I try and play Hold 'Em whenever I can and felt there would be a certain "tourist" element at the Mirage that I could compete against rather than someone who is far more skilled.

I don't find this to be the case at the Mirage. There seemed to be 2-3 GOOD players for every 1 AVERAGE JOE player. The buy in seemed reasonable but beware of sharks! I feel I'm a decent player but I was quickly out of my league and felt outplayed quick by either locals or guys that play live action (rather than the Internet) more than me.

I was told afterwards that a better bet for casual, competitive play would be the Aladdin room - I'm going back to Vegas in two weeks and plan on trying this room out. I welcome any suggestions on other rooms in Vegas.