill level there. Cocktail service was slow. Its a non-smoking room; small and off the main casino but a decent looking room. The seats are OK.

Tuesday afternoon: Since we'd heard about MGM, we went over and waited about 30 minutes until they opened up a 3-6 table. The room is hip minimalist [if you've stayed at THEHotel, you get the picture]. Cocktail service was attentive without being annoying; the dealers were kind of cold fish. The seats are comfortable. Again, the calling stations were out with incredibly bad play [seeing 4-6 offsuit to the river for instance], yet the suckouts continued [e.g. the donk would hit his second pair on the river and beat a pair of aces with a king kicker]. Yet the guys we played with were friendly and good natured -- a fun way to spend three hours. I lost $3 and my friend lost $4.

Tuesday evening: Hit the Orleans again and won $153 at the 4-8. Cocktail service much better on this night. I tried my hand at 100 NL but really did not like it and the hosts immediately took care of moving me to the 4-8.

Wednesday morning: We heard about a good Sit-N-Go tourney at the Plaza downtown. I was a little leery at first but was pleasantly surprised by the room [maybe its my snobbery, but the number of people with missing teeth always amazes me -- you have hundreds of dollars to gamble but not to fix a tooth?]. The room is cordoned off on in an area. The casino has gotten a bit of a lift with new retro-George Jetson style carpeting. The hosts were pleasant. Cocktail service was frequent, but if you are going to ogle the waitresses, go elsewhere. The Sit-N-Gos run continuously and only cost $35 for the buyin. There was an obnoxious [again, missing teeth] guy to my right but I had the satisfaction of knocking him out. Eventually a nice lady from London and I were the last two left and we decided to chop the pot. I think this was a gift as she had more chips than I [but not that much more] but was a better heads up player so we each took home $150. Normally 1st gets 225 and 2nd gets 75. My friend got knocked out early, signed up for the next one and like me chopped the pot with another person.

Wednesday evening: Back to the Orleans where I lasted a two hours in the limit tourney and then played 4-8 and broke even. Again, the poker hosts were great. I was at a 4-8 right at the edge of the room where players would keep their lit cigarette JUST outside the room in an ashtray, jump up, take a puff and come back. It really bothered my eyes but the hosts moved me immediately. Cocktail service frequent.

Thursday AM; Back to the Plaza. They were filming a TV show there, so maybe the place is trying a retro comeback. I got knocked out of the Sit-N-Go in 4th, signed up for another and cashed in a 3 way chop.

How often can you say you left Vegas richer?