Started the trip w/ an overnight (Sat.1/14) in Laughlin, planned to play at the Flamingo(Laughlin) morning Hold-em tourney but had serious eardrum aches, my wife also had an allergic reaction to something, so we both zipped to Bullhead city for medical attention. So missing the AM tourney :( I play mainly home games, online Pot Limit Omaha8 & Pot limit HoldEm, and a few live MTTs. This was my first time playing ring games.

Headed to Orleans Sunday for our Vegas stay and immediately sat down for some 2/4 Limit, played about 3.5 hours and only came out about $10 ahead. Lots of splashing around, I'm a Tight/Aggressive player, but loosened up a little and had a bit of a roller-coaster affair. Played later that night at the 2/4 and played very T/A and ended up about $60 in a 2 hour seat.

Played at the Orleans on Monday AM and again very T/A, was able to stay afloat w/ about a $20 profit in 2 hours. Played again Mon night at Orleans and had a bit too many Gin&Tonics, my T/A play soon became L/A and I got way too involved in drawing hands and lost about $60.

Went to Silverton Tuesday morning and just missed the signup for their morning tourney. I waited 'till they had a 2/4 game going and sat down. From all I've read this was going to be some very loose "tourist" money. I guess I picked the wrong day because I was the only "outsider" at the table. The play was loose-aggressive and although alot of splashing was going on there were alot of good hands being shown down and these players knew the game. I started w/ $60 in chips, drained it down to about $5 and was dealt pocket As, and by the turn two more Aces popped. They just started a high hand pot several weeks ago and quad Aces was up to $156, so that was a nice hit, I stuck around for a few more pots and got my initial stack back up to about $40, so along w/ the bonus I left the Silverton up about $136.

Some fellow was commmenting on the dealer getting stiffed $3 for dealing my pocket Aces. I knew the dealer and room manager were staying in the room, so I took care of them on my way out of the room. Didn't really appreciate the comments, but to each his own.

That afternoon went to the Palms and played about 3 hours in their 2/4 game, great game w/ a good mix of players and a lot of fun "atmosphere". Was dead for the first 2 hours but filled 3 straights in a row for nice monster pots,ended the session up about $120.

Finished the day at the Orleans w/ another T/A grind, played about 3 hours and dropped about $40.
Next morning played another 2/4 Orleans game and got my $40 back from the previous night, not a cent more,LOL.

Wed. night we went to the Alladin for their $60 Freeze out tourney. I played a few of their tourneys on our last trip to Vegas so I was familiar w/ their tourney structure. It was a tight tourney for the most part, not too many "first-hour maniacs" and the play was at a high level. I had to loosen my T/A play a bit just so I could get some early chips, I had 3-all-ins before the break and was able to stay above the avg chipstack before the first break (one lucky suckout kept me alive, LOL). The next two hours I was sitting to the right of the best player I've played against, a young gal who just cashed high at the Wynns' $300 buy-in tourney, so I knew I'd have to really tighten up or she'd go over the top on me. I ended up 5th and cashed for about $165. All in all a fun tourney, and definately gained some valuable experience playing against some great players.

The final day of our trip we moved over to the new SouthCoast, got off to a bad start and never got cards worth playing, dropped $60 in a 1.5 hour seat. Came back a few hours later and ended up $40 ahead (from a couple nice 1/2 kill pots)for a net SouthCoast loss of $20.

To Sum it up. Had a great time playing the 2/4 limit games and know I can make money w/ a T/A style. The Orleans had a nice mix of players, the dealers were friendly and the room was very well run. Definately want to give the 4/8 games a shot next time.

The Palms was a blast, the games were lively, the dealers very cordial, and the whole place was well run.

The Silverton was a nice small room, and the players (at least on my day) were quite a tough group. I'd like to try it again, maybe at night when the "tourists" roll in, LOL.

The Alladin is a fun tourney and the players know their stuff, hopefully when the Casino is fully transformed to "Planet Hollywood" it won't lose it's allure.

SouthCoast should be a nice place to play once it's room is up & running, I think I'll pass unitl then though.