[RydenStoompala]

I just finished three days parked in the Venetian's cardroom. While it is undoubtedly one of the nicest-looking rooms that I will ever have the pleasure of visiting, there are some drawbacks.

First, the good stuff:

The staff are terrific. They took great care of me, moved me around effortlessly and the floor interventions in table disputes were quick and professional. I think it is an extremely well-run cardroom. Special mention goes to Cassandra, the hottest creature on two legs to ever squeeze into one of those dated Venetian cocktail waitress uniforms. She is not only smoking gorgeous but she can apparently appear at will wherever she chooses, like some kind of drink-bearing ghost. Casi, you rule. And your husband is a lucky p*&^k.

If you're into 1-2 and 2-5 NL, then the Venetian has you covered. Anything else and you're out of luck unless you enjoy that Keno-like experience of 4-8 limit or 2-4 limit. I booked nice wins in the NL ganes and had a huge, long donk session in 4-8 when I was slightly inebriated. Actually, we were all plastered and the dealers were very understanding. We even got the 6-12 Omaha going for a few hours and I added busfare out of that party. One guy I was playing with, Mike, booked two boxes of reds out of the 4-8 then again at Omaha. He was playing anything and the cards hit him in the face. It was amazing to watch.

Food service is there but you have to scream for it. Once you get food ordered, it is fantastic.

The comp system worked perfectly and I got two free lunches as well as the poker rate, athough the Venetian has not e-mailed me my final bill so I may be back here slamming their butts within 48 hours. The hassles described in other posts about going to the checkout and getting the runraround are all true. The poker room told me "dont worry about it, the desk has all our stats." The desk said "no we don't" and started a long list of phone calls until they got someone who would own the decision. It's a huge pain in the ass and Venetian should get its act together or stop advertising the poker rate. You play 6 hours per day to get it and I exceeded the minimum by about a million hours. Just give me the rate you donkeys!

They run a 2-5 NL game right next to the rail to the right side of the entrance. Change this to a 4-8 and you'll get more walk-in. Tourists see those sunglass-wearing, hood-draped TV wannabe's tossing stacks of reds around and they take a pass on poker. It's too bad because a lot of the games could use newbies, especially the 1-2 NL ganes which were really soft. A casino stocked with that many wealthy gamblers should be able to have a 20-40 or 30-60 game rocking every evening. Put that game on the rail and you'll get walk-ins. It's the NL that scares them off and the tourists think that's all there is.

It is unfortunate that Venetian cannot get any good mid-limit or high limit games going. I jumped over to Wynn for a few hours to play in the 15-30 and catch up on the news from the standard group of locals. At Bellagio, where I will be staying next time down, every game under the sun was going, wide-open, by early afternoon. Bellagio is the king, period. I had a blast there and was sorry to leave. $20-$40 stud anyhone? $30-60? Humungous NL games, tournies, etc. etc.

I liked Venetian, a lot. But, there is not enough game selection and not enough middle-to-higher action for a Vegas cardroom of that size. I offer no sollutions, just my two cents.

Whatever you do guys, don't lose Cassandra.