I arrived in Vegas the 28th about 6 pm. I was hoping to make the Planet Hollywood 7pm but failed. When I arrived for the 2am tournament the players and dealers were all talking about " The Grinder " having played in the 7pm tourney. Apparently he is the house poker ambassador or as one dealer put it " runs the room " and from time to time sits down at these 60 dollar buyin events. Anyhow I hear he busted out 9 people in a matter of minutes then donked off his 42k in chips. Im thinking he had a cash game to play hehe. The 2am tourney had 38 buyins and paid top 6 with around 700 going to first. I took 5th in that one and picked up 170.

The 29th and 30th I played in the 10,2pm and 7pm, tourneys. While I made the final table 3 times I only cashed once more for 140. The blind structure in these events is such that it does become like a world poker tour event after about 3 hours. When you get down to 12 players, 2 tables of 6 and youre posting 9k per orbit with 100k in play at your table theres not a whole lot of dancing room. One time for instance we got down to 11 players my table had 5. I post my 8k big blind and fold my rags to an all in that had me covered. The other table loses a player in the meantime and we go down to one table and redraw for seats and the button and sure enough im posting another 8k big blind only to fold my rags to another all in. In a matter of 2 minutes I went from having 20 percent of the chips in play to 12 percent and I didnt even play a hand LOL. That being said all in all I really like these tourneys and cant wait to do em again. The fewest buyins I saw was 38 for the monday 2am the most was like 67 on tuesday night. The dailies were always around 50. They do allow you to reenter not rebuy. During the first hour if you get knocked out you can leave your seat and go to the desk and reenter but if theres alternates waiting you go to the back of the line.

In some ways the highlight of my trip was Tuesdays 7pm even though I didnt cash. 20 minutes in I was crippled when my tptk with a nut flush draw failed to improve against a fella who played his aces well. I had one 100 dollar chip left. Long story short no one from my original table was at the final table when I arrived with my 18k. I had to push quickly since the blinds were 8000/4000 and coming my way. I moved in with a8 diamonds and got 2 callers. One had pocket aces one had pocket 8s. Flop brought 2 diamonds and im thinking is it possible im finally gonna donk someone? nope.

I bought in for 200 at the 1/2 table one day in between tourneys. There was a couple awful players a couple good ones and a self proclaimed calling station. I got my entire stack in post flop with pocket aces on a 9 high board. Mr Station calls with his a9. runner runner gives us both a wheel and we are chopping a 300 dollar pot I shoulda had.

I cant possibly say enough good things about the PH pokerroom. I loved the space between the tables, the location and most of all the staff. From the desk to the dealers to the waitresses everyone I encountered there seemed to genuinely enjoy what they were doing.

While I stayed at Excalibur because of the super discount price I never played a hand there. I cant explain it but for some reason the vibe of the place just didnt fit me. I dont know if its because people appeared to be backed in there like tuna or the bingo hall like atmosphere or what but I just never felt compelled to sit down there.