I decided to take advantage of a going away party in Las Vegas for a friend to check out the Poker rooms. I just recently started playing No Limit Hold'em with friends but I decided to try the limit games to keep my playing hours long and amount of dollars at risk low. Before going I read the book Small Stakes Hold'em by Miller, Sklansky, and Malmuth (this is a great book btw), practiced a little bit with Poker Academy, read the Poker room reviews on this website, and with no other experience took off to Vegas.

The reviews on this website made the Alladin sound like the place to go for a first timer. The Alladin Poker Room Personnel were very friendly and I was quickly setup with a place at a 3-6 table. The first thing I noticed as a sat down was that no one was drinking anything but water. Secondly, as I listened to the small talk waiting to get in many of the people were locals. Thirdly, as far as I could tell, most people were keeping track of the pot odds and only 2-5 players would be in for the flop. I realized I was in over my head but by playing tight I managed to hang in for about three hours and win some nice pots before losing my initial 100$ buy in. The guy next to me got a Royal Flush on one hand and one won of the High Hand Pools for 599$. Later, I learned that a lot of better players are being drawn to the Alladin because of these jackpots.

The next day I played an Alladin Tournament. I was up about 50% after the first hour but then I got short stacked with my Pocket Queens being beaten on the River with trip 9s. The blinds were about to go up again and I was close to the Big Blind, so I went all in with Ace Ten on the next hand only to have Ace Queen and Ace King come in right behind me. Oh Well.

I decided to try the Luxor next. I started playing about 4 in the afternoon. Half the people were drinking, 5-9 people stayed in to see the flop, one lady always stayed in to the river (when I left the game I calculated that she was down about 800$ - which seems impossible for a 2-4 game), the few locals were some 80+ year old guys who played only when they had large pocket pairs (very easy to read - if they raised at any point, you new immediately to muck your hand no matter what you had because they had the best possible hand). Of course, the first two hours my average hand was three eight offsuit and I couldn't play. The few times I had a hand I got beat at the river. I ended up down about 70$ after the first two hours. I was getting pissed, but I forced myself to stay calm and ride it out. Eventually, the cards started coming my way and I ended up about 200$ ahead. The good thing about the game was that the dealers and the players were fun.

I tried the 3-6 game at MGM the next morning. Everyone seemed to know what they were doing but several of them had been drinking and the play was much loser than at the Alladin but tighter than the Luxor. It was a fun game and I was up and down several times and ended up slightly down.

I watched the play at the Wynn for a while but didn't play because I didn't have time. Also the players appeared to be very well heeled and the minimum table was 4-8. Everyone seemed kind of serious and not much fun. We all went to Mandalay Bay on Saturday for the Sport Book. The Poker tables are right next to the Sport Book area so I watched the play for a while. I only saw a few players that appeared to be good but I didn't see anyone that was totally clueless or drunk. Looked like a fun game and I plan to give it a try next time I'm in Vegas. I also stopped by the Excaliber - looked OK and will probably give it a try next time.

All and all ended about even and had a lot of fun.