Friday evening - Aladdin $1-2 NL cash game
I arrived in Vegas late Friday afternoon for a long weekend of quality time with the wife and some quality time at the poker tables. I was staying at the Aladdin, which is undergoing its (slow) transformation to Planet Hollywood. My advice would be to avoid this hotel until the transformation is complete (early 2007 by the looks of things). I had gone for a decent room (Resort Vista) which is bigger than the standard room, plus we had a fantastic view of the strip overlooking the Bellagio lake and Paris.

The poker room at the Aladdin has moved from its original location as a real room in the center of the casino, to a roped off area in the main casino. This was somewhat disappointing, as I liked the previous room. I was able to get immediate seating at $1-2 NL. For 10pm on a Friday night the room was quite dead, at one point we were 5-6 handed for awhile. The players were mostly young local regulars, who knew all the dealers, and knew how to play, but they made it fun. Any fish that arrived were quickly dissected. Luckily for me, I was able to hold my own and not get felted.

Saturday ¡V Aladdin midday tournament
This is a $110 buy-in for 2000 in chips. Starting levels are not too bad, with 20 min levels if I remember correctly. You can last to the first break (1 hour of play) without having to do anything stupid, however after that the blinds get too big and it turns into somewhat of a crap shoot. I busted out after getting short stacked after about 90 mins of play. Overall this is a reasonable tournament for the buy-in (compared to some other low limit buy-in tourneys on the strip); however for the serious player you can get better value for your money in the Caesars tourney.

I then walked over to Paris. The room there is again in a roped off area in the main casino. There was a waiting list for $1-2 NL and the room didn¡¦t look too appealing, so I continued walking and went across the street to Caesars.

Saturday afternoon ¡V Caesars $1-2 NL cash game
Caesars poker room is all that it is cracked up to be. My only negative comment is that the main room is maybe too big, that when it is crowded (as it was Saturday afternoon) it appears to be bit of a cattle market. I was able to get seating at a $1-2 NL after a short 5 minute wait. I was surprised at some of the low quality of play by players that looked like they should know better (e.g. they couldn¡¦t let go of a high pocket pair despite overcards flopping). There was also a fish/maniac at the table that would pay you off with his top pair/weak kicker because he thought you were bluffing, just because he was most of the time. I was able to double through my original $200 buy-in and finished the session up over $250. This gave me a free roll into the 7pm tourney.

Saturday evening ¡V Ceasars 7pm tournament
For serious players looking for sub $300 buy-in tournaments, Caesars is the place to go. $120 + one $100 rebuy gets you 4500 in chips, with levels of 40 minutes starting at 25-50 blinds. This is an awesome structure for this money.

The tournament area is a separate room, which really adds some class. During the evening Phil Gordon was giving a private lesson to a table (Phil¡¦s little green book is currently my favorite poker book).

To cut a long story short, I made the final table, being short stacked most of the way in the latter half of the tourney and managed to hang on to cash out 8th for $350 after tip.

Because of the long levels, expect to play about 6 hours if you get lucky enough to get to the final table.

Sunday ¡V Aladdin $60 sit and go
I tried this out for fun. You get 1000 in starting chips, with blinds starting at 25-50 and doubling every 15 minutes. Because of this poor structure, this is really a total crap shoot. You essentially have two moves ¡V all-in or fold. Serious players should avoid this tourney, but it is a good way for total novices to play for fun (or maybe for an advanced player to experiment with ¡§kill-phil¡¨/maniac technique). I busted out in 5th, after my all-in button raise with KQ got called by BB who had me dominated with AQ.

Sunday ¡V MGM 6pm tourney and $1-2 NL cash game
I arrived early for the 6pm tourney, only to discover the clocks had gone forward today, so I was actually 20 minutes late. Despite that, I was able to get seated immediately as an alternate. Buy-in is $125 for 1500 chips with 30 minute levels. My first impression of the MGM room was that it was OK, but not great, although it did grow on me through the course of the evening.

The tables at MGM have a ring of marble around the outside, which was OK, but the marble was higher than the felt. Compare this to Aladdin, which has wood around the outside, and is lower than the felt, which I think works better.

Looking round the table I was the short stack. From what I could tell there was mixture in player ability, with lots of all-in action. I busted out early in the tourney, after a mid-position limper called my BB all-in raise with A5 vs my AJ, and he spiked a 5 on the flop.

After that I played some $1-2 NL cash game. It was about a 10 minute wait to get seated. Again, it appeared to be a mixed ability of players at the table with mainly tourists. There were several fish ready to give their money away on stupid draws.

The MGM room seems to attract the WPT-wannabe, twenty-something, sunglasses crowd. Overall I would say this room is very fishy. A solid player should make money here.

Sunday evening ¡V Venetian opening night, and Wynn $1-3 NL
After grabbing a bite to eat I caught a taxi to the Venetian for the opening night of their new poker room. I got there about 9:15pm and it was totally packed. The rail was 6 deep, and you couldn¡¦t really see into the room. From what I could see the room looked really classy, but it was so packed I didn¡¦t really get close to any famous players. I hung out for 20 minutes or so and then came to the conclusion that there was no way I was going to get to play here tonight. So I decided to walk to the Wynn instead and come back the Venetian tomorrow after the chaos had died down.

I have played at the Wynn before. It is a nice classy room, but maybe slightly cramped (but not as cramped as the Bellagio though). I waited about 20 minutes for a seat at $1-3 NL. The Wynn has introduced $3 chips for this game, which is a little weird at first, but once I got used to it I think I prefer playing with these rather than the usual $5 and $1 chips (you starting thinking in number of chips, as opposed to chip value, plus the pots look bigger, as does your stackƒº). I don¡¦t like the no-max buy-in rule that the Wynn has, but fortunately there were no huge stacks at my table. The players at my table were at reasonable skill level with no obvious fish; a solid player should still do OK here though. My table was relatively passive, which suits my tight-aggressive style. I cashed out at midnight for about $100 profit.

Monday afternoon - $2-5 NL cash game at Venetian
I went back to the Venetian at midday, the chaos from the previous night had gone, but I still had about a 20 minute wait for a table. The lowest NL they spread is $2-5, which is slightly above my level, but I played it nevertheless. I bought in for $200, max buy-in is $500, and there were plenty of folks at my table with that level of stack. The clientele here appears to be the middle-aged business man type of player; some average, some well versed in NL.

The room is fantastic. They have definitely invested to make this a cut above the Bellagio/Wynn/Mirage.

I enjoyed playing here, even though it was slightly above my limit, and despite getting felted twice ($200 original buy-in and then another $100 buy-in).

Monday evening ¡V Aladdin $1-2 NL cash game
Similar to Friday evening, more young locals/dealers/friends of dealers, but overall a friendly game. I cashed out by bedtime with about $50 profit.

Tuesday early evening ¡V Aladdin $1-2 NL cash game
Another friendly game. Many of the same faces I saw previously. Again I cashed out with about $50 profit in time for dinner with the wife.

Summary
Overall a great trip.

For serious tournament players I would advise avoiding the low buy-in ¡§tourist¡¨ tournaments with unfavorable structures, and save your money for the Caesars tournament.

For $1-2 NL cash game players I would recommend a trip to Venetian¡¦s new room (if you can afford the higher $2-5 limits). MGM¡¦s room is a good place for solid rocks who are looking to cream some fish. Wynn is worth a visit as well.

Newbie/inexperience players, who are looking for a fun tournament without too much pressure, then try out Aladdin¡¦s Sunday sit and gos for an hour of fun.