CardSharp

Sorry about being delinquent in getting this up. I’ve been rather busy. My itinerary looked much like the last two trips: fly out cheap on Sunday & stay the first part of the week. This isn’t the best itinerary for getting action – staying the weekend would be better – but it is dirt cheap. Compared to the last two trips, a few notable things have changed.

• There was less action overall. The Wynn, Caesars, and MGM all had somewhat less action than my last two trips. I think we’re entering a poker bust.
• Caesars especially has gone downhill. Last time I was there they had mid-stakes limit holdem, HORSE, 5/10 NL, and several other attractive games going. This time, it was 1/3 and 2/5 NL only. I didn’t stay around to figure out what caused the decline.
• The NL games have gotten harder. Simply put, people are playing better. Not sure what the cause is, but it’s rather unfortunate.
• The limit games have NOT gotten any more difficult, especially the non-holdem ones The Bellagio 20/40 stud and 30/60 Omaha 8 with a 1/3 kill were very good. I think the O8 in particular is probably even better than the stud game as a starting point for anyone who wants to try their hand at going pro. This game used to be bigger – 40/80 with a half kill I think. That’s a bigger roll than I want to fly with, so I never tried it before. I think dropping the stakes a bit helped make it more accessible.
• The walk from the MGM to Bellagio has gotten really bad with the construction. I’m going to stay at Bally’s for future visits until City Center is done or at least not such a mess.
• There’s a nice little 10/20 O8 game at Wynn that supposedly goes every day. If your roll is really trashed, that’s probably the place to start rebuilding.

It was a good trip – I made money and had fun.