I play the lower limit in both the cash games and tourneys. I played pretty well but only ended up slightly as my hands did not hold up this trip. The players at the IP weren't that good but I had some bad luck to end up slightly ahead. Still the $2 per hour comp though and it can be noisy. The $2-6 spread game at Excalibur is fun because it is a bit different than the $2-4 limit I normally get to play at my home casino. I did not have a problem with the relocation. It did not seem all that different than before. It seemed that about fifty percent of the tables had automatic shufflers now at Excalibur.

As far as the tourneys went, I played at the IP, Luxor, Excalibur, and Paris. People didn't seem that great at the IP tourney. I was among the chip leaders but got crippled by the one player at my table who had a rival stack. He had kings versus my nines. I was probably too aggressive but oh well. The next morning I played in the 9am Excalibur tourney. The blinds go up pretty fast, but I got fortunate on when the tables broke right before my blind a couple of times. I was dominated but got a card to stay alive and then I played well to get heads up. I made one bad play and then tried to push my opponent around as I had been, but ended up losing for second. The blinds seemed no worse than a speed internet tournament. It took about two hours to complete but I kind of like that as I don't want to spend alot of my vacation at a single tournament.

They changed the structure a bit on the Luxor tournament from the last time I had played. There is no longer a limit portion of the tourney and we started with more chips (600). The small and big blinds were both initially at $25 as well. I doubled up right away with kings and stayed at that chip level to make it to the final table. I had to make something happen so I pushed on the first had with pocket fives. Unfortunately, I got two callers each with a queen. Of course, a queen showed up for a two outer that haunted my cash games all weekend and I was gone. I didn't play all that well at a $45 Paris tourney the next day. It seemed well run but I didn't make it much beyond the first break.

The Excalibur tourney caused me to be slightly positive for the trip but I played pretty well just to get that profit.