Hey guys,

I'm headed to Vegas tomorrow - staying at the wynn for a couple of days and then checking into Mandalay for the weekend. I've never played at Mandalay but on their site I see that they have a $2/4 NL game with a $400 max buy in - has anybody played in this? It sounds like the perfect size game I'm looking for.

I did this same trip last year and spent a lot of time during the week playing at Caesar's, the Wynn and the Venetian. Wynn $1/3 NL was pretty good and surprisingly donkish at night, but Caesar's and Venetian's $2/5 NL were surprisingly nitty - just wondering if the $2/4 at Mandalay is any better since it's a slightly smaller game.

Any other advice on where to find good wild $1/3 or 2/4 or 2/5 NL full of drunk rich guys in the evening is greatly appreciated

I'll be writing up a trip report when I get back, surely full of the wonderful cast of characters you meet in Vegas cardrooms

Cheers.

I have always enjoyed the 2-4NL at MB, and found it to be among the softest games of its size. But as you'll hear often, it's pretty much impossible to characterize specific games on the strip as softer than any other one. It can change as often as that silly gaudy signfront outside the Wynn. . . But that being said, MB's game seems to attract wealthy businessmen when there's conferences in town for some reason, at least in the 4 or 5 times I've played there.

Mandalays room would be better if-

a) they didnt selectively enforce the nazi-like rules, whenever they choose
b) the buy-in for the 2/4 NL was higher
c) the wait times were shorter (usually only like 2 or 3 NL games going, the few times I've been there)

However, everytime I've played there, the play is usually pretty bad, with only maybe 1 or 2 nitty locals at your table.


You can find much better 2/5 action around town, such as the Wynn (no cap), Caesars (no cap), the Palms ($1k cap, although the action in that room slowed down a lot from what it used to be), Red Rock ($1k cap, obviously full of locals, but it seems they're the degenerate "gambler" type locals), etc.

As already advised, it is very difficult to predict how any particular poker game will play on a given day, due to the fact that poker is a game played by the most unpredictable creatures on Earth - humans!

However, I have found that on average, the fishiest NL game above 1/2 is the 2/5 game at Bellagio, due to the fact that it is the lowest stake NL game that they spread, so attracts a fair number of clueless tourists who want to take a shot at poker. (The fact that tourists need to be fairly well-heeled to even stay at the Bellagio doesn't do any harm to the poker games there, either!)

Raisebot,

What do you mean the Palms actions has slowed down from what it used to be? I have heard many rumors about thieir 2/5 NL game being particullary good. What changed? Is it worth checking out? I'm heading to Vegas tomorrow so I'm just wondering.

I haven't visited the Palms in about a year, but everybody tells the same tale. The 2/5 game is nothing at all like it was. And the poker room in general is struggling. Ran into a Palms dealer a couple weeks ago and he said the same thing--the room has nearly died, and I shouldn't bother coming over.

Which could explain why they keep mailing me poker room promo stuff offering $25 for $20, and $3 rake. They're trying to save it, I guess.

A few years ago (2005), the Palms was THE place to play 2/5. Was a $500 max buy in, but the entire "High Limit Poker" room was almost always full, all hours, all day, all night. I believe it's either a 6 or 7 table room, but full of action players. Commonly 3 or 4 players to a reraised flop, with everyone trying to steal on every street. If you were normally say a 1/2 player that's been running good, the Palms was the place you'd go every once in a while to "take a shot" at maybe making $2500-$3k if you ran good.

Then they did away with smoking, and the room died out a lot, so they started adding promotions, such as random splashing the pot once every hour or 2, and they raised the buy-in on the 2/5 to $1k. Business seemed to pick up a fair bit, and it was definitely a good game again.

I then went about 4 months ago on a weeknight, and there was a single 2/5 game going, shorthanded, when I sat down I think there were only 7 of us, but it seemed no one was willing to get involved in any serious pots, 2 people left, and we decided to break the game since none of the rest of us were stuck any serious money.

Fast Forward to about 2 months ago, I again decided to give the Palms a shot, and they didn't even have a single 2/5 game going, only a single 1/2 (maybe it was 1/3), and I didn't even bother playing.


I'm not really familiar with the Limit Room, but my guess would be a ton of 2/4 with maybe a 4/8 or 2.

I really miss the good old days at the Palms, and I think anyone that's played there a few years ago would definitely agree.

So I assume Joe Awada no longer plays there and the tales of celebrity sightings in the poker room are more sparse?

Played 2/5 at Paris last July and is was very fishy. A lot like Stars $.25/.50 (50NL). Only 1 table of 2/5, though.

The last time I was at the Palms, the poker rooms looked like my Aunt Edna's basement. They could start with jazzing them up a little.

Not sure if Joe is still loyal to the room or not, but last time I played there, when we were shorthanded, Joe was at the table with us.

Paris will not get a 2/5 game going on anything approaching a regular basis. They moved the room recently, and everyone seems to hate it. They also have a bad rake structure.

So for any of the locals in Vegas - isn't this week the huge World of Concrete convention? I'm pretty sure it is, and I'd gather that means an influx of tens of thousands of drunken guys... some of which may have deep pockets and wander off into a poker room?

Just wondering if such a big convention will juice up the games a bit this week?

I have a list of Recommended Vegas Poker Rooms..that include the obv Bellagio and Mirage and Wynn, with some other small gems

In my experience the games get softer during big conventions, but not drastically so. IMO: Weekend games > Weekday games during conventions > Weekday games w/o conventions.