I had a three night trip to Vegas, August 18th -21st with a buddy who is not a poker player. I thought it would not be a big deal since I didn't think I would want to play poker for three straight days. That being said, I did have a good experience the times I played. My plan was to play one or two tourneys a day with about a $100 or so planned for each tourney's buyin/rebuys.

Got into town 11am on Thursday and rushed over to the Aladdin to play the 1pm tourney. This is a decent room but nothing special. I learned right away that if they have an add on they assume you want it so if for some reason you do not, make sure you tell them. This was true at every place I played with an add on option. Played a little over an nour in this tourney but was crippled by a bad beat (yeah, I know, that's what everyone says).

Decided not to rebuy and rather left and went to Luxor to play the 4pm $50 freezout tourney. I prefer freezeouts for two reasons: I think they attract better players and I think pople play better when they know losing with a marginal call takes them out. Ended up chopping this tourney after about 30 min of heads up play. We each took about $300 after tipping out to the dealers. Not a bad return for two hours of poker.

Left Luxor and while walking back to my hotel decided to stop at Bellagio mostly to check out the room while I waited for my non-poker playing friend to get in. I should have just kept walking.

They had immediate seating on a 3-5 NL table so I decided to sit down. By the time my buddy showed up after checking in to the hotel I had lost what I won at Luxor plus another $100. Most of this was to one guy in two different hands he held Pkt KK. I think it was the only time in three hours of playing against him he ever actually had a hand. Lucky me.

That was enough for me for the day so we grabbed dinner and called it a day.

Next morning I got up and played the 11am touney at Harrah's. I liked this one so much I played it again the next day rather than chance another mediocre room or tourney structure. I thought this tourney was the best run with the best structure over all. It was also the biggest. A full 9 tables both Friday and Saturday with at least another table or two worth of alternates.

Didn't cash either time but I figure cashing in one out of four tourney's actually made me about even on my tournament play. I would have preferred to cash at Harrahs since it was a bigger tourney and the amount would have been higher.

After napping in the afternoon we went to check out the Wynn and I played for a few hours there in their poker room. This is a nice room and well run. I found the player level there a nice mix that lead to an overall positive session for me.

Overall I found that the nicer the room the better the player but there were always people at the table who had played little to no poker. These people are nice in ring game but a pain in the tourney since it always seems to be those people who crack your aces calling with a Q-8 "because they were suited" and knock you out.

Also, generally the nicer the hotel and room the better run it was overall.