I stuck primarily to 2-4 limit or 1-2 NL hold em on this trip. Since I was staying there, my first stop was...

MONTE CARLO:

A very attractive room, easy to get to, and never felt crowded. The competition was the stiffest I faced in the 2-4 games I played -- always several locals at the table who played a good tight aggressive style. However, at each table there were a couple of young kids who chased every draw to the river. The dealers are very competent, some friendlier than others, but none are unpleasant.

LUXOR:

I have played their noon Hold Em tournament in the past. It's frustrating to me because of the small number of chips to start (350). This time I played 1-2 NL. Because of the $50 max/min buy-in, it draws newbies. At my table, there were a bunch of tourists, only one of whom appeared to have considerable NL experience. I only detected one local (young kid who appeared to model himself after Scotty Nguyen) who was on a first name basis with the dealers. He left after he tripled up. The play was generally pretty loose (lots of chasing, raising on second pair with no kicker, etc.), and I made a modest profit here. Good stop for a beginner to get his feet wet at NL. And now on to my favorite...

SAHARA

The manager on duty the afternoon I played, Michael, was accomodating, efficient, and actually cheerful. The dealers were good, never a mistake, and friendly on the whole. This room probably had more locals than the other two I playeed, but it also had a gaggle of "Crew" wannabes who chased to the river, called river with Ace high every hand, etc. On one hand, I had AK with A on the board. The kid with whom I was head up raised and reraised me to the river and showed AQ. The tell was when he called my reraise on the turn, and his hand was shaking so badly that he almost dropped his chips. Overall, pretty good competition but a fun place to play. And finally...

PLAZA

I got to Harrahs's tournament too late, so I ran up to the Plaza for one of their $35 sit and gos. If you're new to tournament play or short on time (sit and go took about an hour), this is great. Interesting mix of loose players who played like it was a freeroll and tight aggressive good players. Four players out in first five hands (all in on A-10o, call all in with 33???). The dealer, Brian, remarked that it looked like internet play. Brian was terrific. It took some getting used to his ascerbic, dry humor, but he knew his stuff. I won this one and had a good time here to boot.