Vegas Trip Report (Aladdin, Paris, Ballys); WAY Too-long

[Macedon]

Vegas Trip Report

When you are a poker fanatic and you book that long-dreamed about trip to Vegas, you can pretty much guarantee that you will obsess over your upcoming trip like a virgin looking forward to prom night. For the last 6 months I have poured over every guide book I could get my hands on; I’ve posted numerous questions on tripadvisor.com, the 2+2 b&m forum, and allvegaspoker.com; and I have asked (annoyed) every friend and/or acquaintance for advice and recommendations. Four months into my inquiry, and after many nights contemplating the particulars, I put together a basic itinerary. The plan was as follows: On Thursday I would play at the Aladdin. On Friday I would try Paris. And on Saturday I would end my trip playing at Bally’s.

Now let me preface this trip report by saying that this vacation was being shared with my wife, to whom I was celebrating a 5 year anniversary. I would not be spending all day playing poker. On the contrary, I would ONLY be playing poker around 3 hours each day…if I was lucky. The other time would be spent doing husband & wife-friendly things---dinner, shopping, shows, etc. So as you can see, I took every minute seriously. My time at the tables had to be rich and worthy.

The Aladdin

With that said, I took my first session of poker into the Aladdin. The poker room is located towards the back of the casino and is sectioned off quite nicely from other gaming tables. The sign-in area is front and center and the guys who hold court here are friendly and quite amusing. Before I even can get a word out the guy behind the counter offered to find me a good game. In his Goodfellas-like accent he asked me exactly what I wanted and promised to accommodate my needs. Not 30 seconds later I was sitting at a newly formed $1/$2 No-Limit ring game.

The dealers at the Aladdin tend towards the young side. Every twenty minutes or so they rotate dealers and for the two and ½ hours I was there I would say that not one dealer was 30yrs of age or older. To give you a sense of what I’m talking about, the first dealer had no eyebrows, and it was clear that they had been recently shaved off. When asked by a player why he had no eyebrows the dealer smirked and offered that he lost a bet from the previous day and his brows fell victim. My follow-up question to him was what would have happened if he won. His answer: my opponent would have to shave his goatee. Huh? Everyone shook their head. This was obviously a bad deal.

The second dealer was a spitting image of Vince Van Patten, yet a slightly deflated version of the infamous original. He had that all-American hairdo, a California tan, and he found enjoyment engaging in a careless, chuckle-free banter. The guy wasn’t funny, but he clearly thought he was and you can just tell that he loved to yuck it up, much to the bewilderment of the table.

The players at the table consisted of a majority of awful with a minority (one or two) of solid, tight-aggressive play. The solid players were locals. They gave that much away in their conversation. The visitors were just your garden variety buffoons who had no understanding of the complexity of the game. In their world a pre-flop raise (by an opponent) was a challenge to their ego and nothing more. The cards they were dealt were paramount to all other information---betting patterns, player profiles, etc. And, under almost all circumstances, straights and flushes HAD to be chased. These players learned the game from highly edited episodes of the World Poker Tour. They had confidence. They were ready for battle. But in the end they just sucked.

Needless to say, the locals took their money. Thankfully, so did I. With pocket 8’s in late position in a pre-flop raised pot I landed a set on this flop: 10-J-8 (rainbow). Two players checked, including the pre-flop raiser. I bet a bit more than pot size and [only] get called by an early position player. The turn was a 7, which was a scare card, but I still felt ahead at this point. He checked; I then bet the pot, which pretty much covered the remainder of his stack. He thought for a minute and then called. River: junk. He flips over KQ for a busted straight. Several hands later I had pocket queens and landed a set on the turn. This guy with an ace and a bad kicker checked the flop when an ace fell. He paid off my turn and river bets, losing half his stack in the process. Total profit: $185

Summary: This is a great place to play some calm, solid, profitable poker. I don’t believe you will run into many loose-maniacs here, but you can grind out a decent profit by playing patient, tight-aggressive poker.

The Paris Hotel

Whereas Aladdin attracted youth and some druggy types, The Paris Hotel was mostly filled with and older, mostly sober, upscale crowd. The poker room--- if you can even call it a room (more on this later) ---clearly reflected this difference. The majority of players were 35 or older. These guys did not want to be labeled a fish and played considerably tighter than what I experienced at the Aladdin. However, with that said, some similar types of mistakes were made in this room. Pot size bets were rarely made, no one ever re-raised, and flush and straights were chased, and with the tighter play pots (not surprisingly) almost never ballooned to monster status.

The poker area was in the center of the casino, adjacent to a bar and merely roped off from mixing with other table games. In short, the area was lame. This was the least comfortable poker playing experience I’ve had before or during this trip.

The dealers, on the other hand, were real professionals and did a solid job keeping the game flowing. No complaint can be had with management either. They kept me well informed of table status before I entered the game. However, with so little tables available and with what appears to be a meager interest from guests, this poker area was not worth the time.

One memorable hand was played here. I had AJ unsuited in the small blind. One player limped-in in early position. A late position aggressive player popped it up to $6, which was a small bet relative to the blinds ($1/$2). I called, EP called. Flop: A-J-8 (two diamonds). This flop is everything it appears to be; that is, dangerous. I make a greater than pot size bet in hopes of chasing at least one player out. Both call. (Uh-oh) Turn: 10 of diamonds. (Oh-no! THE worst card) I check. Both players check behind. (Hmm) River: blank. I bet out $20, which is much less than the pot. EP calls. Late position player raises it to $60. (Time to bale out.) I fold. EP calls. LP turns over Q-9 for the straight. EP mucks.

I played for 2 hours and lost $70.

Summary: Don’t bother with Paris. The players are boring and the surrounding element is uncomfortable. If the hotel management is serious about competing with the surrounding casinos, they are going to have to create a REAL room.

Bally’s

What Paris wasn’t, Bally’s was. Bally’s was youthful. Bally’s was loud. The Bally’s poker room was filled with yahoos who liked to drink and were uncaring about the prospects of looking foolish. Bally’s, in a word, was absolutely perfect.

The poker room was located a couple of yards away from the pathway to the Paris Hotel, where I was staying, so getting there was a breeze. The poker room in and of itself was non-descript. On one side was a bar (great sign) and on the other side was a 4 foot wall. The back wall was where you bought and cashed out your chips. This room was LOUD. On my first visit, on Saturday afternoon, the slot machine ding-ding-dings and screams from some roulette players were sending waves of noise into the room. On Saturday night the addition of some kind of live music was added to the mix. The result: it could be difficult to hear what people were saying (“Call”, “Fold”, “Raise”, etc) on the other side of the table. However, what this wild and noisy atmosphere helped to create was a perfect mix of loose gambling and cheerily distracted players.

The players were terrible. I mean really, god-awful, you don’t even see this silliness on Party Poker on Friday nights BAD. I could not believe some of the things that were being done. Players were making all-in calls with ace high. One woman laid down a middle set (queens) to a pot-size bet because she feared an over set. Another re-raised with a gut-shot ignorant straight draw. And then there were the pre-flop raising battles with A10o and A9o, or cards of that caliber. Just awful.

I played for two sessions. One was in the early afternoon (for two hours) and the other was 10pm to 12:30am. Only one hand stands out from the afternoon session. I had 6-8 of hearts in CO position. 4 callers in front of me. Flop: 5-7-Q (rainbow). Everyone checks. I bet ½ the pot. Two callers. Turn: Ace. Two checks. I check behind. River: 9. 1st guy checks. 2nd guy bets $20. I raise to $60. Player 1 folds. Player 2 calls immediately with A-7 (two pair). My straight takes down a nice pot.

Later that evening I had an all-in situation against a deep stacked aggressive maniac when I held pocket 10’s on this flop: 10-6-3 (two hearts). I get two callers. First guy (the wacko) has pocket Queens. Second guy is short-stacked and chasing with over-cards. Turn was meaningless. River was a 3, for a full-house. Total profit for the two sessions: $317

Summary: Play at Bally’s. Let me repeat myself: Play at Bally’s. Even if these knuckleheads suck out on you, if you are a halfway decent player with a nice bankroll you will make a hefty profit by nights end. One small caveat: beware of the sharks. There were players who were greeting each other and the dealers by name, while in the process amassing unbelievably large stacks. This was clearly their feeding zone. But with 5 or 6 tables available at all times, they were avoidable.

That’s my travel report. Hope it didn’t put you to sleep. Good luck on your next trip to Vegas.

[NoRiverRats]

Nice report thanks, especially for the info. on Ballys.

[Big Business]

Enjoyable read...I love Bally's. We played most of the time there on my last trip and the NL was really bad. One guy called an all in preflop for like 300 with Q10 saying "Lets see what happens"...crazy

[TakeMeToTheRiver]

A little help on Paris/Bally's -- if it wasn't clear, they are both Bally's. They are operated together. Paris likely added a "poker area" to cater to the old folks who felt uncomfortable in the Bally's poker room.

[Macedon]

You're welcome.

I should have added one more thing to the report. My wife and I walked by the Bellagio poker room on our way to a lounge bar. My first impression was that this was clearly THE BEST poker room on the mid-strip. I saw at least 40 tables and most of them seemed packed. While talking to some guys at the Fontana Lounge, I got the impression that it was filled with some mediocre players with deep pockets. Of course, i can't confirm this for myself, but on my next trip to Vegas I will certainly give it a try.

[Macedon]

[ QUOTE ]
A little help on Paris/Bally's -- if it wasn't clear, they are both Bally's. They are operated together. Paris likely added a "poker area" to cater to the old folks who felt uncomfortable in the Bally's poker room.

[/ QUOTE ]

You are absolutely correct. They are seperate casinos but owned and managed by the same company. Unfortunately (and fortunately), the similarities end there.

The poker in The Paris Hotel is clearly a bone to the older set, to show them that they are still hip to the poker craze. But in all honesty, they are not serious about drawing hold em players.

Yet I still liked the hotel. I would stay there again for sure.

[idrinkcoors]

Great report. I'm very familiar with the concept of fitting poker in between dinner and shows and shopping and stuff. I too have heard the good things about Bally's, and you seemed to be able to take advantage of the situation. Yes, next time you have to go to Bellagio. I felt like a millionaire there, and I was only playing $4/8 limit.

[Simplistic]

you missed out by not playing at the MGM. AWESOME room.

however I also give thumbs up to the bally's room. it kept me well supplied in drinks while i donked it up. I played 3/6 LHE, was gonna do the no-limit shindig but my friends are poor and didn't want to play