 |
|
|||
Can't find it? Search All Vegas Poker: Register Now to contribute a poker room review or trip report.
AVP In The News! Click pics to watch videos...
The Excalibur poker room is the first poker room in Las Vegas to feature electronic poker tables.
LasVegasMichael and Doug weigh in during an interview with KLAS TV Channel 8 in Las Vegas. More details here
Home
Register
Submit Review
Post Trip Report
Big Rooms
Bellagio
Caesars Palace
MGM Grand
Mirage
Venetian
Wynn
Strip Rooms
Bally's
Bill's
Circus Circus
Excalibur (Electronic)
Flamingo
Harrah's
Hooters
Imperial Palace
Luxor
Mandalay Bay
Monte Carlo
O'Shea's
Planet Hollywood
Riviera
Sahara
Stratosphere
Treasure Island (TI)
Tropicana
Downtown Rooms
Binion's
El Cortez
Fitzgeralds
Golden Nugget
Plaza
Off-Strip Rooms
Aliante Station
Arizona Charlie's
Boulder Station
Cannery
Club Fortune
Eastside Cannery
Fiesta Henderson
Gold Coast
Green Valley Ranch
Hacienda (Boulder City)
Hard Rock
Joker's Wild
Orleans
Palace Station
Palms
Poker Palace
Red Rock
Rio
Sam's Town
Santa Fe
Silverton
South Point
Suncoast
Sunset Station
Texas Station
Tuscany
Closed Rooms
Aladdin
Excalibur (Live)
Fiesta Rancho
Hilton
Paris
Rampart
Stardust
Online Poker Rooms
Rakeback
Rankings
About
Logout
|
Trip Report Low-Stakes Vegas Superbowl Weekend Date: 02/10/06 Player: crookdimwit For Rooms: Aladdin,Excalibur (Live),Gold Coast,Luxor,MGM Grand,Monte Carlo, Summary: Lots of low-limit holdem, plus some nutty NL action vs. lunatics. Content: Spent Superbowl weekend in Las Vegas, eager to get in a wide range of Poker action... Gold Coast (Saturday Morning, Feb. 4): My buddy wanted to try out their cheap 10am tournament, so we dropped in to check it out. Not a great experience. The "poker room" is a just a little spot of space roped off from the main casino with some tables. And the tournament, though cheap ($22), was pretty bad. First off, the tourney started about 15-20 minutes late because they couldn't find enough dealers. Secondly, it's a freezeout tourney, but they have an odd structure where they make it limit for the first hour, then NL after that. Starting chipstacks were 1000, and the blinds rose every 15 min, which meant that by the end of the first hour, they were up to 100-200, and yet you still couldn't make any no-limit moves. Weird. Also, though the tourney was "full", they kept filling seats from eliminated players with "alternates" throughout that first hour. I'm not sure how common this was, but it seems pretty unfair. 45 min into the tournament, several of us are playing through blinds and early action, and some new players sit down with a fresh stack of starting chips, having ducked several rounds of blinds. Made me wonder why I bothered showing up on time, rather than waiting around to be an alternate. Anyway, I busted out before the money and switched over to a $2/$4 limit table, where it only took about half an hour for me to be up about $65. Overall, this poker room is pretty drab and poorly run. Drink service is pretty slow. The casino does have a pretty good, cheap buffet, though... which is about the only positive thing I can say for the Gold Coast "poker room". Anyway, minus the tourney fee, I left the Gold Coast up about $43. MGM Grand (5pm - 8pm, Saturday, Feb. 4): First time I've been to the new MGM Poker Room, and I immediately saw why it gets such high marks. Clean, comfortable, and very well run. Quick drink service with higher-end stuff from the bar. Played at a very loose, $2/$4 table (should have just been called a $4/$4 table -- only a couple hands didn't get raised pre-flop, and 6-7 players seemed to see every flop). I didn't catch many cards over the span of a few hours, and wound up cashing out about $10 down. Excalibur (10:30 pm, Feb. 4): I wanted to check out the much-rumored "soft competition" at the Excalibur, but the room was a mess. The wait for a $2/$4 or $3/$6 table was a bit long, plus the poker area was pretty bleak. The space smelled like a bad motel room, and despite being theoretically "smoke-free", the entire area reeked of second-hand smoke. The competition DID look a bit tempting, though -- looked like a lot of beginners and tourists at the tables. But after about ten minutes, my buddy and I agreed waiting for this dingy poker room made no sense, so we headed over to the Luxor. Luxor (11pm - 1am, Feb. 4): The Luxor has a $50 buy-in NL table (you can't buy in for any more or any less), so I figured it would be an interesting place to take my first crack at NL table action in Vegas. I've played a lot of 2/4 and 3/6 in LV and AC, but this was my first time sitting down at a no-limit casino table. The Luxor has a three-blind set up ($1/$1/$2) for this game. I'm not sure what exactly I expected, but I at least thought I'd be up against some savvy, experienced players. Instead, I found myself at a table with, for the most part, the worst group of poker players I've ever seen. There were a few reasonable players in the game, but most of the people there seemed like roulette or keno players who got lost and sat down at a poker table by accident. They were either clueless, or didn't value money very much. The table had just opened, so we all cashed in for chips and kicked off the game at the same time. The second hand at the table was an eye opener. The player UTG raised the blinds all-in for about $47. After a couple folds, a guy in MP re-raises all-in immediately to $75. Everyone else folds. So I'm expecting a showdown between maybe AKs and QQ, or maybe aces vs. kings, something like that. Instead, it's A-10 offsuit vs. KQo... The KQ guy hits a queen on the turn and wins. As he's raking in his chips, I say "wow, gutsy call." He looks at me like I'm insane. The two guys to left also seem surprised that I think going all-in with potentially dominated hands is a bit loose. One says "you HAVE to call with that!" The other nods in agreement. Two hours later, these guys wind up being down $550, $450, and about $300 respectively. Most of the chips go to a quiet, sensible player who has the fine luck of having legitimate cards to go against the weak stuff a bunch of these goofballs keep pushing chips in with. It's the craziest, most irrational table I've ever sat at. One guy is dismayed that his pocket 9s didn't hold up (he bet $150 to call an all-in bet with them)... "I can't believe those got CRACKED!" he keeps saying. Another guy goes all-in for $200 when his king pairs the board and is stunned that his 7 kicker isn't good enough. In a huge pot for over $500, one player goes all-in for about $60 preflop, and three players call. After a flop of 2-3-4 comes down, a player across the table from me can't get all his chips in the middle fast enough (his hands are shaking like crazy with excitement). I'm expecting he has A-5, or maybe 56, or maybe 44? A third player calls both all-in bets. Turns out the first player had 8-10s, the shaky-hands guy has 99, and the third caller has A-Jo. AJ wins when he hits runner-runner spades to make a flush. After watching this madness, I quietly pray for the poker gods to give me a couple legitimate starting cards so that I can get paid by these clowns. For the most part, I keep out of the way of these nutty showdowns and only play a few hands over the course of a couple hours. With a few hands, I raise $10 preflop, but have to ditch the cards when faced with big all-in re-raises. I ultimately played only two hands to a showdown -- KK and AQ -- and doubled-up with both. I leave the Luxor around 1am, up about $70... and well entertained for my time. As far as the Luxor poker room itself? Pretty dingy, with really slow drink service and some grumpy dealers. But if you're feeling lucky, the NL game seems pretty soft, if you can be patient and wait for some legitimate cards you're willing to risk all your chips with. I like the $50 min/max buy-in, which made it easy to get into the game and stick around for a bit. MGM Grand (9am - 11am, Sunday, Feb. 5): Woke up early and headed back to the MGM for more $2/$4 limit. Full table, with a lot of very loose, aggressive players. Most flops cost at least $4 to see. I didn't catch many cards but left the table up about $10 after a couple hours. Monte Carlo (1am - 3:30am, Monday, Feb. 6): I've been to the MC poker room before and like it. It's small, but well-run and friendly. Dealers are good, as is drink service. This was my one clearly bad session over the weekend, as I rolled into the room not entirely sober from the Superbowl festivities, and pretty tired, and sat down at the $2/$4 limit table. Unlike the $2/$4 game at MGM the previous night, the table didn't seem as aggressive, and you could often limp in and see a pot for $2. Not too many hyper-aggressive players. After 2am, the table got a bit short-handed, and the management didn't really do a good job keeping the tables full or balanced. I was totally card dead for a couple hours, and as the table got 5-handed, I played impatiently (due to a mix of intoxication, fatigue, and frustration over the cold cards), and wound up down about $70 for the session. I'm an idiot. MGM Grand (12noon - 2pm, Monday, Feb. 6): My buddy and I wanted to get one more session in before leaving Vegas, and would up at the MGM. The Monte Carlo, the Aladdin, Ballys, and Paris all had no $2/$4 tables open when we popped by -- all were running tournaments (which we missed by over-sleeping). The Aladdin A.M. tourney looked great, but we couldn't it was sold out by 10:05, so if you're interested in that one, be early! Anyway, the MGM $2/$4 game was a little more tame than previous visits -- lots of loose callers, but not as much pre-flop aggression. This session seemed to have the most inexperienced players -- people sticking around with weak kickers, low flush draws, etc... I caught come nice cards during the session -- flopped a straight one hand, then a full-house a few hands later. Left the table about $60 up. All-in-all, a profitable weekend. As you can tell, we liked the MGM Poker Room a lot. The Luxor NL game seemed pretty damn soft. I'll definitely be checking that out again next time I'm in town. |
Comment on this trip report in our discussion forumPrevious Trip Report|Next Trip Report|Trip Reports Listing
Free Bellagio Poker Chip: Submit a qualified trip report or poker room review and receive a free authentic Bellagio poker chip. Details | |
| Can't Wait Until Vegas? Try Full Tilt Poker, my new personal favorite online poker room. | |
|
| |
 NeverwinPoker.com is UNCENSORED Poker Forum that lists online poker and poker rules. Play poker here now! | |