I went to Las Vegas to meet my best friend who was staying at the gOld Coast (We called it the Old Coast) for a conference. I stayed at the Paris for two nights and then when he left on Saturday afternoon I went out to Green Valley Ranch for two nights. He is not a poker player so we went out drinking and checking things out at night but I did have the opportunity to play in one Paris poker tournament on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I had good intentions on playing in more tournaments (the cab fare to GVR was so high I didn't want to head back to the strip on Sunday) or some cash games at GVR but I did not get that done. I was really tired by the time I thought about playing NL and I figured that wasn't such a great idea.

So all I can refer to are the tournaments at the Paris. I played in the 130 event on Thursday (right after I landed), the 930 AM event on Friday and the 130 event on Saturday. All tournaments start with 2000 chips and the blind structure is 25/50, 50/100, 100/200, 200/400, 300/600, 500/1000 and 1000/2000 (highest level I got to) the blinds go up every 20 minutes. Now, I realize that this is a fairly fast structure but I believe the blinds used to go up every 15 minutes and you only started with 1500 in chips if I recall correctly. I really like this tournament. There are a few good players, several players who really think they are good and are not and a few outright beginners.

I thought the dealers were mostly very good although one or two guys acted like they did not want to be there at all and did not pay that much attention. One younger Asian-American dealer was really cool about explaining to me why I needed to ask for a chip count on an all in as they can't be messing with those chips without a request (I am no expert on protocol). There were a couple dealers I was very impressed with.

I would think when they have the 1/2 NL game it would be very soft as some of these tourney players who HATED not raising every other hand jumped right in there when they busted out of the tourney. It was not hard to slow play those guys and they struck me as easy to read. On to my tournament experience if you want to read it.

All tourneys are $65 and I think the house keeps $15 of that based off the prize pool. The Thursday afternoon tourney had 40 players and the top five spots payed. I felt really good about how I played. The players weren't so terrible that by playing tight/aggressive you would get called with anything and I did a good job of slowly building chips. When we got to the break at the end of round 2 I was at about 3400 in chips without making any really big bets.

I got to the final table and I was seated to the left of the big stack. This guy would push with anything and do so fairly often. I doubled up through him when he called my AJs with Q7o but he pushed so much I really had to catch a hand to make any move. Apparently he had been winning with a queen all day and I was pretty short stacked at the time. The only really bad part of this tournament was I was seated next to REALLY ANNOYING GUY. This guy kept telling these stupid third grade jokes that no one wanted to hear. This came up when he was late coming back from the break and the table was in agreement. Anyway, this guy bets 2x the big blind in middle position for 400 chips. The big blind (an older guy who was rather obnoxious also but I kind of got a kick out of him) called from the big blind. Well the flop comes 774 and the big blind checks. This guy goes all in for 2400 although it's really 1800 because that's what this older guy had. Well this guy makes a big production of how he called that weak bet with 72 of spades and this really annoying guy had pocket nines. Really annoying guy kept hanging around the final table after he busted out wanting us all to tell him how great he had played when he really made a stupid move in my opinion.

With six players left (on the bubble) I was in fourth chip position when I caught pocket kings in the small blind. One guy who was fairly tight had made the standard raise of 2000 (blinds were 300/600 but getting ready to go up). Well I went all in (for almost 7000) and was called by pocket tens. Of course the flop came 9/10/J and there was no pretty queen or king to save me so I went out as bubble boy. At the time the chip leader probably had about 45,000 in chips, the caller had 9,000, I had almost 7000 and there were stacks of 11,000, 3,000 and about 5,000 out there. Oh well. I really like Erick Lindgren's book (which I have been re-reading) and I certainly wasn't going to let that hand go. I wanted to play for the top money.

The Friday tourney only had twenty players and I got caught pretty early with a big blind hand that did not work out. I had Q/4 of hearts and the flop came Qspades and two small hearts. I was a little low on chips and I came over the top of a bet for about 40% of my stack for an all in bet but my opponent had Q J, obviously none of my 12 outs came in.

Saturday there were 60 players in the tourney and this is where some of the younger looser players came in. I got enough good hands where I was able to pick off a few pots from those guys. A really aggressive players was on my left and we were left to battle the blinds. Well I had A2 of spades and I knew this guy would bet at the flop no matter what. Sure enough it came A, 10, 6 and I checked so he could go all in (about 800 and the pot was only 200), I called and he did have KQ so at least he had a draw but he had been betting like that all tournament.

I got lucky at one point not to get busted out when I split a pot but for the most part I played well. I again got to the final table this time in decent chip position. At this time they let the 500/1000 blind structure go on for two levels which I thought was cool. There was one lady who was willing to call the all in's that were coming and she got lucky a couple times to get a nice chip lead. I actually busted out the bubble boy when I caught AA and busted out a bettor with 88.

So then with five players left the blinds were up to 1000/2000. (There are 120,000 chips in play) UTG goes all in for 10,500 and is called after some hesitation by chip leader (about 40,000 in her stack). I have exactly 30,000 in my stack and I am confident that chip leader is not acting as she has been consistent in trying to eliminate players. I look at pocket tens on the button and I figure it is time for me to go all in. I am hoping chip leader will fold but if I win this hand (assuming the blinds fold), I will have over 70,000 in chips if she calls and almost half the chips if she folds. Well she does call and she had A7 which was about what I expected. UTG has K 9 suited but of course the flop comes A99 and I get no help. Not only do i miss out on first place, since UTG won the hand I don't even get fourth! Overall a good tournament and a good time though.

Overall poker at Paris. $266 for fifth place minus $195 in entry fees and $6 tip (I guess I am too cheap, I didn't know what to do!) left me up $65 and having had about seven hours of fun all told.

Other stuff. The Casino Royale treats me really well with comps for my video poker play. We had a very good meal at Outback and I spent a fair amount on Subway but my comps keep going up. GVR was a slightly nicer room at the Paris but their drink service is not as good and there is a little bit of a smoke issue in my opinion.

My friend and I got propositioned by a hooker at Caesars on Thursday night and he was REALLY slow in figuring out why she was talking to us about a "good time", funny stuff.

We had a great time at the "High Limit" bar at the Palms on Friday night. By this point my friend was sick of video poker (he was not lucky as we had played quite a bit at the Royale for coupons) and refused to put $20 in the machine at the bar, he kept spending $12.50 + tip on each Long Island Iced Tea he drank. Oh well. We were the old guys in the room but we had a great time visiting and watching the scene as I played a little VP.