so, flew into vegas last sunday with my mate, (both competant players,) and respective wives. stayed at bellagio, great hotel, got a room upgrade for $50. nice.
played for an hour or so at ballys that evening, down $6 but had at least that many beers, so about even, then went for dinner.
next 3 mornings we played the 10am tourny at ph twice, and the 11am at sahara once. 4 finals tables between us, but only 1 cash. not pleased to have kk busted in a 3 way flop, when aj (44 the other hand) flopped a flush!! or the following day when 1010 got done by 75os! both hands all in pre flop by the way!! win either of those hands i'm probably go to chip leader, or close to. VERY frustrating after 3 hrs or so of play to have that happen.
these seem to be the best tourny structures in town for under $100. after 3 hrs though the blinds increase rapidly and its an all in fest.
the players here are generally way weaker than at the 1-2nl cash games.
played 1-2 at ph, sahara, bellagio, ballys, monte carlo (nice intimate room, well run, got on a fun table, drunk some beer and won around $200 here, we both had a really fun afternoon here)) and mgm. my mate made a winning session every time and finished around $1000 up for what we think would have been around 25hrs play total over 5 days. i was up around half this, didnt help my cause having aa kk and qq cracked in the same hour at ph. this place was really unlucky for me. (why does it always work like that??) i did have a very profitable 2 hrs at ballys during their aces cracked promo (9am-noon), players here at this time seemed to like playing pots, and there wasnt as much pre flop raising to $16 -20, like there normally is, (this seemed really high to me at 1-2!? why is this so high??) so, i was able to play a bit, instead of grinding! despite laying down the best hand twice, and calling a $60 bet when i was drawing to an open ended sf draw, and therefore a high hand bonus, (missed,............... obviously!) i still was up nearly $400 in 2 hrs here. which re couped the losses in ph.
overall, great trip, be prepared to grind out results in cash. most comfortable rooms were monte carlo and mgm, bellagio was too cramped for me, dont like passing players / waitresses bumping my chair on the way past. standard of players were similiar at all, probably a little better at bellagio, usually 2 or 3 loose players at every table, you just have to wait, wait, and wait for the cards, even though it must be blinding obvious to others at the table when you have the goods, these guys still pay you off........ usually. i would love to go back already, although, seeing has we are expecting our first little'un, somehow i dont think that will be happening anytime soon!!