Vegas card room advice from Al Capone Junior

[bwana devil]

There are always threads floating around asking about Vegas advice and there is usually some small bit of information that I can glean from each one. But I decided to go to the horse’s mouth regarding Vegas poker rooms and asked Al Capone Junior for advice. Al is both a floorman and a dealer in Vegas and knows what he’s talking about. With his permission, I’m posting his response for the rest of the board’s benefit. See below:


Bellagio
Often wait times at Bellagio are 2-3 hours, especially nighttime weekends. Despite the goodness potential of the games, you should be wary and quite selective, don't be afraid to ask to get transferred to a better table. The same things would apply anywhere, but particularly the Bellagio or mirage. Bellagio doesn't generally treat the low limit players especially well (doh), but it's not like it's HORRIBLE or anything.

8-16 at Bellagio can be anything from very good to a shark tank, you need to be especially careful about selection and transferring tables, and be prepared to NOT PLAY if the game is too tough. There are so many easy games in Vegas. It's just stupid to play in a tough one.

Beware the $200 2-5 blinds no limit at Bellagio. It’s usually a triple must-move situation, and the main game is often very tough with the must move games being better. I usually don't stay in the main game once I get moved to it because it's got the tougher players with bigger stacks who have been there longer playing in it.

Mirage
you might also try mirage's 6-12 game, it is often quite good, particularly at night.

Aladdin
If you want a super-soft 2-4 game go to the Aladdin, same with 1-2 blind no limit games. Aladdin has really good 4-8 and sometimes 5-10 games but mostly it's 2-4 and 1-2 no limit there, the 4-8 and up have trouble staying going.

Excalibur
Night time games at Excalibur are pretty darn good too, avoid them during the day. They have 1-2 no limit and a $2 single blind 2-6 spread limit game. The spread limit is a GREAT game for a good player if you understand how to adjust to the much different structure. Excal is a nice place to play too. if you get a four of a kind or better, or your aces get cracked ($30 minimum in pot) you get to go "spin the wheel" which has dollar amounts on it. It’s a fun promotion, for sure.

Many rooms have 4-8 with 1-2 blinds, those games tend not to be as good as those with full blinds like Aladdin, Mirage, Bellagio.

Miscellaneous
Avoid Luxor.

Monte Carlo has a room, but I haven't played it and haven't heard much good about it.

Flamingo has a room, there are no comps and it's not the nicest room, but the games are often quite good.

Palms has a room, but it's smoking. Games there are generally quite good. Their 2-5 blinds $500 no limit games range from terrific to terrible. Beware of sharks if you play that game. Their limit room has mostly lowest limits. I'd suggest calling. You can't walk there if you don't have a car, you'd need to take a cab.

Downtown games range from terrible to great, but downtown is generally not nearly as nice as the strip. Binion's and Golden Nugget have rooms, as does the Plaza and a couple other small ones. Mostly dives downtown.

Overall, night time is when to play, sleep 9am-6pm and play all night. avoid the daytime games, even the best of them are not nearly as good as the games are at night.

al

EDIT: format

[junkmail3]

What would he say to the best place to play during the day if you had to play during the day?

[NotMitch]

I played with Al out in Vegas recently at the Aladdin in the 1/2 game for a short while. I played for the better part of 2 days and ran into a total of 5 players who weren't very soft (Al being one of them) The Aladdin was by far my favorite place to play in Vegas.

[junkmail3]

Alright, I'll put this up again since I'm going soon:

I limited windows to play, since the person I'm going with will want to go out durning the evening/night.

I would appreciate advice for the time slots I'm going to be able to play:

I'm looking to play in the 4/8 to 6/12 range.

Thursday 3pm - 10pm:
Friday: 1am - 6am:
Friday: Noon - 7pm:
Saturday: 2am - noon:

General advice was to stay away from daytime games. But I'm stuck with a lot of daytime play.

[zuluking]

The Excal during the day is your best bet, the 2-6 game is quite nice. Al and I played it last summer and made a ton of cash.

You will run into the local rocks during the day, just stay out of their way if they raise. If there are too many rocks at your table, just ask the floor for a change. There are enough tourists during the day to make it all worthwhile.

[junkmail3]

Thanks for the advice.

I don't have much spread limit experience, any tips, and/or second best games?

I'll likely just look into it a little and sit at that game though.

[nothumb]

The thing about spread limit is that your implied odds can change drastically based on what type of bettor you are against. Some players will bet the minimum almost regardless and give you great opportunities to make otherwise marginal calls... also, against this type of player you can expect to make more money when you hit your hand because you can raise more. Calculating odds and implied odds between streets also changes - if someone is betting the max on the flop just keep in mind that it's cutting down on your implied odds for a lot of draws.

If you are solid with odds calculations it should be no problem and the vast majority of players in these small spread limit games (I haven't been to the Aladdin, but since people say it's good I'm assuming the same) don't understand this AT ALL and won't make it too hard on you.

NT