Vegas next week

[Abagadro]

Going to Vegas next week. I'm presenting a paper at the Western Political Science Association Annual Meeting. If anyone is going to  be in town for the NASCAR race or the Mountain West B-ball championship we should get a beer. I'm there Wed. night through Sat. evening.

I will be engaging in the conference for 55 minutes and playing poker for 3 days.

I haven't been down for a while (and when I did, didn't make it around town much), so people who have been recently need to tell me which of the new poker rooms are good.

[Signe]

Sometimes I wonder if the only people who show up for these things are the ones who have already run out of gambling money! 

[WayAbvPar]

Usual suspects for poker rooms (I haven't been for almost a year, but the 2+2 kids tell me)- Bellagio, Venetian, Wynn, MGM (low limit), Mirage, etc. From what I hear, NL is taking the town by storm, which makes me a very sad panda.

On a related note- I am trying to organize as many folks as possible to go Sept. 13-17th. Book early and join us!

[Abagadro]

Usual suspects for poker rooms (I haven't been for almost a year, but the 2+2 kids tell me)- Bellagio, Venetian, Wynn, MGM (low limit), Mirage, etc. From what I hear, NL is taking the town by storm, which makes me a very sad panda.

On a related note- I am trying to organize as many folks as possible to go Sept. 13-17th. Book early and join us!

That's what I understand (about the NL). I just picked up Miller and Sklansky's book on it because although I am decent in NL tourneys I've never even played in a NL ring game. I just want a nice, fishy 6-12 game. Is that too much to ask?

[Bunk]

Might be. 6-12 is a little too pricey for the average fishy tourist from what I've seen. Mind you, lower limits than that means tables full of drunks chasing everything. Which is fine if you have one guy chasing, but sucks when there are six of em trying at once - one of them is likely going to hit something big.

I actually found 1-2 or 1-5 NL wasn't too bad as long as you managed to recognize the locals quickly and stay out of thier way for the most part. I sat at a 1-5 table in the Tropicana (horible little poker room, was lucky to have two tables going) last year with one guy who rebought in three times in about an hour, because every time he had anything resembling a hand, he'd push in $90 pre flop. The way the guy flipped out when I flopped a 2 on my pocket 2s made my whole trip worth while.

[Signe]

Make sure you tell us all about your Vegas exploits, Abagadro.  Don't worry... I'm sure whatever you tell us won't leave the confines of this forum.

[Abagadro]

What happens at f13 stays at f13?

[WayAbvPar]

FWIW, I played 6/12 at the Venetian last year (decent game, not super fishy, but I left up a few bucks), but it sounds like 4/8 and several flavors of NL are the order of the day there now. Might try a crosspost in the B&M section at 2+2 and see what the locals have to say. I have heard lamentations of the death of the mid and high limit games.

[Signe]

What happens at f13 stays at f13?

Absolutely!  Well, unless we digg you or slash dot you.  God, we sound so violent!

[Abagadro]

FWIW, I played 6/12 at the Venetian last year (decent game, not super fishy, but I left up a few bucks), but it sounds like 4/8 and several flavors of NL are the order of the day there now. Might try a crosspost in the B&M section at 2+2 and see what the locals have to say. I have heard lamentations of the death of the mid and high limit games.

I've been poking around over therer, but every time you ask this kind of question all you get it "USE THE SEARCH FUNCTION." That place has gotten a bit too big for my tastes. I liked it much better way back when. (ya, ya get off my lawn)

I'm going to try the Sahara tournies because I am staying down at that end of Vegas (not by choice) as all indications are that they are good deep-stack tourneys and then try to get up to the MGM and Venetian mostly becasue I haven't played at either. It's a big week-end in town so it will be crowded and hopefully have a decent ratio of fish. I'll probably play in those 4-8 games (even though it chafes me a bit to play that low considering the rake) and maybe a 1-2 200 Max NL game just to get my feet wet. 

[El Gallo]

Was at the Wynn a few months back.  The poker room has very comfortable chairs.  There's no max buy in there for NL games, which probably means that the play isn't as soft as you'll find in other places (I haven't played other LV places close enough in time to compare them).  NL has taken over everywhere because that's what the rubes see on TV but you can still find limit games in most ranges.  Heh, I probably sound like those cranky old stud players bitching about limit hold'em taking all the tables back when I first learned to play 6 or so years ago.  IMO you can make a lot of money on NL there but it's boring as fuck to play.  Just make some small moves to stay awake, wait for somebody to make an absolutely horrid decision for all their chips and hope they do so against you.  Then you pray that your 70/30 odds land on the 70 side.  Of course, I'm a limit player at heart so it may be more fun for the super aggressive types.

I usually end up playing limit, which generally means me and a bunch of old guys, but still there's more action (or at least, more action I can non-stupidly participate in) than there is in NL.  The higher limit games (30/60+) apparently have/had some good action, but mostly at limits higher than I am willing to play (and I'm not good enough to play in them anyway).  One of my best friends makes a pretty comfortable living off those games (he's really, really good though).

[WayAbvPar]

The problem with the rubes wanting to play NL is that it is too easy for them to lose their entire bankroll in one session. It is much harder to do that playing limit. Once they lose their nut, they are out of it until the scrape together some more cash. That is bad for the casinos and for the good players, both of who need the bad players in the games as often as possible.

[Abagadro]

This excursion ended up being a bit boring. Basically went to conference the first day which was a good resume builder but otherwise a big waste of time.

Played poker and walked alot the rest of the time. The Venetian room is really nice and well-run. The games aren't very good though (at least low limit). Played two tourneys at Sahara because it is a low-cost, deep-stack tourney. Got down to the last three tables in 1 (out of ten or so) but then did nothing. Other one was cold-decked and did nothing the entire time.

Did most of my damage in the Bellagio 8-16 which I had never played in before but will now be my standard game. Very good game on Friday and Saturday with a fair number of donkeys and tourists with only a couple of locals (and they were exploitable for various reasons). Seems to be a good game where the limit is high enough where you can get people to fold if you want them to and actually make money but not so high that you get a big percentage of local grinders who know how to play.

Got beat up in a 4-8 game at the Venetian as I ended up with a total donk two seats to my left which is a tough position normally that results in high variance, but I also had a clueless wench to my right that screwed up my attempts to isolate and punish the donk. I ended up getting middled a whole bunch when I know it wasn't even intentional on her dumbass part. So I dropped 200 waiting for the hand that I knew would come eventually where I would get it all back, but I got too frustrated and left.  I actually had the hand and the wench pushed me off of it by bluff betting the turn into the donk who promptly check-raised (like no-one saw that coming). She called him all the way down only to lose to second-pair no kicker (have no idea what air she was betting) while I had folded my top pair-decent kicker because she had been representing a much better hand the entire time. Normal people who play with a donk know not to do that kind of crap and let someone else who actually has a hand take it to them. I had to take a walk after that one.

[WayAbvPar]

Hehe. I have been there!

Is the Bellagio room any less crowded? Last time I played there the waitresses could hardly get between the tables in some areas.

Played some 4/8 myself over the weekend- 2 sessions at two locations on Saturday. +40BBs for the 2; wish every day was like that!

[Signe]

I have no idea what the bloody hell he's talking about!  I was hoping for a tale of hookers and gangsters.  Maybe some sort of mysterious murder or something.  I'm so disappointed.   :-(

[Abagadro]

The Bellagio is still incredibly overcrowded. For what is considered to be the premium room in town they really need to expand it.  I wish the Venetian room had the Bellagio games because that room is very spacious. Better tables and more comfy chairs too.


Sorry no hooker and blow stories. I'm boring.

EDIT: Oh, the donk was extra annoying to boot since he was going on and on about how he was in town with his wife: a WWE Diva.

[WayAbvPar]

That is almost as bad as losing to a guy in a leather NASCAR jacket or something =)


For you Seattle area folks- I checked out Parker's in Shoreline Saturday night. I made a few good hands, but I stole more pots than I won showing down hands with well-timed aggression. It was as timid a crowd (played at 2 different tables) as I have ever seen. I finally got up and left when the blinds chopped 3 out of 4 hands.