Vegas Aftermath?

Win or lose, one always feels a slight Vegas hangover, whether it be the result of lack of sleep, booze, cigars or gambling. The shock to one’s body after a multi-day bender is real and more painful as one gets older. My own Vegas hangover is lack of sleep and too much poker.

First I need to send out props to the Gold Coast. It is a very clean, courteous hotel and has a tremendous amount of gaming for us low rollers. The poker room has 12 tables and features a daily $20 freeze out. My typical game $4-8 limit Holdem’ was run all the time and I could find cheap table games as well. The food was good and the comps were generous. That being said, I definitely padded Boyd Gaming’s bottom line with my contributions at the craps tables. Some of the money came from the Vegas locals in the card room, but most came right out of my pocket.

I also had a first visit to the Palms poker room. The poker room is pretty small but well appointed. There are 3 tables in each of the limit and no-limit rooms. I played $1-3 no-limit and enjoyed the game as it was mostly tourists with a few locals. Being a small room it was very well managed. I made a small donation to the Palms craps pits as well. I was tempted to check out the Playboy club, but the $40 cover was a little more than I bargained for.

I also had a chance to return to some of my old favorites. The Bellagio is in my opinion the center for Las Vegas poker. Since my last trip the cocktail service has improved and the staff seems slightly friendlier. I stuck to $4-8 as this was one of my first poker playing outings on my limited bankroll. I had to stop at the Orleans for Omaha. The game was pretty good as usual and the food comps generous as they cater to the low rollers. The Orleans is also owned by Boyd Gaming so I was able to catch a shuttle from the Gold Coast. The last poker room mini-review will be the Wynn which is pretty luxurious and the rake shows it at $4 on $40 which is pretty steep. I had a good run of cards here at the no-limit tables. An interesting note is that there is no maximum buy-in at any of the no-limit games. At some places the $1-3 no-limit cap is $500. This did not affect my game at all, but probably gave some of the big dogs more leverage. The only reason I saved money at the Bellagio and Wynn dice pits is that the small game was $10 and $15 respectively.

The rest of the trip was pretty standard. Frontier provided there usual great service although the return flight was delayed. The public transportation is as good as any I have been on. Also the food was pretty good. With a solo trip, I was not hitting any of the strip restaurants, but I sampled some pretty good Chinese food and quick bites.