This one will be short, but not too sweet. First of all, everything you hear about downtown, old-school Vegas is absolutely true. The Freemont games are the grinder's dream come true. I, myself, am 30 yrs. old and I don't think I ever sat at a table at Binion's or the GN with anybody any younger. You couldn't get any of these old guys to splash around in a pot if you had them at gunpoint.

That being said, I did have a very good first session at GN on Friday night. As we had a fair delay on our flight, we didn't get to the GN until somewhere after midnight. Sat at the 1/2 NL table at the Nugget with no wait. Little did I know that that was actually going to be prime-time for one particular drunk fish and two scenile old farts that donked off a fair amount. A nut flush over a K high flush - pot of @$300. I'm liking this so far. This, however, led me to believe that this downtown action wasn't so bad. I emphatically change my mind before the 3-day weekend is over.

Over the next day and a half, sat at GN (same game as above) and grinded out maybe $100. You could flop the nuts with 5 preflop callers and never...I mean NEVER, get any action on it. It seemed the only time you got action is in the rare event you made a move....then, whatever father time was beside you, would raise you out. You have to give these old coots credit when they play exactly 2.2 hands every hour.

After getting a little bent out of shape, I tried the $150 at Caesar's on Sat. night. Awesome structure - fairly large field....70-80 I think. Just ran card dead and went out with 3 tables left when (what was my BEST hand) pkt. 3's ran into pkt. K's. - and yes, it was a "run in," since I moved in short stacked on the button just trying to steal the blinds and antes when the BB woke up with K's. Good tourney all in all.

Like a schmuck, I headed back to Freemont - I guess just for the "experience" because I had always stayed/played on the strip and just wanted a change of pace. Having said that, let me tell you - THE GRASS IS NOT AS GREEN on Freemont. If you like to stay/play on the strip and that system ain't broke, don't try to fix it. Downtown/Freemont ain't the gamblers paradise or "best kept secret." It's a locals hot spot where you are lucky to grind out a few dollars here and there and might get paid off by the floor with a $10 comp to the GN buffet - but be prepared to pay the difference...LOL.

VIVA LA STRIP!!!