Some books, some poker and why walking in Las Vegas is bad!

An interesting day today. I started off with a trip to the Gamblers Book Shop (yes, as opposed to the Gamblers General Store) where I picked up a few books, including Dusty Schmidt's 'Treat Your Poker Like A Business'; Jon Turner, Eric Lynch & Jon Van Fleet's 'Winning Poker Tournaments One Hand at a Time Volume 2'; a biography of Johnny Moss as well as some others. Although its a pretty small place, it is filled with all things poker & gambling, and has pretty much anything you can think of in relation to things you find in a casino.
Following the shop visit, I headed downtown, intending to play the 2pm satellite at Binions for the main event there. Of course I managed to miss the bus down Fremont Street by about a minute (the bus I was getting off pulled up at the stop just as the bus I wanted to catch left the stop on the cross street), so I decided in my infinite wisdom to walk down Fremont Street ... which sounded like a good idea at the time ... but of course this was before I realised it was about 1.50 in the afternoon in a desert! Anyway, long story short ... I managed to get to Binions at around 2.30, with a stopover at 7-11 for a drink, and *somewhat* sweaty! Of course this was not the best state (or time) to play a 2pm tournament, so after grabbing a seat to cool down, I took a seat at the $2/4 limit holdem table in the Binions Poker Room, planning to stay there until 5pm, when there was another Main Event satellite running. The limit holdem session went a bit better than expected & I managed to pick up over $100 in a little over 2 hours! Yep, the standard 13 big bets per hour ... just like Sklansky says! Anyway, this profitable session meant that the satellite was effectively a freeroll. The tournament had 68 runners, which meant there were 6 seats up for grabs, with some cash for 7th place. My tournament was going pretty well until my final hand. Although in hindsight I played the hand badly, I'm not too unhappy with the play given the structure of the tournament. I started the hand with 9600 playing 300/600 blinds. With 20 minute levels & blinds about to go up to 500/1000 there was a raise from early position to 1700. I looked down at AKo in the small blind & decided to re-raise to 4500. In hindsight I probably should have just shoved my 9600 in the middle, but I was looking to double up rather than simply picking up the blinds & the raise. I thought that the fact that I had put about half my stack in would be a sign to my opponent that I was not folding & expected my opponent to either re-raise (he had my covered by about 1500 or so) or fold. Of course this thought was completely wrong & my opponent decided that calling the 2500 extra would be a good play, so we went to the flop. I had mentally committed to the hand & the flop itself was (in theory) a pretty decent one for my hand - 585. Being a paired board, with such a low card being paired, meant that it was likely I had the best hand. The fact that he didn't re-raise suggested that he didn't have a pocket pair (unless I was already crushed with AA, but even that wouldn't make too much sense with the blinds going up so quickly) & it that was the case, he needed either a 5 or 8 to be in front of me ... and even if he did have an 8 I still had 2 overcards with 2 cards to come (not the best shape, but still with a reasonable chance. Of course my opponent had the good old 9d8d for top pair. A standard flat call pre-flop obviously ... and of course the dealer put another 8 out on the turn, removing any hope I had of winning the pot & sending me on my way from the 'place that made poker famous' in around 40th place.
Next on the agenda: Being a tourist with the exhibitions at the MGM & Luxor still to see! Maybe some poker as well ... for a change! Of course this is before the weekend of UFC!!