This.
None of the regs in that game will get tilted by "donkey play"
They aren't 1/2 nl regs who think they're poker superstars.

A lot of them play well and understand where their money comes from or tbeyre super nits.

Either way 20 hands an hour at a game like that doesn't make for much of a game.

LOL, then you are playing with different regs than I am. Last two times I was at the 2/5 PLO at Aria, the regs were clearly not happy with the few tourist (three or four of us) and our "donkey" play. And it was extremely profitable. I'll be back in March, so will let you know if it's the same then

good luck!

How nitty is nitty? Are we talking about a game where you often have only three people seeing a flop or are we talking about a game where no one raises pre and a 3bet is always (good) aces? Or both?

The last time I played at the Rio during the WSOP, a tight player who said he was a reg at the Aria noted that I was a very tight player.

I have seen a mix of play between the regs. Some are really tight with their pre flop action, and I’ve seen numerous regs get into pots with marginal hands when a non reg is into a pot. Honestly, it felt like they were trying to isolate the non reg and be aggro post flop to push them out.

The games have been different during March madness due to there being more non regs. Those games have been pretty loose in the past. Ive been in games where it was not uncommon to have pots over 5k in the 2/5/10 game.

I think overall the games have a lot more regs than they did 2 years ago, but that doesn’t mean every game every day is like that.

The aren't too nitty, but they rarely play speculative hands. However, they do use position well and will pound weakness. They are actually pretty good players. You just have to be prepared to play back at them and you cannot play scared money (but when can you ever in PLO?).

So I wanted to share my experience in case anyone found it useful to them.

I got to the Aria room around 3 on Friday, and the list was extremely long for the 1/2 & 2/5/Rock -- 35 names on 1/2 (two tables running) and 25 names on 2/5/r (one table running).

I got seated at the 2/5/r game after 1 hour of waiting (I needed to eat, so my wait wasn't that long after finishing up at burger joint), but that game was playing bigger than I wanted to play (stacks of 5, 7, 7, & 10k on the table) and although I could have just sat and waited for opportunities to LRR my $1000 stack, I decided it'd be more fun to actually play more than one street of poker and took the 1/2 seat that opened up .5 hour later.

Both 1/2 tables ran all night until I finished my session past midnight. Games at 1/2 were pedestrian at best....lol @ regulars in that game. OMCs were easy enough to avoid (mostly b/c they weren't ever in pots), and the one 2/5 player in the 1/2 game was obvious within the first orbit. Other than that, everyone was a calling station and the pots were really small.

Saturday I got to the room around 9:30(?) and was fifth on the list (I looked on Bravo and only 1 name was on list before I called in, so 9-10 hour seems to be when tables start filling up in AM). I got in within 15 minutes, and within an hour list was up to 20 deep (two tables), and by noon the list was so long it didn't make sense to even put your name down. Games stayed filled until I left around 10pm, and throughout the day I heard from various people "I waited 3.5 hours to get into this game". Again games were pedestrian -- pre-flop raising was almost non-existent, OMCs waited for Aces and the opportunity to get in most of their stack pre-flop, and if it didn't come would check/fold any non-flush draw/non-set flop. There were two action players throughout the day, that stayed a total of 1.5 hours between them. When they were in the game it played much better, as their $25-30 raises were called by the same 6-7 people who were limping every other hand pf. Other than those times, pf aggression was few and far between.

Sunday I was down in the room by 9am and waited 15 minutes for a seat to open up (there were two games again). Game had a couple of 2/5 players in it, so aggression factor was raised, but everyone else was a limper looking to hit a flop.

Overall, I'd say be there on a busy weekend by 9am for almost immediate seating, and by 10am if you don't mind waiting a little bit. If you're not there by 10am, it's gonna be a long wait.

Games were passive in the 1/2 arena, and the jump to 2/5/r seemed miles beyond the play at 1/2, but again I was only in 2/5/r for 30 minutes so could easily be variance on that.

Good luck

This kind of sounds like a game I sometimes play in where I can grind out a relatively low-variance $40-ish/hour.

What would actually make this game better would be a steady stream of short stackers who raise too much preflop.

IIRC, about 9 months ago or so, the 1-2 PLO game changed its rules to permit a $5 straddle. I am assuming not many people straddled during your time in those games (maybe the action players that did not play long did)?

I don't remember anyone straddling while I was there. Not sure if it was $5 or $10

this is a good summary of the 2 games. the 2/5 players are light years better than the 1/2 players.
90 pct of the 1/2 players won't raise non aces hands pre, 99% won't 3 bet non aces hands, lots will flat double suited aces etc and they also just limp trash like 910jq double suited and play their draws super passively post flop.

I second this. Of course there are always exceptions, but this is pretty standard. There are a few regs at the 1/2 game, but they are easy to spot.

Wouldn’t it be a huge surprise if it wasn’t that way?

I would assume the difference between 1/2 and 2/5/rock PLO is comparable to 1/2 and 5/10 NL? Friend of mine recently spent a couple of weeks in Vegas and said that the Bellagio 5/10 game changed over the last two years from 6 solid pros at the table to 7 or 8 including some guys who had been regulars in the 10/20/40 game. Not sure if that game is still running regularly? The last couple of times I was at Bellagio it didn’t go, but I haven’t been during busier times in a while.

He moved down to 2/5 and said lots of the regs in that game were people he played 5/10 with over the last couple of years.

FWIW, even I thought 1/2 PLO at Aria was surprisingly soft and extremely passive. That says something because I am really bad at PLO.

Interesting. I go to Vegas three to five times a year, and whenever I'm in the 1/2 PLO game at Aria I recognize most of the table. Last two times I played mostly 2/5, though, and it is better.

Generally speaking the regs who play 1/2 and play well also play 2/5 and are either waiting for a 2/5 seat or are playing 1/2 bc 2/5 is a terrible game at the time

To be perfectly fair I've gone to Vegas at random times and it could just be a pure coincidence the last few times I went 2/5 PLO just happened to not be a good game but it really was a great game a couple of years ago

It's prob the case although I haven't played 1/2 nl in years

I've played a lot of 5/10 nl in Vegas but not much in the last two years or so

Bellagio 5/10 nl was very reg filled but you could still find good games

However I hate playing there so it was usually my last resort

The good thing was the regs there had this odd pride in being "Bellagio players"Either that or they were on house arrest at the Bellagio

There were many nights I walked into the b saw 4 5/10 games with 90 PCT regs,walked to the aria played a great 5/10 game all night ,went back to the b after the game broke and now there would be two tables running with still 90 PCT regs

There are a ton of 5/10 nl Bellagio regs I never played with anywhere else.That was not the case with any Wynn Venitian (when they had a lot of 5/10 nl) or aria regs.it was really bizzarre.

Yeah, I guess my point was that there was no middle ground of say...2/5 -- the room goes from 1/2 to essentially 5/10 skill level with the 2/5 spot missing; pots are exponentially smaller at 1/2 than 2/5/rock -- maybe the 1/2 needs a mandatory rock as well?

Borg is right in his assessment of the tables that the 1/2 players you see with skill are usually just 2/5/rock players waiting for a seat in the latter or have determined that the 2/5/r was not worth playing today and dominating the 1/2 game instead, even for much smaller win rate.

I hear you. In the past, the 2/5/10 game was a great game. Last March was the first time I saw it be not as good as in the past. Last month, which was an off conference weekend, was by far the worst game I've ever been in. Heck, last March I jumped in the 25/50 game to take a shot and it was a softer game than the 2/5/10 was last month. Again, last month had 7-8 regs/pros out of 9 players, and all of them except for one play 25/50 and higher regularly.

With all of this said, timing can have a huge impact. With Aria being the only year round consistent PLO game in Vegas, it was only a matter of time until it got filled with top notch players.

I'll be there in March as usual, and I hope the 2/5/10 isn't reg filled, but there's honestly no telling. Sad thing is that I get bored with the 1/2 game, and if the bigger game is reg filled, I probably won't play much.

When in March? We'll be there the 28th (poker starts 29th) through April 1. At least two players at the 2/5 table won't be regs

Dang. I’ll be there the 22nd-25th. Good luck on your trip.

Although this is true, it's also true, that most of the "regs" are bad regs.
There's actually 2-3 really strong players in that player pool, the other regs are mediocre at best, so i consider this still to be a very profitable game, a slong as you know who is who and how to play against them.

When there is 1 or 2 tourists in the game it's actually great.

Can't wait to get back there, although i guess with covid19 it's gonna be a while and the question is even if it will get back to what it was at all, actually doubt that.

two and a half years ago, they might have cared.