Poker Rooms in Las Vegas - June 2008

8 days of poker in Las Vegas and I enjoyed every one of them.

Played in 5 poker rooms that I had never played before:

Suncoast
Sunset Station
Gold Coast
These 3 are small dreary locals casinos. Nothing much to recommend them unless you lived nearby.

Bill's Gamblin Hall (the old Barbary Coast)
This property is a new Harrahs acquisition. They are using the O'Sheas model of putting a low limit (and small NL) game right on the entrance to the strip. Lots of drunks, kids and newbies stumble in and say; HEY! Its poker like on TV.

Green Valley Ranch
This is an upscale locals casino in Henderson. A very posh property with a nice poker room. Even a HORSE tourney on Wednesday nights -- I got 3rd.

I played another 10 rooms where I had played before. Some comments;

Mirage -- still my favorite. They have even made some improvements since last year. Automated wait lists, 10 handed tables, and starting to use a "swipe in" system with your MGM card to make comps easier. Also, while I was there they removed 4 tables from the poker room and repositioned the others for more space. The poker room manager told me that they are getting larger tables to make it even more comfortable.

Wynn -- 2nd choice and its very close. Wynn has changed their lineup of holdem games. Used to be 4-8, 8-16, then 15-30. Now its 4-8, then 9-18, then 20-40. The 9-18 game is cool. It uses $3 chips, so you are playing a 3-6 format.

Bellagio -- No rude staff this time. Really! Polite and friendly floor staff, brushes and dealers. They must have read the nasty things we were saying about them on the internet the last couple of years.

Red Rock -- Another really upscale and posh property. Very pretty poker room with lots of tables. Limited game choice and selection though.

TI -- A fun little card room. Only 2-4 this trip and no mix game when I was there.

Rio - WSOP side games -- lots of noise and chaos with no comps. If thats what you like.

Golden Nugget -- A new location for them --- 3rd in 5 years, and this ones the best. Nicest poker room downtown - and its not even close.

Palace Station -- blah

Planet Hollywood -- Their new location and cardroom is great. Easy access from the strip to attract lots of tourists and hotel guests. Very plush and well equipped. A buddy is the midnight shift manager, and when I was there the tables were filled with drunken Australians playing wildly and gambooling it up like (well) drunken Australians.

El Cortez -- The new owners have spent many millions of $ fixing up this place and its lost a lot of its old (dirty nasty) charm. Played there in a 1-3/1-6 holdem game with the previous owner Jackie Gaughan. He is 86 years old now and still lives there. He is a Las Vegas legend and has owned about a dozen different casinos in Las Vegas over the years. He bought the El Cortez from Bugsy Sigel in 1945.

Did not play at the following rooms;

Harrahs -- Went in and complained about the $5 rake though. Said I was going to an MGM property to get more for less.

Caesars Palace -- Just don't like this room. Hope they close it.

Venetian -- Got about the same treatment as last year. NO - we don't have ANY limit games, and we might not. A few days later did see one 4-8 game going out of their 25 + tables. A pretty room, but its better to play at Mirage, Wynn, or Bellagio.

MGM Grand -- Its SO noisy. How can anyone stand to play poker here?

So -- I played;
10-20
9-18
8-16
4-8 with 1/2 kill
4-8
3-6
2-4
1-3, 1-6
and a HORSE tourney.

Financial results were good. Booked winners on 7 of the days and the one day that I lost it was a small amount. Comped buffets were $7 at Palace Station, two @ $25 at Mirage, and $35 at Wynn.