A few weeks ago I wrote a report on the Crazy Pineapple tourney and how I ran into some bad luck playing NL. I decide to play some tourneys and middle limit holdem into the mix.

WYNN- $8/$16 limit holdem. I played two sessions here. Great room, good management and the HOTTEST waitresses! There is no easy money at this game. 9 out of 10 players here are locals and they are regulars. I just played real aggressive and protected my BB. I did cash out here + both times and the 1st time up over $500 which the locals didn't seem to like.

Bellagio-$8/$16 limit. Played a couple sessions here. Much easier than the Wynn game. A few tourist here donkkin off $$$$$ without a problem. The game is much looser than the Wynn. One hand I remember I'm in the BB with 57. 6 people see the flop, flop comes 557 rainbow. I decided not to slow play and bet out because people were chasing to the river. 5 people call. Turn is an ACE I bet out 3 people call. River is the case ACE. I check someone bets out then someone reraises and now I know Im beat and fold. Both donks show A8 for a chop.

Mirage-$10/$20 limit. Nice room, probably the 4th or 5th best in Vegas. Its like the Bellagio 6or7 good players and a few donks donating. Played only once and had a positive session.

PH- Played the 10am $60 buy in tournament. I like this room and was my first time playing in it. I just wish they had auto shufflers. 35 people entered. A good mix of newbie tourist and regular locals. I made it to the final table ( I think paid top6 first being $650) I'm low in chips and in the SB. It gets folded around to me and i look down at QQ. I decide to double the BB. BB reraises and i push all in. BB calls and turns over A3. Flop and turn are blanks and the river is the ACE. I'm not sure what he was thinking. Even if I have 45 its still almost a coin flip.

Sahara $62 7pm tourney. I played this tourney 4 times cashing 3 times. The quality of this room and casino is poor. Management is horrible. I don't know how many times I played in a tournament where 3or4 players bust out at the same table and they don't move players from other tables to even things. Dealers will yell out seats are open but management just waits for 10 people to get knocked out to break the tables. So you will be playing 6 handed for 20 minutes while the rest of the field has full tables. I don't think they have gotten a new deck of cards since this place has been open! They're sticky and bent and I don't even want to mention the tournament chips. The dealers are so so. There is lots of miss deals and with no auto shufflers this can be a drag on the game. About 60-70% of this tournament is locals. Good things about this tournament, free sandwiches at the first break and you will get the largest amount of people for a $60 tournament usually 100+.

I played on labour Day weekend. 156 players entered this tournament and the room was full. Every table was used except two cash games going. I like the fact they don't payout that many places. I don't like the fact 60% of the prize pool goes to the top 2. $7200 prize pool $2900=1st $1500=2nd $80=11th Well I busted out in 11th because I was card dead and didn't have any opportunities to steal. Wow I made a whopping $18 for almost 4 hours of playing. They need to take some money off the top and payout the lower places. You should at least make double your buy in with that many people. How do they expect me to tip the dealers with my $18 in profit.

Another time I played, I made it to the final table. 115 people entered and 1st=$2000 2nd=$1000. When we got down to 7 players left we talked about chopping. It would have been $649 each. The chip leader with double the amount of chips to any stack said everyone take $600 and i get the extra $49 from each player so an extra $300. Everyone agreed except for one guy who said hes not giving up his extra $49 and would only agree with an even chop. At this point the blinds are 5000/10000 so its push all in and pray time. I did with A7 on th button and got call with AK in the SB and didn't improve. 6th=$250

Venetian $50K Free Roll tournament- I can't say enough good things about this room. Good dealers and management. The largest and nicest room in Vegas. When they open the new hotel in December this room is going to be full. With over 7200 hotel rooms (the largest in the world I think) there is going to be a lot of action. The waitresses are very attractive but the service can be a little slow on weekends. They make up for it with the great drink selection. If you ask for a shot of something they'll bring you a triple.

I played 50 hours in August and qualified for the free roll. They broke it up into two days 280 people had qualified. I played on the second day. Great structure 4000 starting chips and 30min blinds. A few hands in, there is a raise and a re raise preflop. 3 people to the flop, flop comes KJx. A crazy Asian (CA) goes all in, another player insta calls with JJ, CA turns over AA and spikes the case ace on the turn. A few hands later CA gets into it with another player. flop comes AK7 both go allin on the flop CA shows AK for top two other player shows 77 for a set of 7s. Well CA spikes his ace on the river making a better full house. This part doesn't make him crazy the next part does. After that he was raising almost every hand and calling any allins with Any Two Cards (ATC) and hitting. Example UTG goes allin next player goes allin for more. He calls both allins in EP. UTG shows AK next allin shows QQ and he turns over Q7 of clubs. flop comes 569 turn comes 8 and CA sucksout on both players. If he prefloped raised and you went allin he would call with anything. Over the course of the day I seen him win 12 allins. I was mostly card dead for the day. I was just playing aggressive and stealing with the right opportunities and making good reads. I won one coin flip allin. We make down to 26 players left top 25 get paid from each day and then we combine to the top 50 for the final day. Blinds 600/1200 with a 200ante. Were playing hand for hand waiting for the bubble. CA raises it to 4000 (everyone was playing tight at this point) I look down at AK suited by far the best hand ive seen so far. I have 20000 chips and I think about pushing allin. I know CA will call me and I don't want to bust on the bubble with lots of short stacks just hanging on. I decide to smooth call and see a flop. CA checks in the dark. He did this before and if you bet and he has any little piece of the flop he goes allin. flop comes A78. I think about it and decide to check as well. turn comes a small card and CA bets out 4000 I decide just to call. river is another small card and he bets out another 4000 i call and he turns over 78. I lose most of my chips and I was thankful I didnt push allin preflop or on the flop. Short stack loses and we are done for the day and will continue the next day where the top 25 from each day combine for the final 50.
Second day
I have 6000 chips left and with the blinds 800/1600 with a 200ante my plan was to push allin before the BB comes around to me and hope to double up early. I get seated at a good table with only two large stacks. We draw cards for the button and I'm four hands away from the BB. Before the BB gets to me I push allin with K2 suited. Just hoping no one calls and I steal the blinds and antes. A shorter stack calls my allin with QJ. I flop two pair and double up. About 20 hands later im in the BB with 12000 chips with 1000/2000 blinds 200ante. and the blinds going up very soon. MP raises to 5000, SB goes allin for less and I look down at Q10 suited and decide to go allin to gamble and maybe get the MP to fold. MP calls and shows 1010 SB shows 88. I know I'm in big trouble but i hit a Queen on the flop and nobody improves. Were down to 30 players and everyone starts playing tight. Blinds 1500/3000 with a 300ante. I wasnt catching any cards so i decide to try steal whenever I could. I raise in LP with A9 to 9000 and the BB goes allin for about 15000. I think about it and the BB seamed nervous. I put her on KQ and figured even if she had an ace with a better kicker it was only costing me 6000 more with a pot of 29000. She turns over K10 and makes a straight. I'm crippled at this point and go allin a few hands later with A9 I get called with KJ and I win this race. A little bit later I push allin with A10 in LP (this was the best hand ive seen so far) I get called by A9 and double up. We make to the two last tables. At this point payout is $500 for 20th-11th. People are just playing tight so I decide to start stealing to build up some chips. I do a good job until we get down to 11 left and I bleed a few chips. I make to the final table. Before a hand is played we talk about a deal 1st=$10K 10th=$750 we decide to chop according to chip stacks. I had 63000 chips left and got paid out almost $2700. I liked the deal because 5th paid $3000 if we had played. I was risking getting knocked out early, so $2700 was fine by me in a free roll. The only thing that sucks is they were issuing those W2G forms because it was a free roll. Since I'm Canadian they held $800 from me which is now a pain to get back.