I played tournaments and cash games in Downtown at the Golden Nugget and Binion's. The tournaments were fun, I played 4 tournaments at Binion's, didn't cash in any but was very close. I played the Saturday 2pm $10,000 guaranteed tournament at Binion's. Top ten place and I finished 12th. I guess I had a Mike Matusow blowuup since I think I was the chip leader with 12 people left, I just kept getting pocket pairs and kept pushing preflop with desperate stacks calling and catching there cards. I had pocket pairs 4 out of 6 hands, and lost all 4 hands, thus knocking me out at 12th... In hindsight, I guess after the 2nd time that my pocket pairs didn't hold up, I could have played small ball or I just could have folded and coasted into the money, maybe Ill do that next time. This was the first time that I ever hand such a large chip lead and I wanted to capitalize on it and gain even more chips. I guess I lost sight of the objective which was to make the money first then move up in cash money.

As for the cash games, I mainly played late at night, around midnight or played early in the morning around 5am... in downtown, only the golden nugget had a game running, I m not sure if the poker rush of the early 2000s is over and finally less people are playing poker... In downtown, at midnight, I found only the golden nugget to have a regular 1/2 nl game going, also at around 530 am, only the golden nugget had a game also... binion's was empty... maybe at midnight, binion's had some players who were waiting to play the 2am tournament... but was pretty empty. I thought that the sight of empty poker tables to be sad since I normally play in downtown.

I did play on the strip once I checked out the mirage at around 9am.. that too was empty.. they had no nl game going, I think they only had a 2/4 limit game, I ended up going to the venetian, got there around 930, and they also only had 2 1/2 nl game going... I found the competition there pretty stiff for a 1/2 nl game... half the table knew about pot odds and implied odds... if you did not bet appropriately and there were flush or straight draws on the board, be aware that you will get calls... also preflop... the normal raise if someone had pocket pairs were about $20 for a 1/2 game since if the raise was any left, once you get one caller, you would definately get more... so pocket aces against 6 opponents is not a good situation...

overall, I enjoyed the trip, I wish I could come back sooner, I will go to California instead in the next month to try their cardrooms like Commerce and Hawaiian Gardens... I will be back to vegas next year in the fall again...