Vegas poker rooms?

Hey guys, I'm going to Vegas in a week with some friends to celebrate new years...anyway, I was wondering if any of you guys had any knowledge about the poker rooms there? I'm looking for good places to play and don't really know where to start. I'm willing to play up to 4/8 limit and 100 buyin NL. Thanks!

bellagio

Check out excalibur. It's one of the few that offer 100nl. Decent room, free buffet, decent bad beat jackpot. Calling ahead to put your name on a list is available.

Excalibur is definately worth checking out for you. I went out there looking for about the same type of games and basically couldn't find anything except excalibur and the golden nugget. Nugget is in old vegas though, so its not worth going to every day if you aren't staying near it.

Check out the Alladdin, as well. I've only been in there once or twice, but I was happy with the options and atmosphere each time.

Softest games are off-strip. Station Casinos (Sunset and Green Valley, notably), The Orleans, Gold Coast, and Sam's Town have little NL tourney's all the time, and their cash games are nice and easy.

There's a nice $70 buy-in midnight NL tourney at the Plaza on the strip every night, too. Relatively small attendance, really good payoff.

benny's horseshoe

blah, double post. TW was acting up.

Headin out to Vegas in March. Are there any cheaper games for those of us looking to play cash games for the first time?

Fool, try the Aladdin and Excalibur for low-blinds NL. I heard the Wynn is supposed to cater to all bankrolls, but I can't confirm that as I haven't gone there yet.

If you're looking for Low-Limit Hold 'em, almost every casino has that. If you haven't played in a B&M casino before, it might even be a good way to get your feet wet without too much risk.

I prefer NL but yea I'd rather get my feet wet before jumping into those games (don't wanna be the sucka). Heading out there first week of March for my Bday. Been playing a lot online and won my first cash game this weekend. Plus I just got my christmas bonus so I gots some extra change.

I techincally hate Low-Limit, as there's no real way to break the game (too many suck-outs, not enough action). But a few friends who only played online said it helped them in their adjustment from online to real-life. A suggestion, if nothing else.

If you're looking for some company in the poker rooms, lemme know. When I'm not working, I'm almost always playing or looking to play.

Oh? You live in Vegas?

Yep. I think I'm the only TW'r who both lives in Vegas AND plays poker frequently.

(that's a partial call-out. if there's anyone else, shout out and let's share house games :D)

Cool, I'll definitely check up with you when it gets closer to my trip date.

Played at MGM over New Year's. I liked it because they have no jackpots (not 21 yet... though I look much older, only time I woulda been carded was with a jackpot). They have 2/4-8/16 HE and 1/2-5/10 NL. No jackpots though if that's an issue. It's a really nice room and the staff is very efficient and know what they're doing. Man there were a lot of suckers playing 3/6. Good times.

I'm gonna be there this weekend ... I'll check out the plaza tourney. Any other places that run regular tournaments on the weekends?

Also, for the bellagio, what's the standard NL table? I know they have all limits, but what's the most common for a weekend?

I'm gonna be there this weekend ... I'll check out the plaza tourney. Any other places that run regular tournaments on the weekends?

Also, for the bellagio, what's the standard NL table? I know they have all limits, but what's the most common for a weekend?


Bellagio is for ballers. :)

Bellagio is for ballers. :)
Damn! I'm staying there tho ... hmmm ... what do you recommend for the normal croud that's close to bellagio?

Damn! I'm staying there tho ... hmmm ... what do you recommend for the normal croud that's close to bellagio?


The mirage is close and would be more likely to have smaller limits (although still not small). I hear the alladin has actually turned into a decent poker room, it's really close. You can hop on the bus on the bellagio side of the street and its like a 5 minute ride up to Excalibur, or you could just hoof it like I did.

Bring a camera when you go to the bellagio poker room so you can take pics of the pros. ;)


I heard the wynn poker room isn't anything special, but that might have been in reference to the higher limits, so I can't say for sure as it wasn't open when I was there.

If you want to check out some decent tourney action, the best small buy-in tourney on the strip is at the sahara (down the end towards the stratosphere). It's like 40 bucks for 2000 tourney chips and reasonable blind structure with usually about 50-100 people from what I remember.

The nugget also has a decent tourney and a nice little card room, but is in old vegas and well off the beaten path. There is little to no reason to see old vegas, the 'laser show' thing that people tell you about is total garbage. It's a big TV with cheesy things they play on it (to be fair it's probably the length of a football field, and its impressive as far as the technology goes, but thats it).

Excalibur will let you call in advance to reserve a seat, and they offer a free buffet for players. ITs usually something like pasta and not the greatest food in the world by any stretch, but edible and again, FREE. They also have all the limits a lowballer would want (which is why I was there).

When I was in Vegas last month I played quite a bit. By far the best game for neophyte players on the strip (I didnt venture off strip) was the $2/$4 NL $200 min/max buyin game at the Mandallay Bay.

Everyone buys in for $200 worth of chips, and you can't use cash at the tables, unlike the Wynn where guys will sit with $200 worth of chips and $2k cash they can use whenever they want. You can reload any time you want but only up to $200 worth of chips. It was very popular last month, with usually 4-5 tables going all day so people got moved around and you got to see a lot of different people/styles. Since everyone starts with exactly $200, it also had a very fun 'see if I can become the chip leader' vibe to it. Everyone there said it was the most fun cash game on the strip, with serious moments but a ton of joking around. If chip leaders went head to head everyone stopped and watched.

Anyway the first day I sat at about 2PM with my $200, was up to about $300, and then caught a crazy cold run of cards and ended up down to $150 by the time I left for dinner at 5ish. I also drank about 10 premium gins in that time :) I went back and player 2 more times while in town and ended about $100 up total. I dont know if they always run that game but if they do it is THE game to play if you are new in town.