I'll be visiting Vegas next month for the first time, sadly just for 1 night. Looking to play a few hours of cash game poker but have absolutely no idea where to begin. Not sure if any $1/1 games run, but $1/2 is also fine. Needless to say, soft games with lots of recs/ tourists are preferred. Any advice is much appreciated!

I would say do the Golden Nugget on Fremont. Old, dirty vegas. You'll see a lot of bizarre stuff on Fremont in a short space and the nugget is a fun room.
If you insist on being on the strip, I'd say Bellagio or Planet Hollywood rooms. the PHo room would have more fun games. For 1/2, it's all pretty much the same as far as skill level with all the rooms.

Las Vegas Lifestyle forum is the right place to search/ask this question.

But to answer the question (that has been asked soooooo many times): 1/2NL is pretty much the same everywhere. 1/1NL doesn't exist.

FWIW, Bellagio changed from 1/2 to 1/3 a couple of years ago.

Personally, I’d pick the Strip over downtown for one night only, but that depends on your preferences.

Personally I'd never play Bellagio (cramped room, no action IMHO), but everyone's experience will vary.

If you are staying on the Strip you can casino hop pretty easily between venetian, TI, Flamingo, Caesars etc; but Nugget is a pretty decent suggestion if not.

You'll be there during the WSOP - go to The Rio Poker Pavilion, lots of cash games 1/3 and up.

I would suggest playing at the closest card room, in order to maximize your hours played, rather than spending half of your time crisscrossing the city in search of the perfect game.

I liked PH when I was there, decent amount of action to be had from my experience.

Excalibur was OK as well when they had 1/2 games running.

Just one night? LV Strip is fun and if you've never been before, go to the strip instead of downtown. I'll have to second what everyone else has said about Planet Hollywood: nice, central location on the strip, good 1/2 games, and you can probably get a reasonable room rate, too. If you play poker late it'll be nice to be have a room a short elevator ride away.

Other options for cheaper strip hotels with decent 1/2 games would be Ballys, Flamingo. There are many more options but the locations aren't as good or the prices will be higher for a room.

That’s probably the last thing I would do if I went for the Vegas poker experience.

The WSOP poker “room” is a convention space equipped with poker tables without auto shufflers that’s freezing cold, has extremely slow drink service and on top of that the worst dealers imaginable.

No argument with what you said, but if OP has rarely/never been to Vegas, he might want to take in the WSOP experience first hand, maybe watch whatever FT is going on at the time, etc.

FWIW, I wore a short sleeved shirt the one time I was there and wasn't uncomfortable, but I'm a cold weather person.

Go experience Vegas instead of spending your one night there playing poker. Just my opinion, but once at the table Vegas poker is pretty much the same as everywhere else. Some games harder, some softer, but still just poker. Vegas is a great town with MUCH more entertaining ways to spend one night.

I agree. You can play poker anywhere, but you can only vegas in vegas.

Is there anything in Vegas that you can’t do somewhere else?

I’ve met a lot of people in smaller card rooms in the US and other countries who said playing poker in Vegas is one of their dreams. Since almost everyone asks about Bobby’s room and if you met any big name players at Bellagio, that’s usually my recommendation for someone who wants to play for only one or two hours.

That said, there’s nothing wrong with playing only for a bit and using the rest of the night to do other very Vegas stuff like walking up and down the Strip.

This. That's why I suggested the Rio. You can play poker anywhere. There's only one WSOP experience, even just as a spectator.

Do you know where you are staying? Do you know what time of day you will want to play? What other plans do you have other than poker? Vegas is almost impossible to experience in one night, even if you stay up all night! As indicated in another post, are you just wanting to play to say you played or do you want to possibly run into some famous folks?

Get the Bravo App on your phone (and a map of the strip) and start looking at the casinos now to see what games (and how many) are running ... and more importantly what the wait lists look like. Another issue is that 'all' the casinos try to run their own tournaments during WSOP time as well. You may choose a casino to play at and they might be smashed that night due to running a tournament, so check their web sites for anything going on the date you will be there.

You've seen The Strip on TV ... if you want an experience I would try to walk Fremont street but it is the 'old' Vegas and a bit freaky for some to take in. You can do both if you just jump on the city bus as well. I believe the Golden Nugget runs an uncapped 1/2 game where some guys sit down with $5K and wait for AA to come along.

Bravo will be your friend if you are on a tight schedule. I wouldn't go out of your way to play at a specific casino unless it's your 'goal' to play there. Include it into your other plans or play close to your hotel ... assuming you have one.

PH is getting some love, and I agree it will be a little more 'fun' (drunk) and loud since it's out in the open and next to the club and where the Blackjack Dancers are located as well. This could be tilting if you run bad against an a*****e or two and they let you know about it ... and I ran into a lot of Dealers from other casinos playing trying to pick off the loose money as well.

I would play Bellagio during the morning/Noon hours and try to pick off the players trying to get even from the night before or waiting to catch their plane. Both Aria and Bellagio will have long lists at night. I played Venitian at night since it was close to my TI hotel and sat right down 3 nights in a row late June last year. I did play at the Rio one afternoon, but as others have indicated the poker itself is not an experience, but if you want to walk around and 'see' the WSOP then go for it.

Unfortunately it will be a crap shoot IMO .. it really comes down to the other things you will be doing and how close those events are to these other poker rooms. GL

I lied. I'm actually there for 2 nights but I have plans with the gf on the first. We're staying in Bellagio (obvs) but I've heard mixed things about playing poker there. Thanks for all the suggestions so far, very helpful.

Vegas is one stop on a bigger trip. We're doing NY, DC, San Fran, LA, Vegas, Yosemite. Super excited now!

If you only play poker at Bellagio, you're going to come away with a very bad opinion of Vegas poker. I would play somewhere else, and then come back after midnight and press your nose against the glass at Bobby's Room. Nobody gets there before 11 pm.

OK .. So you send her to the spa Day 2 and play some 'day' poker at Bellagio before a late lunch. Then figure out if there's more time in the evening .. PH (even Ballys) are across the street .. even Cesar's is supposed to be better now as well. DON"T TRY to walk through Cesar's Mall as a 'shortcut' to anywhere .. just sayin'. GL

You're going to eat. You might go to a show. You could look at some sights. Plan those first. Then, look at the times where you can fit poker in. Then, figure out the most convenient locations. If you can fit multiple sessions in, I recommend trying to play in one big room and one small room.

I personally look for the rooms with the most bad regs rather than the most tourists. Or the most dealers playing. Poker dealers tend to be bad poker players.

What things and from whom?

Bellagio has its pros and cons and if you had an infinite amount of time to play you might legitimately choose against it - EV reasons, ambiance reasons, comps reasons, hot waitress reasons, etc.

But for a day? Plop yourself at the closest table and spend most of the time scanning the room for people you recognize. Gawk at Bobby's Room. Walk over to the Aria and gawk at Ivey's room.

Bellagio years ago had a terrible reputation for being snooty and dismissive of low stakes poker players. I don't think that's generally an issue now. I mean it's Bellagio so snooty and dismissive of low stakes people in general is part of the charm but I wouldn't let that keep you away from the poker room and it is probably the best place to see poker celebrity if you care about that at all.

BTW poker in DC (MGM National Harbor) is way better than poker in Vegas. I wouldn't recommend it though on a short trip. Plenty of other things to do in DC.

If you're staying at Bellagio there's no point in straying far away. Go check out the vibe at the Bellagio poker room. If it doesn't appeal to you, Aria is a tram ride away. Or go across the street and play at Caesars.

+100

For one night, you want to brag to your buddies back home you saw players that everyone recognizes playing in the same room you played. My favorite room in LV is the Aria and I certainly met people I thought were interesting at my table. However as a story, it didn't compare to the couple of hours playing at the Bellagio and seeing Gus Hanson, Phil Ivey and Doyle Brunson in Bobby's room when I went last year.

If that's all he wants then he wants to go to the Rio. Some of those guys will go to the Bellagio after bustouts, but in the afternoon, they all will be at the WSOP.