After researching poker rooms and different poker tournaments in Las Vegas for several months, I decided to book a hotel room and flight for 5 days Wed Feb 15 – Sun Feb 20 on the Las Vegas Strip at the MGM Grand for 2 nights and Excalibur across the road for 2 nights. I flew in from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and my best friend from Vancouver Island met me at McCarrans Wednesday night.

Got into MGM about 11pm Wed night. Ditched the luggage to the hotel room then proceeded to MGM poker room immediately. After ogling several waitresses signed up for 1 – 2 NL. Fun table, unfortunately my friend and I couldn’t play at the same table but I had a great time at the table I was at. Played about 3 hrs PLUS $75. Went to bed at 5am.

Thursday morning we cruise over to the Luxor for the $33 Limit/NL 12 noon tourney. We watch a little Canada Olympic hockey to get motivated for our first live poker tournament. We got lucky and watched 1 of the few games Canada actually won.
Tournament structure was 300 tournament chips for $33 - $3 for the dealer add-on.
55 players. First hour Limit poker then No limit from then on. Made it through to final table as serious low stack. My friend Jay never made it past Limit part of tourney. I put all the chips in with pocket 9’s with 3 callers and manage to quadruple up. Now up near the chip lead. One guy got to the final table with probably 80 % of the chips in play. I manage to make a couple huge bluffs that pay off well and after a couple coin flips I got heads-up with the guy with all the chips. Doubled through him several times until I put him all-in with my AQ over his KQ. Take down $465 for first.

After golf at the Callaway Golf Center (and a whole pile of rum) later on same night we decide to got to the Sahara for the 11pm $40 plus rebuys tournament. I figured to go and crush the competition. Needless to say, I was probably one of the first ones out with my friend Jay not far behind. Luckily went to the cash tables and made most of my $60 tourney buy-in back. I was playing with the poker room manager to my left. I thought that was weird. ** Tip – Give a waitress $10 when you get your first drink then tell her to keep’ em coming every 15 minutes or whatever frequency you like. Works like a charm.

Friday was massive recovery day, plus check out of MGM and check in to Excalibur. Hello tourist central! Pretty much watch sports and eat nachos all day long.

Saturday morning - Excalibur 9 am NL tournament. $35 freezeout - 60 people
First hand of the tournament I get pocket Aces. I raise about 4 times the big blind. 1 guy calls. Flop comes 3, 6 10 rainbow. I raise about half my chips, guy goes all-in. First hand here folks. I call, he has pocket 10’s for trip 10’s. Aw crap! Not 2 seconds later a beautiful Ace hits on the river giving me top set. Whew, now I can breathe again! After that I pretty much coast to final table, and low and behold the best friend Jay is already there. Pretty cool, 2 canadians at the same final table in a Vegas poker tourney. I was pretty short stacked again but luck struck 1 more time! I put all the chips in with J4o because I have to. Guy calls me with pocket queens. Flop comes J 10 4. Two pairs to his queens. Another 4 hit on the river and I had the full boat. I gained massive confidence after that win. Get to final 3 - me, Jay and some other dude, and I end up taking out my friend Jay in 3rd and now I am heads-up again. Lasts for 2 hands. I go all-in first hand he folds. Second hand heads-up I have J 9. We see a flop. It comes A K Q. I look at my chips and start fidgeting around. I know the guy has some piece of it by the way he’s squirmin’ around. I check and he checks. Next card off is the magical 10 I needed. I check to him and he goes all-in. I call, he shows A K and no miracle for him on the river. I come in 1st and my best friend in 3rd. I win $650 and Jay wins $275. I can’t believe I won 2 tournaments in 3 days. I won about $1200 total during 5 poker sessions.

I can’t stress how important allvegaspoker.com was as a research tool. I am making plans to go back in July/Aug for the WSOP to check it out and maybe play in one of the smaller buy-in events. See you at the final table !

Any ?’s, concerns or comments send me an e-mail – [email protected]