I spent 4 days in Las Vegas with my wife, my sister, and my brother-in-law and I promised to be a good sport and "do everything they all wanted to do," even though all I really wanted to do was play poker. I still got to sit down and play 4 different times, including two tournaments, which was great. And I didn't bug my wife because I chose times to play when she didn't want to do anything else, except maybe sleep...

We got there on a Tuesday morning and two days later the NCAA B-Ball Tournament began. It was Spring Break all around the country, and St. Patty's Day was on a Friday, so The Strip was crazy --We got out on Friday night and flew home, which was best...

The first night my brother-in-law and I played in the 11pm Tourney at the Sahara... It was run pretty well, I lasted about 2.5 hours and placed around 20th-25th place, I suppose...My brother-in-law faired much worse and went out pretty early, and got a little more sleep than I did that first night.

We stayed at the Flamingo, we stopped in at about 25 casinos, did Fremont Street, ate some great food, saw some great shows (I recommend 'MYSTERE' and George Wallace, plus Fellini's at the Stratosphere and the steak and salmon at Les Artistes at the Paris) and I played Hold 'Em mostly at night. I was interested in playing a little Omaha and/or 7 stud, but they were harder to find during the middle of the week. In the older casinos, smoke is definitely a problem. It's all about ventilation...Especially since most poker rooms are not self-enclosed. I'm pretty tolerant, especially for a non-smoker, I'll have a cigar here and there, but Binion's is a perfect example... We walked through, I liked the place, very old school, but my eyes were watering after 20 minutes and so I did not return to play cards there when I had the chance... The one time I played Hold 'Em during the day was at the $2-4 table again at the Sahara, while my wife tried her hand at Blackjack there. I didn't like it (I've never really liked limit play at a casino) and I've decided that I'd rather play in tournaments or play no limit when I'm in a casino... I chase too much with a 2-4 or low limit game for some reason, 6-7 players to the flop, and I begin to think I should stay too, "what the heck...?"

AND there goes my money...

There were more mistakes during the day with the Sahara dealers also... The biggest one was when the dealer chopped a pot between me and another guy and then the other guy left right after the hand to catch his plane. You would have thought that it was 2:30 in the morning instead of 2:30pm, cuz everyone at the table agreed with the dealer that my hand and the guy who almost missed his plane both had a 6 high straight... No, I had pocket fours, a player waiting for a chair reminded all of us from the rail, and that the now-absent winner was the only one that had the straight... The dealer pretended to feel bad for about 5 seconds... It was the same dealer that earlier had given me a hard time for looking at my cards more than once. I always look at my two hole cards a lot... I just do, I always have... Good or bad cards, I keep peeking... I don't care -- Once that guy gave me sh*t about it, he became my least favorite dealer in Vegas... Even if he gave me half a pot I didn't deserve... Maybe HE needs to look at the cards more than once also... Oh well, the other players soon received my ill-gotten $15 bucks and I was done for a while...

My best poker experience was the "Graveyard" Tournament at the Paris, which started at 3am...

It was well run, it was organized with solid dealers, and I took 3rd place while being short-stacked most of the way. I tipped the dealers $20, and still made a $210 profit after my $60 buy-in...

By 6am on the morning of St. Patty's Day, I decided, by default, to pull an all-nighter after my good showing at the Paris -- We were getting on a plane in 12 hours, so I decided to make it a 36 hour odyssey... I went back to the Flamingo, kissed my sleeping wife and told her of my good fortune, and headed back downstairs to the Flamingo poker room. I bought in for $100 bucks at the $1-2 No Limit table by 6:30am, sat down, and realized that at least 3-4 players had between $2000-3000 bucks in front of them... I played for 2 hours until the rest of my family was up and ready for breakfast. I played very tight, realizing I could get put off most hands by the big stacks and at the end, I only lost $8... Many hands were $500-600 pots and it was a friendly table but I got there much too late to compete, obviously...

I finally slept when we got back to Nebraska. I've been playing poker since I've been 15, caught onto TX Hold 'Em about five years ago, and I'm more addicted than I've ever been here at 40something... Stopped by many poker rooms but only played in 3... I'll definitely go back to the Paris and the Flamingo... I'll also want to try my luck at the poker rooms at Harrah's and at Caesars, they were nice. I'll come back and play at the Wynn also, especially if I ever win the lottery.

Be cool, keep cool...

BigMoe