I stayed at the Imperial Palace from Dec 22 to 25 and played $1-2 NL at several casinos in the vicinity. First off, IP was fine to stay at. Rooms were clean, bed was comfortable, it was quiet, and it was cheap. I'd go back no question, assuming the place is standing. I hope they don't tear it down.

First place I played was at the Venetian on Friday afternoon. My table was fairly loose and somewhat aggressive, if not too smart. The Venetian is a very comfortable place to play. I arrived in Vegas at the tail end of a severe head cold, so my brain was not working too well, but I left after a few hours at the table up about $150 by letting the overaggressive types hang themselves when I caught. I am fairly new to NL so I played relatively conservatively to start, but no one seemed to notice. When I did catch, I got paid.

I spent that evening playing in my "home" at IP. The new location near the casino entrance is not optimum. It is noisy from all the nearby slots. It was also rather slow, with only a table or two of NL going. Fortunately it was a good table for my cold addled brain. Very loose and passive, so I limped in a lot hoping to catch a big hand. The cards were not great but I finished up and had an enjoyable time. It was a friendly table with the drinks flowing freely even if it was not the most comfortable room-definitely not as nice as most of the other rooms nearby. I did enjoy the table banter. We had some good comedians. That is worth some discomfort for sure!

The next morning I went to Bally's and found a great table, full of crazies that were raising Q 10 os and others who would call down with any piece of the flop. My head was finally clearing up too. I was up about $500 after a few hours when my aces got rivered by JJ hitting his two outer. Then I got stupid and called an all-in from one of the few players who was not crazy when it was obvious he had a set or two pair. Boom, back down to even for the session. I was so annoyed at myself I decided to leave even though it was a fun table.

After napping for a few hours I decided to play "home" again and was glad I did. The table was similar to the previous night and I hit a couple of sets to rake some large pots. Even a few bad beats did not lower my stack too much. All in all, IP was ok. The major issues are the noise, the fact that the tables have no auto shufflers, and at least this weekend that it was rather slow. I mostly played there because I was staying there and I kept seeing the same people at the table and knew they were not much good at poker. The games were passive and so did not require much brain power or effort, so if you are a little lazy, it is not a bad place to mess around.

My last day I spent a lot of time at Harrah's, and loved the competition. Much more aggressive but mindlessly aggressive. Many huge pots, many all-ins, many crazy bluffs, many interesting decisions. Crazy stuff. I played there all afternoon and evening with a few hours break in between. When I came back the second time I ended up at the same table I left and the same people who had been there all day (and often all night the previous night) were still there. Even though I lost one big pot flush over flush and a bunch of money when I was smart enough to fold another flush over flush and was glad not to lose much more, I did very well. Way way up. The place was a gold mine. One poor fellow called raises with trash like K 4 and if he hit that K, there was no way he would fold no matter what. He lost a lot of money and looked very confused. Several people were so suspicious they would call down with middle pair if you raised pre-flop because they were sure you had to have missed. A couple of compulsive bluffers. Another gentleman who raised every hand, bet huge, then folded when anyone played back. He burned through about $1500 until he finally calmed down. It was a great game. The room was fine too, being sealed off and so very quiet and smoke-free. If it is like that all the time I would go back in a second.

The only game I played in that was not great was in Flamingo, where I had great cards but the table was rocky in the extreme. Any time someone raised everyone folded. I got out of there fast.

I am now totally a NL convert. I used to play limit but now I cannot play it at all. There is so much more money to be had at NL and even if it is slower, I find the decisions and people watching/reading much more fun. At most tables there are only a couple of decent players. What more could you want! Loved it!!!