Vegas - Trip Report - Rookie View

[midas]

Spent Thursday through Saturday playing 4-8 HE at either Bellagio or Mandalay - some initial thoughts on both sites.

FYI - most of my playing experience has been at Mohegan, Foxwoods and recently the Borgatta in AC.

Mandalay (my Hotel) - the card room is very small and allows smoking, almost everyone at my table was a regular with the exception of a loud middle-aged woman who after 3 hours still didn't know that is was her turn bet or what to bet. The blind structure - $1-$2 allows players to see the flop cheaply. After the flop, it seemed most of the callers were on a straight or flush draw - high pairs, two pair or sets never seemed to win.

Bellagio - over 3 days, I played over 30 hours of 4-8 in this room. Room is great, staff is great and the players were friendly as well - about 60% of the room seemed to be regulars and over three days - several of the faces were there every day. The only thing that bothered me was an old guy(70+) with a black fisherman's cap who joined a brand-new table and only played about 1 hand an hour - he just kept leaving the table!! This guy must have a rep is the room because one gentleman refused to play at the table when he saw he was playing with this guy!!

All in all a great Vegas and poker experience - BTW on my fourth hand at Bellagio - I had a straight flush to the Queen on the turn - my first ever!!! and extremely profitable as well.