Would like to play some Texas Hold-Um on my next trip to Vegas. Would appreciate info on which Casinos have good poker rooms and do any of them hold tournaments besides the World Series of Poker?

bellagio has an very large poker room , no smoking. Check out their website and give the poker room a call for tourney info.

Binions horseshoe was very popular also, when they were open.

Mandalay Bay has a small poker room, but they run a lot of tournements.

Some of the better rooms are Mirage, Bellagio, Mandalay Bay.  The local hotels have lower limits, but you often have the "bad beat jackpot" to contend with.  They are any of the Station hotels, Orleans, and some of the Coast Properties.

Be careful, there are sharks in those waters!

Your best bet for a once or twice a year player is the Mirage. They have tournaments every night for as little as a $100. buy in. You will not see as many big players as the Beligo. Good Luck.

play for fun and don't mind losing money as long as they have a good time.  The Station hotels and others in outlying areas cater to locals who play far more seriously and are out for blood.

In general, Texas hold-em is far more serious than my preferred game -- 7 card stud, 1 to 5 limit.

The Mirage has a good sized room with daily tournaments.

The Mirage and Bellagio have lively poker rooms with many games
at many limits. The Orleans has two cheap ($20) tournaments each
day. The Mirage has one medium priced ($60-up) tourntament every
night.

Think I'll try two or three of them and when I get back I'll be sure to write detailed reviews with all the juicy details.

Aces.....Good luck.  You can also go to any of the poker rooms and pick up a copy of card player magazine which lists all of the local tournaments.  

I believe they have a website as well and think it's www.cardplayer.com.  They should have a link to the tournaments locally so you might be able to plan ahead.  One of the earlier posts stated the local station casinos have a lot of players out for blood.  While this is true, I think it's true anywhere.  Just remember the extra rake where they have jackpot games.

bad beat = when you think you have the best hand, but you don't, and you get beat by a pre-determined bad beat hand that is set by the house. For example, you may have 4 tens, but the bad beat jackpot is 4 deuces - if someone at your table has 4 deuces they win because that is the house's current bad beat play. I think that is the way it works - bottom line - know all house rules before you play and house hands as they may cost you a pot.

are we talking about the first thing, or the second thing/??/

Actually that is not true.  Yes, a bad beat is when a really good hand is beaten by an even better hand.  Usually it is aces full beaten by four of a kind using BOTH of the cards in your hand.  The losing hand gets 50% of the jackpot, the hand that beat it gets 25% of the jackpot AND the pot being played for with the final 25% being split by EVERYONE at the table.  The bad beat jackpots can go over $50,000.  Remember the extra rake for this will kill you in the long run