Trip Report: poker slumming in vegas
I was in Vegas from May 26 -Jun 4. Nine nights in Vegas is pretty epic, but I've been down a few times before so I know what to expect. I stayed at the Imperial Palace, because try as we might we could not find a better deal on the strip. No complaints whatsoever actually--great location and perfectly adequate hotel.
We were slumming pretty good--expect no tales of the high-stakes game at Bellagio or Wynn.
I arrived on Friday Night pretty late, and called my brother (he was in vegas the week before me with 1 day overlap). He was playing poker at the Flamingo, so I headed over and sat down for my first live game ever!
FLAMINGO
=======
The Flamingo room is OK, nothing great. They have a "big hand" jackpot where if you make TTTT or better, your name goes on a list and they pay out the jackpot money at the end of the night. At one point I made JJJJ, and got on the list. I went back the next day, but some guy's QQQQ was the last hand to pay out (around $150 I think), so I was out of luck.
Result: down $8 at the 2/4 limit game at Flamingo. I was happy with that considering it was my first ever live game.
IMPERIAL PALACE
===========
I played alot at the Imperial Palace, it is a not-great room, but the staff is quite friendly and it was "home". The tournaments they run are decent--usually a $55 buy-in with around 60 players. Some days a rebuy ($25) is offered. I wasted $80 on a rebuy tourney and $55 on a freezout and won $0. Oh well. My buddy finished second in the freezeout and won a few hundred.
Results: mixed
MONTE CARLO
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The room is very small. I was at Monte Carlo from about 11pm until about 5am. It was very frustrating--I was at the $2/$4 limit game; it's a bit strange because they have only one $2 blind. And this table was populated with the WORST POKER PLAYERS EVER. Eight or 9 on a flop was common, and they would check/call. Loose Passive.
And I sat and sat and waited for a playable hand. Whenver I hit something I was pushing too hard out of frustration and my straights hit flushes, Sets hit straights etc. After 6 hours of play I was up a grand total of $2. I lost a huge kill pot ($3/$6) on a river 2-outer so I felt I played decent.
Result: up $2 at 2/4 limit(!)
Harrah's
=====
Barely a 5 min walk from my hotel room is the Harrah's poker room. I wandered over one afternoon and played the $3/$6 game there for a while. The place was a bank machine for me, I was up $80 in about 1 hour. They have this weird "Aces Cracked" jackpot where if your pocket aces are cracked you win $100. I cracked a guy's aces when my A-x SOOTED made the nut flush. We were both happy.
I like the room, it's clean and smoke free, and I won a decent amount of money.
Result: up $80 at $3/$6 LHE
Hooter's
=====
Ahhh, Hooter's. It's new, so we had to check it out right? It was here that I discovered the joys of NL Hold'em and its vast superiority to that bingo game they call "2/4 limit". (I swear I could hear those people yelling "bingo" after the flop sometimes at monte carlo)
The casino was really nothing special, and there weren't any of those orange-short-white-tank girls walking around. Not a one. Truly nothing special at this casino.
The poker room is the smallest I saw on the strip. I took about $60 out of the $NL 100 game in an hour.
Result: up $61 in the NL100 game.
Those are all the rooms I played.
Overall results:
LHE (2/4 and 3/6): Lost $95
NL100 at Hooters and IP: Up $121
Overall Cash game: Up $26, probably close to $1/hour. I was ok with it since I didn't lose...
I also lost a couple of tounament buy-ins so I was down around $100 gambling for 9 days.
It was great fun, maybe I'll try some live poker here in Vancouver!
We were slumming pretty good--expect no tales of the high-stakes game at Bellagio or Wynn.
I arrived on Friday Night pretty late, and called my brother (he was in vegas the week before me with 1 day overlap). He was playing poker at the Flamingo, so I headed over and sat down for my first live game ever!
FLAMINGO
=======
The Flamingo room is OK, nothing great. They have a "big hand" jackpot where if you make TTTT or better, your name goes on a list and they pay out the jackpot money at the end of the night. At one point I made JJJJ, and got on the list. I went back the next day, but some guy's QQQQ was the last hand to pay out (around $150 I think), so I was out of luck.
Result: down $8 at the 2/4 limit game at Flamingo. I was happy with that considering it was my first ever live game.
IMPERIAL PALACE
===========
I played alot at the Imperial Palace, it is a not-great room, but the staff is quite friendly and it was "home". The tournaments they run are decent--usually a $55 buy-in with around 60 players. Some days a rebuy ($25) is offered. I wasted $80 on a rebuy tourney and $55 on a freezout and won $0. Oh well. My buddy finished second in the freezeout and won a few hundred.
Results: mixed
MONTE CARLO
=========
The room is very small. I was at Monte Carlo from about 11pm until about 5am. It was very frustrating--I was at the $2/$4 limit game; it's a bit strange because they have only one $2 blind. And this table was populated with the WORST POKER PLAYERS EVER. Eight or 9 on a flop was common, and they would check/call. Loose Passive.
And I sat and sat and waited for a playable hand. Whenver I hit something I was pushing too hard out of frustration and my straights hit flushes, Sets hit straights etc. After 6 hours of play I was up a grand total of $2. I lost a huge kill pot ($3/$6) on a river 2-outer so I felt I played decent.
Result: up $2 at 2/4 limit(!)
Harrah's
=====
Barely a 5 min walk from my hotel room is the Harrah's poker room. I wandered over one afternoon and played the $3/$6 game there for a while. The place was a bank machine for me, I was up $80 in about 1 hour. They have this weird "Aces Cracked" jackpot where if your pocket aces are cracked you win $100. I cracked a guy's aces when my A-x SOOTED made the nut flush. We were both happy.
I like the room, it's clean and smoke free, and I won a decent amount of money.
Result: up $80 at $3/$6 LHE
Hooter's
=====
Ahhh, Hooter's. It's new, so we had to check it out right? It was here that I discovered the joys of NL Hold'em and its vast superiority to that bingo game they call "2/4 limit". (I swear I could hear those people yelling "bingo" after the flop sometimes at monte carlo)
The casino was really nothing special, and there weren't any of those orange-short-white-tank girls walking around. Not a one. Truly nothing special at this casino.
The poker room is the smallest I saw on the strip. I took about $60 out of the $NL 100 game in an hour.
Result: up $61 in the NL100 game.
Those are all the rooms I played.
Overall results:
LHE (2/4 and 3/6): Lost $95
NL100 at Hooters and IP: Up $121
Overall Cash game: Up $26, probably close to $1/hour. I was ok with it since I didn't lose...
I also lost a couple of tounament buy-ins so I was down around $100 gambling for 9 days.
It was great fun, maybe I'll try some live poker here in Vancouver!
Comments
It's Vegas!
Can I get a drink report?
I don't know about the NL blinds at MC.
Drink report (aka how long it takes to get one): IP is good because the bar is right inside the poker pit.
Monte Carlo is terrible because the bar is 200 yards away at the other end of the casino
Didn't drink at Harrah's
Hooters: average
Flamingo: average
BBC, ah, the hooker report goes on a different site...