Crystal ball

  This mentality has been and is currently being reinforced because the DemocRats have showered these imbeciles with "free" money - money that America does not have. The forth coming recession and ever esculation of the cost of goods and services will eventually ruin America as we know it. 

"Forthcoming"--one word.

"Escalation."

"Democrats."

I tend to discount the opinions of people who a) inject rabid partisan politics into every discussion about every subject and b) can't spell, which signifies a lack of a proper education.

Just spent almost a week there and I'd agree 100% with what you just said. 

I tried downtown for first time in 20 years and did not like the atmosphere much.  There are some nice hotels and decent gambling down there though.  But it is LOUD, LOUD and LOUD.  Inside the casinos is fine though for the most part.  

Kevin, GN poker room was decent as you said.  Good action but room is too dark for me.  Some odd locals in that room also.  

I don't like uprights (physically) so I just wasn't that interested in 4Qs.  It is too tight in there in terms of room.  But I could see that being a good place of value.  

That $0.25 progressive linked at GG and The D is interesting one.  I'm not a big fan of single line quarter but many times I found the straight flush to be $180-$330!!!  That is fairly insane.  While that was happening the royal was around $1450.  That is definitely pushing that game well over 100%, but still quarter only.  A couple of times I was playing the simple 5s-Ks quad was hitting $45 versus the normal $31.25.  

I did breath a nice sigh of relief when I got back to Southpoint though for the last two days of trip.  It is just a good mix of people of all types there.  

I don't know how much experience you have in playing poker with the locals in Vegas, but as far as I can tell, the only Vegas poker room that doesn't have an extensive collection of odd locals is one that is closed. One kinda strange aspect is that the collective political vibe from these locals is several orders of magnitude to the right of Attila the Hun. Particularly at South Point, I got so goddamn sick of hearing people whine about how them Demmurkats wuz destroyin' Amurrica bitch bitch bitch that I finally told the most vocal one to STFU. And that's NOT because of where I am on the political spectrum. It's just that I play poker for fun, and I don't want to hear that crap any more than I want to hear about someone's colonoscopy.

The progressives are so attractive because of what I think is a programming error. The same amounts are added to the royal, the quads, and the SF. However, that escalates the lesser hands into positive territory VERY quickly. And since the non-royal hands hit many, many times more often, that means that proportionately, the vast majority of the progressive money gets handed out on quads and SFs. Most progressive banks that have separate meters try to build the RF at about the same pace as other hands.

It's pretty early in the climb upwards that strategy variations become attractive. I think there are some players who frequent those machines who know those variations, particularly on SF-possible hands (for instance, there's a point at which J108 suited, J, x, you draw two). I suspect, but can't confirm, that these variations contribute significantly to EV.

Vegas locals BTW are easy to play against because most of them are grinding hours for some promo or the other like a freeroll tourney, or they're earning $1 an hour comps so they can afford a sandwich. That doesn't mean the games are easy to beat, though, because the rakes are now sky-high AND they swipe $2 additional off the table for some promo that you'll never get a dollar from. (Get a straight flush beaten on any Tuesday after 6 pm with an albino left-handed dealer!!!) It's discouraging if you're, say, heads-up and you and the other guy have each put in $12, you bet, he folds, and the dealer shoves you the pot, which contains $19, not $24. And your money is eventually going to Goober McFlump, winner of the next freeroll tourney.

I ran into two real odd ducks at Golden Nugget one night.  Borderline dangerous but it just could have been the one night.  

I won $2K in poker on the trip and I DON'T play no limit.  Hit $450 in promo hands (but man was due for that one as I've been stone cold in that area), won $1K in an 187 person cheapo $60 tourney at Southpoint (chopped 2nd/3rd place as I was getting late for my flight or I could have maybe won the damn thing) and the rest in either 3/6 or 4/8 limit.  

I agree......very easy to win at poker there even with the high rakes.  I'd say I win 80%+ of sessions in Vegas the last 3 years.  It isn't huge $ but I could go to Vegas with $500 in my pocket if I only did this.  

VP I basically lost what I was comped in room value with no royals which has been about the norm for me in the last couple of years.  

That progressive bank just races up on SF.  Definitely starts to affect strategy.  

I like to play limit, and the place where I always had the most fun was Flamingo. Mostly tourists and a few winter-time locals. Seems like every time I play at GN there is either a shouting match or somebody being challenged to a fight. At Red Rock it was all locals soft-playing each other, and at SP grumpy old men. In March I'm hoping to play at the new Horseshoe room. Hoping for the old Flamingo vibe. 

Matt:  I think your summary on limit poker is spot on.  And yes, there was nearly a fight between a guy at my table the night I was there at GN and another table over a rolling table being taken.   SP I agree with your assessement except at night it gets pretty fun and loose.  

Funny you bring up Horseshoe.  I did play 18 hours there to qualify for their midweek players appreciation tourney.  (Got $200 in it as well finishing 23rd out of only 97)  Here are my pros and cons with Horseshoe:

Pros - 

Great looking room and seems well run

Great promos with $200 high hand every 20 minutes

That player apprec tourney is awesome for non-locals that can get in that many hours on a trip like I did

Cons -

Room was pretty tight but see below for some of the reasons.

$200 high hand every 20 mins

1 card plays for high hand

1/2 blinds in 4/8 game!?!?

Might find it funny for me to include $200 high hand in both pros and cons but reason it is in cons is people will slow play their aces, kings and queens.  So it dumbs down the game in my book.  I did first day and realized my mistake.  2nd day I raised them all and just took $3 blinds if need be.  I was losing $20 not doing it the first day with this juicy high hand promo.  

1 card plays in HH sucks because I saw many two card real high hands go down in smoke.  Even two card holding SF's were being beaten by 4 on board SFs that were higher and some shlup happened to have the one card in his hand.  I saw 7/2 win high hand.....three 7s on the board so if you go, my suggestion is raise your premium starting hands.  

Lastly the biggest reason the game was so tight is the stupid 1/2 blinds.  I saw many times even a $4 call by one player take down the blinds.  So you may have pocket Aces late and only call and not even see the flop.  

All and all, I still liked the room.  Not sure if it had the flamingo vibe but definitely higher % of tourists as compared to RR, SP or GN.  

Hope this helped.....

My salient question is: what's the rake at the Horsepoo? My guess would be $5 + $2, but how quickly they get there is important. I'm seeing $7 getting snatched out of $20 pots these days. No one wins under those circumstances. No one.

I'm also curious as to the vig on those small donkaments, but I have no idea how to find that out. I have this suspicious feeling that they won't tell you even if you directly ask. Most of them seem to rake anywhere from 25-40%, which makes them unbeatable.

It is like Southpoint and many others.  $5 up to $50.  I believe the promo $1 are on flop and at $20.  ($5/$2)

The player appreciation tourney is free entry into $18,500 giveaway.  Pretty good deal if you cash.  Top 36 get at least $100.  There were 97 in tourney this past Sunday as a barometer.  HOWEVER......big however, didn't know about the $10 tourney fee for "free roll."  So the real giveaway was really like $8800.  You need 17 hours to qualify.  I made it worth my time but it is a turbo tourney as well.  

I agree with the other small tourneys.  15 years ago you could easily find the vig.  Now it is almost impossible to.  I don't play in more than 1 per trip.....much of it due to that and just plain old time killed.  

Oh and parking is not free.  I walked from Treasure Island all 4 days I played.  I looked at it as exercise though but I'm early 50s and in pretty decent shape.  If not, it would be a major pain to pay at Horseshoe and no, they won't validate your parking for poker.