I came in for five days over Christmas, disappeared for a few days to California, then re-appeared Jan 1'4 for a few more days. I played a lot of poker and had a wonderful time when I played NL, but the tourneys and Limit games weren't so hot.

I started at the MGM Grand. I played four sessions, One time 1-2 NLHE, another 2-5 NLHE, their daily tourney and a second go'around at the 1'2NLHE. The tourney sucked. The blinds go up terribly fat and it quickly becomes an all'in fest. You have to gt lucky to win and I didn't. The NL tables were great there. My first session i won $350, second session was up $300, but the third session I caught horrible cards and ended down $200, for a net prophet of $440 counting the tourney entry fee I lost. the room is nice and the service is fantastic. But it is very noisy.

Also after Christmas I hit Binion's at night for their 1-2NL game. Wow! Was this sweet. Two locals and the rest were drunk tourists. In three hours I left with another $450. I'm beginning to like Vegas! The room is a bit frayed and the display of WSOP winners was pretty plain and disappointing. Still it was nice to play in the birthplace of modern poker.

Next stop was the Golden Nugget and this was a nice room with good activity. I again played 1-2 NLHE and started down, but worked my way back. Then i flopped a J'high straight Flush, got some action and won a small high hand jackpot of $105 they had. I ended up $380, plus they gave me a $10 food comp for 3 hours of play. how cool is that!

I tried the Bellagio and I was supremely disappointed. This room is WAY too overcrowded. I ended up sitting at a table stuck in a corner. To get into my seat four people had to get up and move just to let me in. Anytime someone busted out or had to hit the restroom we had to repeat the process. Jeesh! It was a 4-8 LHE table and the other players were idiots, but they were hanging on and rivering me to death. I left after three hours and down $200, vowing never to return.

By the way, i was staying this part of the trip at the Fitzgerald and their poker room was almost never operating. In five days it was open only once, but when it was it was a delicious game! Not a single person knew what they wee doing, just a lot of drunk tourists blowing their ATM money. I sat for 3 hours and got $500 before the table busted. I wish they could keep a game going.

My second time through I stayed at the Stratosphere and spent a lot of time there. I played four sessions and was up three times. There was a good mix of a couple of locals and the rest tourists who had only the vaguest notion of WPT TV Poker. My results were up $400, up $550 (best night of the trip) up $200 and down $225 for a total of up $925.

My final session was a disaster at ceasar's Palace. This is a beautiful room with a great set up and a great staff. I sat at a table with a lot of experienced locals and i was tired from a constant play of poker over two weeks. I played bad and my cards got me good enough hands to lose money on. In an hour I was down $450 and I left rapidly before i tilted and blew all of my winnings. i'd like to go back again when I'm at the top of my game, but there are also much easier places to win money in Vegas.

My trip total was a net profit of $2150. Not bad! My wife got to spend a lot at the shops, and Celine Dion was paid for by the fish at the Golden Nugget.