Well, well, well... arrived Sin City Tuesday afternoon (Great flight via Southwest airlines) aftering checking in at the Stardust had to check out the poker action at our home base. Two tables 3-6, and 2-4 Nolimit. They host poker tournament events Mon-Wed 10am. Decided to get well rested for my first ever big time(lol)tourney.
They had 97 players $45. buy in, no rebuys. Well run event, good pace with the blinds. Finished 9th top four cashed. Figuring I was pretty good (maybe a little lucky) went on to play at the 7pm event at Alladin $100. buy in with $10. add on. Only a field of 15 players, did not fair that well.

Next day played morning tournament at Sahara. Up against 51 players, small room but well run event. TV monitors showing round by round blinds, including a countdown clock to next round. They also posted the prize pool on the monitors. Was out pretty early on in this event my suited JK, was beat up with a J3 unsuited.

Afternoon took us to Luxor, arrived 55 mins early and was 6th alternate. I'll never go as an alternate again, first off the blinds are too high when you eventually get in and secondly you don't have the advantage of learning the players at your table early. Needless to say I saw two flops after sitting down and was "All In" and out on my 2nd hand pocket 8's losing to pocket 9's.

Gave up on the tournament action and settled in for various 3-6, 4-8 games. Visited and played at Stardust, Alladin, Sahara, Harrahs and Golden Nugget all rooms were good. My two favourites were Alladin (The fresh baked cookies offered to all players went a long way) and Harrahs. Harrah's was nice cause it was a self contained room away from the noise of the casino floor.
We also visited a number of other rooms Wynn's very upscale room definately on my list for next visit. The only couple places I would probably never play at after seeing them would be at the Plaza downtown, and Circus Circus.

The action at the 3-6 game at the stardust and Golden Nugget was well above what I expected. I never once left a non tournament game without a profit. It was very easy to identify the players, the locals, and the first timers. I really felt bad for two girls that sat down at our 4-8 game at the Golden Nugget they lost $200. each faster than anyone I have witnessed. Unfortunately I was not the beneficiery of cards to play against them at the time of their short visit to the table.

I really feel that if you understand the game and don't play with an attitude that your a top pro you can easily with just a little luck and a lot of patience be well rewarded. Now if I could only convince myself to play limited tournaments and stay far away from the crap tables I could probably afford many many more great trips to Vegas.

I think that's about it. I really appreciate all the postings it was great to read before my most rescent trip and to all of you good luck and have a blast!