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Server Time: 12/1/2008 4:20:42 PM PACIFIC |
 Vegas Changes Since September 2003, FeliciaLee, 8. Dec 2003 10:38 | ||
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| Tuesday, November 25, 2003 I thought I would write about some changes in the Vegas cardrooms that I've seen, and my experiences. Even since just September, there are a lot more TV newbies. Most are men, but a surprising increase in women, too. I played against one girl at the Luxor who had never played poker before, just saw it on TV. Miracle of miracles, she GOT it. In fact, she outlasted me in the Luxor tourney! Not a hard feat, with their turbo-style structure, but still, she had a natural feel for the game. At the Sahara, they have increased the rake on all games, but they still offer the lowest rake in Vegas. $3.00 for HE, $3.50 for Stud. Up 50 cents since September, so I am told. They are also spreading a 2/4 game (ugh). $1/2 blinds. They are still getting a sold-out crowd for their Sunday and Wednesday night tourneys. The buy-in is the same, the juice is atrocious. For the $40 buy-in on Sunday, they take $12 in juice (!!!). Fortunately, it is still a GREAT tourney, with the number one spot paying 50%, the payout extremely top heavy (most of the time deals are made, because the blinds, compared to the number of chips on the table, are a huge percentage). They get between 70-85 people each tourney, most of whom cannot play poker. There is an optional $20 rebuy, but one is all she wrote, so play a bit of survival in the beginning, when the blinds are tiny and some bad players will go all-in on any pair. I still rate the Sahara the very best cardroom for: 1) Dealers who are friendly and know what they are doing 2) Dealers who will listen if they make a mistake, then try to fix it without "blaming" the player 3) Dead money participants 4) Payout structure 5) Rake 6) Excellent Floormen 7) They still allow call-in's for their tourneys (These are all just MY subjective opinions. I have always had good experiences at the Sahara, in the over 100 times I have played there, either in cash games or tourneys.) The Luxor still has all of those tiny Stud tables. They have a ton of room, so I am not sure why they are still attempting to squeeze ten or eleven people into a Stud table for tourneys. Maybe their budget has not allowed them to upgrade tables. They are giving "free" poker lessons at 2pm, followed by spreading a $1/2 game. There seem to be no restrictions on who can play in the 1/2. They are spreading 2/4 now as their "regular" game, the 1-4-8-8 has dried up a bit, and I have only seen one game going, ever. Excalibur has a 1-3 beginner's game. They had started this when I was there in September, but I thought I would repeat it. Binions is going to start holding Sunday afternoon NLHE tourneys in December, I believe the floorman said. Satellites will be held for it. This was overheard on the PA, I did not talk to the floorman about it, so call to confirm. They are spreading a variety of games now, more choices then just about anywhere. They have pot limit games, and will spread just about anything that there is an interest in playing. The staff were very friendly to me. I left to eat and take Glenn to the airport after playing in a decent 10/20 game. The brush said she would put me on the "eating" list, since I was coming back. I didn't make it back until several hours later. Of course, my name was erased, but she seemed extremely pleased to see me, greeted me by name, and tried to find me a seat immediately. While playing, she came over several times to just say hi or ask if everything was okay. When I left, she thanked me for coming, by name. The other floorman was wonderful, too. We talked a bit about the straddling in the no- limit, shorthanded game, in order to buy a later position before the flop. He didn't quite realize the strategy, but finally it dawned on him when I explained it thoroughly again. He seemed to want to think about that some more, and asked "how we played" at my local cardroom. Both seemed extremely friendly and easygoing. There were NO bad scenes at Binions either time I was there. The Orleans still has the rocking 6/12 game with the 10/20 kill if two pots are won that are over $30 each. They never got a 10/20 game going while I was there. Starting in December their $20 tourneys are going to increase to $27. $5 more will go into the prize pool. They still have the $5 bounties and the $3 dealers add-on. I played in the Stud tourney yesterday. With 50 participants, first prize was only $590. I cannot figure out why, since most people rebought several times, and almost everyone did the add-on. They must be taking juice out of the rebuys and add-on's, as well at the buy-in. That is the only way I can figure out the math. I am going to call and ask about it. Others have reported lots of juice in those tourneys, so, going by the payout last night, it must be true. Some of the dealers are snappy and irritable, like they have been for the last year, lol. Others are new and make lots of mistakes, like they have for the last year, lol. Nothing new to report there! Hahaha. I won a grand total of three hands. My personal worst record in Stud tourneys, I believe. I was as cold as Sweden in January. My Mom, however, was on fire. She was the last woman in the tourney, by at least an hour. She made 12th or 13th, I believe, right outside the money, bah! She could have made the money easily, IMHO, had she played better tourney strategy. She had a mountain of chips, but started playing scared towards the end and bled them away. I personally saw her throw away aces twice towards the END of the tourney, before I got called for my 6/12 seat. Once was on fourth street when a player paired his king doorcard and bet out. She showed her aces! He had trips, but SHE was too shortstacked by that time to throw ANYTHING that good away. Another time was thirty minutes or so earlier, when she still had a decent stack. A tricky player on her right raised after she had bet with two aces SHOWING on fifth. She needed the chips, she could not survive to the final eight with what she had. I suspect he had two pair, but she needed to hang in there. Instead, she threw them away, grrrr. We talked about it on the way home. The 6/12 game was great, as usual. I sat down into the big blind. The man on my left asked me if I wanted to play. I looked at the table card and it said, to my shock, that if I posted behind the button, I had to post $10 (!!!). That is more than both the big and small blinds! So I took my big blind, and was dealt 65o. Several players saw a flop of: 678, two hearts. A middle position player bet out. A few callers, and I called along. The turn was paint, the same MP player bet, and a caller along with me. I got my nine on the river, but it was also a heart. With the heart draw and the bigger straight out, I simply called the MP player, not having him figured for a drawing hand, from the beginning, but still being cautious, since I didn't know him. I was the only caller, and he mucked his hand when he saw mine. Immediately I was dealt AA in the SB. I don't look at my hand until the action is to me, so I had studied the other players, all who had limped in, and seemed not to have strong hands. I usually never slowplay aces, but looking at their faces, I knew that if I didn't slowplay, I would probably get nothing for them. I decided to take the chance (once again, I normally NEVER do this, and I think it is a BAD play). The flop came down rags and I bet right out. I was raised by a MP player, whom I put on an overpair. Although he hadn't raised before the flop, I did not put him on a deuce or five, as the flop was 522. I kept betting out, as a king hit the turn, then a blank on the river. He kept calling. I won a pretty big pot, with all of the btf limpers. I know I took a risk, slowplaying my aces, and I haven't done it in an AGE, but it felt right at this particular table, under these particular circumstances. My Mom busted out of the tourney not long after, so I waited for my blind, then cashed out $166 up. Today I am headed to Bellagio, then Sahara for the NLHE tourney at 7pm. I will report tomorrow on any changes at Bellagio. Hope you are having a great holiday week! Felicia :) | ||
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| Re: Vegas Changes Since September 2003, Candide, 8. Dec 2003 12:18 | ||
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| Thanks again for the great posts. One thing I'ld be interested in hearing about in your room reports would be how bad is the smoking there? I'm lucky (or unlucky depending on your point of view) to live in Florida where they are thankfully banning smoking just about everywhere, so don't have to put up with it. Since they have done that, I can't even stand to be near a bunch of smoke. Most of the strip casino's have such high ceilings it isn't an issue, but when we were downtown a few were just intolerable. Jason | ||
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| Re: Vegas Changes Since September 2003, SpaceAce, 8. Dec 2003 23:01 | ||
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| Binions can be pretty smoky. A lot of the downtown and just-off-the-strip area poker rooms are that way. The Excalibur is not bad, though. All the tables have non-smoking seats at either end. Obviously, the person right next to you might light up but the room is wide open and the air circulates pretty well. SpaceAce | ||
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| Re: Vegas Changes Since September 2003, Flakes, 8. Dec 2003 23:09 | ||
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| Pretty smoky? Their ceilings are so low the smoke just lingers there and It's so thick you could cut it with a knife. I would never play at Binion's except during tournament time. There are a lot nicer and healthier casinos to chose from in Las Vegas than that one. Sorry but Binion's is a dump! Flakes | ||
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| Re: Vegas Changes Since September 2003, SpaceAce, 9. Dec 2003 02:45 | ||
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| Heh, OK, so VERY smoky. I hate cigarette smoke but I actually like Binion's Horseshoe quite a lot and would definitely not call it a dump. It doesn't have the ritz of the Venetian but I enjoy going there. The deli makes a mean turkey sandwich and motah ball soup, both served on styrofoam with plastic utensils. I love the place :) SpaceAce | ||
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| Re: Vegas Changes Since September 2003, Flakes, 9. Dec 2003 02:51 | ||
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| on 9. Dec 2003 02:45 SpaceAce wrote: > Heh, OK, so VERY smoky. I hate cigarette smoke but I actually like Binion's Horseshoe quite a lot > and would definitely not call it a dump. It doesn't have the ritz of the Venetian but I enjoy going > there. The deli makes a mean turkey sandwich and motah ball soup, both served on styrofoam with > plastic utensils. I love the place :) It doesn't have the ritz of the Venetian? It doesn't even have the ritz of a Ritz cracker box! Sorry, I couldn't resist. There food is pretty good though, you're right about that. I prefer the pastrami sandwich myself :) Flakes | ||
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| Re: Vegas Changes Since September 2003, FeliciaLee, 9. Dec 2003 09:06 | ||
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| NP. Have fun! Here is what I can remember. I don't concentrate very much on smoking vs. non-smoking, although I have never smoked a cigarette in my life! -Sahara, smoking -Bellagio, non-smoking -Mirage, non-smoking -Excalibur, smoking -Luxor, smoking -Binions, smoking -Mandalay, non-smoking (I think, it's been a long, long time) -Stations, all smoking -Sam's Town, smoking -Cortez, smoking -Arizona Charlies (west only), smoking -Plaza, smoking -Flamingo, smoking (I think, it's been years) This is the best I can come up with right now. Felicia :) My Poker Journal: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FeliciaLee <<on 8. Dec 2003 12:18 Candide wrote: > Thanks again for the great posts. One thing I'ld be interested in hearing about in > your room reports would be how bad is the smoking there? I'm lucky (or unlucky > depending on your point of view) to live in Florida where they are thankfully banning > smoking just about everywhere, so don't have to put up with it. Since they have done > that, I can't even stand to be near a bunch of smoke. Most of the strip casino's > have such high ceilings it isn't an issue, but when we were downtown a few were just > intolerable. > > Jason | ||
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| Re: Vegas Changes Since September 2003, timmer, 9. Dec 2003 09:55 | ||
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| Judging on where you play Id venture that your smoking at least 3 cigs a day average. on 9. Dec 2003 09:06 FeliciaLee wrote: > NP. Have fun! > > Here is what I can remember. I don't concentrate very much on smoking vs. non-smoking, > although I have never smoked a cigarette in my life! > > -Sahara, smoking > -Bellagio, non-smoking > -Mirage, non-smoking > -Excalibur, smoking > -Luxor, smoking > -Binions, smoking > -Mandalay, non-smoking (I think, it's been a long, long time) > -Stations, all smoking > -Sam's Town, smoking > -Cortez, smoking > -Arizona Charlies (west only), smoking > -Plaza, smoking > -Flamingo, smoking (I think, it's been years) > > This is the best I can come up with right now. > > Felicia :) > > My Poker Journal: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FeliciaLee > > <<on 8. Dec 2003 12:18 Candide wrote: > > Thanks again for the great posts. One thing I'ld be interested in hearing about in > > your room reports would be how bad is the smoking there? I'm lucky (or unlucky > > depending on your point of view) to live in Florida where they are thankfully banning > > > smoking just about everywhere, so don't have to put up with it. Since they have done > > > that, I can't even stand to be near a bunch of smoke. Most of the strip casino's > > have such high ceilings it isn't an issue, but when we were downtown a few were just > > intolerable. > > > > Jason | ||
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