It seems every couple of weeks we have another post where someone is asking where they should play when they are in Vegas, so I decided to write a where to play poker is Vegas report. I am almost exclusively a no limit hold’em player so these reviews only cover no limit, if you are looking for a guide of where to play limit I can’t help you. I live in San Diego so it is a nice short trip to Vegas; in the last year I have made more than 10 trips to play poker. I have gone out of my way to play as many different places as I could, variety keeps me from getting bored. These are my reviews of the places I have played.

The Strip
Mandalay Bay- 2/4 NL $200 max, must move games. This can be a very good game, though I don’t like the 50x buy in. Mandalay only offers one blind structure for no limit, the game is 2/4 with a must move. The $200 max sucks but people have been known to sneak in an couple extra red stacks when they move tables. One of the downsides to the must move game, is that often times the first tables you sit down on are the juiciest and when they call you to move you get moved to a tighter table. A simple solution is if you get moved to the main game and don’t like the table get up, go for a walk come back ten minutes later and pretend to be a new player.

Luxor- $1/$2/$2 $50 max. This is one of the worst games in Vegas, the setup is terrible, 25x buy in is terrible. Forget it.

Excalibur - $1/$3 $200 max. I only played this game once but it was loose and wild. It’s a small enough buy in that it draws some terrible players. I was there on a Saturday night and they had 2 tables of $1/$3 and nothing bigger, so I doubt they spread anything bigger on a consistent basis.

Tropicana- $1/$2 $100 max. I have only played this game once but it was a Friday night and the whole room was dead. 2 Tables going and only one no limit table. Unless things have changed greatly I would avoid this place.

MGM Grand- $1/$2 $200 max and $2/5 $500 max. This is one of my favorite games in Vegas, the new poker room at the MGM is awesome, the only downside is it is right next to the Centrifuge bar and it can get really noisy, the games are about as loose and crazy as anywhere else I’ve ever played.

Monte Carlo-From what I have heard from some of the locals the Monte Carlo used to be one of the best rooms on the strip, though I have not found great games there. At times of the day where other places have 2 $1/$2 and 2 $2/$5 games going the Monte Carlo always seem to only have one or two tables running.

Aladdin Has both $1/$2 $200 max and $2/$5 $500 though both games are good they are the not as good as the similar games at MGM or the Mirage.

Bally’s- $1/$2 $200 max and $2/$5 $500, I have only played this room once so I don’t have a ton of background but both of the $1/$2 tables were loose and wild while I was there.

Bellagio- The Bellagio is the Mecca of poker in Vegas. Their room is beautiful, they have the biggest side game in Vegas in a glass room that you can watch. If you want to see Doyle, Phil Ivey, Jen Harmon, Chau Guaing, there is a good chance you will find them here. There is a glass-encased room that hosts “The Big Game.” The NL at the Bellagio is good too. The setup could be better, for the low limit NL players the smallest game they offer is $2/$5 $200 min/max. 40x buy in sucks and I wish they would change it, but the games there make up for it. The games are so soft that the buy in easy to deal with. When a player is all in and gets called, both players turn over their cards like in a tournament. Expect to see a lot of turned over cards, the Bellagio is action action. They also have a $5/$10 NL that I have never played that is also supposed to be very juicy.

Update 6/20/06 Bellagio 2/5 is now $500 max

Flamingo- The Flamingo surprised me, I thought being an older hotel with a small poker room it wouldn’t be very popular but that not the case. They spread $1/$2 $200 max and $2/$5 $500 max which run almost all the time.

Imperial Palace- The only reason I played there was because I was staying there. For starters the poker room is a pain to find. The only no limit game they spread is $1/$2 with a $100 max. Playing there once was enough for me.

Mirage- $1/$2 $200 and $2/$5 $500, this game has been very hit and miss for me, more so than anywhere else in Vegas. There were a couple nights where this game was loose and crazy and a couple nights where the room was dead and there was no action.

Harrah’s- I played at Harrah’s only once and didn’t really like the room. I was there during the day on a weekday which is usually slow but they only had one $1/$2 table running and it was only half full, it might be better other times.

Rio- There is only one time of year to bother playing the Rio and that during the WSOP. I played there 4 or 5 times during the smaller events of the WSOP. Action everywhere, you would think that players busting out of tourneys would only bring good players to the table, but that is not the case. During the rest of the year the Rio is just another small poker room with below average action on the Vegas scale.

Wynn- The Wynn is one of my favorite places to play in Vegas. All of their no limit games have no cap on the buy in, which I love. It is pretty normal to sit at the $1/3 game and have most of the table have $500- $1000 sitting in front of them. The Wynn casino is amazing, the poker room is right next to the entrance and if you need a break you can always look through the glass at all the Ferrari’s on display.

Stardust- $1/$2 $200 I was surprised that this place actually has some decent action. I played in the middle of the day and they had 3 $1/$2 games going. At nights they also spread a $2/$5 $500.

Circus Circus- $1/$2 NL, not sure what the buy in is. I went there at 5pm on a Wednesday night and the room, which is one of the smallest in Vegas only had one game running and it was 2/4 limit.

Sahara- The Sahara is one of my favorite hidden places to play in Vegas. The Sahara has tournaments every night, which means that the cash games suck until around 10pm but after that it is one of the best spots in town. $1/$2 $400 max.

The Hilton- Kind of an out of the way place to find. When I played there is September they had just opened the poker room a few days before. I was there $1/$2 $200 NL, I was there at midnight on a Wednesday night and it wasn’t exactly busy. They had one no limit game and one 3/6 limit game.

The Tuscany- This is a one of the smaller casinos. The one time I was there the room was very new and they weren’t able to get enough players to spread a NL game. The floorman said they spread a $1/$2 $200 on the weekends.

Stratosphere- I have only played here once and it was a weekday afternoon, they only had one table running for no limit $1/$2 with a $200 max.

The Orleans- This is the place to play if you like O8, it’s the only place in town that spreads an O8 game on a consistent basis. $3/$6 $4/$8 where the games I can remember off the top of my head, they may also have a bigger limit game but I don’t remember. They do have a no limit game $1/$2 $200 NL like most of the other rooms in Vegas.

Downtown- A quick warning, downtown is not the strip, and walking around alone after dark is not something I suggest. Fremont Street is ok but I made the mistake of parking in some ghetto parking lot next to The Plaza. On my walk to my car I got to watch an Elvis impersonator get knocked out by a 14ish year old kid, and was followed to my car by a shady looking guy who was trying not to make it look like he was following me. Lesson learned

Plaza- Plaza is the biggest poker room of all the downtown casinos. They spread a $1/$2 game with no cap on the buy in.

Binions- The wall of champions is reason enough to check out Binions. They spread a $1/$2 no cap game. I really like the games downtown for this reason. If you find a good table the games are awesome. A loose game with no cap is a NL players dream.

Golden Nugget- Like the other downtown $1/$2, I am particularly fond of the Nugget thanks to a nice one outer that scooped me a nice $800 pot. The players there were an interesting mix as one might expect downtown. There is one guy who goes by “The Duke”, that has been there every time I’ve played there. He buys in for a huge clip of hundreds, probably somewhere around 3k he is dressed in a light brown leather suit, he looks straight out of a bad western. He sits down and barely plays poker, he folds every hand, even occasionally his big blind in an un-raised pot. Interesting to say the least.
There are a couple of places that I haven’t visited so I left them out of my list.
Caesars(new room), El Cortez(Downtown), Green Valley Ranch, and Palace Station.

NEW INFO

Caesars- 1/2 NL $500 max, 2/5 No cap, MVP said it was really good when he was there, my one night there the action was dead. Very nice large new room, only downside is the food service was freakin terrible 90 min to get my freakin sandwich.

TI- Small room 8 or 9 total tables no games running for my one trip there. A couple locals told me its a pretty juicy game on weekends. 1/3 $500 max

Venetian- Huge room, possibly the biggest in Vegas 50+ tables, beauitful room. Some good 1/2 $200 and 2/5 $500 while I was there. Word is they are offering a $50k free roll for anyone who logs 200 hrs, which will probably bring in quite few locals which will probably tighten the game up quite a bit. One of the downsides to a new room is a couple of the dealers were absolutely clueless.

NEW INFO 9/1/06
A couple new places I've seen/ played

Boulder Station: Out on Boulder highway, been there twice they dont have no limit but they do have 4/8 limit Omaha high which I took as a nice change from No limit

Sams Town: This place was surpsingly good when I was there they actually spread a 2/5 $500 game that was pretty juicy. Also 2/4 and 4/8 limit

Gold Coast- Small room with 1/2 $200 NL game, floorman said they spread 2/5 $500 on weekends, only 6 table room.

Oshea's- No actual card room just a couple tables at the front of the casino. Only limit games and nothing bigger than 4/8.

Silverton - Decent little room, 8 tables in a nice little room. 1/2 game runs pretty much all the time and 2/5 $500 on nights and weekends.

El Cortez- Tiny room with only limit and spread limit games.

Buffalo Bills- Primm Small 1/2 Nl games 2/4 limit and 4/8 limit games total of 6 tables.

For some reason MGM doesnt do any must move games.

This may be a stupid question but what is a must move game?

A lot of places like Mandalay or Bellagio do it because they have 3-10 of the same limit NL games running and it keeps the people with similar stacks together. I have heard a lot of players bitch about only being allowed to buy in for $200 when half the table has $1000 plus. Also it keeps all the tables full even as people leave.