This was my first time playing NL in Vegas. I've played limit in Vegas and in Detroit before so I was excited and nervous at the same time. I was there with a group of guys that came in for the NCAA basketball tourney and was the only poker player. They like watching the games at the Aladdin so I thought I'd give the room a shot and had a good time.

The room itself (as described elsewhere) is an old slot room with 1/2 the room still having slots. Heard from some of the dealers that when the Planet Hollywood conversion is done they'll have about a 20 table permanent room near the new sports book. There was plenty of room to move around the tables which was very nice because some of the rooms I've been in are very difficult to get around in with chairs and tables being crammed close together. Only complaint I have about the room itself was the lack of televisions. They had 3 set up but since its a new room and its only temporary I'll give them a break. The dealers and floor people that I dealt with were great. They were all very friendly and happy to answer any questions. I remember a dealer mentioning that Linda was headed over to the Wynn and would be missed. Alex and Nick were also great on the floor. I can't remember all the dealers but Richard, Robert (a couple Roberts I think), Vic, Chewy were all great. There was another older gentleman that went to Mumford High in Detroit but I can't remember his name but wanted to mention him as another good dealer. My only complaint about the staff isn't really poker room staff but just the lack of wait staff in the middle of the day on Wednesday. Granted it was the middle of the week but the room was full in the middle of the afternoon and with about 100-120 players it took 20 mintutes or more to get a drink. Things were much better on Thursday and Friday.

As for the games and players I'd have to say I couldn't have asked for a better group. The players were very friendly (95% or more were from out of town) and during the time I played I only saw a couple of people either let their emotions or alcohol get the best of them and cause any kind of a sceen. Actualy, the drunk was funny because he won a hand (and $373 high hand bonus) when he thought his straight lost to a boat. He actually had a royal flush but room rules say the cards speak for themselves and as the rest of the table shook their heads the dealer pushed the $250-300 in chips over to him. The looser of the hand was graceful but I'm sure had it been me I'd have been pretty hot.

The games swung from beeing very tight to very loose and pot sizes ran from the $3 in blinds to over $300. For the most part I played fairly tight and tried not to get involved in too many hands where I didn't think I had the best hand. There were a couple of hands when I thought I was beat but called or in once case raised and I ended up paying the price. In that case I had A-2 in small blind. There were maybe 3 players that limped in and I called and big blind checked. Flop was A, 2, 3. I bet $15, big blind raised to $30, everyone folded around to me. I actually thought he may have had 4, 5 and joked with him that I'd punch him (we'd been talking for hours and he and the rest of the table knew I was joking when I said it) if he had 4, 5. I ended up putting him all-in (another $60 more) and after he called I turned over my two pair and he turned over his A, 3 and I knew I was dead. Turn and River came with no help. I didn't feel too bad because I had taken him the day before for about $70 after he had his flush beaten by my boat. In that case I floped two pair in the small blind and he had flopped a Ace high club flush. He threw out a $5 bet which was a small enough bet to maybe keep a player or two which is what he got. I checked the Turn after I made my boat and called his $10 bet. River brought an Ace and I acted all excited to see the Ace of Diamonds and put out a $15 bet. He raised to $30 and knew that I probably couldn't have gotten a call if I went all in so I only raised another $20. After he called he flipped over his suited A X and I could see the color leave his face after I tossed over my cards and called out 10s over 6s. I guess it all equaled out in the end.

Back to the room... The Aladdin is in the process of putting in automatic shufflers which I like becuase it speeds the game up (as of Friday they had them in 3 of the 12 tables) and had to laugh one time because when an shuffle error came up I had to show the dealer and the floor how to get the shuffler open. I'd seen it plenty of times at Motor City Casino in Detroit and new where to lift the door to get it to open manually.

Over all I had a great time and would rate the staff with a A and the room with a B+ with the room getting nicked for the lack for TVs. The room is also very close to a cashier and restrooms so that helps too.

It was just too bad that of the $600 or so that I cleared in the 3 days I lost about $200 playing craps and blackjack. Since this was the first of my 4 trips to Vegas that I've come back as a winner I guess I can't complain.