[DougL]

I spent 5 days in Vegas two weeks before Christmas, and I very different experiece at the Mirage. I've stayed there about once a year for the last 4 or 5 years, so maybe I'm used to some of the things you didn't like. I have always been treated well at Mirage, just like at Bellagio.

Most of the rennovation is complete and they now have their lists on video displays, just like the new poker rooms. I've never seen bad chips at Mirage, and I've always found their dealers to be above average for Las Vegas.

This last trip, we got their $79 weekday rate for the pre-holiday lull and also got a free upgrade to Spa rooms from the kind girl at the front desk. Even without this deal, I've had great luck with their poker rate. I've stayed for $129 during premium times where the normal room rate was over $200 from any other outlet.

If you like to play $10-$20 or $20-$40, this would be my reccomendation for a room to play. I don't play live tournaments, so I have no idea if theirs is a good deal. My experience with the floormen at Mirage has been very good; they've never steered me to a bad game when making suggestions.

If the cost were the same, I'd probably stay at Bellagio. Since it is closer to half as much to stay at Mirage, I stay there. It certainly isn't the top casino on the strip any more, but your comments make it sound like Harrahs about 7 years ago. During our trip a friend and I walked through all of the poker rooms on the strip and after seeing the lack of medium stakes action in most of the new rooms, we were happy with our choice of hotels.

Doug