I was in town for my brother's surprise 30th birthday party this weekend and stayed two nights at the MGM Grand, one of which was free thanks to winning last month's drawing for the free night. On Friday night we stayed downtown at the Las Vegas Club and were upgraded to a nice suite at no charge because we checked in so late that there were no normal rooms available. Moved to the MGM Grand for Saturday and Sunday and had a nice room. One suggestion -- be sure to ask for a room close to the elevators if you don't like walking, as the halls in this hotel go on forever.

On Friday night (Saturday morning) I played in the $70 2 AM tournament at Binions. Very well run tourny with great dealers and staff. Despite the corporate takeover Binions has a great old school feel to it. I disagree with reviewers who have described it as dirty and run down -- it's just not glitzy like the strip joints, and it's not supposed to be. The tournament had 4 tables and I was eliminated pretty early in the 3rd round when the blinds were at 75/150. I had nothing playable early in the tournament. I liked the structure -- blinds didn't move up too quickly, but still, if you didn't win a pot or two early on it just became harder and harder to stay alive. I soon found myself in all-in mode and put my last 500 in with AT. A large stack called me with QJ and despite my flopping a T he turned a Q and then completed to a straight on the river. No final table for me. Afterwards I tried to get in a 4-8 game which was the highest they had going at the time but it was full. There was a 1-3 spread dealer's choice game going on with about 4 cats playing but I was pretty much ready for bed at this point.

Saturday night was my brother's party at Treasure Island. Afterwards we went downstairs and tried to get in Tangerine but they wouldn't let me in because I was wearing a t-shirt. One of the other cats we were with loaned my a jacket and I was all good. Cruised over to Scores after the club and were able to get our limo driver to lower the $30 admission charge to $15/person. Escaped without spending more than a $100, including lap dances, which was good.

Next day hung out mainly at MGM and in addition to hold 'em played video poker and 3 card poker, plus a little blackjack thrown in. Sat at a bar drinking whiskey for about an hour and turned $100 on a dollar video poker machine into $1000. Was hitting quads left and right and just couldn't seem to lose even if I tried. Finally dragged myself away and ended up playing 4/8 hold 'em with a half kill until about 3 in the morning. Pretty loose game with 4 or 5 to most flops and everything going to a showdown. Dealers are great here and I think I'm finally getting used to the marble rim around the tables. Hit a very bad run of cards for about 2 hours at one point and didn't win a single pot. Finally got cards again at around 1:30 and took down a couple nice pots, including putting a guy on tilt when he turned a full boat and I rivered a bigger one. I had pocket jacks and he was playing 46s in middle position, so I didn't shed too many tears for him. Play sh-t like that and you're asking for trouble.

Played some more 4/8 half kill the next day which was the highest limit game they had going on the two days I was there. Interest list for 10/20 never got more than a couple people. I was told that stud is "never" spread because nobody is interested in it, which is kinda sad. One cat was talking about how a 4-8 spread limit dealer's choice game gets going sometimes, but I have no idea when that is as I've never seen it.

Played in the $125 but in 6 PM tournament on Monday. Start with $1500 in chips with 25/50 blinds and levels increasing every half hour. Very nice structure which gives you some time to play and you don't feel like you need to catch hands right away. There were about 6 tables going. I managed to make it to the 3rd round but bit the dust when my trip aces lost to a guy who had wired 5's and made 5's full of aces. No regrets though -- fun tournament and the players were cool. Tournament director is straight out of a Joe Pesci/Robert Deniro flick. Great staff overall at the MGM - everybody is so friendly and they always have smiles for you.

Thanks again to AllVegasPoker for hooking me up with the comp room and the buffet tickets. It was a great weekend and I'm looking forward to going back and blowing all the money I won on video poker.