I was looking for an excuse to come to Vegas, so was very happy to see the AVP tourney was going. A lot of phone calls for rooms (how the hell do they justify NYC and DC rates for rooms at the Mirage, TI, and Harrah's?) but I wound up getting three comp nights at Hooters. Hooters is a fine motel type setup, and if you play any table or machine games, casino marketing is very good to you.

The Hooters 1/2 NL, capped at $200, is a pretty average game at thsoe stakes. They have a poker room, but it seems to be used for tournaments only. One thing that is unusual, due to the location of the table on the casino floor, smoking is permitted. This isn't a plus for me, as I had a corneal transplant and can't handle smoke in the eye. The players were kinda loud and wanted to be aggressive, but most limped preflop with a raise of $10 chasing off all but two or three, and any bigger raise cleared the table. No real reason to play this game unless you want to smoke.

TI was a gas, I sat in a 2/4 game for about twenty minutes, won two pots with my lousy 10-2X from the blind, and then the mixed game got started. I think I had my best time in Vegas playing the mixer with all the other degenerates, and highly recommend that anyone who wants to have fun and (maybe) learn some other games go for it. We played Badugi, Razz, 2-7 triple draw lowball (the game I learned in Gardena when Hold'em was illegal in California), double flop Omaha high only, which may be the most confusing game I've ever played....my brain just locked up constantly, I can follow a lot, but this just baffled me, and Stud eights or better. Just a terrific friendly mix of players, and the dealers/management couldn't have been more accomodating. I was sorry when we broke for the tournament, I could have easily gone another long stretch.

The AVP tournament was one of the friendliest, if odd, I've played. I still don't see how the betting got capped preflop in a NL game (yes, I understand the four raises, but FOUR MINIMUM RAISES!?!?!) but other than that it was fairly solid play. I lost one 50/50 hand, nines against AQ, when semi-short stacked against a much smaller stack, and then couldn't wait for a better hand than 8-9 when I had less than the blinds left. Got called by someone with J-2X who made jacks on the flop, adios in eighth place.

At this point, it was just after nine, and I'd been up since 2 AM, so didn't want to chance playing totally wiped.

Got up the next day, coffee'd up while playing $5 blackjack (my free coffee cost me about $30, a bargain) and went to breakfast at Black Bear Diner. Came over to Mandalay Bay, where the brush seemed to be in training for Bellagio. "No one playe limit here any more, I'm not gonna bother even starting a list." Went by Planet Hollywood to see if Photoc was going to win an Emmy he was an extra is CSI and you'll find a lot about this elsewhere), but couldn't get near the cardroom. So off the Wynn for the game that isn't spread, where I got right in to a full game of 4/8, no kill. Great service, very easy on the eyes, excellent dealers, and about two thirds tourist vs. one or two players who wouldn't say where they lived (Summerlin or Henderson, I bet). Average to mediocre players, with a table that had at least five New Yorkers past or present all over 70, so pretty funny group. There was one player who was a pain in the butt, even if he won a pot against an inferior hand, he felt it was his duty to lecture the schnook on his poor play, but mostly a friendly group. I didn't catch many cards, especially on the flop, so only finished up $30 after six hours. However, they are good with the food comps, I got $20 at the deli which fed me pretty well.

My last day, I couldn't decide how to aggravate myself properly, so I flipped a coin to see if I was going to go to Orleans or Mirage. Mirage won, I lost. I had a great nosh at Carnegie Deli, then went to the poker room. After 10 minutes, the brush showed up to let me in to a four handed 3/6 game, but the dealer couldn't get an okay to drop the rake five handed, so off I went,

I'd seen good posts about Fitzgerald's here, and the best dealer at my local cardroom said it's easy to get comped rooms there with a minimum of action. One tip...use valet parking, or prepare to spend a half hour in the garage. I've posted a review of the room; I was very impressed with the quality of the dealers and management. Played the noon tourney ($35, one $15 rebuy, one addon, you can come in as your own alternate if you need to) and the players were bad. Really bad. I tripled up when I had broadway on the turn, bumped it up pot size, and made my nut flush on the turn. One player shoved, one called, and I beat both of them to the middle. Yep, with a four flush and a three straight on board, they both thought I'd go away with the nut hand. I was bubble boy, unfortunately, as I lost track of the other player who knew what was up. I flopped my queens, forgot about his smooth call with AA in the hole, and was second out of four at the end to the big stack.

The cash game was very good, with just the right mix of decent players to players who wanted to gamble it up, and I wound up $100 to the good for four hours of play at 3/6. This room needs more players, and it deserves them.