Arrived on Saturday, 7/16, at 2:00. My room would not be ready until 5:00, so I checked my luggage and headed to the poker room. Sat down for three hours of 1 -2 no limit and won $296. I liked this room from the beginning, very bright, fairly quiet, and that day it was full of weekend fish. At 5:00 left to check-in and have dinner. Cheesburger at the Oasis, expensive and not worth it. After dinner, over to the MGM. Put my name on the 1-2 no limit list. Was third. Went for a short walk. Looked at list: now fifth. Hmmmmm. Went for another walk: now seventh. Hmmmm hmmmmmm. Another walk, down another notch to 8th. Apparently they were putting the regulars on top of the list. Started getting a little annoyed about the list and the fact that there were three dealers at empty tables. Was about to leave when they started calling names rapidly. Was seated, played about an hour and left up $126. The table was full of tourists, college kids, and a couple of drunks, one of which had a large stack when I arrived, but not much left when I departed. He kept going all-in with crap, including one hand against me, and was giving his chips away. Did not care much for the MGM for a few reasons: the downward movement of the list; non-smoking room which I like, but smokers were standing right outside the rail, which drifted in, especially on the southside of the room; noisy due to the bar right next to the poker room (blasting music).

Back to the Aladdin for Sunday. Played three hours and left up another $300. Played a sit-in-go and chopped with another player. Dealers at Aladdin were competent and friendly for the most part. There was one dealer who was a putz, scrawny, pasty, limp noodle type of guy with attitude. Some very good dealers. Dora won me about $300 in 20 minutes on Tuesday. Cocktail service varied from very good to non-existent. One blond waitress was a real bitch. Lots of attitude and extremely rude. No tips for her.

Monday, back to the Aladdin. Wheels fell off and went card dead. Gave back $500 of my winnings. Should have followed my limits and left after losing $200. No cards, no flops, nothing working that day. Tuesday, back again. Played in the afternoon and lost another $200. Went to dinner, returned at about 9:00 and played until 9:30 the next morning. Was up about $500 at 3:00 AM, but lost is all by 9:30. Same guy kept sucking out on me. I put him all-in three times with two high pair and he calls with nothing but a straight draw. All three times he caught the straight on the river. Lost the rest of my money on the last hand. Went all in with trip queens after the flop, guy calls with nothing, gets runner-runner for straight. Came back that night and won a little back. Thursday night had a great first hand. Pocket 10's, flop is 10-7-7. First position and I check. Next guy bets $5. Another guy calls, I call, everyone else is out. Turn is a dud. I check again, second guy bets 15, third guy calls, I call. River is an Ace, which made me a little nervous, but actually helped me. I'm first to act and toss in 15, like I'm trying to steal the pot. Second guy gets all confused and cannot understand why I bet on the river and not before. He raises to 40. Third guy calls, I go all in. Second guy confused again, but can't let it go and calls, as does third guy. Second guy turns over 7's full of Aces. Third guy angrily tosses down his two pair Aces and 7's with king kicker. Second guy starts to celebrate until I turn over my pocket tens. Nice triple-up for me. Unfortunately, the rest of the night did not go so well. Lost $100.

Walked over to the Bellagio. Nice look, but wicked crowded. Tons of people and not much space between the tables. Also checked out the Wynn on Friday morning. Not much going. Room looks nice, very nice in fact. I will have to try it next time in Vegas.

Conclusion: Aladdin has very nice, comfortable poker room. Lots of fish, but also some sharks lurking in the shallows. Played about 30 hours of 1-2 no-limit and left down $300 exactly. If I had played my cards right I could have been out of there with a profit of about $1,000. But I was more interested in gaining the experience and having fun. Next time I will be more concerned about winning and keeping my winnings.