Played my first Vegas tournamnet at Binion's on April 23rd. I was the Saturday 2:00pm tournament ($70 buy0in with optional $40 re-buy) and 195 players entered. They put 11 to a table, which was odd to me as I have never seen or heard of that before. Of the 11 at my table, at least 6 of them were locals. I quickly realized after the first 20 minutes that I was outclassed. I rebought after losing a sizeable hand and stood at T2200 at the first break. I initially wasn't drinking, but after realizing it was very unlikely I would make the money, I figured I better get something for my $110. I was playing with 4 other frineds of mine and they were having better success at their tables as it seems they didn't have as many locals with them. I started catching some cards and gaining confidence. To cut a story short, I somehow managed to make the final table and finished 9th. 18 players were paid and I pocketed $297. After playing for over 5 hours it seemed I should have made more money, but just making the final table at Binion's was reward enough for me. 1st place made $5,000 and 2nd took about $2,500. I was the short stack at the final table and pushed on the first hand with KTo. I was called by QTs who hit runner runner spades for a flush.

I was going to try and play in the 12:00pm tournament at The Orleans on sunday, but the group got off to a late start, so we ended up playing at Binion's again at 2:00. With a lot more confidence on sunday than I started with on Saturday, I attacked the table in the first round and quickly build up a decent stack. Of course, I was getting cards to play, which makes it a lot easier to accumulate chips. There weren't as many locals at my table on Sunday as they were on Saturday, although I did noticed roughly 10-12 players that I had played with on Saturday at some point during the tournamnet. The Sunday tournament had 135 entrants. I was hoping to have enough chips where I wasn't forced to rebuy, but I gave away a lot of chips in a hand where I raised with AJs and was called by A9o. I bet strong after the flop of AKT and was called by the other player. When a 9 hit on the turn I chacked and then was faced with a 1/2 pot sized bet. I figured I was probably behind at that point, but I wasn't sure and the board gave me a lot to work with, so I decided to put the pressure on and re-raised all-in. He eventually called and his 2 pair held up. I still had T1000 left so I rebought and 3 hands later called a minimum raise with TT. I was in position after the flop of KT2 when the initial raiser led out for T700. I, of course, pushed and was called by AK. The turn was a K, which gave him a set of K, but gave me a boat. The river was an A, however, and I was sent packing early on.

Overall, the Binion's tournaments are run extremely well and I recommend everyone to play in at least one while you are there. The blind structure is not that aggressive, especially considering your starting chips. You start with T1500 with your $70 buy-in and can rebuy for $40, which will give you T1000 more. Blinds start at 25/50 and increase to 50/100, 75/150, 100/200 in 20 minute increments. After the 100/200 level, the next level is 100/200, but with a 25 ante. The antes quickly start to eat at your stack, but if you are able to take down a pot pre-flop, it's a nice amount. I hadly saw any limping going on in this tournament on Saturday, but there was some limping on Sunday. The typical starting raise at the 25/50 level was T200.

The Aladdin tournamnet at 1:00pm on Monday was run just as well as the Binion's tournament. This tournament was smaller in size (we started with 60 players) and a lot less locals played. I'm sure the play differs on a day-to-day basis, but in comparison to the Binion's tournamnets, the quality of players at the Aladdin tournement was noticeably lower. The buy-in is $60, which gives you T2000 and you have an optional rebuy of $40 for T1000 more in chips. By the first break, however, I had T5800 in chips, so I didn't rebuy. The cards quickly went cold and I busted out in 16th when my QQ did not hold up against AQ. The delaers at Aladdin were a lot friendlier than the Binion's dealers, but all I want are cards to play, so it doesn't matter how the dealers are. With the 60 entrants, the tournamnet paid out 6 places and first place was to get about $1,000. I found out later that the final 6 split the pot and each took about $600.