Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

I'm going to Vegas on December 13th-17th. I went to Vegas for the first time when I was 21 and I got schooled basically. Played like a school girl, just because of the stakes. Needless to say, 2 years later It's night and day betweeen the player I was then, and am now. I'm still in college so my bankroll isn't that great. I plan on playing 1/2 or maybe 2/5 if I get up enough at the 1/2 tables. My question is, what is the best cardrooms in Vegas. The only one I played at 2 years ago was the MGM. Didn't like it at all. Didn't like the setup, the dealers, or the overall players. I know the players will pretty much be the same at all the stakes I'm gonna be at, but I'm looking for a different place to play this time. I've had 2 friends say the Mirage was their favorite as far as overall goes, and that the Alladin was the easiest to beat by far. Anybody have any follow up to this, or have any other recommendations?

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

I like the Mirage. Give it a look, see what you think and try a few other rooms as well, when you have the time (Wynn, Bellagio, Venetian, etc),


Have a great trip,

Howard

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

I've played in numerous tournaments at the Aladin and cashed in them all until this last trip. Seemed like players were playing the any ace any suited type crap. So I played premium hands and still got worked. But for the most part there is easy money there.

Same thing happened at the MGM, play crap and get paid. Worst trip I've had yet.

Other than that the Mirage is nice.

While the room isn't the greatest, also try the Rio. The dealers are knoweldgable, and know how to control the game. Lots of action there.

More weak play can be found at the Tropicana too. Come to think of it, Vegas is full of tourist. Crazy play is everywhere.

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

I think the V has the best facility/comps, but Bally's, Paris, TI, and the Flaming-O have great action from very novice players at the 1/2 NL level.

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

Bally's poker room has a fantastic location out in plain site of the pit gamboolers, and hotel/tourist foot trafic. It was kind of loud and they only spread low limit games, but the action was sick both times I've played there.

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

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I think the V has the best facility/comps,

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They are back to $1/hour now IIRC. Nothing special, on par with the rest of the town that uses players cards to track time.

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

I was in Vegas a few weeks ago and played my first ever game of poker that involved real cards and players who weren't sitting in front of their computers in their underwear. I played the 1/2 NL game at Bally's and had a darn good time. The dealers were patient and friendly and some of the players were just plain bad. They liked to call and gamble. I followed the advice offered on this forum and I played tighty-tight ABC tag. I hardly bluffed at all but because I was playing so tight I got credit for my cbets. I didn't have a great run of cards but I ended up being $100 up at the end of a 3 hour session. I found the atmosphere to be very relaxed and it was a good experience.

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

MGM, Mandalay Bay and Venetian for tourists

Caesar's, Wynn and Bellagio for tougher players

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

If the deciding issue is "soft" opposition, I was In LV two weeks ago and deliberately visited almost all the rooms on the strip. I found Bally's to be the softest followed by MGM, Mandalay Bay, and the Excal. The usual suspects. Mirage and Caesar's had "tighter" games, better players.

Bally's was "eye-rolling" soft at both limit and 1/2 NL. Rookie central. At MGM, no fold em (and often 3 bet PF) hold em at 2/4, 3/6 and 4/8 was prevalent. Their dealers sit at those tables a lot, but only a couple are any good. I play those kinds of games at Commerce in LA so I say "bring it" when I see action low limit tables like that. You have to be patient and play your good cards and expect high variance, but if you are decent at reading hands and a decent or better player post-flop, it is an EV+ zone.

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

I liked MGM and Venetian the best.

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

From my observations from last July:

Tropicana was a gold mine for 1-2. Mostly tourists who want to play the game they see on TV. Small room with only 1 or 2 tables going. Good cocktail service, especially from the tall leggy waitress nicknamed "Princess."

At Caesars I sat in the middle of a batchelor party who had been golfing during the day and were re-hydrating with beer. Needless to say that game was quite profitable.

Flamingo's game was mostly locals who enjoyed shipping their money back and forth. I became the bottleneck in the distribution system. Very friendly place.

Mirage was probably the toughest room I played at, mainly because of the awful suckouts and totally nonexistant cocktail service. Probably just a bad shift.

Venitian had the nicest setup that I played at. Great room, good dealers and an obnoxious woman who berated everyone she beat. One guy finally told her that if she were a man she'd get her ass kicked before the end of the night. I think I just happened to hit a tougher table there that night, because I left about even after about 3 hours.

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

Bellagio, Mirage, Wynn, in that order. Bellagio is the clear winner because of the choice of games. Red Rock is really nice but out of the way. Venetian's room is beautiful but the floor people and dealers are boneheads.

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

Thanks everybody. I'll start off at the Mirage and go from there. Just looking for better players and seup than what the MGM offered. Mirage sounds like it's pretty good. Bellagio is probably out of my bankroll though.

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

Also I'm really looking for the won that has the least amount of No Fold Em Hold Em. MGM was full of that crap. Drove me nuts last time.

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

Please feel free to blast me if my logic is wrong, but what's wrong with no fold 'em holdem? I understand that it's frustrating to suffer some beats with sane cards when someone sucks out on the river, but overall, playing against poor players like that is very profitable, if you adjust your strategy accordingly. I think that Miller/Sklansky/Malmuth did a pretty amazing job of outlining strategy thinking for loose games in "Small Stakes Hold 'em". From my experience, folks that complain about all the bad beats in a loose game are usually not very good players, or at the very least, aren't playing the proper strategy to milk the loose players.

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

Well I haven't read SSHE but when I have KK, I don't like any ace calling me all the time, and flush draws always calling all the way to the river. Hopefully I'll adjust better this time.

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

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Also I'm really looking for the won that has the least amount of No Fold Em Hold Em. MGM was full of that crap. Drove me nuts last time.

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Money haters.

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

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Well I haven't read SSHE but when I have KK, I don't like any ace calling me all the time, and flush draws always calling all the way to the river. Hopefully I'll adjust better this time.

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SSHE is geared towards limit, not no limit. If flush draws are calling you to the river, maybe you're not betting enough for it to be a mistake to call you.

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

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Well I haven't read SSHE but when I have KK, I don't like any ace calling me all the time, and flush draws always calling all the way to the river. Hopefully I'll adjust better this time.

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So you don't want action when you have kings? You just want to pick up the blinds?

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

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Well I haven't read SSHE but when I have KK, I don't like any ace calling me all the time, and flush draws always calling all the way to the river. Hopefully I'll adjust better this time.

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bet pot; cross fingers

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

Just remember, for every suckout there are four players chasing you down on TPTK hands that miss and you rake it in. Just Sun. I flopped a straight, and lost. I flopped a flush, a lost to the nut flush when the 4th of the suit hit the board on the river. I went almost 3 hours without winning a single hand, and was up $55 for the session. Thank GOD for people staying in when any idiot could figure I was way ahead.

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

No not what I'm saying. Just don't like overly loose action that can break me in a heartbeat with hands like that. But this is for another forum I'm sure.

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

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Also I'm really looking for the won that has the least amount of No Fold Em Hold Em. MGM was full of that crap. Drove me nuts last time.

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Just keep moving up in limits until they respect your raises. That's the won game you wanna be in. You'll do fine then.

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

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I went to Vegas for the first time when I was 21 and I got schooled basically. Played like a school girl, just because of the stakes. Needless to say, 2 years later It's night and day betweeen the player I was then, and am now.

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I'm really looking for the won that has the least amount of No Fold Em Hold Em. MGM was full of that crap. Drove me nuts last time.

when I have KK, I don't like any ace calling me all the time, and flush draws always calling all the way to the river.

Just don't like overly loose action that can break me in a heartbeat with hands like that.

[/ QUOTE ]
it's not night and day. it's still night for you.

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

I think fishyak said it very well. In loose games you're bound to suffer some bad beats. If you play it properly you'll come out ahead in the long run though. Much like the edge the casino's enjoy on most games, it isn't an "if", it's a mathmatical certainty. Playing properly you'll still bet and lose some times, but if the pot warranted it, you still did the right thing. If someone offered to pay you $1.05 on your $1 bet that heads would come up on a coin toss would you take the action? You'd be crazy not to, right? Would the coin sometimes come up tails, costing you $1? Say in toss one you win the $1.05, and then three tosses in a row it comes up tails and you loose $3. Would you be crazy to keep playing in light of your losses, or would you be crazy to stop playing? Does the fact that you lost more tosses than you won right off the bat make the person that offered you those odds any less crazy?

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

[ QUOTE ]
I think fishyak said it very well. In loose games you're bound to suffer some bad beats. If you play it properly you'll come out ahead in the long run though. Much like the edge the casino's enjoy on most games, it isn't an "if", it's a mathmatical certainty. Playing properly you'll still bet and lose some times, but if the pot warranted it, you still did the right thing. If someone offered to pay you $1.05 on your $1 bet that heads would come up on a coin toss would you take the action? You'd be crazy not to, right? Would the coin sometimes come up tails, costing you $1? Say in toss one you win the $1.05, and then three tosses in a row it comes up tails and you loose $3. Would you be crazy to keep playing in light of your losses, or would you be crazy to stop playing? Does the fact that you lost more tosses than you won right off the bat make the person that offered you those odds any less crazy?

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Excellent post and exactly the same example I give friends and family if ever asked about gambling, variance and the like.

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

I was just there over the Thanksgiving Weekend. This'll be a semi trip report.

Caesars: played 60 player tournement, 60 dollar rebuy. They screwed up my registration, I wanted in on the Sit and Go. I asked 3 people how to get in, they sent me paying at the desk. I somehow got into the multi. Came 10th, but 9 pay. Acted out of turn, cost me the tournement.

Venetian: Best room to play b/c of decor and lack of cigarette smoking smells from the outside. Only played 2/4 and 4/8 games there. I was too chicken to play higher stakes because of the first 2 nights of losing small amounts in NL and the tournement. I'm used to playing 20/40, up to 50/100 online shorthanded. So, I was kinda sick of myself sitting in with tourists and newbies, taking their money while half asleep at 2 a.m. in the morning.

2/4, 4/8 games: pretty much the same type of competition.
Passive players as a whole, even the slightly better players are passive. You have your tourists, you have the decent players who think they're good but aren't IMO (angry about suckouts, don't bet rivers with top pair, buyins of 25 blinds on a 4/8 table, like to talk about pot odds and other bs on the table).

Venetian dealers: a few were pretty crappy. 1 guy said raise to 12, I count chips and reraise. I throw my chips in. Guy next to me says its not my turn. Already we were on the next round. I yell and say he said raise, she's like no he calls to 12 , b/c he was waiting for his chips. Old guy yells back at me and says he said raise. Another guy backs me up that wasn't in the hand. Whatever, I say I'll let it go when the dealer claims it was her fault and that I probably heard her say, "raise to 12?". Whatever, I figure I don't want to have a bad image anyway and I'd take their money sooner or later.

2. Another dealer, deals the button first. Then everyone looks at their cards, guy at teh button (fish) makes it a big deal. Asks for redeal. Dealer decides to keep playing, b/c the cards are random anyway. Player persists, dealer isn't sure what to do. He then proceeds to redeal. MAKE A [censored] DECISION!!!.

3. One dealer's English was so horrible, I didn't know that he was saying four vs. Fold.

Do dealer's make such mistakes at other cardrooms? This I don't know.

Harrah's: Played 1/2 NL, not my game, I've played cash NL a total of maybe 10 times in the last year. Players were pretty soft, but I didn't have any hands. Lost 50 bucks 2 hours.

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

Wynn(the hottest cocktail waitresses ever), Caesars and MGM are my favorites. The easiest place to win though is definitely MGM. Easy money.

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

El Cortez

1) They run a stud game

2) Smoking

3) You can play with the owner

4) It's not borgataiteish

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

On my one trip to Vegas a bit earlier this year:

I found the 4/8 LHE games at Wynn and Venetian extremely soft, much easier than my local game here in WA. Wynn & Bellagio 8/16 LHE was a bit tougher, but still eminently profitable. I have no reason to think that the 1/2 & 2/5 NL games at these places would be any different.

Decor/atmosphere wise, I think I'd rank, in order, Wynn-Venetian-Bellagio. I liked all three a lot, and would recommend stopping by each of them at least once (Wynn earned my "repeat visit" toward the end of the trip).

I know a lot of folks sing the praises of MGM...I dunno, the place just didn't do much for me. Probably because it was one of the very few losing sessions I experienced while in town, although the 4/8 game was very soft there as well.

Finally, off the beaten track, the little Monte Carlo cardroom comes recommended. Small; it was 7 or 8 tables. But a very cozy atmosphere. Just a pleasant place to play. Strictly small stakes; only limit game is 2/4 LHE. They also have a 1/2 NL game - if it's HALF as soft as their 2/4, then you don't want to pass this place up.

Another thing worth mentioning about the MC is that on Thur night they spread a 4/8 limit H.O.S.E. game which is fun, and a welcome change of pace.

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

This post has come just in time for me. I am planning on going to a convention in Vegas in April. I think it is the 2nd largest convention they have, so there should be plenty of drunk gamboolers. I play 3/6, 4/8, might be able to play 6/12. I'd like to stay where I play for various reasons.

MGM sounds perfect for me, poker-wise. But I'd rather stay more center strip and I get no vibe about the hotel itself.

Ballys sounds good, I played there in September and it is good for me poker-wise.

I can get a decent deal at Bellagio, but the poker sounds too good for me. Am I wrong?

Wynn and Venetian would be great, but cannot afford it. Too bad.

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

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You have your tourists, you have the decent players who think they're good but aren't IMO (angry about suckouts, don't bet rivers with top pair, buyins of 25 blinds on a 4/8 table,

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I wouldn't read anything into that. It doesn't much matter with limit. I always buy in short in limit because it doesn't clutter the table as much. If I end up winning a lot, I'll put up with the inconvenience. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

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I can get a decent deal at Bellagio, but the poker sounds too good for me. Am I wrong?

Wynn and Venetian would be great, but cannot afford it. Too bad.

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?? Wynn and Venetian are usually cheaper than Bellagio, especially with the poker rate.

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

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I can get a decent deal at Bellagio, but the poker sounds too good for me. Am I wrong?

Wynn and Venetian would be great, but cannot afford it. Too bad.

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?? Wynn and Venetian are usually cheaper than Bellagio, especially with the poker rate.

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A person showing up for a convention probably isn't getting the poker rate.

And I think you're wrong about Bellagio poker being "too good". Their 4/8 donks are just as donky as the 3/6 and 4/8 donks anywhere else. And their 2/5 donks are just as donky (and maybe more so) than the 2/5 donks at Wynn/Venetian/MGM/Caesars/Mirage.

Wynn has a better location for walking to the convention center. Bellagio would be a hike (but doable...I walked to/from Comdex about 20 times from Tropicana back in the day--can't recommend it, though, and I learned to aim for Stardust instead). During major conventions, getting to/from the CC is a pain. Taxis are in short supply, and if the convention has buses, they're often full and slow. Staying somewhere you can just say "screw it" and start walking when you see a line of 500 people waiting for your bus route is good.

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

NL TOURNEYS - Ceasars and Venetian for under $200 with good structure
MID LIMIT HE - Wynn and Bellagio for guaranteed 8/16+ cash games
NL - Haven't played much but from what I saw out there last time 1/2 NL is everywhere and taking over

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

[ QUOTE ]
This post has come just in time for me. I am planning on going to a convention in Vegas in April. I think it is the 2nd largest convention they have, so there should be plenty of drunk gamboolers. I play 3/6, 4/8, might be able to play 6/12. I'd like to stay where I play for various reasons.

MGM sounds perfect for me, poker-wise. But I'd rather stay more center strip and I get no vibe about the hotel itself.

Ballys sounds good, I played there in September and it is good for me poker-wise.

I can get a decent deal at Bellagio, but the poker sounds too good for me. Am I wrong?

Wynn and Venetian would be great, but cannot afford it. Too bad.

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Don't forget about the monorail. You can get on it at MGM and get off at the convention center. It's like $5 if you do it per trip, less if you buy multi-trip tickets. Walking the strip is a hssle, especially if there's a big convention in town. Personally, I like staying at the MGM and find that I don't need to leave the property for much, the poker is good, the nightlife and dining are good, etc. If you want/need to leave, the monorail is great, especially if going to the convention center.

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

You can usually rent a car for about $20/day in Vegas. Of course if you like to drink while you're playing this can be a problem.

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

OK, few things you need to know...

1) Hottest cocktail waitresses = Red Rock. They have something for everyone, no matter what you like. This nice as most other places you can tell what whoever was in charge of hiring liked. If that's not your thing then FU. Also, they have a decent, cheap mall-style food court plus good real food places. Downside, ass end of nowhere save for hanging out with gisb0rne and Irieguy.

2) Orleans = best low-limit game selection. 1/2NL, 2/4 and 4/8 limit AND 4/8 O8. Occasional SNGs I always win. Decent structure nightly tournaments... Ship it.

3) Gold Coast = fastest cocktail service. Downside = everything else.

4) Caesars is good overall. Most other places are also good. It's kinda hard to miss.

5) Luxor = Rock Bottom.

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

My take on the ones I've been to:

1. Bellagio: Good room but if you don't play high you may want to avoid it on weekends as wait times can be ridiculous and the players are comparatively better than in the other rooms. Dealers and drink service are fantastic and play is still bad in smaller games (just not as bad as elsewhere)

Wynn: My favorite. Good dealers, lots of horrible plaers with tons of money, hot cocktail waitresses, and usually manageable wait lists.

Palms: The NL games here are surprisingly good. Play is absolutely nuts. Not uncommon to get 5 to the flop for a 6x bb raise. Drink service/dealers kind of suck, but there is plenty of eye candy floating around. If you like clubbing, this is a good place to do it before or after playing.

Flamingo: Awful room with equally awful players.

Caesars: Well-run room. For me, its missing something that Wynn and Bellagio have, but I can't put my finger on what it is.

Hope this is helpful.

Re: Favorite Poker Room in Vegas?
 

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No not what I'm saying. Just don't like overly loose action that can break me in a heartbeat with hands like that. But this is for another forum I'm sure.

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Vegas = tourists = that's what you're gonna get.