Left Alaska at 11pm Dec 22 and arrived in Vegas 7am Friday Dec 23rd. Asked to check in early at the Sahara and the hotel was very accomodating. Dropped my bags and out the door to the Wynn.

Bought a $125 Satellite seat at 10am. I broke my strategy by "checking" in mid position, after swearing to myself that I would either fold or raise in that position. Didn't last long in the first go around. Approximately 45-50 buy ins with top two advancing to the afternoon tourney $550.00 event.

Bought into 2nd Satellite and tightened up my game against the obvious local players. My guard goes up when I hear the dealer calling players by their first name or vice versa. This go around I got all of my chips in with A,K,off suit heads up against the chip leader and his A,9 offsuit busts me out when a 9 shows on the turn.

Shortly after I joined a $1-2 NL cash game and of course found more locals. Bought in for $100 and walked away with $428.00 after busting out a local on the turn with Jacks full. He accused me of playing the hand poorly and bad mouthed me. Too bad I didn't have a pacifier and fresh diaper for him. The dealer was involved in a friendly conversation in Chinese with two of the other players while the whining loser continued to trash talk me. So I decided to leave. Thought it was very unprofessional of the Wynn to allow that treatment of a guest. On the good side I was up $78 and the waitresses there are very, very delightful.

Sat.24th Christmas Eve decided to play at the Sahara as they host 3 tourneys each day at 11am, 7pm & 11pm. They filled 3 tables at the early game, I caught many good starting hands and had lots of action. I made it to the final table with a decent stack. Played K,Q offsuit in the small blind and the chip leader called with the flop showing A,10,7 so I folded to his raise. Thought I'd try to conseve chips but kept catching Aces suited. Went all in with A,6 suited against another short stacked player. Caught a 6 on the flop, he caught 3 on river and made a small straight and put me out at 6th and out of the "money" as they paid only top 3 or 4 that round. Good poker at the Sahara, friendly dealers and players. Buy ins at $42 for $2000 chips and one rebuy of $20 for $1500 chips.

Bought in the 7pm tourney. Good turn out for X-mas eve, approx. 100 players. Pay out is top 11. I take 10th and win $80 at 10:45pm. My best hand was pocket 3's in small blind with a 3,5,5 flop! Oh, what fun it is too ... be up $96.00 bucks.
I bought in for my third time today at 11pm tourney and lasted 1 - 11/2 hours. Tired and called an all in raise with A,J offsuit. Go against Q,J. Board flops Q,J and I go to bed at $24.00 ahead for the day but I placed in the money in tournament poker!

Christmas Day I take a cab for $20 including tip to Las Vegas golf club. It's 70 degrees and sunny and I'm playing golf, not bad for an Alaskan. Great time, I meet a poker player at the course. He gives me a ride to the Wynn where he joins the limit hold'em game and I try my luck at the $1,2 NL table. This time the game there is more friendly. There are plenty of locals at the table but enough "visitors" to make the fishing good. I buy in for $100 and leave with $385 a couple of hours later! Head back to my hotel, Sahara and buy in to the 7pm tourney. My pocket 8's hold up against a short stacked all in caller holding A,K suited and I advance to the final table. I place 5th out of a field of more than 100 and make $240.00 in winnings. Played cash NL the remainder of the night to the early hours of Monday morning. Came out ahead +$200.

So,Monday is my final day and I'm up $500. I decide to scout out other poker rooms, MGM, Excalibur, and a few others. Catch a 10am tourney at the Aladdin for a $40 buy in. The action is somewhat slow, and I have trouble seeing the cards against the blue felt tables. I prefer the green felt. I last approximately 1 hour and loose interest and bust out. I join a $1-3 NL table and am unable to get any momentum going as it is full of tight playing young "online gamblers". Only highlight at the Aladdin is I fill an inside straight flush that pays out $107 plus I win approximately $100 in the pot. But overall I end up losing $160 at the Aladdin and leave town that afternoon at + $360.00

Great trip. I enjoyed the Sahara's tourneys and my room was very clean and comfortable for the little time I was present. Looking forward to future tournament play.