Myself & 3 friends hit Vegas on Wednesday 26th for four nights - a long trip from Ireland but well worth it.

We stayed at the Imperial Palace, which suited our needs perfectly - it doesn't have the glitz of some of the high-end hotels, but we weren't worried.

Having read the reviews of the IP Poker Room on this site, I wasn't sure what to expect, but it turned out to be just fine. Maybe it would be preferable if the corridor to the buffet wasn't just outside the rails, but I don't think it makes too much difference.

I played exclusively the 2-4 limit games, as the no-limit looked a bit pricey. I'd never played limit before, as it's not widely available here in Ireland, but I enjoyed the structure and games. Unfortunately the low limits brought my greed out a bit too much, and too much chasing and calling bad-odds draws ensured that I lost most of the time.

However, this was not the object of the exercise - I was there to have fun & play. With this in mind, the IP was a great room. The other players were, with a couple of exceptions, well-mannered and funny, while the staff were excellent. Maybe the dealers made the odd mistake, but they more than made up for this with a stream of laughs and interesting stories. There were a couple of real characters dealing there, and I've got to give real credit to the guy who, when I nodded off at the table (it was 09:00am!) woke me up, then arranged for all the players at the table to order me beer when the waitress next appeared! If the plan was to get me drunk enough to take my money, it backfired - this was the only session where I left the table up!

As we toured the other casinos, I checked out the various poker rooms - the Bellagio & MGM Grand looked superb. On my next trip I plan to play a few hands there.

I did play in one other casino - we went to Freemont St and I just had to play at Binion's. I bought it for $40, and slipped one of the chips into my pocket as a souvenir. Forty minutes later I left with my $40 and that chip - so I can boast I left one casino in profit!!