Originally posted by: matt roberts
"It's like playing poker with furniture". Sounds like a blast!
Don't get me wrong; I like to win as much as the next guy. But when I'm playing poker in Vegas, one of my priorities is having a good time. I'm not sitting there because I need to make my nut; I'm there trying to have fun. That's NOT the vibe at Orleans, in my experience. As Kevin says above, it's half good players and half local rocks bitching about taxes, politics, price of gas, and their sciatica. No thanks.
I always much preferred playing at Flamingo, Bally's, or Venetian. Even at the price of $2 per pot. Just a difference in priorities.
Well, in gambling in general, there's "fun" gambling and "smart" gambling, and rarely do the two intersect. The more fun you have, the more it's going to cost you. Video poker: you have to restrict yourself to about 0.1% of the available machines. No goober games, no multiline, etc.--even though those games are fun. Craps: Pass and Don't Pass with full odds. Place the 6 and 8. Ignore every other bet on the table--even though hardways and such are fun. Blackjack--play only the best games and learn and employ Basic Strategy. That's not as fun as just plopping your butt in a chair and pulling out a couple of hundies. Slots are fun. They're also expensive. And so forth.
As far as poker is concerned, in just about every variation of the game, you should fold four out of every five hands. But that's no fun when you don't play a hand for half an hour. You have Q10, there's a raise preflop before it gets to you. Folding would be sensible--but calling is fun! What if you flop a straight? Or you have JJ and are licking your chops--but there are two big raises in front of you. Folding would be a good play--but calling is fun! What if you flop a set? Boring, dull, conservative gets the money. Fun loses the money.
As to where I like to play, that really depends on local conditions. I love to play in the locals' joints on Friday night--everybody gets their paychecks on Friday. I do indeed prefer the Orleans, but I also like Elmer Fudd's Wed Wock--the play there is surprisingly bad. South Point can be good as long as you're prepared for the inevitability of some blowhard holding forth a la Tucker Carlson at your table (seriously, that seems like an absolute given in there).
If there's a big convention in town, I make it a point to play during the evenings of the last couple days of the convention at the host hotel's poker room or whichever one is nearest. The Venetian can be an excellent place to play during their tournaments--whatever event is going on has the effect of weakening the cash game field. The South Strip rooms have always been a good place to fish for clueless tourists--I like the MGM for that.
One place I'd like to love but can't is the Fromaggio. The damn room's too close and crowded. The Wynn room (now at Encore) used to have that problem in spades, but their new digs are OK. However, it's been deadsville the last several times I've ventured in there. I really like the Aria's setting, but parking is a bitch and frankly, the players there are too good for me to win consistently--plus, they're obviously much better bankrolled than me.
And just another note re "fun"--I learned to play poker before Hold Em was a thing. I learned draw, lowball, and seven card stud. 7-stud in particular is a highly skillful and strategic game, and remembering which cards have come out is a vital skill and one I was able to master. I used to CRUSH those games. Now, it's at the point where most people think that Hold Em IS poker. But it's a stupidly simple game; when players have only two cards in their hands, there's not nearly as much room for deception, play variation, strategy, etc. For instance, it's trivially easy for someone to tell when they have the nuts in Hold Em, but almost impossible in 7-Stud. Limit Hold Em in particular is like Tic Tac Toe. So I play No Limit just to keep my brain from getting up and running away.
