Arrived Tues, 6/21, a.m., and headed to the Manadalay Bay for lunch at the House of Blues. It was still a little early for lunch so I sat down in their poker room, which was conveniently located near the House of Blues. There was only two tables going. One 4/8 + half kill, and one 1/2 NL. I got in on the 4/8 table and spent about 1.5 hour losing about $100. Only memorable hand I had was having pocket 7s, hit trips on the turn, only to lose to the flush that hit on the river. I went specifically to the House of Blues to have their etoufee, but it's been a few years and apparently they have taken it off their menu. I won't be going back.

Checked into our room at the Luxor, and relaxed and rested a little before going to the Blue Man Group show. Pretty entertaining show. I just hope they recycle all that paper.

Wednesday morning I walked over the MGM for their 11:00am tourney. I got there about 10:00am to sign up, then sat down at a 2/4 limit game to wait. There were a couple of dealers from Rio there. One of them was drunk (at least acting like he was) and playing a little wildly. At the very least, it was entertaining. I was about even when we have to get up for the tourney.

The tourney was fun. It was my first live NLHE tourney (played some online play money ones before). On my very first hand I was dealt A 2 off. Limpers all around. Flop comes 3 4 5 rainbow. I bet what I thought was a couple of black chips. Turned out one was purple, so I was betting $600 instead of the intended $200. Folds all around except for one, who goes all-in. I'm looking at the low straight, so I put him either on the higher straight or the same hand as me. I called after grumbling about it being my first hand and all, but I already got half my stack in the pot and I do have a hand. He shows KK and got no help on the board, so I doubled up on my very first hand. On the very next hand I was dealt 9h 10h. Limpers all around again. Flop come 8 J Q with 2 clubs. I made the nut straing this time and bets $500. The guy on my left goes all-in and I call. He shows JJ and he caught a Q on the turn to make his boat. So basically, I transferred my winning from my first hand to him and I'm back to where I started. One guy at my table was taking quite a few people out with amazing cards. He was up about 5 or 6 bankrolls by the first break. That was all the excitement I had for the tourney. I didn't catch any hands after that and lasted about 1.5 hour into the tounry until I went out with Q 10 off against QQ.

I had a little time left before meeting up with the wife, so I thought I try the 1/2 NLHE cash game (again my first time). It only took about 20 minutes to lose my $100 buy-in. On my last hand, I had about $40 left, got dealt A K off, flop comes K x x, pushed, and was trapped by a guy slow-playing his AA.

Back to the 2/4 table and was up about $12 when the wife arrived. We went back to the room to get cleaned up, then headed out to the Palace Station for lunch. Their Oyster Bar has the best food IMO in all of Vegas. I had their famous Boulliabaise. Absolutely delicious! It made up for not getting my etoufee at the House of Blues.

After lunch we drove over to Wynn's to check the place out. I didn't get very far, because their poker room was between the garage and the main casino. I sat down at a 4/8 game while the wife goes wandering. I was HOT! I took down pot after pot and was up almost $100 in about 45 minutes. I would have like to stay longer, but we have tickets for the Celine show and had to get going.

Celine was good. Great voice. Amazing how she does that week after week.

We went back to our room with some take-out for dinner. After that the wife went to bed and I gave the Luxor poker room a try. They had 4 tables going. Two 2/4s, one 4/8 with half kill, and one 1/2 NLHE. I started with the 2/4 table, but got bored after a while and not catching any hands. I moved over to the 4/8 game and didn't do much better there. I was down about $40 in about 1.5 hour and went to bed.

Thursday morning I drove over to the Sahara for their 11:00am touney. Got registered and sat down at their 2/4 table while waiting for the touney to start. Only got to play a few hands before the tourney started. I think I was up about $8.

The tourney was again fun. Nothing as dramatic as my first one yesterday, but played pretty well and was at $13000 at the second break. Another guy at the table was again catching amazing cards. I was down to my last $6000 (the blinds were at 500/1000) when I got dealt A K off. I pushed and the guy with the amazing cards called with pocket 6s. The board was no help and I was out.

After lunch, the wife wants to check out Bellagio. We got there, wandered around a bit, and I tried to get a seat in their newly remodeled poker room. It was only Thursday afternoon and the place was already packed. The list for 4/8 Hold'em was over 20 people, so we walked over to Bally's to check out their poker room. They had 2/4, 3/6, 4/8, and 1/2 NL going. I couldn't get a seat in the 4/8, so I moved between the 2/4 and 3/6. I couldn't catch any cards and was down about $80 in about 1.5 hour.

That was it for the trip. In summary, the tourneys were fun, and I think a good learning experience. The Wynn's poker room was definitely top notch. The MGM poker room was also pretty nice, but nowhere near the same class. Sahara and Luxor are pretty dated, but the Sahara tourney was well-ran. The Bally's room didn't leave me with a good impression, but that might be due to the bad cards I was getting and this drunk lady at the 2/4 table.