Vegas Trip Report May 12th-14th (Long)

[audiopostman]

Vegas Trip Report

What follows is a true account of my recent trip to Las Vegas with my wife. My intent on this trip to Las Vegas is twofold, first I want to play poker and make enough money to break even for the trip and second I want to visit as many poker rooms as possible and find which one I like the best. (On my last trip to Vegas, I played NL at the Rio and profited $300 after all expenses.)

--Thursday 12th of May, 2005
We arrived in Las Vegas just after 4 pm. My wife and I were staying at the Imperial Palace ($65 a night mid-week and $149 on weekends). I had heard good reviews about the IP poker room from multiple sources and they comp $3 per hour to poker players with no daily limit. We ended up with $15 comp dollars, which we had applied to the final room bill.

--Imperial Palace Poker Room Review
Our first stop after check in was the IP poker room. I was not impressed with the setup as there were only about 10 tables roped off on the second floor by the buffet. It really looked makeshift and the whole time I was there, I did not see more than four games going at one time. On top of the bad location, the poker chips are ugly grey plastic and the floor person was pretty grim and short with me. Before going to the poker room I had called down from my hotel room and asked to be put on the NL list and also asked to start a new NL $500 buy in list. I was told that I had to come to the poker room in person to be put on the NL list and that if I wanted a bigger game then I had to ask the other players myself. Bad service if you ask me, especially for someone staying in their hotel. The only redeeming factors were that the dealers were friendly and did not make any mistakes while I was there. We left without playing there as the single NL table was full and the floor man was busy promoting the 7 pm tournament.

In the next seven hours, we visited 10 more poker rooms. They are as follows: Mandalay Bay, Tropicana, MGM, Rio, Gold Coast, Palms, Wynn, Harrah’s, Sahara, and Bellagio. My reviews are based on the look and feel of the rooms as well as the games offered and friendliness of the staff. I have included a short “first impression” review of each of these rooms at the end of this report.

Just after midnight on Thursday we arrived back at the Imperial Palace and believe me, I was ready for a game. We went straight to the poker room and sat down in the only two seats left in the NL game. The players were a friendly bunch but most were obviously intoxicated and new to the game. I sat down between an English couple that proceeded to educate me on the proper names of hold’em starting hands. The only one I had not heard before was pocket Jacks called “hooks.” I was up about $25 when I caught the following hand in the big blind, A-10 spades suited. I raised it to $12 and knocked out all but three people. The flop came down K-9-4 all spades, the small blind goes all in for $40 and I raise all in hoping that the drunk calls. He does but it turns out he only has $25 left. So three players all in and we roll the cards. I have the nut flush, the small blind has A-Ko and the drunk amazingly has 9-4o. The turn is a blank and the river is a 4 making the drunks full house. I win the $30 side pot and the drunk scoops the main. Now on tilt, I play the next 3 or 4 hands badly until I am down $100 and decided to leave the game and get some sleep. Good news is that my wife was up $100 so as a couple we were even. However, I get to hear about how great of a poker player she was for the rest of the night, which did not do well for my ego.

--Friday 13th of May, 2005
Friday morning and we catch the Tea Room buffet at the Imperial Palace. Absolutely horrible service and worse food. I have later found out that IP buffets are good to avoid. My wife spends the morning calling all of her friends and family to tell them that I lost and she won. In case you cannot tell, we are very competitive about everything and she never beats me in poker.

I decide that we need to play at the MGM so we drive over. When we get there, I tell my wife to sit at the $100 game while I play in the $500 game. This evolves into a small fight as to why I get to play in the big game when she won last night and so on and so on. To make a long story short I end up letting her sit at the big table with $200 in chips, while I started with $300. It was a new table and the biggest buy in was $400. In the first hand, she dumps half her stack playing J-10o chasing a straight draw to the river. She folds on the river but the guy shows her K-K anyways. (She needed a K for a straight.) About 20 minutes later, she busted out chasing another straight. At the time, I was up $200. Frustrated she asks me if we can go have lunch. I agree and once again as a couple, we are even. It is also about this time that I stop having to hear about what a great poker player she is.

--MGM Poker Room Review
Wow! Everything I have read about this place is true. All good. All beautiful. Card shufflers, new tables with marble racetracks, free Red Bull, and friendly staff. There seemed to be about 30 tables with about 10 games going on Friday at noon. They have both a big NL game ($500 max buy in, $2-5 blinds) and a small NL game ($100 max buy in, $1-2 blinds). I did not ask about the comp program but every table had a card swiper so when you sit down you can swipe your player card and then again when you go. The poker room is near Studio 54 next to the Centrifuge bar. You can hear music playing, but not too loud. Every hour or so they have go-go dancers at the bar for a 5 minute routine. (Nice legs.) Overall, the atmosphere was relaxed and very inviting. This is probably where I will stay and play from now on.

We’re meeting my parents later on that night for dinner at the Aladdin, so my wife decides to go back to the hotel room for a nap and I take the monorail to the Aladdin poker room to play for a couple of hours. I play from 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm until I am up $245 dollars. There were no spectacular hands or suck outs to mention, I just played tight and scooped 4 or 5 pots when I made the nuts. The competition during this session was nil. I was sad that I had to go to dinner and leave this game.

--Aladdin Poker Room Review
Of the poker rooms that I visited, this would be my second favorite. The room is located in the center of the casino in a round room. There are multiple entrances that are open to the casino and you can hear the jingle of slots, although not too loud. There were about 12 or so tables. Most of the games were limit. There was one NL open and the good news was that the max buy in was $200 with $1-2 blinds. (From my experience, I equate the NL $100 buy in to the $2-4 No fold’em hold’em low limit games.) With the extra $100 in chips, I was better able to protect my hands. The dealers and floor staff were very good at their jobs and when someone mentioned that they could use a snack, the floor man had fresh cookies and milk brought in. I am told they also spread a bigger NL game but during the time I was there, it did not happen. The gossip at the table was about how the Aladdin was building a brand new poker room. No one knew any details, but the floor man did confirm it. I spent the most time in this poker room and made the most money here. The $200 buy in was good in that it was low enough to still attract the newbie and gambler types which means more money and opportunity for good players. I also thought that the chips here were much nicer then most casinos. They were Paulson and were pretty new due to the new “Planet Hollywood” take over. One last thing to mention is that the room has a high hand jackpot for every hand that is four of a kind or better. The max jackpot is $599, which the floor man told me is just under the reportable amount allowed by law. (That means no paperwork.) There is a large whiteboard that clearly shows the size of each hand's jackpot.

So I went to dinner with the folks and yeah I’ll just skip ahead to the poker parts…

After dinner my wife and I head to the Sahara for their 11 pm NL $42 buy in tournament. The room was small and the service was horrible. On top of that, they started kicking out cash game players to make room for the tournament. Nothing amazing happened here, as I am a completely horrible tournament player. I busted out just after the buy in with KK vs. A9 all in pre flop. An Ace on the river sent me home. There were just over 80 players in this tourney and they allowed one $20 rebuy. I was witness to one hand where the floor man had to be called over and made a very bad decision. Three players to the river and it is checked around. First player throws his cards into the muck and then the second player turns over Ten high, the third player turns over Jack high and then the first player grabs his cards back from the muck and says “Ha! Queen high!” Obviously, the table erupts as the dude mucked his hand. The dealer explained the situation to the floor man and he called the hand live with no explanation. In case this was a typical ruling in this room, I will not plan to play there again.

--Saturday 14th of May, 2005
Its about 1 am Saturday morning now and my wife wants to go to bed. So I put her to bed and start calling around to find a game. The monorail is closed and I told my wife I would not drive anywhere (she worries) so my only option is Harrah’s or Imperial Palace. I go back to the IP poker room since I am earning comp dollars anyway. I play for an hour from 1:30 am to 2:30 am. There was a maniac at the table who rarely limped in and raised the flop $20 no matter what. He was amassing a stack and I could tell that the players were not happy to be playing with him. I waited for a hand. Pocket Queens on the button with the maniac under the gun. Everyone limps to me and I raise $20. Maniac calls, everyone else folds. Flop comes 2 7 J. Maniac on cue makes it $20 to go and I raise all in for $80. He calls and turns over J 5. YES, JACK FIVE! My Queens hold up and I now have half his stack. Some time goes by and the maniac busts out and then rebuys for another $100. I am sitting on $200 at the time in the big blind with 97o. Five limpers and the flop comes 7 8 9 rainbow. $10 in the pot and I make it $10 to go. Again, on cue the maniac raises another $20. Everyone folds to me and I am thinking what can this guy have? I put him on two overs and decide to push my stack. Of course he calls and turns over K 8o. He called me with middle pair! The whole table is ohhing and ahhing, especially when the turn comes down a K and he makes his better two pair. Thinking that I finally deserve this suck out I sit down knowing I need to hit another 7 or 9 to win. I stand up as the river comes and shout “Nine baby!”, dealer flips it over, and it is a Nine. My full house busts the maniac and he gets up and leaves the table. Oddly enough, two new guys had joined the table a bit before and they were mad at me for busting the guy. It turns out that they were tipped off to the maniacs wild play and came up for a piece of it. I played for another 10 minutes before I see the maniac coming back looking to buy in again. The table is full so someone has to leave for him to get a seat. As I am up $200, I volunteer and go hit the sack.

We check out at 11 am and then go have lunch before our final round at the Aladdin. My wife wants to buy souvenirs for all her friends as well as play poker again. Being somewhat of a tightwad and knowing that I’ll have to win back whatever she spend I tell her that she has $100 to spend on whatever she wants, be it gambling or gifts. She has an idea to play poker and then win some more to buy gifts. We get to the Aladdin at 1 pm and play until 5:30 pm. My wife is up almost a hundred after an hour and I remind her to take it and so shopping. She decides to stay and play and busts out in another hour. I am not about to give her more, as I want to make enough to pay for the trip and I am afraid she will loose it. It takes me another two and a half hours before I am up $300, which was my goal. We walk the mall and I buy her souvenirs anyway before driving home. After all is said and done, I figure out that I had made an extra $20 after all expenses for the weekend. I use the $20 to buy in for a local Los Angeles area poker game on Sunday afternoon.

Recap
Imperial Palace -$100, +$200 (Wife +$100)
MGM +$200 (Wife -$200)
Aladdin +245, +300 (Wife -$100)
Total Win +$645
Total time at tables = 10.5 hours

FIRST IMPRESSIONS (Ranked in order of preference)

MGM
Excellent in all regards. The room is big and allows plenty of room to walk in between tables. Should be your first choice if you want a big game. I would not change anything. (Review above.)

Aladdin
A close second to MGM as the staff at the Aladdin really try to make you feel welcome. The Aladdin has a $200 NL game that has a nice mix of good and bad players. I would recommend this game if you cannot afford the MGM $500 and are tired of suck outs in the smaller $100 buy in games. Do not forget to ask for snacks if you get hungry. (Review above.)

Mandalay Bay
I love the atmosphere in the Mandalay Bay. It is really open and I always feel relaxed walking through the casino. All the NL games are a $200 buy in straight up. The staff was friendly and answered all my questions but I did not get a chance to play here. In my opinion, the room is too tightly packed with tables and has a cramped-in feeling. Even so, I do plan to play here in the future. The crowd was mostly late 30’s and up. This room was packed on a Thursday afternoon.

Rio
The poker room has expanded from the main room into the next hallway behind the bikini clad blackjack dealers. I played here about 5 months ago and had no complaints. It is not as nice as some of the other rooms but if your plan is to play poker, then go to a club and see lots of hot chicks then this is the place. Club Bikini’s is right next to the poker room and during the evenings the music is loud.

Bellagio
Once again, I think that there were about 3 too many tables in the room leading to a cramped feeling just like the Mandalay Bay. The room was packed and had more of a mix of age groups. It looked like everybody played here, whereas only the neat and clean went the Mandalay Bay.

Tropicana
You have to give them credit for trying. The room is small although still bigger than the Palms and it set off to the back of the casino. The floor man was a joy to talk with and if they could round up enough people for a game, I would love to give it a try. Their chips were as ugly as the Imperial Palaces but I can see this becoming a cool local’s poker room.

Palms
Lots of youth here at the Palms. Too bad the poker room sucks! There are two rooms. On one side is low limit and the other side is high limit. Still there were only about 5 tables in each room. Another bad thing was that at the time of my visit the poker room still allowed smoking. That is a big negative for me. The players here were obviously young and good-looking. In addition, the Palms has two clubs that draw a huge crowd and makes the entrance and walk ways get very crowded. More reasons for me to stay away.

Harrah’s
Glass enclosed room next to the sports book. Biggest game is $120 NL, which was still too low for my tastes. Even so, the room was well maintained and not cramped at all. There were only 3 games going both times I checked.

Wynn
Super cramped and super crowded. At the Wynn, no limit is really that. All games are $100 minimum with no maximum. From what I saw this lead to heavily unbalanced tables. I saw one table where most of the guys had $300 to $500 in chips and a new player sat down and asked to buy in for $25,000! I was watching from the rail and the whole table shut up. I cannot play at those stakes so I did not even try to. Overall, I was not impressed with the room or the casino.

Imperial Palace
Not as good as I expected. The biggest game is $100 NL and the staff was not friendly. I will not be playing here again. (Review Above.)

Sahara
Medium size room with a priority for tournaments. They have three per day at 11 am, 7 pm, and 11 pm. Cash games get shelved to make room for the tournaments. There are so many other better places to play than here. Nothing spectacular unless you like tournaments. I am told they draw nearly 100 for the morning and late evening tourneys and almost 150 for the 7 pm. Buy is in $42 with a $20 optional rebuy.

Gold Coast
Why did I even come here? The room was all the way to the back of the casino from the parking lot and when I finally got there, I was told that they rarely spread NL. It was then that I notice that I am the youngest person in the casino. Nothing but grey as far as the eyes can see. If you enjoy Limit poker and like the company of older men (55+) then this is the place. Obviously, I high tailed it out of there.

[Photoc]

Great trip report!

As a dealer at the Aladdin, I appreciate your comments and praise for our room. We are constantly trying new things (for us) to see what the players want as the business just keeps changing.

IE: raising the max buy in for 1/2 NL. Doubling the rebuy size for the 1pm tourney as of this week. The cookies are great...and remember...You can't get these cookies are Bellagio! (but you can get 2 hour wait lists)

[MicroBob]

nice report.

comes in handy for me as I will have a couple weeks in Vegas (first time basically) to check out the various places so the information in your post is quite helpful.

thanks.

[Preytar]

Photoc - I will be in Vegas from July 27 to Aug 1. My first two nights are at the Aladdin and the weekend is at the MGM with some friends (blackjack players). I'd really like to meet some other 2+2 posters. Any advice?

Great report. Sorry to hijack.

[MisterKing]

[ QUOTE ]
Great trip report!

As a dealer at the Aladdin, I appreciate your comments and praise for our room. We are constantly trying new things (for us) to see what the players want as the business just keeps changing.

IE: raising the max buy in for 1/2 NL. Doubling the rebuy size for the 1pm tourney as of this week. The cookies are great...and remember...You can't get these cookies are Bellagio! (but you can get 2 hour wait lists)

[/ QUOTE ]

Photoc- you guys rule for being responsive to players. I had a blast in December when I played at Aladdin, and remember very clearly the floor coming over and proactively declaring NO RAKE when my 3/6 game got short handed for an hour or two. Don't imagine I'd ever see that in another poker room. I'll be back in early June for the poker blogger tournament, and I sincerely hope you all might consider spreading some Omaha Hi/Lo, razz or some other non-standard game for the bloggers afterwards. We're strange like that.

[NotMitch]

[ QUOTE ]
Great trip report!

As a dealer at the Aladdin, I appreciate your comments and praise for our room. We are constantly trying new things (for us) to see what the players want as the business just keeps changing.

IE: raising the max buy in for 1/2 NL. Doubling the rebuy size for the 1pm tourney as of this week. The cookies are great...and remember...You can't get these cookies are Bellagio! (but you can get 2 hour wait lists)

[/ QUOTE ]

I played at the Aladdin last December and it was great. I'll be back this weekend playing 1/2NL and/or whatever 4-8/5-10/6-12 type of game they have going.

Jason

[PhatCasino]

very nice report... btw Mandalay Bay has to be my favorite room in town.. with what i'd conflictly consider thee best buy-in structure for an NL game. Alot of people disagree with me here, but I find it benefical to a good player with a lower bankroll.

A few simple questions...
- The tournaments at the Sahara at 11am,7pm and 11pm.. are they every single day? $42 + $20 rebuy?
- How are the seats at IP, i'm looking to play a little limit here and there for the hell of it, but don't wanna literally bust my ass in the cheap IP doing it..

Comment -
Palms used to be my favorite room in town, but the size of the room, the same usual players and the SMOKE has gotten to me. However, if you have a huge bankroll and can sustain the badbeats that will surely happen at the Palms.. It's a great game.. Watch out for collusion that convienently slips the dealers watch... AND the floor not following the waitlist, but rather who tips...

[johnc]

HaHa! Funny you mentioned the wait at Bellagio - 1&1/2 hours last weekend- total BS so I bailed. I'll try the Alladin this weekend!

[Bartman387]

IP had very comfortable seats, played there for hours on end and was very comfortable.

Very good trip report, I just got back from Vegas today and was thinking of doing a trip report but yours was so damn good you've scared me away [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]
Anyway, I will have to disagree with your asessment of the IP staff. I found the floor ro be very accomodating, friendly and personable.

[joshman1204]

can you smoke cigars in the palms room?