played in their $75 tournament. Was in vegas for 3 days and gave their tourneys a try. It's about 30 players, and I played it 3x. The first day, busted out on the bubble, the next day was the chip leader and decided to split the prize pool 4-ways, and the last time... made it all the way to number 1! although i had to rebuy.

The competition is pretty mixed/good and avg and pretty good. One guy was the chip leader by at least 4000 chips, and then started playing loose and calling everybody. There was a pretty lady that went all in (short-stacked) in middle position he called with 7-8 off suit, and she showed her pocket 10's which held up. A few hands later I look at my pocket cards and see double nickels. I was in the middle of the pack chips-wise and the bubble was still a ways away. Everyone had been playing kind of tight, so i went all-in. Mr. Big-stack who was loud and kind of cocky looked at his hole cards in the bb (I was immediately to his left) said, "oh.. I've got to call this" -sounds like A-K to me. btw, everyone else folds and he shows his AK. flop was non-descript with cards everywhere, turn-blank, river-blank.. my 5's hold up and take about 1/3 of his stack.

a few more hands later and this chip leader loud guy's lead was slowly eroding. Funny, as he started losing, he became more quiet, eventually being knocked out. Pretty lady got knocked out too by me. eventually there were 4 players, and I made a mistake. On the button with A-9 off suit with only one other caller before me. raised and the big blind called. An Ace was on the flop, bb checked, other caller checked, I raise to 2000, he re-raised to 6000 and other caller folded. Turn was a blank, he bet- I called. My A9 didn't improve,and when it got to the river another blank card, he bet out 3000, and with my A9 reluctantly called. He flips over AK. I lose close to 1/2 of my chips, and was at risk of finishing 4th. I always told myself to never play those weak aces.. I was lured with being on the button and acting last. shudda just folded, because my chips position was ok.

This guy was on my original table. Older gentleman, but solid player. Loves to raise pre-flop, and kill the limpers. Anyways, we made it heads up, and it's me and him. He has 30K chips to my roughly 10K in chips, and asks me if we wanna end it here. I said, let's see where this goes. We go back and forth in heads up. I'm not the best heads up player. When I finally have a hand and raise.. he won't take the bait. The turning point was when I catch pocket jacks, and raise3x the bb. he calls, and I catch a jack on the flop. I check, and he bets out, I call. I forgot what the turn was, but he bet out, I went all-in and my trip jacks beat his 2-pair. He's crippled. The very next hand, he has about 8K in chips and goes all in. I look at A8 off suit and call. He shows AQs and I show my A8o. I catch an 8 on the flop and an Ace on the river. He congratulates me, shakes my hand and one of the dealers takes my picture and I post it on facebook.

I've placed in tourneys before, and finish either 4th or 5th. I never make it to number 1. Won about $650. I think I got lucky a few times. The biggest show was to see the loud chips leader guy slowly go down in flames.