I think the numbers will show a big downturn for LV. The problems in the economy are having a definite impact on the Strip. March Madness wasn't. Slowdown ahead; use caution. That's the signs I think we'll start seeing at the airport and the city limits out here.

Got back from Vegas late last night. Did well betting on the games but that is for another forum.......

Vegas seemed pretty slow last weekend. Definitely not what I was expecting. Sports book at the venetian was full but not as packed as I remember last year. Restaurants were all pretty empty.

just got back from vegas. Played about 4 sessions of 1/2 at the venetian, and the games were not soft at all. pretty much everyone playing fairly tight and passive (most hands only had 2 or 3 to the flop, or everyone folding to a $12 raise). First two sessions made about $300 each, and then in the 3rd session, dropped 3 buyins ($300 each). Once AA < KK, a 2nd with top pair flush draw losing to trips, and the 3rd from only winning 1 pot > $15 in the next 3 hours.

in terms of basketball, i went to TI for the thursday games, and the ball room was not packed at all. friday and saturday we realized the venetian had something set up, so we stay there. Once again, not packed at all (maybe 15-20% capacity).

It was still a great trip (and planning to go again next year), but the poker games were more than a bit disappointing.

were you in that theater with food outside? It was super empty. That was a good spot but I didn't see any place to bet or get free drinks so the sports book was +ev in that respect. I watched a few games over there and it was great once you placed your bets and got a couple beers.

yeah, most of the sportsbooks were packed, so we didnt feel like waking up at 7am to grab seats (had a group of 6). the other setups all had betting stations set up right outside the theaters. Drinks were not free, which was unfortunate.

What casinos are we talking about. From the past couple posts it sounds like:

Venetian: had viewing room setup but no windows/tellers to make bets (not good unless sportsbook was close)

TI: viewing room, wagering available(??????)

Any of those places give drink tickets when you made your bets (IP, Flamingo did for sure).

I'm in the never ending hunt for a new place. IP will be going away plus it would be nice to view on plasmas/flat panel/HD TVs.

A couple cab drivers said it's been slow this year.

both venetian and TI had setups with sports betting stations directly outside of the conference room/ball room/auditorium/etc. As far as i know, neither of these two places gave drink tickets, but i could be mistaken.

I stayed at the Wynn and TI. Visited the Sahara for the cheapo tournament, Bellagio, MGM and Pllanet Hollywood. Never made it to Venetian for some reason. My team's first round game was being shown in the Wynn sportsbook, but of course you couldn't hear the sound. On a hunch, I went up to my room, and wahlah, it was on my room tv, in HD! It was almost worth the trip alone just to see them lose in HD.

The poker was so-so for me. If I did manage to get a good starting hand, like JJ, a K would flop and my c-bet would get raised. I did see a couple first-timers, but was unable to get in any hands with them before they busted or left for another reason. No basketball drunks. I saw a few guys that looked the part of internet tough player, including a guy that bought into our 1/3 game at the Wynn for 2 grand. T-shirt, ratty cap, no shades though. It looked funny because there were only a couple guys with $500-$600 and the rest had between $100-$300. But when it came to his play, they should put his picture in wikipedia under "nit". Min-raising pre-flop in a 1/3 game, betting post flop for like $3 or $9 into a $30 to $45 pot. Everyone thought he was baiting them for a re-pop, but when he did get raised, he folded. Oh well. I think I ended the trip up a hundred or two, basically break-even.

I didn't know TI had a viewing room for the NCAA's and I was staying there. I saw no signs. PH had a viewing area in the mezzanine, with betting stations, but I didn't go up there.

Here is the rundown.

I called around and got no confirm on who was having viewing rooms or not.

I went by MGM and CP quickly first day. It was so packed I just left MGM went to CP, played cards and watched the games. As I was playing poker at CP and waiting for more games to start and the CP dealer told me to go to Hilton.

Hilton setup was Superbook with table/extra seating, the side theater was running with discounted alcohol and food(Miller was a sponsor so they had $1 Miller products). 5 20x20 HD screens. Satellite betting in the lobby of the theater area. They also were giving away prizes to viewers, I didn't win anything but some guy sitting down from us the whole second day won the Cabo vacation package. I thought the atmosphere was great there. We already are planning to book in at Hilton for next years opening weekend. No Poker there, but that might be benefit to make me get out and about.

Poker: I played at MGM, Trop, Wynn, Mirage, CP, Venetian, Excalibur and PH. 1/2, 1/3 and 2/5NL there was plenty of fish IMO. The problem was I got unlucky more times than I stayed ahead and end up booking a loss on the 5 days.

Ate at Sushi and Indian places that are in the shopping center near Hard Rock where the Undefeated shop is, both were great and cheaper than strip casino restaurant equivalents. Saturday night we ate a Charlie Palmer's Steak in the 4 Seasons, super good though not as good as Craftsteak IMO.

I have some pics of the books during the games, and a video of me almost getting 86ed from the CP book during the end of the Duke/Belmont game. I will post them if I get a chance.

I was there on Thursday and Friday and was very disappointed in the tightness of the cash games. I played 4-8 at Wynn and 1-2 NL at MGM. I was expecting a bunch of drunk idiots and didn't see any, at least not at the poker tables.

The MGM sportsbook was a zoo on Friday with considerable lines to place bets. I had fun overall, but was thought the cash games here in Michigan were better.

My buddy did take 2nd in the Sahara 11AM tourney on the 20th and chopped 5 ways on the 21st. Not bad back to back.

I was in South Lake Tahoe for the first weekend of March Madness and I think my desire to bet on sports like ever was quenched. After waking up late on Friday, I put $20 each on the eight remaining games that night (switched it up between spread/moneyline/o/u based on my expert analysis on things like which team had a cooler mascot) and put another $20 on the Warriors to cover vs Houston and to hit the over.

Trip Report:
- Game 1: Under 152 on (1) UNC vs (16) Mount St. Mary's. With the spread at 25 I figured a 16 seed would have a difficult time putting up very many points against a good team. So of course UNC plays no defense the whole game and they hit the over with like 8 minutes left in a blowout. Disaster.
- Game 2: (11) St. Joe's to cover +1 against (6) Oklahoma. I wanted to bet the moneyline on St. Joe's but apparently the line moved or something and they weren't offering that anymore, so I took +1. They kept it close early but basically got demolished.
- Game 3: (9) Oregon to win vs (8) Mississippi State. I was getting like 1.25:1 or something on this, and was looking pretty good as Oregon was solidly ahead most of the way until they bricked every ****ing three pointer in the second half. Okay, so that's a slight exaggeration, but not far from the real figure of 2 for 21 (after shooting 7-17 from 3 in the first half). ****ing brutal to watch.
- Game 4: (4) Vanderbilt to cover -7 vs (13) Siena. lol. ***** Vandy.

So, 0-4 at this point I was pretty ****ing demoralized going into the latter half.

- Game 1: (9) Arkansas to win vs (8) Indiana. I think Arkansas led this one most of the way and finally won to get me on the scoreboard.
- Game 2: (3) Louisville to cover -13.5 vs (14) Boise St. They jumped out to an early lead, were ahead by double digits at halftime (IIRC), was never really in doubt except for the final minute when a freak Boise State 3-pointer would have ruined everything. They win by 16.
- Game 3: (12) Villanova to cover +6 vs (5) Clemson. I stopped watching halfway through the game as Villanova was getting killed and I couldn't stand the pain of another loss, but glanced at the TV again in the Harvey's poker room late in the second half to see "oh, ****, Villanova's winning!" Not only that, but Carrotsnake offered me $50 straight up betting on Clemson to win while Villanova was up by 4 (with Clemson shooting one free throw) with like 3 minutes left; I obv accept and they hold on to win.
- Game 4: (16) UT-Arlington to cover +25 vs (1) Memphis. I made this pick based on 2+2er Casper05's "Ask a college basketball coach" thread in EDF, as he is a grad assistant for a team in UTA's conference. He said they're a tough underrated team, so obviously this means they're guaranteed to cover vs a #1 seed. They didn't broadcast any of this game in the poker room so I had to just follow the score in the corner of Clemson-Villanova; UTA held on pretty well most of the game and, while obviously losing the whole way, stayed within pace of not falling below 25. With like 30 seconds left they were down by 24, so while things looked dicey I figured Memphis would just hold onto the ball if they got it or something...until the score updates with 6 seconds left and UTA down by 26. I nearly die. I wait for a painful 1.5 minutes or so for the final score to appear...and finally it does, with UTA down by 24!!!! God bless their hearts for pulling out a last second shot.

The Warriors hit the over on 206.5 (obviously, they're scoring machines) but lose by 5 or so to the Rockets, so I chop those.

Overall: I put down $200 in bets, got paid back $194.something. I no longer have a desire to bet on sports and put myself through this.

TRIP REPORT: I just got back from my trip to Vegas (March 27 - 31). Most of the time I spent at the Wynn playing the 5/10 NL game. Overall, It wasn't nearly as busy as I thought it would be. I did spend some time at the Bellagio for their 5/10 NL game on Saturday. In addition to taking some bad beats and making some poor choices in table selection the trip wasn't all that profitable. Here's about $20,000 worth of pots that I lost and the odds when all the money went into the middle:


On the A5 vs AK hand he went runner-runner for a flush

On one night I walked over to the Venetian and ran into a bunch of guys from 2+2 playing a 4/8 mixed game that included Holdem, Omaha8, Badugi, Crazy Pineapple and Stud. They were all very freindly and having a great time. I don't know who there were, or what their names were (anybody know?) that was a very enjoyable game.

On Sunday night, I played mostly 15/30 limit at the Wynn and did much better to make up for my previous losses. The poker room was much quieter than expected considering the NCAA tourney was going on in the Sportbook next door.

I'm not sure if I'll go back again prior to WSOP at the end of May.

Oh Hai.

TR here, mixed game in next installment.

I'm here for the final 4 yea bitches ucla ftw.