I spent Weds - Sunday in Vegas in early February.

I stayed in the Imperial Palace which was largely as I expected. Cheap, cheerful and
central to everywhere where I wanted to spend my time. My room was large, clean
and quiet and everything I wanted it to be. I spent some time in the IP poker room
playing a little $1-2 NL and (briefly) some $2-4L, which reminded me why I don't play
limit poker.

On my first night I entered the $120 at the Mirage, where I didn't play that well, didn't
hit that many cards and tried to remember what playing live poker was like, while
recovering from jetlag.

I busted quite early by attempting a limp-reraise with AA, only to see a 5-way flop
out-of-position. Oops. Leaving with my tail between my legs I went to buy a sandwich,
forgetting quite how large American food portions are in the excitement, and feeling somewhat embarrassed that I wasn't able to eat even half of what I ordered.

This was the extend of my play at the Mirage, which seemed a perfectly fine place to play.

Breakfast the following morning was taken in the IP (big mistake) and I wandered over
to Caesars to play in the $215 midday. The play in this was expectedly strong, from at
least half the table. I lost many chips when I saw a free flop with 82o and promptly flopped
2-pair. Sadly another player turned a higher 2-pair and I did well to lose only half my stack.

I never recovered from this and so promptly signed up for the afternoon $60. This is a tournament with a much faster structure, and you have to get moving to survive.
This was the first tournament that I really played well in. The need for aggression,
and the weakness of my opponenents allowed me to double my starting stack
without going to showdown. I made the final table of this (50 person) tournament,
busting in 8th, when 6 pay.

The evening was spent playing cash (badly) at the Excalibur. Its a source of
amazement to me at the moment that I can be a reasonable tournament player
but such a weak cash game player. I ended up losing about 1/2 of my stack when
a player who I thought was strong, had actually been limping UTG+1 with 85o, so
was more pleased to see the flop of 764, than I was with my 66. I was furious
after this, so left almost immediately after. The Excalibur was OK, but nothing
special. I can't think of any real reason to go out of your way to play there, but
if like me you like trying different rooms, then its perfectly passable.

The following day, after a breakfast buffer at Caesars (highly recommended, and repeated
on the following 2 mornings) I played again at Caesars, and at the cheap tournament at the Sahara.

I'm getting to really like Caesars. The room is delightful, the staff friendly and the play
horrible. The Sahara on the other hand (a room I've played in before) seemed dingier,
dirtier and much less pleasant than I remember. The absence of values on the chips
now seems an annoyance rather an idiosyncracy, and the uselessness of the dealer I was lumbered with (who I remember from my last trip 2 years ago) was shocking.

On top of this, this is clearly a place where many locals come, and the table was pretty
tough. I made some nice moves, picking on the right people at the right time, but I couldn't
find enough cards or opportunities, and busted out in the middle of the tournament.

In the evening I played in some $1-2 at Paris, in what must possibly have been the toughest
1-2 table in Vegas. Seriously. There were at least 3 really good players there and although
I doubled up with KKvQQ I left down, but felt lucky to get out with any chips at all to be fair.
Its a nice room, but just avoid the players I ended up sitting with!

On my last day I went down to Planet Hollywood and played a little cash while waiting for
a tournament to start. I was one of the first to sit at a new 1/2 table and while waiting for
it to fill up they announced they were starting a new table so some fellow who had been playing
2/4 came along to chance his arm with his remaining $100. I busted him first
hand, with my AA beating his AQ on a QJx flop.

When the tournament started I did even better. The structure of the tournament gives you
a few chips at the beginning, until the blinds really start to go up in the middle stages, when
the whole field will be pretty short stacked. Towards the end though the blind increases slow
down, so from the last 2-tables down you can (just about) keep your head above water
and avoid too much of a crap shoot. In this tournament I played well when I needed to,
got lucky when I needed to and ended up splitting 1st and 2nd with this one lady, who
I was much better than. It seemed the right thing to do somehow. I'm not sure why. Anyway
I won $1123 from a $70 entry fee and had a thoroughly good time. This was not only
my first live victory, but my first live cash of any description.

I left Vegas a much better live tournament player then when I arrived, with a large number
of dollars in my pocket and a large smile on my face!

Thanks